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/nb891211

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

MANAGE ADDRESSES WITH NEW MAC PRODUCT}
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- The daybook-
weary may want to manage their address books on their Macintoshes
with a new product called Address Book Plus.

From Power Up Software Corporation, Address Book Plus is a way
to keep track of names and addresses, print them out in a variety
of forms including address book pages, phone lists, mailing
labels, rotary file cards, and envelopes.

"We designed Address Book Plus for Macintosh users who are
looking for a very approachable solution to their list management
needs."

Two versions are available -- a software-only version with a
suggested retail price of $89.95. This includes software, user
manual, sample files, and sample address book paper. The second
version includes a leather binder and carries a suggested retail
price of $129.95.

Among others, Bob Levitus, author of Dr. Macintosh, has put his
stamp of endorsement on the product, quoted by Power Up as
saying, "I think Address Book Plus was very thoughtfully
designed. Its simple operation, slick shortcuts such as the
automatic dialer, and top-notch output make it the intelligent
choice for anyone computerizing their name and address lists."

(Wendy Woods/19891208/Press Contact: Judy Merrill, corporate
communications at Power Up, 415-345-5900)


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

TYPEALIGN -- MANIPULATE MAC FONTS}
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Macintosh
owners in need of program that will help them bend, shape, and squeeze
their fonts have another program to evaluate. Emerald City
Software has unveiled TypeAlign, $99, a desk accessory which
works with Adobe Type Manager on all major page layout, word
processing, and presentation software programs.

Last week Broderbund unveiled TypeStyler, a $199 standalone
product which does not require Adobe Type Manager. TypeStyler
provides control over typefaces, enabling a user to manipulate and
add special effects to standard typefaces.

TypeAlign allows the Macintosh user to draw lines, arcs, and
free-form curves. Once the path is drawn, text can be typed
directly onto the path, or copied and pasted onto the path from
any application. Rotation, skewing, perspective, and distortion
effects can be added simply by dragging points on a text block.

The result can be pasted into other major applications after
being saved in PICT, EPS, or Ilustrator 88 format.

TypeAlign has won rave reviews from many resellers, including
Tom Santos of MACAdam, a San Francisco retail store.
"Customers are requesting a copy of TypeAlign for each Adobe
Type Manager unit we sell," he states.

(Wendy Woods/19891208/Press Contact: Teri Chadbourne, 415-
324-8080)


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

CORDLESS MOUSE OPERATES MAC UP TO 50 FEET AWAY}
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- A Macintosh
can be operated with a mouse up to 50 feet away with the use of
Remote Mouse, a new device from Forte Communications.

Remote Mouse consists of a small base receiver station installed
on the ADB port of the Macintosh and a hand-held wireless remote
control keypad. Mouse control is provided via a software utility
bundled with the system and specially labeled keypad permits
pointing and clicking-type mouse action as the device communicates
with the base station via infrared signals.

The product is aimed at those who make remote presentations
with such packages as PowerPoint, Persuasion, and More.  The
product costs $395 and can be ordered direct from Forte at
408-733-5100 or toll free in the US and Canada at 800-331-
3903.

(Wendy Woods/19891208/Press Contact: Dan Erlin)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00012)

APPLE SHIPS NEW CL/1 VERSIONS}
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Apple aims to
make it easier to integrate Macintoshes into networks of VAX/VMS
platforms with the release of CL/1 Developer's Toolkit for
Macintosh and the CL/1 Server for VAX/VMS.

Apple also announced it will provide AppleTalk Phase 2 support for
VAX/VMS with the shipment of Appletalk for VMS (version 2.1)
in the first quarter of 1990.

The CL/1 Developer's Toolkit will help developers build CL/1 support
into their applications. It is priced at $695 for a single use
license. The products are both available through the Apple
Programmers and Developers Association after December 11, and
can be ordered by calling toll-free 800-282-2732 or 408-
562-3910.

Appletalk VMS version 2.1 will be priced at $5,000 for a commercial
license, which includes redistribution rights.

(Wendy Woods/19891208)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00017)

TWO NEW PRODUCTS FROM DATA SPEC}
CHATSWORTH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 04 (NB) --  Data Spec
has introduced an electronic peripheral-sharing switch designed
for any multi-user environment needing to share one serial device
and a way to create an instant AppleTalk type network or to
extend an established network.

The ADS808 serial data switch allows four Macintosh computers to
share one serial peripheral without having to change cables,
buttons or dials.  The unit simultaneously monitors the four
computers waiting for a command.  Once the command is received,
the unit locks onto the transmitting computer and sends a busy
signal to the other three.  When the task is completed, the
ADS808 resumes monitoring waiting for the next command.

First Link is Data Spec's AppleTalk type network starter kit.  It
comes with three 8 pin DIN ModuNet connectors, two 14 foot
modular cables and three terminators.  ModuNet connectors are
fully AppleTalk compatible and allow users to string new network
wiring with ordinary telephone cabling.  ModuNet LANs expand up
to 5,000 feet and transmit at speeds up to 1MBPS.

First Link is designed to be used with Mac Plus, SE, II Series,
Portable, Apple II, IIGS, Laserwriter IINT, IINTX and Imagewriter
II.

The suggested retail price for DataSpec's electronic serial data
switch is $390 and is expected to be available this month.  First
Link will sell for $99.95.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Melissa Macaluso, Data
Spec, 818-772-9977 x 421)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(00010)

APPLE ANNOUNCES RENAISSANCE PROJECT}
STOCKLEY PARK, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Coinciding with
Apple Chairman John Sculley's appearance in Europe this week,
Apple UK has announced the formation of the Renaissance project,
a venture between a number of academic and commercial
enterprises in the UK. The aim of the project is to support and
enhance the learning and training process through the wide-scale
adoption of interactive learning technology.

Members of the Renaissance project include the Anglian higher
Education College, Apple UK, Cambridge University, Coventry
Polytechnic, Keele University and King's College London.

The project aims to encourage an interactive approach to learning
through assimilating the benefits of multimedia into learning
and vocational training. The team is committed to individual
product development and research projects and will also be
combining forces to extend membership of the group, both within
the UK and other European Community countries.

Phase one of the Renaissance project - which runs through the
1989/90 academic year - calls for project members to concentrate
on the development of tools for interactive multi-media learning
products based around CD-ROM technology, together with training
materials for the use of multimedia in the educational market.

(Steve Gold/19891209/Press & Public Contact: Judith Coley, Apple
UK - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00002)

MITSUBISHI TO EXPORT OPTICAL DRIVES TO THE U.S.}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Mitsubishi Electric will begin
export of its optical magnetic disk drive units to the U.S. next
year, according to Japan Industrial Daily newspaper.

The export disk supplied on an original equipment manufacturing
basis will be the industry's fastest 5.25-inch rewritable optical
disk unit, ME-5U1, which has an average seek time of 35 milliseconds.

To start, Mitsubishi will ship samples to 100 unnamed U.S. computer
and peripheral companies. Once production quantity is achieved,
some 70 percent of the drives will be earmarked for overseas markets.
By the spring, Mitsubishi officers hope to be making 500 a month
in its Itami factory in Hyogo prefecture, Japan.

A Mitsubishi spokesman told Newsbytes that since the export scheme is
still only a concept, no firm details are available.

(Ken Takahashi/19891207)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BRU)(00005)

GROUPE BULL GETS CLEARANCE FOR ZENITH ACQUISITION}
PARIS, FRANCE, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Groupe Bull of France has been
given the official go-ahead on its proposed acquisition of Zenith
Electronics by a US committee studying the purchase.

The US approval was necessary because of the size of the
acquisition, and because of the military contracts that Zenith has
interests in.

With the purchase of Zenith, Groupe Bull is now the largest
European computer company, even larger than the other industry
majors - Siemens and Olivetti.

(Peter Vekinis/19891209)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00005)

WANG CFO, SENIOR VP, AND TREASURER TO DEPART COMPANY}
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- In a joint
statement, Richard W. Miller, Wang Laboratories' president
and chief operating officer, and Eugene M. Bullis, the troubled
company's senior vice president, treasurer, and chief financial
officer, announced that Bullis will leave the company in early
January 1990.

Reportedly the departure was an orderly, planned event, amicable
on the parts of both parties.

Wang has recently experienced massive losses and many changes in
personnel at executive positions, but is trying to make a
comeback with a series of new products.

(John McCormick/19891207/Press Contact: Gail Jackson, Wang,
508-967-1090)


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

SSA ANNOUNCES STOCK SPLIT AFTER RECORD EARNINGS}
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- System
Software Associates Inc., developer and marketer of business
software for IBM AS/400, System/38 and System/36 computers, has
has declared a 3-for-2 stock split for the company's common
stock for owners of record December 18, with cash payments in
lieu of fractional shares where necessary.

Last November, SSA announced record revenue and record earnings
for the fiscal year ending October 31, 1989, with earnings of
$1.41 per share versus 80 cents per share for fiscal 1988.

(John McCormick/19891207/Press Contact: Vinson A. Parsons, SSA,
312-641-2900)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00012)

WILLIAM SPENCER NAMED XEROX GROUP VP}
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Xerox
Corporation has today announced the election of William J.
Spencer as new group vice president for the company, as well as
remaining the vice president of corporate research.

Mr. Spencer's responsibilities will include worldwide management
of major Xerox research centers in Webster, New York, Palo Alto,
California, (both U.S.A.), Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and
Cambridge, England.

Xerox's PARC or Palo Alto Research Center was responsible for
much of the visionary thinking that has led to today's computers
and involved the development of the mouse and graphical user
interfaces.

(John McCormick/19891207/Press Contact: Thomas C. Abbott, Xerox,
203-968-3378)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00013)

KODAK TO GET NEW CEO}
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- Eastman
Kodak today announced that 57-year-old K. R. Whitmore will
succeed Colby Chandler as the company's chief executive officer
when Mr. Chandler retires on June 1 of next year after completing
40 years of service with Kodak.

(John McCormick/19891207/Press Contact: Henry J. Kaska, Kodak,
716-724-4642)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00007)

MAI ANNOUNCES $40 MILLION LOSS FOR YEAR}
TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, USA, 1989 DEC 05 (NB) --  MAI Basic Four has
announced a loss of $39.9 for the fiscal year during which
revenues declined by 6 percent.

A restructuring program has begun in the wake of the unsuccessful
takeover bid for Prime Computer.  MAI blames its poor fiscal
performance on that failed bid.

Under the restructuring begun last summer, fourth quarter
performance improved compared with third quarter.  In fourth
quarter, MAI lost $1.6 million compared with earnings of $5.8
million for the same period a year ago.  Sales were at $98.5
million, a decline of 16.5 percent.  In the third quarter this
year, MAI had a $46.2 million loss including a $25 million charge
related to the Prime battle.  Revenue is third quarter totaled
$86 million.  The news did not seem to affect MAI's stock prices.

For the year ended Sept. 30, MAI revenue was $396.9 million, a
drop from $420.8 million in fiscal 1988.

According to the company, the drop in fourth quarter revenue as
compared with last year can be traced to some customers
suspending their buying of MAI equipment during the 10 month long
battle for Prime.  There has also been a slowdown in the midrange
computer market and unfavorable exchange rates have hurt this
company that does almost half its business in Europe.

The recent infusion of $55 million in capital by an investment
group headed by Bennett LeBow, MAI chairman, is solving MAI's
cash flow problems at the current time.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208)


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

ARCHIVE TO MOVE DIVISION TO MAYNARD ELECTRONICS}
COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA U.S.A., 1989 DEC 06 (NB) --  Archive will
merge its data storage division into the FLorida company it
acquired in February, Maynard Electronics.

The move is expected to cut costs for Archive as well as reduce
redundancy in engineering, manufacturing and marketing for the
two companies.  The decision to move the California division
resulted from its being the smaller of the two units and the fact
that costs are lower in Florida.  The company has offered to
transfer all division employees to Florida.

The cost cutting move was not an indication of any difficulties
at Archive.  The company's earnings and revenues for the fiscal
year ended Sept. 30 reached record highs.  Earnings were $15.3
million compared with $10.5 million for the previous year.
Revenue was $181.4, a 48 percent increase over fiscal 1988.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00013)

THREE BUSINESS UNITS JETTISONED BY MICROSEMI}
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 06 (NB) --  Microsemi
Corporation has announced the sale of three of its business
units, Vitarel Microelectronics, Universal Microtechnologies, and
Microcommunications.

The sales of the three units were completed for $3.2 million and
other undisclosed considerations.  The units were sold as part of
the company's recently announced restructuring plans.  The
company will continue to restructure toward greater concentration
on its core semiconductor business.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: David Sonksen,
Microsemi, 714-979-8220)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00015)

INTERACTIVE MEDIA, SYMMETRY INK SOFTWARE PACT}
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 07 (NB) -- Interactive
Media Technologies (IMT) and Symmetry Software have announced an
agreement for the software engineering of IMT's first desktop
products.

According to IMT's President R. Glenn Williamson, Symmetry will
be working with IMT to extend the system software for MediaLink
and MediaVision desktop video product lines.  IMT's recently
formed software subsidiary will work with Symmetry on the design
and publishing of IMT's next generation of multi-media software
products.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Ron Bianchi,
Interactive Media Technologies, 602-443-3093)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00019)

KENFIL IS #57 ON INC'S 500}
VAN NUYS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 01 (NB) --  Kenfil
Distribution, the business productivity and utility software
distribution specialists has moved to 57th place in INC.
Magazine's survey of the 500 fastest growing privately-held
companies.

In the 1988 survey, Kenfil was ranked 105th.  The annual survey
queries more than 20,000 US companies to find the fastest
growing.  Kenfil expects to report a 43 percent increase in sales
for its current fiscal year to approximately $140 million, up
from $98 million last year.  Kenfil's new ranking qualifies the
company as the 4th fastest growing company in the Los Angeles
area.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Margaret Burger, Miller
Communications, 213-822-4669)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00003)

AUSTRALIAN FIRM CLOSURE A DAY BEFORE $50M CONTRACT
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The assets of PC
maker Computer Corporation of Australia were put up for
sale a day before the signing of a AUS$50M contract was
due.

Two weeks ago, CCA failed to meet a AUS$200,000 payment to
one of its creditors, Carrington Confirmers. CCA owed
Carrington a total of AUS$750,000. Carrington's accountants
then made the order to close CCA's doors one day before CCA
was due to sign a deal with IBM for the Federal
Government's Desine contract.

CCA managing director, Ian Bennetts, said the contract would
have been worth about AUS$50M over five years. It has been
reported that the accountants have rejected offers to put
CCA back on its feet and at the time of going to press CCA
was still negotiating with tenderers for the company.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00009)

DEC INVESTS IN AUSTRALIAN SOFTWARE
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The Digital Equipment
Corporation will provide technical support and AUS$400,000
for research and development as part of a deal with the
Australian software firm, Optech, which will see the local
company jointly marketing its products overseas.

With the help of DEC's extensive international network,
Optech hopes to generate AUS$10M in revenue during the next
year by marketing its FX Options Trading System in
Australia, the US, Europe and Japan. Optech chairman and
founder, Ralph McKay, said the company had recently sold its
first package to a Wall Street organization.

The FX Options Trading System is designed to minimize risks
by breaking a portfolio into its mathematical components.
It then analyses each component and suggests to the trader
how to perform rebalancing transactions.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00016)

AUSTRALIAN REACTION TO MSA MERGER
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- The recently
announced US merger between software firms MSA and Dun &
Bradstreet has surprised staff in the Australian
subsidiaries. They are now contemplating the implications
of joining forces with people who had previously been
fierce corporate rivals.

Neither company's Australian management knew about the
$US333M deal until it was announced recently. MSA's
Australian marketing director, Rob Goodwin, said, "It was a
bit of a shock...It certainly puts an interesting
complexion on things," while the managing director of
McCormack & Dodge, Australia's subsidiary to Dun &
Bradstreet, said, "It's clearly a good thing, but we won't
have any discussion about the mechanics of merging until
the agreement is ratified in the US."

Both subsidiaries sell software to the IBM and DEC
mainframe markets, and have competed for contracts.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891129)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00017)

AUSTRALIAN HISOFT COMPUTERS SEEKS GROWTH
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- HiSoft Computers
intends to increase its share in the PC market as part of a
new business plan after a buy-out of its three founding
partners.

The HBA-Mutual Community Group now owns 100 percent of the
company since it bought out the other 35 percent of
HiSoft's shares from founders Alan Kras, David Payes, and
Philip Weinman. Hi-Soft was ranked recently as Australia's
23rd largest computing company after it turned-over AUS$83M
last financial year.

The managing director of HBA-Colonial Mutual, Howard Merry,
said HiSoft's growth will continue under the stabilizing
influence of HBA which has extensive interests in the
Australian computer industry.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891130)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00022)

AUSTRALIA: ADACEL HOMES IN ON AUS$1.2M DEAL
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- Adacel, the
Melbourne-based software company has signed a AUS$1.2M deal
with the French radar company Thomson-CSF to develop remote
control maintenance for Australia's new air traffic radar
systems using PCs.

Adacel will develop the operator system which will use IBM
PS/2s to monitor radar sensors at 19 sites nationally and
will enable problems to be fixed by computer from one of
five central control sites in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide,
Perth and Brisbane.

Adacel Director David Smith said, "The radars are mostly
located on the tops of mountains in the middle of nowhere,
and this system will enable them to be run unattended."

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891129)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00025)

AUSTRALIAN BOARD MAKER APPOINTS UK DISTRIBUTOR
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Hypertec, the
Australian PC add-on board manufacturer has announced the
appointment of a second UK distributor. Computer Marketing
joins Logitek in distributing the range of high-end memory
and other expansion boards.

Manager David Cuneen told Newsbytes that the company now
expected UK sales to amount to a third of all Hypertec
sales in 1990. Speaking of the choice of distributors, and
their connection with Hypertec, he said, "As both designers
and builders, we obviously know our products better than
anyone else, and believe in passing on the benefits of our
specialist knowledge with support services to both dealers
and users."

(Paul Zucker/19891201/Press Contact: David Cuneen. ph 61-2-
5022566)


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

NCR INSTALLS HONGKONG'S LARGEST POS NETWORK
CENTRAL, HONGKONG, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- NCR has installed a
$700,000 point-of-sale network spanning 70 boutiques across
the territory. Each Bossini, Sparkle and Vienna shop has
been equipped with an NCR 2155 POS system, complete with a
handheld optical scanner to capture product details from
bar code labels.

"Rapid expansion of our fashion retailing business called
for tighter control over our operations and the need to
identify sales trends earlier," said Michael Wong, managing
director of Bossini Sparkle Group. "We experimented
with a network of personal computers, but we decided that our
objectives could only be met by a full-scale POS system."

The NCR system includes an Australian software package
called Pathway which has been widely installed in
Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

(Keith Cameron/19891207 Press contact: Vivienne Kung NCR
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00007)

TOPPAN MOORE LAUNCHES VOLUME BAR CODE PRINTING SERVICE
CENTRAL, HONGKONG, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- To satisfy the increasing
demand for bar code label printing brought about by
snowballing sales of the equipment in Hongkong, Toppan Moore
(HK) has announced a high speed, high volume label printing
service based on advanced PC and laser printer technology.

The company can produce up to 350,000 labels per day on
its Xerox 4050 laser printer. Using special bar code
generating software running on networked personal computers
the company can create and print 13 of the most commonly
used bar-code standards. The codes can be merged with information
about products, parts, identity cards and shelf tags, or any
other variable or static information.

A spokesman pointed out that Hongkong had some unique problems
with the text attachments to bar codes because of the need
for Chinese character script.

(Keith Cameron/19891207 Press contact: Euan Barty
Associates Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00005)

UNISYS CANADA CUTS TO HIT QUEBEC}
ST. LAURENT, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Manufacturing and
engineering support functions will move from a Unisys Canada
facility here to the United States and Mexico as part of the
company's worldwide restructuring. Production of power supplies
will be moved from a plant in this Montreal suburb to Mexico and
later to California, said Unisys Canada spokesman Don Edwards.
Engineering support functions now in St. Laurent will move to San
Bernardino, Calif.

Unisys Canada plans to eliminate some 250 jobs in 1990. This will
be accomplished by a mixture of early retirement offers,
attrition and possibly layoffs, Edwards said.

It is not yet known what effect the cuts in Quebec will have on
Unisys' status as an Economic Partner with the province of
Quebec. The designation, an advantage in securing government
business in the province, depends on investment in Quebec.
"Discussions are ongoing with the government" on Unisys' status,
Edwards said.

(Grant Buckler/19891207/Press Contact: Don Edwards, Unisys
Canada, 865-3850)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00006)

ACCUGRAPH ANNOUNCES CONTRACTS}
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Accugraph, a Toronto
developer of computer-aided design and manufacturing and
computer-assisted engineering software, has announced US$1.1
million worth of contracts with Hewlett-Packard and GTE. The
deals were signed through Accugraph's United States subsidiary in
Texas.

Accugraph will supply GTE with its MountainTop computer-aided
design software and FlexNet networking software. GTE is to use
the software at pilot sites in Mission Hills, Calif., and
Honolulu, Hawaii, to help integrate its engineering functions. If
the pilot is successful, GTE will automate all its main
engineering locations.

Hewlett-Packard has ordered Accugraph's Automated Facilities
Management software to help administer about 30 million square
feet of facilities worldwide. HP will also be using FlexNet to
share graphics, word processing and spreadsheet applications
through networked PCs and workstations.

(Grant Buckler/19891207/Press Contact: Fatih Akben, Accugraph,
915-581-1171)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00007)

MOTOROLA LAYING OFF 175 IN CANADA}
BRAMPTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- Motorola is laying
off 175 workers in this town northwest of Toronto as it
consolidates circuit board production at a plant in
Massachusetts. The six-year old plant, which employs 750 workers
before the layoffs, will continue to assemble and test modems and
other data communications hardware. The layoffs will take place
between now and the end of April.

(Grant Buckler/19891208)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00008)

SYSTEMHOUSE GETS DATA CENTER, CONTRACTS FROM ITEL}
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 5 (NB) -- SHL Systemhouse, a
Canadian systems integrator and custom software house, will buy a
subsidiary of Itel Corp. of Chicago and take over providing
system development and integration for an Itel subsidiary. Itel
Rail of San Francisco has awarded Systemhouse's United States
subsidiary in Arlington, Va., US$5.2 million in contracts. The
subsidiary is also buying Signal Capital Computer, another Itel
subsidiary based in Houston. Systemhouse will continue providing
data processing services to Signal Capital Computer's clients, a
business worth about US$5 million per year, according to
Systemhouse.

(Grant Buckler/19891208/Press Contact: Dennis Maloney,
Systemhouse, 703-276-0500)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00009)

COGNOS NAMES VICE-PRESIDENT}
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Cognos, maker of
applications development software for minicomputers and IBM-
compatible PCs, has named a new vice-president. Terry Hall,
formerly general manager for the Americas and Japan, has been
appointed. vice-president of operations for Canada, Japan and
Latin America. He will continue to oversee sales and service in
those regions. Cognos' principal product is PowerHouse, an
application development language.

(Grant Buckler/19891205/Press Contact: Bob Thompson, Cognos, 613-
738-1440)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00010)

SEMI-TECH COMPLETES PLACEMENT}
MARKHAM, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 5 (NB) -- International Semi-
Tech Microelectronics has completed its C$35-million private
debenture placement. The debentures, due November 30, 1999, are
convertible to common shares at C$10 per share throughout their
term.

(Grant Buckler/19891206/Press Contact: Michael List,
International Semi-Tech, 416-475-2670)


(EXCLUSIVE)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00002)

SIG HARTMANN LEAVES ATARI FOR TELEVIDEO}
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- Sig Hartmann,
Sam Tramiel's right-hand man at Commodore and Atari and one of
his oldest friends, has left Atari for a new job as executive
vice president of Televideo.

Hartmann says there was no animosity in the departure from Atari,
where he had been for five years prior to his November 1
resignation. "I'm probably the only guy who left in the history
of Jack's relationships who had a party thrown for them,"
Hartmann told Newsbytes.

Hartmann was general manager of Commodore in 1970, and was one
of the cherished few whom Jack Tramiel brought with him from
Commodore after purchasing Atari in 1984. Hartmann says his
mission was to "get the children to run the company." The children
are Jack's sons, one of which is Sam Tramiel, now chief
executive. He adds: "I did my job, and feel good about the job I did.
(but) it was time for me to basically move on."

Hartmann says he was approached by an equally strong personality,
Dr. Philip Hwang, chairman of Televideo, to help rebuild his
struggling company. Hartmann says he jumped at the chance to
turn around Televideo. "The opportunities not just financial but
the satisfaction of being one of the key guys to take a company
which is losing money - down hundreds fold - and turn it around.
That's exciting," he told Newsbytes.

Hartmann says he still has stock in Atari.

He agrees that he is attracted to strong business personalities.
Jack Tramiel is legendary for his ability to create both friends
and enemies and so is Televideo Chairman Philip Hwang. "That's
beautiful," says Hartmann. "Remember, I was the guy who lasted
with Jack for many years."

Hartmann's challenge is to turn around the fortunes of Televideo
which five years ago was making $170 million on terminal sales,
and now faces a sea of red ink. This week 31 workers,
approximately 10 percent of the staff, was laid off, and new
cost-cutting measures are being considered.

Hartmann plans to use the Atari formula to bring back the
company's fortunes. "My plans are to run a lean, lean, lean
organization."

(Wendy Woods/19891208/Press Contact: Gary Breenin, Televideo,
408-954-8333)


(EXCLUSIVE)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00005)

PRESIDENT REAGAN ADDRESSES BUSINESSLAND GATHERING}
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- Former U.S.
President Ronald Reagan drew parallels between World War II
and the march of the microchip at Businessland's three-day
seminar here.

As the featured speaker Thursday night, the former president
said, "Lenin did not foresee satellites, modems, or computers.
He did not know that technology would expand the power of the
individual, not the state. The Iron Curtain is the Maginot Line
of the microchip."

Unfortunately the president pronounced the word modems as
"mahdems," evoking a few snickers in the crowd.

Reagan stated in his otherwise inspiring speech that communication
technology is responsible for the outbreak of freedom around
the world. He said that the "biggest big brother" can't stop
technology from letting people know the truth.

Although he clearly admires the power of technology, Reagan has
no experience with it. He told the audience that the closest he's
gotten "was operating a VCR once." He said he managed to
play a movie but couldn't remember what button he pushed.

The president received a standing ovation when he appeared,
introduced by Businessland CEO Dave Norman. Reagan then took
the podium and congratulated Norman personally for his work
for the Republican Committee.

The former president was reportedly hired for less than the
$2 million he charged Japanese hosts for a speech last month, but
a Businessland spokeswoman would not reveal the former president's
exact honorarium.

(Wendy Woods/19891208)


(TRENDS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00009)

HEADSTART OFFERS FIRST MS-DOS PC WITH BUILT-IN CD-ROM}
GREAT NECK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- Headstart
Technologies, a division of Philips, has become the second company
in the world to offer a microcomputer with a CD-ROM drive as
standard equipment -- and the first to offer an MS-DOS PC with this
configuration.

Headstart's LX-CD is an Intel 8088-based machine costing less
than $2,000 and like its bigger, 80286-based brother, the III-CD,
comes standard with a 5.25-inch 680 megabyte CD-ROM drive with
stereo sound, one 1.44 megabyte 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, and
a 40 megabyte hard drive. The Headstart III-CD, $2995, also comes
equipped with an 18-month on-site service warranty, and VGA, MCGA,
EGA, CGA, and Hercules standard graphics capabilities. The LX-CD
only has VGA graphics.

The biggest selling point to both machines, however, may be the
bundled software. Never before has a hardware manufacturer
bundled this much software with a PC -- a CD-ROM disk
containing a gigabyte of programs: the New Grolier Electronic
Encyclopedia, Microsoft Bookshelf (containing the American
Heritage Dictionary, The World Almanac and Book of Facts,
U.S. ZIP Code Directory, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, The
Chicago Manual of Style, Roget's II Electronic Thesaurus,
Business Information Sources, a spelling corrector,
and usage verifier), PC Globe world atlas Hotline Two
telephone management software, National Directory
of Addresses and Telephone Numbers, PC Globe, CD Guide Optical
Edition (a guide to music CDs) and Audio Music Disk Sampler.

Several MS-DOS programs are packed onto the hard disks, including
MS-DOS 3.3 (special Headstart version allows disk partitions greater
than 32 megabytes), GW-BASIC, a organizer utility called Pop-Ups,
Headstart Office Manager which offers word processing, spreadsheet,
database, and 100,000-word spelling checker, Publish It! for
desktop publishing, Splash! a graphics program, Twist & Shout,
and Chessmaster 2000.

As if that wasn't enough, there's also Mavis Beacon Teaches
Typing, Computer-Ease, ATI Skill Builder, Xtree for file management,
Backup Pro, and DS Optimize.

And finally, the III-CD machine offers an additional, bundled disk
which includes Framework II from Ashton-Tate, Microsoft
Small Business Consultant, Microsoft Stat Pack, Bookmark Plus,
and Perspective 3-D graphics.

The machines are due in retail stores by Christmas. For more
information call the company at 516-482-4255.

The only other manufacturer to offer a microcomputer with
standard CD-ROM drive is Fujitsu, whose FM-Towns computer is
languishing with poor sales in Japan. The difference between this
machine and Fujitsu's, however, is two-fold -- FM-Towns has
neither much software written for it nor a standard operating
system, as does the Headstart machine.

(Wendy Woods/19891208/Press Contact: Deborah Brown,
HWH Public Relations, 212-355-5049)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00010)

NEWSLETTER POKES FUN AT COMPUTER INDUSTRY}
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- What's so funny
about the computer industry? How about a new sitcom from
Adobe Systems called Adobe Gillis? What about Eddie Murphy's
Law of Probability: "If you drop two PCs from an equal height
onto a passerby, someone big will probably come up and hit
you."

That's just two of the jollies in a new newsletter entitled
MISinformation, put out by Editor Chris Miksanek and his staff
of cartoonists and writers in Burbank, California. He says it's the
first and only newsletter of computing humor, although he
was preceded by comic Billiam Coronel on The Source who
had a short-lived but popular electronic newsletter devoted to
spoofs on the computer industry in the mid-80s.

Miksanek plans to publish 10 times a year and subscriptions
cost $20 a year. To get a sample issue write to him at Box
305, Burbank, California 91503.

(Wendy Woods/19891208)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00003)

LOTUS SHIPS CD/INVESTMENT: U.S. EQUITIES
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- Lotus
Development is offering a major upgrade to its
flagship Lotus One Source product line of high-end business
statistical databases published on CD-ROM, with the shipment of
CD/Investment: U.S. Equities.

The new product features better access, new methods to integrate
data with Lotus 1-2-3 for analysis, a new "stock chart" feature
that works with Lotus Graphwriter, and a set of C language
library modules that lets programmers produce custom interfaces
for the database.

A CD/Investment: U.S. Equities subscription will include:
Compustat, Daily Stock Price History, Ford Investor Services,
I/B/E/S Earnings Estimates, IDSI Bonds, Media General, Value Line
Data Base II, and Value Line Estimates & Projections databases
updated on a weekly basis with modem updates of critical data on
an overnight basis.

Lotus has been a major player in the early use of CD-ROM
publishing for large, expensive, and limited market databases,
and was one of the first to recognize that it was practical to
publish replacement discs on a weekly basis where appropriate.

One Source subscriptions start at $20,000 per year and are
intended for sophisticated investment firms and others requiring
up-to-the-minute financial and economic data.

One Source databases are regularly run on local area networks,
and Lotus maintains an extensive LAN laboratory in Cambridge
where every installation is pre-configured and tested before
being installed on-site for a customer, but the company has today
announced that CD/Networker, the network version of One Source,
now includes support for the IBM PC LAN network standard.

(John McCormick/19891207/Press Contact: Pamela Cay, Lotus, 617-
225-7087)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00008)

EXTRA-LONG YEAR PROLONGS HOLIDAY SEASON
BOULDER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The National
Institute of Standards and Technology has reminded all of us that
this year there will be a "leap" second added to international
standard clocks at 6:59:60 p.m. EST on December 31.

Remember to set your computers to recognize this delay and
prevent the embarrassment of having your computer be the only one
on the block that starts celebrating the new year one second
early.

(John McCormick/1989126/Press Contact: Collier Smith, NIST, 303-
497-3198)


(EXCLUSIVE)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00014)

REVISED VULCAN'S COMPUTER BUYER'S GUIDE HITS NEWSSTANDS
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- In the first
real attempt to compete with the dominant Computer
Shopper publication (the world's largest computer magazine, with
more than 700 pages/issue), Vulcan Publishing's Computer Buyer's
Guide has hit the newsstands with a new look and a new Editor-in-
Chief for the December issue.

After Computer Shopper underwent a nearly complete staff change
and was relocated to New York City, Douglas E. Kilarski, former
technical editor for Computer Shopper, moved to Alabama and took
over as editor-in-chief with the specific mandate of adding high-
quality editorial copy and reviews to Vulcan's Computer Buyer's
Guide.

With many editorial changes and improvements, the first issue
partially redone by Mr. Kilarski is now on the newsstands, and he
told Newsbytes that he intends to add several new departments for
games, and other computers like Commodore and Atari, in addition
to the December issue which now sports a Macintosh section called
Mostly Macintosh.

Mr. Kilarski stated that his philosophy is to include all
computer-related products that he has editorial space for; for
instance, in the game section he expects to include games like
Nintendo and not restrict coverage to games for general-purpose
computers.

He also told Newsbytes that he expects to add a CD-ROM or optical
storage section sometime next spring.

The magazine now has a business-user oriented audience and has
been very well received. Regarding the already crowded computer
magazine field, Mr Kilarski told Newsbytes, "We are attacking a
market that had no previous competition and expect that our
editorial content will put us in the forefront not only with the
business community but with general users. "

Vulcan's Computer Buyer's Guide is on newsstands in the U.S. and
Canada, distributed by Curtis Circulation Company, with total
circulation of more than 150,000.

In a related story, Beth Goldie, who has written a number of game
reviews for this bureau, has just been named the Macintosh
reviews editor for Computer Buyer's Guide.

Those wishing further information about ad placement should
contact the publisher, Trent Boozer, at 800-877-9748.

(John McCormick/19891207/Press Contact: Doug Kilarski, Editor-in-
Chief, 800-877-9748)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00011)

MICROAGE EXECS NAMED AMONG COMPUTER INDUSTRY INFLUENTIALS}
TEMPE, ARIZONA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 04 (NB) --  The co-founders of
MicroAge, a franchiser of full-service sales locations and
distributor of microcomputer systems, have been named among the
25 Most Influential Executives for 1989 by Computer Reseller News
(CRN).

CEO and President Jeffrey McKeever was honored for "influencing
vendor and network-wide programs that helped shape MicroAge and
the larger channel."  During 1989, MicroAge instituted three
programs that significantly increased network sales.

Chairman Alan Hald received recognition for his achievements as
chairman of the board of ABCD: The Microcomputer Industry
Association.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Nadine Wakely,
MicroAge, 602-968-3168 x 2215)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00014)

MORE LAN PRODUCTS FROM EMULEX}
COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 05 (NB) --  Emulex has
announced two new low-end terminal servers that expand the
company's local area network (LAN) product line.

The new servers interconnect up to eight terminals to Ethernet
LANs.  Emulex also markets a high-end terminal server and printer
server products in its LAN line.

The new Performance 4008 is a non-expandable version of the
Emulex Performance 4000 terminal server that supports computers
manufactured by Digital Equipment.  The Performance 4008T is a
similar server for networks with computers using Unix.

Both the Performance 4008 and The Performance 4008T are priced at
$2,495 and are expected to ship in the next 30 to 60 days.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: JoAnne Martz, Emulex,
714-668-5380)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00016)

NORAD CREATES VDT RADIATION HOTLINE}
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 04 (NB) --  NoRad
Corporation has announced creation of a nationwide hotline to
deliver free information on government and private studies
concerning radiation dangers, particularly concerning radiation
from video display terminals (VDT).

The "Radiation Hotline" will be operational in January, 1990.
Information to be sent to hotline callers will be drawn from the
recent US Congress Office of Technology Assessment Background
Report, the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program miscarriage
study and other major reports and research.

The company, which makes radiation protection shields for VDTs,
is stepping up its efforts to educate people about VDT health
hazards in light of IBM's plan to reduce radiation levels in
future personal computers.  NoRad's President, Michael Hiles has
pointed out that the IBM decision will not help users of the over
40 million VDTs already in the field.

NoRad is also planning active support for legislative proposals
designed to provide more safety for consumers.  Hiles has noted
that unlike many other health and safety issues, there are
solutions to the VDT radiation situations available in the
marketplace.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Michelle Hartzell,
NoRad, 213-395-0800)


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

CRI ADDS NEW PROGRAMS FOR FM-TOWNS}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The FM-Towns computer from Fujitsu
will have two more programs, thanks to the efforts of CSK Research
Institute or CRI.

The new machine with its proprietary operating system and CD-ROM
drive, has suffered from a lack of software. But CSI hopes to
alleviate some of the problem by offering an editing program,
called MoviE Towns, which enables the computer to be operated by
a mouse device and allows up to 30 windows to be opened
simultaneously. The MoviE Towns is priced at 18,000 yen or $124
and the company hopes to sell 5,000 packages within its first year
on the market.

The other is a program is an English-language instructional
package. Linguaphone Japan had supervised the development of
the program for effective study of junior high school-level basic
English vocabulary. The price of this software is 14,000 yen or
$97 and the firm is expecting 3,000 packages to be sold in the
first year.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891207/Press Contact: CSK Research Institute,03-
986-9711)


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

JAPAN: NEC LAUNCHES ROAD SHOWS FOR 98NOTE}
TOKYO, JAPAN 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- To promote its newly released notebook-
size computer and to accelerate sales, NEC will stage several
events in Tokyo streets designed to capture public interest.

In Shibuya, from December 18 through 22, the campaign organized
specially for 98NOTE will start at three o'clock in the afternoon
in front of Shibuya 109 Tokyu department store. Then, at Ha? Te! Na
Circus, on Takeshita street in Harajuku, NEC will exhibit its NEC
personal computer lineup from December 18 through 25 all day.

This campaign has been organized to attract young business people,
students, and working women, according to the result of market
research conducted with 600,000 NEC users. According to the research, NEC
found that the rate of home usage stayed at 10.8 percent of sales
by March 1989 while first purchasers of a personal computer made up
65 percent of sales in 1988 -- up 35 percent from 1986.

NEC hopes to ship 20,000 98NOTEs this year and 80,000 sets by the
end of this fiscal year in March, 1990.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891207)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00001)

GIGATRON TO LAUNCH LAPTOP AMIGA IN MARCH 1990}
COLOGNE, WEST GERMANY, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Gigatron, one of the
more innovative West German companies involved in the Amiga
scene, plans to launch a laptop Amiga at the Cebit computer show
in Hanover, West Germany, next March.

Preliminary details of the laptop were announced to software
developers at the Ami-Expo computer show in Cologne, West
Germany, last month, according to the latest edition of the Amy
Today online newsletter for the Amiga community, confirmed by
online news on the West German Bildschirmtext public viewdata
service.

Two primary editions of the Amiga laptop will be made available
by Gigatron - an LCD screen version at DM 5,000 ($2,400) and a
gas plasma version at DM 7,000 ($3,300). Various configurations
of RAM are planned, along with an internal 2.5 inch hard drive in
20, 40 and 100MB capacities. Both versions of the 68000-based
Amiga laptop come with two non-Zorro slots, which will enable
add-ins such as a 68020 co-processor, modem or PC bridgeboard to
be fitted.

Gigatron is reported to have redesigned the Amiga's motherboard
to compress it into a laptop's casing. This has also enabled the
Amiga laptop to be fitted with the new graphics chip seen on the
Amiga A2500/30 machine launched at Comdex Fall last month.

Attempts to contact Gigatron at its West German office as
Newsbytes went to press were unsuccessful. Industry sources
suggest that Commodore is likely to welcome Gigatron's
development of the Amiga, rather than take a fierce stance on
copyright, as Apple has done when clones of its Macintosh began
to appear earlier this year.

(Steve Gold/19891209)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00001)

AUSTRALIA: RETAIL CHIEF SPARS WITH PARTNERS
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Mike Boulos, the
former managing director of ComputerLand Solutions in
Australia is threatening to take legal action over the
terms of a buyout by his US partners, of his share of the
business. Boulos is also angry about comments made in the
Wall Street Journal and the Australian Financial Review
newspapers about his style of running the business.

The dispute involves a buyout agreement signed in July.
Richard Bard, who is now in charge of ComputerLand
Solutions, claims the agreement contains a self-executing
clause that nullifies the agreed terms if losses for the
year to September 30, 1989, reached a certain figure. Bard
said the losses had exceeded that figure by last June.

Bard said, "Therefore we don't have to abide by that
agreement. We want to come to some agreement. We are now
negotiating what is the right price, and I'm not going to
do that in the press."

Boulos claims the present contract still stands. He says
one of the conditions in this contract is that Boulos is to
retain the role of executive director of the company until
1991. He is still a director and 50 percent owner of the
ComputerLand group of companies in Australia.

Boulos has a document allegedly from ComputerLand Solutions
headquarters, which has pictures of Boulos, his father, and
three colleagues, with instructions they are not to be
allowed into the building. Bard said he knew of the
document, but claimed it had never been used. Another point
of contention is the shortening of the company name to
"ComputerLand" and the scrapping of a multi-million dollar
AS/400 stock control system.

Last year ComputerLand Solutions had revenues of more than
AUS$100M.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00013)

BACK-UP PAYS OFF AFTER FIRE IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- An administrator
in a Melbourne school backed up all of the school's data
the night before the school was gutted by fire, and the
disks were protected from damage in the school safe. We
bring you this story, not so much for its news value but as
a lesson in life.

The fire at Wesley College caused AUS$3M worth of damage
when it destroyed the computer systems and 120-year-old
main buildings of the school. The destroyed computers
included a 10-year-old DG mainframe and a 12-month-old IBM
AS400 minicomputer. The business director, Graham Williams,
was counting his blessings because the administrative data
had all been backed up the night before. "We'll be up and
running on Monday," Williams said.

The fire is believed to have been deliberately lit and is
being investigated by the Victorian Police Arson Squad.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891129)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00019)

AUSSIE GOVT SEEKS TO LEASE SUPERCOMPUTER
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- The Australian
government science organization, the Commonwealth
Scientific Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) is
selling its five-year-old AUS$3.5M Cyber Supercomputer and
will co-lease a new AUS$10M Cray Y-MP supercomputer with
Leading Edge Technologies in Melbourne.

The new Cray supercomputer will be one of only two in
Australia. It will be installed in Melbourne and accessed
by the CSIRO through a network. CSIRO official, Lyndal
Thorburn said the CSIRO would use the Cray for
environmental modelling which was stretching the memory
limits of the Cyber. Anyone wanting to buy the Cyber will
have to remove it from the CSIRO's site in Canberra.

The fact that the new computer is being leased and shared
by the CSIRO may or may not reflect something about the
current state of government funding for Australian science.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891130)


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

U.S. CONGRESSMAN CHARGES NINTENDO VIOLATES ANTI-TRUST LAWS}
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- Democratic
Congressman Dennis Eckart of Ohio, Chairman of the House Small
Business Antitrust Subcommittee, has called for an investigation
by the U.S. Department of Justice into whether Nintendo games are
being marketed in violation of anti-trust and anti-competition
laws.

Rep. Eckart's call for investigation is the result of his
committee's recent investigation into the industry which
concluded, in part, that the price of Nintendo games (about $60)
is inflated by 20% to 30% probably because of lack of
competition.

Saying, "If a CD player sold machines but would only allow you to
play Bing Crosby records on them they would never sell," Rep.
Eckart pointed out that Nintendo games use a special chip that
prevents any unauthorized game manufacturer from running their
programs on the Nintendo machines, thus effectively eliminating
all possibility of competition with the Nintendo licensed game
makers.

Nintendo states that this is a consumer protection measure
intended to keep the quality of games high.

The congressman further contends that Nintendo has used predatory
marketing practices to prevent stores from carrying both Nintendo
and competing game machines.

With more than 70% of the U.S. home video game market, Nintendo
has a powerful influence in the market, and Mr. Eckart is asking
that Attorney General Richard Thornburgh start an investigation
into whether the marketing practices that brought it to this
market dominance are in violation of U.S. law.

Nintendo spokesman and senior vice president Howard C. Lincoln
said that Mr. Eckart's actions were based on misleading
information supplied by games competitor Atari. Rep. Eckart has
called the contention by Mr. Lincoln that the subcommittee failed
to obtain Nintendo's side of the story "ludicrous" in the face of
two recent lengthy meetings between subcommittee staff and
representatives of Nintendo of America.

Atari Games Corp., in a bitter legal battle with Nintendo over
just these same marketing practices, applauded Mr. Eckart's call
for a full investigation.

When Newsbytes reported several months ago that the large video
rental chain, Erols, had started renting Nintendo game machines
and game titles, this bureau was told that the company had been
unable to reach any agreement with Nintendo despite the fact that
they were buying hundreds of the machines and thousands of
Nintendo games. Erols ended up purchasing all the games at full
retail, a very unusual occurrence for such a major customer.

(John McCormick/19891207/Press Contact: Louise Hilsen, press
secretary to Rep. Dennis Eckart, D-Ohio, 1-202-225-6331)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00010)

IRS GETS HELP IN PLAN TO MODERNIZE}
GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- The
National Institute of Standards and Technology has agreed to
provide technical support to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to
aid that organization in the modernization of its computer
system.

The major innovation in the new system, which is supposed to be
installed by the end of 1991, is that with NIST's advice the new
system will be designed so that it is easily expandable using
future technology.

(John McCormick/1989126/Press Contact: Jan Kosko, NIST, 301-975-
2762)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00006)

TI DENIES SECURITIES VIOLATION}
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 05 (NB) --  A federal lawsuit
against Texas Instruments has been filed in US District Court in
Dallas by an investor who is accusing the company of not making
timely public disclosures of a potentially lucrative patent
granted by Japan.

The patent granted Oct. 30 by Japan was for TI's basic integrated
circuit (IC).  The patent was granted nearly 30 years after TI
filed its first claim on the IC designed by former employee Jack
Kilby.  News of the patent grant was not made public until a
Japanese economic journal disclosed it Nov. 21.  The report was
later circulated in the US by a Japanese securities firm and
acknowledged by TI.

According to a UPI report, the investor filing the suit claims to
have purchased two put options in November.  The complaint
alleges that TI knew about the patent several weeks before it was
publicly disclosed and says that TI should have mentioned the
patent with its promise of huge royalty payments in the company's
third quarter report issued Oct. 20.  The day before the Japanese
patent was reported, TI announced it would take a pretax charge
of $55 million in the fourth quarter for cost-cutting that
included staff reduction of 1500.  Despite this, as soon as the
patent was reported, TI stock rose sharply.

The suit is asking for unspecified damages that could run into
millions of dollars according to the plaintiff's attorney.  A
spokeswoman for TI has indicated that the company will fight the
suit vigorously.

The suit was also filed against TI Chairman Jerry Junkins,
Executive Vice President Bill George and Board Director John
Toomay in an effort to become a class action.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208)


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

SEMATECH AIDS SEMICONDUCTOR MFG EDUCATION}
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 05 (NB) -- Sematech, a consortium
of 14 US semiconductor manufacturers, has signed an agreement
with Texas State Technical Institute (TSTI) and the Center for
Occupational Research and Development (CORD) to assist in the
development of coursework in semiconductor manufacturing.

The agreement closely follows an award of $417,000 in federal
funds to CORD to design and implement the ideal curricula to
train semiconductor manufacturing technicians.  Under the
agreement, Sematech will serve as a resource to CORD, providing
information and guidance on skills and courses needed by
semiconductor technicians.  CORD will develop the curriculum and
teaching materials and TSTI will provide the instructors,
classrooms and laboratories.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Ann Marett, Sematech,
512-356-3327)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TYO)(00003)

NEC AND INTEL REACH OUT-OF-COURT SETTLEMENT}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- NEC has announced that it has
reached an out-of-court settlement with California-based
major chipmaker Intel over a chip copyright issue that has
lasted more than half a decade.

In December, 1984, Intel filed a suit against NEC over its V
series chips which allegedly infringed on Intel's 16-bit 8086 and
8088 chip copyright. After four years of the copyright
battle, however, the San Jose branch of California District
Court issued a final decision which said that Intel was not infringing
on the copyright. Intel had been considering an appeal on the
grounds that the decision did not make sense.

But the matter is finally out of the courts now that NEC has
dropped its demand for damages incurred as a result of the Intel
suit.

(Ken Takahashi/19891207/Press Contact: NEC Corp., 03-798-6511)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00002)

NEW AUSTRALIAN PRIVACY LAW REQUIRES COMPUTER CHANGE}
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Bruce Bargon, the
general manager of Australia's Credit Reference Association
claims the organization will close down if proposed
amendments to the Privacy Act are passed. Bargon said
proposed fines associated with the Act would bankrupt the
Association and leave financial institutions without a
reference body.

"We figure that on day one we'd be up for AUS$5 billion in
fines." He claims the CRA database cannot conform to the
proposed privacy changes as it contains a mixture of
private and commercial credit data which cannot be
separated. The CRA is a commercial bureau providing and
recording credit history information.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00004)

AUSTRALIA: HI-TECH SUPER-UNIVERSITY TO OPEN}
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The Federal
government has announced plans to establish a Victorian
university specializing in high technology, by merging
three existing tertiary institutions.

A spokesman for the Education Minister said the Victorian
University of Technology was intended to be a research
center for the computer, aerospace, and other hi-tech
industries. The government will put more than AUS$55M
towards the merger of the Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, the Footscray Institute of Technology, and the
Western Institute. "We're talking about an institution with
about 15,000 to 16,000 students which will enable resources
to be pooled and will attract top academics and post-
graduate students."

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00005)

AUSTRALIA: ACCUSED IN TRESPASS CASE FAILS TO BAN MEDIA }
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The first
Australian to be charged with computer trespass has failed
in an effort to censor media coverage of the case.

Deon Barylak tried to get a suppression order from the
court because he had lost his job after the publicity of
the first hearing and he claimed more publicity would hurt
him further. The Magistrate Morris Duncan refused to close
the court because Barylak had not formerly applied for the
order. The case was adjourned until April next year.

Barylak was charged after he was allegedly seen loading a
PC with a virus-infected disk. If convicted, Barylak could
get 10.5 years' jail and a AUS$2,500 fine.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00006)

AUSTRALIAN GOVT RECOMMENDS RATIONALIZATION
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The Australian
Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce (DITAC) has
met with Australia's top 10 PC makers to recommend that
they find ways of rationalizing the industry. The meeting
arose after the recent financial problems of the
Queensland-based firm Computer corporation of Australia.

A spokesman said, "These guys have a habit of falling over
and we want to ask them if they're going to survive and can
we help...what we want is for them to get together in a
rational way or none of them will survive."

The spokesman would not rule out government financial
assistance for ailing PC companies but said that the main
point of the meeting was to provide a forum for discussion,
and to "point them in the right direction" by telling the
PC about the type of government business coming up.

A representative of the venture-capital industry told the
meeting there was little point in pursuing a local PC
manufacturing industry. The message coming from the meeting
was for manufacturers to "diversify, cooperate and
coordinate." They were told not to expect Australians to
buy their products just because they were Australian --
they had to be value-for-money as well.

Meanwhile the state Victorian Government will allocate
AUS$600,000 to encourage software exporters to sell more
products overseas.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00007)

SYDNEY TO GET COMPUTERIZED AIRPORT SYSTEM}
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The developers of
a new computerized air traffic control system to be trialled
at Sydney Airport next year claim it will cut the costs of air
travel, reduce delays, and increase safety.

Dr Andrew Lucas, project manager of the Air Traffic
Management System, said the new system would better utilize
existing runway and taxiway systems and would manage the
flow of aircraft more effectively. In fact, the developers
say the new system could obviate the need for a second
airport in Sydney; an issue that has been a major source of
controversy for the last two years.

The developers are investing AUS$1M in the project with the
Civil Aviation Authority supplying the expertise from air
traffic controllers and the Australian Artificial
Intelligence Institute doing the technical development.

Plans are afoot to link the system over a number of
Australian airports, and both parties are looking for the
system to reach the export stage. Lucas said they would be
looking to market the technology through one of the world's
large radar companies.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


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

AUSTRALIAN SENATE "MISLEAD" ABOUT COMPUTER PURCHASES}
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- An officer from the
Parliamentary Information Systems Office (PISO) has admitted to
misleading a Senate Estimates Committee.

In October, the Senate Estimates Committee had queried the
use of money from an "unofficial account." The account,
worth more than AUS$88,000, had been set up by the PISO
from the disposal of computer equipment. This was later
used for, among other things, a trip to the Sydney Hilton
Hotel for a "workshop" attended by four Canberra PISO
officers. The committee was told that the former PISO
manager, Mark Goodall, had not stayed at the Hilton but had
made private arrangements.

The Senate investigation found that in setting up the
account, PISO breached the Audit Act, made several breaches
of Finances Regulations and breached Sections 81 and 83 of
the Constitution.

The Senate also heard of a PISO employee who left his job
last year on a Friday and was re-hired as a consultant the
next Tuesday, continuing the same work at more than twice
the salary. Dr Paul Thistlewaite was able to earn
AUS$101,270 in 11 months, which compares with the $46,000
per annum he earned previously.

(David Ives/19891129)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00018)

COMMODORE FACES AUSTRALIAN LEGAL ACTION}
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 29 (NB) -- A Sydney dealer has
filed a claim for a six-figure sum against Commodore in the
New South Wales District Court, for allegedly restricting
his company's sales, and for cancelling the company as a
Commodore dealer.

The claim for damages brought by Computerfair has arisen
after Commodore was fined AUS$250,000 by the Trade
Practices Commission for breaching the retail price
maintenance provision of the Trade Practices Act. Commodore
meanwhile says it has started litigation against
Computerfair for alleged failure to pay AUS$123,000 for
delivered goods.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891130)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00026)

SOFTWARE BIG SIX CLAIM GREY MARKET VICTORY IN AUSTRALIA}
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 28 (NB) -- Ashton-Tate and
Lotus are claiming a victory against so-called grey
marketing in Australia, following the recent granting of a
restraining order against an Australian software reseller.

The company, known as Seltec, Select Software and Vacolan,
is restrained from "importing, distributing or otherwise
dealing in" a range of software from the two manufacturers.

MD of Lotus in Australia, Gerry Anthony claims that the
importer has breached sections 37 and 38 of the Australian
Copyright Act and that the court ruled that there was no
defence given. Vacolan has been ordered to pay Lotus' and
Ashton-Tate's costs.

Vacolan privately claimed that this was an action designed
to artificially maintain high software prices. Anthony
countered this by claiming that nobody expect the importer
profited in grey marketing. "What is plainly illegal is the
distribution of software without the consent of the
copyright holder," said a spokesperson fro Lotus.

(Paul Zucker/19891201/Press Contact: Macro Communications.
ph. 61-2-4393655)
(NEWS)(GOVT)(TOR)(00002)

CANADA URGED TO CURB SOFTWARE RENTALS}
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- Copyright protection
for computer software should be extended to give software vendors
control over rental of their products, according to the
Information Technology Association of Canada.

In a recent submission to Canada's federal Department of Consumer
and Corporate Affairs and Department of Communications, ITAC said
rentals of software, ostensibly for evaluation, are "thinly
disguised piracy schemes."

"For the renter, there is the opportunity to make a copy at a
fraction of the legitimate cost, and then return the diskette,"
ITAC said. "For the retail outlet, there are lucrative returns
from rentals with less risk than making illegal copies. For the
copyright owner, there is no compensation, the marketability of
his software program is undermined and, in many cases, the success
of his company is threatened."

The association, a group of Canada's largest information
technology companies, called on the government to give copyright
holders full discretion to rent or withhold rental of a program,
and to allow software rental only with a written license from the
software developer. There should be no compulsory licensing and
no exemptions, ITAC said.

ITAC argued that renting software is a poor way to allow
potential buyers to evaluate it, since learning to use software
takes time and rental rates are typically 25 percent of the
purchase price. Many vendors offer trial versions of their
packages for this purpose, ITAC pointed out.

(Grant Buckler/19891207/Press Contact: Norman Cheesman, ITAC,
416-493-8710)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TOR)(00003)

CANADIAN COLLEGE RAIDED OVER SOFTWARE COPYING}
JONQUIERE, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- The Royal Canadian
Mounted Police have raided a junior college north of Quebec City
because a teacher complained of being told to copy software, The
Globe and Mail reports. The newspaper said Yolande Fortin, a
computer sciences teacher at the school, complained after being
suspended for her job in October for refusing to make copies of
commercial software.

A French-language computer publication, Direction Informatique,
earlier reported Fortin's suspension, which the teacher maintains
was imposed because she told the Jonquiere school board she would
no longer teach with unauthorized copies of commercial software.

Graeme Hughes, president of the Information Technology
Association of Canada (ITAC), said the incident shows that
software piracy continues to be a problem.

(Grant Buckler/19891208)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TOR)(00004)

CANADIAN AGENCIES TO FUND TECHNOLOGY STUDIES}
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 DEC 5 (NB) -- Two of Canada's
national research granting agencies will work together to fund
university chairs in technological change and innovation. The
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) have
launched a program that will pay salaries and research costs for
professors at Canadian universities who deal with technological
change and science policy.

The money will be awarded for a five-year period, with an option
to renew for another five years. The councils said they expect
to finance as many as six such chairs over the next two years.
They plan to seek additional funding from other government
agencies, universities and the private sector.

Margaret Caughey, a spokeswoman for NSERC, said the budget for
the program is flexible and total cost will depend on the
proposals received and how many are funded.

(Grant Buckler/19891205/Press Contacts: Margaret Caughey, NSERC,
613-996-4993; Anne Marie Majtenyi, SSHRC, 613-992-5145)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00003)

IBM PLANNING CHANGE OF EMPHASIS FOR PS/2 MODEL 30?}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- According to Newsbytes'
sources, IBM is planning a major change in emphasis for its PS/2
Model 30 series. The change in strategy is expected to be
announced in the spring of 1990.

The Model 30, while serving as the entry-level machine in the
PS/2 series, lacks the Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) seen on
other machines in the series. The result has been that potential
purchasers have expressed confusion when upgrading from a
standard PC to the PS/2 environment.

The Spring 1990 strategy for the Model 30, say Newsbytes'
sources, will be to move the machine away from the mainstream PS/'2
range, bundling the machine in with a variety of packages, such
as a printer, so as to make the Model 50 the entry-level machine
in the PS/2 series. It is also likely that the term PS/2 will be
dropped from the Model 30's title, so as not to confuse the
potential purchaser.

(Steve Gold/19891209)


(EXCLUSIVE)(IBM)(WAS)(00002)

COMPAQ TO KEEP 486 CLOSE TO VEST
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- A Compaq
spokesperson told Newsbytes that 80486 review units would
very probably not be made available through the normal evaluation
channels for the computer press and would only be available for
testing by those who traveled to Compaq's offices to conduct
tests on the premises.

When Newsbytes asked why the computers would not be sent out for
evaluation where reviewers had the software and equipment to
conduct proper evaluations, the spokesperson replied that it was
"because of the highly technical nature of the computers."

When Newsbytes contacted another PC-compatible computer
manufacturer for their reaction to this statement, the
representative commented that he felt there was probably some
other reason for the policy since the 80486 is inherently no more
complex from the user's standpoint than the 80386 microprocessor
with which it is completely compatible.

(John McCormick/19891204)


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

ENABLE ENTERS SMALL BUSINESS SOFTWARE MARKET
BALLSTON LAKE, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Enable
Software today introduced Enable/BP (Business Productivity) and
Enable/BP LAN (a local area network version) of its integrated
software packages aimed at the small- and medium-size business
user.

Enable is well-known for its massive and powerful Enable/OA
(Office Automation) integrated package which came with both MS-
DOS and OS/2 versions in the same package and quickly gained
acceptance in the federal government because it was bundled with
Zenith computers in a massive procurement contract a few years
back.

Ingram Micro D, which will distribute the new programs, also
helped develop them. Enable/BP lists for $199, with a four-user
LAN version selling for $495 and an upgrade to Enable/OA costing
$185.

(John McCormick/19891207/Press Contact: Luke Lambert, Enable,
518-877-8600)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00011)

LOTUS SHIPS NOTES
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 06 (NB) --  Lotus has
begun shipping Lotus Notes, a group communications software that
allows users to create and access shared information using PCs as
well as local and wide area networks. This product is geared at
large information-oriented companies such as accounting firms
or banks.

Already on the books, Lotus has a 10,000 copy order from Price
Waterhouse.  Manufacturer's Hanover Trust, one of the ten largest
banks in the US is installing Notes.

Notes can be tailored to handle document-oriented applications
such as customer tracking, status reporting, project management,
information distribution, discussions and electronic mail.  Lotus
says Notes is suited to geographically diverse work environments
where the makeup of work teams, business conditions and
opportunities are continually changing.

Notes is based on the client/server computing model that connects
PCs via networks to shared database servers.  The Notes "client"
features an intuitive, graphic interface that runs under OS/2 and
the Presentation Manager.  It also runs under DOS with Windows.
The "server" runs under OS/2 with Novell, 3COM or IBM network
operating systems.

Notes supports the DOS and OS/2 implementations of Novell, 3COM
and IBM LAN running on supported hardware such as Ethernet or
Token Ring.

The price for initial purchase is $62,500.  Additional machines
may be licensed for $295 each with quantity discounts available.

A Lotus spokesperson told Newsbytes that Notes will support IBM
PROFS, VAX Mail and MHS mail systems.

(John McCormick & Janet Endrijonas/19891207/Press Contact: Sue
Jensen, Lotus, 617-577-8500, 1138)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00018)

ENHANCED ADAPTSNA 3270 SOFTWARE FROM NSA}
LAGUNA HILLS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 04 (NB) --  Network
Software Associates (NSA) has introduced an enhanced version of
its AdaptSNA 3270 emulation software for IBM PCs, compatibles,
PS/2s and laptops.

Adapt SNA 3270 lets PCs communicate with IBM Systems Network
Architecture (SNA) mainframes by emulating an IBM 3278/9
terminal, one or two 3287 printers, and optionally a 3274 cluster
controller.  The enhancements include four color printing, full
screen display for certain IBM 3278/9 model emulation, additional
Application Programming Interface (API) verbs, unattended
operation facility for EEHLLAPI applications, a new TRACE
facility for diagnostics and optional IBM Common User Interface
(CUI) compatibility.

The product will be available for delivery in March 1990 and will
be priced at $245.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Alice Topping, Network
Software Associates, 714-768-4013)


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

JAPAN: CANON TO BUNDLE NEW DTP SOFTWARE WITH AX PCS}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Canon Sales has developed new DTP (desk
top publishing) software, the CanoPress, and bundled it with its AX
machines.

CanoPress was developed to be sold alongside Canon's laser printers.
However, in the final stage of development, Canon decided to bundle
it with its AX machines.

Canon is planning to support the graphic user interface developed by
Hewlett-Packard, NewWave, and consequently, will adapt the new program
to run in the NewWave environment.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891207/Press Contact, Canon Sales: 03-455-9491)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00002)

HEWLETT-PACKARD LAUNCHES NEW WAVE OFFICE IN UK}
WOKINGHAM, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- In the wake of last
week's launch of New Wave Office in the U.S., Hewlett-Packard
(HP) has launched the multi-platform office computing system in
the U.K., detailing U.K. availability and pricing.

HP New Wave Office is essentially an integrated office system
that simplifies and speeds up access to computer-based
information. The New Wave interface creates a windowing front end
to the available programs and data, which are available both
locally and over a network.

Unlike its primary competitors - DEC's All-In-One and IBM's
Officevision - New Wave Office runs on an 80286, 386 or 486-based
PC, as well as on a range of RISC-based workstations and even
simple terminals. HP is also allowing Apple Macs to access the
New Wave Office environment on a terminal emulation basis.

More than 60 software houses and developers have pledged support
for the New Wave Office system, according to Nigel Batterton, HP
information systems' marketing manager. This, he told Newsbytes,
illustrates the success of the system.

Other advantages of New Wave Office over the competition, he
said, are that only one version of the package need be loaded to
one machine on a network. On a minicomputer-based system, for
example, New Wave Office would be supplied on tape, and
downloaded from the mini onto PCs and workstations on the
network.

"This prevents the user from having to load New Wave Office from
a pile of different disks. There's just one tape of set of disks
to control and that's it," he said.

U.K. pricing on New Wave Office has been set at UKP 160 ($240)
for a single user license, ranging to UKP 73,000 ($110,000) for a
multiuser multiserver license.

(Steve Gold/19891209/Press & Public Contact: Nigel Batterton,
Hewlett-Packard - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00004)

HM SYSTEMS BECOMES FIRST UK FIRM TO SHIP 80486-BASED PC}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- HM Systems, the London-based
small systems specialist, has become the first UK company to ship
a full-specification 80486-based PC. The company claims to have
beaten Apricot and Mission Cyrus, both of whom have promised to
ship 80486-based machines.

According to Tony Harris, HM Systems' managing director, the
full-specification version of the 80486-based Minstrel
workstation - costing UKP 7,950 ($12,000) - undercuts IBM's PS/2
Model 70 fitted with the 486/25 power platform (UKP 9,112) and
similar specification machines from Apricot and Compaq.

"The 25MHz 80486 is twice as fast as a 33MHz 386 which is a very
substantial improvement. This speed improvement will be seen ny
all users whether they are running 16 or 32 bit programs and once
80486 machines go into volume production and prices drop, users
will feel pretty sick if they have recently purchased a high-
performance 386-based system," he said.

The 80486-based Minstrel workstation is based around the same
modular design as the existing 286 and 386SX-based machines in HM
Systems' Minstrel series. The UKP 7,950 system comes with 8MB of
RAM and a 240MB hard disk, as well as VGA graphics and a colour
monitor.

Initially, the machine is available in limited quantities, fitted
with Intel's B6 step bug-free version of the 80486
microprocessor. Volume shipments of the 486-based Minstrel
workstation, along with higher and lower-specification versions,
will be available from January 1990 onwards.

(Steve Gold/19890912/Press & Public Contact: Tony Harris, HM
Systems - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(BRU)(00001)

INTEL 860 APPLICATIONS MULTIPLYING}
HERTFORD, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Real World Graphics, the
UK hardware specialist, has released the Reality PC card, an add-
in card that features twin i860 Intel microprocessors driving a
3D CAD (computer-aided design) system.

The Reality PC system supports a graphics resolution of 1024 by
768 pixels and is capable of 100,000 Gourad shaded polygon
rotations a second. The card can be configured with up to 8MB of
RAM, and plugs into a standard PC-AT (80286 or better) PC.

(Peter Vekinis/19891209/Press Contact: Real World Graphics, Tel:
0992-554442)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BRU)(00002)

SMART DEVICE REPLACES KEYBOARD OF AT AND PC}
HASSELAGER, DENMARK, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Eiva, the Danish hardware
manufacturer, has announced the availability of Smart Wye, a
intelligent I/O port device that plugs into a standard PC
keyboard socket. The unit allows external devices to be monitored
by the PC with the need for special adapter cards or expensive
hardware modifications.

The Smart Wye unit generates the same ASCII codes as a
conventional PC keyboard, with each particular ASCII code
assigned to a particular external device's status. Thus, for
example, the ASCII code 100 could be assigned to signify that an
external switch is open. 101 could signify that the switch is
closed, and so on.

Eiva is also marketing a phantom keyboard unit which also
replaces the PC keyboard. The unit appears as a keyboard to the
usual start-up routines under DOS and allows batch files to be
executed without the keyboard being required. This is
particularly useful in situations where a keyboard is not
appropriate, such as in store displays.

(Peter Vekinis/19891209/Contact: Eiva - Tel: [phone]; Fax:
[phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(BRU)(00003)

IBM TO SUPPLY SYSTEMS TO THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE}
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- IBM has agreed to
sponsor the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in
Lausanne, Switzerland, with an AS/400 computer system.

According to Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the IOC, the
IBM system will be used to simplify the administration and day to
day running of the IOC's headquarters.

"We are very happy to receive computers from a company as well
known as IBM which has in the past strongly supported the Olympic
movement," he said.

IBM has also agreed to supply computers for the 1992 Winter Olympic
Games, which will be held in Albertville, France.

(Peter Vekinis/19891209)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BRU)(00004)

MAJOR NETWORK VENDORS SUPPORT MS-DOS 4.01}
HOOFDORP, THE NETHERLANDS, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Microsoft
Netherlands has announced that MS-DOS 4.01 will support all
popular network architectures through the use of software
drivers.

The software drivers allow normal keyboard, printer and other
hardware data to be redirected to and from the network,
supporting XMA expanded memory and hard drive partitions greater
than the normal 32MB DOS limits.

Vendors supported by the new version of DOS include 3Com, Novell,
Banyan and Microsoft. The network vendors have agreed to supply
the software drivers and redirectors for their network hardware.
In addition, DOS 4.01 is supported by at least 25 computer
systems manufacturers.

(Peter Vekinis/19891209)


(NEWS)(IBM)(HKG)(00001)

HONGKONG BANK PLACES IBM'S LARGEST EVER AS/400 ORDER
CENTRAL, HONGKONG, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Today the Hongkong and
Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, one of the world's 30
largest banking groups, signed an agreement with IBM to
supply $55 million worth of AS/400s.

The order is the largest ever placed by any purchaser in
Hongkong, and is believed to be the biggest single order for
AS/400's that IBM Corporation worldwide has received to date.

An IBM spokesman told Newsbytes today that announcement of
the order would no doubt instill some confidence into
Hongkong which has been serious lacking since the June
troubles in Beijing.

The agreement means that over 100 AS/400s, from medium to
large configurations, will be installed in the bank's offices
worldwide over the next 30 months.

Mr Alan Jebson, senior manager technical services,
HongkongBank, said: "The AS/400 already supports our retail
and corporate banking systems, treasury, merchant banking,
insurance, trustee and management information systems. This
standardization allows us to broaden our customer
relationship on a global basis."

Managing director of IBM China/Hongkong Corporation said that
the order was the continuation of a worldwide partnership
between Hongkong Bank and IBM. "Half of the installation
will take place in the Asia-Pacific region and the balance
will be installed in Europe, Canada and the USA.

The announcement lifted the spirits of IBMers in the Hongkong
office, who had, only this morning, heard the announcement by
IBM Corporate of 10,000 staff reductions. Most Hongkong staff
members were smiling, content in the knowledge that their
jobs should be safe based on this year's performance.

(Keith Cameron/19891114)


(NEWS)(IBM)(HKG)(00004)

GILMAN SELLING TOWER PCS IN HONGKONG
WANCHAI, HONGKONG, 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- A brand new personal
computer product, expected to creep into the corners of many
offices in Hongkong, is out from Gilman Office Machines. The
Ninja, so named because "Ninja's can do anything," according to
John Zinkin, CEO of GOM, is designed by the Hongkong
manufacturer, Westpac Technologies Ltd.

The Ninja comes in a mini-tower housing which can stand either
on the desktop or on the floor. It has both 3.5-inch, 1.44 MB
and 5.25-inch, 1.2 MB diskette drives which are intended to
ensure media compatibility with any existing PCs in Gilman
customers' offices. Another unique feature of the
configuration is the removable hard-disk, which can be 20, 40
or 80 MB. Unlike the normal removable hard disk, the Ninja
drive is better described as "replaceable" because the entire disk
drive and controller slides out and may be stored in a
padded carrying case in the office safe.

"The idea is to provide a simple means of security, and also
to provide a platform for multi-operating systems or
applications," Neil Fifer, general manager of marketing,
GOM, told Newsbytes.

Another innovative approach with the Ninja range, which
comes in zero wait state 286 and 386 models, is that it may
be ordered only in monochrome or VGA. John Beukema, managing
director of Westpac Technologies, explained: "There is
effectively no difference in price between EGA and VGA, so
why bother to offer EGA? And CGA is not worth mentioning."

(Keith Cameron/19891208 Press/Product contact: Neil Fifer,
Gilman Office Machines, 20th Flr, Tai Yau Bldg, Johnston Rd
Wanchai. Hongkong Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00009)

EC TO ABOLISH CONTROLS ON E-MAIL, FAXES, AND VANS}
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- An important decision made
by the European Community (EC) directorate means that national
regulations controlling fax, electronic mail and value-added
network services will soon be abolished by EC countries.

Last week, EC telecommunication ministers said that, while
telephone and telex services will remain under individual state
controls, EC country regulations controlling other telecommunication-
related services are to the be abolished.

The announcement means, for example, that it will shortly be
possible for any company to set itself up as an e-mail or fax
bureau service provider. Previously, U.K. companies had to apply
for regulatory approval and a license from their respective
government telecoms body.

Despite the effective telecom free-for-all that the EC decision
allows, the EC directorate will insist on a number of basic
technical guidelines and tariff principles.

The effective date for the transition to free telecom within the
EC is 1 April, 1990 for e-mail, fax and national VAN services.
International VAN services, such as X.25 networks, will be de-
regulated from 1 April, 1993.

Individual countries will, however, be allowed to delay the
introduction of a non-regulated telecoms market for up to
six years to allow time for the transition to take place
smoothly. Newsbytes understands that this 'grace period' will
only affect EC member states whose telecommunications networks
require extensive modernisation, such as those in Italy and
Spain.

(Steve Gold/19891209)


(CORRECTION)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00003)

UPDATE ON COMMUNITY LINK IN OMAHA}
OMAHA, NEBRASKA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- Newsbytes wishes to
make a few corrections in regard to the story "AMERICAN CITINET
OPENS OMAHA VIDEOTEXT SERVICE" which appeared December 1 in
Newsbytes.

First, Community Link is not run by American Citinet but by
U.S. West. Omaha Citinet is run by both American Citinet and
the Omaha World-Herald, and is just one of several service
bureaus providing information on Community Link, contrary to
our earlier report.

The services provided by Community Link do not currently
include information on metropolitan church services or school
lunch menus, although such information was a part of a
demonstration of Community Link used at the Videotext Industry
Association trade show earlier this year in San Francisco.

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. Only 200
were in use during prior field tests.

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


(CORRECTION)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00013)

UPDATE - GE RATE CHANGE ONLY AFFECTING VAN CLIENTS}
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- In last week's
story about the changes in General Electric's 2400 baud service,
Newsbytes reported that the corporation had made 2400 baud
service access the same fee as 300 and 1200 service access on
the GEIS network.

GE wishes to clarify that statement, which appeared in an
early, misleading news release.

GEIS has, in fact, eliminated a $1 per hour surcharge on
2400 baud service on its value-added network, making the
price identical to that for 300 and 1200 baud service. This
does not affect GEnie users, however. The non-prime time rates
for GEnie are the same they have been: $5/hr. for 300 bps,
$6/hr. for 1200 bps and $10/hr. for 2400 bps.  Prime time rates
are still $18/hr. for all three speeds.

(Wendy Woods/19891208/Press Contact: Steve Haracznak, GE
Information Services, 301-340-4494)


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

TELOS TAKES CONTEL'S LOWERED OFFER}
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Telos
accepted Contel's lower offer of $15.50 per share, a total of
$64 million, and will merge with the Atlanta company's Federal
Systems unit.

The completion of the acquisition, currently
anticipated for late January 1990, remains subject to approval by
Telos' shareholders, expiration of a regulatory 30-day waiting
period and the satisfaction of various customary conditions set
forth in the definitive agreement.

Telos mainly sells computer services to the federal government,
and had revenues of $116 million for the fiscal year ended March
31, 1989. Contel Federal Systems mainly provides the government
with telecommunications equipment. Contel itself is a $3 billion
telephone company, once called Continental Telephone.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Lin Conger, Telos
213-450-2424)


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

WILLIAMS FILES FOR 2.75 MILLION NEW COMMON SHARES}
TULSA, OKLAHOMA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The Williams
Companies, which just bought out the Kansas City Southern's
interest in their fiber optic phone network, filed a registration
statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
covering a public offering of 2,750,000 shares of common stock.

Proceeds from the sale will help cover the debt Williams, which
began life as an oil pipeline, incurred buying out the railroad.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Jim Gipson, Williams
Companies, 918-588-2111)


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

C-COR TO PRODUCE FIBER TV SYSTEM}
STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 5 (NB) -- C-
COR Electronics and COMLUX finalized an agreement to produce a
digital fiber optic system for the transmission of television
signals. C-COR also has an exclusive option to buy out COMLUX
over the next year.

The idea is to sell the system, which will use off-the-shelf
components, to cable TV systems. The cable systems would then
have improved quality and capacity. A spokesman for C-COR said
cable companies don't plan to compete in the U.S. phone business
at this time, although Rogers Cablevision of Canada has expressed
an interest in it. She was uncertain whether the C-COR system
would give them the capacity needed to offer phone service.

Phone companies are presently testing fiber optic systems for
delivery of cable TV, and new FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes has said
he won't let the phone companies into the cable business until
the cable people can get into the phone business, expected by
many to be a long wait.

C-COR is a 35-year-old company which sells equipment used in
cable television systems and data communication. COMLUX is a 3-
year-old company in the fiber optic transmission equipment
business. COMLUX is privately held in Mountain View, Calif.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Sally Thiel of C-COR
Electronics Inc., 814-238-2461)


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

CA COMPANY WANTS TO OPERATE INDEPENDENT CELLULAR SWITCH}
GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Cellular
Service is asking PacTel and L.A. Cellular for permission to
install the first reseller operated switch.

CSI is the largest independent cellular reseller in
California, buying time in bulk and selling it to individual
companies. CSI claims costs would decline if it's allowed to
run a switch between the two companies. While state and
federal regulators have approved the concept in principle,
neither carrier has yet responded.

Over the next 30 days documents will be filed with state regulators to
raise their understanding of the concept. CSI contends that if it
can own switches and interconnect, Americans will be able to
enjoy personal phone numbers which follow them as they move from
car to home to office.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Jerry Kalman, for
Cellular Service, 213-829-5664)


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

GE OFFERS MAINFRAME PROCESSING FOR BANKS}
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, U.S.A.., 1989 DEC 5 (NB) -- GEIS has
announced the U.S. availability of the BPS Central
System, a mainframe software system in which banks can handle the
electronic payment instruction needs of their corporate clients.

With the BPS Central System, a bank can accept electronic
payment/order remittance advices from Electronic Data
Interchange users, reformat them into an Automated Clearing
House payment instruction format, and forward them to a third
party's bank through the ACH network for settlement. Incoming ACH
instructions are also reformatted to American National Standards
Institute 820, 823 or BAI lock box formats.

Banks also can use the BPS Central System for their internal EDI
processing with their customers and suppliers. The first two
banks to use the BPS Central System are First Interstate Bank
of Los Angeles and Seafirst of Seattle, Washington.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Steve Haracznak, GE
Information Services, 301-340-4494)


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

DOW JONES TAKES AIM AT REUTERS IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Telerate,
which is 92% owned by Dow-Jones, publishers of The Wall Street
Journal, has agreed to purchase AT&T's general partnership
interest in the Global Transactions Services, a joint venture
established in 1987 to develop and operate The Trading Service,
an electronic transaction service for the foreign exchange
market introduced early this year.

The deal puts Dow Jones on a collision course with Reuters, which
grew out of its news service niche by taking control of foreign
exchange trading and riding it to prominence. Telerate is the
leader in terminal systems for U.S. stock brokers, holding a
dominance there similar to Reuters' dominance of foreign
exchange. Reuters, which controls stockbroker desktops in Europe,
has been frustrated in its attempts so far to break into the U.S.
market, and is hoping a satellite-distribution scheme will help.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Telerate, William Rose,
212/938-8158)


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

NORTHERN TELECOM BEGINS ISDN TRIALS WITH MCI, SPRINT}
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Northern
Telecom has begun testing Integrated Service Digital Network, or
ISDN, services with the public networks of MCI and US Sprint.

Specifically, the test will cross-network Northern Telecom's
Meridian SL-1/SL-100 Meridian Customer Defined Network nodes and
US Sprint's DMS-250 SuperNode-based ISDN network, as well as
MCI's ISDN network. After the tests are finished, Northern will
use both systems for its internal communications.

The trial will involve a variety of ISDN services such as Calling
Line Identification, Network Ring Again, Call-by-Call Selection
and Automatic 800 Number Identification.  The trial utilizes the
ISDN Primary Rate access signalling format, with 23 lines of
64,000 bits/second and a signaling line going the other way of
16,000 bits per second. The network will link Northern Telecom's
MCDN nodes in Richardson, Texas and Nashville with US Sprint
systems in Oroville, California and Relay, Maryland. The trial is
scheduled to conclude early next year. Northern Telecom Network
Services, manages the company's internal network and supports
over 30,000 users.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Northern Telecom, Jeff
Benson, 615-734-4335)


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

INFONET ANNOUNCES EDI ALLIANCE}
EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Infonet,
the packet network partly owned by foreign phone companies,
announced it has formed a global alliance for electronic data
interchange, or EDI, an electronic invoicing technique.

In the alliance with Infonet are Railinc, Washington; Supply Tech,
Southfield, Mich.; Telecom Australia; Hong Kong's Cable &
Wireless; Singapore Network Services, and Telefonica Spain.
Together they offer EDI and international networking capability
and experience.

Infonet intends to expand the alliance with EDI network providers
in each country throughout the world.  Each country's EDI
provider will be linked to all the others through Infonet's
packet net. Infonet will also encourage trading partners of the
alliance's customers to use EDI, providing service and support.

Infonet's future strategy is to form alliances with EDI providers
in each country. The partners would continue to serve their
domestic customers' local EDI needs, but will also be able to
offer their customers international EDI services via the
alliance.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Laura Andrus, Infonet,
213-335-2872)


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

HAYES LINKS ISDN EFFORTS WITH GPT OF THE UK}
NORCROSS, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 5 (NB) -- Hayes
Microcomputer Products, the leading supplier of PC modems,
signed a collaboration agreement with GPT of the United Kingdom
on ISDN.

GPT is Europe's largest PBX supplier and dominates the
United Kingdom market with its ISDX product. GPT is also the
parent company of Stromberg-Carlson, the #3 supplier of public
switches in North America.

Hayes also announced the availability of a Hayes Standard AT
Command Set Enhanced for ISDN. Hayes began research and
development of ISDN technology over four years ago and
demonstrated its technology in March 1987 at the International
Switching Symposium in Phoenix, Ariz. This is an extension of the
Hayes Standard AT Command Set which has been accepted as a
worldwide standard for modems. The command set issue is
important because it would tie future ISDN products to a set of
commands first created for PC modems over a decade ago.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Jim Box, GPT, 407-333-
5487; Peggy Ballard, Hayes, 404-449-9791)


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

BELL ATLANTIC BEGINS SECTORIZING DOWNTOWN CELLULAR SYSTEMS}
BASKING RIDGE, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 5 (NB) -- Bell
Atlantic Mobile Systems has begun modifying equipment in
Philadelphia and the Washington/Baltimore area to improve quality
and increase calling capacity in downtown areas. The program
involves 11 cells in Philadelphia, 20 cells in Washington, and
nine cells in Baltimore.

Cellular systems are divided into a number of geographic areas or
"cells," each with its own low-powered transmitter linked to a
central switching computer. As cellular telephone users drive
from one cell to another, the system "hands off" the call from
one cell to another. Since most cells send and receive signals in
a 360 degree radius and the channels available for transmission
are limited by federal regulation, the possibility of
interference increases as cells get closer together.

The improvements are called "sectorization," and mean cells
serving the downtown areas in Washington, Baltimore and
Philadelphia will no longer broadcast all channels in all
directions. Instead, each cell's broadcast area will be divided
into three 120 degree sectors. Each sector will be assigned a
specific set of channels that will operate only in a specific
direction.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208)


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

UPI TO SEND ITS WIRE OVER SATELLITE TO EUROPE}
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- UPI has joined rival
Associated Press by instituting satellite transmission of U.S.
news and information to Europe. The UPI satellite transmission
is scheduled to begin December 15, and will allow for
vastly increased news volume.

The UPI test is being conducted with Microspace Communications
Corp. of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Mainstream Data of Salt
Lake City, using the Pan Am satellite. UPI will use Case
Communications equipment under the X.25 standard. UPI is owned
by Infotechnology, which also owns the FNN business news
network and High Technology magazine.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Milt Capps, United
Press International, 202-898-8254)


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

MOTOROLA MICROWAVE AND TELESCIENCES FORM JOINT VENTURE}
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Motorola
of Schaumburg, Illinois and TeleSciences of Fremont have formed a
joint venture, called Motorola Microwave, to design, develop,
manufacture and distribute microwave radio systems.

The Motorola Microwave operations will be relocating from Motorola's
Communications Sector facilities in Schaumburg to a new facility
in Bloomingdale, Ill. Motorola employees will become employees of
the joint venture, which will eventually employ about 350 people.
Telesciences makes microwave radios.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: TeleSciences, Robert
Onraet, 609-866-1000)


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

SEND COLOR VIDEO OVER ORDINARY PHONE LINES WITH KODAK}
LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Eastman
Kodak announced the Kodak SV9610 still video transceiver, which
transmits single color video images over both standard analog telephone
lines and over faster digital services including ISDN networks and
switched 56K bit services.

The SV9610 transceiver uses a proprietary digital compression
process and a 14,400 bit per second internal modem to transmit a
complete high resolution color image in 45 seconds over standard
telephone lines. Using a 64,000 bit/second ISDN line, however,
image delivery time is just 12 seconds.

The Kodak SV9610 still video transceiver also features an
interactive pointer, multiple location image communication when
connected by an audio conferencing bridge, an improved
compression process for graphic images, and RS-232, RS-449 and
SCSI interfaces for integration with computers and voice
encryption systems. The Kodak SV9610 still video transceiver can
be set-up for both auto dial/transmit and auto answer/receive.
This feature facilitates environmental monitoring, weather radar
transmissions and law enforcement applications.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Eastman Kodak, Paul C.
Allen, 716-724-5802)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00014)

LIN SPURNS BELLSOUTH AT ALTER, ACCEPTS MCCAW OFFER}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- LIN
Broadcasting voted to recommend that LIN's stockholders accept a
revised proposal from McCaw Cellular Communications, spurning a
previously-announced agreement with onetime white-knight
BellSouth, which had no reply to the LIN announcement at
press time.

Under the terms of the new proposal, McCaw will modify its tender
offer to provide for the purchase of 21.9 million LIN shares at
$154.11 per share and the contribution of McCaw's 5 percent
indirect interest in Los Angeles Cellular Telephone to LIN. McCaw
will also sell $425 million of McCaw Class A common stock to LIN
and cause LIN to distribute such stock to LIN stockholders (other
than McCaw) as soon as practicable after the tender offer is
completed. In addition, McCaw will modify certain procedural
aspects of its "private value market guarantee," including a
limitation on open-market purchases of LIN stock by McCaw after
the tender offer to a holding of not more than 75% of outstanding
LIN shares, down from 81%. McCaw will also eliminate a number of
the conditions to the consummation of the offer.

While the fat lady hasn't sung on this huge cellular phone merger
battle, she's now warming up in the wings. If the deal goes
through McCaw would become the dominant cellular carrier in the
U.S., bigger than any of the old Bell companies which were
guaranteed cellular licenses in their home markets.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Michael Plouf, LIN
Broadcasting, 212-765-1902)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00015)

AT&T MAIL AND MCI MAIL TO CONNECT UNDER X.400}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., DECEMBER 6 (NB) -- AT&T Mail and MCI
Mail are being interconnected under the X.400 standard next
February.

This will allow customers of both services to exchange
messages for the first time. MCI already connects other X.400
to Dialcom, Telemail, PT Postel, and the IBM Information Network.
AT&T Mail connects with Dialcom, Telenet, Western Union and seven
foreign services, as well as many private mail networks. AT&T
Mail includes fax and invoice services as well as regular
electronic mail. In addition, AT&T MailTALK allows users to
access mail messages using a Touch Tone telephone and a text-to-
speech program.

The agreement between hated rivals is the most significant to
date in the move to connect all mail systems worldwide under
X.400.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Jim McGann, AT&T, 201-
898-3842; Jane Levene, MCI, 914-934-6480)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016)

TANDEM COMPUTERS TO LINK WITH AT&T PBX SYSTEMS}
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Tandem
Computers and AT&T announced they will develop an applications
interface to link Tandem NonStop computer systems and AT&T's
Definity PBX systems, which manage corporate phone systems.

The interface will support the Adjunct/Switch Application
Interface, an open interface developed by AT&T in cooperation
with the 168-member ISDN/DMI Users Group. The Group is an
association of technology companies focused on promoting ISDN
products and services.

Since Tandem is a leader in transactions processing used by mail-
order firms and AT&T is a leader in phone systems used by the
same firms, the announcement can be combined with Automatic
Number Identification, a feature of ISDN, in creative ways.

Specifically, when you call a mail-order house using an AT&T PBX,
your number can immediately be checked against a database on a
Tandem, and added to the company's mailing list with neither your
knowledge nor permission. Your number could also be cross-checked
with the address, verifying your identity.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Corinne DeBra, Tandem,
408-725-7574; Sue Fleming, AT&T, 201-658-2604)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00018)

NEW PORTABLE RADIO TELEPHONE INTRODUCED}
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA U.S.A., 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- International
Mobile Machines Corporation introduced a transportable radio
telephone system designed to provide voice and data
communications immediately following natural disasters
or industrial accidents. It can also be used for outdoor
concerts or special events.

The all-digital Ultraphone 200 Transportable System has
already been used following Hurricane Hugo in Puerto Rico.

Using digital radio, the Ultraphone 200 can serve more than
4,000 square miles within hours after a disaster.

The new IMM system consists of two parts: the network station
and the subscriber station, both of which are enclosed in special
cases.

The company also announced a new radio-based data communications
system, Ultradata. Offered in three models, the Ultradata
provides transmission speeds from 9600 bits per second to 64,000
kilobits per second on digital point-to-point or multi-point
circuits for distances up to 30 miles. It is intended as a drop-
in alternative network access to conventional wireline service
and equipment for data communications. The radio uses proprietary
techniques which allow a high bit rate to be carried on a narrow
bandwidth, with total transparency to all communication
protocols. Among the users would be automatic teller machines,
point-of-sale terminals, travel agencies and pipeline monitoring
systems.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Michael Herron, IMM,
215-665-7800)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00019)

AT&T IMPROVES ACCUNET, SKYNET SERVICE OFFERINGS}
BASKING RIDGE, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- AT&T
announced it will make available 64,000 bits/second access to
customers who subscribe to its International Accunet Digital
Services and Skynet International Service offerings.

Right now, customers with international data circuits who need more than
56,000 bits/second of capacity must use T1 lines running at 1.544
megabits/second. The new offering is aimed at overseas users for
whom 64,000 bit/second lines are common.

Early next year, AT&T plans to expand the direct link offering to
additional cities and provide commonly used fractional T1.5 data
rates like 128,000, 256,000, and 512,000 bits/second.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Dave Bickle, AT&T, 201-
953-7614)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00020)

JOINT VENTURE FORMED FOR 900 NUMBER SERVICE}
DENVILLE, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- A leading
media broker called The Mediators of New York formed a joint-
venture with Bellatrix Communications under which the Mediators
will bring programming to Bellatrix' 900-number service bureau.

This means companies or individuals with information or notoriety
to sell can get one-stop shopping for "900" number initiation,
termination, call count and call-minute monitoring and reporting,
television media development, advertising placement, program
development, creation and production, and receivables financing.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Richard Bolton,
Bellatrix Communications, 201-586-0900)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00021)

NYNEX TO HANDLE COMPUTING FOR PRODIGY SERVICE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- In a deal
which at least provides a stop-gap if its gateway trial fails,
NYNEX Computer Services will handle the Prodigy Service in New
York and New England. The deal could also become the prototype
for other regions.

NYNEX will provide database storage and retrieval services, and
manage a network of computer and data communications facilities
supporting the delivery of the Prodigy service to homes
throughout the NYNEX service region. This means they'll store the
most asked-for screens in their computers and handle the data
communications.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Carol Fessler, NYNEX,
914-644-7844)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00001)

PANASONIC DBS TO BE "MADE IN AMERICA"}
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 05 (NB) -- Panasonic Digital
Business Systems (DBS) will begin shipping product made in its
new Peachtree City, GA facility on January 20.

This surprise announcement was made at the North American
Telecommunications Association (NATA) conclave, UNICOM '89.
Charles Dino, regional sales manager for Business Telephone
Systems Division, Communications Systems Group at Panasonic told
Newsbytes that Panasonic's parent company, Matsushita, made a
conscious decision to move manufacturing to the US.  "The company
looked at the anti-dumping suit filed against Japanese
manufacturers by AT&T and decided that regardless of the outcome,
the best answer to the dumping charge and to future US business
was to create manufacturing in the USA."

This announcement comes in the wake of the appointment last April
1st of Richard Kraft as the first American-born president of
Matsushita, USA, who promised to "Americanize" Panasonic and
develop a family network of US dealers for the entire Matsushita
line.  Coincidently, Panasonic's DBS division, the first to
manufacture in the US, was created that same day.

The division has not received any product from Japan since July.
Initial production at the new 200,000 square foot facility is
expected to be 10,000 units per month.  That figure should double
by the end of 1990.  Panasonic has created almost 700 US jobs at
the Georgia site and additional jobs will be created as
production increases.

Dino told Newsbytes that manufacturing in the US now puts
Panasonic in a very competitive position in the communications
equipment market.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Ron Tomczyk, Panasonic,
201-348-7183)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00002)

AT&T UNVEILS 2-LINE CORDLESS TELEPHONE}
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 05 (NB) -- The Merlin Cordless,
the first cordless two-line telephone for business has been
demonstrated at the North American Telecommunications
Association's (NATA) UNICOM '89.

Designed by AT&T Bell Laboratories, the phone is supposed to
provide AT&T corded telephone sound quality to the cordless
realm.  The Merlin has five programmable buttons that can be used
for telephone lines or system features such as intercom and speed
dial.  There are visual indicators to show the status of the
telephone lines.

Users can select any one of 10 channels allocated to transmitting
cordless conversations.  To maintain clarity, channel switches
can be made mid-conversation using a single button.  The unit is
equipped with an automatic security system that protects against
unauthorized use.

Merlin Cordless phones are compatible with a list of business
telephone systems to which they can be connected without an
adaptor.  Available at AT&T Phone Centers, authorized dealers and
the AT&T sales force, Merlin's list for $485 with an AT&T phone
system purchase or $560 when purchased alone.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Simone Acque, AT&T,
201-581-5619)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00003)

FIRST WESTERN PAYPHONE EXPO TO BE HELD IN LAS VEGAS}
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 06 (NB) --  The telecommunications
industry has become so diverse, that now even the pay phone makers
have a convention of their own. The American Public
Telephone Communications Council (APCC) and the California
Payphone Association (CPA) have announced that the first Annual
Western Payphone Exposition will be held in Las Vegas, NV May 15-
17, 1990.

Named "Magic in May," the exposition will be held at the recently
opened Mirage Hotel.  All proceeds from the event will be
dedicated to funding legal and regulatory efforts in support of
the public communications industry.

A separate payphone exposition will be held in Washington, DC in
the fall of 1990.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Susan Ryba, NATA, 202-
296-9800 x 229)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00004)

UNICOM '89 TERMED A ROUSING SUCCESS}
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 07 (NB) --  Chairman John Hinkle
and President Ed Spievack of the North American
Telecommunications Association (NATA) termed the group's UNICOM
'89 Expo and Conference a rousing success.

Hinkle told Newsbytes that he saw tremendous enthusiasm from the
attendees as well as from the 195 exhibitors of whom 74 were
showing in this venue for the first time.  Hinkle also noted that
58 companies were unveiling over 75 new products during the three
day event.

Spievack told Newsbytes that the 1990 expo and conference will be
held in Washington, DC.  This came as a surprise to many as the
event has been in Dallas for a number of years.  "We had a ground
swell of enthusiasm for moving the show," explained Spievack.
"The majority of our members are located in the East and they
were anxious to have the show in their own back yard.  We are
also aware that some 75 percent of the population is located in
the Eastern portion of the country so we look forward to seeing
attendees who have been unable to come to Dallas join us in
Washington."

NATA was instrumental in establishing competition in the
telecommunications industry.  Founded in 1970 by a group of
businessmen, NATA built on the historic Carterfone ruling that
allowed users to connect their own equipment to the national
network.  NATA's legal, regulatory and legislative initiatives
led in part to the eventual divestiture of AT&T.  Today, NATA is
also concerned with the marketing of integrated computer and
communications equipment to provide maximum productivity to
business users.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Susan Ryba, NATA, 202-
296-9800 x 229)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00005)

NATA RELEASES 1190 SOURCEBOOK AND MARKET STUDY}
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 05 (NB) --  Both the 1990
Telecommunications Sourcebook and the 1990 Telecommunications
Review and Forecast were released by the North American
Telecommunications Association (NATA) at its UNICOM '89 Expo and
Conference.

The Sourcebook combines directories of competitive communications
organizations with analyses of current regulatory and economic
issues facing the communications industry.  The book sells for
$38 to NATA members and is available to non-members for $53.

The market study reference volume shows that the US
telecommunications equipment market is expected to grow from
$32.7 billion in 1989 to $58.3 billion by 1995.  Some of the
report findings include expectations for Integrated Services
Digital Network (ISDN) implementation, a continued explosive
growth in the facsimile market and significant increases in both
voice and data equipment sales in the next five years.

The Telecommunications Market Review and Forecast is priced at
$243 for NATA members.  Non-members may purchase the book for
$403.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Susan Ryba, NATA, 202-
296-9800 x 229)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00012)

INTERVOICE INTROS AUTOMATED FAX CAPABILITY}
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 07 (NB) --  Dallas-based
InterVoice has announced InterFax, a PC and Micro Channel PS/2-
compatible card with processor and memory.

The card uses InterVoice's software for the company's voice
response RobotOperator.  The primary application is the automatic
faxing of information to callers based on touchtone or voice
recognition requests.

InterVoice has also announced an extended license agreement with
Voice Control Systems for QuickTalk, a connected speech
recognition system and VoiceStop, a speech-stop system.  Under
this agreement, InterVoice is the hardware developer and Voice
COntrol is the software developer.  The two products can be used
with pulse and rotary dial telephones widening the number of
callers they can service.

QuickTalk is an enhancement to the VoiceDial feature of
RobotOperator providing faster voice recognition.  VoiceStop
allows users to break into voice prompts allowing faster
completion of calls, stopping of messages in progress and
entrance to the menu of numbers without listening to the entire
message.

(Janet Endrijonas/19891208/Press Contact: Don Crosbie,
InterVoice, 214-669-3988 x 720)


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

JAPAN: NTT PROPOSES RADICAL RATE CUTS AND ONLINE DIRECTORY}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Japan's telecom giant NTT will
make massive cuts in long distance rates, nighttime calls, and
many other types of services, in the largest rate reduction since
the firm was privatized in 1985.

The total discount will be about 140 billion yen ($970 million) per
year. Long distance rates for calls beyond 320 kilometers will be
reduced by 15 percent, and the rates per three minutes in the
day will be reduced from a current 330 yen ($2.3) to 280 yen ($1.9).

Nighttime rate discounts will be applied to dialled calls over all
distances placed during nighttime periods from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00
a.m., and include a 25% discount on nighttime local calls and toll
calls up to 60 kilometers.

Consequently, the rate ratio of local to over-320km area calls will be
reduced from its current 1:33 to 1:28. NTT further intends to
decrease the rate ratio to 1:20 in five years after.

Monthly rates for pocket beeper paging services will be reduced by
10 to 12%, according with type of service. And leased circuit rates
will be cut by 3 or 4%.

Many observers think that the plan aims to take attention away from
concerns many have had over the potential break-up of the giant
phone company, but NTT claims the reductions are the result of
management efficiency and an interest in staying competitive.

Together with these rate reductions, NTT also has announced a
plan to begin charging for its phone directory assistance service
by next fall, in order to more equitably distribute the costs
of providing the service. A charge of 30 yen ($0.21) will be made
for each number, inside or outside the caller's calling area,
successfully given to the caller making the inquiry.

For customers, NTT will introduce an alternative online electronic
directory system which will allow them to gain direct access to
its original ANGEL directory database via personal computer, word
processor, CAPTAIN and other terminals. An electronic call to the
database will cost 10 yen ($0.07) for three minutes, and a user will
be able to get one phone number per call. Also, NTT will
lease about 250,000 dedicated terminals for directory assistance
free-of-charge over the next three years.

NTT will apply to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
and hopes to have these plans approved December 31. If the ministry
approves the plans, as expected, NTT will implement the rate reductions
by next March.

(Ken Takahashi/19891207/Press Contact: Kazuyoshi Terada, Press
Relations, Public Relations Department, 03-509-3101)


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

DATAFLEX ADDS FAX OPTION TO ITS MODEMS}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Dataflex Design has added a
fax option to its range of high-speed (2400 bits per second)
modems. The fax option costs UKP 100 ($150) and is made possible
by fitting a fax/modem chip to the modem card.

The fax option on Dataflex Design's Biscom modem pushes the
modem's price to UKP 349 ($525). The Quadcom Fax card retails for
UKP 399 ($600), whilst the professional series of modems fitted
with the fax facility starts at UKP 550 ($825).

To support the fax/modem chip on its modem cards, Dataflex Design
is bundling a PC communications - Bitfax - with the unit. Bitfax
sends ASCII, TIFF, PCX and IMG file formats directly from disk to
any Group III fax machine.

The only slight disability with the Dataflex modem option is that
the fax/modem chip operates in send-only mode. Receipt of fax
messages is not possible using the system.

(Steve Gold/19890912/Press & Public Contact: Phillip Benge,
Dataflex Design - Tel: [phone])


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

MERCURY LAUNCHES ITS CT-2 PHONE NETWORK IN THE UK}
BRENTWOOD, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Mercury Communications
has become the third CT-2 (second-generation cordless telephone)
licensee in the U.K. to launch its network. The company joins
BT's Phonepoint and Ferranti's Zonephone networks.

Mercury's Callpoint network uses the same tiny 'Star Trek' style
handsets that Phonepoint uses, and the cost is the same - UKP 200
($300) - for the handset on its own.

Callpoint's charges appear to have the edge of the two existing
networks, ranging for 10 pence (15 cents) a minute off-peak to 20
pence (30 cents) a minute on weekday mornings. No differentiation
is made between local and long-distance calls for charging
purposes.

Other than the call charges, Callpoint handset owners pay UKP 9-
20 ($14) a month standing charge. An optional extra is a Mercury
numeric radiopager that allows people to contact the Callpoint
user whilst on the move - an important facility, since all CT-2
phones do not allow incoming calls, but only outgoing calls
within 200 metres of a public base station.

(Steve Gold/19891209/Press & Public Contact: Mercury
Communications - Tel: [phone])


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

MERCURY TO INTRO DIRECTORY ENQUIRY CHARGES IN UK}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Mercury Communications is
introducing directory enquiry (DQ) charges for its subscribers
with effect from 02 January, 1990. From that date, calls to the
Mercury DQ service will attract a single charge of 50 pence (75
cents) per call.

No official announcement on the charge (the first of its kind for
landline telephone users in the UK) has been made by Mercury, but
the company's quarterly newsletter - Dialogue - briefly mentions
the charges.

According to Mercury, each DQ calls the caller to enquire after
up to three numbers. Mercury says that this effectively makes the
major users of its DQ service pay for the development of the
facility.

British Telecom, Mercury's primary competitor on the U.K.
telecommunications front, has no official plans to introduce a DQ
call charge. Sources close to the company suggest, however, that
a 60 pence per DQ call is under active planning consideration. DQ
charges are, however, unlikely to be introduced by BT until 1991
at the earliest, by which time much of the network modernisation
necessary for DQ call charging will be in place.

During 1988, BT reported that its DQ service - currently free of
charge - cost the company UKP 200 million ($300 million) a year
to run.

(Steve Gold/19891209/Press & Public Contact: Mercury
Communications - Tel: [phone])


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

BRITISH TELECOM TO SLASH HOLIDAY RATE CONCESSIONS}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 DEC 09 (NB) -- Top secret plans by British
Telecom (BT) to withdraw holiday concessions on phone calls have
been revealed. According to the London Daily Telegraph on
Saturday, BT plans to cut slash the number of holiday weekdays -
during which cheap-rate calls apply - from eight to three days a
year.

According to the Daily Telegraph's calculations, the removal of
cheap-rate calls on holiday weekdays, such as Good Friday and
Easter Monday, will add about a half a percent to the average
consumer's quarter telephone bill.

The three concessionary days to which cheap rate calls will apply
will be limited to Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day
from this Christmas onwards, according to a BT enquiry operator
that Newsbytes contacted.

Sir Bryan Carsberg, the U.K.'s director-general of
telecommunications, is said to be concerned that some subscribers
to BT's service will lose the holiday phone rate concession. He
said, however, that the effective increase is within BT's price
control formula.

(Steve Gold/19891209)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00012)

NETCOMM AUSTRALIA LOGS ONTO MODULAR TECHNOLOGY
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- The Australian modem
manufacturer, NetComm has announced a two-year AUS$5M
distribution agreement where NetComm's SmartModem will be
badged in the UK under the name, Modular Technology.

NetComm's General Manager of Sales and Marketing Bruce Reid
said, "This UK deal represents the culmination of
about two years of work and will provide our springboard
into the broader European market." This announcement comes
hard on the heels of a AUS$10M deal with Apple in North
America.

(Gavin Atkins/19891129)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00014)

AUSTRALIAN ISDN AGREEMENT WITH NORTEL
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- Australia's
international telecommunication's carrier, OTC, has signed a
contract with NorTel for the supply of Australia's first
international integrated services digital network exchange.
ISDN is a high speed, high capacity digital network capable
of combining voice, data and video services in one
communications package.

The AUS$12M contract includes a 12,000 line ISDN exchange
and an associated international transmission center. The
first OTC international ISDN service, beginning early next
year, will be a 64kbps (kilobits per second) service to
Japan and the US using OTC's existing digital telephone exchanges.

The new international ISDN exchange is scheduled to start
business in late 1991 and will provide services including
calling line transfer and a user-to-user message system for
telephone and data calls. OTC expects the new system will
cater for large established international networks with
large data and facsimile needs.

(Gavin Atkins/19891129)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00015)

AUSTRALIAN FREIGHT EDI SYSTEM
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- The world's first
electronic data interchange network for the organization of
freight has been launched in Sydney.

The system, called Tradegate, is online through Paxus
networks and is designed to reduce red-tape. Using the
United Nations Edifact standard, it will provide
information about the location and status of cargo from the
moment it arrives in the country to its delivery.

Tradegate's chief executive officer, Andrew Robertson, said
the first users are already implementing the value-added
services. Robertson said he expects Tradegate will set a
precedent for other countries looking to establish a
similar EDI network.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891129)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00020)

UK TELECOM FIRMS SEEK INVESTMENTS IN AUSTRALIA
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- Executives from four
large UK data and telecommunications companies have toured
Melbourne and Sydney in search of joint ventures and
investment opportunities. Marconi, Rocom, Biccotest and
Kerridge Network Systems were the four companies who were
accepted from 50 applicants to join the trade mission that
was organized by Austrade.

Austrade's London Commissioner, Ross James, said, "The UK
companies are looking for joint ventures in product
development, but are also interested in partnerships so
they can use Australia as a base for the Asia/Pacific
market."

No deals have yet been announced, but in Melbourne, the UK
companies have spoken to Telecom Technologies, Fortronic
Technology, Akeman, Newtronics, GSA Technology, Email
electronics, Kambrook, Ericcson Australia, Olex Cables,
Kingfisher International, and Fibrenet.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891129)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00023)

AUSTRALIA: NORTEL TO ESTABLISH RESEARCH CENTER
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- NorTel, the
Australasian subsidiary of Northern Telecom, is to
establish a research and development center at the
University of Wollongong for the development of software.

The NorTel Technology Center will be established at the
University in this industrial city located 80 kilometres
south of Sydney. Researchers and engineers from Northern
Telecom and the University will develop PC-based software
for use with the company's customer premises equipment,
and Intelligent Network and Integrated Services
Digital Network services.

The center will be staffed by scientists from North
America, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and the
facility will be part of a worldwide network of Northern
Telecom and Bell Northern Research development centers. The
University of Wollongong will now host research facilities
for NorTel, and the Australian telecommunications
companies, Telecom and TelePower.

(Gavin Atkins/19891129)


(EXCLUSIVE)(TELECOM)(HKG)(00002)

HONGKONG TELECOM MEET PROVES DISAPPOINTING
WANCHAI NORTH, HONGKONG, 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- As the doors closed
on the 3rd Commtel Asia exhibition at the grand Hongkong
Convention and Exhibition Centre today there were mixed
feelings about its success. Newsbytes was there talking
with exhibitors and visitors at the show.

No-one could say that the telecommunications industry wasn't well
represented. National stands from Australia, Britain, Canada
and Germany were innovatively decorated, and the stands of the
local companies lined up well against them. All manner of
products were on display, from fibre optic cables to PC
networks, from video displays to iNet with Hongkong's
only international database network.

Walking around the exhibition the most popular stands
were the ones with gimmicks. Hongkong Telecommunications,
the largest company in the territory was demonstrating
video across a fibre optic network. To most this would
appear to be a practical demonstration of the future but
the subject matter of the demonstration had little to
connect it with realistic business applications. Any
visitor could place his or her palm on a screen and a video
picture of the palm was transmitted, in real time, down
to a Chinese palm reader who was somewhere else in Wanchai.
The palm reader, resplendent in a silk brocade outfit
obviously tailored for television, would then proceed to
read the palm, in real time of course!

And the other stand which was very popular was the
Gilman Office Machines booth. GOM is the largest supplier
of office equipment in Hongkong by a long street, and
naturally enough it was demonstrating the range of fine
Ricoh fax machines, which was appropriate to a telecommunications
show. No-one, however was looking at the fax machines.
Everyone was crowding around the latest Ricoh photocopier
in the corner of the stand, watching it reproduce photographs!

One of the exhibitors from Canada told Newsbytes: "We had a
few tyre-kickers and brochure collectors, but I am not sure
what else we achieved by being here. The most fun we are
going to have is packing up the stand."

At the Australian stand, Overseas Telecommunications
Corporation (OTC) executives were too busy talking to one
another to notice that Newsbytes was waiting to get some
more information of the very recent OTC joint venture
with the Infolink Group and Hongkong publisher, the Sing
Tao Group.

Local information technology professionals have long
criticized the organizers of isolated telecom, computing
and office equipment shows. "It is absolutely
pointless, nobody wins," one IT consultant told Newsbytes,
"The exhibitors cannot possibly set up practical IT
demonstrations because there is no integration. If the three
elements of information technology were on display then, by
collaboration, all exhibitors would win because they could be
pragmatic with their demonstrations."

One well known Hongkong journalist, K.K. Chaddah, bleated:
"How can I write anything interesting about this show? The
technical displays are far too esoteric and the booths that have
something useful to show are nothing more than novelties.

"If the intention of the participants was to show off to
each other, then they could have done it in a much cheaper
fashion at another location, " he said cynically.

(Keith Cameron/19891208 Press contact: Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone])


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

TOSHIBA SAID TO BE IN DEAL WITH IBM FOR NEW 4MB DRIVES}
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- The
industry is abuzz with rumors that Toshiba America has signed
the first original equipment manufacturer deal for its two-year-old
four megabyte floppy drives -- and has snared the biggest fish
in the sea -- IBM.

"I have reason to believe that rumor is accurate," Jim Porter,
editor of the Disk/Trend market research report tells Newsbytes.
"What we're waiting for is what IBM is going to use it for, and
when. The best guess is for the new model PS/2 line which
probably will come out in the middle of next year." Porter
says Toshiba is already supplying IBM with lower capacity
disk drives.

Newsbytes has learned that sample drives are being circulated
among key corporate accounts, although Toshiba will neither
confirm nor deny that IBM is among them.

The new four megabyte, 3.5-inch floppy drives, believed to be
the next floppy drive "standard," are the largest capacity
"backward-compatible" drives available. They can read and write
data to current one and two megabyte floppy disks. But when used
with an enhanced density diskette, the surface of the which is
barium ferrite, the drive can store up to four megabytes of data
on a single floppy.

(Wendy Woods/19891208)


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

IBM ADVANCES GALLIUM ARSENIDE BALLISTIC ELECTRON TECHNOLOGY
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 7 (NB) --
Researchers at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown
Heights have demonstrated that it is possible to focus and direct
streams of electrons moving at more than one million miles per
hour through layers of gallium arsenide semiconductor material.

In this developing field of ballistic electronics, computers
might eventually be developed which use these high-speed streams
of electrons to perform computing, with gallium arsenide
functioning in much the same way that superconductors work for
larger electrical currents.

Unfortunately, these streams of electrons, which cohere in much
the same way that laser-produced light stays in beams, must
operate in materials kept at about 450 degrees below zero, making
last decade's "cool" computer rooms seem positively Sahara-like
in comparison.

Despite the lack of any concrete application for this ability to
focus and direct ballistic electrons, the potential for future
development of entirely new classes of electronic components and
devices is great.

(John McCormick/19891208)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00009)

NIST PROPOSES GOSSIP FIPS -- NEW COMPATIBILITY STANDARDS
GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The IST
(National Institute of Standards and Technology) has proposed a
FIPS or Federal Information Processing Standard which would
establish policies, procedures, and criteria for testing the
interoperability (compatibility) of various network software and
hardware.

The testing procedures proposed in the FIPS are intended to
guarantee that network products from various vendors will meed
the GOSSIP or Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile
standard which goes into effect in August of 1990. GOSSIP is a
series of protocols that let various computer networks and
systems communicate.

The establishment of a firm federal standard is important both to
those who wish to sell into the U.S. federal market and those in
industry and business who have longed for a standardized set of
network protocols.

Comments on the proposed FIPS should be sent in writing by
February 12, 1990 to: Director, National Computer Systems
Laboratory, ATTN: Proposed FIPS for GOSSIP Conformance Testing,
NIST, B154 Technology Bldg., Gaithersburg, MD 20899, or call Jean
Phillippe Favreau at 301-975-3634.

(John McCormick/1989126/Press Contact: Jan Kosko, NIST, 301-975-
2762)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00017)

TV NETWORKS LOOKING INTO FIBER CABLE AS A SATELLITE ALTERNATIVE}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- Television
networks throughout the U.S. are testing a system which could
replace satellites with fiber optic phone lines for transmission
of TV broadcasts.

Video equipment for the test, specifically devices called codecs,
are coming from Telettra, a division of the Fiat Group of Italy.
The tests are being coordinated by Bellcore, the research arm
for the 7 Bell operating companies.

In the tests ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and PBS will use the trial
network connecting Atlanta, Boston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles,
Minneapolis, New York, St. Louis and Washington will transmit
signals on fiber lines for up to three months.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19891208/Press Contact: Gualberto Ranieri, Fiat
USA, 212-207-0947)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00004)

LD-ROM -- NEW MULTIMEDIA CONSUMER PRODUCT FROM PIONEER}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Pioneer Electronic has
successfully developed a new multimedia product which features
an optical video disc and a CD-ROM (compact disc read-only-memory).
The new product, called LD-ROM, will allow a user to put video
pictures, digital audio, and other digital data into one disc.

The LD-ROM unit has a 16-channel sound feature, combining
the current laserdisc technology with the data storage and sound
compression features of CD-ROM. The new multimedia product
is capable of storing 30 to 60 minutes of moving pictures, or
54,000 still pictures, each with data storage capacity equivalent to
5,000 characters.

Pioneer expects that the LD-ROM will be widely used from business
to entertainment, saying that the system will come in handy for such
applications as language study, in which words, video, and sound
are brought together.

Pioneer is planning to release the LD-ROM at home and abroad
as early as next fall.

(Ken Takahashi/19891207/Press Contact: Pioneer Electronic Corp.,
03-494-1111)


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

FUJITSU TO RELEASE 2 KG COMPUTER IN JAPAN}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Japan's computer makers continue
to pack more punch into increasingly tinier packages. Japan's major
industrial paper, the Nikkei Industrial Daily, claims to have a
handle on what could be the smallest, most powerful book-sized
computer to date.

The paper says the new machine, from Fujitsu, will weigh only
two kilograms -- far lighter than the 2.7 kilograms of the
Toshiba Dynabook and the NEC PC-98Note. And it will run as long
as the Macintosh Portable. When fully charged, it will run 10 hours
though current book-sized machines run only about 1.5 to 3 hours,
so says the report. Fujitsu is also expected to make it compatible
with its FMR series of personal computers, by giving this pint-sized
wonder an Intel 80286 processor, the same microprocessor which runs
the IBM AT.

The paper says the Fujitsu machine will adopt a backlit white-mode
LCD (liquid crystal display) screen, unlike current book-size
computers with their blue-mode LCD screen, which is harder on the eyes.

The paper quotes Fujitsu as saying this computer can be built
based on technology it has borrowed from California-based Poqet
Computer, of which it owns 46 percent.

(Ken Takahashi/19891207/Press Contact: Fujitsu Corp., 03-216-3211)


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

JAPAN SUFFERING FROM OVERSEAS VIRAL INFECTIONS}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- It has been revealed that
so-called worm viruses have invaded computers at universities and
research institutes engaged in nuclear physical studies here
in Japan.

The University of Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Osaka
University report that their computers were invaded by viruses
suspected to have originated overseas. This is because the computers
are connected to an international telecommunications network. No serious
damage has not been reported yet, because the viral programs
were detected at an early stage.

The viruses invaded a computer network called High Energy Physics
which is connected by about 100 computers in Japan and 16,000 computers
abroad. The worm virus invades computers by automatically detecting
the password on an account.

(Ken Takahashi/19891207)


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

ONE GIGABIT DRAMS ENABLED BY NEW TECHNOLOGIES}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Japanese major chipmakers
Hitachi and NEC have separately developed original technology
to pave a way for ensuring future super LSI (large-scale
integrated circuit) chips.

Hitachi has developed a silicon-based transistor with a new
structure capable of 250 times higher integration than a current
four-megabit DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chip, which has
just gone into volume production. The structure of previous
transistors is laid out on a plane, but that of the new transistor is
cubic, so Hitachi claims that electric currents flow through it easier
thus enabling the higher integration. Hitachi further boasts that
the new technology opens a vista for a future one-gigabit
DRAM chip breakthrough.

NEC, on the other hand, has developed a new manufacturing technology
which could speed up creation of still-theoretical 64-megabit
DRAM chips. The new technology packs more technology into a
smaller space, so much so that NEC claims the development of 256-
megabit DRAMs will also be possible in the future.

NEC aims to be the first to create a 64-megabit DRAM chip within a
year.

(Ken Takahashi/19891207/Press Contact: Hitachi, 03-258-2057, NEC,
03-798-6511)


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

SONY'S PALMTOP COMPUTER RECOGNIZES HANDWRITING}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- Sony has developed
an original word processing system Japanese people who can't type.
The keyboard-less PalmTop computer recognizes handwriting
characters on an electronic pen-sensitive LCD (liquid crystal
display) screen.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun paper quotes a Sony spokesman as
saying that even a PC novice will be able to easily enter about
100 Japanese characters in ten minutes with 30 to 120 minutes of
training.

The new system can recognize 3,535 kinds of Japanese characters such as
Japanese hiragana, katakana, and kanji characters with each
character supporting three hundred manners of handwriting.
With the aid of fuzzy logic technology, which distinguishes
ambiguous information, the PalmTop system can read even
peculiar characters, so says the company.

The PalmTop measures 205 by 158 by 45 millimeters and weighs about
1.3 kilograms. The LCD screen, which measures 150 by 100
millimeters, has a resolution of 512 by 342 pixels. The PalmTop
adopts a Motorola 68000 processor and a 256-kilobyte RAM (random
access memory), and it runs four hours when fully battery-charged.
The built-in microphone and speaker system allow a user to record
and playback voices and sound for eight seconds respectively.

Sony is now working on development of an special IC (integrated
circuit) card to accommodate word processing, spreadsheet, and
other software programs.

Sony has not decided the price yet, but it aims to price it
as low as it can, possibly under 300,000 yen ($2,100), and
is scheduled to release it by next summer.

(Ken Takahashi/19891207/Press Contact: Sony, 03-448-2111)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00008)

SATELLITES TO WATCH OVER SYDNEY-HOBART YACHT RACE
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- Australia's premier
yacht race, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, will use one
of the most sophisticated safety surveillance systems yet
used.

The race is being sponsored by AWA-Nortel, Australia's
subsidiary of Northern Telecom, and additional resources
will be provided by Australia's international carrier, OTC.
OTC will use two satellite systems - Standard-C and
Standard-A - as well as its conventional long and short
range marine radio networks. The links will provide a
comprehensive tracking system and a means for competitors
to file their compulsory twice-daily reports. The race,
which attracts competitors from around the world,
starts on the 26th of December.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00010)

AUSTRALIAN FARMERS TO COMPUTERIZE SOCIETIES
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The last bastions of
Australian conservatism and tradition have been infiltrated
by computers -- the agricultural societies are taking steps
to form a computer link-up.

The societies hold annual agricultural shows or fairs all
over Australia and are typically run by pillars of the
rural establishment. A data communications line was
recently installed between the Royal Agricultural Society
of Victoria and the Royal Agricultural Society of New South
Wales.

The ultimate goal is to link all agricultural societies
around Australia, giving each one faster access to records
and databases.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891207)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00021)

AUSTRALIA AND DEC OFFER MULTIMEDIA CAREER GUIDE
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 NOV 27 (NB) -- Digital Equipment
Corporation and New South Wales tertiary organizations have
jointly developed an interactive video disc program called
Careers in Computing that is designed to encourage people
to choose a computing profession.

Using Microvax terminals with touch screens, the system
allows the user to explore different computing career
options based on their own interests. The project has been
jointly funded by DEC and the NSW Department of Technical
and Further Education.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19891129)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00024)

CANON TECHNICIAN DEVELOPS CHEAP PC-BASED BAR-CODE PRINTER
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- Canon Australia has
an economical method of producing bar codes from a laser
printer. Technician Guian Young developed the system of
downloadable fonts for use when the printer is operated
from a DOS PC.

The total system is said to cost less than a quarter of
dedicated bar-code printers already on the market. The
fonts cost AUS$400 and print all major standards. Unlike
existing raster-graphic systems for printing the codes on a
laser printer, the new Canon font-based system works around
six times as fast.

In addition, users can add full label designs, graphics and
text to the printout. Canon claims that the product suits
not only small scale manufacturers, but anyone now
producing bar code labels, such as accountants and other
professionals (for coding client files), pathology labs and
anyone needing to label stock or equipment for capital
stock auditing.

The software is supplied as a font downloader, and a
memory-resident program for creating the bar codes.

(Paul Zucker/19891201/Press contact: Roger Pyne. ph. 61-8-
352 5366. fax. [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(HKG)(00005)

DISASTER REHEARSAL FOR ASIA DEVELOPMENT BANK AS MANILA ERUPTS
MANILA, PHILIPPINES, 1989 DEC 2 (NB) -- While the Philippine
government battled the rebel factions over the past few days,
technicians from the Manila-based Asian Development Bank
(ADB) faced the prospect that a routine disaster
recovery rehearsal in Hongkong might be turning into the
real thing.

The Filipino staff, who coincidentally flew into Hongkong
on the day the military uprising began, were on a routine
mission to practise emergency procedures that would keep
the bank in operation in the event of a complete
computer shutdown in Manila.

Although it has local backup arrangements in Manila, the
ADB decided two years ago that it should have some form of
external fall back to protect itself from possible rebellions,
and it chose the Disaster Recovery Service (DRS) offered
by COL Ltd, Hongkong's leading computer services company.

Under its agreement with COL, the ADB ships a complete set
of system and data tapes to Hongkong once a week in a sealed
box. COL provides secure storage and normally returns the
box unopened on receipt of the following week's shipment.

"ADB had just completed a major conversion from DOS/VSE to
MVS and had chosen this particular time to rehearse disaster
recovery using its new operating system," Ian Melrose, managing
director of COL, told Newsbytes. "As it happened the real
thing was not required, but the timing was fortuitous."

Norris Hickerson, major accounts manager at COL, said: "In
the circumstance we would have been able to maintain the
integrity of ADB's systems without difficulty. Being a bank
which funds development projects it doesn't have the
same critical dependence on online systems as a retail bank,
but it must service commitments all over the region and cannot
afford to be without computing for long."

Mr Hickerson said that COL had no control over the
applications ADB would have run on the DRS IBM 4381. "We
assign the whole system to them and they provide
everything they need in the way of software and databases,"
he said.

Newsbytes queried the success of the DRS service which COL
introduced about two years ago. Mr Melrose said: "It is
interesting, we had been promoting the idea for about ten
years but it no one listened, even our major banking
clients. But now there has been a complete change of
attitude and virtually all of our clients take advantage of
the service. It seems they have finally
asked themselves what would happen if they lost their
computer systems in a catastrophic and unrecoverable
circumstance."

(Keith Cameron/19891207 Press Contact: Norris Hickerson COL
Ltd. 5-271021)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00004)

SUN'S SERVERS TERMED MINICOMPUTER KILLERS}
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 8 (NB) -- Two new
file servers introduced by Sun Microsystems are widely seen as
the most serious challenge yet to the minicomputer market
dominated by the likes of Digital Equipment, IBM, and Hewlett-
Packard.

Sun has introduced SPARCServer 490 and SPARCServer 1, two
computers called file servers that are designed to be the "traffic
cop" or switching device for a network of sophisticated workstations
or "workgroups."

The server network spells trouble for minicomputer networks which
feature dumb terminals as access points to the central "hub"
processor. The SPARCServers enable the creation of not only a more
decentralized processing configuration, but faster speed and
cheaper price. Sun estimates that the SPARCserver 490,
for instance, can sustain 47 transactions per second on a network,
higher than a top-of-the-line Digital VAX 6000 and the HP Series
800 systems, which are two to four times more expensive.

The SPARCServer 490 delivers 22 million instructions per
second, 3.8 megaflops, and utilizes what's called the Intelligent
Peripheral Interface disk subsystem, found only in mainframes
and supercomputers. This gives it the performance and throughput
needed for demanding file, database, multiuser and compute
server applications. It has 32 gigabytes of disk capacity, has a
16-slot center cabinet, up to 160 megabytes of error correcting
code main memory, and a price tag of $99,900.

The low-end SPARCServer 1 offers 12.5 million instructions per
second, 1.4 megaflops, and is designed for a small network of PCs
or Macintoshes. With 8 megabytes of memory, expandable to
16 megabytes, it supports up to four external 327-megabyte SCSI
disk drives, the new SunCD, a compact disk read-only memory
storage device, and has three expansion slots. The price is $18,900.

Like all SPARCservers, these new systems can access the largest
library of Unix/RISC applications available today -- more than 1,400
third-party packages.

Sun introduced the mid-range SPARCServers, the 330, 370, and 390,
in April, 1989.

In a related development, Sun President Scott McNealy said that
Sun expects to discontinue use of the Intel or Motorola microprocessors
in 1990, in favor of its own proprietary RISC (reduced instruction
set) microprocessor, the SPARC. "We'll have all our wood behind
one arrowhead," he was quoted as saying.

(Wendy Woods/1989120/Press Contact: John Loiacono, Sun, 415-
336-6424)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00011)

AUTODESK TO RELEASE AUTOCAD FOR DEC}
SAUSALITO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 DEC 7 (NB) -- Autodesk will
release a version of its popular computer-aided design package
AutoCAD for the DECstation line of Unix-running workstations
by January 31.

The DECstation version of AutoCAD will run under Digital's
Ultrix operating system, a version of Unix. It will be priced at
$3,000, the same as other AutoCAD 32-bit platform versions.

(Wendy Woods/19891208)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00007)

MIPS-KUBOTA JOINTLY DEVELOPED SUPERMINI}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 5 (NB) -- Kubota Computer, a subsidiary of Kubota
Ltd., which is one of the leading engineering firms for agricultural
technology, and U.S.-based MIPS Computer Systems, have jointly
created a powerful new class of computing machinery.

The released supermini computer, dubbed RC6280, is the first machine
equipped with the most advanced RISC-ECL (reduced instruction set
computer-emitter coupled logic) chip of MIPS Computer, called R6000.

The chip performs 55 MIPS (million instructions per second) or
100,000 FLOPS (floating point operations per second). Its Unix-based
operating system provides full compatibility with existing machines
made by MIPS Computer and it has compatibility with the VAX series
of Digital Equipment at the source code level.

Kubota Computer, which owns 20 percent MIPS Computer, is
preparing a production line at its Yamanashi plant and plans to begin
shipment in May 1990. The machine is expected to be shipped in Japan
and Southeast Asia by Kubota and in Europe and the U.S. through the
distribution channels of MIPS Computer Systems. The price of the
machine is 28.3 million yen or $195,200 with the minimum
configuration.

Kubota is expected to receive a supply of the RISC-ECL chip or the
R6000 when NEC commercializes it based on a license agreement
between MIPS Computer Systems and NEC.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891207/Press Contact: Kubota Computer, 03-225-0971)


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

APOLLO EXEC JOINS SONY TO MARKET NEWS WORKSTATIONS}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 1 (NB) -- The former president of Apollo Computer
Japan has joined with Sony to establish a new company to reinforce
sales of Sony's flagship EWS (engineering workstation) News. The
ex-Apollo president, Shigeho Inaoka, resigned from Apollo when it
was acquired by Yokogawa Hewlett-Packard on November 1.

The new firm, named Sony Computer System, owned 90 percent
by Sony and 10 percent by Inaoka himself, was established with 300
million yen or $2.1 million of investment capital on December 1.

The new firm is preparing to start business operation in January 1990
and is expected be a sales representative for Sony's News WSs. Sony
had been distributing the WSs through sales agents so far, but the
new firm will control the sales of the machines developed by Sony
in a manner similar to the relationship which exists between Canon
and Canon Sales.

The new firm expects 2.5 billion yen or $17.2 million of sales with
the News WSs and its software and peripherals, as well as system
consulting in the initial year.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891207)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00011)

MATSUSHITA TO DEVELOP JAPANESE FRAMEMAKER}
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 DEC 5 (NB) -- One of the members of Matsushita group,
Matsushita Computer System, and U.S.-based Frame Technology, will
jointly develop a Japanese version of DTP (desktop publishing)
software program for the Unix operating system, FrameMaker.

Matsushita Computer System will receive source code for FrameMaker
and technical support from the U.S. firm to develop a Japanese version
of the program and it has acquired exclusive sales rights for
Japan when development is finished.

Due to the popularity of FrameMaker -- it has about 40 to 50
percent share of the world's Unix DTP software market --
Matsushita is also aiming to learn a few tips by involving itself with
development of Japanese FrameMaker. After all, it wants to prepare
for growing DTP market which is expected to be worth 30 billion yen
next year and 160 billion yen by 1996.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19891207/Press Contact: Matsushita Computer System,
03-288-2340)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(HKG)(00003)

NIXDORF WINS 10 MILLION DEAL FOR UNIX SYSTEMS IN BANGKOK
BANGKOK, THAILAND, 1989 DEC 4 (NB) -- The Bangkok Bank of Commerce
has purchased a $10 million Unix-based system from
Nixdorf Computer (Thailand) which will link its 45
domestic branches.

The system will be built around a Nixdorf Targon
superminicomputer which will act as central host to a
distributed network of Targon terminals in the bank's
branches. It will be used to handle the bank's back and
front office operations, including accounting, management
information, electronic mail and the management of customer
self-service centres.

Vigrom Chaisinthop, managing director of the new Nixdorf
joint venture in Thailand, said: "The bank specifically
requested a distributed system to link all its branches in
a network based on industry standards. This sale is the
first time a Thai bank has decided to go for such a large
Unix-based network and it underlies the growing importance
of open systems architecture in the region." He said that
the implementation will be completed in May 1991.

(Keith Cameron/19891208 Press contact: Media Dynamics
Hongkong 5-8383889 Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(00001)

WESTERN CANADA GETS SUN PORTING CENTER}
CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA, 1989 DEC 6 (NB) -- Sun Microsystems of
Canada has set up a facility here to help third-party software
vendors adapt their products to Sun hardware. The Sun Porting
Center in Calgary is the first in Canada, although the United
States has two such centers, in Mountain View, Calif., and near
Boston.

Harry Porteous, director of marketing for Sun Canada, said two
more such centers are planned here: one in central Canada and one
in the east. Toronto and Montreal are likely locations, he said,
but the choices are not final. The first center went to Calgary
because up to now Sun has supplied third-party software vendors
with loaner machines from its Toronto warehouse, and shipping
hardware to the western provinces took longest. "We thought we'd
give them some relief first," Porteous said.

The center will have a range of Sun 3, Sun 4 and SPARCsystem
hardware, and Sun's SPARCware application development system. A
systems engineer will staff the facility, which will be available
to participants in Sun's Catalyst program for third-party
vendors.

(Grant Buckler/19891206/Press Contact: Harry Porteous, Sun
Canada, 416-477-6745)