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/1989/nb890620.312

Text File | 1991-10-02 | 140KB | 3,359 lines

(NEWS)(APPLE)(WAS)(00001)

APPLE SWIMS IN MAINSTREAM
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- In a joint New
York-Washington presentation, Apple Computer today announced 16
new hardware and software products designed to strengthen links
between Macintosh, IBM mainframes, and other computers.

Led by two "servers," devices that translate IBM mainframe data
into information that can be displayed on Macintosh computers,
other hardware devices included three NuBus communications cards
and a server for Digital Equipment VAX computers. The servers
will be available for site licensing in the first quarter of
1990.

The three new NuBus communications cards for IBM data links
provide support for 3270 Coax, Token-Ring and Synchronous Data
Link Control (SDLC), and, along with new software, let the
Macintosh emulate the 3270 family of IBM terminals. This
essentially converts a Macintosh into a $300 dumb terminal but is
necessary because so many IBM mainframe applications are written
for 3270 terminals.

Unix and VAX links are provided by MacX software that lets
Macintosh users retrieve information from Unix systems by
supporting the X-Window standard. X-Windows is a widely used
interface in scientific and engineering Unix environments.

MacX25 software will let Macintosh users access X.25 packet-
switched networks, an Open System Interconnection network
standard used for wide-area networks.

AppleTalk Phase 2 provides network link with computers on an IBM
TokenRing network or Ethernet as well as LocalTalk, and expands
AppleTalk to support connections with 16 million machines vs 254
with the old network, while other software makes it easy to
integrate mainframe data with text and graphics generated on a
Mac.

With millions of IBM-compatible computers linked to IBM and other
mainframes in the corporate world, increased connectivity is a
vital step for Apple to take if it is to continue to penetrate
the business environment. The Macintosh, although long recognized
as a powerful and versatile computer, has experienced very
limited acceptance in business and industry because of its
inability to work with the IBM standard machines.

Software will be available this fall; AppleTalk file/print
sharing software will retail for $149 with the advanced LAN
software going for $399. Network cards linking the Macintosh to
IBM computers will sell for from $1,195 to $1,495 and will
reportedly be available in the fourth quarter of this year.

Industry observers point out that this attempt to provide easy
integration with standard business machines is a major move on
Apple's part, and its success or failure will have a marked
impact on corporate and government Macintosh sales, but it should
be pointed out that these announcements are almost entirely aimed
at business users, with no special implications for home users.

The only new product that will be marketed through regular Apple
dealers is the $499 Apple Data Modem 2400, a 2400 bits/sec
external modem with Microcom Network Protocol (MNP) Class 1-4
error correction capabilities which won't be available until the
third quarter. The price is about $100 less than the going street
price for a 9600 baud Courier HST external modem with MNP Class
1-5. MNP class 5 provides for data compression effectively
doubling transmission speed and is also available on the recently
announced 2400 baud $499 Ven-Tel NuBus internal modem.

Another product announcement was for the Communications Toolbox,
a set of tools to allow developers to standardize communications
on the Mac. The Communications Toolbox was also announced last
August and on May 9. It is now scheduled for release this fall.

The X-Window support, CL/1 connectivity language (used in the IBM
servers), and other MAC-VAX connection products were announced
last year at the August Macworld Expo in Boston, and Monday's
announcement was a confirmation that the products, which were
supposed to be released late this year and early next year are on
schedule.

(John McCormick/19890614/Press Contact: Cindy McCaffrey 408-974-
1578 or Brooke Cohan 408-974-3019)


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

IICX DEMAND DIPS APPLE EARNINGS
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Analysts attending
Apple Computer's latest financial briefing came away with lower
earnings estimates for the computer maker. Apple spokeswoman Carleen
LeVasseur says the Macintosh IIcx 80 megabyte model is particularly
in demand while that is not the case for the SE and Macintosh II
computers. The unexpected demand has slowed supply of the IIcx
machines. Analysts say Apple doesn't have enough 80 megabyte
hard disks on hand from its supplier, Quantum.

LeVasseur says Apple's quarterly estimate has been "fine tuned from
70 to 80 cents, to 70 to 75 cents."

(Wendy Woods/19890616)


(ADVANCE)(APPLE)(SFO)(00003)

GERMAN HYPERCARD-COMPATIBLE PLUS
SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 19 (NB) -- Olduvai Corporation
has announced that it has acquired exclusive marketing rights to Plus, the
Hypercard-compatible multimedia toolkit developed by West German
Format Software. The program is generally viewed by those who have
seen it as having many improvements over Apple's original Hypercard,
including 256 colors, large-screen support, the ability to accommodate cards
of any size, word processing and database fields, and other features.

Plus' programming language, PPL, includes extensions and additional
commands to the widely-used industry standard, HyperTalk.

Unlike other Hypercard-compatible environments, Plus opens
HyperCard stacks directly without changes or conversions, and is
compatible with most previously written stacks.

Plus 1.1 will be available within 30 days, Says Olduvai, and requires
a Macintosh with a minimum of one megabyte of memory, or a
two megabyte Macintosh II for color. The cost will be $199 and the
product will be available through major distributors such as Micro
D, Kenfil, Ingram, and Bonsu.

(Wendy Woods/19890617/Press Contact: Juan Chotsourian, Olduvai,
305-665-0671)


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

APPLE CONFIRMS D.A. INVESTIGATING CODE THEFT
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Apple Computer has
turned over the investigation of the nuPrometheus League's theft of
software code to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office,
and reportedly is also getting the assistance of federal authorities.

Apple has vowed to apprehend the mysterious bandits, who sent an
apparently authentic copy of the Color Quickdraw code and hardware
Equate files for Macintosh ROMs to MacWeek magazine last week. The
letter accompanying the disk, which bore a San Francisco postmark,
promised to disseminate more Apple proprietary software in
the next few weeks.

Apple spokeswoman Carleen LeVasseur would not comment on whether
there are any new leads or imminent arrests, saying that the D.A.
has asked Apple to keep the matter quiet in order to facilitate
the investigation.

(Wendy Woods/19890609/Press Contact: Carleen LeVasseur, 408-974-
2671)


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

ANOTHER APPLE VET RETURNS
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Apple Computer
has announced that a high-ranking Sun Microsystems executive
has defected back to the fold. Joseph Graziano, who had served as
Apple chief financial officer from 1981 to 1985, had most recently
been Sun's chief financial officer. He has decided to return
to Apple as -- you guessed it -- chief financial officer, but also
a senior vice president.

The company made this statement: "We are extremely pleased to
welcome Joe back to Apple....[He was] one of Apple's early and
well-respected leaders." Graziano fills shoes left empty by
Deborah Coleman, who is on a medical leave of absence but has
expressed interest in returning eventually to Apple in a different
post.

(Wendy Woods/19890616)


(ADVANCE)(APPLE)(LAX)(00006)

XTREE OFFERS SAFE AMNESTY TO SOFTWARE PIRATES
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 20 (NB) -- As
part of the celebration of it's XTree software package, XTree
Company is offering Software Amnesty for Everyone [SAFE]. The
program will be officially launched during PC EXPO in New York
this week.

Under the SAFE program, for 90 days beginning July 1, 1989,
unauthorized users with bootleg copies of the software need only
print and send the company their XTree screen display plus $20.
In return, the user will receive the latest version of XTree on
an authorized program disk with a serial number. The user will
also receive the 52 page XTree user's manual.

Unauthorized copies of software are known to cost developers
significant amounts in revenue from lost sales. The XTree SAFE
program is designed to bring attention to the problem of software
piracy and create a possible solution that may lessen
unauthorized user's willingness to remain illegal and at the same
time generate revenue for beleaguered software publishers.

Michael Cahlin whose company Cahlin/Williams Communications is
handling media contact for SAFE told Newsbytes that a well-known
word processing company plans to announce a similar amnesty
program within the next few weeks. Cahlin further indicated that
XTree hopes the amnesty idea will catch on and many more software
publishers will join.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Michael Cahlin,
Cahlin/Williams Communications, 213-933-4957)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(TYO)(00007)

APPLE JAPAN'S AGGRESSIVE NEW PUSH
TOKYO, JAPAN 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Three months into the post of
president at Apple Computer Japan, Shigechika Takeuchi has
launched his strategic business plan.

Since 70 staff members are barely enough to manage 17 sales agents
and 700 resellers, the number will be increased to 100 by the
end of the year, and to 500 within three years. The plan also calls
for increased participation among the resellers in matters of
company policy.

Also, the plan includes establishment of training centers for
users and sales staff all over Japan and educational library centers in
metropolitan areas where both software and hardware will be
installed.

Apple Japan has a third party contract for maintenance with NCR
Japan in Tokyo and will expand to provide the services in Osaka
and Nagoya.

To date, Apple Computer has sold about 100,000 machines in Japan --
40,000 of them Macintoshes, according to industry figures.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890615/Press Contact: Apple Computer Japan,
03-224-7000)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SIN)(00008)

SINGAPORE DTP SYSTEM MATCHES MACS & IBMS
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Local company Koford Prints
P/L is offering a complete desktop publishing system [DTP] that is
able to link IBM-compatible PCs with Apple's Macintosh, and offers an
imagesetting system for typeset-quality output.

Koford, set up 28 years ago, has annual sales of S$3.5 million [US$1.8
million] and expects sales from its DTP business to reach S$60,000 to
S$80,000 per month initially, and double that when full production is
carried out.

Fred Y.L. Kong, Koford's director, said that he had done a "long
feasibility study" and found a market in companies that want
flexibility and control of DTP together with the typeset-quality
output not obtainable from PC-linked laser printers.

IBM-PCs and Macintoshes, normally incompatible, can be linked through
a local area network so that the same DTP files can be passed from one
to the other. The completed files could then be sent to Koford, either
on disks or through a modem. Koford would then typeset the document
directly using a Monotype Prism imagesetter, eliminating the need for
re-keying and thus reducing printing errors, as well as turnaround
time.

The Monotype is more advantageous to use as it is able to understand
Adobe Postscript, the popular language for higher-end DTP. Last week
Monotype sponsored an exhibition which was organised jointly by
Koford, Apple Centre and SIS Technologies.

Dominic Davies, managing director of The Monotype Corporation [S.E.
Asia], explained that imagesetters can print at a resolution of up to
2,400 dots per inch compared to most laser printers which manage a
maximum of only 300. This gives them a distinct advantage, as a higher
resolution means clearer images.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890614/Press Contact:Fred Kong, Koford
Prints P/L, Ph:[65] 296.9209)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00001)

SEAGATE BUYS CD'S DISK DRIVE PLANT
SCOTTS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Seagate
Technology, already a $1.4 billion dollar disk drive operation, has
swallowed fish of the same species -- Imprimis Technology of
Minnetonka, Minnesota, Control Data's disk drive operation. Control Data,
on the other hand, recently closed its supercomputer division to save
money, and sold its training schools to raise cash.

Seagate, the world's largest manufacturer of hard disk drives for small
computers, spent an estimated $450 million in cash and securities in the
deal. The combination of the two disk drive firms makes Seagate the most
powerful force in the disk drive industry. Comments industry analysts at
Dataquest, "You can be sure it will be a success story for the record
books." Provided the Justice Department approves the merger, it will
probably usher in a new era of American industrial giants, "joining
forces to retain market share against the threat of Japanese incursion into
the U.S. rigid disk drive market," says the Dataquest report.

The disk drive business is one of the few areas where CDC has
been successful in recent years, and chairman Robert Price
emphasized in his statement that CDC will still share in those
profits through stock in Seagate. He said the company will
concentrate on the services and systems integration businesses.

Payment will be in the form of $250 million in cash, 10.7 million
shares of Seagate common stock and a $50 million promissory note.
Seagate will finance the transaction with the proceeds of a new
$300 million credit agreement. Control Data will have one seat on
the Seagate board of directors to be filled by Lawrence Perlman,
president and chief operating officer of Control Data.

(Wendy Woods & Dana Blankenhorn/19890617/Press Contact: Phil Devin,
Dataquest, 408-437-8211, Frank J. Ryan, Control Data, 612-853-5342)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00002)

DATAWARE OPENS DC OFFICE
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Cambridge
Massachusetts-based Dataware Technologies, a designer and
marketer of CD-ROM related software and development tools, today
announced the opening of a Washington area office to improve its
service of Federal accounts such as the Patent and Trademark
Office.

Dataware specializes in in-house CD-ROM development tools
including CD Answer and CD Author, which assist companies and
government agencies in producing their own CD-ROM discs.

The new Federal sales office will be headed by Richard Holland,
formerly with Genigraphics. The new office is located at 4200
Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia, phone [phone].

(John McCormick/19890616/Press Contact: Kathleen Hunter,
Dataware, 617-621-0820)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00003)

IBM AND INACOMP TEST MARKET STRATEGY
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 14 (NB) -- IBM and Troy
Michigan based Inacomp announced today that the major IBM
authorized personal computer dealer will conduct a marketing test
at a number of western and midwestern Inacomp stores.

The test will be conducted in an effort to learn if the new
marketing procedure will provide improved efficiency, customer
satisfaction and profitability by using a more specialized
marketing force with more in-depth product knowledge.

As part of the test, IBM will provide specialized training at the
dealer level and Inacomp will carny the complete line of IBM
PS/2s but not competing computer systems, although the stores
will continue to sell other brands of printers and communications
equipment.

Further information can be obtained from Bill Amanna at 914-
642-5369.

(John McCormick/19890616/Press Contact: Bill Amanna, IBM 914-
642-5369 or Rick Inatome, Inacomp, 313-649-5580 X305)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00004)

PACTEL SELLS RETAIL STORES
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 14 (NB) -- Pacific Telesis
has abandoned its effort to sell computers on the retail level,
selling the subsidiary Pac Tel Infosystems to Computerland
franchisees in Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle,
and San Diego.

The computer retail subsidiary lost money during its four-year life
under Pacific Telesis' wing, and the 25 original stores were plucked
down to five by the time of the sale. The Computerland store owners
promise to offer jobs to 150 of the chain's 400 employees.

(Wendy Woods/19890616)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(ATL)(00005)

CONTEL CELLULAR WANTS OVERSEAS CONTRACTS
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 9 (NB) -- Contel Cellular
has formed an international department, after finishing
installation of cellular systems in its 23 existing markets
under the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Service Area
licensing process. The company, part of a 50-year old rural
phone company once called Continental Telephone, is also a
limited partner in 32 other cellular systems, including such
mature markets as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.,
and Minneapolis.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890616/Press Contact: Brian Farley, Contel,
404-391-8217)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00006)

ADVANCED DIGITAL PROMOTES POWERLITES
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Advanced
Digital Corp. [ADC] will reveal its reseller program for the new Powerlite
Systems 286 and 386SX PCs on June 20 during PC Expo.

ADC's Powerlite computers can be used as standalone PCs, work
stations on a local area network, or as host computers for ADC's
multiuser computing products. The "Powerteam" Gold and Platinum
Reseller Programs will provide sales incentives along with
technical and marketing support.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Hossein Asadi, Advanced
Digital Corp., 714-891-4004)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00007)

TOSHIBA ONE-MEGABIT DRAM PRODUCTION LEVELS OFF
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 15 (NB) -- Toshiba has announced that it
will stop increasing production of one-megabit dynamic random
access memory [DRAM] chips. Since it increased monthly output
to four million last March, Toshiba has periodically increased monthly
output of one-megabit chips further to a current monthly output
of nine million units.

The trigger for the decision to level-off on one megabit DRAM production
probably lies in the price drop. Recently the memory chips have
fallen below the 2,000 yen mark.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00008)

YOKOGAWA MAKES BIG MINICOMPUTER INVESTMENT
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 13 (NB) -- Yokogawa Electric, the mother
enterprise of Yokogawa Hewlett-Packard, has bought itself a piece of
the minisupercomputer market by investing in U.S.-based
Supertek Computers. The agreement allows Yokogawa to expand its
computer network business while Supertek gets more resources for
research and development, as well as access to the Japanese
market.

Yokogawa will have pre-emptive right to additional shares with
voting power by the investment of $13.5 million to Supertek. With
this alliance, Yokogawa will take over a 67 percent share of
Supertek's Japanese hand, Supertek Computers Japan, which will
be renamed to Yokogawa Supertek this month.

The supermini market in Japan last year was worth five billion yen or
$33.33 million mostly to the scientific computing and financial
arena. The market, however, has been expected to expand by 60 percent
annually. Compatible with Cray supercomputers, Supertek S-1
superminis will be a strong weapon for the new company.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890615/Press Contact:Yokogawa Electric,
0422-54-1111, Supertek Computers Japan, 03-222-5322)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00009)

HITACHI & NS SHARE IC PRODUCTION
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 13 (NB) -- Hitachi and National Semiconductor
or NS of the U.S. have agreed to exchange standard logic ICs
[integrated circuits] on an original equipment manufacturing basis.
According to the agreement, both firms will share the development
of about 150 items from NS's logic ICs, its Fact series, and expect to
start this bilateral OEM supply within this year.

The Fact series had been developed by Fairchild before its
acquisition by NS. Fairchild, however, had agreed to license
production of the Fact with Hitachi, in return Hitachi was to
provide photo masks of the developed ICs if required by
Fairchild in 1987, before the acquisition.

Supposing the agreement worked normally, both firms will complete
the development of all 150 logic ICs, but only 10 photo masks have
been requested by NS. Meanwhile, some 78 items have been developed
by Hitachi and 70 items by NS. So, the agreement was speeded-up
with the bilateral OEM supply.

Hitachi has recently made alliances with other U.S. firms, including
VLSI Technology for application-specific integrated circuits or ASIC and
with Texas Instruments to develop next-generation dynamic random
access memory, 16 Mb DRAM.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890615/Press Contact: Hitachi, 03-258-1111)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(000010)

NEC SALES UP 20 PERCENT
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Japanese PC giant NEC says
sales of personal computers and related equipment has brought in
431.5 billion yen or $2,877 million in 1988, an increase of
20 percent over last year. Domestic sales in Japan amounted to
338 billion yen or $2,253 million, and export sales recorded 93.5 billion
yen or $623.3 million.

NEC hopes to increase sales of PCs and related equipment to 468 billion
yen or $3,120 million, and domestic sales to 390 billion yen or $2,600
million -- a fifteen percent increase -- for fiscal '89.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00011)

RACAL ANNOUNCES RECORD YEAR
NEWBURY, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Racal Telecom has announced
record sales and profits for its financial year to 31 March,
1989. During the year, the company generated pre-profits of UKP
84.5 million on a turnover of UKP 240 million.

The figures compare well with the previous year, when profits
were UKP 37 million on a turnover of UKP 138 million.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press Contact: Ian Volans, Racal Telecom -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00012)

HAYES APPOINTS EUROPEAN GENERAL MANAGER
UXBRIDGE, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Hayes Microcomputer
Products has appointed John Babb as its general manager of
European operations with immediate effect. Babb was previously
general manager of Fibronics, a U.K. multi-media data
communications products company.

According to a statement issued by Hayes U.K. last week, Babb's
appointment is part of a programme to turn the existing Uxbridge-
based sales and technical support offices into a full European
regional headquarters. In this respect, Babb will report directly
to Dennis Hayes, the company's U.S. president and founder.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press Contact: Gaye Schenkel, Good Relations,
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00013)

SEIKOSHA OPENS WEST GERMAN PLANT
NEUMINSTER, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Seikosha has opened
a dot-matrix printer plant at Neuminster, 30 miles north of
Hamburg. The site has an area of 28,000 square metres, with the
first stage plant occupying some 3,200 square metres.

Initially, Seikosha is producing its high-end dot-matrix printers
at the plant, the MP-1350 and 5350, as well as the BP-5420 and
OP-105 units. The rest of the company's range will be added later
this year.

David Chadwick, Seikosha's general manager, said that the plant
has been established to enable the company to become a prominent
force in the European printer market. "We have many new products
under development, which will hit all ends of the market. 1992
[the start of the free European market] also, coincidentally,
happens to be the 100th birthday of Seikosha," he said.

Newsbytes notes that, in producing its printers within the
European Community [EC] boundaries, Seikosha will escape the EC
levies imposed on dot-matrix printers late last year. The levies,
which average out at 25 percent, are applied to all dot-matrix
printers produced outside the EC.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press Contact: David Chadwick, Seikosha U.K. -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00014)

TRAVELING SOFTWARE OPENS IN EUROPE
WINDSOR, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Traveling Software, the US
software developer, has appointed David Aldridge to be is
European sales and marketing manager. Aldridge will operate from
the company's new offices in Windsor, in the U.K.

Aldridge's primary duties will include preparing for a sale
assault on Europe with Traveling Software's range of what its
calls' accessibility products.' These include Laplink, a PC-to-
laptop file transfer system, as well as a range of programs for
laptops such as the Tandy Model 100, 102 and 200 series.

Aldridge was previously with Zenith Data Systems in its corporate
sales and marketing division.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press Contact: David Aldridge, Traveling
Software - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00015)

GEC TO ACQUIRE RACAL INSTRUMENTATION
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Marconi Instruments, a
subsidiary of The General Electric Company [GEC] has reached
agreement with Racal to acquire Racal's instruments and
automation businesses.

The deal, worth UKP 31 million, will allow Marconi to take over
several U.S. and U.K. businesses, including Racal-Dana
Instruments [UK-based], Racal Automation [UK], and Racal-Dana
[US]. At 31 March, 1989, the Racal businesses has net assets of
UKP 18.4 million, and profits before tax [1988 figures] of UKP
2.5 million.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press Contact: Richard Poston, Racal
Electronics - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00016)

NORTEL MAKES ROB 100O LOSERS' LIST
MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Northern
Telecom placed 31st in a ranking of Canada's 1,000 most
profitable companies published this week, but the Report on
Business 1000 also gave Northern the number five spot in its list
of the 10 largest profit declines of the year. Northern's 1988
profit fell to C$183.2 million from C$347.2 million the previous
year. Last year's Report on Business 1000, published by the
business section of the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail,
ranked Northern seventh by profit.

Northern's slippage left IBM Canada the high-tech company with
the largest profit in Canada at C$260 million. IBM does not
appear in the Top 1000 ranking, however, because it is entirely
controlled by IBM World Trade and is not publicly traded. Other
technology companies showed little change in this year's ranking.

(Grant Buckler/19890616)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00017)

NORTEL'S CREDIT RATING CUT
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JUN 13 (NB) -- A Toronto-based
credit rating agency has lowered its appraisal of Northern
Telecom, North America's second-largest telecommunications
equipment manufacturer. Dominion Bond Rating Service cut
Northern's long-term debt rating from double-A to single-A high
this week, citing a tough telecommunications market with rampant
price discounting. The agency also noted Northern Telecom has
overcapacity in some product areas.

(Grant Buckler/19890614/Press Contact: Dominion Bond Rating
Service, 416-593-5577)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00018)

DEVELCON SIGNS U.S. DISTRIBUTOR
SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA, 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Develcon
Electronics has signed a marketing agreement with Grumman Systems
Support Corp. of Woodbury, New York. Grumman gets non-exclusive
rights to market Develcon's products in the United States. The
Develcon line includes DevelNet, an internetworking product
designed to integrate, Ethernet, IBM, asynchronous, X.25 and
other networks, and I-Gate, which provides enhanced data
capabilities for ISDN networks, among other products.

(Grant Buckler/19890613/Press Contact: Heinz Jacob, Develcon,
416-495-8666)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00019)

ALTOS HAS NEW CANADIAN GM
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Warren Bell has
been appointed general manager for Canada at Altos Computer
Systems. Formerly VAR/OEM sales manager, Bell has nine years'
experience in the computer industry. Altos Canada has more than
100 value-added resellers and reported sales of more than C$10
million in fiscal 1988, up 56 percent from the previous year.

(Grant Buckler/19890613/Press Contact: Loretta Lam, The
Communications Group, 416-447-8591)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SIN)(00020)

U.K. MAPMAKER CHARTS SINGAPORE AS REGIONAL HQ
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUNE 15 (NB) -- UK-based SysScan, an
international leader in digital mapping systems, intends to make
Singapore its Asia-Pacific region headquarters and training centre.

SysScan Asia, set up in Singapore in 1982, is going to invest a
further S$3 million [US$1.65 million] to upgrade its local operations
to change it into a centre for technology in South-east Asia and the
Asia-Pacific region over the next few years. It presently only covers
Singapore and Malaysia.

The company feels that the demand for land information processing
systems in this region is growing and it expects the Asian office to
account for about 20 percent of the corporate turnover, which was
US$35 million last year for the parent company.

Mr. K T Goh, SysScan Asia's general manager, said the company is
currently upgrading its staff and will eventually extend applications
in mapping and planning land use, telecommunications, electricity and
other utilities.

He said that they chose Singapore because, other than Japan, it is the
most advanced country for computerisation and digital mapping
technology in this region.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890616)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SIN)(00021)

CAMBRIAN SYSTEMS IN SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUNE 9 (NB) -- California-based Cambrian
Systems, a leading manufacturer of disk drive test equipment, has
decided to set up a branch here since Singapore manufactures the major
proportion of the world's requirement for disk drives.

A company spokesman said that the Singapore operation would have
clean-room facilities and a full-range of test equipment including
drive testers, as well as a complete inventory of spare parts. The
company does not currently have a marketing department, focusing only
on servicing of equipment.

Phil Halamandaris, president of Cambrian Systems, said that the new
office would provide the company's customers in the region with
immediate service, improved response time and strategic support.

The company's other overseas office is in Tokyo.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890613)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00001)

NINTENDO OPPOSES RENTALS
SPRINGFIELD, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 14 (NB) -- Reportedly,
Erol's, the large East Coast video rental chain which introduced
Nintendo game rentals last week, was forced to purchase nearly
1,000 Nintendo game machines at full retail price because
Nintendo did not wish their games made available through the
rental market.

Other individual stores and small chains have reportedly
experienced the same trouble, indicating a firm policy on
Nintendo's part to restrict rentals.

(John McCormick/19890614/)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00002)

KAYPRO IMPROVES SPEECH, NEW COMPUTER
SOLANA BEACH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A. 1989 JUNE 15 (NB) -- Kaypro
Corp. has introduced a new interactive software program that
works in conjunction with audio cassettes to provide multi-
sensory instruction called the Vocabulary Improvement Program
[VIP].

According to Andrew Kay, president of Kaypro, VIP is based on the
scientifically developed method of Johnson O'Connor, founder of
the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation. VIP provides users
with a see and hear method of learning words beginning at the
sixth grade level and moving up to words known only to about 0.1
percent of the population. The program will run on any IBM
compatible computer with at least 256KB of internal memory.

Also new from Kaypro is the KC-1 "thrifty value" computer. Kay
hails this introduction as a return to Kaypro's roots, a computer
combining the full feature and low price that originally inspired
the Kaypro II.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Nancy Casey, WestCom
Group, 619-259-1288)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00003)

FAX VOICE/DATA SWITCH
BELMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 15 (NB) -- Technology
Concepts, Inc., a company founded last September, has placed two
versions of its new product, Fax Line Manager on the market.
Both the two function model [voice/fax, voice/modem or fax/modem]
and the three function model [voice/modem/fax] are priced less
than the cost of installation and monthly charges for a dedicated
line in most major cities.

The Fax Line Manager allows users to send and receive fax
transmissions, modem messages and voice calls over a single line.
The unit accepts standard RJ11 telephone plugs from the fax modem
and answering machine and becomes a full coordinator of the
telephone line.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Technology Concepts president
James Sturtevant explained that the Fax Line Manager is ideal for
small businesses and people who work at home. He indicated that
the response since the units first appeared a week ago has been
excellent. The products are currently shipping to office
equipment stores and computer dealers.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: James E. Sturtevant,
Technology Concepts, Inc., 415-349-0900)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00004)

SURVEY SHOWS TOPS IN RISC-TAKING
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- A survey of more
than 300 executives at Technologic Partners' recent advanced systems
conference found that a majority [40 percent] felt that Sun
Microsystems will be the leading supplier of RISC-based computer
systems within two years. Second was MIPS Computer Systems [16
percent] and Digital Equipment [16 percent] and IBM [7 percent]. The
survey also found:

 - 58 percent believe the U.S. will fail in its attempt to open
Japanese markets to more high-tech goods.

 - 69 percent think the government should help U.S. companies compete.

 - 80 percent think takeovers of technology companies will increase
through the end of this year.

 - 57 percent see the Cray Research split into two companies as a major
mistake.

 - 62 percent believe Japan will be the world's preeminent supercomputer
manufacturer by 1999.

Technologic Partners, based in New York, publishes "Computer Letter,"
a highly regarded weekly newsletter devoted to computer and technology
issues, in addition to its sponsorship of conferences.

(Wendy Woods/19890616/Press Contact: Richard Shaffer, 212-696-
9330)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00005)

FALL COMDEX NOVEMBER 13-17
NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 16 (NB)J-- The Interface
Group is beginning the call to arms for its gigantic computer industry
trade show, Comdex/Fall, slated for November 13-17 in the glitter
capital of the world, Las Vegas. Interface says more than 1700
companies will exhibit and over 100,000 will attend. Special travel
packages are available for international attendees. Full conference
registration has been set at $295 per person, one day conferences are
$150 and exhibits only admission is $75.

(Wendy Woods/19890617/Press Contact: Victor Cruz, Interface,
617-449-6600)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BRU)(00006)

NAZI SOFTWARE SEEN IN SCHOOL YARDS
NUREMBURG, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUN 9 (NB) -- Increasingly, school
yards are the scenes of exchange of black market Nazi-glorifying
software. Computer games and videos glorifying the Nazi regime
have been outlawed in Germany, but underground dissemination
continues. Three district governors of Mittelfranken have
warned the public to weigh the consequences of this activity
and have urged an investigation, as young people in particular
are easily influenced.

It is believed that Nazi PC games are being promoted by extreme
right groups.

(Klaus Rosenthal/19890609)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BRU)(00007)

FLOATING COMMUNICATIONS EXPO
BONN, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- On June 21, the "Communica"
will set sail laden with 100 square meters of exhibits of
telecommunications products and services. This ship, owned by German
Bundespost [PTT], is on an informational cruise across the Baltic
Sea. The cruise ends July 1.

Featured on two decks will also been a special career opportunities
exhibit sponsored by the Bundespost. Stops will include the
harbors of Emden, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cuxhaven, Hamburg, Kiel and
Luebeck.

(Klaus Rosenthal/19890609)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BRU)(00008)

COMPUTE NOW, PAY LATER SAYS COMMODORE
FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- In order to push PC
sales, the German subsidiary of Commodore has started a marketing
campaign aimed at sales to individuals within large corporations.
Employees are offered a "compute now - pay later" program with
low interest rates and payments automatically drawn from their
monthly payroll check. The campaign is offering Commodore MS-DOS
PCs and self-teaching software from Homesoft, of Munich. Employees
are expected to learn MS-DOS, word processing and data
processing at home, thus reducing the employer's training costs.

(Klaus Rosenthal/19890609)


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

NOW YOU CAN SHOOT YOUR COMPUTER
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 16 (NB) -- Jeffrey
Gesten, an experienced distributor of computer accessories like
cables and covers and stands, now has a product aimed at gift
stores which many PC owners will love. Called Count Disk, it's a
dart game with a little plastic gun, special darts with suction
caps on the business end, and a floppy disk which paints dart
boards on your computer screen and counts up your score. Playing
is simple -- you put the darts in the gun, point it at the
screen, and fire away.

The product, which is made in Hong Kong, was first introduced at
the Variety Merchandise show, a show for gift stores and book
stores and card stores, Gesten told Newsbytes. "This is our first
novelty product, and we wanted to expose it to that market," he
added.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619/Press Contact: Jeff Gesten, Count
Disk, 407-738-5592)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00010)

CD-ROM INTEREST GROUP MEETS
RESTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 16 (NB) -- SIGCAT, the
Special Interest Group for CD-ROM Applications Technology, the
world's largest CD-ROM user's group, today announced an open
meeting to be held on Wednesday, June 28, at the Auditorium of
the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia.

SIGCAT meetings, which are government-sponsored but often open to
other interested individuals, are at the forefront of CD-ROM
technological development and SIGCAT members have access to the
CD-ROM lab at the U.S.G.S. Headquarters.

This month's meeting will include a technology tutorial by
Timothy Hinds, president of Integrity Data Systems, on the
various CD-ROM publishing workstations.

John Garofolo, a computer scientist at the National Institute of
Standards and Technology - formerly the Bureau of Standards, will
describe a prototype project that places digitized speech
databases on CD-ROMs.

A prototype disc produced by U.S. West and Microsoft Corp. will
also be shown at the meeting. The CD-ROM, known as the
"Electronic Yellow Pages," consists of the 39 directories
published by U.S. West for the state of Colorado.

John Sands of Nimbus Information Systems, located in
Charlottesville, Virginia, a major CD record and CD-ROM producer,
will discuss quality control issues and the latest developments
in metallizing techniques.

SIGCAT meetings cover a wide range of topics from introductory to
very advanced, and are often the site of new product
announcements in the CD-ROM field.

The group also publishes a small newsletter. For SIGCAT
membership information write E. J. McFaul, Computer Scientist,
USGS, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 22092.

(John McCormick/19890616/)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00011)

SONY REWRITABLES SEE SUN AND DEC
PARK RIDGE, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 5 (NB) -- Sony
Corporation of America today announced that its Rewritable
Optical Products Division has reached an agreement to supply $3.5
million worth of rewritable optical disk drives to Lanham,
Maryland-based U.S. Design, a subsidiary of Maxtor Corp..

U.S. Design's Q-Stor family of high-capacity mass storage devices
will integrate the Sony 5.25-inch optical drives with a Small
Computer System Interface or SCSI controller to provide 650
megabytes/drive storage to DEC and Sun workstations.

A $8,230 single drive table-top unit for individual workstations
is designated the QT 650 and a rack- or pedestal-mounted QS 650
unit offering 2.6 gigabytes of on-line storage and backup will
cost $10,018. A dual drive table-top unit with 1.3 gigabytes of
storage will cost $8,723.

(John McCormick/19890616/Press Contact: Barry Rothschild,
Technology Solutions, 212-505-9900 or Stephen Burke, Sony, 201-
930-7323)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00012)

XEROX PUBLISHING SYSTEM
EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 13 (NB) -- Xerox
Corporation has announced the XPS 732 Publishing System, a full
featured multiuser electronic publishing system targeted for use
by publication departments in corporate, commercial and
government organizations.

The XPS 732 is designed to automate the production of complex
corporate documents. The system incorporates major hardware and
software advances over the earlier Xerox XPS 701 Publishing
System.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Barry Sulpor, Xerox
Corporation, 213/333-3427)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00013)

NINTENDO-COMPATIBLE PROVOKES COMBAT
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 13 (NB) -- A report that a small software
firm would offer a Nintendo game-compatible software development
kit for less than Nintendo could offer, has prompted the video game
giant to offer its kit for less.

Scitec Electronics was to distribute Nintendo video game software
development kits made by U.S.-based Color Dreams, according to a report
in the Nikkan Kogyo Shumbun newspaper. The kit consists of a
development board for IBM AT, a debugger, subroutines of simulating
animation, music, and voice. Scitec, the report said, would sell the
the kit for 8 million yen or $53,000 to software houses, and on a
royalty basis, would receive, for example, 1,000 yen or $6.7 per
package from a software house for each 1,000 packages published.

However, a Nintendo spokesman says his firm will now offer its
development kit for two million yen, or $13,000 -- four times
less. In addition, Nintendo will pursue legal action against the
firms involved, Newsbytes was told by a spokesman.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615/Press Contact: Scitec Electronics,
03-351-8261)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00014)

NEC OFFERS 300 PCS FOR FREE
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 15 (NB) -- As part of a celebration for the
tenth anniversary of its PC business and the 90th anniversary of
the firm's founding, NEC will give away 300 PC-98DO personal
computers to winners of a quiz at the coming NEC C&C Home Electronics
Fair.

NEC says some three million PC-9800 and 8800 series machines
have been sold since their introduction. The PC-98DO model is said
to be able to run software written for either of the earlier
machines.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615/Press Contact: 03-456-3111)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00015)

DEC JAPAN SPONSORS FIELD TRIPS
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 14 (NB) -- Digital Equipment Corporation
Japan has dispatched its newest faces to the United States for
some first-hand training in sales. Some 39 young people are among
220 new employees going on a pilgrimage to the mother firm, at
company expense.

The study program is conducted in English and includes instruction
on sales technique, the management philosophy of DEC, inspection of
DEC's application center for technology or ACT, and sightseeing in
Boston.

The students are impressed, one commenting, "ACT in Japan is far from
the original in scale." And, comments another, "This is THE
DEC, the second largest computer maker in the world even though DEC
Japan is the number 10 ranking company in Japan."

Those who were left behind in Japan this time have been assured
that 20 to 30 more people will take the trip each month. These
highly-coveted field trips are helping DEC to lure in top talent
from universities.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890615/Press Contact: Digital Equipment
Corporation Japan, 03-989-7111)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00016)

PCS MORE AVAILABLE
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 15 (NB) -- Since the beginning of this year,
it has taken, on average, at least three weeks to receive a personal
computer purchased in a Japanese store. But the situation has changed
so that the waiting time is now a week or so.

Customers flooded PC stores in March, just before the execution of an
unpopular sales tax system, but since that time demand has gradually
diminished to where retailers say sales in May were just slightly
more than May of '88. June sales are expected to be very sluggish.
In addition, PC makers have increased production of PCs, so the delivery
time has become much shorter.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00017)

LONDON ATARI SHOW THIS WEEK
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 15 (NB) -- More than 50 new products
will be rolled out this week at the Atari Show in London. The
three-day event, which opens on 23 June, will be held at the West
Hall, Alexandra Palace.

One of the most interesting devices on show will be the Atari ST
Mac emulation cartridge from Gadgets by Small in the US. The
Spectre 128 cartridge will be on sale for UKP 199. Reports in
from Dave Small in the U.S. say that the latest version of the
Spectre 128 supports Mac sound on the ST, although slowing the
Mac emulation down somewhat.

Newsbytes will have a full show report in next week's issue.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press Contact: Mike Cowley, Cape Cowley
Associates - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00018)

MANDARIN RELEASES STOS MAESTRO LIBRARY
ADLINGTON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Mandarin Software has
released STOS Maestro Library, a library of sampled sounds for
use with its popular STOS games creation package for the Atari
ST.

Mandarin decided to release a sampled sounds library after
receiving numerous examples of sampled sounds from users of the
recently-launched STOS Maestro sound sampler package.

"These were great fun to play around with, but tended to be of
limited practical use. So we decided we'd better do something
about it ourselves," said Chris Payne of Mandarin Software.

STOS Maestro [software only] costs UKP 24-95. STOS Maestro Plus,
which includes the sampling cartridge for the ST, costs UKP 69-
95.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press & Public Contact: Chris Payne, Mandarin
Software - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00019)

EXCHANGE PLANS NEW SYSTEMS
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JUN 13 (NB) -- The Toronto Stock
Exchange plans to replace large parts of its computer systems
over the next three years. In a quest for increased trading
capacity, greater reliability and better response times, the
exchange plans to replace most of its existing software,
including the Computer-Aided Trading System [CATS] which it has
sold to several European exchanges, with new integrated trading
software.

Olaf Kraulis, vice-president of information systems at
the exchange, said the new system will probably allow users to do
things the same ways they do now, but may have a choice between
the traditional user interface and a new and improved one, much
as recent versions of WordStar let users choose between pull-down
menus and the "classic" menus of the original WordStar software.

Oracle, the database and applications development software from
the California firm of the same name, will be the basis of the
Toronto exchange's new software, Kraulis said. Some of the TSE's
hardware will also be replaced. At the moment the CATS system
runs on an IBM mainframe, while most of the trading floor systems
are on Tandem minicomputers. Kraulis said fault-tolerance is a
key concern, and systems from Tandem, Sequent, Stratus and Encore
might be in the running for that reason.

The TSE's present software is designed to handle from 80,000 to
100,000 trades per day, and on the exchange's heaviest trading
day to date a little over 60,000 trades were executed. However,
peak trading days in the past have each tended to be about 50
percent heavier than the previous record, so the next burst of
heavy trading could push existing systems to their limits.

Kraulis said the exchange's new trading systems could be sold to
other exchanges as CATS has been.

(Grant Buckler/19890614/Press Contact: Olaf Kraulis, Toronto
Stock Exchange, 416-947-4277)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00020)

IMAGINOLOGY COMES TO TORONTO
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Imaginology, trade
show and seminar series privately sponsored by Motorola
Semiconductor, will run June 26 to 29 in Toronto. The event has
already toured seven cities in the United States and attracted
approximately 37,000 visitors since its debut in Irvine, Calif.,
in January, 1988. About a third of some 70 products on display in
Toronto, however, will be Canadian-developed. The 12,000-square-
foot show will be accompanied by 84 technical seminars. The show
will be open to the public daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.
June 26 to 29, and admission will be free. Organizers expect the
Toronto edition of Imaginology to attract about 4,000 visitors.
Its next appearance will be in San Jose, Calif., Oct. 7-14.

(Grant Buckler/19890613/Press Contact: Gerald Crowell, Langdon
Starr, 416-480-0533)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SIN)(00021)

SINGAPORE PORT TO COMPUTERIZE
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUNE 5 (NB) -- An advanced multi-million
dollar electronic integrated system to be implemented by the Port of
Singapore Authority [PSA] in 1992 will further cut the turnaround
time for ships calling at the port.

Called Computer Integrated Marine Operations System [CIMOS], it will
link electronically all activities related to vessels entering and
leaving the port, including vessel traffic control, deployment of
pilots and marine craft, monitoring of currents and hydrographic
information.

Anthony Chia, PSA's assistant director who described the project as
"ambitious," said that vessel traffic in the port had increased by
about 40 percent between 1979 and last year.

The PSA has placed an advertisement in the local paper The Straits
Times requesting for information which Chia explained is to get
information technology vendors to suggest how to best develop a
suitable system, for although the technology is available, no one has
come up with a specific system as yet.

Chia remarked, "We do not expect a single vendor to be able to do
everything. We think there will be consortiums formed to undertake
this project."

In addition to ensuring that Singapore remains the world's busiest
port and Asia's best seaport, the system will facilitate the handling
of a continuing increase of ship traffic by the PSA.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890612/Press Contact: Mr Chia,
PSA,[65] 274.7111)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SIN)(00022)

SINGAPORE'S ELECTRONIC BANKERS
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUNE 3 (NB) -- United Overseas Bank [UOB]
has launched its "Electronic Banker" -- a new concept in self-service
banking which aims to cut down queues and hassle in the banking hall
as well as to ease the problem of labour shortage. This new system
enables customers to make enquiries of products and services, to apply
for loans, to make transaction on saving, current or gold accounts
through the electronic banker.

The users of this system will be guided with step by step instructions
on the screen. The first unit is now operating in the bank's Orchard
Road branch which opens a full seven days a week in the centre of
Singapore's tourist belt.

The IBM 4737 system costs about S$60,000 [US$33,000] and is the first
in the Asia-Pacific region.

(Michael Worsley & Joseph Ming/19890612/Press Contact: United
Overseas Bank, Ph:[65] 533.9898)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SIN)(00023)

JUNIOR COMPUTER FOR CHILDREN
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUNE 3 (NB) -- A compact, portable and easy
to operate computer called Junior Computer targetted for children
above the age of 3 has been launched here. Powered by normal
battery, the Junior Computer is manufactured in Hong Kong, and is
designed to make learning, especially teaching of English language,
more enjoyable and interesting for a child. As a learning aid,
it can display words and pictures, produce sounds and has a program
expansion capability to cater for different groups of children.

The product is being launched priced at S$398 [US$199] during the
initial promotion period and will be listed at S$598 [US$299] after
next month.

(Michael Worsley & Joseph Ming/19890613/Press Contact: Wilson,
Archer International [S] Pte. Ltd., Ph: [65] 4683088)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00001)

FILENET SYSTEM FAILS IN CALIFORNIA
COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 14 (NB) -- The recently
installed [April] FileNet system in the California state agency
that verifies commercial title searches for real estate
transactions is being blamed for a backlog of 50,000 requests
that has built up since mid-May.

The system was intended to speed up processing by the Uniform
Commercial Code Division and instead, the California Secretary of
State's office has announced that it will have to hire 185
temporary workers to clear the jam. This type of delay was
something the installation of FileNet was supposed to prevent.

According to Mark St. Clare, chief financial officer at FileNet,
the company recommends that when getting started, customers use
FileNet in tandem with their old system so that if problems
develop, their operations are not completely down. Apparently
the California Department of Finance refused to pay to run two
systems in tandem. Ironically, the estimated cost for tandem
operation was $600,000 while the estimated cost to hire the 185
temporary workers is expected to be at least $500,000.

FileNet and the State of California have indicated they expect to
have the FileNet system up and running again by early August.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TYO)(00002)

TRON HOPELESS IN EDUCATION ARENA?
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Japanese newspapers report
that the Computer Education Computer Center or CEC, under
administration of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry
and the Ministry of Education, has given up the idea of adopting
the Business TRON operating system as one for education computers.

CEC, which has been promoting the standardization of
educational computers based on BTRON, has decided not to
pursue the BTRON operating system for Japan's schools, a project
originally scheduled to be in place by the end of this year,
according to reports.

CEC ordered twelve computer makers such as NEC, Fujitsu, and
Mitsubishi to present prototypes of a BTRON educational computer last
spring, but confusion resulted when NEC insisted on adopting MS-DOS, and
even worse, the development was delayed.

School teachers, meanwhile, have sided with NEC, backing MS-DOS
rather than BTRON due to the prevalence of software written for that
operating system. Yet another blow to BTRON came in the form of
U.S. criticism that the TRON Project was a trade barrier.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Ministry of International Trade and
Industry has denied the report, saying, "I do not know where the story
comes from. We never decided to adopt BTRON as a single operating
system for educational computers, because it will be very difficult to
gain a consensus if we reject other operating systems."

The TRON Association has re-elected its executive staff
and come up with ways for further promoting TRON internationally.
Katsushige Mita, president of Hitachi, has assumed the chairman's
post in the TRON Association. There is also a TRON Charter,
which describes the concept of the TRON Project and its open
architecture available to anyone in the world, and states
that everyone has the right to belong to the TRON Association. The
organization is also publishing a monthly TRON and TRON Journal
magazines. Furthermore, the association will participate in overseas
exhibitions, open symposiums, and translate TRON specifications into
English.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00003)

TOSHIBA FIGHTS TANDY LAPTOP SUIT
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- The silence
of the past few weeks while Toshiba studied the laptop patent
infringement suit filed last month by Tandy Corporation has been
broken with a promise that Toshiba will fight.

Newsbytes received a call from a Toshiba spokesperson who read
the following prepared statement regarding the Toshiba response.

"Toshiba, having consulted with its patent attorneys believes
that Tandy/Grid's claim of patent infringement is without
validity. Toshiba Corporation and Toshiba America intend to
vigorously defend themselves against Tandy/Grid's patent
infringement action in the courts with solid foundation."

Toshiba declined to say anything further on the matter at the
current time.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Sean Fitzgerald,
Berkemer, Klein, Golan/Harris, 213/620-5711)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00004)

ASHTON-TATE LOSES, GETS SUED
TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 16 (NB) -- Ashton-Tate,
facing a large excess inventory of its database software
products, expects to report a loss for the quarter ending June
30, 1989 on reduced revenues. The possibility exists of further
losses in the quarter ending September 30, 1989.

The company anticipates a $15 million loss for the second quarter
based on revenues of only $55 million as compared with $71.9
million during the same period last year. Included in the loss
is an $8 million dollar write-off of Decision Resources product
rights and inventories, a product line Ashton-Tate bought in
1986.

The company attributes the loss in part to changes in industry
distribution including the merger of Micro D and Ingram, public
stock offerings by Egghead and Softsel and Egghead's curtailed
expansion plans, all of which lowered the amount of inventory
these major distribution companies were willing to take on.

A class action lawsuit on behalf of stockholders who purchased
shares between February 5, 1988 and June 13, 1989 has been filed
against Ashton-Tate in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The
suit seeks unspecified damages and alleges violations of Federal
and State securities laws in connection with the circumstances
leading to the quarterly losses anticipated by the company.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Alan Schulman, the attorney for
the class action filing explained that the suit claims that
Ashton-Tate and certain of its officers and directors issued
false positive statements about the condition of the company
between February 1988 and June 13, 1989 thus artificially
inflating the price of the company's stock. The complaint
further alleges that some of the officers and directors used
their inside knowledge of the company's true condition to sell
their own stock holdings while the price was artificially inflated
in order to make a profit.

Ashton-Tate Chairman Edward M. Esber, Jr., says the
company believes the charges to be without merit and intends to
defend itself vigorously against them.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Brad Stevens, Ashton-
Tate, 213-538-7348)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SFO)(00005)

NINTENDO/TENGEN RULING DUE
MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Both Nintendo and
Tengen have agreed not to ship cartridges on the video game Tetris
until a federal court makes a ruling Wednesday, June 21.

The two are involved in countersuits over the rights to distribute
the game, developed in the Soviet Union. Both sides seek to
stop the other from selling the game on Nintendo and Nintendo-
compatible cartridges.

(Wendy Woods/19890616/Press Contact: David Ellis, 213-552-6922)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SFO)(00006)

ADOBE SUED BY TRIPLE-I
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 14 (NB) -- Adobe Systems
has been served with a patent infringement suit by Information
International, Inc, a.k.a. Triple-I, for allegedly copying Triple-I's
patent for forming fonts. Filed in the federal district court in the
Central District of California, the suit elicited this response from
Adobe:

"Adobe and Triple-I have been engaged in discussions about this
patent for the past two years. Adobe has extensively analyzed the
issues raised by Triple-I and believes that it had convinced Triple-I
that the Adobe Postscript software relies on techniques published
well prior to the Triple-I patent and does not infringe on the
patent."

(Wendy Woods/19890617/Press Contact: Brenda Hansen, Adobe, 415-
961-4400)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SFO)(00007)

SUN SUED BY SHAREHOLDERS
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 13 (NB)J-- Another
lawsuit has resulted from a company's projected drop in earnings. Sun
Microsystems has been hit by a class action suit arising from its
June 1 fiscal report which said the company's earnings would fall
below expectations.

As would be expected in these cases, Sun Microsystems calls the
suit "utterly without merit -- indeed frivolous." The statement,
attributed by Austin Wing Mayer, director of investor relations with Sun,
adds, "To say that this lawsuit will be defended vigorously would be
an understatement."

This week Ashton-Tate was also sued by shareholders for the same
reason.

(Wendy Woods/19890617/Press Contact: Austin Mayer, 415-336-6295)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00008)

SPA BLOCKS COPYRIGHT ABUSE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- The Software
Publishers' Association today announced that it had reached an
out-of-court agreement with New York publisher Facts on File
whereby the company consented to a permanent injunction
prohibiting it from copying software in violation of copyrights.

Last month the SPA filed suit in U.S. District court on behalf of
SPA members Ashton-Tate, Lotus Development Corp., Microsoft
Corp., Micropro International, and WordPerfect Corp., alleging
that Facts on File had made copies unauthorized by the user's
agreements.

A cash settlement in excess of $100,000 was also agreed to, and
Facts on File's president, Howard Epstein, expressed regret that
the copyright infringement had taken place, especially in view of
the fact that Facts on File is a publisher and depends heavily on
copyright laws in their business dealings.

This was only one of 18 lawsuits filed through the SPA Copyright
Protection Fund and demonstrates that software publishers are
taking a serious stand against copyright infringement.

Ken Wash, director of the 500 plus member SPA said that the $2.8
billion software industry would be at least 50% larger if it
weren't for the widespread copyright abuse involved in illegal
sharing of program copies.

A $25,000 settlement was reached this week with computer dealer
Cavalier Office Products/Today's Business Computer Center, for a
suit brought this April that also alleged copyright infringement.
The suit alleged that the Computer Center stores were installing
copies of copyrighted programs on systems they were selling.

(John McCormick/19890615/Press Contact: Jodi Pollock, 202-
452-1600)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00009)

ABCD OPPOSES WARRANTY LEGISLATION
SCHAUMBERG, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 16 (NB) -- In an interview
with Newsbytes, John Venator, executive vice president of ABCD,
the Microcomputer Industry Association, commented on the
association's recent adoption of a resolution opposing the
warranty legislation pending in several states. ABCD feels it
must take a stand now in order to prevent additional states from
attempting to pass similar legislation.

According to Venator, there are two types of legislation pending,
one that would fail to place restrictions on implied warranties
and another that imposes punitive industry-specific warranties.

In the first case, an implied warranty, if unrestricted, can be
construed to cover what the buyer thought a computer could do,
not what the system actually can do. In the second case, the
computer industry is being singled out for additional warranty
requirements that other industries are not saddled with.

"The pending bills are the result of one of two unfortunate
dealer-consumer problems but such isolated incidents are in no
way indicative of the industry overall," Venator told Newsbytes.
He added: "ABCD feels the microcomputer industry has been
extremely customer-responsive."

Venator also pointed out that warranty legislation is already
provided by the Uniform Code Council [UCC] the Dayton, OH
association behind the Universal Product Code System and by the
[federal] Magnuson-Moss Act. "Additional legislation," said
Venator, "may form nothing more than the basis for frivolous
litigation."

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: John Venator, ABCD,
312-240-1818)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00010)

AST RESEARCH GETS GSA CONTRACT
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 9 (NB) -- For the first
time, the Government Services Administration [GSA] has awarded a
contract to AST Research. This contract enables authorized AST
federal resellers to solicit business with the U.S. government.

AST negotiated this contract in order to give its resellers an
additional means of competing in personal computer sales to the
government. Selected AST independent dealers and major chains
now have the opportunity to become part of AST's Authorized
Federal Dealer program. Nearly 500 dealer locations have already
been authorized. AST will not sell direct to federal departments
and agencies.

AST's plans to build its federal market to $20 in the next year.
AST maintains an office in Washington, D.C. that operates a
reseller training facility and offers technical support services.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Joel C. Don, AST
Research, 714-756-4942)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00011)

COMPUTER SCIENCES GETS BIG FED CONTRACT
EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Computer
Sciences Corp. [CSC] has been awarded a contract to process
health claims and disability benefits for the U.S. government's
black lung program. The contract has a potential value of $46.2
million.

The program processes about 700,000 medical claims annually. CSC
will staff and operate the program's automated support package
that consists of a telecommunications network linking terminal
equipment in nine Labor Department district offices with a CSC
office in Lanham, MD. CSC's Health and Administrative Services
division, headquartered in the Lanham office will process the
claims.

This contract, won through a bidding procedure, continues the
work CSC was first awarded in 1985.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: C. Bruce Plowman,
Computer Sciences Corporation, 213-615-0311)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00012)

JUDGE ALLOWS PRIME TO POSTPONE ANNUAL MEETING
TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 13 (NB) -- In this week's
installment in the ongoing hostile takeover battle between Prime
Computer and MAI Basic Four, the judge in the Delaware court
where MAI filed suit to prevent postponement of Prime's annual
meeting has refused to stop Prime's move.

The annual meeting, which had already been moved from May 12 back
to June 14 will now be rescheduled to July 26. Prime delayed the
meeting in a last ditch effort to find a "white knight" to
prevent the MAI takeover. Prime claims to be talking with a
number of companies [including several leverage buy-out firms] at
present but the company will not reveal the identities of these
companies. Prime has also indicated it would consider offering
a one-time cash dividend to shareholders as incentive not to
tender their shares to MAI.

In his ruling, the judge characterized MAI's recent revised
tender offer [Newsbytes, 6/3] as the type of coercive tender
offer consistently criticized by the Delaware courts. Even if
Prime refuses to accept MAI's tender offer, MAI could still win
control of the company through a proxy fight at the annual
meeting.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/ Press Contact: Peter Rosenthal,
Howard J. Rubenstein Associates, Inc., 212-489-6900)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00013)

MAI TO VIEW PRIME BOOKS
TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 15 (NB) -- When we last left
Prime and MAI, a judge had allowed Prime to cancel its stockholders
meeting where MAI wanted to attempt a takeover. In the latest
development, Prime has agreed to let MAI look at the company books.
In return, MAI has promised not to lower its current tender offer
[the amended offer tendered earlier this month] before Prime's
annual meeting [see related story].

A confidentiality agreement signed June 15 [MAI has refused to
sign such an agreement in the past] allows MAI to see non-public
information such as profit breakdowns by product and geography
and profiles of Prime facilities and employees among other items.
Prime has already shared this information with other potential
buyers from among the 65 companies Prime has talked to in search
of a "white knight."

This move basically puts MAI on an equal footing with other
possible bidders. It will give MAI the information it needs to
decide whether Prime is worth even the lower amount in MAI's
amended offer.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/ Press Contact: Peter Rosenthal,
Howard J. Rubenstein Associates, Inc., 212-489-6900)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SIN)(00014)

SINGAPORE PUSHES AUTOMATION
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUNE 9 (NB) -- Singapore's Economic
Development Board [EDB] yesterday launched a new scheme to get
companies to redesign their products to allow their manufacturing
process to be automated.

The EDB has allotted a budget of S$9 million [US$4.9 million] for grants
of up to S$200,000 each [US$110,000] so that firms can recover 70
percent of redesign costs, including fees and wages of technical staff, and
consultancy fees. The Design for Automation Scheme [DFA] is an addition
to last year's government announcement of a S$60 million [US$33 million]
package to encourage comapanies to automate and reduce their reliance
on foreign staff.

Tan Chin Nam, EDB's managing director, says previous emphasis on
automation was directed at improving the production process without
paying attention to the product itself, with the result that many
products originally designed for manual production "just do not lend
themselves to automation."

"Companies are therefore being challenged to add extra value to their
products by customising them, while at the same time, offering best
value for money," he said.

(Michael Worsley & S. Roowi/19890616/Contact: EDB, Ph: [65] 336.2288)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(KUL)(00015)

CHINA TROUBLES AFFECT COMPUTER MARKET
HONG KONG, ASIA, 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Computer companies with
business stakes in the US$690 million China market have adopted a "wait
and see" attitude, according to an Asia Computer Weekly report.

Statistics by International Data Corporation [IDC] show that research
analysts believe the political crisis in China will cause the growing
computer market there which has risen from an estimated US$450 million
in 1987 to last year's US$690 million to deflate.

Philip Wong, general manager of AST Research [Far East] and Ms
Linda Wong, marketing communications manager of Data General [Asia
North] said that their companies have shut down their Beijing offices
and flown home their foreign staff.

China Hewlett-Packard and NCR have reported a temporary crippling of
their Chinese operations.

SAS Institute's general manager, Nigel Gasper, said that both HP and
Digital have postponed indefinitely seminars planned for Shanghai and
Beijing.

IDC China believes that companies which had made definite plans to
enter China will delay them while those which had no definite plans
but were considering entering the Chinese market will think twice
about doing so.

The general manager of Research Asia, Reid Rasmussen, thinks that
the IT market of Hong Kong will also be affected. He said that at least
two large vendors are reconsidering their investment plans in China
and turning to countries which are more politically stable, like
Singapore.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890613)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SIN)(00016)

HK'S RUSH TO SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE, S.E ASIA, 1989 JUNE 10 (NB) -- The present situation in
China has caused a sudden sharp increase in the number of Hong Kong
professionals applying to move to Singapore.

Michael Lim, general manager of SMC [HK] Limited, a subsidiary of
Temasek Management Services, the agency which recruits professionals
to live and work in Singapore, said, after seeing a four to five fold
increase in applications this week, "It's gone mad!"

Lim said the applications come from the kind of people that
Singapore seeks -- outstanding professionals, university
graduates and skilled workers. Outstanding professionals refer to
doctors, accountants, lawyers, computer specialists and others with at
least five years of working experience and preferably a postgraduate
degree. Would-be immigrants to Singapore are accessed according to
sets of regulations laid down by that government covering different
categories.

After martial law was declared in Beijing on May 20 interest in moving
here surged. After the bloodbath at Tiananmen, many who were
previously undecided about such a move made up their minds in a hurry.

Canada, the U.S. and Australia have been the traditional choice of
Hong Kong professionals who wish to migrate, and consulates of these
countries as well as that of New Zealand, have reported significant
increases in the number of enquiries they received.

The Hong Kong government has forecast that about 40,000 will emigrate
this year, but Dr. Miron Mushkat, chief regional economist of Baring
Securities, places the figure closer to 60,000 or more, following the
political unrest in Beijing.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890613)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00001)

PC EXPO FEATURES DYNABOOK, GRID, DATAVUE LAPTOPS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- PC Expo in New York
June 20-22 promises more than the usual share of product announcements,
and a few new laptops worth a peek.

Among the items expected:

 - Datavue's new Spark 20Mb, a nine pound laptop with a full-size
screen, dual-speed processor, two 3.5-inch drives and 640K, and a base
price of $2195.

 - GRiD Systems will introduce its lightest laptop, a 9.5 pound
unit with a 20 Mb, 2.5-inch hard disk drive, a reflective film, black
and white supertwist display, built-in modem, dual-speed processor,
and one megabyte of memory. The $1950 machine will ship in July.

 - Dynabook Technologies of San Jose is expected to introduce a
laptop with an 80286 microprocessor and some other unique features,
priced at $3,000 to $4,000.

 - Hertz Computer Corporation of New York will unveil a 33MHz 80386-
based workstation said to run at eight million instructions
per second, a speed 45 percent faster than its 25 MHz machine. The
basic configuration should run $9,000.

 - Lotus is expected to unveil 1-2-3 release 3.0. Not only that, but
Lotus is expected to announce the product will SHIP immediately -- this
following two years of delays.  [See full report in this Newsbytes
issue.]

 - IBM will announce a deal with Delrina and PerForm as it enters
the forms processing business.

 - Samna is introducing an enhanced version of its Ami word processor
for Windows, Ami Professional. [See report in this issue of Newsbytes.]

 - XTree Company will announce a software amnesty program which will
enable pirates of its XTree software to obtain the benefits of legal
usage without threat of penalty for previous copyright violations.
[Full report on this product in this issue of Newsbytes.]

(Wendy Woods/19890616)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00002)

LOWEST-PRICED AT-COMPATIBLE
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- American Mitac
Corporation claims to have the lowest-priced AT-compatible PC on the
market today -- its $999 286-based MPC2000SL. The American arm
of this Taiwan-based company is selling the computer through retail
stores. The MPC2000SL is designed to compete with AST Research's
Bravo and IBM's Model 30/286 by offering more bang for the buck.
The MPC2000SL comes standard with one 5 1/4-inch floppy drive,
five slots, CGA video, four drive spaces, 512K of random access memory,
10/6 MHz speed, and optional 3 1/2-inch drive, and 20/40 hard disk.

In one of the first major sales of the units, American Mitac recently sold
35 of the units to the World Wildlife Fund.

The computers will be distributed through Microamerica, Schweber
Electronics, and other authorized dealers. The company can be contacted
toll-free in the U.S. at 800-648-2287.

(Wendy Woods/19890617/Press Contact: Shawn Leuthold, American
Mitac, 800-648-2287 or 408-432-0866)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00003)

LOTUS CANADA REVEALS 1-2-3 UPGRADE
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JUN 13 (NB) -- Lotus Development
Canada has announced its upgrade plans for 1-2-3 Release 2.2 and
Release 3.0, which Colin Wyatt, general manager of Lotus Canada,
described as the largest upgrade project in the history of the
software industry. In Canada, an upgrade from any previous
release of 1-2-3 to either 2.2 or 3.0 will cost C$185. The only
exception to that price will be a free upgrade for anyone who has
bought Release 2.01 since September 6, 1988.

Lotus plans to mail upgrade order kits to registered 1-2-3 users
across Canada. The company is also supplying its authorized
dealers with prepaid upgrade kits, in which customers may mail in
their system or backup system diskette for an upgrade. Finally,
the company has a volume upgrade plan for its large accounts.
Wyatt said upgrades will be shipped out by courier to reduce the
wait for the new software.

Release 3.0 is scheduled to be available in Canada before the end
of June, while Release 2.2 is due in the fall.

(Grant Buckler/19890614/Press Contact: Peter Hebb or Cathy
Browne, The Communications Group, 416-447-8591; Colin Wyatt,
Lotus Development Canada, 416-979-8000)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00004)

LOTUS OFFERS 24-HOUR HELP
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 13 (NB) -- When
purchasers start receiving the two latest Lotus 1-2-3 Rel 3 later
this month they will also get six months of toll-free 24-hour
telephone support seven days a week.

Buyers of 1-2-3 Rel 2.2 later this year will also receive six
months of toll-free support for the popular spreadsheet program.

Howard Vadnais, Lotus' director of support services, said the
move was made to make the transition to the major new release as
easy as possible. Support after the initial six-month period will
be an extra cost item for which the price has yet to be
determined.

Major users might want to consider using Lotus' CD PROMPT, a
monthly CD-ROM published by Lotus with the latest technical
information about the company's products.

(John McCormick/19890615/Press Contact: Philip A. Greenough, 617
577-8500)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00005)

LOTUS OFFERS REBATE
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Lotus
Development Corp. today announced a rebate program for customers
purchasing both Lotus 1-2-3 Rel 2.2 or Rel 3.0 and either Lotus
Manuscript or Lotus Freelance.

The offer, called 1-2-3 Perfect Fit, extends from July 1 to the
end of the year, and provides for a $100 rebate directly from
Lotus.

Freelance is a business graphics program and Manuscript is a
sophisticated wordprocessing program with desktop publishing
features. Both programs work well with Lotus 1-2-3 and the rebate
offer is an enticement to Lotus spreadsheet users to adopt Lotus
graphics and wordprocessing programs as a standard presentation
package.

(John McCormick/19890615/Press Contact: Martha Isham, 617-
577-8500, ext. 4403 or Allison Parker, ext. 4409)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00006)

NEW INTEGRATED TRAINING PROGRAMS
ARMONK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 16 (NB) -- On June 20,
Teachware, Inc. will announce Teacher-in-a-Box, a series of self-
paced multimedia training systems for popular business
application software programs at the PC EXPO in New York.

In an eye-catching move, Ruder Finn, Inc., a full-service PR
firm, Federal Expressed copies of Teacher-in-a-Box to various
media representatives including this Newsbytes Bureau. Their
innovative Press Conference in a Box included an audio cassette
player with tapes and training software for WordPerfect 5.0,
along with pastries and apple juice every bit as enticing as
those found at any press conference.

While the snack and tape player are not normal parts of Teacher
in a Box, Teachware's new line of $90 and $100 training programs
for Lotus 1-2-3, dBASE III Plus, dBASE IV, Multimate Advantage
II, and WordPerfect 5.0 are.

Software training is a major expense for all business and
government computer managers and the addition of six 45-minute
lessons on three audio cassette tapes to the interactive training
disks provide a powerful training tool.

(John McCormick/1989616/Press Contact: Alison Ryan 212-715-1568
or Carl Nelson 212-715-1593)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00007)

MORE MODEL 70 PROBLEMS
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 14 (NB) -- IBM
announced last week that certain of its top-of-the-line 25MHz
Model 70 computers are likely to experience problems with the 120
megabyte hard disk.

The problem is only with the Model 70-121 and 70-A21 desktop PS/2
machines and involves failure of the hard disk to start on power
up after an extended shutdown. Scott Brooks, IBM spokesperson,
told Newsbytes that this problem potentially affects only about
15% of the installed base of the Model 70 computers.

According to Scott, "This was a problem with a lubricant that
leaked out of the bearings and, in combination with the thin film
media on the 120 megabyte hard disks, sometimes caused sticking.
The disk can usually be restarted by powering the system off and
back on again [for a temporary fix]."

IBM is offering free on-site replacements for certain early
models of the computer and recommends that owners of 70-121s with
serial numbers below 72-9027617 and 70-A21s with serial numbers
below 72-6000679 contact their dealer for further information and
to arrange for free replacement.

This recommendation applies even to those not experiencing
problems because, according to Mr. Brooks, accelerated aging
tests at IBM's labs indicate that the chances of such a failure
grow with time. Actually there have been few or no actual
failures in the field as yet, and IBM stresses that this is
preventive maintenance, an indication of IBM's emphasis on
customer service.

Speaking about an earlier problem with the 25MHz 70-A21 computer,
Mr. Brooks emphasized that media reports about the problem were
highly exaggerated, with the entire problem stemming from a
single faulty connector and not requiring a complete re-
engineering of the A21's mother board as reported elsewhere.

(John McCormick/19890614/Press Contact: Scott Brooks 914-642-
5408)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00008)

NEC SELLS 1-2-3 ON A CARD
WOOD DALE, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 9 (NB) -- NEC Home
Electronics has reached agreement with Lotus Development to place
Lotus software into ROM cartridges for use in the bestselling 4.4-pound
NEC Ultralite laptop computer. Stung by criticism of its UltraLite laptop
as having insufficient battery power to run disk-based software, but
mindful of the iron law that an ounce on the desk is a pound in the user's
hand, will produce read only memory card versions of Lotus Development's
most popular software products.

The NEC Ultralite is a diskless battery-powered computer which
normally stores both programs and files in battery-backed ROM.
The introduction of major software packages in RAM form makes the
computer far more useful since it both frees up RAM and
eliminates the need to transfer software from another computer to
the Ultralite.

Prices for the ROM based software are as follows: Lotus 1-2-3
Rel. 2.01 $495; Agenda Rel. 1.0 $395; and a combination ROM
holding Lotus Metro Rel. 1.1 and Express Rel. 1.0 will go for
$235.

Lotus 1-2-3 is the popular spreadsheet program, Agenda is a
powerful personal information management program used at this
Newsbytes office, Metro is a desktop manager, and Express is a
communications program that automates access to MCI Mail.

Lotus will produce and package the new ROMs, but the software
will be distributed through NEC authorized dealers.

The UltraLite computer is priced starting at $2,999.

(John McCormick & Dana Blankenhorn/19890611/Press Contact: Golin-
Harris, Carol Tomme, 312-836-7353, or Lotus Development, Philip A.
Greenough, 617-577-8500)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00009)

MCGEE INTRODUCES TREEVIEW
NORCROSS, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 16 (NB) -- McGee Enterprises
has introduced Treeview, which performs disk and file management
functions using a simple tree-like menu and 30 user-defined
function keys. The company also makes Automenu, a file management
utility. Treeview lets you display up to 6 directories
simultaneously, supports mice and both the EGA and VGA video
standards, and retails for $50.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619/Press Contact: Dana Jordan, Mcgee
Enterprises, 404-446-6611)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00010)

SAMNA BETTING COMPANY ON AMI
NORCROSS, GEORGIA, U.S.A. 1989 JUNE 9 (NB) -- Samna is
introducing an enhanced version of its Ami word processor for
Windows, Ami Professional, at the PC Expo Show in New York
starting June 19. The introduction comes amid negative press
reports claiming Ami is underpowered and the Ami Professional is
incompatible.

The company entered the market for Windows-based word processors
long before anyone else, and scored big as users learned Windows
offers WYSIWIG features common to the Apple Macintosh on the IBM
PC. But criticism has been registered of the code behind Ami, and
big users said the product was underpowered. Ami Professional, at
$495, adds features like merging, macros, footnoting, annotations
and automatic generation of contents' pages and indexes. But Ami,
a $199 product, cannot edit files made on Ami Professional, it
can only print and read them.

Samna was best known for the Samna word processor, which itself is
descended from the program used on the old Lanier word processors of
the early 1980s. A spokesman blamed the bad press on jealousy among
magazines.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619/Press Contact: Pam Alexander,
Alexander & Co., 404-876-4482)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00011)

SAA-COMPLIANT 3270 SOFTWARE FOR OS/2
LAGUNA HILLS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Network
Software Associates has unveiled AdaptSNA/2 3270, a new IBM 3270
Systems Network Architecture [SNA] communications emulator for
use with the OS/2 operating system.

Running under OS/2, AdaptSNA/2 requires only 2 MB of memory about
half of the minimum memory required to run IBM's 3270 emulator.

AdaptSNA/2 3270 is used for remote PS/2-to-host or PC-to-host
communications over a Synchronous Data Link Control connection at
speeds up to 19,200bps or bits per second.

This new connectivity software complies with the Systems
Application Architecture [SAA], IBM's global connectivity
strategy for device-independent software.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Alice Topping, Network
Software Associates, Inc., 714-768-4013)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00012)

FUJITSU FMR SERIES OS/2-COMPATIBLE
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 13 (NB) -- Fujitsu has introduced high-end
models of its FMR series microcomputers. The FMR-70HX3 has a
25 megahertz 80386 and runs 1.6 times faster than its predecessor.
The 70HX3 is capable of running OS/2, due to its four megabyte main
memory, expandable to 16-MB.

There are two hard disk configurations -- model 170 has a 170 MB
hard drive unit with and is priced at 1,690,000 yen or $11,270, and the
model 85 has 85 MB of storage with the price tag of 1,350,000 yen or
$9,000. Both machines are expected to ship in September.

Also, Fujitsu will distribute Japanese MS-OS/2 extended version
1.1 with Presentation Manager to software makers in July and to the
public this fall. Fujitsu will also develop Japanese LAN Manager extended
version 1.0 and a total of 200 other applications written in OS/2 by next
spring.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890615/Press Contact: Fujitsu, 03-216-3211)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00013)

FUJITSU UPGRADES IBM-COMPATIBLE OS
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 14 (NB) -- Fujitsu has made a sweeping
revision of the IBM-compatible operating system [OS] which the Japanese
computer giant developed seven years ago for its FACOM series
computers.

The newest OS, called MSP-EX, has several features equivalent to
those of IBM's MVS/ESA, such as virtual data space allocation by
47-bit addressing and the ability to connect as many as ten trillion
terminals. Takuma Yamamoto, president of Fujitsu, said, "The OS is
one or two steps farther advanced than IBM's," but he added, "We do not
intend to provide compatibility with the MVS/ESA into the upgraded OS
until next July." Shipment starts this October.

Fujitsu would not reveal how much information it received from IBM
for the development. However, some industry analysts suspect that
Fujitsu must have received a certain amount of information as to
MVS/XA, the former version of MVS/ESA, from IBM.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615/Press Contact: Fujitsu, 03-215-5326)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00014)

HM SYSTEMS UNVEILS TWO NEW MICRO PCS
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- HM Systems, the pioneering
London PC manufacturer, has announced two new 80286-based
Minstrel PCs. The 12 and 20MHz machines have been redesigned to
incorporate all the main PC components on a single AT board.

As a result of this compaction, the Minstrel Workstation now has
two serial ports, one parallel and mouse port, and floppy
controller fitted as standard on the motherboard. The 12MHz
machine retails for UKP 1,450, whilst the 20MHz machine retails
for UKP 1,795.

According to Tony Harris, managing director of HM Systems, the
board compaction was made possible by the use of the latest Chips
and Technologies' VGA controller chip set.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press & Public Contact: Tony Harris, HM
Systems - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00015)

MULTITECHNIC LAUNCHES APC 80386-BASED PC
BILTHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Multitechnic, the
Dutch PC manufacturer, has announced a new 80386-based industrial
PC, the APC-I3. The machine costs 26,000 Dutch Florins and runs
at a switchable 16/25MHz clock speeds.

According to a release from the firm, issued last week, the
machine uses zero-wait state RAM [Random Access Memory] and comes
with 2MB [megabytes] fitted, expandable to 8MB on board. An 80MB
hard disk and 3.5 inch 1.44MB floppy drive are fitted as
standard.

The entire PC, including a 14-inch monitor, fits into a rack-mount
19-inches wide, and can be upgraded to a dustproof and waterproof
casing if required.

Steve Gold/19890616/Press & Public Contact: Multitech Inc - Tel:
[Netherlands] 030-287855)


(NEWS)(IBM)(KUL)(00016)

ASK OF HONG KONG LAUNCHES SYSTEM BOARD
HONGKONG, ASIA, 1989 JUNE 1 (NB) -- ASK Technology Ltd. has released
another AT286 compatible product with the announcement of its 286G1
system board recently aimed at the OEM export market.

The ASK286T1 runs at 10/12/16MHz at zero or one wait state. the system
board is equipped with highly integrated 3-chip chipset from Texas
Instruments and has a dynamic clock switching circuit built-in to
enhance the performance by optimising bus frequency at different bus
cycle. This unit features multiple independent choices of memory-
wait-state [from 0 to 3 wait-states], I/O-wait state, DMA wait-state,
command delays via separated groups of jumpers. Also the flexible
jumper arrangement allows different DRAM access time, with a
combination of wait-state and CPU speed.

This system board is in baby AT form factor with optional 80287
socket, 6 AT slots and 2 XT slots.

Details of technical specification and price information are available
from Alan Ho, account manager of ASK Technology Ltd.

(Michael Worsley & K.Hani/19890615/Press Contact: Alan Ho,
ASK Technology Ltd, Ph:[852] 3-796.3028 Fx:3-97.4617)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SIN)(00017)

BONDWELL COMPUTER IN SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUNE 4 (NB) -- Bondwell has recently
introduced a new line of laptop computers and personal facsimile to
meet high business demands and low budgets.

The first new product is Bondwell B200, a superslim XT-compatible
laptop computer at only 3.6kg weight, is small and convenient to carry
around from your office to the plane, to kitchen or any place you go.

Consisting of a removeable and rechargeable battery pack plus a
retractable keyboard legs, and incorporating a 10.5-inch supertwist
nonglare LCD with twin floppy disk drives,8MHz 80c88 processor and
64OKB RAM is an ultraslim, ultracompact and low-cost laptop.
The price is quoted at S$2350 [US$1285].

The PRO8T, a ultra-compact IBM XT-compatible PC, features a
supertwist display while Bondwell B300 is a 286-based
laptop which carries the processing power of a full-blown desktop AT
PC. Both of laptops are equipped with a built-in 1200 BPS modem, a 1MB
RAM on board, a 20MB hard disk and 10.5" supertwist, with high
contrast backlight LCD. The PRO8T is priced at S$3700 [US$1975] and
the B300 is around S$4990 [US$2750].

Also, announced concurrently is their new facsimile system - BFAX 100.
This so-called 4-in-1 compact facsimile system is able to serve 4
functions: scanner, copier, printer and computer fax terminal. It is
compatible with CCITT G3 standard and has full contact image sensor,
high resolution text and graphics, talk and remote polling capabilities as
well as 9600 bits per second transmission/reception rate. The price of
BFAX 100 is listed at S$2470 [US$1325].

All the above products are designed and manufactured by Bondwell
International Ltd, Hong Kong, and are distributed by Datatrend Computer
Pte Ltd. of Singapore.

(Michael Worsley & Joseph Ming/19890612/Press Contact:Simon Choong,
Datatrend Computer, Ph:[65] 733-6922)


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

GAMMASCRIPT TIES POSTSCRIPT TO FAX
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Gammalink has
tied PostScript securely to Group III facsimile standards with
GammaScript, a software program which sends files made in the
page description language PostScript, as crisp fax images.
Gammalink says the product will clear up the fax quality problem
by letting people use any of 3,000 PostScript-supported programs
to create faxes. GammaScript's Postscript interpreter is a
Postscript clone licensed from QMS of Mobile Alabama.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890616/Press Contact: GammaLink, Lexi Bisbee,
415-856-7421)


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

AUDIOTEX SERVICE BUREAU MOVES STOCK
DENVILLE, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 13 (NB) -- Bellatrix is
being cagy about its plans to spin off new subsidiaries around
the audiotex gateway company it announced a few months ago. The
company, based 40 miles west of New York City in Denville, New
Jersey, spun out shares of a new subsidiary, Denville Corp., as a
stock dividend under the Bellatrix Corp. name. Bellatrix runs an
audiotex service bureau which, it says, can put you at the wheel
of a national 900-number for the cost of local 976-based
coverage. But Chief Executive Ivan Kerzner told Newsbytes, "We
have not yet discussed with anyone what Denville does," and that
the audiotex gateways are in a separate subsidiary, Bellatrix
Communications.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890616/Press Contact: Ivan M. Kerzner,
Bellatrix, 66 Ford Road, Denville, NJ 07834, 201-586-0900)


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

GENIE EXPANDING 2400 BAUD SERVICE
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Satisfied that
problems with its modems and concentrators are solved, the GEnie
online service resumed 2400 baud service on June 12. The service
is now due to expand its 2400 baud operations into a total of 236
markets by year-end. That's more nodes than available through
CompuServe, which has 201, Tymnet, which has 165 or Telenet,
which has 141, but still behind IBM's 276 2400 nodes. The
installation of new equipment is due for completion by the end of
the year. The new modems will also support the MNP Level 4 error-
checking protocol at 1200 and 2400 bits per second, but support
for the old Vadic 3400 modulation scheme employed in Racal-Vadic
VA3400 Series modems is being discontinued.

The GEnie service is also adding ZModem to the list of error-
checking protocols supported in its roundtables, where software
is exchanged. Zmodem does not need to wait for the PC to
acknowledge correct data, eliminating the biggest delay during
file transfers. Also, if you download a partial file, then get
disconnected, Zmodem can download only the remainder of the file,
when you come back on. Zmodem joins Xmodem, Xmodem-1K, Ymodem,
and Ymodem-G as protocols available to GEnie users.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619/Press Contact: Steve Harasznak, GEnie,
301-340-4494)


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

GREENE SAYS NO TO BELLS, WHO TURN TO CONGRESS
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 14 (NB) -- U.S. District Judge
Harold Greene has rejected requests from Bell Atlantic, BellSouth and
Southwestern Bell that they be allowed to put their "Yellow
Pages" online.

The decision is expected to slow the movement by the Bell companies
toward electronic gateways, and hasten the movement by
the Bells to pass laws taking Greene off the case. One such law,
now making its way through the House of Representatives, would
let the Bells enter the business through separate subsidiaries,
through which they now provide unregulated services. Bell
spokesmen told a subcommittee headed by Rep. Edward J. Markey
they don't like the separate subsidiary idea, but indications are
they'll take it as better than nothing.

The issue of what the Bells can and can't do will also be taken
up by the Federal Communications Commission, which presently has
three vacancies, including an outgoing chairman. Its ability to do
anything on telecommunications was further hampered recently when
Commissioner Patricia Diaz Dennis recused herself from many such
cases, meaning the commission no longer has a quorum.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00005)

MICROCOM'S V.32 MODEM WITH REMOTE SET-UP
NORWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A. 1989 JUNE 6 (NB) -- Microcom
introduced a 9,600 modem working under V.32 which can be
configured remotely and has sophisticated password protection
features. The QX/3296c multimodem will retail for $1,199, Vice
President-Marketing Dick Sterry told Newsbytes. The new modem has
a third feature competitors don't have, which Sterry called
spoofing -- "for the UUCP and kermit protocol support we take
over acknowledgement of the data packets."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619/Press Contact: Dick Sterry, Microcom,
617-551-1000)


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

AT&T CALLING MOSCOW
BASKING RIDGE, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 13 (NB) -- AT&T will
offer direct dial service between the U.S. and Moscow this fall.
Direct-dial service to Moscow will make it easier for people to
phone the Soviet capital and improve facsimile transmission. As
part of the agreement, the number of circuits between the United
States and the Soviet Union will increase, making it easier for
calls to go through.

Currently, you need an operator to call the Soviet Union, and
this will remain necessary outside Moscow. MCI and Sprint are
expected to follow AT&T's lead, the former with its own lines,
the latter by renting AT&T's. AT&T hopes to expand into other
areas of the Soviet Union as soon as possible, noting that the
U.S.S.R. has the third largest population of telephones in the
world, 26.7 million following the U.S. and Japan. The U.S. has
11.4 million phones, Japan 49.9 million.

AT&T publishes The World's Telephone, a reference book on telephony
dating back to 1912, which tracks the number of phones, type of
equipment and calling plans around the world. It included the Soviet
Union's first disclosure of any telephone data in 8 years.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619/Press Contact: Dick Gundlach, AT&T,
201-953-7412)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00007)

NTS MARKETING EXECUTIVE TELECARD
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 6 (NB) -- National
Telephone Services has won the right to market the Executive
Telecard, an international telephone calling card, transmitting
voice traffic initiated by the card to selected accounts. The
company will also provide its Message Connect service, a voice
mail option, to Executive Telecard customers. NTS called this
contract an exclusive within the operator service provider
industry. The OSP industry had been called the Alternative
Operator Services industry until a spate of publicity surrounding
overcharging by industry members last year. NTS chairman Herb
Weissbratten told Newsbytes those difficulties are all in the
past.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619/Press Contact: Herb Weissbratten,
NTS, 301-468-0307)


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

E-MAIL FOR LUDDITES INTRODUCED
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 9 (NB) -- Omnet has
introduced a system to bring even the most e-mail resistant
executive into your e-mail universe. LUDD Mail -- it's short for
luddite -- will print electronic mail and send it to users, in a
real envelope, to a real mailbox. Mark Mueller of Omnet told
Newsbytes, "It's designed to make things easier for people who use
e-mail. Sometimes you have one curmudgeon who says no, and you
have to deal with him." The product is priced on the basis of
mail packets, which Mueller explained this way. "For each
business day we send mail to you, you get charged."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619/Press Contact: Mark Mueller, Omnet,
617-265-9230)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00009)

SHEET MUSIC DISTRIBUTION VIA COMPUTER DEBUTS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 14 (NB) -- At last week's
National Association of Music Merchant's [NAMM] show,
MusicWriter, Inc. unveiled an in-store computerized sheet music
distribution system with concurrent access to a database
containing as many as 20,000 titles licensed from leading music
publishers.

This system allows retail outlets to sell a vast selection of
sheet music titles without taking up a lot of floor, wall or
shelf space. The system uses a PC with color monitor. The
program is menu-driven allowing interactive customer access to
the database. A telephone link to MusicWriter's home office host
computer enables local laser printing of the customer's
selection.

The MusicWriter system will be available for in-store
installation in the spring of 1990.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Kent Cooper, Hakuhodo
Advertising, 213-388-5200)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00010)

SUMMIT OFFERS MULTITASKING COMMUNICATOR
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 17 (NB) -- Summit
Telecommunications has announced that its multitasking Summit
Communicator is now available through the Tymnet public data
network. This is part of a promotion that allows prospective
customers to try Summit's national information network free for
one hour.

The multitasking design allows users to run multiple information
tasks simultaneously without incurring additional charges. The
Communicator can display up to four windows each of which can
control any Summit service. The Summit Communicator runs on any
IBM-PC or compatible personal computer and Hayes-compatible
modem. No programming is required and menu selections are made
via simple highlight bar moves.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Bryan Eggers, Summit
Telecommunications, 800-322-3299, 818-707-9991 [CA])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00011)

UK TELECOMS TRADE SHOW ANNOUNCED
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Courtesy Publishing, the
publisher of several communications-related magazines, has
announced the 1989 Telecoms Trade Show will be held at the
Birmingham National Exhibition Centre [NEC]. The three-day event
will start on 29 September, 1989.

Two other shows - the Mobile and Cellular Trade Show, and the
Consumer Electronics Trade Show - will run in parallel with the
Telecoms Trade Show. It is hoped that the Consumer Electronics
Show will become the mirror-image of the popular show of the same
name held in the U.S. earlier this month.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press & Public Contact: Courtesy Publishing,
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00012)

RACAL'S PORTABLE PHONE COVERAGE MAP
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) --Racal Vodafone has issued its
subscribers with a map showing estimated coverage in the U.K.
using an TACS Class 4 cellular hand portable. Previously, the
company had only issued coverage maps for Class 2 car-based
mobile phones.

According to a statement from Racal Vodafone last week, the issue
of a portable coverage map is a major step forward in educating
users of cellphones in the difference between a Class 1/2
carphone, and a Class 4 hand portable unit. The Class 2 units
have a maximum effective radiated power (ERP) of 4.0 watts,
whilst the Class 4 units has a maximum ERP of just 0.6 watts.

Chris Gent, Racal Vodafone's managing director, said that the 0.6
watts output on Class 4 portable gives a maximum radio wave
propagation of about 10 kilometres - much less than a Class
carphone mobile.

"The last 18 months have seen a steady rise in the popularity of
portables. However, there is evidence that some purchasers
believe that portables offer the same performance as vehicle-
installed Class two mobiles," he said.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press Contact: Ian Volans, Racal Telecom -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00013)

DATAFLEX DESIGN RELEASES POCKET MODEM
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Dataflex Design has released
an updated version of its popular Stradcom pocket modem. The
Hayes-compatible modem, which supports 300/300 and 1200/1200 baud
[CCITT tones] continues to retail at UKP 199.

Thanks to the use of low-power surface-mount CMOS circuits, the
Stradcom can now draw its power from the RS-232 [serial] port on
most computers. For instances where this is not appropriate, the
modem falls back onto an internal PP3 size battery, which
provides up to 30 hours of use.

(Steve Gold/19890616/Press & Public Contact: Phil Benje, Dataflex
Design - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00014)

TELEFAX BOOMING IN GERMANY
FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Telefax copiers are
best-sellers in Germany. The number of subscribers have doubled
every year. Today more than 250,000 machines are listed. But
Bundespost, the German telecommunications entity, says there
are another 100,000 machines at least, which have been installed
illegally. These law-breakers might not know that official
installation by the German Bundespost costs only 65 DM.

(Klaus Rosenthal/19890609)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00015)

'MAJOR' TELECOM POLICY SPEECH EXPECTED
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JUN 15 (NB) -- Canada's Minister of
Communications, Marcel Masse, is expected to deliver a major
speech on telecommunications policy at the opening of the
Canadian Satellite User Conference in Ottawa June 19. According
to organizers of the conference, Department of Communications
officials have said Masse will address the regulation of national
communications services and competition in providing long-
distance telephone services.

At present, telecommunications in Canada is regulated by three
levels of government, with rules varying from province to
province. There have been repeated calls lately for a change in
this balkanized system, and Masse's speech might well address
that issue.

Long-distance competition -- which does not currently exist in
Canada -- is another controversial subject. However, it is
unlikely Masse will announce any definite change in policy, as
that would most likely take the form of regulatory approval for
an application to set up competing long-distance service. CNCP
Telecommunications of Toronto filed such an application and was
turned down, and is expected to make another attempt soon, but no
application is currently before the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission [CRTC], the federal regulatory
body.

The Canadian Satellite User Conference will run June 19 to 21 at
the Ottawa Congress Center. Some 100 papers will be presented and
an exhibition of satellite products and services will run
concurrent with the show.

(Grant Buckler/19890615/Press Contact: Michael Bryan, Canadian
Satellite User Conference, 613-748-0123)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00016)

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY DATABASE PLANNED
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA, 1989 Jun 16 (NB) -- An Edmonton
restaurateur is launching a computer database service to help
restaurants, hotels, motels and tourist attractions find staff.

Alexis Kostis said his Canadian Hospitality & Tourism Employment
Management Group [CHATEM] will maintain a database of people
interested in jobs in the hospitality industry, which employers
will be able to use to fill vacancies. Unlike some recruitment
agencies or headhunters, Kostis said, CHATEM will not interview
and recommend employees. The venture will simply provide
employers with the names of prospects who seem to match their
requirements.

Larger employers will be able to connect directly to CHATEM's
mainframe-based system, while smaller clients will phone in
requests for searches to the company's offices. Kostis said he is
already talking to some large employers, and plans to begin
recruiting potential employees for the database in the fall. The
system should be operational some time next year, he said.

Kostis is part owner of Cosmos Greek Village Restaurant in
Edmonton.

(Grant Buckler/19890616/Press Contact: Alexis Kostis, Cosmos
Greek Village, 403-423-5959)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SIN)(00017)

SINGAPORE PHONE COSTS DOWN, MAIL COSTS UP
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Singapore Telecom [ST] has
announced its latest rate revisions effective on July 1 that will save
its customers S$11 million [US$6 million] a year and the opening of a
S$28.5 million market to private suppliers of telecommunication
equipment and services.

Following deregulation in February, vendors can now supply users with
telephone, mobile telephones, radio pagers and teleprinters. ST will
also liberalise the provision of local and international value-added
network [VAN] services.

The annual telephone rental for customers has been decreased by S$10,
making the basic phone rentals S$190 [US$95] per year for domestic
subscribers and S$290 [US$155] for business users. All models of
telephone sets sold by ST will cost less, and existing subscribers are
being given ownership of their current simple telephones
without charge. However, customers will in future have to pay for
repairs if the fault were found to originate from within their
premises, or they may now engage their own contractors if they prefer.

The rates for leased circuits will be reduced by up to 13 percent,
allowing customers who use international leased circuits for business
communications an annual saving of S$3.6 million.

In contrast, the rates for private wires, unchanged for the last 30
years, will be increased in January next year. A new category of
service, Data Circuit, will be offered but at a higher rate to reflect
higher provision and maintenance costs. Further details of cost for
this service will be given at a later date.

The service that will suffer the highest price increase, of 50
percent, is that of local domestic mail, charges for which have
remained unchanged for the last 17 years. According to ST's chairman,
Koh Boon Hwee, this increase is unavoidable as the operational cost
of providing the service had increased by 160 percent since 1977.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890615/Press Contact:Miss Teo Poh Wah,
Singapore Telecom,Ph:[65] 730.3682, Fx:[65] 733.1350)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(KUL)(00018)

ASIA'S FIRST ELECTRONIC FINANCIAL DATA ACCESS
HONG KONG , ASIA, 1989 JUNE 2 (NB) -- Asian Finance Banking and
Corporate Affairs has announced the launch of ELFIDA, the first
electronic financial data access in Asia.

Scheduled to be ready for direct dial-up access early next year, the
complete ELFIDA package will bring a new electronic tool for financial
executives to define market directions and suppply them with up-to-
date to the moment information.

ELFIDA contains issues of Asian Finance magazine, three newsletters,
four monographs a year on specialist technical themes, Bankers Handbook
for Asia, Asia Corporate Profile -- a directory on Asia's 1,000 front-
running companies -- and AF Data Access, an electronic database offering
financial information in depth.

The full ELFIDA package costs US$1,011 a year. All elements except AF
Data Access [operational early next year] are currently available.

For further details, contact Amitabha Chowdhury, Chief Executive
Editor, Asian Finance, 3/F Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road,
Hongkong, Phone [phone], Fax [phone], Telex 83013 AFNDC HX

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890612)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(KUL)(00019)

EDI URGED FOR MALAYSIA
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, ASIA, 1989 JUNE 8 (NB) -- The Malaysian
Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit [MAMPU],
said in a report just released that the government can save more than
M$350 million a year in administrative costs incurred by external
trade with the implementation of the electronic document interchange
[EDI] system.

The use of EDI would result in savings derived from lower costs of
printing, purchase of stationery, mailing and labour, reduced number
of telephone calls, telexes and facsimiles. Inventory and storage
costs would also be reduced while cash flow could increase.

The report states that the relationship between the Malaysian
government and the private sector can be improved in keeping with the
"Malaysian Incorporated" concept with the implementation of EDI
systems here.

While the country itself will benefit from participating in EDI
systems already implemented in several foreign countries, Malaysia
could also bring advantages to its investors here.

Newsbytes learnt that the Malaysian Transport Ministry had recently
formed a steering committee which also involved the Klang Port
Authority, the Treasury, Customs and MAMPU to investigate the
advantages of EDI and how its use can best serve Malaysia.

MAMPU has been further assigned to lead a technical sub-committee to
look into the various standards and technicalities associated with
EDI. It will place the implementation of EDI on the top of its
priority list.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890613)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(KUL)(00020)

HONG KONG LIKES NIXDORF DIGITAL PABX
HONG KONG, ASIA, 1989 JUNE 2 (NB) -- Nixdorf Computer has found ready
acceptance of its digital PABX systems in Hong Kong with orders
totalling almost HK$5 million since it began direct marketing there nine
months ago, according to Computerworld.

Vincent Nolan, Nixdorf's sales and marketing manager, reportedly says
the PABX system 8818 had previously been promoted as a voice-only
product by some local distributors, who ignored its advanced design
capabilities. The systems feature full integrated services digital
network [ISDN].

"Nixdorf designed the 8818 system to solve companies data switching
requirements and voice requirements," Nolan said. He explained that
the major advantages over technology such as local area networks were
that it supplied both internal and external links for networked PCs,
and existing telephone wiring could be utilised for both voice and
data.

Some new customers of Nixdorf include Together Production, Triumph
International, Adidas and Team Concepts International.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890616)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00001)

HAND HELD WORKSTATION FROM AGILIS
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Agilis, a
handsomely-financed start-up, is promising to have hand held
workstations and wireless local area networks for mobile networks
available this fall. The hand held workstations, which are expected
to be among several unique laptops from various vendors this fall,
are equipped with 32-bit 80386 microprocessors, and are modular, allowing
various components, called "slices" -- telecommunications, battery,
microprocessors -- to be snapped on without tools, and vary in
size from embedded controllers the size of a paperback book to full-
function computers the size of a phone book.

The packet radio communications slice, based on something called
spread spectrum technology, allows a remote workstation to
communicate with a base station over a broad radio band in order
to minimize reception and transmission problems. The reach of
the network is said to be one kilometer outdoors or 100 meters
inside a building. The workstation can handle MS-DOS, Unix, or OS/2
software and can even take on an optional touchscreen console.

The start-up has also signed with 3Com to incorporate its 3+
network operating system software into the Agilis wireless network
architecture. And Trimble Navigation of Sunnyvale, Ca., has
announced a navigation sensor slice which uses the Navstar Global
Positioning System satellite to determine position and velocity
of the workstation anywhere on the globe within two meters. And
Milidyn has a radio frequency data modem for the unit.

Prices will range from $2,000 to $20,000 depending on options,
and the products will be available to end-users as well as original
equipment manufacturers.

Founded in December 1987, Agilis has raised more than $11 million in
venture capital funding.

(Wendy Woods/19890616/Press Contact: Rene Shimada, 415-962-9400)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00002)

PORTLAND'S SILICON FOREST ATTRACTS OKI
PORTLAND, OREGON, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- Oki Semiconductor has
announced plans to build a VLSI [very large scale integrated]
chip plant in the Tualatin Industrial Park at Tualatin, Oregon,
a suburb of Portland. An Oki spokesman comments, "There is a
semiconductor infrastructure being built very rapidly up there."

Oki's $23 million plant is slated to begin making and testing
chips in April of next year. Mass production of one megabit
dynamic random access memory chips [DRAMs] is to be underway in June,
1990 and plans are in place to expand production to four megabit
DRAMs and module assemblies. The facility will employ 120 new
workers.

Oki joins several other international firms in appreciating the
pleasures of the Portland area. Comfortable, uncrowded living
and working conditions, affordable real estate, quality water,
and attractive offers from Oregon's governor and Portland-area mayors
have lured Fujitsu, STC of the U.K., Intel, and Hewlett-Packard,
among others, to establish or maintain large-scale manufacturing
facilities there.

(Wendy Woods/19890616)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00003)

NEW TEFLON FOR COMPUTERS
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 15 (NB) -- DuPont
Chemical today announced the next generation of Teflon, called
Teflon AF for Amorphous Fluoropolymer, which has applications for
the computer and optical industries.

The original Teflon, well-known as the non-stick surface found on
cooking utensils and also used in many industrial applications,
was discovered in 1938 by DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett.

The new Teflon AF will cost about 100 times more than existing
grades, but is totally transparent and has electrical properties
making it useful for circuit-board fabrication, photolithography,
lenses and the next generation of high-speed computer chips.

Unlike the original Teflon which was discovered by accident,
Teflon AF was developed specifically for high-technology
applications in the aerospace and medical industries and can be
molded into various shapes with very high precision.

(John McCormick/19890616/)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00004)

NEW SONY STILL VIDEO SYSTEM
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 11 (NB) -- Sony
Corporation's Still Video Division today demonstrated an
integrated electronic camera/publishing system to the Newspaper
Publishers' Association conference.

The system uses Sony's ProMavica 2-CCD high-band video camera and
transceiver and the Sony Electronic Publishing System (SEPS) to
enable newspapers to go from on-location photo to a plate-ready
color image in 20 minutes or less

The Sony NEWS workstation and proprietary software takes the
digital RGB (Red-Green-Blue) video signal and converts it into
the CYMK (Cyan-Yellow-Magenta-blacK) form needed for color
separation in a color pre-press system.

Pricing for the entire system as a unit is yet to be determined,
according to Jordan Chanofsky of Technology Solutions, the
marketing firm for the product, but the professional-grade
ProMavica camera alone will be available this summer at a price
of $6495.

(John McCormick/19890614/Press Contact: Technology Solutions,
Jordan Chanofsky, 212-505-9900)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00005)

PIONEER'S VIDEO WALL A HIT
RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 12 (NB) -- Pioneer says
that, since being introduced in April, the RM-V1000 projection
system has proven very popular.

The 40-inch projection TV monitor has one-quarter inch borders
and is designed to be stacked to form large video walls for high-
impact presentations.

The video wall concept is most often used in short-term
applications like trade shows, and for such it can be rented from
a special stock supply maintained at Pioneer through local
Pioneer distributors.

For further information, contact Pioneer at 201-327-6400.

(John McCormick/19890614)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00006)

CHEAPEST FAX MODEM YET
VAN NUYS, CALIFORNIA, USA, 1989 JUNE 5 (NB) -- Best Data
Products, Inc. has announced what may be the cheapest fax modem
on the market -- a new modem that will send a fax called the Smart One
4824SF. The unit sells for under $200 retail.

The modem incorporates the CMOS technology that is common to the
company's top of the line modems and it also has the new Sendfax
technology. The modem is 2400bps; the fax operating mode is G-3
compatible. The Smart One 4824SF package will include the
communications software needed to draw, scan or transmit a file.
This modem is equipped with the ability to transmit graphics in a
bit mapped format [pictures] to fax capable machines.

Both the fax and modem capabilities incorporate fall back for
communicating through poor line conditions or with lower speed
modems.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616/Press Contact: Bruce Johnson, Best
Data Products, Inc., 818-786-2884)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00007)

NEW DEVICE FOR CLEANING WITHOUT CFCS
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 8 (NB) -- Mitsubishi Electric and Taiyo
Sanso believe they have an industrial cleaning machine that can
replace ozone-eating chlorofluorocarbons.

The device, a so-called Ice Cleaning Unit, will remove 0.1 microns of
foreign material that are frozen with a fine water mist, then removed
with liquefied nitrogen.

The method can be be applied to semiconductors, printed circuit boards,
precision machines, and pipes for nuclear power plants.

These firms are expecting to put the machine on the market next
spring at the expected price of 10 million yen or $66,700 per unit.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890615/Press Contact: Mitsubishi Electric, 03-218-
2111, Taiyo Sanso Co., Ltd. 03-274-6451)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00008)

FUJITSU JAPANESE SALES LEADER
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 15 (NB) -- IBM Japan has given up its lead to
Fujitsu in sales of general-purpose computers and in personal
computers, Seiko-Epson has registered the biggest sales increase, so says a
survey of the top 100 major product and service companies in Japan by
Nihon Keizai Shimbun Company.

The survey of general purpose computer makers shows Fujitsu
with 24.5 percent of sales, IBM Japan with 24.4 percent, Hitachi
with 17.7 percent, NEC with 17.1 percent, and Nihon Unisys with
10.3 percent.

In the office computer arena, Fujitsu also leads, with a 26.2
percent share, NEC is second with 24.9 percent, and far behind
are Toshiba [8.9 percent], IBM Japan, 8.2 percent, and Matsushita,
8.1 percent.

NEC leads in the personal computer market with a whopping 52.3
percent share, Fujitsu has 13.6 percent, Seiko Epson as 10.1
percent but registered the biggest increase over last year -- up
5.6 percent in market share. Toshiba has 9.8 percent and IBM Japan
a measly 6.5 percent.

The semiconductor leader is Toshiba with 22.5 percent, Matshushita
and NEC both with 16 percent, Mitsubishi with 9.8 percent,
Hitachi with 8.8 percent.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00009)

SEIKO-EPSON SEMI-COLOR LAPTOP
NAGANO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 15 (NB) -- Though several personal computer
makers are slated to release color laptop PCs this fall, trailblazer
Seiko-Epson is now introducing a semi-color 16-bit laptop
PC-286ST.

The new machine, which is compatible with NEC's PC-9800 series,
adopts something called a tint display mode which allows faint
colors of green, red, and blue to display on the white liquid crystal
screen. As Seiko-Epson has not established volume production for
the new machine, the manufacturer will supply only 2,000 units
in Japan. Seiko-Epson has set the price at 518,000 yen
[$3,500], which is only about 50,000 yen [$333] higher than that of
a current white LCD color laptop computer. The machine is available
from 20 June.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615/Press Contact: Seiko-Epson, 0266-58-1705)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00010)

NEUROCOMPUTING ON YOUR PC
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUNE 9 (NB) -- Fujitsu has developed and
released a hardware/software package for an FMR series PC which it
claims enables the microcomputer to "learn" a procedure with neuro-
computing techniques, with the speed of a supercomputer.

Personal Neurocomputer system, as it is called, consists of learning
software Neurosim/L and learning speed enhancer Neuroboard, and is
limited for use on the firm's FMR series personal computers. The
Neuroboard, with a digital signal processor and a four-megabyte
memory, simulates a large-scale network, having some 1,000
neurons. The neurocomputer system is priced at 980,000 yen or
$6,500. Fujitsu is aiming to sell a total 2,000 systems in the
next three years.

While most neurocomputers take a long time to learn a task, often
going over it a hundred times before gaining the ability to perform
it, or solve an equation, the Fujitsu system is said to perform the
same feats in one three-hundredths the time.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615/Press Contact: Fujitsu, 03-215-5326)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TOR)(00011)

CONFERENCE ON VDT USE SCHEDULED
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1989 JUN 16 (NB) -- The Second
International Scientific Conference on Work With Display Units is
scheduled here September 11-14. Researchers from industry and
universities around the world will discuss concerns about working
with video display units. Questions include the effect of non-
ionizing radiation from the screens, possible vision problems and
stress on people who work constantly at a computer screen. The
Institut de recherche en sante et en securite du travail du
Quebec [Institute for Workplace Health and Safety Research of
Quebec] is organizing the conference. The first such conference
was held in 1986 in Stockholm, Sweden.

(Grant Buckler/19890616/Press Contact: Laurent Girouard, Equation
Plus, 514-878-9996)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(KUL)(00012)

HONG KONG BANK SEEKS GLOBAL ATMS
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 1989 JUNE 5 (NB) -- The Hong Kong
and Shanghai Banking Corporation [HongkongBank] is going where
no ATM has gone before -- it is creating a global link-up of its
automated teller machines [ATMs].

The HongkongBank has more than 1,300 branch offices in some 50
countries, and in Hong Kong alone, it has 570 ATMs, operated together
with its majority-owned Hang Seng Bank.

A report by Bernama quoted Philip Harris, manager of corporate
relations in the bank's head office in Hong Kong, as saying that the
bank's ATM service, popularly known as ETC for Electronic Teller Card,
has an online link-up between Hong Kong, Macau and the Middle East.
He also said that the bank hopes for a regional link-up between
Malaysia and Singapore to be completed this year with the approval of
the relevant authorities.

Harris further said that the bank is giving great priority to
technological development, especially in the automation of its banking
operations.

Chin Kek Mien, the bank's advertising and public relations manager,
said here that this latest move will help the "Visit Malaysia" program
next year as it would be useful for overseas visitors. This will be in
keeping with Malaysia's drive to attract foreign visitors and
investments.

The usage of Electronic Touch Banking [ETB], an intelligent personal
banking service using interactive video terminals to provide
information on a wide range of services and products, was pioneered by
the Hong Kong Bank in Malaysia.

(Michael Worsley & S. Roowi/19890612)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(KUL)(00013)

COMPUTER SPENDING UP IN TAIWAN
TAIWAN, ASIA, 1989 JUNE 9 (NB) -- Market Intelligence Centre [MIC], a
market research centre run by Taiwan's Institute for Information
Industry [III], reported that the annual cost of Taiwan's
computerisation investments will reach US$2.3 billion in 1992.

According to MIC, Taiwan's computerisation expenses last year were
US$1.1 billion. This will continue to grow at the rate of 20 to 25
percent per year for the next several years.

MIC indicated that the government division's growth is affected by the
increase in the government's budget for the 1989 fiscal year and the
cost of maintaining the growth of large-scale computerising plans.

MIC also forecast the growth rate for the investment in computer
projects for a number of vertical markets. This year, the growth rate
for government departments has been predicted at 10 percent, with
state-owned businesses at 4 percent, the private commercial markets at
30 percent, education and schools projects 28 percent, home and hobby
investments at 40 percent and miscellaneous 11 percent.

(Michael Worsley & S. Roowi/19890613)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00001)

NEXT'S AUTOMATED FACTORY TOUR
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Amid the neat,
highly-landscaped sprawl of Silicon Valley's eastern edge, the NeXT factory
black-windowed exterior hides one of the most automated computer
manufacturing operations in the world. It's a place in which only 12
people need be employed to watch over 165 feet of assembly line where
NeXT motherboards literally assemble themselves.

Unlike Apple Computer's "islands of automation," NeXT's "integrated
manufacturing" needs fewer people -- roughly one fifth the number
normally needed on a line of this type -- and any individual NeXT
Computer System is touched by no more than one or two
people from the circuit board level to the finished product.

NeXT Vice President of Manufacturing Randy Heffner claims the
automation allows the printed circuit boards to be surface-mounted
at the rate of 150 parts per minute, and results in a soldering
defect rate of 16 parts per million -- ten times less than the industry
average. "You'd have more of a chance of buying a lottery ticket and
winning a thousand dollars than we have of doing a bad solder," he told
Newsbytes.

There are only 40 people in the entire company -- 70 percent have
advanced college degrees -- and when production goes into full swing this
fall, Heffner does not expect to have to add more than a dozen new
workers. He would not give details on how many NeXT machines can be
made per hour at the plant, but promised that they all will be made
here; NeXT has not licensed manufacturing rights to anyone, including
Canon.

Interestingly enough, the Japanese journalists who took the tour of
the NeXT plant were not impressed. "We've had automated manufacturing
in Japan for years," one boasted.

(Wendy Woods/19890616/Press Contact: Allison Thomas, 818-981-1520)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00002)

CANON INVESTS $100 MILLION IN NEXT
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 12 (NB) -- Canon has officially
announced its first major alliance with a U.S.-based computer firm,
NeXT Computer Systems. The company has invested $100 million in Apple
cofounder Steve Jobs' new workstation company, in return getting 16.67
percent of the operation as well as exclusive Far East distribution rights
for the NeXT machines. Canon is restricted, per the contract, from
obtaining more than 20 percent of the company over the next 10 years,
a measure aimed a preventing any potential takeover of NeXT by Canon.

The Canon-NeXT alliance is generally seen as a brilliant business
deal, since it provides NeXT with Asian sales channels without
any cash outlay. Canon, meanwhile, gets a machine it can launch
into the Japanese workstation market, where no clear leader has
yet emerged. The alliance also assures Canon of a steady demand
for its erasable optical disk drive units, on which it has invested
over 10 billion yen or $67 million.

Canon has been distributing other brand-name computers, including
IBM-compatible AX machines, Apple computers, and minicomputers from
Hewlett-Packard. The deal with NeXT is expected to increase Canon's
computer sales from $1,350 million to $6,670 million, so say company
officers, who add they expect to sell 1,000 NeXT computer systems
each month. July 10 is the date Canon will introduce the
NeXT computer system in Japan. Shipments to Japan, Korea,
Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore will be in September. Both firms also will
jointly develop a Japanese version of the machine.

Hiroshi Tanaka, director of the Canon business machines sector, was
on hand in Fremont for the announcement. He told Newsbytes that
Canon's only other major investment in a U.S. company is in Detroit-based
Energy Conversion Devices, a research firm pioneering the use of
silicon for solar cells and other electronic purposes. Canon owns
ten percent of that firm. [For more on the NeXT announcement, see
our story this week in WEST on the automated Fremont factory.]

(Naoyuki Yazawa & Wendy Woods/19890615/Press Contact: Canon, 03-348-2121,
in the U.S., Allison Thomas PR, 818-981-1520)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00003)

AT&T, SUN OPEN UP ABOUT OPEN LOOK
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 13 (NB) -- Renewing their
vow to do all they can to make Sun's Open Look graphical user
interface a standard, Sun Microsystems and AT&T promised to
incorporate the other's Open Look toolkits into their source code
products, thereby making a choice of toolkits available to programmers.

The announcement, made at the Usenix trade show, means developers
working under Unix System V or SunOS operating systems will
be able to use either AT&T's Open Look X Toolkit or Sun's XView
toolkit to create applications for the Open Look graphical user
interface. Both are based on the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology's X-Window system.

(Wendy Woods/19890617/Press Contact: Cathleen Beall Garfield, Sun,
415-336-7700)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00004)

AT&T ENHANCES C++
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 13 (NB) -- Release 2.0 of
the object-oriented programming language, C++, for Unix operating
systems will be available by the end of June, according to Mike
DeFazio, director of Unix System Software for AT&T.

The original C language, which is the language most of the Unix
operating system was written in, was developed at Bell
Laboratories by Dennis Richie in the early 70s, and the object-
oriented C++ version was also developed there by Dr. Bjarne
Stroustrup.

Object-oriented programming languages are intended to make
programming easier by including blocks of reusable code,
eliminating much redundant work. They differ from the usual
procedural languages which are mostly involved in creating
algorithms to solve problems because object-oriented programs are
more concerned with data and problem structure.

Borland International and Microsoft Corp. have recently announced
object-oriented languages for the DOS environment.

(John McCormick/19890615/Press Contact: Dick Muldoon, 201-
221-2694 office or 201-635-6699 home; or John Skalko, 201-
221-2888 office or 201-729-8202 home)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00005)

OSF ISSUES NETWORKING RFT
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 13 (NB) -- The Open
Software Foundation today issued its third request for technology
[RFT] related to the distributed computer environment.

The RFT is a major a step toward a possible future
standardisation of LAN and other extended computer networks by
seeking to learn the most important core needs of users. Possible
items to be considered include security, file sharing and common
terminology.

Vendors wishing to submit technology for consideration should
reply with a letter of intent to respond by July 6, with the
deadline for completed submissions set for October 6, 1989.

(John McCormick/1989615/Press Contact: Donna Ruane of Open
Software Foundation, 617-621-8772)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(ATL)(00006)

INFORMIX PORTS TO SONY'S NEWS
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 14 (NB) -- Sony announced
Informix Software Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif., will provide its
relational database software and 4GL applications development
tools for use with Sony's NEWS family of Unix workstations. The
two companies will engage in joint-marketing, and Informix'
products for News will be available in the summer.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890619/Press Contact: Rich Mirabella, Sony,
415-965-4492)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00007)

LOCUS ANNOUNCES NEW PC-INTERFACE
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 14 (NB) --Locus
Computing Corporation has announced the availability of Release
3.0 of its PC-Interface LAN [local area network] product. PC-
Interface is the component that supplies PC connectivity in the
new Open Desktop product from The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.

PC-Interface provides DOS-based PC users with transparent
integration of the DOS and UNIX environments with shared
applications, files and printers. DOS users need not learn UNIX
commands when using this interface.

Release 3.0 supports DOS 4.0, multiple hosts and VT220 terminal
emulation. Locus plans to begin shipping Release 3.0 in next
month.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890616)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00008)

JAPANESE NEWS SOFTWARE HEADS FOR EUROPE
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 10 (NB) -- According to Nikkei Sangyo
Shimbun, Japan Information Processing Service or JIPS has tied
up with Swiss computer firm ACU Informatik Holding AG to sell
software for Sony's engineering workstation News in Europe. If
true, this would mark one of the first times a non-entertainment
Japanese software package would be picked up in a major distribution
deal for the U.S. and Europe.

JIPS has so far entrusted Tokyo-based software house Microsoftware
Associates to make English edition of its spreadsheet program
called Noel. JIPS aims to ship the product in November. A company
spokesman says the price hadn't been decided, though the Japanese
edition is selling for 98,000 yen or $650. Following the first
software release in Europe, JIPS is expected to aggressively launch
other News products into the European market.

Meanwhile, ACU, Sony's European News sales agency, has announced
plans to substantially increase the kinds of software available
for the workstations, in order that they appeal to a wide European
audience.

(Ken Takahashi/19890615/Press Contact: Japan Information Processing
Service, 03-668-6175)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00009)

RISC WAVE SURGES IN JAPANESE WS MARKET
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 13 (NB) -- Nihon Sun Microsystems has
announced that half of all its workstation orders are for its reduced
instruction set computer [RISC] workstations.

The news contrasts with that from Sun Microsystems, which has been
trying to get customers to adopt its RISC-based, Sun-4 series, introduced
last February. However, traditional Sun workstations are still preferred
by Japanese buyers. Sun tried to shift some 60 percent of its workstation
output to the RISC units, but has reportedly achieved only 20 to 30 percent
in that category.

Meanwhile, RISC workstations from Digital Equipment Corp. Sony
are booming in Japan, and competition is expected to get even more
fierce as new RISC micrprocessors are introduced by Sun,
Motorola, and other companies.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890615/Press Contact: 03-221-7021)