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/nb102293

Text File | 1993-10-22 | 70KB | 1,583 lines

(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00001)

Seybold - Common Ground Slugs It Out With Acrobat 10/22/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Newcomer No
Hands Software is challenging Adobe Systems in the electronic
document distribution arena. No Hands Software's Common Ground
for Macintosh shipped in May 1993. At the Seybold Conference and
Exposition '93, No Hands Software announced the Windows version
of Common Ground, which will ship in December for a list price
of $189.95.

Until products such as Acrobat and Common Ground, electronic
information distribution across different computer platforms was
usually limited to text files -- the "lowest-common-denominator"
file type, which doesn't allow documents to retain formatting
or graphics. Acrobat and Common Ground allow users to send
formatted documents created on their computers to any other
computer -- even if it uses a different operating system and
even if the recipient has neither the original software nor the
original fonts.

Adobe Systems' Acrobat product has three key components. The
Acrobat Reader allows users to view, navigate, and print documents
in the Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). Acrobat Exchange
allows users to annotate files as well as view, navigate and print
them. Acrobat Distiller translates PostScript language files into
PDF files.

Common Ground consists of two major components. The Common
Ground Maker converts any document into Common Ground's DigitalPaper
format. The Common Ground Viewer lets users navigate and
print documents, and supports Microsoft's Object Linking and
Embedding (OLE) 2.0 as a server. The MiniViewer allows viewing
and printing only.

Tony Stayner, vice president of marketing for No Hands Software,
described some of the differences between Common Ground and Adobe
Systems' Acrobat. Common Ground includes the CG PostScript
Extension to convert PostScript documents to Common Ground.
(To get this capability, Acrobat users must purchase Adobe's
$695 Acrobat Distiller.) No Hands Software also claims that
the Acrobat Reader requires significantly more disk space
than Common Ground's Viewer.

Also, Common Ground's MiniViewer can be included with
documents so readers need not own Common Ground.

Adobe, however, previewed some of the new capabilities it will
add to Acrobat early next year. Adobe Systems CEO John Warnock
described during the Seybold Conference keynote how Adobe is
positioning Acrobat to address such corporate information
issues as security, document delivery, document access, and
document management. He described an "experiment" underway at
Adobe since last February, when the company installed Acrobat
at the desk of each of its more than 1,000 employees who work
on a mixture of Unix, Macintosh, Windows, and DOS machines.
Instead of using Federal Express or the photocopy machine,
employees now post documents for distribution on the Acrobat
server, then notify anyone who needs the document that it is
available.

"I can't describe to you how this changes the way you
work," Warnock said.

Adobe discovered that managing thousands of documents is no
trivial task. The next version of Acrobat, therefore, will
contain some sophisticated document management capabilities.
For example, Adobe has created a program that monitors the
document server. When a user adds a document, the monitoring
program automatically extracts the document's text, indexes
it, and merges the resulting index with the master index used by
Acrobat Exchange to locate documents. Users won't have to worry
about how other users will find their information.

Also at the Seybold Exposition, Adobe Systems and Frame Technology
announced that future releases of Frame Technology's FrameMaker
and FrameBuilder publishing software will support the Adobe
Acrobat pdfmark function, which automatically preserves tables
of contents, indexes, cross references, and hypertext links
within an Acrobat PDF file.

Adobe Systems, Inc., Mountain View, CA, [phone]. No
Hands Software, Belmont, CA, [phone]. Frame Technology,
San Jose CA, [phone].

(Audrey Kalman/19931022)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00002)

CASE World/Objex - New Release Of Navigator Systems 10/22/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- At CASE
World/Objex, Ernst & Young has announced a major upgrade to
Navigator Systems Series, a Windows-based system for developers
working on CASE (computer-aided software engineering) projects.

Navigator gives developers stand-alone and networked access to
methodology traditionally stored on paper, and also lets project
team leaders create, electronically distribute, and print out
project charters, plans, budgets and risk management strategies,
said Brett Roeder, manager of marketing programs, during a
briefing.

The object-oriented system consists of three main components, which
can be used individually or as a suite, he stated. Enterprise
Standards Assistant (ESA) is the system's knowledgebase.
Performance Support Assistant (PSA) provides electronic access to
methodology stored in the ESA, as well as to CASE and development
tools and training modules that are needed to work on the project.

The third component, Project Planning Assistant (PPA), is a
knowledge-based tool for guiding team leaders through the project
planning process.

The new Version 2.1 adds a new, intuitive picture-based interface
to the PSA, and a customization tool called HyperProject for the
PPA. In addition, the PPA is now five times faster than Version
2.0 at generating a workplan, and 13 times faster at generating
task assignments for developers, according to Roeder.

The new interface to the PSA was developed with Microsoft
Multimedia Viewer, rather than the Microsoft Help tool that was
used in Version 2.0.

During a demonstration, another Ernst & Young official said that
the next edition of Navigator after Version 2.1 will include sound
and full-motion video.

The new HyperProject allows the project manager to create tailored
methodologies for developers on the team, after defining project
parameters with the PPA, according to Roeder.

Roeder told Newsbytes that the customized methodology streamlines
the jobs of developers, by saving them from having to deal with
materials extraneous to the tasks at hand.

Version 2.1 also adds Passage/AP, which supplies interfaces to
KnowledgeWare's Application Development Workbench (ADW) and
Powersoft's object-oriented PowerBuilder 3.0.

Passage/AP permits developers to take their business requirements
as defined in the ADW and automatically generate PowerBuilder
components, Roeder noted. Developers can also use Passage/AP
strictly as a link between PowerBuilder and Navigator's own object-
oriented Automated Methods Environment (AME).

Ernst & Young employs more than 65,000 people in over 100
countries, according to spokespersons for the company. The firm
provides clients with management consulting as well as audit and
tax services.

The management consulting practice is divided into two areas:
Information Technology (IT) and Performance Improvement (PI). In
1992, Ernst & Young's worldwide revenues were $5.4 billion.
Revenues from the management consulting practice were almost
$1 billion.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931022/Reader contact: Ernst & Young, tel 214-
444-2100; Press contacts: Cheryl M. Hardy, Ernst & Young, tel 214-
444-2191; Howard Bailen, Ernst & Young, tel [phone]; Dave
Murray or Robin Foster, Neale-May & Partners for Ernst & Young, tel
415-328-5555; Todd J. Keith, Digital Consulting Inc., tel (508)
470-3870).


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

CASE World/Objex - TI's Tools For Dynamic GUIs 10/22/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Texas
Instruments (TI) has unveiled Windows-based tools that let
developers and end users create GUIs which change dynamically based
on underlying data. The GUIs can also be used to quickly update
the data.

In a meeting with Newsbytes at CASE World/Objex, C.J. Richey,
senior re-engineering specialist, and Susan M. Bigda, product
specialist, said that the new GrAF (Graphical Applications
Facility) allows developers to build interactive front
ends to applications built on TI's IEF (Information Engineering
Facility) data model.

PowerGrAF, on the other hand, lets end users customize and enhance
their own application interfaces, giving them greater control over
applications and also helping to ease the work backlog for
developers, according to the TI officials.

The types of applications GrAF and PowerGrAF can be used for range
from decision support to software development, from network
plotting to operations management, and beyond.

In a demonstration, Richey showed Newsbytes an internal application
she created with GrAF. The application graphically depicts complex
COBOL programs, and allows the COBOL programs to be modified by
pointing and clicking.

Richey and Bigda told Newsbytes that, in working with GrAF,
developers select the view style they prefer -- such as
numeric or stacked bar charts, table view, hierarchy tree charts,
and interactive images with "hot spots" -- and then sort and filter
the view elements to suit their needs.

In the sorting process, information is sequenced in ascending or
descending order according to defined attributes. In the filtering
process, the developer can isolate and emphasize pertinent
information from the "big picture." Developers can also allow
include zoom and merge functions in the GrAF applications.

PowerGrAF lets end users customize GrAF applications with new
views, sorts and filters. End users are protected, though, from
inappropriately accessing data, or from changing data structures
that are not part of the application, the officials noted.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931022/Reader contact: Texas Instruments, 214-
995-2011; Press contacts: Luane Kruse, Texas Instruments, tel 214-
575-5729; Dana Pantos Harris, Rourke & Company for Texas
Instruments, tel [phone]; Todd J. Keefe, Digital Consulting
Inc., tel [phone])


(CORRECTION)(APPLE)(BOS)(00004)

Correction - UMax Bundles Apple Software With Scanner 10/22/93
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- In a story that
ran in Newsbytes earlier this week, Apple's new PhotoFlash photo
publishing software was mistakenly referred to as "PhotoFinish."

In the UMax UC630LE/MAC scanner package, Apple's PhotoFlash and
Adobe's PhotoShop LE imaging editing software are bundled with the
UMax UC630 24-bit color scanner for a price of $999. Newsbytes
regrets the error.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931021/Press contact: Yvonne Lynott for UMax,
tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00005)

CASE World/Objex - Expert Systems Tool For End Users 10/22/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- At CASE
World/Objex, Cincom has launched a Windows-based tool for quick and
user friendly development of expert systems.

XpertRule 2.1 requires no programming knowledge, and can even be
employed by end users, said Terrence L. Ohr, senior product
manager, Application Development Technology, at a meeting with
Newsbytes.

Ohr told Newsbytes that users enter information about subjects they
know about, or facts obtained from experts, into XpertRule. The
software then uncovers hidden patterns in the data, and presents
these findings to the user.

In a demonstration, Ohr showed Newsbytes how a major bank used
XpertRule to analyze the typical behavior of its officers in
granting loans. The bank found that its loan officers had been
treating "time at bank" as the number one criterion.

"Gender," on the other hand, ranked number 12 out of a possible 14
factors. "If `gender' had ranked number three or four, for
example, the bank would have seen that it had a truly massive sex
discrimination problem on its hands," he explained.

DePaul University of Chicago has used XpertRule to build a student
registration system, and Tokyo Nissan has used the product to
create a custom car ordering system.

Channel 4 of the United Kingdom has applied the software for
optimizing advertising placement. Norwich Union, also of the UK,
has underwritten insurance claims with XpertRule, and Traversum AB
of Sweden has generated a stock system.

XpertRule gives the user a choice of two different methods, said
Ohr. One technique, "generation from examples," invites the user
to enter a small number of examples, and then automatically
generates a "decision tree" for the user's review.

The user then generates more examples to further refine the
decisions in the tree, repeating this process until a satisfactory
decision tree is obtained, said Ohr.

In an expert system on "what to do if your car won't start," for
instance, the examples might include whether the starter motor is
dead or spins, whether the engine fires, whether the gas gauge
shows some gas or none, and whether the ignition is automatic or
standard.

The status of these examples, when combined with the status of
other examples, would lead to different decisions on the tree. If
there is gas on the gauge but the motor is dead, the decision would
be to "push start."

If there is gas on the gauge, the motor spins, and the ignition is
automatic, the decision would be to "try later." But if the
ignition is automatic, the decision would be to "get help."

The other technique, "truth tables," speeds the process by creating
a full set of examples. All the user must do is to specify the
outcome of each example, and edit an "outcome column" that is
automatically generated by XpertRule.

Ohr told Newsbytes that XpertRule can be used on a stand-alone
basis, or to generate program source code in Cobol, C, Pascal, or
Mantis, Cincom's application development language, for deployment
to other systems.

Mantis is a component in Cincom's AD/Advantage Windows-based life
cycle application development system, he said. Mantis can also be
deployed to a wide range of other systems, including IBM MVS, VSE,
and VM; Digital Open VMS and OSF/1; Hewlett-Packard, Sun, SCO and
other Unix systems; and DOS and OS/2.

John Wills, marketing manager for Application Development
Technology, told Newsbytes that Cincom is a 25-year-old company
with 60 offices worldwide. The vendor provides software
technologies in application development, database management,
manufacturing and financial applications, text management, and
process, product and resource management, Wills noted.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931021/Reader contact: Cincom, tel 513-662-
2300; Press contacts: Mike Boehmer, Cincom, tel [phone];
Todd J. Keefe, Digital Consulting Inc., tel [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00006)

Octel Adds Fax Processing To VoiceMail 10/22/93
MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Octel, a
leader in voice mail systems, began shipping its new family of
fax processing products, including FaxAgent, FaxBroadcast,
and FaxStation.

The new products, announced in April, have already drawn over 300
orders, the company said. They allow Octel users to create
"multimedia mailboxes" and access both faxes and voice messages
through the same system.

FaxAgent allows access to mailboxes through any touch-tone phone
to retrieve both voice and fax messages, and lets faxes be
archived or forwarded in the same manner as voice messages.
FaxAgent allows a user to print a fax from their mailbox at any
fax machine, and includes privacy safeguards. FaxBroadcast
allows a fax document to be sent to thousands of fax devices in a
single transaction. FaxStation is an overflow mailbox which
eliminates busy signals by storing faxes for over-filled
mailboxes in a buffer.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931021/Press Contact: Octel Communications,
Diane Sink, 408/321-3338)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(DEL)(00007)

Ericsson In India Fiber Optic Venture 10/22/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Ericsson Cables AB of
Sweden has entered into a joint venture with one of India's
major business groups, the Birlas, to set up a Rs 47.5
crore (around $15.8 million) optical fiber project.

To be implemented by a new company, Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd., the
project will have the capacity to manufacture 4,000 cable kilometers
of optical fibers per annum. The Swedish company and the
Birla group are taking up to a 30 percent stake each in the Rs 25
crore (around $8.3 million) equity capital of the new company.

The project will manufacture fiber optic communication cables of
various designs tailor-made to the specifications of customers like
the Department of Telecommunications (of the government of India),
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (the government-owned corporation
that provides telephone services in the metros), railroad and
defense companies.

Commercial production is expected to start in December. In
order to part finance the cost of the project, the company has
entered the capital market with the public issue of 87.50 lakh
equity shares aggregating Rs 8.75 crore (around $3 million).

(C T Mahabharat/19931021)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00008)

Toshiba, AT&T Japan Release RISC Processors 10/22/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Toshiba and AT&T Japan have
developed advanced RISC (reduced instruction set computing)
processors. Toshiba claims its RISC processor is more
powerful than Intel's Pentium. AT&T Japan's RISC is a high-end
version of the Hobbit.

Toshiba's RISC processor, which vies with Intel's Pentium, is
based on a design by MIPS Technologies in the US. It was
developed jointly with Integrated Device Technology and Quantum
Effect Design in the US. The chip, called the R4600, has a clock
speed of 50 megahertz. As far as the integer calculation is
concerned, the chip is about 5 percent faster than that of the
Pentium, and in floating point calculations is about 7 percent
faster, according to Toshiba. Sample chips will be sold for
around 40,000 yen ($400) in April 1994.

Meanwhile, AT&T Japan has announced RISC processors for next-
generation handheld terminal devices. There are three of
these processors, which are high-end versions of the Hobbit
family. The ATT92020S is energy-saving, consuming 20-percent
less electricity than the original Hobbit. The ATT92020M
reduces the number of peripheral ICs from 4 to 2 units. The
ATT92020MX is space-saving, able to reduce the number of
peripheral ICs from 4 to only 1 unit. The price
of these chips are 4,200 ($42) to 4,900 yen ($49).

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931020/Press Contact: Toshiba, +81-3-
3457-2100, Fax, [phone], AT&T Japan, [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00009)

Fujitsu Enters DOS/V-PC Market 10/22/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Fujitsu has released
DOS/V-compatible personal computers, its first foray into
the DOS/V-compatible PC market in Japan. Fujitsu will continue
to sell its original personal computers as well as the DOS/V PCs.

Fujitsu's FMV series include desktop and notebook-type
PCs. There are six models with 17 variations ranging from
a 25-megahertz to 66-megahertz 80486 processors. Japanese
Windows 3.1 are included. The units offer extremely fast
graphic processing speed, according to Fujitsu. The notebook-type
PCs include a color LCD (liquid crystal display) version and
a monochrome version.

To celebrate the release of the first DOS/V-compatible
PCs in Japan, Fujitsu has released 3,000 limited versions
of the computers with a graphic accelerator. These limited PCs are
available at the regular price tag on a first-come first-served
basis. The low-end version of Fujitsu's DOS/V-compatible PCs costs
178,000 yen ($1,780), which is about the same price as those
of IBM Japan or other DOS/V-compatible computer makers.

Fujitsu has been receiving a supply of DOS/V PC parts from
overseas PC makers -- about 70 percent of them are supplied
by Taiwanese firms, including Acer.

Fujitsu hopes to ship one million units of these DOS/V PCs
within a couple of years, and seeks to raise its PC market
share in Japan from the current 12 percent to 30 percent by
1996. Currently, NEC has the major PC share in Japan, and
Fujitsu is in second place.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931019/Press Contact: Fujitsu, +81-3-
3215-5236, Fax, [phone])


(EDITORIAL)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00010)

Editorial - The Split On NAFTA 10/22/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- By Dana Blankenhorn.
While most Americans are divided on the North American Free
Trade Agreement, the high tech community is almost uniformly
in favor of it.

The deal, which would eliminate tariffs among Canada, the US
and Mexico over 15 years, and includes some side agreements on
labor and environmental issues, is in big trouble otherwise. The
reason has to do with the nature of our politics, in fact the
nature of most politics in the last decade of the 20th century.

Put simply, nationalism is making a comeback. It was the driving
force in world politics for hundreds of years, but the Cold War
put it in cold storage. That conflict created military treaties
like NATO, economic groupings like the European Community, and
political groupings like the United Nations, along with the image
of a world moving toward internationalism. But that was a chimera
-- when the Cold War thawed, all the old fears returned.
Yugoslavia, frozen into place under Communism, exploded into
ethnic violence. So did the old Soviet Union, where Cold War
peacemaker Edvard Schevardnadze now watches his Georgia home
disintegrate before him.

Nationalism is behind a lot of current opposition to the Clinton
Administration's foreign policy. Conservatives want to base our
military policy solely on America's narrowest national interest.
If people are starving in Somalia or being oppressed in Haiti,
they see no threat, absent an overriding enemy in Communism, which
might advance in a vacuum.

But most conservatives are Clinton's allies on NAFTA. They see
that NAFTA is in our narrow national interest. Neither tariffs
nor a high wall will keep low-wage jobs from moving to Mexico,
while lower tariffs hold the promise of higher exports. Mexican
wages will rise under NAFTA, reducing immigration, and the
prospects for real democracy there will rise. The relatively low
wages there can be an ace-in-the-hole for the US economy,
countering Europe's reliance on Portugal, Greece and Turkey, as
well as Japanese reliance on Chinese production. And NAFTA can be
extended throughout Latin America, giving the Americas the kind
of independence, and interdependence, the Monroe Doctrine only
hinted at. Presidents Reagan, Bush and Nixon, as well as
Democratic President Carter, are all for NAFTA.

What's changed is on the left. Labor is fighting this pact hard,
and so far it's winning. It might be because organized labor is
the most conservative group a society can have, seeking mainly to
keep work as it is while gaining more for it. During the Cold
War, US unions supported our internationalist aims, but just as
Vietnam turned many young people off to containment at-any-price,
so the Reagan era made labor an enemy of internationalism. After
all, while Reagan was using deceit, deficits, and defense to
speed the fall of the USSR, he was also using every weapon at his
command to reduce the power and wages of labor. He succeeded on
both counts.

That still leaves President Clinton, sole heir of an
internationalist foreign policy tradition which goes back 50
years, but without a unifying vision on which to base that
policy. That legacy was originally couched in idealistic terms
like freedom, democracy, and economic liberty. The United Nations
came into the lexicon in 1942 to represent only those nations
fighting Germany and Japan. In World War II and the succeeding
Cold War, American leaders saw themselves leading an alliance of
free people against an alliance of slaves. It was never that
simple, but it gave a coherence to world politics that's missing
today.

While the President is trying to win the NAFTA fight by making
deals with the 50 or so Democrats he needs to get a majority --
assuming Republican support remains firm -- NAFTA should be seen
as only part of a larger whole. And a larger problem. What's
lacking in US foreign policy today, all of it, is a coherent
doctrine of what our aims are, and what means we'll use to
achieve those aims.

The elements are there. The US stands as it always has, for
democracy, for human rights, and for free markets. These are in
our narrow national interest, and in the interest of all people.
We must employ every weapon at our disposal, starting with our
example, but also including our diplomacy, our economic strength
and -- only when absolutely necessary -- our military. To win
Clinton will have to make all this coherent, he'll need a
"Clinton Doctrine" to define our policies in the decades ahead.
NAFTA represents a vital application of our economic strength to
these higher goals.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931020)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(TYO)(00011)

Japan - Apple Macintoshes Now Sold In Electronics Shops 10/22/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Apple Computer Japan has
expanded its sales of the Macintosh to major home electronics
shops in Japan.

Apple Computer Japan has inked deals with major home electronics
chains Daiichi Kaden and Kojima, among others. These shops
are franchised throughout Japan and could increase Apple Computer
sales significantly.

Apple Computer Japan will sell a special Macintosh bundle
through these shops. The package is called the Macintosh Performer
and it includes a basic software set, preinstalled on the
computer, to make it easy for first-time buyers.

The Macintosh Performer includes the Color Classic II, which
is intended for the Japanese market, and the LC475, which is
equipped with a super-fast 68040 processor. A major advantage
for users could be price -- these home electronics shops
heavily discount their products and Apple is leaving pricing
up to them.

Although the Macintosh is gaining popularity in Japan, NEC
still dominates the market. Apple Computer Japan wants to
sell 250,000 units per year, now that electronics stores are
added to its retail sales mix.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931022/Press Contact: Apple Computer
Japan, [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00012)

A While-You-Were-Out Fax Service From Delrina, Vodafone 10/22/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Delrina Corp., a
facsimile and forms software maker here, and Vodata Ltd., a
subsidiary of cellular service provider Vodafone Group plc in the
United Kingdom, have announced an alliance in which they
plan to offer enhanced message services to simplify personal
computer communications.

According to the companies, a new service due to be available in
the first quarter of 1994 will let users of Delrina's facsimile
software receive incoming faxes while they are away from their
offices or their personal computers are switched off.

The service will provide PC users with a fax mailbox to which
their faxes can be sent regardless of where they are, said
Delrina spokesman Shelly Sofer. They will then be able to call
the mailbox and download the faxes to their PCs.

In the UK, users will also be able to have the system notify
them via a cellular phone or pager when a fax comes in. Sofer
said the companies may be able to offer the same service
elsewhere in the future, if it can make arrangements with a
cellular carrier or paging company.

The service will be offered to every buyer of the Delrina fax
software, Sofer said, but those who want it will have to sign up
and pay additional fees.

He said this move is part of a wider strategy that includes the
recent formation of Delrina's communications services division
and alliances with MCI Communications in the US and
Canada's Worldlinx, a Bell Canada subsidiary.

(Grant Buckler/19931021/Press Contact: Josef Zankowicz, Delrina,
416-441-3676; Shelly Sofer, Delrina, 416-441-4702; Larry Levy,
Delrina, [phone]; Public Contact: Delrina, 800-268-6082)


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

Super Conductor Super Collider Cancelled 10/22/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Saying that the
projected final cost of $10- to $12-billion is not justified by
the expected scientific benefits, the US Senate has killed the
Texas-based Super Conductor Super Collider, earmarking this
fiscal year's $640 million, which was intended to continue the
project, as funding to be used to close down the project.

The SCSC is currently a gigantic circular tunnel being bored into
the Texas landscape. It was intended to eventually contain the
world's largest particle accelerator and employs more than 2,000
local workers and 13,000 around the US.

Although more than $2 billion has already been spent on this
project, which was intended to explore properties of the minutest
subatomic particles, the entire project had years to go in the
construction stage and was only about one-fifth complete at the
time it was cancelled.

Although there were no direct benefits expected for the computer
industry, basic research in particle physics has always led to
advances in computer technology in two ways. First, particle
physics requires the development of massive supercomputers along
with advanced programming techniques and second, the results of
the research itself often leads to new microchip technology.

But there has been an increasing outcry against the massive
spending on high-profile scientific projects which are not
expected to have important practical results, especially when
amateur scientists like Rolex Award Winner Forrest Mims produce
an inexpensive ozone layer measuring device that actually
outperforms a multi-million dollar NASA satellite.

Recent NASA and other expensive space project failures have also
caused former scientific research supporters to reevaluate their
support for projects like the Space Station Freedom and the SCSC,
both of which have a large presence in Texas, an important
Democratic vote stronghold.

Washington observers say that although the SCSC is now gone and
the Space Station is still in considerable danger, the much-
touted "Information Superhighway" is not a candidate for the
budget axe, partially because of Vice President Gore's strong
support, partially because its benefits will be real, immediate,
and, very importantly, will involve every region of the country.

(John McCormick/19931022/)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00014)

Roundup - Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 10/22/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief
look at some computer stories carried in other publications
received here this past week.

Computerworld dated October 18 reports that Microsoft wants to
eventually develop a database unification strategy based on a
repository architecture which would let applications run on any
database regardless of what base language was used to create the
application software.

Communicationsweek for the week of the 18th says that Microsoft
is still struggling to convince business users that Windows NT is
necessary to their enterprise networks. The biggest problem is
that the much-touted Hermes and Microsoft's Enterprise Messaging
Server are missing from the product lineup and won't appear until
next summer or even later - both are necessary to corporate users
building a powerful enterprise-wide system.

Cynthia Morgan says in the October 11 Government Computer News
that green (energy-saving) PCs won't sell until the price comes
down.

Voice Processing Magazine for October says that managers should
"always review the effectiveness and efficiency of any call
processing application under operational conditions" when
deciding to make changes to voice mail and suggests that "call
activity flow is an important gauge of operational efficiency and
performance."

Informationweek for October 18 puts the Bell Atlantic/TCI merger
on the cover and says that the real story is a communications
revolution that will benefit business users first.

(John McCormick/19931022/)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SYD)(00015)

Australia - Apple Revamps Mac Line 10/22/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 OCTOBER 22 (NB) -- Apple Australia has
launched a broadside of new and revamped Macintosh models aimed
at expanding the company's market share. Apple's position as number
one PC supplier in Australia is under increasingly heavy attack
from Compaq, Osborne and IBM.

Many of the new models feature Motorola 68040 processors and CD-ROM
drives at prices as low as AUS$3095 (US$2000) as Apple strikes
back at the 486-powered IBM PC clones which have been eating
into its market share. Some will also be upgraded to PowerPC
processors next year.

"This introduction sends a clear message to the marketplace --
we have smashed the price barrier long associated with Apple
products" said David Rigg, Apple Australia marketing director.
"Today one of the last remaining obstacles to greater Macintosh
acceptance - price competitiveness - tumbles down."

Apple has simplified its Macintosh line-up by folding the mid-range
Centris line into the Quadra family with high-performance business
machines. The all-new Quadra 605 has a 68LC040 processor, Ethernet,
and standard CD-ROM drive, all in a slimline case for AUS$3095.

In the LC range, aimed at education and home users, the current
LCII and III "pizza box" models are joined by the LC 475 - the
first LC with an 040 chip - and the LC 520, a multimedia 68030
one-piece model with built-in color monitor, CD-ROM drive,
stereo speakers and microphone. They have suggested retail
prices of AUS$3395 and AUS$3295.

The PowerBook Duo family of lightweight portables has been joined
by two new siblings with active-matrix screens: the mono Do at
AUS$4995 and the color model at $5595.

(David Frith and Computer Daily News/19931022)


(REVIEW)(IBM)(ATL)(00016)

Review of - ButtonFile Version 1 10/22/93

Runs on: PC-AT, PS-2, and 100% compatibles running MS-Windows
plus at least 2 megabytes of extra storage space. Windows
requirements: 4 megs of RAM, using PC/MS-DOS 3.1 or higher, and a
EGA, VGA, or SVGA monitor.

From: ButtonWare, P.O.Box 96058, Bellevue WA 98009-4469,
Phone:[phone], FAX:[phone]

Price: $89.95

PUMA Rating: 3.75 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: tbass HNDYPRSN, MCI:379-5378

Summary: Buttonhole your data in Windows with ButtonWare's
ButtonFile.

======

REVIEW

======

ButtonWare's ButtonFile, a CardFile-type program with
limited database capabilities, has an attractive Rolodex-style
interface. This makes for easy data entry once the card is
designed and the deck is identified.

The ButtonFile program also has 14 templates with which you can
quickly set up simple databases. The titles are: Book Library,
Business Cards, Credit Cards, Data/Boxes, File Folders, Home
Inventory, Mailing List, Music Collection, Notes, Personnel
Records, Recipes, Rolodex Cards, Software Library, and Video
Library. The templates can be used as-is or modified by adding or
deleting fields. The cards can also be set up "from scratch."

Getting started is no muss, no fuss! Just use the normal Windows
setup installation and you are on your way.

The database capabilities of ButtonFile are somewhat limited, but
there's plenty here for most purposes. A card, which is
ButtonFile's name for a record, can consist of a maximum of 40
fields with up to 256 characters each. A record can also have a
single note field with up to 8192 characters.

While the number of records are limited by the availability of
disk space, it is recommended that there be no more than 200,000
records per database, or card deck. That is still a lot of
records for most personal uses.

Several common databases interact with ButtonFile. It will import
and export to dBase, PC-File, Windows CardFile, WordPerfect, and
ASCII comma delimited (CSV) files.

ButtonWare reports that ButtonFile will print on all common
business forms including over 1,000 pre-defined Avery and
Dennison laser and tractor-fed forms, mailing & shipping labels,
Rolodex cards, envelopes, name tags, lists, rosters, catalogs,
and more.

Screen presentation can be cards or tables. Tables
have a spreadsheet look and feel.

The spreadsheet presentation is weak in that a field can appear
truncated when it really isn't. The information can be massaged
into sight by expanding the column size. A wide column,
beyond 40 characters, can become cumbersome. If the column is a
Note field there is an alternative way to view it -- a table view
-- which is easier to use.

The Boolean record searching capabilities are a big plus. The
search pattern can be exact or based on similar sounds. A
specific field can be searched with "beginning with" or "not
beginning with" as well as "containing or not containing,"
"equal to," "greater than," or "less than" the pattern chosen.
Also, more than one field can be selected for searching.

The shortcoming of ButtonFile as a database is it has no
calculation capabilities in its reporting feature. This means
that totaling up the Home Inventory value is out. In other words,
a record consists of Text fields of varying sizes and the
possibility of a single Note field. No Numeric or Date fields
selections are provided.

Other features include password protection and encryption, data
sorting for up to three levels, and powerful clipboard support.
The Index Tab Bar provides quick movement through the cards
within a deck. And a Tool Bar contains most of the commonly used
features including auto-dialing if a modem is available.

At under $100, ButtonFile is really a nice add-on for Windows.

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

PUMA RATING

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

PERFORMANCE: (3) Easily installed and quick to use. The weakest
points are the spreadsheet-like Table, the presentation, and lack
of numeric, calculable, fields, and the lack of a date field.

USEFULNESS: (4) For organizing and accessing database information
ButtonFile is great.

MANUAL: (4) Though it is hardly needed. There a few explanations
and descriptions that can make operating easier. As with most
Windows oriented products, the HELP feature is easy to use.

AVAILABILITY: (4) ButtonWare product can be found at EggHead
Software, 800-344-4323, where ButtonFile is sold for $59.99 or
$56.99 to its Cue members. It can be special ordered from
CompUSA, 800-451-7638, for $57.99 or purchase ButtonFile by mail
from MicroWarehouse, 800-367-7080, for $54.95. Shopping around
for the best price is generally worth it. Buttonware products can
ordered direct by calling 800-528-8866 at suggested retail plus
$6.50 for shipping and handling.

(tbass HNDYPRSN/19930916/Press Contact: Laura Clark, Buttonware,
206-454-0479, FAX:[phone])


(REVIEW)(IBM)(ATL)(00017)

Review of: Uninvited 10/22/93

Runs on: PC-AT, PS-2, AND 100% compatibles using PC/MS-DOS 3.3 or
higher, running Windows 3.1, a SVGA monitor, with 4MB RAM, 8MB free
storage space, and mouse. A Windows-compatible sound card is
recommended.

From: ICOM Simulations Inc., 648 South Wheeling Rd.,Wheeling IL
60090, V: 708-520-44400, FAX:[phone]

Price: $59.95

PUMA Rating: 3.875 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest )

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: tbass  HNDYPRSN, MCI:379-5378

Summary: The Uninvited is a demanding adventure game. Although it
offers nice graphics and good sound, it requires deduction,
attention to detail, and tenacity to master. The "Hint" book is
helpful.

======

REVIEW

======

Although The Uninvited comes in a Macintosh version, we reviewed
the Windows-based version of this adventure game by ICOM
Simulations Inc.

The story begins as follows. The car you're driving
wrecks in front of Aleister Crowley's mansion in Loch Ness,
Scotland. You must find your brother who disappeared from the car
after the wreck, before you regained consciousness. You must
also get out of the car before it catches on fire. If you can
do that, you then enter  the spooky mansion at your own risk.

Movement and information about what's taking place are monitored
via four windows: Main, which shows the visual scene; Self, your
player; Inventory, where collectibles are stored; Exits, a
diagram of the current rooms' exits; and Text, the written
description of the adventure.

Like most adventures you move-and-save so that when you get
creamed you don't have to start at the beginning!

The audio is not exquisite over the PC speaker. In fact it is
fuzzy, and almost inaudible. I agree with ICOM and advise having
a sound card attached to some kind of speaker system. My nephew,
Nick, age 15, liked the graphics and if I had a sound card
he would have appreciated the audio too.

ICOM Simulations  is a recent acquisition of Viacom
International, owner of such cable networks as MTV, MTV Europe,
VH-1, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite. It looks like Uninvited is
another opportunity for my nephew to spend more time with Viacom
programs.

An order card for the "Uninvited Hint Book" is included with the
registration card and it costs $5.00. It is worth it!

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

PUMA RATING

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

PERFORMANCE:  (3) It works well and the graphics are excellent.
The sounds are not as good on a PC-Speaker as expected, but the
sound is geared for use with a sound card. Also, programs which
protect against viruses must be disabled.

USEFULNESS: (4) If you have a teenager for the weekend and need
to get something else done, this game can certainly occupy some
time.

MANUAL: (4) The installation could hardly be easier.
The directions are  short and to the point. A hint book may be
needed to complete the  adventure.

AVAILABILITY: (4)  Can be ordered direct from the producer by
dialing 800-877-4266 and selecting the order desk. It is marketed
at many stores.

(tbass HNDYPRSN/19930923/Press Contact: Michele Boeding, ICOM,
708-808-6458)


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

QVC Launches Tender for Paramount 10/22/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- QVC Network Inc.,
has launched a hostile tender offer for Paramount Communications
Inc., offering $80 per share cash for 51 percent of the company.
Once control is achieved, QVC said it would buy the rest of
Paramount for stock.

The bid puts intense pressure on Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone
and on the Paramount board. Redstone must now raise his bid in
order to meet QVC in the market, and Paramount must now consider
QVC's offer seriously. Viacom had been able to file its papers on
the merger and go through most of the required waiting period,
since it had negotiated an agreement to buy the company and QVC's
bid had not been formally considered. Now QVC can file papers on
the purchase, since it's planning a hostile takeover. The earlier
stock-cash offer, also worth $80 per share, was considered
friendly.

Viacom started the ball rolling by offering cash and stock worth,
it said, about $70 per share for Paramount, an offer Paramount's
board has accepted. Viacom has also said that the added money QVC
is offering isn't worth it, since no one else can offer Paramount
the synergies of an alliance with Viacom, whose cable programming
holdings include MTV and Nickelodeon. But now that arbitrageurs
have had weeks to accumulate the company's stock, it's expected
an all-out bidding war will develop.

There's one more possibility. When he signed to acquire
Paramount, Redstone accepted some provisions which will give him
cash and a lot of Paramount stock in the event it's eventually
acquired by another company, like QVC. Redstone could make
hundreds of millions of dollars by walking away and letting QVC
head Barry Diller take the prize.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931022)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00019)

FCC Releases Cable Rate Findings 10/22/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- The Federal
Communications Commission released preliminary results from its
review of cable television rates, showing that while most bills
did fall, about a third did receive rate hikes.

The FCC staff surveyed 250 cable systems owned by the top 25
cable companies, representing over 75 percent of the nation's 57
million subscribers. The findings are preliminary because 11 of
the 25 companies surveyed have not yet answered the query.

Critics charged that the answers came from a sample too small to
be worthwhile, representing just 8 million subscribers. The House
author of the cable law, Democratic Congressman Edward Markey of
Massachusetts, reacted by asking the General Accounting Office to
conduct its own new survey. The FCC refused to answer questions
at a press conference, promising more complete figures next
month.

While, in advance of regulators, many cable operators began
creating new "tiers" of service in what had been basic cable,
making consumers pay added charges for popular services like CNN,
there's now a new trick made possible by the cable act, called "a
la carte" pricing. In this system, each channel is sold
separately, although the operators can also offer bundles of
channels at a discount. Such prices are not regulated, and the
survey indicates those operators using a la carte pricing showed
huge increases for consumers choosing that option.

In Atlanta, GCTV added a third tier of "basic service" called a
"Value Pack," consisting of The Weather Channel and two
superstations, WGN and WWOR, at $1.70 per month. September bills
were slightly higher than those in August, but October bills,
after a re-calculation, were actually a bit lower. November bills
are expected to be in line with those in August.

But that's not the end of the matter. Local governments can opt
to start their own rate-making procedures. Certification by the
FCC sets off a long chain of events under which operators send
the local governments information on how their rates were
calculated, which the government can accept or reject. That's
followed by an appeals process under which the cable operator can
ask the FCC to overturn what it considers unfair rates. In
Georgia, many small cities have banded together, through their
trade associations, to share expertise and start rate regulation.
Conservative counties, like Cobb County in the Atlanta suburbs,
have for now decided against starting the process.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931022/Press Contact: FCC Press Office, 202-
632-5050)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00020)

Online Services Update 10/22/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- So many major
online services have begun offering new features, and so many new
networks have announced openings, that we decided to pull them
together into one wrap-up.

Time Warner formed an alliance with CompuServe under which its
book authors and editors will participate in CompuServe forums.
Expert guests will also be solicited in a variety of subjects.
CompuServe also said it will offer the text of 12 New York area
newspapers owned by Gannett on its service, at its regular rates
of $8-16 per hour. The Gannett Suburban Newspapers serve the
northern suburban counties of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland.

Genentech, a South San Francisco, California biotechnology
company, said it will work with America Online to open a network
called "Access Excellence" that will help biology teachers
exchange lesson plans and other information with teachers and
other scientists. Genentech staff will manage the new service.
AOL also has a similar service for teachers called the Scholastic
Network.

Telescan, which operates online services in specialty areas for
such clients as Editor & Publisher and the American Institute of
Architects, but is best known for stock quote services now being
organized into a service for investors and business owners called
Entrepreneurs Online, added a service for licensing executives.
LES Online will help the Licensing Executives Society's 7,000
members with databases and resources called vital to technology
transfer professionals, like comprehensive information on
companies and their technology needs, as well as electronic mail,
forums, and roundtables.

Finally, two women have opened a San Francisco service called
the Women's Information & Resource Exchange or WIRE, the first
online service devoted exclusively to women. There are a number
of services where women are very active, but this is the first
time that market has been singled out explicitly. The service
costs $15 per month for two hours of use, with added time at
$2.50 per hour. In addition to news, mail, and bulletin boards,
the service will offer interactive chats on issues of interest to
women.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931022)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(MOW)(00021)

More On US West's Plans To Serve Russia 10/22/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- US West jointly with one Russian
and two Russian-American companies announced the opening of United
Telecom Far East, a company which is to provide cellular services in
three Eastern regions of Russia.

Other cofounders of the company include Daltelecom International, former
state-run long distance phone communications provider for the Far East
region; Vartelecom, a Russian-owned communications company, and United
Telecom, partly owned by US parties.

The companies did not unveil the size of investments and shares in the
new company's ownership.

United Telecom has already acquired a license to build and operate a 900
MHz AMPS analog cellular phone system in the Khabarovsk region. It also
hopes to buy rights to operate 900 MHz GSM systems in Khabarovsk, Amur,
and the Kamchatka regions, according to the company.

The fast-growing business climate, and the large number of international
companies coming into the region makes building the cellular network
a very profitable business, according to Valery Moloenkov, the
new company's general manager.

In the tender sales of the cellular licenses held by the Russian Ministry
of Communications in January, 1993, US West led the consortia which won 8
out of 12 exclusive licenses to establish cellular communications
networks in various parts of Russia.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19931022)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00022)

Rasterops Cuts $850 From Moviepak2 Upgrade Price 10/22/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- For 90
days, Rasterops says it will offer its new Moviepak2 for $850
off the retail price of $1,849, in exchange for old Moveiepak
boards.

The company says Moviepak2 offers MoviePak2 full-motion 60
fields-per-second video, real-time 30 frame-per-second video
digitizing, and full-screen 640 by 480 picture element (pixel)
playback from the hard disk. Users can still use the LSI Joint
Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) compression technology and
video-in-a-window, and Moviepak2 can support display
resolutions up to 26 inches in diameter.

Scott Rawlings, Rasterops product marketing manager, said
regarding the board exchange that once users pay their $999,
they don't have to return the old board until the new one
arrives. This means those dependent on the board will lose less
time in the replacement process.

The upgrade offer begins 90 days after the initial ship date of
MoviePak2, which is scheduled for late October, 1993.

Rasterops stirred up a hornet's nest of protest last week when
it publicly announced that competitors Supermac and Radius were
in violation of patents it claims it has on video-in-a-window
technology. Both Radius and Supermac took special exception to
implied threats made by Rasterops to their customers and
distributors.

Plagued with red ink in its 1993 fiscal year, Rasterops blamed
lower sales and a restructuring charge for its $12.1 million
loss on revenues of about $100 million, according to Standard
and Poors.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931022/Press Contact: Diana Iles, Cunningham
Communication for Rasterops, tel [phone], fax 408-982-
0403)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00023)

Bell Atlantic, McCaw Deny Patent Infringement 10/22/93
POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Peter James
Tsakanikas, who holds a patent he calls the Alphabet Phone
patent, is taking aim at the cellular industry and meeting
resistance. In August, the inventor sent a letter to AT&T and
McCaw cellular asking $20 million for infringing the patent,
while threatening to sue for $1 billion if no settlement was
reached. Now he's asking $12 billion of McCaw, and demanding
another $1.5 billion from Bell Atlantic.

But now, claiming he's learned that his technology, patent number
4,427,848 is integral to cellular telephony, he's demanding more.
He first issued a press release asking $1.5 billion from Bell
Atlantic for infringing the patent, under which you can input
letters on a phone by "dialing up the button," pressing the
number 2 once for the letter A, twice for B and three times for
C. In his press statement Tsakanikas charged that his patent is
being used in a Bell Atlantic cellular service sold as Name
Dialing in both their cellular telephone equipment and network
services. The Bell Atlantic figure was calculated based on $2 per
month per subscriber for each year the patent has been enforced.
A spokesman for the inventor told Newsbytes that the fact that
wired telephones are an integral part of cellular networks "makes
this case much stronger" and is behind the higher figure.

A day later he went further, issuing a press release on AT&T and
McCaw, with this explanation. "On August 23, 1993 I only was
asking $20 million each from AT&T and McCaw when I put both on
notice of their continuing infringement of my intellectual
properties." Since then, "I learned that the cellular telephone
network itself infringes. Now I am asking $2 per cellular
subscriber per month through the year 2001."

He added, "I feel if AT&T can elect to purchase McCaw Cellular
Communications for over $13 billion, making Mr. Craig O. McCaw
a billionaire, it is only fair and equitable that AT&T also make
me a billionaire as revenues being generated on the AT&T and McCaw
cellular telephone networks are significantly and favorably
impacted by using my intellectual property."

In both cases, the inventor said, he'll ask treble damages
if he doesn't get a settlement. That would be $4.5 billion
from Bell Atlantic, and $36 billion from AT&T-McCaw.

He told Newsbytes he's willing to make a settlement, and
acknowledged that, while suits have been filed on the patent
before, they've all been settled before trial.

Among the companies Tsakanikas says have settled with him in the
past are fax machine makers such as Canon, Sharp, and Brothers,
who use the technique to let users enter data on where their
faxes are coming from into their machines, as well as point of
sales terminal companies like Verifone and audiotex companies
like VoiceQuote.

Both companies denied the charge. "Bell Atlantic has taken a look
at this and we see no liability for our company," said spokesman
Larry Plumb. Said McCaw spokesman Bob Ratliffe, "We are aware of
it. We think it's without merit. We will pursue it through legal
channels." A spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications
Industry Association said he wasn't aware that the technology was
in wide use in the industry.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931022/Press Contact: Peter Tsakanikas, 1-
301-208-8000; Bell Atlantic, Larry Plumb, 703-974-2814; McCaw
Cellular, Bob Ratliffe, 206-828-8685; CTIA, 202-785-0081)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00024)

S&S International Goes Public 10/22/93
BERKHAMSTEAD, HERTS, ENGLAND, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Dr Alan Solomon,
the founder of S&S International, the developers of Dr Solomon's
Anti-Virus Toolkit, has announced his intention to prepare the
company for stock market flotation.

S&S is riding high after winning the Queen's Award for Technological
Achievement earlier this year. Recently, the company claimed to be
extending its lead over the competition with the release of new
software technology which is designed to defeat the mutating
viruses which have been plaguing the computer industry.

S&S International distributes its products in over 60 countries
worldwide. With a multimillion-pound-a-year turnover, the company
has prospered in spite of a severe UK recession. Although in
business for just nine years, the company claims to have captured a
sizable slice of the corporate market for security products.

According to Pat Bitton, the company's sales and marketing manager,
S&S's prospects are excellent. "Our sales predictions show continued
growth," she said. "We have a number of new products which we are
planning to release in the new year and initial reaction from
corporate customers who are aware of their development is extremely
encouraging."

Dr Alan Solomon, the company's founder and chairman, told Newsbytes
that the company's decision to float S&S on the stock market follows
the normal progression of a successful enterprise. "This is just
what you'd expect from a company which has reached our sort of
size," he said.

Solomon would not comment on the exact timetable of the sale but
said that it was likely that S&S International would be a publicly
quoted company in 1995. "We are looking forward to a number of
advantages from this move," he said. "We will of course have access
to capital markets and it will give us considerable flexibility as
far as mergers and acquisitions are concerned."

The utilities market has been changing rapidly of late. Symantec
recently acquired Fifth Generation Systems and before that NOVI.

(Paul Robinson/19931022/Press & Public Contact: S&S International -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00025)

UK To Ease Technology Export Rules To Far East 10/22/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- British Government officials
have announced plans to ease up on restrictions on technology
exports to China and former Soviet Bloc countries.

According to Richard Needham, the British Trade Minister, the easing
follows the refocussing late last year of the COCOM, the
coordinating committee on multi-lateral export controls.

Newsbytes notes that the Government's hand in this respect appears
to have been forced, as Needham has refused to drawn on a precise
time scale.

Needham was replying to a written Parliamentary question, a
procedure that takes place on a regular basis in British Government,
to allow Members of Parliament (MPs) to ask questions of senior
ministers that they would otherwise be unable to ask. The downside
of the procedure, Newsbytes notes, is that the questions must be
"asked" in advance and vetted by the Ministers answering the
questions.

In Parliament earlier this week, Needham said in his reply that,
although many ex-COCOM members had eased their rules on technology
exports, the UK still had significant barriers in place. "We are
considering the practical issues of implementing in the UK this more
relaxed export control policy," he said.

COCOM, which used to be the international agency with the role of
controlling the export of high-technology goods to the former Soviet
Bloc, changed its role in the light of the liberalization of those
countries last year.

At a meeting in Paris before Christmas 1992, COCOM members voted to
change the role of the agency to assist, rather than prevent, the
flow of high-tech information to the 25 newly independent nations of
the old Soviet empire. Also in attendance at the meeting were
representatives of these states, who are being co-opted into
membership of COCOM.

At last December's meeting, US officials with COCOM pledged $11
million to the group to help the former Eastern Bloc countries
develop systems to safeguard advanced technology. John McEntee, the
US Department of Commerce's under-secretary, said that everyone
recognizes that "the world is still not a safe place" and that there
are still "people that we are going to want to keep this technology
from."

(Steve Gold/19931022)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00026)

Russia Adopts "Get Tough" Policy On Monetary Exchange 10/22/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 19993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Following last month's decision
by President Yeltsin's Government to ban foreign (i.e. non-rouble)
currency from circulation is Russia from the end of the year, the
Government has announced new policies for the monetary operations in
Russia.

According to the Government, plans are in hand to step up foreign
exchange controls on banks in coming months to fight capital flight
and tighten monetary policy.

Although there will be no cash dollar transactions allowed from the
beginning of next year, bank transfer and credit card transactions
in dollars will still be allowed. This had worried some sections of
the technology community which still relies heavily on the West for
its components and software.

The main reason for the re-introduction of harsh exchange control
mechanisms, according to the Government is that annual consumer
price inflation is expected to top the 1,300 percent mark by the end
of this year. The Government Center for Economic Analysis has also
revealed that average monthly inflation is now running at around 20
percent -- down from a 29 percent high in August of this year.

Bankers have accepted this new hard-line strategy, believing it to
be the best solution to what is fast turning into a civil war
situation. According to Russian bankers, they full expect a strong
military aggression towards Boris Yeltsin's hard-line opponents.

The ultimate aim of these changes, noted Dmitry Tulin, the deputy
chairman of the Central Russia Bank, is to yield a stronger
government in fight with the high rates of inflation.

"Now we have a better opportunity to implement tougher monetary
policy following recent political developments. There will be a
striker foreign exchange policy to stop companies smuggling dollars
abroad," he said.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931022)


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

Selling Cheese To The Swiss -- Telecom Style 10/22/93
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- LM Ericsson, the Swedish
telecom and electronics giant, has scored a coup in selling its
network hardware and expertise to the Swiss, a country which already
has an indigenous telecom industry.

According to Ericsson, Telecom PTT of Switzerland has chosen the
Swedish company as a primary supplier of its packet data network
backbone. The contract is the direct result of the European
Commission (EC) mandate issued earlier this year that threatened to
force EC member countries to open up their markets to free
competition.

As part of the contract, Ericsson will supply SDH (synchronous
digital hierarchy) technology based on ETNA, the Ericsson Transport
Network Architecture) to the Swiss Telecom PTT.

Telecom PTT estimates the value of orders under the contract to be
around 2,700 million Crowns over the ten years of the contract.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931022/Press & Public Contact: Ericsson - Tel: +46-
8-719-0000; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00028)

 ****Intel To Serialize CPUs To Help Prevent Theft 10/22/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Intel is
planning to put serial numbers on the outside of its
microprocessor chips to identify the chips and help prevent the
violence chip thefts that are becoming common in Silicon
Valley.

"The level of violence in these robberies has prompted us to
begin this effort," said John Raftrey of Intel. "Guns are being
used and recently someone actually pulled the trigger but the
gun didn't fire. The police are telling us we can help solve
the crime problem by making the microprocessor chips
traceable."

Intel's immediate effort will be to tighten up its shipping
procedure and use those numbers applied to microprocessor chip
packages to begin identifying the chips. But eventually, the
company plans to serialize the chips themselves with an
identification mark that will either be visible to the naked
eye or readable by a scanner. No plans are in the works now to
put the number within the chip so it can be read within the
computer using software.

Most of the thefts have been of 486 chips, just because of the
quantity of those chips in the market. Intel claims it will
produce 30 to 35 million 486 chips in the coming year. Some of
the thieves have been caught using video surveillance
equipment, but serializing the chips will make the job easier.
"Right now, if someone has a trunkload of chips, there's no way
to know if they're stolen or not," Raftrey added.

"We're also working on training our customers on other ways to
recognize stolen chips and asking them not to purchase chips
gained in this manner. We're telling people, 'If the deal seems
too good to be true, it probably is,'" Raftrey added.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931022/Press Contact: Nancy Pressell, Intel,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00029)

Borland 2Q Net Income Half Of Last Year's 2Q  10/22/93
SCOTTS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- Borland
announced lower second quarter earnings and net income of
almost half of its net income in the same quarter a year ago.
However, it is showing overall higher earnings for the first
half of the 1993 fiscal than last year.

Philippe Kahn, Borland chairman, president, and chief executive
officer (CEO), said the lack of red ink for three consecutive
quarters is due to the introduction of Windows, DOS and
Workgroup editions of both its spreadsheet product Quattro Pro
5.0 and database product Paradox 4.5. The court order in the
company's legal battle with Lotus that made Borland pull
Quattro Pro off the shelves earlier this year hurt Borland's
bottom line as did seasonal weakness in European sales, Borland
maintains.

Second quarter 1994 revenues were $107.4 million, a 16 percent
decrease compared with the $127.8 million for the year-ago
quarter. Sixth month revenues $230.8 million, a 4.9 percent
decrease compared with $242.6 million in fiscal 1993. Second
quarter earnings were $2.8 million (11 cents per share)
compared with net income of $5.4 million (20 cents per share) a
year ago and for the sixth month period earnings were $9.0
million (34 cents per share) compared with $7.1 million, (26
cents per share) in the same period the year before.

Borland introduced a 32-bit dBASE Compiler recently, but the
long awaited dBASE for Windows is still not forthcoming. The
company is making guarded predictions the product might be out
late this year.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931022/Press Contact: Bonnie Johnson,
Borland, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00030)

CASE World/Objex - New IBM Tools Are Geared To Reusability 10/22/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 OCT 22 (NB) -- "The degree to
which IBM succeeds with ReDiscovery and VisualAge is the degree to
which we allow for reusability," said Dr. Eric Bush, IBM consultant
for AD (Applications Development), in an interview with Newsbytes
at CASE World/Objex.

During the 1970s, in particular, and even into the 1980s,
developers pushed to develop new code. By now, though, 80% of all
development activity actually consists of "redevelopment," Bush
told Newsbytes.

Redevelopment falls into two separate categories, according to
Bush. "There is the `one-time fix,' and there is continuous
redevelopment," he noted.

To gain effective reuse of older COBOL data, developers must often
straighten out disorganized strings of "spaghetti code" that have
been created at various times in the past, by various programmers,
with no cohesive overall objective in mind, said Bush.

Beyond that lies the ongoing need to update programs with new
languages, databases, and other capabilities, he added. Developers
can get help with the "one-time fix" at IBM's Worldwide Application
Redevelopment Center in Chicago.

In contrast, IBM's recently announced off-the-shelf VisualAge and
ReDiscovery tools are designed for continuous redevelopment. But
although these two tools share the same general purpose, they are
targeted at somewhat different audiences, he said.

VisualAge, a 3GL (third-generation language) product, is aimed at
allowing experienced programmers to quickly build client-server
applications, according to Bush.

VisualAge contains a large library of already constructed parts,
plus a full object-oriented Smalltalk environment for writing new
parts. Alternatively, parts written in C or COBOL can be "wrapped"
in Smalltalk to behave as objects in applications.

VisualAge also offers built-in support for IBM's DB2/2 relational
database management system (RDBMS) and Systems Object Model (SOM),
a system for providing component reusability and interoperability
across languages.

The product also provides optional support for Sybase and Oracle,
plus add-on components for COBOL language, communications, and
multimedia.

VisualAge is available for stand-alone developers, as well as in a
VisualAge Team package that adds library support, version control,
and configuration management for teams of developers. The tool is
shipping now for OS/2. Versions for Windows and AIX are planned
for the near future.

Bush said that ReDiscovery, on the other hand, is a 4GL (fourth-
generation language) tool that lets programmers of all experience
levels, as well as corporate data administrators, create searchable
catalogs of reusable parts within the enterprise.

Users can call up the parts when needed, from reusable libraries on
OS/2 workstations or IBM MVS file systems, he said. The tools also
helps users to keep track of development components.

A user might find, for example, that the company has dozens of
time-date functions on hand, added Mike Rhoads, redevelopment
manufacturers' rep for IBM. The user could then replace these
functions with one reusable time-date module, eliminating redundant
code, he illustrated.

In the future, as the trend toward redevelopment continues, end
users will be able to build their own applications out of reusable
parts, predicted Bush. Organizations will still have a need for
highly experienced programmers, but fewer will be needed than in
the past.

(Jacqueline Emigh/199311222/Reader contact: Rick Jackson, IBM, tel
415-780-2838; Press contacts: Carol Felton, Technology Solutions
for IBM, tel [phone]; Karla Feuer, IBM, tel [phone]; Todd
J. Keefe, Digital Consulting Inc., tel [phone])