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/NB930226

Text File | 1993-02-26 | 88KB | 2,022 lines

(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00001)

Australia - Compaq Blamed For Dealer Problems 02/26/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Compaq Australia has
called the receivers in to one of its dealers. The dealer says
his troubles were caused by Compaq in the first place.

Computer World Solutions (CWS) is owned and operated by Mike Boulos
who at one time had a financial interest in Computerland stores
in Australia. It operates as a high-volume, low-price outlet, carrying
a range of run-out stock. While it isn't quite a clearing house,
it tends to be that type of operation.

One major brand carried by Computer World Solutions is Compaq,
and they are typically clear-out lines advertised with a heavy
emphasis both on the Compaq brand and reputation, and the price which
is usually just a fraction of the original list.

CWS bought 450 Deskpro machines from Compaq that were
due to be replaced by the Prolinea line. Boulos claims he only had
10 days to sell the machines before Compaq started advertising the
Prolineas and that simply wasn't long enough to clear the machines.
The bundle was 450 PCs for around $700,000.

The situation came to a head on January 20 when CWS defaulted
on a payment to Compaq believed to be around $200,000. The total
debt is thought to be at least twice this. Compaq has lost money
to at least one other major dealer recently - perhaps as much as $3M.

Compaq denies that it dumped the machines saying that Boulos knew
what he was buying and the timing of any new machines. Sources
believe Compaq may consider retrieving any unsold machines but this
would still leave a shortfall in money owed.

(Paul Zucker/19930226)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00002)

Australia - Smart Fax Modem Also Operates Stand-alone 02/26/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Australian telecom hardware
manufacturer X-Direct has launched a small, low-cost fax modem
that has a number of unique features. The Australian designed
and manufactured machine is direct-marketed for AUS$495 (around
US$340).

MicroFax is essentially a credit-card unit, built into a portable,
pocket-sized case. It works as expected with PCs, offering both
full group 3 fax capability and 2400 bps data communications. It
can also work as a stand-alone device. When connected to a phone
line and a compatible printer it prints faxes as received.
The modem automatically detects whether it is connected to a
Bubblejet or HP Laser printer and uses an appropriate driver to
print.

If no printer is connected it can store up to 15 full pages which
it will print later or dump to a PC when either of these is connected.
It can also be remotely polled and the received pages transferred
to another fax machine or fax modem or PC. In this capacity it acts as
a "store and forward" machine.

When connected to a PC the MicroFax works with all standard fax
software and it will also fax directly from any program that can
output plain ASCII text, which is just about every program.

X-Direct said it holds patents for the technology and plans to
export it. It is looking for distributors in many countries. For
more information contact Ian Buddery of X-Direct on [phone]
or fax Blackie McDonald on [phone].

(Paul Zucker/19930226)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00003)

Australia - ISDN Library Without Walls 02/26/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- The State Library of New
South Wales in Australia has installed a multimedia image transfer
system using ISDN data communications. A report in Computerworld
Australia this week says the Multimedia Library Link ISDN project
was at first set up to explore the use of ISDN (Integrated
Services Digital Network) for transmitting color images between
libraries.

Project coordinator Amanda Kelly said, "Now remote access to items
such as the unparalleled Australian pictures and manuscripts
collection at the Mitchell Library in Sydney is possible by anyone
with an ISDN-connected computer." The library is busy collecting
images electronically and already has more than 300,000 on videodisc
as well as large amounts of commercially available material on CD-ROM.

The software used is Super VideoWindows by New Media Graphics, and
JPEG compression to reduce images to a fraction of their original
size. The images are collected from a number of devices such as a
video camera and copy lights. Using the system a standard VGA screen
can be transferred in just 11 seconds. This equates to around US15c
between Australian cities.

(Paul Zucker/19930226)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00004)

 ****IBM Goes To The Movies 02/26/93
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- To the list
of all those that have trekked west to Hollywood seeking fame and
fortune, add IBM.

The battered computer company has announced a joint venture with
three prominent Hollywood figures. Digital Domain, 50 percent
owned by IBM, will begin by producing special effects for the
makers of movies, television programs, commercials, music videos
and the like. Later, the company hopes to move into creating its
own productions.

The principals in the new company are: James Cameron, a writer,
director, and producer who will serve as chairman of Digital
Domain; Scott Ross, formerly of George Lucas' Industrial Light
and Magic, will be its president and chief executive; and Stan
Winston, a character creator who has been nominated for seven
academy awards.

At a press conference in Los Angeles announcing the new company,
Cameron said Digital Domain will be a place where directors can
"have the pictures inside their heads made real."

The three Hollywood executives wanted to apply advanced
technology to video production and talked with a variety of
potential partners, Cameron said. "To our surprise, the company
which shared our vision most closely was Big Blue."

IBM, meanwhile, has been exploring the field for several years.
"What we were struggling with was, how do you get a computer
company into the next generation of content," said Kathleen
Earlie, an IBM multimedia executive.

IBM needed access to the Hollywood creative community, Cameron
said. Earlie agreed. "We knew that we'd never find the first
production inside IBM except for a title that ran on a PC
platform, and we know that is not going to be a breakthrough,"
she said.

Lucie J. Fjeldstad, vice-president and general manager of
multimedia at IBM, said Cameron, Winston, and Ross will have
creative control of the company.

Digital Domain may or may not use IBM hardware, such as its Power
Visualization System, in its projects, the executives said. Ross
said the company would be free to use "the right tool for the
job," whether it comes from IBM or not. And Fjeldstad said
Digital Domain is fundamentally about creating intellectual
property, not about hardware, though she also said IBM is
optimistic its hardware products will play a role.

Officials would not say exactly how much money IBM has put into
Digital Domain, nor how many employees the organization plans to
hire initially.

At first, the company will concentrate on producing special
effects for movies, television, commercials, music videos and so
forth. Later, Cameron said, it will move into "being a creator of
intellectual property."

(Grant Buckler/19930225/Press Contact: David Harrah, IBM,
914-765-6666; Kim Sudhalter, Technology Solutions PR for IBM,
212-505-9900)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00005)

Storagetek Offers Convertible Exchangable Stock 02/26/93
LOUISVILLE, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 25 (NB) -- Storage
Technology Corporation (Storagetek) has announced that it is
offering three million shares of convertible exchangeable preferred
stock with a liquidation preference of $50 per share. The total
offering is $150 million.

The company says the preferred stock will pay an annual cumulative
dividend of $3.50 per share and will be convertible at any time at
the option of the shareholder into shares of common stock at a
conversion rate of just over two shares of common for each share of
preferred. That equates to a conversion price of $23.50 per share.

The preferred stock is exchangable at Storagetek's option beginning
March 15, 1995 for the company's seven percent convertible
subordinated debentures due in the year 2008.

Salomon Brothers is the lead manager for the offering, with Lehman
Brothers and Needham an Company as co-managers. The underwriters
have an option to purchase an additional 450,000 shares to cover any
over-allotments.

Storagetek says it will use the proceeds for working capital, capital
expenditures associated with the development and introduction of a
number of new products, and for other general corporate purposes.
Storagetek spokesperson David Reid told Newsbytes the funds would be
used to bring about a dozen new products to market in 1993,
including Powderhorn and Wolfcreek, which Newsbytes has reported
previously. The company will also introduce Silverton, a 36-track
tape transport system; and Alpine, a RAID storage management system
for midrange computers. It recently announced NearNet, a personal
computer network data storage system.

Storagetek manufactures and markets data storage subsystems for
mainframe and minicomputer systems and has recently entered the
networked personal computer market.

(Jim Mallory/19930225/Press contact: Michael Klatman, Storagetek,
303-673-5020; Reader contact: Storagetek, 303-67-5151)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00006)

Exabyte Completes Acquisitions 02/26/93
BOULDER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 25 (NB) -- Exabyte Corporation
says it has completed the acquisition of two tape companies that will
provide its customers with a broader range of tape storage products
to meet several distinct markets.

Exabyte has acquired the assets of the Mass Storage Division (MSD)
of Everex Systems for $5 million in cash. MSD manufactures
quarter-inch cartridge DC-2000 tape drives. The company also
acquired Tallgrass Technologies Corporation for $1.5 million in
cash. Tallgrass markets 8mm, 4mm, quarter inch cartridge and tape
stackers. Exabyte acquired digital audio tape system maker R-Byte
in October 1992.

Exabyte Chairman Peter Behrendt said the acquisitions represent
Exabyte's commitment to provide its customers with a choice of tape
technologies. "We want Exabyte to be their one-stop-shop tape
vendor," said Behrendt.

The MSD acquisition includes the MSD tape research and development
unit in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the manufacturing assets in Fremont,
California. The R&D team will remain in Ann Arbor, while the
manufacturing functions will be transferred to Exabyte's Boulder,
Colorado facility. Exabyte says future plans for the quarter-inch
cartridge product include a migration path for multi-gigabyte
capacities on the DC-2000 cartridge as well as an improvement in
performance.

Tallgrass, located in Lenexa, Kansas, will continue to operate as a
wholly owned subsidiary of Exabyte.

(Jim Mallory/19930225/Press contact: Susan Merriman, Exabyte
Corporation, 303-447-7434; Reader contact: Exabyte Corporation,
303-442-4333, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00007)

Editorial - Computer Etiquette 02/26/93
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- By Keith Cameron. Etiquette,
not ethics, is the important factor with desktop computing.

If you had just purchased a new auto, you would be justifiably
proud of it and more than likely you would show it off to
family and friends alike.

But how would you feel if every person to whom you showed it,
leapt in behind the wheel without asking and took your pride
and joy for a 100-mile spin? And they didn't even take you with
them!

You wouldn't be very happy, I am sure. There is little doubt
you would treat the matter very seriously and maybe even
consider suing the perpetrators. At the very least you would
certainly be very worried about the condition in which your
once-sparkling new vehicle may return.

What is it about a personal computer which changes the very
nature of otherwise friendly and sensitive souls to keyboard
mad freaks?

You all know the type I mean, characters that march in, see
your PC, and proceed to browse through your files to see what
games they can play or files they can read. No asking, no
permission, not a thought of confidentiality or physical
security. And the risks go well beyond the simple introduction
of a virus.

My brother raised this question with me when I was visiting him
recently: "It seems to me that the PC manufacturers and
software developers have produced some marvellous products over
the past decade, but they have all forgotten to address the
issue of computer etiquette."

"What gives anyone the right to come barging in, sit down at my
computer, and then page through all my confidential
correspondence just in curiosity? That is not to mention my
household inventory and private accounts," he said.

Computer etiquette, it has a nice ring to it.

When the automobile first appeared about one hundred years ago
it quickly became apparent that, as mere humans, we needed to
be controlled with, not by, these new toys. Rules had to be
introduced which would ensure the safety and welfare of those
both inside and outside the horseless carriage. Why not now the
PC?

It is true that we have dropped the idea of someone walking
ahead of the vehicle with a bell or a light, but road rules
still abound and common courtesy is a fundamental practice of
most drivers today. Common courtesy seems to disappear as soon
as some people close in on the desktop.

We read scrolls of scribings on software piracy, about computer
crime, hardware counterfeiting, and the shabby practices of many
PC dealers around the world. But I am not talking about ethics,
I am talking about etiquette.

The other day I was endeavouring to assist my daughter's
fiancee, Gary Johnson, with a puzzling symptom he had been
experiencing for some time. In our usual manner, we were at
either end of a telephone connection and I was "handholding"
him through a few tests, checking the diagnostic messages and
the results as we went along.

Visitors arrived at his house in the middle of our complex
testing road and, before he could avoid it, one of his visitors
sat down at the PC and started to fiddle. Gary tried to
extricate this unwelcome intrusion on our testing but was met
with: "You tell me what to do and I will key it in."

No matter how much Gary tried to explain the situation, his
visitor refused to move and as a result we had to postpone our
test session to another day.

Part of the problem may be that the PC is often bought as a
"toy," regardless of the age of the purchaser. The unreasonable
assumption appears to be that everyone else has bought their
machines as toys, and it is OK to play with them at any time.
Perish the thought that someone might be using their PC for a
useful and constructive, even profitable, purpose.

In his spare time, Gary has been developing an ingenious magic
show, designing and building complex equipment for his unique
act. On his PC he has a SoundBlaster Pro music card, and he is
sampling, tweaking and mixing his background music and special
effects. Many megabytes of it.

The problem we were trying to fix was causing his files to
mysteriously become corrupted, and understandably he was rather
sensitive about those files. You can imagine his concern when
his precious files were put in jeopardy by a person with only a
hobby knowledge of PCs and no knowledge at all of the
complexities of mixing digitized music.

I wonder who will be the first to publish the principles of
common courtesy with personal computers? Will it be Microsoft,
who could easily include a card or sticker with its ubiquitous
operating system software; or will be Borland or Software
Publishing Corporation demonstrating their professionalism once
again?

(Keith Cameron/19930223)


(REVIEW)(UNIX)(WAS)(00008)

Review of - Peter Norton's Guide To Unix, A Book 02/26/93

From: By Peter Norton and Harley Hahn, ISBN: 0-553-35260-1.
Published by Bantam Computer Books, 666 Fifth Ave., New York,
NY 10103. Phone [phone]

Price: $26.95 ($33.95 Canada)

PUMA Rating: 4 on a scale 1=lowest to 4=highest

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: John McCormick

Summary: A well-written, interesting, and understandable
introduction to what may well be the most versatile and important
computer operating system.

======

REVIEW

======

Unix is a true hacker's dream operating system, both because of
its complexity and because, for the most part, it was actually
written by hackers. Not hackers in the new computer vandal sense
but as the term was originally used to describe amateurs or
professionals who love computers so much that they tinker with
them virtually non-stop.

Providing a decent introduction to Unix for non-hackers, or even
the latest generation of computer enthusiasts who lack the
culture that thrived at MIT, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon back
in the 60's, was a major challenge.

Unix grew over a period nearly twice as long as MS-DOS has
existed until now it can occupy as much as 140 megabytes of hard
disk space; due to this underground growth Unix is extremely rich
in commands and utilities.

While MS-DOS has about 60 commands, some with a few switches that
can be used to modify the way they work, this book lists 538
commands for full-blown Unix, and that doesn't even count the
commands for the built-in vi editor.

This book takes 72 pages to get to a chapter called "Preparing to
Use Unix," and nearly every one of the previous pages is both
interesting and provides important background for those delving
into this most complex of operating environments. Even an MS-DOS
expert will want to read nearly every page to gain a feel for
what the authors emphasize is a culture as much as an operating
system.

In some ways Unix is a dinosaur compared to MS-DOS. Just a quick
example will show how different it is even at the most basic
level. If you are familiar enough with PCs to know that ASCII is
a special binary code that represents 256 characters such as the
alphabet, then you might be surprised to learn that Unix ASCII
only has 128 characters. This is because Unix was a
well-developed language by the time a "byte" was redefined by
IBM as an 8-bit number - a byte was still only 7 bits long when
Unix was born.

Unix also cares about whether your commands or file names have
any capital letters - current operating systems treat them all
the same way.

This is just part of the introduction this book offers to the
Unix culture. "Guide to UNIX" also provides an excellent
introduction to what can be a very confusing aspect of Unix -
the fact that, unlike MS-DOS, there are a number of command shells
in Unix. While DOS's COMMAND.COM is the only command line shell
users need to learn, Unix has the Bourne Shell, C-Shell,
Restricted Bourne Shell, Korn Shell, Restricted Korn Shell, tcsh,
and even a Bourne Again Shell.

There is so much in this book that any review can only touch on
what it contains, but most of all Peter Norton and Harley Hahn
provide a sense of how much fun computing used to be and still
can be.

But, on a practical level, why would anyone want to learn such a
complex and quirky operating system? Simple; while MS-DOS and
local area networks struggle to provide multitasking and multi-
user environments, these two major features are at the heart of
Unix and they work well.

OS/2 offers the same tools but, while Unix is actually fun to
play and work with, I just can't imagine anyone enjoying a chance
to work with OS/2 or Microsoft's forthcoming Windows NT.

While it does provide a fine introduction to the basics of Unix,
other books do that also; where this book really excels is in the
way the authors offer a small glimpse into the culture and fun of
early computing and a look at how Unix still provides that fun to
serious system-level users.

On the straight information side, the book also offers a good
glossary, a brief explanation of all major Unix terms, and a
step-by-step tutorial that will lead beginners through their
first few Unix sessions.

============

PUMA RATING

============

PERFORMANCE: 4 Remember that this is an "introduction," and you
won't be disappointed at the lack of advanced technical details.

USEFULNESS: 4 Again, for Unix novices this provides a feel for
the culture behind the operating system as well as a clear
introduction to its actual use.

AVAILABILITY: 4 Bantam is a major book publisher and this book is
not difficult to locate in larger computer book resellers.

(John McCormick/19921204/Press Contact: Linda Kallman, Kallman
Communications, 914-358-5153, or Adel H. Mariette, Bantam, 212-
492-9531)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00009)

BoCoEx Index 02/26/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Closing Prices
from the Boston Computer Exchange for the week ending February 26,
1993.

Machine                        Main  Closing     Price     Ask      Bid

                              Drive    Price    Change

IBM AT 339                   30 MgB      350               450      200

IBM PS/2 Model 30 286        20 MgB      450               500      300

IBM PS/2 Model 50Z           30 MgB      450               500      400

IBM PS/2 Model 55SX         120 MgB      875   down 75     900      800

IBM PS/2 Model 60            40 MgB      500               550      325

IBM PS/2 Model 70 A21       120 MgB     1000              1200      900

IBM ThinkPad 700C           120 MgB     3200              3400     3200

IBM V\P 3/25T MOD. 80        80 MgB     1500              1600     1500

IBM PS/2 Model 80           110 MgB      800               900      800

IBM PS/2 Model 95-OJF       400 MgB     3000              3300     2700

Compaq Portable II           20 MgB      425               500      375

Compaq Portable III          20 MgB      500               600      250

Compaq Portable 386         100 MgB      950              1100      800

Compaq SLT-286               40 MgB      650               700      600

Compaq LTE-286                40MgB      675               700      600

Compaq LTE-386                30MgB      750               850      700

Compaq LTE-LITE\25C           120MB     2600              2700     2550

Compaq Systempro LT-486     510 MgB     2200              2400     2100

Compaq Deskpro 386/25M       60 MgB     1400              1500     1350

Compaq Deskpro 486 /33I     120 MgB     1850              1900     1750

Compaq SysPro 486/33       2040 MgB     6800              7000     6300

Compaq DeskP 486DX2/66i     240 MgB     2100              2400     1900

AST Prem Exec 386SX20        40 MgB      900              1000      800

NEC UltraLite 286            20 MgB      650               800      600

NEC UltraLite 386SX/20       40 MgB      995              1000      950

Zenith Mastersprt-386SX      60 MgB      950   down 50    1100      900

Zenith SuperSport 386SX      40 MgB      850               900      800

Macintosh Classic            40 MgB      650   down 50     700      600

Macintosh Classic II         40 MgB      800               850      750

Macintosh SE                 20 MgB      650               700      600

Macintosh SE-30              80 MgB     1150  down 100    1250     1100

Macintosh LC                 40 MgB     1000              1300      800

Macintosh II                 40 MgB     1400              1500     1300

Macintosh II X               80 MgB     1800  down 100    2000     1700

Macintosh II CX              80 MgB     1700              1850     1600

Macintosh II CI              80 MgB     2350              2400     2300

Macintosh II FX              80 MgB     2900  down 100    3100     2800

Macintosh Quadra 700        160 MgB     3250              3500     3200

Macintosh Quadra 900        160 MgB     4150              4400     3900

Macintosh Powerbk 100        20 MgB      800               850      700

Macintosh Powerbk  140       40 MgB     1300              1400     1300

Macintosh Powerbk 170        80 MgB     2200              2300     2100

Apple Imagewriter 2                      200               225      175

Apple Laserwriter 2G                    1350              1400     1200

HP Laserjet II                           700               700      550

HP Laserjet III                          975              1100      900

Toshiba T-1200 XE            20 MgB      650               700      550

Toshiba T-1600               40 MgB      650               750      600

Toshiba T-2000 SX            40 MgB      950              1050      900

Toshiba T-2000 SXE           40 MgB      950              1050      900

Toshiba T-2200 SX             60MgB     1100              1200     1000

Toshiba T-3100 SX            80 MgB     1200              1300     1100

Toshiba T-3200               40 MgB      650               800      600

Toshiba T-3200 SX            40 MgB      950              1000      900

Toshiba T-3200 SXC          120 MgB     2250              2400     2100

Toshiba T-6400SX            120 MgB     2400              2700     2200

Toshiba T-4400SX            120 MgB     1900              2100     1800

Toshiba T-5200              100 MgB     1500              1500     1400

BoCoEx Index data is compiled by Market Analyst, Gary M. Guhman

Here are some current retail-oriented Seats on the Exchange, presented in a
cyclic basis.

Dallas - Ft. Worth, TX - DFW Computer Exchange - M.B. Lee - 817-244-7833

Escondido, Ca. - Affordable Computer Solutions - Dean Jacobus - 619-738-
4980

New Orleans, Louisiana - Audubon Computer Rental - Mike Barry - 504-522-
0348

Detroit, Michigan - CompuCycle - Walt Hogan - 313-887-2600

Computer Exchange\\NorthWest - Dye Hawley - 206-820-1181

Albuquerque, NM, Western Computer Exchange - David Levin - 505-265-1330

Fresno, California - MacSource Computers - Mike Kurtz - 209-438-6227

BoCoEx Index prices are based on complete systems with keyboard, VGA
monitor and adapter, less the value of any software or peripherals.  BoCoEx
Index appears in PC Week, Computer Reseller News, ComputerWorld, UPI and
IDG Wire Service, PC Satellite Network, Computer Currents, Newsbytes,
Canadian ComputerWeek, CompuServe, Delphi, Colorado TravelBank.

Boston Computer Exchange is available at: 617-542-4414, Buyer's HotLine: 1-
800-262-6399, In Alaska and Canada 1-800-437-2470,FAX: [phone].

(Bocoex/19930226)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00010)

AmCoEx Index of Used Computer Prices 02/26/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Notebook
computers, including those with various types of docking stations,
have caused significant changes in the computer industry. New
battery technology will soon accelerate these changes.

Most notebook computers are designed around the limitations of the
Ni-Cad batteries. More powerful batteries due soon will alleviate many
limitations. The nickel metal hydride batteries currently available
offer 40% more performance than the Ni-Cad. However, more dramatic
improvements are soon to come. Due next month, zinc-air batteries will
provide 300% greater performance than Ni-Cad. Later this year, lithium
polymer batteries will appear providing 500% improvements over the
Ni-Cad. This increased power may be useful for longer battery life or
more powerful processors and peripherals.

The new PCMCIA slots will soon become standard on every new
notebook computer. This slot will allow notebook computers to use
interchangeable memory cards, modems, faxes, removable hard drives, and
numerous other peripheral devices. These peripherals will be far less
expensive than the proprietary devices currently sold by the computer
makers. While designed for notebook computers, some feel these slots
will soon appear on desktop machines as well. While the miniature
devices sold for notebooks are more expensive than similar products on
larger boards, quantity manufacturing could drive the prices down.
These slots may become a standard feature on every new computer.

Many are saying the price wars among computer makers is over.
They feel prices of new computer will not drop any further and some
feel prices may rise this year. An additional factor for these higher
prices may be due to the Clinton administration's protectionist
attitude. Since the majority of computer components come from the Far
East, the new government may find ways to limit the use or
attractiveness of these items.

While prices for CD-ROM drives has been falling, demand for the
drives is skyrocketing. This may hold prices for the drives level until
the supply can meet the demand. Many are predicting the CD-ROM drive
will be the most popular peripheral for personal computers during 1993.
Apple Computer has stated that one half of all Macintoshes manufactured
this year will have a CD-ROM available as an option.

In 1991, IBM was still clinging to 35% of the personal computer
market. During 1992, its share had dropped to 17%. With high prices and
slow product introductions, the computer giant knew something had to be
done. The recent price war was the result. Many of the clone makers
have gone, or will soon go, out of business. These bankruptcies will
accelerate as many stores are dropping the low priced brands for the
premium companies with low priced systems. In addition, IBM is moving
faster to adapt to market conditions. In a move many feel others will
follow, IBM is dropping its 386-based computers and plans to introduce
only 486-based systems. A few dealers feel that by summer, there will
be no more 386 systems on the market.

A glut of 486 CPU chips is expected in 1993. The combined
production capacity for the year is estimated to be over 40 million
chips. If all of these are sold, one out of every three computers will
be replaced by a 486 this year.

As the price of new 486 computers has fallen, it has forced the
price of new 386 computers down to unprofitable levels. Consequently,
manufacturers and dealer are dropping the 386 systems. This does not
mean there is no demand for these computers, simply that customers are
unwilling to pay a profitable price. While new 386 systems are
disappearing, prices in the used market are increasing. This increase
in trade-in value has created a window of opportunity for companies and
individuals to upgrade to the 486 at minimum expense. This window may
be short-lived, however, due to the demise of many clone computer
makers. Cumulus, a well-known maker of IBM-compatibles, is having
difficulty and Everex, one of the largest clone makers, is in Chapter
11 bankruptcy. As some manufacturers go out of business this year,
fire-sale prices on their remaining inventories is expected. This may
create a sudden, but temporary, glut in the market.

If Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows NT, becomes a
big success, more powerful machines will certainly be necessary. The
early versions of Windows NT requires 36 Megs of memory. Microsoft
expects to lower this requirement to 12 to 16 Megs by this summer. Even
with this much memory, early versions are not expected to be fast or
powerful. Speed and performance should come later.

As expected, more computer manufacturers are extending their
warranties to three years. IBM started the trend last October, while
Compaq followed suit in December. AST and others are expected to join
the list soon. This trend is further affirmation that microcomputers
seldom "wear out".

The following prices are for February 1993.

                                Avg.    Avg.

                                Buyer's Seller's

 Machine                        Bid     Ask     Close   Change

 IBM PS/2 Model 50Z 30M         300     650     475     -25

 IBM PS/2 Model 70 60M          700     1100    950     +50

 IBM PS/2 Model 80 70M          800     1300    1050    +100

 Clone AT 20 Mg                 250     675     325     -25

 Clone Notebook 386SX, 40 MB    650     900     750     -100

 Clone 386/SX 40M, VGA          500     950     600     +25

 Clone 386/25 40M, VGA          500     900     650     **

 Clone 386/33 40M, VGA          700     1350    875     +50

 Clone 486/25 80M, VGA          1000    1450    1250    **

 Compaq SLT/286 20M             400     1000    650     -25

 Compaq LTE 286 40M             650     1000    750     -25

 Compaq Portable II 20M         200     500     325     +25

 Compaq Portable III 40M        300     650     475     +50

 Compaq Deskpro 286 40M         250     500     325     +25

 Compaq Deskpro 386/20e 100M    1100    1700    1100    +50

 Macintosh SE 20M               450     900     625     -25

 Macintosh SE/30 40M            1200    1700    1200    -300

 Macintosh II 40M               1000    1750    1375    -75

 Macintosh IIcx 80M             1500    2200    1800    -200

 Macintosh IIci 80M             2500    2400    2250    +150

 Mac Quadra 700 230M            2400    3800    3350    -50

 Mac Quadra 900 160M            4500    6000    5100    -100

 Mac PowerBook 140 40M          1000    1500    1325    -50

 LaserWriter IINT               1100    1550    1175    -250

 Toshiba 1200XE 20M             500     950     650     -50

 Toshiba 2000SX 40M             850     1300    1150    -50

 Toshiba 1600                   550     900     725     +25

 Toshiba 3100SX                 800     1400    1050    -100

 Toshiba 5200                   1200    1750    1500    **

 HP LaserJet II                 500     950     775     +25

 HP LaserJet III                850     1225    1175    **

John Hastings is the president of the American Computer
Exchange Corporation. The American Computer Exchange matches buyers and
sellers of used microcomputer equipment. For more information contact
the American Computer Exchange Corporation at [phone].

(John Hastings/19930226)


(REVIEW)(APPLE)(SFO)(00011)

Review of - Spelunx And The Caves Of Mr. Seudo, Mac Game 02/26/93

Runs on: Macintoshes

From: Broderbund Software, 500 Redwood Blvd. Novato, CA 94948,
415-382-4700

Price: $49.95

PUMA rating: 3.25 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Naor Wallach

Summary: An exploration game in science activities. There are
20 activities which can challenge and encourage a child to
learn more. Has an unfortunate gaping hole and could work better
with some parental assistance.

=======

REVIEW

=======

Spelunx and the Caves of Mr. Seudo is an exploration game that teaches
various science lessons in a non-threatening and mysterious
environment. Professor Alexander Spelunx (a teddy bear) had tried
to become king of the country. However, at the last moment he lost
his bid as he saved his friend Mr. Seudo from certain death.
The old King granted him his own kingdom after all, on top of a
mountain that was renamed in his honor.

Mr. Seudo is a very accomplished workman. So, at Spelunxs behest,
he built tunnels and rooms through the mountain and they sited
different experiments at different places. The player is an explorer
who wanders through the kingdom and gets to play with all of the
wonderful toys and games that the pair left behind. However, since
some of the stuff is considered confidential, you may have to
unravel some mysteries before being given access to those
activities.

Over all there are 20 activities strewn throughput the complex.
Each activity is intended to teach a child some scientific
lessons in an entertaining way. For instance, the terrarium and the
lizard show the effects of abundant foods on a lizard while also
allowing you to vary the temperature of the lizards compound
and see how that affects his movements. Lizards, being cold
blooded, tend to move faster in warmer weather than colder
weather.

Another experiment involves the speed of sound in which
a player drops little rocks down a mine shaft to see how long
it takes for the sound of the splash of the rock hitting water
to get back up to them. The depth of the water in the mineshaft
is regulated by the player.

Each of the experiments and activities is located within one of
three rooms that one can explore in the caves. There is an elevator
that takes you from the outside to the start of the cave's tunnel
system. You must navigate through the cave and solve some puzzles
in order to find all 20 activities. So, if it seems that you
had only seen a dozen or so things, start looking harder.

There is one other aspect to the game. Somewhere, in a hidden
location, is a special room that allows you to change the cave
structure. This construction room is well defended with a
combination lock and hidden accessways. There are hints on how
to find it in the manual as well as in some of the books that you
find in Spelunx's library. Once there you can modify the location
of the rooms and the tunnel structure that leads to the rooms,
as well as add a special "Warp room-pair" that transport the
traveller from one location to another in the system.
The idea is to customize the cave environment at will.

There is also another implicit hint here. The creators of the
program had intended to create additional rooms full of
activities which you could then add to your cave system as
you desired. However, there is no statement about how that
might be done in any of the documentation provided with the
program. I called Broderbund and asked them about this and
the company stated that while the developers may have had
such plans, the company has no plans to offer add-in modules
or rooms at this time. To me that seems like a shame. The program
was obviously designed to accommodate such changes and not being
able to get them makes that whole part of the program completely
useless.

This entire game, in that regard, seems like a good idea poorly
implemented, which is unusual for Broderbund.

The game is very large. It will occupy about 4.5 MB of hard disk
space. It comes on four diskettes which contain chunks of the
program in a compressed form. The first step in the installation
process is to run another program (also supplied on the disks)
that decompresses the program and rebuilds it into one coherent
whole. The program is actually a Hypercard stack which partially
explains its gargantuan size. The 40-page manual that is included
with it covers all aspects of running the program and exploring
the activities. It actually tells you how each activity works
so nothing is left to chance. Finally, a separate card
contains the specific instructions that may be different for
your computer.

I liked the different activities. Each one was well thought out
and very well implemented. Children who played the game with
me were genuinely interested in making the activity work and
in experimenting with the different variables to see what would
happen. However, the children by themselves did not always get
the relationships between the different variables and I would
normally have to explain to them why things worked out as they
did. In this task, the manual was not much help. My feeling is
that this program would work best when a parent assisted the
child in the explorations. The main parental role would be to
 guide the child's understanding with questions and suggestions
on references that can be consulted.

The game's package claims that this product is intended for
children five years of age and older. I doubt that children as
young as five would really get much out of the program. In my
mind, best use of the program requires a middle school student.

=============

PUMA RATINGS

=============

PERFORMANCE: 3 The program can be slow at times. I attribute this
mostly to the fact that this is really a Hypercard stack.

USEFULNESS: 3 The program is fine as far as it goes which is not
far enough in my opinion. For 4.5 MB of hard disk space it seems
like I got very little. It took me only about an hour to have
discovered and sampled all of the different activities. My
testing crew tended to linger more on each activity
but even they quickly got the hang of it. A major oversight is
the failure to complete the construction set aspects of the
program. Having additional rooms, activities, and games would
add immeasurably to the program.

MANUAL: 4 The manual is comprehensive and is actually fun to read.

AVAILABILITY: 3 Many mail order houses are advertising the
program for prices as low as $28. Unfortunately, Broderbund
does not offer a toll-free technical support number. In
this case such a number would hardly be necessary though.

(Naor Wallach/19930116/Kathleen Burke, Broderbund Software)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00012)

Wang Adds To 486 PC Line 02/26/93
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Wang
Laboratories has unveiled a new line of personal computers
based on the Intel 486 processor line. The line includes 12
preconfigured models using the Industry Standard Architecture
(ISA) and Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) system
bus, and Wang will also build systems to order using seven base
processors and more than 30 peripheral and software options.

Wang said the latest announcement completes a roll-out that began
in January with four PC models.

The models extend across the 486 chip line from the 25-megahertz
486SX processor to the clock-doubled 66-megahertz 486DX2. All
come with DOS and Microsoft Windows installed, plus a mouse. Some
are also pre-configured to connect with Wang's VS minicomputer
systems, and include terminal emulation hardware, pre-loaded
emulation software for both DOS and Windows, and Wang's Model 724
enhanced keyboard.

All of the new PCs support Intel's clock-doubling technology, and
all offer local-bus video, optional secondary CPU cache up to
256K bytes, and other options. System memory ranges from four to
32 megabytes, and various storage options are available,
including Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) and Small Computer
Systems Interface (SCSI) storage devices.

All the systems have space for as many as five storage devices,
Wang said, including two internally mounted, 3.5-inch devices and
three externally accessible 5.25-inch, half-height ones. A
200-watt power supply is standard.

Machines in the DTI series come with seven ISA slots, of which
two are taken up by "required options." Two of the slots have
extension slots for a local bus that complies with the
specifications of the Video Electronic Standards Association
(VESA).

PCs in the DTE series have eight EISA slots, two of which are
taken up by required options. One of these has a proprietary
local-bus slot for a video card.

All the new PCs are certified for Banyan and Novell networks,
Wang said.

Prices for standard DTI series models range from $1,599 for the
DTI25 to $2,748 for the DTI266. DTE series prices range from
$2,536 for the DTE33 to $3,095 for the DTE250, an eight-megabyte,
dual-floppy unit with 128K bytes of secondary cache, a
330-megabyte IDE hard drive, DOS, Windows, and a mouse.

Two new monitors are also available for use with the new PCs:
the ASI-MON-14, a 14-inch multimode Super VGA monitor priced at
$432, and the ASI-MON-15, a non-glare, flat-screen 15-inch
monitor that costs $649. Both have 0.28-millimeter dot pitch.

The new products are available now in North, Central, and South
America, the Caribbean and some Asian and Pacific countries, a
company spokesman said.

(Grant Buckler/19930226/Press Contact: Tom Mitro, Wang,
508-967-2081; Public Contact: Wang, 508-459-5000)


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

LDDS Joining Metromedia, Resurgens Merger 02/26/93
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- LDDS
Communications is gobbling up the new Metromedia-Resurgens
communications network in order to create a stronger fourth long
distance carrier for the US.

Metromedia and Resurgens had previously announced they would
merge later this year, with privately held Metromedia carrying a
61 percent stake. Metromedia is owned by John Kluge, whose
holdings also include the Bonanza and Ponderosa restaurant chains
and the Orion film studio. The merger will have the effect of
taking Metromedia's communications network public, but not its
other holdings.

LDDS has just completed the acquisition of Advanced
Telecommunications of Atlanta, and according to the terms of the
new agreement, its shareholders, including Advanced's, will have
a 68.5 percent stake in the new combination. That means, while
Kluge will take the title of chairman in the new combine, real
power will be wielded by LDDS head Bernard J. Ebbers. As with the
Advanced-LDDS merger, where there was question about where the
company would be based that was answered after the merger by a
move to Ebbers' Jackson, Mississippi offices, there will be
questions about the head office of the new combination, which are
likely to be answered in the same way. The transaction will be
affected through the issuance of common stock and voting
convertible preferred stock.

The combined company will be a strong number four in the US
long distance market, with anticipated revenues in excess of
$1.5 billion. The closing of the pending merger between
Metromedia and Resurgens is not dependent on the consummation of
the new transaction.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930226/Press Contact: Resurgens
Communications Group, Hobart Corwin, 404/261-6190; LDDS, Bernard
J. Ebbers, 601/364-7000)


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

McCaw Turns On TDMA In Florida 02/26/93
ORLANDO, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- McCaw Cellular
turned on its digital network under the Time Division Multiple
Access, or TDMA standard, in Florida. It said it will roll out
the same system within four months for its Seattle, Los Angeles
and New York networks.

The new system is "dual standard," meaning it will work with
existing analog phones. Digital phones under the TDMA system
are also "dual standard," meaning they will work fine in an
analog phone system. McCaw estimated the cost of the Florida
conversion at $15 million. Digital technology makes for clearer
sound and enhanced privacy, since scanners only pick up bits of
data, not clear conversations.

McCaw currently operates as Cellular One, but AT&T is in the
process of acquiring a one-third stake in the company with
options to take complete control, so McCaw may eventually use the
AT&T brand. The AT&T deal is being challenged by regional Bell
companies which claim it puts AT&T back into the local phone
system business, something it's prevented from doing by the 1982
decree breaking up the Bell System. Other Cellular One networks,
notably Southwestern Bell's operation in Chicago, are also moving
to TDMA cellular service, in the same way as McCaw is doing.

But some networks, notably US West's Seattle operation, have said
they will go to digital services under a competing standard,
called Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA. Technical
arguments aside, the main point here is that "dual standard"
phones under TDMA cannot talk digitally to "dual standard" phones
under CDMA, something which could lock customers into one system
or the other when they choose a digital phone.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930226/Press Contact: McCaw, Bob Ratliffe,
206-828-8685)


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

 ****GTE Airfone Going All-Digital 02/26/93
OAK BROOK, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- GTE Airfone is
following its rivals, In-Flight Phone and Clearcom, by going to
an all-digital system. The system will allow callers on airplanes
to not only make, but take calls while in flight.

The company denies that the move is in response to
competitors, noting that its intention to make the move was
first made public in 1991.

Sharon Cohen-Hagar of Airfone discussed the move with Newsbytes.
"We are moving to a completely end-to-end digital system. The
equipment on the aircraft as well as the equipment in our ground
network will be new and digital. It will take some time" to
implement, however. "We'll start rolling this out about mid-year.
We anticipate it taking until mid-1996, because of all the
planes, which have to become available" for replacement of phones
before they can join the digital network.

Cohen-Hager said the new Airfone network will actually be more
sophisticated than those of its competitors. "They'll be computer
smarts in the ground network that will enable us to provide call
hand-offs, for instance. Right now if you fly across any network,
as you fly out of range you're picked up by another station, but
calls can be dropped if you're in a gray area. We'll provide call
hand-off so calls will not be dropped. We'll also provide what we
call uplink calling, or ground-air calling." This means that
people on airplanes will be able to take calls from the ground
as well as make them from the air. "That's why it's taking us
longer" to implement the new system.

In addition, Airfone will make jacks available for hooking up
personal computers and fax machines on its airplanes. Land-bound
callers will be able to reach the sky by dialing a toll-free
number, then each traveler's personal phone number. That number
will be activated once the traveler runs their credit card
through the phone system on arriving on the airplane, telling the
Airfone network what plane they're on and where they're sitting."
1 million calls are being made per month on the Airfone system,
Cohen-Hagar added.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930226/Press Contact: GTE Airfone, Sharon
Cohen-Hagar, 708-575-1448)


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

More On Cable-Phone Competition 02/26/93
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Bell Atlantic
will compete directly with Southwestern Bell to deliver video in
the Washington, D.C. area.

Southwestern Bell said recently it is buying cable television
networks in those areas. Bell Atlantic said it will offer "video
on demand" services, at prices competitive to video stores, over
its phone networks. The company is asking the Justice Department,
which has a role in the 1982 Bell break-up decree, to help it
get the waiver from that decree it needs to go into business.
It said restrictions in that decree, notably those that prevent
it from entering the long distance business by transporting calls
between local calling areas, impose costs that it cannot live
with. Cable television operators and long distance companies are
likely to oppose the request for a waiver, which must eventually
be approved by Judge Harold Greene, who oversees the 1982 decree.

Cable companies, however, are also moving to compete with higher-
end services. Cablevision Systems Corporation said it will join
TCI and Time-Warner in the move to upgrade its network. It said
it will spend $300 million on equipment to provide interactive
services to its subscribers in metropolitan New York. The first
customers will be linked to the new network by 1994. Cablevision
serves Brooklyn, the Bronx, Long Island, Westchester, southern
Connecticut and northern New Jersey. In Brooklyn it faces new
competition from a wireless network which is delivering cable
television services to the Brighton Beach area with small dish
antennae.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930226/Press Contact: Bell Atlantic, Larry
Plumb, 703-974-2814)


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

Bellcore Chief Opposes Gov't Funding of Telecom 02/26/93
RED BANK, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Bellcore CEO
George Heilmeier wants government tax credits and pressure to
help prod investment in new digital services, but he's against
government funding of new networks.

He is trying to differentiate, also, between the ISDN system now
being rolled out to businesses and homes by the regional Bell
companies, and the gigabit-per-second "national information
superhighway" first championed by Vice President Gore. Bellcore's
members are the regional Bell companies rolling-out ISDN, which
provides two 64,000 bit/second channels and a 16,000 bit/second
channel to homes, and 24 64,000 bit/second channels to
businesses, which they can use as they see fit. About half of the
nation's phone customers should have some ISDN access by 1995.

What Gore is championing, he notes, is a gigabit-per-second
research network, using fiber cable, which might link major
research centers not connected by the slower Internet network.

Heilmeier noted that fiber does exist on many trunk lines, which
can be used to create such a high-speed network, and that the
government does not need to fund or own such a network.
Bellcore's 5,100 employees have been researching the types of
technology needed for such a network, and possible applications.

Mike Giovia of Bellcore told Newsbytes, "There's a misconception
about these networks. The gigabit network is the research
network. What Heilmeier is talking about is getting information-
age capability to everyone. That doesn't mean everyone needs
gigabit-per-second transmission. ISDN can transmit video and
handle videoconferencing."

He added, "ISDN is just one example," of the kinds of services
which are quickly becoming available nationwide. "It's a common
misconception that because people talk about an infrastructure
there isn't one. There is a national network already. It's
transparent. And there are a lot of things out there that don't
require gigabit speeds so people can get the capabilities they're
talking about." He added that Heilmeier first called for
coordination of efforts in this area over a year ago, at the
ComNet trade show. "It's not just gigabits to everyone. It's
information-age services to everyone," he concluded.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930226/Press Contact: Bellcore, Cynthia
Lucenius, 201-740-6468)


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

Knight-Ridder Goes On America Online 02/26/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Knight-
Ridder/Tribune Business News has put its wire onto America Online
and its other local services.

Director Robert L. Harris told Newsbytes the service is also on
America OnLine's Chicago affiliate, Chicago OnLine, and will be
part of a new service called Mercury Center being put together
for its San Jose Mercury-News affiliate.

The wire does not include everything run in all the company's
papers, of course, "We run only the staff-generated business and
related news. We don't sweep the entire paper. And we don't
recycle from the papers' wire service copy. But it's still a good
size file, over 200 stories from the papers and over 300 Knight-
Ridder financial pieces each day." The Monday file is even
larger because it includes stories done in major papers for
publication the previous Sunday. If other newspaper groups, like
Cox Enterprises, tried to bring America OnLine into their areas
through systems like Chicago OnLine or Mercury Center, he
indicated, that would require reopening of the current contract.

Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News comes from a joint venture of
two newspaper chains, Knight-Ridder Inc. of Miami the Tribune Co.
of Chicago. In addition to those companies' papers, contributors
include the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Boston Globe,
The Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, The Denver Post,
The Orange County Register and The Journal of Commerce, which are
owned by other news groups. Distributors of the wire include
Dialog, NewsNet, Desktop Data, Mainstream Data, Comtex's
Newsgrid, and about a dozen other business-oriented services.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930226/Press Contact: Robert L. Harris,
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, 202-383-6090)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00019)

ROUNDUP: Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 02/26/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief
look at some computer stories carried in other publications
received here this past week.

The April 1993 edition of Macworld concentrates on color
Macintoshes - specifically, Macintosh Centris' mid-range 610 and
650; the Color Classic, which seems quite similar to the
Macintosh LC II; the laptop PowerBook 165c; the LC
III, a great computer at a very reasonable price; and the high-
performance Quadra 800. Other articles include PowerBook Notes
and Macworld's Star Ratings of more than 350 hardware/software
products.

Computerworld dated February 22, 1993, has four front-page
articles. They are: IBM's Network Systems Group's success in
getting products out more quickly and in heading into new
marketing areas; two 32-bit upgrades for Microsoft/Sybase's
SQL Server; how to convince users that computer security products
are a good idea; and Choice Hotels' decision to remove the Amdahl
mainframes used for their reservation databases in favor of a
client/server system.

Computer Reseller News dated February 15, 1993, reports that
Lotus Development is expected to ship Improv for Windows this
week, at $99. Other front-page articles state that Intel's
Pentium chip will cost $1,000 to $1,200 and be in short supply
this year; that Apple, Compaq, and IBM have found that computer
availability, not low price, apparently is the top purchasing
consideration among consumers; and that 1993's third quarter will
bring Compaq's first pen-based 486 computer, priced between
$2,500 and $3,000.

(John McCormick/19930226/)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00020)

HDTV FCC Decides Not To Decide 02/26/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Is the Federal
Communications Commission's High Definition TeleVision Advisory
Panel bending under pressure to choose among competing standards?
That is certainly the appearance after this week's decision to
further delay the choice of an HDTV standard for the US, but an
industry expert told Newsbytes that the major problem is just
that none of the entries in last year's tests was actually
acceptable.

The choice of an HDTV standard is of great importance for both
television-related companies and the computer industry in general
and effectively includes Canada and Mexico because of the
integrated North American market.

High definition television would use either analog or digital
signals to provide much more clarity to home television reception
and also change the shape of the TV to more closely match the
format used in many movies.

North American television is actually quite low resolution
because the same standard has been used since the 1940s. European
television now uses a different and slightly more advanced system
mostly because the market matured there later than it did in the
US.

There is presently a "standard" analog HDTV system in use in
Japan but it doesn't appear likely that the Japanese home system
would be appropriate here in the US. In fact the very similar
NHK system was the only clear loser in last year's round of
feasibility tests conducted under the auspices of the FCC.

An HDTV standard will have a much greater immediate impact in the
US computer industry than it will in the consumer market.
That's because it could be adopted much more quickly in the
high-tech field which sees a great turnover in old equipment
as opposed to the home television business where consumers
often keep the same television set for a decade or longer.

It would also be easier to provide software which could make use
of the HDTV standard than to convert all movies and television
studios to the new, higher-resolution standard.

Newsbytes also learned from an industry expert that late last
year two of the then four groups putting forth competing
standards in the US agreed to share royalties on the HDTV
system which is eventually adopted, making it much more practical
for them to pool resources as called for by the FCC's Advisory
Committee on Advanced Television Service.

This royalty sharing agreement was made between General
Instrument-Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Zenith-
AT&T. General Instruments currently produces the standard
VideoCypher modules used by the commercial and home satellite
television industry.

Since these two groups are already working together it only
remains for the Advanced Television Research Consortium, made up
of NBC (General Electric), Philips, Thomson, the David Sarnoff
Research Center and Compression Labs, to join with the other
two and begin to work out a compromise digital HDTV system.

After nearly six years of wrangling over HDTV the computer
industry is screaming for someone to make a decision so planning
and programming can begin for personal computers and workstations
which may adopt the new HDTV standard.

This pressure has led to different companies supporting different
competing standards and may cause even further delays.

Currently most of the video standards used in the computer
industry (CGA, EGA, VGA, 8514) were developed by IBM for
use on the PC line of computers created by Big Blue.

(John McCormick/19930226/)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00021)

 ****More Details Of Clinton's High-Tech Investment Plan 02/26/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Details of the
Clinton-Gore Administration proposal for high-tech investment in
the US, such as they are, are now available to supplement the
earlier information reported by Newsbytes. The basic administration
argument is that high-tech investment creates high-skill, high-
wage jobs for American workers and simultaneously reduces
pollution because information processing is inherently less
polluting.

This plan stands on three main legs, better cooperation between
industry, labor, universities, and government; government
investment in better education; and government investment in non-
military high-tech research.

Education

The education focus will target improving basic math and science
skills with an eye to producing more research scientists and
high-tech engineers. Part of this plan involves building a
national information infrastructure which would expand the
Internet so it could serve not just universities and research
labs but also make advanced scientific and computational
resources available to kindergarten through 12th grade students
in every public school.

"Initiatives in education and training follow four central
themes: restructuring primary and secondary schooling, using
youth apprenticeships and other programs to facilitate the
transition from school to work for people who do not expect to go
to college, making training accessible and affordable to all
workers who need to upgrade their skills to keep pace with a
rapidly changing economy, and programs specifically targeted to
help workers displaced by declining defense budgets or increased
international trade." (Quoted from the published plan.)

Besides Internet access, the Administration plan calls for the
creation of an interagency task force which will "establish
software and communication standards for education and training;
coordinate the development of critical software elements; support
innovative software packages and curriculum design; and collect
information resources in a standardized format and make them
available to schools and teaching centers throughout the nation
through both conventional and advanced communication networks."

Programs in the Federal Coordinating Council for Science,
Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) Committee on Education and
Human Resources which are intended to improve teaching of science
and math will receive additional emphasis.

Business and educational alliances will be encouraged to develop
new educational hardware and software.

Engineering programs will be encouraged to add courses on
automated production.

Industrial Policy

Government and especially military research and development
efforts have previously been directed to solving specific
problems but the new focus is intended to promote developments
which will lead directly to opening up international high-tech
markets and thus increasing employment in the US.

Part of this effort calls for the nation's 726 federal
laboratories to be encouraged to act as partners with industry.
Department of Energy, NASA, and the Department of Defense
laboratories which can make a productive contribution to the
civilian economy will devote at least 10-20 percent of their
budgets to R&D partnerships with industry.

International cooperation in scientific and technical research
also plays a part in the Administration's future plans.

The plan lays out details as follows: "The ratio of civilian and
dual-use R&D to purely military R&D is significantly higher in
President Clinton's economic plan. This is a first step toward
balancing funding levels for these two categories. In 1993, the
civilian share of the total federal R&D budget was approximately
41%. Under President Clinton's plan, the civilian share will be
more than 50% by 1998. Total spending for civilian R&D will rise
from $27.9 billion to 36.6 billion during this period."

DARPA, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, will revert
to the original name of Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
to emphasize the dual-use nature of its priorities.

Under the Clinton-Gore plan the SEMATECH research consortium will
continue to receive federal matching funds at least through
fiscal year 94.

Government help for American industry will take more immediate
and direct effect if the plan's call for changes in the way
business is treated go into effect. The following items are
specified in the current plan:

The Research & Experimentation Tax Exemption would be made
permanent.

New legislation to improve the tax advantages of long-term
venture capital investment conditions.

Create new incentives for companies to buy new equipment.

Reform antitrust laws to encourage joint production ventures.

Focus US trade policy on working to aid US high-tech
industries.

Consider new public-funded, but privately controlled technology
investment programs.

Adjust federal regulatory policies to encourage investment in
high-tech.

(John McCormick/19930226/)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00022)

 ****Library Of Congress Wants To Charge For Electronic Records 02/26/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- While the White House
promotes the idea of expanding access to electronic records and
images, the Library of Congress is causing a stir by announcing
that it may begin to charge for some of the Library's high-
technology services.

The Clinton-Gore High-Tech plan calls for, among other things,
the following: "A school child in a small town could come home
and through a personal computer, reach into an electronic Library
of Congress: thousands of books, records, videos and
photographs, all stored electronically. At home, viewers could
choose whenever they wanted from thousands of different
television programs or movies." (Technology for America's
Economic Growth: A New Direction to Build Economic Strength,
White House Press Release, February 23.)

Since the Library of Congress, the world's largest library with
more than 100 million items in its collection, would be the
obvious place to serve as a central information resource for the
United States (and perhaps the entire world), the Librarian's
statements are seen by some Washington insiders as a hint that
the Library needs more funding if it is to continue to act as the
Nation's premier information resource.

Of course, there are also commercial information providers which
are very nervous about both the Administration's information
technology proposals and about having the Library of Congress
gain sufficient funding that it could cut into their business.

Many companies make a large amount of money doing nothing but
collecting government-generated data and reselling them to
businesses on CD-ROM or other ways. Federal agencies which
generate this information at taxpayer expense are already
starting to make the data available free of charge via public
bulletin board systems, thereby causing a growing worry among
private businesses which say the government shouldn't be
competing with the private sector.

Of course, many taxpayers have been complaining for years that
they should be allowed inexpensive access to information they
have already paid to gather.

Presently the LoC does not charge user fees for computer access
to the card catalog, custom-generated suggested reading lists,
translation services, shipping, or special events.

(John McCormick/19930226/)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00023)

 ****White House Online? Almost! 02/26/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Ever want to know
exactly what a politician is saying? Well, if you have access to
the Internet, or even GEnie's Public Forum, your wish has come
true because Internet users at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Labs
are putting all White House press briefings and press conferences
on the net in ASCII.

The complete text of the Clinton-Gore High-Tech initiative is
found in an 84-kilobyte file stored as WHPR048.TXT on GEnie and
carrying the Internet Message-Id:

 <[e-mail]>.

WHPR058.TXT Message-Id:
<[e-mail]> carries a major press
briefing by Dr. John Gibbons, the Assistant to the President for
Science and Technology.

Press briefings by Dee Dee Myers and George Stephanopoulos as
well as comments made during Photo Ops are also available on
Internet, in GEnie, and through other commercial and private BBS
systems.

These files are mostly ASCII text files and are thus rather big,
but some are available in compressed format; unfortunately they
appear to use the controversial version 2 PKZip utility and may
not be usable without the latest version of PKWare's popular
program.

There are also some low-resolution 320 x 200 256 color and 640 x 480
monochrome GIF image files available, containing images of
President Clinton and others.

This is the sort of democracy in action that Ross Perot has
called for and demonstrates the importance of the Clinton-Gore
Administration's emphasis on expanding access to the Internet to
grade schools.

(John McCormick/19930226)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00024)

Books On Disk For Windows 02/26/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Last week the
Algonquin Hotel, the site of many important literary
conversations in the 30s, once again became the site of cutting-
edge writing when it was chosen by Barry Cinnamon as the place to
announce his Allegro New Media company, a publishing venture that
aims to put everything from computer and travel reference books
to business information and science fiction novels on your
Windows-based computer.

Barry, who was the founder of The Bureau of Electronic
Development, the popular CD-ROM distribution and publishing
company, left that company late last year to pursue his own
vision of the future of electronic publishing. Introduced last
week in New York City were the new TurboBooks, a set of
compressed files on standard floppy diskettes which install with
a special access program into any computer running Windows and
provide the full text of books along with bookmark and search
tools.

TurboBooks offer two sizes of display text in an attractive
Windows font and provide a number of ways to navigate through the
text, including a timed automatic page-at-a-time jump which can
be easily adjusted to move through the text at a comfortable
reading speed for each individual user.

These TurboBooks, which often contain more than one book in a
single package, are priced between $20 and $50, what Barry calls
impulse-type products. Science fiction books from famous writers,
for instance, are priced around $30 for two complete books.

TurboBooks do not contain images but do provide enhancements over
paper versions, including the ability to search for words and topics;
keep place with automatic bookmarks; browse page by page using
cursor keys, create personal notes and annotations, display in
user-selectable margins and two type sizes.

The following titles are now available.

From Baen Publishing Enterprises: Fallen Angels, by
Niven/Pournelle/Flynn, and Go Tell The Spartans, by
Pournelle/Stirling; both for $30. If I Pay Thee not in Gold, by
P. Anthony, and Born to Run, by M. Lackey/L. Dixon; both for $30.
The Ship Who Fought, by A. McCaffrey/S. M. Stirling, and The Ship
Who Searched, by A. McCaffrey/M. Lackey; both for $33.

Published by CBC, Inc.: The Complete Guide to MS-DOS 5.0; $24.
The Complete Guide to Windows 3.1; $24.

Published by NTC Publishing Group: Career Book, by
Kennedy/Laramore; $24. International Herald Tribune Guide to
Business Travel EUROPE, by R. Beardwood/Alan Tillier; $24.
International Herald Tribune Doing Business in Today's Western
Europe, by Alan Tillier; $26. New Product Development, by G.
Gruenwald; $36. Successful Direct Marketing Methods, by B. Stone;
$36.

Published by Prentice Hall: On the Road The Portable Computing
Bible, by Jim Seymour; $33. Winn Rosch Hardware Bible, by Winn L.
Rosch; $36.

Published by Simon & Schuster: Den of Thieves, by J.B. Stewart;
$24. The Japan That Can Say No, by S. Ishihara; $24. The Right
College; $48.

Published by Allegro New Media: The Last of the Mohicans, by J.F.
Cooper, and The Deerslayer, by J.F. Cooper; both for $30.

These and more titles will start showing up in bookstores later
this year. Waldensoft will stock them beginning in March.

(John McCormick/19930226/Press and Consumer Contact: Barry
Cinnamon, Allegro New Media, 201-808-1992, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00025)

Digital To Close Irish Plant Amid Acrimony 02/26/93
GALWAY, IRELAND, 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Digital Equipment Corporation has
announced plans to close its Galway, Ireland, plant, with the loss of
780 jobs over the next year.

The plant, one of Digital's oldest in Europe, is a hardware
manufacturing operation. Staff at the facility are not discussing the
matter with the press, referring enquiries to the company's Maynard-
based headquarters in the US.

The closure of the manufacturing facility comes at a difficult time
for Digital. The good news, however, is that despite the lean times in
Europe, the company is retaining its software research and development
facility in Galway, as well as the Irish sales operation. This will
leave around 700 jobs in Ireland, the company claims.

The Irish Government, which offers vary favorable tax breaks to
companies which locate their manufacturing facilities in the
country, is reported to be mystified that Digital has opted to
close the Galway facility, leaving the Ayr, Scotland manufacturing
plant open in the UK. Newsbytes understands that allegations
of backroom dealing by the British Government have been levied
by the Irish Government in European Community (EC) circles.

According to reports in Brussels, Belgium, headquarters of the EC,
Seamus Brenna, the Irish commerce and technology minister, has issued
a formal request to the EC's competition division to investigate
press reports that the British Government has done a deal with
Digital to keep the Scottish plant open.

Newsbytes notes that the Irish tax breaks, often as high as 100
percent for the first few years of a plant's operation, are regularly
offered to international companies. This is in stark contrast to the
UK's "non intervention" policy, which translates to limited tax
breaks, except in the most exceptional situations.

Digital remains quiet on the subject of the Galway
closure.

An official statement, issued this morning by the British
Government, denies any impropriety. Officials are quoted as
saying that any arrangements with Digital are in line with EC
legislation.

Digital, meanwhile, has a lot more on its plate. The company, which
has shed 35,000 jobs over the last four years to achieve a worldwide
target staffing level of just over 100,000, looks likely to trim the
payroll in other areas. Analysts report that, if Digital is to weather
the recession effectively, it must shave at least a further 10,000
from the payroll over the next few years.

(Steve Gold/19930226/Press & Public Contact - Digital International -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00026)

 ****Microsoft Will Still Seek Trademark Approval 02/26/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Microsoft
Corporation says it will continue to work with US Patent and
Trademark to obtain official recognition of its trademark "Windows."

The US Patent and Trade Office said yesterday that it would not
grant official recognition to the term as a trademark. A Microsoft
spokesperson told Newsbytes that even if the decision had favored
Microsoft it would not have created a problem for all software
publishers who market programs with the word "Windows." A title such
as "Wordperfect for Windows" would be acceptable, but a program
called "XYZ Windows" would violate the trademark.

Newsbytes' Washington bureau reported yesterday that the Patent
Office said the word "Windows" is too generic to warrant granting
Microsoft any trademark protection. Trademarks are granted by the
federal government and only protect the use of a name. The Windows
software is already protected by copyright and cannot be legally
copied except under license from Microsoft.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the decision on its 1990 application
would not jeopardize the company's investment in Windows nor the
programs which run with it, such as word processors and
spreadsheets, saying, "People should not look at this as a
fundamental threat to the Windows business." Microsoft has six
months to respond to the ruling.

The spokesperson explained to Newsbytes that the trademark process
involves several steps. The latest decision by the Patent and
Trademark Office is the second in a round of four steps. She said
the initial decision by the federal agency was favorable but was
challenged by a major software publisher competing in the
marketplace with Microsoft. That company reportedly submitted
additional information to support an unfavorable ruling.

The spokesperson told Newsbytes that a trademark is established by
common usage, such as in the case of Windows which has been in use
since 1985. The current action seeks official recognition. "Windows
is still a trademark of Windows based on common law rights. They
will continue to use it and approach other companies who use the
term incorrectly. Obtaining a recognized trademark makes enforcement
easier. The issue isn't that people use the term Windows in their
product name. That's an incredible advantage to Microsoft because it
shows the product works with Windows." she said.

Microsoft estimates that it is selling about one million copies of
Windows each month, and says that sales of Windows-based
applications accounts for about 72 percent of all applications
sales, which are estimated at about $570 million.

(Jim Mallory/19930226/Press contact: Marianne Allison, Waggener
Edstrom for Microsoft, 503-245-0905)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00027)

Mercury Set To Rival BT In Global Packet Data Net Stakes 02/26/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- After watching British Telecom
change from a national (UK) provider of packet data network
(PDN) services in the 1980s to an international player in the 1990s,
Cable & Wireless (C&W), Mercury Communications' parent company, has
committed to do the same.

C&W already operates a PDN service in the UK, having evolved the
network from the old ICL PDN it inherited in the mid-1980s. Today,
although not having the same coverage as BT, Mercury's dial-up PDN
service works at speeds to 9,600 bps, compared to BT's 2,400 bps. C&W
intends to offer a similar service around the world.

To be known as C&W's global managed data service (GMDS), the service
will rival BT's global data service (GNS). Newsbytes notes that C&W
already operates country-specific PDNs around the world, notably in
Hong Kong, the US and the UK. The company also has private circuits in
operation between these locations, so marrying the whole ensemble
together -- as BT has done with GNS -- should not be too difficult.

BT, however, had the boost of acquiring Tymnet's international network
in the late 1980s. C&W/Mercury has no "bought in" network. Instead it
must establish its international network by linking various building
blocks together.

According to a spokeswoman for Mercury's Corporate Affairs office in
London, the GMDS network will span 15 countries, with plans calling
for more than 100 asynchronous dial-up and X.25-standard network nodes
in those countries.

As with the PDN services offered by companies such as CSC/Infonet,
C&W's GMDS network will have a series of network user addresses (NUAs)
on the existing national country PDNs. This will allow PDN customers
of the other country-specific PDNs to place a low-cost national data
call to the Mercury ingress point and progress internationally at a
lower rate, Newsbytes understands.

According to C&W's press office in London, this "piggy back" method of
accessing the GMDS network will allow at least another 50 countries to
access the network, even though they are not on the direct C&W net.

(Steve Gold/19930226/Press Contact: Mercury Corporate Affairs - Peter
Eustace - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BOS)(00028)

 ****Getting Documents To Speak The Same Language 02/26/93
WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Interleaf,
Intergraph, Oracle, and some 15 other electronic distribution,
authoring, and database software vendors have formed SGM (Standard
Gene Markup Language) Open, an industry consortium dedicated to
promoting widespread use of the SGML protocol for document and data
interexchange.

Preliminary announcement of the new consortium was made at the Tech
Doc meeting in San Antonio, TX this week, and formal introduction
will take place at the Seybold Seminars in Boston April 14 to 16.

The SGML protocol describes a standard document format that allows
information in documents to be easily shared among applications,
regardless of software or hardware platform.

The new group plans to educate the commercial market about the
advantages of SGML, supply information on protocol implementation,
and provide a forum for issue resolution.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Larry Bohn, senior vice president
of Interleaf, explained that SGML is already vital to government
agencies and the automotive, aerospace, and telecommunications
industries, but acceptance is only starting to emerge among most
commercial markets.

Acceptance is becoming more rapid, though, as Interleaf and other
consortiums begin to produce shrinkwrapped SGML products, he
emphasized. "People are becoming aware that SGML isn't just for
the `high end,'" he commented.

Mark Walters, senior editor of the Seybold Report on Publishing
Systems, told Newsbytes that SGML is similar to SQL (Standard Query
Language), a protocol used for database retrieval, in defining a
standard method of information retrieval. But SGML goes still
further to define an entire document structure, he added.

Each SGML document has an associated document type definition (DDT)
that specifies the rules for the structure of the document. For
example, a DDT might specify that the document must have a chapter
title, and cannot have any part-numbers that are not followed by a
part-description paragraph.

Any SGML publishing software that receives the SGML file and DTD
will automatically understand and enforce these requirements.

Walters told Newsbytes that, in addition to allowing documents to
be shared among applications, SGML helps organizations to move
documents to new computers and operating systems, since the
structure described is both hardware- and software-independent.

Other founding members of SGML Open include AIS, ArborText,
Avalanche, the Computer Task Group, Database Publishing Systems,
EBT, Fulcrum, InfoDesign, Information Dimensions, Open Text, Object
Design, SoftQuad, and XSoft.

According to Bohn, at least ten more members will be announced at
Seybold. Also at Seybold, SGML will provide details on the
organizational structure and proposed program of the new
consortium.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930226/Press contact: Barbara Ewen, McGlinchey
& Paul, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00029)

Conner Peripherals Restructures Manuf'g 02/26/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- It used to
be that a 40-megabytes (MB) hard drive could fit pretty much
everything you wanted on it, including a few of applications,
such as a word processor and a spreadsheet, some games, and
plenty of data. Those same-sized drives are now virtually
scorned by vendors trying to keep up with the increased
demand for larger storage capacity.

And no wonder. An average word processing package will eat up
more than 10MB of disk space. A graphics program with
accompanying clip art libraries will consume 15-20MB. Run
them under Microsoft's WIndows graphical user environment,
and already you're out of disk space. Not only that, but even
120MB disk drives are considered by many to be too small as
well.

Take Conner Peripherals for example. According to the company,
it has made a "series of changes in its operations in response to
a decline in market demand for disk drives with capacities of
120MB or less due to newer computer system requirements for
higher capacity and performance."

As a result, the company says that price erosion for these
products has accelerated during the first quarter, which has
caused increased pressures on gross margins.

Consequently, the company is going to increase production of
some of its new products, including its Filepro and Aegean
Series of 3.5-inch disk drives. The company will also decrease
production of those tape drive and disk drive products which
"do not meet its profitability objectives as a result of faster
price erosion than expected."

The company expects all this restructuring to have an effect
on its bottom-line earnings.

Conner has also announced that Carl Neun, senior vice president
and chief financial officer, will be leaving the company on
March 15, 1993, to take a similar position at Tektronix in
Wilsonville, Oregon. David White, a Conner vice president and
corporate controller, will assume the position of acting CFO
until a search for Neun's replacement is completed.

(Ian Stokell/19930226/Press Contact: Kevin Burr,
408-456-3134, Conner Peripherals Inc.)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00030)

Quantum Ships High-Capacity Drives; 1 Millionth ProDrive 02/26/93
MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 FEB 26 (NB) -- Quantum
claims that it has achieved a major milestone by shipping
over one million ProDrive LPS 240-megabyte (MB) hard disk drives
during 1992. The company also announced that it is shipping mass
production quantities of its high-capacity, 3.5-inch drives to
major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

The company says that the ProDrive LPS 525 drives and the
ProDrive 700, 1050 and 1225 drives are also shipping in volume
to distributors who target the high-end PC, PC LAN (local area
network), workstation, and disk array markets.

In making the announcements, Robert Maeser, vice president of
Quantum's High Capacity Storage Group, said: "We are ramping
production to meet demand from a growing number of customers
who compete in high-end markets, including the $1 billion PC
server market, and the $3 billion disk array market."

The company says that several US and international OEMs are
already taking shipments of the high-capacity drives, including
AST Research, Dell Computer, and Mega Drive Systems.

Dell has selected the ProDrive LPS 525 IDE-AT drive and the
ProDrive 700 SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) product
for use in its desktop and advanced server products. AST
Research has chosen Quantum's 525MB and 1.05 gigabyte (GB)
SCSI products for use in its Premium SE servers. Mega Drive
Systems uses the ProDrive 1225 product in its high-performance
MR/RAID series, which are redundant, hardware-based disk
array systems which provide up to 1 terabyte of high-speed
mass storage for PCs, Macintoshes, and workstations.

Quantum's high-capacity drives are manufactured at the
company's manufacturing facility in California.

In announcing the shipping of one million ProDrive LPS 240MB
drives in 1992, Michael Brown, Quantum's executive vice president,
said: "Top OEMs worldwide, including Apple, DEC, Hewlett-Packard,
Dell, NEC and AST Research have selected the ProDrive LPS 240
product to provide storage at this key capacity point for their
desktop systems."

The company quotes Phil Devin, vice president of storage
technologies for the market research firm, Dataquest as saying:
"The total number of 200MB-range drives shipped in 1992
numbered just over 3 million. Quantum's ProDrive LPS 240 drives
captured one-third of the entire market for this capacity range."

(Ian Stokell/19930226/Press Contact: Susan Fallon,
408-894-5361, Quantum Corp.)