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/nb930615

Text File | 1993-06-15 | 75KB | 1,644 lines

(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00001)

Sanyo Creates Multimedia Subsidiary, Links With Thomson 06/15/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Sanyo Electric has set
up a 100-percent owned subsidiary devoted to the business
of multimedia, and has linked with France's Thomson to create
semiconductor chips for its multimedia devices.

Sanyo Marbic Media will develop optical disks, CD-ROMs, and
the Mini-Disk-based software, mainly music and game programs.
Sanyo expects its subsidiary to make 10 billion yen ($90,000)
during fiscal 1995.

The subsidiary's main office is at Sanyo's information
device headquarters in Gifu Prefecture. Actual business will be
conducted at Sanyo's Tokyo office. The total capitalization of the
subsidiary is 90 million yen ($820,000). General Manager Toshiharu
Oku, from Sanyo's optical disk department, has assumed the presidency
of the firm. About 200 employees were transferred to this new firm
from Sanyo.

Sanyo is already been producing 1.5 million music compact disks
per month on an OEM basis. The new firm will take over this
business, and plans to ship 2.5 million music CDs per month
by July. The new firm will also take over Mini-Disk
production and is creating a project team for software
production.

Meanwhile, Sanyo has linked with French electronics firm
Thomson concerning joint production of multimedia chips. To start,
both firms will develop LSI sets for super-fast fax machines, and
for picture-data compression and decompression.

Both firms plan to ship LSI sets for fax machines by the end
of this year. The LSI sets for picture and data are expected to
be shipped in early 1994.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930615/Press Contact: Sanyo Electric,
[phone], Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00002)

Ex-Next Exec Joins Xerox 06/15/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Just
three months after leaving Next, following that company's
decision to get out of the hardware business and concentrate
on its NextStep object-oriented software environment, Peter
van Cuylenburg has joined Xerox Corp. as an executive vice
president for operations.

According to Xerox, four document processing divisions will
report to van Cuylenburg, who will take over his new role
July 1.

The position has been vacant since the death of Vittorio Cassonia
a year ago. Van Cuylenburg is set to become one of the eight
members of Xerox's corporate office.

In March, Newsbytes reported that van Cuylenburg, Next's
president and chief operating officer, resigned after being in
the position since March of 1992.

At the time, Next said that, as the company was becoming a
200-person software company, both, "Next and van Cuylenburg
mutually agreed that the restructured company no longer
requires both a CEO and a president/COO."

(Ian Stokell/19930317)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00003)

McAfee Offers 24-hour Computer Virus Hotline 06/15/93
WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Support and services
continue to be an important source of revenue for both hardware
and software companies. Now McAfee Associates, a developer
of anti-virus software, has established a 24-hour "virus
emergency response center."

According to the company, the service extends access to McAfee's
technical support to 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.

In announcing the new service, William McKiernan, president of
McAfee, said: "The new program is a proactive response to corporate
America's growing need for around-the-clock technical support,
especially in the area of data security and integrity. Today's
mission-critical PC networks don't sleep and neither do viruses.
Our 24-hour coverage will maximize system uptime by providing
rapid, effective response to virus outbreaks."

The company says that a special after-hours dedicated phone line
allows McAfee customers to page an on-call anti-virus technician
who contacts the customer back "within minutes." The technician
then works with the customer to identify the virus and suggest
corrective action.

In the event that the user has discovered a new virus, the company
claims that its programmers can develop a "custom solution for
that customer, usually within 24 hours," after the customer
first uploads the virus to the McAfee bulletin board system (BBS).

The service is now available to McAfee customers for a one-time
service fee of $325, or 10 percent of their site license fee,
whichever is greater. The fee provides access to the virus
emergency response center for two years and is renewable after
that. The virus emergency response center services are free
during normal business hours.

(Ian Stokell/19930611/Press Contact: Phil Talsky,
408-980-3629, McAfee Associates)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00004)

Apple Network Upgrade Rebate, Internet E-mail Support 06/15/93
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Apple
Computer's Enterprise Systems Division (ESD) announced a rebate
program to encourage customers to upgrade to its Appleshare Pro
and the company's flagship Apple Workgroup Server 95 products
for networks and new versions of its electronic mail server
products, MacX.400 v.1.1.

The benefits to upgrading are an increase in network speed,
expandability, and ease-of-use, according to the Apple's ESD.
AppleShare Pro and the Apple Workgroup Server 95 boosts
performance up to 4 times that of AppleShare 3.0 running on a
Quadra 950 and supports as many as 5,000 open files, 200
concurrent logons, and 50 highly active users, Apple's ESD
asserts.

Customers who purchase Appleshare Pro and an Apple Workgroup
Server 95 qualify for a $1,000 rebate if they purchased
Appleshare 3.0 after January 1, 1993 or a $500 rebate if they
purchased Appleshare before January 1, 1993. Macintosh Quadra
900 or 950 users can turn their Quadras into an Apple Workgroup
Server 95 purchasing Appleshare Pro and an upgrade kit, and
qualify for a rebate as well, the company said. A coupon and
proof of purchase is required and will be accepted for the
rebates until October 31, 1993.

To encourage Unix value-added resellers (VARs) to promote the
Workgroup Server 95 systems, Apple is offering a "loan-to-own"
incentive that allows US VARs to earn an Apple Quadra 800 A/UX-
compatible system when they sell three Apple Workgroup Server
95 systems.

For electronic mail (e-mail) on the network, Apple's MacX.400
products are designed to enable Macintosh users to send e-mail
to recipients on other platforms connected to X.400 networks,
both nation wide and around the world. Support for Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and the Open System
Interconnection (OSI) Connection are the features in the
MacX.400 1.1 version that make such connection possible.

The latest 1.1 versions of MacX.400 and MacX.400 SD servers
allow electronic mail exchange over the popular electronic mail
network, the Internet, Apple's ESD said. With these new
versions, customers can run X.400 messaging applications over
the Internet using their existing TCP/IP infrastructure. They
also will support public X.400 services such as MCI, Sprint and
IBM Advantis.

The OSI Connection for Macintosh v.1.1 will be Apple's software
platform for users and developers who want to extend the reach
of their Macintosh computer applications to OSI environments.
It will support the International Standards Organization (ISO)
Transport protocol that provides end-to-end connections in
multi-vendor environments and includes an RFC 1006 module. It
allows OSI services like X.400 to run over TCP/IP networks. OSI
Connection for Macintosh v.1.1 will facilitate the connection
of the Macintosh computer to IEEE 802.3 Ethernet networks, and
to X.25 networks when used in conjunction with MacX25.
Additionally, OSI Connection for Macintosh v.1.1 is designed to
be used for terminal emulation or file transfer over OSI
networks.

Apple is encouraging third-party developers implement X.400
gateways for existing e-mail systems and create x.400 user
agents for the Macintosh computer. The company is offering an
application programming interface (API), the MacX.400, and says
the API is the same for MacX.400 and MacX.400 SD servers.

Gateways between MacX.400 v.1.1 and popular e-mail systems are
available from third-party developers, including Intercon
Systems Corporation of Herndon, Virginia, and Starnine
Technologies of Berkeley, California.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930614/Press Contact: John McCreadie, Apple
Computer, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00005)

C&T Intros Low-Cost Chipset For 486 Systems 06/15/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- In the
cut-throat PC hardware business, anything that can shave a few
dollars off costs can be the difference between survival and
Chapter 11. Now Chips and Technologies has announced a system-
logic chipset that it claims greatly reduces the design and
manufacturing costs of 486-based PC AT-compatible systems.

According to the companies, the new two-chip CS4031 can be
combined with a 486 processor and eight discrete TTL (transistor-
transistor logic) components to form a complete PC AT system
with VESA (Video Electronic Standards Association) local bus
support.

The chipset has been designed in what the company claims is the
first two-layer, FCC-compliant, 486 motherboard. The CS4031
supports 486SX, 486DX and 486DX2, running at clock speeds from
16 megahertz (MHz) to 33MHz.

In announcing the chipset, C.S. Chao, product manager for systems
logic at Chips and Technologies, said: "The CS4031 now allows
designers to greatly reduce component and system cost without
compromising performance. OEMs (original equipment manufacturers)
can design systems with an inexpensive, two-layer board and still
achieve high levels of reliability and performance. We are providing
a price-performance value that lets OEMs put 486 systems on
retailer shelves for the same selling price as today's entry-level
386 systems."

The company says that the CS4031 chipset is partitioned into two
chips: the F84031, which incorporates CPU (central processing unit),
DRAM and ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) controllers; and the
F84035, which is an integrated peripheral controller.

The company claims that CS4031-based designs require only eight
additional TTL devices for designs that utilize up to 32 megabytes
(MB) in two banks of memory. Two TTL devices are required for core
logic and six are needed for AT-bus drivers. The external real-
time clock, separate peripheral controllers and other discrete
components normally required by core logic chipset are not
needed to complement the CS4031, says the company.

In addition to reduced costs, the CS4031 offers the company's
patented page interleave DRAM scheme and burst mode support
with 3-2-2-2 read and zero wait-state write cycles at 33MHz.
The CS4031 can address up to 64MB of memory.

The F84031 controller is packaged in a 160-pin quad flat pack,
while the F84035 SIPC is offered in a 100-pin, plastic quad flat
pack. Samples are already available, with production scheduled
for August. The price is $15 in 1,000 unit quantities.

(Ian Stokell/19930614/Press Contact: Annie Gladue,
408-434-0600, Chips and Technologies)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(NYC)(00006)

Update -- Kahn Sees On-Going Battle On Cryptography 06/15/93
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- [Editor's
note - this version corrects this same story which ran on our
wire yesterday under the same title, which had some
punctuation and grammatical errors.]

David Kahn, author of "The Codebreakers," speaking at the
Third CPSR Cryptography Conference, told those assembled that
he sees an on-going battle between government and privacy advocates
over personal and business uses of cryptography.

Kahn said, "My thesis is that the growth of cryptography
follows the growth of communication. When there was little literacy,
writing itself was a form of cryptography."

"A great leap forward came in World War I -- the use of radio
brought the need for greater use of codes to insure the privacy of
messages. In the fallout after the war, the use of cipher machines
was attempted but this approach was not really practical until
computers came along," he added.

According to Khan, in recent times interest in cryptography has
grown dramatically. "When the RSA algorithm was mentioned in
Scientific American, there were 5,000 requests for reprints of the
article; the story "Ultra Secret" about the breaking of the Germans'
code raised interest and threats such as computer 'hackers.' Viruses
and cellular phone fraud raised additional interest in cryptography
and the protection of privacy," he said.

Kahn claimed: "Government wants to stop the movement toward
privacy. Government wants to know about criminals and terrorists.
It tries to accomplish this objective through such things as
export controls and the Clipper & Capstone chips," he told the
audience.

"The government sees its activity not as an additional intrusion
into individual privacy, but as an attempt to maintain the present
state. However, the domain of individual rights has been expanding
-- the Miranda warnings, abortion decisions, and the more strident
avocation of privacy rights are examples of this trend," he said.

"The government moves are trying to block the advance of privacy
rather than intrude into present rights. Export limits inhibits
business expansion," he added.

Kahn concluded: "Now we have to look for the synthesis. It's a
matter of 'privacy is good' and 'business profits are good' versus
'security is good.' The question that must be answered is how to
balance these goods. Do we give up the first for the second?"

"The World Trade Center bombing shows that terrorism is here and is
a concern. Government wants to hold back technology. This can't be
done forever but can be done for a while. Government will argue that
the temporary holding back will save some lives and properties," he
said.

In the question and answer period that followed, Bill Murray,
consultant to Deloite and Touche, commented: "When the government
wants us to give up the right to private communications, it must
show us the danger (that warrants it). If drug dealers and
terrorists are the problem, it should be demonstrated that drug
dealers and terrorists are abusing private communications."

In response to a Newsbytes question as to whether the triumph of the
expansion of privacy rights over government concerns was inevitable,
Kahn said: "Privacy is too powerful a force to be stopped. It will
eventually prevail."

Ross Stapleton, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst,
commented: "These changes in information may cause a rethinking of
the concept of national sovereignty. Governments have always
tried to control the flow of information; with the new technology
and communications capabilities, they cannot control it any
longer."

Murray said: "We cannot control it but we can criminalize it and
that would be a mistake. By criminalizing drugs, we have
destabilized society. There is so much illegal money from this
policy that courts, law enforcement departments and legislatures
have been corrupted."

Asked by Newsbytes if he saw illegal money growing if the government
tries to rein in the growth of cryptography or tries to make
wiretapping more pervasive, Murray said: "No, it's not analogous in
the money sense. But the criminalizing of anything without real
justification causes destabilization."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19930614/Press Contact:
David Banisar, Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility,
202-544-9240; 202-547-5481, fax; [e-mail]
on the Internet)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00007)

Computer Viruses Rampant In Japan 06/15/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- The Japan Information Processing
Association (IPA) has announced that May produced a record number
of reported virus attacks.

According to the IPA, May produced 49 incidents from members,
the highest number since the association was started. Between
January and May of this year, a total of 186 cases were reported.
This represents 2.3 times more incidents than were reported during
the same term last year. A total of 510 cases were reported since 1990.

Among the 49 cases reported in May, the association has pinpointed
12 specific viruses. The most popular ones were "Yankee Doodle
Doo" (21 cases) and "Cascade" (13 cases). 31 cases were reported
by NEC PC9801 users, and the rest were by IBM and Epson computer
users.

The type of users were as follows: 21 cases for the data
processing industry including hardware and software makers,
14 cases for individual users, and 13 cases for general users.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930615/Press Contact: IPA, +81-3-
3437-2301)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00008)

NEC To Release 1.8-inch 125.8M Hard Disk 06/15/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- NEC will ship a 1.8-inch,
125.8-megabyte hard disk in July and claims these specifications
are an industry first. Not only is this hard disk small in
size, but it will not be expensive, NEC claims.

NEC's latest 1.8-inch hard disk is the size of a cigarette package.
It measures 76.8 x 50.8 x 15mm, and weighs only 75 grams. The price
of the sample product will be 160,000 yen ($1,500), but the
price will drop as the device goes into mass production in
August, possibly to as low as 50,000 yen ($450).

NEC is planning to ship this 1.8-inch hard disk for
pen-input type PCs, notebook-type PCs and multimedia devices.

NEC's latest 1.8-inch hard disk is the improved version of the
firm's 85.3M-type hard disk. NEC has incorporated the technology,
called Spatta method, which involves the application of two
aluminum disks and a thin-layer magnetic head. The size of this
disk, 125.8 megabytes, is high compared to the average 1.8-inch
hard disk today that holds between 40MB and 60MB of data.

NEC plans to raise production to 50,000 units per month by the
end of this year.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930615/Press Contact: NEC, +81-3-
3451-2974, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00009)

Fujitsu Releases Low-Cost Notebook PC 06/15/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Fujitsu has released low-cost
notebook-type personal computers in Japan. These A4-size PCs are
the lowest priced among Fujitsu's entire PC range and are
expected to escalate the PC price war further in Japan.

The lowest-cost version is the FMR-50NL, 198,000 yen ($1,800).
It is equipped with a 25MHz 80486SX processor, and is 3 to 4
times faster than its predecessor. The FMR-50NE is equipped with
a TFT (thin film transistor) display and costs 268,000 yen
($2,500). The 50T is equipped with a color display and costs
468,000 yen ($4,300), which is quite reasonable for a color
notebook PC.

The rock-bottom priced NL is equipped with two IC card ports
which are based on the standard set by the Japan Electronics
Association. The screen supports both 640 x 400 pixels
and 640 x 480 pixels, enabling it to support Windows 3.1. The main
memory is 2.75MB. The other two notebooks are equipped with a 3.75MB
main memory.

3.5-inch floppy disk versions and 120MB hard disk versions are also
available.

Fujitsu expects to ship a total of 300,000 of these little hard
disks within two years.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930615/Press Contact: Fujitsu, +81-3-
3215-5236, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00010)

 ****Sega Gets Into Theme Parks 06/15/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Japan's major game machine maker
Sega Enterprises says it will create high-tech game parks worldwide
including in Japan, the US, and European countries. Sega has
already started construction of the game parks in Japan, the US,
and England.

Sega Enterprises is creating high-tech game parks for each
Prefecture in Japan -- the goal is to build at least 48 of them.

In the US, Sega Enterprises is building its game park at the
the Luxer hotel in Las Vegas. Sega will spend a total of
600 million yen ($5.5 million) to create this facility inside
the hotel. It should be operational by Fall Comdex.

In the UK, Sega's game center will be in Bournmouth, England.
It will include some 200 rides and arcade games, including
three-dimensional and virtual reality game machines.

A second UK game center is destined for London and is
being created jointly with Japan's Yaohan group. It will be
situated in Yaohan's major shopping center, due to open in
August.

Sega Enterprises also has set its sights on Spain, Germany
and France for more game centers and hopes to create a total of
10 of them outside Japan by the end of this year.

Throughout the spring, Sega has been expanding. The company
just set up an Overseas Operation Department and has been
hiring executive managers from major banks and rival game machine
firm Nintendo.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19930614/Press Contact: Sega Enterprises, +81-3-
3743-7603, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00011)

NTT Software Rejects Forged Phone Cards 06/15/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Japan's major domestic telephone
firm NTT has developed software that rejects forged telephone cards,
which promises for now to do something about a widespread problem.

NTT's new software will be installed at public pay phones which
use cards rather than cash. There are 743,371 of them in Japan. NTT
claims over 99.9 percent of forged telephone cards will be
detected. When a forged card is inserted into the public phone,
the software detects it and keeps this card inside of the
telephone.

Forgery of telephone cards is a serious problem for NTT. The
forgery has mainly been attributed to the Yakuza group or
Japanese "Mafia," and foreigners. Japanese police arrested several
forgerers in January and retained 170,000 forged cards. Also, in
February, police arrested Iranian nationals and retained a
forged-card making machine and forged cards. The alleged criminals
first stole the public phones and analyzed the scanner and
the software in the telephone. Then, they made the
machine to create forged phone cards.

The job of replacing the pay phone software in all the public
phones should be complete by September, and should take care
of the problem until criminals think of new ways to trick the
system.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19930614/Press Contact: NTT, [phone],
Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(MOW)(00012)

Russia - Corning To Sell Fiber Technology 06/15/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Corning has announced an
agreement to supply leading Russian fiber cable manufacturers with its
own cables as well as fiber technology.

The All-Russian Scientific Institute of the Cable Industry and four
Russian cable manufacturers -- in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in the towns
of Podolsk and Mytishi -- will purchase Corning optical fiber for use in
making fiber-optic cable.

The All-Russian Scientific Institute is a government and industry
association that represents the majority of established cable
manufacturers in Russia. It is the first such deal between the
Institute and a Western company, according to the Institute.

Russian companies are also expected to explore the possibility of
manufacturing optical fiber in Russia using Corning's patented
technology.

Fiber cable technology was for a long time subject to
strict export control restrictions, enforced by the joint committee
of export control (COCOM). The lifting of the ban will allow
improvements in the telecommunications network in Russia, the
communications ministry said in a press statement.

The financial side of the deal was not disclosed, although
John O'Hare, marketing spokesman for Corning, reports that
it should result in a "great deal of business over the next
10 to 20 years," a statement which indicates to some that
no profits are seen in the near future.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19930613)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MOW)(00013)

Dell Takes New Road In Russia 06/15/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Dell has begun to
sell in the ex-Soviet market but admits that it can't rely
on its US marketing policy which made it so successful in the
US. Dell will sell through a local distributor.

The announcement was made at the 4th International Computer
Forum in Moscow. This partner is Intermicro Business Systems
(IBS), a Russian firm created by Anatoly Karachinsky, formerly
the manager of Intermicro Joint Venture, the parent company.

Gamid Kostoev from IBS tells Newsbytes that Dell admits it can
not sell directly in the ex-Soviet market. "The market here
is 10-15 years behind and the methods which Dell has developed
can't be used without a mature market." So IBS is going to
distribute Dell computers through dealers in the CIS and the
Baltics. But IBS will "reproduce the service palette" of Dell.
Computers will be customized according to a customer's wishes.
There are even plans to pre-install Russian-language software.
When and where this installation will occur is unclear.

IBS already sells 27 Dell models in Moscow, including Dell Powerline
servers and Micropolis Radion network disc systems.

(Eugene Peskin & Kirill Tchashchin/19930613/Press Contact: IBS, Gamid
Kostoev, [phone], [phone], e-mail [e-mail])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00014)

India Technology Briefs 06/15/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- The lure of the Indian moolah
has tempted yet another multinational to transform its Indian
affiliate to a de jure subsidiary. Pleased with the prospects and
profits of Digital Equipment India Ltd. (DEIL), Digital Equipment
Corp. will hike its equity stake from 40 percent to 51 percent in
the local outlet. This means an additional investment of $5 million.

Making available, for DEIL, its first Alpha-based AXP series of
workstations within weeks of their launch abroad, giving it a
repeat order for the export of software worth Rs 14 crore, DEC
is nurturing its Indian cousin well. And why not? With its
coffers running low the world over, it can certainly do with
proceeds, however little, from anywhere.

Checking For Gate Crashing

The Bombay-based Datapro Electronics Pvt. Ltd. has recently launched
a high grade access control system called Access, developed by
using fingerprint identification technology. Access makes the
system foolproof by allowing only registered users into secure
areas. The system can be of use in keeping a vigil on places such as
arms and ammunition depots, strong rooms, and lockers of banks.

Datapro, started in 1986, has undertaken projects for integration of
communication products and services in India and has also provided
packages for messaging networks. Some time back, the firm had
introduced a range of electrical energy management products which
aid in monitoring, analyzing and controlling electrical energy
consumption from a central point. Datapro's project for development
of advance control systems for paper machine control is being
financially assisted by the Technology Development and Information
Company of India Ltd. (TDICI), a venture capital firm.

Copyright Act To Be Amended

Certain sections of the Copyright Act pertaining to software are
being amended to conform to international norms, the secretary,
Department of Electronics (Government of India), N. Vittal, said
recently. A mandatory punishment of one month imprisonment and a
fine of Rs 50,000 for violators, are part of the proposals under
consideration. A clause to empower enforcement authorities to
conduct search and arrest would also be included, he added. The DoE,
he said, has recommended the setting up of special courts to
expedite settlement of software piracy cases. DoE has also set up a
national committee for the effective enforcement of the Copyright
Act. The industry, on the other hand, has set up the Indian
Federation Against Software Theft (INFAST) to initiate cases against
software piracy.

Belarus Buys From Tata Unisys

Fourteen U6000, the Unix server from Tata Unisys Ltd. (TUL), will
soon be reaching the shores of Belarus, of the former Soviet Union.
The company will be shipping initially six U6000/60s to JV Belcom, a
private sector company in Belarus. The order follows the signing of
an agreement between the two companies during the visit of K.F.
Kebich, Prime Minister of Belarus. The Belarus dignitary also showed
a keen interest in TUL's software packages like Signbank, its
signature verification product; Picture post, its imaging product;
and Crisp, its finger verification package, among others while
visiting the TUL unit at the Santa Cruz Electronics Export
Processing Zone, Bombay.

In the second phase, two U6000/65s and six U6000/35s will be
supplied to the Ministry of External Affairs in Belarus.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19930615)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00015)

BoCoEx Index 06/15/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Boston Computer
Exchange for the week ending  June 11, 1993.

Machine                         Main  Closing     Price     Ask      Bid

                               Drive    Price    Change

IBM PS1 386SX/25             130 MgB      850               900      750

IBM PS/2 Model 70-A21        120 MgB      875               950      800

IBM PS/2 Model 56SLC/20      120 MgB     1050              1300      900

IBM PS/2 Model 55SX           60 MgB      650               800      700

IBM ThinkPad 300              80 MgB     1400  down 100    1500     1325

IBM ThinkPad 700              80 MgB     1850              2400     2000

IBM ThinkPad 700C            120 MgB     3600              3700     3500

IBM V\P 3/25T MOD. 80         80 MgB     1500              1600     1500

IBM PS/2 Model 90-OH9        160 MgB     1700              1700     1600

IBM PS/2 Model 95-OJF        400 MgB     3000              3300     2700

Compaq Prolinea 4/66         340 MgB     2000              2150     2000

Compaq Prolinea 486/50       240 MgB     1450              1500     1200

Compaq Portable 386          100 MgB      650               800      600

Compaq SLT-386               120 MgB      925               950      850

Compaq LTE-286                 40MgB      600               700      600

Compaq LTE-LITE 3/25          120MgB     1350              1450     1200

Compaq LTE-LITE\25C            120MB     2400              2600     2300

Compaq SysProXL             1.02 Gig    8,100            12,500    6,000

Compaq Syspro 486/50           Mod 1     6700              8500     6500

Compaq Prosigna 486 /33      550 MgB     3500              3800     3350

Compaq Portable 486/66       525 MgB     3650              4000     3500

Compaq DeskP 486DX2/66i      240 MgB     2100              2400     1900

AST Prem Exec 386SX20         40 MgB      675               750      650

NEC UltraLite  25C           80 M0gB     2000              3400     3300

NEC UltraLite Versa  20C      80 MgB     2850              2950     2800

Zenith Mastersprt-386SX       60 MgB      800               900      800

Zenith SuperSport 386SX       40 MgB      650               800      650

Macintosh Classic             40 MgB      600   down 50     650      600

Macintosh Classic II          40 MgB      750               800      700

Macintosh SE                  40 MgB      575               650      550

Macintosh SE-30               80 MgB     1050   down 50    1150     1000

Macintosh LC                  40 MgB     1000              1300      800

Macintosh II                  40 MgB     1250  down 100    1300     1250

Macintosh II SI               80 MgB     1200  down 100    1300     1200

Macintosh II CX               80 MgB     1450  down 100    1550     1400

Macintosh II CI               80 MgB     2150   down 50    2250     2000

Macintosh II FX               80 MgB     2600  down 100    2800     2600

Macintosh Quadra 700         160 MgB     3050  down 100    3100     3000

Macintosh Quadra 900         160 MgB     3700  down 200    4000     3600

Macintosh Powerbk 165C        80 MgB     2400  down 150    2500     2400

Macintosh Powerbk  145        40 MgB     1450   down 50    1550     1400

Macintosh Powerbk 180         80 MgB     2950  down 150    3100     2900

Apple Imagewriter 2                       200         `     225      175

Apple Laserwriter IINT                    900              1000      900

HP Laserjet II                            675               700      650

HP Laserjet III                          1050              1100     1000

Toshiba T-1200 XE             40 MgB      550               600      500

Toshiba T-1600                40 MgB      525               575      500

Toshiba T-2000 SX             40 MgB      700               800      700

Toshiba T-2000 SXE            40 MgB      800               900      750

Toshiba T-2200 SX              80MgB      900              1000      900

Toshiba T-3100 SX             80 MgB      800              1000      800

Toshiba T-3200                40 MgB      550               700      500

Toshiba T-3200 SX             40 MgB      600               750      500

Toshiba T-3200 SXC           120 MgB     1850  down 100    2000     1800

Toshiba T-6400DX             200 MgB     2200              2300     2100

Toshiba T-4400SX             120 MgB     1450   down 50    1600     1400

Toshiba T-5200               200 MgB     2100              2200     1900

BoCoEx Index data is compiled by Market Analyst, Gary M. Guhman

Here are some current retail-oriented Seats on the Exchange, presented in a
cyclic basis.

Dallas - Ft. Worth, TX - DFW Computer Exchange - M.B. Lee - 817-244-7833

Escondido, Ca. - Affordable Computer Solutions - Dean Jacobus - 619-738-
4980

New Orleans, Louisiana - Audubon Computer Rental - Mike Barry - 504-522-
0348

Detroit, Michigan - CompuCycle - Walt Hogan - 313-887-2600

Computer Exchange\\NorthWest - Dye Hawley - 206-820-1181

Albuquerque, NM, Western Computer Exchange - David Levin - 505-265-1330

Fresno, California - MacSource Computers - Mike Kurtz - 209-438-6227

BoCoEx Index prices are based on complete systems with keyboard, VGA
monitor and adapter, less the value of any software or peripherals.

Boston Computer Exchange is available at: 617-542-4414, Buyer's HotLine: 1-
800-262-6399, In Alaska and Canada 1-800-437-2470, FAX: [phone].The
BoCoEx Database is on the Delphi system: ME BO.

(BOCOEX/19930615)


(EDITORIAL)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016)

Editorial - Privatize NASA 06/15/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUN 15 (NB) -- By Dana Blankenhorn.
Let me offer a modest proposal that will narrow the deficit, help
people get into space faster, and drive Texas Senator Phil Gramm
nuts. (That last should get the President's attention.)

Privatize NASA.

Not everything, mind you. Just leases on Canaveral and Edwards
Air Bases, all the Shuttles, most of the people, and all non-
military missions. Keep the pure science and dump the engineers,
in other words. Put the assets into a pile, get a top-notch
accounting firm to estimate their value, and appoint a board of
directors. The government would take those assets out in stock,
then sell it through the markets. Then invite foreign
participation. Maybe the Europeans will throw in part of
Arianespace, and the Russians will throw in the Mir space
station. Again, they'll get stock which can be sold or held by a
quasi-government entity, voted for the control it offers.

How to get the money needed to pay salaries and proceed? Sell
more shares to the public, sell debt to institutions. Bring Neil
Armstrong out of retirement to pitch them on TV. Sell ads on
rockets, if need be. Who runs it? Whoever has the most shares.
(That should bring in the money.)

What's the advantage for space? Efficiency, for one. The biggest
advance in space aviation this decade, the Vertical Take Off and
Landing systems of McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing, are being run by
the Defense Department, not NASA, because the government knows
NASA wouldn't run them right. And these systems could cut the
costs of putting a payload into orbit by a factor of 100.

Autonomy is a second advantage. Freed of the need to obey
government contracting and labor rules, Space Inc. would also be
free to pursue whatever ideas promised a financial rather than a
purely political pay-off.

Internationalism is a third advantage. Forget Freedom --
use MIR -- and you've got the start of a space station. Bring
in German, Japanese and Russian scientists for a flight to Mars,
if you can make financial sense of it. Open plants in orbit to
make ball bearings, chemicals -- whatever works.

Obviously, this might drive Sen. Gramm crazy. He lives to scream
about cutting spending as a solution to debt. He'll fight this to
the last breath. So in proposing it, the President can prove his
chief critic a hypocrite. Deke Slayton, who died this past week,
spent the last years of his life trying to find a place for
business in space. Now's the time to make his dream real.

If we still want to have a space program for the pursuit of pure
science, without the thought of a pay-off, we can still have one.
But let's find out what the economic value of space is, alongside
the psychic and scientific value.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930614)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00017)

Database World - Online Services Should Be Always Available 06/15/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Online services
should be available to consumers and businesses as surely and
constantly as water, electricity and the telephone, according to
Timothy Chou of Tandem Computers.

Chou, who is general manager of Tandem's NonStop Availability
Initiative, outlined the reasons why nonstop access is needed, the
barriers standing in the way, and how Tandem plans to overcome them
at a press briefing held yesterday in conjunction with Database
World & Client-Server World.

Outages in online services cause losses in productivity, revenues,
and even in reputation for the affected parties, Chou explained.
For organizations, these outages create costs amounting to $1,000
to $100,000 per minute.

Tandem, a vendor known for its fault-tolerant systems, is
responding with plans to move beyond fault tolerance into complete
nonstop availability over the next two years. "Our 1995 goal is to
deliver a Tandem NonStop server that is an order of magnitude more
available than the current one," said Chou.

To represent the difficulties involved in reaching this goal, Chou
illustrated his presentation with slides of a "client-server
jungle." Commented the executive: "In a journey through any
jungle, you have to know where you're headed. Our destination is
dependable, available, low-cost applications."

Hardware and software failures, operator errors, and environmental
events all play roles in causing outages, he said. About 80% of
all hardware and software failures are transient, or temporary, he
added. Transient hardware failures often wreak long-term havoc,
though, by corrupting software data. Beyond corrupt data, software
can be beset by computer viruses and design flaws.

One of the most common operator errors involves purging the wrong
files, he stated. On top of these problems, computer systems face
environmental hazards ranging from hurricanes, blizzards, bombings,
floods, and earthquakes to a general deterioration in the quality
of electricity.

Difficulties like these can be hard to document, he said. However,
a study by the National Power Lab shows that the average US
computer room experiences 443 power faults per year from
fluctuations in the electrical power flow.

Chou also drew examples from a survey done on US phone companies.
On November 3, 1992, for instance, 58,440 lines in the Illinois
Bell service area went down for 47 minutes due to defective
hardware in an AT&T 1AESS switch, he noted. On September 2, 1992,
Sprint lost more than 50,000 lines for 229 minutes when a problem
developed with BCS-33 software for a Northern Telecom DMS-250
switch.

On October 9, 1992, Sprint lost 1.6 million lines for 7,200 minutes
when heavy rains flooded a central office. On September 13, 1992,
MCI forfeited 110,880 lines for 360 minutes when an aerial fiber
cable was snapped by a passing locomotive train.

To arrive at additional documentation to support development of its
upcoming new server, Tandem is conducting studies based on software
modeling, Chou told the journalists.

The company's NonStop Availability Initiative calls for driving
outage minutes to zero as well as extending Tandem's NonStop
architecture to networks and end users.

The plan is addressing physical, design, environmental, and
operator-created hazards, in addition to temporary problems that
can occur when software or hardware is being reconfigured, through
a series of improvements to hardware, system software, and
application software for servers, clients, and networks.

One technology now under development at Tandem, process-pair,
involves switching operations to a second processor, which is
running a different software environment from the first, during a
transient software failure. This method will allow the system to
tolerate 85 to 95% of all transient software bugs, according to
Chou.

Eventually, he emphasized, the constant availability of online
services will be something everyone comes to expect and demand --
just as Sunday shopping, once unheard of, has become commonplace by
now in our society.

After the presentation, a company spokesperson told Newsbytes that
the press briefing represented a new effort by Tandem to make the
company's high-end technology more interesting and accessible to
the press and public.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930615/Press contact: Press contact: Noreen
Lovoi, Tandem, tel [phone])


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

Microsoft, Powercore To Produce DOS Version Of MS Schedule+ 06/15/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Microsoft Corporation
and Powercore announced this week they will collaborate in
producing an MS-DOS client version of Microsoft's Schedule+.

The product, which will be called Schedule/DOS, will allow users of
DOS-based network workstations to schedule meetings and coordinate
electronic calendars with users of workstations running Windows on
the same network. The announcement was made at the 10th annual
Electronic Message 93 conference being held in Atlanta this week.

"The reality is there are still a lot of DOS users out there in
corporate America. Our recent survey of Fortune 1000 companies
indicates that at least two-thirds of their total workstations are
still on DOS, says David Ferris, president of Ferris Networks.

John Hitchins, Powercore executive VP, says, "Schedule+ has raised the
awareness of group scheduling, but its lack of support for DOS
clients has limited its acceptance into companies with cross platform
requirements." Hitchins believes the new product will encourage
companies that use both DOS and Windows to take advantage of group
scheduling for time management.

Powercore says Schedule/DOS will have nearly identical functionality
and features as Microsoft's Schedule+. Users will need Microsoft
Mail for DOS, as it acts as the transport mechanism for notifying
group members of meeting requests or other scheduled events. Neither
Schedule+ or Windows is required to use Schedule/DOS, allowing it to
support DOS-exclusive workgroups.

Schedule/DOS will be sold as a Powercore product through that
company's distribution channel. Microsoft says it will handle the
majority of the marketing and will include cross-sell collateral
material in every Microsoft Mail and Schedule+ package. The product
is expected to ship in the third quarter this year with a suggested
retail price comparable to Schedule+, which carries a $395 price tag
or 5 licenses.

(Jim Mallory/19930615/Press contact: Carl Melville, Powercore,
815-468-3737)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00019)

Freebie Software Company Admits It Has A Buyer 06/15/93
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- It's been a busy
week for Minnesota Software Systems Development Corporation. Last
Thursday, June 10th, the company announced it would give away one
million copies of its software.

On June 11, MSSDC denied rumors that it will be purchased by
Microsoft Corporation, and doubled the number of copies of its Living
Trust and Business Strategy software it was offering to give away. In
denying the buyout rumor, MSSDC President Brent Knapp said the
company has never been in a more solid financial situation.

Today the company told Newsbytes that it has tentatively accepted an
offer to be purchased, but declined to reveal the name of the buyer.
However MSSDC Vice President Bob Lockrem told Newsbytes, "We will be
moving to the Seattle area." Lockrem would not deny the buyer is
Microsoft. Asked why the company denied the rumor initially then
confirmed it later, he told Newsbytes, "We didn't to spoil anything.
We were still in the negotiation process." One person familiar with
the company described Knapp as "eccentric."

Newsbytes reported last week that MSSDC would give a copy of either
Living Trust Software or Business Strategy Development Software to
anyone that would mail in a request and $6.99 to cover postage and
handling. Lockrem told Newsbytes today that so far about 700,000
requests for the Living Trust program have been received, and about
400,000 people have asked for a copy of the Business Strategy
program. Referring to the increase in the number of free copies being
offered, Lockrem told Newsbytes, "We increased it because of the
volume. People were afraid they wouldn't get through in the mail."

According to Lockrem, specific details of the purchase, such as how
much stock Knapp will get in the deal and the exact purchase price,
rumored to be in the $90-95 million range, are still being worked
out. But he said, "I can tell you it will go through." He said all
700 employees will be offered positions at the new location. Those
who choose not to relocate will be offered a severance package.

Knapp is expected to remain in the Minneapolis area, and will
reportedly be named to the buyer's board of directors. MSSDC will
become a division of the buying firm, with a new manager named from
that firm. Lockrem said he might also remain in Minneapolis.

Living Trust software provides the user with information and forms on
disk to build a trust. It includes a married trust, single trust,
children's irrevocable trust, amendments, wills, four different types
of powers of attorney, and quitclaim deeds. The company says the
package includes more than 45 different forms and is valid in all 50
states.

The Business Strategy Development program is a business plan outline
that includes 65 word processing and spreadsheet files, as well as
MSSDC's new incorporation software with the forms needed to
incorporate in any state. Both programs are available in IBM,
Windows, and Macintosh versions. Each usually retails for $149.95.

(Jim Mallory/19930615/Press contact: Bob Lockrem, MSSDC,
612-673-0922; Reader contact: MSSDC, 612-673-0922)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00020)

Grid Notebook Doubles As a Pen Computer 06/15/93
WESTLAKE, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- The trend towards
portable computing, the 486 platform, and pen computing has been
highlighted with Grid Systems' introduction of a new 486-based
version of its Convertible notebook computer. The company claims that,
in addition to extra processing power, the notebook has longer battery
life and additional power management features.

In announcing the notebook, Rosendo Parra, vice president and general
manager for Grid Direct, said: "We are confident its superior mobility,
intuitive pen pointing device, lifetime guarantee on the case, and
competitive price will make our Convertible 486 the portable system
of choice for today's notebook buyers."

The company says that the Convertible 486 is built with a magnesium
DuraShell case which includes a lifetime guarantee, a shock resistant
hard drive, and features tempered glass over the display panel.

The Convertible 486 comes standard with MS-DOS 6.0, Microsoft
Windows for Pens 3.1, and a version of the PenCell spreadsheet from
PenWare. The system also features simultaneous video. The company
says that this allows for live presentations and demonstrations to be
performed using both the system's internal display and an external
color VGA monitor or video projection system.

Users can use either a keyboard or a pen. The system is designed to
accept data from the keyboard, from a pen, or from both the keyboard
and pen interchangably within the same application. The last feature
is claimed to be unique to this type of pen-enabled notebook design.
The user converts from a notebook computer to a pen tablet computer
by folding the screen down over the keyboard.

The notebook is a 25 megahertz (MHz) Intel486 SL system that comes
standard with a backlit VGA screen, four megabytes (MB) of RAM,
and a choice of a 125MB or a 200MB hard disk drive.

The Convertible 486 also has a PCMCIA version 2.0-compatible
expansion slot and also comes with an easily attached 3.5-inch
1.44MB floppy drive. The system weighs in at six pounds, and
starts at $2,699. It will be available in July.

(Ian Stokell/19930615/Press Contact: Lauren Baker,
817-491-5369, Grid Systems Corp.)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00021)

Nat Semi Reports $2 Billion In Sales 06/15/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- While a great
number of PC manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to
survive, many in the semiconductor industry are posting high profits.
One example is National Semiconductor, which has reported that sales
for fiscal 1993 passed the $2 billion mark. The company also claims
the highest earnings in its history.

Net earnings for the fiscal year ended May 30, 1993 were $130.3
million, or 98 cents per share, on sales of $2,013.7 million. This
compares with a loss of $120.1 million, or $1.24 per share, on sales
of $1,717.5 million in fiscal 1992. The high 1992 losses were
because of $149.3 million restructuring charge taken in the first
quarter in connection with the company's plans to consolidate
worldwide manufacturing capacity.

In announcing the results, Gilbert F. Amelio, president and chief
executive officer, said, "Passing the $2 billion milestone in sales
with record earnings represents a real resurgence of both growth
and profitability at National Semiconductor. I am gratified by the
success of our efforts to rebuild the company."

Nat Semi also reported increased profits for the fourth quarter.
For the three months ended May 30, 1993, the company posted net
earnings of $46.2 million, or 35 cents per share, on sales of $557.9
million. This compared with net earnings of $27.5 million, or 22
cents per share, for the comparable quarter a year ago. The company
says that the 1993 quarter included 13 weeks versus 14 weeks for
the fiscal 1992 quarter.

Said Amelio, "The past year was a period of tremendous progress
at National Semiconductor. We completed a large portion of our
planned restructuring activities, including significant expansion of
our manufacturing centers of excellence at Arlington, Texas, and
Greenock, Scotland."

Employee reductions was a big part of that restructuring. "While
sales increased to a record level, we reduced worldwide headcount
to 23,400 at year-end compared with 27,200 a year earlier. As part
of the restructuring we continued to transfer production operations
out of Santa Clara, California, sold our Bangkok assembly and test
facility, and completed the establishment of a joint venture to
operate our former manufacturing facility in Migdal Haemek, Israel,
as an independent entity."

Three-volt integrated circuits were highlighted as one of the main
areas targeted by Nat Semi. Said Amelio, "The convergence of
communications and computing and the proliferation of portable
equipment has accelerated the need for low-power solutions."

(Ian Stokell/19930615/Press Contact: Mary Ann McKay,
408-721-2646, National Semiconductor Corporation)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00022)

Dataquest Multimedia Alliance Support Program 06/15/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Multimedia
is one of the most talked about technologies in the computing
industry. Not wanting to be left out in the cold, many hardware and
software vendors are linking up to develop products designed to
take advantage of the potential market. However, keeping track of
all these alliances can be tough. Intended to address just that
problem, Dataquest has formed the Dataquest Alliance Support
Program.

The company says that the program is just the "formalization of
a consulting activity that Dataquest has done for many years in
other technology areas."

According to the company, multimedia alliances between disparate
industries such as media, computers, and telecommunications have
recently increased drastically in number. Said the company, "Many
of these alliances have been hastily formed, and several have
already fallen apart."

The Dataquest Alliance Support Program is designed to help
"cross-industry companies entering the multimedia technologies
markets to analyze and assess potential markets, products, and
partners."

In announcing the program, Judy Hamilton, Dataquest president
and CEO, said: "This service is especially helpful to media and
publishing companies whose understanding and expertise in
technology is in the early stages of the digital revolution."

Bruce Ryon, principal analyst in charge of multimedia research at
Dataquest, adopts a realistic approach to these alliance. "The
current activity is definitely one of a field of dreams, where many
companies believe that they can simply agree to get together, build
a multimedia product, and the consumer or business buyer will come.
However, this has not turned out to be the case in the majority of
situations."

The company says that the program will help clients define
objectives for markets, products, and potential partnering. It will
also provide industry, product, and market information on size,
segmentation, growth trends, and competition. The program is
also designed to help clients identify and profile potential
alliance candidates specifically for the client company.

(Ian Stokell/1993061593/Press Contact: Mary Hand,
408-437-8312, DataQuest Inc.)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00023)

Running Customer Service With Lotus Notes 06/15/93
WOKINGHAM, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Azlan, the
networking specialist distributor, has signed an agreement Quality
Decision Management (QDM) to market its Quality at Work (QAW) system
that supports improved customer management.

QAW is a Lotus Notes application that employs Lotus' workflow
technology to provide an integrated system for managing and sharing
all information relating to customer transactions, which the company
claims results in increased business efficiency and customer
satisfaction.

According to Helena Bullen, Azlan's director of network products,
the company is striving to provide the best of breed technologies to
the growing European networking systems marketplace. "QAW fits
into this category and is clearly the leading Lotus Notes workgroup
application -- this product will help satisfy the growing demand for
higher levels of customer service and satisfaction," she said.

QAW is available from Azlan's resellers in the UK with a retail
price of UKP 199 per user. The package comes as a series of
templates for Lotus Notes that can be customized, by the reseller,
to match the needs of any business, according to the company.

(Steve Gold/19930615/Press & Public Contact: Azlan - Tel: 0734-
894400)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00024)

Siemens Nixdorf's Fast Print Server Technology 06/15/93
BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Siemens Nixdorf
Information Systems has announced a new page printer controller
(PPC) that it claims will allow its LED and laser-based printer
systems to be used as high performance print servers for a range of
local area networks (LANs).

According to the company, the new PPC can act as a print server to
support PC, Ethernet TCP/IP, DECNet, ICL, OSLAN and a range of other
host environments. Alan Sutcliffe, a technical spokesperson for
Siemens Nixdorf in the UK, told Newsbytes that the UKP 12,500 system
has been designed for users who need to downsize their systems to 50
to 240 pages per minute printers over a network.

"Traditionally, these types of printers have been associated with
mini and mainframe computer usage. What the PPC does is to link
these printers to a network, allowing a variety of machines to
address the printer server and print out their jobs at high speed,"
he said.

Despite the high price tag, Sutcliffe said that the pricing of the
PPC is still way below that of the competition. "It's based around
an 80486 microprocessor-equipped PC, with add-on hardware and our
software," he explained, adding that the software has a user-
friendly set of menus to control it.

For maximum print efficiency, a range of jobs can be combined in a
single print run, so as to make maximum use of printer resources.
This is important, Newsbytes notes, where the high speed printer
requires several sheets of printing before reaching optimum
efficiency.

Siemens Nixdorf claims to be Europe's largest and most experienced
supplier of LED and laser-based high speed printing systems. It has
around 40 percent of the European high-speed printer marketplace
and more than 7,000 systems installed worldwide.

(Steve Gold/19930616/Press & Public Contact: Siemens Nixdorf
Information Systems - Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00025)

 ****Database World - IBM Outlines Client-Server Strategy 06/15/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- IBM is pursuing
a client-server strategy based on adherence to open systems, use of
its own experience in mission-critical applications, and getting
top management at client companies involved in system decision-
making, officials stated yesterday in a press conference at
Database World & Client-Server World.

"The vision we have is that anyone can access data at any time,
from anywhere, and in any form," commented Tom Furey, general
manager of Open Client/Server Computing for IBM. "In order for
that to happen, we need to be able to interoperate with other
vendors' products."

Elaborating on IBM's vision, Furey said that ultimately users of
palmtop and other computers will be able to access data from any
point in the world through a single log-on, secured only at the
point of contact. Future client-server services will be built
around object technology and a mix of transport vehicles, including
high bandwidth fiber networks. The services include directories
that will help users navigate through the system.

This vision is already well on its way to fruition, he added. By
1995, just two years from now, the majority of all PCs sold will be
portable. Further, high-bandwidth networks are already
facilitating the use of client-server applications. In the 10-
month period since the Internet completed deployment of T3 lines on
its network, client-server applications have risen to account for
44% of all services on the Internet, he reported.

Now that the client-server age is definitely to pass, IBM needs to
give customers a choice of platforms and solutions, said Peter J.
Tarrant, client-server marketing director for IBM United States,
the second speaker at the briefing. "Our customers' needs -- not
a limited product set -- should dictate the solutions," noted
Tarrant.

Yet while IBM is stressing interoperability in its client-server
applications, the company is also using strengths developed in the
mainframe world, he added. "We've got skills like no one else in
the industry in building mission-critical applications. We're
going to apply these to client/server technology," he explained.

Successful deployment of these applications requires involvement at
all levels of a client company, so that developers can better
understand the needs of the organization, he said. "We're sitting
down with people at all levels from the board room, to the CEO and
CIO, to the workgroup level," he remarked.

Discussions between IBM and customers are taking place throughout
the world: at the Dallas Open Systems Center and almost 50 Area
Support Centers in North America, at ten Open Systems Centers
(OSCs) in the Asia/Pacific, 13 OSCs in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa and, on a global level, through IBM Consulting Services,
ISSC, and Advantis.

The customer service centers are stocked with equipment from all
vendors, according to Tarrant. Also in the interests of open
systems, IBM is working to create a more open software environment,
he stressed. Citing one example, he said that IBM has ported its
CICS client-server software to the Hewlett-Packard operating
system, and just last week announced a port of CICS to Microsoft's
Windows NT.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930615/Press contact: Kathleen Ryan, IBM, tel
914-642-4634)


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

 ****Electronic Mail Conf - Motorola PCMCIA Wireless Modems 06/15/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- At a San Jose press
conference simulcast to the Electronic Mail Association meeting
in Atlanta, Motorola announced a new family of PC Card wireless
and wired modems under PCMCIA standards, which will be delivered
over the next 18 months.

The first product in the new family is the NewsCard Advanced
Information Receiver, originally announced at the Fall Comdex
last year. The NewsCard will begin shipping to computer makers
this summer, who can make it part of their own products on an OEM
basis. NewsCard runs on a single AAA battery, drawing no power
from its host device, and stores up to 128,000 bytes of data.

At the press conference, Motorola demonstrated a prototype of a
wireless, two-way PCMCIA wide area modem. That product will ship
in 1994. Motorola is also developing a PCMCIA card for local area
networking, also due for release in 1994. Motorola's UDS unit
demonstrated a PCMCIA-based wired modem which can work with
Motorola's MicroTAC cellular telephones or with regular phones.
That product will ship late this year. Motorola said it will
reveal detailed pricing and distribution plans at the next Fall
Comdex.

Glenn Brownlee of the company's wireless data group, who hosted
the Atlanta press gallery, emphasized the collaborative
agreements Motorola has in place with various networks, software
companies, and other vendors. "Making wireless data a reality
requires collaboration," he said.

Newsbytes asked about Motorola's position regarding Spectrum
Information Technology's patent claims, which seem to extend to
all modems used on wireless networks. Motorola vice president
Pat Richardson indicated Motorola is ready if a lawsuit comes
from Spectrum, which has licensed its error-correction schemes
and connectors to AT&T. "At this point we believe we have a firm
position with out own technology," he said.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930615/Press Contact: Lisa Croel, Edelman
PR, for Motorola, 415-968-4033; FAX: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00027)

Banyan Intros ENS For NetWare 1.1 06/15/93
WESTBORO, MASSACHUSSETS, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Even
though competition is fierce between networking vendors, it
pays to support the leading products. Along those lines, Banyan
Systems has announced ENS for NetWare version 1.1.

Banyan's Vines competes with Novell's NetWare in the network
operating systems (NOS) market. Vines was generally considered the
best NOS for internetworking environments linking multiple LANs.
Novell's recent release of version 4.0 of NetWare was designed to
specifically address some of the internetworking shortcomings of
NetWare 3.11, in order to compete more effectively with Vines at
the high-end. However, NetWare already commands between 65 and
70 percent of the NOS market.

According to Banyan, version 1.1, coupled with a series of major
enhancements and options, will provide support for Novell's new
NetWare 4.0; StreetTalk III global directory service and extended
StreetTalk III APIs (application programming interfaces); more
extensive interoperability between NetWare and Vines networks;
support for Macintosh and OS/2 clients; and new mainframe
communications options.

In announcing the new version, James D. D'Arezzo, Banyan vice
president, marketing, said: "The idea of Banyan delivering enterprise
network services - like StreetTalk - to non-Banyan network
operating systems - like NetWare - has generated uniformly positive
responses from customers, resellers, and industry experts alike.
Today's announcement adds many new and desirable features which
strengthen ENS for NetWare and expand its applicability to NetWare
4.0."

The company says that the incorporation of StreetTalk III is
instrumental in ENS supporting NetWare 4.0. The ability to load an
ENS NLM (NetWare Loadable Module) - providing full integration
with StreetTalk III - on a NetWare 4.0 server will allow users
to integrate NetWare 2.x, 3.x and 4.x networks with each other
and with Vines networks. A single ENS server can support up to
eight NetWare servers, and there is no limit on the number of
ENS servers that can be incorporated into a NetWare environment.

ENS for NetWare 1.1 is set to begin shipping in July, 1993. ENS for
NetWare server software costs $3,995. ENS NLM/VAP software costs
$295 for five-users; $495 for 10-users; $995 for 20-users; $1,495
for 50-users; $2,495 for 100-users; and $3,495 for 250-users.

(Ian Stokell/19930615/Press Contact: Lucia Graziano,
508-898-1000, Banyan Systems)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00028)

Electronic Mail Conf - Object Translators 06/15/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- At the Electronic
Mail Association convention in Atlanta, SoftSwitch announced
what it calls the Open Object Translation Interface for
Enterprise Mail Exchange (EMX), the company's distributed mail
product. With OOTI and translation software, the company said,
EMX becomes an enterprise-wide resources for bi-directional
translation of objects -- words, numbers, graphics, and invoices.

The idea is that object translation becomes part of the basic
network service. Any translation fotware will work with OOTI,
SoftSwitch said

SoftSwitch also announced that the US House will implement an
e-mail network based on SoftSwitch technology, which will also
provide access to the public through the Internet. That
announcement follows by one week word from President Clinton's
office that he also has an Internet address which voters can
write to. At that time, spokesmen hinted that the House was close
to doing the same.

Michael Zisman, president of the privately held company, also
gave one of three keynote addresses to the EMA. He emphasized the
high value of e-mail and called for more of that value to be
shuttled to vendors. "Knowledge is the only enduring asset," he
said. "What we should be talking about is value creation."

Zisman's analogy was this. "We take for granted that a telephone
costs $50 and a telephone bill comes every month for $100. We
take for granted the service cost is twice that of the device.
The bill represents all the infrastructure of the telephone
system. You pay dearly for it, and don't pretend the cost of the
service is the price of the telephone. Do we really believe that
what we're about," he said, as e-mail service providers, "is an
order of magnitude less valuable than word processing and
spreadsheets? I really don't think so. What we're really
building is an infrastructure for knowledge sharing. The real
benefit is organizational transformation. Information Systems
become the load-bearing material which moves us to team-oriented
processes both internally and externally."

The effect of Zisman's talk, and the talk in the halls at EMA,
may be to drop the other shoe on a talk Lotus Chairman Jim Manzi
gave at last month's Comdex show, where he pointed to the high
value of connecting people using products like his company's
Lotus Notes.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930615/Press Contact: Walt Wilson,
SoftSwitch, 215-640-9600)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00029)

 ****I Want My IMTV, Say Top Hollywood Studios 06/15/93
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Bell Atlantic
demonstrated how users will be able to make phone calls and
receive video over the same telephone line. A host of top
Hollywood studios, cable programmers, and independent producers
are participating with Bell Atlantic in Interactive Multimedia
Television (IMTV), which it is prototyping with 300 of its
employees in Northern Virginia this month.

More than just video-on-demand (VOD), Bell Atlantic says the
new IMTV will allow users to receive a mix of entertainment,
educational, and informational videos, at the time and in the
order they choose.

The technology behind the IMTV is an asymmetric digital
subscriber line (ADSL), video servers, digital video switching
and digital compression for television signals. ADSL provides
the capability of delivering video signals into homes over the
existing telephone network by simply adding equipment to each
end of an existing line. Bell Atlantic said it chose ADSL
because it works with existing telephone lines and
offers the advantage of relatively easy installation.

A trial of the system will operate in three phases. Phase I,
already underway, is the installation and maintenance stage. Up
to 100 employees will be involved in this effort. Phase II
is slated to begin in early fall and will focus on additional
functionality, such as a simple menu capability. Phase III, to
begin in January, will include tests of interactivity and other
functions in the VOD service.

Columbia Tristar International Television, Walt Disney,
Universal Pictures/Universal Pay Television, MGM/UA, Paramount
Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, and Warner Bros. have already
committed to supplying content for IMTV as have broadcasters
such as NBC, cable programmers such as HBO, Black Entertainment
Television and USA Network, and many leading independent
producers such as Multimedia, Worldvision/Spelling, National
Geographic Society and BBC/Lionheart.

During the test, Bell Atlantic is using ADSL equipment from
Northern Telecom, AT&T and the Chicago-based Westell. The video
server for the trial is an IBM reduced instruction set
computing (RISC) Systems (RS)/6000 workstation system equipped
with video applications software written to Bell Atlantic's
specifications. Bell Atlantic is using one storage module,
which has enough digital capacity for up to 30 feature-length
films. The films will be stored using Motion Picture Experts
Group Level 1 (MPEG-1) compression supplied by Compression Labs
Incorporated (CLI). CLI is the company which offered the
compression technology behind the American Telephone &
Telegraph (AT&T) Video Phone. CLI will compress the video and
is also supplying the prototype MPEG decoding units for each
employee home involved in the trial.

Bell Atlantic maintains the tests of IMTV are being conducted
under ground rules issued last July by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). These rules permit local
telephone companies to offer video dial tone, which is the
basis for IMTV.

The parent of one of the nation's largest providers of mobile
communications, Bell Atlantic is also the parent company of New
Jersey Bell, Bell of Pennsylvania, Diamond State Telephone
(Delaware) and the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Companies
serving Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West
Virginia.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930615/Press Contact: Larry Plumb, Bell
Atlantic, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00030)

Synoptics Offers Interim Step In Downsizing 06/15/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUN 15 (NB) -- Synoptics
Communications has announced a product it is calling an "Interim
Step" to downsizing for IBM mainframe networks. The company
announced the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
Transport Gateway to allow IBM mainframe network managers to
see what is happening at remote sites without spending a lot of
money overhauling their current systems.

Network managers in large mainframe-based companies, such as
banks or retail chains, have been wanting to see what is
happening on networks in place at remote sites, such as bank
branches or individual store outlets. But the remote sites have
their own hub-based networks, such as Token Ring, that use the
SNMP protocol. Since the mainframe uses SNA protocol, the two
mainframe and the remote site cannot communicate. Up until now,
the network manager had two choices: not to see what was
happening at the site at all or overhaul the current mainframe
system to add a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP) passage or "gateway" for the data. The second
alternative is an expensive and time consuming one, Synoptics
maintains.

Tim Helms of public relations for Synoptics, says now there is
another way -- the company's SNMP Transport Gateway. The SNMP
Transport Gateway wraps the SNMP data from the remote network
in a "wrapper" or "envelope" called the Advanced Program-to-
Program Communications (APPC) packet so it looks compatible to
the SNA network and the data can go across. At the other end,
the data is "unwrapped" so it can be viewed, usually by an IBM
RS/6000 workstation running Optivity network management system
on the Netview/6000 platform. The company sells a card that
goes into the back of a personal computer (PC) running IBM's
OS/2 operating system that turns the PC into a gateway. The
product was developed in conjunction with Eicon Technology a
supplier of branch office integration products, Synoptics
added.

Eventually, companies will be forced to go to open systems that
will talk to each other. But Helms describes the SNMP Transport
Gateway as a cost-effective way to manage an existing network.
"We have the tools to take companies to the intelligent hub-
based networks, which are the open systems of the future, but
this is a step for companies who don't want to take the risk
and expense right now." The SNMP Transport Gateway is US list
priced at $2,495 and expected to be available in October 1993.

Synoptics, headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif, was founded in
1985 and has more than 50 offices worldwide.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930615/Press Contact: Tim Helm, Synoptics,
tel [phone], fax [phone])