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/nb920915

Text File | 1992-09-15 | 73KB | 1,593 lines

(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00001)

Atari Demos Its Newest: The Falcon 09/15/92
GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Atari
demonstrated the Falcon, its newly announced multimedia
computer, to small but enthusiastic crowds at the Atari Show
held this last weekend in the Glendale Civic Auditorium,
Glendale, California. Atari's biggest claim for the Falcon is
it is to bring "print-to-video" to the home user for less than
a total of $2,000.

The Falcon looks like the typical hook-up-to-your-television-
and-play-games computer, but Atari's Bill Rehbock, director of
applications software, had two Peripheral Land Incorporated
(PLI) 1.2 gigabyte portable hard disks connected via a small
computer systems interface (SCSI) II built into the falcon, as
well as a set of stereo speakers and two microphones -- items
your basic games computer couldn't handle.

The Falcon has a Motorola DSP 56001, a separate digital signal
processor (DSP) so the central processing unit (CPU), a
Motorola 68030, doesn't have to handle the processing of sound.
Atari pointed out that the only other two currently available
computers that come with a DSP are the Next and a Silicon
Graphics workstation. Rehbock demonstrated how the addition of
the DSP enables the Falcon to play sound without tying up the
CPU for other work by adding a 4-second audio sound to each
press of a key on the keyboard.

In fact, the audio capability of the Falcon enabled Rehbock to
record his voice saying the name of several letters of the
alphabet, like "A," and assigning the recording to the upper
and lower case versions of the corresponding keys on the
keyboard. He was then able to type at a normal speed, while the
Falcon played back in his voice, the letters he was typing.

Rehbock told Newsbytes any instrument that has an audio output,
such as an acoustic guitar or acoustic piano, can be connected
to the Falcon, and the output edited. The Falcon offers 50
kilohertz 16-bit sound. Voice tracks can also be laid over the
instruments, so a musician can record all the parts in his own
voice, put the instruments in and put the whole thing together
himself, Rehbock added.

Rehbock demonstrated the Falcon on the SC1224, a color monitor
released for the Atari ST computer in 1985. An annoying flicker
in the screen image was present and the same annoying flicker
would be present when the Falcon is connected to a television
set because the Falcon is outputting video graphics array (VGA)
quality display output, Atari said. The company is offering a
$10 adapter so a standard VGA monitor can be connected to the
Falcon, but wanted home users to be able to user whatever they
already had. The flicker disappears during the display of video
or games and is only present in the Atari user interface.

Atari said with software such as Chronos, Prism Paint, or a
shareware program called Ray Shade, home users can "print to
video" titles and computer generated animation on top of video.
A video camera, a $120 adapter, and a video cassette recorder
(VCR) are all that is necessary for a Falcon user to make their
own titles and put animation over video or do special effects
with still images, Rehbock told Newsbytes.

A $200 digitizer and third party software not yet available are
required for editing of video images on the Falcon, but Rehbock
said the Falcon is fully capable of processing such video
images. The DSP also allows the processing of the images to be
done independent of the CPU as well, Atari added.

Rehbock demonstrated to Newsbytes 16-bit True Color at 24
frames per second on the Falcon (broadcast quality is 30 frames
per second). Atari says the capability is 320 by 200 pixel
resolution and 32,768 colors, or 640 by 480 pixel resolution and
256 colors from a 264,144 color palette. Rehbock said the
Falcon's DSP can decompress and display a 320 by 200 24-bit JPEG
image in less than 1 second. JPEG compression is not built in
and neither is MPEG, however, a slot for a processor to do real
time MPEG compression is available on the Falcon and JPEG
compression may be added as well, Atari said.

Two models of the Falcon will be offered at the end of October.
A $799 model will offer 1 MB of memory and a single 3.5-inch
disk drive. A $1,399 model will include 4 MB of memory and a 65
MB 2.5-inch IDE hard disk drive. Atari said the unit will
support larger capacity internal drives, but only in the 2.5-
inch form factor. It will support any size external drive via
the SCSI II interface, Atari added.

Atari says it plans to demonstrate the video editing capability
of the Falcon at Fall COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada in November,
though the company doesn't expect the software for video
editing to be available until January or February of next year.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920914/Press Contact: Bill Rehbock, Atari,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00002)

Commodore Announces Amiga 4000 09/15/92
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Commodore
announced its latest version of the Amiga personal computer,
the Amiga 4000, expected to be released at the end of this
month. The Amiga is well-known for its use in the television
industry as the engine for Newtek's Video Toaster and the 4000
model appears to be building on that established market base.

The 4000 offers a faster central processing unit, the Motorola
68040 and a redesign of the three-chip set for display and
animation of graphics in up to 256,000 colors from a 16.8
million color palette.

The screen resolution of the Amiga 4000 is 640 by 480 video
graphics array (VGA), and there was some discussion as to why
Commodore didn't go to 1024 by 768 video graphics array (VGA)
resolution. No answers were immediately forthcoming, though
company officials did say the Amiga is aimed at the video,
presentation, and kiosk markets.

The 4000 will come standard with a 120-megabyte hard disk drive,
6 megabytes (MB) of memory, a dual speed high-density 3.5-inch
floppy disk drive, and CrossDOS for reading MS-DOS formatted
floppy disks and drives. The 4000 includes a dedicated slot for
video devices, selectable NTSC scan rate compatibility, four
voice dual channel digital audio, up to 8 sprites for
animations, and hardware video overscan.

Commodore also announced AmigaDOS Release 3, a new version of
the Amiga operating system which will ship on the new Amigas,
the company said. CrossDOS is added to Release 3 as is a new
installer utility, and a postscript printer driver.

Retail price for the 4000 is $3,699 and some Commodore dealers
are already offering discounted prices of around $3,000 to
those who will put a deposit on a 4000 now.

Commodore is struggling with some US software developers who
say they will not support the Amiga further. WordPerfect
Corporation has said it will support previous versions of
WordPerfect for the Amiga, but will discontinue further
development on any new releases. Commodore officials say the US
market is small for the Amiga, but the company has four million in
its world wide installed base.

Some talk on the part of Commodore was centered on the
possibility of an Amiga laptop, but the company has not made a
commitment to producing one.

The company also announced the Amiga 600 and 600HD for the home
computer buyer to connect to a television set, a A570 compact
disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) drive, and Amigavision
Professional Authoring System.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920914/Press Contact: Mona Liss, Commodore,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00003)

BusCon/92 East Begins Today in Boston 09/15/92
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- BusCon/92 East,
a three-day conference centering around the computer bus,
begins today in Boston.

Sponsored by MMG (Multibus Manufacturers Group), the STDMG-STF bus
manufacturers' group, and the VITA-VFEA international trade
association, together with almost 20 computer and electronic trade
publications, the event encompasses more than 50 tutorials and
technical sessions and displays by over 100 exhibitors.

Futurebus+, SBus, Multibus II, VMEBus, Mezzanine Bus, and Profibus
are among the buses to be discussed in detail during this year's
conference sessions.

Related issues to be addressed range from "A SPARC-Based Multimedia
Platform," and "Opportunities for Bus-Based Systems with FDDI" to
"Database Requirements for Realtime Systems," and "Imaging and
Graphics: The Technologies Combined."

Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Philips Semiconductor, and
Dupont Electronics will all be evident on the display floor, along
with more specialized companies like Bus-Tech and Bustronic.

The products to be shown cover everything from chips and CPUs to
workstations, image processors and software, in addition to BiBus,
BitBus, NuBus, Q-bus, and about a dozen other types of buses.

Targeted primarily at systems integrators, electronic engineers,
and OEMs, Buscon East is produced by Norwalk, CT-based Conference
Management Corporation (CMC).

This year marks the show's first appearance at the Hynes Convention
Center in the Back Bay section of downtown Boston.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19920914; Press and reader contact: CMC, tel
203-852-0500)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00004)

Australia: Lotus Holds 50% Of E-mail Market 09/15/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Lotus has announced that
market statistics for electronic mail (e-mail) products in Australia
show its product cc:Mail accounts for 50 percent. It now has two
million cc:Mail PC and Mac terminals installed around the world.

"The figures show Lotus has established cc:Mail as the de facto
standard for LAN-based electronic mail systems worldwide, and
we're delighted that Lotus's cc:Mail revenues are above the world
average," said Lotus Australia's communications manager, George
Westwood.

He claims the success is due to its usability and rich feature set,
its cross-platform strategy, and Lotus' commitment to meeting the
needs of each market with language-specific versions, with
Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Japanese versions due this year.

Westwood reported the following recent international sales.
KPMG Peat Marwick-UK is replacing its entire e-mail system
with 7000 cc:Mail mail-boxes on Dos, Windows and Mac.
Monsanto Europe-Africa expects to install 2100 cc:Mail "seats" by
the end of 1993. The Technical University of Budapest has made the
largest single Eastern European purchase - 3000 "seats." Lotus
has been in Eastern Europe for two years.

Lotus is part of the Vendor Independent Messaging (VIM) group
consisting of Borland, Novell, Apple and WordPerfect. VIM is
designed to act as a platform-independent way for computer
applications to exchange electronic mail.

(Paul Zucker/19920914)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SYD)(00005)

New For Unix: Software For Environmental Planning 09/15/92
PERTH, AUSTRALIA, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Australian developer
Surpac Software has broken into the North American marketplace
with its software developed for Sun workstations. The earth
resources software house developed ENTEC - an integrated
environmental modelling, management and mitigation package.

Recent buyers of ENTEC are Woodward-Clyde Consultants and
Mantech Environmental Technology Inc., in the US, and Klohn
Leonoff, and Moneco Consultants in Canada.

Woodward-Clyde in New Jersey is using ENTEC to investigate
an old factory site for one of its clients, a large utility company.
The study has to model contamination data for more than 60
different hydrocarbon compounds. Klohn Leonoff is using
ENTEC to design a waste dump for a major gold mine in Papua
New Guinea.

ENTEC is being marketed around the world with the assistance of
Sun Microsystems. Sun's Australian MD Les Hayman said, "We
already had a strong relationship with Surpac, having sold the
Surpac core mining system. We're now looking to markets in
Japan and east and west Europe."

Surpac director of marketing, Nick Journet, said his company chose
to develop for Sun machines because Sun is the number one
manufacturer of Unix workstations. "Sun offers us and our
customers the best price/performance for workstations that run
state-of-the-art software. It also has the best programming and
debugging tools."

ENTEC takes information form different sources such as geology,
hydrogeology, topology and the atmosphere to be combined into
a consistent data structure and coordinate system for modelling.
For example, an engineer can design a landfill site and them
model potential pollution into the ground water. Or perhaps an
industrial accident has released noxious compounds into the
environment. ENTEC can model the extent of damage and
monitor the clean-up operation.

(Paul Zucker/19920914/Contact Surpac Software International on
telephone [phone] or fax Sun Australia on +61-2-
4182014)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00006)

India: Modi Xerox Gets Govt Seal Of Approval 09/15/92
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- The premier Indian copier
company, Modi Xerox Ltd., which now calls itself a "document company,"
has received the ISO 9000 quality certification for its printer
and copier manufacturing and technical operations as well as for its
special materials division.

With this, Modi Xerox (a Rank Xerox associate) claims to have become
the first Indian company in the office automation and information
technology sector to get this recognition.

The firm decided to go in for this certification after conducting
15 management reviews, including those from Confederation of Indian
Industry and Xerox Corporation. A team from the TuV, the certifying
body of Germany, had conducted ISO 9000 certification audit, covering
18 sections, including documentation, vendor qualification,
import-export procedures and manufacturing. The company has its
manufacturing plant at Rampur in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Established in 1987, ISO 9000 standards have enormous implications
for exporters and particularly for manufacturers wanting to reach
markets in the European Community. Indian industry is increasingly
conscious of the need for compliance to such quality standards. So
far, only 15 Indian companies have obtained ISO recognition and an
additional 50 Indian firms have sought certification.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19920910)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEL)(00007)

India: Hotlink For Hotel Reservations 09/15/92
MADRAS, INDIA, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Westinn Consultants Pvt. Ltd., a
Madras-based firm, will soon introduce an on-line reservation
facility for hotels. Hotlink, as this service is called, covers
about 300 private or tourism department-operated hotels across
the country.

A hotel needs to pay Rs 2,000 per annum to enroll in this scheme.
For any kind of reservation and confirmation in a hotel, a customer
has just to call up any of Hotlink's networking centers, currently
operating in 10 cities. Using a computer network and modems along
with the public telephone system, the company will negotiate
with the chosen hotel to give an immediate booking confirmation.
All that would cost the traveller is a local call. The company is
aiming to make the service efficient enough to give the client the
reservation slip, before the person embarks on his journey.

While the Welcomgroup of hotels in the country has decided to avail
of the Hotlink facility, Westinn is negotiating with a few
international hotel reservation chains for international linkage
of the network. It has recently signed an agreement with CLAS
International which represents about 1,500 properties throughout
the world and this would enable Hotlink to provide reservation
services for inbound and outbound traffic.

Westinn is being assisted by the venture capital firm, Technology
Development and Information Company of India Ltd., (TDICI)
with an equity participation of 40 percent.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19920912)


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

 ****Japan: Computer With Intuition Being Created 09/15/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- The Japanese Ministry of
International Trade and Industry (MITI) says it will start
developing a "fourth dimensional computer," capable of intuition
much like a human brain. This computer system will be able to
handle vague and obscure data, which is not possible for current
computers, according to MITI.

This is a 10 year-project that will involve universities and
institutions around the world. MITI's fourth dimensional computer
development project is also a major financial commitment, worth
60 to 70 billion yen (around $560 million) for the next 10 years,
starting this October.

The new computer system will be able to "think" in a way scientists
believe the right side of a human brain thinks, while conventional
computers handle data in a methodical, rational way, similar to the
way the left side of the brain operates. As the right side of the
brain can handle ambiguous data, so too will the computer system.
Scientists envision potential applications of the computer in the
areas of automatic speech translation on telephones, intelligent
robots, advanced weather forecasting, and advanced graphics that
finding cancer at an early stage.

The participants in this project include universities, research
institutes, and private firms from Germany, England, France,
Australia, Canada, Singapore and Korea. In order to exchange
information and data, MITI will set up an international
telecommunication network for the participants.

US teams are indirectly participating in this project. MITI
is planning to launch a joint research project with American
universities and research institutes to develop optical electronic
technology which may be applied to advanced computers.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19920914)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00009)

Japan: Group To Aid Slumping Companies 09/15/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- The Japan Personal Computer Software
Association has set up an advisory committee to help those member
firms in financial tough times, in the wake of a slump in
the industry.

Most of the software makers are relatively small. There are 358
member firms which belong to the organization, many capitalized
with less than 5 million yen ($40,000). Due to Japan's so-called
"bubble economy," some software makers have already gone bankrupt
and many are financially suffering.

The association will give management consultation and financial
information. It will also give assistance regarding access to
government loans. The Japanese government recently decided to loan
a total of 1.2 trillion yen ($9.5 billion) to mid-sized and small-sized
firms. All these consultation services are provided for free of
charge to members.

The "Bubble economy" has hit the Japanese industry hard, affecting
not only small software firms but also major software companies.
ASCII, for instance, was forced to loan 16.4 billion yen ($130 million)
from Japanese banks due to its financial difficulty, and has chosen
to sell some of its affiliate firms.

Tokyo-based Hal Laboratory has also been restructuring
and plans to close its US plant in the near future.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19920914/Press Contact: Japan Personal
Software Association, [phone])


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

New For PC: Corel Upgrade To Graphics Users 09/15/92
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Eager to lure new
customers to its recently upgraded CorelDraw graphics software,
software developer Corel is offering users of rival products a
sweetheart deal.

Users of any Windows or DOS-based graphics program can trade in
their software for CorelDraw 3.0 for US$249 or C$299. That price
covers a version with both diskettes and CD-ROM, normally sold for
US$595 or C$695, Corel said. A CD-ROM only version is available as
a competitive upgrade for US$219 or C$260.

Products eligible for trade-in are: Picture Publisher, Aldus
Photstyler, Micrografx Designer, Harvard Draw, Aldus Freehand,
Adobe Illustrator, Professional Draw, Arts & Letters, Charisma,
Aldus Persuasion, Draw Perfect, Harvard Graphics, Lotus Freelance,
and Microsoft PowerPoint.

The trade-in deal will be in effect for a limited but at present
unspecified length of time, company spokeswoman Janie Sullivan
said.

Launched in May, CorelDraw 3.0 adds charting, photo editing, and
slide-show modules to the drawing module that gave the software its
name.

CorelDraw also includes the Mosaic visual file manager, which
allows users to preview graphic files in several formats, and
CorelTrace, a tool for converting black-and-white bit-mapped images
into vector graphics.

The new release supports Object Linking and Embedding (OLE), a
Windows feature that makes it easier to exchange files among
applications. Besides allowing interaction with other applications,
Michael Cowpland, Corel's president and chief executive, said
earlier, OLE provides the means for the different modules of
CorelDraw to operate on their own but with easy exchange of data
among them.

Capabilities added to the flagship CorelDraw module include the
ability to edit graphics in preview form as well as in wire-frame
mode, unlimited layers, improved precision, and on-screen text
editing, the company said.

Other new features in the draw module include "roll-up windows"
meant to give quicker access to frequently used features, as well
as a variety of new special effects.

(Grant Buckler/19920914/Press Contact: Janie Sullivan, Corel,
613-728-8200 ext. 1672, fax [phone]; Public Contact: Corel,
800-836-3729)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(WAS)(00011)

New Mac Television Program 09/15/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- A new weekly computer
television show is scheduled to join the growing number of such
programs now airing either via satellite or in broadcast
syndication. Hosted by MacUser Magazine's contributing editor,
Bob LeVitus, Mac Today is a new Macintosh-oriented syndicated TV
program which will premiere on more than 500 stations later this
month.

The weekly half-hour show, which will premiere September 26 on
television stations around the United States, will, according to
the producers, be the first Macintosh-only broadcast TV show
which "will bring hardware and software wizardry into the homes
of millions of potential viewers."

The show will reportedly shun the studio-interview format of
other computer television shows, spending a lot of time in the
field. Mac Today will cover the entire range of Macintosh
applications and even include human interest stories.

Mac Today will also include news reports covering the latest
industry happenings.

A spokeswoman for The Syndication Group at KJD Teleproductions
told Newsbytes that they did not really consider the program to
be in competition with the daily MacTV program that originates
from PCTV's New Hampshire studios.

Asked about the debut of the new show, PCTV's Victoria Smith,
whose weekly half-hour computer show covers the entire
microcomputer industry and is syndicated on the Mind Extension
University cable network, told Newsbytes, "I think it's
wonderful; the more computer-oriented programs on the air, the
better it is for the end user."

Wayne Mohr, general manager of PCTV and spokesperson for Mac TV,
which is also carried on ME/U, welcomed Mac Today, saying he
always feels that competition is good for any industry.

Mac Today's producers are currently working on expanding
syndication broadcast rights both to Canada and into Europe but
say that they have already penetrated 85 percent of the US
market.

The show's host is the author of "Dr. Macintosh."

(John McCormick/19920914/Press Contact: The Syndication Group,
609-424-5800, fax [phone])


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

Brite Voice, Digital Sound In Market Battle 09/15/92
WICHITA, KANSAS, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- PictureTel and
Compression Labs have competed fiercely in the videoconferencing
market, pushing each other until both have become major
technology companies. Digital Sound and Brite Voice are now
trying to do the same thing in the interactive voice market.

Interactive voice is a super-set of voice mail. In addition to
offering plain mailboxes, such systems also let their owners sell
information services, including recordings of news, contests, or
fax services.

On September 11, Digital Sound had enhanced its VoiceServer
offering, which Pacific Bell is using in its enhanced voice mail
applications, making it easier for owners to program with data,
fax, and e-mail applications as well as voice. The Passport
software includes a Graphical User Interface, something like
Microsoft Windows, making this easier.

Brite Voice, which dominates the market for sales to newspapers
which want to compete with the phone companies in offering voice-
based information services, has responded with Brite[star]Mail, a
new voice mail system with two commands -- one for yes and two
for no. Many voice mail systems, like the Southern Bell
MemoryCall offering in the Southeast, require users to input a
wealth of codes on their touch tone phones in order to get basic
service. Brite[star]Mail also brings the company into direct
competition with traditional voice mail vendors like VMX, who are
just now looking at the interactive voice market. And the new
product runs on any PC which can be linked to a company's key
telephone or PBX.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920914/Press Contact: Linda Steele, Brite
Voice Systems, 316-652-6500; Andrea Holm, Digital Sound 805/566-
2000,x2130)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00013)

New For PC: Landmark Upgrades Diagnostic Programs 09/15/92
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Landmark Research
International Corporation has announced upgrades to three of its
personal computer diagnostics programs, PC Probe, DiskBase, and PC
Certify. All three programs have a suggested list price of $99.

PC Probe v3.0, a program Landmark spokesperson Nancy Garcia told
Newsbytes, is designed for the technical user, can run up to 150
different diagnostics, including virus protection, system
information, and benchmark tests.

Garcia told Newsbytes that PC Probe offers password protection to
avoid accidentally running destructive operations. The program
supports Super VGA video mode tests and mouse operations, and can
display annotated 16-color EGA/VGA images in PCX file format. PC
Probe can run tests in single-test or timed batch mode. Garcia says
that makes it easier to isolate intermittent errors while running the
program overnight. It can also be run in remote mode from a remote
PC.

Landmark says DiskBase v4.0 is an easy-to-use software program that
reveals 12 technical specifications on over 2500 hard disk drives and
8 technical specifications on over 220 controllers. Users or
technicians installing a new hard drive and/or controller can help
resolve address problems by using DiskBase to determine the DEBUG
address using the controller database. Hard drive set-up information
is provided for 24 different BIOS versions.

Landmarks says once the correct hard drive model has been selected,
DiskBase will display a listing of all compatible controllers by
encoding method, such as MFM, RLL, EDSI, IDE, and SCSI. The program
has context-sensitive on-line help, is menu driven, and can write a
customized report to the screen or printer.

Garcia told Newsbytes that PC Certify v4.2 is designed for the non-
technical user who needs to run diagnostic tests or determine system
information. Landmark says it can test all PC/XTs, 286, 386 486-based
systems, PS/2s and compatible computers that use an Intel or
compatible chip. It can be run from a floppy or hard drive. Landmark
recommends PC Certify for use by resellers and OEMs for burn-in of
new systems. That's the process used to run a new personal computer
through a series of operations to see if it's functioning correctly.
Many PC experts believe that if a PC is going to break down, it will
be in the first few hours of operation. Burn-in is designed to
identify potential problems before the system is in the user's hands.

Landmark believes use of diagnostics programs can be very useful as
well as economical. "People and companies are troubleshooting their
own PCs to save time and money," Garcia told Newsbytes. She said
present owners of Landmark products can upgrade for $30.

Landmark markets 15 PC diagnostics products, and expects to sell
nearly $10 million worth of products this year, according to Warren
White, Landmark president.

(Jim Mallory/19920914/Press contact:Nancy Garcia S&S Public Relations
for Landmark Research, 708-291-1616Reader contact: Landmark Research,
800-683-6696)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00014)

UK: Windows 3.1/MS-DOS 5.0 Upgrade Pack 09/15/92
WOKINGHAM, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Microsoft has
announced the immediate shipment of Windows 3.1 and the upgrade
version of MS-DOS 5.0 as an integrated package.

According to company officials, offering both packages as a
single integrated unit will make life a lot easier for PC users
wanting to move up to Windows and upgrade from earlier versions
of DOS. Two flavors of the integrated package are available -
one with, the other without a Microsoft Mouse.

The announcement of the integrated package comes in the wake of a
series of bundled Windows/DOS packages launched earlier this
year. The price of this latest package is UKP 149 -- a saving of
20 percent on buying them separately, Microsoft claims.

Mark Edwards, Windows product manager with Microsoft, said that
the integrated package will update any PC user with an old
version of either DOS or, interestingly, OS/2. It's also the
first time that Windows and DOS have a single installation process.

"This is an important step toward complete amalgamation of these
products. Windows 3.1 was designed to operate with MS-DOS 5.0 and
this new package will allow users to get up and running quickly
and easily," he said.

(Steve Gold/19920914/Press & Public Contact: Microsoft - Tel:
0734-270001)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00015)

UK: Word For Windows Enhanced 09/15/92
WOKINGHAM, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Microsoft has
unveiled Word for Windows 2.0B, a maintenance release of the
company's Windows word processor. The reason for the update is to
allow users to take advantage of file conversion features which
are being prepared for the next full update.

According to Microsoft, conversion and integration utilities for
other packages, notably Windows 3.1, Mail 3.0 and Excel 4.0, are
included in WfW 2.0B. Existing users are being offered the
maintenance release for UKP 7-75 through the Microsoft upgrade
center on 081-893-8000.

One interesting feature of WfW 2.0B is the inclusion of a "send
mail" option on the file menu. This allows a file to be
automatically sent over a modem/network link, provided that link
is MAPI-compliant.

Other connectivity facilities have also been included on WfW
2.0B. These are grouped under a new command heading known as "PSS
Help," a feature already seen on Microsoft Excel, which accessing
information on phone numbers, BBS data, copies of the most
frequently requested questions and answers, plus details of the
Compuserve online system.

(Steve Gold/19920914/Press & Public Contact: Microsoft - Tel:
0734-270001)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00016)

UK: Ti'Ko's Millenium PCs, New Compuserve Forum 09/15/92
WEST LOTHIAN, SCOTLAND, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Ti'Ko Computer
Corporation has unveiled a new range of PCs known as the
Millenium series. Five PCs comprise the new range, with prices
from UKP 849 for a 25MHz 80486SX-based ML 425SX to UKP 1,549 for
a 66MHz DX2 80486-based ML466DX2.

So, who are Ti'Ko? According to a spokeswoman for the company,
the firm is Scottish-based and staffed by British people, but
operating with a Japanese philosophy. "They're basically a direct
sell company that believe in the Japanese ideas of quality and
product. It's a strategy that seems to work," explained Grace
Fodor for the company.

The new range of machines features 256K of cache memory, plus a
super IDE caching disk controller which the company claims cuts
hard disk access times down to 0.3 milliseconds. All the machines
come with Ti'Ko's unique Superboard motherboard which allows
high-speed 32-bit data communication between the processor and
the rest of the PC's architecture.

Each machine in the Millenium series is upgradable and comes
with MS-DOS 5.1, Windows 3.1, a Microsoft Mouse and the Microsoft
productivity pack. Pre-installed on the hard disk are Norton's
anti-virus software and IIT Xtradrive, a data compression
package.

All the PCs come with a three-year free maintenance plan with
next day on-site support. Ti'Ko reckons that its support scheme
is second to none, and is offering compensation of UKP 50 a day
of it fails to meet its next-day service commitment.

Ti'Ko Computer Corporation has also opened a technical support and
discussion forum on Compuserve.

To help users of its hardware get online as quickly as possible,
the Scottish PC manufacturer is offering free sign-up and $15.00
worth of usage credit to anyone calling Compuserve on 0800-289378
quoting reference number 801. The idea is that users of Ti'Ko
hardware can then spend an hour online in the UK computing forum,
where the Ti'Ko support area is located.

The Ti'Ko forum system operator (sysop) is Alun Oberlander. Plans
call for the forum to offer online help files and programs which
will be accessible at most times of the day and night.

Why the decision to go with Compuserve's online support over the
traditional telephone support operation? According to Ti'Ko, now
that many companies are having to undertake PC and local area
network (LAN) maintenance in the evening, it's crucial for
technical support personnel to be able to get advice on problems
as they arise. Compuserve access to the Ti'Ko support area can
provide that support, the company says.

(Steve Gold/19920914/Press & Public Contact: Ti'Ko Computer
Corporation - Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00017)

Quantum Low-Cost Hardcard EZ Disk Storage Cards 09/15/92
MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Offering
another salvo in the hard drive upgrade and replacement market that
market research firm International Data says will account for
over 20 percent of worldwide drive shipments by 1994, Quantum
Corp., has introduced the Hardcard EZ drive that slips into an
expansion slot on a PC.

The company says that the Hardcard EZ comes in versions ranging
from 42 megabytes (MB), through 85MB, 127MB, to 240 MB for
PC/AT-class systems.

Quantum is making some strong compatibility claims, saying in a
that the cards are "guaranteed to be compatible
with all 286/386/486/PC/AT-class computers, all popular
operating systems and windowing environments including MS-DOS,
OS/2 and Microsoft Windows, and all conventional hard drives that
may be installed in users' systems." If the card is found not to be
compatible "users can obtain a full refund," says the company.

Katherine Hartsog, spokesperson for Quantum, told Newsbytes,
"The Hardcards have always been a reasonably popular alternative
(to hard disks). Plus Development, which is a Quantum subsidiary
pioneered the first Hardcard products back in the mid-80s."

The cost of manufacturing the cards has been reduced, she said,
leading them to become more attractive to the consumer. "They
were always a much pricier alternative, and people who wanted
the ease of installation and the convenience of being able to
very quickly and easily upgrade their own system, would choose
Hardcard-type products against standard hard drives," she told
Newsbytes. "But you had to pay for that, because they were more
expensive alternatives."

However, she continued: "At Quantum, we've taken advantage of
our standard drives that we ship to major system manufacturers
around the world -- take that whole mechanism (including the
board) -- and make that into a Hardcard-type product." This
allowed the company to take advantage of "greater economies of
scale" she said, "and allow us to price the (Hardcard products)
much more attractively, relative to standard drives."

The company claims that installing a Hardcard EZ upgrade in
a PC is simply "a matter of dropping the drive into an available
expansion slot and running its automatic installation software."

The Hardcard EZ is being targeted towards small businesses and
home computer users who need to expand their hard drive
capacity to meet increased storage requirements.

The Hardcard EZ cards are backed by a two-year renewable
warranty. Should a Hardcard EZ drive prove defective at any time
during this warranty period, Quantum maintains that it will
provide a replacement drive that is automatically covered by a
new two-year warranty.

Hartsog told Newsbytes that the suggested retail pricing of the
products are $269 for the 42MB card, $369 for the 85MB, $449
for the 127MB, and $749 for the 240MB card. "Now price
(difference, between Hardcards and standard disk drives) is not
nearly as significant as it has been in the past," she said.

(Ian Stokell/19920914/Press Contact: Nellie Connors, Quantum
Corp., 408-894-4000)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00018)

New For Unix: Voice Application Developer 09/15/92
CARPINTERIA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Hoping to
appeal to companies that need to develop customized interactive
voice response (IVR) applications, Digital Sound Corp., has
announced Passport, an application generator.

According to the company, Passport allows users to develop
sophisticated IVR applications that run on the VoiceServer
information server, and combine voice messaging, facsimile,
electronic mail, call processing and advanced speech
technologies such as voice recognition.

The new product includes a graphical user interface (GUI), and
works in conjunction with InfoMail, Digital Sound's messaging
software. The company claims that by using Passport, users with
no computer programming experience can develop custom voice
response applications that "take advantage of the VoiceServer's
ability to integrate multiple applications and multiple information
formats simultaneously on a single platform."

John Kennedy, vice president of marketing, said: "By enabling
non-technical users to develop what have traditionally been
sophisticated applications, we have made it easier for
customers to use these capabilities in their businesses. Until
now, the demand for IVR and integrated voice, data, fax and
e-mail applications went unanswered. The VoiceServer is the
only system that supports all of these in a single platform and
also enables users to develop their own application easily."

According to the company, Passport combines applications
development, administration, activity reporting voice prompt
handling and database management functions in a single interface.

With Passport's applications editor, applications are constructed
on a Unix-based PC by pointing and clicking on icons to link
pre-programmed "cells" in a call flow diagram. The company says
that each cell represents a different action that is commonly used
in an application. Some cells have user-definable parameters
which can be set or changed while the application is being
developed or after it is completed.

The company says that the VoiceServer was specifically designed
to be a "tightly integrated information server." According to
the company, the VoiceServer's "single-platform architecture
eliminates the performance, training and maintenance pitfalls of
competitive systems, which require additional peripherals for
each application that is added to the base voice messaging
system."

The company claims that, by using the cell approach, users can
concentrate on the higher-level design of applications, rather
than lower-level concerns relating to hardware resources and
coding, and that the application is ready to run as soon as the
call flow is drawn.

Passport is also claimed to simplify the documentation process
by automatically generating the call flow diagram and backup
documentation, which can be stored on a disk or printed out in
hard copy format.

According to the company, Passport will be available directly
from Digital Sound in the first half of 1993. Offered on all
models of the VoiceServer, the product will be priced from
$10,000 to $25,000, depending on the configuration.

(Ian Stokell/19920914/Press Contact: Andrea Holm, Digital
Sound Corp., 805-566-2000, ext. 2130; or Melissa Magid or Brian
Webster, Manning, Selvage & Lee, 818-509-1840)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00019)

New For Networks: 3Com Enhances NETBuilder 09/15/92
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- 3Com Corporation has
introduced a software upgrade for its NETBuilder family of
multi-protocol bridging and routing platforms that extends their
scope in mixed networks.

The NETBuilder family provides bridging and routing capabilities for
both Ethernet and Token Ring networks, acting as a platform
for connecting local and wide-area networks together.

New features in Release 5.1 of the NETBuilder software include
Ethernet-to-Token Ring communications, full Token Ring routing,
increased protocol support, extended wide area network services, and
enhanced network management.

"This expanded functionality makes NETBuilder the industry's most
versatile platform for local and wide-area bridging and routing,"
said Doug Dennerline, general manager of 3Com Asia Ltd.

The NETBuilder software for the first time brings routing
capabilities to Token Ring networks, and supports bridging and
routing communications between Ethernet and Token Ring.

NETBuilder I and NETBuilder Token Ring can be configured as a
bridge, router or combination of both for concurrent bridge/routing.
It can be used to connect two local area networks (LANs) together,
or by utilizing all four ports can link two LANs and two wide-area
networks (WANs) together.

With the addition of AppleTalk Phase II and Banyan Vines, NETBuilder
now provides concurrent bridging/routing for seven protocols,
including TCP/IP, IPX, XNS, OSI and DECnet Phase IV.

3Com's Appletalk Phase II implementation includes entity filtering,
the most complete Appletalk name filtering available. Appletalk
names have three parts: object name, type and zone. Entity filtering
can restrict access according to any part of an Appletalk name,
making it more complete than zone filtering alone.

NETBuilder 5.1 can handle all the standard router-to-router
protocols, including OSPF, IS-IS and ES-ES. It can be configured for
data traffic prioritization and least-cost routing.

Extensions to the NETBuilder WAN service permit bridging over X.25
and new frame relay networks, plus TCP/IP over forthcoming Switched
Multimegabit Data Services (SMDS).

Memory caching improvements and software code optimization in the
NETBuilder 5.1 release are said to yield significant increases
in performance for TCP/IP, DECnet and OSI routing applications.

Extended SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) support includes
new management information bases (MIBs) for bridging, OSPF and
Appletalk configurations.

(Brett Cameron/19920914/Press Contact: Doug Dennerline, 3Com, tel:
+ 852-848 9200;HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00020)

Hongkong: Novell Road Show 09/15/92
WAN CHAI, HONG KONG, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Novell Inc., has
underscored its commitment to the regional networking market with
the recent completion of a nine-country road show.

Kicking off in the Philippines on June 26, Networking Perspective'92
also covered the People's Republic of China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Over 3,000 people attended the road show, which was designed
primarily to showcase the latest in networking technology, technical
demonstrations. Presentations by senior engineers from Novell's
American headquarters also formed a major part of the show.

The show, aimed primarily at potential end-users and developers, not
only offered ways of maximizing current network productivity and
cost efficiency, but also put forward options to cope with future
technological advancements.

Subjects covered included: NetWare's compatibility with the IBM
environment; the strengths of NetWare NFS in sharing data between
desktop Unix applications; Windows 3.x in the NetWare environment;
optimizing NetWare 3.x and desktop resources; peer-to-peer networks;
and recent developments in wide area networking technology.

Commenting on the network computing market, Andrew Lai, Novell's
Hong Kong based regional director, said: "Client-server computing -
the latest industry buzzword - has been gaining increasing attention
from IT professionals, because it allows for the centralization of
data management, enhances performance, reduces network traffic, and
economizes upon the use of resources.

"As business computing needs to become more sophisticated, there is
increasing user demand for client-server computing which enables the
distribution of application functionality, allowing task
specialization and flexibility for more efficient data processing."

(Brett Cameron/19920914/Press Contact: Andrew Lai, Novell, tel:
[phone];HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00021)

QMS Rolls Out Color Printers 09/15/92
MOBILE, ALABAMA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- QMS is expanding its
line of printers that use its advanced "Crown" technology,
specifically in the color printer market. The company has just
announced two new color printers that are based on this technology.

The ColorScript 210 and the ColorScript 230 are the two newest
members of the QMS family. Both are built around Mitsubishi color
thermal transfer engines. Both also have the Crown processor board
in them that gives the printers a very high speed controller (the
Intel 80960 running at 25 MHz), as well as the ability to emulate
several printing languages (Postscript Level 1 and Level 2 and HPGL),
networking ability, and the capability to sense traffic on any of
its connectors, accept that traffic, and buffer it up for later
processing. The Crown board has as one of its options a hard drive
to allow for departmental use of the printer.

QMS spokespeople told Newsbytes that they have discovered that while
some color print-outs may take as long as an hour to print, most of
that time is spent at either the originating computer, transmission,
or in the printer. With Crown technology they are addressing two of
these areas -- the multitasking ability and network support address
the transmission speed problem. The computing time within the
printer is being reduced by the application of a very high speed
and RISC like processor.

The two models are distinguished by two main features. The
ColorScript 210 can print on paper that is up to legal size while
the ColorScript 230 can handle B size paper. The other main
distinguishing feature is the ability of the 210 to print on
paper that was formulated for laser printing. This is paper that
looks like standard copy paper it is not the special paper that
some other color printers require. The 230 cannot support this
paper. QMS spokespeople told Newsbytes that they discovered that
the larger format printers are used by the graphics arts professionals
while the smaller format is primarily used in a business graphics
sense. The graphics artists tend to be much more particular about
exact color matching and therefore require the special paper and
its greater accuracy. Those that do not need to be so discerning are
quite happy in being able to use more regular paper in their
printers.

Both printers will begin shipping later this month. The ColorScript
210 will retail for $4995 while the ColorScript 230 will retail for
$7995.

(Naor Wallach/19920915/Press Contact: David Wilt, A & R Partners for
QMS, 415-363-0982/Public Contact: QMS, 205-633-4300)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00022)

New For PC: Lotus Notes Document Imaging 09/15/92
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Lotus
Development has announced the shipment of Lotus Notes: Document
Imaging, an image processing extension to its Lotus Notes
work-group software. Lotus co-developed the software with Imagery,
a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak.

Lotus said the document imaging product is the first in a series of
Lotus Notes Companion Products. The company also announced the
availability of two other companion products, Lotus Notes Optical
Character Recognition (OCR) server and Lotus Notes In-bound Fax
Gateway.

Lotus said it co-developed the OCR product with noted OCR software
developer Calera Recognition Systems of Sunnyvale, California, and
the fax add-on with GammaLink, also based in Sunnyvale. These
products are not available yet, and neither a planned shipping date
nor price information are available at present, a spokeswoman for
Lotus said.

Lotus Notes: Document Imaging allows users to bring information
from paper documents into their electronic documents. The software
costs $295 per seat.

Lotus said the three add-on products, taken together, open new
work-group application possibilities. For example, an organization
might use Notes to implement an enterprise-wide resume tracking
system that captures faxed resumes, searches them for key skills
and archives them.

Lotus Notes: Document Imaging integrates with Notes at both the
interface and back-end levels and lets users work with images as
naturally as they would conduct other Notes functions, the vendor
said. Back-end services include a storage subsystem with file
migration and support for optical jukeboxes and removable media.

Lotus said imaging is among the first of a series of add-on
products it is co-developing with other companies under its
Companion Products strategy. The imaging add-on is intended to
enhance existing applications of Notes, the spokeswoman said --
"you're not going to buy [Notes] just to have document imaging."

(Grant Buckler/19920914/Press Contact: Nancy Scott, McGlinchey &
Paul for Lotus, 617-862-4514)


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

Ultimap Cuts Staff 40% 09/15/92
ST PAUL, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Geographical
Information Systems company Ultimap Corporation has cut 20 of its 50
employees and says it will redirect its sales effort as a result of
budget constraints placed on its prime customer class, local
governments.

The company also announced that due to accelerated technical
progress, its new generation of GIS software will be available in the
first quarter of next year, ahead of the original target date. The
earlier availability of the new software, designed to run on multiple
hardware platforms, reduces the need for continuing investment in the
migration of its existing software to other hardware platforms.

According to Ultimap President Bob Bro, the company plans to
concentrate its short term sales efforts on providing software and
software-related services to its existing account base of local
government installations nationwide, as well as targeted new
accounts. Services include standard software applications and digital
base-map development on workstations and personal computers.

"We've expected an improvement in local government budgets as the
nation emerged from recession," according to Ultimap Chairman Dennis
Mathisen. However, says Mathisen, the initial 1993 budget cycles
make it apparent that a dramatic and persistent retrenching of the
local government sector has begun. "We are taking the proactive
steps necessary to maximize Ultimap's likelihood of success in that
environment."

According to Bro, the company also believes that government budget
projections for agencies with October and January fiscal years will
produce similar results, causing Ultimap revenues to fall short of
expectations.

Ultimap has scheduled an informational meeting for shareholders and
other interested parties September 18 at the Minneapolis convention
center. Chief Financial Officer John Kennedy told Newsbytes that the
company periodically holds such meetings to keep its shareholders
informed of company developments.

Asked if he was optimistic about the near future, Kennedy told
Newsbytes, "We certainly affected by the economy. The market we sell
into is under enormous stress right now. There is a tendency in that
market to not take action or make decisions if they can avoid it.
Today is a very difficult time for them" said Kennedy. He said the
employees cut were those that had worked on the earlier generation
products; no current product developers were affected.

(Jim Mallory/19920915/Press contact: John Kennedy, Ultimap, 612-688-
1500)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00024)

Phones Back On Kauai 09/15/92
LIHUI, HAWAII, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- For the third time in
as many weeks, Americans are witnessing the destruction of a
piece of their country by a hurricane. This time it is the island
of Kauai, one of the Hawaiian islands, ravaged by Hurricane Iniki.
About 7,000 were left homeless on the island, which has many
tourist hotels, and all the tourists have been desperately trying
to leave since the storm hit, leaving the island with no economy.

But they do have phones. Cellular phone service to the island was
established by September 13, just a few days after the storm. And
GTE Hawaiian Telephone, which serves the island with regular
phone service, was bringing in phone vans to allow shaken
residents to call concerned relatives. However, the company
said no one will be able to call in for the foreseeable future.
It is normal in a disaster of this type that incoming calls are
stopped in order to allow all capacity to be used for outgoing
calls.

In South Florida, meanwhile, the clean-up continues. Marines have
been clearing non-residents out of tent cities erected for
families left homeless by the storm. The non-residents were out-
of-work construction laborers who arrived in the area looking for
work. The tent cities began filling with residents as homes were
declared unfit for habitation, as military police established
order and safety from looting, and as school openings forced the
closing of other shelters. Residents have said this is the time
they feared most as the spotlight shifts from their
plight to their problems -- homelessness and lack of drinking water.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920915)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00025)

MCI Improves 800 Services 09/15/92
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Preparing for a
day when companies can move their 800 numbers between long
distance companies, MCI announced new features on its toll-free
service that it called the "next generation of 800 call processing."

The improvements on the company's 800 Enhanced Call Router, or
ECR service, include new features called Takeback & Transfer,
Announced Connect and enhanced reporting. T&T lets calls be
connected to any location a company has, and lets them be
transferred between locations without new charges. If you called
a number in Florida then got transferred to New York, the company
picking up the tab on your call might have been billed for two
calls.

Announced Connect links incoming calls directly with a
customer's database, so if your credit card company has your
account number on file, it can be linked to your phone number
and the operator can help you more quickly.

The improved reporting functions are designed to help companies
monitor the performance of their operators, analyze what callers
are doing, and profile demand, so operators can be brought on or
taken off on-the-fly. All the new features will be shown at the
Telecommunications Association conference in San Diego September
21.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920915/Press Contact: Jim Collins, MCI, 202-
887-3000)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00026)

CE Software Buys All Rosesoft Products 09/15/92
WEST DES MOINES, IOWA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- CE Software
Holdings Inc., has announced that it has acquired all the products,
trademarks, and technologies of Bellevue, Washington-based RoseSoft
Inc.

RoseSoft, founded in 1982 developed ProKey, a keyboard macro and
mouse scripting program with versions for DOS and Windows. Terms of
the deal were not disclosed.

Richard Skeie, CE president, says the company sees the acquisition as
an opportunity to apply CE's expertise to the rapidly expanding
Windows marketplace. "We look forward to serving RoseSoft's current
customers, to expanding the market for their current products, and to
using their technologies to develop new and innovative products for
DOS and Windows."

During the transition period, all of RoseSoft's operations, including
customer support and software development, will be transferred to
CE's West Des Moines headquarters. The company said RoseSoft Windows
Development manager Joseph King will continue development on enhanced
versions of ProKey for Windows, including ProKey CBT (Computer Based
Training), ProKey RunTime (a runtime version for OEMs and corporate
sites) and ProKey for Windows 1.1, an enhanced version of the current
version of ProKey.

CE Software has also announced it is now shipping DiskTop for
Windows, a utility that provides users an easy way to find, launch,
copy, move, delete and rename files on drives and volumes in place of
Windows' File Manager.

CE's Sue Nail told Newsbytes that DiskTop for Windows has many of the
same features as DiskTop, which is the company's file management
launching tool for the Macintosh. Only a few features are different,
such as the ability to hide files on a Mac is not available in the
Windows version. Nail said DiskTop for Windows has a suggested
retail price of $79.95, while the Mac version sells for $99.95.

"This introduction of DiskTop for Windows, like the acquisition of
RoseSoft's products, reflects our long term strategy to establish
market share in the IBM PC (compatible) market. We anticipate that
these two developments should accelerate our penetration of this
area," said Skeie.

(Jim Mallory/19920915/Press contact: Sue Nail, CE Software, 515-224-
1995)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00027)

Iomega Pays $2M For Floptical Products License 09/15/92
ROY, UTAH, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Iomega Corporation says it has
paid Insite Peripherals, of San Jose, California, $2 million for a
license to develop, manufacture, and sell Floptical media products.
The transaction reportedly modifies certain terms and conditions of
the license agreement signed by the two companies in January 1989.

Iomega President Fred Wenninger said Iomega licensed Floptical
technology "Because we saw a good market potential for Floptical
products." According to Wenninger, Iomega has developed a
comprehensive knowledge of Floptical media and drives since the
licensing deal was signed. He believes that knowledge base will
allow Iomega to offer both Floptical drives and media that
capitalizes on the market potential.

Earlier this year, Iomega said it was developing a proprietary laser
system for manufacturing Floptical media and plans to market the
systems to other Floptical media makers.

Floptical drives and media may be the future of removable storage
technology. Floptical drives can read and write both the 720
kilobyte and 1.44 megabyte commonly found in most personal computers
today. It can also read and write 21-megabyte Floptical diskettes.

Iomega is a member of the Floptical Technology Association, a trade
group formed to promote Floptical products as the next standard in
floppy drive technology.

Iomega is also known for its development of its Bernoulli drives,
which use high capacity cartridges for the storage of data.
Bernoulli cartridges can be removed and stored securely, and can be
used to use the data created on one personal computer or workstation
on another system.

The Iomega license is not exclusive. Insite has also granted similar
licenses to other companies, including 3M Corporation and Maxwell
Corporation, a Tokyo-based company. 3M has already announced
availability of its first Floptical product, a 21 megabyte diskette.

Iomega spokesperson Cara O'Sullivan told Newsbytes that Iomega does
not pre-announced launch dates. "It creates too many problems for
us," according to O'Sullivan.

(Jim Mallory/19920915/Press contact: Cara O'Sullivan, Iomega
Corporation, 801-778-3712; Reader contact: Iomega Corporation, 800-
777-6179)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00028)

Conner Plant Slated For China 09/15/92
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- In an effort
to break into the potentially huge Chinese market, Conner
Peripherals Inc., is planning to locate a major disk drive
manufacturing operation in the People's Republic of China. The
new manufacturing site will be the headquarters of Conner-
Shenzhen Peripherals Company Ltd., a joint venture with Shenzhen
CPC, a subsidiary of the largest electronics  enterprise in China.

Forrest Monroy, spokesman for the company, told Newsbytes
that the the company sees China "as a large and growing market."
In terms of supplying the Far East generally, Monroy said: "We've
got two manufacturing facilities in Asia right now -- in Singapore
and in Panang, Malaysia -- so initially this facility in China is
going to be supplying disk drives for the domestic Chinese market."

Conner claims to be the first major disk drive company to
establish manufacturing operations in mainland China. Conner
will own 60 percent of the new company, while Shenzhen CPC
will own 40 percent. Shenzhen CPC is a subsidiary of the state-run
China Electronics Corp.

Under terms of the agreement, Conner-Shenzhen Peripherals Company
will be the major supplier of hard disk drives to  China and will
initially market the drives to China-based original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs), including China Great Wall Computer Group,
Chang Jiang Computer Group, and the Long Chao Computer Group.

Monroy told Newsbytes that the joint venture is to be financed
to the tune of "approximately $8 million." He said that there
were no manufacturing projections currently available.

The company said that, to begin with, the joint venture will
employ approximately 300 people and be located in a 100,000
square foot facility in the city of Shenzhen in the Guangdong
province.

Patrick Ngo, vice president of manufacturing at Conner's
Singapore facility, has been named general manager of
Conner-Shenzhen Peripherals Company Ltd.

The new facility is scheduled for completion in January 1993.
First customer shipment of units produced at the facility is
scheduled to begin one month earlier in December 1992.

In July Newsbytes reported that Conner was set to repurchase
Compaq Computer's equity ownership of Conner common stock.

(Ian Stokell/19920915/Press Contact: Kevin Burr,
408-456-3134 , Conner Peripherals Inc.)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(TOR)(00029)

 ****Spindler Knocks Price Cutting, Discusses PC Trends 09/15/92
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Apple Computer
President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Spindler struck out
at aggressive price-cutting in the personal computer industry in
his keynote address at MacWorld Expo/Canada, saying it will deprive
the industry of the resources to continue innovation in hardware
and software.

Spindler likened the PC industry to the airline industry in the
United States, where a few years ago a large number of cut-rate
airlines were competing for business mainly on price. Now only a
few carriers remain, they are not very profitable, and customers
are suffering, he said.

Spindler said the PC industry needs to continue innovating to make
full use of technology. The key is not in cheaper hardware, he
said, or even in more powerful hardware, but in imaginative new
software.

He talked about a handful of trends that he said would shape the
computer industry over the next few years.

One is the convergence of the computing, communications, and
content industries. Sony's  acquisition of Columbia Pictures is an
example of the trend, he said. Over the next few years, Spindler
predicted, the combined industry will become the world's largest.

High-capacity communications links will open a variety of new
possibilities in a range of industries, Spindler said, such as
allowing doctors to make electronic house calls.

Spindler also talked about the "digitization of information." By
the turn of the century, he said, some 90 percent of all
information could be represented in digital format.

"I don't predict that paper will go away," he said. "By no means.
We like to have hard copies of things. We'll still read books and
newspapers." But an increasing amount of information will also be
available in electronic form.

What people will need then, he said, will be tools to get access to
that information. That led into mobile computing and the notion of
the personal digital assistant (PDA).

Spindler said Apple can be expected to introduce several more
products like its Newton PDA over the next two years. He also
complained of what he said was a misunderstanding of the Newton's
target market. The device is not intended to compete with
electronic organizers from producers such as Sharp and Casio, he
said; it will offer software and integration with larger systems
that they lack.

He also said new portable Macintosh products can be expected, and
spoke of future Powerbook models with docking stations where the
notebook unit will dock as smoothly as a tape goes into a
videocassette recorder.

(Grant Buckler/19920915)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00030)

Intel's New Speed-Doubling CPUs 09/15/92
More User-Upgradable Overdrive Processors From Intel  09/15/92
FOLSOM, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Intel announced
the overdrive processors, or speed doubling central processing
units (CPUs) for 25-MHz and 33-MHz Intel486 DX CPU-based
machines are available. The chips come with a manual and
demonstration software so users can the installation
themselves, Intel said.

Like the Overdrive chips Intel announced in May, these chips
can improve the performance of the computer in which they are
installed. However, the Overdrive chips announced in May were
geared toward replacement of the 486 SX (no math coprocessor)
chips, while these are to upgrade 486 DX-based systems, chips
equipped internally with a math coprocessor. The DX2 chips work
by taking over the processing and doubling the speed of the CPU
they replace, the DX2 50 replacing the 486 DX 25 MHz chip and
the DX2 66 replacing the 486 DX 33 MHz chip, respectively.

The chips come in 169- and 168-pin versions. The 169-pin chip
can be inserted in a manufacturer provided Overdrive slot,
while the 168-pin version can replace the current CPU in the
system.

While speeding up the chip doesn't speed up the entire system,
Intel says users can expect performance gains of up to 70
percent. In benchmark tests, the company says Microsoft Word
for Windows version 1.1 was 54 percent faster, Borland's
Paradox version 3.5 was 57 percent faster, and Lotus 1-2-3
version 3.0 tested 72 percent faster.

Retail prices weren't available from Intel by deadline, however
users can probably expect to pay more than the they would for
the Overdrive Processor for 25 MHz Intel 486 SX systems which
is retail priced at $699. The Overdrive Processor for 16 and 20
MHz Intel 486 SX systems retails for $549, Intel said when the
chips were announced in May.

IBM and compatible personal computer (PC) dealers and retailers
are expected to carry the new chips, which also come with
diagnostic software to test the new processor's operation once
installed, Intel added.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920915/Press Contact: Elizabeth Kemper,
Intel, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact 800-
538-3373, faxback information 24 hours 800-525-3019)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00031)

 ****More Everex Layoffs 09/15/92
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- The current
round of layoffs from Everex Systems are set to take
effect today, according to a company spokesperson. The company
said that it will reduce its worldwide workforce by about
12 percent, or 250 people.

Anne Butler, spokesperson for the company, told Newsbytes that
the layoffs were "worldwide....but the bulk of the people work
here in Fremont....so I'm sure the bulk of the reductions will be
here."

The workforce reductions follow a similar move in early August.
The company says that, following this second reduction, the
company will employ approximately 1,850 worldwide, including
approximately 1,350 within the United States.

Butler told Newsbytes that "There are no plans...(for further
reductions). "The key factor here is that prices are continuing
to drop, and as gross margins in the industry continue to drop,
we need to trim operating expenses. So we don't have any
plans at this time....but we'll do what we have to do...but we
don't have anything else planned."

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Hui said, "We regret
this action very much. Everex will provide assistance to
departing employees, including providing outplacement services.
Everex plans to focus much of its future development and sales
effort on higher margin products.  We have recently formed an
Advanced Systems Division to sell our highly flexible networked,
fault tolerant computer systems, multiprocessors and other new
systems."

President and Chief Operating Officer Hal Clark said: "It is our
hope that this cost reduction and our newly released higher
margin Tempo personal computer products will enable us to
quickly return to profitability.  We are committed to remain
competitive in the important desktop and notebook marketplace."

Butler went on to explain the recent price cuts on PCs announced
by the company in the last week, some as much as 59 percent.
"Back in June, when Compaq lowered prices, we instituted rebates
on new purchases. We do not sell direct to end users, so, because
we have a lot of distributors, we have a lot of contracts in place.
A prominent feature of most of these contracts is a 'price
protection' clause. So for us to lower prices back in June would
have have meant that we would have had to go back and 'price-
protect' everything in their inventories. So instead we offered
the rebates on....new purchases from that point."

She concluded: "Now the rebates have ended," she told Newsbytes,
"so now we have actually lowered the list price. It is really an
extension of what we had before."

(Ian Stokell/19920915/Press Contact: Bob Goligoski,
510-683-2179, Everex Systems)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00032)

 ****Symantec Stock Dives, Borland Gets Some Blame 09/15/92
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 SEP 15 (NB) -- Wall
Street appears to be reacting strongly to Symantec's
announcement that the company expects revenue and profits will
substantially lower for the September quarter, ending October
2, 1992, than financial analysts had projected. The company's
stock not only took a sharp dive, but it is also under fire
with its top executives facing criminal charges from Borland
International.

Symantec's stock dived from 15 1/2 to 11 1/8, a drop of 4 3/8
on Monday, September 14. Industry analysts have also lowered
their expectations for Symantec as well. Analysts are reported
as having predicted Symantec would report $6.2 million to $7
million and sales in the range of $60 million to $62 million.
In the year-ago period, Symantec earned $2.7 million, or 11
cents a share, on sales of $54 million.

The company has already said it would take a $6.6 million
charge during the current quarter for acquisitions. The company
recently expanded into programmer's tools with the pending
acquisitions of The Whitewater Group and Multiscope, which are
both expected to be completed this month.

Analysts are also saying the criminal charges levied by Borland
are also hurting Symantec. The charges center around Gene Wang,
a former Borland employee, who left Borland September 1 to
become executive vice president at Symantec. After Wang's
departure Borland filed a civil suit against Wang and Symantec
charging theft of confidential trade secrets. Further Wang's
private residence and office have been searched by police.

Borland claims it has in its possession damaging evidence in
the form of 15 electronic communications between Wang and
Symantec's Gordon Eubanks which were transmitted over Borland's
MCI account.

Symantec spokesperson Brian Fawkes says the company has
released public statements that criticize Borland's tactics in
the whole matter. However, Symantec's actual position regarding
the suit itself was unavailable at press time.

(Linda Rohrbough/19920915/Press Contact: Brian Fawkes,
Symantec, tel [phone], fax [phone])