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/nb921217

Text File | 1992-12-17 | 71KB | 1,571 lines

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

VXL Currys Favor With UK Education Market 12/17/92
RUNCORN, CHESHIRE, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- VXL, the
British subsidiary of VXL Instruments in Bangalore, India, has
opened up a new division to service the educational marketplace.

Based in Rugby, Warwickshire, the new division will be
concentrating on terminals initially. The first product to be
offered to the educational market is the company's VM2700
display terminal. The company claims to offer the highest
performance/cost ratio in the industry.

Pricing on the terminal looks impressive, with the company
offering single units at UKP 249, or five units at UKP 1,000 --
about a 40 percent discount on the standard price for the units.
The discounted rates are only available to bona fide educational
establishments, however.

The company claims that the VM2700 has been designed to offer
true performance and reliability under multi-terminal
ASCII/Xenix/Unix/DOS environments. The machine comes with
119 programmable function keys and, VXL claims, is the most
sophisticated entry-level model on the market at the moment.

Chris Gamble, a VXL director, said that the VM2700 "perfectly
represents what VXL is all about -- cost effectiveness. This is
a message that should be particularly well received by
educationalists in this current economic climate," he said.

(Steve Gold/19921216/Press & Public Contact: VXL -
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone])


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

UK: Microsoft Ships Money 2.0 For Windows 12/17/92
WOKINGHAM, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Microsoft
has announced it is shipping Money 2.0 for Windows, a personal
finance package that it claims provides all the necessary tools
to help users organize and track their finances.

The package, which costs UKP 59.95, will be available on special
offer from MIcrosoft's dealers until the end of January, at UKP
49.95.

According to Microsoft, Money 2.0 for Windows includes a loan
calculator, a loan wizard, charting, automatic budgeting, and a
coach to guide users as they enter each transaction.

"Now that Money is shipping, customers have an efficient
personal financial solution at their fingertips," said Gillian
Kent, Microsoft's consumer and hardware product manager. "By
simplifying the process of tracking expenses with an easy to
use interface, Money makes it easier for customers to be in
control of their finances," she added.

Microsoft Money runs under Windows 3.1 (or later) and DOS 3.1
(or later). The minimum system requirements are an 80286-
based  PC with 640 kilobytes (KB) of basic and 256 KB of
extended memory. EGA or better graphics, plus a hard disk are
also required, as is a Microsoft-compatible mouse.

(Steve Gold/19921216/Press & Public Contact: Microsoft -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00003)

New For PC: Outside In For Windows 2.0 12/17/92
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Systems
Capability Corp., has announced the release of version 2.0 of
Outside In for Windows.

Outside In allows users to view DOS, Windows and Macintosh-
based  files and reuse them in a variety of ways. For example,
you can view and combine word processing, spreadsheet,
database, graphic, ZIP-compressed and fax format files into a
Windows program. You can also integrate the program with
popular electronic mail programs in order to view mail
attachments.

The company says that in addition to running as a stand-alone
utility, Outside In integrates with Microsoft Word for Windows,
AmiPro, Wordperfect for Windows, Windows 3.1, Windows for
Workgroups, Microsoft Mail, cc:Mail, Da Vinci eMail, Wordperfect
Office, and Norton Desktop for Windows. Integration allows
Outside In to be accessed from within those programs.

In addition to viewing files, Outside In allows the user to copy
all or part of a file to the Windows Clipboard with the original
formatting intact, including fonts, line-spacing, tabs, boldface
and columns. From the clipboard, the data can be pasted into a
Windows application.

New features of release 2.0 include file viewers for graphic,
compressed and fax files, improved Clipboard support, and
integration with electronic mail programs. File management
features include copy, move, rename, and delete without exiting
to the operating system.

The program also includes a File Find mode that allows the
user to search across drives, directories, sub-directories and
networks. Searches can be done by file name, extension,
attributes, type, date created, or key words. It can also print a
file without having access to the program that created it, with
the document retaining its original formatting.

Systems Compatibility says the program is ideal for electronic
mail users and for those using multiple applications or operating
systems. If a file requires editing, Outside In can launch the
creation program and open the file simultaneously. It provides
launch application setup dialog boxes if it does not recognize the
application launch command.

Some of the file formats supported by Outside In include TIFF, GIF,
BMP/RLE, EPS, WPG, Corel Draw, Micrografx, Fax Group 3, and ZIP
files. The product has a suggested retail price of $89, including
both 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch program disks. Registered owners of
version 1.0 will be upgraded free, and the company also sells a DOS
version of the program. Registered owners of the DOS version can
purchase the Windows version for $39.95. The company maintains
a  bulletin board for update information and tips on using its
products.

(Jim Mallory/19921216/Press contact: Sean Essex, Systems
compatibility Corp, 312-329-0700, fax [phone]; Bulletin
board: 312-670-4239)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00004)

New For PC: Mars Images On CD-ROM 12/17/92
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- For
Astronomy buffs, especially those fascinated by the red planet,
Virtual Reality Systems has released Mars Explorer, a CD-ROM
containing images from the surface of Mars collected during
the NASA Viking missions.

The CD-ROM disk does not require installation to the computer's
hard disk, but the program is completely run off the CD-ROM
drive. Users can view the surface of Mars from 52 degrees north
latitude to 50 degrees south latitude in four levels of detail,
and even see the planet in rotation in an animated spherical
projection.

The company says over 200 megabytes (MB) of data can be
viewed in "martian red," grey, a color palette like the one used
on topographical maps, or the user can make their own color
palette.

What you cannot do in Mars Explorer, that users familiar with
Virtual Reality Laboratories' Vistapro product might expect,
is to "fly" close to the ground through the scarred deserts,
windswept chasms, and dusty channels of the red planet. The
landscape can be viewed in a fair amount of detail from an
overhead position, and the user can easily move around to
change the view of the surface.

Users who want to fly through Martian landscapes can do so
however, with a combination of the company's other products,
Vistapro, the Mars, Equatorial region additional landscape set
for Vistapro, and Flight Director, which makes an animation
script of a specific flight path for playback.

Mars Explorer requires a 386- or 486-based IBM or compatible
personal computer, a Microsoft compatible mouse, a CD-ROM
drive, and a video graphics array (VGA) or super VGA monitor
is recommended,

The product retails for $69.95. Virtual Reality Laboratories
also produces Distant Suns, a "virtual observatory" for
Windows, Macintosh, and the Amiga platforms. Virtual Reality
Laboratories is headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921216/Press Contact: Susie Woeltjen,
Virtual Reality Laboratories, tel [phone], fax 805-781-
2259)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(MOW)(00005)

Russian Supercomputers Stay On Track 12/17/92
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- The Delta Research and
Development Center in Moscow has installed two "Elektronika SS
BIS" Russian-made supercomputers at customer sites. At the
same time the production facilities in Kaliningrad (former
Koenigsberg in Prussia) have four more units waiting for the
customers.

It took Delta designers almost ten years to reach their product's
life cycle. Early specifications were ready in 1982, when COCOM
restrictions had completely ruled out any chance for
supercomputers from the US or Japanese companies to be procured
for prestigious Soviet projects.

Dr. Yuri Mitropolsky, the hardware design manager for the SS BIS
project, said that the design objectives were defined with full
consideration of the architectural traits used by Cray Research
and Control Data Corporation. "In fact, vector processing and
intricate instruction flow pipelining as key features of SS BIS
were well understood and used in our previous design - the AS6,"
he said.

While tens of MFLOPS (millions of floating point operations per
second) were adequate for their large-scale applications in 70s,
Soviet procurement offices in the electronics and aerospace
industries insisted on breaking the mystic 100 MFLOPS barrier.
The multiple pipelining single-CPU (central processing unit)
design looked promising, as did design complexity -- there was
a need to use close to  one million silicon gates for the machine.

"Our customers and our suppliers wear the same colors on their
hats," said Mitropolsky. The electronics industry needed powerful
VLSI (very large scale integration) CAD (computer-aided design)
tools. The price paid for a new CAD engine was not in rubles, but
in gate arrays.

With 250 gates per chip as the starting point, Delta hardware
engineers had to develop 26 types of gate array logic chips using
the fastest emitter-coupled logic technology. Heating problems
were alleviated using so-called "heat pipes." The design decision
adds significantly to SS BIS reliability, said Dr. Mitropolsky.
"It was difficult to balance the ECL-based hardware design but
we managed to build 32 megabytes (MB) of RAM using 16 kilobit
ECL chips. Mass memory is architecturally flexible enough to
expand beyond the one gigabyte limit," he added.

As production deadline came close in 1989 some political
issues became relevant. Coax connectors used in SS BIS were
manufactured only in Armenia. When this new independent state
experienced major economical setbacks, the high-tech factories
were not among industry favorites - electricity and bread were
needed most. The plant in Kaliningrad still uses the stock
accumulated wisely years ago when the connectors were still
available.

"Supercomputer production here will not become market-driven
before long," Dr. Mitropolsky explained. "We know well that the
US Congress supports supercomputer initiatives with their
yearly budget staying regularly above the $1 billion mark. In
Russia you are lucky if you may calculate the inflation rate in
advance for a couple of months. Do not ask me about the price of
SS BIS -- for all I know it is still in the range of tens, not
thousands, of millions of rubles." (The current exchange rate
approaches 500 rubles per US$1).

Multiple processor support is still waiting in the wings as
experimental configuration with two processors has reached the
500 MFLOPS peak performance mark. The specifications for SS
BIS 2 outline the scalable design with up to 16 processors, each
attaining 300 MFLOPS performance. The Delta team also has an
entry-level model on their drawing boards. However, the key
problem continues to be with the new gate array chips having
gate complexity, Mitropolsky told Newsbytes.

(Alexander Giglavyi & Kirill Tchashchin/19921211)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00006)

Hong Kong: Jockey Club Automates Dealing Room 12/17/92
HAPPY VALLEY, HONG KONG, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- The Royal Hong
Kong Jockey Club (RHKJC) has become the territory's first
non-financial institution to purchase C-Banks, an integrated
banking software package distributed exclusively in Hong Kong
by COL Ltd.

The purchase of C-Banks follows the Jockey Club's decision to
automate its in-house dealing room. The system will enable the
Club to manage its $600 million investments on-line, replacing
a batch system developed by Jockey Club staff to track
investments and deposits.

"Our first funds tracking system was developed more than five
years ago and was not designed to cope with the volume of
transactions we deal with today," said Chris Bance, Financial
Controller for the Jockey Club. "We are not a financial institution
and our requirements for a financial investment system are quite
different from other dealing rooms.

"The number and sophistication of the transactions we handle
demand a real-time, on-line system. We spent two years
researching and testing several packages for a suitable
replacement, but nothing met our needs until we looked at
C- Banks," he said.

Funds managed by the Jockey Club have risen from $200 million to
more than $600 million in under five years. The Club's in-house
investment team deals with more than 50 banks and 20 financial
institutions.

C-Banks, developed in Hong Kong specifically for the local
financial market, is modular in design, enabling COL to customize
the system to suit the Jockey Club's dealing room environment.
C-Banks will run on one of the Jockey Club's current VAX
clusters.

"The Hong Kong financial environment is unique and banking
packages from the UK and the US are not designed with the needs
of local companies in mind," said Peter Fishwick, sales director
for COL. "C- Banks is the only system of its kind that has been
developed locally for use in Hong Kong. Its modular design means
that it can be adapted easily for use by any institution."

With C-Banks, the Jockey Club's dealing room will be able to
track instruments, counter party status and credit limits, interest
rates and exchange rates, on-line. Once dealers have determined
how best to invest the funds, the transactions will automatically
roll over to settlement.

The back office will be able to track funds, interest accumulated,
payment, and maturity dates, and post all activities to the
General Ledger. Reports of the Jockey Club's financial position
and amount of funds available will also be generated and supplied
to the dealing room for trading the following morning.

"We've had a long and happy relationship with COL, and felt
confident in its system development and implementation
expertise," said Bance. "We will now have a customized
investment management package that will free our dealers
from much of the paper work."

(Brett Cameron/19921216/Press Contact: Peter Fishwick,
COL, 852-798 4798)


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

 ****For 1st Time, Apple's Stock Higher Than IBM's 12/17/92
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Apple
Computer's stock is selling for more than IBM for the first
time ever.

Apple Computer's shares were selling at $55.75 on December 16,
while Merrill Lynch representatives told Newsbytes IBM's stock
the same day was at $52.25. This is the first time in the
existence of the two companies that Apple's stock has sold for
more per share than IBM stock, according to Eric Clow of
Computer Intelligence. However, the number of outstanding
shares of stock as well as the price determines the market
value of a company.

Prudential Securities analysts told Newsbytes Apple has $118
million shares at $55.75 per share, while IBM has 571 million
shares at $52.25 per share.

While both companies have announced layoffs and restructuring
plans, IBM has been facing red ink and has for the first time
been talking about cutting its dividend to stockholders.

Dan Ness of Computer Intelligence told Newsbytes, "The
dividend is what blue chip stocks are all about. You get those
stocks and cut those dividend coupons."

IBM's stock is at its lowest point in several years. Prudential
Securities representatives told Newsbytes the company's stock
five years ago was in the $140 per share range.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921217/Press Contact: Prudential Securities,
415-981-0440; Dan Ness, Computer Intelligence, 619-535-6733;
Merrill Lynch 818-990-7788)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00008)

PC Buyers Remorse: What PC Buyers Wish They'd Gotten 12/17/92
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- In a survey released
by Channel Marketing, one thousand IBM and compatible personal
computer (PC) owners talk about what they would do differently
if purchasing their computer again, including things they had to
change later.

Of the top five things on the "I wish I had gotten..." list,
number one was more expansion capability. Too few internal
expansion slots and external drive bays was the biggest
complaint with 62 percent of the respondents. Users discovered
the limitation when attempting to add one or several
components, such as a game adapter, a modem, a sound card, a
tape backup, or a CD-ROM drive.

Forty-eight percent of the respondents wish they had gotten a
better quality monitor. The lower the dot pitch number, the
better the monitor. However, Channel Marketing said many users
had .39 or even .51 dot pitch monitors and found viewing graphics
applications and playing games a disappointing experience.

The next complaint was a need for more memory among 47 percent
of users, especially those using Windows. Channel Marketing
said many of the users purchased systems with Windows
preconfigured on the system, but with only two megabytes (MB) of
RAM. With so little RAM, they had difficulty, or simply could not
run the applications desired or found they needed 4 MB of RAM to
run two applications at a time.

Even more disappointing was the fact that some users had to
purchase all new RAM, as the additional RAM could not be used
in conjunction with the RAM they already had. That's because
many PCs are equipped with SIMMs (single in-line memory
modules) which come in varying capacities that do not mix. For
example, you cannot put two 1 MB SIMMs with a 2 MB SIMM to get
four MB of RAM. You have to have four 1 MB SIMMs or two 2 MB
SIMMs. If the motherboard of the PC is only equipped with two
slots for SIMMs, then the user would have to discard the 1 MB
SIMMs completely.

Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed said they should have gotten
a bigger hard disk drive. Windows takes up five to eight MB, and
Channel Marketing said one gentleman in particular had a Star Trek
game which took up seven MB of hard disk space. Many of the
Windows applications, such as Wordperfect for Windows or
Microsoft Word for Windows will take between six and 10 MB of
hard disk space each. On a 40 MB drive, four applications and
Windows takes up nearly the entire hard disk drive storage space.

Users said most systems came with either 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch,
and which ever drive the user had, 36 percent said they wish
they had the other drive as well. The users said they found
they needed both size drives, in order to use software they
already had as well as new software, or to exchange shareware
programs with other users.

The overwhelming majority of users said they could have
avoided these problems had they more seriously considered the
applications they were going to use the computer for. Many
users said they were trying to avoid additional expense at the
time of purchase. Channel Marketing reported many users who
said they had attempted to upgrade the computer they bought
and discovered they were unable to do so. Of the users who
responded, almost all said they would have saved a significant
amount of money had they simply bought a PC with the options
they needed instead of upgrading later.

Channel Marketing said users should consider not only what they
want to do now with the computer, but what they'll want to do
for the next couple of years. In addition, buyers should find
out exactly what is involved in upgrading the PC of interest.

What does it cost to upgrade? A good quality monitor can be in
the $500 to $700 range. Hard disk drives can be expensive as well.
Assuming the computer's basic input/output system (BIOS) can
support a larger hard disk drive, users can expect to pay around
$350 to $400 for a 200 MB drive and up to $1,000 for a 500 MB
hard disk drive.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921217/Press Contact: David Goldstein,
Channel Marketing, tel [phone] ext 214, fax
214-960-7159)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00009)

Innosoft To Upgrade PMDF E-Mail 12/17/92
CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Innosoft is
preparing to release version 4.2 of its PMDF electronic mail
system for the DEC VAX platform.

According to the company, the product features a number of
enhancements, including support for the new Alpha RISC
processor-based DEC hardware. Innosoft claims that it received
an Alpha-based workstation from Digital and was able to
translate the majority of their code to it from VMS in less than
three weeks.

Other enhancements will include support of the emerging MIME
standard as the interface to PMDF, incorporation of Post Office
Protocol 2 and 3 standards, and IMAP (Interactive Mail Access
Protocol) support.

Innosoft is expecting shipments of version 4.2 to begin in
February, 1993. Customers who are part of the Innosoft
licensing program will receive the upgrade for free. Innosoft's
pricing for new customers is to require the purchase of a three
year license for $2,790.

PMDF is the foundation for the company's other products such
as PMDF-FAX, PMDF-X400, and PMDF-MR. By upgrading PMDF,
the other products can now take advantage of the new features
and enhancements.

(Naor Wallach/19921217/Press Contact: Tom Woolf, Woolf Media
Relations for Innosoft, 415-508-1554/Public Contact: Innosoft,
909-624-7907)


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

TGV Upgrades MultiNet, Establishes New Pricing 12/17/92
SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- TGV is
planning an upgrade to their MultiNet product for release in
January, 1993.

Version 3.2 will work with DEC's new Alpha RISC processor.
This will allow the product to continue supporting VMS and
OpenVMS users in their migration to DEC's newest CPU
(central processing unit) architecture.

Other enhancements include the addition of SPX and IPX protocols
to the MultiNet kernel which will allow Novell Netware users to
integrate better with TGV MultiNet users. Version 3.2 also provides
an interesting feature to VAX cluster users. With the new feature,
every time the program is launched, the program will attempt to
verify which of the CPUs on that cluster is loaded the least. Then,
the program will try to run on that CPU. This is all done to better
balance the load and improve the performance of the cluster as a
whole.

Other new features include improved management capabilities
of the printer queues and the incorporation of support for the
Kerberos V4 protocol.

MultiNet 3.2 has also undergone a pricing change, which only
affects Alpha users. The pricing structure for other users
remains the same. Prices on MultiNet range from $1,200 to
$24,000 depending on the CPU.

(Naor Wallach/19921217/Press Contact: Tom Woolf, Woolf
Media Relations for TGV, 415-508-1554/Public Contact: TGV,
800-848-3440, 408-427-4366)


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

Japan: NTT Develops Voice Recognition PC Boards 12/17/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- NTT Intelligent Technology,
a subsidiary of the former domestic telecommunications
monopoly NTT, has developed a voice recognition board for
personal computers.

NTT claims that the board can recognize unregistered speaker's
voices over 95 percent correctly. With a registered speaker's
voice, the system is 97 percent accurate. For registered speakers,
the system can recognize 512 kinds of pre-defined words and
phrases.  However, for unregistered speakers, the system can only
recognize numbers and six pre-defined words and phrases,
including "yes," "no," and "once more please."

The voice recognition board is equipped with NTT Intelligent
Technology's latest single board LSI (large scale integration).
It also has flash memory and a C-language driver.

The voice recognition board is inserted into a PC's expansion
socket. Currently, the board can be used for NEC's PC-9801 and
Seiko-Epson's PC series. The retail list price is 498,000 yen
($4,000).

With the board, PC users will be able to create various voice
information service systems, ticket reservation systems,
computer support systems for handicapped people, and game
systems, in combination with a microphone and a telephone.

NTT claims that developing application systems is easy using
the board.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19921216/Press Contact: NTT
Intelligent Technology, [phone], Fax, +81-45-651-
7571)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TYO)(00012)

Japanese Ministry's Multi-Language Translation Sys 12/17/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- The Japanese Ministry of
International Trade and Industry (MITI) has begun tests of a
multiple-language translation system.

The system, called the "Multiple-Language Machine Translation"
project, originally began in 1990. The project aims to develop
an automatic language translation network system, which will
connect South East Asian countries.

Under the MITI project, a prototype automatic language
translation system is claimed to be almost complete. The tests
were  recently begun by the government-affiliated International
Information Assistance Center.

The project is backed by five countries, including China,
Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. It is reported that the
governments of India and certain Arabic countries are also
showing interest in joining the project.

MITI's language translation system uses a method which initially
translates into an intermediary language. Then, it translates into
the target language. The system can translate between such
languages as Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, and Malaysian.

In the tests, the systems have been placed in laboratories in
each country and are connected via an international telephone
network. MITI's translation system aims to translate technical
information, mainly high technology. MITI hopes that the tests
will be finished in two years.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19921216)


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

Ameritech Announces Home Help, Good Results 12/17/92
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) --  Ameritech, the
Bell company for the upper Midwest, is looking for new profits
distributing products from other companies, and claims some
success for its strategies.

The holding company said it will distribute PictureTel
videoconferencing equipment, and service it, throughout Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The work will be done by
the company's Ameritech Information Systems Inc., unit, a
subsidiary formed to serve large business customers.

The company's Michigan Bell subsidiary opened its first Work-at-
Home Center, which includes specialists in home office problems
who can be reached from 7am-7pm weekdays at 313-221-4000.
It's a free  call throughout the state. The experts can talk about
the company's voice mail, three-way calling, call forwarding, and
special lines for fax machines and computer modems said Carol
Arold, Michigan Bell marketing director.

The company said that in Michigan at least 800,000 households,
one third of the total, have at least one home-worker. These
workers include self-employed people, free-lancers and
"briefcase" workers who take job tasks home, the company said.

Ameritech's Bell companies in Illinois and Wisconsin also have
recently opened Work-at-Home Centers. Indiana Bell and Ohio Bell
are planning them. Special free publications for the market can
still be ordered by calling Michigan Bell's automated
Work-at-Home Infoline at 1-800-447-3021.

On a corporate level, Ameritech adopted new accounting standards
retroactive to January 1 of this year, recording a one-time
charge of approximately $1.8 billion after taxes as a result.

Standard Number 106 requires companies to accrue for the
future cost of retiree medical and life insurance benefits over the
working lives of the eligible employees, while Standard Number
112 requires employers to accrue the future cost of benefits
provided to former or inactive employees, such as workers'
compensation, disability benefits and health care continuation
coverage.

The company decided to account for the changes all at once due
to its financial strength, resulting in a bottom-line loss for the
year. Still, the company raised its quarterly dividend, to 92 cents
per share, payable February 1, 1993, to shareowners of record
December 31, 1992. Without the special charges, Ameritech
officials said, the company reported record results in line with
analyst expectations.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921217/Press Contact: Dave Ellis, Michigan
Bell, 313-223-7192; Ameritech, Mike Brand, 312/750-5219)


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

Centel/Sprint Merger On Hold, Awaiting Vote Tally 12/17/92
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Centel
shareholders will have a special meeting Friday to hear whether
they have voted to merge into Sprint, as the company has
indicated was the case.

The razor-thin margin of the vote, 50.5 percent of shares
outstanding, according to an earlier release from Centel, led
opponents to ask-in to examine the ballots. That is a right
granted as a matter of course by Corporation Trust, the
inspector of the election.

If the merger is approved by shareholders, the US government
will not object. The Justice Department, which must look at
such mergers on anti-trust grounds, said it will not oppose
the merger.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921217/Press Contact: William K.
White, Centel, 312-399-2735)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00015)

 ****UK Attempts To Solve HDTV Problems 12/17/92
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- In an attempt to resolve
the ongoing problem of which high definition television (HDTV) to
use in Europe, Britain has presented a number of ideas to the
European Community (EC) commission.

While Britain is attempting to solve the technical problems
facing European broadcasters, industry observers have noted
that it is Britain that is the primary cause of the delays. As
reported previously, Britain has blocked a planned ECU 850
million grant to European broadcasters which would have gone
through this month -- the rules of the EC mean that members of
the EC must be unanimous in their agreement to the project.

Some EC ministers are said to be very angry at Britain's apparent
two-faced attitude over the HDTV project. Many have accused
British EC representatives of abusing the country's position of
EC president -- British officials, meanwhile, have replied that
there is still a possibility that they could change their mind.

At the heart of the British questions over the HDTV project is
the fact that EC rules do not normally allow intervention on the
free market without a full vote by the EC. In addition, British
officials are claiming that the D2MAC HDTV system, which the
EC favors, is being outrun by latest developments in the US.

These criticisms have not been welcomed by companies such as
Thomson in France and Philips in the Netherlands, both of whom
have invested heavily in the D2MAC technology.

Events may be overtaking the EC. The past few months have seen
a series of extended tests by the BBC (British Broadcasting
Corporation) and IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) in the
UK concerning PAL Plus. PAL Plus is an extended version of the
existing PAL TV system seen in Europe, which operates to 625
lines resolution, compared with the 525 lines system seen in
the US.

European experts regard US HDTV solutions as unmarketable, owing
to their incompatibility with existing NTSC transmissions. NTSC,
however, has come under fire by TV experts, who refer scathingly
to the acronym as standing for "never twice the same color."

PAL Plus, although not as technically elegant as the digital HDTV
systems seen in Japan or the US, is technically compatible with
the existing 625 line PAL technology. Existing TVs can view the
signal, while wide screen TVs can resolve the extra signal
information very easily.

Even better, claim the BBC and IBA, is the fact that modified
Super VHS (S-VHS) video recorders can record the extended
frequencies of the PAL Plus system and play them back, either
as a standard PAL or a PAL Plus TV signal.

Both the BBC and IBA have been broadcasting a number of tests
very late at night on their BBC 2 and Channel 4 carriers.
According to sources within both TV companies, the tests
were successful, proving that PAL Plus is highly compatible
with existing TV technologies.

It is still early days on the subject of HDTV, Newsbytes notes.
While some of the digital HDTV systems are technically superior
to the PAL Plus system, the issue of backwards-compatibility
could prove too difficult an obstacle to resolve, meaning that
PAL Plus may be adopted in Europe as a compromise solution.

(Steve Gold/19921217)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00016)

 ****France Seeks Delay In Open Telecom Marketplace 12/17/92
PARIS, FRANCE, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- In a clear display of its
dissatisfaction with the state of the European marketplace,
France has asked the European Community (EC) headquarters for
a delay in the introduction of the free market (due on January 1)
for telecommunications, at least in its own country.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French trade and industry minister,
claims that, while France has opened it borders to free market
telecommunications companies, the situation has not been
reciprocated elsewhere in the EC.

"We saw at the end of November that the European Commission
had not succeeded in getting a commitment to reciprocity. We
can't open our markets if the countries to which we open do not
behave in a reciprocal way," he said.

The situation is ironic. On recent visits to France, Newsbytes
has noted that telecommunications equipment in the country is
very expensive -- fax machines typically cost more than $1,500.
The result has been predictable, with unapproved imported
equipment freely available in shops around France.

Some industry experts have criticized Strauss-Kahn's open
letter to the EC, claiming that the French telecommunications
marketplace is still very much closed to official approaches
from non-French telecommunications companies. The French
government, meanwhile, has kept quiet about such accusations.
Newsbytes notes that, without support from other countries,
the French initiative will fail.

(Steve Gold/19921217)


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

European Lotus cc:Mail User Group Formed 12/17/92
STAINES, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- A group of
UK-based multi-national companies have announced plans to
establish the European cc:Mail user group. Their actions have
gained the support of Lotus Development in the UK.

The user group - which include a number of well-known
companies, including British Airways, KPMG, Reed Business
Publishing and SG Warburg - has applied for formal recognition
by the European Electronic Messaging Association (EMA), an
association of users and suppliers of messaging technology.

The independent user group's main aims are to share knowledge
and technical information on cc:Mail, as well as to act as a
collective voice on the development of the package to Lotus
Development. Members of the group can gain access to a central
server - accessible over cc:Mail - which details forthcoming
events and includes a technical bulletin board.

Dieter Giesbrecht, Lotus UK's managing director, welcomes the
user group's formation. "Many of the really great software
packages over the years have been largely championed through
the activity in their user groups. Word of mouth recommendation
is always the strongest message and the willingness of many
users to devote their time and efforts to champion cc:Mail's
development should give all new users great confidence," he said,
adding that he guarantees Lotus will be listening carefully to
user feedback.

The inaugural meeting of the cc:Mail user group has been
provisionally planned in for January 29, 1993. At the first
meeting, speakers will be making presentations on topics ranging
from the CCITT X.400 standard to electronic data interchange
(EDI) and the future of messaging systems.

(Steve Gold/19921217/Press & Public Contact: Clive Cameron &
Les Adams - Tel: [phone]; Email on Compuserve - 100034,
2504; Email on the Internet - [e-mail];
Email on X.400-linked systems - /g=Leslie /s= Adams /c=gb/
prmd=SGWARBURG/a= GOLD400)


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

UK: Mitac Unveils "Future Proof" Range Of PCs 12/17/92
TELFORD, SHROPSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Mitac UK
has launched a range of modular PCs with built-in Western Digital
Windows accelerator chips that it claims can improve SVGA
performance by a factor of six. Added to the machine's
upgradable microprocessors and caching memory, the company
claims that its Modular range is "future proof."

Julian Willis, Mitac UK's manager of PC division, maintains that
the launch of the Modular range is an exciting development for
the company. "We have shown time and again that we are capable
of keeping up with the best in terms of performance, quality,
innovation and price. The arrival of the modular systems is
further proof of this."

Willis reckons that the Modular range is challenging machines
from companies such as Compaq who have charged extra for
upgradability on their PCs.

"We don't believe anyone should have to pay more simply because
the machine can be upgraded. Users are asking themselves more
questions when they buy a PC now -- of course, they don't want
the machine to be out of date within a few weeks, but why
should they have to pay more for that privilege," he said.

All the new machines offer, what Mitac calls, enhanced
performance. The entry-level PCs come with a 25 megahertz (MHz)
486SX microprocessor and range upwards to a 66MHz 486DX2
microprocessor with 256 kilobytes (KB) of write-back cache.
Plans call for further enhanced PC modules to be made available
when Intel releases the chipsets.

Pricing starts at UKP 949 for a 40 megabyte (MB) hard disk
system with a 486SX/25 processor. The top of the range 120MB
hard disk system with a 486DX2/66 processor costs UKP 1,579.

(Steve Gold/19921217/Press & Public Contact: Mitac UK - Tel:
0952-676676; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00019)

UK: Vodata To Launch Fax Broadcast Service In Spring 12/17/92
NEWBURY, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Vodata,
the value-added division of the Vodafone Group, is planning to
launch a fax broadcast system next spring. The system was
demonstrated at the recent Telecommunication Manager's
Association (TMA) meeting in Brighton.

The fax broadcast system will allow users to "dump" one or
more fax messages into the digital service. Fax Broadcast, as
the service is called, will then broadcast faxes to as many
destinations as required.

David Channing-Williams, Vodata's managing director, claims
that businesses and organizations can use the technology quickly
and efficiently to inform their branch officers, customers or
members by fax, using a single fax phone call. "We expect a good
deal of interest in our broadcast services. The commercial
trials undertaken to date have proved to be highly successful,"
he said.

The Fax Broadcast facility is similar to the fax bureau services
offered by on-line services, except that the system digitally
records an image of the fax, retransmitting it to all required
recipients. An automatic re-try feature kicks in if any of the
recipient fax machines are engaged. Final delivery reports are
faxed to the originator when all the faxes have been completed.

(Steve Gold/19921217/Press & Public Contact: Vodafone - Tel:
0635-33251; Fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00020)

Wall Data Opens French Subsidiary 12/17/92
PARIS, FRANCE, 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Wall Data, the down-sizing
software and systems specialist, has opened a subsidiary in
France. The new company will parallel the existing operation in
Southall, Middlesex in the UK.

Heading up the new company is Faycal Kabani, who joins the
company from Eicon France. His primary role will be to promote
Wall Data's PC-to-host connectivity software business in France,
as well as develop and manage a distribution network.

Archie Thomas, Wall Data's vice president for European
operations, said that success in Europe will be strengthened by
remaining close to each market and providing the necessary
sales and technical support on a local basis to customers and
dealers alike.

"The establishment of the French office is one of the most
important first steps in Wall Data's aggressive expansion
program over the next couple of years. Kabani's task will be to
support our distributors in France and build on our corporate
customer base, which includes Total, the French Finance
Ministry and Rohm & Haas," he said.

(Steve Gold/19921217)


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

New For PC: PKZip Drag 'N' Drop For Windows 12/17/92
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Windows users
who regularly compress and decompress files using PKZip now
have a utility program that will allow them to perform those tasks
from within Windows.

Seattle, Washington-based Spiffy Software is now shipping Drag
'N' Drop For PKZip that allows users to interface with the popular
compression/decompression program from within Windows,
without having to shell out to DOS.

Drag 'N' Drop is accessed from the Windows File Manager, where
users can click on a file or group of files then drag them onto a
custom animated icon that looks like a zipper. The file will
automatically be compressed or decompressed as needed.

The animated zipper icon zips while compression is taking place,
or unzips while decompression is in progress. Drag 'N' Drop runs
in the background, an advantage if your using PKZip on a large file.
The user is notified when the action is complete. If a compressed
file contains several files, the user has the option of selecting
specific items in the zipped file to decompress, and where to
place them.

Once the file is zipped (compressed or decompressed) it is
placed in a default temporary zip file. The user has the option to
override that selection by specifying a file name and directory.

Spiffy Software recommends that Drag 'N' Drop be put in the
startup group, since it only requires 100 kilobytes (KB) of system
memory. That makes it immediately available. The program sells
for $24.95. Spiffy Software spokesperson Thomas Marvin told
Newsbytes the company offers volume discounts and site
licenses.

In order to use Drag 'N' Drop you need a version of PKZip. The
popular utility is available on most bulletin boards, including
GEnie and Compuserve. PKZip is shareware, meaning that if you
use it you are expected to register it and pay a nominal fee.

On Compuserve, enter GO IBMSW and download the file named
PKZ110.exe. There's also a Zip/Unzip program on Compuserve for
Windows users, called ZIPW31.exe. Those files are self-extracting,
meaning that once you download them, typing their file name
without the extension, e.g., PKZ110, will automatically extract
the necessary command and documentation files. The Windows
version of Zip is also in the IBMSW forum. On GEnie, download file
number 17862 in the IBM library (type M615 to go directly to the
proper  page to access the software libraries.

(Jim Mallory/19921217/Press contact: Thomas Marvin, Spiffy
Software, 206-521-3750; Reader contact: Spiffy Software,
206-521-3750, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00022)

Maynard Cuts DAT Backup System Prices 40 Percent 12/17/92
LAKE MARY, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Maynard
Electronics, a division of Archive Corp., says is has reduced
the price of its internal and external digital audio tape (DAT)
backup systems by as much as 40 percent.

The four gigabyte (GB)-capacity systems dropped the most, with
the 4000DAT external being cut $2,045 to $3,590. The internal
4000 model was cut $2,200 and is now priced at $3,295. The
2000DAT portable was cut 35 percent to $2,995, while the
external version is now priced at $2,995.

Four MaynStream software packages are included with the purchase
of any MaynStream DAT tape backup: MaynStream for MS-DOS;
MaynStream for OS/2; MaynStream for the Microsoft Windows
operating environment; and MaynStream NLM software, for the
cost of a single MaynStream for DOS system. The company says
the bundle represents a cost savings of up to $1,350 based on
individual purchases of the four MaynStream software products
under the Maynard software upgrade program.

All Maynard products are backed by the company's technical
support  team, available weekdays from 8:30 am to 8 pm eastern
time. Maynard also operates a 24-hour electronic bulletin board
service, and offers 48-hour turn-around on service and same-day
replacement for products within the continental United States.
Its Support Plus program, available for an annual fee of $995 per
site, offers US customers access to "24 X 7" customer support --
24 hour a day, seven-days a week person-to-person technical
assistance, as well as other support services.

(Jim Mallory/19921217/Press contact: Anne Lardner, Maynard
Electronics, 407-262-4268: Reader contact: Maynard Electronics,
800/821-8782, 407/263-3500)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00023)

Talent Scouting Becomes Computerized 12/17/92
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Would-be actors
and models no longer have to go around to talent agents, producers,
photographers, and ad agencies in Atlanta. Instead, they can take
advantage of a high-tech approach to get their faces and voices
known.

Talent Source is now offering Atlanta firms seeking talent a
turnkey computer system that allows them to selectively retrieve
photos, resumes, audio, and video of anyone that meets
user-selected criteria. For example, a photographer who needed a
model who was brunette, 30-40 years old, and taller than five feet
five-inches could enter that search criteria and the system would
display  a thumbnail photo of people who met those specifications.
The user can click on one of up to six miniature images and see a
full screen photo. Additional screens display the resume and play
the digitized audio and video, Talent Source spokesperson Robin
Solomon told Newsbytes.

According to Talent Source VP of Product Development Don Oakes,
"Talent Source capitalizes on today's advanced technology to
provide an opportunity for all talent to be seen and heard at the
touch of a button." Oakes says the system bring the talent industry
in line with the rest of the entertainment and information
industries from a high-tech viewpoint.

Users who want to use the system rent an IBM-compatible personal
computer system with CD-ROM drive attached. The talent files,
including the digitized audio and video, are stored on CD-ROM disks.
Once a particular artist is selected, the picture can be printed.
Solomon said that Talent Source is presently developing a similar
system for Apple Computer's Macintosh system.

According to Solomon, the company plans to expand into the New
York, Los Angeles, and Miami areas after the first of the year,
opening branch offices in those areas.

Solomon told Newsbytes that the "talent" pays $25 for use by
the first agency and a smaller fee for each additional agency.
There's also an additional charge for the audio and video
digitized files.

(Jim Mallory/19921217/Press contact: Robin Solomon,
404-433-0600, fax [phone]; Reader contact: Talent
Source, 800-242-3472)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00024)

New For PC: Fullpage Scanner For Notebook PCs 12/17/92
CARROLLTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- NISCA Inc.,
has announced the NICAN Page, which it describes as the first
battery powered full-page scanner for the traveling business
person and their notebook computer.

The Page is an eight-bit gray scale scanner which connects to any
IBM-compatible computer's parallel port without the need for an
interface card, so it is ideal for laptop systems. Included with
the scanner is OCRON, Inc.'s optical character reader (OCR),
image editing and fax software, called Words&Pictures.

NISCA spokesperson Julia Ann Maxey told Newsbytes the
non-removable Nicad battery will provide sufficient power for
20 full-page scans, or you can use the included AC adapter if
household current is available. The built-in battery recharges
while the unit is being used on AC power. In the page-feed mode,
Page can scan documents from business card-size to legal-size
(85-inches by 14-inches) with a maximum resolution of 400
dots-per-inch (dpi). Brightness and contrast are user-selectable.

The company says the Page will also scan books and other
documents that cannot pass through a sheet feeder by snapping
off the base plate and using the Page in a hand-held mode. In that
mode the scan width is still 8.5-inches, making it possible to
scan a full size page in one pass.

The included Words&Pictures software can read text from 6 to
36 points in size, and saves the scanned image in most popular
Windows-based program file formats. Column selection and
merge region icons allow the user to scan single column
documents such as business reports or multiple column sheets
such as newspapers.

Once scanned, images can be rotated, flipped, reversed, cut,
cropped, pasted, and resized. Graphic file formats supported
include PCX, TIFF, and BMP. The fax feature allows the scanned
image to be faxed, with the fax being sent to the user's
Windows-compatible fax modem. A scanner application program
interface driver allows the scanner to be used with most popular
image and OCR applications for DOS also.

Maxey told Newsbytes that the program will automatically install
an icon for most popular Windows applications. Clicking on one
of those icons tells Words&Pictures which application to import
for.

The 2.75-pound Page measures 2.75-inches wide, 12-inches long,
and is 2.5-inches high. Available optional accessories include a
five-sheet automatic document feeder, a carrying case, and
business card reading software.

NISCA, Inc is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kofu, Japan-based
NISCA Corp. The product is expected to ship in March 1993, and
will have a suggested retail price of $799.

(Jim Mallory/19921217/Press contact: 214-242-9696; Reader
contact: 800-466-9096)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00025)

Storage Tech Says 4Qtr Worse Than Expected 12/17/92
LOUISVILLE, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Data storage
subsystem maker Storage Technology (Storagetek) has announced
that it now expects its fourth quarter financial results to
fall below the range of analyst's expectations.

Financial analysts have been estimating that stockholders would
see  a $0.25 to $0.42 per share return. Company spokesperson
David Reid declined to estimate for Newsbytes the actual
results. Storagetek's fourth quarter ends December 25th.

The company said it expected to record revenue for fewer
automated  tape library units that it had originally forecast and
that the mix of units sold will likely be skewed toward lower-
margin products. "We make the best forecast we can," Reid told
Newsbytes. He said the biggest factor contributing to the poorer-
than-expected showing is poor economic conditions in the US and
Europe, where the company records 30 to 35 percent of its sales.
Additionally, Storagetek has not had as much success as they had
hoped in penetrating the Japanese market.

Asked about the possibility of staff reductions, Reid said there is
no company wide layoff plan in place. "We made real efforts to be
ready for '93," he said. Newsbytes reported recently that the
company had instituted a hiring freeze and would reduce salaries
beginning January 1. Reid declined to preclude the possibility of
some reductions in force in individual departments.

In a prepared statement, Storagetek Chairman, President and
Chief Executive officer Ryal Poppa said, "The combination of
margin pressure, a difficult business climate - particularly in
Europe - and continuing investment in research and development
is expected to impact profitability through much of 1993." Reid
told Newsbytes that the company feels it has to continue to fund
research products despite poor profitability.

Storagetek's bread-and-butter product is the 4400 Automated
Cartridge System used with larger computer systems for data
storage. It has several products, including the highly touted
"Iceberg" in development. Storagetek stock prices have dropped
on several occasions whenever the delivery date of Iceberg has
been pushed back.

(Jim Mallory/19921217/Press contact: David Reid, Storagetek,
303-673-4815, ext 4815)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00026)

International Phone Update 12/17/92
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- The echoes of
Uruguay reverberated around the continent, highlighting the
world's telecommunications news.

On December 13 Uruguay voters decided 2-1 against selling-off
their state-owned phone company, Antel. In response, Brazil, which
had been expected to move quickly to sell its Telebras unit, put
the brakes on all privatization. Economy Minister Gustavo Krause
also resigned this week. Acting President Itamar Franco suspended
the program until at least March by decree, but claimed the move,
first broached by impeached President Fernando Collor de Mello,
will still continue. He said he wants to make sure that
foreigners buying Brazilian assets put more cash up-front.

Uruguay's decision also sent shock waves through Argentina, which
had successfully sold-off its EnTel unit in two parts called
Telecom and Telefonica. A newspaper columnist compared
Uruguay's decision to the Swiss decision against the European
unity treaty, claiming it would force the continent to reconsider
privatization moves demanded by creditors like the International
Monetary Fund. President Carlos Menem, of course, disagreed.

Elsewhere in Latin America, Columbia's Congress approved a new
law allowing for privately-owned cellular systems. The law also
allows foreign investment in enhanced telecommunications and
satellite services. A move to allow foreign investment in long
distance networks was rejected. Under the law, two cellular
operators will be allowed into each of three new zones of
Columbia, with one operator state-owned and the other
privately held.

Also, Able Telcom of Florida said its Venezuelan subsidiaries
received $3 million in annual contracts to expand their service
work for CANTV, the Venezuelan phone unit now controlled by GTE,
into Marcaibo and Valencia. Based on its contracts, which should
increase 1993 revenues over $12 million, Able will file for listing
on the regular NASDAQ exchange -- it is presently on the
exchange's extended "bulletin board" list of low-capitalization
stocks. For next year, President Bill Caudill said, the company
intents to expand operations into Mexico.

Able might also look to the Nicaragua market. That Central
American nation said it wants to double the number of phone lines
in the next year as part of a $460 million plan to modernize the
infrastructure of its Telcor phone unit. Nicaragua already has
the most up-to-date network in the region, but just 42,000
telephone lines - 1.6 lines for each 100 people.

Two reports were issued on the state of satellite service in East
Asia. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific and Asian Development Bank both said remote sensing and
geographic information systems satellites are now vital for the
region.

Most countries in the region are using GIS satellites to monitor
environmental destruction as well as explore for new resources.
Western countries, however, need to support the training of
specialists in the region to support the technology, the reports
said, and support the use of such data. India has already
responded to the call, the study concluded.

British Telecom launched new managed data network services in
Korea, and the Philippines, as well as Mexico and Puerto Rico, as
part of its Global Network Services offering. People in all those
countries can now access the company's Tymnet network at up to
9,600 bits/second, under X.25 standards for use in linking to
mainframes or for transferring invoices under electronic data
interchange, or EDI standards. The company said a study by the
Yankee Group indicates the Pacific Rim and Latin America
represent over 61 percent of global network expansion planned
by multi-nationals. BT also said it is working to provide similar
services in India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Oman, South
Africa, Taiwan, and Thailand next year.

Under the Atlantic, AT&T said it holds the largest share of the
new  TAT-12/TAT-13 network, a $740 million system linking the
United States, France, and the United Kingdom and using a "closed-
ring" configuration providing for redundancy of all fiber pairs
and the ability to redirect traffic within the network if a break
occurs anywhere along the route. A total of 45 companies are
investing in TAT-12/TAT-13, including Sprint of the US, which
will operate at five billion bits of information per second - more
capacity than the current TAT-8, TAT-9, TAT-10 and TAT-11
offer combined, or about 320,000 simultaneous phone calls per
fiber pair. The network should be completed by September, 1996,
running from Green Hill, Rhode Island, across Long Island, New
York to Lands End in the United Kingdom, and Penmarch in France.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia signed a $55 million deal with
the region's Arabsat consortium for three channels of a new
satellite due to be launched in 1995. The money will be paid
while the satellite is under construction -- General Motors'
Hughes division has the $250 million construction contract on
two birds. Also in the same region, Nokia of Finland reported that
Turkey signed for equipment which will extend its low-frequency
NMT cellular system. The deal is worth $5 million, Nokia said.

In the Scandinavia region, Sprint said the stock exchanges of
Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland all selected its SprintNet
network to link their operations. The exchanges are based in
Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Helsinki, then link to London
and locations worldwide. This means brokers with virtually any
kind of computer and software can access the exchanges under
SprintNet.

In the Commonwealth of Independent States, still reeling from a
legislative meeting which ousted Prime Minister Yegor Gaidor,
Drivefone of New Jersey signed letters of intent to set up paging
and other wireless services in Russia. Construction of the
initial paging system is scheduled for early 1993, subject to
completion of feasibility studies and definitive agreements. The
system will concentrate on developing industrialized regions
outside Moscow. Negotiations are continuing with several other
Republics and CIS countries, Drivefone said, with the intent
to have personnel permanently assigned to facilitate projects in
Central and Eastern Europe in early 1993.

Finally, the people of Zimbabwe in Africa are rushing to buy
satellite dishes, according to the IPS news service. The most
popular offerings, according to people there, are US television
shows like "MacGyver." Programs from South Africa are also
popular. Two companies, World Radio Systems and Glieman
Satellite Services, make and export dishes from the country.
The big concern of the government over all this is the availability
of programs with a sexual nature. A minister told the legislature
recently that people are buying dishes to tap pornography from
the skies. Zimbabwe itself has only two domestic television
channels, and one can be seen only in the capital of Harare.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921217/Press Contact: Able Telcom
Melissa LaHaie, 804/836-4026; BT North America, David Callisch,
408/922-7583; Sprint, Steve Dykes, 202-828-7435; AT&T, Tricia
Sieh, 201-326-4224; Drivefone Lee R. Montellaro, 201/843-6400)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(BOS)(00027)

 ****EPA's Energy Star Program Now Includes PC Peripherals 12/17/92
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- The US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has expanded its Energy
Star Program to include peripherals as well as PCs, and Nanao
USA has released the first monitor that complies with the
federal campaign to reduce electricity consumption.

Nanao USA and both the monitor and PC divisions of NEC, have
recently joined Energy Star, and printer vendors will follow
soon, Brian Johnson, program director for Energy Star, told
Newsbytes.

Energy Star is seeking the voluntary cooperation of the PC
industry in bringing out desktop products that will "power down"
to sleep mode when not in use, in the same manner as portable
PCs.

In launching the program last summer, EPA officials stated that
IBM, Apple, Compaq, DEC, NCR, Hewlett-Packard, Smith Corona,
and Zenith would be the first Energy Star participants, but that
ultimately, all PC vendors would be contacted.

Since making the initial announcement, Energy Star has started
talking with manufacturers of monitors and printers as part of
an effort to broaden the campaign, said Johnson. Printer vendors
will definitely be joining Energy Star, probably within the next
month, he predicted. "Their response has been fantastic," he
noted.

The first monitor to adhere to Energy Star requirements - Nanao's
FlexScan F340iW - is capable of powering down from the 120
watts consumed when the monitor is in use to only six watts in a
new sleep mode, said Brian Mast, Nanao's assistant marketing
manager.

The F340iW, a 15-inch color monitor for IBM-compatible PCs and
Mac IIs, powers down when the user either turns the monitor off
or pushes a special sleep mode button on the front control panel,
he told Newsbytes.

Nanao hopes to incorporate two more sleep mode capabilities into
upcoming 17- and 21-inch monitors, tentatively slated for
shipment in February or March, he added. In one of these functions,
the monitor would automatically power down whenever the
computer entered sleep mode. In the other, the monitor would
power down after a given period of user inactivity -- 30 minutes,
for example.

Energy Star compliance is advantageous to vendors, as well as
society, maintained Mast. "In the end, everybody wins. The EPA
is actively promoting Energy Star-compliant products to
government agencies, so we're gaining end users. But that's the
way things ought to be, anyway. People should be thinking about
energy consumption when they're buying systems," he asserted.

For its part, NEC is holding off on announcing Energy Star-
compliant monitors until finalization of a specification now
being written by VESA's Power Management Workgroup, according
to Richard Atanus, NEC's product development manager for
graphics.

The workgroup is attempting to accommodate the recommendations
of multiple vendors and organizations, including the EPA, Intel,
Microsoft, and Nutek, Atanus told Newsbytes. "The group is trying
to find a way for all these recommendations to coexist, so if you
meet the VESA standard, you don't have to worry about meeting
separate specifications," he explained.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19921217; Press contacts: Brian Johnson,
Energy Star Program, tel [phone]; Brian Mast, Nanao,
tel [phone]; Richard Atanus, NEC, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00028)

Symantec's Stockholder Suit Was Expected 12/17/92
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- Symantec
is under fire again, this time from a small group of stock
holders, who have filed a class action suit against the company.

Symantec claims filing of any class action suit is a fairly
common occurrence when stock prices fall. Three stockholders
in Pennsylvania filed the suit December 11, 1992, charging the
company, its board of directors, and the senior management
with inflating the stock price by issuing misleading statements.

Company representatives told Newsbytes, that while they take
every suit seriously, they understood this might happen when the
stock prices fell. The company said it believes the allegations
are entirely without merit and plans to put up a spirited
defense.

Symantec did report losses in its last earnings statement, made
in October, but said then it would have lost money even if it
had not bought the technology companies Multiscope and The
Whitewater Group. In the announcement, the company reported a
second quarter loss of $11.21 million ($.48 per share) on
revenues of $43.7 million.

Also, company officials were careful to point out the current
suit has nothing to do with the criminal charges faced by
Symantec executives concerning Borland International. Borland
has charged a former employee, now employed at Symantec, with
allegedly sending trade secrets to a Symantec executive using
Borland's MCI electronic mail account.

The good news for Symantec lately has been its recent win in a
"look-and-feel" suit brought by Brown Bag Software that went
all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld two
decisions from lower courts that Symantec's Grandview product
does not violate copyrights on Brown Bag's PC-Outline package.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921217/Press Contact: Brian K. Fawkes,
Symantec, tel [phone], fax [phone])


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

PowerVision Plans On-line Shopping Network 12/17/92
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- PowerVision
is trying to build a Prodigy-like on-line shopping network using
the Amway style of marketing.

Newsbytes discussed all this with Leslie Nary, a Powervision
spokesperson. She said the company's Solbourne computer, running
Unix, can deliver a Prodigy-like interface, with graphics and
even photographs. The system is also accessed via Sprintnet, and
has been on-line since July 22, with about 1,000 subscribers
so-far.

Two points are most interesting, however - where the company
is earning its money and how it is selling the service. The money
is  mainly coming from shoppers, not merchants. "We send out
software to all subscribers, for $79.95," said Nary. "The service
is $18.95 per month, which offers four hours of off-peak access
time." Nary said that an expected Prodigy price increase will
make those prices more competitive. "At this point, with Prodigy
raising their prices, we're not much higher than them. And we
believe our savings from using the network will offset the cost."

Who go with Powervision over Prodigy? Bargains, said Nary.
"Contrary to Prodigy, we don't charge our vendors. It's
inexpensive to put a catalog on-line with us. We believe in that.
Our vendors can update catalogs without printing, and we ask
them to pass those savings. Currently we have one large general
merchandise store, with about 60,000 products. They offer a
'double difference' warrantee," so if you see a product
advertised for less and can prove it, the merchant refunds double
the price difference. "We call them our general merchandise
store," said Nary, but would not identify the actual merchant.
"It's a third-party, and I don't know why we don't identify them."

She added, "We also have national specialty product providers,
but we don't have large catalogs on-line. We have small vendors
like Omaha Steaks, software dealers, all kinds of appliances. We
have sportswear and athletic apparel." And PowerVision
subscribers receive discounts between 10-25 percent on
products and services purchased through the network, even on
sale items.

Finally, the company's marketing strategy is interesting. "We
market through multi-level marketing, like Amway." In the
Amway system, distributors recruit other distributors, all of
whom handle customer support for the people they recruit. In
exchange, the multiple levels take small royalties off those
lower than them on the organization chart.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921217/Press Contact: Leslie Nary,
PowerVision, 619-546-2343; Public Contact: PowerVision,
619-546-2343)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00030)

Telxon Reorganizes Around New Product Line 12/17/92
AKRON, OHIO, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 17 (NB) -- The entrepreneur is
back at the helm at Telxon, a leading maker of hand-held
terminals, and the impact of his reorganization is hurting the
short-term bottom-line, Newsbytes has learned.

Telxon has been a force in automating large field staffs for
years, and earlier this year completed a major contract for Wal-
Mart which can link warehouse workers directly with in-store
workers, through a series of wireless and wired networks.

Analysts, however, have questioned where the next big deal is
coming from, and some argue that such huge contracts may be a
thing of the past for the industry. There are also more players
in the terminal industry, leading to "me-too" products and lower
margins, Telxon admits.

Robert Meyerson, once chairman, returned to actively running the
company in October, and he recently shocked Wall Street by
reporting that revenues for the year ending in March will be
$235 to $242 million, with an overall loss or a break even
situation on the profit side. Previous revenue and earnings
expectations were $255 to $265 million in revenues and $1.15
to $1.20 per share in earnings. The result was a precipitous
fall in the stock price.

Julie L. Ganim, vice president, corporate development, told
Newsbytes about the new strategy. "Meyerson did product
development on the portable tele-transaction computers," the
ancestors of Telxon's current products, which Telxon marketed.
"He did so well he took over management of the company to get
his commissions out of it. When we went public, he went into
semi-retirement as chairman, then was called back to active
duty in 1989 to help with the technology. The president at that
time was sales-driven, not technology driven."

In his work Meyerson developed what became the 960, a new
series of integrated terminals, including communications,
introduced recently at the Scan-Tech show. The new terminals
were innovative in their use of spread-spectrum technology,
how they set-up the radios to send and receive data, and how
the data fields were connected, said Ganim. "It exceeded what
anyone else had at the show."

This new platform is going to be the cornerstone of a new Telxon,
said Ganim. "What we're doing is taking this platform and saying
we'll be in markets and areas without a ton of competition. We'll
use our technology to offer integrated systems. Because we had
such a strength in retail we formed an independent business unit
for retail. They'll offer total systems. We'll do that in some
other areas. We'll definitely stay in warehousing and
distribution, as well as health care, banking, and insurance."

Telxon hopes that innovations with one customer will create new
orders, as when its pen-based system with an integrated radio,
sold to Avis as their "Rapid Rover" system, resulted in a call
from Hertz for a similar system.

However, that means there are some areas Telxon is abandoning,
Ganim admitted. "We said domestic revenue was down. We didn't
get some large orders we were expecting. Those orders haven't
happened yet. We also walked away from some competitive
situations where there was no margin. If competitors want to
buy business we'll let them." The short-term results were also
impacted by costs of severance and the exit of the former
President, Ganim added.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921217/Press Contact: Julie L. Ganim,
Telxon, 216-867-3700)