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/nb881220.287

Text File | 1991-10-01 | 95KB | 2,143 lines

(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00001)

APPLE CHOOSES IBM VETERAN FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE POST
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- Apple Computer has
announced that Morris Taradalsky, 42, an 18-year IBM veteran, has
been appointed to the newly-created position of vice
president, Customer Services and Information Technology.

Morris Taradalsky is the fourth executive Apple has lured from
Big Blue. Taradalsky was most recently general manager of programming
in IBM's General Products Division and director of IBM's largest
software development laboratory. He played a key role in the
creation of IBM's application-enabling software, including Systems
Applications Architecture, Computer-Aided Software Engineering,
Relational and Hierarchical Database, and Transaction Processing.

At Apple, Taradalsky will be in charge of revamping Apple's
computer information system -- specifically connecting Apple's
micros with its mainframes -- a massive job for which an IBM
veteran will come in handy. He is also assigned to improve the
firm's customer support network, an area in which the firm is
generally considered weak.

(Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00002)

MACROMIND GETS APPLE EXEC, MOVES WEST
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- MacroMind, maker of
VideoWorks, an animation package for the Macintosh, has lured
Apple's John Scull to its fold. Scull, formerly head of
Apple Computer's desktop publishing and multimedia marketing
departments, will become president of MacroMind, replacing Marc
Canter, founder of MacroMind, who will head development at the
firm. Said Scull in a prepared statement, "It's a tremendous
opportunity. I see MacroMind as having the technology and
expertise to be a leader in the emerging multimedia market."

Coinciding with the appointment of Scull, MacroMind is moving from
Chicago to San Francisco early in 1989. The move stems from a need
to get closer to creative talent in computing and the entertainment
industry, says a MacroMind spokeswoman.

(Wendy Woods/19881216)


(NEWS)(SFO)(APPLE)(00003)

MACWRITE REPLACEMENT IN THE WINGS AT CLARIS
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- Claris is preparing the
introduction of a successor to the venerable MacWrite word processor,
with an introduction that could come as early as February. The
report, in MacWeek magazine, says the code-named Moonraker program
will have typographical controls, multiple on-screen columns, a built-in
spelling checker, and the ability to juggle several documents at
once. The magazine reports the product will have a list price of
between $200 and $300 and is set to challenge the likes of WriteNow
from T/Maker and Microsoft Write.

Moonraker is also said to be the second program Claris will have
developed in-house, following ClarisCAD.

MacWrite's author, Randy Wigginton, was quoted as saying of the
expected demise of his program, "MacWrite has been around for a long
time, I would think this means MacWrite will finally go away. It
deserves a rest."

(Wendy Woods/19881216)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00004)

WORLD'S FIRST GAY MACINTOSH USER GROUP
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 17 (NB) -- The world's first
Macintosh user group for gay men and lesbians has been formed in
San Francisco. GMUG, for Gay Macintosh Users Group, is the
formalized result of meetings of gay Macintosh users in San
Francisco. The group plans to offer a newsletter, public domain
and shareware programs, and sponsor special interest groups.
Eventually GMUG will set up a skills bank for those interested
in fighting AIDS and ARC. Contact directors Michael Wright
or Jay Hodgson at PO Box 648, San Francisco, California 94101
or call 415-864-6305. GMUG is appealing for help setting up
the club and directing its activities.

(Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00005)

FARALLON SHIPS NEW SCREENRECORDER DA
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 17 (NB) -- Farallon Computing has
released ScreenRecorder, a $195 desk accessory program for the
Macintosh which allows users to replay screen activity. The
product is targeted for presentations, demonstrations, and training.
Of interest to developers is a special feature -- called a HyperCard
external command or XCMD -- which will allow the replay sequences
to be viewed on Macintoshes which do not have the ScreenRecorder
desk accessory. XCMD is being given away in a royalty-free license
to developers wishing to incorporate the feature with their products.

(Wendy Woods/19881217/Contact: Tom Reilly, Marketing Director,
Farallon Computing, 415-849-2331)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00006)

MACS TALK TO CANON FAXES
SARATOGA, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 17 (NB) -- A new program from
Vivitek will allow Macintoshes to send and receive facsimiles
with Canon fax machines, models Fax-L920 and Fax-730. Called
MacFacsimile 1.1, the product allows documents created with
PageMaker, Microsoft Word, MacDraw, MacPaint, and other programs,
to be sent to Canon faxes for printing or transmission. Incoming
documents from the Canon fax are saved by the software as
MacPaint or TIFF files. The software costs $495. A null modem
adaptor, which connects the Macintosh to the Canon fax machine,
costs an additional $25.

(Wendy Woods/19881217/Contact: Vivitek, 408-252-6082)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00014)

MACINTOSH BIBLE REACHES DESKTOP PUBLISHING MILESTONE
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- The people at Goldstein
& Blair think they've reached a milestone -- the best-selling book
ever produced using desktop publishing technology. Six weeks
after 35,000 copies of the Second Edition of "The Macintosh Bible"
were back from the printer, the book was sold out and went into a
second 30,000-copy printing. With more than 150,000 copies in
print, says the company, "The Macintosh Bible has become not
only the best-selling book on the Macintosh but we believe the best-
selling book ever produced with desktop-publishing technology."

Prepared on the Macintosh and LaserWriter printer, the book is a
collection of tips, tricks and shortcuts for Macintosh users.

(Wendy Woods/19881217/Contact: John Grimes, Goldstein & Blair, 415-
524-4000)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00015)

JASMINE CUTS DRIVE PRICES 26 PERCENT
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- Jasmine Technologies
has reduced prices of four 100 megabyte hard disk drives as much as
26 percent in a special offer that runs through January. Effective
December 1, the Macintosh peripherals maker reduced the price
of its DirectDrive 100 for the Macintosh Plus, SE and II to $1,099 from
$1,249; the InnerDrive 100/SE for the Macintosh SE to $999 from $1,349;
the InnerDrive 100/II for the Macintosh II to $999 from $1,199; and the
BackPac 100 for the Plus and SE to $1,199 from $1,479.

The special prices are designed to boost sales for the holiday and
the occurrence of the MacWorld Expo in San Francico in January.

(Wendy Woods/19881217/Contact: Audrey Leeds, Jasmine, 415-282-1111)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(ATL)(00011)

MACINTOSHES CONTROL TRANSFERS TO PCS WITH XFER
ROCKY RIVER, OHIO, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- Messenger Software has announced
a Mac-to-PC communications package called Xfer which can transfer
complete folders or directories, and their contents, between the
two machines. The Macintosh version uses an interface similar to
the Apple Font/DA Mover, which supports Macintosh Binary, exact copy,
and text-mode transfer communications. The PC version runs under
DOS 4.0 and uses a custom menu. President John Katzendorn told
Newsbytes the company didn't announce the $80 Version 1.0 to the
press until a month after it began shipping, and Version 1.1 will
ship next month at a price of $100. Although the transfers are
two-way, the Xfer version on the Macintosh controls the process.

"Version 1.1 not only does background transfers but it lets you
create your own search and replace translators on the Macintosh,"
Katzendorn added. "You can set Xfer to search up to 128 different
strings, each up to 15 bytes long, either hex characters or ASCII
text." The translation will then take place with the transfer,
solving a lot of problems in word processing, the creation of
databases, and desktop publishing. "Apple thinks it's a great
idea. It won't solve everyone's translation problems, but shops
that move a lot of files around have to change tabs into commas
for databases, so we offer that flexibility." The result is a
combined communication-translation program, with the translator
residing on the Macintosh.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881215/Contact: John Katzendorn at 216-333-9936)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(0001)

APPLE CUTS RESELLER CHANNELS AS STORM BREWS
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Apple has slashed its UK
network of dealer supported value-added resellers - DSVs - in the face of
growing worries on the grey market and box-shifting front. The
company has cut between 30-35 of its 60-strong DSV network. Apple
UK's existing 180 dealers and 20 value-added resellers - VARs -
are not affected by the cuts.

According to Peter Davies, Apple UK's channel development
manager, the cuts follow the first anniversary of the DSV's
annual agreements with Apple.

"We appointed the DSVs with intention of allowing them to sell
Apple products within carefully defined constraints, so they
don't interfere with our other dealers and VARs' activities. When
the time for the renewal of the contracts came up, we felt that
some of the DSVs were selling outside of the terms of their
contracts, so we declined to renew their contracts," he told
Newsbytes.

Davies' comments failed to appease John Adams, managing director
of Manchester-based Chameleon Computers, which was one of the
DSVs axed from Apple's lists earlier this month.

"It's crazy. One minute I can source Apple Macs from Apple
dealers to sell on to my customers. The next minute I can't, and
am forced onto the grey market for my machines," he told
Newsbytes.

Adams is so incensed by Apple's actions that he intends to fly to
the U.S. to source Apple Macintosh machines for resale in the UK.
He said he can get a better deal than by buying the machines at
DSV discount through Apple's official dealers. "Apple UK do not
deserve the products they are selling," he said.

Back at Apple UK, Davies was puzzled by Adams' comment. He told
Newsbytes that any DSV could contact him directly if they felt
they had been given a raw deal by Apple. "It's not our intention
to prevent anyone from selling Apple machines. We want to
encourage them, but not where the DSV doesn't have the resources
to back up the sale," he said.

(Steve Gold/19881213/Apple UK: 0442-60244)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(TOR)(0005)

APPLE CANADA LAUNCHES NATIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE DIVISION
MARKHAM, ONTARIO, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- Apple Canada Inc. has
announced a new Customer Services Division. The division is built
on Miscoe Data, a national service company which Apple bought in
July, 1987. It is intended to increase Apple's share of the
personal computer service market, the value of which the company
estimates at C$360 million. Apple will continue to provide
service for other vendors' products as well as its own, as Miscoe
did before the buy-out.

"It would have been naive to develop an Apple-only service
capability in a networking age," said Gareth Jones, senior vice-
president of marketing at Apple Canada. "By offering expertise
beyond our own systems to include those typically found in our
customers' organizations, we have a competitive edge. "

Apple Canada also announced 10 new AppleCare services and
programs. They include installation services, depot service,
telephone support, an AppleCare warranty program, on-site
service, on-site preventive maintenance, time and materials
service, system software updates, warranty upgrades with on-site
service, and the AppleLink online information system.

(Grant Buckler/19881217/Contact: Apple Canada Inc. , 416-477-
5800)

(NEWS)(APPLE)(SYD)(00003)

IBM AND APPLE TOP AUSTRALIAN PC SALES
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- In dollar value, IBM has outsold all other
PC vendors in Australia in third quarter '88, according to research company
Compass. Apple followed with 13%, then NEC and Compaq with 11% each,
Toshiba with 5% and Olivetti, Hewlett Packard and Epson each with 4%.
In units, Apple, with 16% easily beat IBM's 11%. Price-competitive Amstrad
had 10% by volume.

According to the report, IBM has suffered losses in all machines
except the the models 50z and 70. Apple traditionally sells well into
educational markets and Australia is traditionally Apple's
best marketplace per capita for the Macintosh. As expected, 80386-
based machines continue to gain more market share. The survey, "Micro
StoreBoard," has earned Compass a deal of criticism over the past year, with
distributors claiming that its 'representative survey' style tracking system
misses large movements of machines. Apple's Australian director, David Strong,
has been outspoken, twice calling press and market researchers to
hear his dissatisfaction with reporting accuracy.

(Paul Zucker/19881216)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00004)

GREY MARKETING ANNOYS DISTRIBUTORS, DISTRIBUTORS PRESS PRESS
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Lotus senior VP for worldwide
sales and service Stephen Crummey has vowed that his company will stop Lotus
product from reaching Australian consumers by other than authorized channels.
Crummey's promises were prompted by continuing arguments between authorized
software distributors, mail-order suppliers, users and PC magazine publishers.
The problem stems from software prices in Australia, where products are
usually sold at 60-80% above US recommended price. Part of this is the local
20 percent tax on software but part is also blamed on the higher costs of
shipping, support and upgrade, as well as a smaller, though still English speaking
market -- around 8% of US.

Mail order outlets in the US can ship product to Australia at around 50 percent
of Australian price, including shipping and customs clearance. Local authorized
distributors counter by pointing out that this product is unsupported, may not
be the same as authorized stock and will not be upgraded. Purchasers say that
they are aware of these limitations but still want the cost savings. PC publications
have become involved because they have been pressured by large advertisers
into refusing to carry the ads. Critics claim that the publishers are willing
victims of economic blackmail, without conviction or respect for the needs
of PC users.

(Paul Zucker/19881216)

(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00001)

IBM WINS AUSTRALIAN DEFENSE DEPARTMENT.
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- After a number of years in the
cold with Australian government computing tenders, IBM looks set to
become the favored label for a while. The contract to re-equip the
Department of Defense has gone to IBM over DEC and Unisys. The three
services may now buy certain equipment from IBM without tender.
A number of Australian suppliers were included with IBM's bid to
be prime contractor. These will supply services, such as training
and software conversion. Applications on the existing Unisys
machines will be re-written over an extended period.

(Paul Zucker/19881216)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00002)

BLACK BOX CONNECTS GENERIC PRINTERS TO SYSTEM 3/X
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Australian developer Silicon
Valley has developed what it claims to be the first full graphic protocol
convertor for IBM system 3/X and AS400. The TwinCom 5200/10 permits the
connection of parallel or asynchronous printers, such as general purpose laser
and dot-matrix machines, via twinax cable at speeds to 19,200 bits per
second, or bps. The convertor obviates the need for expensive 'blue'
printers and costs significantly less than alternatives which can't carry full
graphic output.

(Paul Zucker/19881216)

(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(0004)

MANAGEMENT REORGANIZATION AT UNISYS
BLUE BELL, PENNSYLVANIA, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- Unisys Corp. has
unveiled a new board and top management structure designed to
integrate executives from Convergent into the Unisys structure.
Convergent shareholders are to vote December 22 on a
merger with Unisys and expected to approve the deal. Convergent
Chairman Paul Ely will become executive vice president of Unisys
and Cyril Yansouni, Convergent president, will be a Unisys
corporate vice president. At Unisys, Ely will become president of
a new Network Computing Group, in charge of all Unix, BTOS, and
PC systems and peripherals. This line of business at Unisys is
worth about $2 billion in revenues.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(0005)

PRIME SLAMS MAI BASIC IN COURT
NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS, 1988 DEC 9 (NB) -- A federal judge has put
a hold on MAI Basic Four Inc.'s hostile takeover of Prime
Computer Inc., after finding that junk bond experts Drexel
Burnham Lambert Inc. is a "bidder" in the MAI Basic tender offer.
Judge David Mazzone also found that MAI failed to disclose
important information about the relationships among MAI, Drexel,
and some Drexel affiliates. Mazzone stayed his preliminary
injunction pending an appeal by MAI to a federal appeals court.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(0014)

IBM SPINS OFF ROLM TO SIEMENS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- International Business
Machines Corp. has sold most of its Rolm telephone and
telecommunications subsidiary to Siemens. IBM will keep an oar in
the marketing and services end of the business, with a 50-50
joint venture with Siemens, but Siemens will get all the
development and manufacturing business.

Rolm Systems Inc. will become a wholly-owned Siemens subsidiary.
It will include IBM's Rolm operations in Santa Clara, Calif., and
Austin, Texas, and the telecommunications operations of Siemens
Information Systems in Boca Raton, Fla., and Cherry Hill, N.J.
The agreement is subject to government approval under provisions
of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

IBM acquired Rolm in 1984. At the time, Big Blue bragged about
creating a fully-integrated company with synergisms between IBM's
computer business and Rolm's high tech private branch exchange
and other telecommunications gear. But the marriage never worked
and Rolm turned into a financial black hole for IBM.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00014)

COMPUTER SYSTEMS HEAD AT CONTROL DATA EASED OUT
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- Control Data is easing out
Thomas Roberts, the head of its computer systems and services
group, and moving financial minds into top positions at the
company. Roberts was directly in charge of Control Data's money-
losing computer systems business and Imprimis, its disk drive
business. The company's new president, Lawrence Perlman, was
chief operating officer at the company's Commercial Credit
financing unit. But he's no bean counter. CDC Chairman Robert H.
Price emphasized his role in turning around the company's storage
business, which were rolled into the Imprimis subsidiary earlier
this year.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881215)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00012)

MEAD BUYS MICHIE PUBLISHING FROM MACMILLAN FOR LEXIS
DAYTON, OHIO, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- Mead Corp., owner of the Lexis legal
information service, has bought the Michie Co., a legal publishing company in
Charlottesville, Virginia, from MacMillan Inc. for $226.5 million. Michie
publishes annotated legal codes in 22 states, unannotated codes in two other
states and other legal publications. Michie is already an information provider
to
Lexis. This is the first paper-publisher to be purchased by Mead, which is
best-known as a paper and forest-products concern.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881215)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00007)

HEWLETT PACKARD PREDICTS A GOOD YEAR
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Hewlett Packard's
President and Chief Executive Officer John Young expects 1989 to be
another good year for the company, barring any major erosion of the
general economy. Young told securities analysts, "Our product program
is the strongest it's ever been, and we've made some adjustments
recently in our computer organization to improve our focus."

The company told analysts that orders for business versions of its
HP Precision Architecture family of computer systems, based on
reduced-instruction-set computing (RISC), accelerated in October,
and have remained strong in the first month of fiscal 1989.

The company is doing so well that it will increase the prices of its
high-end HP 3000 machines by 13-19 percent, effective February 1.

Analysts commenting on the HP report were encouraged. "I think
(the price hike) is intelligent marketing," says Ed Bierdeman,
securities expert with Hambrecht & Quist in San Francisco. "They're
still extremely competitive with other vendors." Said Adam
Cuhney, HP expert for investment firm Kidder Peabody, "This
was unquestionably the best HP meeting in three years."

Also announced is a new wafer fabrication plant. Hewlett
Packard will build the $100 million facility at its Northwest
Integrated Circuit Division plant in Corvallis. Production is
slated to start in 1990. The company has 2,300 workers in
Corvallis now; one fourth of them are in the chip fabrication
division.

(Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00010)

BUSINESSLAND FOUNDER STARTS A START-UP
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- Enzo Torresi, founder of
the Businessland chain of computer retail stores, is leaving his
post to head a start-up company. In a statement, Torresi said he
will become chief executive of Netframe Systems of Sunnyvale, which
is designing a proprietary chip to be used in networking technology.
He hopes to use it in the creation of a network with the power of a
mainframe computer.

Torresi founded Businessland in 1982 and during his leadership the
firm has grown into a 57-store chain worldwide. Its most recent
report shows the firm made $871 million in sales for the fiscal
year ending in June.

(Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00012)

NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR CLAIMS $25 MILLION LOSS
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- Blaming a sharp decline
in bookings and sales of microcomputer chips, National Semiconductor
says it lost $25.2 million in its second quarter, compared to a
profit of $11.6 million this time last year. Charles Sporck, the
firm's chief executive, adds, however, that sales and orders are
improving, but "We continue to be cautious in our outlook for the
third quarter and the rest of the year."

(Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(0005)

MINISCRIBE TO LAY OFF 2,000
LONGMONT, COLORADO, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Drive manufacturer
MiniScribe Corp. has announced a lay-off of approximately 2,000 or
20% of the company's worldwide workforce. The discharges will take
place over the next four to five weeks. Most of the those to be
terminated are employed in the company's Singapore and Hong Kong
facilities. About 240 will be terminated in Longmont. The firings
were attributed to overproduction. Sales in 1988 were 15 percent less
than expected.

(Wayne Yacco/19881216)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(0007)

TRIPLE I INSTALLS TECS/2 AT SOUTH CAROLINA DAILY
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Information
International, Inc. has installed a 34-terminal, Morris front-end
system at The Item, a 22,000 circulation afternoon newspaper in
Sumter, South Carolina. The system automates the paper's editorial
and classified operations with 22 editorial terminals, 2 wire
service stations, and 7 classified stations. Another 2 terminals
will be dedicated to driving two plain-paper output devices.

TECS/2 features provide real-time automatic spell-checking,
instantaneous composition and automatic system functions that
protect the work from loss in the event of power or equipment
failure through the fail-safe facilities of the system's high-speed
token-ring network. More than 1500 TECS/2 terminal systems are in
service in the U.S. and England.

(Wayne Yacco/19881216)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00001)

NINTENDO AND AT&T TO INTRODUCE FAMICOM NETWORK IN THE U.S.
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 11 (NB) -- The world's top-selling game computer
maker Nintendo has revealed plans to develop and introduce a Famicom
game computer network architecture to the U.S. in a deal with AT&T.

Nintendo and AT&T are talking about starting a two-way online game
service and talks are expected to bear fruit by mid-1989. Discussions are
already underway regarding communication adapters, control units, and
protocol.

The two-way game service will allow Famicon players to play with
each other using telephone lines.  The same architecture is expected to
be developed for use in home stock trading, home banking and shopping.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19881215/Contact: Nintendo, 03-254-1781)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00011)

MITSUBISHI TO BUY SUPERCOMPUTER FROM CRAY
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 8 (NB) -- Mitsubishi Research Institute
will replace its supercomputer with a Cray YHP. Its current
Cray 1 is said not to have enough power for the complex structural
analysis and simulations Mitsubishi needs.

The Cray-YHP is the high-end model from U.S.-based Cray Research
Corp. With up to eight central processing units, the Cray YHP performs four
gigabytes of floating point instructions per second.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19881215)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00012)

HITACHI PLANS TO BUY A U.S.-BASED SEMICONDUCTOR MAKER
TOKYO JAPAN, 1988 DEC 8 (NB) -- A Japanese paper, The Business &
Technology Daily News, reported that Hitachi and a West
German-based company are seeking to purchase a subsidiary
of U.S.-based National Semiconductor. Hitachi has no comment on the
reported planned acquisition of National Advanced Systems, saying
only that there are talks going on.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19881215)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(0003)

INVESTIGATION NOT EXPECTED ON LANPAR TRADING CONCERNS
TORONTO, ONTARIO, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- No investigation is being
undertaken into trading of Lanpar Technologies Inc. stock
following a brief trading halt on Friday, December 9. A spokesman
for the Toronto Stock Exchange said trading was halted when the
price climbed sharply. The exchange's market surveillance
department checked with company to determine reasons for the
increase and was satisfied, however. Trading resumed Monday.

As reported in last week's Newsbytes, Lanpar held a meeting of
creditors on December 8 to offer a proposal for repayment of its
debts. The creditors' decision is not yet known.

(Grant Buckler/19881217)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(0004)

NORTHERN TELECOM ANNOUNCES AUSTRALIAN CONTRACT
MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- Northern Telecom Ltd.
has won a contract to supply a C$16-million packet-switching
network to Telecom Australia. The high-speed DPN-100 packet-
switching equipment will expand Telecom Australia's packet-
switching network, Austpac. AWA-Nortel Pty. Ltd. , jointly owned
by Northern Telecom and AWA Ltd. of Australia, is the prime
contractor. Installation will begin in 1989, and the network is
to be in service by June of 1990.

(Grant Buckler/19881217/Contact: Gerald Levitch, Northern Telecom
Ltd., 416-897-9000)

(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(0015)

ELECTRONIC TRADE DEFICIT TO COME DOWN, SAYS AEA
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- The U.S. electronics trade deficit
of $12.7 billion will shrink by as much as 25 percent in 1988,
according to the American Electronics Association. In the first
nine months of the year, says AEA, the U.S. deficit in
electronics fell by almost 27 percent to $6.6 billion from $9
billion in the first nine months of 1987. The U.S. electronics
trade deficit with Japan grew by two percent in the first three
quarters, to $14.9 billion from $14.5 billion. U.S. exports to
Japan surged by 50 percent to $4.5 billion from $3 billion in the
first nine months of 1987.

(Ken Maize/19881217/Contact: John Hatch, 202-682-9110)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00008)

ORLANDO, DALLAS POSSIBLE SITES FOR CITEX IN WAKE OF COMDEX RETURN
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- In a reunion as touching as any
Scarlett and Rhett ever had in "Gone with the Wind," the Interface Group
announced its Spring Comdex show is coming back to Atlanta, to stay,
after one 1989 run in Chicago. This leaves the H.A. Bruno Company, which
jumped into the April dates abandoned by Comdex with its Citex PC users'
show, out in the cold. "They're beyond being upset," said one Bruno
spokesman, although another admitted "nothing is a total surprise in
this business." Citex, which hopes to become the "PC Expo of the
Southeast," says it will never go hungry for a site again and adds
it does have other options. The show will likely be moved to either
Orlando, Florida or Dallas, Texas, starting in 1990. A decision on a
new site was pending at press-time.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881215/Contact: Annie Zdinak, Citex, at 800-922-0324)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00009)

SUNRIVER HEADS FOR THE LOW END WITH ITS FIBER OPTIC WORKSTATIONS
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- SunRiver Corp., which
created a winning formula with Local Area Networks of workstations linked by
fiber optic cable, is bringing out low-end versions with monochrome screens,
IBM EGA, EGA+, or IBM VGA graphics. Fiber optic workstations, as SunRiver
calls the resulting systems, can then freely exchange bit-mapped color
graphics under Unix/Xenix and multiuser MS-DOS, because the fiber optic cable
allows for transmission speeds of up to 32 megabits/second. The monochrome
system will retail for $1,000, the EGA version for $1,300, and the VGA for
$1,700.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881215/Contact: CAM Group at 404-925-7643)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00013)

THE BOOK OF FAX PUBLISHED
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, 1988 DEC 17 (NB) -- "The Book of Fax,"
$12.95, has been published by Ventana Press. It is a guide to
buying and using fax equipment with information on how to evaluate
your need for a fax machine, choosing the most economical machine,
deciding which fax features are best, and avoiding common, costly
buying mistakes. There are also chapters on managing an office
facsimile machine, stopping fax "junk mail," and integrating a
fax with other office machines. The authors are Daniel Fishman
and Elliot King.

(Wendy Woods/19881218/Contact: Catherine Curtis, Curtis Communications,
415-626-3549)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00016)

COMPUTER EXECUTIVES FAVORITE DISHES IN NEW BOOK
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 17 (NB) -- The menus aren't just on
the PCs in Silicon Valley, they're also required reading for
anyone interested in the gastronomical habits of Silicon Valley's
stars. And they're in a new book called "Chief Executive
Officers: A Collection of Recipes Donated by the Leaders of
Silicon Valley." Published by Bay Area Women in Technology,
the $12.95 book features Apple CEO John Sculley's recipe for
uncooked tomato sauce, Hewlett Packard CEO John Young's "Business School
Lasagna," and Acius President Guy Kawasaki's teriyaki chicken.

Of course, computer types aren't known for their epicure, and
that's proven by Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy's recipe
for a cheese sandwich, "Go to the company cafeteria. Order
and eat."

The book is good fun and proceeds go to the Crippled Children's
Society of Santa Clara and the Math/Science Network. It can
be found in Bay Area bookstores or ordered through the mail
from Bay Area Women in Technology, PO Box 51245, Palo Alto,
California, 94303.

(Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(0006)

CALL FOR COMPUTER PRESS AWARD ENTRIES
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Citizen America
Corporation and the Computer Press Association have announced a call
for entries for the Fourth Annual Computer Press Awards. The
program honors editors, writers, reporters, and publishers who excel
in communicating the various and complex aspects of the computer and
electronics industry to their audiences. Submission of entries,
published or broadcast between January 1 and December 31, 1988, must
be received by January 31, 1989. Entries should be mailed to:

   Judging Committee
   The Computer Press Association
   1260 25th Avenue
   San Francisco, CA 94122-1523

Awards in sixteen categories will be presented at a New York City
luncheon ceremony on April 18, 1989. Requests for further
information should be directed to Simon/McGarry Public Relations,
213 820-2606.

(Wayne Yacco/19881216)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00009)

RICOH LAUNCHES A FUNCTIONAL LASER PRINTER
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 8 (NB) -- Ricoh has released a laser printer,
the RICOH LP3320-SP4, which features a connection with a personal
computer for a use as a bar card printer or a plotter with maximum
print size at 297mm by 420 mm, on A3 size paper. The laser printer
can be connected to various kinds of PCs, such as NEC PC-9800
series, IBM PS/55 series, Hitachi B16 series and Toshiba J3100
series with an emulation card or IC card.

The price of the laser printer is 628,000 yen or $5,150 and the
emulation card is 25,000 yen or $200.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19881215/Contact: Ricoh, 03-479-3111)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(0007)

EUROPEAN TRADE SHOW BACKED BY BRITISH MICRO FEDERATION
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- The British Micro Federation
- BMF - has sponsored the European Trade Show, which will be held
in London next April. The BMF is a trade federation of UK
computer companies and is the sister organization to the Software
Publisher's Association - SPA - in the US.

"The BMF is keen to foster and assist the best of the British
micro trade in the UK," said BMF Chairman David Fraser. "As such,
we totally support the aims of the European Computer Trade Show,
not only in exposing British buyers to the best of European
products, but to provide a shop window from which European
resellers can source additional business," he added.

* The European Computer Trade Show will be held at the Business
 Design centre, London, from 16-18 April, 1989.

(Steve Gold/19881213)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(0001)

FREE COMPUTERS FOR DOCTORS RAISE CONCERNS
TORONTO, ONTARIO, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Free computers from a drug
manufacturer may influence doctors to make inappropriate
prescriptions, worries the Ontario College of Physicians and
Surgeons. A Toronto daily newspaper, The Globe and Mail, reports
the college has written to Squibb Canada Inc. expressing concern
about a program that provides free computers to doctors. Doctors
get the PC if they prescribe an anti-hypertension drug, Capoten,
to 10 patients. The giveaway is part of a national study on
Capoten's effects, but The Globe says Squibb lets doctors keep
the computers when the study is completed. About 2,000 doctors
are participating.

The Globe quoted Dr. Michael Dixon, registrar of the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, as saying the deal might be a conflict
of interest under Ontario's Health Disciplines Act. The college
is concerned doctors might prescribe Capoten to get the computer.

(Grant Buckler/19881217)

(NEWS)(GOVERNMENT)(WAS)(0006)

GE PLEADS INNOCENT
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- General Electric
Co. and two employees have entered innocent pleas to federal
charges of inflating the cost of a battlefield computer system by
$10 million. GE said an internal investigation showed pricing
discrepancies on the system of $3.69 million, which GE has
refunded to the U.S. A trial date has been set for February 13.
At issue is a $250 million contract for the "decentralized
automated service support system," or DAS-3, awarded in 1983. The
Army says it would have been defrauded of $22 million if it had
not uncovered a double billing scheme.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(GOVERNMENT)(WAS)(0007)

NAVY SUBCONTRACTOR CHARGES COMPUTER PARTS FRAUD
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- A Florida computer company
is charging the Navy $12,715 for a disk drive that can be
purchased over the counter for $2,990, according to a former
subcontractor. Systems Management American Corp. says Harris
Corp. is overbilling the Navy to the tune of $6 million on the
contract to supply shipboard computer systems. Harris says the
price the company charged was reasonable because Harris added
components and did rigorous tests on the drives before installing
them. The current allegations are the latest in a long list of
allegations over the $150 million contract to install that SNAP
II system, an acronym for the Shipboard Non-Tactical Automate
Program, which keeps track of maintenance and personnel on Navy
ships.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(GOVERNMENT)(WAS)(0008)

N.H. COMPUTER DOESN'T PLAY FAVORITES
CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- A New Hampshire Motor
Vehicles Division computer has told Governor-elect Judd Gregg
that he has an appointment at 1 p.m. on January 5 in Peterborough
for a driver's license eye exam. Unfortunately, Gregg is to be
sworn in as governor at noon on January 5 in Concord, more than
an hour away from Peterborough. "I'm sure they will be more than
happy to change it for him to a time that is more convenient," a
motor vehicles official told the Associated Press.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(GOVERNMENT)(WAS)(0013)

NSA AWARDS COMPUTER SECURITY CONTRACTS
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- The super-secret National Security
Agency has awarded three contracts for devices to protect
government computers against hackers. Contracts were signed with
ACS Communications Systems Inc.; Interstate
Electronics/Codercard; and Pailen-Johnson Associates. The three
firms will work on a device that will authenticate computer users
and encrypt their data. No cost figures available.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(GOVERNMENT)(WAS)(0016)

PEROT LOSES POSTAL CONTRACT
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1988 DEC 17 (NB) -- The U.S. Postal Service has
scrapped its $500,000 personal services contract with Perot
Systems Corp., extricating itself from a bitter feud between
Texas billionaire Ross Perot and General Motors Corp. The loss of
the contract was a major victory for Electronic Data Systems
Corp., the computer services company Perot founded and later sold
to GM. Postmaster General Anthony Frank, in a prepared statement,
said he decided to cancel the contract "reluctantly," adding that
"the contract has been tied up so badly by protests and lawsuits
that we have lost much of the original opportunity" to discover
cost-savings measures in the Postal Service.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(GOVERNMENT)(WAS)(0017)

NORAD COMPUTER FLAWED, SAYS GAO
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- The General Accounting Office says
the Defense Department's new computer system for the North
American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado's Cheyenne
Mountain is over budget, behind schedule, and unlikely to work.
GAO recommends scrapping the $281 million computer system and
finding a new contractor. The new system, designed by General
Telephone, has "unstable software," says the congressional
watchdog agency. The computer gear also restarts too slowly after
power failures, said GAO. NORAD's computer is the nerve center of
the system designed to warn the U.S. and Canada of an attack on
North America. The contract was awarded in 1984 and installation
has slipped from 1986 to 1990. The price has grown from $202
million to $286 million.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SFO)(00008)

ATARI PLAYS NINTENDO'S GAME BY ITS OWN RULES, LAWSUIT LAUNCHED
MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- Atari Games Corporation,
a privately-held firm not related to Atari Corporation, has sued
Nintendo, charging it with monopoly, while at the same time selling
clone video game cartridges for Nintendo machines. In a lawsuit filed
in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Atari Games says
Nintendo has become a leader in the video game business by forcing
game designers to install the games in cartridges that have
Nintendo's proprietary design. Nintendo machines will only run
cartridges installed with a special computer chip. The Japanese
giant has licensed the design to some 30 software houses, one of
which is the suing Atari Games Corporation. Atari claims Nintendo
now monopolizes the market for video game cartridges, controlling
80 percent of the U.S. market, and Atari Games wants the court
to award it $30 million in damages and an injunction against
further Nintendo cartridge sales in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Atari Games, through its Tengen subsidiary, is the first
to come out with a Nintendo-compatible cartridge not licensed by the
Japanese firm. The first games to come out in the new cartridges
will be Pac-Man, Gauntlet, and RBI Baseball. Other titles will be
announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 7.
Analysts suggest that Atari's suit is a preemptive strike to ward
off a copyright suit from Nintendo over its cartridge clone.

Nintendo had no comment on the matter at press-time.

(Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SFO)(00009)

SOFTWARE FIRM RAIDING RAIDERS SAYS LUCASFILM
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- Templates of Doom
will indeed by doomed if giant Lucasfilm Ltd. has its way in
court. The maker of the instructional software package, Solar
Systems Software in San Bruno, is said in a copyright lawsuit
filed in U.S. District Court to be in violation of Lucasfilm's
copyright on the "Temple of Doom" films featuring a character
named Indiana Jones. "The front cover of the defendants'
package depicts an adventurer substantially similar to the
Indiana Jones character, costumed in a snap-brim fedora, brown
leather jacket, and shoulder bag, gazing through a temple entrance
to a room engulfed in flames," states the complaint.

The suit seeks compensation of $50,000 for trademark and copyright
violation. Solar Systems Software could not be reached for
comment at press-time.

(Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SFO)(00011)

PROGRAMMER WINS LAWSUIT AGAINST BANK OF AMERICA
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- A San Francisco Superior
Court jury has ruled in favor of a programmer who claimed Bank of
America illegally used his software in its transaction processing
system. The court has ordered the bank to pay Gulab Tinmahan
$1.25 million in general damages and $1 million in punitive damages.
Tinmahan, of Orinda, Ca., was a consultant for the bank from 1976 through
1983, hired to work on the bank's transaction processing. Tinmahan
claimed that after he was fired, the bank illegally kept and used
software he developed. Bank of American had maintained throughout the
proceeding that the software was its own, supplied with the hardware
from the manufacturer.

But the court favored Tinmahan's story. Tinmahan said he developed
the software over a 20 year period.

(Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(0002)

ASEAN MEMBER NATIONS RESPOND TO U.S. CONCERNS
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, attended a two-day
meeting sponsored by the World Affairs Council. The meeting was
held to discuss economic issues affecting the Pacific Rim. Issues
included trade imbalances, copyright infringements and the possible
designation of San Diego as the site for a new ASEAN regional
headquarters.

The ASEAN representatives responded to pressure from Secretary of
State George Shultz with denials that the U.S. economy has been
harmed by the balance of trade with the member nations: the
Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
They also assured U. S. firms that the incidence of software piracy
and other copyright violations had been virtually eliminated.

(Wayne Yacco/19881216)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(0003)

HACKER BACK IN COURT
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Kevin David Mitnick,
25, of Panorama City, has been held without bail on two separate
criminal complaints charging him with computer fraud. The charges
stem from alleged acts which include intrusion into computer
systems, theft of computer-security software and gaining
unauthorized access to long-distance telephone codes. One series of
intrusions is claimed to have caused losses amounting to $4 million.
Leeds University in England and Digital Equipment Corp. were named
as two of the organizations affected.

It is unusual to detain defendants in this type of case. However,
Mitnick has previously been convicted of similar crimes, for which
he has served six months in juvenile hall, and U. S. Attorney Leon
Weidman characterized him as "very, very dangerous" person who
should "be detained and kept away from a computer." Furthermore,
Mitnick is said to have previously accessed the internal records of
the Los Angeles Police Department, TRW Corp. and Pacific Telephone.

Mitnick is expected to be prosecuted under a federal law against
accessing an interstate computer network for criminal purposes.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, he is believed
to be the first person in the nation to be prosecuted under the
law. Conviction could result in penalties of up to 20 years in
prison and a $500,000 fine.

(Wayne Yacco/19881216)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(0006)

RACAL-TACTICOM LICENCES AEC TO PRODUCE MILITARY RADIO EQUIPMENT
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Racal Tacticom has
licensed the Advanced Electronics Company - AEC - to manufacture
military telecommunications equipment for use by the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia's defense forces.

The first stage of the manufacturing process will begin early
next year at an interim facility in Riyadh. This will be moved to
AEC's permanent facility which is under construction at the
aerospace industrial complex at King Khaled international
airport. The permanent facility will open in 1990.

(Steve Gold/19881213)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(0011)

MASSTOR SIGNS $2 MILLION CONTRACT WITH FRENCH GOVERNMENT
PARIS, FRANCE, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- The French government has
signed a deal worth more than $2 million with Masstor Systems
Corporation. The deal calls for Masstor to supply data storage
system to CNVATS, the pensions division of the French government's
social security headquarters in Paris.

Masstor will supply a series of M960 storage systems, as well as
the M1000 storage module, to CNVATS. The M960/1000 system was
launched last October, and will replace the existing M860
installation at CNVATS headquarters, which currently stores
information on more than 55 million French citizens.

(Steve Gold/19881216)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(0012)

IBM AGREES TECHNOLOGY EXCHANGE AGREEMENT WITH EEC
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- IBM and the European
Commission - the EEC - have agreed to extend a 1984 technology
exchange agreement. The agreement allows third-party computer
firms in the EEC to have access to some of IBM's technology
secrets.

The agreement came into force in 1984 after several European
computer firms complained that IBM withheld important technology
information on its 370 series of computers. the third-party firms
needed the information to allow their machines to become
compatible with those of IBM's.

The original 1984 agreement with the EEC had no expiration date, but
IBM had the option to give one year's notice of termination from
January, 1989, onward.

(Steve Gold/19881216)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(0015)

JAPANESE CHIPS NEXT FOR EEC LEVY, SAYS COMPUTER WEEKLY
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- European imports of Japanese
semiconductors could be taxed early next year, according to a
report in the latest Computer Weekly magazine. The magazine
asserts that chip levies are likely to be imposed in the wake of
the formalisation of the EEC printer levies earlier this month.

Like the printer levies, the chip levies are the EEC's response
to allegations that Japanese manufacturers are dumping chips at
less than fair market levels in Europe.

Newsbytes' sources suggest that a chip levy is still some way
off, however. According to informed sources, the EEC is still
negotiating with Japanese manufacturers over the allegations, and
expects the formalisation of the printer levies to add
considerably to the urgency of the negotiations.

(Steve Gold/19881215)

(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(0009)

LOTUS DRIVERS AND 1-2-3 OPERATING SYSTEMS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- Lotus Development
Corp. has signed licensing agreements with Level Zero Inc. and
Total Systems Inc. The firms will develop new device drivers for
Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony, including the pending 1-2-3 Release 3.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco recently, Lotus President Jim Manzi
said the next release of Lotus 1-2-3 will run on at least five
different operating systems, DOS, Unix, OS/2, VM and VMS.  Right
now, Lotus 1-2-3 runs only on the MS-DOS operating system.

(Ken Maize and Wendy Woods/19881217)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(0011)

WANG ROLLS OUT TWO NEW AT-COMPATIBLES
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- Wang Microsystems, a
Wang Laboratories division, has launched the PC 381 and PC 382
computers, both based on the 80386 processor. Both are IBM PC-AT
compatible. The PC 381 is a basic business machine which the PC
382 is aimed at sophisticated graphics and communications. Prices
start at $3,195 for the 381 and $3,450 for the 382.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00007)

SINGAPORE FIRM COMES UP WITH THE FAX BOARD SOLUTION
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Chartered
Electronics Industries of Singapore is producing a $145 box
called Faxility which lets your computer send and receive fax
messages using its fax card even when the PC is turned off.
Faxility connects to the phone line in series with the fax board,
and has its own 115 volt power supply. The power supply is
switch-selectable, so Europeans can get 230 volt power. All
Faxility does is turn on your PC when it's scheduled to send a
fax message, or when a fax message comes in. The programming of
Faxility is handled by your fax card's software. If you've
already got a fax machine, CEI makes a $195 box called the
Faxility Plus, which includes switches to let your fax machine as
a printer or scanner as well as handling all the fax business.

However, Faxility will not be under any American Christmas trees
this year. "The product is not shipping at this time because it
still needs FCC approval," Vice President of Sales Steven Huang told
Newsbytes. "We expect the product to be shipped at the end of the
first quarter of 1989. It is being produced and sold in Asia."

European PTT approval, Huang said, "will be the next problem."
Other companies are offering automatic switches for PC fax cards,
he added, but "ours is more practical because it cuts in on a
phone-tone. Other switches force you to schedule when the machine
will be on."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881213/Contact: CEI at 415-875-3636)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00004)

OKI ENTERS AX PC FIELD
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 9 (NB) -- Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.,
has entered the AX personal computer market with the release of
two AX-based 32-bit laptop personal computers. The company's AX
machine, which is an IBM PC/AT compatible with Japanese language
feature, has adopted an Intel 80386 microprocessor at its core
for the first time in the laptop AX machine field. Called if386AX,
it has an eight-gradation black and white backlit liquid crystal
display with 640 x 480 pixels and a 2-megabyte main memory. The
machine measures 315mm width x 365mm depth x 98mm height.

The if386AX 50L, with two 3.5-inch floppy disk drives, is priced
at 598,000 yen ($4,900) and weighs 7.5kg, and 51L, with one
built-in 40-megabyte hard disk, 848,000 yen ($7,000) and weighs
7.8kg. Oki expects to start shipment next March.

(Ken Takahashi/19881215/Contact: Oki Electric Industry, 03-501-3111)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00005)

KYOCERA RELEASES A 32-BIT AX PERSONAL COMPUTER
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- Kyocera will release a 32-bit
IBM PC/AT-compatible personal computer with Japanese language
feature. The 386AX Model A will come with an 80386 microprocessor
at its heart and come standard with a 2-megabyte main memory,
expandable to 16-megabytes. The machine has a very unique hard disk
called Handy Disk, which can be removed in a manner similar to a floppy
disk. The company expects to start marketing the AX machine with
its own brand name at the end of next February, at the price of
948,000 yen or $7,800. Kyocera has been supplying its AX PCs on an
original equipment basis to other PC makers, such as Sharp, since
the AX association was established.

(Ken Takahashi/19881215)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00007)

IBM JAPAN, AGGRESSIVE PROMOTER OF OS/2
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- IBM Japan has begun supplying
an OS/2 extension memory kit, including OS/2 and an extension
memory, with its personal computer PS/55. The standard version of the
OS/2 operating system requires a memory capacity as large as
2-megabytes, and the PS/55 comes standard only with 2 megabytes.
Consequently an extended memory is necessary to operate many
applications.

Also, IBM Japan will ship an OS/2 development kits starting Dec 24.
The development kit will allow users to develop applications programs
which run on an extended version of OS/2, called the J1.1, which includes
several features, such as Presentation Manager, Database Manager, and
Communication Manager.

(Ken Takahashi/19881215)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00008)

ADD MORE FEATURES ON 1-2-3
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- Tokyo-based software house Icon
will release two add-in software programs for Lotus 1-2-3 next
January. The new programs will allow users to utilize the 1-2-3
application more easily. The Card View displays the items chosen
from among the drawn-up list in a card format on the screen.
On the other hand, the Cell Note appends explanations or
supplements to the items in the list.

The add-in software will run on NEC's PC9800 series and Hitachi's
B16 series. The price of the two programs will be 32,000 yen or $260.

(Ken Takahashi/19881215)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(0002)

MITSUBISHI READIES FOR FEB '89 PRODUCT LAUNCH
HATFIELD, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Mitsubishi has revealed
plans for product launches in the first quarter of 1989. The
company has said it will launch an 80386SX-based desktop PC, an
80286-based laptop, a range of 68000-based Unix workstations, and
a fast access WORM drive.

All new products will be launched at the Which Computer? Show
next February. The 80286-based laptop will feature a high
resolution black on white EGA supertwist LCD screen. In addition
to the computer products, Mitsubishi will launch the T2300
Electronic Point Of Sale - EPOS - terminals at the February show.

(Steve Gold/19881213/Mitsubishi Electric UK: 070872-76100)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(0008)

ALDODA INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES TALKING PC PHONE DIALER
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Aldoda International has
launched PC Phone, a talking PC phone dialer, in the U.K. The
#229 package consists of a PC half-card with loudspeaker and
special memory-resident software for the PC itself.

The system works like Borland Sidekick, with the user paging up
the software and allowing the system to dial the distant party.
In the meantime, the user can continue with any other
applications software running in the foreground. Once the called
party answers, s/he is played a human voice recording asking
him/her to wait, whilst the software pages the user over the
applications software running in the foreground.

During a demonstration for Newsbytes, David Lisbona, Aldoda's
director, showed that the software can be configured to delay
dialling numbers, as well as allowing automatic call queuing and
urgent call priority.

One interesting feature is that, if the phone handset connected
to the PC Phone - which in turn is connected to the phone line -
is lifted, then the software senses this and pauses its dialling.
This allows incoming calls to be answered by the user as and when
required.

(Steve Gold/19881213/Aldoda: 01-586-5686, E-Mail: Compuserve 70346,1501,
Source ST3340, Dialcom -Microlink- 72:MAG70413)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(0007)

IBM DISCUSSES OS/2, PRESENTATION MANAGER DIRECTIONS
HURSLEY, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- IBM will develop its
Operating System/2 Presentation Manager both horizontally and
vertically, according to scientists at the laboratory that
developed the Presentation Manager. Speaking to a group of
journalists from the United Kingdom, the United States and
Canada, Roger Rowe of IBM's Hursley labs said the company plans
to extend Presentation Manager vertically "deep into the
enterprise. " Horizontal expansion, meanwhile, will "bring more
types of media and information into the workplace. "

Vertical expansion means tying Presentation Manager in with
larger computers. Rowe spoke of distributed applications
management, distributed function and distributed data. "Today
there is far too much visible boundary between a 370 application
on TSO and what is going on on your desktop," said Rowe. He added
that in future, the Presentation Manager on a PS/2 could provide
the user interface for applications running remotely on
minicomputers and mainframes.

Rowe also said OS/2 and the Presentation Manager will support
more hardware devices in the future. Presentation Manager will
look "more elegant and more craftsmanlike with time," he added.

Steve Ballmer, vice-president of systems software for Microsoft
Corp. , said his company currently expects OS/2 sales to exceed
those of MS-DOS some time in 1991. He said OS/2 opens up new
possibilities for applications designed to provide services to
other programs, and predicted a "full suite" of such products by
the end of 1989.

John Soyring, programming center manager for IBM's Entry Systems
Division in Austin, Texas, said IBM will round out OS/2 support
of the Structured Query Language, or SQL, over time. The initial
release of OS/2 Extended Edition supports about 90 percent of the
System Applications Architecture SQL definition, he said. Soyring
also noted that by 1991, 85 percent of personal computers will
have some communications requirements. That bodes well for OS/2
Extended Edition with its built-in Communications Manager, he
argued.

(Grant Buckler/19881217)

(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00003)

IBM UNLOADING ROLM TO SIEMENS, RETREATING IN PBX MARKET
ARMONK, NEW YORK, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Four years and $1.5 billion
after buying Rolm, then an independent maker of PBX equipment,
IBM is folding its hand. Much of the sales, service and
distribution operation will be sold to Siemens, the company
announced December 14. Consultants estimate IBM lost $100 million
on Rolm just in the first half of this year. IBM was so embarrassed
about the whole thing it refused to disclose the financial terms when
the Siemens deal closed December 13. Siemens will buy most of Rolm's
old manufacturing and development operations, with 2,500 employees,
but the company's old operation in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will
close, and those 550 employees will be offered transfers. A joint-
venture operation will handle the sales and service operations,
which employ 5,500.

In Europe, Siemens equipment will replace Rolm-made gear in the product
line. A final contract will be signed after it's looked over by European
and American regulators.

Analysts say that in taking the move, IBM had to swallow some
hard facts. Contrary to previous predictions, neither Rolm nor
any other PBX maker has been able to merge the data and phone
transmission markets. Computer users continue to use their own
modems, and where there are lots of modems pass off to packet
switching and or multiplexing equipment. As a result, PBX prices
have been cut nearly in half recently. Market boosters hope
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) services will require
the replacement of existing PBXs, but there they may be thwarted
by phone companies offering the same services directly -- ISDN is
a product of their wires.

One perspective came from Rolm founder Ken Oshman, who was
running the company when it was sold to IBM. "If you can't do
PBXs you can't do the rest of it. IBM is out of the telecommunications
business."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881216)


(NEWS)(TELCOM)(WAS)(0002)

BELL ATLANTIC AND IBM IN NEW ZEALAND AGREEMENT
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- Bell Atlantic
International and IBM New Zealand will create a computerized
directory assistance for Telecom Corp. of New Zealand. The system
will give New Zealand telephone operators online terminal access
to directory information.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(TELCOM)(WAS)(0010)

NEW FIBER OPTIC CABLE CHRISTENED
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- The first fiber optic
undersea cable now connects the U.S. and Europe, with the ability
to carry telephone calls, video signals, and data. The cable can
handle 40,000 phone calls simultaneously, double the capacity of
all the trans-Atlantic copper-cables combined. The new undersea
cable is less than an inch across. Science fiction writer Isaac
Asimov spoke the first official words on a three-way video
conference connecting New York, London and Paris. "Welcome,
everybody, to this historic trans-Atlantic cross, this maiden
voyage across the sea on a beam of light," said Asimov. The $361
million TAT-8 cable will lead to further declines in the cost of
trans-Atlantic phone calls. Fiber optic service to Japan and the
Far East will begin in the spring and other cable will reach to
Caribbean and the Mediterranean by the early 1990s.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00001)

DCA SHIPPING FASTEST MAINFRAME FILE TRANSFER PROGRAM EVER
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Digital Communications Associates
has begun shipping FT/Express, a high-speed file transfer product
for IBM mainframes and PCs. PS/2 Models 60s in Token Ring
networks will be able to move 9-12,000 characters/second, which
comes to 72,000-96,000 bits/second. Speed plummets to 2,000
characters/second with your average IBM PC clone on a 9,600
bit/second dial-up line. FT/Express runs under both the VM/CMS
and MVS/TSO mainframe operating systems, and the user interface
is similar to DCA's existing ForteNet and IRMAlink products.
They'll let you test the product free, but it costs $9,000 per
mainframe plus $1,800 per year maintenance.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881213/Contact: Megabyte Owens at DCA, 404-442-4521)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00002)

AT&T EMPIRE STRIKES BACK WITH HUGE FED CONTRACT, LOWER RATES
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- AT&T has won two major battles
in its war with MCI and Sprint in recent weeks. First, it and US Sprint won the
FTS-2000 contract, under which the federal phone system will be rebuilt
for $25 billion over the next 10 years. The AT&T-Sprint team beat out a group
team headed by MCI, Martin Marietta, and Northern Telecom. AT&T
followed up by asking the Federal Communications Commission for
permission to offer discounts of up to 27 percent for users of its data
transmission services. The discounts, in the form of waived installation fees,
sales and rebates, will put further pressure on both MCI and Sprint, which
sweated to meet the last round of AT&T long-distance price cuts. Both
could challenge the latest rate-cut filing -- otherwise it takes effect in
mid-January.

The AT&T juggernaut has also been rolling in the computer business, as the Air
Force has standardized on AT&T 3B computers running Unix System V, a
$929 million contract which will keep AT&T in the computer business for years,
regardless of how badly it markets the machines. Even Data Systems President
Robert Kavner has begun winning praise from the computer press as a
clever guy. One analyst, Robert Self of Market Dynamics Inc, New
York, even went so far as to say IBM has its act together.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881213)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00004)

NEW YORK BANK COMPUTING RETRENCHMENT CONTINUES
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- Manufacturers Hanover joined
the retrenchment from online systems among big banks by
downsizing its X.25 Geonet network, which at one point last year
extended to 32 countries. The trend to reduce high-tech overhead
was started by Chemical Bank earlier in December when it closed
the Pronto home-banking system. The Geonet network was started in
1979, and much of the traffic diverted off it is going into
public data networks like Telenet. Mei Ling, the bank's vice
president and director of international telecommunications, hopes
to get Geonet to cover its costs by next year -- it's currently
running a $1 million annual deficit. Reportedly, Geonet got
caught in internal politics, as computer people in major metro
areas demanded the right to run their own networks in their own
way. Geonet's major goal, to provide a universal link among all
Manufacturers Hanover employees, has definitely gone a-glimmering,
according to Edward Regan, vice president of network risk
management. "Not every terminal user is interested in communicating with
every user in the network," he says.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881213)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00006)

TYMNET EXPANDS TO 400 NEW ACCESS SITES, PUTS IN NEW FRONT-END
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Tymnet has added 40 local
access sites to its packet switch network, bringing the total to
over 800. In addition, eight locations were upgraded to 9,600 bps, or
bits per second service, for a total of 18, and 27 sites were upgraded
to 2,400 bit/second access through a link to ConnNet, the
Southern New England packet network. The new nodes mean that more
people can get into the network with a local phone call, lowering
their data communications costs. Tymnet, a unit of McDonnell
Douglas Corp., is locked in an increasingly bitter battle with
Telenet, Infonet and others in the packet switch market, with the
number of access points being a key sales point.

Tymnet also announced that Transend's Transend PC Complete E-Mail
program will serve as the conceptual base for a new front-end now
being written on the company's On Tyme E-Mail service. "We have
an automated mail process for each service, so you just use a
function key to send mail on each system and check your mailbox,"
Transend Product Manager Brent Clippard told Newsbytes.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881213/Contact: Brent Clippard at 415-851-3402)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00008)

ONLINE JAPANESE NEWS SERVICE HAS HIDDEN COSTS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- The Wall Street Journal ad
was intriguing. Nihon Keizei Shimbun, the Japanese domestic
equivalent of The Wall Street Journal is offering a searchable
database version of its newswire in the U.S. and Europe for a
flat fee of $10 per month, plus access charges. Besides the
flagship paper, the database includes money market data,
corporate financial reports, macroeconomic statistics, and
articles from The Japan Economic Journal, The Japan Times and
newsletters there.

Then we talked to a member of the Nikkei Telecom team, Rich
Merced, and that "deal" turned into something else. The service
presently has four nodes, in New York, Toronto, Washington, D.C.,
and Los Angeles. "If you're not in one of those areas you pay for
a long distance phone call," Merced told Newsbytes, although the
company is talking to Tymnet and Telenet about going onto those
public packet-switch networks. The primary market for Nikkei
Telecom consists of stockbrokers who pay $1,500 per month and
leave it on all day. "They have foreign exchange prices, and
stock prices updated ten times a day," Merced explained. "There's
also a minute-by-minute display on the futures and the averages.
There's also a market board, where you can get a dynamic update,
blocked in five minute intervals."

Merced then faxed Newsbytes a price sheet. That $10/month is
actually a $120/year up-front fee. There's also a $100 charge for
opening an account, and users of this basic service are also
charged $2.50 per minute -- $150 per hour -- for access, in
addition to any long-distance phone charges.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881215/Contact: Rich Merced at 212-878-0936)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00010)

SATELLITE DATA SERVICE FROM ANYWHERE GOAL OF CANADIAN GROUP
MONTREAL, CANADA, 1988 DEC 15 (NB) -- You really will be able to have
your desktop anywhere in North America, if a Canadian-based
joint-venture succeeds in its plan to put up a satellite for mobile
phone and data communications. Telesat Mobile Inc. is a $300 million
-- C$360 million -- venture which will place two U.S.-made satellites
in orbit with service starting in 1993. The Canadian satellite, which
has already been approved by that government's regulators, will be
able to handle 32,000 voice customers and 80,000 data
customers, based on anticipated calling volumes. Financing for
the venture is coming from a variety of sources, including $16.7
-- C$20 million -- from a consortium of Japanese communications
companies and banks led by C.Itoh. Another $67 million -- C$80
million -- will come from the Canadian partners, Telesat Canada
and Candian Pacific Ltd. The former company is 50 percent
owned by the Canadian government. Export credits and a debenture offering
will fund the rest. The Canadian government also chipped in with a
contract to buy part of the satellite's capacity for $105 million
-- C$126 million -- annually. Jacques Konig, director of special
projects for Canadian Pacific, one of the partners, told Newsbytes
offices will be established in Ottawa next year.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881215/Contact: Jacques Konig at 514-395-5151)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00013)

GENIE NOW AVAILABLE IN JAPAN THROUGH NEC PC-VAN
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, DEC 15 (NB) -- GE Information Services
announced its GEnie service is now available in Japan through a
distribution agreement with NEC's PC-VAN, the largest consumer
information service in that country with roughly 50,000 users. In
Japan, GEnie can now be accessed in 20 cities through a local
phone call. The sign-up fee is 8,000 yen, or $64.20, with a
network access charge of 90-130 yen, $.72-1.04, per minute,
depending on whether you want the basic or enhanced service.
Previously, GEnie was available through Venus-P, a packet-switch
system.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19881215/Contact: Jacelyn Swenson, 301-340-4485)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(0004)

PRODIGY MEMBERS OFFERED DISCOUNTED HAYES MODEMS
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 7 (NB) -- Members of the Prodigy
information service are receiving an offer from the network to sell
them Hayes modems at significant discounts. In a Western Union
Priority Letter received by Newsbytes, Prodigy offered a limited
number of 2400bps Hayes modems for $169. The offer is exclusively
for members of the Prodigy service and is limited to one per
household. The offer remains in effect during "Member Appreciation
Days" from December 7, 1988 to January 5, 1989.

(Wayne Yacco/19881216)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00010)

LOW-PRICED BUT 4800 BPS PERSONAL MODEM FROM FUJITSU
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Fujitsu has begun marketing a
personal modem, the PM2400F. The modem is a low-priced version of
its TA and SA family and is basically designed for 2400 bit per
second, bps, operation but will be able to transfer compressed data at
4800 bps with MNP class 5, the communication protocol which was
developed by Microcom in the U.S.. The company expects 60,000 units to
be sold within three years. The modem is priced at 598,000 yen or $490.

On the other hand, Fujitsu will establish more 2400 bps nodes on its FENICS
value-added network. FENICS currently has 41 2400 nodes and will
have 61, according to plan. FENICS is accessible on NIFTY-Serve,
the other VAN operated by INF.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19881215/Contact: Fujitsu, 03-216-3211)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(0003)

MICROLINK LAUNCHES PC-LINK SERVICE
MACCLESFIELD, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- The Microlink
electronic mail service has launched PC Link, an online club for
PC users. The service operates in a similar fashion to the PC
Support area on Micronet on Prestel, but comes in an 80-column
scrolling ASCII format.

PC Link has several areas, including features, reviews, letters
and downloadable software. According to PC Link's Managing Editor
Steve Manners, the area will not remain static, as is the norm
for printed magazines of this type.

"We intend to adapt it to change as dictated by users. The first
stage of this evolvement will be seen in the downloadable
telecommunications software. We have a comprehensive list available now, but
we'll also react to requests form users, drawing on the 7,000
programs that exist in our library," he said.

(Steve Gold/19881213)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(0004)

MERCURY COMMUNICATIONS RELEASES SERVICE QUALITY RESULTS
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- Mercury Communications has
released its second quality of service report, spanning the
period April to September, 1988. The report reveals that more
than 80 percent of faults were cleared within six hours, and 98
percent within 48 hours. Service availability, meanwhile, was
99.9 percent - even higher than the excellent figures shown in
Mercury first service quality report.

"These statistics are even better than the levels achieved in our
first report. It is an excellent result and, significantly, has
been achieved during a period of strong growth for all Mercury
services," said Peter Howell-Davies, Mercury's deputy managing
director.

Mercury has also introduced a new scheme which guarantees
delivery times for Mercury services to customers, as well as the
service provision guarantee scheme, which offers customers
specified compensation if Mercury fails to provide service within
the guaranteed time periods.

(Steve Gold/19881214/Mercury: 01-528-2000)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(0005)

FRONTIER READIES BUDGET 2400 BAUD MODEMS
HARROGATE, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Frontier Software, the
Atari ST and Commodore Amiga peripheral specialist, is readying
a new range of budget modems for launch early in 1989. The
modems, manufactured by the Supra Corporation in the U.S., are
keenly priced and offer a variety of features.

First in is the Supra 2400 PC card modem, a PC card version of
the existing Supra 2400 modem. The modem will cost around #180
including VAT, and will support 300, 1200 and 2400 baud full
duplex. It will also come bundled with a variety of free online
offers and a copy of Softklone's Mirror II PC communications
software.

"We should be shipping the PC card modem by the middle of
January," said Andrew Bennett, Frontier's managing director.
"We're also planning to offer a free-standing modem with similar
facilities, coupled with MNP Class 5 error-correction, some time
during the second quarter of 1989," he added.

The Microcom Network Protocol (MNP) Class 5-enabled modem will
retail for around the #240 mark - considerably less than
equivalent products currently on sale in the UK.

(Steve Gold/19881216/Frontier: 0423-67140, Email: Compuserve - 72007,163,
Dialcom/Telecom Gold - 72:MAG40240)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(0009)

DATAFLEX DESIGN UNVEILS MODEM PACKAGE FOR Z88 LAPTOP
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Dataflex Design has unveiled
a BABT-approved modem and communications software package for the
Cambridge Computer Z88 laptop. The package, which comprises of a
Stradcom portable modem, mains adapter, 25 to 9-pin serial cable,
Z-Term 2.4 cartridge software, and free registration to Microlink
and Mercurylink 7500, sells for #229.

The Pocket Stradcom modem is a battery/mains-powered miniature
modem supporting 300 and 1200 baud full duplex -- to CCITT
standards. The Z-Term software has been updated to include full
support for PSS in terminal mode, as well as allowing
telecommunications software to be downloaded in viewdata mode.

The telecommunications software download feature is in preparation for the
provision of Z88 telecommunications software on Micronet, the online computer
service on Prestel. Plans call for Z88 telecommunications software to be
available
on Micronet during the first quarter of 1989.

(Steve Gold/19881213/Dataflex: 01-543-6417)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(0010)

MICRONET READIES TELESOFTWARE GATEWAY FOR LATE DEC '89 LAUNCH
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Micronet, the online
computer service on Prestel, is testing a telecommunications software
gateway service for launch towards the end of this month. The gateway
service will allow a variety of telecommunications software to be made
available to Micronet's 20,000-odd subscribers at minimal cost.

The gateway from Prestel's network of computers, streams into a
Commodore Amiga 2000 computer located at Micronet's London
headquarters. By locating the telecommunications software at Micronet's
headquarters, rather than storing it on the Prestel computers.
Micronet staff will be able to upload software nearly 24 hours a day.
At the same time, Micronet subscribers will be able to
access the gateway at local call cost via their usual Prestel
access port.

(Steve Gold/19881216/Micronet: 01-278-3143)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(0013)

3COM AND TELESYSTEMES RESEAUX TO DEVELOP X.25/X.400 GATEWAY
PARIS, FRANCE, 1988 DEC 16 (NB) -- Telesystemes Reseaux, a
division of the France Telecom Group, has agreed with 3Com
Corporation to develop an X.400 gateway and X.25-compatible data
call router for electronic mail systems. The bolt-on system will
allow electronic mail systems to transmit and receive X.400-
compatible messages with other e-mail systems over an X.25-
compatible packet switching service.

The joint agreement between the two companies, located in France
and the US, confirms Telesystemes Reseaux's position in the
communications marketplace, according to Michel Dancoisnes, the
company's general manager. "It supports out strategy of providing
systems integration products for large customers and
communications software development expertise for our partners,"
he said.

First products stemming from the two companies' joint initiative
are expected to appear during the first quarter of 1989.

(Steve Gold/19881216)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(0002)

TELESAT MOBILE FORMALLY LAUNCHED, OWNERSHIP ANNOUNCED
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- A new mobile satellite
communications company was formally launched, with Telesat
Canada, Canadian Pacific Ltd. and a consortium of Japanese and
British investors as its owners. Telesat Mobile Inc. will offer
mobile voice and data communications throughout North America,
working with the American Mobile Satellite Consortium in the
United States.

Telesat Canada, which provides domestic satellite communications
in Canada, is investing C$50 million and will own 50 percent of
Telesat Mobile. Canadian Pacific, best known for Canadian Pacific
Railways but also a partner in CNCP Telecommunications, will
invest C$30 million and own 30 percent. The other 20 percent of
Telesat Mobile will be held by a consortium headed by C. Itoh and
Co. , Ltd. , of Japan. The other members of the C. Itoh
consortium are Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, Passenter Service
Co. , Ltd. and Seino Transportation Co. , Ltd. , all of Japan,
and Cable and Wireless plc of the United Kingdom.

Telesat spokesman Gilles LeBreton said the full mobile satellite
service will start operation in 1993. By about the end of 1989,
however, Telesat Mobile will launch a partial service using
satellite capacity leased from INMARSAT. Customers who use this
service will be able to transfer to Telesat's own satellite
without replacing equipment, he said. The interim service will
handle only data transmission and messaging, not voice
communications.

(Grant Buckler/19881217/Contact: Gilles LeBreton, Telesat Canada,
613-748-0123)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(0006)

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS SUPERCOMPUTER NETWORK
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, 1988 DEC 12 (NB) -- A committee of the Canadian
government is considering a high-speed computer network to link
scientists and engineers, according to Computing Canada. The
Toronto-based data processing newspaper reports that the
Microelectronics Technology Office of the federal Department of
Industry, Science and Technology has been surveying potential
users since July. A go-ahead could come before the end of
December. The network would be open to anyone with an interest in
using supercomputers in research. Following further study and a
search for money, implementation would probably start in about a
year.

(Grant Buckler/19881217)

(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(0001)

STAMPS ONLINE AT EQUIBANK
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- Equibank is now
distributing postage stamps from automated teller machines. The
bank says it is the first service of its kind in the U.S. Donald
Fischer of the Postal Service said the service is "a breakthrough
in convenience for the banking customer and a new marketing
thrust for the Post Office." Customers can purchase stamps with
Equibank cards, Mastercard, or Visa cards. The cost of the stamps
is deducted from the individual's account. The stamp-dispensing
machines are made by Fujitsu Systems of America, headquartered in
San Diego.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(0003)

APOLLO CLAIMS PERFORMANCE EDGE
CHELMSFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Apollo Computer
says its Series 10000 Personal Supercomputer outperforms a wide
range of mainframes, minisupercomputers, minicomputers, and other
high-performance workstations. "In more that 50 applications
tests -- pitting the Series 10000 against an Amdahl mainframe,
Convex and Alliant minisupercomputers, Digital Equipment
minicomputers, Sun workstations, and other high-performance
systems -- we proved to users how much more application
performance they can get from a Series 10000 Personal
Supercomputer,'' said Terry Condon, Apollo's group marketing
manager of high-end systems.

Apollo said its machines performs at 5.8 double precision
megaflops, or 5.8 million floating point operations per second,
measure by the Linpack benchmark. That compares to 1.1 double
precision Megaflops for the Sun 4/260. Apollo says its Series
10000 is 34 times faster than Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX
11/780.

(Ken Maize/19881217/ Contact: Jim Barbagallo, 508-256-6600 ext.
7749)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(0012)

IBM BREAKS SPEED RECORD
YORKTOWN, OHIO, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- International Business
Machines says its researchers have broken the chip world's speed
record, using an experimental complementary metal oxide
semiconductor. IBM says the circuits can switch at 30 billion
times per second, so fast that if the PS/2 were built with them,
it would have the same speed as the company's mainframe
computers.

(Ken Maize/19881217)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(0001)

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS DEVELOPS QUANTUM EFFECT TRANSISTOR
DALLAS, TEXAS, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- The world's first quantum-effect
transistor has been developed by Drs. Mark Reed, William Frensley,
Alan Seabaugh and other research physicists at Texas Instruments
TI. Dimensions of the device are 100 times smaller, and transit
speeds 1000 times faster, than conventional field-effect transistors or
MOS FETs. The device operates on fundamentally different
principles which dominate the behavior of matter and energy at very
small dimensions. Known as quantum mechanical effects, the
principles apply at dimensions of 0.02 micron - 20 billionths of a
meter - and below.

The device fabricated at TI is called a "bipolar resonant tunneling
transistor." It is the first device to control a "quantum well"
base, an ultrathin layer of the device which allows only electrons
with certain discrete energies to pass. Previous devices which have
incorporated quantum effects have done so only by embedding such a
structure in the terminal of a convention transistor. Although the
results have exhibited certain quantum-related effects, their size
and function have remained essentially those of conventional bipolar
transistors. The difference between TI's quantum-effect transistor
and MOS FETs is likened to the difference between the semiconductor
and the vacuum tube.

Bipolar resonant tunneling transistors are strictly a laboratory
development at this time. Although the means of integrating the
devices has not yet been developed, future chips incorporating
quantum-effect transistors "might contain 100 times more functions
in the same space and consume less power than today's devices,"
according to Dr. George Heilmeier, senior vice president and chief
technical officer at TI. Dr. Heilmeier estimates that practical
applications remain about a decade away but contends that the device
may eventually result in a "laptop supercomputer that runs on
flashlight batteries."

The bipolar device has active regions measuring only 10 to 20
nanometers or billionths of a meter wide, about 10,000 times smaller
than a human hair. It may be followed by even smaller and faster
unipolar quantum transistors that could revolutionize solid state
electronics still further. In the unipolar quantum transistor,
electrons will be confined to quantum proportions in all three
dimensions.

Explaining how quantum mechanical effects dominate the behavior of
matter and energy, Dr. Reed, senior member of the technical staff,
said that electrons act more like waves than particles at ultrasmall
dimensions. Electrons occupy discrete, non-overlapping energy
levels or bands, and resonate, like one's voice in the shower, when
confined to a region the size of their wavelength.

In quantum effect devices, the different discrete energy levels that
are characteristic to the different materials in the transistor's
base, emitter and collector act as barriers to current flow.
Current flows from the emitter to the collector only when voltage
applied to the transistor base is modulated so that these energy
levels become precisely matched and electrons can resonate, enabling
them to "tunnel" across the base. In conventional transistors,
physical barriers of semiconducting material are raised and lowered
by varying the amplitude of voltage applied to a base terminal,
allowing current to flow across from the emitter to the collector.

"The key technical breakthrough in developing the quantum effect
transistor," explains Dr. Reed, "was in being able for the first
time to directly control tunneling current by modulating the voltage
potential inside the quantum well, or base. Previous approaches to
contacting and controlling the potential inside a quantum-well base
have failed to address the basic problem of keeping the base isolated
from the collector and emitter. Fabrication difficulties are
secondary." In the TI device, the voltage potential in the quantum
well base is modulated by putting charge into the quantum well at an
energy level below, and separated from, the energy levels, known as
conduction bands, in which the working current tunnels across the
base from emitter to collector.

The bipolar device, fabricated in gallium arsenide, aluminum-gallium
arsenide and indium-gallium arsenide, exhibits promising
performance. Transit speeds, the speeds at which electrons tunnel
from emitter to collector, are so fast that they're difficult to
measure with today's technology. However, they are estimated to be
on the order of femtoseconds -- quadrillionths of a second. In an
exclusive Newsbytes interview, Dr. Reed remarked that the quantum-
effect transistor is based on "principles that will challenge the
fundamental physics of electronic devices."

(Wayne Yacco/19881216/Contact: U.S. only - 800-232-3200)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00002)

FUJITSU ADVANCES IN 64M DRAM TECHNOLOGY
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 13 (NB) -- Japan's computer giant Fujitsu
has developed the world's first memory cell which constitutes a
64-megabit dynamic random access memory, or DRAM. Fujitsu expects to
develop a 64-megabit DRAM chip on an experimental basis within a
few years and start sample shipment by 1993. A 64-megabit DRAM,
if completed, would be capable of recording the amount of
information equivalent to 256 newspaper pages, on a space roughly
the size of a fingertip.

(Ken Takahashi/19881215)


(NEWS)(TREND)(TYO)(00003)

FUJITSU'S BREAKTHROUGH ON A JOSEPHSON ELEMENT
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- Japan's computer giant Fujitsu
has developed the world's fastest basic element for a logic
circuit. This logic gate has been realized for its ultra
high-speed based on the considerably reduced built-in Josephson
element, which is expected to become the ultra high-speed and
complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor for the future. Fujitsu
unveiled this logic gate at the International Electronics Device
Meeting held in San Francisco, U.S.

Existing computers have semiconductor materials such as silicon
for their elements. If the silicon could be replaced by a Josephson
element, however, computers would operate 10 times faster and
consume 100 times less power, Fujitsu has insisted.

(Ken Takahashi/19881215)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(0008)

LAB CHIEF SEES CONVERGENCE WITH CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, BROADCAST
HURSLEY, ENGLAND, 1988 DEC 14 (NB) -- Falling technology costs
mean the computer industry must keep "liberating" new
applications to grow. Keys to that growth in the next 10 years
will come from convergence with the consumer electronics industry
and the broadcasting business, predicts Geoff Robinson, director
of IBM Hursley Laboratories. Speaking to an international
gathering of journalists at Hursley, Robinson said technology
developed in the consumer electronics industry is increasingly
crossing over to computers. The compact disk is a prime example.
Synergy between the two industries will help speed technology
development, he said.

Robinson said telecommunications, which has been inseparable from
computing for some years, in increasingly the same as
broadcasting. "They all use the same technology and they're all
delivering bits of information to people sitting in front of TV
screens," he said. Whether the two industries become entwined now
depends on regulators, he said.

Robinson was skeptical about breakthroughs in superconducting
computers within the next 10 years. He also doubted that optical
disk storage can replace magnetic media before 1995, although he
predicted it will find many applications. One boom area of the
coming years, Robinson said, will be technology applied to health
care as the population ages.

(Grant Buckler/19881217)

(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00013)

FUJITSU SELLS WORKSTATIONS TO SIGMA PROJECT
TOKYO JAPAN, 1988 DEC 6 (NB) -- Fujitsu has announced shipment
of 21 models of Sigma Workstation 230, with Unix System V
release 2.0 operating system, to the current Sigma project engineers. The
Ministry of International Trade and Industry proposed this project
to increase the productivity of individual software engineers in order
that they may write more programs in a given period of time.
The new machines run 1.8 times faster than current models with the
replacement of former central processing unit 68020 to the 68030.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19881215/Contact: Fujitsu, 03-216-3211)


W Y S I W Y G
(What You See Is: Wayne Yacco's Gazette)


(EXCLUSIVE)(EDITORIAL)(LAX)(00001)

THE ULTIMATE VIRUS ARTICLE - EDITORIAL
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, 1988 DEC 17 (NB ) -- Future viruses may not
kill our computers. They may kill us. At least, a careful look at
the history of hackers may lead you to that chilling conclusion.

Every technology has its hackers. A technology only has to become
accessible to a sufficiently large number of people for hackers to
appear. The hacking probably starts as soon as the science begins
to be taught in universities, maybe as soon as it discovered in the
research community. I suppose it all depends on how the term is
defined. Hobbyists and commercially unsuccessful small enterprises
might be included or not.

The term probably should include any effort that employs a new
technology in a socially disruptive way. That's a negative
connotation that has become strongly associated with hackers.
Although that disruption is only representative of a small number of
individuals, it is what generates all the attention for them after
all.

Hams have hacked radio hardware and CB users hacked out a popular
culture. Telephone hackers hacked out and touched Ma Bell--for free
long distance calls. Television hackers have interrupted satellite
transmissions and created community-access television programs.
There have been rocketry hackers--at least one of whom has seriously
contemplated manned space flight. Early chemical hackers discovered
beer and other forms of anesthesia and later ones created designer
drugs. There have already been nuclear hackers. Students have
designed nuclear weapons for science projects that have prompted
investigations by national security agents. Hackers have written
pamphlets telling terrorists how to do it.

Now computer hackers have come up with viruses, worms and other
nuisances that are stirring up the data-processing industry. It's
only another version of the phone phreaks, of overpowered CBs, of
out-of-tune broadcast antennas, of outlaw radio and TV stations.
The basic phenomenon is constant. It has to happen because there
are far more people who want to experiment with science than can be
trained, funded, and monitored. It's as much human nature to have
that curiosity as it is for a certain number of the experimenters to
find asocial outlets for their knowledge. Some of the same people
who have the hacker's strong curiosity also see the successful
perpetration of an asocial deed as a challenge, as an achievement.

Where does the danger enter into it? Well, the next generation of
hackers will probably be genetic experimenters. Like their
chemical-hacker counterparts they may begin by seeking some form of
counterculture amusement. And that's where the danger lies. From
seeking amusements, it only takes one bitter moment to turn a failed
experiment loose into the world at large.

A month or so before COMDEX I was discussing computer security with
Buck BloomBecker of the National Center for Computer Crime Data.
The viruses we had seen up to that point were relatively limited but
we had read speculation of killer viruses that would damage hardware
in the near future. I suggested to Buck that the viruses would have
far more devastating effect if they were distributed more
efficiently over large networks through electronic mail systems. It
was just a logical extrapolation given the available technology and
assuming a desire to cause the maximum disruption.

Apparently, there were others contemplating the same possibilities.
This past month has seen that type of virus distributed over a large
national network: Internet. The biological designer virus is the
same type of extrapolation. I'm not suggesting that it may happen.
I'm saying that it will--and maybe already has. One thing for
certain: When it does happen, there will be cover-ups that make
computer-security cover-ups pale by comparison.

We would probably already have amateur nuclear weapons developed by
hackers if it weren't for the difficulty of obtaining fissionable
material. Biological materials, required for genetic-engineering,
don't demand the same enormous capital investment required to refine
plutonium. So, take my advice: be happy, don't worry--it's going to
happen anyway. Just be careful what you download.

(Wayne Yacco/19881218)