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/nb930525

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(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00001)

 ****Comdex - IBM's Cannavino Upbeat In Keynote 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- IBM Senior Vice
President James Cannavino mixed humor and flash in a Comdex
keynote that may represent a serious comeback for Big Blue.

His talk opened with film of a mock newscast showing Microsoft's
chairman in a diaper, IBM changing its logo to an Oreo cookie,
ending with the newscaster saying that he preferred the old IBM,
because "when IBM wore white shirts, they made money." At that
point Cannavino, whose image was on a screen behind the
newscaster, appeared next to him, wearing a bright red
sportsshirt, pushed him off the film, then live across the stage,
and onto another screen, where the back of a truck closed in on
him and was driven away.

This set the tone for his talk - part humorous, part pugnacious.
"We should make a $1 billion indecent proposal to anyone who
stops writing bad stuff about us," he began. "On the other hand,
we can't afford it." Then, "If you're wondering why something is
late or misses a key function, you've got the wrong session."
IBM'ers had appeared outside Bill Gates' Windows World keynote
a few hours earlier offering people t-shirts reading "Nice Try"
for Windows NT.

Finally, he got serious. "You may have heard we've had a few
challenges over the last couple of years. We're not the only
company that's discovered that. Information technology has grown
over 10 times in the last 20 years from $35 billion in 1970 to
over $400 billion today. But the industry has de-integrated. Back
in the 1970s, IBM built, developed, and sold entire systems. Parts
could be world class, parts could be just OK. But it was a
system, and we sold it all."

"That changed when competitors started to compete in niches. Just
microprocessors, just application software, just services. Along
with this came a huge increase of participation, from 2,500
companies to some 50,000 today. Lots of customers like choices.
But one result was that customers started to become the system
integrators. And guess what. A lot found they didn't like being
integrators. It's not easy. People can use their time better.

"You may be in the midst of scaling down, rightsizing,
downsizing, maybe even capsizing," as IBM is rumored to have
capsized under John Akers. To right itself, Cannavino continued,
IBM is looking to its PowerPC chip, object-oriented software
technology, and multimedia for communications.

As Cannavino spoke, IBM was announcing it has begun shipments
of its PowerPC chip, developed with Motorola and Apple, and that
volume shipments will start in the third quarter.

That's important because the microprocessor, Cannavino continued,
"is now the entire hardware business. Microprocessors are faster
than mainframes, and continue to double in performance every 12-
18 months at the same cost. That won't change." IBM will use its
"power architecture" in the RS/6000 workstation, later in its
servers and PCs, and eventually, in massively-parallel versions,
for its mainframes. "The point is, over time, each of IBM's system
families will be more and more Power-based. That won't happen
overnight. But progress is more important than speed."

Second, is what Cannavino called reusable programming, created
by object-oriented technology. "This has been around for some 25
years now," and it's been Borland head Phillippe Kahn's Holy
Grail for a few years. "Only now have the economic, business and
technical stars aligned to make this a reality for people. Finally,
we have microprocessors good enough to make a 25 year dream
real.

"There are few standards to promote interchangeability among
program parts. With object-oriented technology they're standard
components. Programmers can assemble suites of code, years
faster than before. Applications that were not possible yesterday
will be no-brainers tomorrow. The cost of creating an application
will start to decrease. Mass customization of applications can be
thought of."

For IBM, this means the SOMobjects Toolkit. It will be announced
in July and ship first under IBM's version of Unix, AIX, and OS/2."
But future versions will be ported to other platforms, Cannavino
said. "Objected oriented tools are an investment you race
towards," he insisted. "Objects let you conform the future to the
way people think and work today."

Finally comes communications. "We now have seamless connections
between anyone, at any point in the enterprise, anywhere in the
world. There are fewer and fewer restrictions on bandwidth.
People are carrying their computers and communication devices
with them. They'll connect to networks anywhere. These have
combined to create a new order in computing" - distributed
processing. Unconnected PCs are as useful as an unconnected
telephone. The hottest thing in computing is the notion of
client-server."

But while, "Client-server is hot, real hot, to most people it's as
clear as mud. Real mud. It's like the man who sued his wife for
divorce. The judge asked for grounds. He said about three acres,
mostly woods. Do you have a grudge, the judge asked? No, just a
carport. Does your wife beat you up? No, I get up before she
does. Exactly why do you want a divorce, the judge continued. We
just don't communicate. And that's the big issue. It's a
heterogenous environment, different hardware and operating
systems, maximized for performance. Connecting systems is hard
stuff. IBM has done this before. We have decades of experience
making heterogenous systems talk to each other. Mostly our
own." This won him his warmest applause of the day.

In his talk, Cannavino also gave a pitch for his Ultimedia
multimedia tools, and Intel processors on PCs for the short term.
He said the goal must be "more intuitive, human-centric ways to
deal with computers. It makes computing far more fun, for
everyone. Trust me. Millions of people don't warm to keyboards
and mice. They want computers that interact on their terms."

On OS/2, he said, it's ready to gobble all the horsepower Intel
chips can deliver. "Ninety percent of the processors shipped last
year were 32-bit," he added. "Yet 90 percent of the software ran
only 16-bit architecture. That's like a Porsche with bicycle tires.
The industry needs industrial strength operating systems to
exploit the power of hardware. No company can freeze its
application base. For those that can't wait, create them in a full
32-bit environment, with a rock solid OS/2 and AIX."

Cannavino's conclusion was upbeat, and the applause for him
genuinely warm. "IBM didn't invent the trends we outline, but we
did have a hand. We also know the global '90s are a turbulent
time for business. While the industry continues to de-integrate
people wonder if a company like IBM is looking at this change
with anticipation or trepidation. Well, I can't wait, and neither
can my company. We're able to deliver bigger solutions faster
than at any time before. We are ready to be the integrator."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930525/Press Contact: Steven Malkiewicz,
IBM, 914-642-5449)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00002)

Comdex - Bricklin's Electronic Ink Standard 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Dan Bricklin,
the creator of VisiCalc, is still setting standards. Now a top
executive with pen-computing pioneer Slate, Bricklin
announced a new electronic ink standard, called Jot, to a
Comdex press conference.

Jot is a specification for an ink storage and interchange
format. Version 1.0 was loaded onto CompuServe as Bricklin
spoke, and it won immediate endorsements from Apple, Microsoft,
General Magic, Lotus, Go, and more a dozen other companies. "It's
pressure sensitive. You can capture signatures as well as data.
It could be manipulated in a database. You can verify signatures
with Jot by supporting it in a pen-based and larger computer. You
can exchange electronic-mail with any system, even those
without pens. Jot makes that quite simple. If there weren't an
agreement on the format, it wouldn't be possible - a Tower of
Babel of Ink."

He continued: "Jot is at once a milestone and a starting point. It
establishes a standard early enough to speed the adoption of ink.
Jot fills a gap that's universally recognized, and has been
endorsed by 22 companies. We're loading it to CompuServe, and
hope to have more companies endorse it by tonight. Developers
seem pleased to be offered a spec they can use today. It's a
starting point because completion of 1.0 means the beginning
of adoption. There are whole new areas that will open up, that
we can't dream of."

As for Slate, and Bricklin, "We'll continue to lead the ink
standards committee. We'll provide technical support to companies
implementing Jot. And we're now shipping a Jot Dynamic Link
Library for PenApps, our software development tool for pen-
centric applications. This lets you convert between a companies'
internal ink format to Jot, for both PenPoint and Windows for
Pens. We're also announcing that each major release of all our
products will incorporate Jot."

Concluded Bricklin, "We have operating system companies,
hardware companies, and application companies. For most, the
pen is not the major source of their revenue. But they understand
ink is important enough to devote resources to."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930525/Press Contact: Slate Corp., Dan
Bricklin, 602-991-6844; FAX: [phone]; CompuServe,
75300,3236)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00003)

 ****A Huge, Exuberant Comdex 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Spring Comdex is
an excellent gauge of the health of the PC industry, perhaps better
than the Fall show.

Everyone shows up at Fall - it's practically required. But
companies don't have to show up at Spring. Many, like Compaq and
Apple, make it a habit not to show up at Spring. Other companies
cut back on their Spring Comdex participation as their fortunes
fall, as was the case this year with Borland, which substituted
speeches by Chairman Philippe Kahn for the usual big booth and
parties.

Still, by any Comdex standard, this looks like a big show. Even
the pre-show parties, like Tech Southeast and Magee's Burn-In,
were lavish by standards of recent years. And the Interface Group
announced some big, surprising statistics - 1,100 exhibitors,
4,100 booth spaces, 800,000 square-feet of exhibit space, and
85-90,000 visitors expected over four days, 5,000 of them
international visitors from over 70 nations.

New this year is the third wing of the World Congress Center, an
expansion of the West Hall which more than doubles its size.
Despite the growth of the show over the last few years the new
hall wasn't full. There was ample empty space behind numerous
curtains around the margins. But that, too, is good news. It
means Comdex has room to grow in Atlanta.

Interface Group executive Milton Herbert confirmed to Newsbytes
that the Spring Comdex will return to Atlanta in 1994 and,
hopefully, for many years to come.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930525/Press Contact: Interface Group,
Cheryl DelGreco, 617-449-6600)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00004)

Coreldraw! 4 Offers Animation, DTP 05/25/93
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Corel has
announced its newest version of its flagship graphics software
package, Coreldraw! 4. The company says the new version offers
the ability to create animations with sound and adds desktop
publishing without leaving the product.

The Microsoft Windows-based Coreldraw! comes with four modules:
Corelphoto-paint, Corelchart, Corelshow, and Corelmove. Corel
says it has more tightly integrated the modules compared to
version 3 for ease of use. The product is also claimed to be
network-ready.

While all the modules have added features, Corelmove is the new
animation portion of the product. The company says Corelmove is
object-oriented and allows users to animate their own drawings
or use professionally pre-drawn actors and backgrounds. Full
support for sound is also included.

Other enhancements include improved painting, image-editing,
and slide show features for editing illustrations as well as
photo retouching and presentation design. Technical drawings
can include object data management so sizes, costs, and other
elements can be tracked right along with the drawing. A new
Powerline feature also allows users to select wedge, teardrop,
or woodcut shapes and draw them on the screen.

The company plans to support both Coreldraw! 3 and Coreldraw! 4
simultaneously, with Coreldraw! 4 positioned as the premium
version of the product. Version 4 is aimed at desktop
professionals, technical illustrators, architects, prepress
service bureaus, and corporate users for illustrations, charting,
and multimedia presentations.

Retail price for Coreldraw! 4 is $595 in the US and $695 in
Canada. Coreldraw! users can upgrade until June 25, 1993,
directly from Corel for $199 in the US and $219 in Canada,
after which the upgrade price will be $249 and $269
respectively.

In addition, Corel says for each copy sold, it will donate $1 to
one of the charities selected by the registrant on the
registration card. If users order the Artshow book of drawings
from Corel's annual art competition, the company will donate
an additional $5 to the same charity.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930524/Press Contact: Janie Sullivan,
Corel, tel [phone] ext 1672, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00005)

Australia - Law Enforcement Facial Identity System 05/25/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Australian company Law
Enforcement Solutions (LES) has made its first international sale
of a new computer-based composite portrait system designed for
law enforcement and security agencies. FACE. has been bought by
the Montreal Urban Police Service (MUCPS) in Canada.

MUCPS has more than 5,200 employees and serves more than
two million people. The system was developed by Vision Control
in Australia to assist in the facial identification of offenders
using photographic and color facial composition, editing and
enhancement.

Since 1973, the MUCPS has used the British PENRY facial
identification technique which is a manual system made up of
parts of faces mounted on slides in a frame. After the basic
face is constructed, an artist makes necessary changes on a clear
film laid over the image, thus producing a portrait. Each year
MUCPS analysts produce around 100 composite portraits, which
take around two hours each to complete.

FACE can do the job in 20 to 30 minutes and, for example, can
reconstruct faces of deceased victims for release to the public
through media for identification. The color images are better
able to differentiate between races and provide a much closer
likeness to the person being sought.

The $52,000 MUCPS system is portable, so it can be taken to
crime scenes or neighborhood operations centers and the images
can then be electronically transmitted to the media if necessary.

(Paul Zucker/19930521/Press Contact: LES International,
tel [phone], fax [phone]; Sgt. Jacques Paquin
at MUCPS, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00006)

Comdex - Folio Offers Views 3.0 For Windows 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- One nice way to
start Comdex was with the press breakfast offered by Folio.
Decent food, big tables, not many people, and no hassles.
Demonstrations of the product were over to one side.

Folio is billed as an electronic publisher. What it does is
create databases you can pass around easily. For the last few
years, for instance, a version of the Comdex show guide has
been published using Folio and distributed to the press. "We're
approaching the management of information from a different
angle," explained Public Relations Director Mike Judson. "Our
concern is with managing content electronically."

As to the Comdex disk, "We get comments all the time from people
who say the disk saves them hours. No matter how many ways you
index a book, you'll never get the comprehensive searching
capability the disk does." In the book, for instance, vendors
check as many categories as they can. With the disk you can focus
on any keyword of your choice and find exactly the products you
want.

The new version of Folio Views allows multi-user editing and
annotation for up to 125 simultaneous users of the same database,
which Folio calls an "infobase file" or "electronic book." The new
product also offers "shadow files" that overlay the master
infobase and let you make changes without altering the original.
These shadow files can also be shared within a workgroup or
distributed to update a previously-published infobase.

In a Folio infobase, every word is searchable, there are user-
definable hypertext and hypermedia links, a user-definable
"Toolbelt," WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) display
and printing, robust text editing, compatibility with DOS,
Windows and Macintosh, in-line multimedia objects like
graphics, animation, video and audio, even bookmarks.

Folio is a subsidiary of Mead Data Central, the company behind
Nexis and Lexis. Views retails for $495, and could show you,
Judson claims, "How inflexible paper really is."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930525/Press Contact: Folio, Mike
Judson, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00007)

Comdex - Toshiba Intros New Notebooks 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Toshiba had a
lunch-time press conference with orange juice, brownies, cheese,
and lots of new laptop computers. The company also debuted a new
press kit featuring a diskette that has all the releases in three
word processing formats -- WordPerfect, Word for Windows, and
ASCII text.

The key announcements were two new color notebooks using the
486 chip - the T1900C 486 Satellite series and the T4600 high
performance series - along with a new docking station for the
desk, called the Desk Station IV. The new high-powered machines
look like trim-line versions of their old T1000, with a trackball
clipped to one side. And the screens are highly readable.

The T4600 family is based on the i486SL chip, and offers an
integrated coprocessor, hard disk options up to 340 megabytes
(MB), 4MB of RAM expandable to 20, a 1.44MB floppy drive, and
two PCMCIA slots, as well as a serial port, parallel port, mouse
port, Super VGA monitor port and a 150-pin expansion bus
connector.

The new Satellite Series models are more affordable, with a
single PCMCIA slot, optional hard disks up to 200MB, and
pre-installed MS-DOS 6.0, Windows 3.1 and fonts. The T1900C
also features a new Dynamic-STN color display technology,
which Toshiba also calls more affordable.

The new Desk Station features two full-length 16-bit ISA
(Industry Standard ARchitecture) expansion slots, which let you
customize the system for particular applications and hardware
options. New features include an LED (light emitting diode)
indicator and a more powerful automatic switching power
supply that can simultaneously power both the Desk Station
and the docked computer.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930525/Press Contact: Howard Emerson,
Toshiba America Information Systems, 714-583-3925;
Consumer Contact: 1-800-334-3445)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00008)

 ****Comdex - MS Intros Windows NT; To Ship End Of July 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) - The desktop
version of Windows NT will finally ship by the end of July.

According to Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates' keynote
address at Comdex, it will cost as little as $295 for existing
Windows users upgrading to the new operating system (OS) and
will be supported by hundreds of developers, value-added
resellers, PC manufacturers, and corporate MIS (management
information systems) departments.

You will not, however, be able to buy any of these products for at
least 60 days. Microsoft has promised to ship the desktop version
of Windows NT for both Intel and MIPS platforms by the end of
July and the Advanced Server version within 30 days of the
desktop product shipping date. Versions of NT for systems based
on Digital Equipment's Alpha AXP chip are expected to follow
"within two months" of their Intel and MIPS counterparts.

Prices for the Intel/MIPS version of NT (implementations for both
platforms are included in the same box) start at $295 for an
"upgrade" from either OS/2 or Windows 3.1 to the desktop version
of Windows NT.

The Windows NT Advanced Server Edition, meanwhile, will go for
the commanding price of $1,495 - and, six months after launch -
that price will climb to $2,995. Gates told an audience of
thousands, including journalists in London who watched the
keynote speech via a satellite link, that NT would be the first
operating system to combine high-end client-server business
applications with the industry's leading personal productivity
applications.

"Windows NT represents nothing less than a fundamental change
in the way that companies can address their business computing
requirements," said Gates. "Businesses now have a single
platform on which to deploy client-server solutions and personal
productivity applications. They can downsize business-critical
applications, provide high-performance personal computing and
integrate all their existing desktop applications. They will be
able to pull together corporate data from all over the company to
solve business problems and meet competitive demands quickly."

One surprising announcement was that Microsoft will make
the NT source code available to a number of educational
institutions for further research and development.

Among the institutions to benefit from this will be Brown,
Carnegie Mellon, MIT, University of California Berkley, University
of Washington, Xerox PARC, and Stanford. Some analysts speculate
that, making source code available in this way is probably
designed to give the impression of "openness" that Microsoft is
urgently seeking at the moment.

However, Microsoft does appear to have garnered lots of support
from the wider development community for NT. More than 75 new
32-bit commercial application development tools are already
available to software developers for building applications for
Windows NT and more than 250 are expected by year's end.
Microsoft also says that more than 100 shrink-wrapped 32-bit
applications for Windows NT are expected to be shipping within
90 days after Windows NT ships.

(Geof Wheelwright/Press Contact: Collins Hemingway, Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882-8080)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00009)

 ****HDTV Standards Forces Ally 05/25/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- The battle for the
North American HDTV (high definition television) market is seen
by many as being the last major opportunity for the United States
to regain a significant position in both domestic and world
consumer electronics. The search for an acceptable standard has
taken several years, but the decision by the major contenders to
consolidate their development efforts may mean a quick
acceptance of a new standard.

Nearly two dozen competing standards were originally proposed to
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which must approve
any television standard adopted for use in the US, but the only
clear contenders left by the middle of 1992 were seven companies
backing four different and incompatible standards.

Those four technologies, all of which have already been
demonstrated to the FCC, will now be merged into a single
standard that takes the best from each of the former competitors
and which will almost certainly win nearly automatic FCC
approval, because for some time the federal agency has been
urging the competitors to join forces.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and General Instrument
(GI) developed two of the standards. The school is well-known as
a major research and development center, and GI is the company
which builds all of the encryption/decryption modules used by
North American consumer satellite television systems.

An AT&T/Zenith team developed the third competing standard,
while RCA's David Sarnoff Research Center, NBC, Compression
Labs, and US subsidiaries of France's Thomson SA and the
Netherlands' Philips Electronics NV were promoting the fourth
standard. None of the contenders is Japanese.

With about $60 billion in sales and $170 billion in assets,
General Electric, which owns both NBC and RCA, is either the
fourth or fifth largest US-based company, depending on how
well IBM does this year.

Philips Electronics was the co-developer of the CD and is a
major European consumer electronics company, as is Thomson.

HDTV is more than just an entertainment medium. Computers also
use TV-like monitors and the country and companies which win
approval for their HDTV technology standard will have a major
advantage in all fields of advanced electronics and computer
technology.

Because they set their standard after the US, Western Europe
already has a better TV system than North America, but one that
is far short of HDTV quality, so the EC is also developing a new
standard.

Japanese manufacturers have already been producing HDTV programs
and hardware for several years, but the cost is very high and the
Japanese system is analog rather than digital, which eliminates a
lot of highly desirable HDTV advantages.

HDTV promises wide-format (like movies), high-quality images
that take advantage of the advances made in the last 30 years of
semiconductor technology. These advances have made it possible
to greatly improve on the television quality, which was set back
when TVs were still packed with tubes. HDTV would also convert
the present FM (frequency modulation) TV audio standard to
CD-quality digital audio.

Actually some videophiles already have much of what HDTV will
offer. Satellite TV viewers have digital audio and even
SurroundSound available now, and a few special wide-screen
televisions already show letterbox movies in full screen format.

According to information from the Electronic Industries
Association, nearly 20 million color and 1.2 million black-and-
white televisions were sold during 1991 in the US alone. HDTV
will blend conventional television, computers, and
telecommunications capabilities, so the potential size of the
market is immense.

(John McCormick/19930525)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00010)

DEC Marks 16-year Relationship With Hongkong Gas 05/25/93
TAIKOO SHING, HONG KONG, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Digital Equipment
has marked its 16-year relationship with The Hongkong and China
Gas Company - DEC's first commercial customer in the territory -
by presenting the company with a commemorative plaque.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Bruce Dahl, general manager
of Digital Equipment Hong Kong Ltd, said Hongkong and China Gas
was a "classic" Digital customer.

"Our two companies have maintained a close relationship ever
since the first PDP minicomputers were installed," he said. "The
company's clustered VAX configuration has been adopted by
thousands of Digital users the world over as a cost-effective
alternative to the mainframe for high-end commercial computing."

The Gas Company's clustered configuration, comprising four large
VAX systems in an extended network, handles all the company's
major commercial applications, including billing, accounting,
fixed assets, human resources, inventory and purchasing.

All the applications were developed by the company's own EDP
(electronic data processing) team, making Hongkong and China Gas
one of the foremost Digital development sites in the territory.

Dahl noted that Hongkong and China Gas was also a user of Digital's
system integration services. Digital is currently supervising
development of a total warehouse management system for the Gas
Company's new building in North Point.

"This project is perhaps a paradigm for Digital in the 1990s," said
Dahl. "It includes consulting, systems integration and training
components. Digital is acting as prime contractor, coordinating the
work of various contributors, notably our software partner GSI."

(Brett Cameron/19930521/Press Contact: Grace Su,
tel: [phone], Digital Equipment)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(HKG)(00011)

Hongkong Telecom Makes Faxing The US Cheaper 05/25/93
WAN CHAI, HONG KONG, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Hongkong Telecom CSL
has announced new prices on its SUREFAX 100 Auto Retry service
that will enable customers to send faxes to the US for less than
the cost of a standard IDD call.

The new charges apply to any destination in the continental US,
with the exception of Alaska. They follow a similar reduction six
weeks ago, which cut SUREFAX Auto Retry charges to six European
countries including the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, the
Netherlands, and Italy.

"The US is Hong Kong's biggest trading partner after China and a
great many Hong Kong people have family links with the country,"
said, Louisiana Chan, manager of advanced fax services at
Hongkong Telecom CSL. "This price reduction will make sending
faxes to America easier and more cost-effective for all kinds of
customers because no pre-registration is required."

In addition to saving customers from redialing busy numbers,
Hongkong Telecom CSL's SUREFAX 100 Auto Retry service enables
them to track their fax messages and receive call status reports.
Any Faxline subscriber can take advantage of the new Auto Retry
rates by dialling 0062 instead of 002 at the start of the call.

"The new Auto Retry rate to the US is approximately 10 percent
cheaper than a standard IDD call and the usual HK$3 (US$0.40)
service charge has been waived," said Chan. "It's a win-win
situation for our Faxline customers. They save money and they
receive confirmation that their message has been delivered safely."

Auto Retry is popular for calls to countries like India and China,
where the number of lines is limited and numbers are often
engaged.

According to Chan, many companies lose a lot of man-hours simply
through having staff watching to make sure that their faxes get
through. "Auto Retry enables people to get on with their real jobs,
instead of standing over the fax machine redialing busy numbers.
It also means that the fax machine spends less time on outgoing
calls and is available for other traffic."

(Brett Cameron/19930521/Press Contact: Caroline Chung,
Hongkong Telecom CSL, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00012)

Hong Kong - Pyramid Supports Oracle 7 Parallel Server 05/25/93
WAN CHAI, HONG KONG, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Pyramid Technology has
announced availability of Valence Cluster - a loosely coupled
configuration of its mainframe-class MIServers. It supports
users of the Oracle 7 database with Parallel Server option,
providing continuous database availability for business-critical
applications.

According to the company, Valence Cluster protects users from
single points of failure. Whether the failure is hardware, software
or network related, the Oracle database remains accessible as
long as one node in the Valence Cluster remains operational. The
configurations of two, four and 12 S or ES servers are designed
so that all MIServer nodes within the cluster share the Oracle
database, said the company.

"Valence Cluster ensures continuous database availability by
combining the computing resources of each MIServer node without
compromising the capacity and throughput demands of the data
center," said Ed Norton, vice president of Asia- Pacific for
Pyramid. "Unlike other solutions, all the computing resources in
Valence Cluster perform productive work, maximizing performance,
bandwidth and capacity."

Supporting up to four MIServer nodes, Valence Cluster also provides
superior scalability for data centers running very large databases or
supporting very large user communities.

"Oracle 7 with Parallel Server option provides the software
reliability and scalability required by mission-critical
applications," said James Sha, vice president of Oracle's Unix
Products Division. "Pyramid's robust cluster technology and its
unique Fault-Tolerant Distributed Lock Manager provide a solid
systems base for Oracle 7 Parallel Server. Our joint customers
can expect continuous database availability and scalability
beyond the boundaries of traditional symmetric multi-processing
(SMP) architecture."

Pyramid's Fault-Tolerant Distributed Lock Manager enables
concurrent access to the shared Oracle database and supports
Oracle's ability to minimize contention, said the company. It is
claimed to be fault tolerant because it is distributed to every
node on the cluster. In the event of a failure that disrupts the
service of a lock manager on one node, lock managers on
operational cluster nodes continue to perform.

According to the company, Valence Cluster also simplifies system
and database administration by consolidating computing and
database resources into a single logical resource. They also
permit single-point database and cluster administration, with
all management operations capable of being conducted from the
same console.

While Pyramid's current implementation of SMP offers near-linear
scalability of up to 24 processors for each MIServer, the scalability
of the clustered nodes is far greater, said the company. It can
support larger user communities and expand the database capacity.
For example, a fully-configured Pyramid Valence Cluster
configuration can support four gigabytes (GB) of RAM and 96 CPUs
(central processing units). Disk storage is in excess of 250GB.

"Pyramid's Valence Cluster running the Oracle 7 Parallel Server
attracts a broad range of data center customers looking for robust
and cost-effective database computing solutions capable of
off-loading the mainframe," said Norton.

"Prime candidates for Valence include: customers deploying a single
MIServer with increasing data availability requirements; data
centers which are acquiring Oracle applications and looking for an
open systems solution; large database sites with user communities
exceeding the existing operating system and memory resources; and
organizations seeking a combination of availability, capability and
consolidated database resources," he said.

John Morell, Unix Service analyst at International Data, believes
that Pyramid's engineering expertise gives Valence Cluster the
promise of providing one of the better systems supporting the
Oracle 7 Cooperative Server with the Parallel Server option.
"The Valence Cluster solution is unique in its implementation of
virtual Ethernet, Fault-Tolerant Distributed Lock Manager, and
centralized system management. It provides a real added-value
customer solution, giving Pyramid a significant competitive edge,"
said Morell.

(Brett Cameron/19930521/Press Contact: Ed Norton,
tel: [phone], Pyramid)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00013)

KeyData's Upgradeable PC Notebook 05/25/93
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- The
trend towards personal computers that can be souped up with
more powerful processors and other upgrades has begun spilling
over into the portable computer market. The latest is Keydata
International's Keynote Force, a notebook PC that comes with
a 33 megahertz (MHz) 486DX processor.

The Keynote Force can be upgraded to a faster 50-MHz version
of the processor, and its standard 120 megabyte (MB) hard drive
can be replaced with a 200MB or 340MB unit. The monochrome
screen can be replaced with an active-matrix color display, and
the diskette drive can make room for a Personal Computer
Memory Card Interface Association (PCMCIA) memory or
peripheral card slot.

All of these changes can be made by an ordinary computer
owner without technical assistance, according to Keydata.

As reported by Newsbytes, NCR also recently announced expandable
notebook computers - three NCR 3150 models with upgradeable
memory, hard disk, batteries, and displays.

The Keynote Force notebook is due to be available this week in
the United States, with no immediate plans for marketing
elsewhere, a spokesman for the company said.

The list price is $1,995 with four MB of memory, a 120MB hard
disk, and a 10-inch monochrome display. A version equipped with
an 8.5-inch active-matrix color display lists for $3,695.

(Grant Buckler/19930524/Press Contact: Mark Bruce, GHB Marketing
Communications for Keydata, 203-321-1242; Public Contact:
Keydata International, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00014)

Study Sees Latent Demand For Wireless Comms 05/25/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Canadian
business people see a lot of potential in wireless communications,
including public cordless telephones, mobile data, and wireless
local area networks, according to recent study by consulting firm
Deloitte & Touche. However, few are doing much about it yet.

Deloitte & Touche asked senior executives in 65 medium-sized to
large companies their views about wireless technology, as well as
how, if at all, their companies are using it today. Seven out of 10
said they expect wireless to replace or supplement wireline
communications within five years.

However, two thirds of those surveyed said they are currently
spending less than 0.1 percent of their revenues on wireless
communications technology, and only five percent were spending
more than one percent. There is "more a latent than a pent-up
demand" for wireless technology today, Deloitte & Touche
reported.

While potential users see many possible benefits in various
wireless technologies, they are being held back by a variety of
doubts. Among these, the survey reported, are difficulty in
predicting the tangible benefits and concerns about training,
coverage, reliability, and cost.

The success of wireless technologies will depend heavily on
service providers' ability to educate the public and convince
potential customers of the benefits, the report said.

About half of survey respondents said they consider cordless
telephones and cellular facsimile part of their everyday needs.
Fully 70 percent said they need wireless local area network or
private branch exchange (PBX) technology in their offices.

(Grant Buckler/19930525/Press Contact: Derek Podesta,
Deloitte & Touche, tel [phone], fax [phone])


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

Alpha Intros Bravo Graphics Package For Windows 05/25/93
BURLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) --
Alpha Software has introduced Bravo, a presentation graphics
package for Microsoft Windows. Intended to compete with
packages such as Lotus Freelance, Harvard Graphics, and Microsoft
PowerPoint, Bravo will appeal to cost-conscious buyers with an
expected street price of $79.

The package is designed for putting together presentations and
comes with an outliner and a sorting facility to help users
organize their thoughts. It can produce notes pages for the
speaker's use, and handouts with as many as six slides per page
for the audience.

The software's features Smart Datapictures - built-in clip art
with special characteristics. Among the roughly 30 Smart
Datapictures are a "thought balloon" that automatically grows as
you type text into it, an arrow that stretches while keeping the
shape of its arrowhead, and a three-dimensional button whose
edges change color to match its top surface. Users cannot create
their own Smart Datapictures, a company spokeswoman said.

Besides the usual controls over text, such as the ability to
select font, point size, style, and color, Bravo allows kerning
(fine spacing adjustments) of individual pairs of letters, Alpha
officials said. Text can also be rotated or placed on a slant.

The package includes 10 drawing tools, including such things as
an arc tool and a right-angle line tool. It also comes with full
support for drawing Bezier curves, something the vendor said is
unique among presentation graphics packages.

Object manipulation abilities let users rotate, slant, move, and
stretch objects, as well as blend shapes or colors. Objects can
also be grouped so that they stay together when moved.

The software supports Microsoft's object linking and embedding
(OLE), allowing users to add sound or other OLE objects to
presentations, and it can import multimedia movies and animation
files, the vendor said. Dynamic data exchange (DDE), which allows
for "hot links" to data created by another application, is also
supported.

Users can select from a gallery of more than 65 graph types, and
can add their own graph designs to the gallery. There are also 61
pre-designed slide formats and 66 color palettes.

Bravo is to begin shipping in late June in the United States, the
spokeswoman said, with availability in other countries planned
later. Alpha has distributors and dealers in Australia, Belgium,
Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, as well as the US.

(Grant Buckler/19930524/Press Contact: Karen Reynolds, Alpha
Software, 617-229-2924 ext. 207, fax [phone])


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

 ****IBM Offers Complete PC System Bundles 05/25/93
SOMERS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Ready-to-use
computers for a variety of customers seem to be the order of the
day at IBM Personal Computer Co. The firm has launched several
new packages built around its PS/ValuePoint, Thinkpad, and PS/2
machines, with bundled software and peripherals aimed at meeting
specific needs.

IBM launched four software bundles built around the
PS/ValuePoint - all available only through the IBM PC Direct
phone-order line. Each of the four packages includes a
PS/ValuePoint and Microsoft Windows 3.1 software.

The home office package comes with Spinnaker Software's
PFS:WindowWorks 2.01 integrated software, Intuit's Quicken for
Windows 2.0 accounting package, a starter kit for the Prodigy
on-line information service, seven games from Sierra, and a
2,400 bits-per-second (bps) data modem. Prices range from
$1,580 to $2,880 depending on the ValuePoint model.

A small business bundle includes ClarisWorks for Windows 1.0
integrated software, CA-Simply Accounting from Computer
Associates, Delrina's WinFax Lite facsimile software for Windows,
and a 9,600 bps data and fax modem. Prices range from $1,640 to
$2,940.

The business professional package includes Lotus Development's
SmartSuite bundle of applications - which comprises the 1-2-3
spreadsheet, Ami Pro word processing, Freelance Graphics,
cc:Mail, and Lotus Organizer personal information manager. It
also comes with Delrina WinFax Pro 3.0 and a 9,600 bps data and
fax modem. Prices range from $1,930 to $3,230 depending on the
hardware model.

Finally, the advanced business professional model comes with
WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows, Borland's Quattro Pro spreadsheet
for Windows and the accompanying Presentation Pack, Borland's
Paradox for Windows database software, WinFax Pro 3.0, and a
9,600 bps data and fax modem. Prices range from $1,930 to $3,230.

All the packages are to be available June 7, IBM said, except the
business professional version which is due June 15. The prices do
not include monitors.

IBM also announced the Travelling Professional, a specially
equipped ThinkPad 720 notebook computer with a high-speed
PCMCIA data and fax modem, carrying case, alarm system,
Windows 3.1, Prodigy, Lotus Organizer, the Automap road-atlas
program, Stacker 3.0 data compression software, LapLink V
file-transfer software, and Delrina WinFax Pro 3.0.

A monochrome version with a 120 megabyte (MB) hard drive
costs $4,199, while substituting a 160MB drive brings the price
to $4,359. There is also a color version for $5,699. Availability
of the package is subject to availability of the ThinkPad
hardware, for a which a company spokesman said "demand is
totally outstripping supply."

IBM also announced networking packages. The company said it will
supply either a PS/ValuePoint or a PS/2 Model 9585 system with a
Token Ring or Ethernet local area network adapter card and either
the OS/2 operating system and IBM's own LAN Server 3.0 software
or DOS and Novell's NetWare 3.11. These units are available now,
either direct from IBM or through resellers, the company said.

(Grant Buckler/19930525/Press Contact: Liz Arends, IBM,
914-765-3942; Eric Jones, GCI Group for IBM, 212-546-2174)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00017)

Comdex - Fax Your Congressperson With Terminal Plus 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Showgoers at
Comdex can fax their opinion on anything from healthcare reform
to US intervention in Bosnia, using a new feature of FutureSoft
Engineering's Terminal Plus software.

The service is FutureSoft's way of showing off the latest
enhancement to its Terminal Plus with FAXit communications and
fax software for Windows.  The company is offering the service
from its Windows World booth at Comdex to demonstrate how
the new application supplement supplies the direct fax numbers
of national elected officials, with the user picking the name of
the appropriate congressperson from a list that appears in a
window. The list is sorted alphabetically by state in the program's
phone book supplement.

FutureSoft Chairman Tim Farrell says the new supplement to
Terminal Plus with FAXit gives citizens an easy way to get more
involved with the political process. "At no other time in America's
history has it been so easy to communicate with government
officials through electronic means," said Farrell.

The Fax Your Congressman supplement includes a list of all House
members and Senators that have available fax numbers, an
automated fax schedule and document addressing, an integrated
text editor for message creation, and message composition support
for popular word processing programs like WordPerfect, WinWord,
and Windows Write.

The company says the program offers a wide range of file transfer
protocols, terminal emulations, and preconfigured settings for more
than 80 modems. The program, which has a suggested retail price of
$195, is scheduled to ship in mid-December.

FutureSoft says registered users of Terminal Plus can upgrade for
$69. The same upgrade offer is available to users of competitive
products. System requirements include an IBM-compatible personal
computer, at least 1 megabyte of system memory, Microsoft
Windows 3.0 and a fax/data modem.

(Jim Mallory/19930525/Press contact: Dawn Whaley, Alexander
Communications for FutureSoft, 404-325-7555; Reader contact:
FutureSoft Engineering, 713-496-9400, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00018)

Banking Automation Conference Features Windows Apps 05/25/93
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- While much
of the computer industry's attention is focused on the Comdex
show in Atlanta this week, where Microsoft is showing its
Windows NT operating system, banking industry leaders are in
New Orleans to see get a look at more than 100 Windows-based
computer applications for their industry.

Show organizers say the number of applications being shown this
year is a 50 percent increase over last year's offerings, and
reflects an increasing trend towards the adoption of Microsoft
technology for the banking industry. More than 350 software
developers reportedly sell or support banking products based on
Windows.

Conference goers also have the opportunity to preview version 1.0
of the Windows Open Services Architecture (WOSA) Extensions for
Financial Services, a technology that makes it easier for third
party software developers to build banking applications that
connect windows-based PCs with other platforms and services.

The American Bankers Association cites as an example of the
popularity of Windows-based applications. One bank that currently
uses Windows at its headquarters and will start installing
Windows-based systems at its branches next year. The branch
systems will automate a number of functions, including sales
support, sales management, sales tracking, and customer service.
An executive of the bank says Windows is popular because of its
graphical interface, which makes applications easier to learn and
use, and reduces training costs. "We also like having so many
applications available to choose from, as well as being able to
integrate off-the-shelf applications with our custom applications
so they can share data," he said.

(Jim Mallory/19930525)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00019)

Informix - Microsoft's Maples To Be Keynote Speaker 05/25/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Mike Maples,
executive vice president of Microsoft's worldwide products group,
will be one of the keynote speakers at the 1993 Informix
worldwide Users Conference.

The conference is scheduled for July 13-15 at the San Jose
(California) Convention Center. Maples will speak July 14. The
conference theme this year is "Focus On Your Future," and will
include over 60 conference sessions, seminars, tutorials, and
keynote speakers.

Attendees will be able to roam a 50,000 square-foot exhibition
where Informix customers, OEMs (original equipment
manufacturers), VARS (value-added resellers) and partners
will show their wares. Informix will also be demonstrating
existing products and offering sneak previews of some new
products and technologies currently under development.

In addition to Maples, other speakers will include Peter Kastner,
VP of the Aberdeen Group, and Tony Percy of the Gartner Group.
Chairman and CEO Phil White will talk about the future and
direction of Informix's corporate and product strategies.

White says this year's conference will focus on more real-world
experience from Informix customers and partners, more in-depth
technical sessions offering insight into existing and future
products, and more information about the issues, trends and
technologies that will drive the future of information management.

The 60 conference sessions will be divided into three conference
tracks: Tools and Environments; Servers and Connectivity; and
Applications and Management. The program includes sessions on the
newest versions of Informix's database servers Informix Online and
Informix-SE, as well as the company's new tool offerings such as
Informix-Hyperscript Tools, Informix-Viewpoint, and Informix-4GL
for Windows. There will also be sessions on downsizing, standards,
distributed databases, imaging, developing client/server
applications, and connectivity.

(Jim Mallory/19930525/Press contact: Brenda Hansen, Informix,
415-926-6651; For show info or to register: 800-392-0207 or
415-322-7237, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00020)

 ****Notebook Problems Lead To Reduced Dell Earnings 05/25/93
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Even though it recorded
record revenues, Dell Computer called its earnings for the first
quarter "disappointing."

The company has announced earnings of $0.25 per share on record
revenues of $672 million, but said poor results from its notebook
personal computer business were the main reason for the
lower-than-anticipated figures.

Dell said significant costs associated with delayed and canceled
notebook projects combined to lower its first quarter pre-tax
income by more than $20 million and dropped earnings per share
as much as $0.35. Net sales for last year's first quarter were
$366.1 million, but earned shareholders $0.52 per share on net
income of $19.8 million. The number of shares outstanding
increased slightly.

Dell spokesperson Roger Rydell told Newsbytes that part of the
problem with notebook sales was getting the product to market
in an expeditious fashion. "Our notebooks have not been timely
from the standpoint of the demand window, and as a result haven't
had the kind of market they would have had otherwise," he said.

He added that another problem was understanding the market. "We
haven't had the electronic and personnel resources to understand
the market like we do the desktop and server market."

Dell recently announced that John Medica, who led the Apple
Computer Powerbook development team, has assumed the role of
VP for notebook development - a new position. Dell also hired a
new chief information officer, Tom Thomas.

Dell also increased its budget for first quarter marketing and
sales - which Rydell says includes advertising - by about one-third.
Much of that money went for notebook advertising. Rydell told
Newsbytes, "the advertising was effective, the margins on the
product just weren't optimal."

"We're obviously disappointed by the problems we've experienced
despite our efforts to establish a competitive notebook business,"
said Chairman and CEO Michael Dell. The problems are also expected
to affect future results. Dell said he expects notebook delays and
cancellations to continue to negatively affect earnings over the
next two quarters. "As a result we no longer expect to reach our
earnings forecast of $3.30 (per share) for this fiscal year."
However, Dell said because of strong momentum in the core desktop
and server business, he expects revenues for the fiscal year to be
in excess of $3 billion.

Rydell told Newsbytes that the company has a strong commitment
to notebook systems, and has no plans to withdraw from that market.
He said work is under way to rectify the notebook shortcomings, but
declined to comment on specific plans for a new notebook line.

Despite problems with notebook sales, orders in other departments
were strong. The company said sales for desktop and server
systems increased more than 155 percent over the same period
last year, fueled by strong demand for its "L" and "M" series that
were introduced last December.

(Jim Mallory/19930525/Press contact: Michelle Moore, Dell
Computer Corp., 512-794-4100; Reader contact: Dell Computer
Corp., 800-289-3355, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00021)

Dell Offers Ready-To-Run Windows NT PCs 05/25/93
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Dell Computer says
that it will ship its personal computers with Microsoft's
Windows NT already installed, if requested by the customer, and
will ship CD-quality audio components with its multimedia
systems.

Dell says it will provide factory installation of both the desktop
and server versions of Microsoft's new 32-bit operating system.
The desktop version is expected to ship in July, with the server
version following about a month later.

Dell said it will offer Windows NT installed on both slimline and
mid-sized workstation models, with local bus video support and a
range of IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) and SCSI (Small
Computer Systems Interface) hard drive options as well as
peripherals such as CD-ROM drives and network interface cards.

Dell said the Windows NT Advanced Server will be available with
drive support for its new line of XE servers configured with the
company's SCSI drive array. The XE line is available with support
for up to 57 gigabyte (GB) storage capacity. Pricing and specific
configuration options are not yet available. The company also
plans to offer Windows NT as an upgrade for customers currently
using DOS or Windows 3.1-based systems.

Dell also announced that it will team up with Peavey Electronics
to offer what it described as "audiophile quality" sound for its
multimedia systems. Available audio components will include
amplified speakers and microphones.

Product group spokesperson Kellie Leonard told Newsbytes that
the Peavy components will be available in personal, business, and
presentation quality levels. Users will be able to compose their
own music or create and edit existing pieces with the MIDI
(musical instrument digital interface) devices communicating
between the components.

Leonard told Newsbytes that Dell will continue to offer speakers
from Creative Labs. Pricing for the Peavey components has not
been set. Availability is scheduled for later this summer.

(Jim Mallory/19930525/Press contact: Kellie Leonard, Dell
Computer Corp., 512-728-4666; Reader contact: Dell Computer
Corp., 800-289-3355, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00022)

UK - Data Guardian Nixes V.32Terbo Standard 05/25/93
WALLINGTON, SURREY, ENGLAND, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Data Guardian,
the data communications distributor, has announced it has no plans
to stock V.32Terbo "standard" modems, preferring instead to sell
Motorola units which it claims have been V.Fast "rated" for the
past eight months.

V.32Terbo, as reported previously by Newsbytes, is an interim
unofficial standard developed by 18 modem manufacturers earlier
this year. The technology was developed as "stop-gap" until the
CCITT, the international telecommunications regulatory body,
agrees on the V.Fast standard, which has been in the discussion
stages for almost two years.

Clive Cooper, Data Guardian's managing director, said that he
firmly believes that the V.Fast modems available today offer
better performance than the V.32Terbo units which are on sale.
"V.Fast uses multi-dimensional trellis coding, as well as line
probing and pre-coding to comfortably achieve speeds of 24,000
bits-per-second (bps), which overshadows the 19,200 bps speeds
claimed by the V.32Terbo camp," he said.

According to Cooper, V.32Terbo represents a tweaking of existing
V.32 technology and, as a result, there is industry concern that the
technology will not work over noisy phone lines.

"V.Fast, on the other hand, is the future of the modem market and,
with the products we're already selling, our customers can benefit
from this new technology today, safe in the knowledge that their
modems will be fully conformant to the V.Fast standard when
ratification comes in the near future," he said.

Data Guardian's public downgrading of the V.32Terbo modem
standard comes at a difficult time for the fledgling interim,
and unofficial, standard, Newsbytes notes. Several modem
manufacturers are supplying V.32Terbo "standard" modems, but
no line services or bulletin board systems yet support the
technology.

(Steve Gold/19930525/Press & Public Contact: Data Guardian -
0276-686888)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00023)

Fujitsu Europe Offers Database For Resellers/Users 05/25/93
UXBRIDGE, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Fujitsu
Europe has opened an electronic database for its resellers, as
well as users, of its magnetic and optical disk drives plus tape
products.

Known as the Fujitsu Knowledge System (FKS), the service claims
to bring together a wealth of information from specification
sheets, installation guides, as well as previously unpublished
material.

"FKS is more than just a catalog - it's really encyclopedic,
presenting a rich diversity of information, yet in an extremely
simple to use 'point-and-click' format," explained Joe Jura,
Fujitsu's storage products manager.

According to Jura, the ease of use of FKS has been achieved by
combining the advantages of non-hierarchical, intuitive access
with mixed forms of information - text and graphics. Plans call
for future versions of the system to contain utility programs
and printable documents.

The database is supplied on 3.5-inch disk and runs under Windows.
According to Fujitsu, the information contained within FKS includes
product specifications, switch settings in both text and graphical
formats, PC controllers, BIOS (basic input/output) parameters and
details of device drivers. The disk also includes a glossary of
storage terms and definitions, as well as details of the field
service numbers used by DEC for Fujitsu drives.

"Previously, this information was spread across a number of
documents, some it wasn't even in a published form," Jura said.
He added that the aim of FKS is to provide a high degree of
front-line support for resellers and customers to get the
information they need with the need for a phone call.

(Steve Gold/19930525/Press & Public Contact: Fujitsu Europe -
tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00024)

Borland Office For Windows Due Next Month In UK 05/25/93
TWYFORD, READING, ENGLAND, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Borland has
announced that it will ship Office for Windows in the UK next
month, following its international agreement with Wordperfect.
Office is a joint collaborative project between Borland and
Wordperfect, including a word processor (Wordperfect 5.2/Win),
spreadsheet (Paradox 1.0/Win) and database (Quattro Pro 1.0/Win).

According to Rikke Helms-Wienszczak, Borland UK's managing
director, the software suite market-place has grown tremendously
over the last year. "We have has a growing number of enquiries and
demand has reached a level to which we feel we must respond,
Borland Office is a solution available to everyone, and is
outstanding in terms of both value and performance," she said.

Helms-Wienszczak claims that Office marks the first time that two
major software houses have collaborated on a project of this type.
David Godwin, general manager for sales and marketing with
Wordperfect, confirmed this point, adding that the main aim of the
package is to combine three popular software products in a single
high-value suite, but at an all-in price,

"It's the first fruit of a new and positive strategic relationship
between Borland and Wordperfect, and we're looking forward to
further benefits for both companies in the future," he said.

In the UK, Office will be sold for UKP399.95, although, when it
starts to ship in a few weeks, the package will be on special
offer until the end of August with UKP100 off.

(Steve Gold/19930525/Press & Public Contact: Borland
International - tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00025)

Comdex - Best Power Does "Star Trek" Theme For Breakfast 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Best Power
Technology chose a "Star Trek" theme for its press breakfast at
the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The rolls would have been draw enough.

Newsbytes ended up discussing uninterruptible power supply
technology with Don Sleeper, the company's manager of
environmental  engineering. "The latest version of our Patriot
product for PCs is 15 pounds. The biggest weight factor is the
batteries. As long as you have batteries you'll have weight."
Transformer technology is also improving. "We're using smaller
transformers, what are called linear transformers," he said.

"Batteries haven't changed a lot," he added. "It's basically a
lead-acid design, like a car battery. There's a slightly different
plate technology, more capacity to draw power for a longer
period of time. Lithium hasn't made the power we're looking for
and it's not commercially viable. Most don't have enough power
in the short term, when you're starting a load. In electrical cars
the technology is being used, but the problem is expense. "

As to Best itself, Sleeper claimed, "We're the only company
looking at what kind of UPS you need. Is it something to handle
an undervoltage, overvoltage, spikes? You could give everyone a
Sherman tank, but do they need it? From a price standpoint, you
start with the least-expensive. If you get a lightning hit that
sends a spike, it's the first line of defense. It will sacrifice
itself."

Newsbytes then asked which Best product is best? "It's a good,
better and best type of thing that depends on a 'criticality'
type of thing. Our flagship is the Patriot product. There are
three lights on the front, and if there's a red light you get an
alarm. That's what you're seeing in the retail end. You move up
and you're dealing with a network and seeing more loads, then you
want to know how much capacity you have. So we have one with a
monitor in the front."

The company's new Logitrol product has more information, he
continued. "It can look inside your computer and look at DC
voltages within the computer, to tell whether you have a problem
internally, whether you have a power supply problem, or whether
you have a problem in the bus. The price is close to the same as
the Patriot. The Patriot starts at $179, Logitrol starts at $199."

What's the next frontier in power protection, he was asked. "People
sometimes forget about routers and bridges when it comes to power
protection. They miss the communications links. That's where
people get surprised. Ours require no interface for you at all. Once
you get it plugged in, we have an RS-232 plug. We're starting with
the SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) protocol to talk
on a network. That helps with the bridges and routers, so you can
tell what products are out there and whether the batteries are OK."

Interestingly, he added, "The UPS is a consumable. It last 4-6
years, and you want to know you can test it." If you've got an old
UPS, in other words, you may need a new one.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930525/Press Contact: Kenneth Urban,
Best Power Technology, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00026)

Comdex - Borland's Kahn Delivers Upbeat Update 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) --  Philippe Kahn,
CEO of Borland International, has always broken the rules. Now
he's thinking of breaking another one as he prepares to do battle
with Microsoft Excel.

Kahn told a Comdex luncheon crowd that Borland is considering
referring to the next upgrade of its Quattro Pro for Windows
as version 5 instead of Version 2, because of where it is
positioned in the market. It is set to compete with Microsoft
Excel and the latest version of Lotus 1-2-3. According to Kahn,
it doesn't look good to have the latest version of one product
be numerically inferior to the competition.

Product upgrade prices for individual products seem to have
settled at $99.95, with little variance. This, Kahn said, is a
fair price. He said reviewers should give the street price, not
the list price, when reviewing products, as that is the true test
of product availability. Listing only the suggested retail price
scares away the consumer, he said.

Kahn acknowledged he was impressed with both Microsoft's
Windows NT and IBM's OS/2 2.1. He asked the Comdex crowd to
comment on the recent Borland Users conference in California,
where OS/2 versions were demonstrated. Those who commented
were impressed with their performance.

Still "no news" on dBase for Windows, Kahn said. Borland has a
major share of the database market with its Paradox for DOS
version, and its Paradox for Windows has captured the lions share
of the Windows database market, Kahn claimed. He predicted that
Borland can get 55 percent or more of the market, once dBase
for Windows is shipping.

Kahn said Borland Office is packaged to give businesses the
benefit of a packaged wordprocessor, spreadsheet, and database
for Windows. Borland is "making major strides in the
power-made-easy market."

Kahn was also asked about electronic-mail not being in Borland
Office. "Borland wants to be the Switzerland of mail," he said.
He went on to explain that there are many e-mail systems and
programs that work well and are compatible with Borland Office.

(tbass HNDPRSN/19930525/Press Contact: Martha Isham,
Borland International, 408-431-5177)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00027)

Comdex - VL-Bus Continues To Make Impact 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) - Although the new
Intel-backed PCI (Personal Computer Interconnect) local bus
video connection standard is just around the corner, support for
the VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) VL-Bus local
bus video standard still abounds at this year's Comdex.

Typical of this is the new Grafica 4V1 - that company's first
VL-Bus system in this product line. This machine offers not one,
but two, VL-Bus local bus slots alongside six 16-bit ISA (Industry
Standard Architecture) slots and one eight-bit ISA slot. Despite
all these slots, the footprint of the machine isn't overly unwieldy
as two of the 16-bit ISA slots piggy-back onto the VL-Bus slots.

There's also a further video enhancement option in the form of
DTK's VL-Bus accelerated video adaptor with 1 megabyte (MB) of
RAM. This will have an estimated street price of $225.

Digital Equipment, meanwhile, has declared its support for the
PCI standard. During a press conference to discuss its recently-
announced Alpha AXP-based PCs, the company revealed that the
machines it announced were the first in a long line of Alpha PCs
from Digitak and that it expects the next generation to have
local bus video based on PCI.

(Geof Wheelwright/199305225/Press Contact: Thomas
Bayens, 206-882-8080, DTK Computer Inc.; Jamie Pearson,
508-493-2149, Digital Equipment Corp.)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00028)

Comdex - New OCR Marking Software For Teachers 05/25/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) - Optical character
recognition (OCR) has become an increasingly popular tool for
writers and business people over the past couple of years, but
now teachers and direct marketing operations can get a version
of this technology that will help them more directly.

Using a technology known as Optical Mark Reading (OMR),
Westchester-based Principia Products has designed a Windows-
based system that the company claims will work with hand
scanners to mark test papers, surveys, and office forms.

It comes in either Remark Office OMR or Remark Office
Pro - the latter being an "industrial strength" version of the
former. The packages use a proprietary OCR algorithm designed
to handle, what Principia Products calls, the kind of "degraded
text" found on typical office forms.

Remark Office Pro carries a list price of less than $500 and
will ship in the third quarter.

The hand scanner version of Remark Office OMR works with
TWAIN-compatible devices and provides an alternative for
those who want to use optical mark reading but are on a
limited budget. The software can use type-written, as well as
photocopied forms and includes a built-in "grading"feature
for test papers. It sells for $149.95.

(Geof Wheelwright/Press Contact: Victor F. Berutti,
800-858-0860, Principia Products)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00029)

 ****DEC Opens South African Subsidiary 05/25/93
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Digital
Equipment has opened a wholly-owned subsidiary in South,
its first-ever direct presence in that country.

Digital Sales & Services South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. will begin
operations July 1 in Sandton, outside Johannesburg. The company
will have five employees initially, said Digital spokesman
Kenneth McDonnell from DEC headquarters in the United States. By
the end of its first year DEC hopes to have about 100 people in
the South African operation, and the company is aiming for 200
within three years, most of whom will be South Africans.

"Our goal here is to start up the operation then to turn it over
and have it managed by South Africans," said Vikkee Love,
marketing and business development manager for the new
subsidiary, in a teleconference from Johannesburg.

Like many companies, Digital has stayed out of South Africa
because of the white-dominated government's apartheid policy.
Company officials said they have been monitoring developments in
the country, and have decided in the light of recent changes that
it is now time to start doing business there.

Digital officials supplied Newsbytes with a copy of a letter from
T.T. Nkobi, treasurer general of the African National Congress, a
prominent black-rights group. He said the company's arrival,
"marks one of the early steps along the route towards developing
new economic strength and building a revitalized society based on
cooperation and development both nationally and internationally."

John L. Simms, vice-president of strategic resources at DEC, said
it was the first time the ANC had given its endorsement to a
foreign company moving into South Africa. The ANC has supported
sanctions against the country because of its racist policies.

Simms said only one investor in DEC has objected to the move into
South Africa, and only two company employees have expressed
concern about the move taking place before the official lifting
of sanctions. He said he expects the ANC's endorsement will allay
those concerns, adding that the company expects to see a formal
lifting of sanctions soon.

DEC signed value-added reseller agreements with two South African
companies, one of which is Bhekisizwe Computer Systems, a newly
formed company with majority black ownership. The other is
Olivetti Information Technology.

At the same time, the company announced plans to sponsor Project
REACH South Africa, a community development plan modeled on a
similar project DEC has sponsored in the Boston area since 1988.
REACH standard for Road to Educational Achievement, and the plan
focuses on education, self-empowerment, leadership development,
and re-investment in the community, officials said.

DEC plans to spend about 2.2 million Rand (roughly US$750,000)
on community development programs in South Africa, Love said.

(Grant Buckler/19930525/Press Contact: Mark Fredrickson,
508-493-4930;or  Kenneth McDonnell, 508-493-1035, DEC)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(00030)

IBM, Harris Systems Put System V Security On RS/6000 05/25/93
BETHESDA, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Aiming at
security conscious users and industry sectors where Unix Systems
Laboratories' System V release 4 is the established Unix
standard, IBM and Harris Systems are cooperating to put a
System V release 4 operating system with security and real-time
features on IBM's RISC System/6000 workstations and servers.

The effort is driven by customer demand in the government and
telecommunications sectors, where SVR4 is the established
standard, Courtney Siegel, vice-president and general manager of
Harris' computer systems division, told Newsbytes.

The operating system will carry a Harris logo, said Wayne
Goeller, manager of industry development in IBM's federal systems
business unit, but both companies will sell it along with RS/6000
hardware.

Due to be available in the spring of 1994, the new system will
also run on Harris' own Night Hawk computers.

It will offer B2-level security as defined by the United States'
National Computer Security Center, and will comply fully with the
SVR4 standard and with the Portable Open Systems Interface X
(POSIX) standard.

In future, the system will also comply with IBM's PowerOpen
standards, allowing it to run applications written for the coming
PowerOpen system. However, PowerOpen compliance will not come
with the first release, Siegel said.

In addition to government and telecommunications users both in
the United States and elsewhere, Siegel said the companies expect
the system to appeal to the manufacturing market, particularly
for process-control applications.

The announcement results from an alliance between the companies
announced last November, which includes joint marketing of the
Night Hawk and RS/6000 systems to federal-government customers,
support for PowerPC in the Night Hawk line, and a joint
development project to provide real-time functions for the
RS/6000.

(Grant Buckler/19930525/Press Contact: Bill Prater, IBM,
301-493-1359; Gail Truman, Harris, 305-973-5122)