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/nb891204

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

CHEAP MAC STILL A YEAR AWAY
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- It's no secret
that Apple wants to intro a low-cost Mac, but journalists and
insiders are still clamoring to get dates and specifications for the
new machine. CMP Publications' Macintosh News thinks it's got a handle
on a few new facts.

The weekly trade magazine reports that there won't be a Macintosh
below $1,500 until early 1991 and quotes sources as saying that
Apple engineers are finding it difficult to put the system software
on ROM (read-only memory), believed to be the major cause for delay.
The machine is also expected to have an 8 MHz 68000 microprocessor,
one megabyte of memory, and a 1.4 megabyte SuperDrive. The magazine
also adds that the low-cost system will sport one expansion slot,
two Apple Desktop Bus ports, a sound port, SCSI port, external drive
port, and built-in AppleTalk capability.

At the same time, two other Macintoshes are expected to be unveiled,
including a color version of the SE.

Apple Computer's Vice President Don Casey recently told analysts in
Boston that Apple would be adding a lower cost computer to its line but
he would not disclose dates.

"Without pinning down dates it's clearly in Apple's interest to
develop products at both ends of the spectrum," he was quoted as
saying.

(Wendy Woods/19891203)


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

DIGIDESIGN DUE TO INTRO CD SOUND TO MACINTOSH
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- A new bundle of
products from Digidesign promises to put compact disk fidelity on
the Macintosh, and to make it possible for the same music to be
played back or dubbed to outside media for use in various
presentations.

Digidesign's Audiomedia, $995, consists of a Macintosh II NuBus
card with built-in RCA line-in jacks and output jacks, the
Audiomedia software, and SoundAccess, a HyperCard stack
for recording and playback of high fidelity sounds within programs
such as HyperCard and Macromind's Director, and cables.

Sound is recorded directly onto the Macintosh's hard disk drive by
connecting any line-level source microphone directly to the Audiomedia
card inputs. Editing is performed using the application's graphic
waveform display showing an overview of the entire stereo recording
and an enlarged view of the individual channels.

The Playlist editing function is used to create new arrangements
of a given recording without consuming any additional disk
space, according to the authors. Digital signal processing
functions include a real-time graphic equalizer, time compression
and expansion and sample rate conversion.

Unfortunately this kind of recording on a hard disk takes a lot of
memory. The company estimates that each minute of music requires
10 megabytes of disk space.

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: Tad Shelby, 415-327-8811)


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

INSIGHT PROVIDES MAC-TO-HP LASERJET PRINTING
EMERYVILLE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Insight Development
has come up with a package of software and hardware which it says
can provide "seamless, transparent, high-speed connectivity between
Macintoshes and Hewlett-Packard's newest laser printer, the
Laserjet IIP.

Called Jetwriter, the software is a special version of MacPrint
developed by Insight, which is capable of translating the QuickDraw
commands generated by the Macintosh into the Hewlett-Packard
printing language called HP PCL. It operates as a Chooser-level
device using an installer program and operates with the standard
Macintosh dialog boxes.

Jetwriter costs $345.

Hewlett-Packard's Laserjet IIP printer is the company's lowest
priced laser printer, which was heralded as being the unit to
"usher in the age of the personal laser printer" by the popular
press.

The $1,495 HP Laserjet IIP printer, prints four pages per minute
at standard 300 dots-per-inch resolution. It has 512K-bytes of
memory, two slots for memory upgrade boards, 14 internal fonts,
one font cartridge slot, and a paper/envelope tray that takes
letter, legal, and A4 paper as well as four envelope sizes.

(Wendy Woods/19890915/Press Contact: Jeremy James, HP, 619-592-8438;
Insight Development, 415-652-4115)


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

CENTRAL POINT OFFERS NEW COPY-II PLUS FOR APPLE
BEAVERTON, OREGON, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Central Point Software
has unveiled an enhanced version of Copy II Plus, the most popular
utility product for Apple II computers and one of the oldest
still-existing software products on the market.

Version 9 of Copy II Plus offers simpler functions and applications
with an improved user interface, mouse support, and serves as a
gateway to ProDOS applications.

Version 9 is, most importantly, better at cracking the hardest
copy protection, boasting 400 new parameters that Central Point
claims will copy even "the newest protected software and programs
that employ new protection schemes."

The program costs $39.95; discounts are available to owners of
Version 8.

Copy II Plus was introduced in 1981 and to date, more than 240,000
copies have been sold. No word on how many have been copied.

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: Corey Staton-Smith, 503-690-5160)


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

FARALLON CUTS COST OF PHONENET STARCONTROLLER FOR LANS
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Farallon Computing
is cutting the price of its Phonenet StarController from $1695
to $1295. The StarController is a 12-port repeating hub that
connects to all Macintoshes, printers, or other Localtalk local
area network devices, guaranteeing clear reception and fewer
errors.

Farallon says nearly one million nodes of Phonenet Connectors
are currently installed in Fortune 500 companies. These connectors
work with standard RJ-11 modular telephone accessories to
link Macs and PCs to printers, or link building-wide networks.
Starconnectors are offered alone or in 10-packs.

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: Wendy Keough, 415-849-2331)


(ADVANCE)(APPLE)(SFO)(00006)

BRODERBUND PUBLISHES TYPESTYLER FOR MACINTOSH
SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Broderbund is
shipping TypeStyler, an unique new Macintosh program which allows
unprecedented manipulation of standard typefaces, and is said to
enable laser-like output of type on even a lowly Imagewriter
printer.

TypeStyler, $199, provides complete control over typefaces, enabling
user to bend, squeeze, stretch, twist and rotate text. Users can
also add perspective, shadows, shades, inlines, and outlines,
patterns, and colors to thousands of commercially available third-
party fonts, including those from Bitstream, Casady & Greene,
DUBL-CLiCK, The Font Company, MacTography, and those created with
Altysys Corporation's Fontographer.

According to Broderbund, the product, now shipping, was developed
for graphic designers, desktop publishers, and general business
users. Applications include logo and sign design, advertising
graphics, newsletters, package art, presentations, and manuals.

TypeStyler delivers crisp, professional output on both Quickdraw
and Postscript printers. It comes with ten AGFA Compugraphic
typefaces already converted into Typestyler Smoothfonts.

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: Nancy Buck, Broderbund,
415-492-3200)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00007)

MACINTOSH LA REFLECTS MAC BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT GROWTH
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- In its second
annual exposition, Macintosh LA, formerly known as the Macintosh
Business Conference and Exposition, reflected Macintosh inroads
into a wide range of business environments.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Show Manager Carl Berndtson
explained: "Mac is continuing to march into corporations so this
year we have targeted special business groups such as the
entertainment industry and aerospace. There are 140 exhibitors
with over 40 companies showing new products."

Berndtson told Newsbytes that the "hot topics" at this year's
show are multimedia computing and Mac/IBM connectivity to
include both microcomputers and mainframes. "The Mac has become
a mainstream computing platform as evidenced by the number of
companies showing product here. In just our first two years, we
have seen this show grow and we expect to see continued growth in
the coming years."

"The foundation of this show is education as well as the exhibits
to showcase products," said Berndtson. "This year we are
offering 65 conferences, workshops and tutorials. We were
pleased to be able to have astronaut Dr. Sally Ride as our
keynote speaker who spoke about the use of microcomputers in the
space shuttle as well as the general use of microcomputers
throughout the space program."

Macintosh LA was expecting between 12,000 and 15,000 attendees
during its three day course. "Macintosh LA is not just a
straight business show anymore. We now encompass all Mac
applications including business, professional and engineering."

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201/Press Contact: Carl Berndtson,
Cambridge Marketing, 617-860-7100)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00008)

IPT SHIPPING MAC TO MAC LAN
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- Information
Presentation Technologies (IPT) has begun shipping PSN (Personal
Server Network), a Macintosh-to-Macintosh distributed server
networking software providing full compliance with Apple Filing
Protocols (AFP).

PSN creates an AppleShare environment that does not require a
dedicated Macintosh as server. The company claims that previous
attempts by competing developers to network Macintoshes without a
dedicated server have not conformed to AppleShare. PSN is said
to provide the peer-to-peer economy and functionality of a
competing product that does not conform to AppleShare and cannot
run some application software without modification.

PSN pricing ranges from $189 for a single node to $999 for a ten-
user network. To prove PSN, IPT has announced a trade-in
program to enable purchasers of the competing TOPS networks to
switch to PSN for only $49.95 per user. Trade-in requires
surrender an original TOPS software diskette and its accompanying
documentation at the time PSN is ordered.

In a related announcement, IPT given Falcon Microsystems the
rights to market IPT's uShare connectivity products and IPT's
Personal Service Network (PSN) into the US government channel
through the General Service Administration's Schedule C and in
competitive bidding. IPT's uShare allows user-transparent
linking of Macintosh computers with Unix and DOS-based machines.

In the beginning of November, Sony Corporation of America
purchased 20 percent of IPT. In an interview with Newsbytes, IPT
President Jonathan Simonds said: "The Sony relationship is very
strategic for us. We hope to implement applications for Sony
microsystems, Sony still image and Sony pro video and combine
them into a system that makes desktop media accessible and real
for Macintosh users.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201/Press Contact: Rich Mirabella, IPT,
818-347-7791)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00009)

OFFICES NEED MAC-TRAINED TEMPS
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- There is a
growing demand for temporary office help skilled in Macintosh
applications, according to the president of a national temporary
agency specializing in temps who use the Macintosh.

John Chuang, president of MacTemps says the increase during 1989
has been significant. He says his agency was placing 100 temps
in the field each week at the beginning of the year. That number
has grown to 300 per week.  Chuang also notes the type of
assignments temporary's are being asked to fill have become more
sophisticated than secretarial positions and now include desktop
publishing and graphic arts.

MacTemps is based in Cambridge, MA and has offices in New York,
NY, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, San Francisco and Santa Clara, CA
and Chicago, IL. The company feels the demand for Macintosh
qualified temps is also strong and plans to open a London office
early next year.

Last month, Kelly Services announced that it also has
available Macintosh-literate temporary office workers.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201/Press Contact: John Chuang, MacTemps,
617-868-8200)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00010)

SMACK-A-MAC ALLOWS MAC OWNERS TO VENT FRUSTRATION
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Smack-A-Mac has
decided the time has come to put the fun back into using a
Macintosh.

Company Partner Diane Khawaja told Newsbytes she started using a
Mac five years ago and it was lots of fun. "Then the whole thing
got serious. We want to make it fun again."

Khawaja and her partner, Gary O'Mary began with a little punching
bag in the form of a Mac. "We were both working for a company
using Macs'" Khawaja explained to Newsbytes. "Gary was in the
art department and I was the network administrator. One day I
had a Mac crash on the network and after three frustrating days
trying to get the system back up, I decided I wanted to hit
something and the Smack-A-Mac was born."

Smack-A-Mac, designed to reduce computer stress, comes with a
user's guide book. On a lark, Khawaja and O'Mary took Smack-A-
Mac to the MacWorld Show in San Francisco in January 1989. "The
response was overwhelming," said Khawaja. "The product was so
successful that in two months I quit my job and in six months
Gary quit his and we started to run Smack-A-Mac full time."

Now, a year, four trade shows and a dealer network numbering 80
resellers later, Smack-A-Mac ($9.95) has been joined by Happy Mac
Computer Covers ($22.95 set-keyboard and computer), "Mac My Day"
full color posters ($9.95) and T-shirts for what the company
calls "Macaholics" ($14.95). Introduced at the recent Macintosh
LA show, the company's latest product is a line of California
disk totes in polka dots, checks and prints as well as
fluorescent colors in two styles ($11.95 each).

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201/Press Contact: Gary O'Mary, Smack-A-
Mac, 619-279-1919)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(HKG)(00011)

APPLE OPENS SINGAPORE SALES OFFICE
SINGAPORE, SEA, 1989 NOV 21 (NB) -- Although Apple has had a
manufacturing presence in Singapore since 1981, the corporation
has managed its sales and support operations through
distributors. Today Dr Richard Hu, Singapore's Minister of
Finance, officially opened Apple's new sales and marketing
office.

The Apple office, which will be headed up by general manager,
Dave Beezley, will focus on pre-sale and after-sale support in
conjunction with two AppleCentres and log-standing partner,
Diversitec Distributors.

According to Mr Beezley various niche markets will be
addressed, particularly the manufacturing sector and Chinese-
language desktop publishing.

At the same time Novell announced a new licenmcing agreement
with Apple Computer that includes Apple's MacTCP as part of the
TCPort Developer's Toolkit, giving developers a socket lobrary
programming interface that makes procedure calls to both Apple
and Novell TCP/IP network drivers.

Simplification of the Macintosh interface to existing Novell
networks is considered by many Singaporean IT professionals to
offer a distinct advantage in the market.

(Keith Cameron/19891125)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BRU)(00012)

RASTEROPS INTRODUCES NEW DISPLAY SYSTEMS
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- RasterOps,
the Californian multicolor display systems specialist, has
introduced three new display systems offering several levels of
enhancements: the Colour Board 708+; the 808+/SE30, and the 724.

The Colour Board 708+ system supports 256 (8-bit) colours on
screen and retails for $5,790. The 708+/SE30, specially designed
for the Apple SE/30 system retails for $4,590 and the 724
system, which supports 4 million colours (24 bits) sells for
$9,390. All of these include the graphics card, Sony Trinitron
monitor and associated software.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202/Press Contact: Susan Paul, 408/562-4200)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BRU)(00013)

CHIP MAGAZINE READERS PICK MAC II AS BESTSELLER FOR DECEMBER 89
MUNICH, WEST GERMANY, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- In a surprise coup,
Chip magazine readers have voted the Apple Mac II as the best
selling business computer system in West Germany during November.

Readers of the prestigious West German computer magazine also
voted the Compaq Deskpro 286 into second place. Both machines
were, Newsbytes notes, nowhere in the charts in previous issues.

Next in line is the Commodore PC10, Tandon PCA, IBM PS/2 Model
30, Atari Mega ST, Zenith Z248, Schneider PC1512, the perennial
IBM XT286 (this system, closely approaching its first decade, is
still selling) and the Schneider PC2640.

On the home computer front, the Commodore Amiga 2000 holds first
place, closely followed by the Amiga 500 and the Commodore 64.
This is the first time the 64 has moved down to third place and
the Amiga 2000 hot first place. It is normal for dealers to lower
the price of the systems for the Christmas season.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00001)

SUPERCOMPUTER TRADE TALKS WITH JAPAN SNAGGED
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) -- A Japanese foreign ministry
has been quoted as admitting that Japan and the United States have
been unable to resolve a long standing dispute over US access to
Japan's supercomputer market.

"We decided to continue our talks next year," the official told Reuters
while adding that no time or place had been set for the resumption.

The supercomputer access issue has been singled out by US government
trade officials under the "Super 301" clause of the 1988 Omnibus Trade
And Competitiveness Act for possible retaliatory action in 1990 if
the issue is not resolved.

While United States firms lead by Cray Research provide
approximately 80% of the world's supercomputers, they account for
only 16 to 17% of the Japanese public sector market. Large Japanese
computer-makers such as Hitachi, Fujitsu and NEC make and sell
supercomputers and the size of these firms allows supercomputers to
be produced as low profit or even as "loss-leaders" while US
manufacturers such as Cray are totally dependent on the success of
those products, according to industry sources.

The Japanese government pledged in a 1987 pact not to discriminate
against US supercomputer makers but US officials say that US firms
have made no sales to Japan's public sector since the agreement was
made. William Piez, a senior policy advisor for the Office of the US
Trade Representative added on Thursday that no sales were likely
unless Japan changed its policies under which bidding procedures
discriminate against foreign makers making it impossible for US
companies to compete.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19891201)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00002)

PCPI FIRST QTR IN THE BLACK
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 24 (NB) -- Personal
Computer Products has reported total revenues of $3,400,400 for
the first quarter ended Sept. 30, an increase of 55 percent over
total revenues for the same quarter last year.

The company reported pre-tax net income of $34,500 compared with
red ink of $247,000 in the same period a year ago. On a per
share basis, PCPI dividends were a loss of 1 cent compared with
12 cents in the same period in fiscal 1989.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201/Press Contact: Edward Savarese, PCPI,
619-485-8411)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00003)

APPLIED DATA COMMUNICATIONS REPORTS 1ST QTR PROFIT
TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- Applied Data
Communications has reported a profit of $100,400 for the first
quarter ended June 30, 1989.

In the same period a year ago, net profits were slightly higher
reaching the $107,200 mark. Total sales revenues for the quarter
were $2.32 million, down 20 percent from $2.88 million logged in
the same period last year.

The company explained that the results were announced late due to
software problems with a new inventory package implemented
internally last April.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201/Press Contact: Pat Kane, Applied Data
Communications, 714-731-9000)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00004)

NEW SOFTWARE DIVISION FORMED AT INTERACTIVE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- William R. Lowry
has been named president of a new software division formed by
Interactive Media Technologies (IMT).

The new division will provide advanced system software for IMT's
multi-media platforms and will market Desktop Video and
Interactive Multi-media software to a number of large markets.

Lowry has resigned from his seat on the parent company's board of
directors to devote full time to the new division.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201/Press Contact: Ron Bianchi,
Interactive Media Technologies, 602-443-3093)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00005)

THE SOFTWARE TOOLWORKS, HEADSTART INK PACT
CHATSWORTH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- The Software
Toolworks and HeadStart Technologies have signed an agreement
under which The Software Toolworks becomes the exclusive
developer of environments and operating system enhancements for
HeadStart computers.

The pact has a term of 2 years. As the systems integration arm
of HeadStart, The Software Toolworks will provide specific
system-level software that will allow the latest hardware
technology to be integrated into the HeadStart system. The
Software Toolworks has already developed the operating
environment for the HeadStart Explorer computer.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201/Press Contact: Les Crane, The Software
Toolworks, 818-885-9000)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00006)

NCR WINS FIRST ATM ORDER FOR BEIJING
BEIJING, CHINA, 1989 NOV 21 (NB) -- Three NCR automatic teller
machines (ATM) are to be installed in the lobby of the Bank of
China's Beijing branch.

Michael Lee, managing director of NCR (China) said that the
Beijing order, though small by ATM standards, was strategically
one of the most important contracts NCR had won in the PRC. "It
is a breakthrough for state-of-the-art banking technology. Up
til now we have only sold ATMs in southern China, where
customer demand is influenced by Hongkong."

Gao Dianen, general manager of Bank of China's Beijing branch,
said: "The ATMs will allow us to integrate cash withdrawals and
deposits with our recently introduced Great Wall credit card.
To provide 24-hour customer service is a giant leap forward for
Bank of China. We expect it to lead to significant growth in
deposits, which in turn will increase our ability to fund
national development projects."

(Keith Cameron/19891121)


(EXCLUSIVE)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00007)

HONGKONG TELEPHONE PROMOTES TONE DIALLING APPLICATIONS
HAPPY VALLEY, HONGKONG, 1989 NOV 21 (NB) -- The Hongkong
Telephone Company has embarked on an intensive program to
promote the use of tone dialling (DTMF) applications. All
overseas vendors of such systems should sit up and take notice.

Mr Tony Webb, general manager operations, told Newsbytes:"It is
a strange paradox. Here in Hongkong we have one of the most
advanced digital telephone networks in the world yet businesses
have been slow to introduce DTMF applications. We think that it
is simply a lack of awareness and hence this campaign."

"Arguably the item of office equipment most taken for granted
these days is the telephone. It is an interesting phenomenon
because probably no other device in the office gets more use.
A business can limp along without a photocopier, without power
supplies, even with the computer system down for a time, but
can you imagine working without a telephone?

"There have been dramatic developments with the telephone
networks and equipment here and around the world in recent
times, but little is often appreciated by the business person.
Have a glance at the telephone on your desk.  Do you understand
the functions of all the buttons?  Few people do," said Mr
Webb.

The telecommunications industry is driven completely by
standards, because without them, no international
communications would be possible. For example, a few years ago,
when standards for fax machines had not been established, it
was necessary for the transmitting and receiving fax machine to
be of a compatible group. It was only when standards were
established that the fax market took off and now fax machines
are an essential piece of office equipment.

Digitised telephone networks, together with tone dialling,
introduce a vista of new telephonic applications because of the
ability, through international standards, to communicate
directly with computers and invoke actions desired by the
telephone user.

Mr Webb continued: "One of the simplest, but very convenient
time savers any user of a tone dial phone can achieve is the
speeding up of the dialling an international call. At the
completion of tone dialling the number all the dialler has to
do is press the button with the number sign on the handset
keypad.  Try it, you will be amazed at the difference in
connection time. If the overseas exchange and network is
digital, then the connection will be almost instantaneous.

"The explanation for this, as with most high technology
matters, is not complex at all. When a person dials or tone
dials a number, the exchange to which he or she is connected
has no way of knowing how many digits are going to be dialled.
The exchange has to be set to wait for a period of time before
it can assume that the dialler has completed dialling. The
exchange waits until the line is silent for some seconds
before it reacts. Pressing the number sign button on the
handset simply sends a tone signal to the exchange informing it
that you have finished dialling and that it may proceed to try
and connect the number," he explained.

According to Mr Webb, the Hongkong Telephone Company is very
keen to expand the use of tone dialling throughout the
territory and he used the popular automatic teller machine as
an example of simplicity of use. "Almost everyone in this town
has an automatic teller machine (ATM) card and very few have
any problem using one. The idea of entering a personal
identification number (PIN) on a numeric keypad is accepted as
normal practice. The tone dial telephone is identical in
principle and can be used in precisely the same manner.

"While the telephone cannot magically produce actual cash,
there is no technical reason why it could not be used to
transfer funds or to enquire as to the balance of your account.
All that would be necessary is for you to tone dial a
particular telephone number which could be directly answered by
the bank computer.  You would then be asked to key in your PIN
and after validation, the bank computer would access the
customer account database and give you your balance.  Some
limited phone banking systems are already available in
Hongkong, but many more can be expected in the short term.

"It is easy to see that this concept can be expanded very
easily to enable shopping from home or to access databases of
useful information just as has happened in the USA. The weather
news, tracking typhoons, stock and currency exchange quotes are
all obvious, but consider the advantages to students if an
information data base was available through the telephone on
any subject at all, perhaps an entire encyclopedia. Creation of
the data bases is not a problem these days because most
encyclopedias and other educational publications are fining
their way onto electronic media anyway and the database enquiry
software proliferates. It is then simply a matter of setting up
the equipment with a synthesised voice system which can read
the desired information out. These days this is available even
at personal computer level, " said Mr Webb.

All of the facilities to better utilise tone dialling are now
available in Hongkong and local telephone calls are free.
A burgeoning industry can be expected in the short term
providing all manner of different information services via the
telephone.

(Keith Cameron/19891125)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00008)

AUSTRALASIA WINS STAR CONTRACT WITH CODA
CENTRAL, HONGKONG, 1989 NOV 23 (NB) -- Star Paging (Holdings)
Ltd., one of Hongkong's leading paging companies, plans to
install the CODA Integrated Accounting System (IAS) to
integrate its inter-company accounting systems.

"Paging systems generate an enormous volume of transactions and
most accounting systems are not designed for that," said Star
Paging's EDP manager, Gordon Ng, "The CODA IAS system can
handle high transaction volumes and also provides a
comprehensive company-to-company transaction processing
facility which we must have."

The system will be installed in phases on Star's existing DEC
VAXes by Australasia Computing Services, one of the region's
longest established software houses.

(Keith Cameron/19891123)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00009)

BAPTIST COLLEGE GIVEN IBM 4341
KOWLOON TONG, HONGKONG, 1989 NOV 17 (NB) -- One of the
territory's seven degree issuing educational institutions, the
Hongkong Baptist College, was presented with an IBM 4341 by
First Pacific Bank.

The eight megabyte processor was presented to the College on
16th November by Mr Ricardo S. Pascua, managing director of
First Pacific.

The newly enhanced machine will enable expansion of the
College's teaching programmes and particularly benefit the
students studying for a Bachelor of Science degree in Computing
Studies.

The Hongkong Baptist College has a history of struggling
against the politics of the purely government-backed
institutions here, but is regarded by most local IT industry
professionals as having the most innovative teaching programs
in the territory. "Sometimes a little autonomy is neccesary,"
one source told Newsbytes, "the Baptist College certainly
offers pragmatism when it comes to IT education. It's practical
business graphics and music labs are the best we have."

(Keith Cameron/19891125)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00010)

THAI FUND MANAGER BUYS UK SOFTWARE FROM HONGKONG
CENTRAL, HONGKONG, 1989 NOV 14 (NB) -- The Mutual Fund Co of
Thailand (MFCT) has purchased advanced fund management software
from Hongkong-based Commercial Software Services Ltd (CSSL).

Under a contract worth more than $200,000 MFCT will install
Paladign fund management system on its existing IBM AS/400 and
IM-Part, a similar PC-based system on its PC network. Both
systems were developed in the UK by Clark & Tilley. In addition
the company will install the Insight Financial Management
System from the UK's Insight Database Systems Ltd. All products
are distributed regionally by CSSL.

Thailand is considered to be the fastest developing IT market
in the region and many Hongkong companies are active there. The
Thai government is also actively pursuing manufacturing joint
ventures and is gaining considerable interest from Hongkong
electronics manufacturers who wish to spread their risk as a
result of the uncertainty prought about by the troubles in
China.

(Keith Cameron/19891125)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00011)

ICL ATTACKS DISENCHANTED WANG USERS
WANCHAI, HONGKONG, 1989 NOV 20 (NB) --  The Hongkong operation
of Britain's computer giant, International Computers Ltd, has
released a series of software conversion tools aimed directly
at the Wang user base in the territory.

According to Kent Kwok, program manager for the Wang campaign,
Wang users in Hongkong are confused about the future of the
company and many feel stranded in a proprietary enviroment with
the possibility of no upgrade path. "In the UK Wang has
publicly stated that it will cut off support for 1,000 of its
smallest accounts. The confidence of the local users, most of
whom have small systems, has been shaken considerably," he
said.

Mr Kwok said that ICL's three conversion tools - VSPower (for
VS users), Basic-K (for 2200 users) and PowerConversion (for
WPS and OIS users) - offer an easy migration into the Unix
environment and thus eliminate all the concerns.

Meanwhile ICL announced its full support for AT&T's newly
available Unix Systems V release 4.0 on its first quarter 1990
SPARC-based high-performance systems. According to ICL, release
4.0 is a great leap forward in open systems software especially
for departmental and office users, because it brings together
existing Xenix, Berkeley and System V versions of Unix into a
single compatible operating environment. This is very
significant in the Hongkong market, where a hotch-potch of
small Unix systems exist, said an ICL spokesman.

A local software consultant was a little more cynical about the
announcement: "Maybe this time Unix will be truly machine
independent and act as the claims would have it, but I will
wait and see," he cryptically observed to Newsbytes.

(Keith Cameron/19891125)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00012)

SEQUENT SWINGS INTO SOUTH KOREAN ALLIANCE
SEOUL, KOREA, 1989 NOV 20 (NB) -- In an expansion move, the
speed of which is only matched by its blooming revenues,
Sequent Computer Systems has signed a distribution agreement
with one of South Korea's largest conglomerates, SsangYong.

SsangYong will also undertake a joint development
responsibility to produce a Hangul (Korean language) version of
Sequent's Unix-based Dynix operating system. Sequent chairman
and founder, Casey Powell, who was in Korea for the official
contract signing, said that SsangYong was selected because of
its strengths in software development and systems integration.

The South Korean IT industry is growing at more than 30% per
year and SsangYong claim a 40 percent share of the country's
software development activities.

Sequent managing director, Stuart Bagshaw, said in Hongkong
that the compnay was undertaking other national language
development programs for Dynix in Chinese and Kanji(Japanese
language). Recent sales successes in Taiwan and Singapore
further emphasise Sequent's commitment to the region, he said.

(Keith Cameron/19891125)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00013)

BAPTIST COLLEGE TAKES INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO NETWORKS
KOWLOON TONG, HONGKONG, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- The Hongkong Baptist
College, highly regarded by local professionals for its
ingenuity with information technology, has done it again. The
College has placed an order for the advanced networking system,
LattisNet, which provides Ethernet speed and capability using
ordinary telephone wire instead of cumbersome co-axial cables.

Telecommunications systems specialists Integrated Business
Systems (IBS) released LattisNet to the Hongkong market only
about one month ago. It is a product of SynOptics
Communications and is well proven in the US.

Jerry Day, director of the College's Centre for Computing
Applications and Services, said: "The plan is to link every
major building on campus in a due course but to start we will
install a pilot system early next year.  We expect the entire
implementation to take about 3 years."

Initially two 16-port LattisNet concentrators will connect the
College's Digital VAX mini-computers to more than 200 users of
PCs and terminals throughout the Science Tower Block and the
West Building. The concentrators themselves will be linked by a
300 ft stretch of fibre optic cable. In each building 14 users
will be connected directly to concentrator ports and the
remaining two ports will be attached to an existing Thin
Ethernet bus.

Bob McKirdy, managing director of IBS, said: "We are quite
excited about LattisNet because it uses standard unshielded
twisted pair cabling. It provides a no-compromise Ethernet
that is fully compatible with IEEE 802.3 standard, using an
open architecture star concept instead of the cumbersome bus
architecture of traditional Ethernet. It was particularly
suitable for the Baptist College because each building could
be treated as a separate entity with effectively no distance
restraints on cabling."

According to Jerry Day, the larger buildings would have 64-
port concentrators and the rest will have 32 or 16-port
models, depending on the number of users. "In the mid 1990's
the College will grow from the present 3,000 to 5,000
students, so there will be a continuing need to cater for
growth of PC usage on campus. Probably by the end of 1992 we
will have more than 500 workstations connected," he said.

"The decision to choose LattisNet wasn't all that difficult.
We had installed a lot of Ethernet already and the
traditional cabling system was a nightmare. Daisychaining
coaxial cable in and out of offices is very disruptive. All
we had to do with LattisNet was remove every existing
telephone wall outlet and insert normal four twisted pair
wires.  We were then able to achieve a mix of voice and
Ethernet communications on the same distribution cable
system," he continued, "We did look at optical fibre but it
didn't prove practical to run that type of cable to every
desk."

Bob McKirdy pointed out that LattisNet standard cabling can
co-exist quite happily with thick or thin co-axial and fibre
cable. "Local-area networking has not taken off here as it
has in other parts of the world.  The reason for this is
twofold.  Many companies do not own their own offices and
volatile rents prompt frequent relocation.  The cost of re-
cabling has a direct deterrent effect on attitudes to local
area networking. In addition many buildings do not have
risers with sufficient capacity to carry all the heavy
cables. LattisNet offers a very satisfactory solution."

There has been a lot of activity at the Baptist College
recently, with First Pacific Bank donating an IBM 4341
mainframe system only three weeks ago. The newly enhanced
machine will enable expansion of the College's teaching
programmes and particularly benefit the students studying for a
Bachelor of Science degree in Computing Studies. And it will
also improve the whole College's ability to serve its students
with computing facilities.

Earlier this year the College installed a digital ROLM
exchange, also supplied by IBS, to provide connectivity between
PCs, asynchronous terminals and the various college computing
systems.  The second phase of that installation will be an
expansion of the voice switching system within the College. Bob
McKirdy said: "It is the first time we have sold a ROLM CBX
which was installed primarily for data switching and then for
voice. It certainly demonstrates the flexibility of the ROLM
digital exchange equipment, but, even more, it illustrates the
practical nature of the decision makers at the Baptist
College."

Last year an IBM System /36 was installed to create a simulated
office automation environment for teaching programs and to
introduce students to small business information systems
applications.

A few years ago the College installed Hongkong's first and
largest teaching network from the University of Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada, which has been implemented in over 3,000
institutions worldwide. That network, JANET (Just Another
NETwork), enables PCs to be used in a teaching environment for
all disciplines. Another facility at the College is an advanced
computerised music laboratory, arguably the best in the
territory.

One local IT professional summed it up well: "The planned
installation of LattisNet is yet another example of pragmatism
in the use and teaching of information technology at the
Baptist College. They have some of the most innovative teaching
programs in Hongkong."

(Keith Cameron/19891130)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00014)

NEW DEALER FOR DATACRAFT OFFICE AUTOMATION PRODUCTS
TSIM SHA TSUI, HONGKONG, 1989 NOV 23 (NB) -- Double-Linked
Business Systems (DBS), a young local software company
specialising in software to link DEC VAX computer terminals to
telex and fax machines has been formally appointed a dealer
for Data & Control Equipment commodity Products (D&CE) by
Datacraft Asia.

Daniel Mok, managing director of DBS says: "The ability to send
faxes and telexes from terminal on a network is in great demand
in Hongkong where the saturation of facsimile transmission is
greater than anywhere in the world outside Japan. This formal
association with Datacraft, the region's largest indepenedent
supplier of data-comms equipment, will assist us to better
serve our client base."

(Keith Cameron/19891201, Press Contact: Medcalf & Co. 852-5-
419141)



(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00015)

U.S. INVESTORS SELL NBS STAKE
MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- A group of
institutions in the United States have sold most of their stake
in National Business Systems, the troubled maker of credit-card
verification equipment based here, to an affiliate of Hees
International Bancorp, which is managing the restructuring of
NBS.

Timothy Casgrain, president of NBS, said that of C$80 million in
subordinated notes held by the American investors, C$60 million
has been sold to the Hees affiliate, which was not named. The
remaining C$20 million worth of notes were exchanged for
convertible debentures on which NBS can pay interest in the form
of preferred shares. "This really adds the final piece to the
puzzle in NBS' restructuring," Casgrain said.

NBS also reported a loss of C$37.3 million on revenues of C$128
million in the year ended Sept. 30. In the previous year, the
company lost C$74.4 million on revenues of C$122 million.

(Grant Buckler/19891130/Press Contact: Timothy Casgrain, NBS,
416-671-3334)


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

SEMI-TECH BUYS EUROPEAN SINGER NETWORK
MARKHAM, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Tightening its hold
on the venerable Singer name, International Semi-Tech
Microelectronics has bought the consumer durable and sewing
machine distribution operations of European Home Products of the
United Kingdom. Semi-Tech paid 47 million pounds for the
divisions, which sell Singer brand products in 18 European
companies through 571 company-owned stores.

Last May, Semi-Tech acquired the SSMC Group of Delaware, a
spinoff of Singer which held the rights to the Singer name. Semi-
Tech, a Canadian manufacturer of IBM-compatible personal
computers, has indicated it will use the Singer name on computer
equipment within the next year.

(Grant Buckler/19891201/Press Contact: Michael List,
International Semi-Tech, 416-475-2670)


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

3COM CANADA NAMES GENERAL MANAGER
MARKHAM, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Elaine Hanson has
been appointed general manager of 3Com Canada. Born in Canada,
Hanson was formerly manager of 3Com's Advanced Network Consulting
Group in New York, and manager of the company's Macintosh network
products. Wes Raffel, 3Com's director of intercontinental
operations, had lately been acting general manager of 3Com
Canada.

(Grant Buckler/19891201/Press Contact: Loretta Lam, The
Communications Group, 416-447-8591)


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

WORDPERFECT UK MOVES OFFICES
WEYBRIDGE, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- Wordperfect UK has moved
to a purpose-built facility in Weybridge in Surrey. The move
officially takes place on 4 December, 1989.

According to David Godwin, Wordperfect UK's marketing manager,
the new facility is to cope with the tremendous sales expansion
the company has experienced over the last four years.

"The new facility has more than 23,000 square feet of space,
which will enable us to cope with our future expansion needs," he
told Newsbytes.

Wordperfect UK's new Weybridge headquarters has three fully-
equipped training rooms to assist dealers, as well as end users,
in learning about Wordperfect's word processing, spreadsheet and
database software.

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press & Public Contact: David Godwin,
marketing manager, Wordperfect UK - Tel: [phone])


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

THE COMPUTER SHOW HOST TO RETURN WITH PC-TV
MARLOW, NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Former Computer Show
hostess Victoria Smith is shivering through a New England winter far
from her Silicon Valley home in order to launch a new computer-oriented
television this spring from a New Hampshire television studio.

"PC-TV," which is slated for a spring, 1990 debut, will be hosted by
Victoria Smith, who for several years was seen on The Computer Show from
San Jose, California, and later, Los Angeles. After the demise of the
show last year at the hands of investors she brought in to take the show
national, Victoria was contacted by the founder and chairman of $100
million mail order firm PC Connection, David Hall. Hall was a fan of
The Computer Show, a weekly program broadcast to Silicon Valley and
Los Angeles audiences, as well as a scattering of other locations,
with news, analysis, and product demonstrations. Smith says Hall
used to pick it up the program via his own backyard satellite dish. He
asked Victoria to come East, and she did. There he has turned her loose
in his state-of-the-art television studio where instructional videos
have been produced since July, 1988.

Smith tells Newsbytes that the program, which she expects will be
broadcast nationwide on cable television stations, "is his dream,"
and he called her to ask if she wanted to "do it again," referring
to her Computer Show experience.

Currently the set and the format have been designed. It will include
interviews, news, demonstrations, and remote video, the same as The
Computer Show, but with a bigger budget, she says.

(Wendy Woods/19891202/Press Contact: Victoria Smith, PCTV, 603-863-
9322)


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

SHARP EXPANDS WIZARD APPLICATIONS, PRINT ADS
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Sharp Electronics
is launching a campaign to promote its Wizard hand-held organizer
as the ideal business tool, and print ads will run through December
in major Bay Area publications.

Sharp is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to win the San
Francisco executive. Some 4,000 will receive mailers with
brochures and request cards for personal demonstrations.

The Wizard, the size of thin paperback book, stores appointments,
calendar, phone directory, notepad, calculator, and world clock.
There is also optional software for transferring information to
and from the PC or Macintosh.

In addition, Sharp has introduced two new integrated circuit (IC) cards
for the Wizard, the Money Planner, a financial calculator, and
the North American City Guide, a travel aid containing information
on hotels, restaurants, entertainment, shopping, and transportation.

Current IC card offerings include Time Expense Manager, 8-language
Translator, Dictionary/Thesaurus, 32K and 64K RAM (random access
memory) cards. There is also a programmable toolkit with which
Sharp executives were enlisting the support of third-party developers
at Comdex, touting the ease with which it can be used to create
Wizard applications.

Due next year are IC cards for telecommunications (with pocket modem),
programmable calculator, and spreadsheet compatible with Lotus 1-2-3.

(Wendy Woods/19891202/Press Contact: Len Abbazia, Doug Wright,
Dorf & Stanton, 212-420-8100)


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

LOTUS TO UNVEIL NETWORK SOFTWARE
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- Lotus
Development said it plans to ship its Notes network software
product within the next week.

Notes allows users to manipulate text, graphics and information
across computer networks. It marks Lotus' entry into networking
applications as one of a number of vendors seeking market share
in multi-vendor network installations.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00004)

PC USERS FILING ELECTRONICALLY TO GET SPEEDY IRS REFUNDS
OXNARD, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- Joint efforts by
tax preparation software developer Softview, electronic filing
service developer InstaTax and Speed>S, an electronic networking
service, will enable PC users to obtain their tax refunds in as
little as three days.

For $29.95, MacInTax and MacInTax for Windows users can fax a
print-out of their returns or sending a diskette to InstaTax. At
InstaTax, the data is entered and checked for accuracy using
Softview's professional tax software. It is also inspected by a
Speed>S program that ensures the tax data files are compatible
with IRS electronic filing specifications before Speed>S
mainframes transmit the return to IRS computers.

This is the first time taxpayers have been able to access
electronic filing without going to a professional tax preparer.
The IRS is predicting as many as 6 million returns will be filed
electronically in 1990 and up to half the taxpayers will use
electronic filing by the middle of the decade.

The service includes InstaRefund, an opportunity for people with
refunds coming to borrow the amount of the refund before it
arrives. To apply for a refund anticipation loan, the fee is
$39.95 plus a separate bank fee of $30 deducted from the refund
amount.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891201/Press Contact: Jeff Felder, Softview,
805-385-5000)


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

"WELLTRIS" GAME ARRIVES IN TIME FOR HOLIDAY GLASTNOST
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) -- Attempting to duplicate the
success of its addictive "Tetris" computer game, Spectrum Holobyte
now brings "Welltris" to the American shores in time for this year's
holiday shopping.

Written by the same person who authored Tetris, Soviet
mathematician Alexey Pajitnov, the game is, as Tetris, based
on the player's ability to manipulate and rotate shapes as they fall
from the sky. Welltris is, however, unlike Tetris in that the player
has a three-dimensional perspective as the shapes fall and must
attempt to fill up a four-walled well.

The game, which will initially be available for IBM and
compatible computers at a suggested retail price of $34.95 (Macintosh
and Amiga versions to follow), has been warmly received by
reviewers and has been projected as one of this holiday season's
biggest sellers.

The projection of success is, of course, based partly on the phenomenal
penetration that its forerunner, Tetris, has made in the American
marketplace. With successful versions already running across
personal computer lines, Tetris is bundled with the new Nintendo
"Game-Boy," the portable game machine expected by most analysts
to be the hottest item in the stores this Christmas season.

In reviewing Welltris in the New York Times on November
28, 1989, L.R. Shannon calls it "an obsession" rather than a game and
also calls attention to the circuitous route in which it reached our
shores - "Welltris was created by Alexander Pajitnov, a Soviet
mathematician, licensed by Doka, a Soviet trading company to Bullet-
Proof Software, a Japanese company which then licensed it to an
American company."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19891201)


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

IBM, APPLE & NINTENDO PRODUCTS CITED AS "80S MILESTONES"
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) -- The IBM PC, Apple
Macintosh computer, and Nintendo video games joined such products
as "U.S.A. Today," "Diet Coke," "Tarter Control Crest" and Chrysler
minivans on the Wall Street Journal's list of "Marketing Milestones of
the Decade."

In the article accompany the list in the November 28th edition of
the journal, reporter Kathleen Deveny said, "With its first
personal computer introduced in 1981, International Business
Machines Corporation assumed the power to set standards
for office automation. Similarly, Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh
computer, unveiled a few years later, showed many people what
"user-friendly" meant."

In addition to making the "Hit" list, IBM had the dubious distinction
of also having one of its products, the "PCJr" on the "Miss" list for
the 1980s with such forgettable other products as the "Yugo," "New Coke"
and "Premier" cigarettes.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19891201)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00007)

POLL OF RESELLERS LISTS EVEREX, TOSHIBA, NOVELL AS BEST PRODUCTS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) -- In a poll of 1,000 resellers
by Reseller Management Magazine, Toshiba, Everex and Novell
products ranked as among the best products to sell.

While the magazine questionnaire suggested categories, it did not
explain the criteria used by the resellers in determining their
choices. The respondent was thus able to weigh quality,
performance, price, user demand, vendor service and profit margins
in any way he or she wished.

The poll winners were Desktop Computer -- Everex Step 386-20;
Portable Computer -- Toshiba T-1600; Monitor - NECHE MultiSync
2A; Mass Storage Device -- Seagate ST-251; Printer -- two winners:
Panasonic KX=P1124 and Okidata Microline 320/321; Terminal --
Wyse WY-60; UPS/SPS System -- two winners: American Power
Conversion Uninterruptable Power Sources and Tripp Lite Battery
Backup Systems; Communications Hardware -- Practical Peripherals
2400-baud modem; LAN Software -- Novell Netware V 2.15 and
Communications Software -- Microcom Carbon Copy Plus.

The results of the poll which appeared in the November issue of the
magazine were followed with a description of each product and
dealer comments concerning the product.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19891201)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00008)

ELECTRONIC BATMAN GAMES HIT JAPANESE STORES
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- With the release of the
blockbuster Batman movie in Japan, two game products will be
sold. Both the products feature Batman pitted against arch-villain
the Joker.

Sega Enterprises will release the Batman version of its Game
Vision Series small LCD (liquid crystal display) game gadget
on December 2. It is operated by two AA-size batteries, and
is priced at 3,980 yen or $28. Sega aims to sell 100,000 units in
the initial year.

On the other hand, Ehime-based Sun Electronics will release its
Batman software for Nintendo's Family Computer on the 22th of
December. It is priced at 6,200 yen or $43 and Sun aims to sell
about 250,000 cartridges in the first year. Furthermore, Sun is
planning to release Batman software for Nintendo's GameBoy video
game gadget and Sega's MegaDrive video game machine by spring.

(Ken Takahashi/19891130)


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

NINTENDO AIMS TO SELL 3 MILLION SUPER FAMICONS IN '90
KYOTO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 24 (NB) -- Nintendo aims to sell three
million units of its strategic video game machine Super Famicon
within the year following its release, now expected next summer.

Nintendo claims that it can achieve that sales volume because
when the machine hits the stores, 10 different games will be
available for it, among them the popular Super Mario
and Dragon Quest.

The 16-bit Super Famicon was scheduled to debut in summer, 1989
but Nintendo postponed it due to a shortage of static random
access memory chips and because software development was going
slowly.

Now, the shortage ended, Nintendo's hardware and the available
software will pack what's expected to be a powerful assault
against other makers' 16-bit video game machines, such as Sega's
MegaDrive and PC Engine from NEC Home Electronics.

Nintendo is not quoting prices at this time, claiming that prices
will be determined by the cost and type of chips embedded into the
Super Famicon units.

(Ken Takahashi/19891130)


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

NOBLE ACTS AS GO-BETWEEN FOR WIZARD AND FMR
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 25 (NB) -- Noble Corp., a developer and
distributor of a personal computer and the BASIC Card for the
electronic organizer Sharp Wizard, has developed utility
software to develop BASIC programs and to exchange data between
Wizard and Fujitsu's personal computer FMR series.

The program allows the Wizard to use the same keyboard operation
of Sharp's AX personal computer by the connection of a cable between
the  Wizard, installed with the Sharp IC CardWriter, and the
RS232C interface of the Fujitsu FMR series.

BASIC Card Developing Utility is priced 40,000 yen or $275 and is
available now.

Only Sharp's AX personal computers can develop BASIC
programs to exchange data with the Wizard at this time.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891130)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00011)

HONGKONG IT INDUSTRY COLLABORATES FOR CHARITY
CENTRAL, HONGKONG, 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- For the first time in
the history of Hongkong an entire industry is marshalling it
resources to help raise money for the territory's
underprivileged children.

The goal of the campaign, called the IT Charity Fund, is to
raise $1 million from suppliers and users of information
technology equipment, from PCs to mainframes to communications
systems.

The fund-raising project has been endorsed by the Hongkong
Information Technology Federation (HKITF), the Hongkong
Computer Society (HKCS), the Hongkong Management Association IT
Committee and the Hongkong Telecommunications Users' Group
(TUG), each of which is asking its members to support the
campaign financially. The HKCS has volunteered its staff and
banking facilities to help manage the fund.

Collectively the IT industry believes that the appeal is the
best way to publicise that the industry is first interested in
people, then machines. And, most importantly, some of
Hongkong's less fortunate children will benefit directly from
the Christmas spirit of giving.

Philip Wong, CEO of AST Research (Far East), can take a bow for
this one. Toward the end of last year he made an empassioned
plea to a meeting of the HKITF that IT companies consider
diverting the budget normally allocated to Christmas cards to
two local orphanages and a home for the elderly. Mr Wong's idea
received sympathetic support at that time and this year it has
been expanded to include the entire IT industry.

A special committee has been established to handle the funds to
ensure that all monies raised are properly accounted for and
distributed appropriately. Chairing the committee is the
Hongkong Bank's Executive Director, Services, John Strickland.
Other members include Professor C.K. Poon, Legisative Member
and chairman of the Committee of Science and Technology of the
HK Government, together with representatives from each of the
supporting bodies and from the Social Welfare Department.

Donations will be acknowledged in various trade magazines under
four categories: Corporate Gold for donations of $2,000 and
over; Corporate Silver $1,000-1,999; Corporate Bronze $200 -
999. Newsbytes readers who have interests in the region and
wish to send a donation should make drafts or checks payable
to: "HKCS -- IT Charity Fund". The funds should be in before
December 20, 1989.

(Keith Cameron/19891130)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00012)

COMPUTER TO AID MOUNTIES IN TRADING INVESTIGATIONS
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- The Commercial
Crime unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will shortly
begin using computer software to analyze stock trading records in
market fraud investigations. The Stock Market Analysis for
Reconstructing Trades (SMART) system will use artificial
intelligence techniques to identify suspicious patterns in stock
exchanges' and brokerage houses' records.

The computerized system will be much faster than the manual
analyses the RCMP performs at present, said Corporal Peter
Macaulay of the Commercial Crime unit in Toronto. Scheduled to
begin service in January, it is the result of a year's full-time
development by RCMP staff in Ottawa, Ontario, and considerable
planning before that. Macaulay said the SMART system is similar
to software that some stock exchanges use to study trading
patterns, but its adaptation to law enforcement is unique.

The system can read tapes from IBM mainframe computer systems,
which are popular in the brokerage industry, directly. Records
from other systems would have to be translated or manually input.

(Grant Buckler/19891130/Press Contact: Peter Macaulay, RCMP
Commercial Crime Unit, 416-973-0329)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00013)

WORLD OF COMMODORE HELD IN TORONTO
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Some 75 exhibitors
joined Commodore International at the Toronto International
Centre of Commerce here for the annual World of Commodore show
Nov. 30 through Dec. 3.

The eye-catchers of this year's show were
high quality displays scattered among several exhibitors, mostly
running games. A handful of exhibitors, including VidTech
International of Miami, Fla., Mindware International of Barrie,
Ontario, and NewTek, showed multimedia products.

Commodore itself demonstrated an assortment of its Amiga and PC-
compatible hardware attached to a Novell network, and Unix System
V Release 4 running on an Amiga 2000. Commodore also had units of
its PC-50 and PC-60 IBM-compatible machines on display. Booth
personnel said the 386SX-based PC-50 is shipping now; no release
date has been announced for the PC-60, a tower configuration with
a 386 processor.

Spirit Technology of Salt Lake City, Utah, showed an expansion
chassis that connects IBM PC-compatible cards to the Amiga 500
and 1000. Roughly the size of an ordinary PC system box, it
provides eight slots, one of which is needed for an interface
card to connect to the Amiga. The AX-S system also includes a
200-watt power supply and bays for four storage devices.

(Grant Buckler/19891201)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00014)

ATARI UK READIES FOR LYNX SHIPMENT IN FIRST QUARTER OF 1990
SLOUGH, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- While Atari US is
experiencing a runaway success with its new Lynx hand-held pocket
games machine, Atari UK is quietly readying for a major launch of
the machine in the UK after Christmas.

According to sources close to Atari UK, a major media campaign
(press, radio and TV) is being prepared for launch in January,
with shipments following closely behind. UK pricing on the Lynx
machine has yet to be confirmed.

"So far the Lynx is selling phenomenally well in the US. Atari
has made around 70,000 for the US Christmas market and the
machine has actually sold out in some cases," a spokesman for
Atari told Newsbytes.

So what is it about the Lynx that makes it so popular? It's the
Lynx's colour LCD screen. The 3.5-inch screen has a resolution
of 160 by 102 pixels with a palette of 4,096 colours, 16 of
which can be on-screen at any one time.

The Lynx comes with an eight-way controller and two sets of fire
buttons. The screen flips through 180 degrees for the left or
right-handed users and up to eight machines can be linked
together for multi-player combat.

As supplied in the $179-95 starter kit - discounted to $160 in
many US outlets - the machine comes with a four-game California
Games cartridge. Four other cartridges - Blue Lightning, Chip's
Challenge, Electrocop and Gates of Zendocon - are available, with
prices ranging from $34-95 to $39-95.

Want to know more about the Lynx? Contact Atari's entertainment
products division on 408/745-4978 for a catalogue.

(Steve Gold/19891202)


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

HEWLETT-PACKARD LAUNCHES NEW WAVE OFFICE
BRACKNELL, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- Hewlett-Packard has
launched HP New Wave Office, an integrated office system package
that spans multiple hardware and software environments. The
package is designed to carry HP into the 1990's office automation
market-place.

Announcing HP New Wave Office in the US last week, John Young,
HP's president and chief executive, said there are more than 60
software houses actively working on third-party software that
runs under HP New Wave Office.

HP New Wave Office is available immediately in the US, with
European shipment expected in the first quarter of 1990. User
licenses for the package range from $1,300 for four users to a
hefty $84,210 for a multiuser server license.

Users can access the New Wave office environment across a variety
of software/hardware environments, including VME, OS/2 and Unix
systems, running on Intel 80286, 386 and 486 microprocessors, as
well as RISC and Motorola 680xx-based machines, including the
Apple Macintosh.

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press Contact: Yvonne Danson, Hewlett-
Packard UK - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00001)

FALCON MICROSYSTEMS SELLING MIPS' RISC-UNIX SYSTEMS TO FEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) -- Falcon Microsystems,
presently the leading reseller of Macintosh computers to the federal
government, has announced that it has acquired the rights to market
MIPS Computer Systems' RISC-UNIX file servers into the government
channel.

Under terms of its agreement with MIPS, Falcon will be
listed on the government's official purchasing catalog for personal
computing products, the GSA (General Services Administration)
Schedule C, as the provider of the MIPS RC3240.

Bill Jobe, MIPS executive vice president of field operations,
in making the announcement of MIPS' association with Falcon, said, "Falcon
Microsystems' recognized presence in the federal market combined
with MIPS industry-leading RISC products, will expand the market
share of both companies. Falcon's reputation for quality service and
technical competence is representative of the kinds of qualities MIPS
looks for in developing partnerships with strong companies that
offer unique value-added and leverage. We're pleased to be
associated with Falcon, clearly a top-tier player in
microcomputer integration for the government market."

Falcon, known as Apple's third largest Macintosh client, has sold
approximately 90% of all Macintosh products that have been
federally purchased and represents more than 135 companies. Its
sales for the fiscal year ending in April 1990 are expected to exceed
$125 million.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19891201)


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

NAVY PROBE FINDS IBM WAS FAVORED, INVESTIGATES ANTITRUST
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) -- A 34-page memorandum
sent to Secretary of the Navy H. Lawrence Garrett III by the
chairman and ranking minority member of the House Government
Operations Committee on November 30th states that IBM may
have violated various antitrust laws in connection with a
$30 million Navy contract.

The report also finds that it may be necessary for the Department of
Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate further.
An accompanying letter asked Secretary Garrett to "take whatever
further actions under relevant law or regulation" is deemed
appropriate after review of the memorandum.

The memo and letter, released to the Baltimore Sun, enumerated a
number of possible violations, including examples unethical behavior
by IBM and Navy personnel, the acceptance of gratuities from IBM
by Navy personnel, the possible linking of confidential information to
IBM, IBM's alleged selling of used equipment as new, IBM's practice
of offering different vendors different prices for the same equipment
and potential perjury of witnesses.

An IBM spokesman immediately denied that IBM had violated
antitrust statutes, saying, "Nothing we have heard or seen in
testimony or in any discussions nor in any of our dealings with the
federal government in general warrants the suggestion of any
antitrust implications. Once again, the committee appears to be
grasping at straws with unsupported allegations."

In earlier related developments, Garrett, testifying before the House
committee last week, revealed that an internal Navy probe has
determined that specifications in certain Navy data processing
procurements were "unduly restrictive" and favored IBM
or IBM equipment. Mr. Garrett also said that the "Navy ADP
Acquisition Panel" has recommended increased oversight of
Electronic Data Systems ("EDS") subcontracting activities because of
instances where a bias favoring IBM "might be perceived." He added
that changes were being made in procedures to minimize such
occurrences saying, "The Panel's review persuades me that while our
Departmental policies and procedures provide for a fair and neutral
competitive playing field, additional management is required."

Garrett declined to answer panel member questions as to whether
IBM had acted responsibly in dealing with the Navy.
The ADP Assessment Panel studied eight Navy contracts, including
two awarded to EDS as systems integrator totaling $991.3 million
and determined a possible EDS bias favoring IBM in both a $447.9
million Naval Supply Systems Command contract for computers,
terminals networks, software & services and in a $543.4 million
hardware, software and services contract awarded by the Automatic
Data Processing Selection Office.

Kenneth Scott, president of EDS' Military Service division, denied any
IBM bias, pointing out that only 30-35% of EDS 1989 hardware buys
were for IBM equipment. "We are driven by solutions, not
by an alliance to any one particular vendor or another."

The House Committee investigation of possible pro-IBM bias in Navy
computer acquisitions was undertaken as a result of a complaint
lodged by six of IBM's competitors in the government marketplace.
These allegations have also led to investigations by the Government
Accounting Office and the Inspector General of the Department of
Defense.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19891201)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(HKG)(00003)

THE DUST HAS NOT SETTLED ON PUBLIC AUDITORS CRITICISMS
CENTRAL, HONGKONG, 1989 NOV 25 (NB) -- Last week the Hongkong
Director of Audit, Mr Jeff Hutt, in his annual report,
criticised some Government Departments for ineptitude and mis-
management of personal computer systems under their control.
The issue attracted considerable comment in the Press and other
media.  Unfortunately, whenever any issue arises which involves
computing in Government, the spotlight falls on the Information
Technology Services Department (ITSD), formerly known as
Government Data Processing Agency (GDPA).

An IT industry professional told Newsbytes:" On reading his
report I felt Mr Hutt's criticisms were not directed toward
ITSD at all, but rather at the system and policies within which
that Department is expected to work.  It is also important to
note that the report and criticisms applied only to the PC
systems, or end-user computing as it is referred to, and no
link  was implied or should be drawn with the larger systems in
Government.

"Mr Hutt's observations are symptomatic of PC installations in
general, they are not in any way exclusive to Government. Lack
of management, security and documentation are commonplace
throughout any organisation where PCs have been installed. I
see these circumstances in the business world on a day to day
basis, " he said.

The consultant told us that he felt very comfortable that PCs
had proliferated sufficiently across Government departments for
the problems to have arisen.  "At least many departments and
many individual civil servants are now trying to use modern day
tools and I am sure that the efficiency and productivity has
improved regardless of what the Director of Audit has to say.
Remember, an auditor's responsibility is to uncover and report
inadequacies, not to praise success."

Strangely enough, the issue which did not capture much
attention is that of security, the confidentiality of the
information contained on PC files and the physical security
procedures surrounding the integrity of the databases.  Dr
Colin Greenfield, manager of ITSD, said he and his professional
staff were concerned about this issue, but a lack of resources
severely hampered their endeavours to improve the situation.

"The Microcomputer Development Centre (MTD) of ITSD is 30%
understaffed and has a machine to supporting staff ratio of
109:1.  Obviously local technical support at departmental level
can only be entertained if the MDC is allocated more resources.
I wonder how many commercial organisations with over 100 PCs
installed performing all sorts of tasks would have only one
support staff member?" he asked quite reasonably.

Dr Greenfield says: "The support staff at MDC deserve all the
praise one can give for their achievements against the odds,
they do not warrant criticism for their lack of coverage," and
at Newsbytes, we agree.

(Keith Cameron/19891125)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(HKG)(00004)

SINGAPORE: $3 MILLION UNIVERSITY NETWORK GOES TO 3COM
SINGAPORE, SOUTHEAST ASIA, 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- The National
University of Singapore (NUS) is to install a multi-vendor network linking
88 buildings on campus. It will be the largest campus-wide network
in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the biggest 3com networks
outside the USA.

More than 200 miles of wiring, including optic fibre, thin
Ethernet coaxial and twisted pair will connect students and
staff across the 150 hectare university campus. In addition
there will be external links to the halls of residence, the
university estate office and the Institute of Systems Science.

Nearly 4,000 cable outlets will be built into an integrated
system which is intended to meet computer communications needs
through the next decade. Professor Lim Pin, vice chancellor of
NUS said:"Other, more exotic applications such as gateways for
teletext, fax, X.400 mail and ISDN will also be provided."

The 3com system includes adapter cards for IBM and compatible
personal computers and Apple Macintosh. Servers and other
network components will come from Hewlett-Packard, and a Fibre
Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) backbone will be supplied by
Proteon Inc.

(Keith Cameron/19891130 - Press Contact: Euan Barty Associates
852-5-290356)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(BRU)(00005)

EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK LENDS ECU 23 MILLION TO ISRAEL
LUXEMBURG, LUXEMBURG, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- The European Investment
Bank (EIB) is advancing ECU 23 million to the Industrial
Development Bank of Israel (IDBI).

The funds are the first to be made available in the last 12 years
to Israel, and come in the wake of the latest EEC-Israel accord.
The IDBI is a leading source of industrial development in Israel.
The EIB loans have so far financed 52 projects and helped to
create 1,525 jobs.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202)


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

BOILERPLATE LEGAL FORMS WITH PERSONAL LAWYER
CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Tired of spending
big bucks to get a small form from your attorney? Bloc Publishing
wants to come to your rescue with Personal Lawyer, a program for
PCs and compatibles which has 7 common legal documents.

Included are a will, residential lease, power of attorney, special
power of attorney, revocation of power of attorney, statement of
guardianship, and promissory note.

A series of questions prompts the user in order that the form be
"customized;" once the interview is complete Personal Lawyer
will generate a document which is legally binding in 49 states
and the District of Columbia, according to California attorney
Douglas Jacobs, who supervised the product's development. The only
state which doesn't accept these documents is Louisiana because
much of its law is based in French rather than English law.

The program, $59.95, runs on any PC with at least 128 kilobytes of
memory and a floppy disk drive.

To order call Bloc Publishing at 1-800-888-2562 or 305-445-0903.

(Wendy Woods/19891203/Press Contact: Pamela Fisk)


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

MICROSOFT OFFERS NEW BASIC TOOLS
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- Microsoft has
published the BASIC Professional Development System, a high-end
toolkit for serious program developers.

It includes the Microsoft Professional ISAM (indexed sequential
access method) for data management tasks; new language features;
increased memory capacity to support large application development;
and an integrated development environment based on Microsoft
QuickBASIC.

The system also includes new fixed-decimal-point data type for
representing currencies, and three add-on libraries derived from
Microsoft Excel for numeric formatting, date/time and financial
functions. Finally, there are tools for mixed language and MS-OS/2
system programming.

The program runs $495. The upgrade price for registered users of
Microsoft BASIC Compiler 6.0 is $195.

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: Marty Taucher, 206-882-8080)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00003)

IBM TO REDUCE USE OF TOXIC CHEMICALS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) -- International Business
Machines Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of computers
and computer products, has requested that all of its facilities either
eliminate or reduce the use of 320 chemicals classified as hazardous
by the federal government.

The new policy was announced by Joseph Cascio, manager of
environmental planning, in a November 29th speech at West Point, NY
to the Hudson River Environmental Society. Cascio informed the group
that a letter was being sent to each manufacturing facility
directing that a plan be developed for substantial reduction of
the use of hazardous chemicals.

IBM facilities are expected to use approximately 224 million pounds
of hazardous chemicals this year with 10 million pounds (3%) being
legally disposed of in the air water and soil. Cascio said that,
since the company can do little more to reduce chemical emissions
further, "The only way is to eliminate use of the chemicals."

Cascio also told the group of another new IBM policy that requires
the explicit approval of IBM corporate headquarters in Armonk for
any chemical discharged in a water body. The facility requesting
such discharge will be required to assess the potential environment
effect of such discharge. This requirement will be imposed for the
discharge of any chemical, even those not cited by the government as
hazardous, Cascio said.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19891201)


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

IBM DENIES FORCED LAYOFFS, SEEKS ALTERNATIVE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) -- Reacting to last weeks
rumors of the first involuntary layoff of employees in International
Business Machines Corporation's history, IBM Senior Vice President
George Conrades, in an interview with Reuters News Service on
Wednesday, November 29th, said that here would be no departure
from IBM's long-standing no layoff policy.

"In the case of IBM, we don't do layoffs. We try to retire or
redeploy but it is possible to reduce the head count in the
process." He also emphasized that IBM's full employment policy "has
served us very well."

Rumors of an involuntary layoff of 10,000 to 15,000 employees
began to circulate on Wall Street last week as analysts attempted
to evaluate IBM's third quarter decline in profits. A rise
in the price of IBM's stock was felt by many to be
attributable to the rumors.

In the last three years, IBM has through a variety of methods
reduced its employees by approximately 20,000 but the reductions
were as a result of attrition, the use of a very attractive early
retirement plan and the selling of several business elements rather
than through layoffs.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19891201)


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

JAPAN: IBM INTROS 386 PC AIMED AT HOME MARKET
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- IBM Japan has decided to
gamble on a new Micro Channel Architecture-based personal
computer aimed at the home and small business market -- its
lowest-priced 32-bit PC, which is also expected to be released
in the U.S. next spring.

The new machine called PS/55Z Model 5530Z SX has an Intel 80386SX
processor running at 16 megahertz, a high-speed bus configured
with Micro Channel Architecture, and standard main memory of
two megabytes expandable to 16 megabytes. The 12-inch color CRT
(cathode ray tube) display screen has a high resolution of 1,024
by 768 pixels in graphics mode.

The basic price with a color display and a 3.5-inch floppy drive is
398,000 yen ($2,800); once a keyboard is added the price hits
428,000 yen or $3,000.

Parent IBM is also planning to release a home-use personal
computer in the U.S. in spring next year, and IBM Japan claims
that the newly release PC has the same basic configuration as
the U.S. model. IBM Japan expects the new machine and its U.S.
counterpart to become important cornerstones in the product line
through the 1990s.

(Ken Takahashi/19891130)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00006)

JAPAN: AST RELEASES PREMIUM 386
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- AST Research Japan, the
subsidiary of California-based AST Research, has released in Japan
the IBM PC/AT compatible which debuted in the U.S. in October.
The new machine, called AST Premium 386SX/16, has an Intel
80386SX processor running at 16 megahertz.

The significant advantage of the machine is its original Cupid-32
architecture, which the U.S. firm claims allows users to replace
the plug-in processor card on the machine with either a full 80386
or an 80486 processor at a low cost. Also, a motherboard, a system
memory board, and other boards are separately located, so a user can
replace only what he wants. Such architecture has been adopted
on all the machines the firm released since fall of last year, but
"none ever in our country," a spokeswoman of AST Research Japan
said.

The prices for both the Model 3V with a built-in 3.5-inch floppy drive
unit and the Model 5V with a built-in 5.25-inch drive are
520,000 yen ($3,600), and the Model 45V with a 40-megabyte hard
drive unit is 750,000 yen ($5,200).

(Ken Takahashi/19891130/Press Contact: AST Research Japan,
03-818-0710)


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

JAPANESE IBM-COMPATIBLE AX DRAWS CROWDS TO TOKYO'S CONVENTION '89
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- The AX Convention, held
in the Sunshine City Center Hall, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, November 29-
December 1, showed Japanese IBM-compatible buyers have plenty of
options if they want to buy systems that utilize this operating
system.  The convention was the first organized by the AX Council
and supported by Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Since its first appearance in 1987, AX machines have been available in
54 models in Japan; there are 300 software titles for the machines, and
600 PC/AT titles which will run on them.

Membership in the AX Council has doubled from 230 in 1988 to 431 to
date. 60,000 AX personal computers have been sold and another
80,000 to 90,000 units are expected to be shipped by March 1990.

Due to the AX operating system's ability to handle both English and
Chinese characters, foreign makers, particularly Chinese, are
interested in them.

Two Taiwan firms and Yokogawa Hewlett-Packard chose the show to
release some new models. Taiwan-based Acer released two models with
16 megahertz 80386SX -- the Acer 1100SX(J) series. The model 021 with
3.5-inch FDD (floppy disk drive) is priced 558,000 yen, and the
model 401 with 40 megabytes of HDD (hard disk drive) is priced
658,000 yen or $4,540.

Taiwan-based Tatung announced five models will be on the market
by middle of December. The models TCS-7100AX, 7521AX,
8100SAX and 8600SAX will be released December 1, priced between
460,000 and 598,000 ($3,170 to $4125). The upper end model,
TCS-8600TAX is slated to be released in mid-December
with the price tag of 1,398,000 yen or $9,640.

YHP has add new faces for its Vectra AX series. The 32-bit HP Vectra-AX
QS/20 with the configuration of one-megabyte main memory, 40-megabyte
HDD, five-inch FDD, 14-inch color monitor and MS-DOS, is priced at
1,270,000 yen or $8,760. The Vectra-AX SF/12 is a 16-bit laptop personal
computer with 640 kilobytes of memory, two 3.5-inch FDD and MS-DOS, and
is priced at 350,000 yen or $2,415. Also, the latest HP Vectra 486 PC,
equipped with the latest central processing unit, i80486 of Intel was
announced but no further details were available.

Also at the show, Victor Company of Japan displayed its new
NBC-2800 series, AX computers received, Newsbytes has learned, from
Sanyo, which makes them on an original equipment manufacturing basis
for Victor. Despite this fact, Victor is listed as a hardware
manufacturer on the AX Council.

Kyocera is one of the leading member of AX Council and is expected
to release the first i80486- based machine among the Japanese firms.
It exhibited the prototype model in the Data Show about a month ago,
but was not at this show.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891130)


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

NEC ENGAGES IN BOOK-SIZED COMPUTER BATTLE
TOKYO, JAPAN 1989 NOV 28 (NB) -- NEC, the leader in the
Japanese personal computer market, has released its book-sized
computer PC-9801N, nicknamed PC-98NOTE, to compete with the notebook
leader, Toshiba DynaBook.

The book-sized computer was pared down to 200 grams in the final
stage of design and weighs as same as the DynaBook now -- 2.7 kilograms.
The price, however, has been tagged about $345 higher than DynaBook
and is 248,000 yen or $1,710.

NEC has been falling behind Toshiba in this hot new market and
hurried to develop a book-sized computer compatible with its
flagship personal computer, PC-9801 series. To demonstrate the
speed with which this unit was created, NEC only had a non-working
prototype on display at last month's Data Show in Tokyo.

The firm, however, expects it won't be trailing Toshiba for long, as
its market is the gigantic installed base of PC-9801 series users.
The firm claims it has already received orders for over 35,000 units
of 98NOTE and plans to ship 20,000 units within this year while
Toshiba shipped over 30,000 units since the DynaBook's release
last June and expects to ship total 90,000 units by March 1990.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891130)


(NEWS)(IBM)(HKG)(00009)

HONGKONG: IBM PUSHES PERSONAL LASER PRINTERS
CENTRAL, HONGKONG, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- In the wake of Hewlett-
Packard's outstanding success with its LaserJet IIP, IBM today
announced a new personal printer, the IBM LaserPrinter 4019.

Although the announcements did not mention the comparative
product, IBM claims the 4019 produces documents 25 percent
faster, occupies 33 percent less space and contains 60 percent
fewer parts. One feature of this new printer that is unique is
the credit card sized font cartridges.

In addition IBM demonstrated its IBM 9270 Voice Response Unit
(VRU) recently. Apparently in sync with the HK Telephone
Company's for greater commercial use of the touch tone facility
on HK's digital network, IBM sees an immediate demand for the
VRU product.  This new tool automates telephone enquiry and
data entry by allowing callers to use their telephones as
computer terminals.

(Keith Cameron/19891201)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00010)

MEMORY MANAGEMENT FOR 386 DUE IN JANUARY
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- All Computers,
manufacturer of the popular All Charge Card, will release its
memory management software for computers based on the Intel 80386
processor in January. Shelly Sofer, director of technical
marketing, said that while 386 systems do not require All's
memory management hardware, the company's software can still be
useful on the systems.

The All EMM (Expanded Memory Manager) software allows PCs to do
such things as load files, buffers, device drivers and memory
resident programs into expanded memory and into unused blocks of
memory between the 640K and 1024K byte addresses. On computers
using the Intel 80286 processor, it works with the All Charge
Card, which makes memory above the 640K byte mark directly
accessible to MS-DOS.

Sofer also said the company will release during the first quarter
a new hardware product for computers based on the Intel 8088
processor. Like the original All Card, the new device will allow
these older computers to use memory above the 640K mark, he said,
but it will be considerably faster than the old card.

All Computers recently signed an agreement with IBM, which will
market its products in the United States. Sofer said IBM Canada
will shortly announce a similar deal with All.

(Grant Buckler/19891130/Press Contact: Shelly Sofer, All
Computers, 416-960-0111)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BRU)(00011)

IBM ANNOUNCES PS/2 WIZARD ADAPTER
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- IBM Belgium has begun
announced European shipment dates for the Wizard PS/2 adapter
which uses the Intel i860 chip to speed up mathematical
operations. The card has been on sale in the UK and US for
several months.

The Wizard (no relation to the Sharp organizer called the Wizard
which is known as the IQ-7000 in Europe) runs on an MCA (Micro
Channel Architecture) bus and features speeds of up to 64
million single precision floating point operations per second
(MFLOPS) and 27 million instructions per second (MIPS). This
allows computing-intensive tasks to be executed on the Wizard's
microprocessor instead of the 80386 or 80486 chips, thereby
dramatically increasing the PC's overall speed and processing
power.

"It should come as no surprise that the first i860 application is
on an IBM machine," said James Cannavino, IBM's vice-president
and general manager of Personal Systems.

The i860/Wizard adapter has been developed jointly by Intel and
IBM. It comes with 2MB of memory and can be expanded to 8MB with
additional piggy-back adapters.

The Wizard adapter will be available from the first quarter of
1990 and will cost less under $10,000.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BRU)(00012)

VICTOR UPGRADES PORTABLE SYSTEM
PARIS, FRANCE, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- Victor has upgraded its V86P
portable computer, which now weighs 3 kilograms and costs less than
FF10,000 ($1,650).

David Deane, president of Victor France said: "The new generation
of microprocessors, which we are creating, are designed for end-
users. The V86P is the only portable computer that costs less
than FF10,000 in the market today."

The V86P uses an 8086 microprocessor driving 640K of RAM and
features a single 3.5-inch floppy drive.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BRU)(00013)

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES LAN MANAGER VERSION 2.0
HOOFDORP, THE NETHERLANDS, 1989 DEC 02 13 (NB) -- Microsoft is
introducing LAN Manager version 2.0, an operating system that
lays down the foundation for client-server computing systems
running in LANs (local area networks).

LAN Manager 2.0 includes 80386/80486 microprocessor support, OS/2
high-performance file system (HPFS), multi-processor support,
facilities for multiple server support, tighter security and
reduced memory requirements.

LAN Manager 2.0 will begin shipping to OEMs (original equipment
manufacturing customers) in the first quarter
of 1990. It requires OS/2 and a minimum of 5MB of RAM for the
server. For the satellite stations, OS/2 version 1.1 or better,
or DOS 3.3 of better, is required.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00005)

AMERICAN CITINET OPENS OMAHA VIDEOTEXT SERVICE}
OMAHA, NEBRASKA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- In the telecommunications
business, all eyes are on the Midwestern city of Omaha. That's where
phone company U.S. West on November 20 turned on its "gateway"
for a regional videotext service designed to serve the needs of
the Omaha/Council Bluffs metropolitan area. The service is said to
have cost $8 to $10 million to start up, according to Omaha's
paper, the World Herald.

Run by Omaha Citinet, a branch of American Citinet in Boston,
Community Link, allows users to access some 218 national and
community information services for the price of a local call on
their computer or terminal. Online are such unconventional
information providers as the local church pastor, who will be
providing electronic information on the times and topics of services,
and the board of education where the lunch menu will be posted.

Also, the service will offer local, national, and international
news, provided through the Omaha World Herald newspaper, and
other information, including Newsbytes News Network computer
industry wire reports.

U.S. West Chairman Jack MacAllister and General Manager Linda
Laskowski held a news conference introducing the services.
Laskowski said three service bureaus -- Omaha CitiNet, Tel-e-tex
Inc., and Strinz Creative -- have been instrumental in recruiting
local services. The three are responsible for a majority of the
services from the community. Service bureaus help individuals,
organizations or non-profits set up services by sharing
facilities and resources, as well as packaging and promoting
their services. Other national and international service
providers, including Minitel Services Co., Pandora Systems, CTL
Communications, Mnematics, CUC International, and Computer Sports
World will offer a wide variety of services.

As part of its gateway tests, 4,000 Philips Minitel terminals are
being rented, and a store called the Community Link Center has
been opened in an Omaha mall. An additional 3,800 terminals will
be available in late January.

To make it easy for Omaha residents to get online at a low cost,
a store called Community Link Center, in the Omaha Mall, is renting
some 3,800 Philips Minitel 2 terminals for $7.95 per month, or
selling them outright for $270, starting in January. There are
already 4,000 Philips Minitel terminals in use in the Omaha area
since trial runs of the system began earlier this year.

Community Link represents an attempt by a major Regional Bell
Operating Company (RBOC) to wrest a few dollars from major U.S.
online services, such as Genie and Compuserve, for a share of the
videotext/online market. Seen as an area poised for
explosive growth in the '90s, the videotext market is clearly
attracting the attentions, if not this kind of full-scale
investment, by the majority of the RBOCs. This is why the
U.S. West project is being eyed with such interest.

Since they forbidden by law from running their own online services,
the RBOCs have opened "gateways" in which existing smaller
services, such as American Citinet, manage the flow of
information. U.S. West, in turn, charges its phone customers
for access to this videotext "gateway," thereby making its money
and passing along part of it to the service managing the information.
For the subscriber, the charges for the service appears on their
phone bill each month, along with their local and long distance
call charges.

(Wendy Woods & Dana Blankenhorn/19891103/Press Contact: American
Citinet, 617-439-5678; Ron Dulle, U S West Communications, 402-422-3587)


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

NORTHERN TELECOM SWITCH SUPPORT VIRTUAL PRIVATE DATA NETS}
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 28 (NB) -- Northern
Telecom announced software enhancements for its DPN-100 digital
data packet networking system, including support for "virtual"
private data networks.

This lets companies using the system create "sub-networks" for
departments, divisions, or geographic locations. The system also
includes support for Systems Network Architecture/Synchronous Data
Link Control Dial-out, X.25 Gateway Service, an E.164 Numbering
Plan, and enhancements to off-network user identification.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: Northern Telecom, Jeff
Benson, 615-734-4335)


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

GE EXPANDS 2400 BAUD ACCESS}
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- General
Electric is expanding its 2400 baud access while it continues to
test 9600 baud access under the V.32 standard.

By the end of the year, General Electric Information Services, or
GEIS, will have 393 2400 baud access points, which it says is over
100 points more than any of its rivals, including BT Tymnet, Sprint
Services' Telenet, or Infonet. GEIS also said it will expand its
2400 baud coverage overseas early next year.

What this means is that more PC users and more merchants can
get into the GEIS network with a local phone call, using the same
number at 300, 1200, and 2400 baud. Simpler log-on scripts are
also promised for PC users. As part of its move, GEIS has
eliminated a $1 per hour surcharge on 2400 baud service, making
the price identical to that for 300 and 1200 baud service.

Hayes' recent move to endorse V.32 in its Ultra 9600 product will
also lead to an acceleration of GEIS plans to offer the higher
speed in 1990, the company said. GEIS is currently field-testing
9600 baud V.32 dial-up modems.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: Steve Haracznak, GE
Information Services, 301-340-4494)


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

U.S. VIDEOTEL TO MARKET MULTI-PROTOCOL COMM PACKAGE}
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 28 (NB) -- U.S. Videotel,
operator of Southwestern Bell's Sourceline gateway project in
Houston, plans to sell its software to the public starting early
next year.

The software, which can handle both the NAPLPS and
Minitel Teletel standards as well as the ASCII standard used on
GEnie, will cost $9.95-34.95. In addition, the company said it
has signed to become system operator for Bell Canada's Alex
services in Montreal and Toronto.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201)


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

SOUTHWESTERN BELL BEGINS OPTICAL FIBER TRIAL IN FT. WORTH}
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- Southwestern
Bell Telephone is beginning testing a system which could lead to
your local phone company getting into the cable TV business.

Along with Sammons Communications of Dallas, a cable TV operator,
the company is sending cable TV signals along fiber optic lines
to 80 subscriber homes along with their phone service. The phone
service is being enhanced, too, with up to 4 lines available over
2 optical fibers going to each home. The trial was announced in
March and will last 12 months.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: Scott Hilgeman,
Southwestern Bell Telephone, 314-247-4613)


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

US SPRINT HIRES AT&T EXEC TO RUN ITS NETWORK}
HERNDON, VIRGNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- US Sprint
has hired away Gary Forsee, formerly vice president of federal
systems with AT&T, as vice president and general manager of its
network systems division, effective December 4.

He'll be doing what he did at AT&T, namely directing corporate
efforts to sell to the government. AT&T and US Sprint jointly
won the giant FTS-2000 contract to monitor U.S. government
telecommunications systems last year.

US Sprint also hired away Allen Shay from Digital Equipment as
its vice president of sales, and salesman Bob Hunt from
Honeywell.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: US Sprint, Janis
Langley, 703-264-4030)


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

LONG DISTANCE RATE CUTS CONTINUE}
CINCINNATI, OHIO, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Cincinnati
Bell cut its out-of-state long distance rates 3.58%, its 7th rate
decrease since 1987. President Barry Nelson said the company has
cut its rates 40% since 1984. Cincinnati Bell cut its in-state
long distance rates last month.

At about the same time, AT&T cut its intra-state long distance
rates within Nevada about 9.3%. Both moves are part of a
continuing trend by long distance carriers to lower rates as
costs decline.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: Wolf Blumberg Krody,
Cincinnati Bell, 513-751-0258; Susan Gonczlik, AT&T, 916-448-
8893)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00009)

BELL ATLANTIC BUYS FIBER EQUIPMENT FROM FUJITSU}
RICHARDSON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Fujitsu
America said Bell Atlantic had agreed to buy its optical
transmission equipment under Synchronous Optical Network, or
SONET, standards. The equipment will be used by the Bell Atlantic
telephone companies: New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, Bell of
Pennsylvania, Diamond State Telephone Company and the C&P
Telephone Companies.

Specifically, Bell Atlantic is buying Fujitsu's Fiber Loop
Multiplexer, called the FLM 50/150.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: Fujitsu America,
Laura M. Pennino, 214-520-3555)


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

TELECOM USA REPORTS EARNINGS FALL}
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- Falling long-
distance rates, and public awareness of them, is starting to
take a toll on the alternative operator services companies which
sprang up early this decade.

The largest company, Telecom USA, announced that its earnings will
fall below $1.30 per share for the year due to the increased
use of volume discounts by customers. Telecomm USA
said it does not believe that the lower revenue expectation is
attributable to competitive pressures, but stock traders hammered
the company's stock anyway.

Telecomm USA, which was created by the merger of 4 smaller long-
distance operations last year, also blamed Hurricane Hugo, the
delay of its own calling card product, and delays in transferring
former Western Union customers to its network, for the earnings
difficulties.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: Larry Williams, Telecom
USA, 404-250-5700)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00011)

AT&T EASES DATA TRANSFER BETWEEN PBXs, COMPUTERS}
BRIDGEWATER, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- AT&T
has published specifications for an open applications interface
which will allow the exchange of information between PBXs and
computers. The interface, called AT&T's Adjunct/Switch
Application Interface, will ensure compatibility between AT&T's
Definity PBX system and a variety of computers.

The specification is based on the Consultative Committee for
International Telegraphy and Telephony, or CCITT, standards for
Integrated Systems Digital Networks, or ISDN, and International
Standard Organization, or ISO, standards for data communications.
It was developed by AT&T and a working group of 168 other
technology companies which are heavy users of phone systems.

The specification will be updated periodically to ensure
alignment with standards as they evolve.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: Sue Fleming, AT&T, 201-
658-2604)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00012)

WALKER TELECOMM ACQUIRES JUST THE FAX, UNICELL ATLANTIC}
MELVILLE, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- Walker
Telecommunications announced it has acquired the assets of Just
The Fax, and Unicell Atlantic for a combination of cash and
stock.

Just The Fax operates a network of public facsimile
stations around New York, which presently has 20 sites. The
company plans to expand to 300 locations by next year in
New York and other Northeast markets, specifically at hotels,
airports, convention centers, courthouses and libraries.

Unicell Atlantic is a cellular reseller operating through Bell
Atlantic in the Baltimore-Washington area. Walker plans a heavy
marketing campaign for Unicell and expansion into other markets
served by Bell Atlantic.

Walker Telecommunications is a supplier of electronic key
telephone systems for small and medium-sized businesses, and it
has formed a facsimile switching division to market, nationwide,
a sophisticated FaxXchange manufactured by the 3M Company.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: Irwin Eyerman, Walker
Telecommunications, 516-753-1001)


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

US WEST CUTTING 6,000 JOBS THROUGH EARLY RETIREMENT
DENVER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- U S West is
cutting 6,000 jobs by offering early retirement to some of its
managers.

In order to receive an immediate pension under the
plan, managers must be 45 years old with at least 20 years of
service. About 6,000 managers fit that category. The incentive
plan will accelerate service pension eligibility and increase
pension amounts for qualified participants.

As part of the incentive to retire, managers with at least 5
years of service will have 5 years added to their age and 5 years
added to their length of service for pension calculation
purposes. For managers who are service pension eligible, a lump-
sum payment based on the current value of their pensions is
optional. The plan also includes outplacement assistance for
retiring executives who want to keep working.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: Ron Dulle, U S West
Communications, 402-422-3587)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00005)

SMALL-SCALE PUBLIC ISDN LAUNCHED BETWEEN U.S. AND JAPAN}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- Japan's telecom giant NTT
and Chicago-based Illinois Bell, one of the Bell operating companies
in the U.S., have successfully connected their ISDN (integrated
services digital network) via the international ISDNs of KDD and
AT&T. This is the first public ISDN between the U.S. and Japan.

With this connection, 64-kilobits of digital data can be transmitted
each second on two lines, achieving a speed of 128-Kb/s. With this
ISDN service, a G4 facsimile process can transmit ten A4-file
size pages in about 30 seconds.

The first user of the new ISDN service in the U.S. is Chicago-based
Andersen Consulting, which has started utilizing facsimile and
video conference on the ISDN service.

Though NTT and KDD connect their ISDNs in Japan, AT&T and the Bell
operating companies previously did not connect with each other in
the U.S. AT&T only accepted at least 23 lines of 64-Kb/s digital
cables from users, therefore, smaller configuration ISDN set-ups
were rare.

(Ken Takahashi/19891130)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00015)

TOSHIBA ADMITS AT&T STANDARD FOR PBX BUSINESS}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 24 (NB) -- Toshiba has adopted AT&T's
standard for its PBX (private branch exchange) computer interface
in order to develop and ship the products within this year.

The Japanese PBX market has been dominated by the old-NTT
standard, formed under NTT Public Corporation by NEC, Fujitsu, Oki
Electric Industrial and Hitachi. But with this technology, Toshiba
captured only four percent of the PBX market share so far.

Toshiba, however, expects to expand and strengthen its PBX business
with the prevalent AT&T standard.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891130)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00004)

CANADA PLANS NATIONAL COMPUTER NET FOR RESEARCH}
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- A computer network
stretching across Canada is to link existing and future regional
research networks. The National Research Council has chosen a
proposal by the University of Toronto in association with IBM
Canada and Integrated Network Services Inc. (INSINC) to set up
the National Research Network (NRNet).

NRNet will be linked to its counterpart in the United States, the
National Science Foundation's NSFNet, and will also use the same
router and network management software which IBM provided to
NSFNet. That software will be part of IBM Canada's C$230,000
contribution to NRNet.

The University of Toronto is to provide some C$300,000 worth of
staff time, and INSINC will provide discounts on communication
lines. The National Research Council is contributing C$2 million
in startup funding. Regional networks in the provinces of
Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Nova Scotia will also
contribute, according to the National Research Council.

NRNet is expected to be operational by the end of 1990. It will
connect universities with government and industrial laboratories.

(Grant Buckler/19891128/Press Contact: Janice Nurski, National
Research Council of Canada, 613-993-4806)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00005)

SUZY LAUNCH MAY WAIT UNTIL NEW YEAR}
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- Suzy,
the new Canadian online service from Stratford Software, may not
be launched until early in 1990.

The launch had been planned for early December, but Terry
McDonald, manager of corporate development, said this week the
company wants to make some "cosmetic" changes before formally
introducing the system. If Suzy cannot be introduced in time for
the Christmas season -- which means by about Dec. 10 -- McDonald
said the company will probably take a few weeks for final touches
and launch it in January.

Suzy is an online information service akin to Genie, Compuserve
and others. It will offer a variety of information services, such
as stock market data, Official Airline Guide airline and hotel
information, national real estate listings and possibly news
services, in addition to electronic mail and conferencing
facilities. Public-domain software will also be available for
downloading. Initially Stratford Software will provide about 60
percent of the services, with other information providers
supplying the rest, McDonald said.

Suzy will also include software for the customer's PC, designed
to work with the host system, McDonald said. The software will
sell for C$29.95 in Canada, including some free connect time. For
most services, connecting to Suzy will cost C$12 per hour, though
McDonald said there will be surcharges on some services. Access
will be through the national packet-switched network, Datapac.

Suzy will be available only in Canada at first, McDonald said,
though the company has definite ambitions to expand to the United
States within a couple of years.

Stratford Software was formerly Bedford Software, which developed
the Bedford line of accounting packages. The company sold that
software and the Bedford name to Computer Associates earlier this
year in order to focus on developing Suzy.

(Grant Buckler/19891130/Press Contact: Terry McDonald, Stratford
Software, 604-439-1311)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00006)

MITEL EXTENDS INTERFACE, LINKS TO DEC}
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 NOV 28 (NB) -- Mitel has extended
is Host Command Interface (HCI) program to its SX-2000 family of
private branch exchanges and announced interaction between HCI
and Digital Equipment's Computer Integrated Telephony (CIT)
program.

HCI lets a Mitel PBX exchange information with a computer, so
that software developers can write applications that integrate
voice and data processing. Digital's CIT is a similar effort on
the computer side, which already has links to telecommunications
equipment from Northern Telecom and Siemens. The two companies
announced that Version 2 of DIgital's CIT will work with Mitel
SX-2000 ICS product.

Through the computer-to-PBX link, computer applications can
answer, transfer and process incoming calls, make and break
connections and record call and status information. The SX-2000
is designed for customers with about 1,500 telephone lines.

Alberta Government Telephones, a provincially owned Canadian
telephone carrier, plans the first commercial application of the
system. It will be used in automating the Automatic Credit/Charge
Quotation System that provides hotels and motels with billing
data on long-distance calls made by guests.

(Grant Buckler/19891130/Press Contacts: Tom Travers, Mitel, 613-
592-2122; Dave Paolini, Digital Canada, 416-597-3529)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00001)

FRONTIER READIES ULTRA-LOW PRICE V42BIS MODEM}
HARROGATE, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- Frontier Software, the
primary UK distributor for Supra products in the UK, is readying
for a January shipment of the Supra 2400 Plus, a quad-standard
modem equipped with MNP Class 5 and V.42Bis error correction and
data compression.

If the modem's specifications are many, then the price is
notable. At UKP 230 ($400) including VAT, cables etc., the
modem undercuts every other unit on the market with its
specification. How is this possible?

"Supra has a name for quality low-price products. They have been
very quick off the mark on the V.42Bis front, and we believe that
this modem offers the best value currently available," Andrew
Bennett, managing director of Frontier Software, told Newsbytes.

The Supra 2400 Plus comes in the same tiny case as the original
Supra 2400 modem which has been on sale for the past two years.
The modem is capable of 300/300, 1200/75, 1200/1200 and 2400/2400
bits per second (bps) working to European (CCITT) and US (Bell)
standards where appropriate. In addition, it is fully MNP Class 5
and V.42Bis-compliant.

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press & Public Contact: Martin Walsh,
marketing manager, Frontier Software - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00003)

MICRONET FREEBIES TO LURE SINCLAIR SPECTRUM SUBSCRIBERS}
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- Micronet, the
microcomputing service run on the Prestel online system in the
UK, is giving away special modem units to Sinclair Spectrum
computer users joining the service before 31 March next year.

Unlike previous free modem offers, which required a whole year's
commitment, Micronet is giving away the modem units - the Prism
VT5000 - with one quarter's subscription, which currently costs UKP
23 ($40). According to Sanjay Bowry, Micronet's product manager,
this is amazing value for money.

"Micronet is a lot of fun, and there are far too many Spectrum
owners missing out. This is an ideal opportunity for them to
join Micronet and the exciting world of communications," she
said.

Newsbytes notes that the Prime VTX5000 was the first modem that
the UK bureau ever purchased back in 1983, when Micronet was
first launched. The unit features a 1200/75 bps modem and chip-
based communications software. The VTX5000 does not require any
additional power.

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press Contact: Jenny Bailey Associates -
Tel: [phone], Email - Dialcom 80:BTG950; Public Contact:
Dialcom Direct - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00004)

F&S STARTS ISDN EUROPE REPORT NEWSLETTER}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- Frost & Sullivan, the
international market report company, has started a monthly
telecommunications newsletter focusing on the ISDN (integrated
services digital network) market.

Subscriptions to the newsletter - ISDN Europe Report - will cost
UKP 225 ($350) after 1 April, 1990. Until that date, subscribers
can enjoy a charter subscription rate of UKP 175 for twelve
issues, according to Henry Berler, senior vice president of
research at Frost & Sullivan.

ISDN Europe Report's editor in chief is Robert Dedman, a project
director for Frost & Sullivan's data communications market
research division. Dedman has been involved in networks and
information systems for fifteen years.

Topics promised for future issues include: news and
analysis of ISDN standards and government regulations; user
applications; and new markets and growth opportunities.

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press & Public Contact: Henry Berler, senior
vice president, Frost & Sullivan's research division - Tel: 01-
730-3438)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00005)

AMERICAN AIRLINES INTROS GTE RADIOPHONE SERVICE}
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- After several months of
testing, American Airlines is installing the GTE Radiophone
system in most of its short and long-haul aircraft. In addition,
following research into customer's needs, the airline has revised
its pricing structure for the phones.

The radiophone system, which operates anywhere within 30 minutes
flying time of the continental United States, costs $2 call set-
up, plus $2 per minute for US call destinations. Non-US numbers
cost $4 for call set-up and $4 per minute. Previously, users were
charged a fixed rate fee of $8 ($16 for non-US calls) for the
first three minutes, despite the calls being direct-dialled.

Newsbytes has tested the radiophone system with an 1200bps
acoustic modem and portable PC (much to the surprise of fellow
passengers) and can report the digital quality calls are glitch-
free.

According to a spokesman for American Airlines' London office,
the phones are extremely popular with business users. The digital
quality is due to calls being digitally-switched for optimum
usage of the radio frequencies available. Unlike radiophone
systems operated by other airlines, the GTE Radiophone uses
conventional terrestial transmissions, rather than satellite
systems, hence the geographical limits on range.

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press & Public Contact: American Airlines -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00006)

DOWTY SELLS 100,000TH QUATTRO MODEM}
NEWBURY, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- Dowty Information Systems
has announced that more than 100,000 Quattro modems have been
sold since the MNP Class 2, 2400 bps modem was first unveiled
back in 1985.

According to Dataquest, the market research company, there are
227,000 V22Bis modems installed in the UK. This means that one in
three modems installed in the UK is a Dowty Quattro unit.

Barry Gilder, Dowty's marketing director, is impressed with the
sales penetration of the Quattro modem: "Customers are continuing
to choose the reliability and quality of the Quattro over the
multitude of other products on the market today," he said.

The Quattro modem is a quad-standard unit (300/300, 1200/75,
1200/1200 and 2400/2400bps) with MNP Class 2 error-correction
that retails for UKP 795 ($1,250) in the UK.

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press Contact: Rebecca Carter, Dowty
Information Systems - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00007)

BIX FREEBIES FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS}
PETERBOROUGH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- BIX, the
Byte Information eXchange, is offering existing subscribers a
month's free usage (worth $13) for each new subscriber who signs
up quoting the subscriber as referring agent.

New subscribers are being tempted by a $9-05 discount on the
normal $39 flat-rate quarterly subscriptions that Bix normally
charged. The $29-95 discount rate applies for the subscriber's
first year of subscription.

As if this weren't enough, Bix is now selling fire engine red
braces (suspenders) with the BIX logo emblazoned on each side.
The braces cost $9-95 plus $2 post/packing and, according to
BIX's November 1989 newsletter, "BIX suspender wearers enjoy
a 90 percent decrease in fashion-related sniggering from coworkers,
and a corresponding increase in social standing from these same
co-workers."

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press & Public Contact: BIX Suspenders
Officer, Byte Information eXchange, One Phoenix Mill Lane,
Peterborough, NH 03458)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00008)

CIX RELEASES THE COMPUTER USER'S ICE SCRAPER}
SURBITON, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- CIX, the Compulink
Information eXchange, has released what it claims is the ideal
computer user's Christmas present, the CIX ice scraper.

Fashioned in plastic, with a metal handgrip, the ice scrapers are
3.5 inches long and cost UKP 1-50 ($2.30) each, plus
post/packing. Available in packs of ten or twenty-five, they have
the added advantage of storing up to 720K of data using a PC
floppy disk drive!

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press & Public Contact: Tony Wright,
marketing manager, CIX - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00011)

EUROPEAN BANK FOOTS ECU 7 MILLION BILL TO UPGRADE LUXEMBURG TELECOM}
LUXEMBURG, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- The European Investment Bank (EIB)
is lending ECU 7 million to Benin toward the development of
telecommunications.

The project is also funded by the World Bank, the Caisse Centrale
de Cooperation Economique (Paris) and the African Development
Bank, comprises the rehabilitation of the telephone system in
Cotonou (the Capital), the addition of 9500 lines, four digital
exchanges to replace and expand switching equipment and the
modernisation of radio links to Togo and Nigeria.

This is the second EIB operation in Benin under the Rome
Convention, following the ECU 6.5 million loan made in 1987.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00004)

AUTODESK BRINGING CHAOS TO SOFTWARE}
SAUSALITO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- The Autodesk people,
known for cutting-edge technology, are again breaking new ground
by an announcement that they will bring James Gleick's chaos
theories to life in a new series of software programs.

James Gleick's Chaos: the software, will be due out in the second
quarter of 1990, according to Autodesk co-founder John Walker. Based
on the former New York Times science writer's best-seller, "Chaos --
Making a New Science," the product will "offer a way of seeing
order and pattern where formerly only the random, the erratic,
the unpredictable -- in short, the chaotic -- had been observed."

Says Gleick, "The ideas and discoveries of chaos cry out for a
kind of illustration that can't be put into a conventional book."

Chaos theories are now being applied to such diverse phenomenon as
quasars to heart rhythm irregularities.

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: Andrew Zerillo, 415-331-0356)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00007)

THE VOICE TRANSLATION MACHINE CLEARS FCC}
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- The Voice, a
translation machine which will speak back in another language
sentences spoken to it in English, has been approved by the FCC and is
being launched onto the consumer market.

This $2,000 machine, with software cartridges an additional $300
to $400, is currently capable of translating over 35,000
sentences into Spanish or French, according to Jack Russell, company
president, who plans to add other languages to the Voice's vocabulary
eventually.

The 3-pound unit will be seen in 30-minute television "infomercials"
as they're called, in 22 markets throughout the U.S. and APT is
in discussions with distributors nationwide to sell the unit.

The Voice is being hailed as a breakthrough and received much press
earlier this fall because many see it as the earliest manifestation
of "conversational computing," characterized by Hal 9000 in the
movie "2001" or more recently by the Knowledge Navigator in
Apple's visionary videotape.

Based on proprietary technology with multiple processors, The Voice
is said to run four times faster than a PC. It has a standard four
megabytes of memory, supertwist LCD that displays words as spoken,
a three hour battery life with a six hour recharger, multiple
microphones and speakers, and it measures 8 1/4 by 7 inches in
length and 2.75 inches deep.

Russell says this unit was in development for six years, and has
been made so easy to use that someone without any computer literacy
can run it.

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: Jack Russell, 206-883-8297)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00010)

ROLODEX ON A PC}
SECAUCUS, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- The last bastion of
paper on most executives and clerks' desks will finally been replaced
when Rolodex goes electronic early next year.

Rolodex Corporation has fashioned its Rolodex card file system for names
and addresses into a software product called Electrodex. It stores
up to 64KB of important personal or business information and so
as to preserve its charm, the $249 program will feature a "patent
pending spinning dial, much like the Rolodex rotary file," which
allows users to search for a name by scrolling in alphabetical
order, according to the company. But unlike the paper card version,
this one allows you to enter a keyword and the software will find
it for you, without having to flip through dozens of cards.

The Electrodex will also offer three electronic list features to
organize calls, correspondence, and notes. But wait, there╒s more!
The Electrodex also features a multi-year calendar and calculator
with currency converter as well as three electronic lists to help
organize your life.

Rolodex, finally, will offer the $199 Pocket Electrodex, a light,
fold-over 64KB pocket computer that stores -- you guessed it --
names and addresses. It offers a six line, 24-character screen.

By next year when the above hits the market, Rolodex also
plans, in cooperation with Tele-Art Instruments, the partner in
this computer version of the old classic, to have technology which
permits the Pocket unit to exchange data with the Electrodex on
a PC or Macintosh via infrared signals.

Look for it at an office supply store near you.

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: Rolodex, 201-348-0239)


(EXCLUSIVE)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00001)

NBC TO BROADCAST ITS PRESS RELEASES, OTHERS TO FOLLOW}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- As of January
1, the NBC network will no longer mail press releases to the
media. Instead, it is working with the Associated Press to send
them directly into newsroom computers.

Under the plan, AP members who get its Features services will
have NBC press releases piped in directly with those wires. Other
recipients, like magazines, which are not AP members, can either
get tiny satellite dish antennas which will send the data
directly into their PCs, or acquire printers which will deliver
the releases like old-fashioned newswires.

The daily news briefings, which usually run to about 18-24 pages
on subjects such as Robert Mitchum's new sit-com, will be sent via
modem from NBC's headquarters in Rockefeller Center to AP's
offices in the same complex, then via microwave to a satellite
uplink in Staten Island. The news will reach newsrooms each
afternoon at the same time in all locations. And unlike fax
transmissions, these do not have to be rekeyed but can be edited
with any word processor and dropped into the newspaper untouched
by human hands.

Other networks are watching NBC's move closely, and at least one
has reportedly made a similar deal with another vendor. One of
those studying the plans most closely is Turner Broadcasting
System, a satellite-fed network which still mails a press packet
to the media every week.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201/Press Contact: NBC, Curt Block, 212-
664-5754)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00006)

SOLAR MAX TO CRASH}
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- The Solar Maximum
Mission, or Solar Max satellite, which spent 10 years orbiting
the Earth and studying the Sun, was expected to enter the
atmosphere, break up, and crash to Earth somewhere between 28
degrees latitude north and 28 degrees latitude south, late Friday
night or early Saturday morning. The 5,000 satellite could spread
debris anywhere on its track, but NASA said the danger of being
hit by any is minimal.

Instead of using the Space Shuttle to save Solar Max for a
second time, following a 1984 repair, NASA decided to use the
shuttle to save other, more important scientific satellites.
Solar Max was launched by a Delta Rocket on St. Valentine's Day
in 1980. The $80 million satellite is credited with a number of
important discoveries, including gamma rays from Supernova 1987A
a star that exploded in a galaxy neighboring Earth's Milky Way.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891201)


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

JAPAN: FUJITSU PROMISES FIRST 32-BIT COLOR LCD LAPTOP}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 30 (NB) -- Fujitsu has unveiled the
world's first 32-bit color LCD (liquid crystal display) laptop
computer and promises to ship it by February of next year.

This is not, however, the first laptop with a color LCD.
That honor goes to NEC, which recently shipped a 16-bit color laptop,
the PC-9801 LX5C, which has a backlit color LCD screen capable
of displaying 8 colors.

Fujitsu's  FMR-50LX adopts an Intel 80386 processor running at 20
megahertz and has a standard two-megabyte main memory
expandable to 10 megabytes. The screen is capable of displaying 16
colors, the same as current desktop machines.

The price for the LX2 with two 3.5-inch floppy drives is 748,000
yen ($5,200) and LX6 with a 40-megabyte hard drive is 908,000 yen
($6,300). Fujitsu aims to sell 100,000 units in the coming two
years.

(Ken Takahashi/19891130)


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

FUJITSU'S 16-KILOBIT PROM READY FOR BLAST-OFF}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 28 (NB) -- Fujitsu has successfully
developed a 16-kilobit programmable read only memory (PROM)
using bipolar elements ordered from the National Space Development
Agency (NASDA), a Japanese governmental body under the jurisdiction
of the Science and Technology Agency. The space agency has registered
the PROM, NASDA38510/91701XZ, as a general-purpose part.

Fujitsu says the new part is resistant to radioactivity and can
be used reliably in space. The PROM chips are designed to be installed
into computers which will control the position of an engineering
trial satellite ETS-VI, scheduled to launch in 1992.

Fujitsu claims it is the first to develop a 16-kilobit
PROM for use in space. The largest PROM previously made for space
travel had 8 kilobits of data storage. The amount was difficult to
increase because of radiation damage which affected the speed and
reliability of larger capacity PROMs.

(Ken Takahashi/19891130)


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

JAPAN: FUJITSU BUYS ASIC FROM TEXAS INSTRUMENTS}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV (NB) -- Fujitsu will purchase ASICs
(application-specific integrated circuits) from Texas Instruments
Japan, in order to expand its purchase quota for foreign
semiconductor chips.

Fujitsu has been producing for internal use and outside sales
ASIC chips of its own, but this deal calls for TI gate arrays to be
used internally at Fujitsu facilities, as well.

The technical know-how for designing and developing gate arrays
differs among chipmakers. So Fujitsu and TI Japan have codeveloped
special software to convert Fujitsu's technology into Texas
Instruments Japan's in the gate array arena. Fujitsu indicates the TI
production is as dependable as its own.

Fujitsu's foreign chip purchases comprised 15 percent of its total chip
purchases in the last fiscal year.  Fujitsu is expected to
increase the purchase ratio to about 18 percent by buying general-
purpose integrated circuits as well as ASICs in this fiscal year.
The firm expects 20 percent of its chip purchases will be from foreign
manufacturers in fiscal 1991.

(Ken Takahashi/19891130)


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

NEC STARTS 16-MEG CHIP PRODUCTION}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- NEC has completed construction
and is starting to operate the world's first 16-megabit DRAM
(dynamic random access memory) production line on an experimental basis
in its Sagamihara factory.

The new line is capable of making 0.6 micron-line-width electronic
circuits on the IC (integrated circuit) chip. NEC will continue to
refine its procedures and techniques at the plant in order to
improve the performance and quality, as well as develop volume
production technology for 16 Mb chips.

While other major chipmakers have also developed 16Mb DRAMs,
their sample shipments won't start until 1992 due to trouble
with quality and cost. But since NEC has started actual operation
of its experimental production line, it is now expected to
ship samples in 1991.

Hitachi is also scheduled to start operation of its trial
production line capable of making 0.5 micron-line circuits.

A 16Mb DRAM chip is capable of storing data equivalent of
16 pages of a Japanese newspaper.

(Ken Takahashi/19891130)


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

HITACHI RAMPS UP FOR 400,000 4Mb DRAM PER MONTH}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 23 (NB) -- Hitachi has decided to produce
four-megabit DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips in its
currently operating factories in Japan.

Hitachi started volume production of 4Mb DRAM chips with monthly
output of 200,000 units in its Kohfu and Naka factories in
September this year, and will increase monthly output to
400,000 units by year's end. Moreover, it will shift
monthly output to one million units by June next year and
by starting production in existing Takasaki and Chitose
factories.

Other chipmakers have built large-scale factories to start volume
production, but Hitachi has retrofit existing factories to create
the chips, a move which lowered costs, which can be passed along
to buyers.

4Mb DRAM, currently costing 12,000 to 15,000 yen ($83 to 103) are
still too expensive for widespread use. This could change if Hitachi,
as expected, prices its 4Mb chips at 8,000 to 9,000 yen ($55 to 62)
before 1990.

(Ken Takahashi/19891130)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00014)

SHARP CREATES NEW FAST, WHITE-MODE COLOR LCDS}
OSAKA, JAPAN 1989 NOV 25 (NB) -- One of the leading LCD (liquid
crystal display) developers, Sharp, has developed two types of white-mode
STN (super twisted nematic) LCDs with 16 shades of gray, one with
a response speed at 70 milliseconds.

The white color on an LCD is achieved by bleaching the yellow or green-
colored facets of an original liquid crystal with coats from a STN
LCD and an optical compensation board -- this is why the white-mode
LCD is called double STN or DSTN.

Sharp expects to ship the 16 gradation white-mode color LCD with the
heavy glass layer as the screen's surface within this year and expects
the one with thin films, which is a lighter surface covering,
in early next year. Also the firm plans to ship the DSTN LCD with
the 70 millisecond speed by the middle of next year.

Technically, a TFT (thin film transistor) active matrix LCD has been
recognized as the most suitable for applications requiring a fast
response, such as mouse operation, but Sharp's new and fast response
STN LCD is said to be just as fast.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891130)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00016)

SIGMA PROJECT TO GO COMMERCIAL NEXT APRIL}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- The five-year Sigma project is
to finish up in March, 1990, and a private company will take the
fruit of its labors, automated software development across multiple
platforms, public.

Advocated by MITI or Ministry of International Trade and Industry
and propelled by IPA or Information-technology Promotion Agency with
25 billion yen or $172.5 million of investment, the Sigma Project has
received the cooperation of 193 hardware and software firms.

At this point, the IPA plans to establish a one to two billion-yen
($6.9 to $13.8 million) private corporation slated to start operation
in April. The new firm will evangelize Sigma Tools and promote
the standardization of Unix operating system.

The first conference of Sigma System Promotion Committee is scheduled
for December 8 to discuss the details of the new company. The Promotion
Committee is organized by 10 hardware firms and 40 software houses.

The project, aimed at the creation of automated software
development, now must determine the best method of enlisting
widespread industry support.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891130)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(HKG)(00010)

OSLONE: NEW INT'L GROUP URGES COMPATIBILITY ACROSS PLATFORMS}
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 NOV 23 (NB) -- Today, OSIone, the
global organisation established to co-ordinate the world-wide
introduction of Open Systems Interconnect (OSI), completed its
3rd plenary session. Throughout the three-day program each OSI
member group reported on progress within their region since the
last forum. Enthusiasm reigned supreme and left little doubt
that the nineties will be the decade of open systems revolution
and that the OSIone initiative will contribute greatly to the
change.

Every major computer manufacturer, network hardware and
software vendor and most substantial software developers in the
world have OSI products ready to attach or load today. And all
are involved with the existing OSI groups. All that has been
lacking is the international co-ordination of OSI and that is
what OSIone is all about.

The official launch of OSIone will be at the massive CeBIT
exhibition in Hanover, Germany, in March next year. More than
40 vendors will participate in an international OSI network
demonstration which is being managed by EurOSInet. It will
include a variety of application-oriented demonstrations
covering EDI, mail and messaging, and file transfers.

OSI organisations have been established for some time in
Australia (OSIcom), Greater Europe (EurOSInet), Japan
(INTAPnet), Singapore (OSnet) and USA (OSInet). A new OSI
organisation is being formed in Hongkong and the Hongkong
Information Technology Federation (HKITF) sent a delegate to
formally become a member of OSIone.

Other participants at the Belgium conference included two
members of the Commission of European Communities (CEC), the
Vice President Engineering of the Corporation for Open Systems
(COS), two members of the Standards Promotion Group of Europe
(SPAG).

Representatives from Eastern Europe and Brazil sent apologies
but have indicated their willingness to participate in the next
meeting and from then onward. It is anticipated that membership
will grow to include other countries in the Asian region,
particularly Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and
Thailand.

It is critical to distinguish between OSI and open systems
architecture. OSI refers to the ability for differing systems
from many vendors to be able to communicate with one another
transparently to the user. In essence it should not require any
significant upgrade or change in current hardware or any
serious modification of software presently installed. This is
what OSIone addresses.

Open systems architecture refers to the machine and operating
system type which will result in the transportability of
applications software across differing vendors' machines. To
some this means Unix, but to the members of the Open Systems
Foundation it means common user and programmer interfaces on
top of proprietary operating systems.

While open systems architecture is fine in theory, it is
unlikely that it will have the dramatic impact that OSI will
have on the information processing needs of any organisation.

The name, Open Systems Interconnect (OSI), may seem of little
importance to the average executive, but, in fact, it is of
vital significance to everyone. It is going to change the way
that business people communicate and transact business, and it
will change the traditional approach of the computer system
vendors. In its simplest terms, OSI is a set of global
communications standards which enables present day computer
systems, from personal computers to mainframes, to connect to
each other and exchange information without changing the user
functions of the of the installed systems.

A hypothetical scenario, which could be implemented today,
could be as follows:

A given company has a regional office in Hongkong where it uses
a mid-range Digital Equipment configuration running DECs All-
In-One electronic mail system and office automation suite, and
the company's headquarters in the USA has a large IBM mainframe
system running PROFFS, which is one of the IBM equivalents of
All-In-One. Nothing changes for the end-user with OSI except,
and it is a significant exception, that by entering the ID of
the intended addressee in either direction, he or she can
communicate using the screens and procedures to which he or she
is accustomed.

Now take that concept and extrapolate it to the European
headquarters, the sales office in Australia and various small
offices in the Asian region which may be using PCs, mini-
computers, mainframes or intelligent work-stations. All can
talk to one another or exchange information using familiar
processes.

By now you should be asking yourself, if this can be achieved
so easily internally in a company, between differing makes and
types of hardware and software, then why can it not be used
with my suppliers' and customers' machines? The answer is, OSI
is used exactly that way. That is precisely why OSI will bring
about a revolution in the method that companies and all manner
of organisations communicate throughout the world. OSI is
destined to become the information equivalent of the current
voice telephone services.

Given a valid level of authority, with OSI file transfer
standards any user will be able access any type of system in
the world and extract information as the need arises. It isn't
difficult to see that the chief executive's PC on his desk
could conceivably be programmed to automatically access
corporate databases located anywhere on any equipment type and
then consolidate the information into the format the executive
required. Without contacting the sales executives, the chief
executive could know the precise sales position at any point in
time. He or she could also have those sales figures matched to
inventories and to production work-in-progress figures.

Food manufacturers could establish how much of a particular
product was moving at a particular time of day in an
independent supermarket chain and adjust their production and
delivery schedules accordingly.

It is important to re-iterate the phrase: "present day computer
systems".  OSI is not a futuristic concept, it is real today.
It is based upon the CCITT X.400, X.500 and File Transfer
Access Method (FTAM) international standards which can be
supported by all major telecoms authorities in the world.

One of the most important functions of OSIone is the
harmonisation of the testing platforms around the world.
OSIone has established common functional rules within the
framework of international standards for the satisfactory
implementation of OSI on all systems. The comprehensive testing
program co-ordinates all the known requirements from all
interested organisations around the world with the ultimate
objective of endorsement of connectivity capability.

The testing procedures have two broad platforms: Conformance
testing; and, inter-operability testing. The former applies to
any system or software conforming to the common standards which
have been laid down and the latter applies to the ability to
actually connect and communicate at all levels with any
similarly configured system.

Another important function of OSIone is to capture and document
the experiences of each member group to enable other countries
to implement OSI with less difficulty.

It is fair to describe OSIone as the greatest collaboration
between vendors and users that has ever existed in the history
of the information technology. While OSI is a concept which
originated in the vendors' workshops, it originated simply
because of user demand rather than the brainchild of a backroom
technocrat. Unlike Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN),
which is considered by many in the IT industry to be a solution
waiting for a problem, OSI is far more practical.

OSIone is a pragmatic organisation, interested in achieving a
world-wide network which can satisfy users needs today in an
optimum fashion with a minimum of disruption to systems in-
place. During 1989 no less than six major international
OSI-connect demonstrations will be held in Australia, Germany,
Hongkong, Japan, Singapore and the USA. OSIone will play an
active role in each. It is expected that in all cases, major
international corporate users will participate. Newsbytes will
be reporting on all activities surrounding OSI and OSIone as
soon as they are known.

(Keith Cameron/19891125 - Press contact: Keith Cameron 852-5-
8550050 Fax [phone] GEnie NB.HKG)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00009)

UK CD-ROM USER GROUP RELEASES DISK-BASED CATALOGUE}
SWANSEA, WALES, 1989, DEC 02 (NB) -- The UK CD-ROM (compact disk
read only memory) User Group has released a series of disk-
based CD-ROM applications for UKP 3-50 ($5-00). The disks ate
available for UKP 2-00 to members of the user group.

More than 90 disks are available in the application series, each
of which includes a series of demonstration packages with a CD-
ROM theme. According to Paul Fletcher of the user group, the
disks are produced at cost.

Membership of the CD-ROM User Group costs UKP 49 ($80) a year.
The user group is a totally independent non-profit making
organization, dedicated to furthering the usage of CD-ROM
technology throughout the world. Although UK-based, the group has
members spanning five continents.

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press & Public Contact: Paul Fletcher - the
UK CD-ROM User Group, High Wings, Salem, Treforys, Abertawe SA6
6PD.)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00012)

TOSHIBA LAUNCHES JAPANESE PRODUCTS IN UK}
WEYBRIDGE, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- Toshiba Information
Systems has launched two Japanese-language portable products in
the UK, the first time the company has released Japanese-language
products outside its domestic Japanese market.

The two products are the J-3100GT portable PC and the Dual-modem
Printer 3. The J-3100GT is a Japanese version of Toshiba's
popular T3100e, 80286-based portable PC with gas plasma screen.
The Dual-Mode Printer 3 is a English/Kanji dot-matrix printer.

The major differences between the J-3100GT and the T3100e is
that, by dividing the hard disk into two partitions, the J-3100GT
supports both Japanese and English versions of MS-DOS. This means
that the machine will run any of the 2,000-plus Japanese-language
software packages such as Ichitaro, Japan's popular word
processor for PCs.

The J-3100GT retails for UKP 3,240 ($5,000), while the Dual-Mode
Printer 3 retails for UKP 1,421 ($2,000). Both products are
supported by a Japanese language division of Toshiba UK, meaning
that Japanese users of the machines in the UK can obtain full
sales and support in their home language, from within the UK.

(Steve Gold/19891202/Press & Public Contact: John Hill, managing
director, Toshiba UK - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BRU)(00007)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSES STRATEGIC ALLIANCE FOR HDTV}
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- The European Commission is
proposing a strategic alliance to companies interested in HDTV
(high definition television) thereby ensuring the first
application of the new system - which produces TV pictures as
clearly as 35mm colour film - will be seen in European homes.

The twelve members of the EC (Ireland, UK, France, Spain,
Portugal, Italy, Greece, West Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands,
Luxemburg and Denmark) agreed the alliance on November 7th.

A strategic alliance is necessary to show that the European HDTV
system is compatible with current TV systems that are hoped will
be installed by 1992. The EC estimates that in the years to come,
more than ECU 10,000 million will be spent on HDTV products.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00012)

SUN TO OFFER 486 UPGRADE FOR SUN386I WORKSTATIONS}
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Sun Microsystems
plans early next year to offer an Intel 80486 board upgrade for Sun
386i workstations, boards which increase performance from two to four
and a half times, according to the firm.

The 80486-based board, which enables all existing Unix and thousands
of MS-DOS applications to run on the Sun 386i workstation, is
aimed at those who want to trade up to Unix without losing the
powerful DOS applications to which they've become accustomed.

"Simply put, these machines provide the best DOS-to-Unix bridge available
in the industry," boasts Wayne Rosing, vice president of Sun's
Desktop Systems and Graphics Group.

The upgrade board features a 25-megahertz central processor rated
at 12 million instructions per second. Its price is $4,490 and
it will be available in the second quarter of 1990.

The Sun 386i is a popular workstation for in-house software
development, computer-aided design users, and the financial services
industry. The price on the machines has also been reduced 7 to 10
percent and ranges now from $8,000 to $16,490.

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: John Loiacono, 415-336-6424)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00014)

NEW MUSEUM TICKETING SYSTEM RUNS ON VAX}
EMERYVILLE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 NOV 22 (NB) -- Museums in need
of a more efficient way of tracking advance sales and reservations
are urged by Explorer Technology to take a peek at a project it's
just implemented at the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Explorer Technology's Explorer System, which automates
various museum logistics, runs on a Digital Equipment VAX 3400
minicomputer. It will allow computers in all the Museum's
departments to communicate with each other, eliminate repetitive
data entry and establish a modern ticketing and reservation system.
The system is expected to be publicly in use by September, 1990.

Previously, the Boston Museum of Science, the Reuben H. Fleet
Space Theater and Science Center in San Diego, and the South
Street Seaport Museum in Manhattan have used Explorer technology.

David Walton, president of Explorer Technology, says that his
company's products are designed specifically for museums faced
with "budget and marketing realities of the 1990s."

(Wendy Woods/19891201/Press Contact: Robert Kay, 415-777-2760)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00003)

IBM TO INTRODUCE NEW WORKSTATION IN 1990}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) -- A new computer
workstation based on advanced "RISC" (reduced instruction set)
chips and capable of running two operating systems, "AIX" and
"OS/2" simultaneously, will be introduced by International Business
Machines Corporation in 1990, according to IBM spokesman Douglas
LeGrande.

The use of both AIX (IBM's version of the Unix operating
system) and an expected new version of Microsoft's OS/2 operating
system will provide capabilities not presently found on RISC-based
systems. No specific date for the release of the product was given.

In his speech at a Salomon Brothers conference on personal
computers, LeGrande also predicted that IBM's Micro Channel
Architecture (MCA) would be used on all personal computers by
the end of the coming decade and that personal computers at that
time will contain a minimum of 1 gigabyte of memory expandable to
100 gigabytes.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19891201)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BRU)(00001)

U.S. UNIX SOFTWARE STILL HIGH PRICED IN EUROPE}
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- In a world where software
is coming down in price on a daily basis and where people talk of
a European open market in 1992, there are still companies which
are successfully charging high prices for software which is
available at a fraction of the cost from the U.S. parent firm.

Toplog, a Benelux-based company which specializes in the
distribution of Unix and Xenix products, charges up to 130 percent
more than list prices in the U.S. The company's latest price
list, dated November, 1989, mentions that the complete 286
Xenix package (including the operating system, the development
system and the text processing system) costs $2,311. The
same package in the US has a recommended retail price of $1,295.

For the Xenix 386 package, the news is even worse for potential
purchasers. Xenix 386, the complete system, sells for $2,700, a
100 percent increase on the US list price of $1,495.

These companies charge high prices because the market will pay
them; European customers, by and large, do not know what kind
of prices are charged elsewhere and thus they are game for
anything.

Even products from large companies, such as IBM, are no closer to US
prices than the smaller firms. "I didn't realize that in the US you can
buy a PS/2 model 70 for less than $5,000 when here we sell it for
about $9,500," said an IBM manager who preferred to remain
unidentified.

"Lets hope that when 1992 comes around, we also will be able to
enjoy such low prices as shown in the US market," he added.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BRU)(00004)

THE MOTOROLA 88000 IS STARTING TO PROLIFERATE}
MUNICH, WEST GERMANY, 1989 DEC 02 (NB) -- The Motorola 88000 RISC
(reduced instruction set computer) processing chip is starting to
appear in many different systems, seemingly ready to displace the
68000 chip as the microprocessor of choice for advanced system
designers.

First there was Data General's Aviion advanced Unix system and
now Force Computers of Munich, West Germany is announcing the
SYS88K/CPU-80 processor board, which uses the 88000 as the system
controlling element offering more power and improved performance.

The microprocessor board offers 25MHz speeds, up to 41,000
dhrystones per second and 18 million whetstones of processing
power. It also offers up to 4MB of memory on board using 1 megabit
memory chips and serial and parallel ports. The 88K system is
also available with 4 megabit chips, pushing the maximum memory
configuration to 16MB.

(Peter Vekinis/19891202)