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/nb920515

Text File | 1992-05-15 | 73KB | 1,582 lines

(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00001)

New Pen Computer From Sharp 05/15/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Sharp has developed a pen
computer which supports its original Windows environment and
is aimed at the low-end consumer market in Japan.

Costing less than NCR's competing pen computer, Sharp's
"Hyper Electronic Management Notebook" offers a set of
business organizers including a scheduler, database, address
book and calculator. It offers Sharp's original multitasking
operating system called Quasi-multi-task pen-base.

The device has a 20 x 12 line LCD (liquid crystal display) with
320 x 240 dot resolution. The keyboard has regular
alphabetical and numeric keys with additional Japanese "Kana"
keys. It has a 128,000-word dictionary and supports Kanji. Sharp's
pen computer measures 17.1 x 10.5 x 1.85 cm, and weighs 370 grams.
It can be folded just like a notebook-type computer.

The device has also a data transmission feature allowing it to
exchange data with personal computers with a special modem. It can also
exchange data with other Hyper Electronics Management Notebooks via
infrared rays.

IC cards, a name card reader, and proprietary printers are also
available for this pen computer. The name card reader is designed to be
especially helpful for business people who need to organize
name card data. It automatically reads in the name card data including
personal name, company name, address, and the phone number. This
data is stored in the database and is said to be easily searchable.

The device will be released at 128,000 yen ($990) on July 3.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920000/Press Contact: Sharp, [phone],
Fax, [phone])


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

Syquest Distributes Free Utility SCSI Probe 5/15/92
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Syquest has signed
a licensing agreement with shareware author Robert Polic under which
it has the right to distribute his SCSI Probe utility bearing the
Syquest name.

SCSI Probe has gained fame in the Macintosh market as a handy
utility to have in conjunction with a Syquest removable hard drive.
Syquest officials explained the situation to Newsbytes in the
following manner: Syquest sells the product to many integrators in
the Macintosh market. These integrators get the hardware from
Syquest but they are then responsible for putting together their
own driver software. Each cartridge contains a copy of the proper
driver for that particular format on its boot sectors.

A problem exists when a Macintosh has been started with a particular
manufacturer's software driver installed. Apple's system software
only looks at the SCSI driver once, on start-up. If you have a
removable drive - outside of floppy disks - and change the
cartridge to one that was formatted with a different driver, there
is a likelihood that your Macintosh will not recognize the new
cartridge. One way around this is to restart your Macintosh with
the new cartridge installed in the drive. This will cause Apple's
system software to load the driver that is present on the cartridge,
rather than the one that is on its hard disk.

However, restarting a computer like that is not an acceptable
solution. SCSI Probe's advantage is that it can force the system
software to close down the old driver and install the driver that
is on the cartridge, thereby alleviating the need to restart the
computer.

Previous versions of SCSI Probe have been distributed as shareware
on the national bulletin boards like GEnie and Compuserve. After
this licensing agreement went into effect, the author made
significant improvements to its functionality and usability and it
is now being offered free of charge by Syquest. The new version,
3.4, is also being made available on GEnie, America Online, and
Syquest's own bulletin board. In addition, Syquest will ship out
a copy of the utility on diskette to anyone who requests it from
them. Syquest officers have told Newsbytes that they have shipped over
300 copies since the new version came out in late April.
Additionally, they know that over 1000 people have downloaded the
software from the various bulletin boards.

Compuserve is not making the software available. Syquest personnel
expressed puzzlement over Compuserve's reasons which were given
as having to do with the fact that the program is now labelled
Syquest SCSI Probe v3.4. The only thing that the Syquest people
could figure out was that Compuserve objected to the use of the
Syquest name.

(Naor Wallach/19920513/Press Contact: Michelle Mihalick, Neale-May
for Syquest, 415-328-5555)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00003)

Compex Intros Token Ring Card 05/15/92
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- The Token Ring
card market for PCs is heating up. Almost directly on the heels of
Asante's introduction of a line of PC Token Ring cards comes the
announcement that Compex will start offering a Token Ring card for
ISA machines.

Compex has been active in the Ethernet adapter market for quite some
time now. Company President Dwaine Robison told Newsbytes that he
is looking at the Token Ring market as a market that is ready to
develop now in a big way. This is especially true with the agreement
that was made between National Semiconductor and IBM that resulted
in the introduction of the TROPIC chip. Since that introduction,
Compex has been working hard to develop the board just announced.

The T-Net Token Ring Adapter card is the result of these efforts.
Supporting both 4 and 16 Mbps cable rates as well as the full suite
of IEEE 802.5 specifications, the T-Net cards are priced at $595.
Compex claims that the card is completely compatible with IBM's
own 8-bit card although theirs is a 16-bit card and therefore, the
customer will have the benefit in increased performance.

Compex's T-Net cards will be available in July.

(Naor Wallach/19920515/Press Contact: Dwaine Robison, Compex,
714-630-7302)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00004)

IBM May Sign Deal With Time-Warner 05/15/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Newsbytes source says Time-Warner
and IBM have been hammering out a business partnership
agreement regarding multimedia products. Time-Warner wants to
provide its huge collection of audiovisual software to IBM. IBM, in
turn, is interested in incorporating Time-Warner's software in its
multimedia computers.

There is also a possibility that Time-Warner's software may be
used on a new multimedia personal computer being planned by the
IBM-Apple alliance. An IBM Japan spokesman has decline to
make any comment on this issue.

Meanwhile, a Time-Warner Japanese subsidiary will be created in
Tokyo on June 30. Called Warner Entertainment Japan, it will be
capitalized with 100 million yen ($0.75 million), half of which
is to come from Time-Warner with the rest paid equally by Toshiba
and Chu Ito Trading. Minoru Akimoto of Chu Ito will assume the
Presidency of the new firm. The subsidiary's mission will be
the creation of visual software including for movies and cable TV.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920514)


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

Toshiba Doubles 16M DRAM Production 05/15/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Toshiba will double production of
its 16-megabit dynamic random access memory (DRAM) this summer and
will also ship a variety of 16Mb DRAM-related products this fall.

Toshiba is currently manufacturing and shipping about 50,000 units
of the 16M DRAM per month and expects to raise the shipment figures
to 100,000 units per month in August. The chips are targeted at
workstations and general purpose computers. The increase in the shipment
numbers is widely seen as evidence that the computer market is
gradually recovering. Also, it means chip demand has been shifting
from 4M DRAM to 16M DRAM at a rapid pace.

Toshiba released an industry sample of this product last
fall. Since then, the firm has been manufacturing 50,000 units of
the chip per month. Toshiba's latest version is 16 x 18 bit, and
the access time is 60 nanoseconds. It is said to consume very little
electricity.

Other Japanese memory chip makers are expected to increase
shipments of 16M DRAM this fall.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920514/Press Contact: Toshiba, +81-3-3457-
2100)


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

 ****Sony, Philips To Open CD-I As Standard 05/15/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Sony and Philips will open
their CD-I or CD-Interactive technology to third parties in June.
Their version of CD-I supports motion pictures -- it is called FMV --
and is said to process clear color motion pictures.

The CD-I disk measures 12 cm (or 5-inch) in diameter -- the
same size as a music compact disk. The CD-I disk can store
a maximum of 74 minutes of motion pictures.

The CD-I, which was developed by Sony and Philips, is based on
the international data compression standard called MPEGI.
This technology presents pictures as clear as those on
VHS video tapes. The sound quality is also comparable with a
regular compact disk.

Sony and Philips plan to open this CD-I technology to hardware
and software makers as early as this June. Both hardware and
software will be released by the end of this year. The
price of the CD-I player is expected to be around 200,000 yen
($1,540), which is about 50,000 to 60,000 yen (around $430) more
expensive than the first generation CD-I that supports sound
and still pictures.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920514/Press Contact: Sony, [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00007)

New For Networks: Wireless Networking From Windata, Cabletron 5/15/92
NORTHBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Windata has
announced a new collection of wireless LAN equipment and Cabletron
immediately announced that it has entered into a strategic
relationship with Windata that allows Cabletron to distribute these
new products.

The Windata products operate in the unlicensed spread spectrum radio
range which is also used by the military and others for secure and
reliable short range communications. This part of the radio
frequency spectrum is not regulated by the FCC.

There are three main components to the FreePort wireless system. The
hub, the transceivers, and the management software. A FreePort
Wireless hub will sell for either $4695 or $895 depending on its
support of 32 or 62 transceivers. It consists of an antenna and a
chassis. The antenna can be placed anywhere that makes sense
from a physical point of view. The chassis is either desktop
or rack mounted. It can operate as a stand-alone hub or be connected
to a wired LAN through its AUI and RJ45 connectors. The hub can
receive and retransmit signals for up to 256 nodes that reside
within an 80-meter distance. If it is connected to a wired
LAN, the hub will receive wireless transmissions, send them out to
the other transceivers, and send them out the wire as well. Data
coming in off the wire is sent to the wireless stations as well.

A FreePort Wireless Ethernet Transceiver is also comprised of two
parts. There is the transceiver itself which can mount anywhere
and the Interface unit. The interface unit provides the
power to the transceiver as well and acts as go-between among the real
node and the wireless network. An option is available to have an
interface unit support 8 nodes at one location. Should this option
be exercised, all eight nodes connect to the respective RJ45
connectors on the interface unit. In addition, the transceiver acts
as a concentrator among those 8 units while also sending and
receiving the data from the hub. The transceiver will cost $995 with
the multiuser option adding $595.

The third part of the system is the management software. The SeePort
Network Management System is based on the Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP) standard and also consists of two components. The
SeePort agent resides in the hub and provides SNMP MIB 1
capabilities. There are also specific Windata extensions to the MIB
provided by the Agent. The other part is called the SeePort User
Interface. This is a Microsoft Windows 3 program that can enable
and disable individual tranceivers, establish and modify the
security access list for the network and the hub, notify network
administrators in real time of any problems or special events that
occur in the network, monitor network performance data, and other
network management tasks.

The SeePort Network Management User Interface program will sell for
$1950. Each of the SeePort Network Management Agents will sell for
$445. All of these components will be available in July.

In a separate but related announcement, Cabletron of Rochester, New
Hampshire announced that it has signed an OEM agreement with Windata
under which it will sell and support the SeePort products. In
addition, Cabletron will integrate the Windata extensions into its
network management products so that Remote LANview/Windows and
Spectrum could be used to manage networks that include Windata
components.

(Naor Wallach/19920511, Press Contact: Steve Diamond, Stringer and
company for Windata, 617-246-0444; Darren Orzechowki, Cabletron,
603-332-9400 Extension 1282)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00008)

Iomega Talks About Future Products 05/15/92
ROY, UTAH, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Iomega's chief executive
officer, Fred Wenninger, gave the company's shareholders a tantalizing
look at the future, but stopped short of specifics.

Wenninger said a full line of tape products is planned, with the
first entry being QIC-80-format compatible. Wenninger said the
company has already manufactured over 500 drives which are now in
beta test. Analysts estimate the tape market is growing at the rate
of 15 percent annually.

Iomega also announced that it started development of a floptical
product in May of 1990 under a license agreement with Insite
Peripherals, which includes Iomega's proprietary hologram technology.

Holograms are used on visible items such as Microsoft's DOS packages
and many major credit cards to foil counterfeiting. In floptical
applications, developers use a hologram to allow better access to
the data on the floptical disk. One procedure uses a hologram
and reflected light from several data tracks for better data tracking.
The company said it has built 300 drives, but they are not in beta
testing yet.

Speaking about one of Iomega's best known products, Bernoulli
drives, Wenninger said, "We are nowhere near the limits of our
technology. He told shareholders future Bernoulli drives would
feature much higher capacities, higher performance, and smaller form
factors. Asked by Newsbytes to elaborate, Iomega spokesperson Paul
Slack said it's Iomega's policy to not talk about its products until
they are ready for market. "We're not dealing in vaporware. When
we make the announcement about the product, you can actually go to
the store and buy it," said Slack.

Iomega also announced that its board of directors has authorized the
repurchase of an additional one million shares of its common stock on
the open market or in negotiated transactions. The company had
previously authorized the purchase of one million shares, of which
800,000 have been purchased, including 30,000 during the past week.
The company said the shares will be used primarily for the company's
stock option and employee stock purchase plans.

(Jim Mallory/19920514/Press contact: Paul Slack, Iomega,
801-778-1000)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00009)

Siemens To Offer Multiple Processor Unix Systems From Wyse 05/15/92
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Siemens Nixdorf
will be offering symmetric multiprocessing architecture, developed by
Wyse, to its Unix-based customers so users can upgrade Unix systems
by adding processors. The arrangement is part of a new technology
agreement announced by Wyse.

Like parallel processing, symmetric multiprocessing architecture
divides a task between multiple microprocessors or CPUs that then
each perform a part, according to Wyse representative Jeannie Low.
This is much faster than the traditional approach of tasks queing up
for a single CPU to perform.

Low said the Wyse technology, which allows users to upgrade by adding
processors, is currently available on computer systems from the
company. However, Low told Newsbytes that while she couldn't release
specific information, what's significant about this deal with Munich,
Germany-based Siemens Nixdorf is the size of it.

Wyse says it will provide subsystems for certain Unix-based computers
to Siemens Nixdorf and both companies plan to share technology.

San Jose-based Wyse describes itself as an independent vendor of
microprocessor-based products, including computer terminals, IBM
compatible personal computers (PCs), monitors, and Unix-based
multiuser systems.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920513/Press Contact: Jeannie Low, Wyse, tel 408-
473-2013, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(MOW)(00010)

Soviet Republics Get Motorola Road Show 05/15/92
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Motorola, a chip and
communications equipment manufacturer, has set off on a road show
through capitals of former Soviet republics. The company said it
will also open a permanent office in Moscow.

Motorola seeks more customers, dealers, and distributors for its
cellular communications systems, pagers, and other communications
equipment, said Parviz Mokhari, East and Central Europe business
development manager for Motorola. Motorola is also eager to
contact and sponsor education organizations as a way to penetrate
the local market.

The show has already visited St Petersbourg and Tallinn, and will
move to capital cities of other former Soviet republics:
May 14-15 at the Lietuva hotel, Vilnius, Lithuania; May 18-19
at the Trade Unions center, Minsk, Byelorussia; May 21-22,
Intourist hotel in Kiev, Ukraine; May 27-28, Penta Hotel in
Moscow.

The company will also participate in the Expocomm show in Moscow
May 25-30.

Motorola's Parviz Mokhtari commented further on the company's
expansion plans, saying that no manufacturing will be started in
C.I.S. until sales have reached the 100,000-unit level.

Newsbytes also was unable to confirm reports from two sources,
indicating that the Moscow-based Sibruk company has
won exclusive rights to distribute Motorola products in
Russia, and that Motorola's show is focusing mainly on banking
applications.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19920513/Press Contact: Motorola, Parviz Mokhari,
phone [phone]; fax [phone])


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

Technology To Triple Optical Disk Storage Developed 05/15/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Hitachi has announced that it
has developed a technology to triple the memory space of optical
disks. Using the technology, Hitachi has developed a 2-gigabyte
optical disk.

Hitachi's latest optical disk can store 1 gigabyte of data on each
side of the 5.25-inch disk. This is three times more than current
optical disks, which can store 325 megabyte per side and a total of
650 megabytes for both sides of the disk.

Hitachi's original technology called Mark Edge Recording enables
data to be recorded on the edge of the disk. As a result, disk
memory storage has been increased.

Hitachi wants to commercialize the disk and the disk drive within
a year. The firm also has introduced this disk to the International
Standard Organization (ISO) to register it as an international
standard for 5.25-inch optical disks.

The data transfer speed of this disk is 2 to 4 megabytes per second,
which is comparable with regular hard disk drives. The actual
manufacturing cost of the disk is expected to be about the same
price as current optical disks.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920513/Press Contact: Hitachi, +81-3-3258-
2057)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00012)

 ****First dBASE IV Compiler Shipping From Nantucket 05/15/92
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- While Ashton-
Tate talked about a dBASE IV compiler and Borland, who purchased
Ashton-Tate last year, is still talking about one, Nantucket says it
is shipping the first dBASE IV compiler, the Compiler Kit.

Australian developer Matt Whelan built the Compiler Kit for dBASE IV
compiler from Clipper 5.0 and Nantucket is distributing the product.

Nantucket was struggling financially and had been pretty much written
off as a serious player in the approaching graphical user interface
(GUI) database market until very recently. Industry insiders were
predicting the company's demise at any moment until a surprise move
last week when Computer Associates announced the purchase of
Nantucket.

Nantucket's claim to fame has been dBASE compilers ever since
introduction of its flagship compiler Clipper. The dBASE software
product is business-oriented software that allows access to
information in a format called a database. The access can be done by
the user who interactively types commands at a "dot prompt" or
repetitive processes can be automated by the writing of dBASE
commands.

The process of writing the commands is considered programming and
dBASE is becoming a programming language with standards now being
adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Some
companies have database information necessary to the operation of the
entire company automated by thousands of lines of dBASE code.

However, dBASE commands have to be interpreted, meaning they are read
by dBASE, changed into machine language, and executed. True
programming languages allow the programmer to write commands and
"compile" them into machine language so the programming language no
longer has to interpret the commands to the computer. This is also
cheaper, as in the case of Clipper, the resulting program can be
distributed and run without a user purchasing the language it is
written in and without payment of royalties.

While Clipper started as a dBASE III compiler, the latest version,
Clipper 5.0, is no longer compatible with dBASE and will no longer
compile dBASE code without modification. Matt Whelan's Compiler Kit
has built a bridge between dBASE IV and now allows Clipper compile
procedures to be transparent to those familiar with dBASE IV and will
compile dBASE IV programs without modification, Nantucket said.

While Clipper 5.0 is required with the Compiler Kit to create a
compiled dBASE IV application, Nantucket says no knowledge of Clipper
5.0 is required to actually do the compile.

While Nantucket is publicly laughing up its sleeve at Ashton-Tate's
expensive fumbling to get a dBASE IV compiler out and Borland's
announcement of an eminent release of a similar product, Borland has
a reputation for being aggressive and thorough. Also Borland has said
the dBASE IV compiler it is planning will work in Microsoft Windows
and not only compile dBASE IV code for DOS, but will create dBASE IV
Windows applications as well. The Nantucket Compiler Kit will only
create DOS applications, the company said.

Borland is mailing invitations to previous customers to purchase the
dBASE IV compiler in advance. And Borland has said it doesn't rush
just to beat another product to the market. Borland's president,
Philippe Kahn, said in a public meeting in Pasadena last year it is
not so important to be first to market as to be best to market.

Nantucket said the Compiler Kit alone retails for $296 and comes with
a year of technical support. For those who don't have Clipper 5.0,
the price is $795.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920514/Press Contact: John Bone, McGlinchey & Paul
for Nantucket, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00013)

Crosscom Delivers Bisync Support For Router 05/15/92
MARLBORO, MASSACHUSETTES, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Crosscom will
be delivering on a promise it made recently within 60 days. The
company announced support for Bisync communication when it
unveiled its Universal Router Architecture earlier this year.
Then, in an announcement made several weeks ago, it reiterated
that promise. Now, the focus of its announcement is the promised
feature.

Company officials cited studies that state that there are more than
half a million Bisync installations still out there. With their
Universal Router Architecture they claim that they can route such
non-routable protocols as SNA and Bisync. The Bisync support package
that they have announced now for their ILAN router is expected to
be the first of its kind.

Bisync support will be available in 60 days to all ILAN customers.
It will be sold as a software feature pack for $950 to existing
customers who wish to add it, or as an add-on feature to new
customers.

(Naor Wallach/19920513/Press Contact: Christine LeCompte, Beaupre
& Co. for Crosscom, 603-436-6690)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00014)

BCE Mobile Reorganizes Services 05/15/92
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- BCE Mobile, the
mobile-communications holding company of Bell Canada, has united
its five operating companies with a common brand name and
eventually plans to integrate the companies further to make things
simpler for its customers.

What BCE Mobile has done so far is largely cosmetic: the new brand
name Bell Mobility is being applied to the whole range of mobile
communications services. Bell Cellular becomes Bell Mobility
Cellular, National Pagette becomes Bell Mobility Paging, the
air-to-ground telephone carrier Skytel becomes Bell Mobility
(Skytel), the wireless data network company Bell Ardis becomes Bell
Mobility (Ardis), and Bell Mobility Radiocommunications will handle
communications systems for fleet operations.

"It's a branding strategy," said Kelly Norgate, a spokeswoman for
Bell Mobility Cellular. Part of the purpose, she said, is just to
make customers more aware of the links between the companies.

In future, though, the strategy will lead to some service changes.
For instance, Norgate said, customers who use the services of more
than one Bell Mobility company will start getting one invoice for
all services, instead of separate ones.

Organizationally, little has changed. The companies that now bear
the Bell Mobility name were, and remain, subsidiaries of BCE
Mobile.

(Grant Buckler/19920514/Press Contact: Kelly Norgate, Bell Mobility
Cellular, 416-798-5169; John Elias or Edward Gould, National Public
Relations for Bell Mobility, 416-860-0180, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00015)

Gigabyte Shareware Disk From CD-ROM Users Group 05/14/92
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 14 (NB) -- The compact
disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) users group located in Santa Barbara,
California has announced it has put together the equivalent of 3000
shareware disks of software on a single CD-ROM disk.

Fred Bellomy, the director of the group says what makes the group's
offering different from a dozen other shareware CD-ROM disks offered
on the market is only contributions from 1989 or later were included,
a user interface helps in the finding and extracting of individual
titles, and the group made every effort to weed out duplications and
multiple versions of the same software packages. The disc also
includes a comprehensive file listing of other more popular CD-ROM
shareware discs.

The disc contains 512 megabytes (MB) of compressed, recent, virus-
free shareware divided into 25 subject categories. The CD-ROM group
says uncompressed, the programs would be easily physically take up
well over a gigabyte of space. Some of the categories include Windows
programs with over 900 titles, graphics, games and entertainment,
BBS, language, business, and several utility categories.

The graphics category alone contains 421 .PCX format graphics, 287
 .GIF format graphics, and 330 Macintosh compatible format graphic
images, the CD-ROM User Group said.

The disc is available to members of the CD-ROM User Group for $99 and
to non-members for $99.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920514/Press Contact: Fred Bellomy, The CD-ROM
Users Group, tel [phone], fax [phone])


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

 ****AT&T Shipping Videophone 2500 05/15/92
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Both AT&T and
Compression Labs say the VideoPhone 2500 is a wild success, but
the two companies are nevertheless feuding over delivery
schedules.

Basically, CLI says it's on schedule for deliveries of video
compression boards for the product, which AT&T announced in
January. But AT&T claimed it will be at least two months until
the company can fill all orders already placed for the product.
CLI said it shipped production-quantity boards to AT&T in the
March quarter, based on AT&T's own schedule, and is continuing to
ship product.

CLI did confirm, however, that AT&T has found ways to improve the
video quality, motion, and color on the product, but said those
products would be incorporated before deliveries are made. Todd
Townsend, vice president of new business development and advanced
engineering for Compression Labs, said the improvement process is
not unusual.

AT&T said it was overwhelmed by interest in the VideoPhone 2500,
which claims to be the first full-color, motion videophone to
work on regular phone lines. Stephen M. Clemente, general manager
of AT&T's VideoPhone business, said the company got 10,000
inquiries on the first day the product was announced, and
continues to get several hundred a week. He said people who
placed the first orders for the product will get it in early
summer.

When AT&T announced the VideoPhone 2500 in January, the company
said it would be available in May. "We made the best estimate we
could, but in reality it's taking a little longer than we thought
to reach final production," Clemente said.

Added spokesman Jo Johnston to Newsbytes, "I don't see any
conflict here. CLI was just concerned that people might think
they hadn't met their obligation. We were aware of their
release." While improvements in the product included some
tweaking of CLI's video compression board, they also included
changes in AT&T's contributions to the work, like the modem.
Johnston, however, insisted that all this should not be read as a
"production delay," saying "it's just the estimate in January was
off." The new delivery estimate of early summer is deliberately
vague, she added. "We don't want to set another date and be
wrong."

AT&T will manufacturer the VideoPhone 2500 in Shreveport,
Louisiana, and sell it in AT&T phone centers for $1,499. Later
this year, the VideoPhone will be available for sale at major
retailers across the country. The phone centers also will offer
lease-to-buy plans and will rent the VideoPhone for under $30 per
day. Later this year in selected phone centers, for a fee, AT&T
will make VideoPhones available for people to place calls.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920515/Press Contact: Compression Labs, Tracy
Beaufort, 408/922-4610; AT&T, Jo Johnston, 201-581-3905)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00017)

Sprint Makes Announcements Prior to ICA 05/15/92
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Preparing for
the International Communications Association trade exhibition in
Atlanta next week, Sprint made a number of product and service
announcements.

First, the company announced that its Sprint Express services
are now available to nine countries in the Caribbean, South
America, Asia, Central Europe and, for the first time, in Eastern
Europe. Sprint Express competes with AT&T Direct, allowing
visitors to call a toll-free number to access Sprint's network at
its rates, rather than calling through a more expensive local
PTT. Service is newly available in Austria, Bolivia, Hungary,
India, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. Later
this month, Sprint plans to add Poland and Turkey.

Sprint also enhanced its Integrated Access offering, which lets
large customers use its T1 trunk lines for voice, video, and data
services. T1 lines are a standard telephone trunk link running at
1.544 million bits/second, the equivalent of a few dozen voice
lines. In the past, Sprint said, its customers could integrate
800, VPN, international and private line services with Integrated
Access. Now, they can obtain access to advanced data and video
services, like SprintNet X.25 packet services, the Sprint Meeting
Channel, and Sprint's frame relay services, using a regular trunk
line or ISDN trunk line.

In a related announcement, Sprint announced the Integrated Access
Controller, a product which its customers can use to control
real-time access management of Sprint services on a call-by-call
basis. A prototype, jointly developed with Teleos Communications,
will be on exhibit next week at the ICA exhibition in Atlanta.
The Sprint Integrated Access Controller will be available in the
fourth quarter. A key feature is a Bandwidth Manager, which lets
users graphically monitor services and traffic patterns while
controlling the use of the line between their offices and
Sprint's network, achieving more efficiency. Customers can change
access allocations in minutes rather than days or weeks. They can
also set and monitor minimum reserves and maximum limits of
bandwidth for each service or application.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920515/Press Contact: Sprint, Robin Pence,
202-828-7454)


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

Southwestern Bell Intros Roaming To Mexico 05/15/92
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Southwestern
Bell, which owns 10 percent of Mexico's TelMex network and helps
manage it, introduced universal roaming between its US cellular
system and TelMex' Telcel system. Telcel serves 90,000 customers
in Mexico, but has been under pressure from competitors who
complain of delays in getting service.

The roaming agreement is one of the first approved by the
Secretary of Communications and Transportation, Mexico's
regulatory agency for telecommunications. The Federal
Communications Commission also approved the agreement.

Roaming service allows cellular phone users to continue receiving
and placing calls outside their home service areas. Telcel
customers are pre-registered on Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems
cellular networks and vice versa. Roaming fees will be $2 a day
and 70 cents a minute. The new service is available immediately
in areas served by Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems in south
Texas and in northern areas of Mexico served by Telcel, including
Monterrey, Saltillo, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa/McAllen, Harlingen,
Brownsville/Matamoros, Corpus Christi and San Antonio. Also
involved are Cuidad Juarez, Chihuahua, Torreon, Gomez Palacio,
Tijuana, Mexicali, Ensenada and adjacent rural service areas.
Plans are to extend the roaming service throughout Mexico and all
Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems service areas in Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Mobile Systems also will extend
the service to its Cellular One properties it runs in Boston,
Chicago, central Illinois, Baltimore and Washington.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920515/Press Contact: Southwestern Bell
Mobile Systems, Beth Graham, 512/841-5506)


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

Lotus Announces Executive Changes 05/15/92
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Lotus
Development is consolidating management of its development efforts,
naming two people to share the management of development. The
company also named a new vice-president for its spreadsheet
division.

June Rokoff, formerly senior vice-president of the company's
consulting and information services group, becomes senior
vice-president of development. She will co-manage the company's
development organization with John Landry, senior vice-president of
development and chief technology officer, Lotus said. Both will
continue to report to Jim Manzi, Lotus' president and chief
executive officer.

Rokoff will focus on day-to-day management tasks, while Landry will
concentrate on strategy and acting as the company's primary public
spokesman, said Richard Eckel, a Lotus spokesman. The functions
will not be mutually exclusive, Eckel said, but Landry will
probably spend about 70 percent of his time on strategy while
Rokoff spends about 70 percent of hers on day-to-day issues.

Product group vice presidents and general managers will report to
the combined management team. These include: David Reed, chief
scientist and vice-president of the company's pen-based
applications division; Said Mohammadioun, vice-president of the
word processing division and advanced spreadsheet technology; Tim
Davenport, vice-president of the graphics products division; Terry
Rogers, vice-president of the communications products division; Ken
Grunzweig, vice-president of the One Source division; Jack Martin,
vice-president of finance and business development for the
organization; and Jeffrey Beir, newly named vice-president of the
spreadsheet division.

Beir, formerly general manager of desktop spreadsheets, is
responsible for the design and development of Lotus' spreadsheet
product line, which includes 1-2-3 for DOS, Windows, OS/2,
Macintosh, and Unix, as well as Symphony.

His promotion is "recognition of the work that he's done as well as
the level of the job that he's doing," Eckel said.

Beir, 34, earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from
Northwestern University, a master of science degree in electrical
engineering from Syracuse University, and a master's degree from
the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

(Grant Buckler/19920515/Press Contact: Richard Eckel, Lotus,
617-693-1284)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00020)

ROUNDUP: Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 05/15/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief
look at some computer stories carried in other publications
received here this past week.

May's Computer Monthly has a look at high-speed modems and
fax/modem combinations, as well as a report on DR DOS 6.0.

Computerworld dated the 11th says that despite changes, technical
support for NetWare still leaves much to be desired.

The May 5 issue of Computer Currents explores the world of CD-ROM
data storage and multimedia.

Global Telephony for the 4th of May looks at ISDN in New York
State, and the wireless office worldwide.

May's Computers in Healthcare says that strategic planning is
vital to the operation of a healthcare computer system and that
the CIO must be a full member of the healthcare team.

May 11's Informationweek says that laptop theft is rising. Even
some of General Schwarzkopf's battle plans for Iraq were
reportedly stolen from a British Wing Commander's car in London.

Networking Management for May asks the vital question "Are Open
Networks a Myth?"

Federal Computer Week for the 11th says that in recent months
agencies have increasingly gravitated toward the installation of
workstation clusters to provide replacements for or to supplement
their supercomputer installations.

Computer Reseller News carrying the cover date May 11 says that
CD-ROM is really catching on as part of a software distribution
system.

June's Unixworld reviews XyWrite III for Unix and Tadpole
Technology's Color SPARCbook, a SPARC OS notebook.

Communicationsweek for the 11th says that IBM is dropping out of
the PBX business entirely.

(John McCormick/19920515/)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00021)

The Enabled Computer 05/15/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- The Enabled Computer
is a regular Newsbytes feature covering news and important
product information relating to high technology aids for the
disabled.

Last issue we began a look at the MIC 300i, a powerful, but
affordable TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) on an 8-
bit half-size card that goes right in most PC, XT, AT, and newer
MS-DOS compatible computers. This includes most PCs other than
those few with the Micro Channel bus.

Once installed, the MIC 300i turns the computer into a full TDD
telephone and TDD bulletin board, providing more power at less
cost than traditional stand-alone TDD units.

The software supplied with the MIC 300i includes:
FullTalk; this program allows users to capture five pages (18
lines per page) of text and, since both sides are displayed at
once, it is possible to display the two in differing colors.
FullTalk is the resident or full-time, full-screen control
program and provides for TDD answering, BBS, and e-mail
operation.

EaseTalk offers basic TDD/ASCII telecommunications features
without the autoanswer, editor and e-mail options, but it is
compatible with Windows, DESQview, or other task switcher
environments.

FlipTalk is a memory resident or TSR version of a fairly basic
TDD/ASCII telecommunications program which has some more advanced
features.

TinyTalk is the 40 kilobyte memory resident control software
which provides only the most basic service.

BigRing is for hearing-impaired users only - offering a ring-
monitor and alert feature which works when the user is operating
any non-graphics mode program.

I won't go into any further detail on these programs because all
are included with the MIC 300i - you don't need to choose between
them when ordering, so it is only important to understand that a
number of options will be available.

The company, which is run by an M.D. and an electrical engineer,
has already notified me that they are developing upgrades to cope
with new environments such as Windows.

The software also interfaces with some Braille software and with
Magic Zoom.

MIC 300i, $350, Microflip, Inc., 11211 Petsworth Lane,
Glenn Dale, MD 20769, 301-262-6020, 301-262-4978 (fax),
301-262-1629 (TDD/ASCII 8N1H)

Now that companies such as hotels and others which must deal with
telephone reservations and queries from the public are required
to accommodate the disabled we can expect to see a flood of new
products along the lines of the MIC 300i which target both the
business owner and the disabled person.

Until now the burden for installing such communications devices
was placed upon the disabled user and since few companies offered
any useful support it didn't make sense for a lot of people to
buy TDD systems when they couldn't use it to order anything anyway
except through a TDD operator.

With any luck this will now change and the flood of new
installations should bring even more improvements and lower
prices for TDD and related products.

Of course the reason that everything will change is the fact that
the Americans with Disabilities Act is taking effect during 1993
and 1993, forcing employers and those who serve the public to
deal with equal access and equal employment issues.

If you have any questions about the ADA's implementation and
compliance requirements contact: ADA, U.S. Department of
Justice, Civil Rights Division, Coordination and Review Section,
P.O. Box 66118, Washington, DC 20035 (voice, 202-514-0301; TDD,
202-514-0381 or 0383).

A nonprofit group, TDI (Telecommunications for the Deaf Inc.)
(TDI), offers an annual International Telephone Directory for TDD
Users with your listing for a charge to individuals of $15 and
$30 for business/organization listing.

Paying for this listing also gets you a copy of the directory and
a quarterly newsletter.

TDI, 8719 Colesville Road, #300, Silver Spring, MD 20910,
301-589-3786 (Voice), 301-589-3006 (TDD).

AT&T offers a pair of interesting TDDs: the 2700 portable
acoustic coupled basic unit selling for $250, and the 2930, a
$400 combination TDD/ASCII portable terminal with 32K memory.

AT&T, National Special Needs Center, 800-833-3232 (TDD),
800-233-1222 (Voice).

Trident's $600 PCT is a relatively new stand-alone TDD unit which
includes a 1200 baud ASCII terminal and has a display which shows
25 lines of 40 characters each.

Trident Technologies, 315 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013,
212-645-5656 (Voice), 212-645-9643 (TDD)

(John McCormick/19920515/)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00022)

 ****Another Salvo In the IBM-Microsoft War 05/15/92
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Microsoft fired
another salvo in the war with IBM late yesterday, announcing a
combined DOS-Windows package for IBM's PS/2 personal computers.

Saying they were responding to customer demand, Microsoft announced
the specially prepared package which runs only on PS/2 machines will
run Windows applications "two to five times faster" than OS/2, IBM's
operating system challenge to Windows.

The new package is Microsoft's second major challenge to OS/2. A
few weeks ago Newsbytes reported that more than 80 PC manufacturers,
including eight of the top ten, had agreed to pre-install Windows on
their machines.

IBM recently announced that it was pre-installing OS/2 version 2.0
on PS/2 Model 56 and 57 machines. Microsoft said its new package,
which will be available May 31st, is designed so computer resellers
can pre-install Windows and MS-DOS on PS/2s, or so that customers
themselves can "upgrade" their machines from OS/2 to MS-DOS and
Windows. Microsoft said the installation process is a "simple,
integrated set-up process."

According to Brad Silverberg, Microsoft's VP of personal systems,
"The overwhelming majority of customers are asking us to provide an
alternative (to OS/2)." Silverberg said that the majority of
customers buying PS/2s are using MS-DOS or MS-DOS and Windows.
"They don't want to be forced to switch to a system (OS/2) that is
slower and less compatible," said Silverberg.

Windows requires about 10 MB (megabytes) of hard disk space for the
program files, while OS/2 takes about three times that amount.
While PC makers are factory equipping their systems with 80 MB, 120 MB
and larger hard drives, the smaller space requirement of Windows
could be especially attractive to home and small business buyers,
who are frequently motivated by cost considerations.

Microsoft said that for customers who want to run applications
written for OS/2, and also want to run Windows programs, they can
install the DOS-Windows package on the same hard disk with OS/2.
However, to do that and still have adequate storage space for data
files will require even larger hard disks.

Microsoft said the combined package, which doesn't have a unique
name, has a suggested list price of $199.95, but is being offered
for $149 until the end of 1992. As an added bonus, Microsoft is
bundling a discount coupon for Qualitas BlueMax version 6, the
PS/2-specific version of 386max, a memory management program.
386max provides up to 623K of convention memory for use by DOS-based
applications by loading as much as 244K of memory-resident programs
into the upper memory area. Memory resident programs run faster,
since the entire program loads into the computer's memory,
eliminating the need for disk access while the program is being
used.

Microsoft spokesperson Martin Middlewood told Newsbytes that present
owners of PS/2 systems who elect to install the new Microsoft
package are offered an installation option of replacing the existing
OS/2, or having both systems. "You would probably want at least a
100MB hard disk if you wanted both systems," said Middlewood.

IBM scoffed at the Microsoft announcement. IBM spokesperson Scott
Brooks reportedly said, "It sounds like a desperate
move because they're getting wind of demand for OS/2 and the success
that OS/2 is having in the marketplace." Brooks said he couldn't
understand why anybody would pay $150 for the Microsoft package,
since OS/2 already contains the DOS and Windows programs.

(Jim Mallory/19920515/Press contact: Collins Hemingway, Microsoft,
206-882-8080)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00023)

TI, Cyrix Venture To Compete With Intel's 486 05/15/92
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Texas Instruments has
announced that it will begin volume production of its own TI486SLC
microprocessor in September.

TI got access to the 486 technology through a long-term product
cross license agreement with Cyrix Corporation. Cyrix recently
entered the microprocessor market to compete with Intel. The
Richardson, Texas-based company priced its chips significantly
lower than Intel in order to capture a quick market share. Intel
Corporation, which for some time has had the lion's share of the chip
market, responded this week by cutting chip prices on its 486 chips
by half.

TI hopes to capture a portion of the chip market presently dominated
by Intel Corporation. The company said the TI486SLC not only will
provide 486 power to personal computers, but will also upgrade
systems currently using a 386SX chip without any redesign of the
circuit board.

TI's Ted Jernigan told Newsbytes the chip is not an end-user
replacement item, but rather was is designed and marketed for use by
OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) who have system boards on
hand which were designed to use a 386SX chip. Those manufacturers
can substitute the TI chip in place of the 386SX.

The SLC designation on the TI chip indicates that it incorporates
low power consumption features, and includes a cache. Cache memory
allows the computer to access files more quickly, saving information
to the cache now, and saving to the disk between other operations.
Disk access is one of the slowest things a personal computer does.

TI said the agreement with Cyrix gives it the right to make and
market microprocessor, future derivatives, and products. The deal
also calls for TI to manufacture products for Cyrix.

Cyrix announced the Cx486SLC on March 30th, and as reported by
Newsbytes, said it would announce a significant semiconductor second
source agreement shortly. The TI deal is that second source, Cyrix
spokesperson Michelle Moody told Newsbytes. Asked by Newsbytes to
comment on completion of the deal, Cyrix' Tom Brightman said, "It's a
key step in assuring acceptance of our product."

Brightman estimates that the market for 486 chips in the second
quarter alone will reach $800 million. "We reasonably hope to get a
small portion of that," he said. While not willing to quote
specific sales projections, Brightman said it was reasonable
to think that the TI-Cyrix combination could get "a double digit
percentage" of that market.

Newsbytes asked the Cyrix co-founder to comment on the Intel price
cut for its 486 chips. Brightman said the cut indicated that Intel
recognized the Cyrix chip as a valid product in the market place.
"Actions speak louder than words," said Brightman. "We think it's
great."

According to TI Semiconductor Group executive VP, Walden Rhines,
future major semiconductor suppliers will be required to provide
core system functions around which peripheral functions will begin
to be integrated. Rhines said core processor technology is needed
for the future development of semicomputer systems. A
semicomputer permits the integration of a core microprocessor,
coprocessors, system logic and peripheral functions onto a single
piece of silicon. "Such integration will decrease board space
requirements, reduce costs, and substantially increase the
performance and reliability of computers," he said.

(Jim Mallory/19920515/Press contact: Michelle Moody, Cyrix,
214-234-8357 X302)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00024)

Compaq Says No Dividends, Layoffs Over 05/15/92
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Compaq Computer
President Eckhard Pfeiffer said the Houston-based personal computer
maker has no plans to pay dividends to its stockholders. The good
news is he doesn't plan any further layoffs.

Pfeiffer assumed command at Compaq when the board of directors
unexpectedly ousted co-founder Rod Canion last October, two days
after announcing massive layoffs.

Pfeiffer said yesterday that the company has completed its planned
workforce reduction, which totaled 1,700 employees. "At this time,
there are no plans for further layoffs, he said.

Compaq Corporation has not paid a dividend on its stock since 1982,
and Pfeiffer said the company wants to boost the stock price instead
of starting to pay dividends. Compaq stock is presently selling for
about $25 per share, compared to $75 in the first quarter of 1991.

Pfeiffer's remarks were made at Compaq's annual shareholder meeting
in response to questions from shareholders. Some of the
stockholders indicated they wanted to see the company pay a dividend
of $0.40 to $0.50 per share, with one saying it would send a good
message to Wall Street.

Pfeiffer told the approximately 100 stockholders who attended the
meeting on Compaq's "campus" about 20 miles from downtown Houston
that the company estimates it will save about $150 million in reduced
component costs in 1992, Compaq spokesperson Nora Hahn told
Newsbytes.

Other highlights of addresses by Pfeiffer and Chairman Ben Rosen
included information that by the end of 1992, 90 percent of the
company's product line will be new. The company is also looking
closely at pen computing and any cellular technology that would help
portable computer users.

Compaq has felt pressure to lower prices, as have most PC makers
recently. Like its competitors, the company has sought ways to cut
its costs in order to respond to those pressures. Numerous
companies have been reducing prices in the past weeks, including
Dell.

(Jim Mallory/19920515/Press contact: Debra Globe, Compaq,
713-374-1562)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00025)

New U.K. Online Service Ready To Launch June 1 05/15/92
TEIGNMOUTH, DEVON, ENGLAND, 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Online Services
Limited has announced it is launching a new online service on
June 1. Called Fast Access, the system is advertiser-sponsored,
much like the Sears-Prodigy service in the US.

As the name implies, Fast Access is accessible at very high
speeds. According to John Scullard, the service's marketing
director, the system is accessible at 14,400 bits per second
(bps) thanks to the use of V.32Bis modems. Plans call for ISDN
links, operating at 64,000 bits per second, to be installed later
this year.

Fast Access is free of online connect charges, though callers
have pay the telecom costs of calling the service. IDs and
passwords are still required.

"Unlike Compuserve and Cix, normal membership is offered totally
free to all users and, unlike Prestel, electronic mailbox numbers
are also issued free," Scullard told Newsbytes.

The cost of the service is borne by advertisers who pay for the
privilege of having their pages on the service. In return, Fast
Access claims to offer sophisticated logging and retrieval
systems for advertising companies, including online credit card
orders and brochure requests. Companies are also given the Fast
Access logo to supplement their paper advertising.

Demonstration access is available to the service on 0392-423500
with an ID/password of Guest.

(Steve Gold/19920515/Press & Public Contact: John Scullard - Tel:
0626-773178)


(REVIEW)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00026)

Review of: Remote LAN Node, 05/15/92

From: Intercomputer Communication Corp., 8230 Montgomery Road,
Cincinnati, OH 45236 [phone]

Price: $430.00

PUMA Rating: 3.5 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Naor Wallach 05/15/92

Summary: RLN is a product that solves the problem of
access to your LAN while not physically attached to its wires. Works
well and is easy to set up and use.

======

REVIEW

======

Has the following situation ever confronted you? You're out of town
on a two-week business trip. On your first day back you check your
e-mail and find dozens, maybe even hundreds of messages. Going
through them takes a lot of time and you even find some messages
that you should have responded to earlier. Now, it's too late.

Sound familiar? An innovative solution to these kinds of problems
is being offered by Intercomputer Communications Corp. (ICC) with
their Remote LAN Node (RLN) product. RLN allows you to log in to
your network via a modem and establish a full network connection to
your servers. Essentially it looks and feels like you are on the
network and you can use all of the services and capabilities of the
network that you are used to having.

RLN is comprised of two parts. There is a server piece that runs on
a dedicated PC attached to your LAN at the office. This PC can be
equipped with up to 16 modems through the use of ICC's Digiboard.
The server software runs on the server PC and maintains virtual
connections across the modem lines to the network. The second piece
is the client software which runs on your remote PC. Using the
client software, you control your modem and call in to the server.
After the two pieces have established communications you are given
the impression that you are working in your normal environment.

RLN comes in three basic flavors. You can get the two-user system
for $430 which allows for two modems to be connected to the server
PC and used remotely. The eight-user version comes with an ICC
digiboard and all the equipment needed to connect up to eight modems
to the server. The eight-user version sells for $3550. For $6610
you can get the sixteen-user version which comes with two Digiboards
and all the other hardware and software necessary. Single client
software costs $95 per package which includes only the remote client
software. In all cases, you must supply your own modems.

The two-user package which I reviewed contained one Server Package
and two Client Packages. The Server Package contained a 126-page
Administrator's Guide, a 35-page LAN Compatibility Guide, a
registration card, a product release notice, a copy protection
device known as a "dongle," and both 3.5" and 5.25" diskettes
containing the Server program and the Server Packet Drivers.
Each of the two client packages contained a 67-page Client Guide, a
dongle, and a 3.5" diskette containing the Client Program.

The first step in getting the system to work was to configure and
install the server. As is common with networks, this is a job best
left for the network administrator and should be undertaken lightly.
That said, however, I must admit that installing the RLN server
went smoother than most network product installations that I have
been involved with. I only ran into one problem that required a call
to ICC's technical support line and that problem was resolved by
changing the network adapter's IRQ setting. Certainly not a big
deal. The RLN documentation is relatively clear and straightforward.
The chapter that talks about setting up the server walks you through
the process step by step. The Administrator's Guide contains all of
the information that you need to install RLN whether clients or
server. The only things that are not contained in the Administrator's
Guide are those elements specific to a network architecture and
those are contains in the LAN Compatibility Guide.

Once I had the server up and running I could go through the
different menus and check out various statistics on usage of the
network and usage of the server. It is also possible to check out
the status of different aspects of the server and its communications
links. Most of the action though, is in the Client and to tell you
the truth, this is as it should be.

Installing the Client Program was even easier than the Server. The
program installs itself and the only thing that you need to worry
about is to follow the instructions properly. This brings up the
only complaint that I have about the manuals. I was using a Novell
network for this review. The sequence of commands that is needed to
attach to it is spelled out exactly on page 15 of the LAN
Compatibility Guide. Recall that only one copy of this guide is
provided and you will understand my complaint.

Once the Client server was installed and running, it was a simple
task to define the calling parameters (phone number, etc.) of the
server and to call it up. RLN does a good job of letting you know
what it is doing as things are happening. If all goes well you will
be presented with the sign-on message of your network and can then
proceed. Let me make one suggestion here. As you are operating over
a modem that is slower by orders of magnitude than your normal
network connection, make sure that you copy all of the software that
you can to your remote PC before you take it with you. I did not
do so and had to wait for about 10 minutes while my pair of 9600 baud
modems sent the information necessary just to log in between them.
Once I downloaded the Novell Login command to the remote PC the same
process took only about a minute or two.

Once I logged into my network, I could do anything that I can
normally do. I checked my mail, sent some out, and I even launched
a spreadsheet program remotely just to see what would happen. In all
of my testing I found that there was only one difference between my
machine in the office and my remote machine. That difference was
speed. As I said above, 9600 baud modems are not anywhere near as
fast as a 10 Mbps network connection. I did not encounter any bugs
or significant problems of any kind over the four week period in
which I used the product.

All in all, I was very impressed with this program. It performed its
functions well and was very unobtrusive. I would probably not like
to use this program on a day-to-day basis to do all of my work due
to its speed limitations, but it is certainly more than adequate to
take care of situations like those described at the top of this
review as well as of the many other situations that can arise.

===========

PUMA RATING

===========

PERFORMANCE: 4 The program itself performed flawlessly. It is hardly
its fault that modem technology does not match wire speeds.

USEFULNESS: 3 This is a tool that solves a specific problem. If you
have many people on the road or at home all of the time, then its
benefits are manifest. For occasional use, I find it hard to justify
its use of a dedicated PC. I would much rather see a two-user system
that works in the background.

MANUAL: 4 The manuals are complete and well organized. The one minor
problem I have with them is one that can be easily corrected with a
copier.

AVAILABILITY: 3 Technical support is a toll call.

(Naor Wallach/19920515/Press Contact: Sally Smith, SSSmith and
Associates for ICC, 513-438-1133)


(EDITORIAL)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00027)

Editorial: The Changing Face of News by Dana Blankenhorn, 05/15/92
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Pat Robertson's
purchase of UPI this week has a lot of newspeople in a funk. Despite
assurances to staffers in Washington that he wouldn't interfere with
the 84-year old service's editorial policies, Robertson later told
viewers to his "700 Club" that the purchase represented "a little
opportunity" for God to touch society.

In the short run, the trend is truly ominous. Liberal politicians
in the UK claimed last month that right-wing newspapers, which
now dominate that country, led to their Conservative opponents'
winning re-election despite a nasty recession. Could the same
mind-control be in store for the US?

Maybe. Look who today controls the levers of America's
information society. Rupert Murdoch, whose "National Star" broke
the story of Bill Clinton's alleged liaison with Gennifer
Flowers, from which the Arkansas governor has never recovered in
national polls, despite the fact that he is ready to win his
party's nomination. Sun Myung Moon, the once-jailed head of Korea's
Unification Church, owns "The Washington Times." Anyone want to
claim "The Wall Street Journal" is liberal, or anything like it?

What is most disturbing, and dangerous, about these outlets is
the assumption by their owners there is a "liberal media
conspiracy" about which gives them permission to create biased
news coverage. No one with a liberal viewpoint will ever be
allowed inside the Washington Times newsroom, and if you want to
rise to the top of a Murdoch or Dow Jones enterprise, you'd
better be "politically correct" as the owners see that term.

Some perspective is needed. Most 19th century newspapers were
incredibly opinionated, tied to specific politicians or political
movements. Many large US cities had dozens of papers, one for
every taste, many in foreign languages.

All this changed with the rise of industrial media empires like
those of Joseph Pulitzer, E.W. Scripps, and William Randolph
Hearst. These men, and their contemporaries, believed that
objective reporting, combined with mass production and slick
marketing, would create trusted media which could dominate
markets. They endowed journalism schools to teach the new
objectivity, and their plans worked. By the 1970s, when I went to
college, most cities had just one newspaper, and whatever its
editorial policy it practiced this objective journalism. We were
a profession, like doctors or lawyers, trained to be fair to all
sides, and to reach conclusions based only on fact.

The events of the 1960s and 1970s changed the way conservatives
looked at this objective media. Many blamed reporters like David
Halberstam, Morley Safer and Peter Arnett for the debacle of
Vietnam. Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward and Seymour Hersch helped
bring down Richard Nixon, the first conservative President since
Herbert Hoover. These events were at the root of the "liberal
media conspiracy" theory still propounded by some commentators.
Under this theory, objectivity equals bias. The only cure is a
new bias.

Moon and Robertson believed the theory, and their investments
prove it. You will never read a bad thing about conservative
politicians in "The Washington Times," even if it's true. Nor
will you hear about it on "The 700 Club." With objectivity seen
as bias, and pure bias as objectivity, conservative politicians
are even going after the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and
National Public Radio, forcing their views -- and the exclusion
of alternatives they detest -- on the publicly financed airwaves.

My guess is that, as in the abortion controversy, liberals will
eventually wake up and fight back. There are financiers with lots
of money and liberal views, who could if they chose build truly
liberal media empires, especially if liberals decide that
conservative bias has led to the re-election of President Bush in
November. Viewers and readers will once more be able to, as they
could in the 19th century, choose their own truth.

There's another point. Technology is changing all of this. You
are now reading a news service which costs pennies to produce,
compared to the costs of a UPI. As it was in the 19th century,
journalism is again becoming an easy-in, easy-out business. The
comfortable newspaper monopolies of the past are being buffeted
by competition, from free weeklies, from suburban papers, and
from cable. Even Ted Turner's CNN now faces competition from the
BBC and from local cable operators in big markets like Orange
County, California, with their own 24-hour news services.

One final point. Even if I'm wrong about most of this, if right-
wing nuts take over the media without objection from any quarter,
and if technology can't change a thing, remember that time
passes. Harrison Gray Otis and Harry Chandler built the Los
Angeles Times into the major force of Southern California,
controlling the state's politics from a distinct right-wing
slant, with no apologies for many decades. But Harry's daughter
Dorothy was a liberal, and the company is now one of those
"objective" papers people like Robertson think is part of a
conspiracy against them. Even E.W. Scripps and William Randolph
Hearst were not able to protect their assets from bad management
after their deaths. Which is why UPI wound up on the block in the
first place.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920514)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00028)

Second PC Magazine Reliability Survey Published 05/15/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- The May 26 issue of
PC Magazine contains the results of the magazine's second massive
survey of user satisfaction for 35 well-known brands of personal
computers. Perhaps the most surprising item in the survey is the
general high overall reliability ratings given to all vendors
which were included in the final results. Zeos International and
Dell scored highest for notebook computers.

Gateway, Zeos, CompuAdd, Dell, Northgate, and Dell all ranked as
highly reliable among the mail order direct sellers. Compaq may
be slipping in profits, but customers still find that high-
quality line holding up well in the reliability ratings, along
with IBM, Hewlett-Packard, AST, and Toshiba.

Satisfaction with the newest models of high-performance PCs using
fast 386 and 486 microprocessors is significantly higher across
the board than for the models based on older 8088/86 and 286
technology.

The top mail order firms, which were mentioned above as receiving
highly reliability ratings, were also high in the number of
customers who said they would purchase from the same company
again, with Gateway scoring highest in this category.

The older high-quality, high-price companies such as IBM and
Compaq did significantly less well in this "buy again" rating.

Top ratings for technical support, a category with a wider range
of scores than most others, went to Dell, Northgate, Swan, and
Zeos International.

In the important notebook category, only Zeos International
scored significantly better than average in all four categories
of reliability, buy again, tech support, and repairs. Dell scored
very well, almost as high as Zeos, except in the area of overall
reliability, where it still scored average or above.

Toshiba also did well in the notebook area, but Zenith Data
Systems (Group Bull), ranked lowest in notebook reliability and
users were generally not at all satisfied with quality or service
from ZDS either in the notebook or PC line. ZDS came in
significantly lower than average in the "buy again" category.

The entire PC Magazine survey as printed in this issue is very
extensive and goes into a lot of detail about each vendor's
ratings, including differences between different microprocessor
types and how each ranked.

(John McCormick/19920514)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00029)

Bellcore Supports VISA Credit Authorization Standard 05/15/92
LIVINGSTON, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Bellcore, the
research arm of the Bell operating companies, published a generic
data communications protocol called T3POS, designed for
processing credit authorizations and debit card transactions.

It's designed to work with point-of-sale terminals already in
use, as well as future POS equipment. POS terminals usually look
like boxes with phone pads on top, and a slot into which a card's
magnetic stripe is swiped. Sometimes they're incorporated into
cash registers.

A main catalyst for the protocol were several customer trials
held in the U.S. Southeast by BellSouth which identified
opportunities to utilize the packet network to mimic the
performance typically seen in private lines. T3POS is based upon
protocols developed by VISA International and link level control
procedures from the International Standards Organizations. It's
intended to be compatible with a number of access methods like
ISDN and data-over-voice that can improve response time
considerably. It's all described in a Bellcore Special Report,
number SR-NWT-002026. Based on feedback already received, the
company plans future enhancements.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920515/Press Contact: Bellcore, Cynthia A.
Lucenius, 201/740-6468)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00030)

New Product: Twiddler Points And Types 05/15/92
MOUNT SINAI, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 15 (NB) -- Handykey Corp.
has launched the Twiddler, a hand-held device about the size of an
electric shaver that the manufacturer said can take the place of a
mouse and a keyboard.

The Twiddler has 18 buttons, six on one side for the thumb and 12
on the other side for the other four fingers. Different
combinations of keys produce the letters of the alphabet as well as
punctuation marks and other characters, explained Chris George, the
company's founder. A number key operated with the thumb turns the
12 finger keys into a numeric keypad.

According to George, anyone can learn the keyboard layout in a
couple of hours. "It takes about 10 days, two hours a day, for your
fingers to know it so your brain can forget about it," he added.

The Twiddler also serves as a pointing device, which the vendor
said can provide smooth and precise control of the cursor.
According to Handykey, the Twiddler has the precision needed for
pixel-by-pixel adjustments, useful in applications such as desktop
publishing and computer-aided design.

The vendor said the device will be useful for desktop presentations
because it makes it easy to control a computer while speaking to a
group. For applications such as desktop publishing and
computer-aided design, it will eliminate switching back and forth
between keyboard and mouse. It can also be used as an input device
in place for a keyboard for pen computers, Handykey said.

George admitted the device is unlikely to replace the keyboard for
fast touch-typists, since the fact that it is used with one hand
means it is not likely to match the speed of a proficient typist.
However, he claimed the Twiddler can handle text input as fast as
many people type. "I myself type at around 30 words per minute on
a regular keyboard," he said, "but I type around 35 words per
minute on the Twiddler."

Available now, the Twiddler has a suggested retail price of $199.

(Grant Buckler/19920515/Press Contact: Chris George, Handykey,
516-474-4405, fax [phone])