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/nb930105

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(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00001)

Canada: Business-To-Business, Home Office Shows Together 01/05/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- The third annual
Business To Business Exposition and the second annual Home Office
Show will be held together at the Metro Toronto Convention Center
March 30 and 31.

Jacqueline Peake, a principal with Corporate Events Management
in Toronto, which runs both shows, said the two were a
logical fit because many of the same executives who attend the
Business To Business Exposition on behalf of their companies go
to the Home Office Show to fit out their home offices.

Corporate Events Management, which ran the first Home Office Show
last year and worked with the Metropolitan Toronto Board of Trade
to publicize the Business to Business Exposition, has taken over
management of the business show for 1993, Peake said.

The Business to Business Exposition includes "all the large
technology companies," including IBM, Apple, and Hewlett-Packard,
Peake said. It also will include a business and education
pavilion run by the Economic Development Division of Metropolitan
Toronto, and a new Facility Management Expo.

The organizers expect 150 to 200 exhibitors at each show for a
total of about 300, Peake said. Some 15,000 people are expected
to visit the two-day event. Admission will be C$10, though some
complimentary passes will be given out.

(Grant Buckler/19930103/Press Contact: Jacqueline Peake,
Corporate Events Management, 416-869-0141, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00002)

Philips Sets 4th CD-I Conference for April, 1993 01/05/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Philips Interactive
Media of America, has announced that the fourth Compact Disc-
Interactive Software Conference will be held from April 18
through 22, 1993 at the Newport Marriott Hotel at Fashion Island,
Newport Beach, California.

CD-I, the Philips CD multimedia system which has recently been
heavily publicized on television and in print, allows developers
to put high-quality images and sound together with text on
compact discs which play in the Philips Imagination Machine home
entertainment system that sells for about $700.

Requiring, and indeed, having no provision for connection to a
personal computer, the Philips system offers about 100 new
multimedia programs ranging from interactive children's stories
and games to tours of major museums and art galleries.

The Newport conference is for all CD-I developers, a group which
has grown rapidly from only 60 three years ago to more than 170
last year. Conference organizers say that they expect about 250
attendees this year from 10 countries.

The theme of this year's conference, according to conference
chair Andrew Davidson, is Imagination in Motion and will
emphasize the new full-motion capabilities which will soon be
available on the Imagination Machine through the use of a new
video data compression chip which will provide up to one hour of
full-motion video on a single CD disc.

The CD discs used by the CD-I players are identical to CD-ROM and
CD-audio discs except for the data format on the discs and, in
addition to playing CD-I discs, the Imagination Machine will play
standard audio CDs either through a television speaker or a home
stereo system and will also play the new Kodak PhotoCD discs
which contain up to 100 35mm. color images.

(John McCormick/19930104/Press Contact: Lucy Lediaev,
Coordinator, 310-444-6519, fax [phone], or Internet
[e-mail])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00003)

Professionally Designed Fax Covers 01/05/93
NOVATO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Have you ever
wished you had time to sit down and design a really clever or
eye-catching fax? Wordstar says it has, and that's where the
idea came from for its newest product for DOS, Windows, or
Macintosh -- Under Cover.

The company says it hired a award-winning California
illustrator/cartoonist Randy Verougstraete (pronounced vers-
straight) to put together over 100 fax cover sheets that
combine art and humor with the practical.

For example, one fax cover has a line drawing of a business man
walking whose head is a match that's just been extinguished
with the caption, "I'm a little burned out." A giant monkey
slipping on a banana peel illustrates another fax cover with
the caption, "Sorry I slipped up on your order!" More standard
business fax cover sheets are included as well, but each is
designed to stand out from the crowd.

In order to use the cover sheets, users choose the cover they
want and call it into their standard word processor.
Wordstar says if users have fax/modem capability, they may send
the cover sheets with the appropriate documents right from
their computer, without printing them first.

The company is encouraging users who are looking for the
ability to send faxes via a fax/modem to check out it's
Ultrafax product, introduced last year in a cooperative effort
with Zsoft, makers of PC Paint.

The product is available for DOS, Windows, and the Macintosh
for a retail price of $49. Under Cover for the Macintosh does
require Macintosh Word 3.0 or later, Write Now 2.2 or later, or
MacWrite II. The Windows version requires Wordperfect for
Windows 5.1 or later, Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1 or later,
Wordstar for Windows 1.5 or later, or Ami Professional 2.0 or
later, and the Microsoft Windows operating system version 3.0
or later. The DOS version requires Wordperfect 5.1 or later,
Microsoft Word 5.5 or later, or Wordstar for DOS 6.0 or later.

Novato, California-based Wordstar originally offered simply
word processing software. To distinguish itself and ward off
financial struggles, Wordstar branched out into offering
general writing tools such as quotation libraries, medical
dictionaries, grammar reference tools, and now eye-catching fax
cover sheets.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930104/Press Contact: Kristin Keyes, McLean
Public Relations for Wordstar, tel [phone], fax 415-503-
8810)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00004)

India Nationals' Mastech Fastest Growing Firm 01/05/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Two pals, Ashok Trivedi and
Sunil Wadhwani, president and chairman of the Pittsburgh-based
Mastech Corporation that they jointly founded six years ago, are
overwhelmed. Mastech has been listed by Inc. magazine as "the
fastest-growing independent software services company in the US."

The Inc. rankings cover thousands of small up-and-coming American
companies in the revenue range of $100,000 and $25 million, and are
based on growth from 1987 through 1991). In that period, Mastech's
revenues climbed to $13.5 million, a growth rate of 5,438 percent.

In 1992, revenues are expected to reach $20 million. With its moorings
in place in the business of systems integration and turnkey software
design including networking, there is no letup in its growing
volume of business. The company employs 450 people around the US
and has a strong marketing thrust.

The client list includes big names across the American industry and
government from Coca Cola, General Electric, to Nissan, several
State Administrations and the White House. An interesting systems
integration project recently completed by Mastech was for the
White House. The US President's Executive Office receives over
six million pieces of mail every year. Outgoing mail can be as
much as 6,000 letters a day. Mastech's responsibilities included
network designing, acquisition of hardware, software development,
documentation and training of White House personnel.

Though Pune-based Scott Systems is their associate company,
Mastech is scouting for software companies that could collaborate
in offshore development of its projects. "Offshore development
is growing in a big way that is bound to boost India's prospects,"
said Trivedi exhuding confidence and a sense of triumph.

(C.T. Mahabarat)


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

India: CMS Bags Order From Middle East 01/05/93
BOMBAY, INDIA, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- The Bombay-based CMS Computers
Ltd. has bagged an export order of around Rs 1 crore (around
$0.3 million) for 500 advanced magnetic attendance and access
control systems from the Middle East.

The systems called Time-o-tech will be installed in warehouses,
factories, hotels and hospitals.

Features of the Time-o-tech system include the ability to record
recording on a magnetic stripe card. Real time and user interface
data and messages are indicated on a 8-digit 7-segment red
display. For manual operations, there is a 16-key keyboard.
A software lock prevents unauthorized persons from tampering with
programmable data.

Additional features include salary calculation in a number of
currencies, holiday program and reservations. These access
control systems can withstand high temperature and dust, claims
the firm.

A similar product has also been launched by the company for
marketing in India. CMS Computers plans to enter the hard
currency export market by next year and hopes to export
3000 Time-o-tech systems in the next financial year.

(C.T. Mahabarat)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00006)

British Police Fraud Squads Missing Computer Clues 01/05/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Divisional fraud squad detectives
in Britain have admitted they are missing vital clues when solving
crimes due to a lack of computers and computer training.

A Home Office report just released shows that, although 85 percent of
fraud squad detectives and 53 percent of divisional detectives have
come across computers in their investigations, none have been
adequately trained to deal with the systems.

Many officers, the report concludes, do not even regard computer
systems as potential sources of evidence. This contrasts sharply with
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where every office undergoes a
thorough course of computer training, the report notes.

According to Detective Sergeant Mike Guinney, author of the report and
an officer with the Merseyside fraud squad, the problem is one of
ignorance of matters concerning Information Technology (IT) within the
police force rather than a general lack of money. "Police chiefs are
frightened of computers and that means mistakes are being made because
of ignorance of IT," he said.

In one case, police investigating a ring of men thought to be involved
in pedophile activities overlooked a large quantity of incriminating
material when they raided one member's house, because the information
they were after was on a computer.

The Home Office report concluded that fraud investigators must be
trained to use computers as a basic part of their jobs. In addition,
the report recommends that IT experts should be drafted into special
regional technical support units to boost local forces' ability to
sift through computer-based evidence.

(Steve Gold/19930105)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00007)

UK - Fujitsu's Low-Cost "Windows" Printer 01/05/93
UXBRIDGE, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Fujitsu has unveiled
a 136 column 24-pin dot matrix printer that it claims supports foreign
language and high speed color printing. As a result, the company is
pitching the UKP 549 printer at Microsoft Windows users.

The printer, the DL1250, supports 360 x 360 dots per inch resolution.
The color option adds an extra UKP 35 to the price. In use, the
printer runs at 200 characters per second, even in color mode, making
the DL 1250 one of the fastest color printers around in the sub-UKP
1,000 price bracket.

Other enhancements on the printer (compared to earlier Fujitsu
offerings) include an increased selection of built-in DOS fonts, a
redesigned control panel and a range of European language code pages.
32 code pages are available, including Danish, French, German,
Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian Cyrillic and Spanish languages.

The DL1150 measures 193 x 526 x 250mm in size and comes with Epson,
Fujitsu and IBM printer emulations fitted as standard.

Announcing the printer, John Goodyear, Fujitsu's printer product
manager, said that the unit has a switchable input buffer (256 bytes,
2 kilobytes (KB), 4KB or 8KB) and has a zero tear-off facility. "Its
high resolution and dedicated Windows printer driver make it an ideal
solution for Windows users looking for quality printing at a cost-
effective price," he said.

(Steve Gold/19930105/Press & Public Contact: Fujitsu - Tel: 081-573-
4444)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00008)

UK - Trigem's Fast Upgradable PC 01/05/93
SLOUGH, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Trigem has announced
what it claims is a budget, easy to use, upgradable PC -- the 486MM.
The machine can be converted from a 25MHz (megahertz) 80486SX-based PC
into an 80486DX-based system running at 33MHz or higher -- upgrade
costs start at UKP 227.

The PC starts at UKP 1,080 for the basic 25MHz 80486SX-based system
with 4MB (megabytes) of RAM (upgradable to 64MB), an 89MB hard disk,
ISA card slots and DOS 5.0, Windows 3.1 and a mouse.

"We're providing users with investment protection by offering a
flexible PC which can be cheaply and easily upgraded as and when
required," explained Parm Sangha, Trigem's sales manager.
"For example, if a 486SX user finds an increased need for
processing power, they just need to add a faster chip to get
a 486DX machine," he added.

To upgrade the 486MM, users insert the new Intel chip and alter a DIP
switch rather than changing the motherboard and reconfiguring the
BIOS. This, Trigem claims, makes the 486MM very easy to upgrade. The
DIP switch settings can be viewed on-screen, which Trigem claims makes
upgrading even easier to complete.

(Steve Gold/19930105)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEL)(00009)

India: CD Manufacturing Gets Underway 01/05/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Compact Disc India is setting up
India's first facility to manufacture compact discs. The new plant
is a collaborative effort with Netstal of India and First Light
Technology Inc., of the US.

The project is expected to cost around Rs 11.75 crore (about $4
million) and will have a manufacturing capacity of 350,000 CDs a
month. First Light Technology has also agreed to invest Rs 1.5 crore
(about $0.5 million) into the equity capital of the project.
The company has also linked up with Delta Disc Limited in the UK.

Terms of the deal with Delta call for the import company to take at
least 75 percent of the new plant's output for sale in the UK. The
idea is to sell predominantly Asian music on CDs to Asian-speaking
people in Britain.

(C.T. Mahabarat/19930105)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00010)

ADP Buys Into Quotron 01/05/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Automatic Data
Processing, a leading supplier of computer-based systems used by
brokers and brokerage houses, has picked up some assets from one of
its key competitors.

Citicorp's Quotron unit has sold ADP, its Securities Industry
Software Corporation back-office operation and international equities
business. The deals also neatly close-out lawsuits filed by Quotron
against ADP for alleged copyright infringement, giving ADP a
perpetual license to the Quotron Trading Support System software
which was subject to the suit.

In defending the transaction, Quotron President Thomas Cirillo said
that his company would concentrate on domestic retail brokerage
business and global foreign exchange.

Newsbytes discussed the transaction with Fred Anderson, ADP's
chief financial officer. He acknowledged that, in buying SIS, his
company was taking over a competitor. The company's software can be
used, although no technical evaluation has been made of it, since it
runs on standard IBM platforms, much like ADP's own offerings.

"SIS, which is in the back-office brokerage processing business, will
further enhance our leadership in the back-office area.
Internationally, the acquisition of Quotron's equity business will
provide us with an expanded customer base internationally," he said.

ADP now has leading edge technology with IBM PS/2 workstations and
under many operating environments, including MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows,
and Unix.

"We have a leading market share position in both front-
office and back-office for retail equities in the US. We process 20%
of the trades on the NYSE [New York Stock Exchange] in the US, and
about 71,000 of our terminals are in front offices," commented
Anderson.

The front-office market consists of terminals which go onto brokers'
desks, along with accompanying online systems, while back-office
operations actually process the trades and mail out confirmations.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930105/Press Contact: Fred Anderson,
Automatic Data Processing, 201-994-5533)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(ATL)(00011)

AT&T Adds Teknekron Features To Net Mgt 01/05/93
MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- AT&T may have sold
its Unix Systems Labs unit to Novell, but it has not backed away from
supporting Unix applications, especially in the telecommunications
field. And if it doesn't have the best stuff, it gets it.

That seems to be the motive behind a deal signed with Teknekron
Communications Systems to integrate Teknekron's NMS/Core
applications platform into AT&T's BaseWorX system. The result will
be available by April, and called BaseWorX 5.0.

The idea is to create a foundation under which telephone
companies, equipment makers, and application software makers can
offer systems handling operations, administration, maintenance
and provisioning, known as OAM&P applications, faster and for
less.

The underlying technology of BaseWorX has been part of AT&T's network
for several years, and in more than 50 products used by outside
service providers. NMS/Core is based on object-oriented software
techniques.

John Benande, AT&T product management director for
BaseWorX, said that the result will also be a system that works on
many vendors' systems, and is "truly open" for enhancement by third
parties.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930105/Press Contact: AT&T Network Systems,
Ray Zardetto, 201/606-2454)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEL)(00012)

Satellite To Study Global Warming Problem 01/05/93
BANGALORE, INDIA, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- The Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) has announced plans to launch an ocean remote
sensing satellite on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
According to Professor U R Rao, the chairman of ISRO, the aim of the
satellite is to study the effects of the global warming problem, as
well as the size of the hole in the ozone layer.

Other areas to be covered include the effects of the ocean on
the weather.

Speaking at the international symposium on advances in aerospace
sciences and engineering in Bangalore recently, Rao said that the
existing remote sensing satellite using synthetic aperture radar
already in orbit is not able to fully pierce through the thick clouds
to study the climatic changes due to oceanic effects.

The new satellite will help India directly by providing data that
can be used to formulate an "integrated sustainable development
plan" to improve the low agricultural yield in India.
Though Insat 2A has created a communication revolution
providing access to 80 percent of India's population, there is still
a need for a dedicated satellite for rural development, he said.

(C.T. Mahabarat/19930105)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00013)

New For Mac: Zoo Keeper, Kid Pictures, Story Club 01/05/93
TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 05 (NB) -- Davidson &
Associates is preparing a barrage of new products for the new
year, some of which will be shown at the MacWorld Expo, which opens
tomorrow.

Davidson's Zoo Keeper is being released in an Apple Computer
Macintosh version this year. The company claims that the product
will be completely identical to the MS-DOS version in all respects
except one -- the Macintosh will support 256 colors without additional
hardware, so Davidson has redone some of the screens to take advantage
of this capability.

The result, the company claims, is "a richer look with more depth." As
with the MS-DOS version, each registration card returned to the
company will trigger a $1 donation to the William Holden Wildlife
Foundation to support its ongoing research and conservation efforts.
Davidson's Zoo Keeper for the Apple Mac will be available in the
summer and is expected to retail for $59.95.

A new affiliate is bursting on the scene with Davidson. Creative
Pursuits is best known for The Children's Writing and Publishing
Center. Now, it has a package known as Kid Pictures.

Kid Pictures is an add-on product to Davidson's Kid Works 2 creativity
program. Kid Pictures provides six additional types of activities for
users of Kid Works or Broderbund's Kid Pix.

These activity types include connect-the dots-pictures, coloring
books, paint by number, mazes, mystery pictures, and a picture
gallery. Each of the activity types comes with several examples so
that the customer actually gets 49 different activities with the
program. Users can import these into Kid Works 2 and then use the
variety of tools available in Davidson's product to enhance the
activity, print it out, or simply play with it. Kid Pictures will be
available later this month for both the Macintosh and MS-DOS versions
of Kid Works 2. The program will retail for $29.95.

For elementary schools that deal with an ESL (English as a second
language) program, Davidson is launching a new multimedia, multi-
cultural program called Story Club. Story Club will use laser
videodiscs, CD-ROM, audio cassettes, and written materials to
help ESL teachers familiarize students with the English
language. The program conveys about fifteen folk tales from various
cultures, retold in English.

Each of the components can be purchased separately, but the company
says it discourages that, since repetition, an element of
learning, would be compromised. Davidson will be demonstrating this
product at MacWorld.

Part of the purchase price of around $4,000 for the package will
include 8 hours of on-site training. Davidson officers suggests that
schools contact the company for exact details.

In addition to these new products, Davidson will be highlighting
its previously released best-selling products at its booth: Kid Works 2,
Headline Harry and the Great Paper Race, and New Math Blaster Plus.

(Naor Wallach/19930105/Press Contact: Linda Duttenhaver, Davidson &
Associates, 310-793-0600 extension 230/Public Contact: Davidson &
Associates, 310-793-0600)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00014)

New For Networks: Lancast Combo Ethernet Cards 01/05/93
AMHERST, NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 05 (NB) -- Lancast is
extending its line of Ethernet cards for PCs with the addition of the
ENC-4105 and 4106. Both cards support all three wiring standards
in use.

The ENC4105 has on-board BNC, AUI, and RJ45 connectors. There are
four LEDs (light emitting diodes) on board which provide link,
collision, transmit, and receive information. The board comes
with a Novell NE1000-compatible software driver and is intended for
use in 8-bit slots. The unit will retail for $250.

The ENC4106 sports the same feature set as the 4105. The sole
difference is its 16-bit architecture. The 4106 has an NE2000-
compatible driver and will retail for $295. Both units will be
available at the end of January.

(Naor Wallach/19930105/Press Contact: Roberta Corbinand, Lancast,
800-752-2768/Public Contact: Lancast, 800-852-2768)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00015)

 ****Syquest Drives Run 44MB, 88MB Cartridges 01/05/93
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 05 (NB) -- Syquest, saying it
is responding to the number one concern raised by its customers,
has introduced the SQ5110C removable hard drive mechanism. The
new drive can both read and write on 44 MB and 88 MB removable
cartridges in the same mechanism.

"Syquest introduced the SQ5110 over eighteen months ago in response
to users' needs for increased cartridge storage capacity. With more
sophisticated applications and projects, users reached a point where
they often had to split the file between the two cartridges," said
Rod Braido, Syquest's vice president of sales.

"Now users can move up to a larger capacity, higher performance, drive
without giving up access or their investment in 44 MB cartridges," he
added.

The new mechanism will be formally introduced at Syquest's booth at
the MacWorld trade show in San Francisco. Syquest is sharing booth
space with several drive vendors who are using the new mechanism
in their disk drives.

Syquest is expecting that most of its OEMs (original equipment
manufacturers) will be able to begin shipping drives with the
new mechanisms within a few days.

In other Syquest news, the company has also revealed
an upgrade available at no charge to users of its SCSI
Probe utility program. A host of minor enhancements are in this
upgrade which insures compatibility of data between
Syquest cartridges, regardless of how they were formatted.

(Naor Wallach/19930105/Press Contact: Michelle Mihalick, Neale-May
& Partners for Syquest, 415-328-5555/Public Contact: Syquest, 510
226-4100)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00016)

Commodore's Amiga 1200 Features 68020 CPU 01/05/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Commodore International
has launched the Amiga 1200, another entry-level model in its line of
multimedia computers.

Like the Amiga 600 launched late in 1992, the 1200 is aimed at the
home, education, and entry-level business presentation markets. Tom
Shepherd, director of marketing at Canadian subsidiary Commodore
Business Machines, said that it differs from the 600 in two key
respects: it uses the higher-powered 32-bit Motorola 68020
microprocessor instead of the 16-bit 68000, and it comes with
Commodore's Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) graphics chip set.

The AGA custom co-processor graphics chip set was recently
announced for the higher-powered Amiga 4000 computer. It can
display as many as 256,000 colors at once from a palette of 16.8
million colors, with resolution up to 1,280 by 400.

The Amiga 1200 also comes with AmigaDOS Release 3, the newest
version of the Commodore's proprietary multitasking operating
system. This release includes CrossDOS, a utility program
designed to simplify the transfer of files in MS-DOS format to
and from the Amiga.

The 1200 comes with two megabyte of memory, expandable to 10
megabytes, and an 880K-byte 3.5-inch diskette drive. There is
also an internal Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) hard disk
interface, a two-button mouse, and a Personal Computer Memory
Card Interface Association (PCMCIA) slot for credit-card-sized
memory and expansion options.

The base price of the system is $699. In Canada, the base Amiga
1200 will be sold with a Commodore 1960 multisync monitor for
C$1,259. A version equipped with a 40-megabyte hard disk and the
same monitor is C$1,499.

The Amiga 1200 is available worldwide now.

(Grant Buckler/19930105/Press Contact: Tom Shepherd, Commodore
Business Machines, 416-499-4292)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00017)

BCE Plans To Sell Stake In Systemhouse 01/05/93
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Having decided after
a period of diverse acquisitions that it should stick to the
communications business, and disappointed by its failure to
create a closer relationship with the company, BCE Inc., is
preparing to sell its stake in SHL Systemhouse Inc., an
Ottawa-based computer services firm.

BCE has filed notice with the Ontario Securities Commission that
it plans to sell its 25.6-percent stake in Systemhouse, company
spokesman Marcel Saint-Germain confirmed. He would not say
whether the company is talking to any potential buyers at the
moment, and added that the sale will not necessarily happen right
away.

A Montreal-based investment analyst who follows Systemhouse told
Newsbytes that BCE's stake will probably be sold to several
institutional investors. The deal is unlikely to have much impact on
Systemhouse's business, he said.

Toronto-based telecommunications consultant Eamon Hoey said the
move is part of BCE's effort to backtrack on an earlier
acquisition strategy that did not work out. Under former chairman
A. Jean de Grandpre, he said, the company acquired interests in
various businesses from real estate to natural resources.

Time has shown that this was a bad strategy, Hoey said. He added
that Canadians should be concerned about the impact such
decisions have had on telephone rates and the quality of the
communications infrastructure in Canada.

A more immediate reason for selling the Systemhouse interest,
Hoey said, was the fact that a plan to create a closer
relationship with the company failed last year.

Early in 1992, BCE and Systemhouse announced plans for an
alliance that would have increased BCE's stake in Systemhouse to
60 percent and seen Systemhouse taking over the computer systems
operations of Bell Canada. After weeks of negotiations, the deal
came apart.

Hoey added that BCE had hoped Systemhouse could help it put together
software it needed to improve some of its communications services.
When last year's negotiations fell through, he said, BCE turned
instead to American long-distance carrier MCI Corp., from which it
licensed software late in 1992.

(Grant Buckler/19930105/Press Contact: Marcel Saint-Germain, BCE,
514-499-7090)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(PAR)(00018)

 ****EC Single Market Comes Into Being - Nobody Notices 01/05/92
PARIS, FRANCE, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- For European telecommunication and
computer manufacturers, the New Year, which brought in the single
internal market in Europe, was not a special cause to celebrate.

Much of the progress that the European Community (EC) had hoped to
make in opening markets in these areas has just not happened. The
Commission of the European Community has been working on these reforms
for the past six years, since the project to create a borderless
market that would span the twelve EC nations was first worked out in
1985. Some progress has been made. But not nearly as much as industry
had hoped for.

For the telecommunications industry, great changes had been expected
(and announced) when the project to make a Europe without borders was
first discussed.

The power of the national state monopolies was to be broken. The
existence of protectionist regulations -- different in each of the
twelve nations -- was costing the European telecom user an additional
25 percent over real costs, according to an EC report published in
1986. Protected state-owned telecom manufacturers -- each with its
own market in its home state -- kept terminal prices high, and
government agencies set telephone tariffs at the levels they
preferred.

All of this was to change by January 1, 1993, and some of it has.

But what was to be the greatest change, the creation of a kind of
European FCC, is no longer expected. "The Commission was working to
become the highest authority for telecommunications regulation,"
explained David Cantor, a lawyer specializing in EC telecom with
Stanbrook and Hooper in Brussels. "Now that aspiration seems to have
been lost."

What has happened, analysts say, is that the difficulties in
obtaining acceptance of European unity have led to the Commission's
accepting a lower profile in telecommunications reform. This is
clear from what is emerging from the Commission.

The liberalization of crucial market areas like the
telecommunications service sector has been indefinitely delayed. In
1990, the Commission passed the Open Network Provision directive,
which was to provide equal access to the public networks to all
European services providers.

"Since then, the momentum has slowed," said Cantor. Instead of
hammering out tough liberalizing measures, the Commission has decided
to "consult more widely before proposing legislation," as the latest
Commission statement puts it. It now may take years before there is
any change in this area.

And the Commission has abandoned its attempt to legislate on pan-
European standards for some key telecommunications areas. While in
the 1990s, the Commission mandated some very successful standards
for telecommunications, like the widely accepted GSM standard for
radiotelephones, now the Commission is backing down. "Recently, the
Commission turned down a chance a chance to legislate on pan-European
standards for airplane telecommunications and traffic
control," Cantor notes.

The market for telecom terminal equipment now spans twelve
nations in the EC -- at least in theory. Until last year, anyone who
wanted to sell a telephone or a modem in the EC had to have it
certified to conform in each one of the twelve nations separately. The
process took up to two years and cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars. But since the 1991 EC directive on the "mutual recognition"
of telecom terminals (no. 91/263), which became effective November 6,
1992, only one certification is necessary in any one EC country. The
other countries are obliged to accept it so long as it conforms to the
EC certification rules.

Unfortunately, the Sophia Antipolis, France-based European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) hasn't gotten around
to establishing the rules that govern these certifications. This
means that the whole certification process will remain tied up for
at least two years, as a spokesman for ETSI explains, long past the
January 1, 1993 deadline.

The Commission has succeeded in forcing the national
telecommunications authorities to become private companies, no
longer permitted to write telecommunications regulations. And
several key Commission directives in telecommunications have been
upheld in the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg against
challenges by member nations. But the radical changes proposed back
in 1986 -- a deregulation like the one the US has seen -- have not
really taken place.

For the European computer industry, the reforms made so far since
1986 have meant little. "The computer industry already operates in
what is essentially a single market," said Lars Mieritz, an analyst
with International Data Corporation/Technical Investment Strategies
in London.

"Standardization within the industry has played the role of EC
standardization," Mieritz points out, "and there is relatively little
difference between EC computer markets today. What's more, European
users know how to exploit such differences as do exist."

Indeed, the breakdown of border controls between the 12 EC nations
make put even more pressure on European computermakers. "It's
possible that easier access to foreign markets will mean an even
further narrowing of computer price variation throughout the EC,"
Mieritz added.

So that, when all the brouhaha over EC 92 dies down, European
telecommunications and computer manufacturers will find themselves
largely back where they started when all the fuss began.

(Andrew Rosenbaum/19930105/Press Contact: Commission for the European
Community, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00019)

New For Mac - "Safe & Sound" Disk Analysis Software 01/05/93
BEAVERTON, OREGON, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Central Point
Software has announced Safe & Sound, a software program that
the company says automatically identifies and fixes more than 100 of
the most common hard disk problems.

The company says that Safe & Sound is designed for users of Apple
Computer's Macintosh computer who are neither experienced nor
interested in understanding what can go wrong with their computer.

Safe & Sound is Central Point's first product for the consumer and has
a suggested retail price of $49.95. "The new, growing non-technical
class of computer consumers using Macs, as well as PCs running DOS and
Windows, demands a different type of safety tool," said Chuck
Boesenberg, Central Point president and CEO.

Bosenburg calls Safe & Sound "as easy to use and as indispensable as a
set of jumper cables for a car." He claims that the product is so easy
to use that the user manual consists of only eight pages. To use Safe
& Sound, a Mac user simply inserts the Safe & Sound disk in the
floppy drive.

The software automatically scans all available disk volumes. If a
problem is discovered, a dialog box appears with a remedy suggestion.
A progress bar reflects the status of the analysis, and an options
screen provides access to additional checks.

Bosenberg also claims that Safe & Sound can detect and repair startup
problems, missing files or folders, virus infection, and crashed hard
and floppy disks. Central Point also provides toll-free technical
support at no charge to buyers of the program.

(Jim Mallory/19930105/Press contact: Deanne Berry, Central Point
Software, 503-690-2650; Reader contact: 800-445-4208)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00020)

 ****System 7 Cross-Platform Document Retrieval Due For Macs 01/05/93
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Apple
Computer says System 7 users will soon be able to open any
document regardless of the application or the computer on which
it was developed. The company has announced the availability of
the Macintosh Easy Open Developer's Kit, an extension to System
7 and a translation manager application programming interface
(API).

Apple representatives said the company is hoping the Macintosh
will become the computer for sharing and exchanging data from
any application and across different computing platforms. The
Easy Open Developer's Kit is for use by Macintosh software
developers for incorporation into their applications.

For the user, Easy Open will add a couple of steps. Normally,
when a user double-clicks on a document, the operating system
looks for the application in which the document was created and
opens both the document and the application. If the user
double-clicks on a document which couldn't be opened under
normal circumstances because the application that created it is
unavailable, Easy Open will step in and search for applications
and file translation systems that are capable of opening the
document, listing them for the user. The user then selects an
alternate application and Easy Open manages the conversion of
the document using the application's internal translation
capabilities or by using specialized translation software.

Apple is assuming Macintosh users will be getting the document
files they want to view from other computers via modem or
through a network links.

The Macintosh Easy Open 1.0 Developer's Kit is available to
developers for US $150 by contacting the Apple Programmers &
Developers Association (APDA). It requires users have System
7.1, the latest release of the System 7 operating system.

Developers may also contact the APDA electronically at the
following services and addresses: Applelink: APDA; America
Online: APDA; Compuserve: 76666,2405; and Internet:
APDAapplelink.apple.com.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930105/Press Contact: Cindy McCaffrey,
Apple, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact,
APDA, US 800-282-2732, Canada 800-637-0029, Other Countries
716-871-6555)


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

Identify, Seagate In OEM Deal 01/05/93
RICHARDSON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Identity Systems
Technology (IST) claims that it has signed an OEM (original
equipment manufacturing) agreement with Seagate Technology to
market Seagate's 3.5-inch hard disk drives.

Plans call for the company to market Seagate's 80 megabyte (MB),
107MB, and 120MB drives in its personal computer hard disk upgrade
kits for end users. The drives have access times of 14 milliseconds
(ms), 15ms, and 16ms respectively. The drives carry a one-year
warranty.

The company introduced its retail merchandising program at last
year's Consumer Electronics Show. IST markets user-installable
upgrade kits through mass merchant channels that allow users to
upgrade computer memory, install larger hard disk drives, add a
CD-ROM drive, or install a math co-processor chip. The company says
that the instructions allow the computer user to enhance his or her
own system without having to resort to a repair shop. Many of the kits
come with an instructional video tape.

IST's marketing program also benefits retailers such as Best Buy,
Sam's Club, Price Club, and Lechmere, says IST spokesperson Alan
Weinkrantz. He says that the company has a staff of 250 merchandising
support specialists who assemble and maintain displays and stock
products on the sales floor. They also provide sales training, perform
demonstrations, and provide promotional support.

Weinkrantz says that consumers are now knowledgable enough about
computers that many of them want to do their own upgrades. The chip
and memory upgrade kits even include a static glove, which if used
correctly will preclude damage to the chip from a discharge of
static electricity.

(Jim Mallory/19930105/Press contact: Alan Weinkrantz for Identity
Systems Technology, 512-820-3070, MCI:Mail AWeinkrantz; Reader
contact: Identity Systems, 800-723-8324)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00022)

 ****US HDTV Crosses Another Hurdle 01/05/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- High Definition
Television (HDTV) has passed yet another milestone in the US
when the Advanced Digital High Definition Television system being
promoted by the Advanced Television Research Consortium underwent what
the Consortium describes as a successful round of tests by the Federal
Communications Commission at the Advanced Television Test Center on
Monday.

HDTV is considered a vital national priority technology by several
countries, including Japan and the US both because the system adopted
will determine in part just who manufactures billions of dollars
worth of television hardware. It is also important because television,
especially high-resolution television systems, have many military
and defense-related applications.

HDTV could also find its way into consumer and business computer
technology very quickly once a standard is adopted, and as
manufacturing costs drop. That is expected to happen when production
increases.

The United States let HDTV slide for several years while the
technology was actively developed in Japan and even Europe, but a
couple of years ago the US electronics industry seemed to
finally wake up to the importance of not letting yet another
major consumer electronics market go to Japan by default, and the
multi-national Advanced Television Research Consortium was formed
to promote a standard set by The David Sarnoff Research Center,
the NBC television network (General Electric), Philips
Electronics NV (Dutch), Thomson SA's (France) Thomson Consumer
Electronics, and Compression Labs.

Other companies competing to win the approval of the Federal
Communications Commission for their rival standards, include two
systems designed by General Instruments, the company which holds
the entire home satellite encoding market in the US, Zenith
Electronics, and Japanese systems by NHK.

One major problem facing both developers and the FCC is the same
one which has blocked three-dimensional TV broadcasts and was
initially a big problem for color television advocates back in
the 1950s. The problem was whether it would be acceptable to
adopt a superior technology which would not be compatible with
hundreds of millions of existing sets, or to adopt a less desirable
system which would allow simultaneous transmission of HDTV and
standard television.

Proposed digital systems like the one from the Consortium's
Advanced Digital-HDTV system will allow simultaneous transmission
of conventional analog signals, as well the digital systems
proposed by National Instruments and Zenith. An analog system
from NHK would also allow simultaneous transmission of HDTV and
standard TV.

AD-HDTV is the only proposed system which is based on the MPEG or
Moving Pictures Experts Group compression system which is already
being used in some multimedia computer applications.

The FCC's Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Systems is
expected to narrow the field of HDTV hopefuls at the end of
February when it selects those finalists which will undergo
extensive field tests by the government broadcast licensing
authority.

With the new administration's emphasis on emerging technologies,
it is expected that the FCC will diligently try to make a final
selection of a standard for US broadcasts and receiving sets
before the end of 1993. Consumers could begin seeing HDTV sets
and broadcasts by the middle of 1994. Regular analog HDTV
broadcasts already take place in Japan where the sets cost about
$6,000.

Some US companies have taken an interim step of developing a wide
screen television which shows standard broadcasts as usual with wide
dark spaces on the sides, and automatically switches to full wide-
screen display for satellite and laser disk or VCR presentations in
"letter-box" format.

Late last year the AD-HDTV system was the first to be used for a
simultaneous HDTV and standard analog TV broadcast in the US
when the NBC affiliate station WRC-TV sent its local evening news
to viewers on its standard Channel 4 and as an HDTV signal on UHF
Channel 38.

(John McCormick/19930105/Press Contact: Pamela Golden Loder,
Golden Loder Associates - PR, 908-233-2040)


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

New For PC - CA-BPI Accounting Goes Modular 01/05/93
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Computer
Associates International has revamped its mid-range personal
computer accounting software, moving from a modular to an
integrated structure and adding an order entry function plus support
for more users.

The new CA-BPI Accounting II software combines the five functions
offered as separate models in the old Accpac BPI series --
general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory,
and payroll -- with a new order entry capability in one
integrated package, according to company spokesman John Schoutsen.

The new software supports as many as 40 users on a local-area
network, compared to eight with the old software's LANPak.

There have also been some modifications to the United States
version of the BPI payroll module, he added.

The new integrated package, which is available now, has a
suggested retail price of $595, or C$695 in Canada. The old BPI
line's separate modules cost $495 (C$595) each.

BPI Accounting, which Computer Associates has sold since
acquiring BPI Systems in 1987, is the middle of three personal
computer accounting offerings from the company. The top of the
line is the modular Accpac Plus software, while the entry-level
package is Simply Accounting, acquired from Bedford Software
of Vancouver in 1989 and offered for Microsoft Windows and the
Apple Macintosh as well as the DOS operating system.

Schoutsen said CA has stopped selling the modular version of BPI
Accounting "for now," but has not ruled out offering the software
in a modular form again in future.

(Grant Buckler/19930104/Press Contact: John Schoutsen, Computer
Associates Canada, 416-676-6700, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00024)

Mead Data Takes Over Folio 01/05/93
DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Mead Data Central, one
of the best-known operators of online database services, has
acquired Folio Corp., a small Provo, Utah, firm that makes
electronic publishing software. Terms of the deal are not being
disclosed.

Mead, a subsidiary of forest products company Mead Corp., was one
of the first into the electronic publishing business with its
Lexis database of legal information in the 1970s. The company
also operates Nexis, a news database service. It reported
revenues of $469.5 million in 1991 and has more than 4,000
employees around the world, including those who work for legal
publishing and research and retrieval subsidiaries.

Folio, a seven-year-old privately held firm with about 60
employees, sells software called Views for commercial database
publishing and corporate information management. The software is
designed to help collect, organize, and share information, the
company said.

Officials of the two companies said the deal will bring together
Folio's well-regarded software with Mead's financial strength and
high profile among electronic publishers.

Acquisition by Mead will "bring legitimacy" to Folio's software
and help to establish it as a standard in electronic publishing,
Brad Pelo, president of Folio, told Newsbytes. "They know what
kind of money can be made in electronic publishing," he added.
"They've done it before."

The Folio software will complement Mead's database business, Mead
spokesman James M. Joseph said. "We see ourselves as more than
just a database provider."

Mead has owned about 10 percent of Folio since 1988. A few of the
publishers that provide information for Mead's database services
do so using the Views software, Folio spokesman Mike Judson
added.

Folio is to become a subsidiary of Mead Data Central but remain
in Provo. All of the current management and staff will remain,
Joseph said.

(Grant Buckler/19930104/Press Contact: James M. Joseph, Mead Data
Central, 513-865-6958; Mike Judson, Folio, 801-375-3700)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00025)

New For PC - Maximizer for Windows 1.1 To Run On LANs 01/05/93
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Richmond
Technologies & Software Inc. plans to ship a network version of
its Maximizer for Windows contact-management software by the end
of March.

Maximizer for Windows 1.1 will be ready to run on any
Windows-compatible network straight out of the box, said Earl van
As, Maximizer product manager at Richmond. Instead of selling a
distinct local-area network (LAN) version as it did with the DOS
version of Maximizer, Richmond will sell the network-ready 1.1 to
all comers. The new release will require no more memory or disk
space than the existing Maximizer for Windows 1.0.

The new version will have five principal features important to
LAN users. It will allow record locking at the item level, so
that while two users cannot change a single item at the same time
(possibly resulting in a loss of data), one user can work with
part of a record while another user changes another part of it.
Second, multiple instances of the program will be able to run at
once on the same machine. This is handy for working with multiple
databases, he said.

Third, a new data exchange feature will aid in merging databases,
blending data so that changes from more than one version of a
database are preserved. Fourth, Version 1.1 will sport a new
group scheduling feature that, like similar functions in many
work-group software packages, will help schedule meetings by
finding free time in several individuals' calendars. Finally, the
network administrator will be able to assign access "rights" to
various users to control data security.

Due for release by the end of the first quarter of 1993,
Maximizer for Windows 1.1 will have a suggested retail price of
$249. License packs are available at $149 per additional user.
Users of the DOS LAN version of Maximizer can upgrade for $79.95
plus $49.95 per user. Current users of Maximizer for Windows 1.0
can upgrade to a single copy of the new release for $24.95. All
these prices apply in local currency in both the United States
and Canada, van As said. Maximizer is also distributed in
Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Europe.

(Grant Buckler/19930105/Press Contact: Earl van As, Richmond
Software, 604-299-2121, fax [phone]; Public Contact:
Richmond Software, 604-299-2121)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00026)

New For Mac - Quickeys Test Drive Debuts 01/05/93
WEST DES MOINES, IOWA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Some companies
distribute demo disks which show how their products work but don't
allow interaction by the user. But CE Software is now shipping a
special edition of their Quickeys product that is fully interactive.

Quickeys allows users to establish shortcuts, or macros, for popular
programs from Microsoft, Aldus, Claris, Quark, and Adobe. The
company says the only limitations on Quickeys Test Drive is a
six-month use time limit and limitation of the number of each type
of shortcut that can be available at any given time.

Ford Goodman, CE executive VP, says the company encourages Quickeys
Test Drive users to copy and distribute the program. Each time a
Test Drive user upgrades to the regular program, the reseller who
made the original copy will receive a payment based on the estimated
profit margin the dealer would generate if the sale were made
direct. The reseller also benefits by being able to offer free
software as a buying incentive for hardware.

The program also includes Instant Quickeys, designed to help a
novice computer user set up shortcuts automatically. There's also a
"savings calculator" that displays the return on a user's investment
based on his usage of shortcuts.

(Jim Mallory/19930105/Press contact: Sue Nail, CE Software,
515-224-1995, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00027)

 ****Everex Files For Chapter 11 01/05/92
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JAN 5 (NB) -- After months of
extensive layoffs and financial losses, computer manufacturer
Everex Systems Inc., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection.

The company has reportedly almost halved its workforce from the
1,850 employees it had in June. As reported by Newsbytes in
December, estimated losses for Everex for the fiscal year ended
August 2, 1992, were between $80 and $120 million on sales of
$503 million.

The company is a major casualty of the fierce PC-hardware price war
between the major industry players: Compaq Computer, Dell Computer,
and even IBM. Lower prices have cut huge slices out of profit margins
for many companies. Companies such as Everex, which depend on PC sales
for most of their income, have been especially hard hit.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the company filed
for Chapter 11 protection after its major lender refused to
continue financing the company.

Under Chapter 11 rules the company can continue operating and attempt
to seek financial support from elsewhere. Chapter 11 protects it from
lawsuits from creditors in the meantime.

The Chronicle reports that in papers filed with the US
Bankruptcy Court in Oakland, Everex claims $135.7 million in
debts and assets of $95 million. The company also owes
unsecured creditors $79 million. Of the $28.2 million in
secured debts, $23.1 million is owed to CIT Group of Los
Angeles. The CIT Group had provided the company with
a credit line of up to $72 million.

Only yesterday the Associated Press reported that the
company was plans another 200 additional layoffs and that
company founder and President Steve Hui has resigned.

Newsbytes reported in December that Harold Clark, president
and chief operating officer, and Dave Zacarias, chief financial
officer, had both resigned.

Reports in local newspapers had Everex laying off 250 staff in
October, and as many as 250 in November. The last round of
official layoffs from Everex took place on September 15, as
reported by Newsbytes.

As in the past months, no one at Everex was available for
comment to Newsbytes and phone calls were not returned by
deadline.

(Ian Stokell/19930105)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00028)

 ****Dataquest Details 1992 Workstation, Mainframe, PC Markets 01/05/92
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JAN 5 (NB) -- Dataquest has
released its various 1992 worldwide market share survey results.
In the PC market, IBM has just held off Apple Computer to retain
the biggest market share.

The report states that the PC market showed renewed vigor in the
latter half of 1992 and rebounded to grow 7.4 percent in factory
revenue. Overall, the report says that the worldwide PC market
grew from $43.4 billion in 1991 to $46.5 billion in 1992.

Brad Smith, vice president and chief analyst of Dataquest's
Personal Computers North America service, said: "The PC market
has improved significantly in the last quarter with accelerating
migration to high-end PCs, such as the 486-based systems.
Driving this migration is the shift to Windows 3.1, Apple System
7.1, and larger applications that require a great deal of computing
power.

Apple and IBM fought a fierce battle all year for market share and
although IBM finished on top, Apple must gain considerable satisfaction
from the results. This is because IBM's PC revenue decreased 18.7
percent in 1992. Apple Computer saw a 14.2 percent increase in
revenue. Compaq posted record sales in 1992, growing nearly 19
percent. NEC lost market share and position, dropping to number
four in 1992 from number three in 1991. Dell was another big
winner. Although ranked number 11 in 1991, the company more
than doubled its revenue in 1992 and moved into the top five.

However, Smith noted that, "To succeed in 1993 however, PC
companies must maintain a high level of innovation and flexibility.
Name brand will have little, if any, impact on purchasing decisions."

The workstation market gained only 4.2 percent in 1992, following
a 14.5 percent gain in 1991. According to the report, the slowdown
in revenue growth was due to the overall mix of workstations
shipped in 1992 shifting toward lower-priced systems. Also, the
poor Japanese economic situation considerably softened the
Japanese workstation market, heavily impacting Japanese
workstation vendors. The reports says that the net result was a
modest increase from $8.7 billion in 1991 to $9 billion in 1992.

Lisa Thorell, director of Dataquest's client/server systems
research, said: "We are seeing a definite change in the workstation
market pricing trend. In fact, 1992 was the first year in which
each of the five top workstation vendors offered RISC-based
workstations for less than $10,000. In the third quarter, more than
60 percent of the shipments of the top six workstation vendors
were of systems with average selling prices less than $15,000."

The report shows that the top five workstation vendors remained
unchanged from 1991. Sun held the leadership position with 9.8
percent growth. Hewlett-Packard showed 13 percent growth, while
IBM gained 21 percent. IBM did better overall in the workstation
market than in the PC market with by gaining almost three percent
market share in 1992. Silicon Graphics' revenue grew a whopping
34 percent in 1992. Only one top five vendor showed a decrease in
revenue -- Digital Equipment Corp.'s revenue went from $1 billion
to $0.8 billion in 1992.

The mainframe market fell by 16 percent according to Dataquest.
According to the report, in general, the 1992 computer systems
market demonstrated the adverse effects of the sluggish
world-wide economy, the continued shift from a mainframe
environment to a client/server environment, and the significant
reduction in the cost of technology, coupled with heavy discounting
by vendors in their struggle to maintain or grow market share. The
net result was a decline of $2.5 billion, from $107 billion in 1991
to $104.5 billion in 1992.

The report says that the mid-range product segment surpassed the
mainframe segment for the first time in the world-wide computer
systems markets.

Nancy Stewart, senior industry analyst, Dataquest's Worldwide
Computer Systems and Peripherals Group, said: "This should not be
taken as the death of the mainframe market. Mainframes still
account for more than 20 percent of total computer systems sales.
However, it is expected that the shift in buyer preference away
from mainframes will continue to erode the mainframe's share of
the total worldwide computer systems market."

The worldwide mainframe market was hit the hardest, dropping
16 percent from 1991, to $22.5 billion. Once again IBM was on the
receiving end of decreased sales news. Although IBM was still
number one in the mainframe market, it experienced a 21 percent
decrease in mainframe revenue from 1991 to 1992.

(Ian Stokell/19930105/Press Contact: Mary Hand, 408/437-8312,
Dataquest)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00029)

 ****Dataquest 1992 Survey: Intel Top Of The Semiconductor Pile 01/05/92
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JAN 5 (NB) -- Dataquest has
announced results of its 1992 world-wide semiconductor market
share survey. Intel, the subject of well-publicized lawsuits
recently, gained the top spot, from the number three slot in 1991.

According to the report, Intel's revenue grew 26 percent, which
represented an increase of more than $1 billion. NEC, number two,
showed a four percent growth. Curiously, Toshiba, ranked number
three, also showed a four percent growth. Motorola, ranked four,
posted revenue increases of 22 percent, to $4.6 billion.

Rounding out the top ten were: number five, Hitachi; number six,
Texas Instruments; number seven, Fujitsu; number eight,
Mitsubishi; number nine, Philips; and number ten, Matsushita.

Gene Norrett, vice president and director, Dataquest's Worldwide
Semiconductor group, said: "The demand for Intel's 386SL and 486
MPU products helped boost Intel ahead of both NEC and Toshiba.
Impressively, Intel has more than doubled its market share in the
last five years."

The report says that, at the same time Intel was growing its
revenue by $1 billion, Motorola grew its revenue by $833 million.
Overall, North American companies' market share increased by
nearly three percentage points in 1992, while Japanese
companies' market share fell by nearly four percentage points.
The breakdown is now 42.8 percent for Japanese companies, 41.1
percent for North American companies, and 16.1 percent for
companies headquartered in other regions.

(Ian Stokell/19920105/Press Contact: Mary Hand, 408-437-8312,
Dataquest)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00030)

 ****Head Of Apple's QuickTime Dev. Team Joins Microsoft 01/05/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 5 (NB) -- Apple's loss is
Microsoft's gain. Roger Heinen, senior vice president and
general manager of Apple's Macintosh Software Architecture
Division (MSAD), has left Apple Computer to take a newly created
position at Microsoft as vice president of the database and
development tools division.

One of Heinen's accomplishments at Apple was the development of
QuickTime in his MSAD organization. QuickTime is Apple's set of
multimedia extensions for the Macintosh that allow the
inclusion and manipulation of video, sound, and color still
images. Heinen's team also developed System 7, the Macintosh
operating system that supports QuickTime.

Prior to joining Apple, Heinen worked 17 years at Digital
Equipment Corporation where he held the position of corporate
consulting engineer for software. Heinen has been with Apple
three years this month.

Microsoft is hoping Heinen will help the company build a
"stronger presence" in the database and development tools
arena. The ways Microsoft representatives said Heinen will help
Microsoft achieve its goal is by his influence in producing
better integrated, more powerful products and by improving
relationships with developers and other third parties.

Microsoft's version of QuickTime for IBM and compatible
personal computers, Video for Windows, was announced at the
computer trade show COMDEX in November and is just now
shipping. The company has also moved strongly into the database
market with a goal to develop graphical user interface database
products for its graphical operating system Microsoft windows.

Apple has filed a lawsuit, which it appears it may lose,
against software giant Microsoft concerning similarities
between Windows and the Macintosh operating system. Microsoft
previously licensed certain features of the Macintosh operating
system from Apple and a court has ruled those similarities
were either covered in the license or not copyrightable at all.

Apple has said publicly it wishes Heinen well at Microsoft, as
Microsoft is one of the leading developers of application
software for the Macintosh.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930105/Press Contact: Marty Taucher,
Microsoft, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Cindy McCaffrey,
Apple, tel [phone])