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/nb930107

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(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00001)

IBM, Hollywood Firm In MPEG Development Deal 01/07/93
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- IBM and
Laser-Pacific Media Corp., a Hollywood-based supplier of film,
video, and digital sound post-production services for movies and
television, have announced an agreement to develop video
compression technology using IBM's Power Visualization System
(PVS).

The work will be based on the Moving Picture Expert Group
(MPEG) compression standards.

The Power Visualization System is a supercomputer with
parallel-processing architecture that allows very rapid
processing of large amounts of digital-image information,
according to IBM. While it currently uses other reduced
instruction-set computing (RISC) technology, IBM plans in
future to use the Power PC processor technology, on which it
is working with Apple Computer Inc., and Motorola Corp., in
the PVS.

Laser-Pacific officials said they have made a multimillion-
dollar commitment to the project in acquiring the PVS and
related hardware.

Laser-Pacific plans to use the software it develops to offer
services to movie and TV production companies, Executive
Vice-President Leon Silverman said. Intended to be fully
operational by the middle of 1993, the compression operation
will be based at a new facility to be located near Laser-Pacific's
Hollywood headquarters.

IBM may use the technology in products which it will market to
other computer users, Silverman added. IBM spokesman Dennis
Arvay said there is no set timetable for such products at this
point, but he did say the technology is applicable not just to
supercomputers, but to less costly workstations as well.

Officials of the two firms said they expect their work to
facilitate the emerging technologies of video-on-demand,
compact-disk-based full-motion video, and other digitally
distributed media. Current available MPEG encoding technology
is slow and expensive, they said.

A statement from the firms said MPEG implementation on the
PVS is software-based, allowing more sophisticated parameter
selection that leads to higher picture quality. Officials said the
PVS system will also be more adaptable than hardware-based
compression systems as standards change.

(Grant Buckler/19930106/Press Contact: Dennis Arvay, IBM,
914-945-3471; Leon Silverman, Laser-Pacific Media,
213-462-6266)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00002)

Interface Group Seeks Sell Out Of Comdex/Canada Space 01/07/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Computer show
organizer The Interface Group, of Needham, Massachusetts, is
hoping to sell all the exhibit space at the Metro Toronto
Convention Centre for the first Comdex/Canada show in July.

Spokeswoman Kim Pappas said the company has booked all of the
convention center's exhibit space, making about 95,000 square
feet of space available for exhibits. This would accommodate a
little more than 200 exhibitors, she said, and more than 160 have
already reserved space for the show, which is scheduled for July
13 to 15.

Exhibitors already signed up include Borland International,
Computer Associates Canada, Digital Equipment of Canada, Hayes
Microcomputer Products, IBM Canada, Ingram Micro, Lotus
Development Canada, Microsoft Canada, and WordPerfect Corp.
Apple Computer is not on the most recent exhibitor list provided
to Newsbytes.

Richard Schwab, vice-president of The Interface Group, told
Newsbytes earlier that he would "guesstimate" between 10,000
and 15,000 people will attend the show.

The Canadian Computer Show, the country's largest industry event,
attracts about 300 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors, according to
figures from its organizers, Industrial Trade and Consumer Shows
Inc., of Toronto.

While it is the first show officially called Comdex/Canada, the
1993 show is in a sense a continuation of the LAN Expo and
Windows World shows which the company ran simultaneously at
the convention center this year.

(Grant Buckler/19930106/Press Contact: Kim Pappas, The
Interface Group, 617-449-6600)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00003)

Boston Trade Show To Focus On Service, Support 01/07/93
YARMOUTH, MAINE, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Service News, a
monthly newspaper that deals with computer and network service
and support, has announced plans for a trade show and conference
focusing on those topics. Systems Support Expo is scheduled for
May 11 and 12 at the World Trade Center in Boston.

Computer vendors Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, IBM,
NCR, and Novell will co-sponsor the show, said officials at
United Publications, which publishes Service News.

The organizers are aiming to sign up about 200 exhibitors for the
event, said spokeswoman Christine Richards. Vendors will show
products and services aimed at helping support computer and
network users and maintain hardware. There will also be a help
desk on the show floor, staffed by representatives of several
vendors to deal with attendees' support problems.

The conference program will be divided into three streams, said
Becky Quinlan, a spokeswoman for the publisher's conference
group. They will deal with hardware maintenance, network
management, and the help desk. There will also be a series of
seminars run by vendors - mainly the five sponsoring vendors -
on topics such as outsourcing and putting together contracts,
she said.

Admittance to the show floor is free to those who register in
advance, or $20 at the door. The conference program is $295, with
a $20 discount for earlier registration. The seminar series will
carry an extra charge, and one-day conference packages are also
available, Quinlan said.

(Grant Buckler/19930106/Press Contact: Christine B. Richards,
United Publications, 207-846-0600, fax [phone]; Public
Contact: United Publications Conference Group, 207-846-0600)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00004)

Canadian Phone Firms Not To Appeal Long Distance Ruling 01/07/93
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Canada's
telephone companies have decided not to launch a further appeal
of the rules under which competing long-distance carriers will
be allowed to connect to their networks.

Just before Christmas, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled against
the phone companies in an appeal of last summer's regulatory
decision. While not challenging the basic idea of allowing
competition in long-distance phone service, some of the phone
companies had quarrelled with the way federal regulators had
allocated the costs of connecting new competitors' networks to
those of the existing phone companies.

The phone companies said the terms gave an unfair edge to
Toronto-based Unitel Communications Inc., and a coalition of
BC Rail Telecommunications of Vancouver and Lightel Inc., of
Toronto, both of which were given permission by the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
to offer competing long-distance service.

The decision not to appeal the ruling further means work can
start on connecting the new carriers' networks to those of the
phone companies as soon as the carriers submit formal requests
to do so, said John Morris, a spokesman for Bell Canada.

It will take 12 to 18 months to provide equal access to the new
long-distance services, meaning customers will be able to use
the service they choose without dialing extra digits, Morris said.
Some special services will take longer.

Competitive long-distance services are already available in
some major Canadian cities, but at present customers must
dial extra digits to use them.

The CRTC ruling affects all of Canada except the provinces of
Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where the telephone companies are
owned and regulated by the provincial governments. Competition
is expected in Manitoba, but the terms are under discussion. There
is no sign at the moment that competition will be introduced in
Saskatchewan.

(Grant Buckler/19930106/Press Contact: John Morris, Bell
Canada, 613-781-2443; Linda Gervais, Bell Canada,
613-781-3724)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00005)

 ****IBM Job Cuts Begin With New York Plants 01/07/93
POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- The process
of cutting another 25,000 jobs from IBM's payroll - a target for
1993 which the ailing computer giant announced in December
- has begun in upstate New York. IBM has announced plans to do
away with as many as 3,500 jobs in plants in Poughkeepsie,
Kingston, and East Fishkill.

In making the announcement, IBM also admitted that it will
probably lay off employees this year, something it has never
done before.

IBM's Technology Products unit, which makes chips and electronic
packaging devices, plans to cut 2,600 to 2,900 jobs in its East
Fishkill and Poughkeepsie operations. The unit said it will offer
incentives to employees to leave voluntarily and will try to help
employees find jobs elsewhere in IBM, but if business does not
pick up significantly, involuntary cuts will probably be
necessary.

Another 600 to 800 jobs will be cut from the Enterprise Systems
operation in Kingston and Poughkeepsie. Enterprise Systems, which
makes mainframes, expects to be able to make those cuts through
voluntary incentives and attrition.

IBM also announced that the Technology Products group will move
its headquarters from Somers, New York to East Fishkill, and the
Enterprise Systems group will shift its head-office staff to
Poughkeepsie and Kingston. About 200 employees will move as
part of that change. Other groups in Somers, including the IBM
Personal Computer Co., will not be affected, company spokesman
Jim Ruderman said.

At the beginning of the year, IBM had 9,200 employees in East
Fishkill, 8,100 in Poughkeepsie, and 4,200 in Kingston.

(Grant Buckler/19930106/Press Contact: Pamela Olson, IBM,
914-894-3534; Brian Doyle, IBM, 914-433-1500)


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

CES Show: Creative Labs' 16-Bit Sound, Supermac Deal 01/07/93
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Creative Labs is
announcing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas,
Nevada, that it is shipping the promised 16-bit version of its
popular sound card, the Sound Blaster 16 ASP. In a separate
announcement the company said it has also just formed an
agreement with Supermac, producers of the Video Spigot for
Macintosh and Windows, to cooperate on developing future
digital video products for the IBM compatible personal
computer (PC) market.

Creative Labs says the Sound Blaster 16 ASP is designed as a
complete PC sound subsystem. It will work with Windows 3.1,
OS/2.0, and DOS and offers sound quality of a compact disc
(CD), also known as 16-bit sound. The board will allow users to
connect and run a CD-ROM drive as well as connect a musical
instrument digital interface (MIDI) device such as an electronic
keyboard. It also has a joystick port. (The MIDI interface offers
MPU-401 UART and Sound Blaster modes.) Users need to be aware,
however, that the CD-ROM interface is proprietary and will not
necessarily support every drive available.

Creative Labs sound products have been popular because of their
ease of use in the Microsoft Windows environment. The software
drivers required to playback sounds are built-in to Windows and
easily selected by the user.

For recording, a microphone is included with the 16 ASP.
Recording features include: auto dynamic filtering to ensure
low noise and clear recording; four-operator, 20-voice FM music
synthesis; selectable sampling rates from five kilohertz (kHz) to
44.1 kHz; the 90db, a 16-bit compression/decompression (codec)
chip used in professional digital audio tape (DAT) machines; an
improved 10-channel stereo digital mixer with 32 by 2 decibel
(db) steps, tone control, input/output gain control; and a
recording input mixer.

Software bundled with the package includes HSC Interactive, for
authoring multimedia presentations; PC Animate Plus, an
animation software; Monologue for Windows, a patented text-to-
speech program; a Multimedia Encyclopedia CD from Software
Toolworks; and utilities. The utilities include Creative
Wavestudio, a Windows-based sound editor; Creative Soundo'le,
a versatile voice and music recording application; and Creative
Talking Scheduler.

Wave Blaster, a daughter-board for the 16 ASP geared toward
the professional audio market is expected at the end of the first
quarter of 1993, Creative Labs said. Wave Blaster will add 32-
voice wave-table synthesis technology and is exclusively
licensed from E-mu Systems.

The Sound Blaster 16 ASP is retail priced at $349.95. The Wave
Blaster is expected to be retail priced at $249.

Also announced was the company's agreement with Supermac.
Creative Labs says that, under the agreement, it immediately
assumes worldwide marketing rights to Videospigot for Windows,
a recently announced PC video capture card. The company says it
also gets perpetual license rights to the Compactvideo Codec
used for both the Mac and PC Videospigots. The Compactvideo
Codec is a compression/decompression scheme used to squeeze
the video down 15:1 so it takes less physical storage space.

Milpitas, California-based Creative Labs has already introduced
a video product for PCs, Video Blaster, which the company says
is geared toward more professional users, while Videospigot is
an entry-level product. The company is saying it is pleased to
gain the rights to the Compactvideo Codec and says the
technology will be "instrumental in future product development."

(Linda Rohrbough/19930106/Press Contact: Benita Kenn, Creative
Labs, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00007)

New Networking Printing Standard Set For NetWorld 01/07/92
PORTLAND, OREGON, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- At the upcoming
NetWorld Boston, the Network Printing Alliance (NPA) will unveil
and distribute a new software specification that outlines a
standard way for network printers to provide feedback to end
users and systems administrators.

The new specification will allow end users to determine the
precise status of print jobs, and systems administrators to
obtain printer accounting or usage information, all without leaving
their workstations, said Ron Smith, NPA co-chair, in an interview
with Newsbytes.  Smith is also manager of advanced controller
development at Texas Instruments, a company that joined with
Intel, Lexmark, and Insight Development to form the NPA in April,
1991.

"Traditionally, capabilities like those described by P1284 have
been available only on mainframe printers," Smith told Newsbytes.
Recently, some print server and printing management software
vendors have been providing a certain degree of feedback, but on
most networks, end users are limited to getting print job
information off the front panel of the printer, he added.

Further, the software now in use is proprietary, meaning that its
methodology can only be used with the specific vendor's printers,
Smith remarked.

In contrast, the NPA specification calls for a base set of printer-
to-host commands that are independent of communication
interface, printer description, and printer technology page
description language, so they can be used with any printer or
computer.

The commands call for communications to be sent from the
printer, to the server where the print queue is located, to
individual workstations on the network, he said.

Although the proposed software will be configurable to individual
company needs, the graphical user interface (GUI) will be
consistent from one platform to the next. "End users and systems
administrators will no longer have to relearn the system each
time a new printer is added," he explained.

An earlier NPA document, a hardware specification describing a
high-speed bidirectional printer interface, is being used as the
basis for a standard now being written by the Institute of
Electrical and Engineers (IEEE) P1284 working group.

The NPA has not yet decided whether to team up with other
standards groups on the new software specification, said Curtis
Tirrell, product marketing manager for network printing at Intel
and also an active NPA participant.

Tirrill told Newsbytes that the NPA software specification calls
for provision of much more information than the amount currently
being sent by Intel's hardware print servers. "Right now, users of
our NetPort print servers can find out whether a printer is off-line,
on-line, or out of paper. But with the specification, there'll be an
infinite number of possibilities, including error messages like 'out
of paper' and 'paper jam,'" he said.

Mike Bemis, vice president of Insight Development, the developer
and distributer of the Mosaic line of print management software,
informed Newsbytes that the specification carries benefits for
vendors as well as users. "We'll no longer have to write a
separate set of software for each printer," he commented.

Committee participants will be on hand to meet with NetWorld
attendees from 10 am to 6 pm on Wednesday, January 13 at the
show in Boston. At that time, copies of the software specification
will be distributed as well.

The specification can also be downloaded off the Intel Forum on
Compuserve (GO INTEL). A white paper summarizing the
specification can be obtained by calling Intel's 24-hour FaxBACK
service at 800-525-3019 (US and Canada).

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930106/Press contact:  Laura Gaittens,
Hastings, Humble, Giardini Inc. for Intel, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEL)(00008)

India: Reshaping The High-End PC Landscape 01/07/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- The arrival of international
giants is reshaping the landscape of the Indian computer industry.
Between the exit of IBM in 1978 and its reentry this year,
multinationals have made inroads into the country.

The post-liberalization onslaught, particularly in the high-end
desktop segment, is turning huge assembly lines and not-so-huge
research facilities that once were assets into liabilities. This is
forcing giants like DCM Data Products, PCL, and Digital Equipment
to adapt to the role of traders.

In the West, companies in financial trouble are closing plants,
cutting jobs, slashing overheads, spinning off subsidiaries, and
outsourcing work. Companies are therefore searching for greener
pastures in which to sell products. India has become a prime target.

Hewlett-Packard and Compaq are already in India. Within the next
six months Dell, DEC, IBM, and Apple Computer will be here. The
companies will be emphasizing international brand names, quality,
and longevity of product and after-sale service.

HCL HP - a joint venture between the country's top computer
manufacturer, Hindustan Computers Limited, and Hewlett-Packard
- is pricing its Vectra PCs 20 percent higher than similar systems.
Compaq is asking for a 25 percent premium. But some analysts
question whether the companies can continue with premium
pricing.

The fact that, despite high prices, Compaq and HCL HP are flying
high, shows the Indian customer is ready to pay more for quality
products.

However, Bikram Dasgupta of Pertech Computers Limited (PCL),
marketers of Dell machines in the country, feels that once "image
consciousness and novelty" wear off, premium costs will be
difficult to maintain. Once the major players are established,
analysts are predicting that the market will be driven by
competition and price cutting. In an effort to survive, local
manufacturers are likely to improve quality control, customer
support, and reduce costs.

Industry pundits are predicting that premium PCs will capture
about 20 percent of the market. However, the premium which now
currently hovers around 25 percent will come down to about ten.
The lifting of physical restrictions and the lowering of customs
tariff may result in the market being flooded with unbranded
clones.

However, analysts are predicting that in six months time, even for
the premium market, "core competency" as management gurus
would have it, will not be computer technology, but distribution
and marketing.

In advertising, HCL HP may talk about precision engineering,
Digital Equipment India may harp on bundling MS Windows with
DEC PCs, and Modi Olivetti may mention the Open Systems
advantage, but it is worth watching how these vendors will be
refurbishing their marketing forces.

(C.T. Mahabarat/19930106)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEL)(00009)

Indo-US Mission Termed Information 2000+ 01/07/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- The Indo-US
Sub-commission is putting the finishing touches to a series
of projects under the rubric of "Information 2000+."

For the next several years the sub-commission's activities
will focus on this multi-program initiative aimed at exploring
rapidly developing information and communication technologies
and assessing their impact on the lives of Indians and
Americans at the dawn of the 21st century.

According to the sub-commission, Information 2000+  aims to
offer a breadth of knowledge that can be used as the basis for
making informed choices and a judicious use of the resources
available. Designed and developed by leading authorities in the
fields of information and communication from both countries,
the programs will apply information technology to traditional
areas of Indo-US cooperation: arts, science, education, and
media.

Information 2000+ will be inaugurated in New Delhi in March
with an interdisciplinary symposium titled "The future of the
Mind; The mind of the future."

(C.T. Mahabarat/19930107)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00010)

UK: AST Power Premium Range Gets "Best Buy" Award 01/07/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Computer Shopper's
January 1993 issue has given AST Research's Power Premium
range of machines its coveted "Best Buy" award.

The monthly magazine, published by Dennis Publishing in the UK,
asked its readers which machines they considered to offer the
best value for money - AST Research topped the poll. According
to Graham Hopper, the company's general manager, the award
recognizes AST's quality and reliability, as well as the Power
Premium's general success here in the UK PC marketplace.

"Strong graphics performance and the capability to upgrade to
faster technology have been key differentiators of the Power
Premium in the UK market," he said.

Announcing the award, Diane Charlton, Computer Shopper's editor,
said that the Power Premium range of machines has gained a
rapid acceptance in the UK marketplace. "They clearly have a lot
of fans among Computer Shopper readers, especially for
reliability," she said.

Computer Shopper's award is backed up by industry figures from
several of the UK computer market research companies, which
show AST as having between eight and 12 percent of the UK
market. Depending on which set of figures are under the
microscope, AST is second or third in PC sales in the UK, placing
it slightly ahead of IBM in unit sales terms.

AST's sales in the UK appear to have been due to a highly
aggressive pricing policy, coupled with a strong reseller
presence, Newsbytes notes. The company has ensured that its
US products have been released quickly in the UK, contrasting
sharply with companies such as Dell and Zenith, which have
introduced an appreciable delay in shipping new US-launched
machines in the UK and Europe.

(Steve Gold/19930107/Press & Public Contact: AST Research
- Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00011)

UK: Mobile Phone Sales In Decline 01/07/93
NEWBURY, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- December
1992 figures on subscription levels from Vodafone, one of the
UK's two mobile phone operators, show that sales of phones are
slackening off. In addition, the figures also show that large
numbers of subscribers are leaving the network.

According to Vodafone, in December 1993, 28,580 connections
were made to the network, but Vodafone's overall subscriber base
increased by just 12,420. The same story is illustrated in the
fourth quarter figures, which show 88,399 new subscribers
connected to the network, but an increase of 40,414 to just
under 800,000 for the company's mobile phone subscriber base.

The figures confirm many analyst's fears that the recession has
taken its toll on sales of mobile phones. Some industry experts
point to the new consumer (budget) subscriptions that Cellnet
and Vodafone announced towards the end of the year, but figures
from the cellular phone industry (source: Cellnet) suggest a
migration rate of only 10 percent between the full rate
(business tariff) to the consumer (budget) tariffs.

The Vodafone figures appear to show that new signings to
the Vodafone network are being offset at the rate of two thirds
by customers leaving the service. This is referred to in cellular
phone circles as the "churn rate." Only a few years ago, the
accepted churn levels were around 25 percent. This figure
appears to have more than doubled.

Vodafone's senior executives have nothing to cry about,
however. During the fourth quarter of 1992, the company claimed
it had maintained its market share of 53.8 percent, and had
beaten Cellnet with a healthy 57.7 percent of new connections
of mobile phone networks.

(Steve Gold/19930107/Press & Public Contact: Vodafone
- Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00012)

3Com's Boundary Routing Technology A Trend-Setter? 01/07/93
MAIDENHEAD, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- 3Com is
claiming great things for its new "Boundary Routing" network
technology, just unveiled by the networking giant.

According to officials with 3Com, Boundary Routing, an open
architecture network technology, will be adopted by the
networking industry as a new standard for remote office
interconnection.

So what is Boundary Routing? Basically, it is a software
development that allows a standard router, installed at a central
point, to manage a lesser technology (and therefore cheaper)
router at a remote site. The idea is that a central hub on the
network can act as a manager and supervisor for all nodes on
that network.

John Hart, 3Com's chief technical officer, reckons that Boundary
Routing can save 50 percent of the cost of remote routers. In
addition, he argues, the complexity of the remote router is
greatly reduced.

"Our research shows that 80 percent of remote sites need only
one interconnect - to the central site - making much of the
function of a conventional router superfluous to those sites and
adding an administrative burden which most companies cannot
afford," he said. "Boundary routing provides that single
connection, enabling customers to grow the number of remote
site connections without increasing the complexity or demand
upon administrative resource."

Hart claims that the market for Boundary Routing is virtually
unlimited. "Any company wishing to connect remote sites to a
corporate network should be investigating the possibilities of
reducing costs and complexity without sacrificing any
function," he said.

Plans call for 3Com to submit its Boundary Routing specification
to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) this coming
September. Anticipating its adoption as a standard, 3Com is
offering the technology on a licensed basis to third party
companies. 3Com officials say they expect the bulk of third
party activity, initially at least, to concentrate on the cost
savings of Boundary Routing technology.

(Steve Gold/19930107/Press & Public Contact: 3Com
- Tel: [phone])


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

 ****Scanfone Home Shopping Terminal Making Headway 01/07/93
HERNDON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- The US Order
ScanFone is making headway in its bid to become the home
shopping terminal of choice. Two phone companies, Ameritech
and Bell  Atlantic, have begun offering the units to customers in
selected areas, and the company's president told Newsbytes he
is confident he will get future deals.

Bell Atlantic's Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Companies
became the second regional Bell unit to offer the ScanFone,
rolling it out in the Washington, DC metro area this week.

The phone rents for $11.95 per month, and includes a small
screen that displays instructions which guide users through
transactions. There is also a slot which can take bank ATM cards
or credit cards, and an electronic "wand" which scans bar codes,
allowing items to be selected for purchase from product
catalogs. It can handle bill payments, catalog ordering, or
banking functions.

So far a dozen catalog outfits, plus the Safeway grocery chain,
have agreed to be part of the Washington roll-out. Safeway's
participation is interesting because past efforts to get people
to shop for groceries by computer failed. Safeway is charging
$9.95 per order for home deliveries through its Shopper Express
service. In other regions, chains which offer home delivery take
orders directly by phone.

What is most interesting about the ScanFone is that it can
interact directly with bank card systems and write checks,
meaning consumers can use it for bill-payments to anyone. In
Washington, the ScanFone is tied to the Most ATM network.

While US Order has not yet said how many people are using its
ScanFone, the company has indicated it may have broken through
the "techno-geek" barrier which has kept computer-based systems
like Prodigy from reaching a mass market. Single parents and
older people who are computerphobic are among the heaviest
users  of the service in Detroit, where it is offered by Michigan
Bell, the company said.

Fraser Bullock, president of US Order Inc., told Newsbytes that
the phone companies involved put their labels on the phones, so
the unit is sold as the "Bell Atlantic" ScanFone in Washington
and the "Michigan Bell" ScanFone in Detroit. He termed Detroit's
acceptance of the units "excellent," adding, "We hope to be able
to expand within the two Bell regions, and we're in discussions
with other Bell companies for their regions."

The decision to work closely with regional Bell companies is
deliberate, he added. "The Bell companies have a superb
relationship with the customer in their home, and our services
are delivered over a screen telephone, so it's a natural fit. We
also want to add more and more services to the system, and the
Bell companies are a good fit in that way."

Ease of use, along with wide application, are the keys to
ScanFone's potential success, according to Bullock. "The merchant
does not have to be signed up on our system. We can pay any
commercial enterprise in the US. In essence you're creating an
electronic check. To access the phone, there is a password, and
that acts as the signing of the check. There's a separate set of
transactions using a PIN (personal identification number), for
functions that get into the Most ATM network -- you can use your
ATM and Pin number, then access your checking account to see
your balance. Shortly we'll let you transfer funds. Most is in
Washington. We're working with other ATM networks."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930107/Press Contact: Novell, Kelli
Christensen, 801-429-5933; AT&T, Laura Williams,
908-658-2604)


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

 ****US Losing Telecom Lead, Claims USC Study 01/07/93
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Another new
study has been released indicating US phone companies are losing
their technology edge. However, narrowing the gap may prove
controversial, as at least one major firm is planning to use a
Japanese supplier.

The University of Southern California Center for
Telecommunications Management studied the networks in 24
industrial nations and found the US lags in areas like switching
from analog to digital technology, and installing fiber cable.
Nations like Japan, the United Kingdom, and Singapore write
off and replace equipment twice as fast as most US carriers,
said the study. Regulation based on free market principles was
blamed, and promotion of technology purchases was encouraged.

The study's authors expressed hope the incoming Clinton
Administration can change things around. Commerce Secretary
designate Ron Brown supported that view in his confirmation
hearings. He urged a new partnership between government and
business, especially in such high technology fields as
telecommunications.

But the move toward higher technology by local phone companies
may give an advantage to foreigners. After evaluating almost 10
major equipment suppliers, Nynex has decided to buy broadband
switching systems from Fujitsu to deliver high-speed data
services, video, and distance learning.

Specifically, Fujitsu's FETEX-150 switching system will be
evaluated in a trial this year for such applications as frame
relay, switched megabit data services, and cell relay, using a
technology called asynchronous transfer mode, or ATM. It is the
first major deal for Fujitsu in the US, which previously had been
testing its high-end switching systems with BellSouth and other
regional Bells.

Spokesperson Betsy Ricci of Nynex told Newsbytes that the
company usually selects more than one vendor in a technology,
"but so far this is the only one" for broadband switching. "This
was the result of a competitive bidding process where many
companies submitted proposals, and we went through a 'request
for proposal' process. The decision was based on that process. It
wasn't done because this is a Japanese company. We wanted a
platform that would serve our short term needs for our data
customers and fit in with our strategic plan for advanced
services."

The commitment to Fujitsu, however, is neither total nor cast in
stone, Ricci emphasized. "We're still formulating our deployment
plans. The agreement does not talk about any specific number of
switching systems."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930107/Press Contact: Betsy Ricci,
Nynex, 914-644-5014)


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

Anti-Fraud Systems Becoming Standard Switch Equipment 01/07/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- As a Los Angeles
man was charged in that city's first case of cellular phone
fraud, Computer Sciences and Ericsson signed a deal which could
make software that works against fraud a standard feature in
cellular switches.

Gabriel Fadida was accused of using a phone with a chip
identifying it as someone else's phone to make calls. Cellular
phones rely on chips embedded in them to identify callers for
billing purposes, but the chips are easy to reproduce.

However, software aimed at solving the problem could soon
become a standard feature in cellular phone switches. Cellular
phone fraud costs up to $1 million a day.

Computer Sciences signed a joint agreement with LM Ericsson,
the world's largest supplier of cellular switching systems, which
will let Ericsson sell Coral System Inc.'s FraudBuster system.
FraudBuster uses artificial intelligence techniques to monitor
calling patterns of cellular subscribers, so potential fraud can be
stopped quickly.

"Bringing fraud control into the heart of the network is the fastest
and most efficient way to stop crime," said John Sidgmore,
president of CSC's telecommunications business unit, in a press
statement.

Ericsson will offer the system as part of its Telecommunications
Management and Operations Support platform, which integrates
many cellular operations - such as network traffic monitoring and
subscriber marketing - on the same system. By putting FraudBuster
on TMOS, Ericsson said, fraud cases that could take days to track
with other systems can now be spotted in seconds.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930107/Press Contact: Computer Sciences
Mary Rhodes, 310/615-1737; Ericsson, Kathy Egan, 212/685-4030)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00016)

 ****MacWorld: Apple's Diery Colors Bright Future For Mac 01/07/92
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Apple
Computer has introduced five new products that it hopes will help
continue to differentiate the company's desktop products from its
competitors in the PC clone industry.  Speaking to an appreciative
audience of Macintosh devotees at the MacWorld trade show, Apple
Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing Ian
Diery heralded the products' use of color and imaging technologies
as two factors that demonstrated Apple's innovation over its PC
competitors.

Contrasting the company's business strategy with that of the PC
industry's clone manufacturers, Diery's keynote address claimed
that Apple competes with innovation while the clone
manufacturers compete on price. Diery stated that the clone
business model saps innovation out of the market. Noting
Microsoft's dominant market share in the PC industry, he said
that Apple's chief rival has no incentive to innovate. "That's why
(Microsoft is) only talking about NT as a high-end server
environment," he said.

To demonstrate Apple's innovation, Diery introduced five new
products. The company's new products include four printers and a
scanner. They are the Color Printer for $2,349, the Color One
Scanner for $1,349, the LaserWriter Pro 600 for $2,099 and 630
for $2,529, as well as the StyleWriter II for $359.  Diery said that
the introductions are the first in a series of new product
announcements. "We will introduce more new products in 1993
than in the last two years combined," he said.

Despite the products' focus on printed documents and color, Diery's
speech emphasized Apple's vision for desktop imaging. The color
products include Apple's Color Sync technology which automates
matching the colors of scanned images with those of the original
image. Color Sync is one means to simplify the more arduous tasks
of providing clear images on a computer. "Quality and simplicity
will drive imaging in the '90s," said Diery.

Apple is also providing CD-ROMs for its products that support the
Eastman Kodak Company's PhotoCD program. Using the program,
Kodak customers can have their 135 millimeter (mm) film
developed into a CD. "Our support for PhotoCD makes all 35mm
cameras input devices for the Mac," Diery noted.

Apple sees its customers having access to millions of still and
moving pictures. However, delivery of photographs and moving
pictures has been a major stumbling block to the long-promised
new graphics frontier. To address one delivery bottleneck, Diery
said that he expects network capacity to increase "10,000 times
what we have today."  Apple is also seeking to increase distribution
by CD-ROM to increase availability of images. Diery claimed that
only one million CD drives were in place by the end of 1992.

"There are not enough people with CD-ROMs for developers of
multimedia applications," Diery said. Apple will support the
needs of the CD-ROM developer community by shipping more
drives as standard features on some Macintosh models, he said.

(Chris Sandlund/19930107)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00017)

 ****Aldus Announces Version 5.0 Of Pagemaker 01/07/93
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Aldus Corp.,
in a product announcement viewed by about 800 people at a New
York hotel and by an estimated 2,200 in other cities via satellite
that included video and animation, has announced that it will
release a new version of its popular desktop publishing program
Pagemaker.

The company said version 5.0 of Pagemaker for both Microsoft
Windows and Apple Computer's Macintosh platform will ship during
the first half of 1993. The two versions are nearly identical, and
Aldus says the program will offer more than 100 new features and
enhancements.

Aldus President Paul Brainerd told financial analysts following
the product announcement that the company expects the first
revenues from the new release to come in the second and third
quarters, with most of that coming from current Pagemaker users
buying upgrade kits. He said that in the past half of the registered
Pagemaker users upgrade to the newest version within a year of
its release. Aldus says about one million copies of Pagemaker
have been sold since the product's introduction in 1984. About
half of those have registered their software.

Aldus spokesperson Pam Miller told Newsbytes that Aldus has
signed a  joint technology agreement with Eastman Kodak to use
the film and  photo technology company's color management tools.
Miller said Aldus hopes to have that technology incorporated into
Pagemaker soon by mid-year. "We will support a variety of color
management tools," Miller said. Aldus is developing an open
architecture strategy that will use an applications program
interface (API) that will make calls to a variety of color systems,
according to Miller.

Aldus Director of Publishing Products Dave Roberts told the British
news service Reuters that the company has achieved its goal in
catching up to Quark Express, a Pagemaker competitive product.
Brainerd told Reuters he hopes to catch up to Quark in market
share with Pagemaker 5.0 and regain market share lost to Quark
when Aldus releases what Brainerd called "Pagemaker 5.X,"
referring to a future version of the program.

One of the biggest added features will reportedly be Pagemaker's
ability to integrate with other software, with import and export
filters for Kodak's Photo CD, DXF files, Wordperfect graphics and
Metafile/PICT conversion. Pagemaker will also include support for
object linking and embedding (OLE) as a client application on
Windows as well as on the Macintosh, a font mapper which
identifies a publication's missing fonts and then substitutes other
available fonts between both Windows and Mac files, and linking
to the new TWAIN standard for direct scanning.

TWAIN is an imaging application program interface (API)
formulated by Hewlett-Packard, Aldus, Caere, Eastman Kodak, and
Logitech. It was designed to permit easy integration of software
and scanners, video boards, and cameras. EPS files can also be
embedded in the publication. The EPS files can be left out of the
publication with the link being maintained for updating.

Aldus says the two versions of Pagemaker are so similar that
IBM-compatible and Macintosh users will receive the same user
manuals.

Other new features, which Roberts says are in response to
customer requests, include a control palette which is new to the
Windows edition and updated for the Mac, to allow precise
placement and sizing of both text and graphics on the page. The
palette will be visible in both layout and story editor modes in
order to set text and paragraph attributes such as font, style,
size, baseline shift, indents and alignment. Numeric positioning
and "nudge" buttons are also provided.

Document designers will now have the ability to zoom in and
magnify any portion of the page up to eight times normal size,
assign custom line weights from 0.1 to 800 points and specify
separate line and fill attributes.

The company says it has also completely rewritten the Postscript
printing code to provide faster printing, including background
printing, although the speed is still dependent on the hardware
platform used and the complexity of the file. Users will also now
be able to print non-consecutive pages in any order. Crop,
registration, and plate identification have also been added for
use by printers.

Some new custom print options are also now available, providing
the ability to define and save print settings and simultaneously
send  multiple files with different settings to an output device.

Using Aldus Additions technology, end users will be able to work
with more than 20 Additions that will be included with Release 5.0,
and will be able to create their own Pagemaker scripts. Third party
developers can use the technology to create Additions that give
Pagemaker additional capabilities. Running headers and footers
have also been added, and a kerning Addition is available to provide
proportional spacing of characters. There is also the ability to
produce process-color separation of text and graphics and import
CMYK, TIFF, DCS, and ES images. A "drag-and-drop" feature allows
text and graphics to be moved between open publications, and a
Library palette will store frequently used images which can be
added to a document using the "drag-and-drop" method.

System requirements for the Windows edition of Release 5.0
include Windows 3.1 or later and Windows-compatible hardware
with four megabytes (MB) or RAM, an 80MB hard drive, a high-
resolution graphics card, and a mouse. On the Mac, you'll need
System 7 or System 6.0.7 with Finder 6.1.7 and a Mac II, Quadra
or SE/30 with 5MB-8MB of RAM and an 80MB hard drive.

Aldus says the Windows version will ship first, with the Mac
version following about 30 days later, but declined to be more
specific about the shipping date except to say it would be in the
first half of the year.

Pagemaker 5.0 carries a suggested retail price of $895. Buyers
who purchase Pagemaker 4.2 for the Mac or 4.0 for Windows after
January 1, 1993 will be eligible for a free upgrade once the
program ships by returning their registration card with a dated
original proof of purchase. Earlier buyers can upgrade for $150
except for those who upgraded to Release 4.2 for the Macintosh.
They will be able to upgrade for $75.

(Jim Mallory/19930107/Press contact: Pam Miller, Aldus
Corporation, 206-628-6594)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00018)

MacWorld: Aldus Intros Superpaint 3.5 01/07/93
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- One of the new
products for Apple Computer's Macintosh platform being shown at
this week's MacWorld Expo in San Francisco is SuperPaint 3.5
from Aldus Corporation. Among the new features of the upgrade
being shown are support for QuickTime, Kodak's Photo CD, and
direct scanner support through TWAIN. Pressure sensitive tools
and new paint and draw plug-in tools and brushes have also been
added.

The pressure-sensitive tool support is available even though the
user does not have a pressure-sensitive tablet. Pressure controls
the flow of the ink, spray can, and paper choice using tools like
the Magic Marker, a calligraphy brush, Twister, a variable-size
eraser, a texture brush, and smudge and charcoal tools. There is
also a new Copy Brush tool that allows the user to select any
scanned image as a reference, then either paint a copy of modify
the image's appearance by applying one of the visual effects
included in the program. Aldus has also added a color clarity filter
to further enhance Superpaint's existing-image enhancement
capabilities.

Support for Eastman Kodak's Photo CD technology allows
Superpaint to import pictures from Photo CD at specified
resolution or frames from a Quicktime movie.

The program will carry a suggested retail price of $199 when it
ships in February 93, Aldus spokesperson Xenia Moore told
Newsbytes. Moore said registered owners of Superpaint 3.2 will
be able to upgrade to version 3.5 for $25, which includes
shipping via Federal Express. Registered users of older versions
can upgrade for $45 including Federal Express shipping.

(Jim Mallory/19930107/Press contact: Xenia Moore, Franson,
Hagerty & Associates for Aldus Corporation, 619-457-4490;
Reader contact: Aldus Corporation, 800-888-6293, ext 2)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00019)

Microsoft Claims FoxPro Fastest DBMS 01/07/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- According to
Microsoft, its FoxPro database version 2.0 is the fastest data base
management system (DBMS), with an overall performance score
of 9.7 out of a possible 10 in National Software Testing
Laboratories (NSTL) performance tests.

Microsoft says FoxPro 2.0 outscored Borland's Paradox 4.0,
Borland's dBase IV 1.5 and Microrim's R:Base 4.0. Paradox
reportedly got a 9.1, dBase IV a 5.9, and R:Base a 4.4 on the
same set of tests.

Not only does FoxPro claim to be the fastest DBMS, but
according to Microsoft database architect David Fulton the
soon-to-be-released FoxPro 2.5 will be even faster. "Thanks
to new extensions to the exclusive Rushmore query
optimization, FoxPro 2.5 is up to three times faster than FoxPro
2.0 on multiuser and multitable operations," said Fulton.

Microsoft had said previously that it expected it to ship in the
first quarter, and Microsoft spokesperson Cindy McKendry told
Newsbytes that the $495 upgrade is expected to ship by the end
of January.

According to information provided by Microsoft, the NSTL report
said FoxPro performs faster than Paradox on nearly all transaction
tests, and faster than Paradox or dBase on simple queries. The
report recommends FoxPro for its "Xbase file compatibility and
superior tools for developing complex forms-based applications
and reports, especially for uses in a position to use a mouse to
design applications visually."

The Software digest Ratings Report dated December 1992 reported
that NSTL recently re-tested multiuser database programs to
expand upon previously published results in an effort to more
accurately reflect the performance of each product. The December
report quoted NSTL as saying, "Test results presented in this issue
supersede those presented in Software Digest Ratings Report 9.2.
The tests presented here compel NSTL to retract its earlier
characterization of Paradox 4.0 as faster than FoxPro 2.0."

In November 1992, Microsoft announced FoxPro 2.5 for both
Windows and DOS, saying the product would ship early this year,
and would offer cross-platform portability and forward/backward
compatibility.

(Jim Mallory/19930107/Press contact: Cindy McKendry, Waggener
Edstrom for Microsoft, 503-245-0905; Reader contact: Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882-8080 or 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00020)

MacWorld: Wordperfect Intros Version 1.2 Of Works 01/07/93
OREM, UTAH, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Wordperfect is
showing Works 1.2 for Apple Computer's Macintosh platform at
Macworld Expo in San Francisco this week.

The company says the new release includes improvements to the
recently-acquired Beagleworks program for the Macintosh. Works
includes a word processor, database, draw and paint programs,
communications software, and a spreadsheet with charting
capabilities. The program works with Apple's System 7 and
features In-Context Editing, which allows users to change linked
data from any module without leaving the active module.

Other features include Wordperfect and Letterperfect import using
document conversion technology licensed from Mastersoft, the
company that markets Word For Word Professional and Word For
Word for Windows. Works also has built-in virtual memory, a tool
bar shared within each module, and support for the "publish and
subscribe" feature of the Apple operating system 6.0.5 or higher.

Works word processor includes automatic and irregular text wrap,
custom character and paragraph styles, multiple headers and
footers, a graphic ruler, mail merge, and multiple column
capabilities. The spreadsheet has an automatic sum tool, cell
shading, in-cell editing, and a maximum size of 256 columns by
16,384 rows.

In the database module users can create almost 17,000 records
per file and each record can have up to 256 fields per record.
Users can choose from seven specialized field types, use
background pictures, select up to six selection rules per layout,
and choose from a built-in functions list for calculations.

Wordperfect says the communications module offers editable
log-in scripts, text and XModem file transfers, a phone book,
and a capture text capability.

The Draw and Paint modules offer the standard choices of line,
arc, text, rectangle, rounded rectangle, oval, polygon, and freehand
shapes. Object shape can be changed, a fatbits editing mode for
detailed image editing is included, as well as 13 painting tools.

Works will run on any Macintosh platform with a hard drive, a
modem, and one megabyte (MB) of system memory under System
6.0.5 and 2MB under System 7.0.X.

Works caries a retail price of $249. Wordperfect spokesperson
Nancy Pomeroy told Newsbytes a special price of $99 is available
for degree-seeking college and university students and for
teachers and professors at all levels.

If you purchased BeagleWorks before October 16, 1992, you can
upgrade by buying a new set of disks for $6. A free upgrade is
available for Works purchased after that date. Wordperfect says
users of MacWrite II, WriteNow, or any Macintosh Works package
can trade up to Wordperfect Works for $99. BeagleWorks had
carried a $299 price tag, but Wordperfect spokesperson Dave
Terran told Newsbytes at the time the BeagleWorks acquisition
was announced that the price would be reduced.

Wordperfect acquired BeagleWorks from Beagle Brothers in
October, 1992. It was the company's only product, and Beagle
Brothers President Mark Simonsen joined Wordperfect as director
of development for Works. Simonsen is still with Wordperfect.

(Jim Mallory/19930107/Press contact: Dave Terran, Wordperfect
Corporation, 801-228-5013, fax [phone]; Reader contact:
Wordperfect Corporation, 800-451-5151 or 801-228-5000)


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

Supermac, Kodak Announce Strategic Relationship 01/07/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- SuperMac
Technology Inc., and Eastman Kodak have announced a strategic
relationship designed to market computer-based color imaging
products for graphic artists, photographers, publishers, and
prepress professionals.

Under terms of the agreement, SuperMac has licensed Kodak's
Shoebox Image Manager, Photo CD Access, PhotoEdge, and the
Photo CD Acquire Module for Adobe Photoship software for use
in its own software packages.

SuperMac has also introduced a new product family, the PhotoSpeed
Photo CD starter kits. A kit for professionals, called PhotoSpeed
Pro, will include Shoebox and the Photo CD Acquire module.
PhotoSpeed will bundle Shoebox and the PhotoEdge software.

Both PhotoSpeed kits will include a CD-ROM drive, and use a 24-bit
color graphics card that integrates image processing acceleration
and color graphics acceleration on large screen color displays. Both
products have tools for image manipulation, and the images can be
compressed. PhotoSpeed kits come with CD-ROM disks that contain
stock photo images and textures.

The company says it will also include Kodak's Photo CD Access
software with all its new Thunder II graphics cards. Also, its
Thunder II HDTV card, which offers 1,920 by 1,080 picture
element (pixel) resolution, will support the HDTV (high definition
television) mode of Kodak's Photo CD file format in full resolution.
Kodak and SuperMac say they will jointly promote the advantages
of Photo CD-based color publishing through cooperative marketing
programs.

Kodak's Photo CD technology provides for the storage of photographic
images made with conventional cameras on a CD-ROM disk. Several
recent Newsbytes stories have reported on companies introducing
imaging software that can use the Photo CD technology.

Images stored on Photo CD disks can also be displayed on television
monitors or computer systems equipped with a Photo CD-compatible
CD-ROM drive.

"This is just the first step in our relationship with SuperMac, as
together we unlock the high end color imaging market," said Georgia
McCabe, Kodak's director of commercial markets for CD imaging.

PhotoSpeed has a suggested retail price of $3,999, while
PhotoSpeed Pro has a $4,999 price tag, and will be available in
March 1993 for Apple Computer's Macintosh platform. A Windows
version is expected to follow.

(Jim Mallory/19930107/Press contact: Deborah Doyle, SuperMac
Technology, 408-773-4446; Paul McAfee, Eastman Kodak,
716-724-6404; Reader contact for Eastman Kodak: 800-242-2424,
ext 53)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00022)

MacWorld: New Products Address Video Production Needs 01/07/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Continuing
the development of more sophisticated video editing tools for the
Macintosh, Abbate Video Inc., and Avid Technology Inc., has
introduced separate products that could automate much of the
drudgery of video production.

Avid's Media Suite Pro speeds the process of editing industrial
videos produced by corporate video departments. Priced at $9,995,
the application is well within the price range of companies
seeking to bring video production in-house. Media Suite Pro's four
add-in boards digitize video images and sound for storage on a
Mac's hard disk. Although Avid uses the JPEG compression
algorithm, the company still recommends a minimum two
gigabytes (GB) of hard disk space for thirty minutes of video.

After Media Suite Pro digitizes the images, video editors can
use the application's cut-and-paste software to instantly move
between sections of video and quickly reverse edit decisions.
This "non-linear" editing is a boon to editors used to waiting
for tape decks to spool through a tape.

Editors also do not have to send their output to tape to view it
in real-time. Media Suite Pro's accelerator cards use compression
techniques to get around the bandwidth limitations of the NuBus
to display full screen, full-motion video on the Mac. Because of
the number of add-in cards, the Media Suite Pro requires a
Macintosh IIfx or a Quadra with 16 megabytes (MB) of RAM.

Avid is targeting those users in the corporate video world who
want to sit in front of a monitor in "on-line" sessions to
creatively choose which segments of tape to use. However, the
company does not provide an ability to log tape and create edit
lists. These "off-line" chores are essential for managing large video
projects such as documentaries or multiple part interactive
educational videos. Because the final product is high-quality
video produced in professional studios, producers of these projects
use off-line editing to reduce the costs of expensive studio time.

Abbate's upgrade of its Video Toolkit should appeal to these
production managers. For a $279 price, Abbate supplies a tape
logging system that can be linked to the time coding on a video
tape and an ability to control external consumer video equipment
such as the Sony Video Walkman and commercial camcorders.
Abbate has targeted support of consumer video products. Although
it does not directly support the SMPTE time code used in
professional video productions, Abbate does support Sony's
consumer video equivalent, the RC time code, and provides an
extrapolation technique to link the two.

The upgrade also allows users to create QuickTime productions by
supporting any QuickTime-compatible digitizing boards. "Several
of the vendors at MacWorld used our system to create their
QuickTime movies," said Abbate principal Philip Palombo.

Because the application can run on a PowerBook, editors are using
the system in the field, Palombo noted. "We have customers who
are using the Video Toolkit to watch the dailies from a project,"
he said. "They use our product to control a Hi-8 camcorder and a
Sony Video Walkman to create rough cuts of the film while sitting
in their hotel rooms at night."

(Chris Sandlund/19930107)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00023)

Network Management To Quadruple, Demand Keen in Europe 01/07/93
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Sales of
network management systems will quadruple from $3.9 billion in
1992 to $15.8 billion in 1998, and the demand for these products
will be especially keen in Europe, according to the results of a
new study.

Network management revenue growth will proceed steadily and
strongly, exceeding 23 percent for each year through 1998,
according to the study, "LAN/WAN Network Management Software,
Services and Systems Markets."

Market Intelligence, author of the report, attributes the rise to
dramatic increases in connections between LANs (local area
networks), WANs (wide area networks), along with the shift to
multivendor environments and the need for interoperable systems.

Network management software and "intelligent" hubs will show
the mightiest success, the survey projects. Software will balloon
from 10 percent of total US network management revenues in
1992 to 19 percent in 1998. Meanwhile, the share for hubs will
expand from 19 percent to 27 percent.

Outsourcing will maintain the largest portion of the network
management market, although its dominance will decline as other
segments come to the fore.

LANs are being installed in Europe at an even faster rate than in
the US, so vendors face major opportunities in that market, the
study emphasizes.

On a global basis, the role of interexchange carriers in outsourcing
will be boosted by the introduction of frame relay and other public
data services, according to the report. As the networks of many
businesses come to consist of multiple LANs linked together by
WANs, provision of services by a single outsourcing vendor will
become increasingly inadequate.

Carriers with international services will have major strategic
advantages with European companies in need of WAN management,
because many of these firms want to outsource management of
international networks that link LANs in Europe to LANs in the US.

Entry barriers to the network management software market
are relatively low worldwide, the survey notes. Currently,
performance differentiation is more significant than price
competition in this segment, but as the decade moves on, pricing
will play an increasingly significant role. At the same time,
network management software will come to incorporate ever
greater degrees of artificial intelligence.

Businesses around the world are turning away from single-vendors
as a means of supply, and are refusing to be locked into proprietary
systems of any kind, the survey emphasizes.

Although a lack of standardization has allowed some major
vendors to develop de facto standards around their own equipment,
companies that come up with products that work seamlessly with
other vendors' offerings will experience growing advantages.

Yet, these very advantages carry a down side, as well.  Market
Intelligence also predicts that the emergence of "fully open
systems" late in the 1990s will eventually reduce demand for
network management systems.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930107)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00024)

MacWorld: Webster Computer Shows New Software 01/07/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Webster
Computer Corp., is showing a new software product at their
booth at the MacWorld trade show being held this week in San
Francisco. The new program is a control program that is used
with Webster's MultiPort Gateway product.

The MultiPort Gateway is a device that allows the customer to
take an Ethernet connection and connect it to four different
Localtalk connections. In this way, the speed of the Ethernet is
fully used and exploited. Traffic through the MultiPort Gateway
can flow in both directions.

MultiPort Gateways already have on-board a SNMP (simple
network management protocol) agent that is MIB-II compatible
so that many network management stations can get information
from it, as well as configure and manage it. The new MultiPort
Manager software will allow network administrators who do not
have network management stations to also configure and manage
MultiPort Gateway devices.

Multiport Manager software runs on Macintosh computers. The
software is not intended to be a full network management system.
Its sole purpose is to control Multiport Gateways and without
those devices the software is practically useless. For this reason,
Webster is including the software with all shipments of Multiport
Gateways but is not planning to sell it separately. Those customers
who currently own a Multiport Gateway will be able to purchase the
software for $95.

Multiport Manager software will run on any Macintosh from a Plus
on up that has a minimum of one megabyte (MB) of RAM and
supports System 7. The Multiport Manager software is slated to
begin shipping in February of this year.

(Naor Wallach/19930107/Press Contact: Tom Woolf, Woolf Media
Relations for Webster, 415-508-1554/Public Contact: Webster
Computer, 408-954-8054, 800-457-0903)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00025)

MacWorld: Pastel Intros Multiuser Version Of DayMaker 01/07/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Pastel
Development is showing a new version of their personal
organization and calendar program called DayMaker at the
MacWorld show being held in San Francisco this week.

The new program is officially called the DayMaker Multi-User
Pack. Essentially, this new program gives the user all of the
functionality of the original DayMaker 2.0. The main addition to
the program is that it is sold in bundles for more than a single
user.

Technically, however, the changes are much more profound. With
a Multi-User Pack it is now possible for DayMaker users to access
multiple user's time sheets side by side. It is also possible for
the user to direct the program to find time slots when several
people are available to schedule meetings. The program goes
further in that it will notify the person who is scheduling the
meeting whenever any of the prospective attendees reschedule
that time slot.

The final major new capability is the ability to create public
calendars that would be available to selected groups on the
network. This works well for the scheduling of conference rooms,
or for people who wish to adopt an "open door" policy.

The Multi-User Pack will work with any network operating system.
It is System 7-compatible and acts in peer-to-peer
communications mode so no server is required. Sites that have an
installed electronic mail system should rest easy as DayMaker
makes no demands on the system and is compatible with them all.

DayMaker Multi User Packs are available now. A five-user pack
retails for $495.95 while a 10-user pack goes for $850.95.

(Naor Wallach/19930107/Press Contact: Wendy Handler, Handler
Communications for Pastel, 914-591-4926/Public Contact:
Pastel Development, 212-941-7500)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00026)

New For Mac: cc:Mail Remote For Macintosh 01/07/93
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Lotus
Development has announced that they have started shipments of
cc:Mail Remote for Macintosh version 2.0.

The name is somewhat misleading as this is the first appearance
of the product (i.e. there is no version 1.0). Lotus spokespeople
told Newsbytes that the name was selected to show the close
compatibility between this program and cc:Mail for Macintosh
version 2.0 on which the new program is based.

cc:Mail Remote for Macintosh's biggest change is in its ability to
operate remotely using a modem. This allows the software to
access any cc:Mail server and collect the messages that have
accumulated for the user. This capability is available to a user
regardless of the kind of computer that may be acting as a host
to the cc:Mail server.

"The ability to communicate remotely is a critical function for
PowerBook users," said Neil Selvin, Apple's director of marketing
for portable computing. "We are sure that many of the 400,000
PowerBook users will rely upon cc:Mail Remote as an important
tool for connecting PowerBooks into multi-platform environments."

"Lotus' strategy is to provide transparent communication among
different platforms, and the addition of the Macintosh computer to
the cc:Mail Remote family is an important milestone in our cross-
platform effort," said Rex Cardinale, vice president and general
manager of Lotus' cc:Mail division. "Apple has achieved impressive
success with its PowerBook line, and many PowerBook users have
asked us for a remote cc:Mail solution. We already have a large
backorder for this product."

cc:Mail Remote for Macintosh is available now. It retails for
$295 per machine. Lotus has also announced plans for making it
available in 11 different languages aside from English over the
course of the early part of 1993.

(Naor Wallach/19930107/Press Contact: Diane Horak, McGlinchey
& Paul for Lotus, 617-862-4514/Public Contact: Lotus
Development, 617-577-8500)


(NEWS)(IBM)(PAR)(00027)

Swiss IBM Markets Multi-Language Computer 01/07/93
PARIS, FRANCE, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Switzerland is a country
where four languages are spoken. So it is only logical that IBM
Switzerland should be the first to market a computer that
"understands" different languages.

IBM Switzerland will begin marketing the Speech Server Series
in 1994. This computer is capable of speech recognition in
French, German, Italian, English, or Spanish (even though people
do not speak the latter two languages in Switzerland).

The Speech Server Series can recognize 20,000 spoken words.
Although this is only a small percentage of the number of words
a human being uses - which is on average about 300,000 - IBM is
optimistic about its success. Speech Server can take dictation at
70 words per minute in any one of these languages, and has a 95
percent rate of success for recognition.

The computers run on IBM's RISC System/6000 and are aimed at
the markets that involve large numbers of relatively standardized
documents, like healthcare professionals, law enforcement
officials, and researchers.

While the choice of Switzerland is logical for a polyglot
computer, the computer does not recognize Swiss Romande, a
dialect used only in Switzerland by a large percentage of the
population.

(Andrew Rosenbaum/1993/08/01/Press Contact: Lee Hecht, IBM
Europe, Tour Pascal, La Defense 7 Sud, Cedex 40, F-92075 Paris
La Defense, France, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(PAR)(00028)

Siemens In Greek Telecommunications Controversy 01/07/93
PARIS, FRANCE, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Greece, which has one of the
least-developed telecommunications infrastructures in Europe,
has awarded a contract to the German electronics giant Siemens
AG. The contract appears to have has embroiled the Munich-based
company in controversy.

The Greek Telecommunications Office - a government agency
which runs the country's public network - last month awarded
Siemens the lion's share of a 40 billion drachma ($198 million)
contract  to remake the country's public network. The Swedish LM
Ericsson AB got a part of it too.

However,  Siemens' competitors for the contract, which include
AT&T, and Northern Telecom, say that they were unfairly treated
in the contract bidding. Both companies are considering filing
complaints with the Commission for the European Community.

The political conflict in Greece has rendered the controversy
even more complex. A Greek politician has accused the
Telecommunications Office of tailoring the specifications so
that Siemens would be favored for the contract. The matter is
under investigation currently by a Greek judge.

Telecommunications Office Director M. Dimitris Kouremenos
has rejected the charges, saying that all the specifications for
the contract were technically determined.

Siemens and Ericcson both entered the Greek telecommunications
market in 1989. Under the previous Socialist government they
won contracts that were heavily contested later. Several key
officials of that Socialist government have been convicted on
political corruption charges.

Greece has always lagged behind the rest of the EC for
telecommunications services. Analysts say that these
delays will only hold up the country's ability to improve its
telecommunications services.

(Andrew Rosenbaum/19930108)/Press Contact: M. G. Hafner,
Siemens, AG, 4989-722-25700)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(PAR)(00029)

PC Clonemaker Chooses Africa To Rival Far East 01/07/93
PARIS, FRANCE, 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- A former Los Angeles-based
PC clonemaker has chosen Lagos, Nigeria, as the site that he
hopes will rival Southeast Asia as an electronics producer.

Micro Business Systems - Africa's largest mass-producer of
IBM clones, kicked off this year in Lagos, with the goal of
manufacturing  2000 systems every month.

"This is the largest computer manufacturing company in Africa,"
said Director Raghid Keir, who learned computer science at the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) before starting his
own clonemaking concern in 1985.

Keir came to Africa in 1992 with the purpose of applying what
he had learned in LA to a developing nation.

Keir thinks that Africa will be able to follow the model of Taiwan
and Korea, producing machines even cheaper than those made in
Asia. He also sees himself as better-positioned than companies in
those countries to export to Europe. Keir declined to say how long
it will take his African start-up to rival the other producers in the
developing world.

(Andrew Rosenbaum/19930108/Press Contact: Raghid Keir, Micro
Business Systems, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00030)

 ****Comptons To Rent CD-ROMs In Video Stores 01/07/93
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JAN 7 (NB) -- Comptons
NewMedia has launched a marketing first -- the company will
allow its CD-ROM titles to be rented in video stores.

Major Video Concepts of Indianapolis says it will rent 20
Comptons titles, ranging from children's books to historical
compilations, to an electronic cookbook. Specific titles include:
Jazz, a Multimedia History; World View; USA Wars: Civil War;
1992 Guinness Disc of Records; Sleeping Beauty; Mega Movie
Guide; Information USA; and Compton's Multimedia Golf Guide.

Major Video Concepts operate 17 video rental stores
throughout the US.

"Our goal is to make CD-ROM software as ubiquitous as videos in
today's society," said Norman Bastin, senior vice president and
general manager of Compton's NewMedia. "We do not have the
preview and marketing avenues of movies in theaters or radio
for music. We believe that rental is an excellent way for
the consumer to use and experience a product before buying.
Our research shows that the correlation of VCR owners and PC
owners is very high, making this an excellent distribution
source."

Although software rental is illegal without approval from the
software publisher under current law, Comptons says it has
obtained these rights and will provide Major Video Copncepts
special discs and packaging earmarked for rental only. Apart
from these specially marked discs, software rental is still not
allowed by law.

In another announcement, Comptons NewMedia announced that
it will ship fifty new CD-ROM titles in the first quarter of
this year that feature M.O.S.T., an operating system technology
capable of allowing the discs to run on DOS, Macintosh,
Windows, and Sony's new multimedia player machines.

Compatibility between various platforms has been a stumbling
block in the way of more widespread use of CD-ROMs, suggests
Tom McGrew, Compton's vice president of sales. He claims that
"by offering a title on a single CD-ROM that can run in several
different operating systems, we can streamline the number of
(discs) retailers need to stock of that particular program. This
frees them up to widen the variety of titles they offer."

(Wendy Woods/19930107)