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/nb930708

Text File | 1993-07-08 | 78KB | 1,653 lines

(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00001)

 ****Lotus, Borland Mix Quattro & Notes Despite Suit 07/08/93
SCOTTS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- In a
surprise move, considering the lawsuit Lotus is expected to win
against Borland, Lotus and Borland have teamed up on the same
products they've been fighting about in court. The two
companies have announced they will offer an integration of
Borland's Quattro Pro for Windows spreadsheet product with
Lotus Notes, a client-server application for workgroup
environments.

Integrating Lotus Notes and Quattro Pro at the application
programming interface (API) level enables users to not only
view and annotate Quattro Pro spreadsheets within the Notes
environment but to also take advantage of Notes' compound
document management capabilities via Windows' Object Linking
and Embedding, the companies said. Notes can be viewed as a
shell or wrapper around traditional desktop applications which
allows Quattro Pro users, for example, to store spreadsheets as
"live" objects in a Notes document and share these objects as
part of a networked application.

In this strange relationship, the court battle Lotus initiated
against Borland nearly three years ago over similarities
between the DOS-based Quattro Pro and its 1-2-3 spreadsheet
product will continue unchanged, Borland representatives said.
However, large customers of both companies, such as the
accounting firm Price-Waterhouse, which prefers the Lotus
Notes/Quattro Pro combination, have been accommodated in the
integration of the two products.

Just last week Borland suffered another blow in the court
battle when US District Judge Robert Keeton reaffirmed his
previous ruling that a single element of the Lotus 1-2-3
screen display -- the hierarchy, or order, of the menu commands
-- is copyrightable, and the use of that ordering infringed the
copyright of Lotus 1-2-3. This ruling covers the 123.MU file,
an optional command system file Borland had been continuing to
distribute separately from Quattro Pro to interested users.

However, things have changed a great deal since the
Borland/Lotus court battles made headlines last summer. Both
Borland and Lotus have faced losses, with Borland reported
$61.3 million in losses for the last quarter of 1992 that
surprised the software industry. Borland's stock has also
been severely devalued in the market and the company suddenly
laid off 350 employees in December of last year.

There have been reports that Lotus chief Jim Manzi and Philippe
Kahn, president of Borland, met last December at a hotel in San
Francisco to discuss a possible merger between the two
companies. However, until today's announcement, no cooperative
moves have been made by either company.

Borland representatives say the current integration is not
necessarily a permanent arrangement. A new technology, Borland
is calling Object Exchange (OBEX), is planned which will allow
users to perform similar integration functions without Lotus
Notes. Borland did not say when the OBEX technology would be
available.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930708/Press Contact: Sandra Hawker,
Borland, 408-439-1659, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00002)

Former Restaurant Exec Named Radio Shack President 07/08/93
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Tandy Corporation has
picked a former restaurant executive to lead its Radio Shack
Division, saying he knows how to interpret consumer needs.

Tandy Corporation said today it has named Leonard Roberts to lead
its retail outlet division. Roberts was chairman and CEO of
Shoney's Inc., a restaurant company for three years. He served as
president and CEO of Arby's, the fast food restaurant chain, for five
years, and served in various management and marketing positions at
Ralston Purina Company.

Tandy Corporation Chairman and CEO John Roach said Roberts was
chosen because "he is a proven marketing driven executive who has
been very successful at interpreting consumer needs and then
engineering and communicating clearly strategies to his associates
to meet those needs. Those talents should complement Radio Shack's
strengths," said Roach.

Roberts replaces Bernard Appel, who left the presidency in January
1992 and the company in June of this year. Three vice presidents
have made up the office of the president since Appel left that
position. Asked by reporters yesterday who his successor might be,
Appel said, "I don't know."

The three executive vice presidents of Radio shack, David
Christopher, James Nichols, and Joe Tanner, will report to Roberts.
Tandy said the three will retain essentially the same duties that
they have previously performed.

Forty-four year-old Roberts, who will report to Roach, graduated
from the University of Illinois, and holds a graduate degree from
DePaul University.

The Radio Shack division of Tandy operates 4500 retail stores and
reported sales of about $4 billion in 1992.

(Jim Mallory/19930707/Press contact: Lou Ann Blaylock, Tandy
Corporation, 817-878-4955)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00003)

Company Formed To Develop Digital And Voice Cellular 07/08/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Sierra
Semiconductor, known for its modem chipsets, and MPR Tech, a
research and development (R&D) subsidiary of GTE Canada, have
formed a new company whose focus is to find a cheap way to use
the existing cellular network to move computer-generated
digital data. The new company is Sierra Wireless and will be
based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Now there are "road warriors" who are trying to use cellular
technology on the road from a portable computer to send and
receive mail and information. However, it is a problem to get
lots of digital data, such as entire files or video
information, over a cellular network. Using and enhancing the
Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) performance specifications,
Sierra Wireless plans to use R&D from MPR Tech and funding from
Sierra Semiconductor to find a way to move digital data in
addition to voice data over the same cellular connections at
the same time.

The CDPD standard, recently developed by the US cellular
industry, has been hailed as one of the most important
developments in communications technology. CDPD is a way to
take digital data, break it down into "packets" and transmit
the packets over the cellular network with voice transmissions.

It is estimated that 13 million users will employ this new
technology within the next seven years in North America alone.
While the development of this technology is still several years
off, Sierra Semiconductor representatives told Newsbytes it is
important to begin now. The lion's share of the market belongs
to the company which can deliver an "open specification"
environment to the manufacturers of data communications
products. This will determine their ability to win more market
share, and Sierra Wireless hopes to be that company.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930707/Press Contact: Steve Cordial, Sierra
Semiconductor, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(DEN)(00004)

Nokia Gets Tandy Shares of Cellular Factories 07/08/93
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Nokia Corporation and
Tandy Corporation announced that they have signed a letter of
intent to transfer all of Tandy's shares in two jointly owned
cellular phone manufacturing facilities.

Tandy says it will receive book value plus $6.5 million, for a total
of about $31.5 million in cash. The deal is subject to the execution
of a definitive agreement by both parties. One of the plants is in
Fort Worth, Texas, and the other is located in South Korea.

The announcement says the move will strengthen both company's
strategies to concentrate in their core activities. Tandy says it
will concentrate on its cellular retail businesses and will remain a
major customer of Nokia. Jorma Ollila, president and CEO of Nokia
says taking full ownership of the two factories indicates how
serious the company is in its commitment to the cellular phone
industry.

Tandy says Nokia approached it with an offer after Tandy said it
would divest itself of most of its manufacturing activities
recently. "While the Tandy-Nokia joint ventures had not been a part
of the original divestment plan at Tandy, it is highly consistent
with Tandy's objective of only retaining manufacturing that is
closely related to its Radio Shack division and concentrating
Tandy's strategic focus on retailing," says Tandy chairman and CEO,
John Roach.

Nokia and Tandy founded TMC Company in Masan, South Korea almost 10
years ago. TMC produced its two-millionth cell phone in April of
this year. In June of 1992 the two companies decided to establish
another joint manufacturing unit to be located in Fort Worth, and
TNC Company shipped its first phones by the end of 1992.

(Jim Mallory/19930707/Press contact: Martin Moad, Tandy Corporation,
817-390- 3730)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00005)

KDD Expands Int'l LAN Service 07/08/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- KDD Teleserve, a subsidiary of
Japan's major international telecom firm KDD, will expand its
international local area network (LAN) service by the end of this
year.

KDD Teleserve's international LAN service provides LAN-to-LAN
connections between different countries. It is mainly aimed at
corporate customers who are dealing with a huge amount of data
that must be transferred between workstations in different
countries. Data is transferred via Infonet's international
VAN (value added network) in the US. Currently, the service
is available in 32 cities in 18 countries including Singapore,
Hong Kong and Australia.

According to KDD Teleserve's plan, the service will be expanded to
Asian countries, including Taiwan and Korea, and northern Europe,
primarily Norway. As a result, the service area will encompass
44 cities in 24 countries.

Using KDD Teleserve's service, customers will be able to link their
Token Ring and Ethernet networks at transmission speeds up to
64 kilobits per second. KDD Teleserve plans to speed up the
host system to support even faster data transmission speeds, and
in order to accomplish this, may install frame relay switching
devices by the end of this year.

KDD Teleserve took over this international LAN service from Mitsui
Information Service in Tokyo last year. KDD Teleserve also
provides language interpretation service for overseas telephone
callers.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930706/Press Contact: KDD Teleserve,
 [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00006)

Japan DEC, YHP Release DOS/V PCs 07/08/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Japan Digital Equipment
Corporation and Yokogawa Hewlett-Packard have released DOS/V-based,
powerful personal computers. Japan DEC has also lowered the prices
of existing PCs.

Japan DEC has released 2 new PCs in 6 models. The high-end
version of the DEC PC LP/MT is based on a 66-megahertz
80486 processor, has powerful graphics features, and supports
Japanese Windows 3.1. The main memory can be expanded to a
maximum of 64 megabytes. Japanese DOS/V is built-in. A 127MB
or a 245MB hard disk is also built into this PC.

The other model, called the MT ISA PC, is designed for corporate LAN
(local area network) systems. The LP costs 278,000 yen ($2,500) and
the MT costs 448,000 yen ($4,000). These are fairly low-cost
considering the powerful features.

Japan DEC has also lowered the prices of its personal computers
by 6 to 21 percent. This is made possible, according to Japan DEC,
by an improved distribution method and quantity production of the
PCs. A one-year on-site maintenance contract is available for
these PCs.

Meanwhile, Yokogawa Hewlett-Packard, a joint venture of
Hewlett-Packard and Japan's Yokogawa Electric, has also released
DOS/V-based personal computers as the newest members of HP's
Vectra series. There are four models, all of them are equipped with
an 80486 processor, MS-DOS 5.0V, and Japanese Windows 3.1.
Designed for a network environment, prices are between
208,000 yen ($1,900) and 681,000 yen ($6,200).

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930705/Press Contact: Japan DEC, +81-
3-3989-7145, Yokogawa Hewlett Packard, [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00007)

India Technology Briefs 07/08/93
BANGALORE, INDIA, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- IBM Ships Notebooks --
Tata Information Systems Ltd (TISL), a joint venture between the
Tata group and IBM, introduced two models of IBM's Thinkpad notebooks
in India. These two models mark the company's initial foray into
the Indian notebook market.

The models are the 486SX-based Thinkpad 700 C, that comes with a color
monitor and a built-in trackball, and the Thinkpad 300, a 386SL based
notebook with a built-in Ethernet card. Both models incorporate IBM's
Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) and run DOS, Windows, OS/2 and
Novell. Disk capacity can be stepped up from 16 MB to 500 MB.

While the 700 C is priced at over Rs 3.5 lakh (around $11,670),
Thinkpad 300 retails for Rs 1.5 lakh (around $5000).

TISL does not hope to sell more than a few hundred notebooks in the
first year itself. "But it is going to be a low profile entry this
year as the market for notebooks is yet to grow," says Paritosh
Segal, marketing manager, TISL.

Package Aimed At Middle East Oil Sultans

Nexus International, a Dubai-based non-resident Indian's company,
will distribute Maps, the maintenance planning software of
Bangalore-based Access Business Enterprise, in the Middle East. Maps
integrates preventive maintenance, breakdown maintenance, condition-
based monitoring, third party maintenance, and spares inventory. The
package runs on DOS and LAN and will soon be available on Unix. Maps
has a base price of Rs 45,000 ($1,500). Maps is being aimed at
niche segments like transport and the oil industry in Gulf, unlike
in India where it has been sold mostly to process and manufacturing
industries.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19930707)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00008)

 ****IBM's Job-Cutting Plan Works Better Than Expected 07/08/93
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- More IBM
employees than expected -- possibly as many as twice the target
number -- have taken advantage of incentives to leave the company
this year.

IBM had hoped to cut its worldwide payroll by about 25,000 in the
first half of 1993 through incentives to employees to leave. The
offer closed June 30, and there are reports the actual number of
people taking advantage of the deal may run as high as 50,000.

An IBM spokeswoman confirmed that "more people than expected are
taking the package, but we don't have a final number." IBM will
release the figure when the count is complete, she said.

The success of incentives aimed at getting employees to leave the
company voluntarily may mean the jobs of those who remain are
more secure. IBM made it known at the beginning of this year that
it would resort to involuntary layoffs -- something unheard of at
IBM in the past -- if necessary to meet its cost-cutting targets.

Employees were laid off in some of the company's US operations
earlier this year.

At the end of 1992, IBM had about 302,000 employees, down from a
peak of 406,000 in the mid-1980s. Last year, the company shed
about 40,000 employees through an incentive program that was
initially meant to cut the payroll by some 20,000.

The company took a $6-billion charge against its fourth-quarter
1992 earnings to provide for the cost of the job-cutting plan.

(Grant Buckler/19930708/Press Contact: Tracy O'Neill, IBM,
203-973-7680)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00009)

Interface Group To Launch New Media Show 07/08/93
NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Multimedia,
consumer electronics, computers, and communications will be among
the attractions at a new trade show and conference set to make
its debut in Los Angeles next April.

The Interface Group, producer of the huge Comdex computer shows,
has announced plans for New Media Expo, to take place April 12 to
14, 1994, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The organizers are expecting about 250 exhibitors at the first
edition of the annual show, company spokeswoman Cheryl Delgreco
said. They will cover such areas as telecommunications,
broadcasting, multimedia, consumer electronics, interactive
television, and videoconferencing.

Visitors -- of whom the Interface Group is hoping for about
10,000 -- will be able to see everything from cable TV converters
to personal digital assistants (PDAs), Delgreco said.

Most of those visitors will not be the consumers who buy such
devices, though, but business and technical executives,
information providers, distributors, and business users,
according to the company. In short, the show is aimed at those
who stand to make money on the new technologies.

New Media Expo will also have a conference program, focusing on
implementation requirements, business development, and service
provision, and accompanied by one-day "market perspective
tutorials."

(Grant Buckler/19930708/Press Contact: Cheryl Delgreco or Peter
B. Young, Interface Group, 617-449-6600, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00010)

Japanese Posts &Telecom Ministry Plans Major LAN 07/08/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- The Japanese Ministry of Posts &
Telecommunication plans to install an advanced local area network
(LAN) system in its headquarters in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. The
system will be in operation as early as spring of 1994.

This is a major project for the Posts & Telecom Ministry, which
will be spending 4.5 billion yen ($40 million) to create the LAN.

According to the plan, the Ministry will post a tender notice
this month, and will choose the supplier of the LAN system
by September. Later, the Ministry will decide what type of
personal computers to be installed on this workstation-based
LAN system. The LAN will then be tested, using 200
personal computers. By the year 1996, the Ministry wants to install
2,600 personal computers at its headquarter, or one for each
employee.

This LAN system will use optical fiber cabling and will support
Ethernet. Also, the LAN will be operated by radiowaves in order
to make changing of office layouts easier. The Ministry is also
calling for in-house e-mail, BBS, electronic conference systems,
and links to commercial databases via ISDN to be a part of the
configuration.

The LAN system will be the model for other Ministries, which
are behind in computerization of their offices.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930705)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00011)

UK Town Goes High-Tech In A Big Way 07/08/93
KINGTON, HERTS, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Kington in Hertfordshire
has been selected for what is claimed to be an unique initiative for
the high-tech rural community of the future. The project, known as
the "Connected Community," is billed as the most innovative of its
kind to be run in Europe and is being supported by Apple Computer,
British Telecom, The Department of Trade and Industry, and the Rural
Development Commission.

The aim of the project is to study the potential benefits that
state-of-the-art technology can provide for the economic and
social fabric of small towns and villages. Opportunities for
new businesses and increased employment to counter the effects
of agricultural decline and the remoteness from large centers of
population, are key objectives of the study.

Apple Computer, BT and a number of secondary partners are providing
more than UKP 250,000-worth of computer and communications equipment
and support for Kington's use. Both companies claim they are working
to ensure that the community maximizes the benefits available from
the resources. The DTI and the Rural Development Commission,
meanwhile, will offer additional grant-aid support to the project.

The effects of Kington's use of computer and communications
equipment will be monitored over a 12-month period by the Henley
Center, the social and economic research company.

Announcing the project, Baroness Denton, technology spokesman for
the DTI in the House of Lords, said that it aims to help small
businesses and expand employment in the area, as well as studying
the effect of the technology on the town of Kington itself.

So, why Kington? "Kington was chosen partly because it has suffered
from some of the effects of the long-term decline in agricultural
employment and because it is relatively remote in geographic terms,"
she explained, adding that the technology has the potential to
overcome these disadvantages by assisting local businesses by giving
them better links with customers.

Many of Kington's shops, small firms, local offices, clubs, doctors'
offices and schools will be equipped under the scheme. Plans call
for the technology to generate new jobs, better working conditions
and generally benefit the community as a whole. A full-time project
manager will be based in the town.

Mike Newton, regional general manager with Apple UK, is enthusiastic
about the project. He claims that the project will "provide
invaluable research into the contribution that computer and
communications technologies can make to the economic and social
development of rural communities in Britain."

The town of Kington has 2,200 inhabitants and serves an agricultural
area of 150 square miles, which itself has a population of 5,500.
The population, according to project officials, consist mainly of
people who have lived in the area for generations.

Although the young people of the town and its surrounds leave the
area for work and qualification, many stay behind, while more come
back. The project aims to boost the number remaining in the area and
coming back after gaining qualifications.

(Steve Gold/19930706/Press Contact: Spreckley Pittham (for Apple
Computer) - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00012)

Olivetti Philos Family Of Notebooks 07/08/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Olivetti has unveiled Philos, a
range of notebook PCs that it claims will cater in terms of price
and features to business users. Four models in the range are
available -- the Philos 11, 22, 33 and 44.

The first two machines claim to offer an aggressively priced,
quality system for general applications such as word processing
and spreadsheets. The flagship models, the Philos 33 and 44, are
designed for users seeking exceptional performance and high-level
features for more complex applications.

Announcing the new machine, Alan Rogers, Olivetti's portable product
manager, said that the notebook market has split neatly into two
sets of users. "One is looking for a compact PC for general
applications. The other needs a portable with advanced features
which will possibly be used as a main PC," he said.

According to Rogers, the Philos range offers a competitive system
to both these types of users. "The entry level Philos 11 and 22
provide business users with a quality alternative to clone
notebooks, and incorporate the key ergonomic and portability
features of the whole Philos family -- online manuals, security
software, pop-up mouse and very fast SL chips from Intel," he said.

"The Philos 33 and 44, meanwhile, offer the user all the features of
a high-end PC workstation in a compact and lightweight notebook
format. Both models deliver an outstanding feature set in an
ergonomically designed and space-saving casing at a cost-effective
price," he added.

Warming to the theme, Rogers said that there are very few PC vendors
who can supply color active matrix technology at such a low price.
He claimed that, as a family, the Philos range of machines caters to
every portable requirement and budget, "leaving the choice entirely
down to the user."

The Philos 11 is a 25 megahertz (MHz) 80386SL-based machine with 2
megabytes (MB) of memory and a 60MB hard disk. The Philos 22,
meanwhile, is a 25MHz 80486SL-based system with 4MB of memory and
84MB of hard disk capacity. External floppy drives are available as
optional extras on both machines.

The Philos 33 and 44 feature as pop-up trackball that mounts on the
side of the machine. Other features include a PCMCIA 2 slot, plus an
onboard mike and speakers for multimedia applications, as well as
two line jacks for external mikes, speakers or tape/DC recorders.

4MB of memory is supplied as standard on the Philos 33 and 44
machines, expandable to 32MB internally. Three removable hard disk
options are available -- 85, 120 and 240MB, respectively. The Philos
33 is 20MHz 80386SL-based, while the Philos 44 is 25Mhz 80486SL
chipset-based.

Various screen options are available on the Philos series. The basic
display is a 64-shade-of-gray screen, while a color super twist
nematic (STN) screen is available on the Philos 22 and 33. The
Philos 44's color option is a thin film transistor (TFT) active
matrix screen supporting 256 colors.

All four machines come with DOS and Windows, plus a copy of Lotus
Organizer and a Business Audio System. Documentation and manuals are
supplied in both print and disk format for ease of use.

Pricing on the Philos series has yet to be announced.

(Steve Gold/19930706/Press & Public Contact: Olivetti UK - Tel: 081-
785-6666; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00013)

Dinosaur Fever Hits Compuserve 07/08/93
BRISTOL, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- In case you hadn't noticed,
Jurassic Park, the movie, is taking the US by storm, with fever
building in the UK for next week's national showing on this side of
the Atlantic. Dinosaurs are everywhere -- on kid's T-shirts, in the
toy stores and on the back of cereal packages. Now they're on
Compuserve.

Subscribers to Compuserve can now receive what Compuserve claims is
up-to-date discovery information and even share prehistoric reptile
humor through the Dinosaur forum (GO DINO) on the Compuserve
Information Service.

Compuserve claims that the forum is not entirely due to the success
of Jurassic Park, and that dinosaurs are of a growing interest to
kids and adults everywhere. The Dinosaur forum offers updates on
scientific reports, museum events and schedules, as well as current
information on conversation about dinosaurs and dinosaur graphic
images, viewable on computer screens.

Compuserve is pulling out all the stops in "pushing" the DINO forum.
The company has arranged for a number of "world-reknowned"
palaeontologists (dinosaur experts) to answer questions and offer
first-hand information in the forum. Matt Smith, who created the
Snake River dig site for Jurassic Park, the movie, will conduct
interviews and conferences online.

The DINO forum is operated by The Dinosaur Society, a not-for-profit
organization dedicated to the funding of dinosaur research and
education, plus a major source of information on dinosaurs for
journalists, publishers and product manufacturers. The forum even
has the support of the Dinomation International Society, a non-
profit organization that promotes science education and research,
with an emphasis on dinosaur palaeontology.

(Steve Gold/19930706/Press Contact: Compuserve Information
Services UK - Tel: [phone]; Public Contact - Tel: [phone];
Email on the Internet: [e-mail])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00014)

Low-Priced, Retail Software With Memorex Brand Name 07/08/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Memorex
Computer Supplies (MCS) will lend its brand name and its
marketing arm to provide low-priced retail software under the
name "Memorex Software." The company has formed a three-way
marketing venture with San Jose-based disk manufacturer Zenex
and Redwood City, California-based Graphic User Interfaces
(GUI) which will supply software titles for distribution.

Memorex Software titles will be trial software packages from
established publishers such as Autodesk, Lotus, Wordstar,
Microsoft, and Ventura, as well as "Custom Budget" titles of
software written specifically for this product line or acquired
exclusively for this channel. Popular shareware products may
fall into this category as well, but Memorex says it will
pre-pay the shareware registration fee to avoid consumer confusion.

Dan Shafer, well-known in the software industry, will handle
the acquisition of titles, negotiate and maintain contracts
with software authors, and provide technical support through
GUI. Shafer said: "When we started to look at this market, we
expected that shareware would make up the bulk of our business.
But we heard repeatedly from retailers that previous attempts
to test-market shareware at retail had not been particularly
successful. Customers often did not understand the shareware
concept. When they did, they were unhappy paying several
dollars for a disk and then finding they were expected to pay
$5-50 in addition before they could legally use the programs.
It was a real mess for some retailers. So we decided to focus
most of our early energy on low-cost licensed retail software."

MCS President Robert Farrell said: "At a time when more and
more individual and corporate software buyers are looking to
the low-priced retail channel to help them get first-rate
software at affordable prices, we believe that bringing the
Memorex' name and quality reputation to the market will help
those buyers make a confident decision. Right now, there are a
few small and medium-sized companies distributing products in
retail channels, but none that has the consumer brand-name
recognition of Memorex."

Company officials said a market test is being conducted now
with a national roll-out in 2,500 retail outlets. Based on the
success of the test, the company expects Memorex Software could
be in as many as 20,000 stores by the end of 1994.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930707/Press Contact: Brendan Staveley,
Zenex, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Dan Shafer, GUI,
415/367-1221; Mark Lutvak, Memorex, 408-957-1927)


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

Rochester Tel Builds Long Distance Business 07/08/93
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- The seven
regional Bell companies want badly to get into the long distance
business. They may be hoping to emulate the success of Rochester
Telephone, whose 9-year old RCI Long Distance unit has shown
steady growth and profits.

RCI is presently entering the Washington, D.C. market by buying
Mid-Atlantic Telephone, a small long distance company. It has
begun advertising in the area that its rates are 10-21 percent
below AT&T standard rates, marketing its services as Budget Call
in Maryland and RCI Casual Calling in Virginia, and signing with
Bell Atlantic's C&P Telephone unit for billing.

Newsbytes discussed this with Jeffrey Gold, director of
marketing for RCI Long Distance. "In our first quarter statement,
our president noted that our outstanding performance gave the
whole company good results. Earnings were up 18%. Revenues grew
24% and operating income 74% in the long distance unit. Long
distance now represents about a third of total revenues, and
they've had it since 1984." Beyond long distance, Rochester Tel
owns 36 local phone companies in 15 states, with the largest
being the system around Rochester, New York.

"There are synergies," between local and long distance services,
Gold insisted. "Our only origination is in the Northeast and mid-
Atlantic, but we can terminate service anywhere in the world,
through agreements with other carriers. It's where our physical
network is, where our switching platform resides, and what we
choose to manage."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930708/Press Contact: Jeffrey Gold,
Rochester Telephone, 716-777-7337)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016)

BellSouth To Offer Access To Network 07/08/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Responding to a
Federal Communications Commission proceeding on future Advanced
Intelligent Networks (AIN), BellSouth has offered to let customers
take direct control of some aspects of the AIN it's now building in
the Southeast.

The Advanced Information Network, or AIN, is a computerized
system of hardware, databases and software which will let the
phone company provide new services very quickly. But BellSouth
spokesman Bob Morrow told Newsbytes that his company doesn't know
all the applications for the technology, and may find it
uneconomical to create some services, so it wants to offer access
to the system to all-comers.

The AIN itself replaces a system where new services are defined
in switches, which are really computers, Morrow explained.
"Signaling System 7 services like Caller ID sold well. But every
time we wanted to introduce a new service, we had to change the
software. We have 1,600 switches, so it was a lot of software.
And the switches are made by different vendors."

Thus, the Advanced Intelligent Network. "Rather than having the
service reside in each switch, we created a central computer
to introduce new services. Instead of the switch checking with
local memory, it can check with central memory. So we can
introduce new services quickly."

BellSouth plans a three-phase plan for allowing access to its
AIN system, Morrow said. "In the early stages of opening the
network, you'll be able to use a PC, get into one of our
computers, and we'll provide a graphic interface so it's easy.
Then you'd create your own service. A small insurance office
might create a small automatic call distribution system. Another
business might create a service like that and sell it to others.
That's using our software but creating your own service.

"Stage two is where we let you set-up your own service creation
computer. A local pizza chain might set up a database (that)
branches can use that lets you have one number in a town that
would switch to the database and route the call to the closest
available location." In that case the customer can change the
database, change how it works, and re-route calls.

"In stage three, you'd be able to tie-in not only with that
computer, but with voice-based services. If you had voice storage
equipment you could add that on, if you had speech recognition in
your computer you could add that. In that case, it might be
something a large business would create for re-sale, like a
follow-me service," where calls follow a customer as they move
from home to office or car, "or it might be something you create
on your home PC, using commercially available software.
Every time you get an incoming call the PC tells the network what
to do with it. If certain numbers call, it might send the call
through, or if it's another number, you might send it to voice
mail or a certain number can get a personalized message."

Security has been considered, Morrow assured Newsbytes. "The
architecture of the thing will let you use this to create
services, but it will protect both the security and privacy of
other users. We'll have some control over the signals as they
come through the network, and check authorizations. They'll be
certain things that are legitimate to tell the network to do,
others that aren't. That's something that can be engineered-in
very well. Obviously the security of the network is paramount.
But this is good business. We feel there's more in it in a
competitive environment rather than the traditional phone company
system where we're the only ones who can create the services.

"Phone company services tend to be mass services. Niche markets
aren't addressed because it's not economical for us. This new
scenario assumes other people have great ideas. Obviously we'll
make money off network usage."

How fast will this happen? By 1995 at the earliest, Morrow said.
The "Caller ID" technology is already in place, BellSouth has
Service Control Points which would let it offer some services,
and is buying service nodes that will allow for more database-
based services. "We're getting close to bringing up AIN
services," he said. "Obviously as you make elements available
it's tariff time, so the FCC and local commissions come in, with
the regular process" takes hold.

BellSouth is also hopeful that more use of its AIN software will
let it sell more digital circuits under ISDN standards. "ISDN has
a very big place in the AIN, only because if you're setting up
voice-related stuff in the final stage, the way you'll link will
be through an ISDN line. We haven't tariffed residential ISDN
anywhere. We're doing application testing in Tennessee, which is
the first place which will get residential-line tariffs. If you
look at the future, you can see how crucial ISDN is."

Morrow said BellSouth will offer as much advice as possible, as
well as access software, to help customers create new services
with AIN. "The best bet is to set up an environment where it's
easy to create services rather than charge for expertise. Both
sides benefit when you make it easy to sell services. We're
trying to sell that service. AIN will allow us to roll out
services very quickly. In a matter of weeks. Traditionally it
took years. We're just starting to roll out AIN."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930708/Press Contact: Bob Morrow, BellSouth,
404-529-8003)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00017)

Cox Ties With Prodigy On News Network 07/08/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Cox Enterprises,
which owns 17 newspapers and numerous cable systems, said it will
ally itself with Prodigy and work to help newspapers nationwide
create local information systems tied to the Prodigy network.

The first such system will be offered this fall in Atlanta, tied
to Cox's flagship paper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Newsbytes discussed the deal with Jay Smith, executive vice
president for the Cox Newspaper Division in Atlanta, and a former
publisher of the Journal-Constitution. He acknowledged that no
equity is changing hands in this deal, unlike a tie-up between
the Tribune Co. and America OnLine in which the Tribune bought
substantial AOL equity before offering a special version of the
service in Chicago. He also understands that downloads of
newspaper data will be allowed on local versions of Prodigy,
although he referred technical questions to the service itself.

Smith said he has been a Prodigy user for some time, and is
impressed with it.

The Journal-Constitution has been attempting to create electronic
adjuncts for some time, so far without much success. It was an
early user of the BellSouth TUG gateway, it began a free audiotex
service on 222-2000 that drew 5 million calls a year, and it has
won the right to charge for such services in both Palm Beach,
Florida and Atlanta on 511, a number related to the 411
information and 911 emergency services codes. Its most recent
online offering is called Access Atlanta, which will be folded
into the special version of Prodigy. "Access Atlanta exists even
as we speak," said Smith. "That was largely an attempt to get us
on the playing field, do some research and development. While
we're proud of what we accomplished, with a subscriber base of
about 1,000, we had no illusions of the quality of Access
Atlanta vs. Prodigy."

Smith told Newsbytes he has no problems with Prodigy's policies,
which include strict control over notes posted by users on public
bulletin boards. "I'm sympathetic to the fact that in many ways
they're like a family newspaper. Prodigy goes into the home and
is accessed by 8-year-olds and parents. Their approach is not
unlike that of a newspaper, where you look at issues of taste, of
fairness, of libel and invasion of privacy. That's not to say
there are clear black and white answers -- there are a lot of
gray areas. I've been a newspaper publisher for 12 years -- I'm
sure I've blown some decisions. I've been impressed, and been on
Prodigy for some time -- I've been very impressed with the
openness they show. I think they're sensitive to the precise
issues we care about. While we may carry advertising for x-rated
movies, we're terribly careful about how that ad is put together,
what words and pictures are used, and in this new relationship
with Prodigy I've been impressed with their sensitivities, their
bias toward what does go."

Smith also acknowledged that this is a preliminary agreement,
and there are a lot of details to be worked out. "We wanted the
world to know we've met, we've talked, we like each other very
much, and we think that by putting our considerable resources
together and inviting other newspapers to join us we're on to
something that can advance not just the cause of an electronic
information provider like Prodigy but be a real plus for an
industry like newspapers.

"Technical problems are sometimes the easiest to fix. Deep-seated
philosophical issues are thornier. But it's awfully important
that we not think of Prodigy with a local newspaper affiliation
as a complete replacement for the newspaper. It's not. It's a
supplement. My view is the household receives the newspaper in
the morning, has Prodigy in the home and uses the directory
service of the newspaper to get additional sidebar information or
do some interactive business."

Smith said there are roughly 23,000 Prodigy members in the
Atlanta area, perhaps double that number of users. "Given the
promotional power of a daily newspaper with a half-million
circulation, a Sunday newspaper with 700,000 circulation, along
with the whole new area of local news, information and
advertising, I don't have any hesitation in saying we can double
their local membership and more than double their local usership."

He adds, "You take that out over the country and all of a sudden
you've done some nice things in terms of revenue development" for
Prodigy, which has yet to turn a profit. That lack of profits
does not disturb Smith at all. "I think there's a wonderful
newspaper published every day that hasn't turned a profit, USA
Today, which is doing a lot of other things to help Gannett and
hasn't disappeared."

Smith also briefly commented on the fact that Cox, which owns a
number of cable systems, might also provide versions of Prodigy
on those markets. "We want to at least state for public
consumption that our Cox Cable division is interested in Prodigy.
Beyond that I don't want to say any more. Cox is a multimedia
company and while we're private, we're bigger than the New York
Times," which means it feels a responsibility to be forthcoming
about its plans.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930708/Press Contact: James McKnight, Cox
Enterprises, 404-843-7936)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00018)

Court Says MCI Must Publish All Rates 07/08/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- US District Judge
Stanley S. Harris ruled that MCI must publish all its rate
schedules, including those with large companies. He ruled in a
case brought by AT&T, which was forced to publish such rates
under the "dominant carrier" rules of the Federal Communications
Commission. AT&T had sued saying the rules violated its
constitutional rights. Courts have agreed on the merits of that
argument, and the FCC has backed-off the rules.

Harris ordered that MCI file detailed rates charged in its
customer-specific contracts. MCI had previously filed only a
general tariff that provided ranges of charges or maximum charges
related to customer contracts. MCI issued a press statement which
said it will comply with the order. However, the company told the
press, "MCI assured its major customers that despite today's
District Court ruling that all rate schedules be filed with the
FCC, MCI's ability to fulfill all of its current or future
contracts is not impeded."

The company added, "By ruling as it has, the District Court
has essentially required that individual customer contract
rates be tariffed, rather than supporting the FCC position
permitting a range of contracts to be covered in a combined
filing." MCI added it has carefully complied with applicable
regulations at each stage of this legal determination, and
will promptly comply with today's decision as well."

However, MCI added, "Since individual customer contracts are only
tariffed after they have been negotiated and awarded, the
requirement to subsequently file tariffs will not impede MCI's
ability to compete effectively for these contracts, just as it
has not impeded AT&T's ability to do so. While MCI is the only
carrier named in today's ruling, the legal principles underlying
this ruling equally impact all non-dominant carriers. This
includes cellular service providers, competitive access
providers, and other small long distance carriers. The
additional regulatory burden on these carriers and on the FCC is
not a positive development, but given today's court ruling,
Congressional or Supreme Court action may be required to alter
these requirements."

The result of the court action, in other words, could stimulate
moves in Congress that would reduce the rate-filing burden on
all companies, since extending the filing of special deals to
small long distance companies could drive many out of business.

MCI also responded to the decision by rolling-out press releases
on some of its recent successes. It said Holiday Inns, which is
owned by the Bass Brewing Company of the United Kingdom, signed a
$15 million contract for global communications services over 5
years, which will include the installation of satellite terminals
at 150 properties in Latin America linked to the company's
Atlanta-based reservation system. MCI also sent out a release on
its heavily advertised Proof Positive promotion, under which the
company will provide written documentation of savings off AT&T
rates to businesses every 90 days. The plan also assures that
businesses are always using the most cost-efficient MCI calling
plan and its best price. MCI said it has fielded more than 10,000
calls from prospective customers since announcing the program in
May.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930708/Press Contact: MCI, John Houser, 202-
887-3000)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(MOW)(00019)

Russia - New National Online Service Being Developed 07/08/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Russia is quickly entering the
information age now that plans are underway to establish a
national online information serve. The Moscow-based research company
Relteam has started "Stream" -- a countrywide information and
database distribution network.

The software consist of the simple HyperStream object-oriented
environment, supporting various data and image formats. The group of
information providers and local distributors claim to be
eager to support the service, and the legal and financial framework
to protect copyright and provide for timely payment for services
is in place, Stream creators say.

The HyperStream software (recommended price US$45) supports text, GIF
graphics, tables, charts and drawings. Voice and live video support are
expected for the next release.

The main advantage of HyperStream is an ability for the user to
customize the information he needs, order data from the distributor,
and have it regularly updated over the computer network even on still-
popular 286-based machines, according to Valery Bardin, project
manager.

A substantial part of Stream is the built-in opportunity for instant
feedback from user to information providers and experts.

Two large non-state-owned information providers -- Commersant
publishing house and the Postfactum information agency -- have
joined the project with their information products and new
tailor-made reports provided in the Stream standard format. Both
agencies are expected to substantially redesign their internal
infrastructure to supply direct end user service. "The Stream's
success heavily depends on the creation of expert groups
answering end user queries," Bardin said.

The Centre of Information Researches said it will provide Stream users
with access to large pool of databases and experts in various fields,
both domestic and international.

The project announcement was made on a three-day seminar in the
Sofrino, near Moscow, late last week.

The information distributors (currently 20) are located in different
cities of the former Soviet Union, from the Baltic States to Kamchatka.

Trial experiments with the system began in May, and the complete
system is expected to be fully operational at the end of August.

Relteam Co Ltd., is a private company consisting of a group of
Unix developers and creators of the Relcom electronic mail network,
now Europe's largest.

Postfactum is now the largest non-state information service, which now
employs more than 500 people. Commersant is the largest private
publisher, with eight different business newspapers.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19930708/Press Contact: Valery Bardin, Relteam,
e-mail [e-mail]; phone [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00020)

Nintendo Delays Release Of CD-ROM Game Device 07/08/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Japan's Nintendo says it will
delay release of its CD-ROM-based game device, which was originally
slated for an August release. This is the third time that
Nintendo delayed the release of this device.

The release has now been pushed back to next year. According to
Nintendo, the major reason for the delay is the lack of quality
software. Nintendo developed the CD-ROM-based game device well over
a year ago. Sony was slated to manufacture the device, and
software makers were given the tools to produce quality game
software, but so far few titles have emerged.

Nintendo first planned to release the CD-ROM device in August
1992. The release was delayed to this past January, and again, the
release was delayed to this August.

Nintendo faces a tough market for new game machines. Many rival
game machine makers as well as electronics firms are releasing
powerful competitors. They include Sega Enterprises and NEC Home
Electronics. Matsushita Electric is also developing a CD-ROM-based
32-bit game machine jointly with California's 3DO, and it will be
released in October. Atari is also developing a 64-bit game device.

Meanwhile, Nintendo is heavily promoting its current best-
selling 16-bit Super Famicom instead of releasing the new CD-ROM
device.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930706/Press Contact: Nintendo, +81-
75-541-6111, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00021)

Kawasaki Steel, Wireless Access Making LSIs 07/08/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Kawasaki Steel has acquired equity
in California-based Wireless Access, a semiconductor firm. This is
Kawasaki Steel's second foreign investment. The firm entered
the semiconductor market about two years ago.

Kawasaki Steel has purchased a 10-percent equity share of Wireless
Access. Both firms have agreed to jointly develop LSI chips for
wireless telecommunication devices. In the future, both firms will
develop application specific ICs and will cooperate on the sales
of these products.

Jointly developed chips will be manufactured at Kawasaki Steel's
new plant, which will be built in Japan in the near future.
Kawasaki Steel has reportedly dispatched its executive
director Tadashi Tomijima to Wireless Access where he has assumed
the part-time executive director's post.

Wireless Access was created in 1991. The firm has been developing,
manufacturing, and selling semiconductor chips, and is
especially good at LSIs for telecommunication devices and IC cards
for personal computers.

Kawasaki Steel, one of the major steel firms in Japan, entered
the semiconductor market in 1985 following a steel industry
slump. At that time, the firm set up a joint venture
firm "Japan Semiconductor" in cooperation with LSI Logic.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930707/Press Contact: Kawasaki Steel,
 [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00022)

Electronics Associations Disappointed in Tokyo Summit 07/08/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Ah, the excitement of
it all! Everyone from Tokyo to Washington seems to have their
GATT(ling) guns primed and ready to fire after yesterday's
excited announcement by US Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen
that the Big Four out of the Group of 7 had reached a
breakthrough trade agreement. But virtually everyone outside the
Clinton Administration sees the glass as far more than half-
empty, with most of yesterday's claims being described by
analysts as more empty promises than achievements.

In particular, three major US electronics trade associations,
the American Electronics Association (AEA), the Computer and
Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (CBEMA), and the
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) have released a press
statement jointly expressing disappointment with both the lack of
any meaningful cuts in the world's tariffs on electronics goods
and in the failure to reach a GATT agreement.

The present tariff structures include a 14-percent tax on
semiconductors and a 4.9-percent levy on all computer products
imported into the European Community.

Japan and the US, on the other hand, both eliminated all duties
charged on imported computer parts back in 1986.

The joint statement released by the three electronics
associations blames this tariff for costing an estimated $340
million a year in lost revenues to electronics manufacturers. Of
course, they are speaking of Asian and North American losses and
no statement was made regarding any possible benefits which might
be accruing to European manufacturers by the maintenance of an EC
tariff.

While no one thought that much would come out of the ongoing
Group of 7 industrialized nations' much-touted meeting in Tokyo,
the US made a big deal yesterday of announcing what was
described as a breakthrough Japan-Canada-US-Europe trade
agreement to reduce tariffs on a number of goods. Administration
executives and spin doctors were happily announcing the dawning
of a new age of international trade and a bright future for GATT
trade negotiations, while ignoring the fact that no tariff
agreement was actually signed and that pending US Steel anti-
dumping sanctions will cause a lot of headaches when it comes to
implementing any changes in tariff structures.

Also missing from the agreement was any mention of the critical
European agricultural subsidies or Japan's massive tariffs on
rice imports.

One major breakthrough listed in yesterday's Clinton
Administration claim of accomplishments was an agreement to open
up Japan's government contracting to outside construction
companies. As former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher reminded
CNBC viewers on Wednesday evening, he had already supposedly
opened up Japanese domestic projects to outside construction
contractors several years ago, but not much had changed.

The GATT, or General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Uruguay
Round, which takes place mostly in Switzerland. It was scheduled to
be completed several years ago. The past two US administrations
have periodically announced major breakthroughs which would
end the deadlock and usher in a new world free-trade
agreement designed to dramatically reduce trade barriers and spur
both domestic and international economic conditions.

So far, every announced breakthrough has turned out to be more of
a wet firecracker and there is no real evidence that Wednesday's
announcement by the Clinton Administration will prove any
different, observers suggest. In fact, by Thursday morning
US time, other chief executives meeting in Tokyo were saying that
the earlier US announcements overstated the accomplishment.

Mr. Bentsen hailed US negotiators' efforts as "Turning the
Economic Summit into a Jobs Summit," but some Washington insiders
see it as only providing a marginal improvement in job security
for the present Democratic administration and not something which
will actually have a major favorable impact on unemployment.

It is important to remember that while the US has an average
unemployment rate of about 7 percent, that is by far the best
employment situation of any of the Group of 7 countries with the
exception of Japan.

(John McCormick/19930708/Press Contact: John Hatch, AEA, 408-987-
4232, Jan Goebel, CBEMA, 202-626-5725, or Angela Newlove, SIA,
408-246-2711)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00023)

 ****US Marshals Make Biggest Counterfeit Software Bust Ever 07/08/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Microsoft
Corporation said this week that US Marshals and Microsoft
investigators have completed the a sweep of the US that netted the
largest-ever seizure of allegedly counterfeit Microsoft software.

The seizures reportedly occurred in areas from coast to coast over
the past four months and was intended to purge the market of illegal
Microsoft MS-DOS and Windows operating system software, according to
Microsoft. "We have redoubled our efforts to purge the market of
illegal software," according to Jim Lowe, Microsoft corporate
attorney. Lowe said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, US
Customs, and local law enforcement agencies worked with Microsoft to
stem the tide of black market software estimated to be worth
billions of dollars.

Several of the defendants named in separate lawsuits filed prior to
the seizures were formerly or are presently Microsoft licensees,
according to Microsoft. The company said undisclosed amounts of
assets belonging to some of the defendants have been frozen.

In California, over 125,000 allegedly illegal copies of MS-DOS 5.0
and Windows 3.1, with an estimated street value of about $7 million,
were seized from Unitron Computer, and is one of the largest
seizures to date. Microsoft alleges that Unitron, whose Taiwanese
parent company had been licensed to distribute Microsoft software
only with its computer systems, was manufacturing and distributing
large amounts of the software by itself. Microsoft says it
terminated Unitron's license to reproduce Microsoft software prior
to filing suit in Los Angeles against the company, its officers,
distributors, and printers.

A lawsuit filed in New Jersey charged CMOS Technologies with
producing tens of thousands of counterfeit Windows 3.1 packages.
Microsoft said as US Marshals served the seizure order, a New
Jersey printer continued to manufacture counterfeit Windows manuals
in full view of the officers. Over 10,000 allegedly counterfeit
Windows manuals were eventually surrendered by the printer.

A Houston firm, Micro Innovation Inc., also apparently operating
under the name MIC, was charged with producing unlicensed copies of
MS-DOS 5 and Windows 3.1 under its own trade name, then distributing
the software through the PC Innovations stores and other resellers
nationally. Agents conducted simultaneous raids at seven Houston
area locations, seizing 35,000 units of MS-DOS and Windows estimated
to have a street value of $2 million.

Microsoft licenses MS-DOS and Windows to computer manufacturers to
include with the personal computers, but the software cannot be sold
or distributed by themselves. The company cautions software users
that use of unlicensed Microsoft products increases exposure to
viruses and reduces the chances for product support, upgrade offers,
and other benefits available to licensed users. The company
maintains a toll-free number for use by parties who have questions
about the legitimacy of Microsoft-brand products. The company has
stressed that it will not prosecute users of counterfeited software,
and has issued a list of trade names that it says should be
considered suspect. The list includes Acbel, AUVA, BEC, BTI, CMOS,
Firenze, FRL, Kenitec, MIC, MTD, Provitek, Spring, Spring Circle,
Superwave, Unitron (also known as Uniron), and Z-Nix. A recent
Newsbytes story reported that Microsoft had been awarded $12.5
million in a suit against BEC.

At least two trade organizations, Software Publishers Association and
Business Software Association, are active in working against
software counterfeiters. SPA has established a fund to assist in the
prosecution of alleged counterfeiters. Microsoft is a member of SPA,
but does not utilize the fund to prosecute its cases, a Microsoft
spokesperson told Newsbytes.

(Jim Mallory/19930708/Press contact: Alison Gilligan, Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882-8080; Reader contact to report possible
software counterfeiting: 800-662-6796)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00024)

Novell Acquires Network Full-Motion Video Company 07/08/93
PROVO, UTAH, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Novell, best known for
its network operating system software Netware, announced this week
it has acquired Natick, Massachusetts-based Fluent, Inc., a company
that produces video networking products that integrate full-motion
video and audio into networked applications. The acquisition could
open a whole new market for multimedia, which some analysts have
called "a solution looking for a problem."

Fluent produces Fluentlinks, a Netware Loadable Module (NLM)
that enables multiple users to access and play motion video segments
from a remote file server, using standard protocols and network
topologies. Novell says it will leverage Fluent's current products
to deliver full-motion video over computer networks and support
desktop computer multimedia. The company says it is integrating
networked multimedia, including full-motion video, with its Netware
software and believes networked video services will transform
multimedia from a stand-alone application to distributed
network-based multimedia.

Novell says that is a better system that the CD ROM-based multimedia
systems which can only be updated by purchasing a new CD ROM disk.
Real-time video updates, live broadcasts, and duplexed video
conferencing will be possible when multimedia services are available
through computer networks, according to Novell.

According to Jan Newman, Novell executive vice president and general
manager of the Netware Systems Group, "Computer users are looking for
the means to add full-motion video services to existing data
networks and avoid dedicated video network solutions." Newman says
companies like Apple, Intel, and Microsoft are working to support
multimedia on the desktop, and with the acquisition of Fluent,
Novell can provide the system software to put multimedia on computer
networks.

Novell says it will make network services for multimedia available
in phases beginning next year. The first will be network
server-based video playback, which will integrate with existing
desktop multimedia standards including Apple Computer's Quicktime
and Microsoft's Video for Windows. Applications for those
environments will be compatible with Novell's multimedia services.

The company says additional phases will extend the available services
to ultimately support desktop-based video conferencing. New
networked applications could include training and education
systems, information kiosks, stored video access and distribution,
live video broadcast, and video conferencing.

One of the problems associated with multimedia has been the large
amounts of disk storage space required to store the audio and video
files. However, Microsoft now has the solution for those problems.
Microsoft's Video for Windows offers data compression for video
images, and earlier this week the company told Newsbytes it now has
a new audio compression technology available that can be
incorporated into new applications. Working with Compaq and DSP
Group, Microsoft has developed an audio compression technology that
it says provides up to 10 times the voice compression previously
possible for 386 and 486-based personal computers. The technology
was originally developed by DSP group for the consumer telephone
market under the name Truespeech.

Novell says the Fluent acquisition will be accounted for as a
purchase. Novell acquired Fluent through a $17.5 million purchase of
the outstanding shares of the privately held company, expected to
result in a one-time write-off of assets of up to $15 million in
Novell's third quarter, which ends July 31.

(Jim Mallory/19930708/Press contact: Michael Adams, Novell,
801-429-5809)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00025)

Grand Jury Indicts Two Companies For Software Piracy 07/08/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- A grand jury
has handed down the first two indictments for software piracy under
a recent federal felony copyright law, the US Attorney's office in
San Francisco announced this week.

Defendants in both cases, which included companies and individuals,
are alleged to have produced thousands of copies of Microsoft's
MS-DOS and Windows. The software reportedly was worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars. The US Attorney's office said the Department
of Justice has recently made investigation and prosecution of
computer crime a top priority. "This prosecution is a result of that
new emphasis," according to a spokesperson for the US attorney's
office.

One of the indictments alleges that Abba Systemations Inc., doing
business as Prosys, Avenue Systems Group, Yu Jung Wu, and Henry Siu
Kwan, counterfeited more than 20,000 units of MS-DOS and Windows as
well as the manuals and packaging, and sold them through Prosys.
They allegedly then laundered about $500,000 in proceeds from the
sale of the products through Avenue Systems Group, a corporation
allegedly created just for that purpose. The two companies and Wu
and Kwan face charges of trafficking in counterfeit trademarked
goods, conspiracy, criminal copyright infringement, and money
laundering. A third individual, William Hay, was charged separately
with criminal copyright infringement.

In the second indictment Ever Supply Inc., Roland Tsai and Tony Shen
negotiated with an individual who turned out to be an informant for
the Federal Bureau of Investigation to sell several thousand copies
of MS-DOS and Windows software. When the software was delivered, the
FBI seized about 1,000 software units and thousands of component
parts for additional units with a total estimated retail value of
over $300,000. Each defendant was charged with two counts of
criminal copyright infringement and two counts of trafficking in
counterfeit trademarked goods.

Trafficking in counterfeit goods carries a maximum penalty of five
years in jail and a $250,000 fine for individuals, and a $1 million
fine for companies. Money laundering carries a maximum penalty of 20
years in prison.

(Jim Mallory/19930708/Press contact: Microsoft Corporation,
206-882-8080)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00026)

ALR Shipping First Pentium PCs Starting Under $2,500 07/08/93
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Advanced Logic
Research (ALR) claims it is the first to actually ship,
beginning today, IBM compatible personal computers (PCs) based
on the new Pentium microprocessor introduced by Intel. But, not
only is the company the first to ship the high-horsepower PCs,
it is pricing the units beginning at $2,495 specifically to put
pressure on its competitors.

There are two basic Pentium PCs in the Evolution V series. ALR
says the Evolution V is geared toward the individual user while
the Evolution V-Q is aimed at the network server market. Both
machines include either a 60 or 66 megahertz (MHz) Pentium
processor, a five-year warranty, and a heat sink with a fan
mounted on top of the Pentium to handle the heat generated by
the new processor.

The Evolution V offers 64-bit design and 8 MB of memory on the
motherboard expandable to 128 MB. The $2,495 price leaves out
several key components, such as a hard disk drive and a
monitor, but is still a bargain. For $3,595 ALR offers a full
system with a 170 MB hard disk drive, DOS, Windows, a mouse, a
Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus (VL
bus), and a 14-inch 1024 by 768 picture element (pixel) screen
with a .28 dot pitch.

The Evolution V-Q server offers a 128-bit design, 10 extended
standard architecture (ESA) slots, 3 local bus slots, 1
gigabyte of main memory, 13 drive bays, and a 415-watt power
supply for $4,495. The company said users can get the server
with a 1.2 GB hard disk drive and the VL bus for under $7,000.

ALR Vice President of Marketing David Kirkey said he can
remember when he was selling new 386-based machines for that
price. Kirkey told Newsbytes just offering computers at the
same price as IBM or Compaq is not enough to compete, so ALR is
making the price point the issue. "Few companies are willing to
acknowledge that the PC market is a commodities market. We are
willing to make that distinction," Kirkey added.

Kirkey said users can expect to get a Pentium machine ordered
today in two to three weeks. However, the Pentium processor is
allocated by Intel, so quantities are limited. Kirkey maintains
there has been strong interest in the units, however, and
expects demand for the PCs to be high.

ALR also introduced two new 486DX2 50 megahertz (MHz) PCs, the
energy-efficient Flyer VL 4/50d starting at $1,595 and the
Evolution IV 4/50d beginning at $1,479. The company said both
machines are priced low to compete with similar units from
Compaq, AST, and Dell and both can be upgraded to the Pentium
microprocessor. For only a $100 more than a 33 MHz i486, users
can get 50 percent performance gain, ALR representatives said.
A monitor and a hard disk drive ranges from $700 to $800 more,
depending on the system.

ALR employs over 400 and is located in Irvine, California.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930708/Press Contact: David Kirkey, ALR, tel
714-581-6770, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00027)

Third British Telecom Share Sale Underway 07/08/93
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- It's all systems go from today
(Thursday) as the third and final sale of the Government's stake in
British Telecom (BT) gets under way in earnest.

The past month has seen the advertising machine get rolling on the
TV and in the press for the sell-off. Now the books have
officially opened for the share purchase applications, which will be
accepted until July 16. SG Warburg is handling the administration of
the sale.

Such is the scale of the sale that the British Government is
monitoring the flow of applications for purchase on a daily basis
through main agents and hourly through its own offices. Shareholders
will pay 150 pence for their first installment, international
investors expect to pay 160 pence. The second instalment of 140
pence per share will be paid next year, with a third installment of
an unspecified amount to be decided on July 18.

Warburg will have just 48 hours to decide the basis on which share
allocations will be made. On July 18, details of who gets want and
how the allocations will be made to applications, will be announced.
Previous public applications for shares in the Government's stake in
BT have been vastly over-subscribed, Newsbytes notes.

Warburg has revealed that as many as 1,200 million BT shares will
be made available in this third and final sell-off of the
Government's stake in the telecom giant. Plans call for the shares
to be divided equally between UK and international applications. If
demand from the UK is sufficient, then the UK allocation will be
bumped up to two thirds.

(Steve Gold/19930708)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00028)

IBM Europe Shuffles Managers 07/08/93
PARIS, FRANCE, 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- In a sudden rash of internal
moves, IBM Europe has moved Bill McCracken, its general manager of
PCs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to become president of
Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. He moves from the
company's Paris headquarters to Basingstoke in the UK.

McCracken's position is taken by Guiseppe Giuliani, who moves in the
reverse direction to McCracken, from being head of ICPI, Big
Blue's Ambra PC marketing operation in the UK, who will move to
Paris in the next few weeks.

Brian Woodham, meanwhile, who is currently brand manager with IBM's
PC division in the UK, becomes head of ICPI.

Speaking with Newsbytes, Malcolm Gregg, head of media relations at
IBM Europe in Paris, said that the move from four international
managers to six a few months ago had created the vacancy for
McCracken. "It's a logical step for him and IBM," he said.

"It's good for IBM, as he has been in an acting capacity for the
past few weeks. This solidifies the situation somewhat," he added.

(Steve Gold/19930708/Press Contact: IBM Europe - Tel: [phone]-
0499)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BOS)(00029)

Data General Unveils Powerful Multiprocessor Servers 07/08/93
WESTBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Data General
has unveiled a new family of super powerful open systems servers,
along with an economical desktop color graphics workstation and a
new release of DG/UX 5.4, the company's implementation of the Unix
V Release 4 operating system.

The new AV 9500 Series servers constitute the first from DG to
offer up to 16 symmetric multiprocessors, and also the first in the
marketplace to operate at over 1000 TPS (transactions per second),
said Paul Martucci, product manager, in an interview with
Newsbytes. The high-end servers perform at 1600 MIPS.

The new family also includes the AV 8500 Series midrange servers,
supplying two or four symmetric multiprocessors. Each series is
based on a new, highly redundant architecture designed for rapid
and reliable handling of even the most demanding client-server
applications.

"We will be selling systems on this new, `next generation' platform
for at least the next three years," Martucci told Newsbytes. The
new servers supply twice the CPU performance of DG's previous high-
end server, the AV 8400, along with larger disks, faster busses, and
more memory, he said.

The AV 9500 Series, configurable with two, four, eight or 16
multiprocessors, comes standard with 128 MB of memory, expandable
to 2 GB. The AV 8500 Series comes standard with 64 MB of memory,
also expandable to GB. An additional 1 TB of storage can be
obtained through connection to Data General's Clariion disk arrays.
Fault tolerant backup is available through Clariion tape arrays.

CPU, memory, I/O channel and disk channel are all fully redundant,
meaning that the systems will recover within minutes in the event
of chip failure. Systems are also configured at "N+," providing a
supplementary power supply and fan for continued operation if the
main power or cooling subsystem should fail.

The systems will be sold through VARs, and also direct to Fortune
1000 corporations. "We'll be looking at large installations
running RDBMS (relational database management systems), especially
in fields like banking and manufacturing," Martucci told Newsbytes.
Oracle, Sybase, CA-Unicenter, Focus 4GL, Pick, SmartStream, and
Open Millennium are some of the RDBMS environments being targeted.

The new AV 500 desktop color graphics workstation is aimed at GIS
(geographic information systems), CASE, coding, and other CPU-
intensive client/server applications. Priced starting at $15,000,
the workstation provides up to 2 GB of internal storage, fast
integer and floating point performance, and from 16 to 128 MB of
memory.

In DG/UX 5.4 Release 3.0, DG's Unix-based operating system has been
enhanced with support for the POSIX 1003.4a standard for Threads,
as well as new Virtual Disk Management and Distributed Lock Manager
capabilities.

The new support for Posix is intended to improve performance of
RDBMS applications and other systems equipped with multiple threads
of control, and also to increase overall applications throughput on
DG's symmetric multiprocessing systems.

The Virtual Disk Management capability allows customers to
dynamically reconfigure disks online, transparent to applications
execution.

The Distributed Lock Manager permits Aviion systems to be
configured in clusters for improved applications availability.
Other features of the Distributed Lock Manager include on-line
controller restart, applications-transparent use of back-up LAN
controllers, and dynamic bad block disk remapping.

The AV 500 workstation and the two- and four-way configurations of
the AV 9500 and AV 8500 are available immediately. Data General
expects to ship the six- and eight-way versions of the AV 9500
later this year, the 12- and 16-way versions of the AV 9500 in the
spring of 1994, and DG/UX 5.4, Release 3.0 in the fourth quarter of
this year.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930708/Press contacts: Kim Sarkisian, Data
General, tel [phone]; Marcia Goff, The Weber Group for Data
General, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00030)

Weights And Measures Conversion Software For Mac 07/08/93
MELBOURNE, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 8 (NB) -- Now let's see.
There are about 39 inches in a yard, and one yard equals three feet,
so one foot...... If you've ever found yourself trying to figure out
the conversion of some measure or weight from one standard to
another, a Melbourne, Florida-based company has the solution.

Expert Systems Inc (ESI) says it is now shipping a computer software
program that takes the work out of converting numbers between
various systems and units of measurements. Called Metrics, the
program can perform 400 different conversions, such as inches to
feet, feet to meters, pints to liters, or square kilometers to
square feet in ten major groups of weights and measures.

The ten groups include Area, Length, Liquid, Recipe, Temperature,
Time, Speed, Troy Weight, and Volume. Those headings are further
divided into specific conversions accessible via pop-up menus. Once
the conversion has been made, Metrics can copy and paste the results
into a word processor, database or spreadsheet file.

Despite what weights and measures standard the rest of the world
uses, Americans grew up learning about inches, feet, yards, pints,
quarts, and gallons. If we have to convert, most of us would look
for a conversion chart. Schools used to teach how to convert from
degrees of Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius, but who remembers whether
you add or subtract the 32 first or last, and do you multiply by 5/9
or 9/5? The closest most of us come to the metric system is when we
look at the speedometer of our car, since most cars built for the
past 10 years or so show both miles per hour and kilometers per
hour.

ESI's Marketing Vice President Timothy Dean says Metrics overcomes
all those problems. "Metrics is well suited for a wide spectrum of
users including business, home, office, teachers, students,
technicians, and engineers of all types who on occasion, or as a
matter of their profession, need to make a conversion from one unit
of measure to another. Metrics uses point and click to select the
measure you are converting from, the measure you are converting to,
and the quantity to convert.

Metrics, which has a suggested retail price of $39, is available for
Apple Computer's Macintosh platform, and runs under system 6 or
System 7. The company says it is working on a Windows version of
Metrics.

(Jim Mallory/19930707/Press contact: Timothy Dean, Expert Systems,
Inc, 407- 242-0140; Reader contact: Expert Systems, 407-242-0140,
fax [phone])