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/nb920713

Text File | 1992-07-13 | 71KB | 1,578 lines

(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00001)

 ****PenDOS 2.0 Unveiled Today 07/10/92
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A. 1992 JUL 10 (NB) -- Today,
Communications Intelligence Corp., will announce the release of
new version of its PenDOS operating system to the US, European
and Japanese markets.

Jeff Dao, director of applications engineering and product
management, told Newsbytes that PenDOS 2.0 will be unveiled at
Technologic Partners' Mobile '92 Conference. The action will
represent the first time a pen operating environment has been
released simultaneously to all three major pen markets, he
emphasized.

In announcing PenDOS 2.0, CIC will emphasize the product's
localization to Japan, Dao indicated. As previously reported in
Newsbytes, CIC is targeting the Japanese market, due to the market
growth expected to emerge out of the difficulties involved in
entering the Japanese language onto computer keyboards.

Dao added that the latest version of PenDOS will be bundled with
new and upgraded versions of two other CIC products: the
Handwriter Recognition System and Handwriter Dynamic Verification
system.

PenDOS 2.0 will be available in a Japanese language edition, as
well as in French, Spanish, German, and two styles of English:
US and UK. The UK version will incorporate signs and symbols
used in other European languages, whereas the US version will
not, he explained. These will include the "double S" used in
German and the accents used in French and Spanish.

Among the other enhancements, the most noticeable will apply mainly
to the Japanese version, which will incorporate new handwriting
recognizers, as well a new front-end processor (FEP), a piece of
software Dao said is as essential to a Japanese system as a
spell checker is to a Western-style word processor.

In Japanese versions of earlier CIC products, the user had to
specify the use of either Roman characters, traditional Kanji
Japanese characters, or Kana, a set of phonetic equivalents for
Kanji, said Dao. But in the Japanese version of PenDOS 2.0, these
three character sets are intermixed, enabling the user to move
quickly from one to the other.

The new FEP, developed by the Japanese software giant Just Systems,
allows the user to write in Kanji, but employ Kana to find Kanji
translations for any traditional characters that may have been
forgotten, Dao told Newsbytes.

NCR has already begun marketing PenDOS on the NCR 3125 NotePad
computer in Japan, and CIC recently completed a licensing agreement
granting software technology rights to NEC, another major pen
hardware vendor based in Japan.

(Jacqueline Emigh 091092; Press Contact: Germaine Giola, CIC, tel
415-802-7888)


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

Prodigy To Offer Baby-sitters Club For Pre-Teens 07/13/92
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- The first "The
Baby-sitters Club" was published by Scholastic in 1986 and a series
of Babysitters Club books which grew out of that first book have
become enormously popular with pre-teenage girls. Now Prodigy is
offering the Baby-sitters Club as a Custom Choice feature with
interactive games and activities based on the characters created in
the series.

The series is based on the adventures of a group of 11 to 13-year-
old girls who together start a babysitting service in their
neighborhood. In the story the girls publish the
time and meet at the home of a girl who has her own telephone line
so those looking for a babysitter can call one number and be assured
of getting a babysitter.

The Baby-sitters Club Custom Choice on Prodigy is also set up to
facilitate electronic communication between fans of the series, play
games, and send mail to the series author Ann M. Marin.

Prodigy charges $5.95 a month extra, in addition to the $12.95
monthly membership fee for access to the Baby-sitters Club. Prodigy
says Baby-sitters Club merchandise will be sold on the forum and
portion of the proceeds from the special merchandise sold will be
donated to the Ann M. Martin Foundation, which is exclusively
dedicated to benefiting children, education and literacy programs,
and the homeless.

Prodigy claims its members number more than 1.5 million now. The
service already offers many family-oriented options such as access
to encyclopedias and popular computer games such Broderbund's as
"Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"

(Linda Rohrbough/19920710/Press Contact: Steve Hein, Prodigy, tel
914-993-8789, fax [phone])


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

UK Telecoms Trade Show Opens Up To The Public 07/13/92
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- After five years of
being trade-only, the Telecoms Industry Association (TIA) has
turned its September TIA Show into an end user business event.

Armed with a UKP 100,000 promotional budget and the backing of
Mercury Communications, the telecoms trade group plans to turn
the Birmingham show into a rival for Networks, which is widely
regarded as the premier telecoms show in the UK. Like Networks,
the TIA Show, which is in its third year, is held at the
Birmingham National Exhibition Centre.

Frank Smith, head of The Edge Partnership, which is promoting the
show, told Newsbytes that last year's 2,000-odd trade visitors to
the three-day event spread thinly over the NEC's show floor. "By
opening the show up to end users, we will turn the show into a
positive event for the industry," he said.

Smith added that floor space at the event is priced at UKP 145
per square metre, which he claims is lower than the industry
average.

Smith reckons that, while the TIA event will be a rival to
Networks '92, he does not view it as a competitor to Comms '92.
"That show lacks any real focus," he said.

Carol Carvalho, events organizer with the TIA, told Newsbytes
that a decision to change the emphasis of the show was taken a
couple of months ago. She rejected suggestions that flagging
sales of exhibitor stand space had prompted the change, claiming
that show bookings are well up, with the exhibitors list
including major names such as Intel, Miracom, Panasonic, Philips,
Plantronics and Rockwell.

"We plan to have 5,000 people attend the show, which we are
concentrating down to a two day event from its previous three
days," she said.

(Steve Gold/19920710/Press & Public Contact: The Edge Partnership
- Tel: [phone]: Fax: [phone])


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

Database World: EDA/SQL Links With Mac Tools, Unix Servers 07/13/92
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Information
Builders Inc. (IBI), has extended the reach of its EDA/SQL
multivendor database access system to embrace three more Mac-based
front-end SQL tools plus two more servers for Unix, as a result of
agreements reached with Tactics International, Andyne Computing,
Blyth Holding, and Pyramid Technology.

The agreements with Tactics, Andyne and Blyth mean that EDA/SQL
(Enterprise Data Access/Standard Query Language) now interfaces to
80% of all Mac-based SQL tools, according to John Senor, vice
president of IBI's Enterprise Access Division. The Pyramid pact
calls for EDA/SQL connectivity on Pyramid's MiServer T Series and
MiServer S Series servers, in addition to stating that IBI and
Pyramid will work jointly on systems integration for customers of
either company, said Carl Rosenberg, director and general manager
of IBI's Unix Division.

Counting the software covered by the new arrangements, a total of
28 applications now have access to EDA/SQL, IBI officials reported.
Launched last fall in support of IBM's Information Warehouse
framework -- a strategy for providing multivendor database
management systems, interfaces, tools and facilities throughout the
enterprise -- EDA/SQL has since grown to enable access to some 60
proprietary databases, residing in about 35 different operating
environments.

The latest agreements, announced last week at Database World,
affect Andyne's GQL (Graphical Query Language) ad hoc query and
reporting software, Tactics' Tactician GIS (geographic information
system) front end, and Blyth's Omnis 7 applications development
software, along with Pyramid's two series of Unix servers. GQL
runs on Windows as well as the Mac, and will be able to access
EDA/SQL from both platforms. Tactician and Omnis 7 operate on the
Mac only.

An IBI spokesperson told Newsbytes that the Andyne, Tactics, Blyth
and Pyramid packages will all incorporate interfaces linked at the
call level to the IBI system's API (applications programming
interface)/SQL, one of two ways a tool can be connected. The other
way consists of a Dynamic Extender, a separate module that forms a
"bridge" between EDA/SQL and the application. Examples of the
Dynamic Extender include DataLens for Lotus 1-2-3 and a recently
announced extender to the OS/2 RDBMS (relational database
management system), he said.

Outside of the API/SQL and Dynamic Extender, other components of
EDA/SQL are the EDA/SQL Server, which processes SQL requests
against relational and nonrelational data, and EDA/Link, a modular
system of communication interfaces.

Andyne's GQL, one of the packages impacted by the IDI's new
agreements, is an application that lets users query databases and
create custom reports -- including logos, clip art and other
graphics -- out of accessed information. The Windows and Mac
versions of GQL each integrate seamlessly with popular spreadsheet
and word processing programs, and third-party applications
developed for the Mac can be run "as is" inside the Windows
version.

Cameron Thompson, president of Andyne, noted that the new EDA/SQL
interface will let users import data from the system's 60 databases
into other desktop applications, in addition to employing the data
directly within GQL. Andyne will include support for EDA/SQL in
upcoming editions of the Mac and Windows versions, slated for
shipment later this year.

Another of the programs, Tactician, is a GIS for marketing,
executive information, and decision support applications, already
in use by Sears Roebuck, Procter & Gamble, Du Pont, and several
other Fortune 500 firms as well as by smaller businesses.

Tony Buxton, president and CEO of Tactics International, told
Newsbytes that an interface will be included in a version of
Tactician the company is planning to release during the fourth
quarter of 1992 or in early 1993.

Michael Minor, president and CEO of Blyth Software, suggested that
the link between Omnis 7 and EDA/SQL will allow companies to
leverage their existing investments in Macintosh hardware and
network products. "With Omnis and EDA/SQL, the CIO can make a
decision without worrying about long-term implications or hardware
or network purchases," he added.

The IBI spokesperson told Newsbytes that other Mac-based products
with direct EDA/SQL interfaces include the Data Access Manager for
the Mac operating system, the Mac version of Microsoft's Open ODBC,
and three third-party applications development programs:
Spinaker's Hypercard Plus, Info Advantage's AXSYS, and XDB's XDB
Link. The Windows version of Open ODBC also contains an interface
to the system, he said.

On the Unix side, EDA/SQL for the Pyramid MiServer T Series is
already shipping, and availability for the Pyramid MiServer S
Series is scheduled for the third quarter. Carl Rosenberg,
director and general manager of IBI's Unix Division, explained
that, through the API/SQL, users of multivendor EDA/SQL-enabled
clients will be able to access the Pyramid servers as though the
data were residing locally.

In addition, he said, users of Pyramid servers will be able to
access data on other Unix and non-Unix EDA/SQL-enabled servers, via
an intelligent routing capability embodied in EDA/SQL. Pricing on
the EDA/SQL Server for Pyramid is user based, ranging from $24,000
to $118,500.

Under the terms of Pyramid's agreement with IDI, systems
integration for Pyramid and IDI customers will be supported by
joint marketing activities and cooperation in supplying technical
resources.

All four of the product lines to be newly enabled with EDA/SQL come
with pre-existing access to databases, adding to the pool of
available information, the IBI spokesperson told Newsbytes. In the
case of Omni, for example, these databases include Oracle, Sybase,
Ingres, Informix, Teredata, Netware SQL, Rdb, DB2, SQL/DS,
Microsoft SQL Server, and Tandem NonStop SQL.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19920710/Press Contacts: William Madaras, IBI,
tel [phone]; Scott Rankine, Andyne, tel [phone]; Paul
Sedor, Tactics, tel [phone]; Jeanne Bayless, Blyth Holdings,
tel [phone]; Beth Johnson, Pyramid, tel [phone])


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

RISC-based PC Planned By NEC 07/13/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Japan's major PC
maker NEC will release a RISC (reduced instruction set
computing)-based PC, according to the Asahi newspaper. The
reports says the new personal computer will also be equipped
with Intel's super-fast 32-bit processor.

The new RISC-based personal computer is expected to excel at
processing graphic and scientific calculations. The RISC chip
is expected to make the PC as powerful as a workstation.

According to an NEC board director, the firm is currently doing
market research on the demand for this type of hybrid computer,
which is a combination of a personal computer and a workstation.
NEC has made no other comment on the report.

Currently, NEC is selling RISC-based workstations based on a
license from MIPS Computer Systems in the US. Responding to the
downsizing trend in computing, NEC will reportedly release
this RISC-based personal computer. NEC still maintains 60%
of the Japanese PC market with its PC-9801.

In order to maintain compatibility with the existing PC-9801
family, NEC will install Intel's "80586" 32-bit chip on its
new RISC PC, according to the report. The Intel chip will
also allow the PC to run the 13,000 existing applications
for the PC.

The biggest question mark may be the price. With two state-of-the-
art processors, it's not expected to be cheap. Consequently, the
PC will most likely to aimed at high-end users technical and
scientific users.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920713/Press Contact: NEC, [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00006)

Shin-Nittetsu May Enter Deal With Intel & TI 07/13/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Shin-Nittetsu, a major steel
manufacturer, has been hammering out an agreement on semiconductor
production with Intel and Texas Instruments. Shin-Nittetsu
wants to produce a 16-megabit dynamic random access memory (DRAM)
in an agreement with either Intel or TI.

Shin-Nittetsu used to produce steel products but, due to the
slump in the industry, has begun to shift its business toward
semiconductors.

Shin-Nittetsu has already created a silicon wafer production
firm "Nittetsu Electronics" and a semiconductor research
and development center in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Shin-Nittetsu needs the additional technological edge from
either Intel or TI. If the deal is concluded with one of them,
a 16-megabit DRAM will be produced at the semiconductor
center. The firm will install a production line and hopes to
manufacture 200,000 to 300,000 units of the chip per month '
under the Shin-Nittetsu brand name.

Japan's other steel makers have also entered the semiconductor
and the personal computer markets. Kawasaki Steel is
producing application specific ICs. Kobe Steel has created a
joint venture with Texas Instruments and will ship chips
under TI's brand name this fall. NKK will also ship static
random access memory (SRAM) early next year.

Actual production of the chip borne of a TI or Intel agreement
is expected by next spring. Competition in the 16-megabit
DRAM market is expected to be severe in the near future.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920713/Press Contact: Shin-Nittetsu, +81-
3-3242-4111)


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

Kobe Steel Develops Japanese Option Tools For LAN Manager 07/13/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Kobe Steel is preparing
to release optional products for Microsoft's Japanese
LAN Manager 2.1. Kobe Steel is the software distributor of
Microsoft.

A Japanese version of LAN Manager will be released in
August. Kobe Steel will develop the tools to connect
Apple's Macintosh with remote access service (RAS). Also, the
firm is developing Sony's Quarter L version of Japanese LAN
Manager and will supply it to Sony on an OEM (original equipment
manufacturer) basis. The Quarter L is an AX machine, which is
a Japanese version of the IBM PC and can be used as a network
server.

Other Japanese personal computer firms including Mitsubishi
Electric are also selling AX machines in Japan. Kobe Steel
may sell other AX versions of Japanese LAN Manager in the near
future.

Kobe Steel is planning to release more peripheral software, mainly
gateway products, for LAN Manager. Concerning the development
of emulator programs, Kobe Steel has been jointly developing
the products with Icon Technology in the US. Kobe Steel
will release the Windows version this September and IBM's
AS400 version in December.

Kobe Steel will create software support and maintenance centers
in Tokyo and Osaka. At these centers, the firm will provide
consultation and service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Kobe Steel expects to gross 10 billion yen ($80 million) in
sales for fiscal 1995 for its computer and information business.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920713/Press Contact: Kobe Steel, +81-78-251-
1551)


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

 ****Agrippa - Unique Computer Novel From William Gibson 07/13/102
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Cyberpunk
author William Gibson has been writing about future technology,
but until now, his books were physically conventional paper and
binding. Now, to borrow a phrase from Buckminster Fuller, his
medium is also his message.

"Agrippa: A Book of the Dead" by William Gibson and Dennis Ashbaugh,
illustrates the intangible nature of memory as air exposure
cause Agrippa's chemically treated etchings to change and a
Macintosh disk with a story on it to hopelessly encrypt, once read.

On the subject of memory and how it mutates and changes, the focal
point is the story on the disk is William Gibson's father, who
died when he was six. The title of the work is not from King
Agrippa, a figure from Roman history, but instead is the label on
the 1919 family photo album containing photos of Gibson's father.

Agrippa comes in a case that resembles a laptop computer, with book
inside surrounded by copper honey comb-shaped forms and cut-outs in
the inside pages to contain a 3.5-inch floppy disk. The disk
contains Gibson's story which is encrypted a scheme based on an RSA
data encryption. The story can be read by a program which unencrypts
the text on the fly and then self-destructs after one reading,
leaving only the encrypted text on the disk. Once the reading of the
text on the disk is started the story cannot be stopped, copied, or
printed.

A representative for the artists, Kevin Begos, told Newsbytes Gibson
expects people to attempt to unencrypt the data or try to capture
the story. Some people have already started on the task of breaking
the encryption scheme and Begos said some are reportedly using the
Touchstone Delta supercomputer at Cal Tech to do so. Others are not
using high tech means to save the story. One poet whom Begos
described as computer illiterate, said he would simply read
the story aloud into a tape recorder.

Agrippa costs $450 for a copy with reproductions of the etchings,
$1,500 for the real etchings by Ashbaugh himself, and a $7,500
edition offers velum binding, drawings by Ashbaugh, a custom box,
and real etchings, Begos said. Only 10 copies of the $7,500 version
are available, Begos added.

No paper form of Agrippa will be available. However, a fiber optic
transmission of the Gibson story is planned for September of this
year to sites worldwide, Begos said. While an IBM and compatible
personal computer (PC) version of Agrippa was planned, Begos said
the preponderance of orders have been for the Macintosh version. "We
just haven't gotten to the PC version yet," Begos added.

Gibson is credited for coining the term "cyberspace" in his trilogy:
"Neuromancer," "Count Zero," and "Mona Lisa Overdrive," published by
Ace and Bantam Doubleday. "The Difference Engine," co-written with
Bruce Sterling, was released in paperback in January of this year.
Ashbaugh has been a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and is known for
his computer virus and DNA portrait paintings which have been
acquired for the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County
Museum, the Hirschorn Museum, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts,
and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920713/Press Contact: Kevin Begos, tel/fax 212-
650-9324)


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

New PCs: TI TravelMate Notebooks 07/13/92
KOWLOON, HONG KONG, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Texas Instruments introduced
the most powerful members of its TravelMate notebook computer
family: the 486 based TravelMate 4000 WinSX and the TravelMate
4000 WinDX.

Based on the latest Intel processors, the new TravelMates
are optimized for Microsoft Windows and include both Windows 3.1
and MS-DOS 5.0 pre-installed on the hard disk drive.

The TravelMate 4000 series comprises three models: the TM4000
WinSX/16, the TM4000 WinSX/25 and the TM4000 WinDX/25. Suggested
list prices are HK$29,380 (US$3,767) for the TM4000 WinSX/16,
HK$33,380 (US$4,280) for the TM4000 WinSX/25 and $37,380
(US$4,792) for the TM4000 WinDX/25.

Weighing less than 5.6 lb and measuring 8.5 in x 11 in x 1.8 in,
the TravelMate 4000 notebooks are the lightest, smallest 486
notebooks available. TI's new AC adapter makes it easy for users
to pack AC power without being weighed down. Total travel weight
including the battery, TravelPoint pointing device, and AC
adapter, is under 6.6 lb.

Benchmark tests show that the entry-level TM4000 WinSX/16 MHz
processor is twice as fast as a 25 MHz 386SL processor.

The TravelMate 4000 notebook computers have a new, higher
contrast VGA display with a faster refresh rate to support an
active Windows environment. The high resolution 640 x 480,
10-inch VGA display supports a 64-gray scale. All models
support an external 640 x 480 color monitor, displaying
simultaneously with the monochrome LCD.

For graphics applications where higher resolution is required,
a Super VGA monitor can be connected. The 25 MHz TM4000 models
are the only 486 notebooks that can directly support
resolutions of 1024 x 768 on external monitors.

The TM4000 notebooks have been specifically engineered, in
terms of both hardware and software, to make Windows applications
run fast and smoothly, the company says. A TravelPoint pointing
device is included. This unique, portable pointing device can
be hand-held or attached to the notebook.

The TM4000 notebooks solve the disappearing cursor problem
found on most portables. Seven extra large, industry standard
Windows cursors are provided to help users keep their place.
Users can design their own cursors using a Change Cursor software
utility.

The BIOS has been optimized so users can power up into Windows in
less than 30 seconds straight out of the box. Both quick entry
and quick exit into and out of Windows are provided. When in
Windows, users can begin their applications faster by using
TI's new Drop 'N Go software utility, which saves time and
battery life, TI claims.

TI's Battery Pro software provides 4-5 hours of battery life.
This fifth-generation battery conservation utility is compatible
with Microsoft's Advanced Power Management. A new, high capacity
Nicad battery also helps to extend battery life. In addition,
the TM4000 Battery Gauge utility indicates remaining battery
time at a glance.

The TravelMate 4000 WinSX and WinDX are available this month.

(Brett Cameron/1990712/Press Contact: Sharon Hampton, Texas
Instruments, tel: [phone];HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(HKG)(00010)

Sunsoft Delivers Solaris 2.0 For SPARC 07/13/92
WANCHAI, HONG KONG, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- SunSoft, a business
unit of Sun Microsystems Inc., has announced the on-schedule
shipment of the Solaris 2.0 software environment.

Requiring more than 1,000 man years of development time, Solaris,
according to Sun, is the first system software product to combine
the features of high-performance computing - such as
multitasking, multiprocessing, multithreading and network
security - with the ease of use of a personal computer.

Complying with major industry standards, Solaris, Sun contends,
is the only software available today that provides a compatible
path to next-generation object-based computing. Solaris 2.0
will ship to customers worldwide in a special limited edition
compact disc (CD) package - the Bill Joy Golden Edition.
Signed by Unix pioneer and Sun co-founder Bill Joy, the gold
CD encapsulates 32-bit power, industry-standard networking,
a developer environment and a 3-D multimedia desktop.

The Bill Joy Golden Edition will be shortly shipped to
customers, including Toshiba, CompuAdd, Solbourne, and Tatung.
These companies design computers based on the world's most
widely used RISC microprocessor, SPARC.

SunSoft also announced the shipment of the Solaris 2.0 OEM
Multiprocessing Kit, a CD that allows system manufacturers to
take advantage of the symmetric multiprocessing features offered
in the Solaris kernel.

The kit allows manufacturers to tune and verify the symmetric
multiprocessing (SMP) features of Solaris for their specific
hardware implementations. In addition, the Solaris 2.0
Multiprocessing Kit brings symmetric multiprocessing to the
volume commercial market, giving users the benefits of parallel
processing at the desktop, Sun maintains.

SPARC system manufacturers are aggressively moving to offer
Solaris 2.0 on their computers, so says the company. Sun
said that Solaris 2.0 is now available for all Sun workstations
being shipped. Solaris 2.0 support for the symmetric
multiprocessor desktops and servers, including the SPARCstation
10, SPARCserver 10 and SPARCserver 600 MP series, is scheduled
for later this year. All future SMCC workstation and server
products will be based on Solaris 2.0 and future Solaris releases.

Intel X86-based systems accounted for 79.3 percent of total PCs
shipped in 1991 according to IDC. Solaris has a run rate of more
than 300,000 units per year. In addition, Solaris 2.0 inherits
more than 4,000 SPARC applications, including popular packages
from Lotus Development Corp, WordPerfect, Borland, Autodesk,
Informix, Frame Technology and Oracle. Currently more than
700 software applications are in the Solaris 2.0 migration program,
Sunsoft says.

Solaris 2.0 is offered at a manufacturers suggested retail price
of US$795 for desktop systems in single quantity. This price
includes the full Solaris environment with networking,
multiprocessing, multithreading, OpenWindows and DeskSet.
SunSoft has also established an aggressive upgrade program
for current OEMs of Solaris 1.0 to migrate to Solaris 2.0.

(Brett Cameron/19920712/Press contact: Swedee Chin, Sun, tel:
[phone];HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(HKG)(00011)

Solaris For X86 Demonstrated For First Time 07/13/92
WAN CHAI, HONG KONG, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Featured on CompuAdd,
Dell, and Zenith Data Systems 486 Systems, the Solaris 2.0
distributed computing software operated on 80X86-based computers
in a demonstration sponsored by Hardware Reference
Configuration in Hongkong recently.

In related announcements, five new computer manufacturers
intend to support Solaris on their 80X86 systems. NCR Corp.,
Everex, Zenith, Olivetti, and ICL join a number of other hardware
vendors planning to support Solaris for X86 including Dell, AST
Research, CompuAdd, NetFRAME and Toshiba.

"The momentum for Solaris on the X86 continues with our
technology demonstration and with the addition of our new
partners," said Janpieter Scheerder, vice president of
engineering for Intel products at SunSoft. "It is clear that
Solaris will be the first environment to unleash the full power
of 386 and 486-based systems."

Demonstrated on Solaris were three personal productivity apps
from Island Graphics Corp.: Island Write, Island Paint and Island
Draw. SunPro also showed software compilers. Numerous other
products will be available soon as applications written for
Solaris on SPARC need only to be recompiled to run on 80X86
platform. In fact, the port of the Island products to Solaris
on X86 took only a few days, Island Graphics reports.

Solaris for X86 will be made available to key partners throughout
the summer. An early access version for software developers is
intended to be made available by the third quarter this year.
SunSoft also announced the hardware that will be supported by
Solaris for X86.

Historically, the PC market has been based on the 80X86
family of processors running 8 or 16-bit system software, the
"traffic cop" which directs a computer's basic functions. With
the advent of 32-bit 386 and 486-based computers, traditional
16-bit system software has not delivered the benefits of these
architectures to users.

SunSoft announced Solaris for 80X86 computers in Sept., 1992 to
close the "gap" between hardware and system software.

With the introduction of Solaris for X86, SunSoft unites the
world's most widely used RISC and CISC computers with a single
environment, thereby, it contends, greatly reducing system
administration and user training costs while increasing
individual and workgroup productivity.

(Brett Cameron/19920712/Press contact: Swedee Chin, Sun, tel:
[phone];HK time is GMT + 8)


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

Oracle Revenues Up 25% In 4Q 07/13/92
WAN CHAI, HONG KONG, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Oracle Corporation says
fourth quarter revenue increased 25 percent, from $287 million
last year to a record $360 million at the end of fiscal 1992.

Reflecting a strong growth in license and services revenue, net
income for the fourth quarter which ended on 31 May, 1992,
increased to $28.8 million. This compares to net income of
$5.5 million for the same period last year when the company
recorded $20 million in pre-tax charges.

Revenues for fiscal 1992 were also up, reaching $1.18 billion
compared with US$1.03 billion in fiscal 1991. Net income for
fiscal 1992 was $61.5 million, compared to the $12.4 million
loss recorded last year.

This is the sixth consecutive quarter that the company has
strong balance sheet improvements. Cash flow for the fourth
quarter was $76 million, with the total for fiscal 1992 reaching
$161 million, compared to the negative cash flow of $15 million
in fiscal 1991.

"We achieved a considerable turn-around in our balance sheet and
earnings in fiscal 1992, while at the same time meeting our goals
for product quality and investment in technology," said Henry
Chan, sales director for Oracle Systems Hong Kong Ltd. "We
enter fiscal 1993 with a healthy and growing cash position,
solid long-term financing, no bank debt and an improving cost
structure."

(Brett Cameron/19920712/Press Contact: Karen Wan, Oracle,
Tel:[phone];HK time is GMT + 8)


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

HK Container Terminal Installs ICL Mainframe 07/13/92
TSIMSHATUI, HONG KONG, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- International
Computers Hong Kong Ltd (ICL) has signed a contract with Hong Kong
International Terminals (HIT), said to be the world's largest
privately owned container terminal, to supply and upgrade computer
equipment that will help handle HIT's future growth.

Although the total investment has not been disclosed by HIT,
ICL's list price for the new hardware is over HK$150 million
($19.23 million), which is claimed to represent the largest
deal ever struck of its kind in Hong Kong.

The relationship between ICL and HIT started in 1985 with the
automation of HIT's container handling facilities on an ICL
mainframe-based system. In the new agreement HIT is allowed
to trade in their old system and upgrade to two of ICL's
recently launched series 39 SX 580/20 mainframe systems.
Each system consists of two main processors, and 128 MB
of on-board storage. The balance of the order comprises
various peripherals and high capacity disk drives.

The signing occurred nine months after the planning and
research for the on-line system went ahead. Richard Pearson,
HIT's deputy managing director, told Newsbytes that "we wanted
to be sure of everything before we signed the contract."
ICL spent six months from October 1991 to March 1992
conducting experiments and investigations.

"We had to have everything ready by Chinese New Year (March),
when the terminal took its annual three-day break," Dennis
Haynes, president, Asia headquarters, ICL, told Newsbytes.

It is standard practice in Hong Kong for terminals to run 24
hours a day, seven days a week with only one three-day break
per year. According to HIT's operations general manager, Mike
Booth, "It is absolutely vital that the computer system provides
continuous, round the clock operations."

Last year HIT saw its transaction volume increase by 30 percent
which was 10 percent higher than expected.

"We handle about 15,000 container movements a day, involving many
ships, thousands of vehicles and millions of computer transactions,"
Mr Booth told Newsbytes. "Simply keeping track of that kind of
traffic is a monumental job that can only be handled by a very
powerful computer facility."

Fulfilling HIT's need for a fail-safe system, the dual-processor
systems will be housed in separate buildings to reduce any
possibility of downtime. Each of the sites is a mirror image
of the other and connections are via high speed fiber optics.
In case of failure of any part of the system, another will
immediately take over.

The new system is expected to handle tremendous growth well into
the 21st century as well as accommodate the opening of a new
terminal in 1994.

The new system also focuses on the trend towards open systems.
HIT committed to an open systems path using Unix. ICL is
claimed to be unique, offering open systems framework for
all its equipment.

(Brett Cameron/19920712/Press contact: Garry Scarborough,
International Computers Hong Kong Ltd. Tel: [phone];HK time is
GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00014)

Australia: Report Attacks IBM In Defense Contract 07/13/92
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- The Joint Committee
of Public Accounts in Australia has issued a report highly
critical of the Australian Defense Department's Desine
contract. It says that the contract with IBM should not be
renewed.

Already ten years old, the Desine project has been far from
smooth, with constant claims that it was too narrow in scope, and
not conducive to Australian content, despite government
guidelines to this effect. In particular, the contract is claimed to
lock-in proprietary IBM equipment and exclude open systems.

Both IBM and Defense Department officials have attacked the
report saying not only has it trivialized a very complex project,
but that it was full of factual errors. They also claim that the
report has the feel of "marketing hype" from vendors who missed
out on the deal.

The report isn't merely critical, but strongly attacks the viability
of the project, saying it doubts that the systems will be able to
evolve and integrate with future technologies. It says that "the
department's commitment to IBM and in particular IBM's Systems
Application Architecture (SAA), unless carefully managed, will
leave it with no easy path to open systems and other vendors'
solutions. ..... At best IBM may prove that SAA supports open
systems, but at worst the department has purchased a proprietary
architecture which only directly supports IBM products."

IBM counters by saying that IBM systems are "open systems" and
that anyway, 50 percent of the contract has been placed with
subcontractors. Last year an exception was approved and now
Unix has been allowed into the contract.

(Paul Zucker/19920713)


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

Comsat Opens Turkish Earth Station 07/13/92
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Comsat, the US
signatory for the Intelsat and Inmarsat consortia, opened an
earth station in Anatolia, Turkey, giving it coverage of all four
major ocean regions: East Atlantic, West Atlantic, Pacific and
Indian.

Comsat says that the Indian Ocean Region is the fastest growing
region for communications traffic in the Inmarsat system, which
handles ocean-going communications. Comsat's other earth station
facilities are in Southbury, Connecticut and Santa Paula,
California.

For Comsat customers, the new station means "one-stop shopping"
for global shippers in terms of telecommunications, said the
company in a press statement. In a lease agreement with the
Turkish PTT, Comsat added earth station equipment to an existing
facility at Anatolia, which is then carried over dedicated fiber
optic lines to Comsat's Southbury earth station.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920713/Press Contact: Comsat, Judith Pryor,
202/863-6841)


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

LCI Offers Simpler Calling Plan 07/13/92
CLEVELAND, OHIO, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- American Airlines
tried recently to simplify air fares, but wound up setting-off a
price war. Now a small long distance company, LCI International,
is trying to simplify long distance charges, but its small size
probably won't set off a rush for discounts.

The LCI plan is called "Simple, Fair and Inexpensive" (SF&I).
Residential customers will pay one of two domestic rates -- 12
cents per minute daily between 6 P.M. and 6 A.M. and on weekends,
and 17 cents per minute any other time. The rate is the same
regardless of distance -- the cost is the same if the call is
made from Cleveland to Columbus or from Cleveland to Los Angeles.

LCI President Thomas J. Wynne noted in a press statement "AT&T,
MCI and Sprint collectively have more than 100 long-distance
calling plans, all with fancy names and different rates. It is
very confusing to the consumer because they do not know what a
particular call will cost when they pick up the phone to make
that long distance call."

Cleveland and Northern Ohio will be a test market for the SF&T
plan, after which the company hopes to expand the offering to
other areas. Promotions on it include heavy television, newspaper
and radio advertising within the local market, as well as a
sweepstakes that includes a trip next summer to celebrate the
150th anniversary of the Oregon Trail.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920713/Press Contact: Jim Fette, LCI
International, 614-798-6272)


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

SkyTel Wins Argentine License 07/13/92
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Mobile
Telecommunication Technologies, operators of the SkyTel
satellite paging network, said its Argentine subsidiary has been
awarded a license to operate the same service in the same
931.9375 megahertz frequency used in the United States, Canada,
Mexico, and in many countries in Asia.

Mtel expects to operate a messaging system on this frequency with
its potential partners in Argentina within one year, and further
expects the Argentine system to be linked to the other countries
participating in the company's network. The addition of
Argentina to Mtel's network will allow travelers from the United
States and other nations to receive instantaneous mobile messages
when visiting or living in Argentina.

SkyTel provides numeric, alphanumeric and voice messaging paging
throughout the United States, and provides for service through
its affiliates in Mexico and Canada, as well as in Puerto Rico,
the Virgin Islands and Bermuda. In Asia, this service is
now, or will soon be, available in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong
Kong. Other nations are expected to join Mtel's network over the
next few months, the company said.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920713/Press Contact: David Allan for Mobile
Telecommunication Technologies, 212-614-4239)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(HKG)(00018)

Oracle Says Version 7 Breaks Records 07/13/92
WANCHAI, HONG KONG, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Oracle Corporation claims
that Oracle 7, the latest version of its relational database, has
set new benchmark records on every platform on which it has been
tested.

Running on a host of platforms including Sequent,
Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment and Data
General, Oracle 7 not only logged the highest TPC-A and TPC-B
performance scores ever, it was also the fastest ever in terms of
TPC-A throughput, the second fastest in TPC-B throughput and
logged the best TPC-B cost/performance benchmark ever, according
to Oracle.

"These record breaking benchmark numbers firmly establish Oracle
as the industry price/performance leader," proclaimed Henry Chan,
sales director of Oracle Systems Hong Kong Ltd. "Oracle 7 has
set certified performance records on every type of computer
it has been tested on to date."

Chan added that Oracle 7's scalable high performance, combined with
high reliability, made a client-server configuration the first real
alternative to mainframes for the current generation of mission
critical applications.

Running on a Sequent Symmetry 2000/750 system, Oracle 7 set a
blistering 605.27 tpsA and established a new low cost/tpsA of
US$10,919 for this level of performance. This represents a saving of
35 percent per tpsA compared to the last Oracle/Sequent cost/tpsA
figure and is nearly triple the previous mark of 214 tpsA released in
January (1992).

The Hewlett-Packard/Oracle 7 combination scored the second
fastest TPC-A benchmark of all time, Oracle says. Running on an HP
9000/890 system, Oracle 7 recorded 578 tpsA at a cost/tpsA of
$11,894. This is compared to an HP 9000/870S/4 running the same
TPC-A benchmark under Informix-Online V4.1, which logged 173.2
tpsA for a cost/tpsA of US$15,868.

Oracle 7 also set new records in TPC-B tests. It logged the best
ever cost/performance TPC-B benchmark of 100.85 tpsB for a
cost/tpsB of US$1,588, running on a DG AViiON 4625 system from
Data General, Oracle claims.

Other breakthroughs in TPC-B performance included Digital
Equipment's VAX platforms. Oracle 7 scored 315 tpsB for a
cost/tpsB of US$4,725 on a VMS 6000-560 and 560.87 tpsB for a
cost/tpsB of US$2,970 running on a VMS 6000-660.

"These benchmarks reflect the true flexibility and sophistication
of the new Oracle 7 database. It can reduce resource utilization
by as much as 30 percent and support more users with fewer
resources on low-end platforms and hundreds or even thousands of
users on high-end platforms," said Mr Chan. "In the future,
Oracle 7's scalable performance, coupled with very low cost
will allow emerging applications to access very large databases
containing image, text, voice and other data in true multimedia
applications."

(Brett Cameron/19920712/Press Contact:Karen Wan, Oracle, tel:+852-824
0118; HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(MOW)(00019)

Moscow: Lexicon Word Processor Promotion Begins 07/13/92
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Microinform software company
has announced amnesty for all illegal users of its Lexicon
popular word processing product. The campaign, the first one of
its kind in Russia, comes in light of Russia's new Software
Protection Act.

The campaign, which will run until the end of the year, makes
every user of an illegal copy of Lexicon, a very popular Russian-
made full-function word processor, able to register for a very
nominal fee of 100 rubles (approximately 70 cents) for individuals
or 300 rubles ($2) for companies. The registration entitles the
user to a 15% discount off the list price of the word processor
for the next year, free hotline technical support, information
materials, and user seminars.

This is the first campaign of its kind on the heels of a law
protecting intellectual property, including software, which
was passed by the Soviet and then Russian parliaments.

Lexicon 1.0, developed by Evgeny Veselov, includes support for a
range of matrix and laser printers, use of indexes, math and Greek
characters, and work in three different languages -- Russian,
English and one of the following: Armenian, Byelorussian, Georgian,
Kazakh, Uzbek, and Ukrainian.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19920713/Press Contact: Microinform, phone +7 095
233-0006; fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEN)(00020)

 ****Computers To Aid In Electric Car Construction 07/13/92
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Scientists say that
an electric car with a range up to 600 miles may be possible thanks
to computers.

Scientists say that the development of computers which can perform
millions of calculations and simulate thousands of prototypes has
exponentially decreased the time it takes for scientists to turn
ideas into working machines.

The computers have been used to help develop a new battery that
stores energy mechanically rather than chemically. The flywheel
battery could be the breakthrough needed to make the electric
automobile practical.

At present the best chemical battery, a giant version of the battery
in your present auto or truck, can only drive an electric car 50 to
100 miles. Scientists say the flywheel battery could provide enough
power to give an electric car a range of 300 to 600 miles.

The flywheel battery technology is the product of American Flywheel
Systems, a Seattle-based company staffed by mostly former
Environmental Protection Agency officials and aerospace scientists
who found themselves without work due to the end of the Cold War.

The flywheel electro-mechanical battery, for which a US patent was
issued last month, stores energy kinetically, much like the
foot-driven potter's wheel. It uses a composite-based mass rotating
at very high speed inside a vacuum enclosure, suspended by magnetic
bearings and controlled by sophisticated electronics.

According to Edward Furia, AFS's president and CEO, the flywheel
battery also eliminates the problems of toxic waste, corrosion, and
explosions associated with chemical batteries.

The electromagnetic bearings increase efficiency by greatly
reducing friction, and are available "off the shelf," according to
Furia.

Furia said his company projects that the flywheel battery pack will
cost about the same as a lead-acid battery pack, but will last 10
years. "There's nothing to wear out, because it's spinning in a
vacuum," he said.

Some flywheels are being used in buses and trucks in Germany, but
are made of metal and if they get out of balance or are damaged,
become high-speed shrapnel. Furia said AFS's battery becomes an
innocuous mass when it falls. "It fails fiber by fiber and just
melts," he said.

AFS's project still needs acceptance by the Advanced Battery
Consortium, a combination industry-government alliance that says it
plans to spend $130 million on the development of a battery-powered
car. The consortium, which so far has said it is looking for a
better chemical battery, includes the Big Three auto makers and the
major battery companies.

(Jim Mallory/19920713/Press contact: Edward Furia, American Flywheel
Systems, 206-454-1818)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00021)

New For PC: PostSaver db Mailer 07/13/92
ROCHESTER HILLS, MICHIGAN, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Postsaver
Systems had announced a fall release of dB_Mailer software, a
program that works with a number of popular database programs to
presort and barcode large quantity mailings.

Postsaver said dB_Mailer works with dBASE, Foxpro, Alpha Four, PC
file, and other database programs to select data, presort, print and
barcode directly from the users current database. Spokesperson
Sally Smith told Newsbytes that dB_Mailer has no special system
requirements, working with whatever PC configuration your database
program works with.

The company said the program is designed for automation compatible
mailings as defined in the USPS Domestic Mail Manual, and supports
carrier route mailings, prints tray tags, and postal reports. It's
also designed to work with Group-1 Software's Accumail Zip+4 update
program.

dB_Mailer will make its debut at the semi-annual Postal Forum, a
traveling hardware and software show being held this fall in
Washington, DC. Sponsored by the US Postal Service, Smith said the
show highlights all kinds of sorters, conveyors, and other tools
used by the mailing industry. The show opens its three-day run
August 29.

Programs such as db_Mailer are used by company's with a large volume
of outgoing mail, such as mass mailers, in order to take advantage
of US Postal Service discounts. The company said dB_Mailer is
designed for users doing mailings of from 200 to 3000 pieces. The
company said it plans to release a high performance version for
larger-volume mailers in 1993.

The program also supports regular and non-profit mail, ascending or
descending print order, and a variety of labels or envelopes.
Postal reports include presort level counts, rates, automation and
destination discounts and total postage due.

Postsaver said the program carries a $399 price tag, and is
scheduled to ship in September of this year.

(Jim Mallory/19920713/Press contact: Ted Kruse, Postsaver Systems,
313-299-5050; Reader contact: Postsaver Systems, 313-299-5050, fax
313-299-5052)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEN)(00022)

Learn Photography With Camera Simulation Software 07/13/92
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Expensive college
classes, or a lot of trial and error are how most people learn about
photography. But Eastman Kodak has come up with a better,
faster way.

The company best known for its familiar gold film boxes has
announced a software package for PCs that simulates a 35mm
single-lens reflex camera to help master photographic skills.

PCphotographer uses the keyboard or a mouse to select a still or
animated scene, choose the appropriate film speed and film type,
position the camera, and adjust camera settings including flash.

Once the "shutter release" is pressed, a simulated photograph is
exposed, developed, and displayed in an on-screen photo album.
Lens aperture, shutter speed and film choices are also reviewed.

Kodak says the software can lead users through basic photographic
techniques, and will challenge more advanced amateurs to improve
their skills. The user can select a basic camera or a more advanced
model with extra capabilities. Using the software, you can practice
metering, bracketing, controlling depth of field, and working with
both fixed and zoom lenses. Bracketing is the practice of exposing
one picture with several different lens openings and/or shutter
speeds. Depth of field determines the distance from the camera to
the farthest object in the picture that is in focus. A shallow
depth of field is used to accentuate the main object in the picture,
while the background is out of focus.

The neat thing about software like PCphotographer is that you can
experiment with various camera settings without having to burn up a
lot of film. The screen image in the program shows the effects of
over- and under-exposure, subject motion, or focus problems caused
by improper technique. When you ask for a review of your technique,
the program keeps the "photo" on the left side of the screen and
displays comments about your exposure, lens and shutter speed on the
right side.

PCphotographer comes with a workbook that includes 15 exercises, or
you can experiment on your own. The workbook includes lessons
designed to explain shutter speeds and explain how light affects
exposure settings. PCphotographer includes two databases. One
provides a large amount of basic information about composition,
lenses, and film. The other contains technical data about filters
and, of course, Kodak film characteristics.

To run PCphotographer, you need an IBM-compatible PC, 640K of system
memory, and an EGA or VGA color graphics or Hercules monochrome
graphics display. You'll also need a hard drive with at least 1.5
MB (megabytes) of free space. Kodak says the program works best on
computers based on a 286 or higher microprocessor. The program has
a list price of $59.95, and comes on both 5.25 and 3.5 inch high
density disks. For users with older computers, you can exchange the
high density disks for a set of 5.25 inch 360K floppies.

(Jim Mallory/19920713/Press contact: Joseph Runde, Eastman Kodak,
716-724-2364, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00023)

Microsoft Prices Fox Upgrades 07/13/92
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- With the
announcement last week that the acquisition of Fox Software is
complete, Microsoft announced significant upgrade and product
support for users of Fox products.

"The Fox installed base of users is one of the most important assets
of Fox Software," said Microsoft's Fox product manager Tod Nielsen.
He said the company plans low-cost upgrade offers and quality
service and support.

Under Microsoft's upgrade plans, any owner of Foxbase + for DOS, or
Foxpro version 1.X can upgrade to Foxpro for DOS for $175. If you
bought Foxpro 2.0 for DOS after June 1, you can upgrade to Foxpro
2.5 for either DOS or Windows at no cost. FoxPro 2.5 for Windows
has not yet been released, going to beta sites this week. The
company said the upgrade will be available when the product ships.

If you bought your Foxpro 2.0 prior to June 1 of this year, the
upgrade to version 2.5 for DOS or Windows will cost $99 when the
product ships. Upgrades are available through authorized resellers
or direct from Microsoft. Similar upgrade deals are available for
owners of Foxbase + for the Macintosh.

Microsoft is also offering a trade to users of dBASE, Paradox,
Clipper, Dataease, R:Base, Superbase Arago and dBFast. Owners of
those programs can move to FoxPro 2.0 for $199, and can upgrade to
Foxpro 2.5 for DOS or Windows at no cost when version 2.5 ships.

Users of 4D, Double Helix, Omnis Seven, dBase for the Macintosh,
Filemaker Pro, and Microsoft File can upgrade to Foxbase + for the
Macintosh for $149.

All of the upgrade offers expire at the end of the year.

Microsoft is continuing existing Fox Software policies, with Foxbase
and Foxpro users obtaining product support from Microsoft by
calling 419-872-0043 during normal business hours (Eastern Time)
Monday through Friday except holidays, the company said. Support is
also available through the Foxforum on Compuserve, where Microsoft
said it will respond to support requests within 24 hours during
normal business hours. Compuserve is a subscription service
requiring an initial sign up fee. You also pay for the time you are
connected. Most Compuserve users can access the service through
local phone numbers to eliminate long distance phone charges.
Microsoft also has a toll free number through which they will provide
referrals to source of information regarding Fox Software products.

Microsoft said it has no plans to change the suggested retail price
of existing Fox products, which are being repackaged to add the
Microsoft name to the package.

(Jim Mallory/19920713/Press contact: Liz Sidnam, Microsoft,
206-882-8080, fax [phone]; Reader contact: 800-992-3675)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00024)

 ****IBM/Toshiba/Siemens Sign Major Chip Development Deal 07/13/92
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- In a further
indication that cross-technology alliances among major
industry players are necessary for the development of future
technologies, IBM, Toshiba, and Siemens have announced a
joint semiconductor agreement. The deal calls for the
development of advanced memory chips capable of storing
256 million bits of information.

According to a press release from the companies, the
"256-million-bit dynamic random access memory (DRAM)
chip.....sophisticated submicron technology will be a basis for
production of future generations of highly dense chips."

Jon C. Iwata, spokesman for IBM, told Newsbytes that cost
alone was not the driving force behind the alliance. He said that
a primary concern was "accelerating the development process"
and "getting the chip to market faster." Additionally though,
high expense was a factor as "these investments are enormous"
and the agreement was certainly "a way of sharing costs."

According to a press release the companies claim that the
development agreement should "accelerate availability of
memory chips with 16 times more capacity than are available
today, as well as other advanced computer components, such
as microprocessors and chips for telecommunications."

The companies maintain that teams of developers from IBM,
Siemens and Toshiba will begin work immediately at IBM's
Advanced Semiconductor Technology Center (ASTC), about 70
miles north of New York City. The development work at the
center, and at Siemens and Toshiba facilities, will focus on
the process technology for fabricating features a
quarter-micron wide, 400 times narrower than a human hair.

The companies are claiming that more than 200 researchers
from the three companies will support the effort at its peak.
The three companies are hoping that, by teaming up, they
will speed up the multi-year development process and be
first with quarter-micron technology in their products.

Specific terms and conditions of the agreement were not
disclosed, although Iwata told Newsbytes that "each of
the partners is free to license the technology," once it
is developed, and that all three companies will be using
it in their own future products.

The largest chip capacity today is 16Mbit (million bits).
Sixty-four Mbit DRAMs are already under development by
many semiconductor companies. The intended 256Mbit DRAM --
using the new quarter-micron technology -- will be able to
hold more than 25,000 pages of double-spaced, typewritten
text, according to the companies.

The enormous expense of developing the new technology is
a strong motivator for a development alliance though. According
to the companies, the estimated cost of developing quarter-
micron process technology and qualifying it for manufacturing
is more than $1 billion.

Iwata also told Newsbytes that, because the technology can
be used in so many other products and consumer electronics,
"leadership in this one technology, means leadership in
many others."

The three companies are not strangers to working with each
other. As reported previously by Newsbytes, IBM and Siemens
have been working together in 16Mbit DRAM manufacturing and
64Mbit DRAM development.

Additionally, Newsbytes has reported that IBM and Toshiba
have signed agreements to manufacture advanced color flat
panel computer displays, and only last month, flash memory
technology.

Toshiba and Siemens have also been collaborating in a
number of semiconductor areas, including 1Mbit DRAMs,
standard cells, and gate arrays.

(Ian Stokell/19920713/Press Contact: Jon C. Iwata, IBM,
212-789-7708)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00025)

AMD & Fujitsu Team On Flash Memory Manufacturing 07/13/92
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- In yet
another major industry collaboration on flash memory technology,
Advanced Micro Devices and Fujitsu Limited have signed a
memorandum of understanding for an agreement involving joint
development, manufacturing, and sales of semiconductor devices.

John Greenagel, spokesman for Advanced Micro Devices,
confirmed to Newsbytes that the agreement calls for the two
companies to establish a joint venture in Japan and to cooperate
in building and operating a $700 million wafer fabrication facility
to produce non-volatile memory devices such as EPROMs (erasable
programmable read-only memories) and flash memories. Both
companies will cooperate in marketing and sales of the products
on a worldwide basis.

Greenagel also said that the two companies will take
minority equity positions in each others firms, with both
investments being less than five percent of the common stock
of each company. Additionally, he said that the investments
would "not exceed five percent" and that the investments
would not necessarily be "equal."

One of the main reasons for the joint venture, Greenagel told
Newsbytes, is that "building memory fabrications today is
just incredibly expensive. This will be a $700 million facility.
Memory products....are commodity products, and therefore
pricing is subject to a lot more margin pressure than logic
products. So I think what you're seeing, is that everbody, even
IBM and Siemens, are saying that investment in memory
technology and memory manufacturing isjust so expensive that
it requires a partner."

The new facility, which is expected to be operational in 1994,
will utilize 8-inch wafers and process technologies capable of
producing products with dimensions of one-half (0.5) micron and
smaller. The agreement calls for both companies to contribute
equally toward the cost of the joint venture.

In addition to providing their product designs and process and
manufacturing technologies to the joint venture, both companies
will collaborate in developing manufacturing processes and
designing semiconductor devices for the joint venture.

Tadashi Sekizawa, president of Fujitsu Limited, said: "Today
the increasingly rapid advancement in technology and
diversification of applications require ever more resources, so
global alliances are important for success in the information
technology industry."

Speaking about alliances between companies, W.J. Sanders III,
chairman and chief executive officer of AMD, said: "We have
entered into an era in which global alliances are essential to
success in the semiconductor industry."

Sanders also noted that the alliance with Fujitsu will enhance
AMD's prospects for gaining market share in Japan: "I believe
global alliances that involve cross-equity investment are an
optimum solution to reducing international trade friction."

In February, Newsbytes reported that Intel and Sharp had
agreed to use and produce flash memory devices for use in
lightweight, portable computer-based electronics.

Marketing research firm, Dataquest, predicts the flash memory
market will grow from $130 million, at the beginning of 1992,
to nearly $1.5 billion by 1995.

Newsbytes also recently reported that Toshiba and IBM
had signed a joint development deal for flash memory
devices.

Flash memory is a relatively new type of computer memory where
the information is retained even when the electricity is turned of.
The technology, although currently expensive to produce, is
seen as having great potential, especially for portable computers.

Greenagel told Newsbytes that, while he could not see
flash memory completely taking the place of conventional
memory and storage devices, "there are applications where
flash memory will have a big advantage, not only
over...in some cases EPROMs,...DRAMs,...SRAMs, (but even) in
some cases, hard disks."

"Flash memory is going to be an enormous market by the
end of the decade," he concluded.

(Ian Stokell/19920713/Press Contact: John Greenagel,
Advanced Micro Devices, 408-749-3310)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00026)

Ericsson Secures $39M Contract From Shell 07/13/92
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Ericsson has been awarded
a major contract by Shell Oil's Nigerian operation for a digital
mobile radio telephone and data system.

Terms of the $39 million deal call for Ericsson to install a 700
kilometer link between PoRt Harcourt and Warri, two towns in
Nigeria where Shell has operations, as well as digital mobile
radio network to service staff in and around the company's
installations.

According to Ericsson, the mobile digital radio network will be
based around 20 base stations which, initially, will service
around 200 mobile phones. The system will replace the existing
analogue radio network, which is now becoming obsolete and
overloaded.

Plans call for Ericsson to install the complete digital network
and radio phone network over the next two years, aiming for an
April '94 commission hand over to Shell.

The deal is a major one for Ericsson, since it involves the sale
of Mobitex digital phone technology, rather than the groupe
speciale mobile (GSM) digital phone service the company has been
using. This is the first major Mobitex installation outside of
Europe and the U.S., Newsbytes understands.

(Steve Gold/19920713)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00027)

Amstrad Unveils Z80-based Notebook System 07/13/92
BRENTWOOD, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Amstrad has
unveiled a Z80-based, non-DOS-compatible notebook computer that
bears an uncanny resemblance features-wise with the old Tandy
Model 100 portable.

This UKP 199 unit, however, has been updated for the 1990s, with
a 80 character by 8 line supertwist screen and 64 kilobytes (KB)
of memory, compared to the 40 character by 8 line and 32K memory
of the original Tandy unit.

Announcing the NC100, which comes in a sleek black casing and has
several built-in applications, Amstrad Chairman Alan Sugar
compared it to being driven by a rubber band, but claimed that
this processor simplicity translates into an easy-to-use machine.

Although just 64K of memory is included as standard, it can be
greatly expanded using the PCMCIA (personal computer memory card
industry architecture) slot on the side. The supplied software --
word processor, database, time/scheduler, Basic and a scrolling
ASCII terminal -- is blown into read only memory (ROM) on the
machine, which means that most of the 64K of random access memory
(RAM) is available for data storage.

Sugar reckons that, because of the simplicity of the NC100, it
will sell in large quantities -- possibly as high as 300,000 in
its first year, despite the lack of DOS compatibility. In use,
users can hot-key between applications, using function keys,
rather than having to close down one app and open another.

Plans call the NC100 to ship later this year on both sides of the
Atlantic, a bold move, given Amstrad's previous negative
experience in the U.S. marketplace. No specific time scale on the
actual shipment of the NC100 has been given, though US pricing
will probably be around the $300 mark.

(Steve Gold/19920713/Press & Public Contact: Amstrad - Tel: 0277
228888; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00028)

Everex Takes Over UK Printer Maker 07/13/92
CHALGROVE, OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Everex
Systems has announced plans to acquire Wenger Printers, the UK-
based specialist printer manufacturer. Terms of the deal have
not been announced.

Wenger Printers is the UK division of the Swiss printer
manufacturer of the same name. Set up a decade ago, the UK
operation has developed into a high-end printer manufacturer,
frequently supplying one-off printers to customer's requirements.
A typical printer supplied by the company might be a high-speed
colour unit adapted to a special paper size.

Wenger also supplies printers to high resilience government
specifications here in the UK. The government standard, known as
Tempest, is shrouded in secrecy, but it is known that Everex
wants to break into the government supply market, so buying
straight into Wenger is an ideal method of gaining a rapid
foothold in that market.

Plans call for Everex to keep Wenger as a separate named
operation in the UK, although Everex's Colindale, North London-
based headquarters will be moved to Chalgrove over the next year.

(Steve Gold/19920713/Press & Public Contact: Everex Systems -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00029)

New For Macintosh: Hardware Accelerator For Photoshop 07/13/92
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Two hardware
accelerator cards called the Thunderstorm series for the
Macintosh, geared specifically toward speeding up Adobe Photoshop,
were announced by Supermac Technology and Storm Technology.

The companies say the Thunderstorm cards are geared toward speeding
up pre-press work.

Waiting for the computer to redraw the graphic is frustrating and
time consuming. Pre-press work includes manipulating layouts,
retouching photographs, preparing color proofs and color
separations, and creating continuous-tone artwork. Photoshop,
popular for pre-press work, offers filters for work with
photographic images, as well as resize functions, but all those
functions require the computer to do a series of calculations that
make the user sit and wait.

Supermac describes the Thunderstorm is simply an accelerator geared
toward speeding up Adobe Photoshop, while the Thunderstorm Pro is a
combination of the Thunderstorm and the Thunder/24, a graphics
accelerator card.

Supermac claims its Thunderstorm and Thunderstorm Pro accelerator
boards offer the Macintosh assistance with the necessary
calculations that produce transparent performance increases of up to
2300 percent, or 20 times faster. Danny Shapiro of Storm Technology
told Newsbytes two AT&T DSP processors provide 60 million
instructions per second (MIPS) of processing power. Also included
with the board are software plug-ins (or filters) that Photoshop is
designed to accept.

In addition, Supermac says both cards offer hardware-based Joint
Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) compression to compress and
decompress retouched images within Adobe Photoshop program as much
as 500 percent faster than software-only compression of comparable
accuracy.

Supermac says it plans to release both cards August 1. The
Thunderstorm is priced at $999, the Thunderstorm Pro at $3,699.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920713/Press Contact: Danny Shapiro, Storm, tel
415-691-6672, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00030)

New For Macintosh: Adobe Premiere 2.0 07/13/92
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 13 (NB) -- Adobe
Premiere version 2.0, the enhanced version of the Adobe software
geared toward the production of Quicktime movies on the Macintosh,
has been announced by Adobe Systems. Adobe says the product is
geared toward making it easy for any user to start working with
moving images.

Adobe Premiere is geared toward combining video footage, audio,
animation, still images, and graphics to create Quicktime digital
movies. Adobe says digital transitions can be inserted between video
clips, still images, animation and audio including dissolves, wipes,
page turns, funnels, and more. Premiere also offers plug-in filters
which can be used to create tints, distortions, replications, and
other special effects. Quicktime movies produced with Premiere may
be viewed at variable sizes up to full screen, using any Quicktime
compressors, Adobe added.

Adobe says the new version offers users professional features such
as software communication with high-end editing systems and video
devices. Postscript rasterizing technology and a expanded user
interface are other new features, Adobe added.

The new version of Premiere supports Society of Motion Picture and
Television Engineers (SMPTE) time code for professional online and
offline editing, the company added.

Adobe says Photoshop version 2.0 will smoothly import information
created or edited with its other products, Adobe added. The new
version offers for the first time smooth import of graphics from
Adobe Illustrator and adds export to Adobe Photoshop of video clips
for retouching or painting on a sequence of individual frames.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920713/Press Contact: Teri Chadbourne, Adobe, tel
415-961-4400, fax [phone])