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/1992/NB920527

Text File | 1992-05-27 | 58KB | 1,287 lines

(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00001)

 ****Intel Ships Overdrive Processor; Speeds 486SX 70% 05/27/92
FOLSOM, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Intel says
the awaited Overdrive Processors, whose function is to allow an
easily installed speed-up of system performance, are now available.

The Overdrive Processors were announced last year by Intel and are
based on what Intel terms its "speed doubling" technology. Intel said
it discovered it could double the internal clock speed, measured in
megahertz (MHz) of its microprocessor chips and create a design
that could increase the speed of current 486 chips.

The Overdrive Processors available now are geared specifically for
486 16, 20, and 25 MHz 486SX microprocessors. The new chip fits
in the math coprocessor socket, but needs the current central
processing unit (CPU) to function, Intel representative Michele
Bourdon told Newsbytes. The new clock-doubler chips contain an
internal math co-processor as well, the company said.

Intel said two Overdrive Processors are available, one for 16 and
20 MHz systems and the other for 25 MHz systems. While the
design of the computer can be a bottle-neck, causing the Overdrive
Processor to wait, Intel says it is still faster. Intel said it measured
performance gains that averaged 70 percent when it added the
Overdrive Processor to a 486SX running at 20 MHz. Specifically,
a 62 percent  gain was achieved running WordPerfect 5.1 word
processing software, 77 percent running the Paradox database
software, and 67 percent running spreadsheet product Lotus
1-2-3, Intel maintains.

Intel told Newsbytes last fall that, while it considered the overdrive
technique for the 386 microprocessor chip, the effort was not
worthwhile. The problem was due to the design of the components
on the 386 motherboard, which have no internal cache, so actual
performance gains would be only around 10%, and not worth the
effort.

However, Intel said the speed doubling is workable with the 486
chip because the chip's cache does internal buffering, so if the
processed data has to wait, it can wait in the cache and the chip
can proceed with processing.

Mike Fister, general manager of Intel's End User Components
Division, said: "Depending on system design, PC users can install
the Overdrive Processor in five minutes." Fister also said the
Overdrive chip is a cheaper way to boost performance as proprietary
CPU upgrade cards range from $800 to $2,000 in price, compared
to the $500 price range of the new Overdrive Processors.

Single-chip Overdrive Processors for both 486 DX and DX2
microprocessor-based systems are expected to be announced
in late 1992 and 1993, respectively, Intel added.

Retail price for the Overdrive Processor for 16 and 20 MHz
Intel 486 SX is $549, while the Overdrive Processor for 25
MHz Intel 486 SX systems is $699, Intel said. The company
says the new chips are available through standard retail channels.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920527/Press Contact: Michele Bourdon,
Intel, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact outside
the US: 503-629-7354)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00002)

DAK Upgrades "Free Computer" Deal, Offers CD-ROM 05/27/92
CANOGA PARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) --
DAK, a mail order electronics firm in Canoga Park, California, has
upgraded the computer offered in its "Free Computer" deal from a
386SX to a 386DX running at 33 megahertz (MHz). The company
says it is also offering a new two new compact disc read-only
memory (CD-ROM) bundles to those who order its $199 CD-ROM
drive.

DAK says those who order its Super Software Bundle get a "free
computer" thrown in. The bundle includes Microsoft Windows 3.1;
Word for Windows 2.0 word processing software; Grammatik 5, a
grammar checker; Norton Desktop for Windows, desktop manager
and utilities; Adobe Type Manager; Microsoft Productivity Pack 3.1;
Objectvision 2.0; Paradox 3.5, business database software; Quattro
Pro 3.0, a spreadsheet package; US Atlas for Windows; World
Atlas for Windows; Chessmaster 3000 for Windows; Desk Reference
for Windows; MS DOS 5.0; Keydraw! Plus a drawing program;
Keychart 2000; Keyboard/Keypad Trainer; 100 Fonts; and a BSR
three-button mouse.

DAK says it is offering the bundle for $1,499, a deal that would
normally be $2,019 at retail price for the first 14 name-brand
software packages at Egghead and $3,081 retail for the whole
bundle. For an additional $399, or a total of $1,898, DAK maintains
it will upgrade the 386DX to a 486SX running at 20 MHz.

The computers are DAK's own BSR brand. DAK says the BSRs
come with super video graphics array (SVGA) displays, a 40
megabyte (MB) hard disk, 2 MB of random access memory (RAM),
32 kilobytes (KB) of cache, a 1.44 MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive,
and a 12 month on-site service warranty. An upgrade to 4 MB of
RAM is $99.90, an upgrade to a Hi-color SVGA board with one
MB of memory on the board is $129.90, and an upgrade to a
120 MB hard disk drive is $149.90, DAK added.

Loading just the software offered in the deal could easily take up
more than 40 MB of hard disk space and since Microsoft
recommends 4 MB of RAM minimum for Windows 3.1, the
purchase of the hard disk and RAM upgrades would be practical.
The upgrades to the RAM and hard disk make the total cost of
the deal with the 386DX computer $1,748.80.

DAK is also offering five CD-ROM collections geared toward those
who will also purchase a CD-ROM drive from the company. The
collections have between four to six CDs each and include
reference works, magazines, the Microsoft Statistic pack and
Small Business Consultant, Historical accounts on The Timetable
of History discs, desktop publishing clips with Publish-It 2.0
software, and multimedia nature and wildlife titles. The collections
range in price from $89.90 to $299

The company is also offering two CD-ROM drives, one priced at
$199.90 and one for $399. While DAK admits the $199.90 CD-ROM
drive's 800 millisecond (ms) access time is too slow to meet the
multimedia personal computer (MPC) standard, the company
maintains it is workable and the price is attractive to those
interested in accessing information on CD-ROM disks. The $399
CD-ROM drive does meet the MPC standard with an access time
of 380 ms and also includes The Microsoft Bookshelf, The Family
Doctor, and Battle Chess, DAK adds.

DAK, named after its founder, Drew A. Kaplan, has the distinction of
doing a large volume mail order business via a catalog that spends
literally pages of small print describing in detail each electronic
gizmo offered. DAK representative Bryan Eggers told Newsbytes the
prices are often some of the lowest anywhere and that is due to the
volume DAK buys. Eggers said the company chooses carefully what
to carry, then spends a lot of time, effort, and space promoting those
items. For example, the latest catalog is 72 pages of explanation
and color photographs and it describes about 55 products.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920527/Press Contact: Bryan Eggers, DAK,
tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact: 800-325-0800)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00003)

DAK Offers Fax/Modem, Winfax, Quick Link II For $99 05/27/92
CANOGA PARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) --
DAK Industries, a mail order firm in Canoga Park, California, has
announced it is offering an internal fax/modem card with Winfax
2.0 for Windows and Quick Link II software for DOS.

The card is DAK's own BSR brand and offers 9,600 Group III send
and receive fax capability with a 2,400 baud Hayes-compatible
modem, the company added. Bryan Eggers, software products
manager for DAK, said Winfax 2.0 is especially attractive software
for faxing as it allows the user to "print" to the fax, so translation
or multiple steps to send a fax are not necessary.

Drew Kaplan, president of DAK said in a prepared statement:
"...what you see on the screen is exactly what your fax will look
like, complete with graphics and Truetype and Adobe fonts." Kaplan
says the Winfax program installs itself as an optional printer in all
Windows applications, so the user simply selects the fax card as
the printer, selects "print," picks a name from the database of fax
phone numbers or types in a new number, clicks on send, and the
fax is sent.

For those who are not Windows users, Quick Link II allows faxing
and modem functions in the DOS environment, DAK added.
Newsbytes called mail order software house Dustin Discount
Software and was quoted a retail price for Winfax at $79 and a
retail price for Quick Link II of $65. Both of those prices did not
include the fax/modem.

What's the catch? There doesn't seem to be one. According to
Eggers, the company can offer lower prices by volume buying.
DAK is the same company who this year started offering a
compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) drive for $199.90.
Like most of DAK's offerings both the fax/modem card and the
CD-ROM drive come with a 12 month warranty.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920527/Press Contact: Bryan Eggers, DAK,
tel [phone], fax [phone], Public Contact: 800-325-0800;
Dustin Discount Software, 818-719-9174)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00004)

CA Announces Accpac Accounting Enhancements 05/27/92
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Computer
Associates has announced a new purchase order system, support
for dynamic link libraries (DLL) under Microsoft Windows, and an
updated Windowing System Manager for its Accpac Plus
accounting software.

CA acquired the new purchase order system for Accpac Plus from
Crystal Services in Vancouver, British Columbia, where CA's Accpac
development group is also based. Crystal Services is a CA Access
Development Partner. The module lets users monitor their purchase
orders, and links them to the general ledger, accounts payable,
inventory control, order entry, and job costing modules of Accpac
Plus, CA said. It is scheduled to be available early this fall.

The addition of DLL support to the Accpac Plus Accounting
DynaView Data Application Programming Interface (API) means
third-party Windows applications will be able to let users read data
from Accpac Plus from within the applications, Computer Associates
said. Accpac Plus does not have to run within Windows to do this,
explained Anders Vinberg, senior vice-president of research and
development at CA, although a Windows version of Accpac Plus is
scheduled for 1993.

The DLL capability will be added to the DynaView Data API in
September. The complete package sells for $349.

The Accpac Plus Windowing System Manager version 6.1A, which
controls the operation of all Accpac Plus modules and provides
common functions, is as much as 40 percent faster than the
previous release and allows multitasking under Windows enhanced
mode and OS/2 2.0, Computer Associates said.

Vinberg noted that the new Windowing System Manager does not
make Accpac Plus into a Windows application -- that will come
next year -- but does let it take advantage of Windows or OS/2
multitasking while running as a DOS application under either
system.

The new release replaces three separate System Managers that
formerly let Accpac Plus run under straight DOS, under Windows,
or in the DOS compatibility box of OS/2.

The new release also provides enhancements such as additional
password protection, an integrated pop-up calculator, and
improved printer support, the company said. It is currently
available for $195, and users of version 6.1 can upgrade for $49.

(Grant Buckler/19920527/Press Contact: Bob Gordon, Computer
Associates, tel [phone], fax [phone])


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

Fujitsu Releases Pocket Telecom Word Processor 05/27/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Fujitsu has shipped an
extremely light-weight and powerful word processor. It is the firm's
word processor family called the Oasys, which is a well-known
Japanese word processor. The latest pocket version is equipped
with a telecommunication program.

Fujitsu's pocket word processor is called the Oasys Pocket 2.
It weighs only 470 grams, but it has a full keyboard and a 40- by
11-line LCD (liquid crystal display) screen.

Although it is a word processor, it is equipped with a
telecommunication program. The proprietary card modem is
provided as an option. It will support 2,400 bits-per-second (bps)
and MNP Class 5.

A printer socket is equipped with the device. Through this
socket printers for personal computers can be connected with
the word processor. Interestingly, NEC's personal computer
printer can also be connected with this device.

The Oasys Pocket 2 is equipped with a 147,000 word dictionary
and regular business organizers such as a scheduler and an
address book. It also supports MS-DOS file format.

The retail price of this pocket word processor is 98,000 yen
($750). The modem card costs 42,000 yen ($320). The AC
battery unit is also available at 5,800 yen ($45). The device
operates 10 hours with removable batteries.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920527/Press Contact: Fujitsu,
[phone])


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

 ****IBM Japan Develops Pocket-Sized Hard Disk 05/27/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- IBM Japan has developed
pocket-sized, low-cost hard disks for its personal computers.
There are three types: 40 megabyte (MB), 60 MB, and 80 MB.

IBM Japan's latest pocket hard disks are called Personal
Storage. These hard disks are measured 8.6 by 12.4 by 2.54
centimeters (cm). They can be connected to IBM Japan's
notebook-type personal computer, the PS/55 note, via the
AT-bus with a proprietary cable.

These hard disks will be released in June. The retail prices
of these small hard disks are relatively cheap. For example, the
60 MB model costs less than 100,000 yen ($770).  There
are three colors -- black, red, and blue -- in these hard disks
boxes.

These pocket hard disks are said to be shake or vibration
resistant to allow them to be carried in a bag. IBM Japan thinks
that many business users will not carry computers in the near
future, but they will just carry the hard disks. They are much
lighter than a computer. In fact, many Japanese hard disk makers
are developing pocket-size hard disks. Some analysts predict that
there will be a pocket-size hard disk boom in Japan in the near
future.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920527/Press Contact: IBM Japan,
[phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00007)

Australia: IDC Survey Of IT Users Forecasts Directions 05/27/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- IDC Australia said
the IT industry had a watershed year in 1991 with companies
attempting to "rightsize" and ready themselves for regrowth and
profitability.

While the leading 25 computer companies in Australia had an 18
percent drop in revenues, they can expect a modest four percent
growth this year, though this will not show the even higher
per-employee returns caused by continuing staff reductions. The
25 companies cut staff by an average 6.5 percent.

IDC's survey of IT users show that they have frozen their budgets
for this year, spending less in some areas, but more in others.
Large system sales will continue to drop, having fallen by more
than 50 percent last year - from AUS$772 million to AUS$333
million. IDC believes 1993 will see an upturn in spending as
systems become incapable of coping with corporate needs, and
as supercomputing platforms become viable choices.

Desktop PC sales are expected to grow by six percent annually
for many years, but mobile computing will grow at more like 23
percent per year. Windows is tipped to dominate the desktop in
the next year, with OS/2 having around 12 percent of the new
operating systems market.

Unix was a high growth area, and average unit prices for
workstations fell by more than 25 percent in the last year. Unix
sales on mainframes increased by a massive 400 percent (it
actually jumped from one sale to five sales in successive years).

(Paul Zucker/19920527)

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

International Phone Update 05/27/92
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Americans
troubled  by their domestic phone system will really be angry
when they see how international PTTs are catching up.

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates and Iran completed
an $8.6 million marine cable project, which will increase their call-
handling capacity to as many as 184,320 calls, when TV signals
are taken off-line. Previously, the two countries were linked by
149 access lines. The cable is part of Iran's move to normalize
relations with its former enemies on the Arabian peninsula and
elsewhere, a move hastened by President Rafsanjani's victories
in recent elections. More than 100,000 Iranians live in the UAE,
Tehran's largest trading partner among the Gulf Arab states.

In Vietnam, which was recently the subject of a long visit by
America's C-SPAN cable network, France said it will offer nearly
$10 million in credits to improve microwave radio links between
Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, formerly called Saigon. The
French, who lost the first Vietnam war in 1954, said they will
increase total aid to $24 million in the next year. Since the US
made moves to normalize telecommunications relations with the
Communist government there, other Western countries have
seen a green light for investment.

Elsewhere in the Communist world, where nearly one-fourth of the
world's people still live, Ericsson signed a $42 million contract
for the extension of the cellular telephone network in Guangdong,
China. Guangdong is in southern China, near Hong Kong, and its
economy has been growing very rapidly. The Communist
government in Beijing has recently been praising Guangdong's
economic miracle, hoping to extend it nationwide, while reserving
comment on its freewheeling social mores and desire for democracy.

With the order, Ericsson's Guangdong cellular network will be able
to serve 150,000 subscribers by 1993.  Separately, Ericsson and
Motorola agreed to swap present and future patents on GSM
cellular phone systems. Motorola has recently been changing its
wireless strategy, dumping proprietary systems in favor of
industry standards in hopes of attracting faster growth.

In Eastern Europe, Hungary named NM Rothschild & Sons to
advise it on privatizing its telecommunications industry.
Rothschild will help Hungary with issues of competition, regulation,
consumer protection, and ownership structure, then take the
MATAV unit through the equity-sale process. The company is
estimated to be worth $1.4 billion, but nearly $10 billion will
actually be needed to bring it up to Western European standards.

In South America, meanwhile, Octel has announced an
exclusive distribution agreement with Telesis Sistemas em
Telecomunicacoes of Sao Paulo, which will become its sold
distributor in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
These countries, with the exception of Chile, are all part of the
Mercosul trading bloc, which has been experiencing record growth
in recent years.

Octel makes voice messaging systems. Telesis had sales of
roughly $5 million in 1991. Separately, NEC received a $112
million order from Embratel, the nation's long distance network.
The company will build a fiber cable system between the
two major cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and link the
area between Porto Velho and Cuiaba with microwave relays.
NEC has the largest share of Brazil's digital microwave market.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920527/Press Contact: Ericsson, Kathy
Egan, 212-685-4030. Octel, Barbara Burdick, 408-321-3245)


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

 ****AT&T Faces Strike Threat 05/27/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- The
Communications Workers of America have authorized a strike
against AT&T, following a similar vote earlier this month against
a unit of GTE.

The strike could take place as early as May 30 if negotiations
fail. The CWA said its 100,000 members authorized a strike by
a 4-1 margin, and that 27,000 members of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers also authorized a strike.
Negotiations on a new three-year contract began March 30.

AT&T put the best face on the situation, calling it a routine
part of contract negotiations, but stock in AT&T fell in price
after the vote, and stock prices on the regional Bell companies,
which also face contract negotiations this year, also fell in
sympathy.

The unions badly need to win a negotiation somewhere, but
management has a powerful weapon in permanent replacements,
and Nynex was able to take a four-month strike three years ago
with major service disruptions. A four-month walkout against
Caterpiller, a heavy equipment maker, was broken earlier this
year by its threat to permanently replace workers.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920527/Press Contact: Herb Linnen,
AT&T, 202-457-3933)


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

AT&T Offers 3 Megabit Speeds On Copper Wire 05/27/92
LARGO, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- AT&T's
Paradyne unit said it can run three megabits of data per second on
a four-wire copper cable, meaning phone companies will be able to
offer multimedia services on existing telephone networks. The news
is a big blow to fiber cable makers, who had been expecting the
nation's phone companies to replace their existing copper plant
before offering TV pictures and other services.

The company calls its technology Carrierless, Amplitude/Phase
modulation, or CAP. CAP transceivers use programmable
computer chips and thus can be adapted to a wide range of
transmission media, distances and data rates.

Paradyne said in a press statement its CAP systems are designed
to complement fiber while accelerating the provision of new services
in the local phone network.

In addition, Paradyne said, CAP technology can provide
T1 data rates of 1.544 million bits-per-second on ordinary two-wire
copper cable, the same type of cable found in most homes. The
technology emerged from Bell Labs.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920527/Press Contact: Garrick Case,
AT&T Paradyne, 813-530-8221)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00011)

Australia: Nortel Signs AUS$188M Deal With Optus 05/27/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Australia's new
second carrier, Optus, has signed an AUS$188 million deal with
Canada's Northern Telecom (Nortel) for the supply of switching
systems. Nortel will supply the systems before the introduction
of Optus' services in October.

The contract was signed by Nortel's Chairman and Chief Executive
Dr Paul Stern. The deal covers the supply of 20 models of Nortel's
DMS range of digital switches, and installation has already begun in
Sydney and Melbourne. Nortel will also supply its Groupe Speciale
Mobile (GSM) switch for Optus' mobile cellular network. The GSM
installation is Nortel's largest outside of Europe to date. Local
electronics company Exicom (which is a Nortel strategic partner
along with another local firm, Techway) will be manufacturing the
DSM and ISDN terminals.

Nortel has recently signed an AUS$270 million contract with
Australia's other carrier, AOTC (Australian and Overseas
Telecommunications Corporation) for the supply of digital switching
systems over the next five years. This trend in the local
telecommunications market is also reflected in Nortel's winning of
contracts for both of New Zealand's carriers, Telecom New Zealand,
and Clear Communications.

(Sean McNamara/19920527)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00012)

Australia: Customs Service Moves Against Paperless Abuse 05/27/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- The Australian
Customs Service (ACS) is set to crack down on abuse of its
paperless export system, EXIT. The moves could see consignments
held up before loading (or unloading), and fines and prosecution
may be considered in some cases.

The EXIT system has been used generally in Australia, and has
been quite successful in reducing the use of paper in export
consignments. However, abuse of the system not only hinders
genuine users of the system, but could also lead to incorrect trade
balance figures (the ACS provides information to the Australian
Bureau of Statistics, which compiles trade balance figures).
Another fear is that smugglers may abuse the system to export
items such as guns if a crackdown is not initiated soon.

EXIT was introduced in 1988, and has since been updated. It
replaced a paper-based system which sometimes saw information
being written on the back of envelopes rather than official forms.
Since its introduction, the system has seen acceptance in a
broad area of the docks and terminals.

Commenting on the system, Richard Janeczko, Customs NSW
regional manager for imports/exports, said: "Although the export
industry overall has widely embraced EXIT, there are still problems.
The shipping and air companies have led the way but many of the
forwarders are still relying on paper handling. This affects the
shippers, who then have to deal in paper rather than electronically,
and customs because we have to deal also with the paper and
electronic reports."

(Sean McNamara/19920527)


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

Australia: Sega Moves To Increase Market Share 05/27/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Japanese video
game and entertainment giant Sega Enterprises has announced
plans to buy a controlling interest in its Australian distributor,
Ozisoft. The move is aimed at increasing Sega's market share
in Australia.

Sega will pay AUS$14.5 million for a 50 percent share in Ozisoft,
with the remaining 50 percent being divided up between Japanese
trading firm Nissho Iwai and two Ozisoft directors. The directors,
Kevin Bermeister and Mark Dyne, founded Ozisoft in 1982, and in
1989 sold 65 percent of the company to local distributor,
Imagineering. In 1991, the directors sold the remaining interest
to another distributor, Tech Pacific.

The latest move represents a re-investment in the company, and
they are hopeful of good results. "We made some money when we
sold out to Imagineering and First Pacific. Now we hope to do it all
over again," said Bermeister. Ozisoft sees many advantages to
Sega's move -- including an AUS$9 million marketing budget and
a more willing approach to negotiating prices. Sega currently
accounts for around 70 percent of Ozisoft's turnover (Ozisoft
accounts for around 49 percent of the local games market).

This buyout follows Sega's purchase of its European distributor
from Britain's Virgin group.

(Sean McNamara/19920527)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SYD)(00014)

Australian Firm Produces Shows For Burbank Animation 05/27/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Unlimited Energee,
a Sydney-based animation company, is to produce a series of
animation programs for Burbank Animation Studios. The AUS$2.1
million contract involves a first-up series of 13 shows, with a
possible 13 more shows.

A condition of the contract is that the episodes be completed on
Macintosh computers. The computer clause of the agreement
originally had US traditional animators up in arms, but the benefits
of doing the series on computer by Unlimited Energee was a major
part of their winning of the contract.

Unlimited Energee were competing against traditional animators,
who could utilize "sweat-houses" for the tedious parts of the
animation process. However, Unlimited was able to show that
producing the series on computer would be more economical
than this.

The series is to be based on traditional stories, such as
Frankenstein and Robin Hood, with each being re-written and
modernized. Some of the stories will also depart from the original
story basis. Frank Enstein, for example, still has the creation of a
monster as a central theme, but the main focus is a water-powered
car.

Unlimited is producing the shows on three Macintosh Quadra 900s
and five Quadra 700s. A show has to be delivered every seven weeks,
with the first due for delivery on June 8. As part of the deal, Unlimited
is also responsible for the production of the sound track.

(Sean McNamara/19920527)

(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00015)

Compaq Counters AST Performance Claims 05/27/92
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Compaq
Computer has send a field communiquΘ to its sales force designed
to counter claims AST performance advantage claims over Compaq
products.

Specifically, the memo addresses the comparison made between
the QVision 1024/E Controller and the Compaq Systempro/LT.
Compaq said it was issuing the memo to set the record straight.

Included with the memo is a reproduction an AST Computer ad
which appeared in The Wall Street Journal of May 4th, 1992. The
ad claims that AST's Power Premium computers run Windows 3.5
times faster than Compaq. The ad reportedly also ran in Infoworld.

According to the Compaq memo, the AST ad compares an
accelerated 1024 by 768 controller against a VGA controller in 640
by 480 mode. The memo states the comparison was not valid,
saying a more valid comparison would have been the AST Western
Digital Power Premium against the Compaq QVision 1024/E.
Compaq has included a graph to depict that comparison. The graph
shows PC Labs Windows Benchmark test that indicate QVision
controllers outperform AST by up to 3.77 times.

Another bone of contention between the two companies is price
comparison. An AST press release carried on Business Wire in late
April said that AST's Premium SE 4/33, Model 663 is priced 11
percent lower than Compaq's Systempro LT Model 486/33-510.
However, Compaq says that isn't true, claiming that the AST
system is more than 36 percent higher.

Asked by Newsbytes if Compaq planned to take further action,
such as filing a lawsuit, company spokesperson Hedy Baker told
Newsbytes she wasn't aware of any such plans.

(Jim Mallory/19920527/Press Contact: Hedy Baker, Compaq
Computer, 713-374-4619)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00016)

New For Mac: Aldus PressWise 1.0 05/27/92
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Aldus
Corporation has released Aldus PressWise 1.0, a page imposition
program for the Macintosh computer.

PressWise provides page handling and page adjustment tools for
film strippers and production artists. With PressWise those
professionals can impose almost any PageMaker or QuarkXpress
file from the desktop, says Aldus. For example, you can merge
the pages of multiple publications and sort them in a special page
list palette.

PressWise is intended for organizations that utilize electronic
page layout and imaging devices to create printed documents.
Commercial printers, service bureaus, in-house printers and color
prepress providers all fall into that category.

PressWise uses ready-made or custom imposition templates to
automatically accommodate binding options and other parameters.
The pages are then arranged in the correct order and orientation
(vertical or horizontal) for printing. The user can also design
their own library of templates to meet their particular needs. A
reduced view of the imposition form provides visual feedback.

PressWise carries a price tag of $2,295, and is available directly
from Aldus. It is also being bundled as part of a complete prepress
system from some imagesetter manufacturers. Aldus said
localized versions for the European market will be available later.

Aldus recommends an Apple Macintosh II series or a Quadra 700
or 900 running System 7, at least two megabytes of RAM, and
a hard drive. The company says PressWise will run on a Mac
Classic with the same memory and drive configuration.

(Jim Mallory/19920527/Press Contact: Brad Stevens, Aldus
Corporation, 206-628-2361; Reader contact: Aldus Corporation,
206-628-2320)


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

UK: Fujitsu Unveils 125ppm Non-Impact Printers 05/27/92
WATFORD, HERTS, ENGLAND, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Fujitsu
has unveiled a range of IBM compatible printers that it claims are
capable of speeds of up to 125 pages-per-minute (ppm).

The printers are badge-imported versions from Groupe Set
International (GSI), the French specialist manufacturer, and are
based around a Fujitsu engine. The printers will be marketed in
Europe by both companies under a joint partnership arrangement.

Both companies have been cooperating for the last ten years and,
according to Mark Marsh, GSI UK sales manager, the long term
partnership has created a substantial user base throughout
Europe.

"With around 20 percent of the IBM mainframe environment printer
market in France and over 70 printers installed in the UK, users
value Fujitsu's dedication to cold and flash fusion technology and
reliable print quality," he said.

Flagship to the new range of non-impact printers is the M3067,
which is the 125ppm machine. This is reflected in the UKP 157,500
price tag of the printer. For the money, users get a printer that
both companies claim is the only unit on the market with A3 and
cold fusion processing.

The heart of the M3067 is a light emitting diode (LED) array
system that prints at 240 dots-per-inch (DPI). This, the company
claims, results in zero image distortion as each dot on the drum
is less than 0.1mm in diameter.

The printer uses an unusual, but high-speed printing process
known as cold fusion. This is a non-contact system that uses a
Xenon flash lamp to generate a light and heat burst signal that
imprints itself on the paper surface. Since the paper only skims
over the lamp, the paper path and general paper handling of the
machine is simplified, GSI claims.

For users on a tighter budget, SET has produced the M3053, a
106ppm and simpler version of the M3067. Retailing at UKP
94,000 the printer is available in five flavors designed for a variety
of user situations, which include mail order to color printing labs.

Groupe Set International is headquartered in Paris with branch
offices in Lyon, Brussels, and Milan. The UK operation is
located in Watford.

(Steve Gold/19920527/Press & Public Contact: Fujitsu Europe,
tel [phone], fax [phone]; Groupe Set International,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00018)

UK: LPA Updates Windows Software Tool Packages 05/27/92
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Logic Programming
Associates (LPA) has announced an updated family of its Windows
software tools for 80386- and 80486-based PCs. The Windows
series consists of LPA 386-Prolog for Windows, Flex/386 for
Windows and Prolog++/376 for Windows.

The versions, all under the "version 1.2" banner, include support
for Windows 3.1, as well as an integrated source level debugger
dialog with a choice five different debugging modems, plus a
dedicated dBase III interface and various extensions and
improvements to the original releases.

Two releases of each 1.2 package are available - programmer and
developer. The developer edition includes a run time generator
for producing standalone applications. All the packages require
an 80486-based PC with at least four megabytes (MB) of RAM plus
Windows 3.0 or later.

According to marketing director Clive Spenser, programmer pricing
on the packages is as follows: LPA 386 Prolog for Windows -- UKP
745; Prolog ++/386 for Windows -- UKP 995; and Flex/386 for
Windows -- UKP 1,245. Developer editions are, respectively, UKP
1,495, UKP 1,995, and UKP 2,495.

Spenser claims that Prolog is a superior programming language
than C, which many programmers still use. "Over time, the
shortcomings of languages like C and C++ will become more
apparent and we believe that prolog offers a better long-term
solution," he said.

As part of special summer promotion, LPA is offering its Prolog
packages at around half price. For example, LPA 386-Prolog for
Windows sells for UKP 395 for the programmer edition or UKP
795 for the developer edition. These prices are available when
customers order the packages at trade shows.

(Steve Gold/19920527/Press & Public Contact: LPA , tel 081-871-
2016, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00019)

UK: Lotus Ships 1-2-3 For DOS Release 2.4 05/27/92
STAINES, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Lotus
Development has announced that 1-2-3 for DOS Release 2.4 is now
available. The major update includes several major enhancements,
such as the Lotus Smarticon technology -- which provides one-click
access to software features, and Backsolver -- a single/multiple
goal-seeking utility. Printer support facilities have also been
greatly expanded.

Announcing the package in the UK, Jeff Beir, vice president of
Lotus' spreadsheet division, said that Lotus is committed to
delivering innovative solutions to DOS spreadsheet users.

"Smarticons, first seen in 1-2-3 for Windows, now provides DOS
users with one-click access to commonly used spreadsheet
commands and represent the next step in our long term plans,"
he said.

Backsolver is beginning to come bundled with several of Lotus'
latest products, Newsbytes notes. The package logs a user's
required results and, using data selection techniques, backtracks
through the necessary spreadsheet calculations to arrive at a
number of goals that must be met. Essentially, the package
automates the "what-if" scenario by asking the user what he
wants to achieve and backstepping from there.

1-2-3 For DOS 2.4 requires an 8088-based or better PC with at
least 384 kilobytes (KB) of RAM. DOS 2.1 or later, plus a hard
disk is required. When WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)
graphics are required, at least 512KB of memory is required.

(Steve Gold/19920527/Press & Public Contact: Lotus
Development, 0784-455445)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00020)

UK: Samsung Updates Notebook PC Family 05/27/92
SURBITON, SURREY, ENGLAND, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Samsung
has updated its notebook PC family with the addition of four new
machines designed to flesh out its product offerings in the area.

At the entry level, the NM386S/20, a 20 megahertz (MHz) 386SL-
based machine comes with a 40 megabyte (MB) hard disk at
UKP 1,499, and a 60MB hard disk for UKP 1,999. Further upmarket,
the 25MHz version, the NM386S/25 costs UKP 1,299 for a 60MB
hard disk and UKP 2,399 for an 80MB hard disk version.

Announcing the shipment of the machines, Hugh Dalgleish,
Samsung's product manager, said that the new machines are
competitively priced and "demonstrate that Samsung is taking the
varied needs of the business user more seriously. With this range,
our business partners (the company's resellers) can offer their
customers the most cost-effective and reliable computing solutions
currently on the market."

The NM386S/25 is unusual in that it is based around the Applied
Micro Devices (AMD) 386SL chipset. Like the NM386S/20, the
machine weighs in at 5.5 pounds and is 1.75-inches thick. Battery
power is four hours on single charge. All four machines come with
2MB of memory, expandable to 8MB internally if required.

All the new machines come with DOS 5, Windows 3, Traveling
Software's LapLink III package, and a carry case as standard
features.

(Steve Gold/19920527/Press & Public Contact: Samsung
Electronics, 081-391-0168)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00021)

 ****Sega Links With General Electric On Graphics Board 05/27/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Sega Enterprises says it
will sign a joint development agreement with General Electric to
develop a computer graphics board.

A Sega spokesman told Newsbytes that both firms have already
reached a basic agreement. The actual contract is expected to
be signed around the end of July.

Sega and GE will develop a low-cost computer graphics board,
which incorporates multimedia features. With this board, quality
graphic data can be processed. So, the screen pictures will be
comparable to photographs or theatrical movies.

The computer graphic board will be based mainly on GE's
technology. In fact, GE has already been developing the board for
industry use. Sega will provide the technology to add a so-called
"virtual reality" feature, which allows for three-dimensional graphics.

So far, Sega has developed game programs with the virtual reality
feature. Sega wants to use the new computer graphics board for
simulation games, while GE wants to apply the board mainly for
the aircraft industry. It will take about a year for both firm to actually
develop the product. Both firms are also expected to cooperate
with the development of game software.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920527/Press Contact: Sega
Enterprise, [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00022)

 ****Alliant Files For Chapter 11, Cuts Staff To 60 05/27/92
LITTLETON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) --
Falling short in the leap from an old to a new product line, Alliant
Computer Systems has plunged into Chapter 11 of United States
bankruptcy law. The company filed for protection from its creditors
May 26, and announced that it is cutting its staff from 225 to 60
people.

Alliant was caught in a transition from its old supercomputer
products to a new line of massively parallel machines announced
late last year. Patrick Scannell Jr., vice-president of finance and
administration, told Newsbytes sales of the old products fell off
faster than Alliant had expected, leaving the company dependent
on service revenues and sales of its new hardware several months
earlier than expected.

"Our cash position to continue future operations is at an extremely
low level," Scannell said. Alliant was in danger of running out of
cash if it did not make the Chapter 11 filing, he said.

On May 15, Alliant announced increased losses and a sharp
drop in revenue in its first quarter.

Alliant announced it would let go 165 of its 225 employees,
keeping on only enough management and staff to provide service
and support to existing customers. At that level, Alliant officials
said, the company believes it can be profitable. Scannell said this
will give Alliant time to "refocus and get a business plan put
together." Once the company has a business plan for restructuring,
he said, it can try to attract new financing.

Alliant owes $39 million on outstanding subordinated convertible
debentures, Scannell said, in addition to other obligations.

The company hopes it can get back on its feet and continue with
the new product line. However, Scannell admitted, "now we're not
only dealing with technological uncertainty in customers' minds.
Now we're dealing with company uncertainty in their minds." It is
hard for a vendor to "be convincing when we're going through a
bankruptcy," he said, but Alliant officials hope customers will
understand that the Chapter 11 filing is a way for the company to
survive and not a sign of its demise.

(Grant Buckler/19920527/Press Contact: Patrick Scannell, Jr.,
Alliant Computer Systems, 508-486-4950)

(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00022)

Retix To Use New Intel CF RISC i960 In Network Router 05/27/92
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) --
Retix and Intel have announced that Retix will be the first company
to implement the new Intel i960 CF reduced instruction-set
computer (RISC) microprocessor. The implementation will be
in the Retix Routerxchange 7000 multiprotocol router for
computer networks.

Intel, in the January/February issue of its "Microcomputer Solutions"
magazine describes the previous version, the CA i960 as the
computer-shared collaboration (CSC) connection for
communications. The i960 is designed to provide high-bandwidth
data compression for the transmission of output to other personal
computers and peripherals on a network, Intel said. Intel described
the CA i960 as the first "superscalar" device, as it is able to begin
two new instructions every clock cycle, so at 40 megahertz (MHz)
it can run at 80 million instructions per second (MIPS).

This new member of the i960 family however can outperform the
CA i960 by 100 times but still is 100 percent compatible with the
CA i960, Intel said.

Retix says the new CF RISC i960 microprocessor is critical to the
speed and performance the Routerxchange needs to handle large,
traffic-intensive networks with multiple protocols and media. For
example, Randy Phillips vice president and general manager of
Retix' Internetworking Product Unit said the Routerxchange will be
able to support TCP/IP's Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and
OSSI's Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS)
protocols without sacrificing speed or efficiency.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920527/Press Contact: Lori Hultin, Retix,
tel [phone] ext 526, fax [phone]; Sara Killingsworth,
Intel, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00024)

Bids Galore As India Opens Telecom Industry 05/27/92
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Last month, when the
government announced that it was opening telecommunications
to the private sector, industry was pleasantly agitated. The
big industrial houses are quickly squaring up collaboration
agreements with international giants.

Apart from the manufacture of big telephone exchanges, the other
areas of private enterprise are in value-added equipment like car
phones, electronic mail, and paging systems. The Department
of Telecommunications (DOT) invited tenders for cellular phones
for the main metros in March. The response has been
overwhelming. Some 150 companies have written in. Finally,
some 30 big corporations have chosen to form mini consortia.
The tenders are scheduled to be processed this week.

The communications minister, Rajesh Pilot, is equally gung-ho
about it all. Indeed, he is quite excited that, for a change,
foreigners are wooing the Indian market. Less than a year ago, the
whole show was managed by the government agencies,
manufacturing of switching being the monopoly of the public
sector Indian Telephone Industries Ltd. which has been
manufacturing E10B exchanges of CIT Alcatel. CDOT
(Center for Development of Telematics) developed its own digital
switching system, slated to be manufactured by the ITI. Not any
more. Private firms are expected to give both ITI and CDOT
a tough run.

Presently, India has about six million telephone lines. The wait
for connections is more than two million. Also, in the next five
years, according to one estimate, the demand is expected to grow
to nine million lines more. At present, less than 10 percent of that
demand, just under a million lines, are added every year.

The eighth "Five Year Plan," announced last month, talks of Rs
40,500 crore (over $13 billion), set aside for investment in the
telecom sector by the government, public sector, and private
industry.

Meanwhile, eight equipment manufacturers are already in the
race for bagging DOT's order for 200,000 lines of large digital
exchanges. Next month, all the eight are expected to announce
the cut over date of the 10,000-line exchange they are installing
at various sites allotted to them to enable the Department to
validate and evaluate their performance.

Busy with the exercise of the installation are: AT&T's 5 ESS
system at Ahmedabad; Alcatel's E10-based OCB 283 at Delhi;
GPT's System X at Hyderabad; Fujitsu's FETEX 150; Siemens'
EWSD, and Ericson's AXE 10, at Calcutta and Madras respectively.
NEC of Japan with its NEAX and Orintal Telecom of South Korea
with TDX 10 are also doing the same at their respective sites at
Jaipur and Pune.

Once the cut over dates of these companies are announced, DOT
is expected to take three month to evaluate, before placing the
order. That's not going to be easy for DOT. For, many have
already questioned the logic of the move to invite such a
multiplicity of technologies.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19920527)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00025)

Perot Leaves Perot Systems Chairmanship 05/27/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- In Herndon,
Virginia, about twenty miles west of Washington, a group of
computer company employees are starting today with a new boss.
It is a story that is worth reporting only because their old boss was
H. Ross Perot, the man who might be President.

In another move that strengthens the feeling among supporters
that he really intends to make a run for the job of President of the
United States, Perot yesterday resigned as Chairman of
Herndon-based Perot Systems, a local computer company with
annual sales of several hundred million dollars.

Perot, who has said that he will run for President if his
supporters get him on the ballot as an independent candidate in
all 50 states, will remain on the company's board of directors by
virtue of his 40 percent ownership of Perot Systems.

Replacing Perot at the helm will be long-time friend and
business associate (also former head of Electronic Data Systems,
the company Perot eventually sold to General Motors) Morton H.
Meyerson.

Independent polls have shown that support for H. Ross Perot's
Presidential candidacy has been gaining momentum and he has
actually surpassed President Bush in both Texas and California.

Interestingly enough, after one ill-fated attempt to help the
US Postal Service, Perot Systems, despite its proximity to
Washington, DC, is not thought to be engaged in any government-
related business, although it does hire a lot of ex-military
people. The company is privately held by the Perots and
employees of the company, so it is not required to disclose
details about its activities or revenues to the Securities and
Exchange Commission or to make them public.

(John McCormick/19920527)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00026)

Extended Training For Former Defense Employees 05/27/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Trying to ease
the move to civilian-oriented production, the Office of Personnel
Management (Department of Labor) has decided that Department
of Defense civilian employees who are let go due to the cutbacks
in military spending will receive transition services for six full
months after termination.

JTPA (Job Training Partnership Act) training, which can apply to
people anywhere in the country through local agencies and is not
limited to former military employees, is usually based on
financial need and skills, but the special benefits for former
DoD civilian employees will, since the recent decision, extend
three times beyond that normally available.

According to the Washington Post, there are about 90,000
civilian employees of the DoD in the Washington area, with
another 900,000 around the world (and elsewhere in the US).
The Pentagon says that it will cut worldwide civilian jobs by
nearly 87,000 by the end of 1993.

Many Pentagon civilian employees have computer-related jobs
and part of the JTPA training will involve teaching programmers
and other specialists the new languages and skills needed for
civilian employment in the computer industry.

Besides training, the employees being let go will have priority
for similar jobs in other government agencies. The defense
industry, which was traditionally hungry for former DoD
employees, is cutting back drastically and is not expected to
take up any of the employment slack, contributing to it instead
with its own flood of highly skilled but defense work-oriented
former employees.

(John McCormick/19920527)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00027)

Japanese PenDOS/TouchPen Driver For PenPoint Intro'd 05/27/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- There were
two interesting pieces of news in the pen computer industry in the
past week. One involved Communications Intelligence Corp's
introduction of a Japanese language version of its PenDOS
operating system. The other was Microtouch System's release
of TouchPen drivers for PenPoint.

CIC's software was introduced in Tokyo by Justsystem, the
Japanese company which holds more than 75 percent of the word
processing market for Japanese language users.

PenDOS is the first pen computing operating environment ported to
Japanese language computers and makes use of Justsystem's
ATOK kana to kanji character processing.

A CIC spokeswoman says that NCR (owned by AT&T) is already
marketing the NCR 3125 Notepad computer in Japan with the
English language version of PenDOS and that it has proven very
popular.

Wilmington, Massachusetts-based Microtouch Systems has
announced that the TouchPen digitizer system is now available
in a Go PenPoint configuration for evaluation by prospective
pen computer manufacturers.

TouchPen, a high-resolution handwriting recognition digitizer
designed for portable computers, was first introduced last year
with the NEC Ultralight SL/20P notebook computer and
previously run under MS-DOS and Windows for Pen Computing.

Founded in 1982 and with sales in the vicinity of $20 million
annually, Microtouch is a privately held company with nearly
200 employees.

CIC is a publicly traded (NASDAQ) company based in
Redwood Shores, California.

(John McCormick/19920527/Press Contact: Germaine Gioia, CIC,
415- 802-7888 or fax [phone]; Janet Pannier, Microtouch,
508-694-9900 or fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00028)

Softech To Develop DSP Support Software 05/27/92
WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) --
Softech has announced an agreement with Array Microsystems
and Samsung Electronics to develop software development tools
for use with the two companies' jointly developed a77 family of
digital signal processing (DSP) chips.

The a77 DSP chips, which will not be in production until sometime
next year, have many applications in consumer electronics, office
automation, and all forms of graphics processing, including
computers and multimedia.

The a77 is a single-chip parallel-processing device which can be
programmed to compress and decompress Joint Photographic
Experts Group (JPEG) and Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG)
video signals. Samsung and Array have not released details of the
chip yet, which is based on Samsung 0.8 micron CMOS or
complimentary metal oxide semiconductor technology and will
have a large amount of internal memory.

Competition for the a77 programmable device will come from hard-
wired and programmable compression systems already available
from Integrated Information Technology and Intel's Digital Video
Interactive group.

Softech is developing the basic software which will be used by
systems designers to program the DSPs which will go into
consumer and business hardware.

Softech's expertise in the systems engineering area is generally
with client-server applications, and manufacturing enterprise
integration, for customers in finance and government. The
company currently has a contract with the Air Force to integrate
enterprise systems for the Manufacturing Technical Office by
developing standard procedures.

(John McCormick/19920527/Press Contact: Jon Wroblewski,
Softech, 719-570-9400)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00029)

HP Gives $138 Million In Profit-Sharing To Employees 05/27/92
CORVALLIS, OREGON, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Hewlett-
Packard announced it has shared its profits with its employees
who received profit-sharing checks that totaled $138 million.
Employees in HP's Corvallis, McMinnville, Wilsonville, and
Eugene facilities, nearly 2,700 strong, received checks
totaling $3.9 million after HP's announcement of its second
quarter earnings.

HP says this isn't new and says it has been sharing its profits in
one way or another with its employees for its entire 53-year history.
Currently, its employees are eligible for profit-sharing after six
consecutive months of service with the company. The company
says it issues two checks annually -- one in November and the
other in May. When combined, the checks represent from two
to four weeks of extra pay. The company maintains it initiated
this profit-sharing plan in 1962.

HP also took a different approach when it saw hard times coming
and asked its employees to choose voluntary severance measures
that cut 3,300 people from the payroll last year.

The company said in its second quarter earnings announcement
that it has managed to cut expenses so earnings are increasing
faster than revenue. The gains this quarter are being attributed to
management of expenses which includes the elimination of
management lawyers, reorganization of sales, and the voluntary
severance, HP added.

The company reported second quarter earnings of $326 million, or
$1.28 a share, as opposed to $233 million, or $.93 cents a share,
posted last year. Overall revenues were up $8.05 billion, a 13
percent increase from $7.14 billion of 1991, but earnings have
increased 44 percent to $632 million or $2.49 per share compared
to $438 million or $1.76 a share a year ago.

HP is probably best known for its very successful line of desktop
laser printers, but the company also makes IBM compatible
personal computers, test and measurement devices, workstations,
and other electronic devices.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920527/Press Contact: Jerry Fisher, Hewlett-
Packard, tel [phone] ext 2022, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00030)

Gain Tech Buys Santa Fe To Implement Multimedia Software 05/27/92
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 27 (NB) -- Gain
Technology, a multimedia software company, says it has acquired
Santa Fe Interactive, has made it the nucleus of a new venture
called Gain Interactive, and plans to increase and broaden the
implementation of multimedia systems to businesses.

Headquartered Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe Interactive has
been developing multimedia business systems for well-known
businesses such as American Express, Hallmark Cards, Andersen
Windows, and DOW Chemical, Gain said. Santa Fe focused on
a high degree of user interactivity in its multimedia applications,
Gain added.

Gain plans to implement its multimedia software products in the
business market using Santa Fe's experience in multimedia. Mark
Carpenter, president of Santa Fe Interactive said: "We are delighted
to be participating in the evolution of an organization that is
committed to bringing the power of multimedia to mainstream
business information systems."

Gain, founded in 1989 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California,
has only 85 employees who own the entire company. Gainexposure,
the company's first software product went into production at the
beginning of this year. On May 11 the company announced
Gainmomentum, a object-based multimedia software product.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920527/Press Contact: Bob Runge, Gain
Technology, tel [phone], fax [phone])