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/NB930715

Text File | 1993-07-15 | 78KB | 1,683 lines

(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00001)

BSA Outlines Strategy, Goals 07/15/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- The Business Software
Alliance's (BSA) president, Robert Holleyman, has outlined the
trade association's goals for 1993 and 1994 in an interview
published in the BSA's newsletter. Unsurprisingly, BSA's major
goals are to reduce software piracy worldwide and to support
efforts to adopt NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The BSA is a trade association formed to promote the interests of
those software publishers whose programs are the most vulnerable
to the practice of illegal software copying, also known as
software piracy.

Focusing more on the international arena and leaving most
domestic anti-piracy efforts to the much larger Software
Publishers Association, the BSA now operates in more than 30
countries.

Priority regions for its anti-piracy efforts in the coming year
are, according to Mr. Holleyman, Spain in Europe and Korea in
Asia because both countries have weak copyright protection laws.

Once an all-American operation, the BSA has recently expanded its
membership to include four regional European Community members as
well as two new members in the Czech Republic. Two Asia regional
members have also become members of the BSA, as foreign software
companies have become stronger and are therefore encountering
important losses from piracy.

Members of the BSA include: Adobe Systems, Aldus, Apple,
Autodesk, Borland International, Central Point Software, GO
Corporation, Lotus, Microsoft, Novell, Symantec, The Santa Cruz
Operation, and WordPerfect.

(John McCormick/19930713/Press Contact: BSA Diane Smiroldo, BSA,
new phone number 202-872-5500 new fax number 202-872-5501)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00002)

 ****ILM Demos Graphics Magic 07/15/93
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Steve
Williams and Stefen Fangmeier from Industrial Light and Magic
shared the progression of their special effects capability and
a glimpse into the future this week in a presentation
sponsored by The American Film Institute's Advanced Technology
Program at The Academy in Hollywood. The presentation was not
only of clips of the special effects from famous films, such as
"Terminator 2" and the recent hit "Jurassic Park," but also how
that magic was created using computer graphics.

The development of the technology for computer-generated
effects is very much driven by the movie industry and what
filmmakers want. While there are interesting problems out there to
solve, ILM spends its time solving the problems for which it
gets paid, Williams and Fangmeier maintain. However, there is a
definite progression toward being able to computer-animate more
and more lifelike creatures from the real world, evident in the
special effects technology in "The Abyss," "Terminator 2," "Death
Becomes Her," and "Jurassic Park."

The computer graphics (CG) division of ILM started out as a
small, service portion of the company that was known for being
able to do things like "blood cells moving around" according to
Williams. It wasn't until the work on the film "The Abyss" that
the CG division was taken more seriously.

Williams and Fangmeier started with demonstrations of the
special effects from the film "The Abyss" in which a woman's
face is computer generated as reflective water. The chin of the
woman looked pointed in the first few attempts and Williams
said he was criticized for creating the look of the witch in
the "Wizard of Oz." To correct the problem, Williams said he
cheated and simply turned the angle of the computer-generated
face so the chin was less prominent, a move he described as
"cheating" for the camera.

"Terminator 2" was a big step because the entire movie was
based on the success of the computer graphic animation of the
character of the villain. The forty-nine scenes in the movie
took a year to accomplish. Williams showed short clips of the
actor who played the movie's villain walking like the character
outdoors in his underwear with a black lines that formed a grid
painted onto his entire body. This was done so the ILM team
could see how to animate the movement of computer generated
character, which was chrome. The team then went back, made a
skeleton using the computer, put chrome "flesh" on the
skeleton, and then mimicked the movement recorded by the actor
to the computer generated figure.

The "reveal," when the character goes from chrome to cop, was
anticipated to be difficult, Fangmeier said, but actually turned
out to be one of the simplest portions to do because it was
easy to get the computer to "peel" away the chrome from the cop
figure.

"Death Becomes Her" was described as groundbreaking
technology, although the team said it was really "back-
breaking" technology. The special effects in the film involving
the actress's head were done by filming the actress with a blue
knit sock on her head, then filming her head with a blue sock
on her body, and then creating a computer-generated neck to
connect the two. Problems in lighting and color were paramount
to the team. As a result, they filmed everything from as many angles
as possible in order to avoid asking the producer to
later rebuild the set for a shot they didn't get.

Fangmeier said it was difficult to match the geometry of the neck
to the moving films of the head and body, calling it "roto hell."
Hair was also tricky and at one point the team took off the
character's pony tail and animated another pony tail for a
scene to make the special effects look right.

The progression of first being able to generate bones, and
then flesh over the bones, and then movement, and then skin,
allowed filmmakers to create the effects in "Jurassic Park."
It was so easy to create sequences that Fangmeier said he would:
"Take a book with a nice picture, scan the picture, and then put
the T-Rex in there." The problems occurred when the team attempted
to figure out how a seven-ton bipedal animal would walk, since
no references exist. The team did a lot of stomping around in rooms,
trying to walk like a T-Rex and arguing, "I look like a Rex,"
"No, I look like a Rex," Williams said.

They called the computer-generated dinosaurs that were put into
the shots filmed on location, the "dinosaur input device" or
DID. The team also did the fences in the scenes with the T-Rex
as computer-generated animations because it was easier and less
expensive.

"Jurassic Park" was the first project in which sculptors,
animators, puppeteers, and other professionals worked as a team
to create a film, according to Fangmeier. Not all the dinosaurs
in the film were computer-generated -- some were stop motion.
But Williams said Steven Spielberg insisted the stop motion
sequences have the look of the computer-generated ones.

During the production, ILM would send Spielberg incremental
work on video via satellite to Poland where Speilberg was shooting
another film on location. The team felt that Speilberg's ability
to work on another film while the graphics were still being worked
out was a vote of confidence both in ILM and in the technology.

ILM is still exclusively using Silicon Graphics' (SGI)
workstations for their computer-generated animation work. SGI
has worked closely with ILM to give them what they need in
terms of technology and the software vendors have as well,
Williams added.

The next step is to computer-generate animals, and then people.
Technically, that means being able to realistically generate
skin and hair. Williams and Fangmeier were reluctant to talk
much about the company's advances in that technology other than
to say ILM is working on it and emphasized the technology is
driven by market demands. "If someone wants a talking bear,
we'll come up with a way to do it," Williams added.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930713/Press Contact: Nick DeMartino,
American Film Institute, tel [phone]; Katie Cotton,
Allison Thomas Associates for AFI, 818-981-1520, fax 818-981-
4230)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00003)

Multimedia Group Formed In Europe 07/15/93
LA NAPOULE, FRANCE, 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- A group of companies from
around the world has announced they have formed a group to work on
promoting the design and use of collaborative multimedia
applications. The seven founding companies are: Deutsche Bundespost
Telekom, France Telecom, IBM, Intel, Northern Telecom and Telestra
Corporation.

According to the group, collaborative multimedia applications allow
people who cannot meet face to face to overcome any distances to
work together at their workstations -- from any points on the globe.

In a statement issued at the end of June, the seven companies said
that the name of their group is the Multimedia Communications
Community of Interest (MCCI). Group officials said they welcomed
other companies to join with them in discussing the service and
technical requirements to turn their vision into reality.

According to a spokesman for the group with Northern Telecom, these
are very early days for the organization, but the aim is to
promote the use of applications that let people in different
locations view documents, images, graphics and full motion video on
a PC screen. These applications will let people discuss what they
see on the screen as well as make changes that all participants can
see.

The success of the group's initiative will depend on the degree to
which this type of collaborative work can be accomplished,
regardless of the operating system, computer equipment or telecoms
company being used.

Interestingly, the MCCI plans to begin a series of field trials in
the first quarter of next year. The aim of these trials is to test
the consistency of the technical approach and test services on a
coordinated, global approach.

(Steve Gold/19930714/Press Contact: Northern Telecom Europe - Tel:
0628-812483)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00004)

Motorola Codex Periphery Routing Network Strategy 07/15/93
WALLINGTON, SURREY, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Motorola Codex has
announced it is taking what it claims is an entirely new direction
for integrated branch networking or feeder solutions called
Periphery Routing.

According to the company, Periphery Routing represents the first of
several announcements from Motorola which are designed to address
users' needs at the edge -- the periphery -- of the branch network.

As part of this strategy, Motorola Codex has also announced Release
3.1 and a Token Ring Interface Module (TRIM) as enhancements to its
6500 Plus communications processor. The company claims that,
together, Release 3.1 and TRIM offer a migration package for
branches to handle local area network (LAN) and terminal-to-host
protocols simultaneously from a single platform.

Motorola has enlisted the help of Jim Harrison, vice president of
global networking strategies at the Meta Group, to publicize the new
strategy. He claims that today's typical branch network has several
legacy applications to support, while, at the same time, moving
towards a LAN-based environment. "Motorola Codex addresses these
needs in a cost effective way while providing a realistic migration
path, particularly from existing analog multi-drop networks," he
said.

According to Motorola Codex, Release 3.1 is the first step in a
Motorola Codex migration strategy to provide the customer with a
range of LAN routing solutions for multimedia traffic types. By
treating LAN traffic as another protocol, the user benefits from the
flexibility to mix various traffic types together in an efficient
manner, minimizing site equipment costs and WAN transmission
expenses.

Pricing on the TRIM and Release 3.1 enhancements to Motorola Codex'
6500 Plus communications processor will be announced closer to
shipment date during this third quarter of the year.

(Steve Gold/19930714/Press & Public Contact: Motorola Codex - Tel:
081-669-4343)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00005)

Sun Signs Second VAR In India 07/15/93
BOMBAY, INDIA 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Sun Microsystems has signed up
Bombay-based International Computers Indian Manufacture Ltd. (ICIM),
as its value-added reseller (VAR) in the country. So far,
Bangalore-based Wipro Infotech Ltd., was the only distributor of Sun
systems there.

According to Parag Samarth, general manager, ICIM, the modalities
of the new relationship are yet to be finalized. "We are negotiating
for the entire SPARC server and workstation range," he said

ICIM earlier had an OEM arrangement for Sun workstations with Wipro.
As an OEM, ICIM had to cover the warranty on its own and hence, had a
price disadvantage and often found itself competing against Wipro's
own direct marketing force. Thus the relationship was short lived.

From the ICIM point of view, the Sun range will complement its
existing DRS range of servers which are also based on the SPARC chip.

The strategy is to give customers a mix of binary-compatible hardware.
There is bound to be an overlap, especially on the high-end, as both
Sun and DRS are highly expandable machines and ICIM would rather
push its own machines. While the company's earlier OEM agreement
with Wipro was for workstations, this time ICIM is looking more
for servers. It makes sense considering that ICIM's traditional
stronghold has been the financial sector, where Wipro scored over
the rest in the recent past.

ICIM's tie-up with Sun is also being perceived as an alternative to
overcome DRS 6000's operating system limitations. Remarked a
competitor, "With DRS, ICIM has hit a dead end, as it does not have
a truly multiprocessing OS like Sun machines. The COSE initiative to
back system V.4 kernel also makes it the ideal choice."

Once ICIM starts selling Sun, Wipro Infotech will have tougher
competition on hand. But that does not seem to bother the firm,
currently ranked second in the Indian IT scenario. Says A.V. Sridhar,
CEO, Network Systems Division (the department in Wipro that handles
Sun orders), "We would be entitled to overriding commissions on
ICIM's sales even if they buy directly from Sun."

If this were to happen, ICIM's margins will get squeezed and it
would be more or less in the same position as it was as an OEM
of Wipro. To that extent it would serve neither Sun's apparent
intentions nor ICIM's aspirations.

(C. T. Mahabharat/19930715)


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

Hyundai Set To Invade India 07/15/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Hyundai is all set to swamp
Indian shores with its computers. Partnering the South Korean giant
is a previously little-known firm, Byte Systems.

Byte is launching a range of notebooks and desktops, to be
called Hyundai-Byte. Hyundai Electronics, based in the US, will
supply Byte with the kits that will be assembled in India. The
initial order is for parts worth $3 million. Byte is also sending
its personnel to Hyundai for training in assembly and quality control.

The Hyundai series ranges from Rs 95,000 (around $3,200) to Rs
1.85 lakh (around $6,100) in notebooks and from Rs 95,000 (around
$3,200) to Rs 3 lakh (around $10,000) for desktops.

The company targets a sales turnover of about Rs 35 crore (around
$11.7 million) during the current financial year.

The firm will initially concentrate on the eastern and western
Indian markets. While the western Indian market is traditionally
seen as a "lucrative section" because of the number of companies
based in and around Bombay. The firm will find it easy to concentrate
on the eastern segment as that is where it is headquartered.

The first products will be out in Calcutta later this month, and
in Bombay in August.

Despite the Hyundai name, the going is not expected to be easy.
First off the computer industry is going through a depression.
And most of the major firms, from US or otherwise, are just getting
ready to launch an assault on the industry. Also Byte will have
to face competition from the unbranded segment, which sells
Taiwan-made notebooks for around Rs 60,000 (around $2,000) and
personal computers for even less.

(C. T. Mahabharat/19930715)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00007)

IBM Adds New RS/6000, AIX Version, Storage 07/15/93
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- IBM has added
to its RISC/System 6000 line with a new desktop workstation, a
new release of its AIX version of the Unix operating system,
other software, and a long list of storage products.

The new RS/6000 Powerstation/Powerserver 34H is said to be 37
percent faster than its predecessor, the 340. It comes with a
41.6-megahertz (MHz) processor, 16 megabytes (MB) of memory
expandable to 256 MB, 400 MB of disk storage expandable to four
gigabytes (GB), a 32K-byte instruction cache, four available
Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) expansion slots, and built-in
Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) and Ethernet controllers.

The 340 will continue to be sold for the time being, but the 34H
will eventually replace it, a spokeswoman for IBM said. The price
of the 340 has been cut to $9,990, she added.

Due to be available August 6, the new 34H has a list price of
$13,200, including the AIX/6000 operating system.

IBM also launched AIX 3.2.4 for the RISC/System 6000, a new
release of the operating system that the company said adds
various improvements and will be quicker to install.

Besides cutting installation time to three or four hours on the
new release, IBM has added the ability to download changes to the
system from the server to clients, simplifying updates, the
spokeswoman said.

AIX 3.2.4 is due to be available July 23, with prices varying
according to number of users and processor model.

IBM also claimed to be the first vendor to provide distributed
file services supporting the Open Software Foundation's (OSF)
Distributed Computing Environment (DCE), a set of software tools
and services meant to link clients and servers from multiple
vendors. Its AIX Distributed Computing Environment Version 1.2 is
due to be available July 23, at a price of $3,000. The
distributed file services will let users use files stored
anywhere on the network without having to know their physical
location, IBM said.

AdStar, IBM's storage unit, unveiled a variety of storage
products to go with the RS/6000 line. They include 540-MB and
two-GB SCSI disk drives, SCSI expansion units, a new SCSI
attachment feature for the 3490E Magnetic Tape Subsystem, two
disk arrays providing 2.6 to 60 GB of storage, high-performance
disk-drive subsystems, a rewritable optical disk drive, cartridge
tape products, a high-performance input/output controller, and
new models in the IBM 3995 Optical Library Dataserver line of
rewritable optical libraries.

There are also a new High-Performance Parallel interface (HIPPI)
MCA adapter for some RS/6000 models, a Multi-Protocol
Communications Adapter, a High-Performance Disk Drive Subsystem
Adapter, and Prestoserve software meant to improve the
performance of Network File System (NFS) file servers.

IBM also announced price cuts in its PowerStation and PowerServer
models 580, 97B, and 98B, and on various storage and memory
products. Cuts in system prices ranged from 13.1 to 16 percent,
and on the other products from 13 to 34 percent.

(Grant Buckler/19930714/Press Contact: Greg Golden, IBM,
914-642-5463)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00008)

Analyst Sees Promise In IBM's ATM Move 07/15/93
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- By giving its
endorsement to Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), IBM has taken a
bold step that could benefit the company and the fortunes of ATM
at the same time. That's the verdict of Paul Callahan, senior
analyst of network strategy research at Forrester Research, Inc.,
in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

ATM is a high-speed networking standard being touted as a way of
sending voice, data, and video over a single network. In a
briefing for industry analysts July 13, Ellen Hancock,
vice-president and general manager of networking systems, said
IBM plans a range of products based on ATM, including
semiconductor chips, adapter cards, switches, network hubs, and
software (Newsbytes, July 13).

IBM also said it is developing advanced technology to improve the
efficiency of ATM networks by 20 to 50 percent.

Callahan said what appears to be an aggressive move into ATM
could solve a problem for IBM and help kick-start the ATM
technology, which he described in a research report a few months
ago as facing a cloudy future for the next few years.

IBM needs a way of combining its aging Systems Network
Architecture (SNA) standard with local-area network
internetworking technology. ATM could be a safe way of offering
that capability, Callahan said.

Further, he said, IBM is tailoring its version of ATM to data
transmission, which Forrester Research believes will be the major
market for ATM in the near future despite the fact that some of
its advocates tout its ability to handle voice and video as well.

This could give IBM a performance edge in the ATM sweepstakes
that, combined with an aggressive pricing policy, could make it a
leader. And the low prices Callahan said IBM plans to offer on
its ATM products would also make ATM more attractive to data
communications users in comparison to options such as faster
Ethernet systems and Frame Relay technology, which his earlier
report said would steal much of ATM's thunder in the next few
years.

IBM is talking about "delivering ATM for the masses instead of
the performance elite," Callahan said.

IBM said its first products using ATM technology will begin to
reach the market next year. Over time, IBM officials said, ATM
technology will appear throughout the company's product line.

(Grant Buckler/19930714/Press Contact: Clifton Scott, IBM,
914-642-5457; Forrester Research, 617-497-7090)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00009)

NTT In Multimedia Telecom Experiments 07/15/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Japan's major telecom
firm NTT is experimenting with what it calls multimedia
telecommunication. VI&P, aimed at both business and home use,
is a scheme which transmits four times more data than HDTV
(high definition TV).

The data was sent via NTT'S B-ISDN (Business Integrated
Services Digital Network) on an automatic transmission mode
switching device. In this experiment, NTT's Yokosuka Research
and Development Center and its testing facility were connected
with an optical fiber line. High resolution pictures, which
are clearer than that those on 35-mm film, were transmitted
at 100 megabits per second. One whole page of a life-size
newspaper was shown on the large screen. The letters were
clear enough to be read.

Also, NTT has transmitted HDTV pictures and TV phone
data on a single optical fiber line. In this test, as many as
60 channels of TV data and phone data were sent on this single
line, and it worked.

NTT has also tested a LAN (local area network) for business
with what it calls ATM-LAN using an optical fiber line. A
maximum transmission speed of 2.4 gigabits was achieved.
Several offices were connected with this optical fiber on which
they all conducted a teleconference.

The technology could be the stimulus for new businesses, such
as an online medical diagnosis service. The technology is also
to be applied to home use in the future. NTT is currently
laying out optical fiber cables to connect individual houses.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930715/Press Contact: NTT, +81-3-
3509-5035, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00010)

Citizen Halts Notebook Supply To Compaq 07/15/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Japan's watchmaker Citizen has
stopped supplying notebook-type PCs to Compaq in the US due to
rapid appreciation of Japanese currency.

Citizen has been supplying notebook-type personal computers to
Compaq on an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) basis. However,
due to rise of the Japanese yen, Citizen will not be able to make
a profit by exporting the PCs to the US.

Citizen started supplying the Compaq LTE Lite in 1989 at
20,000 to 25,000 units monthly. As of fiscal 1992, Citizen
sold 34 billion yen ($310 million) of them, which is about 13 percent
of Citizen's total sales. The firm was expecting 29 billion yen
($260 million) in sales this fiscal year.

Compaq will shift production of this notebook PC to
its plant in Singapore in August. However, Compaq will
get a supply of parts from Citizen. Such parts will include
printed board units, LCD panels and floppy disk drives.

Citizen may continue to be an OEM supplier for Compaq for
other products. Citizen is currently developing a 1.3-inch
hard disk drive and a pen-input personal computer which it may
OEM to Compaq.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930715/Press Contact: Citizen, +81-3-
3342-1232, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MOW)(00011)

Sprint Russia To Develop Russian Share Registry 07/15/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- The State Property Committee,
the main privatization body in Russia, has awarded a contract
to develop a system of 60+ regional computerized shares
registries to Sprint Networks Russia. With the large privatization
order awarded to a company with relatively little experience
in this technology, the market for such registries has heated up.

The financial details of the project were not disclosed.

The first large computer-based shares register was created
by the Rinako investment house in cooperation with the Relcom
e-mail network. Relcom was chosen last year to be the
medium for all local State Property Committee affiliates to
communicate with the central office in Moscow and with each other.

The current order of the State Committee, which was given to
Sprint Networks Russia, provides no participation to Rinako,
the largest fund market maker and related technology developer.
This shows that the field is getting hot, according to
Valery Bardin, one of the Relcom network founders, currently
with Relteam company.

(Kirill Tchashchin/199302)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00012)

Intel Donates CPU For Low-Cost Reading Machine 07/15/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Arkenstone, the
Sunnyvale, California-based non-profit group which supplies
disabled computer users with special adaptive technology, has
announced that the price of its Open Book text-to-speech reading
machine will be only $5,395 because of an Intel donation of a
half-million dollars worth of 486DX2/66 microprocessors.

The Open Book Special Edition, a reading machine for visually
impaired individuals, scans printed materials and converts them
to speech. By using the 66 megahertz 80486 chip, the Special
Edition version will, according to Arkenstone, be about 2.5-times
faster than the company's previous offering and will have greater
storage capacity.

The previous version of Open Book, which used a less powerful
version of the 80486 microprocessor, cost $1,000 more
than the new version. The price reduction was due mainly to
Intel's generous contribution.

Open Book is a complete, stand-alone package for visually
impaired users and is not a computer. Rather it combines a
scanner, speech synthesis, processor, optical character
recognition software, and a 17-key control keypad.

Arkenstone provides its hardware through a worldwide network of
local distributors and the products are only available to
disabled individuals.

For further information about local distributors, contact:
Arkenstone, 1390 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089. Phone 800-
444-4443, 408-752-2200, or fax [phone].

(John McCormick/19930715/Press Contact: Jim Frucheterman,
Arkenstone, 800-444-4443 or fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00013)

 ****FTC Ends Intel Probe 07/15/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Computer chip giant
Intel has been informed by the Federal Trade Commission that it
is no longer the subject of any investigation regarding possible
unfair trade practices.

Intel has been under investigation by the federal regulatory
agency since 1991 when it was accused by several small chip
makers of engaging in predatory marketing practices which tended
to block competition.

Last evening Intel released the following information from an FTC
letter reportedly received by Andrew S. Grove, Intel's chief
executive officer:

"Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no
further action is warranted by the commission at this time.
"Accordingly, pursuant to authority delegated by the commission,
the investigation has been closed."

This would appear to end the business practices investigation of
the world's largest microchip maker and, despite some comments
about the FTC's ability to reopen the investigation if warranted,
Washington observers feel that there is little likelihood that
the FTC would initiate another look at Intel's business tactics
without clear and compelling evidence that the company is doing
something that is illegal.

(John McCormick/19930715/Press Contact: Pam Pollace, Intel, 408-
765-1435)


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

International Telecom Update 07/15/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- The Philippines'
efforts to upgrade its network once again headline international
telecommunication news.

President Fidel Ramos has been fighting to break up the monopoly
of the Philippine Long Distance Co., finally nationalizing stock
tied to the Ferdinand Marcos regime. But he has also been trying
to bring in foreign investment and improve the networks of the
nation's interior. There he has been embarrassed by Cable &
Wireless' decision to back-out of investing in Digitel's upgrade
of its Luzon network, and Digitel's reaction to it. His latest
move is to demand that firms which want to invest in the
Philippines must bolster rural services -- that's similar to
Digitel's position. C&W had refused to invest in Luzon unless it
won the right to install an international teleport. Ramos won a
small vote of confidence when Japan's government granted his
country $105 million to finance a number of projects, including
an emergency communications system.

Elsewhere, Italy pledged to end SIP's mobile phone monopoly, but
experts note that it could take years for a winning consortium to
reach the market. Bidding will start this summer on the
concession, and the government wants a competitor operating by
year-end. Three groups, headed by Olivetti, Fiat and the ENI
state energy company, are bidding for the rights. Olivetti has
brought in Bell Atlantic of the US as a partner. SIP wants
compensation to give up its monopoly, which would otherwise run
until 2003, and may retaliate against a competitor with high
interconnect fees for linking cellular calls to the wired
network. The government has promised to sell STET, the holding
company which owns SIP, after the company's units -- cable,
domestic phone, and international calling -- are combined into
one.

In Latin America, the greatest controversy still involves Cuba,
perhaps the last remaining Communist dictatorship. The US is
moving to allow more direct links to the island, instead of
forcing callers to relay calls via Canada. That could let US
companies pay Cuba for taking the calls. Such a move is bound to
prove controversial, as Democrats and Republicans bid to out-do
each other in fealty to a policy of economic strangulation aimed
at toppling Castro's government. The Administration will argue
that the Castro government is making more money through its
Canadian connection than it would with direct links.

Elsewhere in the region the news was all good. IDB signed an
agreement with Brazil's Embratel to bring the services of its
private line unit, IDB Worldcom, to Brazil. The agreement lets
the company handle international calls to Brazil, not from it,
and the company hopes to generate 4 million minutes in traffic
over the next year as a result. Brazil's stock market continues
to rise in value, led by Telebras, the state-owned phone company
due for privatization. Jamaica, too, has good news to report, as
Telecommunications of Jamaica, a unit of Cable & Wireless,
reports that its profits for the year tripled.

Finally Bulgaria, which was isolated from the world when it was a
Communist dictatorship, is soon going to get cable television.
Foreigners are invited to participate. Bulgaria is also upgrading
its domestic phone network and recently tied its data services to
the Sprintnet packet net.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930715/Press Contact: Ed Cheramy, IDB, 213-
270-3770)


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

InterDigital Adds New Patents to CDMA Suit 07/15/93
KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) --
InterDigital Technology continued to pursue Qualcomm's Code
Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, digital cellular system in
court by adding new patent claims to its lawsuit against the
company.

InterDigital has held patents on Time Division Multiple Access,
or TDMA, digital cellular technology for some time. TDMA was
endorsed by the cellular industry a few years ago, but so far
only McCaw and Southwestern Bell have committed to installing it
in their networks. Meanwhile, Qualcomm's version of CDMA has won
endorsements from US West, Bell Atlantic, PacTel and others
despite the fact it's not ready for market, mainly because it
offers a 10-fold capacity boost against TDMA's three-fold
increase.

Last year, however, InterDigital bought SCS MobileCom, whose
founder, Donald L. Schilling, had patented some CDMA technology
used on a wide range of frequencies, mainly by the military.
Since then, InterDigital has been pushing what it called
Broadband CDMA as a replacement for CDMA, which could be built on
top of TDMA systems. Since buying SCS Mobilecom InterDigital has
referred to Qualcomm's version of CDMA as "narrowband CDMA,"
since it uses single calling channels while SCS' technology uses
all of the frequency available to a cellular carrier.

It has claimed in a lawsuit in a US District Court in
Philadelphia that Qualcomm's version of CDMA violates the
Schilling patents. The latest move is to add another
Schilling patent to the claims. The suit not only names
Qualcomm, but Oki Telecom, which has committed to making
CDMA equipment. Qualcomm also has agreements with a number
of Korean firms to make CDMA equipment.

InterDigital wants a permanent injunction barring Qualcomm and
Oki from making CDMA equipment it claims infringes on its patent.

In a press statement President Robert Bramson was plain about
InterDigital's goals in the suit. "We own a broad array of
patents and patent applications covering CDMA and TDMA, the two
principal alternative digital cellular telephone standards. Our
goals are to license our patents and develop royalty income from
these two technologies."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930715/Press Contact: InterDigital
Communications, Marcia Bexley, 215/278-7831)


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

MFS Greatly Expands New Jersey Network 07/15/93
OAKBROOK TERRACE, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) --
Metropolitan Fiber Systems of New Jersey, Inc., a unit of MFS
Telecom, greatly expanded its New Jersey network through an
agreement with MH Lightnet, Inc.

Lightnet is owned by McLean Hunter, a Toronto company
which also publishes McLeans Magazine. The two companies jointly
agreed to build a fiber network in northern New Jersey which will
run a total of 117 miles, MFS spokesman Claire Fennell told
Newsbytes. That, added to MFS' existing 23 miles, will mean a 140
mile network linking over 80 buildings in cities like Fairfield,
Morristown, Newark, West Orange, and Secaucus.

The network can be used to link callers in those buildings
to long distance companies like MCI and AT&T, bypassing Bell
Atlantic's network. MFS also has a network in New York, Fennell
said, but the two are separate.

MFS is the US' largest so-called competitive access provider,
also known as a bypass company, and operates networks in 14
metropolitan areas. MFS' New Jersey unit will operate the net
network, while MH Lightnet will be responsible for outside plant
construction, maintenance, right of way and building access.
Service is expected to be introduced on the network over the next
six months, with significant portions operational in July.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930715/Press Contact: MFS, Claire Fennell,
708-218-7232)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00017)

Dell UK Ships Pentium Chip-Based Systems, Upgrades 07/15/93
BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Dell Computer has
announced it is now shipping Pentium-based servers and upgrade cards
directly to customers across Europe. The company claims that this
makes it the first direct-sell PC supplier to do this on this side
of the Atlantic.

According to Dell, the System 4560/XE server, which the company
announced on May 17, is the first to ship. The machine claims to
combine the mechanical and electrical design improvements of Dell's
new XE chassis with Intel's Pentium chipset architecture. Initial
shipments of the 4560/SE system are supplied with the 60 megahertz
(MHz) version of the Pentium.

Dell is also offering its customers a 60MHz Pentium upgrade card for
the company's 486SE and 486DE series of desktop machines. The
company claims that these cards increase general performance by
around 50 percent, and floating point calculations by as much as 500
percent.

Roger Stone, Dell's European Group product marketing manager, said
that the focus of the company's Pentium strategy is on providing
affordable systems that provide an effective upgrade path for
existing users, yet also address the need for high performance
servers and workstations.

"The upgrade cards represent the fulfillment of our promise to
upgrade our users, which has been made possible by our advanced
product planning and close working relationship with Intel," he
said.

Stone added that this close relationship is the main reason why Dell
has been able to ship Pentium machines and upgrades so quickly.

"As one of the largest purchasers of Intel products, we have been
able to obtain Pentium chips to enable customers with applications
that demand high performance to be among the first to evaluate and
adopt this important new technology. We anticipate being one of the
largest suppliers of Pentium this year," he said.

Pricing on the Pentium-based server starts at UKP 4,069. For the
money, users get a Pentium-based machine with 8 megabytes (MB) of
memory, plus 1MB of video memory and a 320MB hard disk. DOS 6.0 and
Windows 3.1 come bundled with the machine. The upgrade cards,
meanwhile, for the 486SE servers and 486DE desktops cost UKP 1,799.

(Steve Gold/19930715/Press & Public Contact: Dell Computer - Tel:
0344-860456)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00018)

DEC Shortens Customs Delays 07/15/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Maynard,
Massachusetts' Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was cited this
week as being the first New England-based company to be
preapproved under the US Customs Agency's Pre-Importation Review
Program (PIRP). The PIRP system attempts to automate many
customs-related import delays, expediting the release of cargos
from bonded warehouses through reduced Customs' examination
requirements, better expense and delay predictability, and
paperless import document processing.

To qualify for preapproved imports under PIRP, a company must
undergo a compliance audit by US Customs and provide the agency
with detailed information about the business's product
classification system. Based on a history of good compliance with
US Customs regulations, companies such as DEC qualify for near-
automatic release of imported cargos, reducing costs both to the
company and to the government.

(John McCormick/19930713/Press Contact: Patrick F. O'Malley, US
Customs Service Northeast Region, 617-565-6215)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(00019)

CA To Port Unicenter To UnixWare 07/15/93
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Computer
Associates International will adapt its CA-Unicenter systems
management software to UnixWare, a version of the Unix operating
system from Univel. Univel is joint venture of Novell and
Unix Systems Laboratories.

CA-Unicenter provides common systems management, security,
scheduling, and task automation functions.

CA-Unicenter also is being developed for Novell's NetWare to
provide clients with a common set of system management tools that
span from mainframe to desktop. Beta testing is expected to begin
in the fourth quarter, said Bob Gordon, a CA spokesman.

Availability of Unicenter for both NetWare and UnixWare will aid
the companies' efforts to integrate the two operating systems
more closely, said Melanie King, a spokeswoman for Univel. Many
buyers of UnixWare are already major NetWare users, she said.

CA-Unicenter is already offered for a variety of Unix systems,
including IBM's RS/6000 and systems from Hewlett-Packard, Data
General, Pyramid, and Sequent, as well as IBM's OS/2 operating
system. It has been announced for Microsoft's Windows NT
operating system and NCR 3000 machines.

Company officials said CA-Unicenter will help make UnixWare more
attractive to customers thinking of moving critical applications
from larger systems. They said these customers will be interested
in such features as security management and control of
superusers, task scheduling, help desk and problem monitoring,
disk and file management, backup and archiving, chargeback, and
tape protection.

CA and Univel said they plan to work together to sell the
software.

(Grant Buckler/19930714/Press Contact: Bob Gordon, Computer
Associates, 516-342-2391; Melanie King, Univel, 408-729-2342)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00020)

NCR Opens Windows NT Global Support Center 07/15/93
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- NCR announced
this week it has opened a global support center to provide toll-free
around-the-clock telephone support to Windows NT users worldwide.

The company says the new center, located in Columbia, South
Carolina, offers support to any Windows NT users, whether running
Microsoft's latest operating system on an NCR platform or other
hardware. At present calls are toll-free within the US, but NCR
says it will add toll-free access numbers for callers from major
countries around the world within the next few weeks. In the
interim, international callers who cannot access the 800 number from
their phone systems can call a toll number until the no-cost lines
are available.

NCR says the cost for support is based on the number of users a
particular customer has, decreasing as the number of users
increases. Discounts begin at 25 or more users. The cost for
single-user US customers for one year is $180, progressively
decreasing to $18 per user if more than 1,000 users are enrolled.
International costs will vary slightly depending on the local
market, NCR spokesperson Lynn Frye told Newsbytes. NCR can also
provide on-site support from more than 1,300 locations in 120
countries worldwide. Frye told Newsbytes users needing Windows NT
support can enroll in the program in advance, or the enrollment can
be done at the time of the first support call. Corporate billing is
available, and Frye said NCR will also accept Mastercard and Visa.
Billing is in advance for one year.

According to Dick Reese, NCR customer services division VP, having
all the support technicians located in a single facility is an
advantage. "This concentrated level of expertise ensures the highest
quality support to all our customers, anywhere in the world, no
matter what time they call," he says.

NCR says the center will provide assistance with problem solving,
system tuning, configuration issues, and implementation questions,
and can also serve as a help desk for Windows NT users. A unique
feature of the center is its ability to handle calls from
non-English speaking callers. The company says those calls will be
either handled by one of the center's multi-lingual staff members
or, if necessary, the center will add an interpreter from AT&T's
Language Line Services at no cost to the caller. Language Line
Services provide over-the-phone interpretation from English to more
than 140 languages. NCR is an AT&T company.

Users can also access NCR's Global Support Center bulletin board on
a 24-hour per day basis. NCR service marketing representative Mario
Mosesso told Newsbytes the bulletin board is expected to be
operational next week. It will operate on Compuserve, an on-line
subscription service, and will include much of the information found
on the Windows NT support forum on Compuserve. "Future bulletin
board services are also under evaluation as far as what other kind
of information services we may offer our customers," Mosesso told
Newsbytes.

The center will also dispatch on-site support when it's needed, but
NCR says past experience indicates that over 99 percent of the calls
will be resolved over the phone.

The company says support for Windows NT grew out of its ongoing
relationship with Windows when the two companies collaborated for
over two years in the development of Microsoft's new product, with
NCR's Intel processor-based symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)
systems being one of the NT development platforms. NCR has
endorsed Windows NT for specific models of its System 3000 line.

(Jim Mallory/19930715/Press contact: Lynn Frye, NCR, 513-445-3714;
Reader contact: NCR Support Center: 800-469-4668, 803-739-7864)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00021)

Storagetek 2Q Earnings Down, Iceberg Ready For Testing 07/15/93
LOUISVILLE, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Storage Technology
Corporation (Storagetek) announced it earned $1.3 million in the
second quarter of 1993. However, owners of Storagetek's common
stock won't see a dividend.

Storagetek's David Reid explained to Newsbytes that's because of the
way earnings are distributed. "We did earn $1.3 million but if you
take away what we need to pay for the preferred stock dividends - $3
million - we have a loss per share for common shares of $0.04."
Reid said preferred shareholders will receive $0.875 per share.

Storagetek Chairman and CEO Ryal Poppa said the company's European
business is still affected by generally weak economies and the
effects of a strengthening dollar, while US business is better.
"Our US enterprise-level business continues on a positive trend,
but increasing competition is challenging our midrange business,"
according to Poppa. He said the midrange business will need to be
refocused to meet competitive demands.

Poppa also said the company does not expect results to get better
until the fourth quarter. "The development and market challenges of
1993 are not yet behind us," he said.

Late last month the company announced that the US Securities and
Exchange Commission had launched an investigation into its
announcements last year about its "Iceberg" product, a disk array
system that stores data redundantly on multiple disks in order to
protect against data loss. Iceberg is designed for large computer
systems. The company has experienced several delays in shipping, but
says Iceberg should ship before the end of the year.

Reid today denied a United Press International report that Iceberg
is again being delayed. He told Newsbytes the system has been
installed in Storagetek's data center and user testing will begin
before the end of July. Poppa said the company expects to begin
production before year end, but won't realize any revenue from
Iceberg until 1994. He said some additional functions remain to be
integrated and significant testing still has to be done. Says Poppa,
"We continue to expect that in the fourth quarter our results will
begin to improve as revenues associated with our 1993 product
introductions begin to complement our existing product portfolio."

Reid told Newsbytes the company has had orders for Iceberg since it
was first announced and currently has an order backlog of nearly
200. He declined to say who would receive the first Iceberg system.

Storagetek also announced that is has acquired Sceptre
Corporation, a supplier of software to manage cartridge-tape
information storage in open systems computing environments. Sceptre,
based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is privately held. Terms of the
transaction were not disclosed. Storagetek VP Don Patterson said the
company plans to add resources at Sceptre and maintain it as a
separate business.

Storagetek has announced alliances with several companies in the
past months, including Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, Epoch
Systems Inc., and Network Systems Corporation. In February the
company announced NearNet, a product for the network storage
management market, and LibraryStation, a software product that
enables the MVS operating system, NearNet, and other clients to
share a Storagetek Nearline library.

In addition to Iceberg, Storagetek has several other storage
products in the works, including Silverton, a 36-track tape
development which is in beta testing and scheduled to ship at the
end of the third quarter. WolfCreek, a smaller library, is in beta
testing presently. PowderHorn, a second generation robotic tape
library, began shipping in May. Ocean, a moderate-priced half-inch
tape library for the midrange market, is also currently in beta
testing at multiple sites.

(Jim Mallory/19930715/Press contact: David Reid, Storagetek,
303-673-4815)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00022)

Media Vision 2Q Revenues Up 250% 07/15/93
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Media Vision,
developer of multimedia products, is reporting its second
quarter revenue jumped from the $12.6 million reported last
year to $45.1 million -- an increase of 250 percent. The
company is crediting increased interest in multimedia for its
growth.

Net income for the quarter rose to approximately $3.4 million
(24 cents/share), compared with a net loss of $1.1 million in
the second quarter of 1992.

The company has experienced phenomenal growth. In April,
Media Vision announced revenues of $37 million for its first
quarter, up 450 percent over its $6.6 million in revenues for
the year prior. Analysts expected Media Vision to hold even in
its second quarter due to traditional seasonal slowness in the
retail market, but the company surprised everyone by making
significant gains during the period.

Paul Jain, Media Vision's president and chief executive said:
"Our sales, over analysts' expectations, have resulted from a
number of key market trends. The retail market for PC
multimedia is robust. Moreover, our OEM (original equipment
manufacturing) business is building more quickly than we had
originally expected." Media Vision is a supplier to IBM,
Compaq, NEC, Sony, DEC, and Philips.

Despite its growth, the company is worried about stagnation.
Media Vision's Allen Thygensen, senior director and general
manager of multimedia publishing, told Newsbytes Media Vision
does not want to go the way of other peripheral companies which
either died or stopped growing, so it is moving into providing
content for use with its hardware.

Stan Cornyn, founder and president of Warner New Media (now
Time Warner Interactive), and Min Yee, formerly vice president
of Microsoft's multimedia division and publisher of Microsoft
Press, joined Media Vision in April to head a new multimedia
publishing arm of the company. The new division announced an
alliance with Hyperbole Studios Hyperbole for development of
new interactive movie titles, and Virtualcinema, a software
engine for development of interactive, three-dimensional films.

The company has not stopped making advances in its peripheral
hardware line, however. Media Vision completed its acquisition
of Pellucid, a graphics hardware company formed by a group of
engineers out of Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI). As a
result the company launched its new Pro Graphics line of
graphics accelerator boards which offer workstation graphics
for the IBM compatible personal computer (PC).

Media Vision also estimates that it holds about 85 percent of
the total 16-bit sound board market with its Pro Audio Spectrum
line of sound boards. The company asserts it was the first to
offer a multimedia upgrade kit to meet the Multimedia Personal
Computer (MPC) Level 2 standard and the first to offer an add-
in video board to offer real time compression of video images
for under $450. Real-time or "on-the-fly" compression is more
economical for users as it means the system doesn't increased
capacity to store uncompressed video prior to the compression
step.

The company is also boasting it is expanding its presence in
Europe and is implementing of a series of merchandising and
promotional programs for the retail, mass merchant, and
reseller channels.

Media Vision is headquartered in Fremont, California and
reported revenues of $68.9 million in 1992.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930715/Press Contact: Media Vision, Steven
Allan, tel [phone]; Abigail Johnson, Roeder- Johnson, tel
415-802-1851, fax [phone]; Public Contact 800-845-5870)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00023)

QuarkXprress 3.2 For Macintosh 07/15/93
DENVER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Quark
announced this week it has joined forces with Electronics for
Imaging Inc., to produce QuarkXpress 3.2, a color management
system for page layout on Apple Computer's Macintosh platform.

Quark says version 3.2 provides full compatibility with the
Windows version of the program, allowing documents
created in either version to be exchanged. QuarkXPress
3.2 for Windows is scheduled to ship within the next 90
days.

EfiColor is a new feature that uses device-specific color
profiles to assure consistent color matching across a wide
array of display and output devices, including offset
presses, according to the company. Users can also now
separate imported continuous-tone color images from within
QuarkXPress using the EfiColor Management System.

Each EfiColor profile contains a characterization of a
device's color space, the values the device uses to display
print color. It also includes information about the capabilities
and limitations of each device. The company says the
system notifies a user when a color cannot be accurately
displayed or printed by that device. If the user does not
change the color, EfiColor automatically will choose the
closest color match.

Version 3.2 also ships with a set of core profiles for various
monitors, scanners, printers, and offset presses. Additional
profiles are available from EFI and resellers of its software.
David Blatner, co-author of The QuarkXPress Book, published by
Peachpit Press, says users of the new software can take advantage
of Color You See Is Color You Get (CYSICYG, pronounced KISSYKIG),
an adaptation of the term WYSIWYG, or What You See Is What You Get,
a reference to software that produces an on-screen image
identical in appearance and formatting to what will print.

The EfiColor Xtension supports Metric Color Tags, enabling
the program to read color information in TIFF-format files.

The new version also incorporates a number of user-
requested features, says the company. Those include what
Quark calls "a never ending request" for greater
performance. To automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks,
support for Apple Events has been added. Using UserLand Frontier
or AppleScript software, the user can automate tasks such as
specifying print setting, importing information from a
database, and performing mail-merges. A runtime version of
UserLand Frontier is bundled with QuarkXPress 3.2.

The program also has a Collect for Output feature, which
automatically gathers into a single folder all files needed to
print a particular document. Quark says that should eliminate
any problem of missing files or miscommunicated
instructions between users and service bureaus. An Auto
Backup feature saves multiple revisions of a document at
user-specified intervals, a feature any user who has ever
lost hours of work when the system crashed, will appreciate.
Quark says when the number of revisions reaches a
specified limit, the oldest version is automatically eliminated.

The company says registered users of QuarkXPress will
receive instructions on how to upgrade. If you now use
version 3.1, the upgrade will cost $150. For 3.0 users, the
upgrade has a $295 price tag.

(Jim Mallory/19930715/Press contact: Peter Warren, Quark
Inc, 303-894-3452 or Rochelle Schiffman, EFI, 415-286-
8508)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00024)

UK - Energis Looks For US Partner 07/15/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Energis, the telecom operation
of National Grid, the UK power company, has revealed it is actively
courting a US partner to enable it to compete with BT and Mercury in
the telecom market in the UK.

Announcing the search, David Dey, the chief executive of Energis,
said that he is looking closely at a number of US operators with a
view to working with them. "We are looking to North American
operators where there is a very competitive market and delivery of
very advanced systems," he said.

Dey, speaking at a press conference in London earlier this week,
said that any deal may involve the US partner taking a stake in the
telecom operation. He added that the company is planning to double
its cash spending to UKP 200 million next year.

Because of its existing national network of power lines, Energis
claims that it can offer its telecom service at rates much lower
than those of BT and Mercury. The company has been talking about
calling rates of between 10 and 15 percent less than those of its
main rivals, BT and Mercury.

Because of this pricing strategy, it could take up to three years
before the Energis operation makes any money, according to John
Uttley, the company's financial director. "Start-up costs mean
Energis would likely lose money for about three years before moving
into the black. It inevitably won't make a profit right away," he
said in an interview.

(Steve Gold/19930715)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00025)

 ****"Open Sesame!" Intelligent Agent For Mac Makes Debut 07/15/93
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- "Commander,
I notice you often open `Schedule' after opening `Project Budget.'
Would you like me to automate this task?" read a slide projected
onto a lecture room wall in MIT's Building E-51 last night.

There, at the Boston Computer Society's Main Macintosh Meeting,
Charles River Analytics Inc., introduced a new software package,
billed as "the first learning agent for the Macintosh," that will
be unveiled to the public next month at MacWorld Boston.

"The user doesn't have to adapt to the software. Instead, the
software adapts to the user," stated Dr. Alper K. Caglayan,
president of the small, Cambridge-based software house, in showing
off the new agent, dubbed "Open Sesame!"

Slated to ship shortly after MacWorld at a price of $129, the
Mac-based agent observes user actions in the background, learns
time- and event-based patterns, and will automate these patterns
with approval from the user, according to Caglayan.

"Open Sesame! is the first software agent that can learn from the
user to figure out what to do for the user," he explained. The
agent gets `smarter' about the user's computing behavior as time
goes by, he added.

"Open Sesame" is based on neural network/expert system technology,
and uses "if/then" knowledge-based rules. The agent incorporates
a System 7 knowledge base. To maintain the traditional Macintosh
experience for the user, the software uses Apple Events in the
Finder suite.

A wide variety of repetitive tasks can be automated, including
desktop management, emptying the Trash, automatic backup, mail
management, and database queries.

After noticing a particular pattern of behavior -- such as a
tendency to open "Schedule" after opening "Project Budget" in
Excel, for instance -- Open Sesame! informs the user of this
observation.

The agent then inquires as to whether the user would like the task
to be automated in the future. The user designates approval by
clicking on "okay."

The user can also give the agent instructions on how and when to
automate a task, telling it to empty the Trash ten minutes or two
hours after a file is dropped, for example, or to rebuild the
desktop each Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.

As the agent becomes more familiar with the user's activities, its
guesses come more quickly, said Caglayan. But Open Sesame! is also
designed to be nonintrusive, he emphasized. If the user doesn't
want to communicate with the agent while working within
applications, the software will keep a background log.

The log allows the agent's observations to be accessed, sorted,
organized, and dealt with on an individual basis at the user's
convenience.

Open Sesame! also contains a password feature. Caglayan told the
BCS members that this capability was added during the development
phase, after a secretary at Charles River Analytics took note of
one of the agent's observations. "The agent had observed that (the
technical staff) was accessing Tetris every day at 4:45 p.m.," he
reported.

Users can also designate the names they wish the agent to use in
addressing them. During the demonstration, for example, Caglayan
told the agent to stop calling him "Commander" and start calling
him "Oh Great One."

Open Sesame! supports AppleScript, and the functionality
of the agent will increase as more applications start to
incorporate the System 7 scripting capability, Caglayan told the
audience.

Right now, the agent works with front windows only, but support for
multiple windows is likely to arrive in a future edition, he said.

During the demo, the agent "spoke" its observations to Caglayan and
the audience. Afterward, Robin L. Jones, marketing director for
Charles River Analytics, told Newsbytes that the vocal effects had
been achieved by means of a microphone.

She added, however, that interactive voice response might become
possible later, hinging on Apple's development of Casper and
Galloway, a pair of prospective intelligent speech capabilities.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930715/Reader and press contact: Robin L.
Jones, Charles River Analytics Inc., tel [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00026)

SCO Chair Dies 07/15/93
SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Difficult
circumstances have hit the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), known
for its Unix operating system software. In December, Larry
Michels, president and chief executive officer, resigned in
December in the midst of sexual harassment charges and now
company chairman James Harris died last week.

Harris, age 49, succumbed to chronic illness at his home in
Hastings, New Hampshire last Saturday. Mr. Harris is survived
by his sister, Audrey Harris, father Fred Harris and mother,
Etta Harris. SCO company officials were unavailable to comment
as to the exact nature of Harris' illness.

Current president and chief executive officer, Lars Turndal,
said about Harris: "He believed in people, their inherent
goodness, desire to succeed, and collective strength. We will
all miss him and his support in bringing SCO forward."

SCO was privately held since it was founded in 1979 until its
initial public offering (IPO) held in May of this year. Its
annual revenues are in excess of $160 million.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930715/Press Contact: Zee Zaballos, Santa
Cruz Operation, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TOR)(00027)

 ****Industry Carnage Not Over, McNealy Tells COMDEX/Canada 07/15/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Consolidation in the
computer industry is far from over, Sun Microsystems President
Scott McNealy said in a keynote speech at COMDEX/Canada.

"There are still two to three times too many people in the computer
industry," McNealy told a large crowd in the keynote speech for the
LAN Expo segment of Canada's first COMDEX show. He predicted
further cuts in large computer companies, and the demise of a good
number of hardware architectures and operating systems.

McNealy said three hardware architectures and three operating
systems will survive. He added three object models, the bases of an
object-oriented computing world of the future. Not surprisingly,
all three lists of three included a Sun product.

McNealy backed Intel's Pentium, the PowerPC architecture backed by
IBM, Apple, and Motorola, and Sun's own SPARC in the hardware race.
He picked Microsoft's Windows NT, IBM's OS/2, and Sun's Solaris to
win in operating systems. And he favored the efforts of the
IBM-Apple Taligent joint venture, those of Microsoft, and the
Object Management Group's standard (which Sun has implemented as
Distributed Objects Everywhere, or DOE) as surviving object models.

He didn't concede survival to even those few rivals without a few
biting comments along the way. For instance: "Can you think of a
reason not to do NT. Maybe that it's not available, but don't worry
about that." Or, giving OS/2 equal time: "They (IBM) really want to
prove to Microsoft that they can take a piece of junk and actually
make it successful."

In fact, McNealy's speech was the sort of collection of acerbic
one-liners for which he has become known in the industry. But
behind the wit was a message that, while not new, was somber: hard
times in the computer industry are not nearly over.

In a later interview, McNealy pointed out that his company has
revenue of between $300,000 and $350,000 per employee. He then
asked how many employees IBM, for example, should have to meet the
same benchmark. The answer is less than 200,000: IBM last year
reported revenues of $64.42 billion.

Tying in to the theme of bad news for the established giants of the
computer industry, McNealy talked of a trend which he likes to
call "peer computing" and away from the host-based model (which he
refers to as "master-slave" computing).

He recounted the story of how Sun two years ago had its only losing
quarter so far as a result of mainframe problems, and said he
decreed "read my lips -- no more mainframes" after that incident.

As a result, he said, Sun is now a leader in moving to distributed
computing, one to two years away from putting all its corporate
computing on its own "pizza box" processors.

While quick to point out others' problems, McNealy was more low-key
about Sun's own. He acknowledged the company had problems last year
in delivering a superscalar version of its SPARC architecture. It
was "harder than we thought," he said, adding that it is harder
than other manufacturers thought too and they either are having or
will have similar problems.

And in response to questions about rivals Digital Equipment and
Hewlett-Packard, whose single-processor performance in
floating-point computing he admitted is "a little" better than
Sun's, McNealy said more attention should be paid to the over-all
performance of multi-processor systems rather than that of
individual chips.

He did not miss the chance to fire a few shots at Microsoft, which
he occasionally refers to as "the evil empire." McNealy said he is
now lobbying the United States government to put in place a policy
of not buying any system that does not have an open interface that
multiple vendors can implement.

(Grant Buckler/19930715)


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

SynOptics Posts Record Revenue For 2Qtr 07/15/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- As a
further indication that the networking industry is the place to be
for high profits, another major vendor has posted record revenue.
SynOptics Communications Inc., has reported revenue of
$180,117,000 for the second fiscal quarter ended July 2, 1993.

The figure represents an increase of 18 percent over the prior
quarter and 120 percent over the year-earlier quarter. Net income
was $24,549,000, or 35 cents per share, based on shares
outstanding restated to reflect a three-for-one stock split.

The earnings represent a 12 percent increase over the previous
quarter and 248 percent over the like quarter in 1992. For the
second fiscal quarter of 1992, revenue was $81,847,000 and net
income was $7,043,000, or 12 cents per share, calculated on a
post-split basis.

The company says that the strong financial results were led by
increased shipments of Token Ring modular and non-modular
network hub products.

Hubs are increasingly important to companies migrating from
host-based environments to distributed, client/server networking.
Downsizing to server-based networks is one of the biggest trends
in the industry today.

The company also says that, during the quarter, it made
"substantial progress in bringing down the long-lead times it
had been experiencing on some of its products."

In announcing the results, Andrew K. Ludwick, SynOptics' president
and chief executive officer, said: "As more and more companies
view networks as critical elements of their business, we are
seeing the market dynamics change. We believe that companies
increasingly prefer strong, long-term vendors, such as SynOptics,
that can offer a full range of solutions which include high-level
management capabilities and data switching alternatives."

During the second quarter, SynOptics introduced a new technology
advancement called SuperAgent, as reported by Newsbytes. The
company also announced that it would Optivity network management
system to the IBM NetView/6000 management platform.

In June Newsbytes reported on the SuperAgent announcement.
At the time SynOptics claimed that the new technology delivers
a "richer level of information to management applications about
network behavior and attributes."

The company also said that SuperAgent software uses open
standards and is distributed throughout the enterprise,
acting as middlemen for information that feeds to
management applications. They perform specific functions
such as correlating faults, collecting inventory information
and mapping topology.

In July Newsbytes reported that the Synoptics User Group in
the US has announced the formation of a UK section.

(Ian Stokell/19930715/Press Contact: Kris Sokoloski,
408-988-2400, SynOptics Communications Inc.)


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

Platinum Software Acquires FRx 07/15/93
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Platinum Software
Corp., has acquired FRx Software Corp., the author of the FRx
financial reporting software.

Kevin McGuirk, spokesman for Platinum Software, told Newsbytes
that, "FRx has really got the very best financial reporting technology
that's out there right now. They are way ahead of the competition.
We've been working very closely with them for a long time, and
the acquisition allows us to work even closer with them. We'll
be bringing out some new products related to our financial software
that we carry."

According to the companies, included with the acquisition were all
rights to the current FRx software applications, as well as rights to
as-yet-unreleased Windows-based, client/server versions of FRx.

While terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, Gerald Blackie,
president and CEO of Platinum Software, did say: "We have been
working closely with Michael Rohan and FRx Software for over three
years, and we are extremely excited to have acquired ownership of
the very best financial reporting technology that exists today."

McGuirk told Newsbytes that, "We have two major lines of financial
applications - the Platinum accounting software and
SeQueL to Platinum, which is based on Sybase SQL Server and with
Windows. We already have had in place, for about three years, a
version of FRx that talks to the Platinum Landbased line, and we
will be releasing a Windows-based client-server version that talks
to the SeQueL Platinum line. This acquisition really solidifies the
relationship."

The new version integrates with the company's Platinum line of
local area network (LAN)-based financial applications and will
soon be integrated with the company's SeQueL to Platinum line of
graphical, client/server financial software, says the company.

Under terms of the deal, Rohan will join Platinum Software as
president, FRx Software Division, with responsibility for the
continued evolution of the FRx product line.

"FRx allows corporations to create an almost unlimited variety of
powerful financial reports quickly and easily, including virtual
organizational reports that allow top management to see in a
nutshell what the impact of reorganizations will be," said Blackie,

The companies claim that FRx provides support for a virtually
unlimited number of financial statement formats, foreign
currencies and financial reporting entities, as well as
enterprisewide organizational financial reporting.

Platinum Software claims it was the first software developer to
license a version of FRx to work with its financial software, having
integrated the product with its Platinum accounting software line
since 1990. Other software developers have also licensed DOS
character-based versions of FRx: The Financial Reporting Extender.

Platinum did say, however, that it will take a charge of up to 65
cents a share during the quarter ended June 30, 1993, related to the
acquisition.

(Ian Stokell/19930715/Press Contact: Kevin McGuirk,
714-727-1250, Platinum Software Corp.)


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

Novell Heads Group To Improve Network Security 07/15/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 15 (NB) -- Novell is leading
a worldwide group of companies, industry partners and security
experts that hope to increase the level of network security for
commercial and government organizations.

According to Novell, the group will "define and deliver an evaluated
and trusted computing model for affordable network security that
more accurately reflects how customers implement systems and
networks in today's corporate computing environments."

Novell also says that the security model also expands the scope of
systems that can be submitted for C2/E2 security evaluation.
Previous submissions for security evaluation involved only single
component and stand-alone system configurations.

The National Computer Security Center (NCSC) C2 and European
Commercial Licensed Evaluation Facilities (CLEF) E2 evaluation
processes will be used to evaluate and validate the model. The
company says the security model will be in the form of an open
"umbrella" that allows Novell and other vendors to provide
products for evaluation.

In announcing the move, Jan Newman, executive vice president for
Novell's NetWare Systems Group, said: "This announcement has
significant impact for security-minded commercial and government
customers. Novell with the help of its partners and customers can
build on the security foundation in NetWare to offer an open,
affordable and trusted network computing environment."

The Department of Defense and the NCSC have defined a set of
criteria that provides guidelines for C2 security evaluation. While C2
comes from the Department of Defense environment, many commercial
companies and non-military government organizations have adopted
C2 functionality as the "security baseline standard" for protecting
sensitive and mission-critical information. Novell says that the
European E2 security requirements are almost identical in function.

The C2 security specification is described by four basic principles:
identification and authentication; discretionary access control; audit,
which describes how the operating system audits all or selected
security-related events between subjects and objects; object reuse,
which is a process whereby the operating system ensures that all
user-assignable object space, such as RAM and disk space is
"cleansed" of all data prior to its assignment to another user.

Novell says that the implementation of these principles forms the
foundation for the security features and functions in an information
system - which can be hardware, software or a combination of
both.

Novell also claims that, supporting these principles is the notion
of "assurance" which dictates that trusted network computing
systems must be self-protecting and attempt to protect against
tampering and malicious altering.

Novell says it has submitted its NetWare 4.0 network operating
system (NOS) to the NCSC as the NOS for evaluation using the existing
C2 security criteria. The company claims that NetWare 4.0 provides
all four C2 security functions and supports a distinct level of
assurance.

The NetWare security model attempts to expand the scope of systems
that can be evaluated by providing an open architecture that allows
Novell and other vendors to participate, says the company.

Novell has included Cordant's Assure product along with NetWare
4.0 in its initial proposal to the NCSC. The company claims that the
Assure product provides the required C2 security functions for DOS
and Windows clients and is tightly integrated with NetWare at the
workstation to provide a seamless fit with NetWare's security model.

Novell also says that it intends to provide an open security API
(application programming interface) set that will enable third-party
developers to evaluate their products against the NetWare 4.0 C2/E2
baseline.

Novell is also forming two groups comprised of customers, partners,
developers and industry experts to work with the company - called
the Industry Advisory Group (IAG) and a security Special Interest
Group (SIG).

Novell claims that its NetWare, UnixWare and Unix System V systems
all provide a high level of base security with options for C2 through
B1 and B2 functionality. As the new security model is defined, these
three systems will be integrated to provide customers with a
trusted network computing environment that includes these products.

(Ian Stokell/19930715/Press Contact: Michael Adams,
801-429-5809, Novell Inc.)