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/nb890711

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

MACINTOSH II PHASE-OUT
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Apple will stop
producing the Macintosh II by December, or may have stopped already,
in order to build more Macintosh IICX computers, so says Macintosh
News in its 7/3/89 edition. Apple has no comment on the report.

The report says unit sales of Macintosh IIs have been steadily
declining since the 68030-based IICX began shipping in March,
and many retail stores have been heavily discounting the modular,
68020-based Macintosh II. One retailer contacted by Newsbytes
said, "We just don't know how to position the II anymore. I don't
know why Apple isn't just letting it go now."

The trade weekly quotes industry analysts as determining that
last year Apple shipped between 200,000 and 255,000 Macintosh II
systems and this year only 45,000 will go out the door. Demand
for the compact IICX has been outstripping supply, forcing Apple
to cannibalize a variety of its assembly operations to meet
market need.

(Wendy Woods/19890707)


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

MOTOROLA RISC CHIPS FOR APPLE
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Trade sources report
that Apple Computer has signed a deal with Motorola for reduced-
instruction set computer, or RISC chips, for future editions of
the Macintosh. The Cupertino-based company had no comment on the
reports for Newsbytes, except to say that "we are actively evaluating
RISC technology but have no long term plans beyond that," according
to an Apple spokeswoman.

Sources report Apple will build a new system around Motorola's
88000 technology. Apple has been shopping for RISC chips to
make faster, more powerful machines, and was reportedly entertaining
offerings from Advanced Micro Devices, among others. The decision to
go with Motorola, say the sources, was due to Apple's preference for
backward-compatibility with the 68000-series of microprocessors in
current Macs.

(Wendy Woods/19890707)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SIN)(00003)

ASIAN MACWORLD A SUCCESS
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Asia's first MacWorld has
proven to be such a success that many exhibitors have been impressed
enough as to book space for next year's and even 1991's shows.

The fact that only 25,000 out of the expected 40,000 visitors turned
up failed to disappoint Diversitec Distributors and IDG Corporation,
the organizers of this year's show. Jackie Greenwood, the show's
coordinator said, "We had an excellent turnout for a first show. We
attracted the right type of visitors and our exhibitors have been
delighted."

Roger Gulrajani, Aldus Corporation's account manager for the Asia-
Pacific region, said, "The visitors were enthusiastic Macintosh-users
or people who were shopping for products they wanted to use. We found
that useful and will be back for future MacWorlds in Asia."

The low attendance may have been caused by admission charges, (the
first to be charged here by any organizer of such exhibitions) ranging
from S$10 to S$60 (US$5.50 to US$33) depending on the number of days
and the kind of seminars the visitor wished to attend. Ron Osmun,
Diversitec's managing director, said yet another reason could be the
delays in promotion of the show, which began only a month before the
show instead of the proposed two.

Osmun said, "During the show, we're still receiving inquiries from
potential visitors from Indonesia and Australia."

Tim Johnson, Ashton-Tate's group sales manager for Apple products,
said he was happier with the response his booth received at the MacWorld
Asia Show than the ones in the U.S. He said, "MacWorlds in the U.S. have
a lot of hype. Visitors there are not interested in your products.
They just want to know what free things you are giving away."

Of the show here, he said, "The visitors come by to find out what we
have. I'm impressed with Macintosh users here who are knowledgeable
and they are just the ones we're trying to reach out to." He said he would
recommend his company return next year.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890703)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SIN)(00004)

NEW MAC PRINTER FROM HP
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUN 29 (NB) -- Hewlett-Packard used the
occasion of MacWorld Expo '89 here to announce its first Macintosh-
specific printer. DeskWriter, aimed at the business environment, is
a laser-quality, Quickdraw-based printer which can be used with the
Macintosh Plus, SE, or II, and is compatible with all major Macintosh
business software, such as Aldus Pagemaker, Excel, MacPaint, MacWrite
and Microsoft Word.

The announcement, made here by Julian Wong, HP's market development
manager for personal computers, offered these prices. At S$2,551 (in the
US$1,195), DeskWriter comes between Apple's low-end dot-matrix printer
ImageWriter II, which costs S$1,200 and its high-end LaserWriter at
about S$10,000. In this region, the DeskWriter will be sold through
Votra, a recently-appointed HP distributor.

Hewlett-Packard says it has adopted font-scaling technology which
allows the laser-quality printer to print in any font up to 250
points in size without the annoying "stepped" effect present in
print-outs without this technology.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890705)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(KUL)(00005)

INDIATALK FOR MACINTOSH
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1989 JUN 29 (NB) -- Ivy Systems, based in
India, develops Asian-language software for the Macintosh. It has
developed language interface systems and typefaces for languages such
as Devanagari, Urdu, Bangla, Sinhala etc., along the lines of
KanjiTalk and ChineseTalk.

Ivy exhibited these together with StopPress, a multilingual desktop
publishing package and MacLib, a library automation software, at the
MacWorld Asia '89 Expo in Singapore recently.

StopPress, entry-level multilingual type-setting and page layout
(PL) software for Macintosh, can work in many languages such as
Chinese, Japanese, Devanagari, Arabic, Urdu and others. It will be
localized on ChineseTalk at the show. Ivy personnel claim that
StopPress eliminates the need for a word-processor as it supports high
speed text entry in addition to having PL/WP features.

MacLib, multiuser software working in a network situation, supports
comprehensive catalog record definition, prints catalog cards in
AACR-II format, as well as supports Mac records and a bar code
reader.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890705)


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

APPLE SELLS ADOBE STOCK
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- Apple Computer is
selling its 16.4 percent share in Adobe Systems, marking what some are
saying is the bitter end in relations between the two companies.

The creator of Postscript, Adobe Systems had been among Apple's most
coveted allies with the birth of desktop publishing and the rise of laser
printing.  Now that Apple has come up with its own font-scaling and
page description languages, a divorce was inevitable.

In fact, Apple has announced that the next system software package
will compete with Adobe's software, and that it is developing its
own Postscript interpreter or "clone" program. Apple has also publicly
announced it will go directly to font manufacturers to license their
fonts, rather than sublicense them through Adobe.

The news is bad for Adobe, as one third of its revenues are reportedly
from the computer maker. But it could be worse. In 1984, Apple
accounted for far more -- 84 percent of Adobe's annual revenue.
An Adobe spokeswoman says the eggs are not all in one basket, with
Digital, IBM, NeXT, and Canon providing a revenue stream to the
Mountain View, California-based Adobe.

As for Apple, the company is expected to net some $50 million after
taxes from the sale of stock. Apple bought the Adobe stock in 1984
for an estimated $2.5 million. Apple is selling its shares to Morgan
Stanley & Company and Hambrecht & Quist for resale to the public
in an underwritten offering.

(Wendy Woods/19890707)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00007)

FIRED PROGRAMMER'S NEW JOB
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- David Ramsey, the
popular Apple programmer who got into hot water and was fired for
disclosing Apple information, has landed a job with a Nolan Bushnell
start-up called Aapps. Ramsey is reportedly working on a project for
Bushnell, founder of Atari and celebrated entrepreneur, which will
be displayed at MacWorld Expo in August in Boston.

(Wendy Woods/19890707)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00008)

CLARIS PROMOTION BITES MICROSOFT
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Apple spin-off
software firm Claris Corporation is making a direct attack on rival
Microsoft in new ads promoting its word processor over the Redmond,
Washington company's. Claris' ads ask readers to call a toll-free
number for a free demo disk of MacWrite II for the Macintosh,
saying that "After 10 minutes with us, most people can't keep
their Word," referring to Microsoft Word, a competing word processor
from Microsoft. Claris is also handing out coupons worth $25
toward the purchase of the $249 MacWrite II. Owners of earlier
versions of MacWrite as well as owners of Microsoft Word, WriteNow
from T/Maker, Microsoft Write, Microsoft Works, and WordPerfect,
can upgrade for $75.

The campaign runs through the summer and is seen in the Wall Street
Journal, InfoWorld, MacWeek, and Macintosh News. The free demo
disk offer, which can be had by calling 800-729-2292, extension 8,
runs through September 15.

"It's the first time that we have taken a competitor head-on and
it's because MacWrite is such a great product and we feel the
time is right for it now," Claris spokesman Steve Ruddock tells
Newsbytes. Asked whether Apple has any remorse in publicly
offending the world's largest maker of Macintosh software, Ruddock
said, "Apple doesn't do things through Claris, these are Claris'
plans, so it would be wrong to give Apple the credit or the blame
for anything Claris implements."

The aggressive campaign marks a new turn for the company,
of which the majority is still owned by Apple. Apple has, in
fact, put a public timetable for spinning off Claris as an
independent firm on hold due to unstable market conditions,
according to Ruddock.

Microsoft and Claris are the two largest suppliers of software for
the Macintosh. Microsoft Word holds an estimated 50 percent market
share and MacWrite's earlier incarnation holds another 25 percent.

(Wendy Woods/19890707/Press Contact: Steve Ruddock, 408-987-7202)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(ATL)(000099)

COSTLY MAC BACK-UP PROGRAM
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, U.S.A. 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Back-up programs
have been creeping up in price for years, but adding crucial features. The
market leader, Fastback Plus from Fifth Generation Systems in Baton
Rouge, has raised its price to $189 despite having moved marketing and
sales functions from the West Coast to cut costs last year.

Phil Catterall, vice president-marketing, defends the price, saying
Fastback Plus for the PC, and Fastback II for the Macintosh, are the only
products of their type to include three data compression schemes
as standard. "It's the fastest. Our own benchmark tests show us three
times faster," he told Newsbytes. "We give a lot more flexibility in file
selection. We're the only program that allows you to back-up by folder,
file, creation date, modification date, creator or type."

The PC version of the program is the most expensive of its type,
although a new Macintosh competitor, Retrospect, is now being sold at
over $200. Most gratifying of all to his argument, Catterall adds, "On the
PC side we're the premium-priced product. We won PC Magazine's Editor's
Choice award this month."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707/Press Contact: Phil Catterall, Fifth
Generation Systems, 504-291-7221)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(WAS)(00010)

UNMOUSE FROM MICROTOUCH
WOBURN, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- MicroTouch
Systems has recently introduced Touche, a touch-sensitive tablet used
in place of a mouse on a Macintosh.

Using the Apple Desktop Bus and requiring a Macintosh SE or II, the 3-by-
4.5-inch tablet is sensitive to a finger drawn across its surface, which
causes the cursor to move on screen in the same way a mouse would
operate, but you can still leave a mouse connected.

Also called the UnMouse, the Touche has a resolution of 1024 by
1024 pixels, greater than a Macintosh screen. The $235 Touche
can also be used as a special keypad to activate macro commands.

MicroTouch also makes stylus-based light pen touch screens for
LCD, EL, and plasma displays as well as curved screens for CRT
applications. Marketing Coordinator Deanna Capasso told Newsbytes that
a PC version is also in the works and will be available this summer.

MicroTouch Systems, Inc., is currently located at 10 State
Street, Woburn, Mass. 01801, 617-935-0080, but is relocating to
55 Jonspin Road, Wilmington, Mass. 01887, 508-694-9900, as of
August 1.

(John McCormick/19890707/Press Contact: Janet Holian, 508-694-
9900)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00011)

MAC RASCOL IS SHIPPING
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- Mac Rascol Print
color printer controller, introduced at NCGA by Lasergraphics, is
now delivering the product in volume.

Mac Rascol is used in conjunction with MacRascol, Lasergraphics'
proprietary software rasterizer and SCSI interface. The Mac Rascol Print
sits between the Macintosh and a color printer of choice to produce
professional color prints or overhead transparencies quickly and with
high quality.

The Mac Rascol Print controller is an independent external device
that is easy to install. Once connected, Mac Rascol requires no
operator intervention--the Mac controls everything automatically.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890707/Press Contact: Candice Tuttle,
Lasergraphics, 714-660-9497)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SIN)(00012)

SINGAPORE COMPUTER USE UP
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUN 30 (NB) --Singapore has finally
entered the computer age as companies here turn to them to raise
productivity and efficiency. This was the gist of the opening address
at MacWorld Expo by Tan Chin Nam, chairman of the National Computer
Board (NCB) here, who added that the number of companies with 10 or
more workers using computers more than quadrupled from 13 percent in
1982 to 59 percent in 1987. He said that about 20 percent of businesses
not using information technology (IT) plan to do so within the next three
years.

Tan quoted examples of government efforts to familiarize businesses
with IT. The NCB and the National Productivity Board (NPB) have started a
course to teach IT to some 200,000 office workers and train them in the
use of common software, such as word-processing packages. The course
will soon be taught on Apple Macintosh computers in addition to IBM and
IBM-compatibles presently being used.

The Ministry of Education will equip 140 secondary schools and their
computer laboratories with more than 1,200 computers. And the
organizers of Singapore IT Week, to be held in December this
year, will hold an international software competition to give students
an opportunity to test their skills against those from other countries.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890706)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00001)

WANG MISUSING POWER, SAY RETAILERS
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- The Australian Trade
Practices Commission (TPC) has written to Wang Australia asking
for an explanation over allegations of misuse of market power.
Newsbytes has learned of statements from three firms filing
complaints with the TPC over two central issues. Wang allegedly
overpricing essential operating system licences (OSL) on users who
chose to buy products from Wang resellers, and Wang's policy on third
party maintenance users which has proven controversial in the U.K.

The TPC's NSW assistant director, Barry Doolan, said "several
matters were being investigated, though the matter was in its
early stages and the complaints might prove to be ungrounded."
Two computer broker firms which complained to the TPC alleged
Wang had overpriced OSL transfers when brokers resold hardware.

Sydney broker Computer Exchange Products Manager Bob Norton
said since Wang unbundled its operating system licence from its
computer sales conditions this year, it had incurred expensive costs
on brokers reselling the product. "Brokers can't sell the product
unless they buy the operating system licence back off Wang," he
said. "It's like GM selling a car, then asking a used car salesman to pay
GM for the engine again," he said.

Another broker filing a TPC complaint, who declined to be named,
said in one instance he bought a VS65 OSL licence of Wang for
AUS$28,000 while a Wang client bought a similar licence for "next
to no cost."

Meanwhile, one user who cancelled its Wang maintenance agreement
for a cheaper third party maintenance (TPM) deal with rival firm
Ibimaint, said Wang dropped software services to a more expensive
time-and-materials basis. City of Footscray computer manager
Randall Membray said: "If we want the same software support now
we would have to pay thousands of dollars more than before."

Wang customer service organization district manager, Dan
Dumitrescu, said the firm only offered a WSS time-and-materials
agreement to TPM holders because it could not guarantee TPM
companies would offer the same level of support as Wang.
Dumitrescu said Wang could not guarantee software revision levels
being maintained on TPM holders if upgrades to user systems were
taken.

"There is an intimate relationship between software and hardware
which calls for revision levels to be maintained," Dumitrescu
said. "Wang cannot guarantee other TPM companies can keep users
on the latest hardware revision levels, therefore Wang cannot
offer TPM holders comprehensive WSS."

(Paul Zucker/19890707)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(ATL)(00002)

NATIONAL SEMI BUYS QUADRAM
NORCROSS, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- The Quadram name
and its leading products have been sold to National Semiconductor
by Intelligent Systems Master, L.P. The deal closed July 7.

Specific Quadram products covered by the agreement include the
Mainlink II communications line, the MicroFazer buffer and
peripherals sharing line and graphics, memory and multifunction
products. Those operations will now be known as the Quadram
Products Group of National Semiconductor, but will continue to be
made in Georgia.

National also entered into a Coinvestment Agreement and non-
exclusive Distribution Agreement with Intelligent Systems.

Quadram operations which have not been sold to National have been
renamed Q/Cor. These include the JT Fax PC fax board line, in the
the process of being transferred to Hayes Microcomputer, the
Quad386XT accelerator products, and other graphics, memory,
multifunction and networking products. The Q/Cor operations will
also remain in Norcross.

Quadram was the foundation of Intelligent Systems, founded in
1982 by Leland Strange and Tim Farris, who now runs Boca
Research. Its first product was the Quadboard, which added a
memory and other functions to the old IBM PC. The company was
acquired by Intelligent Systems, then a maker of color terminals,
late in 1982. Over the last few years, it has been aggressively
seeking to sell subsidiaries, and recently sold its popular JT
Fax business to Hayes, the leader in the PC modem business.
Intelligent Systems still owns Datavue, an importer and designer
of laptop computers, and Brier Technology, which makes high-
capacity floppy disk drives.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707/Press Contact: John McCormick,
Intelligent Systems, 404-381-2900)


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

XEROX CEO SPEAKS OUT
STAMFORD CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- David Kerns, chief
executive of Xerox, said in a broadcast interview that his aim is to
have zero defects in Xerox equipment.

Faced with strong Japanese competition in the 70s, the once-strong
Xerox Corporation has fallen on hard times in recent years, prompting
industry observers to question whether it can even survive.

Kearns, who was formerly with IBM, was appointed to the post of
CEO in 1982 with a mandate to make Xerox profitable again and has
done so by cutting back on staff and eliminating all but two core
business operations, financial services including, leasing, and
office products, mostly high-end copiers and complete publishing
stations.

Xerox's pre-tax profit last year was 11 percent, and Kearns has promised
a return of 15 percent for the next fiscal year. Xerox stock closed
Thursday at $64 (U.S.) down from a one-time high of $170 (U.S.).

In commenting on possible takeovers, Mr. Kearns said, "The best
defense against takeovers is to show a good profit and institute
the cost-cutting measures (that would be enforced anyway by a new
owner)."

(John McCormick/19890707)


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

LUCASFILM/ELECTRONIC ARTS DEAL
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- Electronic Arts has
added another feather to its increasingly crowded Affiliated Label
cap by signing an exclusive deal to distribute Lucasfilm entertainment
software in the U.S. and Canada.

Electronic Arts will be responsible for sales, distribution and
manufacturing of all Lucasfilm Game programs, including graphic
software and adventure games based on Lucasfilm movies. The first
of these will be "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" game that is
to be released soon.

The deal also calls for E.A. to distribute new forms of entertainment,
as well -- most likely CD-I or other technologies based on Lucasfilm
motion pictures.

"Using hit movies as springboards for interactive entertainment
will establish new forms of entertainment for the home, complementing
Electronic Arts' vision of interactive entertainment across new
technologies," says Steve Salyer, vice president of business
development for Electronic Arts.

(Wendy Woods/19890707/Press Contact: Rachel Famighette, 415/571-
7171 x379)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00005)

NEC MAKES MORE 4M CHIPS
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 1 (NB) -- Japanese semiconductor giant NEC
will accelerate the transition to next generation dynamic random access
memory (DRAM) chips. The company will produce four-megabit DRAM in its
Kyushyu and Kansai plants, in addition to announced plans to expand
production in its Yamaguchi plant.

Both plants will start test production this October in order to
implement mass production by year's end and an output of 200,000 chips
in each plant by April 1990.

NEC is racing against Toshiba and Hitachi to produce the high-memory
chips. The additional two plants, now producing one-megabit DRAM, will
be able to switch the line because planners had the foresight to design
them to easily facilitate a change to next generation chip production.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890706)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00006)

COMMODORE NAMES NEW VP
WEST CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- Brian C.
Weyman has been named vice president of worldwide manufacturing
and purchasing for Commodore International.

The 46-year-old Weyman was with Xerox for 28 years, where he was
the vice president of worldwide electronics strategy and
implementation.

Commodore also announced Wednesday that 36-year-old Jaime
Figueroa had been appointed director of sales for Latin America.

(John McCormick/19890707)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00007)

COMDISCO/AGERIS JOINT VENTURE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) --Comdisco Disaster
Recovery Services Inc. (CDRS) and AGERIS, a French-based disaster
recovery company, have announced the formation of a joint venture
company called AGERIS International, which will provide comprehensive
disaster recovery services for French IBM and DEC installations.

The new company, headed by Christian Cuillery, the current managing
director of AGERIS, is expected to play a major role in a post-1992 pan-
European disaster recovery network.

CDRS is a subsidiary of Comdisco Data Services. Both are owned by
Comdisco, the world's largest independent high-tech and computer
leasing firm. AGERIS is a leading disaster recovery provider in
France and became a subsidiary of FITB (Financiere pour l'Informatique,
la Telematique et la Bureautique) in 1986.

(John McCormick/19890707/Press Contact: Linda Muir or Tim Fiala,
212-696-4744)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00008)

MAI FILES SUIT
TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 30 (NB) -- MAI Basic Four
has sued both Prime Computer and it's white knight, J. H. Whitney
& Company in an effort to stop the merger between the two.

MAI's suit alleges that the bidding for Prime was rigged. The
company is seeking to have the auction for Prime reopened. MAI
claims that Whitney improperly paid $20 million in expense fees
and wants the venture capital firm to return the money to Prime.
Returning the money, according to MAI, would ensure that the
money MAI can pay Prime shareholders can be correspondingly
increased.

Prime has denied any auction rigging and commented that the MAI
suit is without merit.

MAI has indicated that it still plans to announce another revised
bid in the near future.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890707)


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

NINTENDO'S NEW TOKYO OFFICES
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Nintendo will establish Tokyo
Development Center as a base for developing game software.
Software for Famicon is currently developed in its Kyoto-based head
office, but Nintendo has determined that Tokyo is a better place to
launch projects and get ideas.

Nintendo says the center will be complete by 1991 and the eight-floor
building will be located in Taito, Taito Ward of Tokyo. Nintendo estimates
that the land price will be about 10 billion yen or $70 million, and the
facility and equipment investment about 15 billion yen or $105 million.

Nintendo will gather its developers now dispersed around the Tokyo
area, and some 85 members of its sales staff now in branch offices,
to its new Tokyo center. A total of 150 people will be employed at
Nintendo's Tokyo office.

(Ken Takahashi/19890706)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00010)

CRAY SLATED FOR MITSUBISHI
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 1 (NB) -- One of the technical divisions at
Mitsubishi Motors (MMC) has been spun off into a separate business
with an investment of 30 million yen or $207,000. MMC Computer
Research has been set up as a wholly owned subsidiary in order to
design software for the automotive industry.

The new firm will develop systems and manage computer operations
with a Cray supercomputer which is scheduled to be introduced at
MMC this fall.

The venture's 30-member work force will increase to 250 over three
years.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890706)


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

JAPAN: PC PRICES DOWN
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 1 (NB) -- The price of personal computers,
while rising since spring, is finally falling. The discount rate
has exceeded 30 percent, with prices falling about 10 percent a
month.

There are several reasons for the trend. First, before the April imposition
of an unpopular sales tax, demand surged on the retail level and large
numbers of PCs were ordered. As a result, many stores now have
excess inventory. For example, NEC shipped 190,000 units of its
PC-9800 series between April and June -- an increase of 50 percent
over last year, and the 9800 series machines are everywhere.
Secondly, the wholesale price has dropped. Finally NEC, which holds
over half the PC market share in Japan, will release new machines
this fall, leading buyers to hold off on purchasing currently available
machines.

Retail shops are expected to further lower PC prices, because in
spite of the discounts, the computers are still not selling well.

(Ken Takahashi/198900706)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00012)

NORTEL CHIEF HEADS CMA
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA, 1989 JUL 4 ( NB) -- David Vice,
president of Northern Telecom, has been appointed chairman of the
Canadian Manufacturers' Association. The association, which represents
Canadian manufacturers, has just formally announced the appointment,
made at its annual meeting here June 16.

(Grant Buckler/19890706)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00013)

AUS/SWEDISH DISTRIB DEAL
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- Melbourne-based FMS has
signed a $100 million international distribution agreement with
the Swedish giant, ESAB, in one of the biggest deals ever done by
an Australian software house.

ESAB, one of the world's largest makers of steel profiling machines, will
sell and support the PC-based FastCAM profiling system through the
Americas for the next three years. FastCAM was chosen from 80
different systems as the application most suited to ESAB's products.
It is used to drive cutting machines used in the manufacture
steel, glass and marble products. FMS managing director and
FastCAM developer, Dr. Matthew Fagan, said in the U.S. alone, the deal
was worth up to $200 million over the next three years. "ESAB is
a worldwide giant in the welding and cutting industry and has 60 percent
of the market," he said.

That share should increase, as the company has just bought its
main competitor, Eltek. Since the deal was signed, 20 systems
have been sold. "Worldwide distribution of FastCAM products is
being considered. When that comes to fruition, FastCAM could
produce the largest international sales ever for an Australian-developed
software product," Dr. Fagan said.

(Paul Zucker/19890707)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00014)

AUST. GAINS FROM KOREA
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- Acute problems in Korea's
computing export market will mean big money for Australian IT
(information technology) companies. That is the view of international
marketing strategist Morrisey International's managing director, Kevin
Morrisey.

He said Australian companies stand to gain advantages over other
countries in two key computing arenas: mid-range Unix and PCs.
Morrisey said that although the nation has a good manufacturing
reputation it just made 286 and 386 PCs. "To be competitive on the
international PC market, Korea will have to develop value-added PCs or
workstations -- this is a major opportunity for Australia because Korea
does not have design capabilities," he said.

"Australia could design the workstations and jointly create
value-added software for export to Europe and the U.S. At present
the U.S. is trying to discourage importation of Korean computer
equipment because it has a big trade surplus with the Asian
nation. However, because Australia has a U.S. trade deficit, the U.S.
will not object too strongly on importing jointly developed
computing equipment."

Australia also stands to benefit from Korea's domestic Unix
market. For years Korea nationalized its Tolerant-cloned Unix
boxes which made it difficult for multinationals DEC and Prime
to break into the market. Morrisey said Australian firms stand to
benefit from the situation because they could provide Unix
enhancements and software.

(Paul Zucker/19890707)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(KUL)(00015)

NIXDORF IN BIG ATM DEAL
MANILA, PHILIPPINES, 1989 JUN 23 (NB) -- Nixdorf Computer is now
playing in the big leagues, competing with IBM and NCR in the
lucrative automated teller machine business. Nixdorf has won
four automated teller machine (ATM) contracts with leading banks
here, according to a report in Computerworld. The deals, worth 39
million pesos (US$2 million) are for Nixdorf's new CSC 500 M 10
system (Customer Service Centre).

The Philippines is the first ASEAN country to order the CSC 500 which
Nixdorf launched only three months ago. The installation of the
machines, expected to be completed soon, has already started.

The CSC has two versions, the other being the CSC 200 M10 series. The
CSC 200 has two bank note cassettes while the CSC 500 can be fitted
with up to five bank note cassettes and is sophisticated enough to
allow a mixture of notes to be issued, or to operate with different
currencies. It can thus meet the requirements of customers if it were
to be installed at the border of two countries or at international
sites. It is described as a complete machine with deposit, withdrawal
and statement of account functions as well as travellers cheque and
cheque book inquiries.

Werner Mahrla, the managing director of Nixdorf Computer Philippines,
was reported to have said that securing the contracts was
a major breakthrough for Nixdorf especially with the strong presence
of IBM and NCR.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890703)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(KUL)(00016)

SONY INVESTS MORE IN MALAYSIA
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- Japanese electronics giant
Sony announced that it was investing a further M$160 million (US$60
million) in two new plants and those already existing here.

Masahiko Morizono, Sony's vice president, said the company will invest
M$90 million (US$35 million) in the two new plants, Mechatronic
Products (M) Sdn Bhd and Sony Video (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. The first
will concentrate on the manufacture of 3.5-inch micro floppy disk
drives, numbering 50,000 units monthly, mainly for export. The second
will manufacture deck-type, half-inch video cassette recorders.

Morizono said further that Sony will invest M$70 million to expand
its existing consumer audio product factory to produce hi-fi stereo
equipment.

Sony's latest commitments would bring its total investments in
Malaysia to more than M$300 million (US$111 million), more than double
its initial investment in the country in 1984. It has created more
than 3,000 job opportunities in the process.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890706)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00017)

NEC'S UK MONITORS
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- The Nippon Electrical
Company (NEC) has announced plans to begin production of its PC
monitors before the end of the year. The production shift, from Japan to
the U.K., is being made to avoid European Community (EC) levies on
non-EC produced electronic products that are expected to be phased
in by 1992, when the so-called free European market opens up.

According to NEC's London press office, production of PC colour
monitors will be ramped up slowly from 15,000 units a month in
October of this year, increasing to 22,000 or 23,000 by 1992.

(Steve Gold/19890707/Press Contact: NEC Press Office - Tel: 01-
267-7000)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00018)

EUROPRESS BUYS UK TRADE PAPER
STEVENAGE, ENGLAND, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- Specialist Retail Press
(SRP), the company that produce Computer Trade Weekly (CTW), a
weekly computer trade publication, has been purchased from the
Spectrum Group by Europress and Tom Stock, SRP's existing managing
director.

The buy-out is a partnership between Europress -- the parent
company of Database Publications, Database Exhibitions, Database
and Mandarin Software -- and Stock, who is joined on the board by
Derek Meakin, chairman of Europress, Michael Meakin, managing
director of Europress, and Commercial Director David Hirst.

According to Derek Meakin, Stock and his team have built CTW into
an indispensable part of the leisure computing industry.

"We're delighted to become associated with this successful
publication and will do all we can to support its continued
progress. In particular, the Europress Group's detailed knowledge
of the European marketplace will now be available to CTW. With
our backing, CTW should be able to play a vital role in helping
UK companies build a marketing bridgehead in the run up to 1992,
with considerable benefits to all concerned," he said.

(Steve Gold/19890707/Press Contact - Don Lewis, Europress - Tel:
0625-878888)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BRU)(00019)

GOOD HEALTH FOR CTM
ASCHAFFENBURG, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUL 07 -- CTM Konstanz, a wholly
owned minicomputer manufacturer of Standard Elektrik Lorenz AG
(part of the Alcatel group), has received its biggest single order
since the company was founded. The DM 3.8 million ($1.9 million)
order came from a modernized 580 bed hospital at Aschaffenburg, a
district town some 50 miles from Frankfurt.

CTM will install its turnkey package, CTM-Klinika, fitted with
100 monitor/workstations at the hospital, which will use the system
for patient data and associated medical records.

(Klaus Rosenthal/19890707)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BRU)(00020)

AEG POSTAL ORDER
FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- AEG, the West German
electronics company (part of the Bosch group) has received an order
worth DM 530 million ($265 million) from Electrocom Automation
of Arlington, Illinois, in the U.S.. Terms of the deal call for AEG to
supply a series of automatic mail sorting and dispatch equipment
to the U.S. company.

The DM 530 million order is the second contract that AEG has
secured from Electrocom. In April, 1989, Electrocom ordered DM
330 million ($165 million) of kit from the Bosch subsidiary.

The systems have been developed by AEG at Konstanz plant in West
Germany, and consist of several modules, with multiple functions ranging
from data entry to data reading and distribution control. By
encoding each envelope in a batch of mail, each individual letter
can be sorted by computer.

(Klaus Rosenthal/19890707)



(EXCLUSIVE)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00001)

NEW LAPTOP WP FROM MAC DESIGNER
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- A member of the original
Macintosh development team and the designer of the Canon Cat, a dedicated
word processor, Jef Raskin has come up with a new, lighter-weight version
of the Cat, currently being called the Swyft Portable. Information Appliance,
Raskin's firm, is talking seriously with a U.S. manufacturer about
mass-production of the unit and hopes to have an announcement shortly.

Chief Operating Officer Minoru Taoyahama tells Newsbytes that the
hand-held dedicated word processor called the Swyft weighs four pounds,
runs on a Motorola 68000 microprocessor, has 128K of nonvolatile
random access memory, two high-speed serial ports using the same pin-out
configuration as the Macintosh, has a battery life of six hours on two
rechargable AA batteries, and will be priced between $600 and
$700. "Our attitude is that any product we sell should be less than
a thousand dollars."

Taoyama says the machine will compete with other dedicated word
processors on the market from Smith-Corona, Brother, and Magnavox,
but will offer the same patented "leap" key functions as the Cat, will
have software to transfer data to Macintoshes and IBMs, will offer several
improvements over the original Cat, and is envisioned to run special
cartridge-based programs, eventually competing with the laptop market.

Canon will not distribute this machine, he says, as "there were many
issues in the marketing plan that we disagreed with." Specifically,
Canon's targeting the machine at the business rather than consumer
electronic/personal productivity markets was a dismal failure, leading
to Canon's decision to stop making the machine. Canon Cats can now be
found for rock-bottom prices at discount houses.

(Wendy Woods/19890706/Press Contact: Information Appliance, 415-493-2400)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00002)

DIGITAL'S MULTIVENDOR MULTIMEDIA
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Digital Equipment
will host the press to an interactive video press conference designed
to announce "the most open, multivendor computing environment in
the industry today." Slated for 7:30 a.m. on July 11 at the San Jose
Convention Center, the event will involve an audio hook-up, allowing
members of the press to directly question DEC President Ken Olsen in
Boston at the World Trade Center.

(Wendy Woods/19890707/Press Contact: Ligeia Polidora, 415-397-7878)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00003)

TOP 10 MANUFACTURERS LISTED
DEARBORN, MICHIGAN, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- The Society of
Manufacturing Engineers listed five computer companies among the ten
best places to work in manufacturing during its annual poll. The results
are based on a nationwide survey of experts who closely monitor U.S.
manufacturing industries.

Apple Computer, AT&T, Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, and
IBM were the computer companies in the list. Non-computer
companies on the list included Boeing, Eastman Kodak, Ford
Motor, General Electric, and Westinghouse.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707/Press Contact: Tom Drozda, SME, 313-
271-1500)


(EXCLUSIVE)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00004)

NEW QUANTA CD-ROM
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- In an exclusive interview
today with industry firebrand Mark Foster, Newsbytes was told that
Quanta's latest CD-ROM, a $149 ISO-9660 (High Sierra) disc, contains
more than 7,000 programs and utilities from the Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.
RBBS bulletin board.

These programs are either shareware, which requires satisfied
users to register and pay a small fee for the use of the program,
or freeware software that can be freely copied and used with no
additional fee. Shareware programs allow potential users to try
the programs before paying for them. Any payments go directly to
the program's author, not Quanta Press.

Mark told Newsbytes that the RBBS PC disc has already presold 93
copies before it was officially released. This is a very large response
even for Quanta Press, which specializes in selling value-packed
CD-ROMs at low prices.

Other Quanta discs include Seals, a disc containing TIFF or Tagged
Information File Format images of the official seals for all U.S. federal
government agencies and many state seals; Shareware Gold, a 24K-gold
plated CD-ROM disc containing a selection of the best shareware
programs, including those from ButtonWare, like PC-File, and Forbin
Project's QModem SST; and FactBook, a CD-ROM containing the latest
version of the Central Intelligence Agency's CIA World Factbook, a sort of
unclassified geography text on every country in the world.

Mark has also given Newsbytes permission to announce Quanta
Press's intention to make use of home-based indexing subcontractors.
Mark has said in the past that he hopes to bring hundreds of general
market CD-ROMs onto the market and the most cost-effective way to do
this is by leasing workstations and placing them in workers' homes, but
he always declined to release this information to the press because
he felt that the announcement would be premature.

The first such installation is already in place in the Chicago
area, using a ZEOS 386 tower computer operating at 33MHz and
utilizing a very large hard disk with caching disk controller.

In another move, those who want to see lower-priced CD-ROM
players might want to drop Mark a line mentioning your interest
in possibly buying a $300 CD-ROM player. Mr. Foster said that he
couldn't say anything specific but mentioned that he is collecting the
names of interested parties and, knowing Mark, he must have something
up his sleeve.

You can write to Mark expressing an interest in buying a $300 player or
to get information about, or order, any of their discs at Quanta Press,
2239 Carter Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 55108. Don't write to order a player;
there isn't one available at that price YET - just state your interest and
Mark will see that the information gets to the right people.

(John McCormick/19890706)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00005)

NOVELL JOINS COS
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- The Corporation for
Open Systems phoned Newsbytes today to announce that Novell, the
network hardware and software manufacturer, has joined COS.

The various categories of membership are determined by sales
volume and Novell joined as a Senior Research Member, the highest
level of membership, costing $200,000/year. Novell shares this
membership level with about 40 other major firms.

As part of Senior Research Membership, Novell will have a
representative on COS's Board of Directors and Executive
Committee, and a representative on the strategy forum and any
appropriate technical committees.

(John McCormick/19890706/Press Contact: Marianne A. Elden, 703-
883-2742)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00006)

COS SPAG TOOL SET INTEGRATED
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- The Corporation for
Open Systems has announced that, pursuant to an agreement reached
last year with its European counterpart, Standards Promotion and
Applications Group Services or SPAG, the software test tools used
by the two standards-testing organizations have been integrated.

Although the two sets of test programs are still separate
entities, the change involves making both sets of programs
available through a common OSI (Open Systems Interconnection)
menu system.

The two systems are now easier for users to access.

(John McCormick/19890706/Press Contact: Marianne A. Elden, 703-
883-2742)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00007)

ARCHIVE SHIPS PC TAPE BACK-UP
COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 30 (NB) -- The Data
Storage Division of Archive Corporation has begun shipping two
new versions of its low cost ArchiveXL tape drive.

Both are quarter-inch cartridge tape drive products, one an
internal 80-MB drive, the other a preassembled external 40-MB
tape backup subsystem. As with other Archive tape drives, these
two new products are Novell-certified.

The new 80-MB Model 3580 is for IBM PS/2 models 50, 60, 70 and 80
and the 80-MB Model 5580 is designed for AT compatible computers.
Both can run under the SCO Xenix operating system.

The two new 40-MB externals are the PC/XT compatible Model 5240e
and the PC/AT compatible Model 5540e.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890707/Press Contact: Becky Emerson, Archive
Corporation, 714-966-5546)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00008)

ABCD WARRANTY CLAIM STANDARDS
SCHAUMBURG, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 27 (NB) -- The ABCD (a
not-for-profit trade organization in the microcomputer industry)
Warranty Task Force has made three key decisions toward industry-
wide standardization of warranty claim forms in an effort to
improve the warranty reimbursement mechanism between
manufacturers and dealers.

The three decisions include:

A "straight serialization" of at least 15 digits will be used on
the standard warranty form to be created.

Two digit transaction codes will stand for categories such as
customer warranty, dealer warranty and option warranty. The
codes will be printed on a pocket guide that will contain
instructions for the standard format transaction code keys
along with vendor addresses and phone numbers.

The claim forms will appear on screen in the same format as in
hard copy. A software protocol will be developed to enable
dealers and manufacturers to communicate these forms using non-
compatible equipment.

Through use of a standard claim form, computer dealers hope to be
able to minimize the problems they are currently encountering
having to use as many as 44 different manufacturer warranty claim
forms. The task force is scheduled to meet again in early
September to finalize a sample universal warranty claim form.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890707/Press Contact: Kerry Spaedy, ABCD,
800-333-9532)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00009)

SCAN-OPTICS DEBUTS SABREVIEW
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 30 (NB) -- Scan-Optics has
introduced its Sabreview Image Processing Systems, the first
systems of their type to thoroughly integrate the image capture,
storage and retrieval process with standard data processing in a
single system.

Two versions, Models 2000 and 4000, each have an ICP (image
control processor) in a "tower" enclosure and use they both use
the same IDS (image display station) and IPS (image processing
station.) The ICP interfaces with a host computer running the
PICK operating system.

Sabreview systems are now in production and shipping is expected
to begin in next month.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890707/Press Contact: Jeff Swartz, Daly-
Swartz Public Relations, 714-361-6888)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00010)

FUJITSU'S PLAN FOR FM-TOWNS
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Fujitsu is planning a major
new campaign to increase market share for its new personal computer
line, called FM-Towns, this fall. Released in May as a direct attack
on NEC, which dominates the Japanese PC market, FM-Towns has not
damaged the giant NEC's profits yet, as the machine has not been
an overnight success. Critics complain of its proprietary operating
system, its high price tag, and its CD-ROM drive, the potential of
which has yet to be fulfilled.

Fujitsu will launch a high-end model of FM-Towns, aimed at the business
PC market, this fall. Fujitsu has delivered 250 units of the machine
to software houses in order to see if over 1,000 software packages
written for its other business personal computers, the FMR series,
will run on FM-Towns. Meanwhile Fujitsu claims it will also announce
500 FMR applications will run on FM-Towns. There will also
be some 100 CD-ROM-based applications, according to Fujitsu.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890706)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00011)

BELL CANADA BOOK ON PROGRAMMING
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- Through a division called
Info Pro, Bell Canada is making its internal computing expertise available
to the outside world. Info Pro has published a book entitled How to Build
Applications on Your PC. Oriented to MS-DOS computers and dBASE III Plus
software, the 132-page paperback covers application design,
implementation, testing and maintenance. Staff in Bell's Information
Services Support Centre wrote the book.

(Grant Buckler/19890706/Press Contact: George Bateman, Info
Pro Division of Bell Canada, 416-595-7406)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00012)

MICRORIM BETA TESTS IN AUSTRALIA
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- A visiting product evangelist
from Microrim has said that Australia would be used as a beta test site
for its upcoming Atlas database engine. Thom Kozic is in Australia to
meet R:Base users and to keep them up to date with future product
developments. He said Australia was an ideal Atlas beta test site because
there were a lot of diverse sites here.

He cited the ANZ Bank as a typical example of a customer using a
large range of database products. "There are a lot of different
vendors each with a small slice of the market," he said. Atlas is
SQL-compliant and designed to interact with a number of different
databases on a number of different platforms. It will allow
R:Base on the workstation to be a smaller program, freeing up
space for networking software.

At present, Microrim has Atlas up and running under OS/2. Kozic
said that Microrim was currently porting it to Macintosh, Unix
and Windows environments. It is also working on the personal
engine component, which will run on MS-DOS. OS/2 and Macintosh
platforms. "We are evaluating seven variations on the graphic front end,"
he said. "They are being tested by users."

Kozic said that the report editor for the personal engine was
modelled on PageMaker, the desktop publishing package.
Kozic said that Version 3.1 of R:Base, which would have interface
to the Atlas engine, would be released in December.

(Paul Zucker/19890707)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SIN)(00013)

SINGAPORE: NET TRAINING FROM AUSTRALIA
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUL 1 (NB) -- Houseley Communications of
Australia will conduct two courses here, one on telecommunications and
the other on network computer communication systems.

The first, to be held between August 21 and 23, will be the Basic
Telecommunications, Voice Systems and Telecommunications Management
Course, to be presented by Denise Anderson, an independent
telecommunications consultant with over 20 years of experience in line
management, staff and consulting roles.

The second, between August 28 and 31, is entitled, "Open Systems
Interconnection" and will be conducted by Gary Dickson, a director
of Open Networks Pty. Ltd., an independent company offering consulting
and education services to suppliers and users of information
technology (IT).

The full course fees are S$1650 and S$2200 respectively.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890706/Press contact: Margaret Chan,
Deloitte Haskins + Sells, Ph: (65) 224.8288, Fax: [phone], Tx:
RS29011)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SIN)(00014)

TECHNOLOGY MONTH ON AUTOMATION
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUL 4 (NB) -- September will be Technology
Month in Singapore and Siew Hing Yun, chief administrative officer of
the Science Council of Singapore (SCS) said that its theme is automation,
as the Economic Development Board (EDB) has designated this year as the
Year of Automation.

The SCS is coordinating Technology Month, the third in the series. It
is jointly organised by the Automation Application Centre, EDB,
Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI), National Productivity Board,
National University of Singapore, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore
Institute of Standards and Industrial Research, Singapore
Manufacturers' Association, Singapore Polytechnic and the Singapore
Science Centre.

Technology Month will begin with a symposium on manufacturing
technology at NTI, followed by seminars and exhibitions reflecting the
theme throughout September. An essay competition to encourage people
to share their ideas on automation will be one main activity.

The SCS will present the National Science and Technology award and the
National Young Scientist and Engineer awards to local scientists and
engineers as marks of recognition.

Dr. Tay Eng Soon, Singapore Minister of State for Education, will
launch Technology Month, which coincides with NTI's Open Day. The Open
Day and symposium will focus on the automation research activities of
NTI's staff and students.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890707/Press Contact: Science Council of
Singapore, Ph: (65) 779.7066)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00015)

FRENCH DISASTER RECOVERY
PARIS, FRANCE, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- Ageris, the French disaster
recovery company, has teamed up with Comdisco of the U.S. to form
Ageris International. The new company will provide disaster
recovery services for IBM and DEC users in France.

According to the company, clients will be offered a total systems
solution to data processing and communications network
interruptions based on both parent company's expertise. The
country manager of Ageris International is Christian Cuillery,
previously managing director of Ageris.

(Steve Gold/19890707/Press Contact: Caroline Clouet, Ageris'
Paris office - Tel: Paris [01] 4806-0202)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00016)

SIEMENS 4MB CHIPS
MUNICH, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- Siemens, the West
German electronics giant, has announced plans to ship 4MB DRAM
(dynamic random access memory) chips by the end of the year.
Unlike IBM, which has also announced the development of 4MB DRAM
chips, Siemens plans to offer the chips to third-party companies.

Siemens' announcement of the availability of 4MB DRAM chips
before the end of the year could hasten the fall in chip prices
that have been occurring in Europe these past few months. One
chip buyer Newsbytes contacted last week said that DRAM chip
prices had fallen by as much as 20 percent over the past year.
The price fall was most marked on 256K DRAM chips, the price of
which jumped by about 50 percent last year.

(Steve Gold/19890707)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BRU)(00017)

IBM'S 4MB CHIPS
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 JUL 02 (NB) -- IBM's West German facility
at Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart, has began production of 4MB RAM
(random access memory) chips. The new chips have been designed to
be used in future IBM systems.

The production plant was opened by Helmut Kohl, the chancellor of
West Germany, and joins IBM's Essex Junction facility in Vermont,
Virginia, in the U.S. The chips, which offer 80 nanosecond access times
and have 4,194,304 memory cells, are fabricated using a CMOS
(complimentary metal oxide semiconductor) process, which provides
for cooler operation.

(Peter Vekinis/19890707)

(NEWS)(GOVT)(ATL)(00001)

NY'S ANTI-VIRUS LAWS
ALBANY, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 27 (NB) -- In the wake of
Minnesota's passage of a anti-computer virus bill, states are battling to
see who can be "tougher" on computer crime. New York legislators have
proposed barring public access to computer security guidelines under the
state's Freedom of Information Act, and barring anyone convicted of
creating a virus from computer-related employment for five years from
the date of a first offense, permanently in the case of a second.

An anti-computer-crime "commando operation" was also advocated by
State Sen. Roy Goodman, who chairs the New York Senate's Committee on
Investigations, Taxation and Government Operations. Goodman is
most anxious about protecting Empire Net, a network designed for
completion next year linking all state government operations.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00002)

NEA SEEKS MORE COMPUTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- The National Education
Association's nine-member Special Committee on Educational Technology
has today called for a computer on the desk of every teacher by the year
1991.

Saying, "Tomorrow's workers will need the analytical, collaborative, and
problem-solving skills that schools have not traditionally been
structured to teach," the report stressed the need for a complete
restructuring of U.S. schools to help graduates compete in the global
information-based economy.

NEA's Secretary-Treasurer Roxanne Bradshaw said, "Today, we expect that
all professionals will have computers on their desks. Yet we have not
demanded that teachers - those who help train this country's
professionals - also should have access to computers. Only when
teachers begin using computers on a personal basis will schools
experience an upsurge in the use of technology."

(John McCormick/19890706)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00003)

UPDATE ON TOXIC DATABASE
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- An Environmental
Protection Agency representative has informed Newsbytes that the
best way to obtain further information and to arrange for an
account to access the EPA toxic waste database is to contact the
Toxic Release Inventory representative at 301-496-6531.

There is no connect or sign-up fee for the service, but there is
a connect-time charge of $25/hour during prime time (weekdays
from 10 AM to 5 PM) and $18.50/hour at other times. The agency's
modem is 1200 and 2400 baud, and those wishing to sign up should
call the above number to request a form which must be completed
and returned to the agency along with billing information such as
a credit card number.

The data base contains summaries of industrial pollution data for
the U.S. as collected by the EPA, and the information is keyed to
ZIP code areas.

The information all comes from industry sources but, while the
data base is in the nature of a pilot project which will be
improved and expanded upon in the future, it already provides
valuable information for those concerned about local pollution.

(John McCormick/19890705)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00004)

AIR FORCE TESTS OSI/ISDN
GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 JUN 26 (NB) -- The National
Institute of Standards and Technology or NIST announced a recent
test at Mather Air Force Base in California, where NIST and six
companies conducted a trial of Open Systems Interconnection or
OSI applications on an Integrated Services Digital Network or ISDN.

Results of the test, whose participants included AT&T, General
Motors, Telos Communications, Inc., ICL Inc., Retix, and DGM&S,
will be released by NIST this summer.

ISDN is an integrated telecommunications system that lets users
send and receive voice, data, and images simultaneously over
existing digital phone lines.

(John McCormick/19890707/Press Contact: Jan Kosko, 301-975-2762)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00005)

BOEING WINS NET CONTRACT
RESTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Boeing Computer
Services announced today that it has been awarded a new contract
to maintain the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's data communication
network.

The network, the first of its kind, was initially designed and
installed by Boeing under a 1982 contract and the new three-year
maintenance agreement will be worth about $5.4 million.

(John McCormick/19890707)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00006)

GOVT STRESSES COMPETITIVENESS
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Under Secretary of
Commerce, Thomas Murrin, commented today on the importance of U.S.
worldwide competitiveness in the high tech area.

Calling industry consortiums such as Sematec "very exciting
developments," he stressed the need for government to avoid
hampering industry competitiveness.

Sematec is a research consortium of U.S. semiconductor
manufacturers, headed by Robert Noyce (CEO) and Paul Castrucci
(director), and headquartered in Austin, Texas. The group of 14
companies formed a $1 billion-plus, five-year joint research
venture with state and federal governments. Noyce is also the
vice chairman of Intel Corp.

(John McCormick/19890707)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00007)

ASHTON-TATE PROTECTS NAME
TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- Software maker
Ashton-Tate's corporate legal counsel has sent a letter to WordTech
objecting to the latter's product called "dBASE/SQL." The letter also
asked that WordTech stop making this product.

Someone at Ashton-Tate supposedly spotted a magazine ad in which
WordTech offered this product prompting Ashton-Tate to send off
the letter to protect the dBASE name on which it has trademarked.

The irony of the situation is that WordTech doesn't have and doesn't plan
to have a product called "dBASE/SQL." WordTech suggested that perhaps
Ashton-Tate was looking for a way to intimidate competitors now that
dBASE IV sales are slow.

Once WordTech told Ashton-Tate's legal staff that the product in
question was what they called the "ultimate vaporware," the
matter was ended.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890707/Press Contact: Brad Stevens, Ashton-
Tate, 213-538-7348)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00008)

SELLING BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- William Roessl, who has been
accused of trying to illegally ship an American-made computer behind the
Iron Curtain, was released by a U. S. Magistrate on his own recognizance
despite government objections. Roessl has been ordered to contact the
U.S. District Court Clerk in Portland, Oregon in a timely manner about
making an appearance. He was not, however, given a time frame within
which he must appear.

Roessl has been charged with knowingly and willfully attempting
to export an item on the Commerce Department's commodity control
list, namely an FPS Model array processor and software from FPS,
(formerly Floating Point Systems) located in Beaverton, Oregon. Roessl
paid $75,000 for the processor and software that can be used in military
and intelligence applications.

Roessl took the equipment to Canada after telling an undercover Customs
Service agent that the computer would be used by his Vancouver, B.C.-
based company, Enigma Industries, Ltd., once installed at the University
of British Columbia. Instead, Roessl's broker tried to ship the computer
from Canada to West Germany ostensibly for further shipment to an
unnamed country in the Eastern Bloc.

In his defense, Roessl claimed that although he was in the computer
business and travelled abroad frequently, he did not know it was illegal
to ship the computer from Canada. Affidavits filed in Portland state
that during negotiations, Roessl was repeatedly informed that the
computer could only be shipped as far as Canada because of the US
commodity control list.

Roessl faces a maximum sentence of 5 years and a possible fine of
$1 million if convicted.

This is not the first time Roessl has tangled with law enforcement.
He started a company called Baby Blue Computers in Oakland in 1984,
and several ex-employees and subcontractors contacted authorities
regarding charges they were never paid by him. The company never
delivered product, they say. Law enforcement authorities lost
track of Roessl for several years after that.

(Janet Endrijonas & Wendy Woods/19890707)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TOR)(00009)

POLLSTER CLEARED
REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA, 1989 JUN 29 (NB) -- A pollster
associated with the provincial government in Saskatchewan is
expected to be cleared of wrongdoing in connection with a Montreal-
based computer company, The Globe and Mail reports. The Toronto
newspaper quoted David Lawson, president and chief operating officer
of the GigaMos group of companies, as saying the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police had told him allegations against Kenneth Waschuk
were groundless.

A senior organizer for the governing Progressive Conservative party
in the province, Waschuk received an interest-free loan of C$150,000
from GigaMos founder Guy Montpetit after the provincial government
invested some C$4 million in GigaMos's effort to develop a computer-
based translation system. According to The Globe, the translation
system remains limited in capabilities, and the province is debating how
much longer to support GigaText Translation Services, a joint venture set
up by GigaMos and the Saskatchewan government.

(Grant Buckler/19890706)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TOR)(00010)

NEWFOUNDLAND BUYS DELL COMPUTERS
ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA, 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- The Canadian
province of Newfoundland will buy C$300,000 worth of computer
equipment from Dell Computer. The province plans to buy System 200,
System 220 and System 310 PCs for government departments, agencies
and Crown corporations from Dell's Canadian operation in Markham,
Ontario.

(Grant Buckler/19890706/Press Contact: Dell Computer, 416-
881-3513)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00011)

AUSTRALIAN WAR ON PIRATES
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- Australian software
heavyweights are preparing a major crack-down on local software
pirates. Microsoft Australia's Managing Director Daniel Petre said the
software copyright sub-group of the Australian Information Industry
Association (AIIA) had drawn up a three-phase approach to software theft.

The bottom line is that software companies want a show trial,
resulting in punitive damages against the first corporation found
using pirated software. "In the first phase we will educate the
public on the issue that copying is stealing," he said. This will
involve a media campaign and visits to Australia by corporate
lawyers who had fought successfully against pirates overseas.
The second stage of the attack on pirates might involve a period
under which people could be allowed to purchase product to
replace pirated software, without fear of prosecution.

"We will be hiring ex-private investigators to pursue the
hundreds of leads we get each week," he said. "The goal is to
bring to justice those who are breaking the law. We want to go
for the jugular." Petre said members of the Software Copyright
Group, including Lotus, WordPerfect and Ashton-Tate, would take
individual action against people caught pirating software. "I
hope that a few large busts will get the message across."

He said in the past pirates were right to believe they might
escape prosecution because of the costs and the complexity of
group actions. "PC software companies haven't gone at it with the
sort of fervour they will show now." Petre said software piracy
represented lost sales equal to current sales. "I used to think it was
only something like 25 percent of revenues," he said. "The cost of
prosecution is therefore minimal compared to the gains to be made."

(Paul Zucker/19890707)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SIN)(00012)

SINGAPORE/JAPAN TRAIN CHIPMAKERS
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUN 29 (NB) -- The Economic Development
Board (EDB) here and Japan's Matsushita have joined up to train a pool
of engineers and technicians in surface mount technology (SMT).

Singapore manufacturers using SMT form the largest number worldwide
and the Republic is second only to Japan in the amount invested in it.
The EDB and the Matsushita Technical Center (MASTEC) have signed an
agreement to form a Matsushita-EDB SMT Unit. 120 engineers and 240
technicians will be trained over a period of three years under the
program.

According to an EDB spokesman, the program, which will provide more
comprehensive knowledge to participants, would be the first here.
Eight Matsushita staff will train the participants.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890704)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(KUL)(00013)

INDIAN DEAL WON BY HP
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1989 JUN 30 (NB) -- Hewlett-Packard has recently
received an order for the HP 9000 Precision Architecture (HPPA)
computers, engineering workstations and network systems, worth US$3.5
million from the India Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kanpur,
according to Computerworld.

Altogether 16 Unix-based HP 9000 Series 300 workstations and four HP
9000 Series 800 minicomputers will be connected through the campus-
wide local area network (LAN). Linking the school's computer centre,
laboratories, lecture halls and administrative facilities, it will be
the largest educational network in the country.

The four HP 9000 Model 850 multiuser systems will each be equipped
with 32M-bytes of main memory and supported by nine 571M-byte disk
units on a fibre optic interface and four tape drives.

The LAN, based on standard Ethernet/IEEE coaxial, will communicate via
standard protocols such as TCP/IP, NFS, ARPA and Berkeley.

According to Dr. Kameswara Rao, head of IIT Kanpur's computer centre,
HP's price/performance delivery, flexible upgrade path and commitment
to standards such as Unix and OSI won it the order.

HP was said to expect IIT Kanpur, as India's leading engineering
institute, to set a trend for institutions both in India and
throughout Asia.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890706)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00014)

UK DEALER PROSECUTED
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- The managing director of a
former Pegasus Software computer dealer has been prosecuted for
supplying goods with a false trade description. The penalty
imposed was three months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Euclid Vallentini, former managing director of the Warwickshire
Computer Centre, which has since gone into liquidation, was
prosecuted as a result of copying Pegasus Financial Systems
software for supply to a customer.

Clive Booth, managing director of Pegasus, said that he was pleased
to see that software piracy was being punished. "Like other software
manufacturers, we take precautions so that cheats will be caught.
It's no coincidence that our administration manager, Bill Golightly,
was originally employed by us as an investigator," he said.

(Steve Gold/198907007/Press Contact: Clive Booth, managing
director, Pegasus Business Software - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00015)

JAPAN NIXES AGREEMENT
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- The Japanese government
has agreed to scrap part of an agreement - dating from 1986 -
that controls prices of semiconductors exported to the West. The
controversial agreement was brought in to prevent what was seen -
at the time - as widespread chip dumping on Western markets by
the Japanese.

The cessation of the US-Japan agreement is unlikely to have any
major effect on chip prices in the U.S., a Newsbytes sources said
last week. Its effect could be more marked, however, in Europe,
where very little chip production is currently taking place.

Fortunately for Europe, the European Commission is very close to
agreeing a deal with Japan on semiconductor imports to the
European Community (EC). The agreement - expected to be announced
within the next few weeks - will stabilize chip prices in Europe,
which have fallen recently.

(Steve Gold/19890707)


(EXCLUSIVE)(GOVT)(BRU)(00016)

SIEMENS USSR PC DEAL
FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUN 29 (NB) -- Siemens, the major
West German computer manufacturer, is to supply 300,000 PCs to
Soviet Union as part of an agreement signed with Premier Gorbachev
during his recent state visit to West Germany. The systems, which
will be partly built in the Soviet Union, will be paid for with hard
currency, as well as chemicals which will be used by Siemens at its
West German facility.

Training and education will also be provided as part of the contract,
which is expected to be worth $500 million over the next three years.
The Soviet delegation is understood to have chosen the Siemens PCs
due to the company's flexibility regarding payment options.

The PCs involved in the deal include both 80286 and 8086-based
systems, which will be delivered starting in December. The Soviet
Embassy in Brussels has confirmed the order.

(Peter Vekinis/19890707)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(BRU)(00017)

GERMANY'S SAFER MOTORWAYS
BONN, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- West German motorists'
safety is being taken very seriously by the West German government,
which has invested DM 80 million ($40 million) in the Eureka project,
which aims to use radio-based communication systems between
cars and land-based rescue and traffic systems.

In parallel with the DM 80 million investment by the West German
Ministry of Science and Technology, German vehicle manufacturers
have committed themselves to investing DM 210 million ($105
million) in the Eureka project.

The Eureka project centres on designing electronic radar systems
to use in cars, as well as high-tech sensor systems, to avoid
collisions at high speed. Although the result of the project will be
felt by motorists throughout Europe, the West German
government has taken this initiative, owing to the hundreds of
lives lost on the West German Autobahn motorways.

(Klaus Rosenthal/19890707)

(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00001)

UPGRADES FROM AST
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- In a rapid follow-up to
the announcement of their intention to market i486-based products, AST
Research has announced the availability of the first Industry Standard
Architecture-based i486 CPU upgrades for its 25- and 33-MHz Premium
386 desktop computers. The upgrade product has been designated
FASTboard 486/25.

Another available option will permit users of Premium 386/25
machines to upgrade to the 33-MHz Intel 386 microprocessor. This
product has been dubbed FASTboard 386/33.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890707/Press Contact: Joel C. Don, AST
Research, 714-756-4942)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00002)

NEW IBM VP FROM JAPAN
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 28 (NB) -- Takeo Shiina, president of IBM
Japan, has now assumed vice president post of IBM in the U.S.
Neither has a president of an IBM subsidiary nor has a Japanese
citizen ever been appointed as an IBM officer before.

IBM claims Shiina was chosen for the post due to his achievements
at IBM Japan, his long-time leadership, and highly favorable contributions
to the company as a whole.

(Ken Takahashi/19890706)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00003)

AID FOR HARD-CORE GAMERS
LOS GATOS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Coming this fall to
a retail store near you -- Killer Kard -- which will have sound, music,
and voice capabilities not found on any PC Music card for under $200.

Brown-Wagh Publishing, which has just released Game Blaster, a $100
card to add stereo sound to a PC -- expects to ship a top-of-the-line
stereo sound card for addicted gamers in October. Killer Kard
will be unique in that it will be a plug-in card for the PC, PS/2,
MS-DOS or Tandy, that will feature 23 voices of stereo sound,
digitized voice and sound recording abilities and playback, direct memory
allocation and proprietary hardware decompression schemes to conserve
central processing use and storage. The Kard will also have a
speaker connection, a built-in stereo power amplifier that can
drive any kind of speakers, headset or home stereo direct, a
volume control knob, an analog joystick port, a microphone jack
and amplifier, and a MIDI interface for connection to MIDI instruments
and keyboards.

(Wendy Woods/19890707/Press Contact: 408-395-5602)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00004)

LOTUS WINNERS CHOSEN
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- Brand Neimann
of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency got top honors for innovative
applications of Lotus 1-2-3 in awards just announced by
Lotus magazine.

His entry, "Regional Acid Rain Modeling Using Lotus 1-2-3," produces a
rapid, simple answer in a PC-spreadsheet format to questions concerning
the environmental benefits of reducing acid rain. Neimann's application
used Lotus 1-2-3 to calculate the links between pollutant emissions,
acid deposits and acidification of surface waters over North America
using atmospheric models and surface water chemistry data. The
application, says Lotus magazine, saves the EPA many times over the
initial investment by reducing the need to run acid rain models on
mainframe computers.

Steven S. Wexler of Wextech Systems, Inc. (New York) won the
commercial division with "Music Production Ensemble," written entirely
in Lotus Symphony. Wexler used Lotus Symphony to create his "Music
Production Ensemble (MPE)," an integrated, macro-driven application
that links a wide array of Lotus template files into a comprehensive
computer program that serves the music production industry. Music
Production Ensemble handles such tasks as providing estimates for
production, listing musicians and singers, filing union contracts, printing
payroll checks and organizing all administrative functions. MPE utilizes a
wide array of Lotus Symphony features.

The contest judged applications that are models, templates, add-ins or
add-ons to Lotus 1-2-3 or Symphony. The key criterion for judging was
the ability to significantly enhance productivity and improve decision-
making. A panel of editors from LOTUS magazine judged the entries.

Winners received a $500 contribution to the charity of their choice. Both
winners and honorable mentions received plaques citing their innovative
applications.

(Wendy Woods/19890707/Press Contact: Rosemary Mylod, Lotus,
[phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00005)

DIGITAL SHIPS FLEXOS 2.1
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Digital Research is
shipping the latest version of its multitasking operating system FlexOS.
Version 2.1 differs from the last one by offering the ability to run X/GEM,
a multitasking graphics interface system from Digital. The operating
system is available immediately to computer manufacturers and
value-added resellers.

FlexOS is a real-time, 32-bit protected-mode operating system for
computers based on the 80186, 80286, or 80386 microprocessor (IBM-
compatibles) from Intel. Release 2.1 also supports CGA, EGA, VGA, or
Hercules graphics adaptors.

(Wendy Woods/19890707/Press Contact: Mary Looram, Digital,
408-646-6001)


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

BARRISTER MARKETS WITH IBM
BUFFALO, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- A leading supplier
of law office computer systems, Barrister Information Systems,
has joined forces with IBM to market its financial software with
IBM AS/400 and System/36 computers.

The one-year agreement will benefit IBM through increased sales
of its AS/400 computers and let Barrister offer integrated
systems that can be networked with IBM PS/2 PC computers using
IBM as well as Barrister's own Series 3000 computers.

(John McCormick/19890706/Press Contact: Kathryn Apenowich,
716-845-5010)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00007)

AI HAS AS/400 ADD-IN MEMORY
MARINA DEL REY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 28 (NB) -- American
International Devices (Ai) has revealed that its Ai/400 Uniboard
is the first compatible memory to become available for use in the
new AS/400 Model B-70 which is just beginning to be shipped by
IBM.

The Ai/400 for Model B-70 is the same universal memory board used
in Models B-30 through B-60 thus providing users with guaranteed
memory upgradability as their AS/400 models are upgraded.
Uniboard is still the only memory for AS/400 that uses the same
basic board for 4MB, 8MB and 16MB configurations so Ai users can
exchange board capabilities with no price penalties. More than 2
billion bytes of Ai/400 Uniboard memory are currently installed
worldwide.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890707/Press Contact: Richard Bravo, American
International Devices, 800-243-4433, in CA, 213-305-8161)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00008)

NEW AMSTRADS IN CANADA
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1989 JUL 4 (NB) -- AudioVideo Specialists,
the exclusive Canadian distributor for Amstrad, has announced that the
Amstrad PC2086, the Amstrad Local Area Network and the Hardpac 20
external hard drive for Amstrad laptops are now available in Canada.

The PC2086 has an 8086 processor running at eight megahertz. With a
single floppy disk drive and monochrome monitor it costs C$2,100; with
a 40-megabyte hard disk and color display it costs C$3,700.

The Amstrad LAN, supplied by Corvus, costs C$1,300 for a starter pack
that links three workstations. The network can accommodate as many
as 64 workstations.

The Hardpac 20 is built by a Canadian company, Aristotle Industries of
Vancouver, British Columbia. Small enough to be held in one hand, it is
a 20-megabyte hard drive with 68-millisecond access time. It costs
C$1,200.

(Grant Buckler/19890706/Press Contact: Lou Nemeth,
AudioVideo Specialists, 514-683-1771)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00009)

UK: FREE COMMODORE MAINTENANCE
MAIDENHEAD, ENGLAND, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- Commodore UK has
announced that all its PCs sold in the U.K. will receive a year's free
maintenance. The scheme will be administered by Granada Computer
Services' (GCS) 44 U.K. centres whose staff will visit customers
free of charge.

According to Steve Franklin, Commodore UK's managing director, the
scheme includes automatic exchanges in the case of Commodore
monitors and printers, with free maintenance for the basic PC system
itself.

(Steve Gold/19890707/Press Contact: Tim Rafferty, Spire Public
Relations - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00010)

UK: FLOW CHARTS DO WINDOWS
SHREWSBURY, ENGLAND, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- The Computer Room has
been appointed sole UK distributor for Magnacharter, Aeon Software's
new flow charting package for IBM PCs and close compatibles. The
UKP102 package is claimed to be the only flow charting software
which runs under Microsoft Windows.

Magnacharter is based on a grid principle, which divides the print area
into cells rather like a spreadsheet package. The complete range of
British Standard (BS) 4058 flow chart symbols, plus additional
ones, can be selected and moved into each individual cell.

Flow charts produced by Magnacharter can be up 99 by 99 cells,
with symbols in up to five sizes. Page sizes can range from A5 to
A0 for printing on most printers.

(Steve Gold/19890707/Press Contact: David Pletts, The Computer
Room - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00001)

SMALLEST PORTABLE PHONE
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 4 (NB) -- Fujitsu is developing the
world's smallest portable cellular phone, according to Nihon Kogyo
Shimbun newspaper. Fujitsu says the NTT-compatible unit, which can
only be used on the bandwidths available in Japan, is smaller,
lighter, and will cost less than Motorola's miniature portable phone
called the Microtac. Fujitsu declined to reveal more details and any
release date.

However, some analysts predict the unit will be available this year
or in late spring 1990, certainly in time to challenge Motorola, which
has just won the right to distribute its phones, which operate on a
wider bandwidth soon to be implemented in Tokyo, alongside the
phones and bandwidth promoted by NTT.

Meanwhile, Osaka-based portable phone venture Kansai Cellular,
which starts operation on July 14, has announced that it will
distribute Motorola's Microtac in the Kansai, Japan area as early as this
October, which is two months earlier than expected.

(Ken Takahashi/19890706)


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

SIKES NOD SIGNALS TELECOM TILT
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 JUN 30 (NB) -- The long-awaited
appointment of Alfred C. Sikes, a proponent of deregulating the Bells and
AT&T, as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, completed
a run of three nominations which will set telecommunications policy for
the 21st century. The other two Bush nominees are Sherrie Marshall and
Andrew C. Barrett. A fourth nomination, nominally a Democrat, is still due.
Patricia Dennis' term expired June 30.

In interviews, Sikes confirmed he'll be focusing in on telephone regulation
rather than broadcasting, which is also under the FCC. Broadcasting
decisions have been the headliners under Reagan-era Chairmen Dennis
Patrick and Mark Fowler. A clear set of national goals to replace the ad-
hoc battling between the FCC, Congress, and Judge Harold Greene is
believed to be Sikes' goal. That could spell trouble for Bell competitors,
because in his last job Sikes advocated letting the regional Bell
companies into the information business.

Sikes is also on record supporting price caps, which are now
federal policy. An AT&T price cap plan went into effect July 1.
The plan lets AT&T set long-distance rates where it wants without
FCC permission, reports The Teleputing Hotline, a newsletter
covering telephone-computer connections worldwide, provided
prices stay under certain maximum rates.

Under the first cap, AT&T lowered rates $140 million, but the
Competitive Telecommunications Association charged the drop was
merely a "flowing through" of previously ordered cuts. Since
1984, AT&T rates have fallen 38 percent, but local connect charges have
increased even more. Under the cap, rates can increase 3 percent below
the inflation rate, or 5 percent with 14 days' notice. Price caps are
also planned for the Bell companies next July.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707)


(EXCLUSIVE)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00003)

BELL RESTRICTIONS IN PLACE
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A. 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Bell company guidelines
restricting information which can be sold over the phone remain in place
throughout the country, despite a recent Supreme Court decision allowing
telephon-ized indecent speech.

Judge Harold Greene, the man the Bells love to hate, gave the Bells what
they needed in a ruling that Bell Atlantic is not discriminating when it
refuses to bill for calls to sex-talk or unsupervised gab lines.

By controlling who they bill for, the Bell companies can retain
their narrow codes against indecency and please regulators. The
action may create some small billing competitors but will deny
controversial services access to the ultimate weapon -- the
ability to cut off phone services to audiotex customers who don't
pay. Under a policy adopted last fall, for instance, Bell Atlantic routinely
blocks 976-calls to services it doesn't like, and subscribers must request
that blocks be removed. Bell Atlantic will, however, pass calling records
to outside companies which don't block the calls.

Southwestern Bell partner U.S. Videotel routinely screens notes on its
SourceLine gateway service in Houston, and BellSouth protects itself
against controversy in its information provider contracts for the TUG
gateway.

Recent talks with leaders in the telephone service business, including
900 and 800-based service bureaus not related to the Bells, indicate
that a broadcasting-like "code of conduct" remains in place. Whether
such a code will be put down formally, as in the "Hays Code" of the movie
industry earlier this century, remains to be seen. The Hays Code, named
for Will C. Hays, forbad things like open-mouth kissing in movies until
the 1950s. It was industrial self-regulation, not the work of the
Supreme Court.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707)


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

AUDIOTEX GATEWAYS HEAT UP
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A. 1989 JUNE 6 (NB) -- Competition
and capacity are both heating up in the business of providing computerized
support to toll-free 800 phone numbers and caller-paid 900 numbers.

American Express Co. remains the leader through its FDR, or First Data
Resources Interactive, subsidiary, and President Ron Katz predicts he'll
be able to serve over 100,000 callers at once on his Omaha-based
system this fall. That's when the first major 900-number promotions in
network television history begin. NBC has signed a deal with Blair
Entertainment to add 900-numbers to its 1-minute "infomercials,"
which are split between editorial matter like football quizzes or
recipes and paid ads which don't want audiences leaving during their
pitches. ABC is reportedly going to do even more sophisticated tie-ins
for companies such as Chevrolet and Bristol-Myers. MTV's "To Russia
With Love" contest is just the tip of the iceberg, Katz says.

For example, Katz indicated, a car ad might push you toward a
900-number. Through your touch-tone phone, you might answer a
series of questions about your car preferences. A mailing tailored to your
needs, maybe with a little rebate attached, would follow. FDR provides
mailing services, too, in contrast to US West' Audio Options, now
undergoing an eight-month trial in Denver. Both companies, however,
offer "operators standing by," a concept which created the toll-free
call industry in the 1970s.

One more difference between the Bells and FDR -- the former are
aiming their pitch at small businesses and civic groups, while
FDR works mainly with the Fortune 500.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707/Press Contact: Ron Dulle, US WEST
Communications, 303-896-9488)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(WAS)(00005)

TANDEM, NIST CREATE INFO SYSTEM
GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 JUNE 26 (NB) -- Tandem
Computers and the National Institute of Standards and Technology
have begun a joint project to support the National Product Data
Exchange Specification (PDES) Testbed Facility at the NIST.

The database, housed on a VLX mainframe computer and software
supplied by Tandem, will be available by dial-up modem and
contains all PDES-related documents. The Product and Process
Document Management software used is supplied by Boeing Computer
Services.

PDES is a nationwide effort involving business, academia, and
government, with the goal of developing a standard data model
which can represent all the information needed to design,
manufacture, test, and support a product. Data from a PDES
system could be directly used by advanced CAD/CAM or computer-
aided design/computer-aided manufacturing systems.

(John McCormick/19890707/Press Contact: Michael Baum, 301-975-
2762)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00006)

FUJITSU EXPANDS NETWORK
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Fujitsu is setting up communications
links which will allow its various corporate office direct access to its
mainframe and research centers in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The network, comprised of networks linked by satellite or submarine
fiber optic cables, will connect seven stations in the U.S., six
stations in Europe and three stations in Southeast Asia.

The network will be connected to Fujitsu's original networking system,
called COINS (Corporate Information Network System), and will
primarily be used by various sites to exchange information on the
design of application specific integrated circuits (ASIC).

To facilitate further expansion into this business, the company is
planning to build a major new design center in Spain.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890706)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00007)

CUT DISRUPTS SERVICE IN CANADA
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JULY 5 (NB) -- About half the
long-distance voice and data communications capacity between Toronto
and Eastern Canada was lost today when workmen repairing a bridge just
east of the city accidentally cut a fiber-optic cable. The cut put 35,000
long-distance circuits out of commission for most of the day. Bell
Canada spokeswoman Marilyn Koen said data as well as voice services
were disrupted, but could not say specifically which services suffered.

Full service was restored by midnight July 5 using a temporary cable,
 Koen said. "Some of our technical people came up with some really
inventive ways of rerouting calls," she added.

(Grant Buckler/19890707/Press Contact: Marilyn Koen, Bell
Canada, 416-581-4205)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00008)

1ST NEW AUSSIE TELECOM PROVIDER
SYDNEY , AUSTRALIA, 1989 JUL 10 (NB) -- The first service
provider under Australia's deregulated telecommunications
marketplace is a branch of the national carrier, Telecom. Telecom
Plus will provide the 'value added' section of Telecom's offerings.

Under the deregulated market, overseen by the newly created
controller Austel, any able and proper group will be allowed to
provide these extra-value services, though Telecom still has the
monopoly over the public-switched telecommunications network.

Just like any other Telecom customer, Telecom Plus will pay full
market rates for the services it buys. It will be fully accountable
financially and expects to be paying its own way within little more than
a year. Already, it has formed joint partnerships in areas such as
electronic mail, electronic data interchange, electronic banking
and manufacturing services. It's the ability to help Australian
industry to become much more competitive internationally that is
seen as one of the major potentials of Telecom Plus. In fact, the
group considers itself to be able to provide services equal to
anything available in the world.

(Paul Zucker/19890707)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00009)

MODEMS MONITOR KIDS
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 JUL 4 (NB) -- Modem manufacturer Netcomm
has donated 12 modems to aid research into sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS - also known as cot death). The Smartmodem 1200s
are being used to connect Camperdown children's hospital with the
homes of a number of volunteers.

One family, the McLeods, has already lost two children to SIDS
and the scheme will enable four-month-old Joshua to be regularly
checked by a remote computer which periodically contacts the full-
time monitor connected to his cot.

(Paul Zucker/19890707)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(KUL)(00010)

ABACUS GETS TWO MORE
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 1989 JUN 30 (NB) -- Abacus, the Singapore-
based computerized reservations system (CRS) gained two new
partners when Malaysia Airlines and China Airlines confirmed their
full membership in it after earlier signing letters of intent.
Philippines Airlines will also be exercising its option to
become an equal partner soon, according to Sundheer Raghavan, Abacus
Distribution System's marketing manager.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890704)


(EXCLUSIVE)(TELECOM)(LON)(00011)

LONDON'S HIGH-SPEED BBS
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- The London Underground BBS,
arguably the most popular bulletin board system (BBS) in the U.K., has
ceased supporting 1200/75 baud modems. Instead, the BBS now
operates at 9600 bits per second (bps) to Courier HST standards.

Brian Robinson, system operator of The London Underground BBS, told
Newsbytes that he had upgraded his system to allow fast file
transfers, although - interestingly - no one had complained of
the switch from 1200/75 baud to 9600 bps on both BBS lines.

"We displayed a message to warn users of the impending change for
several weeks, but no one objected. This suggests to me that
1200/75 baud modems are well and truly dead on the BBS scene," he
said.

The London Underground BBS is operational on London 863-0198 and
427-8856 at 300/300, 1200/1200, 2400/2400 and 9600 bps with
Microcom Networking Protocol (MNP) error-correction and data
compression. The system uses the Searchlight BBS system software.

(Steve Gold/19890707)


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

MINITEL RENT SOON?
PARIS, FRANCE, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- Users of France's viewdata-
style network, Minitel, may soon have to pay a monthly charge for
rental of the terminal and usage of certain free services. The
charge proposals come in the wake of a French government audit
report which has identified that the Minitel project may soon be
losing money.

According to the French state audit office's report, users may
have to pay a monthly fee of FF 10 (about $1-50) for using their
terminals. To date, more than four million terminals have been
distributed free of charge to French telephone subscribers.

The Minitel program is known to have cost France Telecom about FF
8,000 million ($1,200 million), to the end of 1987. The French
state audit office estimates that the entire program will reach a
deficit situation of FF 4,100 million ($620 million) by 1995.

Although the charging proposal has been met by dismay amongst
French telecom user groups, it may never be implemented, since
the State audit office's report has set no date for implementation on
the charges recommendation.

(Steve Gold/19890707)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00013)

FRANKFURT TESTS ISDN
FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- The Frankfurt district
office of the German Bundespost has installed its first ISDN
(integrated services digital network) system. Ironically, the user of the
system is Verband der Postbenutzer (VdP), the West German
Association of PTT users, a non-profit organization.

VdP's long time president, Herr Wilhelm Huebner, made the association
popular when he fought against various obsolete postal regulations
and monopolies, some of which dated back to the 1920s. Huebner was
even moved to take legal action against the Bundespost, and many
times the VdP won the case.

Now, after many years of fighting, both parties seem to show some
respect for each other, with the result that Bundespost officials are
accepting the user association's constructive criticisms. Perhaps this
is the reason why the Bundespost has chosen Huebner's association
as a pilot user for its ISDN system.

(Klaus Rosenthal/19890707)


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

ISDN HICOM SYSTEM POPULAR
MUNICH, WEST GERMANY, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- Siemens, Germany's
high-flying EDP and electronic group, has high hopes for its ISDN
communication system Hicom. Siemens recently took its 20,000th
order for Hicom from the West German subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard.

Last Fall, Siemens added several new models to its Hicom family
of ISDN systems. The new models were aimed at small to medium-
sized companies, and have boosted orders for Hicom products,
particularly the Model 200 system.

The Hicom Model 200 supports many different telecommunication
services, including teletex, data communications and PC networking
for data and word processing applications.

(Klaus Rosenthal/19890707)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00015)

MERCURY'S FRENCH LINK
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- Mercury Communications has
brought its fibre optical cable to France -- UK-France 3 -- on stream to
its U.K. subscribers. From 1 August, subscribers to the Mercury
alternative telephone network will enjoy reduced call charges on
most calls to France over the link, as well as benefit immediately
from the improved call quality.

Gordon Owen, managing director of Mercury Communications, said
that the 150 kilometre link is Mercury's first cable into Europe.
Plans call for two other links to the Netherlands and the U.S. to
come fully on-stream later this year,

"I'm delighted that the French PTT has now joined the rest of
Europe in recognizing us as a major international carrier. We
already have more than 9 percent of the switched traffic market
in France. The combination of lower prices and the benefits that
will ensue by using our own submarine fibre link will satisfy the
rapidly increasing demand for high quality digital services
between the two countries," he said.

(Steve Gold/19890707/Press Contact: Nick Bundy, Press Officer,
Mercury Communications - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00001)

DOCTOR PHONES IN DEFRIBRILLATION
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, U.S.A, 1989 JUN 25 (NB) -- For the first
time, a man has saved his wife's life by plugging her into the
phone. An electric shock applied over a telephone line saved
the life of Ada Evans, a heart patient who had stopped breathing,
last month. Technicians at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis applied
defribrillation, an electric shock to the heart used to regularize its beat,
while Ms. Evans was in her home, using a new device called the MDphone.

Ada's husband, Roscoe, had activated the family's MDphone when he
heard his wife fall in their bathroom, and the hospital's cardiac care
control unit did the rest.

The MDphone was developed by MEDphone Corp. of Paramus, New
Jersey. It's a briefcase-size portable electronic cardiac treatment
system designed to free heart patients from lengthy hospital stays. It
can be plugged into a standard phone jack and automatically dials the
hospital base-station's phone number when it is opened, triggering an
alarm. Medical personnel then can give directions over a built-in speaker
phone.

The MDphone makes it possible for patients to be diagnosed and
defibrillated at the scene of an emergency within two minutes of
the onset of symptoms, company officials said. This is important
because brain damage can occur if treatment is not administered
within four to six minutes after the onset of fibrillation, which is an
erratic heartbeat.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707/Press Contact: Medphone, Mr. Wachtel,
201-843-6644)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00002)

FIBER CABLE FOR MEDICINE
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Bell Atlantic
is aggressively laying optical fiber so pathologists can study tissue
samples remotely using high definition TV pictures. Corabi Telemetrics
of Alexandria, Virginia, developed the system, which is billed as a
revolutionary advance in diagnostic technology.

Ikegami, a Japanese company, is providing high definition TV technology
so the system can produce a sharp enough image for remote diagnoses.

Corabi hopes to make the nation's capital a test market for its product,
and plans to announce the names of area hospitals which will use it in
the next few weeks. Two hospitals in Atlanta are already using it, but
the need for high-capacity optical fiber, and Corabi's location in Northern
Virginia, moved it to seek a phone company partner for the wider market
test.

"With our aggressive fiber policy, we can install almost anywhere in the
metro area," said Larry Litteral, a technology planner at Bell Atlantic.

The $100,000 telepathology system is the first product for Corabi, which
was founded five years ago by Chicago pathologist Ronald Weinstein.
Corabi provides a robotized microscope on which a lab sample can be
placed at the hospital. The doctor at the other end of the link is provided
with a high-resolution monitor. Using a joystick, the pathologist then
moves the microscope lens to examine the image on the monitor.

The link to Bell Atlantic is important to Corabi for another reason. Using
satellites to transmit HDTV images is far more costly, Corabi admits.
That's some admission, considering it's part-owned by Communications
Satellite Corp., or Comsat.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707/Press Contact: Bell Atlantic, Larry
Litteral, 703-974-5415)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00003)

NEW WAVES BOOST FIBER OPTICS
MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A. 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Researchers at
AT&T's Bell Labs are playing with a new wave called the soliton
which could speed fiber optic transmissions by nearly a
hundredfold. Wednesday's New York Times reports that solitonic
waves have long been known to physicists, they're only now being
used. In recent experiments scientists sent a laser wave through
3,700 miles of fiber optic cable without a booster.

The most likely development from a new wave form in fiber optic
technology could be telefax transmissions of startling clarity.
The New York Times reports that harnessing solitonic waves to
transmit information on fiber optic lines could bring sharper,
clearer fax images by boosting the number of lines which can be
transmitted per page of fax, much like high-definition television
improves image clarity by adding lines to transmissions.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707/Press Contact: Bell Labs, Bob Ford,
201-564-4260)


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

CD-ROM UP 500%
COLUMBUS, OHIO, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- The Optical Publishers'
Association says that 1988 was the year of the CD-ROM, with an industry
growth of 500 percent.

The Optical Publishing Industry Assessment 2, cosponsored by the
OPA and Pittsfield, Vermont-based InfoTech, has released a recent
study wherein 80 percent of CD-ROM publishers and hardware
manufacturers show total sales of $406 million in 1988 versus only $81
million in the previous year.

The installed base of CD-ROM players jumped from 32,500 at the
end of 1987 to 171,000 by the beginning of this year.

The complete report is available for $300 (non-members) or $150
to OPA members. For further information call 614-442-1955 or fax
614-442-6522.

The Optical Publishers' Association is a trade association with
members worldwide. The OPA's purpose is to promote the CD-ROM
industry through co-op advertising and by sponsoring industry
studies and professional seminars.

Upcoming OPA events include SIGIR '89, June 25-28 in Cambridge,
Mass.; Hypertext and SGML, July 25 at Northeastern University, Boston,
Mass.; and a deal-making industry networking session during the October
CD-ROM Expo in Washington, D.C. SGML stands for Standard Generalized
Markup Language, a CD-ROM industry technical standard, and SIGIR is
Special Interest Group Information Retrieval.

The OPA also publishes a free bimonthly newsletter, "The Circular."
For a subscription, write to Optical Publishing Association, 1880
Mackenzie Dr., Suite 111, Columbus, Ohio, 43220, U.S.A.

(John McCormick/19890706)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00005)

OPTICAL CARDS REPLACING FLOPPIES?
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 30 (NB) -- Soon floppy disks will be museum
pieces if Canon's new storage medium, expected to be cheap, plentiful,
and powerful in terms of storage, becomes an industry standard.
Canon has developed an optical card called OC10, a next-generation
portable memory medium, and a reader/write system for the card
called RW10, which reads data from and writes data to the new
medium.

Canon claims that the optical card has many advantages. Despite
its credit-card size, the new card can hold the equivalent of 800
typewritten pages. Made of plastic, it cannot be damaged or compromised
by static electricity or magnetism. And it's cheap -- manufacturing them
costs just a few hundred yen each.

Canon started developing the new medium six years ago following
a manufacturing licensing agreement with the inventor -- Drexler
Technology of California -- which has a patent on the optical card concept.

Prices haven't been determined but sources say each card will cost
around 500 yen or US$3.60 and each read/write system will cost 200,000
yen or US$1,430 retail when Canon establishes volume production.
Canon expects that in 1991 the optical card market will finally take
off and that in 1995, the market, including related fields, will grow
to 100 to 200 billion yen ($0.7 to 1.4 billion) market.

(Ken Takahashi/19890706)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00006)

WORLD'S TINIEST PC FROM FUJITSU/POQET
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- Fujitsu has invested in $8.7
million in a U.S. venture aimed at releasing the world's tiniest personal
computer in the U.S. and Japan. Fujitsu now owns nearly half -- 46
percent -- of Sunnyvale, California-based Poqet Computer.

Poqet Computer has developed what it claims to be the world's
smallest and lightest IBM PC/XT-compatible, called PQ/XT. The $US2000
hand-held unit measures 22 by 10 by 2 centimeters (US/English 8.6
by 3.9 by .07 inches), weighs 450 grams (US/English .992 pound, or
15.8 ounces), and works for up to 100 hours on two small dry
batteries. The new gadget is scheduled to be available in the U.S. and
Europe in August.

With the tie-up with Poqet Computer, Fujitsu launches into a brand
new market, that of the pocket PC, smaller than a hand-held and smaller
than a laptop. At some point in the future, when a Japanese version of
the PQ/XT is available, Fujitsu will import and sell it in Japan.

Fujitsu expects 100,000 of the units to be sold in the U.S. and Europe
when it goes on sales next month.

(Ken Takahashi & Wendy Woods/19890706)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00007)

WAREHOUSE USING VIDEO
FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 6 (NB) -- Jan Bell
Marketing will put an interactive-video program in Pace Membership
Warehouse jewelry departments. Pace has 49 stores in the Southeast
and Southwest.

The program uses a touch-screen format to help customers select
jewelry and learn about the value and the quality of selections.
The interactive videos in the stores will be linked online to Jan
Bell's new operations center in Sunrise, Florida, and its sourcing
and distribution management information system. The agreement
is for 5 1/2 years, with installation contemplated by October.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707/Press Contact: Amerisa Kornblum, Jan
Bell Marketing, 305-741-2383)


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

DATABASE RETRIEVAL BREAKTHROUGH
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUN 29 (NB) -- NEC has developed software which
will enable the development of a database retrieval system that
responds to the keyboard input of natural language sentences in
Japanese.

Extensive programming to incorporate a database of grammar and
Japanese vocabulary used to be necessary to develop programs such
as this.  But NEC's software adopts a new method called "grammar
analysis using example sentences," which enables the process to be
far speedier on a workstation.

According to NEC's calculations, development of similar systems,
which used to take over a year, could take one or two months
using the new software.

(Ken Takahashi/19890706)


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

JAPAN: MITI PROMOTES CASE
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Fearing a future shortage of software
engineers in Japan, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry is
backing research in CASE or computer-aided software engineering, a
field in which programs are created by computer. The ministry
will launch a full-scale automated software design project in 1990
with funding designed to last through 1997.

Called the "next-generation cooperation architecture," the project
has a 10 billion yen or US$70 million budget. The research
is designed to create software tools which will allow a user to
sketch out an idea for a program, and the computer will build upon
the concept, making specifications and flow charts, and basically
performing the tedious work now required by humans.

(Ken Takahashi/19890706)


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

EASIER CHINESE WORD PROCESSING
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Matsushita Electric Industries
will provide its original software for Chinese word processors to Acer,
the largest personal computer maker in Taiwan.

Developed by researchers at Taipei Technology Research
Center of Taipei-based Matsushita Electric Technology Development,
the conversion software allows Chinese words, written out on a keyboard,
to be converted to Chinese ideograph characters. The conversion is
possible due to Matsushita's original algorithm which the company claims
attains a conversion rate of 92 percent.

Previous products which profess to convert written Chinese to
ideographs have been disappointing, but Acer is certain that the
Matsushita technology will produce a favorable result.

In the short term, Matsushita plans to make the software technology
available free of charge to other personal computer makers in Taiwan.
In the long term, Matsushita expects its technology will become the
standard for Chinese word processors.

(Ken Takahashi/19890706)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00011)

EPSON'S FASTER OPTICAL DISK
NAGANO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Seiko-Epson has entered the
erasable magnetic-optical disk field with a product that has an
unique write/read film alloy. The ordinary composition of the film
consists of cobalt, ferrum, and terbium. But Epson found that it had
better results when neodymium and dysprosium, rather than
terbium, were used in the film.

Seiko-Epson says the new alloy provides a more sensitive medium into
which the read/write laser operates. The result is a data transfer rate
that is double the standard 1,800 to 3,600 revolutions per minute.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890703)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00012)

FLOPPY OPTICAL DISK
OSAKA, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 4 (NB) -- One of the top polyester makers in
Japan, Teijin Ltd., is forging ahead with research into a new flexible
optical disk that is far more durable and stores more data than
anything else on the market.

Based on technology licensed to Teijin last year by U.S.-based Optical
Technology, Teijin Limited will accelerate development of the
disk by assigning ten researchers to the product. Teijin believes this is
the time to enter this market, what with competing storage methods,
including optical cards, high density floppy disks, hard disks, and
erasable magnetic-optical disks all being sold.

Teijin says this flexible optical disk can be read and written one
million times, far more than the 2,000 times allowed by current
optical disks. The 3.5-inch medium also is capable of storing between
100 and 200 megabytes of data.

The company expects to apply the disk in the consumer electronic
field, including the compact disk music market.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890706)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00013)

JAPAN: CHIP IMPORTS UP
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 1 (NB) -- Mitsubishi and Hitachi have introduced
a system to increase import of foreign-made semiconductors by doing
their own quality-checks at foreign plants. Since the general feeling
among Japanese semiconductor firms is that foreign-made chips do
not meet their quality standards, Mitsubishi and Hitachi has dispatched
Japanese inspectors to Western-owned chip plants in Southeast
Asia in order to improve the quality of the product, and make it
more attractive to import to Japan.

Mitsubishi's team consists of five inspectors and material controllers
who have been assigned to 12 companies with 18 plants in Malaysia,
Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan. When inspectors
determine that quality is improving and their technology is being
implemented, the company purchases chips from those plants.
Hitachi's seven-member quality control team are supervising Hewlett-
Packard and Texas Instruments chip-making operations in Southeast
Asia.

With the system, there has been a 20 percent increase in the number
of imported semiconductors purchased by Mitsubishi and 19 percent
by Hitachi.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890706)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TOR)(00014)

COMPUTERS THAT SMELL
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Researchers at the
University of Toronto are working on computerized sensors that would
sniff out toxic chemicals and bombs.

According to the university, the pen-sized gadgets would contain optical
sensors that could detect changes in light caused by the presence of
certain chemicals. A built-in computer chip would compare the properties
of a laser beam with the optical "signature" of the chemical being
sought. Professor Ulrich Krull and colleagues in the university's
Department of Chemistry are working on the project, and Krull expects a
finished product could be on the market within three years.

(Grant Buckler/19890706/Press Contact: Ulrich Krull,
University of Toronto, 416-828-5437)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SIN)(00015)

COMPUTER USERS' INSURANCE AVAILABLE
SINGAPORE, S.E. ASIA, 1989 JUN 29 (NB) -- An insurance scheme
specifically for computer-users, believed to be the first of its kind
anywhere, is now available for their protection. It guarantees the
fulfillment of a computer company's outstanding contracts even if it
were to go bankrupt.

This scheme was introduced yesterday by the Singapore Federation of
Computer Industry (SFCI) and also became effective on that day. SFCI
Chairman John Wong said that all members of the federation are
covered by the plan. Singaporean, Malaysian and Brunei clients of
SFCI members are protected as well.

Wong explained, "For example, a user has paid S$100,000 for a
computer job and an SFCI member company has completed S$80,000 worth
of the project before it went bust. Then the insurance scheme will pay
for the remaining S$20,000 worth of work to be done by another member
company which will be appointed by SFCI."

The maximum claim per company is S$200,000 and the total amount of
claims allowed per year is S$1 million. The insurance policy was drawn
up by Citicorp Insurance Brokers and underwritten by Guardian Royal
Exchange Assurance. Wong said that SFCI will pay the premium which
he described as a substantial amount.

The SFCI presently has 75 members, with about 60 percent made up of
large multinational corporations and the rest smaller local companies.

SFCI Deputy Chairman Noel Hon, said, "The scheme will benefit the
smaller member companies as they would be able to compete
on the strengths of their technical competence rather than on their
financial standing."

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890705)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00016)

MULTILINGUAL LAN
WEYBRIDGE, ENGLAND, 1989 JUL 07 -- DSC Nestar has announced a
multilingual option on its Nexos Local Area Network (LAN) software.
Each individual user accessing under the Nexos LAN software can run
the utilities and associated system software in any one of five
languages, including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Users can change online language documentation at will.

According to the Weybridge-based networking specialist company,
the new version of Nexos will be particularly appealing to uses
of LAN systems in multilingual countries such as Switzerland, as
well as organizations based in the border countries. The Nexos
multilingual software is available to all users in Europe as a free
upgrade.

(Steve Gold/19890707/Press & Public Contact: Neil Hooper, DSC
Nestar Systems - Tel: [phone])


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

NEW SCO UNIX 3.2
SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 3 (NB) -- Santa Cruz Operation
has released its latest version of Unix for the PC -- SCO Unix
System V/386 Release 3.2. You'll notice it's now called Unix and not
Xenix. That's because AT&T has finally eased up the restrictions on
the use of its operating system name as it's determined that Santa
Cruz Operation is friend, not foe. From now on, all releases of
Unix from SCO will be called Unix, and not Xenix. SCO's Unix System
V/386 is the first operating system licensed by AT&T to carry the
Unix trademark.

The new version of Unix will also run on the coming '486-based
systems, and is the latest offering in a line of operating systems
that will support Industry Standard, Extended Industry Standard, and
IBM's Micro Channel Architecture. It offers the ACER Fast File
System, which is supposed to have a disk throughput up to 600
percent faster. Other improvements include more online documentation,
and an integrated system administration shell. There's also a
streamlined installation procedure along with a new mail system
configuration which allows it to communication with a variety of
different e-mail systems.

(Wendy Woods/19890707/Press Contact: Zee Zaballos, 408-425-7222)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00002)

UNIX MARKET STUDY PLANNED
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- The Open Software
Foundation, Unix International, and the X/Open Company will combine
forces in an unprecedented survey of the implementation of Unix
worldwide. Some 60 companies will be asked about their technology,
market, user requirements, customer attitudes, and knowledge of
Unix, as well as various issues regarding the planning and implementation
of open systems. The study will be conducted by /usr/group which
says this is the largest study ever conducted of the Unix market.

"The program will provide a unique opportunity for vendors
from all sides of the industry to develop common reference information,"
says Open Software Foundation President Donald O'Shea.

The survey results, which are expected to be complete in May, 1990, will be
distributed among subscribing members. Within the first three weeks of
the private announcement, more than 20 companies have signed up, so
say Unix International officers.

The Open Software Foundation is a non-profit international organization
dedicated to supporting and evolving, in cooperation with AT&T, the
industry standard Unix V operating system.

(Wendy Woods/19890707/Press Contact: Ed Palmer, 408-986-8840)


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

HP NETWORKS CD-ROMS
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 10 (NB) -- Hewlett-Packard has
introduced a scheme that will all up to eight users to access any of its
CD-ROM information products from a local area network (LAN) installed
with its HP 3000 or HP 9000 HP-UX computers.

HP believes it is the first company to offer such a product with off-the-
shelf hardware and software. HP LaserROM/LAN, which consists of a
CD-ROM drive and Microsoft Extensions software, runs on an MS NET,
HP Officeshare network. The price is $3,935 for the version for HP
3000 systems or $3,335 for the HP 9000 series.

(Wendy Woods/19890708/Press Contact: Debbie Holloway, HP, 415-
691-5688)


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

MAC-LIKE INTERFACE FOR UNIX
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- Visix Software
has announced that its Looking Glass Unix graphical user interface (GUI)
desktop manager, which has been in development for two years, is in
beta testing and will ship in the third quarter.

The icon- and mouse-driven GUI works on graphics workstations and
X terminals, combining Unix power with the ease of use of Macintosh
software in a format that fully conforms to the OSF/Motif (Open System
Foundation) look-and-feel GUI based on Presentation Manager.

Looking Glass Advantage, an extension of Looking Glass, includes
power tools for developers and should ship in the fourth quarter.

A GUI or graphical user interface is a windows-like software
screen that lets users select operating system functions, start
and stop programs, and manage files using simple, intuitive
point-and-shoot actions usually controlled by a mouse. Such
interfaces are especially welcome for Unix-based systems which
are notoriously complex and non-user-friendly, even more so than
MS-DOS systems.

Visix Software, Inc., is located at 1525 Wilson Blvd., Arlington,
Va. 22209, 800-832-8668 or 703-841-5856.

(John McCormick/19890707/Press Contact: George Hoyem, 800-832-
8668)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00005)

JAPAN: CANON BEEFS UP APPLE/NEXT
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 5 (NB) -- Canon, which has invested $100 million
in Steve Jobs' NeXT Computer, has set up a massive new sales network
to distribute the Unix-based workstations in the Far East.

Canon has established a direct sales division which will be staffed
by 100 salespeople, system and maintenance engineers, in order to
facilitate the product launch in September. Another major investment
of two billion yen (US$13.8 million) will be spent to send Canon
engineers to the U.S. in order to be trained at NeXT, to translate the
NeXT manuals into Japanese, to provide training for Japanese software
houses and end-users, and to finance a NeXT showroom in Tokyo.

The first wave of some 60 Canon engineers trained at NeXT's Fremont,
California plant, have already returned to Japan and will lead the
projects. Japanese versions of the software applications, operating
system, and documentation, are due to be complete by September, 1990.

Meanwhile, Canon, also the Japanese agent for Apple Computer, will
boost its Apple sales force, increasing its 35 retail computer
shops featuring Apple machines to 100. Canon is also sponsoring a
Japanese branch of the Apple Developer Program, a society to exchange
information between software houses and to call for alliances with
software venders. Canon believes these measures will result in a
60 percent increase in sales of Apple products, making the market
worth 16 billion yen or $110 million annually.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890706)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(KUL)(00006)

MALAYSIA: INT'L UNIX SEMINAR SEP 12-13
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 1989 JUN 20 (NB) -- The Malaysian Unix Users
Association (Malnix) will be holding an international seminar at the
Pan-Pacific Hotel here from September 12 to 13 this year.

The theme of the seminar, jointly organized by Malnix and the
Malaysian Institute of Microelectronics Systems (Mimos), will be
"Current Developments and Future trends of Unix-based Systems."
Registration fees for the seminar will be M$200 (US$38) for Malnix
members and M$250 (US$47) for non-members.

A Malnix spokesman said that the key speakers at the seminar have
already been confirmed with an official of the Open Software
Foundation (OSF) and a representative from Unix international also
making appearances.

(Michael Worsley & S.Roowi/19890703)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LON)(00007)

SCO/IXI LINK-UP
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, 1989 JUL 07 (NB) -- X-Desktop, IXI's desktop-
style graphics interface for Unix systems, is being included within the
core section of Santa Cruz Operation's (SCO's) Open Desktop system. The
module will be renamed X-hibit under Open Desktop.

X-hibit performs functions similar to the Digital Research Graphics
Environment Manager (GEM) system seen on PCs, as well as the WIMP
(Windows Icons Mouse Pointer) system seen on the Apple Macintosh,
Atari ST and Commodore Amiga machines.

Lars Turndal, vice president and managing director of SCO's Europe,
Africa and Middle East division, said that he is happy to see a British
company, which pioneered the development of the X-Windows interface
in the U.K., contribute such a key element to the user interface of
Open Desktop.

"Standard graphical user interfaces are the way of the future. Users can
take advantage of more applications, with greater ease and in less
time, with the help of X-desktop," he said.

(Steve Gold/19890707/Press Contact: Ray Anderson, IXI Limited -
Tel: [phone])