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/nb092793

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(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00001)

Micromini Revamps GUI Assist Package 09/27/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Micromini, the software house
behind GUI Assist, has revealed it is updating the graphical user
interface (GUI) code generator for DOS packages to be interfaced
directly to Windows.

Version 1.4 will, the company claims, have several major
improvements to the overall usability, thanks to a new GUI generator
utility called GUI gen.

This new utility provides the means to autogenerate the code and the
graphical firms that give the underlying DOS program the look, feel
and functionality of Windows.

So what is GUI Assist? Put simply, it allows DOS packages to have a
self-contained Windows GUI like any normal Windows application. It
provides users, application developers and resellers with the tools
to create a graphical interface along with the environment to
control and communicate with the original DOS application.

By running the DOS application in a controlled environment as a
process server, GUI Assist can link to the GUI front end by means of
special DLL (Dynamic Link Library) so that it can read output from,
and re-route user input to, the DOS program. Micromini claims that
GUI Assist keeps the new GUI front end and original DOS program
fully synchronized at all times.

According to Bill Holmes, Micromini's managing director, the package
needs an 80386-based or better PC with Windows 3.1 or later, as well
as Visual Basic 2.0 (or later, Visual C++ or the Windows software
development kit (SDK) v3.1 or later.

"The demand for Windows applications has resulted in many tried and
tested DOS programs coming to the end of their useful lives because
they look old-fashioned," he said.

"Now, developers can use GUI Assist to revive them with a new
Windows look and feel without having to throw away the old
application and start development all over again. Because no changes
are made to the existing DIS application and a working Windows GUI
is automatically generated through GUI Gen, the process is both
accurate and quick," he added.

The basic version of GUI Assist sells for UKP 350, while the
Professional version, that includes advanced facilities such as the
ability to control multiple DOS packages simultaneously, focus
switching, hybrid GUI and DOS applications with keyboard switching,
sells for UKP 1,500.

Both versions of the software include an unlimited licence to
distribute the package's runtime modules with applications.

(Steve Gold/19930927/Press & Public Contact: Micromini Systems -
Tel: [phone]; fax: [phone])


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

UK - Borland's Workgroup Enabling Kit 09/27/93
READING, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Borland
International has unveiled the Workgroup Enabling Kit, which it
claims is a set of powerful programming tools that allow software
users and developers to enhance their own packages using Borland's
workgroup technology.

Using the kit, users of off the shelf Windows applications such as
Word, Wordperfect and Lotus 1-2-3 can take advantage of the
workgroup capabilities that Borland has incorporated into its own
Quattro Pro and Paradox packages. The ability to include workgroup
capabilities can be achieved without requiring new capabilities to
be built into the applications software package.

Rikke Helms-Wienszczak, Borland UK's managing director, said that
software developers at all levels of technical expertize can create
their own e-mail and workgroup-enabled applications, ranging from
single interactive models to fully-animated turnkey solutions.

"This builds on our role as the leader in databases, programming
languages and tools by offering the definitive tool that brings
workgroup computing to the masses and sets the stage of the next
major leap in productivity," she explained.

The kit includes utility tools, sample programs, templates and a set
of manuals, Newsbytes understands. These allow software users and
developers to incorporate Borland's OBEX technology into their own
applications, without the need for built-in extensions to their
software or forcing low level programming of the underlying
messaging application program interfaces (APIs).

OBEX is a collaboration agent that allows a package to communicate
to the outside world using messaging and networking services as well
as supporting applications running on the desktop or laptop. The
technology claims to support sharing and access of information
across a variety of connectivity solutions, whether users are
continuously available of only occasionally connected.

The Workgroup Enabling Kit will be available to PC users and
developers towards the end of this year, Newsbytes understands.
Pricing will be announced when the package is about to ship.

(Steve Gold/19930927/Press & Public Contact: Borland International -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00003)

Tour The National Parks Using Your PC 09/27/93
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Is your vacation
budget a little tight, so you had to stay home this summer? Not to
worry, you can now tour the national parks of the country sitting in
front of your PC using a software package from Multicom Publishing.

Multicom has introduced National Parks of America, a software
program on CD-ROM (compact disc read only memory) disc that allows
you to interactively explore all 230 of America's national parks.

`Parks' includes regional and state maps, and the parks can also be
located and selected by name, geographic region, or by specifying
custom criteria such as camping or hiking facilities. The company
says that many of the park listings feature seasonal climate and
other park information.

Nature photographer David Muench has contributed almost 1,000 of his
photos illustrating the national parks to the program. It also
includes 21 video clips and 160 animated climate tables. Multicom
spokesperson Dan Norton-Middaugh told Newsbytes that National Parks
of America developers separated the data, audio, and video files
from the interface requirements of the computers so the program can
run on either a Macintosh of IBM-compatible platform.

With a suggested retail price of $69.95, National Parks of America
runs on an Apple Mac equipped with a color monitor and a CD-ROM
drive. There is also a version of the software for multimedia-
compliant IBM-compatible personal computers running Windows 3.1 or
higher.

Multicom also publishes Americans in Space, a CD-ROM-based history
of American space missions; and Better Homes and Gardens Healthy
Cooking CD Cookbook. Astrology Source allows the user to learn about
the history of astrology and create personalized astrological
charts, while Wines of the World takes the user on a tour of the
world's major wine-producing regions. Wines can be selected by type,
region of origin, vintage, flavor, price, or complementary foods.

(Jim Mallory/19930927/Press contact: Dan Norton-Middaugh, Multicom,
206-622-5530; Reader contact: Multicom Publishing Inc, 206-622-5530,
fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00004)

401 Great Letters For Windows Debuts 09/27/93
TEMPE, ARIZONA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Good business letters
are hard to write. They require creativity, time and hard work. But
a Tempe, Arizona-based company thinks it has the answer to that
problem -- 401 Great Letters for Windows.

Using the point and click features of the package, Microbase claims
that users can compose and customize a business letter in three
steps: select, complete, and print.

Microbase claims that 401 has letters for just about every
situation. There are complaint letters, deal makers, letters about
sexual harassment, legal issues, the environment, direct marketing,
office policies, and even love letters.

The letters are organized in four sections covering business-to-
business, business-to-customer, internal company, and personal
correspondence. The user chooses a category, selects a letter topic,
fills in the blanks (hints are provided), makes any desired changes
to the boilerplate text, and prints the letter.

Letters can also be sent to the Microsoft Windows clipboard then
pasted into your favorite word processor for application of that
program's special features such as font selection.

"401 Great Letters for Windows" has a suggested retail price of
$49.95, but Microbase says it has a value of $5,000 to $7,000 to the
user. That's based on a study done by the Dartnell Corporation's
Institute of Small Business that says the cost of producing a 185-
word business letter ranges from $11.91 to $18.03.

Microbase will be showing its latest release, The Green Explorer, in
its booth at the New England ECO EXPO opening October 1 at the World
Trade Center in Boston. The Green Explorer is a Windows-based
program designed to help you set up a "green" household. The company
says the software contains thousands of ideas on how to reduce,
re-use and recycle waste in the home, school and business. The Green
Explorer has a suggested retail price of $79.95.

(Jim Mallory/19930927/Press contact: Stephanie Silverman, Microbase,
602-897-7800; Reader contact: Microbase, 602-897- 7800 or
800-897-3637, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BOS)(00005)

Unix Expo - Sapiens Visions Ports To Windows And SGI 09/27/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- At Unix Expo,
Sapiens announced that Sapiens Visions, its crossplatform, object-
oriented client-server development environment, will port to Windows
and Silicon Graphics workstations.

Sapiens Visions will also port to the Apple Mac, noted Robert
McAdams, a consultant to Sapiens, speaking with Newsbytes on the
show floor. The Macintosh port will start with a runtime version,
and be followed by a developer's kit, he added.

The Visions object-oriented development tool was first originally
created by SmartStar Corporation, McAdams told Newsbytes.
Sapiens International acquired SmartStar three months ago, and
has since brought together SmartStar's mainframe and PC-based
software with Sapien ES object-oriented software for IBM-
compatible mainframes and PCs, he explained.

Now in Version 1.2, Visions is updated with new platforms and
capabilities about every six months, McAdams said. The most
recent port was to Hewlett-Packard's HP 9000 workstations.

Other currently supported platforms include IBM AIX, SUN OS and
Solaris, and Digital Ultrix, OpenVMS, and OSF/1.

Version 1.3 of Sapiens Visions, which will include the Windows
and Silicon Graphics editions, will be released in March, McAdams
told Newsbytes. The runtime version of the Macintosh edition is
expected to ship in the Halloween time frame, he added.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930927/Press contacts: Louise M. Fickel or
Barbara C. Morrow, Sapiens USA, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00006)

Shareware, Sounds, Literature On New CDs 09/27/93
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Softbit has
announced three new CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) titles --
Power Tools, a disk with over 3,500 shareware titles for Microsoft
Windows and DOS, Soundsations with over 1,000 sound clips for
Windows or Macintosh computers, and the World Literary Heritage
containing over 700 classical literary works.

The Power Tools disc offers shareware and public domain software
pre-tested by Softbit. Fifteen categories are available and the
breakdown includes: 900 Windows tools; 220 accounting, spreadsheet,
and home management programs; 70 database tools, 200 educational
programs, 350 games, 400 utilities, and even 170 programming
languages. Each category is broken down into sub-categories to help
users find the what they're looking and there's a graphical user
interface with icons to make access easier, the company added. An
alphabetized index is included and on screen installation
instructions are available for both DOS and Windows.

The Soundsations CD offers 1,000 royalty-free sound effects
indexed by topic. The sounds come in both Macintosh format in
the System 7 Soundedit format and PC format in the Windows-
supported .WAV format. Cartoon-like effects, animals, sneezing,
musical instruments, machinery, laughing, clapping, and more
are all available for use in multimedia presentations or for
use on the desktop. The sounds range in length from a few
seconds to a full minute.

For students, teachers, and history buffs, the company is
offering the World Literary Heritage CD-ROM with 700 great
literary works. Not only does the disk have famous speeches
from leaders such as George Washington, Winston Churchill, John
F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, but over 20 minutes of
voice narration by celebrities and images of the authors is
available as well.

Ed Begley, Richard Burton, E.G. Marshall, and James Mason read
selected passages and over 150 high- resolution images, some with a
biography and image of each author can be viewed.

Tools for working with the disk include a search engine that can
perform hunts for specific words or phrases across the disk. Users
may also choose to leave a bookmark or notes while reading a passage
and then return directly to that passage later, the company said.

The CD titles require MS-DOS 3.1 or higher, a hard disk drive, a CD-
ROM drive with Microsoft's CD-ROM extensions (MSCDEX), a video
graphics array (VGA) monitor, and a mouse is recommended. The World
Literary Heritage and Soundsations CDs require Microsoft Windows
3.1. Retail price for the Power Tools 2.0 and World Literary
Heritage CDs are $79.95 each. The Soundsations CD retails for
$39.95.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930927/Press Contact: Andy Abeles, Softbit,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00007)

Germany's Second Largest Dealer Signs With Microsoft & Intel 09/27/93
HEPPENHEIM, GERMANY, 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Escom Computer, which
claims to be Germany's second largest computer dealership chain, has
signed "special arrangement" deals with Intel and Microsoft.

The deals, Newsbytes understands, go some way beyond being simple
supply agreements. The first sign of the deal will come this Friday,
October 1, when Escom-supplied PCs will come pre-loaded with a
customized version of Windows, as well as a variety of Microsoft
applications.

Announcing the deal, Jochen Haink, president of Microsoft Germany,
said that he expects the outcome will be a significant boost to
sales of Microsoft's packages and a general reduction in the volume
of pirated software.

For Intel, Hans Geyer, the company's vice president in germany, said
that Escom now gains priority status for Intel's processors. This,
he said, will give Escom a guarantee of supplies (a clear reference
to the expected component shortage caused by an explosion at a
Japanese resin factory earlier this year) and involve the dealership
in Intel's ongoing marketing strategy plans.

Manfred Schmitt, Escom's chairman, said that he expects sales to
rise, partly as a result of the MIcrosoft deal, but also due to an
improvement in business conditions in Germany. He said that he
expects sales during the current year to top the DM 1,400 million
market -- a 30 percent increase on last year's report turnover of DM
1.070 million.

To cope with the expansion, Schmitt said that Escom is planning to
expand its Dresden-based PC manufacturing facility. The expansion
will also allow the company to make its own PC cases at the
facility. Previously, Newsbytes notes, Escom PC cases were imported
from a variety of Far Eastern supply sources.

(Sylvia Dennis/19930927/Press & Public Contact: Escom - Tel: +49-
6252-7090)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00008)

DEC Germany Slashes 1,300 From Company Payroll 09/27/93
MUNICH, GERMANY, 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Digital Equipment Corporation
has announced that its two Germany subsidiaries, Digital Equipment
Gmbh and Digital Kienzle Computersysteme, will shave around 1,300
staff from the payroll by the end of next year.

The move means that around 25 percent of Digital's 6,200-strong
workforce will be leaving the company. Newsbytes understands that
the bulk of the leavers will be at Digital Kienzle, which is out
sourcing many of its computer-related services to third-party and
smaller companies.

Digital says that it hopes that a number of the staff who leave the
company's direct employment will take up the option to do contract
work for the company.

The plans to shed a quarter of Digital's remaining workforce is the
second shock for the company's German operation. Earlier this year,
the company announced it was closing its electronic storage media
division in Germany with the loss of around 200 staff.

(Sylvia Dennis/19930927/Press & Public Contact: DEC Gmbh- - Tel:
[phone]; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BOS)(00009)

Unix Expo - Tivoli Intros New Tools, Port To IBM/RS/6000 09/27/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- In a news briefing
at Unix Expo, Tivoli introduced new printing and e-mail tools for
the Tivoli Management Environment, plus a port of the Unix-based
graphical systems management software to the IBM RS/6000 platform.

The company has also announced that GTE Telephone Operations and
Motorola's General Systems Sector will each purchase $1 million in
Tivoli software and services over the next two years, and that AT&T
Commvault plans to develop and market data management software for
the Tivoli management platform.

The object-oriented Tivoli environment is aimed at easing the chore
of managing large multi-vendor Unix networks, officials said. The
software currently runs on SunOS and HP-UX, and is expected to ship
for both RS/6000 and Sun Solaris 2.3 in December.

"Tivoli software provides a consistent, high-level approach to
systems management. Systems administrators can handle tasks such
as managing printers or adding users in the same way whether they
are managing under SunOS, HP-UX, Solaris or AIX. This capability
offers quantum improvements in productivity," explained Frank Moss,
the company's president.

The new tools for Tivoli unveiled at Unix Expo include mail alias
management and Tivoli/Print. Mail alias management is a new
feature of Tivoli/Works, Tivoli's core application for managing
users, hosts, user passwords, and other aspects of configuration
management.

The new mail tool automates management of the mail alias database,
which consists of complex translations between the addresses in
electronic mail messages and actual mail-delivery names and
locations.

Without a tool like this, maintaining this database is a time-
consuming task requiring extensive expertise in Unix, officials
said. The database is constantly changing, and updates would
have to be posted consistently to all machines throughout the
network after each change.

The new Tivoli/Print, a separate application, lets administrators
employ a point-and-click interface to remotely remove and
reprioritize print jobs, check job status, move jobs among print
queues, and reset and disable printers. In addition, senior
systems administrators can define commands and functions that can
be performed by junior administrators on individual print queues.

In the new deal with AT&T, AT&T Commvault will use the
Tivoli/Advanced Development (ADE) toolkit to make its A&T Backup
framework and Commvault data management applications compatible
with the Tivoli Management Environment.

AT&T Backup is an optical storage-based subsystem that supports
Ethernet networks using TCP/IP. AT&T Commvault supports Unix and
networked operating systems, including Unix System V Release 4,
Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Ultrix, and Novell.

Plans call for customers to be able to launch CommVault
applications from the Tivoli system manager's desktop and deploy
them side-by-side with Tivoli and Tivoli-compatible third-party
applications. Users will be able to view feedback about data
storage devices and activities that are posted to a central
bulletin board.

In the new customer relationships, FTE Telephone Operations will
use the Tivoli Management Environment to manage a Unix-based
client/server network at multiple sites throughout the US for
billing, customer service, repair service, and general business
applications.

Motorola's General Systems Sector is standardizing on Tivoli for
managing a 5,000 network made up of Motorola and Sun servers and X
terminals in several US and European locations. Downsizing to this
network from a mainframe environment has saved the General Systems
Sector $100 million in annual computing costs, according to William
D. Connor, corporate vice president and director of information
technology for the division.

The General Systems Sector will be using Tivoli applications for
configuration and change management, software distribution, and
other tasks, he said. "But we will also be able to use
applications from other vendors being developed for the Tivoli
framework," he noted.

Other applications from Tivoli include Tivoli/Sentry for remote
systems monitoring, Tivoli/Courier for automatic distribution of
software on Unix networks, and Tivoli/FSM for file system
management.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930927/Reader contact: Tivoli Systems Inc.,
tel [phone]; Press contact: Janice Brown, Janice Brown and
Associates, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BOS)(00010)

Unix Expo - RISC-Based X Terminals From Phase X/Samsung 09/27/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Phase X and Samsung
have rolled out a series of economical RISC-based X terminals for CAD,
document management, imaging, GIS mapping, and other high-speed
graphics applications.

Samsung introduced the industry's first RISC-based X terminal in
1990, and the new CE series represents the vendor's third
generation product launch for this segment, officials said when
making the announcement at Unix Expo.

Phase X, a direct response marketing company formed last year, will
now sell the CE series as well as Samsung's previously released CA
series of low-cost X terminals for applications such as finance,
desktop publishing, office automation and online transaction
processing (OLTP).

Phase X also markets Unix workstations, PC and X station
applications software, and PC, X station, and Macintosh integration
software from a variety of vendors.

"The reliability and performance of the new X terminals will far
exceed industry expectations," said Dr. Chong Lee, president of
Phase X, and also former managing director at Samsung.

Terminals in the CE series perform at up to 120,000 Xstones, but
are priced several hundred dollars below competing products,
according to Phase X/Samsung.

The new CE series uses a MIPS-compatible 33 MHz RISC LR 33020
processor from LSI Logic. Members of the family include the
PX19ME, a 19-inch monochrome model; the 17-inch color model
PX17CE1; the 19-inch grayscale model PX19GE; the 19-inch color
model PX19CE2, and the 20-inch color model PX20CE2.

Resolution is 1024-by-768 for the 17-inch color terminal and 1280-
by-1024 for the 19-inch models. The 20-inch model is available in
a 1280-by-1024 version with Invar Shadow Mask, and in a Trinitron
version. All CE monitors have a 72 MHz refresh rate.

In contrast, the previously released CA series uses a 16 MHz AMD
29000 processor. The CA series includes the 19-inch monochrome
19M, the 19-inch color model CA2, and the CA1, a color model
available with a choice of 14-, 15-, or 17-inch screens.
Resolution is 1024-by-768 for the CA1 and 1280-by-1024 for the 19M
and CA2.

All terminals in the CE and CA series ship with Xcellent, Samsung's
implementation of X11R5 X server software. Xcellent supports Sun
OS, Solaris, VMS, Ultrix, AIX, HP/UX, DG/UX, and other operating
systems such as Sequent. Supported GUI standards include Motif,
OpenLook, SCO Open desktop, and DECWindows.

Xcellent supports Telnet, serial, Cterm, LAT, and VT220 local
clients. The software also supports the TCP/IP, SLIP, CSlip, and
PPP networking protocols. Other capabilities encompass a low
memory warning system, a 3D boot user interface, Domain Name
Service, and a choice of PC/AT, PS/2, DEC, and Sun keyboards.

The new CE terminals come standard with 4 MB of memory, expandable
to 52 MB in 1 MB, 4 MB, or 16 MB SIMM increments. Each X terminal
supports up to 2 MB of PROM, up to 2 KB of NVRAM, and up to 2 MB of
flash memory. The flash memory can be used to update the server,
and also to customize fonts and local client sessions.

The CE terminals are scheduled to start shipping next month. The
terminals can be ordered direct from Phase X by calling 1-800-845-
4064 toll-free in the US.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930927/Reader contact: Phase X, tel 800-845-
4064; Press contact: Peter Ghavami, Phase X, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00011)

Davidson Kid's Keys Typing Tutor, Curriculum Agreement 09/27/93
TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Davidson &
Associates, makers of educational software for children, has begun
shipping "Davidson's Kid Keys," a musical, animated typing tutor for
children aged four to eight. The company also announced a deal with
textbook maker McDougal, Littell & Company to combine software with
textbooks.

Davidson says that Kid's Keys uses video graphics array (VGA)
graphics, digitized speech, music, sound effects and animation to
teach children familiarity with a computer keyboard and the
alphabet, and to associate letters with their keyboard positions.

Mary Cron, co-developer of "Kid Keys" and president of the Rymel
Design Group claims sound is what makes the product successful in
teaching young children to type.

"...Research has shown that young children become oriented to the
keyboard most successfully when sound is associated with key
position and letter name. So we developed `Kid Keys' to tie
digitized speech, music and sound effects with letters and keys,"
she said.

Cron described how pressing the letter "V" causes an animated
volcano to appear -- the volcano erupts, the letter "V" comes out of
the top and that letter is spoken aloud. "If "V" is pressed again,
other associated words and animations will be displayed," she
explained to Newsbytes.

"Research has also shown that for children to reach a target typing
rate of 10 words per minute, keyboarding exercises should stress
accuracy over speed. With that in mind most 'Kid Keys' activities
are not timed; instead, they focus on accuracy and smoothness," she
added.

Kid's Keys is the third in a series of educational programs that
include the titles Kid Works 2 and Kid CAD. Kid Works 2 is a word
processing program that offers the ability to illustrate as well and
it can also read the child's work back to them. A companion product,
Kid Rhyme offers additional pictures for Kid Works. Kid CAD is a
computer aided design (CAD) program for children.

Dr. Jan Davidson, president and founder of Davidson said: "These
products are designed to help children gain confidence in their
communication skills and encourage their creativity, regardless of
their grade level, native language, or developmental stage."

"Kid Keys" requires a 12 megahertz (MHz) 286-based or higher IBM
compatible personal computer (PC) with 640 kilobytes (K) of random
access memory (RAM), MS-DOS 3.3, a sound card such as Sound Blaster
or the Disney Sound Source, and a hard disk with 6 megabytes (MB) of
free disk space. MS-DOS 5.0 and a mouse are recommended, Davidson
said. Retail price for Kid's Keys is $49.95, teachers' editions are
$69.95, lab packs go for $169.95, and a site license is $699.95.

Davidson also announced an agreement with publisher McDougal,
Littell in the first of what it calls a growing trend towards the
use of "mixed media" curriculum products. Combine print, software
and other written materials, the attraction is the increased
flexibility mixed media products offer instructors and they are more
motivating for students. This type of product is particularly well-
suited for communicating with an increasingly diverse student
population, Davidson said.

As the first part of the arrangement, the two companies will produce
customized versions of Davidson's "Spell-It Plus" software to
accompany the "McDougal, Littell Spelling" series of textbooks. They
will be sold under site license arrangements beginning in late 1993.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930927/Press Contact: Linda Duttenhaver, Davidson
& Associates, 310-793-0600 ext 230, fax [phone]; Dave Pieklo,
McDougal Littell, 708-869-2300 ext 667)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BOS)(00012)

Unix Expo - HSM Stores Data In Native Format 09/27/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- At Unix Expo last
week, Alphatronix introduced a product billed as the first
hierarchical storage management (HSM) system to store data in the
host environment's native format.

According to the company, HSM saves time and money by automating
storage management, migrating infrequently used files from network
hard drives to less expensive storage media such as optical
libraries and tape libraries, officials explained.

Unlike other HSM systems, the Emissary product can be integrated
without changes to the network's existing file system, and can be
used with the network's existing backup system, the company
maintained.

"Emissary/HSM will give companies all the benefits of HSM without
sacrificing any flexibility. Any and all software and hardware
supported by their native system will be supported by Emissary/HSM,
now and in the future," said Brian Ritchie, vice president of
marketing.

Alphatronix expects the Emissary "open systems approach" to hold
special appeal for companies downsizing from mainframes to networks,
added Robert Freese, president and CEO.

"LANs used to be just for e-mail and word processing. That's no
longer true. We're seeing downsizing projects where mission-
critical data is now residing on networks. Nobody wants this data
to be accessible only through sole-source third-party software that
uses proprietary storage formats. The data has to remain available
and safe. Our approach assures just that," he said.

Emissary/HSM uses parameters set by the systems administrator to
migrate the data. Data migration assures that hard disks never fill
up while at the same time freeing the costly hard disk space,
officials said. Files that have been migrated are automatically
restored to the hard disk when needed, meaning that users can
continue to access all their data directly from the hard disk.

Commented industry analyst Mike Peterson of Santa Barbara, CA-based
Peripheral Strategies: "Emissary/HSM's unique open architecture
will allow companies to start using hierarchical storage without
redesigning their whole backup process and strategy. The cost
savings are clear in automating storage management, and products
like Emissary/HSM will help move the industry in that direction."

Emissary/HSM is shipping now for Sun/NFS networks. Alphatronix
expects to deliver RS/6000 and HP/UX versions later this year.
The product initially supports file migration from client and
server hard disks to optical libraries. Support for tape libraries
is scheduled to be added in the fourth quarter.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930927/Reader contact: Alphatronix, tel 919-
544-0001; Julie Stewart, Alphatronix, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00013)

IBM Switzerland In 18,000 OEM PC Deal 09/27/93
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- IBM's Swiss subsidiary
company has signed a manufacturing agreement with MDS Systems, a
Swiss company. Terms of the deal call for IBM to manufacture and
supply as many as 18,000 PCs from its Greenock, Scotland, facility
over the next 30 months.

According to IBM, its Greenock plant will manufacture a specific
machine for MDS, the System Workstation 5000 series, a unit that
Newsbytes understands is already in limited production in
Switzerland.

The IBM deal, which is effectively Big Blue operating under an
original equipment manufacturing deal for the Swiss company, will
give the company access to MDS' corporate market in Switzerland, an
area that IBM has been wanting to get into for some time, Newsbytes
notes.

MDS is a "one stop" computer system supplier in Switzerland. The
company has carved out a successful niche for itself in the
planning, installation and ongoing maintenance of PC-based business
solutions for major Swiss companies.

(Sylvia Dennis/19930927/Press & Public Contact: MDS Systems - Tel:
[phone])


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

International Telecomm Update 09/27/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- The easy markets
are taken, and international telecommunications equipment firms
are now looking for growth to places where politics rules
business and every move is watched closely.

Take South Africa. African National Congress head Nelson Mandela
was in New York last week, urging that ANC-inspired boycotts
against his nation be lifted. The US Congress complied, and Sweden
actually jumped the gun a bit, hoping to win business for Ericsson.
Meanwhile, back in Johannesburg, the government awarded a pair of
cellular phone concessions and ran into heavy flak from the ANC,
which promised to revoke the licenses when it comes to power next
year.

The winners were Vodacom, 50 percent owned by the state-run Telkom
telephone group, along with Vodafone and Rembrandt of the UK, and
Mobile Telephone Networks, headed by the M-Net TV channel, the
Transnet transport network and Cable and Wireless of the UK, along
with the African-owned Fabcos group. The problem is that Thebe
Investment Corporation, an investment firm with ANC backing, was
among the losers.

Thus the rhetoric -- cellular phones are too expensive for most
people, more public phones are needed first, those negotiating the
political future should have a say in the decisions, and the private
cellular nets are "sabotage" against state-run industry. The
government's reply -- the complaints show a "socialist perspective"
that will frighten away potential investors. On his return, Mandela
will get a call, and have to make the call.

In the Philippines, meanwhile, both the Philippine Long Distance
Telephone Co., a near-monopoly with 94 percent of the local
phone market, and the competing Digitel group looked to shore up
their capital. PLDT announced plans to float preferred
convertible shares a in the next few years aimed at more than
doubling the size of its network, and said it's talking to a
number of foreign firms about investments, including AT&T and
Bellsouth of the US, Singapore Telecom and Cable and Wireless
of the UK.

The last is significant, because C&W already owns 27 percent of
Digitel, a competing company which is also trying to raise capital.
But C&W and Digitel head John Gokongwei are still arguing over the
British company's decision not to go invest in a Luzon project, and
it may now be seen to be hedging its bets.

In Latin America, Argentina moved to protect its two monopolies,
Telecom and Telefonica, with a warning against using foreign
"call back" services. In many countries, consumers can call a
foreign toll-free number and have that number call then, after
which they can make long-distance calls to third countries at
lower rates.

The government threatened to cut-off all local phone service to
businesses which try that, and claimed it has equipment to detect
when people are doing it. The government added that it is trying to
cut rates, but that will be small consolation. Also, progress
continued in Mexico as AT&T bought its distributor for northern
Mexico, and Northern Telecom agreed to double the size of its plant
in Monterrey.

In Eastern Europe, Bulgaria announced both a private TV station,
Rodopi Television on the Turkish border, and a private long
distance telephone network, Business Star, operating 480 lines in
conjunction with PTT Netherlands. The Dutch group also signed for
direct services with IDB Worldcom of the US, further opening its own
market. Also, Siemens and DBT of Germany announced an investment of
$85 million in Moscow's GSM cellular phone network, and Siemens
alone bought two former state-owned companies in Poland, Zwut and
Elwro, which will help sales of its EWSD switches.

In Italy, shares of STET, the telecommunications holding company,
and its SIP operating unit both rallied, with hopes high that
they'll be more fully privatized next year and that current results
will look good when they're reported this week. But the hopes for
real change may have been dashed by a government decision to retain
veto power over the companies' moves for at least five years after
privatization.

Finally, in China, where Marconi of Portugal set-up a satellite
communications company in Macau, more and more Chinese are using
credit cards. Mastercard confirmed that 3 million Chinese will
carry its plastic by the end of the year. Although the cards,
issued by Chinese banks, act more like US debit cards,
deducting purchases directly from checking accounts, Mastercard
said China is now its second highest-volume market, after the
US, with many major business purchases carried on them.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930927/Press Contact: MasterCard
International, Steve Apesos, 212/649-5476; Kim Dewling, IDB, 212-
478-6185)


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

Cable Law Blame Game 09/27/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- As cable companies had
predicted, rates for service in the US mainly went up, not down, on
September 1 with the beginning of rate regulation. And now Congress
and the Federal Communications Commission are locked in a blame
game.

Some 130 US House members sent an angry letter to interim FCC
chairman James Quello, questioning rate hikes. When they passed the
reregulation act last year, Congress had promised constituents rates
would fall about 10 percent.

But by adding new "tiers" of basic service, piling on itemized
costs, and dramatically increasing the price to get local broadcast
channels, most companies managed a small increase in rates on their
September bills. The cable companies also re-configured their
channels, sometimes dropping popular services like Lifetime, and ran
ads blaming the 1992 Act for all the trouble.

All this was intended to make Congress and the regulators look
foolish, and it did its job well. A recent investigation by the
General Accounting Office, an arm of Congress, found those regulated
rate hikes to be three times the rate of inflation and Democrat
Edward Markey, chairman of the House telecommunications and finance
subcommittee, which helped write the law, wants answers. In the
letter, he blamed a "flaw or loophole in the commission's
regulations" for the rate hikes.

For now, the FCC is surveying the 25 largest cable operators,
trying to see what happened, and whether rates indeed went up.
And while the Congress is blaming the FCC for shoddy implementation
of its law, the FCC is charging that Congress simply wrote a complex
law that doesn't guarantee rate reductions.

All this increases the chances that Congress may have to re-visit
cable regulation. That would give Republicans a chance to roll it
back, something the cable industry would dearly love. The next move
will be a hearing before Markey's subcommittee on September 28.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930927/Press Contact: FCC Press, 202-632-
5050; U.S. Rep. Markey, 202-224-3121)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00016)

Computers Spread Gang Violence Hoax 09/27/93
DENVER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- A rumor that would-be
gang members would drive with their car lights off and shoot at
anyone who flashed their own headlights as part of their gang
initiation, may have been started by a computer enthusiast.

The rumor, which was branded a hoax by several police departments,
swept through a number of large and small cities across the nation.
Once the rumor started, it quickly spread via fax machines,
telephone calls and electronic mail by people with good intentions
but bad information.

The story was that this past weekend was going to be a nationwide
"gang blood initiation weekend" in which potential youth gang
members would drive at night with their headlights turned off. If a
motorist flashed their own headlights as a courtesy to tell the
driver he had forgotten to turn on his headlights, all passengers in
the "polite" motorist's vehicle would be shot and killed.

Although they can't be sure, authorities think the latest round of
gang initiation rumors started in Sacramento, California, when a
well-intentioned citizen posted the information on a computer
bulletin board. By the close of business Friday companies across
the country had reportedly passed the word to their employees.

A copy of a fax containing the warning obtained by Newsbytes quoted
a source at the Sacramento Police Department as having seen a
"national alert". The fax said that while the author didn't know if
the warning was valid, the medical clinic he had received the
information from was taking it "very seriously," and asked
recipients to spread the word and "be careful."

According to The Denver Post newspaper, a bank in nearby Boulder
distributed flyers to its employees, while an insurance company at
the Denver Tech Center at the south end of the city gathered
employees for an announcement to warm them about the alleged
initiation.

The Post also reported that students at at least one Denver middle
school were warned about the claims over the school's intercom.
Police in Denver warned motorists it would be best to ignore cars
driving without lights after dark, "just to be safe."

The Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph newspaper reported that
several major employers in the city, including US West, Federal
Express, and Digital Equipment Corporation were passing the word to
their employees. A Colorado Springs law firm told the Gazette
Telegraph it received the information by fax from a medical firm in
Austin, Texas.

Colorado Springs, Colorado Public Information Officer Lieutenant
Rich Resling told Newsbytes that the fax was obviously bogus. "If
this had come from a legitimate police agency it would have gone out
on the teletype and would have had a letterhead. The thing has no
inkling of legitimacy. What killed us was corporations sending it
out to thousands of employees as an alert. It just proves how fast a
thing like this can go in the modern age."

(Jim Mallory/19930927)


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

 ****Dell Intros Pentium-based Desktop Prototype 09/27/93
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Dell Computer Corporation
has rolled out a Pentium-based desktop prototype PC that
incorporates Intel's Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) local-
bus.

The system was demonstrated at the annual management conference of
the Microcomputer Managers Association being held in New York.
Dell's chief Technology Officer Glenn Henry says that while Dell
currently offers other industry-standard local-bus technologies, the
company thinks PCI is the most attractive long-term solution.

Both companies say PCI offers advantages over other local-bus
implementations or proprietary architecture's, including its ability
to work with processors such as 486 and Pentium chips, an open
standard that includes over 120 system manufacturers and I/O card
suppliers. They also point out that because PCI bus devices are not
directly attached to the processor bus, the processor can continue
to operate while the PCI peripheral is accessing information from
the system's main memory.

"While many other local bus technologies only allow one peripheral
to operate at a time, PCI has the advantage of allowing multiple
peripherals to operate independently," Henry said.

Intel says that PCI technology will enable vendors such as Dell to
offer what they call "auto-configuration." That's the system's
ability to automatically recognize when a PCI-compatible add-in
board has been installed and will reconfigure itself to accommodate
the card. Intel says that PCI is also designed to handle future
design advances in the Pentium architecture.

In outlining its strategy for Pentium-based systems and PCI
technology, Dell said that user benefits for such systems include
high performance data storage and retrieval through a PCI SCSI disk
subsystem, high performance video and graphics capability through a
PCI video subsystem, and easy of upgrading to future PCI expansion
through flexible system designs.

Dell also predicts high performance PCI local area network adapters
and other communications peripherals, full motion video adapters
compatible with PCI, and technology that integrates telephone
technology with computers for business communications applications
such as video conferencing on the desktop computer.

(Jim Mallory/19930927/Press contact: Lisa Rohlf, Dell Computer,
512-728- 4100; Reader contact: Dell Computer, 800-289-3355)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00018)

AST Sells Terminal Emulation Board Business 09/27/93
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- AST has sold its
5250 terminal emulation board business for IBM compatible personal
computers (PCs) to Cumberland, Maryland-based Micro Integration. The
5250 boards are used primarily for connecting PCs to IBM mid-range
computers, and Micro-Integration specializes in those types of
connectivity products.

The sale, valued at $525,000, includes all AST's 5250 products
and customer lists. Micro-Integration is also assuming all
world-wide service and warranty obligations for AST's current
5250 end users.

AST describes the 5250 product family as products offering
options and emulations for connecting PCs to IBM S/3X and
AS/400 minicomputers so the user gets the benefit of the
functionality and intelligent processing capability of the PC
and the communications capability of the 5250 terminal.

Micro-Integration plans to build on what AST has already done
by offering a software upgrade path to the Microsoft Windows
platform as well as other environments for the 5250 and
Enhanced 5251/11 hardware platforms. The company is also
planning mid-range connectivity products including local and
remote connections, notebook products, and advanced gateways
for local-area-network (LAN)-to-mid-range connections.

AST is calling the sale a win for both companies and says it plans
to concentrate on its PC and newly-acquired handheld computer
business. In July, AST acquired Tandy's PC manufacturing business,
which included Grid, Tandy's pen-based computer line. The
acquisition makes AST the one of the world's largest PC companies,
with a number 4 ranking in the US and number 6 world-wide, according
to figures released by analysts at International Data Corporation.
AST ranked 367 on the 1992 Fortune 500 list of America's largest
industrial companies, with 1992 record sales of $1.412 billion and
record volume shipment increases of 69 percent for fiscal year
ending July 3, 1993. The company has offices world-wide, but is
headquartered in Irvine, California.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930927/Press Contact: Mary Reagan, AST
Research, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Mark Proudfoot,
Micro-Integration, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00019)

Canadian Product Launch Update 09/27/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- This regular feature,
appearing every Monday or Tuesday, provides further details for the
Canadian market on announcements by international companies that
Newsbytes has already covered. This week: IBM's first PowerPC
systems and other new RS/6000 products, Lotus 1-2-3 Release 4.01,
Harvard Graphics 2.0 for Windows, Sun's SPARCcluster 1, and The
Message Integrator for Tandem systems.

IBM Canada Ltd. joined its US parent in announcing the first IBM
systems based on the PowerPC chip, as well as other RISC System/6000
and related software announcements (Newsbytes, Sept. 21 & 22).

In Canada, the POWERstation 25T will cost C$13,380, the POWERstation
25W C$10,770, the POWERstation 25S C$12,790, and the
POWERstation/POWERserver 250 C$7,720. All are due to be available
October 15.

The POWERstation/POWERserver 58H will be priced at C$87,040 and
will be available October 22; the POWERstation/POWERserver 590
will be priced at C$100,600 and also be available October 22. The
POWERserver 990 will cost C$176,770 and will be available
October 29, IBM Canada said.

The POWERdisplay 17 will cost C$2,440 and is to ship October 15.
The Xstation 140 will cost C$3,110 and will also be available
October 15. The price for the Xstation includes the base unit,
keyboard, mouse, and Xserver software.

AIX/6000 3.2.5 is set for availability October 22 in Canada -- a
week later than in the US -- with prices based on processor family
and number of users and ranging from C$780 to C$49,080. The Visual
Systems Manager is expected to be available February 25, 1994, at no
extra charge.

Version 2.1 of IBM's AIX High Availability Cluster Multi-
Processing/6000 (HACMP/6000) software is set for availability
December 17, with prices varying depending on configuration.

C++ POWERbench Version 2 is priced from C$4,530 for one user to
C$135,850 for 50. The IBM C Set ++ for AIX/6000 version 2 is
available separately, at C$2,515 for a single user and a 50-user
package priced at C$75,490. Upgrades from AIX XL C++ version 1 start
at C$1,065. Fortran POWERbench version 1 will cost from C$4,170 for
a single user to C$125,200 for 50.

The AIX XL Fortran Compiler/6000 Version 3 alone is C$2,140 for one
user or C$64,220 for 50. Compiler upgrades from XL Fortran Version 2
start at C$1,065. COBOL POWERbench Version 1 will cost from C$4,650
to C$139,500. AIX XL Pascal Compiler/6000 Version 2 for AIX/6000
will list from C$1,845 for one user to C$55,360 for 50. Upgrades
from the existing Pascal compiler will start at C$1,065. All these
products are due to ship December 31.

Planned availability for AIXwindows Environment/6000 1.2.5 is
October 22, priced at C$300 to C$1,200. The new release of
AIXwindows Environment/6000 3D Feature, which includes
Softgraphics, is priced from C$510 to C$2,040. IBM's new AIX File
Storage Facility/6000 (AIX FSF/6000) AIX FSF/6000 has a planned
availability of December 17, at C$267 to C$2,010 depending on the
system used.

The POWER GXT100 graphics accelerator will be priced at C$1,160,
while the POWER GXT150 will be priced at C$2,300. Both are to be
available October 15.

Release 4.01 of the 1-2-3 spreadsheet program (Newsbytes, Sept.
23), now shipping from Lotus Development Canada Ltd., fixes some
bugs in the much-ballyhooed Release 4 and "incorporates
suggestions from users," the company said. The Canadian list
price is C$595, with upgrades listed at C$159.

Lotus Canada also announced SmartSuite 2.1 for Windows. The suite
of desktop applications is now shipping in volume in English,
Lotus said, with a French-Canadian version due soon. The Canadian
list price is C$959, and the upgrade price is C$719.

Software Publishing Corp. Canada has announced Harvard Graphics
2.0 for Windows, a major upgrade of its graphics program
(Newsbytes, Aug. 19). The English version began shipping in
Canada at the end of August, and the French-language version is
due by the end of September. The Canadian list price is C$475,
and users of previous versions or competing packages can upgrade
for C$115 until year-end, C$159 afterward.

Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc. unveiled the SPARCcluster 1
network file server (Newsbytes, Sept. 21 & 22). Canadians will be
able to buy the SPARCcluster 1 in October at prices starting from
C$123.250, the company said.

Following a deal between its parent company and Boston Software
Works (Newsbytes, Sept. 13), Tandem Computers Canada Ltd. is now
offering BSW's message integration products on its NonStop
Himalaya range of servers as The Message Integrator.

(Grant Buckler/19930925/Press Contact: Anne Hay, IBM Canada,
416-474-3900 or 800-563-2139; Marsha Connor, Lotus Canada,
416-364-8000; Michelle MacIsaac, Software Publishing Canada,
416-771-8330; Michael Douglas, Sun Canada, 416-477-6745; Jan
Gillespie, Tandem Canada, 416-513-2957)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00020)

SoftQuad ApplicationBuilder Builds On SGML 09/27/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- SoftQuad was among the
first software vendors on the bandwagon for Standard Generalized
Markup Language (SGML), a standard for marking up electronic
documents so they can be stored, exchanged, and printed in various
formats. Today a number of other companies, including some of the
software industry's bigger names, are also aboard. Building on the
growing amount of attention being paid to SGML, SoftQuad has
announced a new application development package built around the
standard.

The company said that ApplicationBuilder, which includes its
existing Author/Editor software, will let developers create
applications that take advantage of SGML for delivering and re-using
information.

The package includes Author/Editor, development tools for
customizing Author/Editor, and a programming language that works
with SGML.

It is now in beta testing with systems integrators, a spokeswoman
for the company said.

Scripts written with ApplicationBuilder will let integrators,
resellers, and SoftQuad's own developers integrate Author/Editor
with database, publishing, document management, and electronic
delivery systems, according to company officials.

SGML is a standard set of codes that lets writers insert format
data in their documents without worrying about design details.
For instance, the writer might mark a block of text as a title.
Later a designer would specify that all text marked as titles
should be set in 30-point Baskerville Italic type.

Launched as an offshoot of a small Toronto-based book publisher
in 1984, SoftQuad went public on the Vancouver Stock Exchange
last December. Some 90 percent of its sales are outside Canada,
the spokeswoman said.

(Grant Buckler/19930927/Press Contact: Grace Lake or Linda
Berman, SoftQuad, 416-239-4801, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00021)

Cray Intros Massively Parallel Supercomputer 09/27/93
EAGAN, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Calling it "the next
generation MPP system," Cray Research today introduced its first
massively parallel processing system.

The supercomputer company told members of Congress, federal
officials, customers and reporters the Cray T3D is a quantum advance
over current MPP products. The T3D combines Cray Research
supercomputer hardware and software, the Alpha RISC (reduced
instruction set computing) chip from Digital Equipment Corporation,
and logic chips from Motorola.

Cray Research says it already have orders for nine T3D's and expects
to see revenue from the system in the first quarter of 1994.
However, the company said no specific financial data would be
available for about a month.

Steve Nelson, Cray Research technology VP and head of the T3D
development program, says that the T3D is the world's first scalable
heterogeneous supercomputing system, combining the company's
parallel vector capabilities with MPP capabilities. Nelson says that
gives the T3D the capability to tackle a wider range of computing
problems than currently available MPP systems.

The T3D will be available in a wide variety of sizes, from a 32-
processor version that can handle 4.8 billion floating point
operations per second (gigaflops) to a 2,048-processor version
capable of 307.2 gigaflops. Pricing starts at $2.2 million. Users of
Cray Y-MP Model E series, C90 series or M90 series parallel vector
systems can add MPP capabilities.

Systems of up to 128 processors are available in air or liquid-
cooled versions. Larger sizes are liquid cooled. Memory options
range from .5 gigabytes to 128 gigabytes. Customers will be able to
order parallel vector and MPP capabilities in one cabinet with up to
256 MPP processor, up to 16 gigabytes of memory, and up to four
parallel vector CPUs.

A 32-processor T3D is already running at the Pittsburgh
Supercomputing Center. That system is scheduled to be upgraded to a
512-processor system in early 1994. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California is scheduled to receive a 256-processor
system in the fourth quarter of 1993, and The Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology has signed a letter of intent for a 256-
processor system to be delivered in early 1994.

A 128-processor system is scheduled for installation at the Arctic
Region supercomputing Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
in early 1994.

(Jim Mallory/19930927/Press contact: Steve Conway, Cray Research,
612- 683-7133)


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

 ****Inmac To Sell IBM-Made PCs Under Own Name 09/27/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Mail-order
vendor Inmac has said it will sell complete personal computers,
built for it by IBM. It is the first time Inmac, which publishes
catalogs of computer and network supplies and accessories, has sold
personal computers in North America, although Newsbytes notes that
Inmac already sells PCs under its own brand in Europe.

IBM plans to build the Inmac Insignia PCs at a plant in Austin,
Texas. The deal joins similar IBM manufacturing agreements with
three other PC vendors -- Dauphin, OCA, and GTSI -- said company
spokeswoman Serafina Espie. It is IBM's first such deal with a
company that sells PCs directly through phone orders.

The companies said they have created a sophisticated electronic
data interchange (EDI) system that will allow IBM to build
individually customized machines to match orders taken by Inmac.
Orders for standard models will be shipped the day after the
order is taken, Inmac said, and custom models will be shipped in
five days.

The Inmac Insignia line includes four standard models. The 433P
uses the Intel Corp. 486DX processor running at 33 megahertz
(MHz). The 450P and 466P use the 50-MHz and 66-MHz versions of
the Intel 486DX2 chip.

The 450SL, priced at $1,299, is built on IBM's 486SLC2/50 chip,
which uses IBM's own clock-doubling technology. All the models have
five expansion slots (all available) and four drive bays. MS-DOS
6.0, Windows 3.1, QA Plus, and Lotus Organizer come standard with
every system.

(Grant Buckler/19930927/Press Contact: Bobby Lent, Inmac,
408-727-1970 ext. 5185; Serafina Espie, IBM, 914-766-1563; Public
Contact: Inmac, 800-547-5444)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00023)

 ****NEC Recalls Notebook Batteries 09/27/93
BOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- NEC
Technologies has recalled batteries used in two models of notebook
computers that were sold in the United States and Canada from
December 1988 to April 1990. In seven reported cases, the batteries
short-circuited while being charged, destroying the computers and
sometimes causing fires.

There were no injuries as a result of the incidents, a spokeswoman
for the company said.

The lithium metal batteries were used in NEC's PC-17-01 and
PC-17-02 notebooks, which were sold only in the US. and Canada,
the company said. According to the spokeswoman, they were not
used in any other NEC products, and have not been used since the
company stopped selling these two models. The company said it
made about 13,000 of the batteries.

NEC is telling customers to contact the company at 800-237-2913
to have the lithium batteries replaced with nickel-metal-hydride
ones. The company also said owners of the notebooks can remove
the lithium batteries from their notebooks and run them safely on
AC power until they receive their replacement batteries. No
special precautions are needed in handling the removed batteries,
the spokeswoman said.

NEC claimed it has "undertaken extensive efforts" to contact
owners of the defective notebooks.

(Grant Buckler/19930927/Press Contact: Geoff Spillane,
Golin/Harris Communications for NEC, 508-264-8759; Beth Anderson,
Golin/Harris for NEC, 312-836-7358; Public Contact: NEC,
800-237-2913)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BOS)(00024)

Unix Expo - Windows Client Support For Replix Fax Software 09/27/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- At Unix Expo,
SoftLinx unveiled a major upgrade of Replix, its Unix server-based
fax software.

Replix 2.0 adds support for Microsoft Windows clients, as well as
direct inward dialing (DID), automatic notification and printout
of new incoming faxes, the ability to fax multiple files
simultaneously, according to John C. Doyle, vice president of sales
and marketing.

"Many users within large organizations are not ready to give up
their PCs in favor of Unix-based systems. However, they still want
to access the power and efficiency of Unix solutions running on the
network," he said.

Doyle informed Newsbytes of the company's plans to add Windows
client support in an interview last May, shortly after SoftLinx was
spun off from Samsung Software America (SSA) as a separate company
dedicated to producing and marketing Replix.

The support for Windows allows fax exchange between users of
Windows-based PCs and Unix-based clients on networks utilizing Unix
servers, Doyle said when announcing Replix 2.0.

"For instance, if a PC user wants to fax a Microsoft Word document
using Replix on the network server, he or she opens the MS Word
File Menu (and) selects Print and then `Replix' from the Options
screen. The Replix window then appears, asking for the fax number,
etc. It's that easy," he noted.

The DID feature is designed to let users receive faxes on their
computers in real time, instead of waiting for the documents to be
manually routed to the appropriate fax mailboxes by a human
attendant. Also in May, Doyle told Newsbytes that SoftLink was
working with outside hardware vendors to develop a capability that
would avert the need for manual routing.

DID technology is often used with PBX systems to let callers make
voice calls directly to an extension without going through the
switchboard. In DID fax technology, each user is given a unique
DID number for fax. Fax "calls" are sent down a shared trunk line
between the phone company's central office and the fax server.

Use of the DID capability in Replix 2.0 requires the use of
Nicollet Technologies' Digitrap Systems and a Model U-1496E Zyxel
external modem on the fax server. Digitrap Systems is an external
digitizing box.

After a Replix fax is received on the PC or workstation, the user
can save, print, or forward the document if it is important, or
delete the document if it is not of interest. According to Doyle,
these options help to curb the paper clutter of accumulated faxes.

Replix 2.0 also supports Sun Sparcstations, HP 9000/700, IBM
RS/6000, ASCII terminal clients, and X-terminal clients. The
software can be used with Class 2 fax modems from Zyxel, MultiTech,
Everex, Suprafax, and Telebit.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930927/Reader contact: Dan Daley, SoftLinx,
tel [phone]; Press contact: Helen Kim, SoftLinx, tel 508-392-
0001)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00025)

Radius Energy Star Grayscale Monitors For The Mac 09/27/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Radius has
announced its new Two Page Display/20-inch grayscale (TPD/20gs) and
Two Page Display/21-inch grayscale (TPD/21gs) monitors for Apple
Computer's Macintosh that meet the new government standards for
energy efficiency set forth in the Energy Star program.

Radius says that, by using the Powersaver software included with the
displays, the TPD/20gs and TPD/21gs can power-down 87 percent to
usage of only 12 watts at user-specified time periods. Besides
energy savings, the company says the monitors have the added benefit
of a longer lifespan. In addition, the TPD/20gs and TPD/21gs are
compatible with the built-in video offered with Centris, Quadra, and
Audio Visual (AV) Macintosh computers.

Radius is working for paper-like images on its monitors and says
these are the closest yet with 1152 by 870 picture element (pixel)
resolution and flicker free 75 megahertz (MHz) vertical refresh
rates. The monitors are also capable of displaying 256 shades of
gray through the built-in video on all Macintosh Quadra and Centris
models, and in conjunction with the Precisioncolor 8XJ for systems
requiring an interface card.

Both the TPD/20gs and the The TPD/21gs come with a one year
warranty. The TPD/20gs is retail priced at $999 and is
scheduled for September shipment while the TPD/21gs is $1,199
and is scheduled to ship in October.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930927/Press Contact: Stacy Williams,
Radius, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact 800-
227-2795)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00026)

 ****Merisel To Buy ComputerLand Franchise Div 09/27/93
EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Just four months
after announcing the lay off of 6.5 percent of its workforce,
ComputerLand has signed a letter of intent to sell its Franchise and
Distribution Division to Merisel. The two companies have also
announced the formation of a "strategic relationship."

However, the companies say that terms and conditions have not been
finalized. Once completed, the new Merisel ComputerLand subsidiary
will be managed by the current president of ComputerLand's Franchise
and Distribution Division, Martin Wolf.

Merisel will also become the preferred supplier of software
and hardware products under a volume purchase agreement to
ComputerLand Corp. According to the companies, ComputerLand
will then continue, under a long-term deal, to provide the new
company with "purchasing, distribution, systems and other
services currently supplied to ComputerLand franchisees and
Datago affiliates."

Definitive agreements have yet to be signed. The deal is also
awaiting receipt of regulatory approvals, although it is expected
to be completed before the end of 1993.

Under terms of the deal, Merisel will pay up to $110 million for
the US ComputerLand Franchise and Distribution division, with an
initial cash payment at closing of $60 million. The purchase price
gives Merisel the rights to the ComputerLand name in the US.

ComputerLand says it will "temporarily retain the rights to use
the name for a limited period and will eventually change its name,
although it will continue to own the rights to the ComputerLand
name internationally."

Announcing the deal, Merisel Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Michael D. Pickett, said: "The proposed purchase of the ComputerLand
Franchise and Distribution Division is intended to enhance Merisel's
customer intimacy strategy, and provide the benefits that come from
doing business with a full-line distributor focused exclusively on
selling to resellers."

William Y. Tauscher, Computerland's CEO and chairman, said: "This
agreement will help us focus on our core business, providing
products and services to corporate end-users. It also improves our
cash position substantially."

According to a statement issued by ComputerLand, the transaction
"will greatly strengthen the balance sheet of ComputerLand, which
has been thinly capitalized since the July 1992 acquisition of TRW's
Customer Service Division and the acquisition of ComputerLand
franchises or establishment of company-owned operations in most US
major markets during the past two years."

In May, Newsbytes reported that, while ComputerLand was expanding in
Russia and the Baltic, it also announced plans to lay off of 6.5
percent of its work force, or about 170 workers.

(Ian Stokell/19930927/Press Contact: Cathy Quattrocchi, 310-615-
1230, Merisel; Alan Bernheimer, 510-734-4005, ComputerLand)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00027)

Sanctuary Woods Ships New CD-ROMs For Kids 09/27/93
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Sanctuary Woods
is set to begin shipping the Oscar Wilde "The Selfish Giant" and The
Last Dinosaur Egg interactive CD-ROMs for children.

According to the company, The Selfish Giant is created for children
aged three and up. It combines the fairy tale, artwork by children's
book illustrator P. Craig Russell, as well as facts, songs and
games.

The company says that The Selfish Giant allows children to read the
tale aloud, choose to have a "giant's" voice narrate, play one of the
hidden games, sing along to songs or learn more about the story's
characters and setting. The product also includes definitions of
many nouns and adjectives in the story.

The CD-ROM comes with over 100 pictures and animations, professional
voice-overs, "digital video" movies, sound effects and original
music. The Selfish Giant is available for both the Apple Mac and PC
platforms at the suggested retail price of $39.95.

The Last Dinosaur Egg will also be available for either the Mac
or PC systems. In the CD-ROM, the player guides his or her field
agents into the past to recover an egg from one of the last
surviving dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The Last Dinosaur Egg presents more than 100 color backgrounds.
Characters were created by Spiderman comic book illustrator Ken
Steacy. The company says that many of them are animated. The
product includes digital video clips, sound effects, original music,
voice-overs, games, and educational facts on dinosaurs. The Last
Dinosaur Egg is priced at $39.95.

In July, Newsbytes reported that Sanctuary Woods Multimedia
had purchased Mind F/X Inc., the Toronto-based developer of such
CD-ROM titles as Sitting on the Farm and The Cat Came Back.
Mind F/X is known for its early learning CD-ROMs, especially in
the area of language arts.

(Ian Stokell/19930927/Press Contact: Kristy Sager, 415-578-6349,
Sanctuary Woods)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00028)

Alex Randall On A Radio Near You 09/27/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Alex Randall, the
founder of the Boston Computer Exchange, which operates a national
network of traders in used computers, and the East-West Foundation,
which sends used computers to struggling democrats overseas, now has
a new role, this time as a radio talk-show host on a program called
The Computer Exchange.

The Computer Exchange, co-hosted by Bill Claff of the Boston
Computer Society, is a two-hour forum on technology with guests like
Gordon Eubanks of Symantec and Fred Langa of Windows Magazine.
There are also news stories, product reviews, commentaries, and
giveaways, along with a contest called "Stump the Geek."

The show is broadcast from noon until 2 PM Sundays in Boston, but
is also available nationwide through a network called Talk America.
Talk America has 114 affiliates and its Boston affiliate is WSSH.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930927/Press Contact: Louise Vogel, The
Computer Exchange, 617-232-6276)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00029)

Colorado Firm Provides Memory Chips For German Firm 09/27/93
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- When
Europeans get their national health care cards, the memory chip
embedded in the card will likely have been provided by a Colorado-
based company.

One of the smart cards produced by German company ZeitControl
Systems is the identity card used by the various national health
care systems operating in European companies, and ZeitControl says
it is integrating a 4K ferroelectric random access memory (RAM) chip
from Colorado Springs-based Ramtron International Corporation.

FRAM chips are becoming widely used in devices which need to retain
information without an outside source of power of when power is
removed. ZeitControl says the European market for smart cards is
worth $250 million, with 80 million potential users in Germany
alone.

Ramtron spokesperson Jill Goebel told Newsbytes that Zeitcontrol has
made an initial purchase of 10,000 FRAM chips and expects to ramp up
to full production of ferroelectric-based smart cards in 1994.

Ramtron VP of Sales Don Carrigan said the FRAM chips don't have a
clear advantage over E2PROM (erasable programmable read only memory)
in the contacted card market such as telephone cards and other small
capacity debit cards, but provide a faster write time and higher
data reliability in applications requiring significant amounts of
data to be written on each use, such as health care and insurance
applications.

(Jim Mallory/19930927/Press and reader contact: Ramtron,
719-481-7000 or 800-545-3726)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00030)

SnapGrafx Windows Business Graphics Software 09/27/93
RICHARDSON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 SEP 27 (NB) -- Hoping to appeal to
new or busy computer users that don't have time to learn an
extensive new graphics program, Micrografx has introduced the
SnapGrafx automated business graphics software. According to the
company, it allows business people to "quickly create a wide variety
of charts and graphs in a fraction of the time of conventional
graphics programs."

According to the company, the software was designed to provide an
easy way to create and use business graphics. Special features
include SnapPage, SnapShapes and SnapLines.

The company says that users never have to start with a blank page,
because a template gallery offers 20 business graphics types
including timeline, organizational, comparison, Venn and pyramid.
Choosing a chart type from the template gallery allows users to
select from more than 300 additional shapes which can be customized
for three-dimensional and shadow effects.

Gordon Sellers, product manager for SnapGrafx, claims that the
program eliminates the frustration associated with freehand
graphics programs and greatly reduces the time to create visual
communications.

"Everyone wants to communicate visually because it's faster and
clearer than oral or written communications, but they don't have the
time or skills to create traditional graphics. We created SnapGrafx
to fill the void and help business people create fast, professional
graphics," he said.

SnapGrafx is now available and carries a suggested retail price
of $295. A special introductory price of $99 is offered through
December 31, 1993.

The minimum system requirements for SnapGrafx are an 386-based
IBM-PC; 2 megabytes (MB) of RAM (although 4MB is recommended);
Windows 3.1; DOS 3.1; a mouse; and a VGA or other video card
supported by Windows 3.1.

(Ian Stokell/19930927/Press Contact: Peter McLaughlin,
214-994-6192, Micrografx)