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/nb930428

Text File | 1993-04-28 | 65KB | 1,418 lines

(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00001)

Siemens Secures Major Bulgarian Telecoms Contract 04/28/93
MUNICH, GERMANY, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Siemens, the German
electronics company, has announced it has bid successfully for
a major Bulgarian telecommunications contract. Terms of the
deal, which is worth more than DM 10 million ($5 million) calls
for Siemens to modernize the Bulgarian telephone network.

The bulk of the initial stages in the contract involve Siemens
installing more than 80,000 of its digital switching systems,
as well as glass fiber cabling.

Siemens plans to use its Digicom joint venture company already in
place in Hungary to service the contract, which lasts for a three-
year period. The joint-venture operation, which is based in Sophia,
Bulgaria, will sub-contract several functions to local companies.

The deal, which is one of the largest foreign telecoms orders for
Bulgaria, will allow the domestic telephone network in the
country to be greatly expanded, Newsbytes notes. While several
international telecoms companies - notably AT&T and MCI - have
established high-capacity telecoms links with Bulgaria, the
internal domestic system is still overloaded.

(Steve Gold/19930427)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00002)

Ericsson To Install Greek Digital Mobile Phone Net 04/28/93
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Ericsson has secured a
prestigious contract to supply and install Greece's first digital
mobile phone network. The contract, awarded by Stet-Hellas, one
of two mobile phone companies operating in Greece, is worth
around $66 million.

The contract, which will run for a two year period starting this
summer, calls for the Swedish telecoms company to install a
complete groupe speciale mobile (GSM) digital phone network,
consisting of base stations and links between them and the
public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Within two years, around 60 percent of Greece will be within
range of a GSM base station. The network will cover most of
mainland Greece and its major islands.

GSM is fast becoming an international standard for digital mobile
phones, Newsbytes notes. The opening of the Greek network will
mean that 20 European countries will have a GSM network in place
by the end of this year, together with GSM networks in places as
far-flung as Australia and South America.

A key advantage of GSM is the fact that the "intelligence" of a
mobile phone is held on a smart card known as a subscriber
information module (SIM). SIMs can be slipped from phone to
phone, even in different countries, allowing calls to be charged
to the subscriber's account.

(Steve Gold/19930427)


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

Royal Bank Of Scotland First With Photocards 04/28/93
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- After testing photos on
its debit cards for the past few years, the Royal Bank of Scotland
has announced it will use photocard technology on its Highline
debit and cheque card guarantee cards from this summer onwards.

The bank estimates that, by using photos laser etched on to the
surface of its cards, it can eliminate around 99.9 percent of plastic
card fraud with its cards. Tests in 39 of its 800 branches over the
last few years have shown that fraud at those branches has been
cut from UKP45,000 to just UKP494.

Photocard trials are currently taking place in most of the UK bank's
credit card operations. The Royal Bank's move to photo cards on its
Highline debit/cheque cards, however, is the first in the UK. Industry
experts predict that, now that one bank has mandated its customers
with the requirement, other banks will follow shortly.

Plastic card fraud in the UK is said to cost the banks and card issues
around UKP140 million each year. The Royal Bank of Scotland claims
that photocards can reduce this figure to a very small percentage.

(Steve Gold/19930427)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00004)

Actebis To Acquire Schneider Computers 04/28/93
SOEST, GERMANY, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Actebis, one of Germany's
largest PC manufacturers and distributors, has announced it has
acquired Schneider Computers for an undisclosed sum.

Terms of the deal call for Actebis to formally take over all of
Schneider's PC operations on July 1. At that point, Actebis will
begin producing Schneider's PCs, although there no plans to
change the company's brand name.

"We signed the contracts at the Cebit computer show last month,
but have now gone public on the deal," explained Alwin Urban,
purchasing manager with Actebis.

Urban went on to tell Newsbytes that he expects to be able to cut
pricing on Schneider PCs as soon as possible after the transfer date.
Schneider has been criticized in the UK for its over-priced hardware,
although the company has claimed that its products are the victim
of a strong Deutschmark and a weak Pound.

Schneider's PCs are handled on an exclusive basis by Greyhound
Marketing, a Leeds-based computer distributor. According to Phil
Arlott, Greyhound's marketing director, the takeover will result in
substantial reductions in the price of Schneider products.

"The company's PCs have been difficult to sell over the last year
owing to their price. We've already been talking to Schneider about
its pricing plans and, as a result, are already offering special
prices. For instance, we can do a 386SX-based LAN (local area
network) station for as little as UKP235," he said.

So what do you get for that sort of money? Greyhound is offering
a 16 megahertz (MHz) with one megabyte (MB) of memory and a
42MB hard disk. Several options are available on the LAN station,
including larger memory capacities and a larger hard disk.

Arlott told Newsbytes that, while Schneider's PC operations will
transfer to Actebis on July 1, the company's hi-fi division, which
still has an office in the UK, will continue as a separate entity.

Back at Actebis in Germany, Urban said that the planned price
reductions on Schneider's PCs were possible because of economies
of scale in production. "We produce around 140,000 PCs a year
compared to Schneider's 50,000, so we expect the combined sales
to benefit both companies," he said.

(Steve Gold/19930427/Press & Public Contact: Greyhound
Marketing (UK) - Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; Actebis -
Tel: (Germany) [phone]; Schneider - Tel: (Germany)
[phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00005)

Harvest Offers Fax Link To Transaction Processing 04/28/93
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Linking paper
to automated transaction processing systems will be easier with
new software from Harvest Software.

The company announced the first in, what it calls, a family of
Forms Data Interchange (FDI) products, designed to automate the
handling of things like purchase orders, patient records and time
cards. The system enters data from faxed forms directly into
mainframe applications.

The Harvest software system runs under OS/2 version 2.0 on Intel
80486-based servers. The initial release integrates fax forms
with transaction applications operating in IBM mainframe
environments. AS/400 applications will be supported in an
upcoming release.

The products available now are: Harvest Master, which creates
an environment for creating forms linked to fax documents,
allowing data to be pulled from them; and Harvest Operator, a
production tool for executing fax form applications and
providing things like audit trails and reports.

Among the beta testers of the software were Mercury Marine,
which makes boat motors and other parts, and Boise Cascade, a
distributor of office supplies. Harvest Master has a list price
of $35,000, while Harvest Operator costs $15,000.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930427/Press Contact: Harvest
Software, Jan Hames, 408-245-2600)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00006)

Digital Soup Ships Voice Recognition Software For PC 04/28/93
BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Digital Soup,
has begun shipping its Rover voice recognition software for
Windows 3.1. The vendor says Rover works with popular audio
boards such as Creative Labs' Sound Blaster and Media Vision's
Pro Audio Spectrum, and can be set up to execute any predefined
action within a Windows application.

According to Mike Henkle, the company's vice-president of
marketing, the Rover software will let users give voice commands
to any Windows software. Users define commands by entering a
spoken command and then entering the series of keystrokes they
want that command to perform, Henkle said.

A voice command can be defined to mean the same thing in any
application, or it can have different definitions in different
applications, he added.

Rover comes with a basic 50-word command dictionary. Each user
must train the software to understand his or her voice. Users can
also customize the basic dictionary and add their own commands.
Henkle said there is no limit to the number of commands, other
than disk space and the fact that words that sound too similar
might confuse the software.

A frequency and level meter and a program launcher are also
included in the software. Rover has a list price of $129, with
a special introductory price of $49, the company said.

The software requires a computer with a 386 or 486 processor,
Windows 3.1, a mouse or other pointing device, and a sound board
and microphone.

(Grant Buckler/19930427/Press Contact: Mike Henkle, Digital
Soup, 802-254-7356, fax [phone]; Public Contact: Digital
Soup, 800-793-7356 or 802-254-7356)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00007)

International Telecom Update 04/28/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Eastern Europe
took the international telecommunications spotlight as a number
of countries reported increased investment.

Bulgaria, once known as the place where computer viruses are
born, will see $2 billion invested into its digital phone network
over the next 15 years. A new digital exchange will offer 3,000
international lines, while 100,000 businesses will get digital
phone lines, in work mainly funded by European consortia. In
their recent book "Approaching Zero," Paul Mungo and Bryan Clough
wrote that some Bulgarians got into virus-authoring in the mid-
80s after being given low-powered PCs but no jobs. Joining the
outside world could put an end to the threat.

Romania's plans are even bigger, in absolute terms, as $8 billion
is being invested. However, even by the year 2005, the planned
ratio of phones to people will still be lower than Bulgaria's
planned ratio of 32 per 100. In the short term, Romania is
hoping to license mobile phone operators to serve up to 10,000
businesses. An end to the state's service monopoly is also part
of the plan. The same European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development which is helping with Bulgaria's rebuilding is
involved in Romania, along with the World Bank.

To the north, both the Czech and Slovak republics are winning
new investments, despite their break-up. The Czechs hope to get
phones into nearly two-thirds of households, mostly through
digital exchanges, at a cost of $4.6 billion. Selling half of SPT
Telecom, the state phone company, is also part of the plan, with
foreigners taking a 27 percent stake. Competition will also be
sought for SPT. Slovakia is moving more slowly, with the EBRD
funding 200,000 new access lines, a new fiber backbone, and an
international exchange at Bratislava.

Hungary, which was the most advanced of the Eastern European
economies at the time of the Soviet empire's break-up, is strong
enough to win loans from the Export-Import Bank of Japan. The
Hungarian Telecommunications Company won a loan worth about
$60 million, co-financed with the EBRD, to re-build facilities in
Budapest and the surrounding rural area. Such loans are
considered a major coup for Hungary, and an expression of faith
in its rebuilding efforts.

The big prize, and the big problem, remains Russia. In the wake
of President Yeltsin's narrow win in an April 25 confidence
referendum, ministers bragged on $300 million in new investment,
including previously-reported international switches at Moscow
and St. Petersbourg, and the construction of fiber trunk lines
across the country, long-delayed by Cold War-era policies which
feared such lines could not be tapped by Western spy agencies.
The EBRD has put the cost of bringing new phone lines to Russia
alone at $25 billion.

Elsewhere in Europe, the EC is still awaiting word on the size of
US sanctions against its telecom suppliers, following the
breakdown of tariff talks. US Trade Representative Mickey
Kantor is urging a firm line, while Treasury Secretary Lloyd
Bentsen is working to soften the blow. The EC Commission wants
to liberalize all telecom services by 1998, a move which could
open the markets to US companies like AT&T and MCI.

In Asia, shockwaves continue to spread from the state takeover of
the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company as part of an effort
to root-out the influence of Marcos-era personnel in the economy.
Antonio Cojuangco is being forced out as President, despite the
fact he's a nephew of former President Aquino. President Fidel
Ramos is determined to break the monopolies which now control
his nation's economy, in hopes of winning new foreign investment,
and the PLDT was at the top of the list. Before launching the
takeover, he had attempted to license a competitor to PLDT, and
it was Cojuangco's resistance to that move which finally forced
his hand. In the short run, of course, nationalization is
turning-off private investors who fear Ramos or a successor
could turn on them.

The Philippine problems, however, run counter to the general
trend toward more investment throughout Southeast Asia. Hongkong,
which has the most advanced telecom infrastructure in the world,
bought new CO Access voice processing platforms from Boston
Technology of the US, which will be put on-line with
Hongkong Telecom CSL, a local GSM digital cellular service
provider which goes on-line this summer. The new system will
provide voice messaging, call answerning and a text-based
message service similar to paging, Boston Technology said. The
company estimated the contract is worth $2-3 million, with the
first system going in by June.

In Thailand, French and Japanese companies were the big winners
as TT&T finally began letting equipment contracts on its 25-year
concession to improve the telephone infrastructure around
Bangkok. The first quarter-million lines under the contract could
go into operation as early as next year, TT&T said.

Finally, if you're traveling to Latin America or the Caribbean,
Executive Telecard has enhanced its MasterPhone Telephone
service, allowing direct-dial calls to be placed from 47
countries and operator-assisted service from over 60 countries,
using MasterCard credit cards. The new service becomes
available In May, and impacts 13 million cardholders.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930428/Press Contact: Robert N. Schuck,
TeleCard, 914-627-2060; Marcus Molina, MasterCard International,
305-539-2320; Katherine Raphaelson, Boston Technology,
617-246-9000 ext 3504)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00008)

Microcom Intros DeskPorte MNP 10 Modem 04/28/93
NORWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Microcom
has released a new PC modem featuring its MNP 10 error correction
and compression scheme.

The DeskPorte is a 14,400 bits-per-second (bps) modem which
uses MNP 10 compression to achieve a claimed throughput of
57,600 bps. The chief advantage of MNP 10 is that it can adapt
to noisy lines, speeding up or slowing down the transmission of
data as conditions permit. The DeskPorte also supports the
industry-standard V.32bis modulation system and V.42bis error-
correction scheme. It carries a retail price of $499.

MNP 10 was pushed originally for cellular modems, where poor-line
quality is a continuing problem. However, most cellular calls are to
desktop machines, and the DeskPorte is designed as the other end
of those calls. Microcom spokesmen said that some users dial-in
10-15 times per day to access local area networks, so reliability
and speed are becoming increasingly crucial. The modem comes
with both fax and data software from Delrina Technology.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930428/Press Contact: David Powers,
Microcom Inc., 617-551-1955; customer contact: 800-822-8224)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00009)

Hayes Intros Smartcom For Windows Comms Software 04/28/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Hayes has
delivered its Smartcom for Windows communication program,
with an introductory price of $49 through July.

This is the first version of Hayes' flagship communication
program using the Windows graphical user interface. It features
Hayes' SCOPE scripting language, a full-featured text editor, and
a capability called "Smart Buttons" which allows for creation of
a custom user interface, using both Hayes icons and standard
Windows features. It works with either Windows 3.0 or 3.1, and
is available in versions for most common European languages,
including French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Also, more than
one of those languages can be installed in a hard disk, giving
multinational organizations the ability to make all workers
more comfortable.

Other features in the new program include support for Windows'
DDE (dynamic data exchange), allowing downloaded files to be
automatically shared with other applications, and strict
adherence to Windows interface guidelines.

The program is available immediately at both computer specialty
stores and superstores like CompUSA, Micro Center, and Computer
City, as well as the Egghead Software chain. Early versions of
the product won strong reviews from leading computer magazines.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930428/Press Contact: Angie Ciarloni,
Hayes, tel [phone]; fax [phone])


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

General Instruments In Deal With Microsoft, Intel 04/28/93
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- After weeks of
speculation, General Instrument (GI) closed a deal with Intel
and Microsoft to integrate 386 chips and a version of Microsoft
Windows in its set-top cable TV converters. GI has about 60
percent of the set-top converter market.

At the NAB show in Las Vegas recently, General Instruments'
spokesmen emphasized that no deal had been signed, but a
demonstration of Modular Windows, the technology which will be
put into the proposed set-top converters, was prominent at the
company's booth. Microsoft spokesmen called the effect of putting
a Windows interface on a TV the "power potato," meaning it
empowers coach potatoes to access a variety of new services.

However, Apple chairman John Sculley dismissed the idea, saying
a TV interface must "make a telephone look complex," while IBM
vice president and general manager for multimedia Lucie Fjeldstad
demonstrated a TV interface based on voice commands she said
has a better chance of success.

GI is still going ahead, in part because digital compression from
leading cable operators like Tele-Communication means they
will soon be offering 500-750 channels, and standard "zapping"
controls just will not be good enough for viewers. GI is a leading
supplier of converters to TCI, but no contracts have been signed
regarding converters on the 500-channel system.

GI said in a press statement, that the new converters will allow
for such things as movies on-demand, interactive home shopping
and information access, all from a viewer's easy chair. Chairman
Donald Rumsfeld said the product will be available next year. "By
incorporating the established infrastructure that created the PC
revolution, GI will have a powerful, flexible and extremely cost-
effective product that will benefit both the cable industry and
the ultimate user, the cable subscriber," he said.

One of the initial third-party applications expected are on-screen
electronic program guides.  The first group of guides will likely
help viewers search by subject matter, but they should quickly
evolve to include movie previews for video-on demand services,
home shopping, and enhanced music programming in which
viewers can order CDs or lyric sheets while watching videos.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930428/Press Contact: Intel, Pam Pollace,
408/765-1435; General Instrument, Jim Barthold, 215/956-6448;
Microsoft, Marty Taucher, 206/882-8080)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(ATL)(00011)

Digital Cellular Battle Goes to Court 04/28/93
KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) --
The digital cellular standards battle between InterDigital
Communications, with its TDMA (Time Division Multiple
Access) scheme, and Qualcomm, with its CDMA (Code Division
Multiple Access) scheme, is going to court.

Qualcomm sued InterDigital for patent infringement in southern
California, after InterDigital bought SCS Mobilecomm, holder of
some CDMA patents, and decided Qualcomm's proposal might
infringe on SCS' B-CDMA patent portfolio. InterDigital has also
sued Qualcomm, through a US District Court near its offices, in
Philadelphia, charging that it and OKI Electric are violating its
CDMA patents.

TDMA divides a calling channel into multiple parts and sends
digital signals through each mini-channel. CDMA sends digital
information throughout a calling channel, using computer
controls to put it back together at the other end of the call.

TDMA is endorsed by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry
Association and is being implemented by, among others, McCaw
Cellular and Southwestern Bell. TDMA  has been endorsed by Bell
Atlantic and US West, and Qualcomm is now trying to get its
standard endorsed by the Telecommunications Industry
Association. Qualcomm issued a press statement saying 21
of 28 TIA committee members approved adopting its CDMA
standard.

The InterDigital suit charges that CDMA hand-sets made by OKI
under license from Qualcomm infringe its patent 5,179,571,
which covers hand-off calls between cells. InterDigital has
also told that TIA committee that PN-3118, the Qualcomm
CDMA standard, infringes on its hand-off patent.

An InterDigital vice president, David Smith, told Newsbytes
that he is confident his company's lawyers can prevail in
their suit.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930428/Press Contact: Richard
Grannis, Qualcomm, 619-597-5146; David Smith, InterDigital,
tel [phone]; fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00012)

Bell Company Update 04/28/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- US regional Bell
companies continue to search for new markets to enhance their
profits from local services.

US West announced the market test of a service called CityKey
of San Francisco, accessed via 1,000 SpectraVision terminals
in major hotels and offering restaurant menus, maps, local
calendars, and "tours" of the city fed through Compact Discs. The
project, a six-month trial, is a joint venture between US West and
SpectraVision parent, Spectradyne of Dallas. The service includes
about 4,000 business listings and ads from about 50 of them.

Pacific Bell, the regional Bell company for California,
redesigned its bills. The company said the organization of
information is more logical, with more bold type and shading and
more use of summaries and sub-totals. It said many of the changes
are based on suggestions from customers. The re-design is part of
Pacific Bell's plan to ready itself for competition in in-state
long distance, as AT&T is expected to win the right to compete in
that market this summer.

Ameritech made two announcements. It agreed to buy a Siemens
Stromberg-Carlson switch to serve the area around the University
of Chicago. The new EWSD switch will be equipped with ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Networks) software, making that
technology immediately available to people around the campus.
Ameritech also uses Siemens switches for its switched
multimegabit data services (SMDS) offering in Chicago. Software
which will also allow that switch to offer frame relay services
is on the way. The new Siemens switch should be installed
at its Dorchester office by September.

Ameritech also said it will distribute SpectraLink's Pocket
Communications System, which allows phones inside buildings
linked to either a company's switch or the phone company's
Centrex service to go without wires. Since the calls are routed
through a single switch, there are no time charges or monthly
usage fees. SpectraLink is based in Boulder, Colorado.

Finally, while Southern New England Telephone is not a Bell
company, it does have a local service monopoly in southern
Connecticut. It became the fifth local phone company to ask
permission to test home video services on its network. If the
trial is approved by US regulators, 500 West Hartford homes
will get the video-on-demand service by the end of the year.
The Federal Communications Commission began allowing
telephone companies to participate in the video market in
August, 1992.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930428/Press Contact: Roger Hall,
Siemens Stromberg-Carlson 407-955-6700, Pacific Bell,
Judy Peterson, 408/491-4444; Ameritech, Marianne Myers,
312/906-4204; SpectraLink, Ellen Vineski, 303/440-5330;
US West, Carolyne Kennedy, 303/784-2572; Spectradyne
Janice Schroer, 214/301-9016)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00013)

Canadian Telecom Act Amendments Remove Licensing 04/28/93
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- The Canadian
government has introduced amendments to its proposed new
telecommunications act that would remove a licensing requirement.
Established Canadian carriers were unhappy with the licensing
plan, which was intended to help enforce Canadian ownership
requirements.

In place of the licensing provisions, which would have required
all communications carriers covered by the act (not including
long-distance resellers) to get licenses, the amendments give
the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission (CRTC) the power to enforce Canadian-ownership
rules.

The proposed new law would restrict foreign ownership of
carriers to 20 percent, although existing carriers that are more
than 20 percent foreign-owned could remain so.

In the proposed amendments, the licensing provisions are
replaced with a number of new clauses giving the CRTC power
to regulate ownership and related matters.

The amendments also fine-tune a provision called forbearance,
that allows the CRTC to decide not to exercise its regulatory
powers if it decides that a hands-off policy will best serve the
aims of telecommunications policy. The revised forbearance
provisions place more emphasis on competition, and require the
regulatory body to forbear regulation where it finds there is
full competition in a particular area.

The act, first tabled in February, 1992, was to receive second
reading in the House of Commons this week. If passed, it will
replace the antiquated Railway Act, which has been the basis
of federal telecommunications regulation in Canada since 1881.

A key effect of the new act -one not affected by the
amendments - is to assert the federal government's authority
over telecommunications across Canada. In the past, telephone
companies in many provinces have been regulated by provincial
governments.

(Grant Buckler/19930428/Press Contact: John Morton, Dept. of
Communications, 613-990-4842)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00014)

IBM Programming Systems, Object Design In Alliance 04/28/93
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- IBM's
Programming Systems unit and Object Design of Burlington,
Massachusetts, have unveiled a strategic relationship centered
around object-oriented database technology.

The deal gives IBM a minority stake in Object Design and provides
for the two companies to work together on tying Object Design's
software more closely to IBM's database products while IBM uses
the Object Design products in developing its own software.

The relationship has four main parts: firstly, IBM Programming
Systems, which is responsible for IBM's database products, has
made Object Design's ObjectStore its object database management
system of choice for developing software products. ObjectStore
will be the object storage mechanism for IBM's AD/Cycle
application development platform, for application development
on IBM's AIX flavor of Unix, and for other commercial software
development. IBM said it will incorporate the software in
products such as work-flow management and compiler tools,
and mechanical design automation offerings.

Secondly, IBM and Object Design announced a joint technology and
development agreement. The main thrust of this effort for the
moment will be connectivity and interoperability between
ObjectStore and IBM's relational database products, such as DB2,
said IBM spokeswoman Karla Feuer. "We expect to do other things
as the relationship evolves," she added.

Thirdly, ObjectStore will be the object database management
system of choice for internal IBM software applications. IBM has
been a customer of Object Design since 1991, officials said.

Finally, IBM has purchased an equity position in Object Design.
Neither company would reveal the exact size of IBM's stake,
though spokespeople at both firms described it as a significant
minority position.

Jennifer Jester, a spokeswoman for Object Design, said the
combination of IBM's equity investment and its purchases of
Object Design products will bring her company $27 million over
the first 15 months of the five-year agreement.

"This agreement will help IBM Programming Systems quickly
bring to market object-oriented products that meet customers'
needs for managing highly complex data in open-system,
client-server, workgroup environments," said Earl F. Wheeler,
senior vice-president and general manager of IBM Programming
Systems, in a prepared statement.

(Grant Buckler/19930428/Press Contact: Karla Feuer, IBM,
914-642-5473; Jennifer Jester, Object Design, 617-270-9797)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00015)

IBM Moving Personal Software Group To Texas 04/28/93
SOMERS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- In an effort to
consolidate management and development operations, IBM has
announced plans to move its Personal Software Products
division headquarters from Somers, New York, to Austin, Texas.

Austin is one of the division's three development sites. The
others are in Boca Raton, Florida, and Mountain View, California.
IBM officials said moving the headquarters staff to Austin will
place it about midway between the other two sites.

Austin was also attractive because of the number of other
high-technology companies based in the area, IBM officials said.

The move is scheduled to begin in July and be completed by the
end of the third quarter this year. About 60 IBM employees,
including senior division executives, product management,
marketing, and legal staff, will be affected, IBM spokesman
Steven Malkiewicz said. The relocated staff will move into
existing IBM facilities in Austin, he added.

The change will create "a little tighter synergy" between the
division's management and its development people, Malkiewicz
predicted.

(Grant Buckler/19930428/Press Contact: Steven Malkiewicz,
IBM, 914-642-5449)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00016)

Japanese Electronic Makers Shift Production To Europe 04/28/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Many Japanese home
electronic appliance makers have been shifting production of
their to the countries where the products are sold. Eventually,
this will allow the vendors to stop exporting their products
to those countries.

Japan's Sharp and Sanyo have been planning a major move of
their television set manufacturing operations from their South
Asian plants to European plants.

Currently, these vendors are producing the products in such
South East Asian countries as Malaysia and Singapore, and are
exporting them to Europe. However, it is reported that Sharp
and Sanyo will stop exporting television sets to Europe from
their South East Asian plants in this September.

Sharp is currently producing 1.4 million television sets per
year at its Malaysian plant, and is exporting 200,000 units
to the European market. Sharp is planning to increase the
production of TV sets at its Spanish plant from 600,000 units
to 800,000 units per year.

Sanyo will also increase the local production at its British
plant. Currently, the firm is producing 400,000 television sets
a year, but will boost that to 600,000 units.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930428/Press Contact:
Sharp, tel [phone]; fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00017)

Japan - Recovery Seen In PC Sales 04/28/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Personal computer sales
have been picking up recently in Japan, according to the Japan
Electronics Industry Promotion Association.

According to the association, total PCs shipment units for the
fourth quarter of fiscal 1992 (January-March, 1993) were
698,000, which is six percent more than the same period in
the previous year.

A total of 2,207,000 units were shipped in fiscal 1992. This
annual shipment figure is still a four percent decrease over
the previous year. However, the latest quarter figures show
an increase.

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 1992, a total of 544,000
personal computers were shipped in Japan, which represents a
one percent increase. Also, 144,000 units were exported. This
represents a 31 percent increase.

The future of personal computer market in Japan is quite
bright with many people purchasing products as a result
of hardware price wars. Also, the Japanese Ministry of
Education is planning to install 330,000 PCs - worth 20
billion-yen ($180 million - at public schools next year.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930428)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEL)(00018)

India - NIIT R&D Division Produces Revenue 04/28/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Tucked in the basement
of NIIT's (formerly National Institute of Information Technology -
India's largest computer training company) sprawling South Delhi
office is its Computer Application Research Division (CARD). The
two year-old unit is perhaps one of the few research and
development divisions that are self-sustaining.

Sales of over Rs 70 lakh, (around $234,000) from June 1991 to
March 1993, are testimony of its ability to support itself.
The areas of CARD's operations are artificial intelligence and
multimedia. In the past two years CARD claims a number of
firsts in both areas.

Its multimedia linking product - IMAGINET - received
international acclaim when NASA and other US government
agencies endorsed the utility of the product. IMAGINET (from
IMAGE NETworking and imagination) links images (full-screen
pictures) to other images, sound files or external programs. For
example, an external Dbase application program can be linked to
a relevant location within a map, to read and display the
required data when necessary.

CARD has also developed an Operation Theater Information System
(OTIS), that provides complete information about the patient being
operated on by audio-visual means. Developed using IMAGINET,
OTIS displays blood reports, x-rays, angiography pictures, and
laboratory results.

In the field of expert systems the unit has won a contract from
the Bureau of Indian Standards for developing a "Fire Protection
Expert System." Sugata Mitra, principal scientist, claims this
to be the "largest system to be developed in India and is also the
first that will be marketed all over the country by the Bureau of
Indian standards." Mitra says the system will "provide assistance
to architects, engineers and regulatory bodies to implement fire
protection measures in buildings."

The unit is now developing packages for various national and
international organizations, including a Hypermedia application
for the Geological Survey of America and the Windows version of
Imaginet. Bio-recognition, which has tremendous potential in
security applications, is also on the development list.

However, one of the most interesting projects being developed
in CARD's labs involves artificial life. Mitra has already
demonstrated examples of software organisms which it claims,
"almost behave as if they were living beings." Existing areas of
research, like speech recognition will also be explored further.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19930422)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00019)

UK - Microsoft Announces SQL SDK For Windows NT 04/28/93
WINNERSH, WOKINGHAM, ENGLAND, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Microsoft
has begun shipping the SQL (structured query language) server
client-server development kit for the Windows New Technology
(NT) operating system.

According to Microsoft, the preliminary development kit allows
corporate developers, value-added resellers and systems
integrators to start building distributed, client-server
applications now that will fully exploit the Windows NT
platforms, including its scalable 32-bit architecture,
symmetric multiprocessing, high reliability, and security.

"Hundreds of corporations are evaluating Windows NT today as
a platform for new client-server solutions," said Dr. Charles
Emes, SQL server product manager with Microsoft. "With SQL
Server for Windows NT, MIcrosoft is providing corporate IT
managers a key component for building distributed applications for
Windows NT that integrate with enterprise data and support a wide
range of client environments, including the MS-DOS and Windows
operating systems, Mac, OS/2 and Unix."

The client-server development kit contains a preliminary
version of SQL Server designed specifically for the Windows NT
operating system. SQL Server for Windows NT claims to incorporate
all the features of SQL Server 4.2 from Microsoft, including robust
transaction processing, server-enforced data integrity, remote
stored procedures, high availability and distributed transactions.

The UKP495 kit is designed for use with the March 1993 beta
release of Windows NT. This version, which has shipped to around
70,000 users, requires around 16 megabytes (MB) of memory,
Newsbytes notes. The SQL kit, meanwhile, will run on a 386 or
better-based PC with at least 12MB of memory (16MB is
recommended) and 30MB of hard disk space.

(Steve Gold/19930428/Press & Public Contact: Microsoft -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00020)

Dataflex Cuts Modem Costs With Flash Memory 04/28/93
WIMBLEDON, LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Dataflex
Design has started equipping its range of high-speed, V.32Bis
Rapier+ fax/modems with flash memory as standard, with the
aim of saving users time and money.

Flash memory allows users to update the control software of the
modem (often referred to as firmware) from disk, rather than by
using replacement chips. The company cites the analogy of being
able to update a PC's BIOS (basic input/output system) chipset
using a disk instead of plugging in a new chip.

The idea behind the change is to allow more frequent field updates
to the firmware of a modem. Dataflex cites the example of major
companies which do not have the time to update the chips in the
modems - updating from disk is much more cost-effective, it
claims.

"In an increasingly competitive market, it is important to add
value, such as a five-year warranty, as well as provide cost-
effective products. Without flash memory, updating the modem
is time-consuming and difficult to the end user, particularly if
this means going out to a number of sites to remove an obsolete
chip, install a new one and then test the modem to BABT
specifications," explained Phil Benge, Dataflex Design's
marketing director.

Flash memory works with an electrical charge being applied to the
silicon of the chip, erasing the binary data and then recoding the
chip with the new data. By stepping through each bit of data
sequentially, the firmware of the modem can be updated in a
matter of seconds.

(Steve Gold/19930428/Press & Public Contact: Dataflex
Design - Tel: [phone]; fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00021)

 ****Voice Activated PC Debuts In UK 04/28/93
EAST GRINSTEAD, SUSSEX, ENGLAND, 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Imagine
being able to control a PC, dictating copy into the machine at 30
words a minute. Enter the Shakespeare Speechwriter, a fully
voice-activated PC system that supports dictation speeds
of 30 words a minute - equal, the company claims, to the speed
of a proficient typist.

Shakespeare Speechwriter UK claims that real speech-controlled
PCs have not been feasible until now, owing to inadequate
processing speeds, restricted vocabularies and an inability to
understand individual speech patterns.

The system must be taught the idiosyncrasies of an individual's
voice, a process that the company admits takes a couple of hours.
As it used, it adapts itself to the user's voice and can actually be
speeded up. The basic dictionary of the system is 80,000 words
long, although extra words are added as the software learns the
user's voice.

In use, as words are spoken, they are identified in the dictionary
and converted to digital text which is then shown on the screen.
Ambiguous words - such as there, they're and their - are flagged
as options, with the most frequently-used items being the one
initially chosen by the system. A simple spoken command makes
the selection from the options available

Malcolm McPherson, managing director of Shakespeare Speechwriter
UK, said that two breakthroughs have made the voice-activated
system, which is the result of five years' work, possible.

"PCs based on Intel's 486 processor now have the power to convert
speech into text at speed, while the specially-developed Organizer
within the package provides a quick way to resolve any errors and
ambiguities," he said.

The complete Shakespeare Speechwriter system, which is based
around a Compaq Prolinea 4/50, costs UKP4,995. This price
includes all tutorials and a mike, the company claims.

(Steve Gold/19930428/Press & Public Contact: Shakespeare
Speechwriter - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00022)

Storagetek Ships Viewer Software For Tape Drives 04/28/93
LOUISVILLE, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Storage
Technology is now shipping software that can directly
access documents stored on tape that have traditionally been
archived on microfiche.

The company said ViewDirect, which it developed in conjunction
with Mobius Management Systems, significantly reduces the costs
associated with storage and retrieval of report archives. ViewDirect
allows the user to view files stored on one of Storagetek's family
of automated cartridge system libraries.

Storagetek VP William Readwell believes the company's tape
libraries are becoming the repository for all the data generated by
the enterprise. "We're expanding the capabilities of our Automated
Cartridge System (ACS) robotic libraries. With ViewDirect, managing
report archives via the Storagetek library assures data security,
control and availability, and low cost."

According to Mobius Director of Marketing Steven Subar, ViewDirect
provides enterprises with a single integrated gateway to stored
information. "We call it 'One Company - One View.' ViewDirect is
a software product that offers direct access to report archives on
any media." Subar says ViewDirect is especially effective when
used with one of Storagetek's ACS systems, matching report
access frequency, the speed of available storage devices and the
cost of storage to optimize long term retention in the access of
report archives.

The company says one of ViewDirect's key features is its ability to
serve many viewers who need access to information stored on a
single tape. The program also has a feature called Section Indexing
that takes the user directly to a report section without scrolling
or searching, making retrieval faster. Storagetek says the direct
access of information provided by DirectView is less expensive
than other computer output microfilm replacement systems that
archive data to tape, because they require restaging to a direct
access storage device (DASD) for on-line viewing. ViewDirect
does not need DASD support.

Mobius will sell and support ViewDirect, with assistance from
Storagetek. ViewDirect is immediately available for host-based
MVS installations, and the two companies say future releases
are planned.

(Jim Mallory/19930428/Press contact: Judith Hargrave, Storagetek,
303-673-5559; Patricia Kelley, Mobius Management Systems,
312-466-4660; Reader contact: Storagetek, 303-673-5151, fax
303-673-5019)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEN)(00023)

No More CFCs, Says Storagetek 04/28/93
LOUISVILLE, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) --  Storage
Technology, manufacturer and marketer of information storage and
retrieval tape sub-systems, says it has eliminated the use of all
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other class 1 ozone-depleting
substances from all its manufacturing and systems development
activities worldwide.

The company has manufacturing facilities in Louisville and
Longmont, Colorado, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Great Britain.

Storagetek Chairman Ryal Poppa told reporters the company announced
its intention to eliminate CFCs in 1989, saying then its goal was to
be CFC-free by the end of 1993. "This was an ambitious goal and we
exceeded it by eight months," said Poppa.

The company estimates it has spent about $5.5 million during the
life of the program, including $1.9 million last year. CFCs have
been used by nearly all electronics device manufacturers to clean
circuit boards. With the concern over the depletion of the ozone
layer, which protects earth from the bombardment of ultraviolet
rays from space, the industry has been moving towards CFC-free
operations for some time, substituting water-based cleaners and
other non-ozone depleting processes.

The computer controlled aqueous cleaning machine now employed by
Storagetek is constructed of stainless steel, is 24 feet long, and
weighs 4,500 pounds. Its conveyer belt, which moves at a speed of
five feet per minute, runs two shifts per day and can handle 160
circuit boards per hour, the company told Newsbytes.

Tom Gooch, Storagetek executive vice president for operations, said
the company was cited in 1988 for emitting 345,000 pounds of CFCs
and was listed as being the 21st largest emitter of CFC 113 in the
United States. "Now we are free of all types of CFCs in our
manufacturing - not just in Colorado, but worldwide."

The company said it has also converted 17 centrifugal chillers to
alternative refrigerants at a cost of another $1.3 million. The
chillers, which range from 300 to 600-ton capacities, provide
air conditioning and process cooling for seven buildings.

Storagetek is also actively participating in other waste reduction
and recycling efforts, and says it recycled more than 250 tons of
corrugated cardboard, over 71 tons of white paper, and nearly two
tons of aluminum soft-drink cans. For its efforts, Storagetek
received the Clean Air Colorado Partner of the Year award in 1992.

(Jim Mallory/19930428/Press contact: Judith Hargrave, Storagetek,
303-673-5559; Reader contact: Storagetek, 303-673-5151, fax
303-673-5019)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00024)

Microsoft Hosts Televised Developer Conference 04/28/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) --  Microsoft
has announced that it will host a day-long developers
conference on May 14 that will be telecast live to 28 locations
throughout the US and Canada.

Usually when developers want to attend a seminar or conference
they  have to make hotel and airline reservations - but not for this
one. Instead, Microsoft has arranged a live, free, telecast via
satellite to communicate technical information.

The company says key events include the live development of a
client-server application, as well as the opportunity to question a
panel of Microsoft technical experts via telephone. There will also
be presentations and information about other Microsoft
technologies, and the company is promising the premiere of what
it is calling "an exciting new development tool." A Microsoft
spokesperson told Newsbytes no further details would be
available until the conference.

While there is no cost to participate in the event, called DevCast,
Microsoft recommends advance registration. "This is a fantastic
opportunity for developers to get the information they need to
create great applications and business solutions," says Roger
Heinen, senior VP of database and development tools at Microsoft.
Heinen will be one of the speakers at the conference.

The broadcast will kick off at 7:30am Pacific Daylight Time with a
keynote speech by Paul Maritz, senior VP of the Microsoft systems
division. Microsoft says Maritz will talk about how the Windows
and Windows NT systems help provide developers with platform
options for building "solutions." Maritz says he will also discuss
developer needs and what Microsoft is doing to address them.

Microsoft says a key part of the telecast will be the definition of
an actual business problem and the live development of a
client-server application to solve that problem. The development
will address the complete life cycle of a client-server application,
including planning, program management, user interface design,
selection of the appropriate tools and technologies, development,
and testing. Participants will be able to direct questions to a
panel of technical experts at various points during the conference.

The company says the live broadcast will interspersed with what it
calls "infobreaks," or video tapes on subjects such as how to work
with Microsoft and where to go to get more information. They will
also show taped case studies.

Cities where developers can see the broadcast include Phoenix; Los
Angeles, San Diego, and Anaheim, California; Denver; West Hartford,
Connecticut; Atlanta; Rosemont, Illinois; Indianapolis; Overland,
Kansas; Boston; Dearborn, Michigan; Minneapolis; St Louis; New York
City and Rochester, New York; Cincinnati; Tigard, Oregon, a suburb
of Portland; Dallas and Houston, Texas; Redmond, Washington;
Washington, DC; Milwaukee; Vancouver, British Columbia;
Etobocoke and Ottawa, Ontario; and Montreal.

Each site has room for between 100 to 500 participants, with seats
available on a first-come, first-served basis according to the order
of registration. Microsoft says that in addition to the 28 North
American sites listed, companies with downlink capabilities can host
the broadcast at their own facilities, and can invite customers if
they wish. The telecast is being carried via satellite Galaxy K7,
Transponder 12. Companies desiring to receive the broadcast are
asked to register in order to obtain electronic copies of handouts
and a phone number to call in order to participate in the question
and answer sessions.

(Jim Mallory/19930428/Press contact: Microsoft Corporation,
206-882-8080; Reader contact or to register: 800-258-7069)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00025)

Aldus Earnings Drop, Users Await Pagemaker 5.0 04/28/93
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) --  Desktop
publishing software maker Aldus has reported its first
quarter earnings, saying earnings dropped to $400,000, or
$0.03 per share, well under what analysts had predicted.

That is off 85 percent from its $4.7 million, or $0.31 per share
earnings for the same period last year. The company said revenues
for the quarter were $41.6 million, a six percent drop from the
$44.1 million reported for the first quarter of 1992. Aldus stock
was off $1.25 at $13.50 per share in over the counter trading.

The company says the poor results stem from customers putting
off buying the current version of its flagship product to wait for
the next edition, version 5.0. Aldus says it expects to ship the
Windows version of Pagemaker 5.0 in the latter part of the second
quarter, with the Macintosh version following about a month later.
But it warned that it may not meet those targets. "There is always
an element of risk in software development and the company will
ship the product when it meets the standard of quality expected
by its customers," according to an Aldus spokesperson.

Aldus has already said that the price of Pagemaker 5.0 will jump
$100 to $895, and it expects the large installed base of Pagemaker
will result in a flurry of upgrade orders. "We've sold over a
million copies of Pagemaker, and over half of those are registered
in the database," according to Aldus CEO Paul Brainerd. Brainerd
says historically about half of the registered users upgrade to a
new product. He said much of the upgrade revenue comes in the
first three to six months after release of an upgrade. The
company  declined to speculate on future revenues and earnings.

(Jim Mallory/19930428/Press contact: Jill Miller, Aldus
Corporation, 206-628-2352)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00026)

Motorola Releases Mobile Network Integration 04/28/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Motorola's paging
and wireless data group has announced Mobile Networks Integration,
a  technology designed to make links between wireless networks
easier.

The MNI announcement follows, by a year, the announcement of
Waveguide, an unused application program interface, or API, for
wireless software programs designed to do much the same thing.
Waveguide, however, won an endorsement only from Ardis, a
Motorola-IBM joint venture. This time, competitors like RAM
Mobile Data, MTel, and General Magic were on-hand to endorse the
scheme. Another difference is that while Waveguide was aimed at
software applications, MNI is aimed at wireless services.

The other companies endorsing the technology at a New York press
conference were Alliance Systems, Ardis, Bell Ardis, BT
North America, Complex Architectures, Psion, Radio
Frequency Data Network Systems, Systemhouse, and
Tandem Computers.

The MNI technology consists of software which works with hardware
switches that forms an intelligent gateway handling the routing
of messages, billing and settlement information, as well as
directory assistance, between networks. The software includes a
tool kit for integrating it with a switch, and the API. The
company's general manager for paging and wireless data, Robert
Growney, said the aim of the technology is to make wireless data
a mass-market technology.

Motorola said it will hold a functional demonstration of the
technology in June, field testing in July, and delivery for beta-
testers in the fourth quarter of the 1993.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930428/Press Contact: Mario Salvadori,
Motorola, 708-632-2477)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00027)

Mainframe Maker Amdahl Loses $239M In 1Qtr 04/28/93
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Mainframe
computer manufacturer Amdahl blamed price wars for the 13
percent reduction in its workforce it announced recently and
now the company says it lost $239 million in its first quarter
of 1993.

While company officials say the first quarter tends to be the
company's weakest, the majority of the losses were blamed on
restructuring charges of $242 million incurred as result of
reductions in capacity, workforce, and asset valuations.
Amdahl laid off 1,100 reducing its work force to 8,500 - the
second such layoff in less than a year.

To save cash, Amdahl says it will reduce its dividend from ten
cents per share to five cents per share annually. Company
officials also say the restructuring should bring substantial
benefits in terms of cost reductions in future quarters.

Amdahl company officials maintain there's a strong market for
mainframe computers, despite huge losses by IBM in the same
market. Joseph Zemke, president and chief executive officer,
said customers are investigating smaller systems that he says
"appear to offer lower computing costs." Zemke says he expects
those customers to come back.

"In general, however, we believe these customers are ultimately
reaffirming that most of their transaction-intensive, mission-
critical applications require the data handling capabilities,
throughput, reliability, and security of large-scale processors.
As a consequence, we feel we can participate profitably in that
market and will continue to invest in compatible large-systems
development," Zemke said.

The company did say it will expand its line of open systems
products in response to increased customer interest in open
systems.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930428/Press Contact: Richard Whitcomb,
Amdahl, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00028)

 ****Next Selects New VP, Canon Deal Expected Soon 04/28/93
REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Next
announced it is getting a new vice president. The move is
significant as the company attempts to restructure following
the sudden drop of its proprietary hardware line, loss of its
chief operating officer, prolonged negotiations concerning the
role of its largest investor, and upcoming distribution of a
new version of its Nextstep operating system for IBM-compatible
personal computers (PC).

Next officials have denied claims that the company is in a
state of confusion after the resignation of chief operating
officer (COO) and British national Peter van Cuylenburg near
his one year anniversary. Company officials told Newsbytes a
second tier of management was being implemented from among
the ranks of the current employees. The layoff of nearly half
its total employees was announced when Next made public that
it would no longer produce its workstation computer.

However, Warren Weiss, the newly announced vice president of
North American sales and marketing is from outside the company
and will head nearly one-third of the company's work force.
Weiss left his position as vice president of North American
operations for Continuum, a $127 million software and
outsourcing company specializing in the financial services
industry. Before Continuum, Weiss was the was the youngest vice
president and officer at Dunn and Bradstreet. Next company
officials told Newsbytes the company is also in the market for
a chief financial officer (CFO) which it intends to bring in
from outside the organization. Weiss joins the Next second tier
management staff of Brett Bachman, director of product
marketing; Paul Hergarty, director of engineering; and Jean-
Marie Hullot, chief technical officer.

Next officials said they hope to have some solid word soon on
an agreement with the company's largest investor, Canon. A
renegotiation of Next's arrangements with Canon was needed due
to Canon's role as a reseller of Next hardware in Asia, but
Canon appears to be dragging its feet. While there has been
wide speculation that Canon has pulled out of a proposed
purchase of Next's Fremont manufacturing facility, Next insists
negotiations are progressing. Most of the company's Fremont-
based hardware technical people have taken other employment
instead of waiting on Canon. Company officials said
negotiations are continuing and they expect to have an
announcement concerning Canon in time for the Nextworld Expo,
scheduled for May 25-27 in San Francisco.

Nextworld is where the Nextstep operating system for the PC is
to be released. Some details about Nextstep have been released,
such as the product requiring specific high-end video hardware
in order to run. Next representatives told Newsbytes the
inclusion of Insignia's Softpc with Nextstep allows users to
run DOS, Windows, and applications from both DOS and Windows
in the Nextstep environment. The operation of the applications
from DOS and Windows is transparent to the user so it appears
the non-native applications simply start without the step of
starting Softpc, then starting the application, Next
representatives added.

The highlight of Next's company picture now is the strong
support for its new operating system from an impressive list
of PC vendors, including Epson, Dell, NEC, Siemens, and Data
General. All of these vendors have said they will install the
Nextstep 486 operating system at the factory on select models
of certain of their 486- and Pentium-based PCs. Hewlett-Packard
also said it would support the Nextstep 486 operating system,
though it would not factory install it.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930428/Press Contact: Karen Steele, Next,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00029)

 ****Convex & HP In Supercomputer Software Deal 04/28/93
RICHARDSON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Supercomputer
manufacturer Convex says the lack of software applications for
supercomputers is hurting sales, so it has teamed up with
Hewlett-Packard (HP) to swap software technology in the hopes
of providing supercomputer buyers with thousands of choices in
software applications.

What software would run on a supercomputer was never a concern
in the past. The first supercomputer, the Cray-1 introduced by
Cray Research in 1976, didn't come with any software and didn't
even have an operating system. But the dedicated "white coat"
crowd of scientists and engineers who used the early
supercomputers were willing to write their own software and
operating system to get the needed computing muscle.

However, Convex says now supercomputer users want access,
not only to an operating system, but to ready-made software
applications. HP offers a proprietary Unix operating system,
HP-UX, and a workstation computer based on its own reduced
instruction-set computing (RISC) architecture Precision
Architecture-RISC (PA-RISC).

The companies said HP will license to Convex its HP-UX
operating system and related software technologies, and Convex
will license to HP current and future software technologies. The
result will be a broad range of compatible RISC software
products that will run on the Convex supercomputers.

"Our customers will be able to run more than 4,000 applications
over the entire range of products. This business relationship and
long-term product strategy will open new markets for both
companies," according to said Steven Wallach, Convex's senior
vice president of technology.

This is the second major agreement between HP and Convex. In
March of last year Convex and HP announced a technology
agreement in which HP would invest nearly $18 million in Convex
and Convex would adopted HP technology for planned massively
parallel processing (MPP) systems. The latest in
supercomputers, the MPP systems increase processing power by
offering multiple central processing units (CPUs) that divide
the computational workload, instead of the traditional approach
allowing computations to queue up for a single CPU to process.

Convex just announced it plans to produce a massively parallel
processing (MPP) supercomputer that will be air- instead of
liquid-cooled and binary-compatible with the HP PA-RISC
architecture as well as with its own supercomputer systems. The
MPP will also be a scalable parallel processing (SPP) system,
which means computational capability can be added to the MPP.

In addition Convex says the MPP can even have a graphical user
interface (GUI) environment due to a set of "middleware" HP has
committed to producing. The middleware will provide standards-
based libraries, commands, and utilities for a complete user
environment that will include the Motif GUI interface, the X-
Window GUI interface, software distribution, and system
administration utilities, HP said.

New markets are particularly important to Convex as it reported
the company broke-even on revenue of $59.1 million for the
first quarter of its 1993 fiscal year. "As expected when we
began this year, the economic and competitive environment in
our industry continues to be difficult," said Robert Paluck,
Convex chairman, president, and chief executive officer.
Convex officials say the planned introduction of the MPP
systems in the first half of 1994 are hoped to throw the market
open to Convex.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930428/Press Contact: Donna Burke, Convex,
tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact: Convex,
214-497-4000)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00030)

Borland's Year Red, But Last Quarter Black 04/28/93
SCOTTS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 28 (NB) -- Borland
says it lost less money this year than last year and is
reporting black ink for the final quarter of its fiscal year
ending March 31, 1993. The company says it lost $49.2 million
during the year, but showed a positive net income of $5.1
million in the quarter due to increased products sales and cost
cuts.

The last quarter showed a slight increase in revenues of 0.2
percent to $117.1 million compared to $116.8 million reported
in the same quarter last year. Net income was $5.1 million
compared to $26.9 million in the year ago quarter.

For the year revenues were reported as $464.0 million, a 3.8
percent increase over last year's revenues of $482.5 million.
Total losses this year have been cut in half at $49.2 million
compared to the $110.4 million reported last year.

Company officials told Newsbytes Borland's goal in restructuring
was to cut its costs by fifteen percent. Borland laid off 350
people in December of last year, and company representatives
claim the restructuring eliminated a lot of duplicate effort.

Borland says the introduction of Paradox for Windows and dBASE
IV 2.0 in the quarter are to be credited for the financial
upswing. However, Borland did say that sales of its Windows
products, such as programming language C++ and spreadsheet
Quattro Pro for Windows, accounted for more than half of the
company's fourth quarter revenues.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930428/Press Contact: Steve Grady, Borland,
tel [phone], fax [phone])