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(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00001) Roundup - Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 04/30/93 WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief look at some computer stories carried in other publications received here this past week. Computer Reseller News dated April 26 reports that major distributor Ingram Micro is about to introduce a new CD-ROM marketing division, headed by former Apple executive David Eliasberg, that will begin with a single disc carrying 100 to 200 Macintosh compatible application programs. Software will be locked using special encryption technology from Irvine, Calif.'s Rainbow Technologies and Ingram hopes the distribution method will make it easy and inexpensive for small companies to distribute commercial software. The April 26 Informationweek explores the factors behind an $85 million EDS computer system which totally failed to serve Florida's poor. The massive real-time distributed system was based on a tiny centralized system which was operated in a two- county area in Ohio. Human and computer errors combined to cause the state to pay out $260 million to unqualified recipients and underpay others by $58 million just in 1992. Government Computer News dated April 26 says that a recent executive order which goes into effect this fall will require feds to buy energy-conserving microcomputers, monitors, and printers. The power consumption limit for each component will be 30 watts, but there will have to be lots of exemptions because even with power-conserving features, a modern PC draws hundreds of watts with many laser printers pulling intermittent surges that are large enough to dim lights in some poorly wired installations. Computerworld for the week of the 26th says that Borland International and WordPerfect will join forces to compete with Microsoft and Lotus which both offer suites of office-oriented products for Microsoft Windows. The Borland/WP package will be the only one that includes a database - Paradox. This idea of bundling stand-alone applications is relatively new and its success is somewhat surprising to companies which apparently confused it with the old integrated programs that offered a number of features, each of which was weaker than a similar stand- alone application. With the two major PC database providers each selling two somewhat compatible products, the May 11 issue of PC Magazine looks at the whole field of PC relational databases and picks Borland's Paradox for Windows and Microsoft FoxPro (both Windows and MS-DOS versions) as Editor's Choice, but says that the (then beta) CA-dbFAST is a very attractive package representing a "significant improvement" over previous versions. Advanced Revelation and the venerable KnowledgeMan offer much more power but a very steep learning curve. Check out the article for details and extensive test results to learn which is best for your application. The June 93 Macworld explores the murky world of Macintosh upgrades with reports on 100 useful upgrades. Network World says in its April 26 issue that the Department of Defense will ask for bids next year on a new one million user proprietary network for its Defense Message System. The surprise is that although DMS will be based on Open Systems Interconnect- compatible components, it will not be fully X.400 compatible, making the whole system incompatible. Reasons cited in the article include a need for greater security than is provided by the RSA Data Security cryptographic algorithm and will use Mykotronx's Capstone encryption chip. Along with most publications that came in this week, Communications Week for the 26th has a piece on the new federal encryption system known as Clipper. Interestingly enough, Integrated Corp. says that it has registered that name as a company trademark, so look for some legal action, but the major concerns expressed revolve around the security and acceptance of a secret encryption process where the government holds the keys to a backdoor. The Pentagon will reportedly use a more advanced version (Capstone) of the same basic encryption scheme in its DMS messaging system. (John McCormick/19930430/) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MOW)(00002) Everex Shows 2 New Computers In Moscow 04/30/93 MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Visitors to the Comtek'93 exhibition in Moscow were the first to see two new computer systems from Everex, the Step MPFT 2001 and Step MP II. Step MPFT 2001 is "fault tolerant" Intel-based computer designed to run Novell Netware SFT III and Unix. The machine is comprised of two complete processing systems in one enclosure: it has two 50Mhz i486 DX2 processors, two system buses, and two mirrored memory modules. Step MP II is "scalable" multiprocessor Unix system which can have up to six 66MHz i486 DX2 processors with built-in 8 KB internal cache and math coprocessor. It has SCO MPX software installed. The previous Step MP model was running at 33 MHz. Jim Reinsma from Everex Systems told Newsbytes that new computers will be also able to run Solaris. Everex had to obtain a COCOM license to show Step MP II in Russia. The company is moving its products into CIS through several distributors. According to Mr. Reinsma, the computers in the company's booth are already sold and 5 more customers are lined up. However, Everex has no plans to expand its operations in Eastern Europe due to serious financial difficulties back in the US. (Eugene Peskin & Kirill Tchashchin/19930428/Press Contact: Everex Systems, Jim Reinsma, phone 1-510-683-2099 ) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00003) Indian Supercomputing Going Commercial 04/30/93 NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- With the launch of yet another parallel processing computer, India has moved another step towards its mission to commercialize its parallel computing prowess. Pace-Sparc, the new Processor for Aerodynamic Computation and Evaluation with a Sparc 2LC Fujitsu chip, is the result of joint efforts between the Advanced Numerical and Analysis group (Anurag), the R&D laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and United Business Machines Pvt., Ltd. (UBM) of the TVS group in Bangalore. The indigenous development of Pace-Sparc and other supercomputers is expected to speed up defense projects delayed due to the unavailability of supercomputers. "High tech computers will no longer be a constraint and we can declare independence from foreign dependence," said Abdul Kalam, scientific adviser to the defense minister, while launching the computer. While the Hyderabad-based Anurag has contributed the architecture, systems design and software, UBM will be manufacturing and marketing it. Priced at Rs 35 lakh (around $117,000), Pace-Sparc with its open architecture, shorter development cycle and high scalable speed is designed to solve complex problems in minimum possible time. Its 4 node provides MFLOP rating of 14.5 Linpack, 32 node provides MFLOP rating of 100 Linpack and 128 node provides MFLOP rating of 375 Linpack. Another supercomputer being offered for commercial use is the Anupam series of parallel processing systems developed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Having tried the system for over a year, it has entrusted Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), with production rights. Also in the offing is another example of BARC's computing ingenuity -- the 32-node version of Anupam, currently under testing. This is reported to be four times faster than the eight node version of Anupam and 80 percent as fast as the American Cray Y-MP. The Rs 50 lakh (around $167,000) RISC-based supercomputer is capable of a peak computing speed of 640 million floating point operations per second (MFLOPS) and a Linpack benchmark speed of 52 MFLOPS. Though the system is expandable up to 64 nodes in modules of eight, its design provides for expansion upto 512 nodes, capable of a peak speed of 40 gigaflops. BARC and DRDO seem to have taken the cue from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). C-DAC set the ball rolling for commercial production of supercomputers with the transfer of its "Param" technology to the Pune-based Thermax Ltd., in 1991. Thermax is paying C-DAC Rs 1 crore (around $334,000) over a period of three years, and has been manufacturing and marketing the 16-node, 32-node and 64-node type of Param machines for both domestic and foreign markets. India can be justifiably proud of its achievement in the parallel processing field. The first machine, called Flosolver, designed by the Bangalore-based National Aeronautical Laboratory (now renamed National Aerospace Laboratory), was introduced way back in 1988. Though not meant for commercial production, the MK-2 was the predecessor to many more such machines. Built at a cost of just under Rs 10 lakh (around $33,000), it could scale 1.3 Mflops. The MK-2 was followed by the Param parallel processing machine. Developed by C-DAC, it is also the first machine to be sold commercially. Using over 250 processors, these machines can provide seamless, scalable performance exceeding 1GFLOPS and over 3000 MIPS. (C. T. Mahabharat/19930430) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00004) GE Teams With Wipro 04/30/93 BANGALORE, INDIA, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Bangalore-based Wipro GE Medical Systems Ltd, a part of the Wipro group, has been designated a global development center by its US partner to help produce sophisticated medical systems. Wipro and General Electric of the US have equal stakes in the company equity base of Rs 10 crore (around $3.3 million). D.A. Prasanna, president of the company, said the Bangalore design center will initially develop ultra-sound scanners for the south Asian market and then the global market. Prasanna said the company has exported $21 million worth of medical equipment, and that GE has agreed to source its supplies for the South Asian markets from Wipro. The center has online facilities with the Tokyo-based design and R&D centre of GE, which gives it access to the latest technologies. Samsung of South Korea has placed an order worth Rs 1 crore (around $330,000) for ultrasound scanners. "Our export to south Asian countries has begun in a small but significant way. We have already exported X-ray and ultrasound products to Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka," Prasanna said. The company also expects multi-million dollar turnkey projects to materialize in financial 1993-94 from this region. (C. T. Mahabharat/19930430) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MOW)(00005) IBM To Bundle Russian Software 04/30/93 MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- IBM Russia and Microinform, the Moscow-based software house, have reached an agreement in which IBM will sell its PCs in Russia bundled with the word processor and integrated environment produced by Microinform. The agreement involves two products -- Lexicon version 1.2, the popular Russian language word processor, and the Master version 1.1, an integrated package which offers database, spreadsheet, and communications modules. Both were developed by Microinform's team of programmers lead by Mr Veselov. IBM Russia will offer the bundled machines to local oil and utilities companies, with which it has dealings, according to Microinform President Boris Friedman. This is a rare step undertaken by IBM and Microinform in regard to software licensing, says Mr. Friedman. Although IBM usually offers locally made software with its computers, this is the first such deal in C.I.S. and Russia. Microinform is the third largest Russian software company in terms of sales, according to the Computerra, a local industry newspaper. Its leading products, Lexicon and Master, are available in Russian, Ukrainian, and other C.I.S. languages. (Kirill Tchashchin/19930429/Press Contact: Microinform, Boris Friedman, phone +7 095 233-0006) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MOW)(00006) Computerland Opens New CIS, Baltics Stores 04/30/93 MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- ComputerLand/MBL is opening offices in St.Petersburg (Russia) and Riga (Latvia). The total number of Computerland regional centers in the former Soviet Union have now reached fourteen. In CIS and Eastern Europe, ComputerLand is represented by its franchisee company, MBL International East Inc./ComputerLand. The office in St.Petersburg opened on the 30th of April. The official ceremony was held in plush Yusupov Palace. By May 3, the company's office in the Latvian capital of Riga will open. Officials from ComputerLand's European headquarter (based in Luxembourg) will visit both cities. ComputerLand already has branches in Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Armenia, Byelorussia, and Uzbekistan. The first office in Moscow was opened three years ago. ComputerLand in CIS acts as a large supplier of computer and office equipment, mainly from such vendors as Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, IBM, Toshiba, Epson, Intel. The company also has several training centers in Moscow, Vilnius and Tashkent. (Eugene Peskin & Kirill Tchashchin/19930429/Press Contact: ComputerLand Moscow, phone +7 095 438 9538, St.Petersburg +phone 7 812 244 0932; Riga, phone +7 0132 22 8266) (NEWS)(UNIX)(HKG)(00007) Hong Kong - Sales, Mgt System For Sun Servers 04/30/93 WANCHAI, HONG KONG, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- A local business system provider, LECCO Consultants Ltd., has announced LECCO BIMS, a business information and management system designed for Sun Microsystem's client-server architecture. The system comprises a complete range of applications designed specifically for the wholesale distribution, retailing, and manufacturing industries. Emphasis is not only placed on providing quality sales and management information for business planning and financial management, but on a state-of-the-art capability to monitor inventory and provide "at a glance" logistics support. The result is a complete information support system which can fulfill key business requirements, the company claims. The combination of relational database technology and fourth generation tools has given LECCO BIMS, a Unix-based product, flexibility and growth prospects. Sun Microsystems has worked closely with LECCO to ensure that the system provides the best in business information and management systems. "LECCO has proven itself to be a leader at providing the right solutions to meet customer's information needs," said Mary Theis, marketing manager for the Sun Microsystems' Hong Kong office. "Local businesses stand to gain a great deal from the LECCO system." "Response to-date has been extremely positive," said Mr. Philip Yue, a director of LECCO. "A substantial number of companies began to implement BIMS during the first three months that the system was available in Hong Kong." Casio distributors Multi M Co. Limited, CELINE Hong Kong Limited, Verwin Co. Ltd, the distributor of Valentino Fashion Products, and Audio Supplies Company, distributors of Braun products and audio equipment, are among the first customers to install the product. (Brett Cameron/19930429/Press Contact: Mary Theis, Sun, Tel: +852-802 4188;HK time is GMT + 8) (NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00008) CA Ships dBFast 2.0 04/30/93 ISLANDIA, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Computer Associates International has begun shipping Release 2.0 of dBFast, its database development tool for Microsoft Windows. The software, which is compatible with the Xbase standard defined by Borland International's dBase IV, adds a visual designer tool and other features. The visual application designer lets developers create applications by using the mouse to point, click, drag, and drop. "It no longer requires you to code line by line," said Marc Sokol, CA's director of product strategy. CA-dBFast 2.0 also includes CA's CA-RET database report generator, an updated debugger, and an improved program editor that allows as many as eight documents to be open at once. New database management commands available at the menu selection level will let developers create or modify files and do other tasks interactively. The list price of CA-dBFast 2.0 is $550, with a special introductory price of $249. Users of the previous release can upgrade for $99. The software runs on any system that can support Windows 3.0 or 3.1, Computer Associates said. (Grant Buckler/19930429/Press Contact: Bob Gordon, Computer Associates, 516-342-2391, fax 516-342-5329; Public Contact: Computer Associates, 800-225-5224) (NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00009) "Total Control" Over Viruses Offered 04/30/93 HUNGERFORD, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Total Control, which claims to be one of the UK's major anti-virus software manufacturers, has announced a new dealer program, with the aim of assisting its dealers to help customers that bit better. According to the company, dealers are expected to provide their customers with an anti-virus solution, but are finding that the complexity of the problem makes it difficult for them to provide expert advice on the risks and technical support required when it comes to potential outbreaks. "Anti-virus software is an integral part of customers' overall computing solutions, however, few dealers would claim to be experts in virus technology, which is our business. We see this program as a partnership -- dealers are given very aggressive margins on software, making it worthwhile their selling products, and we provide the on- going updates, support and consultancy," explained Dominic King, Total Control's managing director. The new dealer program offers dealers the chance to stock Bates VIS, the company's anti-viral package, which sells for UKP 89-95 at what Total Control calls substantial profit margins. In addition, dealers are offered access to the company's virus information bulletin board, plus a technical support hotline. What's interesting about the program is that Total Control is offering customers of its dealers the chance to receive customer support on a direct basis. The company says this involves sending the customer virus cure disks, information on new virus outbreaks and a direct access to a technical support team. New customers of Total Control are being offered one update for their package free of charge. After that, the updates cost UKP 60 a year. Bates VIS version 4 claims to detect and disinfect more than 1,400 catalogued viruses. The package is also claimed to look for as-yet unknown viruses using its TSR (terminate and stay resident) module, which monitors all the files on a PC continuously, alerting the user to any unusual activity. The TSR is updated by means of the regular update disks from Total Control. Each copy comes with a VIS virus encyclopedia (VVE) that contains detailed descriptions of more than 650 viruses. Included in the package is a virus attack report form which the company advises should be sent to New Scotland Yard's computer crime division. VIS 4 supports MS-DOS, DR-DOS, Windows 3.1, OS/2 version 2.0 or higher and requires 512K of memory, plus a hard disk with at least a megabyte of free space to run in. (Steve Gold/19930429/Press & Public Contact: Total Control - Tel: 0488-685299) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BOS)(00010) Interleaf Gains 55% In Earnings, 17% In Profits 04/30/93 WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Interleaf Inc., rose 55% in earnings and 17% in profits in fiscal 1993, gains that company officials attribute to new product rollouts, together with widened sales channels and service offerings. In a new financial statement, the company has reported earnings of about $9.3 million, or 55 cents per share, for fiscal 1993, in comparison to some $5.9 million, or 38 cents per share, for fiscal 1992. Profits for 1993 were a record $117.3 million, in contrast to $100.3 million for the previous fiscal year. In an interview with Newsbytes, Karen Warner, vice president of strategic marketing, credited several factors for the financial success, including new SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) and relational document management products, a new telesales campaign, and major expansions of the company's VAR (value added reseller) program and consulting services. Interleaf is increasingly being seen as a vendor with diverse offerings and sales outlets, Warner told Newsbytes. The company's product family keeps growing all the time, and some of the newer items are following a shrink-wrapped approach. The product line currently encompasses three categories: document creation, document management, and document distribution. Interleaf's services range from training programs to consulting, the vice president said. "We've always partnered with our customers, but we're now at the point where this is turning into something really sleek. We're helping a lot of companies to audit paper documents and get those documents on line," she commented. New products announced over the past year include SGML Express and Interleaf 5.3 for document creation, RDM (Relational Document Manager) for document management, and WorldView 1 and WorldView 2 for document distribution. Also over the past year, Interleaf has put a strong emphasis on moving the company beyond its traditional focus on direct sales, hiring Phil Lee for the newly established slot of vice president of alternative channels. Lee has been working with VARs to help resellers carry out their own training programs, Warner told Newsbytes. Alternatively, customers who buy products through VARs or other channels can be trained at Interleaf. The telesales program, also overseen by Lee, adds an entirely new sales outlet for Interleaf. "Telesales has turned out to be great for selling products like Interleaf 5.3 for DOS, in addition to documentation and training," stated Warner. One of this year's new offerings, RDM, emerged as an official product out of a systems integration project conducted with Interleaf clients. "RDM's been a big hit, especially in Europe," Warner remarked. Currently available for Unix and the Mac, the product lets companies carry out work flow automation, tracking a document, or even one small piece of a document, throughout the entire system. RDM handles revision management, as well. Revisions made to one document, such as a table, can easily be replicated throughout the system. "You can also ensure that one reviewer's changes are reflected before a document gets passed to another reviewer, by locking other users out of making modifications until it's their turn," noted Warner. WorldView 1 evolved out of a system created for a major aerospace client. Introduced at Seybold 1992, the product takes documents from word processors, desktop publishing systems, and other applications and prepares them for online viewing, adding compression, hypertext and a full-text index. At Seybold 1993, WorldView 1 was followed by WorldView 2, an upgrade that contributes full SGML capabilities, along with such features as support for color text and images, an outline navigator, and an "intuitive search" function. Also launched at this year's Seybold was SGML Express. An update to Interleaf 5 SGML, the new development tool brings the ability to create SGML documents without programming. SGML Express will run on most major Unix platforms, and WorldView 2 on DOS, Macintosh, Windows, OS/2, DEC VAX, and IBM mainframes, as well as on Unix. Interleaf plans to release both products in June. Also over the coming year, the company will be announcing a Windows version of the RDM document management system, Warner told Newsbytes. (Jacqueline Emigh/19930429/Press contact: Karen Warner, Interleaf, tel 617-290-4981) (NEWS)(TRENDS)(NYC)(00011) ****Global Schoolhouse 04/30/93 ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- This week grammar school students in California, Tennessee, Virginia, and London, England, participated in a computer-based video conference over the worldwide communications network known as the "Internet." The National Science Foundation (NSF) was a major sponsor of the project. The video conferencing was part of a six-week joint study curriculum about the environment. During the period, the students read "Earth in the Balance" by Senator (now vice president) Albert Gore and conducted independent research on ground water pollution and its sources in their communities. They exchange messages on their findings across the Internet through the use of "FrEdMail" (Free Educational Electronic Mail). The video conference enabled the students to present their research formally to each other and government officials. NSF spokesperson Sean Kearns, an attendee at the Arlington, VA school participating in the conference, told Newsbytes that Mike Nelson, assistant to Vice President Gore, and NSF Acting Director Frederick Bernthal were also in attendance at Arlington. Kerns said that, while the connection was broken a few times, "The event was more than satisfactory and was an insight into the future of education. As technology becomes more and more affordable, we will see more and more of this sort of thing." The students at the various locations utilized Apple Macintosh computers connected to video cameras. The computers ran software developed at Cornell University, "CU-SeeMe", to control the conferencing. According to material published by Cornell, the software can support 8 conferees simultaneously. Students of Longbranch Elementary in Arlington, Virginia and Ceder Bluff Middle School in Knoxville, Tennessee connected to the Internet through SprintLink; those in Jefferson Junior High School in Oceanside, California through CERFnet and those at University College, London through ICMnet. These individual networks all connect to the NSFNET, the so-called "backbone of the Internet" sponsored by NSF. The four schools used their local networks to send data packets to a reflector site in Washington, DC which then sent the video data from each site and distributed it automatically to the other three sites. Sponsors of the project include NSF; Apple Computer; Sun Microsystems; O'Reilly & Associates; Internet Talk Radio; Cornell University; Bell Atlantic; FrEdMail Foundation; University of Tennessee; Pacific Bell; and University College, London. The conference was also covered live by Internet Talk Radio and files will be available through the Internet for downloading. O'Reilly and Associates will also offer audio cassettes of the conference. (Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/Press Contacts: Sean Kerns, National Science Foundation, 202-357-9498. Carl Marlamud, Internet Talk Radio, 703-548-1126, carl@radio.com; Al Rogers, FrEdMail Foundation, 619-475-4852, voice, 619-433-1409, fax; Angela Sasse, University College London, 44-71-380 7212, voice, 44-71-387 1397, fax, a.sasse@uk.ac.ucl.cs; Brian Erwin, O'Reilly & Associates, 800-988-9938, brian@ora.com/1993430) (NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00012) Lexmark's New Smart, High Res 4039 Laser Printers 04/30/93 LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Lexmark International has announced IBM LaserPrinter 4039, a family of five intelligent, high resolution printers with a multitude of advanced features. Company officials said that the printers are designed to work with virtually every kind of commercial software application, and to be rapidly installable, even in large-scale network computing environments. A new Quick Start utility automatically loads printer drivers for popular applications. A new four-line by 20-character LCD (liquid crystal display) lets users communicate with the machine in understandable terms, in English or any of seven other languages. Each printer also offers built-in PostScript and PCL5, plus a SmartSwitch function that automatically chooses whether PostScript or PCL5 is right for the job. For improved clarity, the new printers add two technologies to the 600 dpi (dot per inch) resolution supplied by Lexmark's first laser series, IBM LaserPrinter 4029. PictureGrade provides up to 100 tones of gray for crisper halftone printing. PQET (Print Quality Enhancement Technology) is aimed at sharpening text. Lexmark is also introducing flash memory with the 4039 family. Forms, logos and custom fonts can be stored in flash for faster printing. The printers were created with the environment in mind. A power saver mode reduces electricity consumption. Transfer and charge rollers are used in the printers and tone cartridges, in an effort to eliminate ozone emissions. Each machine is easily upgradable with snap-in modules, enabling the user to add new capabilities in the future without buying a whole new printer. The top-of-the-line IBM LaserPrinter 4039 16L and 4039 12L, which print at up to 16 and 12 pages per minute respectively, offer the high-volume paper handling capabilities needed in large-scale networked environments. The LaserPrinter 4039 10R and 12R, running at up to 10 and 12 pages per minute respectively, are meant for general office networked and stand-alone applications. The LaserPrinter 10R Duplex, another ten- page-per-minute printer, adds a paper-saving duplex feature. The 4039 printers support direct network connectivity and bi- directional communications through MarkNet, a family of optional internal network adapter (INA) cards. Capabilities of the MarkNet cards include MarkFlash memory and the MarkWorks feature set, which allows simultaneous connection to multiple network operating systems, concurrent parallel, serial and network ports, and bi-directional printer communications. MarkFlash memory permits network protocols and the MarkNet INA firmware to be changed or upgraded over the network from the LAN (local are network) administrator's workstation. Pricing starts at $1,599 for the model 10R, $1,999 for the model 12R, $2,199 for the model 10R Duplex, $2,899 for the model 12L, and $3,399 for the model 16L. (Jacqueline Emigh/19930430/Press contact: Rick Scott, Lexmark, tel 606-232-2249) (NEWS)(APPLE)(SYD)(00013) Apple Launches Performa In Australia 04/30/93 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Apple Computer did not launch the Performa range in Australia when first released in the US late last year, but it has now done so, and plans a strong promotional campaign. The models immediately available are the Macintosh Performa 250, 400 and 450. They will be sold in over 100 Brashs and Myer/Grace Bros department stores. Each machine comes with pre-loaded applications and a one-year support plan. Apple Australia marketing director David Rigg, said Apple was counting on parents believing that being computer literate from an early age would benefit children and their development. "We're also learning that computers in the home environment are increasingly being used for many purposes such as education, entertainment and a growing number of home businesses. But the problem for many families who are buying a computer for the first time is that the experience can be quite daunting and the setting-up process is quite time-consuming. The Performa helps overcome these problems and is affordable too." Apple's sales director for consumer and education, Diana Ryall, said the Performa was the first in a series of initiatives to capture new market segments. She claimed the Australian launch had largely been based on what was learned in the first few months the Performa range was available in the US. "Our research showed that Australians are seeking value-for-money from brands they already know." The Performa 250 has a 16MHz 68030 processor, 40M hard disk, 4M memory, System 7.1, 10-inch Trinitron color monitor, ClarisWorks for Performa and other utilities. Suggested retail price is AUS$2495 (around US$1770). The 400 has a 14-inch monitor for AUS$2595 and the 450 has a faster 25MHz processor and Quicken accounting software. Other products available from the same stores include: Imagewriter, Stylewriter and Select 300/310 printers, PowerBook 145 computer, CD-ROM 150/300 and One Scanner. (Paul Zucker/19930430) (NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00014) Autodesk Wins Australian Hardware Lock Case 04/30/93 MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Autodesk, manufacturer of Autocad software, has won a case against a company which had been selling an anti-copy protection device. To be more precise, the court rejected an appeal made against the decision which was made a few weeks ago. In Australia Autocad is sold in a form that will only work with a special hardware device (a Dongle) attached to the computer. The purpose of this is to prevent people from illegally copying and using the software. The device in question was sold as "Auto Key" for AUS$495 - less than a tenth of the retail price of Autocad. The court decided it infringed Autodesk copyright because it contained a 127-bit look-up table that was the same as in the real dongle, and that this could not reasonably have been determined through independent means, but could reasonably have been expected to have been copied. The case was the first the 1984 High Court had to consider since the amendments were made to the copyright act following the 1984 decision in which the Federal Court refused to provide protection to computer programs. (Paul Zucker/19930430) (NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00015) Taiwan's Acer To Supply Australian Govt 04/30/93 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Taiwanese PC manufacturer Acer has signed a $34M fixed term arrangement with the Australian Federal Government. It is the first Taiwanese company to do so. Under the agreement Acer will work with Australian IT companies in joint ventures that use Acer computers and support the development of software and education products. In addition the projects would work towards export of locally developed products. Acer chairman and CEO, Stan Shih, said that as well as helping the industry in Australia, it would also help Acer. "We regard ourselves as a true borderless global company, dedicated to ensuring that each of our overseas offices acts as a good corporate citizen. The Fixed Term agreement is consistent with our corporate philosophies and global approaches - in particular the need to enter into long-term in-country commitments and to contribute to local community and industry objectives." (Paul Zucker/19930430) (EDITORIAL)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00016) Editorial - Will Novell Merge With Apple? 04/30/93 PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- By Ian Stokell. You've got to hand it to Novell, riding the crest of the networking wave, the company has become a major force in computing. Now Novell doesn't mess about much. Its NetWare tentacles are everywhere. While it does have many cooperative and licensing agreements with companies to ensure its presence in all aspects of the marketplace, you get to see its bottom-line tactics when it comes to operating systems (O/S). It wanted a PC O/S so it acquired, not only DR-DOS, but Digital Research as well. It wanted to get into Unix O/S, so instead of cutting one of its familiar deals, it bought Unix Systems Laboratories from AT&T. Microsoft has only just begun to realize where the new fortunes in the computing industry will be in the '90s - networking. While IBM was completely missing the boat and sinking with its proprietary host-based environments, Novell was steering full-steam ahead. Microsoft spent so much time concentrating on the end-user, it didnt notice the potential of networking. Microsoft didn't exactly miss the boat, but it was sort of stuck on the dock watching the Novell ocean liner cruise off into the sunset. Now it's chasing after it in some sort of war canoe, paddling with Windows for Workgroups, and yelling to everyone that will listen that it has a Bismark battleship, called Windows NT, waiting in some hidden harbor. Microsoft has always been the king of hype! Novell has just one hole that it needs to fill before it obtains the tools for world dominance - the end user's graphical desktop. It already links the systems together with NetWare. Enter Apple Computer with its popular Macintosh graphical user interface (GUI). Windows has dominated in the PC market because it doesn't have any real competition. PC users are so desperate to get away from DOS that they'll consider anything as an alternative. Don't get me wrong, I like Windows, especially when you consider the chilling DOS alternative. Stick the Macintosh GUI on the top of DR-DOS, and you have a serious competitor to Windows. The Macintosh has got a reputation for being easier-to-use than Windows, but it has been locked into proprietary hardware. Put it on the PC and it will sell like hot cakes. Novell is a wealthy company. It stands to dominate the computing industry through software and licensing the way IBM dominated in its heyday. Why shouldn't it merge with Apple? Apple would stand to gain by the merger. The company made money hand-over-fist when it used to concentrate on the high-end Macintosh market and just had a token entry-level machine. Now it has increased its installed Macintosh base by offering more low-end systems - but at quite a cost, because the profit-margins are so small. It would never abandon the low end of the desktop computer market on the basis of a licensing deal with Novell, but with a merger it wouldn't need to offer low-end hardware. The installed base is already there - PCs. Offering the Macintosh GUI with DR-DOS would allow it to stop the expensive manufacture of low-end systems and let the company go back to targeting the Macintosh at the high-end user. Either way, Novell will be the dominant force in computing in the 1990s, no matter what the king of hype says. The only question is whether that involves a licensing deal with Apple or a merger. (Ian Stokell/19930430) (EDITORIAL)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00017) Guest Editorial - Caller ID - R.I.P. 04/30/93 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- By Robert Jacobson. It may be too late to resuscitate the corpse, but the chorus of mourners crying crocodile tears for Caller ID has recently risen in volume. Are the telephone companies at it again? Probably not. But it's remarkable nonetheless how many supposedly well-informed commentators are still repeating the nonsense that characterized the campaign for Caller ID, ignorant still of the many reasons why the service doomed itself. Caller ID was the modern technological tragedy. Recently, Newsbytes ran an editorial lamenting the many regulations and restrictions imposed on Caller ID by state authorities which, taken together, nailed the coffin on the beast. The author, recited the arguments once more vocally advanced by the telephone companies -- arguments such as Caller ID would in some way protect the personal privacy of telephone customers. I don't agree. For more than three years, as a senior policy analyst with the California Legislature, I studied Caller ID and its implications for personal privacy. My conclusion: Caller ID would not protect personal privacy. Far from it -- the service was designed as a tool for direct marketers and its implementation, had it succeeded, would have seriously eroded personal privacy for every telephone customer. There's nothing mysterious about these conclusions. From its inception, Caller ID was heralded by the telephone companies as a marketer's dream, the ideal way to collect information about customers and others who might call businesses equipped with the appropriate technology. Every time a limitation was imposed on Caller ID, making it possible (for example) for customers to suppress the automatic transfer of their identifying data, the telcos protested that this would destroy the "value" of the service. By value they meant the desirability of the service for the purpose of collecting personal information. Why would the telephone companies take this line? I asked this question of many telephone executives; few could provide a persuasive rationale for privacy protection. On the contrary, the intention of the telephone companies, quite baldly stated on several occasions, was to move the telephone industry into the center of commerce. The personal telephone number, possibly the single most important artifact of information possessed by most Americans, is the closest thing we have to a national identity code (next to the Social Security number, whose use is increasingly limited as an identifier and certainly prohibited to commercial application). If Caller ID, whose value depends on the use of telephone numbers as identifiers, was a success, the telephone companies would become the nexus of commercial transactions. Their own vast collections of data regarding customer calling patterns would additionally become more valuable. In all, telephone companies would become the transactors of more personal information than any other entities. What a boon not only for the telco revenues but also for their power within the economy. The personal privacy angle came into being after the telcos realized that not everyone was sympathetic to this strategy. So a bogeyman was invented: the harrassing or crank caller, who "invaded" the sanctity of the home via the telephone. Caller ID would prevent this invidious individual from getting "in." Far from it: with Caller ID, the easy passage of personal information including telephone calls would _increase_ the number of _telemarketing_ calls the individual would receive, a far more troubling activity if the complaints our office got from telephone customers was any indication. And there were plenty of other ways to track down and punish harrassing callers, like Call Trace, which didn't require the surrender of one's telephone number. But the phone companies resisted these available, less onerous measures. In fact, Caller ID can be easily circumvented by simply using an unsuspecting friend's phone or a public phone to execute the communication. When the unknown number shows up on the Caller ID screen, how is the recipient to know it's the person who has been bothering them for so long? Call Trace is a better technology for this purpose. Police forces in California were not favorably disposed toward Caller ID, either. They worried that angry telephone customers who had received a noisome phone call would track down whomever's telephone number showed up on the device and blow that person away, whether or not the individual was culpable of the crime. The telephone company might even be held liable for culpability, something few telephone executives -- cozied by years of living under protective anti-liability tariffs -- might have given more thought. Finally, had the telco execs (who do not take advice kindly) thought about it, making every phone call a potential giving away of one's most personal information, via the telephone number, would have the effect of suppressing use of the telephone, just when the industry was pushing the phone as the most essential device for partaking of the Information Age. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! What killed Caller ID, ultimately, wasn't the restrictions imposed by state regulators but business's lack of interest. Caller ID relied upon a high "take" by telemarketers, direct marketers, and other commercial institutions who wanted access to telephone numbers. They already get enough information from 800 and 900 numbers, since those calls are self-screened by customers who want to conduct some sort of business transaction. Caller ID promised a deluge of information that only the very biggest organizations could sift through and employ. And the bad press surrounding Caller ID discouraged those institutions from getting in too deep. A great sigh of relief has been breathed by abuse shelters, police organizations, health providers, and others whose employees and clients might be put at direct risk through the disclosure of the telephonic identities (and via these identities, addresses and daily routines). But the demise of Caller ID has a larger, ironic outcome: the telephone companies are unencumbered by this loser of a service as they begin to offer new types of information services, for which enthusiastic public use will be a business requirement. So don't cry for the telephone companies. They're better off for having faced principled criticism that contained the damage Caller ID might have done. The lobbyists and executives who ingenuously fought for the service, so far as I know, are all doing well and have received promotions to make mischief somewhere else. A fairly dangerous confrontation, between technology and privacy, has been averted. If anything is to be lamented, it's all the time and energy that went into a foolish enterprise, an endeavor without a future whose inspiration was right out of Orwell's 1984, presented with an undeservedly friendly face. We know now to be more aware of technologists bearing gifts. Editor's Note: Robert Jacobson, Ph.D., is former principal consultant/staff director of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, California Legislature, 1982-1989. (Robert Jacobson/19930430) (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00018) Sprint Wins GeoNet II Contract 04/30/93 WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 -- Sprint won the eight- year, $27.2 million contract to replace the X.25-based GeoNet I network run by the US Geological Survey, with a faster system. Sprint, along with AT&T, holds the FTS-2000 contract which was designed to reduce the US government's total telecom costs. That contract has not been as successful as hoped for a variety of reasons. MCI has aggressively sold agencies outside the deal, like the US Congress, on its own services, and sales to agencies inside the deal lower total discounts. AT&T and Sprint have also not always gotten along. AT&T recently protested a Department of Energy award of a high-speed network to Sprint, saying AT&T equipment wasn't ready. Under the terms of the deal, AT&T is supposed to get 60 percent of US awards, Sprint 40 percent, but AT&T also has claimed that Sprint is getting more than its share. The US Geological Survey contract, by contrast, is relatively small and straightforward. Sprint will buy equipment from a number of subcontractors including StrataCom, Cisco Systems and Motorola Codex. The new network will run under frame relay standards which run up to 1.544 million bits/second, known in the trade as "T-1" speeds. But a requirement of the deal is that the net can be upgraded to the faster Asynchronous Transfer Mode, or ATM, switching technology. ATM runs at multi-megabit speeds and allows data to share lines with digitized video and voice signals. The network will also link the agency's local area networks. (Dana Blankenhorn/19930430/Press Contact: Evette Fulton, Sprint, 202-828-7427) (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00019) PacBell Goes Into Video 04/30/93 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Pacific Bell announced the first customers for its Advanced Broadcast Video Service, designed to move broadcast-quality video around the state. ABVS uses digital compression to squeeze four audio channels along with US standard NTSC video onto a single T-3 trunk line, which moves at 45 million bits/second. Point-to-point transmission of such signals has long been a reality, and phone companies around the country are now working to make such fast transmissions a regular switched service under standards like Asynchronous Transfer Mode, or ATM. Vyvx Inc., a unit of Williams Telecommunications, was a pioneer in point-to-point video transmissions via telephone lines and will be among Pacific Bell's first customers. Most of Vyvx' customers are looking for "backhauls," often sending a sporting event between the arena and the studio, where commercials are inserted. Other customers signed on are Varitel Video, which is a major post-production house, KRCS TV in Burbank, AT&T, the San Francisco Satellite Center, and Digital Network, which offers communication networks for post-production. The last customer listed is Industrial Light and Magic, George Lucas' special-effects house. IL&M recently opened a joint-venture called JEDI with Silicon Graphics under which it will create effects on-demand and send them to producers. IL&M will use the ABVS to transmit footage from its production facilities in Los Angeles to its San Rafael post-production facility, as an alternative to videotape. (Dana Blankenhorn/19930430/Press Contact: Pacific Bell , Scott E. Smith, 415/542-0597) (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00020) 800 Portability Goes Live This Weekend 04/30/93 LIVINGSTON, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- After months of work and testing, along with months of legal and business squabbles, Bellcore is putting its 800 Data Base Access Service online tomorrow. The service has the effect of making toll-free numbers "portable," so customers can take them with them when they switch carriers. Until now, carriers have had control of entire exchanges. Each call to a toll-free number will have to go through the database in order to determine which carrier it will be fed through. The database will contain the name of the carrier for each 7-digit number on the exchange. Bellcore, which is the research arm of the regional Bell companies, also added some intelligence to the database, meaning business customers using toll-free numbers can have new routing options, sending such calls to multiple long-distance carriers depending on the time of day, where they come from, or on a percentage basis. While paying for the service has been an issue, especially among smaller long-distance companies like Allnet, most of the fireworks concerning the coming move came from AT&T and MCI. AT&T presently dominates this segment of the market, and MCI sees "800 portability" as its chance to gain big chunks of market share. Earlier this week, it sent out press releases claiming to have taken two market share points, based on new contracts, in the $7 billion industry. It calls May 1 "800 Independence Day." In anticipation of further gains, MCI has begun offering its Vision 800 service to smaller businesses as Vision 800 AnswerNet. The offering is a guarantee that calls can be answered regardless of the situation, by being sent to message boxes or to MCI operators. (Dana Blankenhorn/19930430/Press Contact: Steve Fox, MCI, 800- 365-2275; Bellcore, Barbara McClurken, 201/740-6467) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00021) Gateway Ships Millionth PC 04/30/93 NORTH SIOUX CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- One million is a lot of anything. And this week Gateway 2000 announced that it has shipped its one millionth personal computer, just one year after Newsbytes reported the company had shipped its 500,000th unit, and six years after the company shipped unit number one. "We've become a Fortune 500 company, but we aren't going to act like a big company. We're going to continue delivering value and keeping our commitment to customer service that got us here," says Gateway President and CEO Ted Waitt. Hopefully Waitt will get to keep his pledge, but Gateway has had problems in the recent past "keeping its commitment to customer service," with buyers complaining to the computer press and in online support forums that it couldn't get any help from the company. However Gateway 2000 spokesperson Glynnis Gibson told Newsbytes the company has taken a number of steps over the past several months to address the support problem. Gibson told Newsbytes the company has been adding an additional 15 tech support technicians each week for the past several weeks. About 200 Gateway staffers now handle support calls, nearly as many as build the computers. Newsbytes has learned that the company will issue a public statement within the next few days detailing what it has done to clear up the service and support issues. The company reportedly has about a two week backlog on most systems at present, significantly better than it was. Gateway says production line workers assemble more than 2,500 units per day to push it to a record revenue level of over $1 billion for fiscal 92, which ended December 31st. "As a pure direct marketer we know that when we sell a system, it ships directly to the customer. This not pipeline fill-it represents an installed base of units, Waitt says. Gateway said it will expand its product offerings and "extend its geographic reach" in 1993. The company reports that the one millionth unit was a 66 megahertz 486-based local bus system purchased by a Spokane, Washington customer. The man will receive a free Gateway 2000 portable PC. . (Jim Mallory/19930430/Press contact: Glynnis Gibson, Gibson Communications for Gateway 2000; Reader contact: Gateway 2000, 605-232-2000 or 800-523-2000, fax 605-232-2124) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00022) Systems Union Strong In Asian Market 04/30/93 CENTRAL PLAZA, HONG KONG, APR 30 1993 -- UK based financial management software developer, Systems Union Ltd (SUL), has reported a 58 percent growth in sales in Asia for the first half of fiscal 1993 over the prior year period. The successful year was attributed to recent sales including a 12-site sale to Reuters and an order for six copies of SunAccount from multinational public relations consultancy Burson Marsteller to be installed throughout the region. "Since we established our office in Hong Kong in November last year sales have been particularly encouraging," Grant Boydell, managing director of SUL's Hong Kong regional office told Newsbytes. SUL, through its agent Romanicus Hong Kong, had orders from the Hong Kong Government's Companies Registry and Land Registry. Sales in Singapore have also been active through Australasia Computing Services (ACS). SUL has also sold successfully into Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan. The Kanji version of SunSystems has also received great acceptance in Japan with All Japan Judo Federation, General Motors Japan, and Walt Disney Animation becoming its users. "In the last two quarters we saw a significant increase in demand for the Unix and PC-LAN versions of SunSystems in line with the downsizing trends," said Mr Boydell. "While demand for these versions will continue to rise in the more mature markets like Hong Kong and Singapore, it is anticipated that the less mature markets like Indonesia and Taiwan will remain largely PC-based." (Brett Cameron/19930430/Press Contact: Grant Boydell, SUL, Tel: +852- 802 3688;HK time is GMT + 8) (NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00023) Cray Research Sponsors Mathcounts Competition 04/30/93 EAGAN, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- When "Mathletes" from Minnesota and Wisconsin get together this week to determine who's the best, it will be due in large part to the largess of The Cray Research Foundation. That's the charitable contributions arm of Eagan, Minnesota-based supercomputer maker Cray Research, a major corporate sponsor of Mathcounts, a national grass-roots math coaching and competition program that promotes math achievement by seventh and eighth graders. Four students from each of the two states will compete in this weekend's national competition in Alexandria, Virginia. This is the fifth year Cray is helping support the competition, providing $82,500 for the 1992-93 event. Cray spokesperson Mardi Schmieder told Newsbytes Cray Research, Cray Research Foundation, and the employees of the company through a matching funds program, contributed about $2.1 million to charitable purposes during 1992. Of that amount, 81 percent went to support educational projects such as Mathcounts. Schmieder told Newsbytes that according to the Conference Board the national average for charitable giving for education is 34.9 percent. Under its matching funds program Cray matches each dollar contributed by its employees. "Our commitment to Mathcounts throughout the past five years helps fulfill the Cray Research Foundation strategy of supporting key national science and mathematics education programs," according to Cray Research Chairman and CEO John Carlson. "Mathcounts plays a unique role in the nationwide effort to increase mathematics achievement among our nation's youth." Cray says Mathcounts provides the challenge of a sporting event, attempting to reach seventh and eighth grade students at a time critical in their development and interest in math. To qualify for the competition, student "mathletes" have to make it through local and state level competition, aided by more than 17,000 volunteer coaches and sponsors, including teachers and engineers. Since the beginning of the current school year more than 7,200 schools and 300,000 students have participated in nationwide Mathcounts competition. Every state, US territory, the District of Columbia, and the US Defense and State Departments dependent schools worldwide are represented by the 224 finalists this year. That number will be cut to just 10 through the weekend as the students compete in individual and team written and oral events. The lucky finalists will meet in a final "Countdown Round" that closely resembles a fast-paced game show, where finalists have up to 45 seconds to solve each problem, hit a buzzer, and provide the correct answer. The ultimate winner gets a gold medal, an $8,000 scholarship, a personal computer, and a week at US Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. In addition to Cray, Mathcounts is sponsored by CNA Insurance Companies, the National Society of Professional Engineers, General Motors Foundation, Texas Instruments, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematic, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). (Jim Mallory/19930430/Press contact: Mardi Schmieder, Cray Research, 612-683-3538) (REVIEW)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00024) Review of - Primera Color Thermal Printer 04/30/93 From: Fargo Electronics, 7690 Golden Triangle Drive Eden Prairie, MN 55344; 612-941-9470, 800-327-4622 (800-FARGO-22), FAX 612-941-7836 Price: $995 for Primera, $45 for 3 color (115 prints) or 4 color (80 prints) ribbons, $39.95 for monochrome (400 print) ribbon. PUMA Rating: 4 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest) Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Nigel Dyson-Hudson Summary: The Primera is the first color thermal transfer printer to sell for under $1,000. In fact, other color thermal printers sell for at least 3 times more. The Primera produces high quality color or monochrome output from Windows applications even on regular paper. The Primera is an excellent "only printer" for small office or home use. It is available in both 110V and 220V models, and has FCC and VDE class B approval. If you are not sure about buying it, don't try a loaner unit - you probably will not want to return it. ====== REVIEW ====== You might be wondering if a thermal color printer under $1,000 can be for real. After all, only color ink jet printers sell for around $1,000; color thermal printers sell for at least $3,000. The answer is yes! Now you can produce high quality color prints quickly. Since the Primera also accepts a black ribbon (monochrome), it can serve as your only printer. Instead of buying an inexpensive laser, one can pay about the same money and get color to boot. The Primera was designed to offer the most printer for the least amount of money. It depends upon Windows for its printer driver, so the Primera can only be used from within Windows. The resolution is 200 dpi, the same as Fine mode for a FAX, not the 300 dpi found in more expensive thermal printers. There are two buttons on the front of the machine for power and on-line. The character set is set by easily accessible dip switches on the back. (For Mac users, Laser Master offers a Quick Draw version of this printer.) The Primera is easy to set up. You connect the included printer cable, attach the power cord, and install the printer driver. The paper tray is a shelf that folds down and out of the front of the unit. The output tray is a shelf that attaches to the front. The Primera uses a thermal ribbon so it can be moved or stored without removing the ribbon. (The toner in a laser printer can spill and therefore has to be removed before the printer is moved.) Since the Primera weighs about 15 pounds, an entire office can easily share one. I produced output from several packages including Scenario (Computer Support Corp.) and Corel Draw (Corel). The quality of the output from the Primera was excellent even though it was printed at 200 dpi. The quality is almost as good on recycled copier paper as on a premium grade paper stock. This is because the wax based ink doesn't bleed into the paper and run like a liquid (ink jet) ink. The wax based ink means that the Primera prints a continuous tone image, not a dot pattern like a halftone image. Each pass of the ribbon melts and mixes the colors together on the paper. (Scenario, at $39.95, is an excellent way to explore the capabilities of the Primera if you don't already have a Windows graphics package.) For a second opinion, I took the Primera to some friends who have over 20 years of experience in the graphic arts industry. Since they sell both $10,000 thermal transfer printers and $1,000 ink jet printers, I knew that they could give an unbiased professional opinion. We used the Primera to create some custom T shirts as gifts for a local radio celebrity who was donating his time to an event. We printed the artwork onto thermal transfer paper then pressed the printed image onto the shirts. They were also very impressed with the quality and speed of output from the Primera, especially when compared with ink jet printers in the same price range. They liked the unit so much that I could barely get it away from them. The Primera is reasonably fast, taking 2 1/2 minutes to print a full color page and 3 pages per minute with the black ribbon. Fargo has 3 types of wax-based thermal ribbons available: 3 color (CYM, Cyan, Yellow, Magenta), 4 color (CYMK, CYM + blacK), or monochrome (black). You can print proofs using the less expensive 3 color ribbon, then switch to the 4 color ribbon for the final copy. You also can switch to the monochrome ribbon for printing out a bill and client report. At 30 to 40 cents for color and 5 cents a page for black, you will not break the bank when using it. The Primera can print an 8.5"x10.8" image area. Because the top and bottom of the paper are "gripped" to move the paper, the actual length of the image area depends upon the paper length and ribbon. With long or legal length paper (14"), or Fargo's transparency stock, there is extra paper top and bottom. Using 8.5"x11 or A4 paper, a monochrome ribbon prints an 8.5"x10.5" image area, and a color ribbon prints an 8.5"x9.3" image area. The paper tray is the one thing that gave me some trouble. If you don't get the paper positioned just right, it will not be picked up. Since the paper will move through the unit then back to the print position for printing, it is quickly obvious that the paper isn't feeding. Close inspection of the characters in smaller font sizes reveals some "jaggies" but this is a minor nit. =========== PUMA RATING =========== PERFORMANCE: 4. Compared to other printers in this price range, the Primera has good speed and lower material costs. The 2 1/2 minutes for a color ribbon and 3 pages per minute with a black ribbon are good times. (Especially if you have used or had to listen to a "plodder.") USEFULNESS: 4. The price of $995 is excellent. Street prices are even lower. The costs of materials, 30 to 40 cents a page for color, 5 cents a page for black, are quite reasonable. MANUAL: 4. It is well laid out. The index is also complete. However, there wasn't much information on the paper loading problem I ran into. AVAILABILITY: 4. When I called at their lunch time, the technicians were busy. But they called back within half an hour. Technical support is available from 7 am to 6 pm Central Time, so they cover most working hours in the US. Updated versions of the Windows driver are available on CompuServe so you can always get the most recent version. (Nigel Dyson-Hudson/1993043093/Press Contact: Michelle Reimers) (REVIEW)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00025) Review of - Paradigm Shift 04/30/93 From: McGraw Hill, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Price: $24.95 PUMA Rating: 3.5 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest ) Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Dana Blankenhorn 04/30/93 Summary: A "megatrends" of high tech change shows where client- server technology is leading by showing where it's been. ====== REVIEW ====== Paradigm Shift: The New Promise of Information Technology, a book by Don Tapscott and Art Caston, emerged from an extensive survey undertaken by DMR Group Inc., Toronto, Canada. It discusses, through a large number of examples, precisely how client-server computing is changing the way business works. Tapscott said in a recent interview that the White House has looked closely at his book. If Vice President Gore, now in charge of a review of government operations, takes the lessons of this book to heart, it could represent the kind of fundamental change he and President Clinton were elected to achieve. Because, as the examples make clear, client-server technology does break down hierarchies, and it does force companies to coordinate closely with customers and suppliers. It results in greater satisfaction all around. And, while it is wrenching, the alternative is bankruptcy. Given the public's present view of government as bankrupt, this book may be its best chance to get out of Chapter 11. Unlike "Megatrends," however, this is not a fast read. Tapscott and Caston are serviceable writers, not great ones. While John Naisbitt collected news clips for his "Megatrends" series and extrapolated, however, Tapscott and Caston actually did the work, conducting the surveys and interviews necessary to get their facts straight before proceeding. The discipline necessary for that is not the same kind of discipline found among great writers, however, and it shows. This is an academic book, in other words, written by top-quality academics, not a pop book written for the mass market. Still, if you're in business, and if you deal with computers in any way, this is a book worth reading, and responding to with action. I think that was the authors' intent, and the meet it. (Dana Blankenhorn/19930430/Press Contact: Don Tapscott, DMR Group, 416-594-2019) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BOS)(00026) Wang Reports 3rd Q Loss 04/30/93 LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Wang Laboratories has reported a net loss of $87.2 million for the third quarter, but officials say that, through restructuring and software sales, the company will still achieve $1.25 to $1.3 billion in revenues for the 1993 fiscal year. In a newly issued financial report, Wang attributes $75.8 million, the bulk of the third quarter loss, to one-time restructuring charges related to the company's reorganization plan. Filed March 16, the restructuring plan is the blueprint that management believes will serve as the basis for Wang's emergence from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed in August. In addition to projecting 1993 revenues in the $1.25 to $1.3 billion range, officials projected revenues of $1 billion for fiscal 1994, attributing the expected decline to the new business strategy reflected in the reorganization plan, together with an anticipated drop in revenues from proprietary systems. Wang's proprietary systems include the long-standing MV line of minicomputers. Industry critics have expressed doubt as to whether Wang will meet these revenue goals. Analyst Tom Willmott, vice president of the Aberdeen Group in Boston, told Newsbytes that Wang is pinning its hopes on the two businesses of imaging and office software and value-added network services. "I find it hard to imagine that Wang can achieve those revenues through software sales," he stated. But Steve Casey, a Wang spokesperson, pointed out that the company is already well on the way toward meeting its fiscal 1993 projection. Revenues for the first nine months of the fiscal year totaled $1,006 million, or just over $1 billion, he told Newsbytes. Casey added that company reorganization will significantly reduce Wang's cost structure, freeing the company of a large portion of its structural burden and debt obligations. Since March 16, Wang has reduced the number of people employed worldwide from 9,300 to 7,800. Layoffs will continue until the number of employees reaches 6,300, according to Casey. During the third quarter, Wang also started shipment of several open systems software products, including PACE for Open Systems, OPEN/office, and COBOL ReSource, as well as OPEN/Image, an image- enabling base technology. Wang also announced a cooperative marketing and development agreement with Hewlett-Packard, which will provide Wang with marketing field support to promote sales of Wang's software on HP's Unix systems and servers. So far in the fourth quarter, Wang has sold its Taiwan manufacturing subsidiary and a majority interest in its Taiwan sales subsidiary, and agreed to sell its Puerto Rican sales subsidiary. (Jacqueline Emigh/19930430/Press contact: Steve Casey, Wang, tel 508-967-2388) (NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00027) Olivetti Gets Behind Calls For European Data Network 04/30/93 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Olivetti has thrown its weight behind European Community (EC) plans to get a major European data network up and running this side of the year 2000. The EC plan, unveiled last month by the EC, has yet to receive approval from EC member state governments. Carlo de Benedetti, Olivetti's chairman, has met with EC President Jacques Delors on how to pursue the campaign. "Europe must take urgent action to launch an extraordinary program for the development of its own European Information Infrastructure," said a statement issued by Benedetti's Milan office. Carlo Benedetti has also met with EC science and research commissioner Antonio Ruberti, as well as competition commissioner, Karek van Miert. According to Olivetti, this was the second such meeting between EC ministers and Benedetti in under a month. Olivetti is fast becoming a leading company in the European data superhighway project. While several other companies, such as Bull of France and Siemens-Nixdorf of Germany, have expressed interest in the EC project, no one other than Benedetti has taken the trouble to meet with EC ministers. (Steve Gold/19930430) (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00028) EC Calls For Deregulation of European Telecom 04/30/93 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- After years of talking about the idea, in the hope of threatening and cajoling European telecoms companies into opening up their markets to outside and free market competition, the European Community has called for total deregulation of the European telecoms marketplace. Many industry watchers had expected January 1, 1993, the date for free market trade in the US, to be the time when the free market for telecoms kicked in. Despite a lot of hot air being generated, nothing on paper was printed by that date. Now EC officials are claiming that the marketplace still has five years to comply with the spirit of free market competition. "The important thing is 1998 -- that's the deadline, that's when we want liberalization completed," said EC industry commissioner, Martin Bangemann. "We would hope that the basic decision would be reached on May 10," he added. Ironically, the last 10 years have seen the UK move from being a state-controlled telecoms industry to the freest of the free markets in the EC. British Telecom has, of late, been making quiet calls for the EC to hurry up and deregulate the telecoms industry Europe-wide, as it feels it can compete in the marketplace. Many state telecoms companies are now saying that the cost of local calls, long subsidized by expensive trunk and international calls, will have to rise if the market is brought up to date with free market competition. However, EC competition commissioner, Karel Van Miert, said there was no reason to believe that poorer people (the people who rely on local calls) would get bigger bills as a result of the impending changes in European telecoms. "Some tariffs will go up and some will come down," said Van Miert, adding that, in order to protect poorer users of the phone network, there could be special provisions written into the telecoms licences for the companies concerned. On BBC TV's "The Money Programme" earlier this week, the head of BT, Sir Iain Vallance, said that he is aware of the need for regulatory controls, but is pushing the EC to liberalize the telecoms market, using legislation if necessary. The head of DBT, the state telecoms company of Germany, meanwhile, went on record as stating that total liberalization of the European telecoms market is possible, but it will take several years to achieve. (Steve Gold/19930430) (NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00029) French Govt Admits Spying On US 04/30/93 PARIS, FRANCE, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- The French government has admitted that it has spied on US companies operating in France, but has added the caveat that such activities are now in the past. The unprecedented admission comes after several daily newspapers in the US reported that the government had prepared detail dossiers on at least 49 US companies operating in France. One of the allegedly targeted companies, Hughes Aircraft, has announced it will not be attending this summer's Paris Air Show for fear of espionage. The company, a division of General Motors, has said it has received warnings from the US government of potential problems from spying. The US Embassy in Paris, meanwhile, in an attempt to prevent the problem escalating, has issued a formal statement advising US companies in France that it does not support a boycott of what it calls "the premier world showcase," for the latest advances in aeronautical technology. Allegations of espionage by the French government are nothing new. The government has been accused many times of being involved in subversive activities, even against its allies. The French press, however, in what appears to be an attempt to join with the US Embassy in Paris to stop the problem before it gets out of hand, has published reports that US and French officials held a top- secret get-together three years ago, at which they agreed to stop all spying activities. Le Figaro, the prominent French daily, alleges, however, that this "gentlemen's agreement" has not been honored by the French government. (Steve Gold/19930430) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00030) Zenith To Integrate HQ With Bull In The UK 04/30/93 SLOUGH, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) has announced it is moving its offices to Brentford in Middlesex, the site of Bull computer's headquarters. ZDS managing director John Lonergan denied that the move is the result of a pullback from the UK computer market. "It's only a move to contain costs, as all companies are doing at this time. It's logical, since we have 100 staff here and Bull has 2,000 at Brentford," he told Newsbytes. According to Lonergan, the move is in keeping with ZDS' philosophy of improving communications between its independent divisions by centralizing resources. "Our offices are already co-located with those of Bull's in several other European countries, so the UK move is logical," he said. The move will take place this weekend, with the company taking advantage of the long May Day weekend in the UK, re-opening for business at the Brentford headquarters next Tuesday. "As a result of the changes, we believe that our clients and potential customers will benefit from improved levels of service, technical support and coordination of activities. It all adds up to a further enhancement of our market proposition," Lonergan said. (Steve Gold/19930430/Press & Public Contact: ZDS - Tel: 081-568-5050) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00031) Low Price Leads Cypress & Sierra To Repurchase Stock 04/30/93 SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 APR 30 (NB) -- Low stock prices have led to both Cypress Semiconductor and Sierra Semiconductor announcing stock repurchase plans. While Cypress said its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of 1,000,000 additional shares of its common stock, Sierra said it plans to begin a stock repurchase program whereby up to one million shares of its common stock may be purchased in the open market from "time to time." Cypress said that the repurchase expands the company's previous stock buy-back, under which it has already repurchased 2.9 million shares of its common stock in 1992 and 1.5 million shares in 1993. John Hamburger, spokesman for Cypress, told Newsbytes that the company's stock "price is low" and the stocks themselves were "undervalued." He said the repurchase plan, "has a couple of benefits. It reduces the dilution of the stock among our shareholders, so it makes it obviously more valuable for each of our shareholders. It also makes available stock for use internally as incentives to employees, with various stock incentive programs." Steve Cordial, Sierra's chief financial officer, also told Newsbytes that the decision was made in view of the low price at which the company's stock has recently traded, "With the current price of the stock, we feel it is an appropriate time to reacquire some of those shares for use in future employee options." According to Cordial, except for reissuance in connection with employee stock programs, there are no other specific plans for shares which might be purchased. "We feel that share repurchases are an excellent method of providing stock for these programs, and would be beneficial to shareholders, due to the stock's recent trading price," he said. Even though the two companies coincidentally announced the stock programs the same day, both company spokesmen claimed neither company has anything to do with each other. Said Hamburger to Newsbytes, "Sierra really plays in a different market." Asked if there was any correlation between the two announcements, he said: "None at all. Cypress has been consistently buying back some of it stock over the past year or so." (Ian Stokell/19930430/Press Contact: Pat Verderico, 408-943-2754, or John Hamburger, 408-943-2902, Cypress Semiconductor; Steve Cordial, 408-263-9399 ext 120, Sierra Semiconductor Corp.)