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/1993/NB113093

Text File | 1993-11-30 | 69KB | 1,524 lines

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

New, Smaller CD Format Supported By Kodak, Panasonic 11/30/93
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- A new, smaller
compact disc (CD) drive is beginning to appear and is gaining
support. Panasonic featured the new 80 millimeter (mm) CD drive
in a notebook computer displayed at Comdex in Las Vegas recently
and Kodak has announced it will offer its Photo CD discs in
the smaller format as well.

Standard CDs are 120 mm, but the drives are not practical for use
in the smaller notebook, handheld, and personal digital assistant
(PDA) computers that are taking a strong hold in the computer
marketplace.

The 80 mm discs fit the portability requirements for smaller
computers, use the same format as the larger discs, and are
compatible with most of the compact disc read-only memory
(CD- ROM) drives, such as CD-ROM drives, Photo CD players, and
the Compact Disc Interactive (CD-I) players from Philips.

A small cavity inside the drive has already been designed to hold
the 80 mm discs during playback. If for some reason the drive
does not have the built-in compatibility, an adapter ring can be
placed on the disc to make it work.

While the discs can be used to hold anything from music to a
dictionary, Kodak is using the discs as a delivery vehicle for
photographs. Called Photo CD, a player connected to a computer or
television set can display photographs stored in a digital
format on the CDs.

Fred Geyer, general manager and vice president of Kodak CD
Imaging said: "Hardware manufactures have identified the 80 mm
format as the best way to bring the benefits of CD-ROM digital
storage to a range of transportable devices, from notebooks to
PDAs. We believe the 80 mm and the 120 mm formats both will be
widely used. As a result, we intend to offer Photo CD media in
both sizes."

Panasonic demonstrated a six-pound notebook computer equipped with
a prototype 80 mm CD-ROM drive. Portability means some sacrifice,
as the 80 mm discs have one-third the capacity of the 600-plus
megabyte (MB) capacity of their 120 mm counterparts. Kodak said
the smaller capacity means the 80 mm discs will hold only 36
photos instead of the 100 images that can be placed on the 120 mm
disc.

Kodak said owners of Kodak Photo CD Imaging Workstations (PIW)
for production of the 120 mm Photo CD discs can expect a software
upgrade from the company to enable them to offer the 80 mm disc
capability. Company officials said the 80 mm format should be
available in late 1994.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931129/Press Contact: Paul McAfee, Kodak, tel
716-724-6404, fax [phone]; Kodak Public Contact, 800-242-
2424)


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

Jurassic Park Screen Saver From Asymetrix 11/30/93
BELLVUE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- If you liked
the movie, you'll love the screen saver, claims Asymetrix. The
company announced a Jurassic Park screen saver with film images,
sound effects, dialog, and graphics from the hit motion picture.

The screen saver contains modules that can be run separately,
such as the Jurassic Park Computer System module, Dinosaur Eyes,
and The Chase in which the T-Rex hunts the Jeep all across your
computer screen. The product also features digital video, behind-
the-scenes information, and interviews about the making of the
movie. In addition, it can be run as a module under the popular
Berkeley After Dark screen saver.

Jurassic Park, the movie, has become a hit in every country where
it has opened. Asymetrix plans to take advantage of that by also
introducing French, German, and Japanese versions of the screen
saver which will ship in December, company officials said.

A floppy disk version is available to US computer users now and a
compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) version will be available
in December as well. The floppy disk version is $19.95, while the
CD-ROM version is $34.95. Upgrades to the CD-ROM version from the
floppy disk version are an additional $24.95.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931129/Press Contact: Susan Pierson,
Asymetrix, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Asymetrix
Public Contact, 800-448-6543)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00003)

Astound Multimedia Presentation Prgm For Windows 11/30/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Gold Disk
has unveiled a Windows-based counterpart to Astound for Macintosh
1.0, a presentation program initially introduced last December.

Like the existing package for the Mac, the new Astound for
Windows 1.5 allows for the creation of multimedia as well as
static presentations, company officials said.

Astound for Windows 1.5 will read Astound for Macintosh 1.0 files
in fully editable form. In addition, an Astound for Windows file
can be saved as an Astound for Macintosh file.

The Windows-based package comes with a Windows runtime player,
which permits royalty-free distribution of presentations prepared
in either Astound for Windows or Astound for Macintosh.

The new release for Windows is also bundled with a CD-ROM
containing more than 1,200 animations, graphics, sound effects,
and musical and video clips that can be added to presentations.

According to Kailash Ambwani, CEO and president, since Astound for
Macintosh 1.0 began shipping in May, the product has exceeded Gold
Disk's sales forecasts. The Macintosh presentation package has
also received critical acclaim from MacWorld magazine (four stars),
MacWeek (five diamonds), MacUser (four-and-a-half-mice), Publish
(five stars), and PC Letter.

The Windows and Macintosh editions of Astound both let the user
apply animation effects to charts as well as other graphics. The
two packages also include drawing, charting, and text editing
tools, along with support for digital video and sound.

Astound for Windows permits presentations developed in Microsoft
PowerPoint 3.0 and Lotus Freelance to be imported as fully editable
files, officials reported. The program also imports graphics in
the TIF, PCX, GIF, BMP, DIB, CGM, TGA, RLE, Metafile, and Photo CD
formats.

Animated clips can be imported in AWM or AWA formats from Gold
Disk's Animation Works Interactive. Support for object linking and
embedding (OLE) allows users to embed or dynamically link charts
and other data and objects from other OLE-compliant applications
for Windows.

Astound for Windows also supports the Digital Video Interactive
(DVI) specification, Apple's QuickTime for Windows, and Microsoft's
Video for Windows.

Presentations can use WAV, MIDI (musical instrument digital
interface), and CD-Audio sound effects, music, and voice narration.
Through a sound editor included in the package, the user can
integrate and synchronize sounds to match events in the
presentation.

In the tradition of Astound for Macintosh, the Windows-based
product also provides a "timeline" for controlling the duration of
slides and animation effects, adding pauses, and synchronizing
events.

Dozens of graphs are incorporated in the new package, plus a pop-up
drawing tool palette, outline view, and a text editor with rulers,
tabs, spell checking, and four levels of bullet formatting. Outline
view allows text to be viewed, edited and repositioned throughout
a presentation. Changes made in outline view are immediately
reflected on slides, and vice versa.

Astound for Windows supports 24-bit color, officials noted.
Users can select from built-in color schemes, create their own
colors with the use of a color mixer, or match colors by means of
an eyedropper tool. Users can also create interactive buttons that
can be put to work for playing sounds or going to other slides
during a presentation.

Astound for Windows 1.5 is available for a special introductory
price of $129 through January 31, 1994. After that, the software
will be priced at $395.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931130/Reader Contact: Gold Disk, 416-602-
4000; Press Contact: Michaela Brehm, Gold Disk, 408-982-0200
ext 124)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00004)

Unitel Says Edmonton Telecom Service Threatened By Regs 11/30/93
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Unitel
Communications, the Toronto-based company recently given
permission to compete in long-distance telephone service across
most of Canada, has said it may delay offering service in the city
because of special terms imposed by federal regulators.

Unitel will have to pay twice as large a share of its long-distance
revenue from calls dialed in Edmonton to established phone
companies as it does in the rest of the country. Company officials
said that could mean they cannot make a profit on the service.

"We can't pay for the privilege of offering service in a market,"
said Stephanie MacKendrick, a Unitel spokeswoman. "We're doing
our math still, but it doesn't look very promising."

In a speech to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce in mid-November,
George Harvey, Unitel's chairman, said it is "unlikely that we will
be in a position to launch here in the immediate future."

In a decision giving Unitel permission to compete in Alberta, the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC) said the company must pay 14 cents to AGT Limited, the
established phone company serving Alberta, for each long-distance
call it carries within or from the province. On top of that, Unitel
must also pay six cents per call to Edmonton Telephones, which
serves only the city of Edmonton, for calls originating from
Edmonton.

Because Unitel will only be allowed to connect its network to that
of AGT and not to that of Edmonton Telephones, Unitel spokesman
Ken Stewart added, the company must pay both AGT and Edmonton
Telephones for calls from Edmonton. That makes a total of 10 cents
per call, or twice what Unitel has to pay other regional phone
companies across the country.

The payments to the regional phone companies are meant to help
pay the cost of local telephone service, which in Canada has
traditionally been kept artificially low through subsidies from
long-distance revenues.

According to the CRTC, revenues from telephone service in
Edmonton -- one of the province's two main cities -- help
subsidize service in rural areas of Alberta.

(Grant Buckler/19931126/Press Contact: Ken Stewart,
Unitel Communications, 416-345-2094; Bill Allen, CRTC,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BOS)(00005)

Business Card Reading (BCR) Market To Explode In '94 11/30/93
NORWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- The
emerging market of business card reading (BCR) is poised to explode
in 1994, according to a new study by BIS Strategic Decisions.

US sales of business card readers will expand from 4,000 units in
1993 to more than 200,000 units in 1997, and potentially, to over
one million in 1998, the Norwell, MA-based market research firm
predicts.

Business card readers allow users to enter business cards into
their PCs, where software automatically places names, addresses,
phone and fax numbers, and other information into the appropriate
fields on a searchable database. Typically, the readers incorporate
a small scanner and a special optical character recognition (OCR)
application.

Although business card readers have existed for several years, at
prices above $2,000, the machines are new to the US market, where
street prices below $300 are becoming common.

Recently introduced readers from Microtek, CypherTech, and Pacific
Crest Technologies are spurring interest within the US, and the new
product category carries significant practical advantages for end
users, the BIS researchers explained.

"BCR is the first scanning solution to have a realistic mass-market
potential," said Kristy Holch, director of BIS Scanning Marketing
Strategies service. "No other recognition product is so intuitive,
nor do any (others offer) such easy-to-understand benefits. It is
a concept that every business person can relate to, since we all
have to deal with organizing, storing, and retrieving business cards."

Sales of business card readers will get an extra boost from the
fast growing personal information management (PIM) and contact
management markets, the researchers suggested.

Many other vendors will soon be releasing business card readers,
according to the report, "Business Card Reading Outlook." The
report also covers sales of business card reading software, both
bundled and off-the-shelf.

The report includes perspectives on BCR from a 1993 study by BIS on
Fortune 1000 corporations. In one of the results, 10 percent of 52
MIS (management information systems) managers queried reported
that their companies "would want business card readers."

BIS forecast that one out of ten MIS managers who answered the
question in the affirmative expects to buy a large number of BCR
systems for a particular department or application within the
company, such as outfitting the entire sales force with a unit.

But sales to MIS managers represent only the tip of the iceberg,
BIS added. Penetration within the Fortune 1000 is actually likely
to approach 100 percent, when sales of the inexpensive devices
direct to end users are taken into account, the researchers
concluded.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931129/Reader Contact: BIS Strategic
Decisions, 617-982-9500; Press Contact: Kristy Holch, BIS,
617-982-9500)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00006)

Meridian Data Intros Meridian Visual CD Mgt Prgm 11/30/93
SCOTTS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Hoping
to take advantage of the growing trend towards CD-ROM-based
systems and multimedia products, Meridian Data has introduced
Meridian Visual CD, which it claims automates installation,
management and operation of multimedia CD-ROM titles in a
Windows environment.

According to the company, when Windows users insert a CD-ROM
title, they typically must learn the commands necessary to load
information from the disc to their PC. Once loaded, users must
have special utilities to view or listen to the disc's contents.
Users must then manually organize CD titles on their desktop.

The company says that, with Visual CD, the user just inserts a disc.
The program then automatically scans the disc, identifies it, and
prompts the user -- the software loads, organizes information
and provides the necessary tools to review the disc's contents.

As new discs are inserted, the company maintains that Visual CD
adds them to a library, which  gives the user a detailed listing of
all the desktop titles. The product also includes a sample Photo CD
application, which recognizes the original disc as a Photo CD disc,
which once installed, gives users access to 36 pre-recorded photos.

In announcing the product, Frederick P. Meyer, founder and executive
vice president of Meridian Data, said, "CD ROM is a very powerful
media, and it has become affordable even for home users. But just
because CDs are affordable doesn't mean they're simple to use.
Users might be in for a unpleasant surprise when they insert a new
title into their CD ROM drive. With Visual CD, the user is given a
familiar visual format and an easy way to manage and navigate
through CDs. Visual CD acts like an extension of Windows."

The company says that, Visual CD appears on screen like any other
application, and that, when opened, titles that have been installed
are displayed, as well as a tool bar. The user can then click on a
title to review the contents of the disc. When the user clicks on a
listed file or photo, the application indicates which physical disc
to insert in the drive. The company says that the toolbar on screen
can be used to enlarge photos, listen to audio, or review  data.

Visual CD carries a suggested retail price of $69.95 and is
available immediately.

(Ian Stokell/19931129/Press Contact: Richard Krueger,
408-438-3100, Meridian Data Inc.)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00007)

British Telecom To Expand Local Call Areas In UK 11/30/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- British Telecommunications
(BT) has announced plans to enhance the local calling area for its
more rural subscribers. The idea behind the plan is to balance the
fact that city-based subscribers have a much larger number of
phone users they can contact in their local calling area.

BT officials said recently that firm details of the plans have
yet to be decided upon, but it is to counter comments by rural
subscribers than many calls -- to the nearest major town, for
example -- are a short-haul trunk call.

Until the 1960s, when most telephone exchanges were mechanical,
the then Post Office (BT's forerunner) used to route special circuits,
typically with an 8 prefix, for "out of area" local calls. The
arrival of large electronic exchanges meant that many small rural
exchanges were folded into the nearest major exchange, meaning
that periphery routing on a local call basis was no longer possible.

The result has been that some formerly local calls are now short
haul trunk calls. By expanding the local calling area, BT says it
hopes to redress the balance.

(Steve Gold/19931130/Press & Public Contact: British Telecom,
44-71-356-5000)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00008)

Nokia Oy Signs $30M Contract With KDD Japan 11/30/93
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Nokia Oy's mobile phone
division, which now claims to be the world's second largest
manufacturer of mobile telephones, has signed a contract with
Kansai Digital Phone (KDP) of Japan for selling digital mobile
phones into the Japanese telecommunications marketplace.

Terms of the agreement call for Nokia to sell digital phones
directly to KDP for onward sale to KDP's customers. The value of
the contract, which runs until the end of next year, is thought to
be around the $30 million mark.

According to Pekka Ala-Pietila, Nokia's president, the deal is an
extension of an original cooperative agreement signed by both
companies in October of 1992. This new agreement, he said, will
allow Nokia to design and supply a digital mobile phone for sale to
KDP and its subscribers.

"We are very pleased to continue our close cooperative effort with
Kansai Digital Phone. This is further evidence of our leading
position in the global digital phone market. We are committed to
fulfilling the high demands of the competitive Japanese market,"
he explained.

The digital phones to be supplied by Nokia will operate on KDP's 1.5
gigahertz cellular network which is scheduled to open for business
in the Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe metropolitan areas. The coverage area
has a total of more than 20 million inhabitants.

Nokia was the first European manufacturer to gain access to the
cellular phone market in Japan. In 1994, Nokia estimates that a
total of 1.6 million phones will be sold in Japan, with digital
mobiles accounting for around 20 percent of this figure.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931130/Press & Public Contact: Nokia Oy,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00009)

Hungarian Telecoms Market Heats Up 11/30/93
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- A consortium comprising
of GTE in the US, Telefonica of Spain, and PTT Netherlands has been
formed to enter the bidding for a share in MATAV, the Hungarian
state telecommunications company.

According to press reports in Hungary recently, the three
companies have been in informal discussions with their
counterparts within the Hungarian state telecoms company.

Imre Bolcskei, the Hungarian state secretary, meanwhile, has
confirmed that meetings have taken place between MATAV staff and
those from Telefonica. "It was announced officially that there are
talks going on between the two companies which would probably
result in an agreement," he said.

According to a spokesman with PTT Netherlands in London, the
consortium bid for MATAV is for a 30 percent stake in the company.
The spokesman referred to PTT President Wim Dik as saying this in
the Magyar Hirlap, a Hungarian daily paper.

As reported previously by Newsbytes, the 30 percent selloff of a
stake in MATAV, is being carried out to obtain much-needed foreign
investment in the state telecoms company. MATAV is said to be
looking for another phone company, or group of phone companies, to
ally with, so as to draw on the third party's technical expertise, as
well as cash resources.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931130/Press & Public Contact: PTT Telecom,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00010)

Netherlands Plans Global Toll-Free Numbering Scheme 11/30/93
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- PTT Telecom
Netherlands has announced plans to organize a global toll-free
numbering system, accessible using the same number from around
the world.

The idea behind the system, according to the Dutch state-controlled
phone company, is to offer the same number on a global scale for
major companies such as airlines, to use in their advertisements on
a worldwide basis.

The idea will take a lot of turning into reality, Newsbytes notes,
not least because of the fact that different countries have
different toll-free numbering schemes.

Although the Dutch telecommunications giant has yet to decide on
the numbering plan it intends to use, it has a choice of either
electing to use a completely new dialing code, or requesting foreign
telecoms companies to allow access to its international country
code (31) followed by a special numbering scheme within its
national code allocation.

According to PTT, plans call for the new service to start next April
but, before this can happen, bilateral agreements must be signed
between other country telecoms companies. So far, France Telecom
has signed the deal, and others look set to follow.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931130/Press & Public Contact: PTT Telecom
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00011)

Germany - Eagle Adapters Gain Novell Approval 11/30/93
DUSSELDORF, GERMANY, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Eagle Technology has
announced that, following an agreement with Novel, Eagle's "value
brand" of Ethernet adapters, announced in September of this year,
are now shipping with unmodified Novell NE2000 software drivers,
thanks to their being granted Novell "tested and approved"
certification.

According to the German technology company, this brings a 100
percent guarantee of compatibility with Netware, as well as an
aggressive price point when the Etherxpert family of cards were
announced in September.

"Our Etherxpert value brand is designed to compete with the many no-
name clones on the market," explained Karen Hansen Diedrich, Eagle's
European sales manager. "We're confident that the guarantee of
compatibility with Netware, the competitive pricing and the
extensive distribution channels will make this a popular choice
among customers who are driven by price considerations," he added.

Graeme Allan, Novell's marketing director, said that the company's
aim is to encourage the fast growth of the networking market. "The
availability of low cost, highly compatible adapter cards, removes
one constrain to the adoption of networking. We support Eagle's
efforts to expand this market," he said.

According to the International Data Corp. (IDC), the worldwide
installed base for local area network (LAN) adapter cards grew to
37 million last year, up from fewer than 27 million in 1991. Of
these, Ethernet network interface cards (NICs) represented
around 67 percent of all shipments,

Eagle's share of this Ethernet NIC market is around 11.5 percent,
making it the third largest vendor in the world. IDC says it
estimates that almost 20 percent of the market is held by a
large number of smaller players.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931130/Press & Public Contact: Eagle
Technology, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00012)

Germany - Proteon & DEC In Manufacturing Deal 11/30/93
LEIDERBACH, GERMANY, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Proteon has announced
it has signed a multi-million dollar contract with Digital Equipment
Corp., terms of which call for DEC to build Proteon's P1392, 1892,
and 1990 Plus series of Token Ring adapter cards and other
sub-assemblies.

According to Proteon, the non-exclusive contract is the first such
agreement between the two companies.

"We chose to extend our relationship with Digital because of the
breadth of contract manufacturing services it offers," explained
Alan Swan, Proteon's European general manager. "Digital provides
manufacturing and engineering expertise, and also offers the
expertise to build and custom package our products. This is a
substantial extension of our partnering style of relationship."

James Wallis, Digital's original equipment manufacturing (OEM)
vice president, was equally enthusiastic over the deal. He said that
Digital has always aimed to provide its customers world-class
design, manufacturing, engineering and distribution services after
more than 30 years in the industry.

"Proteon's decision to select Digital among other contract
manufacturing companies emphasizes our leadership and
strengths in those fields," he said.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931130/Press & Public Contact: Proteon,
49-6931-4237)


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

SynOptics' Optivity 2.0 For NMS, Adds WAN To LattisCell 11/30/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- SynOptics
Communications Inc., has announced version 2.0 of its Optivity
for NMS network management system, to go with Novell's new NMS
(NetWare Management System) version 2.0. The company has also
announced new interfaces and SBus adapter cards for its LattisCell
ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) switch, which are designed to
allow ATM to be used across local and wide area networks.

According to the company, the new version of Optivity offers
management capabilities previously found only on Unix platforms.

In announcing version 2.0, Brian Brown, SynOptics' group product
line manager, network management, highlighted the company's
relationship with Novell, saying: "SynOptics' strategic development
agreement with Novell has enabled us to link our product
development with theirs, and deliver advanced networking solutions
to customers sooner. The fact that we're able to deliver Optivity 2.0
for NMS in conjunction with Novell's NMS 2.0 is a prime example of
how the customers benefit when two industry leaders partner this
closely."

According to the company, the most significant new capabilities of
Optivity 2.0 for NMS include AutoTopology and Nodal View with a
new graphical user interface.

The company says that the AutoTopology capability "leverages the
intelligence embedded within the network fabric to provide real-
time, automatic discovery of hubs, bridges, switches and end
devices, as well as multiple views depicting the physical and
logical relationships of the elements within the network."

Nodal View, meanwhile, helps analyze Ethernet and Token Ring
networks by providing a graphical representation of all
end-stations in a network, their status and physical connection
to the  hub.

Optivity 2.0 for NMS carries a suggested US retail price of $3,495,
and is shipping the first week of December. It is also available as
a bundled package with NMS 2.0 for $4,995.

According to SynOptics, the new interfaces and SBus adapter cards
for LattisCell take advantage of existing wide area network (WAN)
transmission services such as DS3 and emerging fiber optic
technologies like SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) and SDH
(Synchronous Digital Hierarchy).

SynOptics claims that the new interfaces and adapter cards enable
customers to "expand the reach of their local area networks (LANs)
and remove the  barriers associated with geographically dispersed
locations."

Five new models of the LattisCell ATM switch are being introduced
over the next four months -- each with a different interface
combination of physical layers and media types, and all
compatible with the ATM Forum specifications.

SynOptics introduced its first LattisCell ATM switch in March,
based on the company's FastMatrix architecture. The products
feature 16 interface ports of up to 155Mbps dedicated network
bandwidth. LattisCell began shipping in August.

A number of new products have been introduced.

The model 10114  features 16 ports with multi-mode fiber
SONET/SDH interfaces, and is designed for use in workgroup
networks and in campus backbones as internetworking vendors
bring out SONET interfaces. It costs $35,950 and is available
now.

The model 10114-SM, features 14 ports with multi-mode
fiber SONET/SDH interfaces and two ports with single-mode
SONET/SDH interfaces. It is designed to provide access to WANs
where carriers can provide SONET/SDH services or lease optical
fiber, and will be available in the first quarter of 1994.

The model 10114-DS3 features 14 multi-mode fiber SONET/SDH
interfaces and two ports with coax DS3 interfaces. The company
says that the DS3 interfaces will enable LANs to extend through
the WAN with widely available and more economical 45Mbps T3
services. It will be available in first quarter of 1994.

The model 10115 features 12 ports of Category 5 UTP (unshielded
twisted pair) SONET/SDH interfaces and four ports of multi-mode
fiber SONET/SDH interfaces. The company maintains that the UTP
interfaces will provide low-cost, high performance desktop
connectivity. Although delivery of the interface is expected in the
first quarter of 1994, it is dependent on the development of an
ATM Forum specification. Pricing is expected to be under $28,000.

The model 10124-S features 12 ports with multi-mode fiber 100
Mbps interfaces and four ports of multi-mode fiber SONET/SDH
interfaces. The switch can be used in environments where users
want to connect workgroups with the 100 Mbps interface and
maintain SONET in the  backbone.

The SONET/SDH 155.52 Mbps ATM SBus Adapter card reportedly
occupies a single SBus slot in SPARC 2 and 10 workstations, and
will support the SONET UNI 155 Mbps Physical Layer as defined
by  the ATM Forum.

(Ian Stokell/19931129/Press Contact: Amanda Jaramillo,
408-764-1180, SynOptics Communications Inc; or Susan Ice,
408-764-7360, Thomas Associates Inc.)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00014)

AMD Intros Local Bus SCSI Controller, Single-Chip PCI SCSI 11/30/93
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- The PCI
(Peripheral Component Interconnect) local bus specification
continues to gain in popularity, as does SCSI (Small Computer
Systems Interface) technology. Now Advanced Micro Devices has
announced, what the company claims is, a "complete, low-cost
hardware and software package facilitating the design of SCSI
onto PCI local bus personal computer motherboards."

AMD says that its PCSCSI is a single-chip Fast SCSI-2 controller
paired with software in order to support a wide range of operating
systems and SCSI peripherals. It is reportedly optimized for use on
PCI local bus motherboards and provides a "glueless interface to
the PCI bus."

AMD claims that the cost to implement SCSI on the motherboard
with PCSCSI (including all passive components and software) is
less than $30.

PCI is a 32-bit local bus technology that reportedly eliminates
the traditional input/output (I/O) bottleneck between CPUs (central
processing units) and high-performance components such as
graphics controllers. A SCSI controller allows PC users to connect
up to seven high-speed SCSI peripherals to the CPU through a
common interface.

In announcing the products, Andy Robin, director of operations
for AMD's I/O and network products division, said, "To be a viable
player in SCSI you need to have a complete suite of software
drivers complementing your hardware. We're enabling SCSI to
become a standard in IBM-compatible PCs by offering
manufacturers a complete solution at the lowest possible cost."

AMD says that PCSCSI contains: a Fast SCSI core, which provides an
8-bit SCSI interface supporting single-ended SCSI with transfer
rates of 10MB-per-second (MBps); a bus master DMA engine, which
contains a 96-byte FIFO which allows 32-bit memory transfers in
burst mode across the PCI bus at 132MBps speeds; and a PCI bus
interface unit, that consists of configuration space and a PCI
master/slave interface as defined in the PCI Revision 2.0
specification.

AMD provides SCSI software to customers royalty-free after
payment of a "nominal, one-time licensing fee."  The software is a
C-based, two-layer architecture portable across all major
operating systems, claims the company.

Samples of PCSCSI are now available, with volume shipments
commencing in the first quarter 1994. PCSCSI is available in a
132-pin PQFP, priced in 1,000-piece quantities at $24.95.

(Ian Stokell/19931129/Press Contact: Jim Lochmiller,
408-982-7880, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00015)

DEC Plans Joint Venture In China 11/30/93
TAI KOO SHING, HONG KONG, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Digital Equipment
Corp., has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the
Founder Corporation Group in the People's Republic of China (PRC)
to begin negotiations to establish formal agreements.

The Founder Group Corporation is a fast-growing computer company
in the PRC, enjoying favorable connections and affiliations with
Peking University and other institutions there.

The MoU states the intention to initiate feasibility studies for the
establishment of more cooperative activities between the two
parties. At the conclusion of the studies, and based on market
conditions, both parties are considering establishing a factory in
China to produce Digital's personal computer products.

At the signing, which took place at the People's Great Hall, Enrico
Pesatori, US-based vice president and general manager of Digital's
personal computer business unit, said, "We are very excited by the
market potential in China and we expect to be a leader in the PC
market by working together with the Founder Group Corporation at
Peking University."

he continued: "We see the Asia Pacific region doing 25 percent of
our worldwide PC business by the end of 1994. To be successful
globally in the personal computer industry, we have to be successful
in China. This agreement with Founder Corporation Group at the
Peking University will help us accomplish that."

Alan Cheung, vice president of the Founder Group, said, "We expect
to sell 50,000 Digital PCs in 1994 in the PRC. Our customers
appreciate Digital's engineering capabilities and we look forward
to delivering the most competitive offering in the PRC today."

(Keith Cameron/19931124/Press Contact: Bonnie Engel,
852-805-3510, Digital Equipment Corp.)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00016)

Dell In Black Again, But '93 Sales Target Not Met 11/30/93
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Dell Computer
Corp., has returned to profitability in the third quarter of
this fiscal year, but earnings are far below what they were a year
ago and the computer maker says it will not reach its 1993 sales
target.

Dell says earnings for the third quarter are 60 percent below what
they were a year ago, and Chairman Michael Dell said sales will
not meet the company's $3 billion sales target for the year.

There were some bright spots on the report, with Dell showing an
improvement in cash flow and inventories, and new higher-margin
products selling well and getting favorable reviews.

The company reported earnings of $12 million, or $0.26 per share,
for the third quarter, which ended October 31. For the same
period last year earning were reported at $29.6 million, or $0.72
per share. Revenue for the third quarter was $757.3 million,
up 33 percent from the $570 million reported for the same period
last year.

Until this year, Dell has reported doubling of its year-over-year
sales every quarter. The growth rate slowed to 84 percent in the
first period and fell to 50 percent in the second period. Industry
watchers generally attribute Dell's problems to its failure to
keep up with the exploding notebook PC market and a Dell
spokesperson agreed.

"There's no question that was responsible for our difficulties,"
Roger Rydell told Newsbytes. Rydell said the company is gearing
up to re-enter the notebook business "in a big way," but confirmed
that Dell will announce a new product sometime in the first half
of 1994. "We won't announce anything until it's ready to ship."

(Jim Mallory/19931130/Press Contact: Roger Rydell, Dell
Computer, 512-728-4100; Reader Contact: Dell Computer,
800-289-3355)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00017)

Microsoft Cuts Price Of Works For Windows 3.0 11/30/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Microsoft
has temporarily reduced the price of Works for Windows version
3.0, and will bundle it with its personal financial management
software.

Until January 31, 1994 buyers who purchase Microsoft Works for
Windows 3.0 will get the integrated software suite for $89. If they
buy Works before January 1, 1994 the company says it will throw
in a copy of Microsoft Money 2.0.

Works for Windows 3.0 is available in a "regular" version and also
a CD-ROM version that includes video clips and some other
features. Once the introductory period is over the suggested
retail price for either version of Works for Windows will be $199.

Works includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database,
charting, drawing, and auto-dialing features and can merge
boilerplate text with addresses and other information to produce
personalized multiple mailings. Version 3.0 supports object
linking and embedding (OLE) making it compatible with other
OLE 2.0-compliant applications. That allows users of Works to
link data between documents, perform in-place editing, and use
"drag-and-drop" within a document or between documents or
modules.

The new release includes Cue Cards -- on-screen help that
teaches basic computing skills and provides step-by-step
help in completing a specific task.

Current users of Windows or DOS versions of Works can upgrade
by buying the new product and sending in the $10 rebate coupon
that is in the product box.

System requirements include at least a 386 microprocessor, four
megabytes (MB) of memory, a hard disk with at least four MB, and
preferably 15MB, of available space, MS-DOS 3.1 or higher, a VGA
or better display, Windows 3.1 or higher, and a high-density
(1.44MB) floppy drive. To use the multimedia edition a CD-ROM
drive is required, along with a sound board and headphones or
speakers.

(Jim Mallory/19931130/Press Contact: Julie Larkin, Microsoft
Corp, 206-882-8080; Reader Contact: Microsoft Corp, 206-882-
8080 or 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00018)

Wordperfect Ships Medical Spell Checker 11/30/93
OREM, UTAH, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Wordperfect has
announced that it is shipping a 140,000-term medical spell
checker that links to its Wordperfect word processing program.

Called Dorland's Electronic Medical Speller, the program
integrates with the spell checking capabilities of Wordperfect
so one pass through the document checks both medical and non-
medical terms.

The medical-term spell checker is based on the 27th version of
Dorland's Medical Speller and Dorland's Illustrated Medical
Dictionary. Wordperfect has recently formed alliances with
several third-party software publishers to enhance Wordperfect
for the healthcare and legal industries. Dorland's Illustrated
Medical Dictionary was first published in 1900.

Current users of Dorland's Electronic Medical Speller who
purchased the product after May 1, 1993, can upgrade at no cost
by calling Wordperfect. System requirements include 600
kilobytes (KB) of available disk space. It is compatible with
Wordperfect 5.1, 5.2 and 6.0 for Windows, and versions 5.1 and
6.0 for DOS.

The single-user version sells for $89, while a five-user pack has a
suggested retail price of $245. The 20-user pack carries a $499
price tag, the 50-user version is priced at $999, and the 100-user
version costs $1,499.

(Jim Mallory/19931130/Press Contact: Ken Merritt, Wordperfect
Corp, 801-228-5059; Reader Contact: Wordperfect Corp,
tel [phone] or 800-451-51541, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(ATL)(00019)

 ****Supreme Court To Hear MCI Tariff Appeal 11/30/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- The full US
Supreme Court will hear an appeal by MCI of decisions which
would force it to publicly disclose details of special deals it
enters into with big customers.

AT&T had originally filed a demand for the filings in an
"administrative complaint proceeding" with the Federal
Communications Commission in 1989. The FCC had declined to
settle that on AT&T's terms, and AT&T had sued successfully
in lower courts in an effort to force the disclosures.

Most recently a US District Court ruled that AT&T would have to
find relief in the case from the FCC, which requires far more
detailed filings from AT&T than its rivals under its "dominant
carrier" rules.

All this has resulted in periodic public shouting matches between
AT&T and its rivals in which both sides assert the truth. AT&T
spokesmen claim that they continue to lose market share because
MCI and Sprint do not file the same tariffs as AT&T, while MCI and
Sprint assert they are both in full compliance with the law. Both
statements may be true. AT&T's market share in long distance has
continued to fall since the 1984 Bell System break-up and now
stands at about 60 percent.

This is the background of the case. AT&T's original 1989
complaint charged MCI with violating Section 203 of the 1934
Communications Act, which mandates public filings on tariffs.

MCI's defense was the FCC relaxation of tariff rules for "non-
dominant carriers." The FCC's response, in denying AT&T's
complaint, was to set up an expedited system for possibly
modifying or allowing for appeal on the "dominant carrier" rules.

The US Court of Appeals then stayed the FCC's decision on the
AT&T complaint, saying it did not have the authority to relieve
phone companies of tariff filings. So far, that has been AT&T's
most important victory in its battle against the "dominant
carrier" straitjacket.

MCI, the FCC and the Clinton Administration all say that the FCC
can act in this way, in essence supporting the "dominant carrier"
concept. They have been joined by most of the US telephone
industry, including IBM.

Now, all those petitions have been consolidated into a single appeal
in which MCI's position is being carried by US Solicitor General
Drew Days III, arguing that the permissive de-tariffing policy of
the FCC is "almost as old as the competitive long-distance market"
and the appeals court failed to consider the section of the
communications act giving Congress authority to modify it.

The Supreme Court will schedule oral arguments in the case for
early next year, and should rule by June.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931130/Press Contact: David Thompson, MCI,
202-887-2223)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(ATL)(00020)

D&B Signs Resale Deal For Credit Ratings 11/30/93
MURRAY HILL, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Dun &
Bradstreet has signed an agreement to let FIND/SVP, a New York-
based information brokerage and market research firm, resell
D&B credit reports, including CreditSources ratings, starting
next month.

Dun & Bradstreet data is available on many on-line services,
including Dialog, but that data does not include D&B's credit
ratings -- its' short-hand estimate of corporate credit-worthiness
based on its own analysis of the numbers.

Until now, spokesman Pamela Spiridon told Newsbytes, "I believe
it's only been available directly before. Now FIND/SVP is "going to
be selling our business information report, which includes the
credit rating. We're not delivering it directly to their client. They
are. They're in fact our client, and we're supplying them a license
to, in turn, distribute our products to their clients."

FIND/SVP is not an on-line service, but it began as a company
which searched databases for corporate clients by request. It
later expanded with agents across the country, and began
performing market research like polls and surveys as well.

Under the agreement FIND/SVP will charge $55 for D&B summary
reports, which include "financial, payment and public record
information as well as the business history and operations,"
according to a press statement from the two companies.

"FIND/SVP can also offer D&B's Summary Report that contains
just the business history and operations for $35," said the
company. D&B hopes the agreement will help it reach more
customers among the small and mid-sized US businesses
among FIND/SVP's 2,000 clients.

"D&B reports are among the bet sources of information on
companies, especially privately held firms," said FIND/SVP
president Andrew Garvin in a press statement. "Many of the 13,000
executives we serve in smaller and medium-sized companies don't
understand the potential information value of these reports. Now
we can not only explain it, but can provide it as well."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931130/Press Contact: Dun & Bradstreet,
Pamela Spiridon, 908-665-5105)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00021)

Bell Video Update 11/30/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- The
regional Bells and GTE are all aboard with First Amendment
arguments, while Bell Atlantic prepares for the first market
test of its own court-given rights.

Pacific Telesis became the latest Bell company to file a court
case against the 1984 Cable Act, arguing that its First Amendment
rights to free speech were abridged by the act's prohibitions
against its entry into cable television. US District Judge T.S.
Ellis had agreed with Bell Atlantic's similar arguments in a
decision handed down earlier this year, but that decision holds
only within Bell Atlantic's service territory. Thus, if they are
not to be left behind, the nation's other phone companies must
follow suit, and they have.

PacTel's suit will be heard in San Jose, and the company is
seeking outright repeal of the law. It also wants the right to
make contracts with producers and take a financial interest in
its video ventures.

Bell Atlantic, meanwhile, said it will begin a market trial of
its own video-on-demand services in northern Virginia on March 1.
It will set up, what it calls, a Video Dial Tone Sales Center in
January hoping to recruit up to 2,000 customers, and is
encouraging both video programmers and other information service
providers to participate in the trial. The improved phone system
it is building in Alexandria, Virginia, capable of providing
video, can serve up to 60,000 customers.

All of these issues will, in time, have to be dealt with by the
Federal Communications Commission, now officially headed by Reed
Hundt, an anti-trust attorney with the Los Angeles-based firm of
Latham and Watkins. After a long "hold" on the nomination in the
full Senate by Republicans upset that President Clinton has
failed to name enough Republicans to open seats on independent
agency boards requiring Republicans, Hundt's nomination was
finally approved just before the Senate adjourned for the year.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931130)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00022)

Motorola Licenses Patents For CDPD 11/30/93
SCHAUMBURG, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Motorola has
licensed patent and intellectual rights used by the Cellular
Digital Packet Data, or CDPD, consortium in their final
specification for the technology. The move eliminates any
potential patent cloud on the CDPD spec.

Spokesman Sheri Benjamin told Newsbytes Motorola had been
committed to such a move ever since it said it would participate
in the development of a CDPD spec, and work to produce network
infrastructure and subscriber products implementing it.

"They knew it was possible that the specification might violate
their rights" as preliminary versions were drawn up, she explained.
"When they looked at the new, final version of the specification,
Motorola recognized that it still had a problem. This addresses
that problem by allowing licensing of rights to technology that
was already part of the spec."

CDPD defines a packet data network using unused cellular calling
channels. Motorola will hold discussions with other equipment
makers as well to license its patents, under the guidelines and
policies of the Telecommunications Industry Association and the
American National Standards Institute.

"Licensing our patented technologies to other manufacturers, on a
fair and reasonable basis, will ensure that these companies can
fully  proceed in offering products meeting the CDPD standard
which incorporate technologies covered by Motorola's patents,"
explained Bob Growney, executive vice president of Motorola and
general manager of  the Paging and Wireless Data Group, in a press
statement.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931130/Press Contact: Sheri Benjamin, for
Motorola, 408-559-6090)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00023)

 ****DEC, Microsoft In Object-Oriented Alliance 11/30/93
MAYNARD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Digital
Equipment Corp., and Microsoft Corp., have announced they will
work together to link object-oriented technology from the two
companies. By making Microsoft's Object Linking and Embedding
(OLE) and DEC's ObjectBroker software work together, the firms
said they will help customers meld applications on different
hardware into integrated systems.

Both OLE and ObjectBroker let different programs communicate and
cooperate. For instance, with a word processor and a spreadsheet
package that both support OLE, a computer user who wants to edit
a table in a word processing document can use the functions of
the spreadsheet package to do so, without leaving the word
processor.

OLE provides this kind of function in Microsoft's Windows
operating environment, and a version for the Apple Macintosh
entered beta testing earlier this fall. DEC's ObjectBroker offers
similar capabilities on DEC's OpenVMS and Ultrix operating
systems and on several variants of the Unix operating system.

The companies said their new Common Object Model (COM)
architecture will let the two work together seamlessly.

Rod Hodgman, manager of strategic alliances at DEC, said
integrating OLE and ObjectBroker will mean that, for example, a
user will be able to click on a cell in a Lotus Development 1-2-3
worksheet and invoke software running on a Sun Microsystems
server.

This will let information systems personnel build custom
applications that run across multiple computers by tying together
shrink-wrapped applications, he said. It will also allow personal
computer users to create their own links. For instance, a
stockbroker who uses a spreadsheet program to massage numbers
taken from a remote database on a network server might now be
able to work with the database without leaving the spreadsheet.

Digital and Microsoft will be updating their software to
implement the new integration, Hodgman said, but the changes will
be invisible to users. This means that applications that now work
with OLE or ObjectBroker will be able to take advantage of the
new integration without any changes. The companies plan to
release further details of how the links will work in the first
quarter of 1994, Hodgman added, and in the meantime users and
developers can build applications using OLE and ObjectBroker and
expect them to work with the new Common Object Model
architecture later.

ObjectBroker already has a gateway to Microsoft's dynamic data
exchange (DDE) protocol, which allows data copied from one
application to another to retain a "hot link" so that when the
original is updated the copy will also change. Hodgman said the
COM will provide tighter integration and users and developers
will not have to understand that they are dealing with a gateway.

ObjectBroker complies with the Common Object Request Broker
Architecture (CORBA) specification.

(Grant Buckler/19931130/Press Contact: Richard Price, Digital,
508-486-5198; Beverley Flower, Microsoft, 206-882-8080)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00024)

CA's Realia Workbench Aimed At Offloading, Downsizing 11/30/93
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Computer
Associates International Inc., is seeking sales to companies that
want to take some of the software-development load off their
mainframe computers, and those downsizing production systems
to personal computers, with a new software development tool set.

CA-Realia II Workbench is a set of development tools for personal
computers. It includes the company's CA-Realia COBOL compiler
as well as other utilities to help develop software on a standard
PC equipped with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software.

Marc Sokol, vice-president of product strategy at CA, said the
bulk of the initial market for Realia Workbench will probably be
companies that want to take some of the strain off their
mainframe computers by moving software development work to PCs.
Realia Workbench will let them develop software on PCs that will
eventually run on the larger machines, he said.

"The largest market today is to go into large mainframe shops
that are using relatively old techniques on 3270s (mainframe
terminals) to maintain COBOL systems," Sokol said.

In time, though, CA also expects the new software to be used more
and more for developing software that will actually run on PCs.
As customers get used to developing on PCs, Sokol said, they are
likely to start looking more seriously at using them to run
production systems as well.

In addition to the COBOL compiler, which will still be sold
separately, Realia Workbench includes an interactive source-level
debugger, and life-cycle management features, and
"COBOL-intelligent navigation" that lets a developer step forward
or backward through the logic of a program. It also emulates the
mainframe CICS (customer information control system)
transaction processing monitor and VSAM (virtual storage access
method) file system, and supports other mainframe and PC
database file structures, CA officials said.

CA-Realia COBOL as a stand-alone product will continue to appeal
to customers who just need to compile COBOL source code and do
not need all the features of the Workbench tool set, Sokol said.

The compiler will continue to sell for $995, while CA-Realia
Workbench will list for $2,500. Users who already have Realia
COBOL can upgrade to the complete Workbench for $1,250. CA is
also offering a competitive upgrade to users of rival Micro Focus
Inc.'s COBOL Workbench for $1,500.

Shipping now, CA-Realia Workbench will run on any PC equipped
with Windows 3.1 running in enhanced mode, plus DOS 3.3 or later,
said Sokol. It is also compatible with local area networks,
according to the vendor.

(Grant Buckler/19931130/Press Contact: Bob Gordon, Computer
Associates, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00025)

Systemhouse Reports Loss, Forecasts Profit Soon 11/30/93
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- SHL Systemhouse
Inc., has reported losses in its fourth quarter and fiscal 1993, but
the company said it expects to turn a profit again in the first
quarter of the new fiscal year.

In its fiscal 1993, ended August 31, the systems integration and
outsourcing firm lost C$145.1 million on total revenues of C$912.9
million. The net loss includes a C$135 million restructuring charge
in the fourth quarter. These figures compare with a loss of C$9.5
million on revenues of C$738.6 million in fiscal 1992.

In the fourth quarter, after the restructuring charge, Systemhouse
lost C$149 million on revenues of C$225.3 million, compared
to a loss of $7.4 million on revenues of C$190.4 million in the
fourth quarter of last year.

The restructuring charge is made up of four items, officials
said. One is a C$50 million charge for completion of all the
company's remaining mainframe-based complex systems
integration projects, a business Systemhouse is abandoning.
Another C$24 million was set aside for cost reduction provisions
in various business units. This will not include staff cuts,
company spokesman Rick Gray said.

Another C$24 million was earmarked to write off unamortized
pre-operating expenses from new offices the company has set up
in the past two years. Finally, the company wrote down by $37
million Canadian trademarks of its ComputerLand Canada operation,
because ComputerLand Corp., recently sold the US trademark to
distributor Merisel Corp.

Before the restructuring charges, Systemhouse had a
fourth-quarter operating loss of C$8.6 million, compared with
C$600,000 net income in the same quarter last year. Gray said
this was due to delays in signing and beginning work on large
contracts, commitment of resources to finish those contracts,
and efforts to reach milestones on certain large government
contracts in the United States.

Systemhouse believes it will earn profits in the first quarter
and throughout the coming fiscal year, he said.

The company is moving away from mainframe systems integration
work to transformational outsourcing and downsizing jobs. To
help it move in that direction, Systemhouse has acquired several
smaller firms in the past year, picking up expertise in
client/server computing and related areas.

The company said its operating revenues were C$401.9 million
in the full fiscal year, up 45 percent from 1992, and C$108.8
million in the fourth quarter, up 46 percent from the
year-earlier quarter.

(Grant Buckler/19931130/Press Contact: Rick Gray, SHL
Systemhouse, 312-697-5668)


(CORRECTION)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00026)

Correction - Fulcrum Technologies Launches Public Offering 11/30/93
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- In a news item
with the above headline that appeared in Newsbytes' daily edition
November 22, the annual revenues of Fulcrum Technologies Inc.,
were incorrectly given as $150 million. This figure is in fact
the annual revenues of Datamat Ingegneria dei Sistemi S.p.A. of
Rome, Fulcrum's sole shareholder. Newsbytes regrets the error.

(Grant Buckler/19931130/Press Contact: Barbara Johnson, Fulcrum,
613-238-1761; Wendy Rajala, for Fulcrum, 905-338-8532)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00027)

Lotus Upgrades Document Imaging System For Notes 11/30/93
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Lotus
Development is shipping release 2 of Lotus Notes: Document
Imaging (LN:DI), and Newsbytes has learned that a number of further
enhancements will be made to the PC-based product family over
the next six months.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Scott Cooper, senior product
manager, explained that LN:DI (pronounced "Lindy") is designed to
allow easy incorporation of paper-based information into Lotus
Notes documents.

LN:DI consists of two main components, he added. The essential
element is LN:DI Image Viewer for Windows, a tool that lets end
users capture and archive faxes, correspondence, photos, brochures,
and other paper-based documents, and then view, manipulate, share,
and route the data in electronic form.

The LN:DI Image Viewer can be used in conjunction with the Lotus
Notes database. When large volumes of document images are
involved, however, Cooper recommends use of an optional software-
based storage subsystem called the LN:DI Image Mass Storage
System (MSS) for OS/2.

Both LN:DI components, said Cooper, are tightly integrated with
three more imaging products from Lotus: Incoming Fax Gateway,
Outgoing Fax Gateway, and Optical Character Reader (OCR) Server.
This product trio, revised over the past three months for higher
capacity and greater reliability, is now in release 1.02A.

In release 2 of LN:DI, Image Viewer has been given the ability to
work with color and grayscale images, in addition to the black-and-
white images handled under release 1. "Many of our customers have
told us they'd like to use LN:DI to distribute marketing collateral,
or to capture research in which the colors or shades of gray on the
charts really matter," Cooper commented.

Release 2 also brings newfound support for the OLE (object-linking
and embedding)-compliant Notes 3. According to Cooper, OLE allows
for a variety of usability improvements to LN:DI, including the
ability to use thumb-nails for accessing documents, in place of the
icons employed in release 1. Also in release 2, the document
viewer is newly compatible with both the Kodak Photo CD and
TWAIN specifications.

The optional MSS subsystem for LN:DI works with storage media
ranging from fast hard disks to slower, less expensive optical disk
jukeboxes and digital tape, Cooper told Newsbytes.

"MSS keeps the most recently accessed objects on the fastest
on-line storage media. Then, as objects drop, they are moved on to
slower media," he maintained. "With the first release of MSS, we
gave you the ability to migrate (information) one step. But now,
with release 2, you can chain any number of (storage) devices
together."

Taken together, the technical enhancements in release 2 add up to
greater ease of use, Cooper said. But also in release 2, Lotus has
made the LN:DI "easier to buy" by changing the pricing structure.
"Release 1 was priced at $295 per license, whether for client or
server," he reported. In release 2, Image Viewer and MSS are
separately priced: Image Viewer at $99 and MSS at $3,000.

By lowering the price of Image Viewer, Lotus is encouraging more
widespread use of LN:DI, Cooper told Newsbytes. LN:DI can be
utilized with or without MSS, but Image Viewer is central to the
system. "Once people get Image Viewer, they 'get the point.' They
understand what they have in LN:DI," he said.

The raised price on MSS reflects the greater complexity of the
storage subsystem in relation to the document viewer, and also
brings MSS into closer alignment with competing products,
Newsbytes was told.

For LN:DI, the next six months will bring a series of additional
enhancements to include an announcement in December related to
greater openness, a "server-side release" in January or February,
and a "really big announcement" in June, according to Cooper.

Lotus plans to pursue interoperability on a variety of fronts, he
suggested. "We want our documents to be able to read (other
vendors') documents. We want their documents to be able to read
our documents. We'd also like to build interchange gateways
between high-end imaging systems and LN:DI in the office," he
told Newsbytes.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931130/Reader Contact: Lotus Development
Corp., 617-577-8500; Press Contact: Meryl Franzman, McGlinchey
& Paul for Lotus, 617-862-4514)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00028)

Fujitsu Plans Chinese Mobile Phone Joint Venture 11/30/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Fujitsu says it will set up a
joint venture firm involving mobile phones and telephone switching
devices in China next year. Fujitsu already has a software joint
venture firm called Fukken-Fujitsu Telecommunication Software
in China.

Fujitsu is currently producing parts for telephone switching
devices through a Chinese firm in Shanghai. The demand for
mobile phones is increasing in China. It is expected that Fujitsu
will spend a total of four to five billion yen ($40 million to $50
million) in establishing the new firm.

Fujitsu is currently shipping Motorola's TACS-based mobile
phones to the Chinese market. By mid-next year, Fujitsu expects
to ship 10,000 units per month to China. The mobile phones are
currently shipped from Japan and the US.

The telecommunication market has been growing rapidly in
China, and devices include, not only mobile phones, but also
telephones and pocket pagers. Due to the growing demand, a
number of Japanese electronics makers are preparing to set
up joint venture firms in China.

Most recently, Casio decided to create a joint venture in
cooperation with Nichimen. NEC is also preparing to set up a
joint venture firm next year, and will ship pocket pagers next
February at the rate of 360,000 units per annum.

Matsushita Telecommunication Industry has already created a
joint venture firm, formed in June 1992. The firm previously
shipped 100,000 pagers per year, but that doubled to 200,000
units this year.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931126/Press Contact:
Fujitsu, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00029)

Hong Kong - Top Stockbroker Outsources COL Computing 11/30/93
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- One of Hong Kong's
leading stockbrokers, Baring Securities, has joined the growing
trend towards computer outsourcing by handing over its main
system to COL Ltd., the territory's largest independent computer
services company.

COL will operate and manage the Digital VAX 6410 system for
Baring Securities, giving some 50 on-line users round-the-clock
access to foreign exchange, trading, and accounting applications.
The move will enable Baring's systems management staff to
concentrate on development of new applications without having
to supervise day-to-day operations.

"It's difficult for a company like ours to recruit, let alone retain,
computer operators in Hong Kong," said Assistant Director Patrick
Lawlor. "Quite reasonably, they all want to move into systems
development, but we have only limited opportunities available. A
company the size of COL can offer a career path, so it is able to
maintain a very stable operations department with experienced
people."

He continued: "Another important factor is office space. As our
business grows, it makes less and less sense to have computers
taking up space in Exchange Square that could be used by people.
When you add the need for uninterruptible power supplies and
special airconditioning, COL's data center in Kwun Tong looks
very attractive."

The cost of office space in Hong Kong has reached unbelievable
levels, which often exceed that of Tokyo and New York. Kwun Tong
is an industrial district three miles across the harbor from the
main business district, known as Central. The fully digital
telecommunications network enables the concept of remote data
centers to come into reality.

Lawlor said COL's 24-hour service has improved Baring Securities'
job scheduling. "We're on-line from 8.30 in the morning till around
midnight," he explained. "When we go off-line, COL runs batch
systems that update all our records. This takes about six hours and
ensures that all our positions are up-to-date when dealing begins
again in the morning. If necessary, backup can be done on a Sunday
because COL operates seven days a week."

The Baring system, known as Super XTAS, was developed in London
and is still supported from there. COL staff call London direct to
resolve any operational problems that may occur, relieving the
local office of support responsibility. "In effect, we have a turnkey
system that looks after itself," said Lawlor. "We don't have to
worry about support at all."

Baring Securities joins Inchcape Pacific and Hill Samuel as recent
converts to outsourcing with COL. "In the UK and North America,
outsourcing is a major trend in the financial industry and I expect
to see more and more Hong Kong companies adopting this solution,"
said Lawlor. "While staff are cheaper here than in the West, space
costs are higher. Even so, the cost-benefit calculation still comes
out looking good."

Baring Securities is considering the possibility of relocating some
of its overseas computer systems to the COL data center. "Operators
are becoming more and more expensive in the West, while
international communications are getting cheaper and increasingly
reliable," said Lawlor. "It may be more cost-effective to support
users in Europe from a data center in Hong Kong than from
a local installation. We will be exploring that option early next
year."

(Keith Cameron/19931129/Press Contact: Peter Fishwick,
852-798 4798, COL)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00030)

Microsoft Australia Gets New Zealand Boss 11/30/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 NOV 30 (NB) -- Microsoft has chosen
a New Zealand executive to head its Australian operation.

Microsoft Australia has been headless since the sudden
resignation of former head Gary Jackson in mid-August over
troubles with a golf sponsorship deal. Since then, one of the
plum jobs in the Australian information technology (IT) scene
has been up for grabs. Now, Microsoft New Zealand Managing
Director Chris Kelliher has been chosen to fill the position.

Kelliher will take the reins as Microsoft Australia MD in the new
year. According to a prepared Microsoft statement, Kelliher
presided over a five-fold increase in sales during his two-year
tenure as NZ MD. Before that he was a DEC hand for five years,
holding two jobs as senior sales executive and local sales manager
of the computer special systems group in NZ capital Wellington.

"Microsoft conducted an extensive international executive search
internally and externally for a new managing director and Kelliher
was the best candidate, with excellent qualifications for the role."
said former holder of the job and current Microsoft Asia Pacific
Boss Daniel Petre.

In New Zealand, Autodesk was responsible for two NZ software
pirates being convicted after pleading guilty to four charges of
using an altered or reproduced document with the intent to
defraud -- AutoCAD and Autodesk software and manuals. They
have yet to be sentenced.

(Computer Daily News/19931126)