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/nb930727

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(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00001)

ComputerWorks - Your High Tech Guide 07/27/93
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- A new PC package from
Software Marketing Corporation is designed to explain the inner workings
of computers to students, hobbyists, and other technical novices.

Illustrated with full-color animated graphics and embellished with
hypertext links, ComputerWorks -- Your High-Tech Tour Guide offers
information on each component of the computer system, including
monitors, drives, printers, mice, and other peripherals.

The package also provides historical facts on key technological
developments, from the invention of the abacus to the evolution of
today's microprocessors.

A special "related topics" section explores such subjects as
virtual reality, artificial intelligence, hacking, and computer
viruses.

An interactive pop-up pad lets users take notes as they go. Online
bookmarks can be used for tagging key sections and referring back
to them later.

Users can export text and graphics to create customized reports,
and print out documents in a choice of styles.

The software also includes detailed lesson plans, quiz sections,
online help, and "smart search" indexing for locating entries
phonetically.

ComputerWorks requires an IBM-compatible PC with a hard drive,
running PS/MS-DOS 3.3 or above. A VGA card and monitor and 512K
free RAM are also required. The package is priced at $79.95.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930726/Reader contact: Software Marketing
Corp., tel [phone]; Press contact: Wyndi Ballard, Software
Marketing Corp., tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(MOW)(00002)

Symantec, ParaGraph Cyrrilize Windows 07/27/93
RUSSIA, MOSCOW, 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Symantec and the
Russian-American joint venture ParaGraph have announced the
signing of agreement which gives ParaGraph an opportunity to
localize and distribute Symantec software in CIS (Commonwealth
of Independent States).

The deal was announced at the new ParaGraph Moscow office by
representatives from both companies. Under the agreement, ParaGraph,
a leading Russian firm in the area of computer fonts,
design, and handwriting recognition, receives Symantec corporate
reseller status in order to sell selected Symantec products.

The deal focuses mainly on a Russian version of the
JustWrite text processor, a Windows-based Russian
language editor announced three months ago at the Comtek
exhibition. The problem is that no Russian Windows is yet
available on the market, so JustWrite cannot be used without
a special Cyrillization software package. Now all legal users
of Russian JustWrite can purchase Parawin which is Paragraph's
Cyrillization software for Windows at a 25% discount. This
discount is effective for all users, not only those buying
directly from ParaGraph.

Michael Titkin of Symantec's Moscow office told Newsbytes that
he expects rapid sales growth of Russian JustWrite in the
coming months due to both the agreement and the aggressive price
of the product itself -- US$44 -- which is about a quarter of
the price of Microsoft Word for Windows.

Symantec is targeting JustWrite as the low-cost fully functional
text processor.

(Eugene Peskin & Kirill Tcshaschin/19930723/Contact:Symantec Moscow,
Michael Titkin, [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(NYC)(00003)

NY Hackers Sentenced To Prison 07/27/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Elias Ladopoulos,
known in the hacker world as "Acid Phreak" and Paul Stira, also
known as "Scorpion," have each been sentenced in US Southern District
Federal Courthouse to six months in prison and six months home
detention for conspiracy to commit computer-related crimes.

Ladopoulos and Stira were indicted with three other individuals, Mark
Abene, a/k/a "Phiber Optik;" Julio Fernandez, a/k/a "Outlaw;" and John
Lee, a/k/a "Corrupt," on July 8, 1992 on charges of conspiracy.
All parties have since pled guilty to the charge of conspiracy
and Abene, the last of the individuals to enter a plea, also pled
guilty to unauthorized access to computers on July 2, 1993.
Stira and Ladopoulos entered their pleas on March 17.

Lee was sentenced on June 4th to serve one year and a day in
prison and Abene is scheduled for sentencing on November 3rd. A
sentencing date for Fernandez, who is said to have agreed to
cooperate with authorities if the Abene case went to trial, has
not yet been set. Assistant US Attorney Geoffrey Berman told
Newsbytes that Fernandez will be sentenced some time after Abene.

Stira, speaking on his own behalf, said, "I realize that I broke
the law. My intent was never to hurt anyone or to make money.
I did what I did from intellectual curiosity. I hope that your
honor will give me a chance to prove that I have something to give."

Judge Owen, addressing Stira, said, "You're all so bright. This
distresses me. Maybe you don't break into an auto dealership and
take a crow bar to cars but you do cause damage."

Owen also brought up damage caused to the computers of New York
television studio WNET. Stira denied causing any damage to WNET. Owen
then imposed the sentence which requires Stira, in addition to the
prison and home detention, to perform 750 hours of community service.

Ladopoulos' attorney, Scott Tulman, said that while "Ladopoulos and
Stira are equally culpable and I am bound by the plea agreement
not to seek a downward departure from the sentencing guidelines,
I must point out that incarceration for Mr. Ladopoulos will have
a devastating effect on his family. Mr. Ladopoulos's mother
works to support her family and Mr. Ladopoulos is the only one
there for his younger sister. His father's whereabouts are unknown."

Tulman continued, "He goes to school, works and donates time to
working with the handicapped, teaching them to use computers.
He acknowledges his culpability and has been attempting to atone
for it. His probation officer noted his sincere efforts to
rehabilitate himself. The stupid young person, Acid Phreak,
who was involved with other person's computers no longer
exists. It is Elias Ladopoulos that will be sentenced and that
will cause a hardship to his family."

Berman replied, "The government believes that there is no reason to
distinguish between the defendants. The government will acknowledge that
they both have loving families."

Ladopoulous said, "I regret what I did. It was stupid. At the time
that I did it, I did not realize the stupidity. I was carried
away with the momentum."

In response to questions from Judge Owen concerning his involvement with
the damage to the WNET system, Ladopoulous said, "Another hacker whose
name I have already provided to the government was the one who took the
system down. When I saw the problem, I called the station and left my own
phone number and offered to help. If I had caused the damage, I would not
have done that. The person who caused the damage is a very deranged
person."

Owen said that he could not believe that it was merely a coincidence that
the damage was done to the WNET system in the same time frame that
Ladopoulous was on the system. Ladopoulous replied by saying that the
system log showed that he was off the system when the damage occurred. A
discussion followed on the entire incident.

Owen then said, "In almost 20 years on the bench, it has saddened me
on the occasions that I have had to inflict a hardship on families.
But I must also use sentences as a deterrent. We can not have people
running around and damaging computer systems."

Owen then sentenced Ladopoulous to the same sentence as Stira.

Assistant US Attorney Berman told Newsbytes, "We think that it is
entirely an appropriate sentence in view of the damages caused."

Stira's attorney, John Harris, told Newsbytes, "Paul is looking
forward to finishing his sentence and beginning his life. He wants
to use his great talents constructively."

Ladopoulous, commenting on the court experience to Newsbytes, said, "It
was terribly frustrating. The judge just didn't understand about WNET.
I tried to explain that I did not damage the system but he didn't
understand.

Stira's attorneys asked for a two-month stay before the beginning of
sentence and Ladopoulous' asked for a month. Both were granted and they
remain free on bail.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19930726/Kate Cosenza,
United States Attorney Southern District of New York, 212-791-1937)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(MOW)(00004)

Russian Font Contest 07/27/93
RUSSIA, MOSCOW, 1993 JULY 27 (NB) -- Russian-American Joint
Venture ParaGraph has announced the results of the font contest
which the company held during the "PoligrapBushMash" exhibition
which took place in Moscow earlier this month.

ParaGraph is one of the largest computer font designers worldwide
and its fonts dominate the Russian publishing market. The contest
required contestants to correctly identify 55 ParaGraph fonts.
As Alexei Tarbeev from the ParaGraph font design team has said,
"The company was not sure that anybody could guess all the fonts
right because some fonts were supposed to be used only internally."
But to the amazement of organizers there were 10 winners.
They were awarded ParaType software font libraries in a
ceremony in the new ParaGraph office.

Interestingly, all ParaGraph offices have moved practically
simultaneously -- in United States ParaGraph changed its office
location in California, its Moscow research team moved from
downtown to an outlying district, and ParaGraph headquarters
is now situated side by side with the notorious Moscow Criminal
Police headquarters (MUR).

(Eugene Peskin & Kirill Tcshaschin/19930723/Public Contact:ParaGraph,
Leonid Malkov, [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00005)

India - Datamatics Focuses On Banking Segment 07/27/93
BOMBAY, INDIA, 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- As part of its reorientation
program, Bombay-based Datamatics Ltd, has earmarked airlines,
banks and re-engineering segments to focus its activities.

Rechalking strategies was necessary since Wang Laboratories,
its partner of yore, "ran into trouble and we decided not
to put all our eggs in one basket," explained Lalit Kanodia,
chairman, Datamatics. The company had been providing
software support and services in the USA, Middle East and
Africa to Wang customers. The vendor agreement came to an end
about a year ago.

Datamatics recently undertook a project for Singapore Airlines
to train 30 graduates as TPF programmers. TPF, which stands for
Transaction Processing Facility, is an operating system to run
applications like passenger reservations, cargo handling and
departure control. The training is being executed on an IBM ES 9000
in an MVS environment. Kanodia hopes this project will lead to the
formation of a joint venture with Singapore Airlines to sell
services in the open market.

On the export front, the company is executing projects for three
overseas banks. The first, in the US, involves re-engineering of the
bank's fund transfer. Expected to take two to three years, this
order is worth Rs 1.5 crore. Datamatics is executing another
re-engineering project involving the conversion of several Cobol
programs to a Sybase RDBMS environment for Riyadh-based Saudi
American Bank (SAMBA). The ongoing work at SAMBA includes converting
an Oracle-based VISA card system to Sybase, revamping SAMBA's
personnel system and developing a marketing database on Sybase for
SAMBA. Datamatics is also developing software for certain front
office operations in a LAN environment for the National Bank of
Dubai.

Besides these export projects, the company is in the process of
developing packages for the domestic market. It has recently
introduced an Auto-Tester package. Priced at Rs 3,500 (over $1,000),
the PC-based automated personnel skills evaluation package operates
on MS-DOS and comes with three standard broad-based evaluation tests
called the Clerical Aptitude Test (CLAP), Mental Ability Test (MAP)
and the Typing Test. The company claims to have sold about 100
copies since the product's launch in February last.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19930727)


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

Public Interest Communications Policy Drafted 07/27/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- The Center For Civic
Networking has issued a draft of a paper entitled, "A Vision of
Change: Civic Promise of the National Information Infrastructure."
The recipients of the draft were asked to respond with comments
by August 15th by "letter, phone, or e-mail."

The six-page draft is concerned with the potential of a "National
Information Infrastructure" and the importance that Congress
understand this potential as it considers funding requests and
future legislation.

The draft says "Grassroots telecommunications initiatives
providing civic and community services are creating new state
policies that will in turn influence federal communication policy
for the 21st Century. The Administration and Congress have a
solemn obligation to understand the full civic promise of the
NII and to swiftly reframe the current debate driven by
telecommunications carriers.

"The value of activities in the United States that could be
affected by networked, imaged information to the home for health,
governance, informal education, job training, literacy,
numeracy, and English as a second language could be in the range of
several hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

"Congress in particular must understand and respond to the economic
and social costs to our society if ubiquitous access to this
national multimedia nervous system is impeded by limited visions
of telephone and cable companies motivated to maintain entrenched
positions in a rapidly evolving marketplace."

The draft then details areas the authors feel a National
Information Infrastructure can make a difference: revitalizing
local economies; improving the delivery of government services
and reducing costs of government; revitalizing civic
institutions and public debate; reducing poverty and
changing welfare as we know it; saving billions of health care
dollars through prevention and early detection of disease and
by streamlining health care administration; bringing all of
our children's education into the 21st Century, regardless of
income, location or background; reducing social costs of
defense cutbacks, layoffs, and plant closings; and reducing
costs of pollution, road maintenance, and child care.

The draft then makes recommendations for the next
steps in the development of a comprehensive National Information
Infrastructure policy.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19930726/Miles Fideman, The
Center For Civic Networking, 617-241-9205,voice; [e-mail] -
e-mail on the Internet)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00007)

Tandy Rescues InterTan From Financial Trouble 07/27/93
BARRIE, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- InterTan Inc., the
company that operates Radio Shack stores in Canada, the United
Kingdom, and Australia, has been bailed out of financial trouble
by its former parent, Tandy Corp. of Fort Worth, Texas.

Tandy has agreed to acquire all of InterTan's C$54-million bank
debt from a syndicate of banks. Tandy also said it would renew
for seven years InterTan's license and supply agreements, which
entitle the Canadian company to use the Radio Shack name and sell
Tandy products outside Canada, and provide temporary credit to
the company. In exchange, Tandy is to get warrants to purchase
stock in InterTan.

The companies must still work out a detailed agreement with the
banks to which InterTan owes money, Jim Williams, president of
InterTan, told Newsbytes. He said that as a number of the
creditor banks were represented at the discussions between
InterTan and Tandy, he expects them to support the deal.

Once Tandy acquires the debt it is expected to be extended and
restructured, InterTan officials said.

Formerly Tandy's Canadian subsidiary, InterTan was spun off from
Tandy in 1986 to take over operation of Radio Shack outlets in
Canada, Europe, and Australia. Last year, the company closed its
money-losing operations in Europe.

Tandy's sales to InterTan amounted to US$171 million in 1992.

(Grant Buckler/19930726/Press Contact: Keith Wettlaufer,
InterTan, 705-739-6268, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(00008)

NCR 3000 To Be First With CA-Unicenter For NT 07/27/93
DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- NCR Corp.'s System
3000 will be the first hardware to run Computer Associates
International's CA-Unicenter for Microsoft Windows NT, the
two companies have announced.

NCR signed an alliance in March providing for Islandia, New
York-based Computer Associates to adapt the Unicenter systems
management software to NCR's System 3000 computers. The companies
also said they would work together on marketing and sales.

Computer Associates has now chosen the NCR System 3000 as the
Intel-based reference platform for the NT version of
CA-Unicenter. CA officials described the NCR machine as one of
the industry's leading hardware platforms.

Microsoft announced the NT operating system at the COMDEX/Spring
show in Atlanta at the end of May, and is due to begin shipping
it imminently.

Earlier, a Computer Associates spokesman said a beta-test version
of CA-Unicenter for NT on the System 3000 was likely to be
available by the end of this year.

According to Computer Associates, CA-Unicenter addresses
fundamental systems management needs such as automated production
control, security, data center administration, resource
accounting, and storage management.

CA-Unicenter is already offered for a variety of Unix systems,
including IBM's RS/6000 and systems from Hewlett-Packard, Data
General, Pyramid, and Sequent, as well as IBM's OS/2 operating
system. It has been announced for Novell's NetWare local-area
network operating system, and beta testing of that version is
expected to begin in the fourth quarter, a spokesman said
recently.

NCR's System 3000 is a seven-level family of general purpose,
scalable systems ranging from pen-based notepads to massively
parallel systems. All use Intel Corp. processors.

"NCR's position is to offer our customers a choice among the
industry's leading open operating systems, including Unix and
Windows NT," said Jim McGinley, director of enterprise alliances
at NCR, in a prepared statement.

(Grant Buckler/19930727/Press Contact: Chris Stellwag, NCR,
513-445-4178; Bob Gordon, Computer Associates, 516-342-2391, fax
516-342-5329)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00009)

 ****Apple To Launch Quadra And Centris "av" 07/27/93
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- The Mac III-generation
Quadra 840av (or Cyclone) and the Macintosh Centris 660av (or Tempest)
are expected to be introduced at Macworld Expo the first week of June.
Both new Macs -- rumored to be the last generation of Macs as we
know them today -- will feature built-in digital video, 32-bit
digital signal processors, a new direct memory access bus and a
high-speed serial port known as GeoPort.

The 840av has a 40MHz 68040 CPU, three 13-inch NuBus slots, 8MB of RAM,
expandable to 128MB and a 230MB hard drive. Estimated street price is
$4,200.

The Centris 660av, with an estimated street price of $2,300, features
a 25MHz 68LC040 (no math coprocessor, but users can add one later),
7-inch NuBus slots, which require an adapter card (sold separately),
4MB of RAM, expandable to 68MB, and an 80MB hard drive. 500MB hard
drives and CD-ROM drives will be options on both av Macs.

The "av" indicates the improvements in audio and video, as both
machines are able to input and output high-quality video and sound.
The video end will be compatible with 16-bit color, NTSC and PAL
video in composite and S-video formats.

The audio processing features AT&T's 3210 digital signal processor.
This chip has voice recognition and synthesis capabilities, and
will let both Macs process 16-bit stereo sound. The machines will
debut Apple's Casper voice recognition technology, opening the
door for developers to write voice-compatible applications.

(Chris Oakes/19930727)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00010)

Quicken 4 Adds Personal Finance Features 07/27/93
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Quicken
Investments and Loans: Quicken 4 for the Macintosh computer adds
investment tracking and loan amortization, tracking stocks, bonds,
mutual funds, and more. It also calculates a loan's principal
and interest.

With new features like investment tracking, loan amortization and
graphs, version 4.0 of Intuit's popular Quicken financial software
has expanded its handling of personal and small business
finances.

Version 4's investment tracking applies Quicken's interface
in tracking stocks, bonds, mutual funds, brokerage accounts and other
investments. The interface is forms-based and allows users to see
their exact portfolio mix and performance as of any date.

"It's much more of a complete program," says Eric Tilenius,
project manager for Quicken for Macintosh. "We now cover loans,
investments and financial planners." Quicken 4 also provides detailed
capital gains, investment transaction and internal rate of return
reports.

Loan amortization features include loan payment schedules, principal
and interest calculation, and loan balances and interest paid updates.
The program tracks fixed and variable rate loans, balloon payments,
prepayments and negative amortization.

Explaining the move to a fuller financial-management package, Tilenius
says the company found that 45 percent of Quicken users were using
the software for both personal and business finances, thus the company
saw the need for more features related to both uses.

While there are new areas of financial management, the
program is still for those seeking simple financial tracking
tools. "Quicken is aimed at the broad market," he says. "It's really
geared toward someone who's working with investments as part of
their overall financial portfolio."

Quicken's graphing features provide users with point-and-click access
to the numbers behind graph elements. "One big advantage [of Quicken's
graphing] over a program like Excel is a feature called QuickZoom,"
Tilenius says. "You can just double-click on a graph element to see
what numbers go into it."

New features designed to save users time include QuickFill,
IntelliCharge and Automatic Transaction Entry. With QuickFill,
Quicken recognizes newly entered characters from a previous
transaction and fills in the rest of the new transaction
automatically.

IntelliCharge works with the Quicken Visa Gold Card, which
delivers statements electronically via disk or modem, automatically
entering credit card transactions directly into the Quicken
register for $3 to $5 per month.

Automatic Transaction Entry learns (from user-provided information)
when and how often regular transactions occur and enters them
automatically.

The suggested retail price for Quicken 4 remains $69.95. Upgrades
are $29.95. Call Intuit at 415/322-0573 or 800/624-8742.

(Chris Oakes/19930727)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00011)

 ****IBM Loses Again, Will Cut 35,000 More Jobs 07/27/93
ARMONK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- IBM has announced
another quarterly loss and said it plans to cut 35,000 more jobs
and reduce manufacturing capacity further.

At a New York press conference, IBM Chairman Louis Gerstner
announced the company will take a pre-tax charge against earnings
of $8.9 billion, or $8 billion after taxes, to cover further
restructuring. Of this, he said, about $2 billion will cover the
cost of staff cuts that have already taken place as more
employees than expected left under incentive plans. Another $4
billion is earmarked to cover the cost of cutting the work force
by a further 35,000. The remainder is to cover reductions in
manufacturing and office space.

With the special charges, IBM lost $8 billion, or $14.10 per
share, in the second quarter. Before the special charges, the
loss was $40 million, or eight cents per share. This compares
with net earnings of $734 million in the second quarter of 1992.

Revenue for the quarter was $15.5 billion, down 4.3 percent from
the second quarter of last year, the company said.

The company also cut its dividend for the next quarter to 25
cents from 54 cents.

Gerstner said his first priority is to return IBM to
profitability, and he expects that the moves announced today will
do the job.

IBM has taken "the actions that we thought were necessary to make
the company profitable," he said, and if those assumptions are
correct IBM should start making money without further cuts.
He would not discuss the assumptions behind the latest moves,
saying they were very complex.

He said the second priority is to make IBM more competitive
through several actions. The company is emphasizing adherence to
standards. "We're going to interconnect with everybody,"
Gerstner said. It is becoming more aggressive in the important
client/server computing market, he claimed, noting that 60
percent of installed AS/400 machines are acting as servers today.

Gerstner also said IBM means to continue to be "the only full
service provider in the industry." And he added that a number of
other actions are underway to boost responsiveness to customers.

In the longer term, he went on, IBM will focus on strategic
issues aimed at ensuring its growth. Possible growth areas
include microelectronics and the services business, he said.

Gerstner shied away from sweeping statements about strategy.
"There's been a lot of speculation as to when I'm going to
deliver a vision of IBM," he said, "and what I'm going to say to
you it that the last thing IBM needs right now is a vision."

He was reluctant to talk about what he called "process," such as
management and structural changes.

Responding to questions about IBM's rumored plans to reorganize
its sales force, Gerstner said the company is talking to
customers to determine their needs, and "we're going to organize
our sales force to give the customers what they want."

Gerstner acknowledged that there is morale trouble at IBM as a
result of the last few years' problems.

IBM also announced that Charles Knight, chairman and chief
executive of Emerson Electric, has been elected to its board of
directors. Stephen Bechtel Jr., chairman emeritus of Bechtel
Corp., and J. Richard Munro, chairman of the executive committee
of Time Warner, resigned, citing personal reasons.

(Grant Buckler/19930727/Press Contact: Rob Wilson, IBM,
914-765-6565)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00012)

Stratus, IBM Revise Relationship 07/27/93
MARLBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Stratus
Computer has announced changes in its marketing relationship
with IBM, which resells Stratus hardware under its own System/88
label. Stratus also announced flat earnings for the second
quarter.

Stratus officials said Stratus and IBM are making a transition
from a worldwide agreement under which IBM sells Stratus
Continuous Processing Systems under the System/88 logo to local
reseller agreements between the two companies in various regions.

Such agreements already exist in Australia, Canada, Switzerland,
and Hong Kong, the companies said.

David Hayward, a spokesman for Stratus, said the move reflects a
growing emphasis at Stratus on selling to specific vertical or
geographic markets. He said general original equipment
manufacturer (OEM) agreements, including the IBM one, are
bringing in declining revenues.

Hayward said IBM continues to sell Stratus hardware as the
System/88 for the time being, but the move will be toward forming
relationships between the companies at a local level. This will
let Stratus provide IBM with local service and support, he said.

Stratus does not expect the change to affect its revenues from
the IBM relationship, Hayward said. He added that the company's
revenues from the IBM connection have been declining since 1989
and are expected to continue doing so.

In 1989, Stratus' revenues from sales through IBM were $102
million or 30 percent of Stratus' revenues. In the first half of
1993 they were $8.1 million, or three percent of the total,
officials said.

Stratus also said it had net income of $13.5 million on revenue
of $124.1 million in the second quarter, which ended July 4.
Revenue was up six percent from $117.4 million in the same
quarter of 1992, while net income was the same, the company said.

(Grant Buckler/19930727/Press Contact: David Hayward, Stratus,
508-460-2796)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00013)

Hitachi To Sell HP PA-RISC In Asia/Pacific 07/27/93
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Hitachi will
sell Hewlett-Packard (HP) Unix workstations, mostly in the Asia
Pacific area, thanks to a $100 million, five-year agreement between
the two companies.

Both HP's Precision Architecture-Reduced Instruction Set
Computing (PA-RISC) and the HP X stations were included in the
deal as well as licensing of additional HP system software.
This will not preclude Hitachi's sale of its own workstations,
however.

HP was first with the PA-RISC architecture in 1986. Hitachi has
been aligned with HP since the companies first announced in
July of 1989 their intention to cooperatively develop PA-RISC
chips. Hitachi's own workstation is based on its own PA-RISC
chip and the company is a member of the Precision RISC
Organization (PRO). Later this year, Hitachi and other members
of the PRO group will announce new PA-RISC chips and
applications for those chips, according to HP representatives.

Earlier this year, the companies announced it would share
development to improve performance and quality of the Open
Software Foundation's (OSF) Distributed Computing Environment
(DCE). Hitachi also has licensed the HP Openview network and
system management software and Softbench, HP's framework for
creating open, integrated software-development environments.

HP has reported its workstation business is growing at twice
the average rate of any of its competitors, with an estimated
15 percent in unit volume between the company's first quarter
of 1992 and the first quarter of 1993. The company claims its
HP 9000 Series 800 is especially popular as evidenced by an
increased unit shipment volume three consecutive years in a
row.

Hitachi describes itself as the world's largest electronics and
electrical equipment manufacturer. Hewlett-Packard is the
third-largest computer company in the US and reported 1992
revenues of $12 billion.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930727/Press Contact: Jim Christensen,
Hewlett-Packard, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BOS)(00014)

Video Market Avid For Avid - Vendor Reports Record Results 07/27/93
TEWKSBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Avid
Technology Inc., maker of Media Composer 5.0 and other video
and film editing hardware and software, has reported record
revenues of $26.3 million for the most recent financial quarter.

Avid's revenues for the second quarter of 1993 represent an
increase of 139 percent over the $11.0 million produced during the
comparable period in 1992. Also for the second quarter of this
year, the vendor's net income totaled $1.01 million, or $0.09 cents
a share, up from $363,000, or $0.04 per share, for the same quarter
last year.

"We are very proud of these results, which reflect the continued
acceptance of our products," stated Curt Rawley, president and CEO.

In announcing the financial gains, though, officials also pointed
to the shipment of several new offerings at the end of the quarter,
and noted that bringing new products to market requires heavy
investment on Avid's part.

Avid's second quarter rollouts included a new generation of the
Media Composer digital nonlinear editing system with Version 5.0
software. Also introduced were Version 2.0 of the Audio Vision
digital audio workstation, Version 1.1 of the Media Pro desktop
digital editing package for the corporate/industrial market, and a
new series of Digital News Gathering products for the broadcast
news industry.

"We believe we will have to continue to spend aggressively to keep
pace with rapidly changing technology and increasingly competitive
markets. As a result, our challenge will be to maintain the
balance between meeting our short-term objectives and positioning
the company for long-term growth," commented Rawley.

Avid employs more than 350 people worldwide. The company's
products are currently in use at over 1,800 sites, officials said.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930727/Press contacts: Ned Hazen, Avid, tel
508-640-3211, or Mimi Englander, Avid, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00015)

Zeos Closes 2Q With $3.4M Loss 07/27/93
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Zeos
International closed its second quarter with a net loss of
$3.4 million, or $0.40 per share on net sales of $52.7 million.
It's the second quarter in succession that the personal computer
maker has lost over $3 million, but an improvement over the same
period last year when net sales were $4 million less and the net
loss was $11 million.

The company said its year-to-date pretax operating loss and net loss
decreased by $13 million and $6.2 million respectively for the first
half of 1993 compared to the same period last year, and attributed
the improvements primarily to increased efficiencies in its
manufacturing processes and being able to decrease operating
overheads. Overhead was down by $885 thousand compared to the first
quarter of the year, and by $3.6 million compared to the 1992 second
quarter. Year-to-date operating overhead declined by $5.5 million
from the first half of 1992.

Zeos Chairman and CEO Greg Herrick says the financial results were
affected by the intense industry competition, but points out that
revenue growth continued over the same period last year while
overhead expenses dropped by 30 percent. He said the company has no
outstanding short term borrowings or long term debt. Herrick says
unit productivity per employee increased by 87 percent while sales
per employees were up 70 percent over the same period in 1992.

Zeos says its sales mix is about 74 percent desktop products, 15
percent notebook computers, and 11 percent from non-system revenue.
That's an increase of about four percent for desktop systems while
notebook sales were up one percent and nonsystem revenues dropped
about three percent.

Zeos launched its 486SL-based Contenda subnotebook and its Freestyle
notebook computers during the second quarter. Both systems were
initially launched as 386SL systems. Zeos also introduced its
ColorNote 486, a 486SX-based 33 megahertz color notebook unit,
during the period.

(Jim Mallory/19930727/Press contact: Chuck Henderson, Zeos
International, 612-623-9614)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00016)

Compaq Sponsors Int'l Technology Conference 07/27/93
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Compaq Computer
Corporation says it will sponsor a worldwide technology conference
and exhibition to highlight technology and look at the future of
computing.

The event, dubbed Innovate '93, will be held at the George R. Brown
Convention Center in Houston from September 13 through September 17.
Keynote speakers will include Compaq President and CEO Eckhard
Pfeiffer, Intel Corporation President and CEO Andy Grove, Microsoft
Corporation Executive Vice President Steve Ballmer, and Novell
President Ray Noorda.

Other computer industry luminaries scheduled to participate in the
more than 120 specialized seminars include Stewart Alsop,
editor-in-chief of Infoworld; Infoworld columnist
Cheryl Currid; columnist and author John Dvorak; Computer
Reseller News International Editor Holly Hubbard Sr.; and Marshall
Loeb, Fortune Magazine managing editor.

Other participants include Jim Louderback, director of PC Week Labs;
Bill Machrone, columnist and vice president, technology at Ziff
Davis Publishing; Seymour Merrin, president of Merrin Information
Services; Ron Peri, chief technology officer of Ultimate
Corporation; and Andy Seybold, editor of Outlook on Professional
Computing.

Compaq says Innovate 93 will have about 60,000 square feet of
exhibit space that will spotlight products from company such as Apex
Data, Angia Communications, Banyan, Borland, Digiboard, Informix,
Intel, and Key file. The exhibitor list also includes Lante,
Microsoft, Next Computer, Novell, Oracle, Piiceon, Powersoft,
Quarterdeck, Sybase, Univell, Viewstar, and Wordperfect. Compaq will
be showing the latest technologies from its Desktop, Portable,
Systems, and Peripherals divisions.

Compaq says it expects the attendance at Innovate '93 to go as high
as 5,000. A Compaq spokesperson told Newsbytes general attendees who
make their reservation before August 6 will pay $600, while the per-
person fee for each attendee in a group of more than five from a
single company is $550. For specific pricing, Compaq has toll-free
number for event registration or for more information.

(Jim Mallory/19930727/Press contact: Compaq Computer, 713-374-0484;
Registration or information: 800- 235-2133)


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

 ****Windows NT Goes To Manufacturing, To Ship In 3 Weeks 07/27/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Microsoft
Corporation said today that Windows NT and the Windows NT advanced
server software has been released to manufacturing, putting the
long-awaited software one step closer to shipping.

Microsoft says the Windows NT Advanced Server operating system
software is being released 30 days ahead of schedule, and both
products are now scheduled to ship to value-added resellers, systems
integrators, computer manufacturers, and software retailers within
three weeks.

Paul Maritz, Microsoft senior vice president of the systems
division, says Windows NT is one of the largest software projects
ever undertaken, occupying developers for more than four years to
produce the first truly new personal computer operating system to
appear since IBM's OS/2. Microsoft Windows is not an operating
system, but rather a link between the user and the underlying DOS
(disk operating system) that has been the heart of millions of PCs.
Users who install Windows NT will no longer have to have DOS
installed. Windows NT is expected to be available for three
different chip architectures and will run on single and
multi-processor systems.

Microsoft says Windows NT was tested by more than 70,000 developers
and over 10,000 corporate end-user sites, and has been in use
internally at Microsoft for two years as a development platform and
as the corporate server platform. The company says it also subjected
daily builds of Windows NT to heavy stress testing in order to
locate and potential "bugs," or coding problems.

Microsoft says it has already shipped more than 70,000 Windows NT
development kits, and that over 2,000 32-bit applications for
Windows and Windows NT are being developed for release over the
next few months.

As reported by Newsbytes, a number of software companies have
already said they will ship their NT- based products concurrently
with, or within 30 days after the shipment of Windows NT.

(Jim Mallory/19930727/Press contact: Collins Hemingway, Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882-8080; Reader contact: Microsoft Corporation,
206-882-8080 or 800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00018)

Aldus Acquires Digital Video Software Company 07/27/93
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Aldus Corporation
announced it has acquired The Company of Science & Art (CoSA),
a privately held developer of digital-video software tools used to
create and manipulate multimedia moving images and graphics on
personal computers.

Aldus President Paul Brainerd says the acquisition is important
because its extends Aldus' strategic focus on professional graphics.
Brainerd says Aldus will use CoSA's development expertise and core
technology to accelerate the pace of its multimedia product
introductions and its entry into electronic publishing.

Aldus spokesperson Brad Stevens told Newsbytes the company will
eventually release a separate product that would perform
layout tasks that allows the user to combine text and graphics
with sound and video to create a new electronic form of
communications. He said Aldus will also provide workgroup tools
that will allow teams of people to assemble documents.

Stevens told Newsbytes that Aldus is interested in digital media and
transmission of data over fiber optic cable and via cellular
technology. "That will allow our users to communicate in a different
way. Instead of just producing documents for print they will be
increasingly producing communications which include not only text
and graphics but also sound and motion."

Providence, Rhode Island-based CoSA was founded in 1990 and has 14
employees, whom Stevens says will be retained. Its flagship product
is the $1,295 CoSA After Effects Macintosh-based video
post-production software used to create broadcast-quality digital
special effects and animation.

After Effects has been used by both Industrial Light & Magic
and Paramount Pictures. It has been used in work on the
current movie hit "Jurassic Park." Principal Engineer Enrique
Godreau says the software can produce digital effects and animation
equal in quality to those produced on high-end computer systems
costing $100,000 or more. Godreau says the company will continue
evolution of After Effects, and expects several related-product
announcements later this year.

CoSA also developed and markets PICS Animation Compiler, software
technology that allows users to compress and play digital-video and
animation on a microcomputer.

Aldus says it has acquired all shares of CoSA, its complete product
line, all source, copyrights, and trademarks, for an initial payment
of $1.6 million in cash and Aldus common stock. Additional $1.6
million payments are tied to specific CoSA performance objectives
and other contingencies over the next two years. Aldus says it will
take a one-time charge against third-quarter earnings of up to $2.3
million, or 13 cents per share. CoSA will operate as a subsidiary of
Aldus, and will remain at its present location.

Brainerd stresses the importance of CoSA's core technology, saying
it will help Aldus establish its position in the electronic
publishing business. "I don't believe print communications will go
away in our lifetime," according to Brainerd.

Multimedia is a relatively recent computer technology which
incorporates text, motion video, sound and still images, usually
stored on a CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) due to the
typically large size of the files.

(Jim Mallory/19930727/Press contact: Brad Stevens, Aldus
Corporation, 206-628-2361; Reader contact: Aldus Corporation,
206-622-5500, fax [phone])


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

Motorola Building $1 Billion Semiconductor Complex 07/27/93
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Motorola says it will
build a $1 billion semiconductor research lab and wafer fabrication
plant in Austin, Texas to met the strong and growing worldwide
demand for its microprocessor and memory semiconductor products.

The company says the new facilities will add about 700 jobs to its
workforce at the Ed Bluestein Campus in Austin. Construction is
scheduled to begin immediately. The lab is scheduled to be completed
in 1995, and the fabrication plant, called MOS-14, to be finished
the following year. The cost of both facilities is estimated in the
range of $850 million to $1 billion.

Motorola spokesperson Jeff Gorin told Newsbytes that, when
finished, the facility will have 90,000 square feet the
Class 1 clean room space, making it about 15 percent bigger
than the present MOS-11 wafer fabrication plant on Motorola's
Oak Hill campus located in southwest Austin.

Senior Vice President and Director of Manufacturing Bill Walker says
the new facility will fabricate semiconductors using .25 micron
circuits on eight-inch wafers, eventually including parts with
geometries as small as .12 microns. It will include state-of-the-art
environmental protection systems and equipment such as sulfuric acid
reprocessors and waste-water recyclers.

(Jim Mallory/19930727/Press contact: Jeff Gorin, Motorola Corporate
Communications, 602-952-3854)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00020)

 ****Nat'l Semi Files To Bar Mitsubishi Devices From US 07/27/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- National
Semiconductor has not only filed a lawsuit against Mitsubishi
charging patent infringement, the company has gone to the
United States International Trade Commission (ITC) and filed a
complaint. The company says it has been negotiating for two
years with Mitsubishi for a cross-licensing agreement of its
patented semiconductor technology, but negotiations broke down
last Friday and so it is now attempting to use legal means to
stop the Japanese electronics giant.

National asserts that Mitsubishi is using the technology
covered by ten patents-in-suit in a wide variety of
semiconductor devices. These devices include as dynamic random
access memories (DRAMs), static random access memories (SRAMs),
erasable programmable read only memories (EPROMs),
microcontrollers and analog circuits, as well as packaging and
wafer processing technology.

Not only is National trying to stop Mitsubishi from importing
its products in these categories, it is trying to get a ban in
the US on any products imported that contain the Mitsubishi
devices. These products could include computers, communications
systems, and automobiles. The patents listed in this action are
part of a large intellectual portfolio which includes both
National and Fairchild Semiconductor technology inventions,
National maintains.

While litigation through the courts can take years, National
representatives said it expects ITC to make a ruling within
eighteen months as to whether or not the Mitsubishi devices and
the "downstream" products containing these devices will be
allowed into the US markets. "We've been very successful in
negotiating cross-licensing agreements in the past with other
Japanese companies, and we would still prefer to do that here
as well," said Mary Ann McKay of National. McKay said the
cross-licensing agreements prohibit her disclosing the names of
other companies who have such agreements with National.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930727/Press Contact: Mary Ann McKay,
National Semiconductor, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00021)

Apple To Offer HP DAT Drives Via OEM Agreement 07/27/93
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Apple
Computer will include Hewlett-Packard (HP) 4-mm digital audio
tape (DAT) drives as an option for those who purchase its newly
announced Apple Workstation Server 80 computer. The inclusion
of the drives is due to an original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) agreement between Apple and HP.

The HP DAT drive, HP 35480A, can provide as much as 4 gigabytes
(GB) of storage, depending on the data being compressed.
Apple's new workstation servers can have drives as large as
1000 megabytes, or about 1 GB, meaning the DAT drive can easily
handle backups of the server since these tapes can store as
much as 4 GB of compressed data.

While DAT drives tend to be more expensive in price than other
tape backup drives, they hold more data and the tapes used to
store the data are very economical. The typical DAT drive costs
around $1,000 but tapes for the drive can run from $10 to $20
each. Other tape backup drives can cost as little as under
$200, but the tapes are $20 each and the capacity is one-fourth
that of the average DAT tape drive.

Analysts at International Data Corporation claim the HP DAT
drives hold the largest market share worldwide with 43 percent
of the market.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930727/Press Contact: Irene Economou,
Hewlett-Packard, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00022)

Claris Intros ClarisImpact, ClarisDraw For Mac/Windows 07/27/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- There is
a continuing trend among software vendors to introduce products
for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Now Apple's own
Claris Corp., has introduced two graphics applications -
ClarisImpact and ClarisDraw - designed for both environments.

In announcing, what the company calls, a new cross-platform
strategy, Daniel L. Eilers, Claris president and chief executive
officer, said, "Many business users have told us they need high
levels of intelligent assistance embedded within their graphics
applications. Claris intends to meet their needs with a family of
cross-platform solutions providing breakthrough capabilities."

The company says that ClarisImpact for Macintosh and Windows
integrates the process of creating, editing and communicating
business graphics. ClarisImpact automatically creates seven
types of common business graphics, such as organizational charts,
data charts and timelines. The user can make style choices from a
selection of pre-defined styles, and the graphic is automatically
created. Word processing and presentation capabilities are built-in.

ClarisDraw for Macintosh and Windows is a drawing program that
replaces MacDraw Pro and MacDraw II. It offers over 75 new
features to the approximately 800,000 MacDraw customers.
The company says that ClarisDraw is designed for "graphics
generalists who need a broad range of tools for creating freeform
art, technical drawings, flyers, floor plans or light desktop
publishing."

Claris Draw offers such capabilities as "advanced" text handling
and image editing, as well as "built-in intelligence for precision
and increased productivity." A 3,400 piece drag-and-drop clip art
library is also included.

ClarisImpact for Macintosh is set to ship this fall. ClarisDraw for
Macintosh is set to ship in the first quarter of 1994. Both products
have a suggested retail price of $399. ClarisImpact and ClarisDraw
for Windows are scheduled to ship in the first half of 1994, also
at the price of $399.

Registered owners of MacDraw Pro can upgrade to ClarisDraw for
$99, or buy ClarisImpact for a special price of $99. Registered
users who purchased MacDraw Pro after June 1, 1993 can
upgrade to ClarisDraw for $29.

(Ian Stokell/19930727/Press Contact: Greg Cornelison,
408-987-7542, or Steve Ruddock, 408-987-7202, Claris Corp.)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00023)

Sybase Opens Belgium Subsidiary 07/27/93
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- The European market is
aggressively being pursued by Sybase. Five months after
opening a subsidiary in Spain, client-server software publisher
Sybase Inc., has opened a new European subsidiary - Sybase
NV/SA - this time in Belgium.

The subsidiary was formed through the acquisition of Sybase
Software NV/SA, a former Sybase distributor.

This company says that the acquisition is part of Sybase's
"aggressive expansion plan in Europe," and makes Sybase NV/SA
Sybase's third acquisition in 1993, and eighth European subsidiary.

The company intends to market and support Sybase products
throughout Belgium and Luxembourg with the new subsidiary,
which is located in Brussels.

In February 1991, Sybase and BIM NV/SA formed a joint venture
under the name Sybase Software, to distribute Sybase products.
According to Sybase, BIM has been a distributor of Sybase products
since 1987. Through Sybase's recent acquisition of BIM shares,
Sybase Software became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sybase.

Bernard Geubelle has been named as managing director of Sybase
NV/SA and BIM will continue its relationship with Sybase. However,
BIM will now be a systems integrator for France, Belgium,
Luxembourg, and Holland.

In announcing the subsidiary, Rob Albers, vice president, European
operations at Sybase said, "This acquisition is Sybase's fifth new
subsidiary in Europe since July 1992. Acceptance of client/server
technology is growing at a rapid pace in the European market. While
we are providing Sybase systems, we're also providing the service
and support necessary to help our customers successfully implement
client/server solutions while preserving long-term investments."

Sybase says it was first established in Europe over five years ago,
and now has eight subsidiaries in Belgium, Switzerland, Spain,
Italy, France, Germany, Holland and the United Kingdom, with 14
distributors throughout the rest of Europe.

In February, Newsbytes reported that Sybase had opened a
subsidiary company in Spain, called Sybase Iberia.

In June, Newsbytes reported that the Macau government is
using Sybase client-server technology to develop a central
database of legal documents that can be accessed by users in
some 40 different government offices around the territory.

(Ian Stokell/19930727/Press Contact: Cynthia Fetty,
510-596-3500, Sybase Inc.)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00024)

Ask Group Restructures Ingres Channel Program 07/27/93
ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- The ASK Group
has restructured its North America channels strategy for its
Ingres relational database management system (RDBMS) and tool
products, by quadrupling the number of people dedicated to
indirect channel operations.

Additionally, the company says that the new program has the
company reducing channel conflict through new compensation
strategies and offering a global partner assistance program
targeted to helping ISVs (independent software vendors) and
VARs (value-added resellers) enter new markets worldwide.

The company claims that the new program puts the company at
the forefront of a growing trend among RDBMS vendors to strengthen
their indirect sales efforts as competition for client/server
business intensifies.

A May 1993 Forrester Research report says that revenues from
turnkey business applications for client/server environments will
grow to $6 billion by 1995 - more than doubling the sales of
database server and tool products alone.

In announcing the restructuring, Peter Micciche, vice president of
operations for The ASK Group North America, said: "Today's
corporate information managers demand sophisticated systems
solutions for their client/server environments. And because
client/server business solutions will by definition incorporate
technologies from numerous vendors, VARs and system integrators
will be the primary solutions providers, especially in such key
vertical markets as telecommunications, government, and
manufacturing."

Continued Micciche, "Our new channel strategy recognizes this
basic fact, and eliminates the barriers to providing complete and
productive business solutions through indirect as well as direct
sources."

ASK has increased the number of people that concentrate on the
indirect channel in North America from 10 to 41.

The company's new compensation strategies are based on broad
measures of relationship success - such as how well VARs and
ISVs integrate Ingres into their products - rather than short-term
revenue, says the company.

The company hopes to eliminate channel conflict altogether, with
the new compensation program rewarding direct sales people for
all sales, regardless of the channel. The company says that, as a
result, direct sales representatives are encouraged to work
through system integrator and VAR partners to ensure delivery.

The new channels program includes assistance for VARs and ISVs
who want to leverage international opportunities in Europe,
Japan and the Pacific Rim, including the use of facilities overseas,
introductions to key partner and customer prospects, and
cooperative software development efforts for vertical markets.

At the beginning of July, Newsbytes reported that ASK had begun
shipments of a new release of its Ingres/Gateway to Digital
Equipment's Rdb relational database management system.

(Ian Stokell/19930727/Press Contact: John Humphreys,
510-748-3550, The ASK Group Inc.)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00025)

BoCoEx Index 07/27/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Boston Computer
Exchange for the week ending  July 23, 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 500              80 MgB    2000               2000    2000

IBM ThinkPad 700              80 MgB    1850               2400    2000

IBM ThinkPad 700C            120 MgB    3500  down 100     3600    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 4/25C          120MB    3450               3600    3400

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

                                 Gig

Compaq Syspro 486/50           Mod 1    6700               8500    6500

Compaq Prosigna 486 /33      550 MgB    3500               3800    3350

Compaq Prosigna 486/66          1GiG    6000               6300    6000

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     575                600     550

Macintosh Classic II          40 MgB     700   DOWN 50      750     700

Macintosh SE                  40 MgB     550   DOWN 25      600     550

Macintosh SE-30               80 MgB     950  DOWN 100     1050     900

Macintosh LC                  40 MgB    1000               1300     800

Macintosh II                  40 MgB    1250               1300    1250

Macintosh II SI               80 MgB    1200               1300    1200

Macintosh II CX               80 MgB    1400   DOWN 50     1450    1400

Macintosh II CI               80 MgB    2050  DOWN 100     2150    2000

Macintosh II FX               80 MgB    2500  DOWN 100     2650    2400

Macintosh Quadra 800         230 MgB    3750               3800    3700

Macintosh Quadra 950         230 MgB    3400               3500    3300

Macintosh Powerbk 165C        80 MgB    2200  DOWN 200     2300    2100

Macintosh Powerbk  145        40 MgB    1250  DOWN 200     1350    1100

Macintosh Powerbk 180         80 MgB    2700  DOWN 225     2800    2700

Apple Imagewriter 2                      200         `      225     175

Apple Laserwriter IINT                   875   DOWN 25      900     850

HP Laserjet II                           675                700     650

HP Laserjet IIISI                       2200               2300    2000

Toshiba T-1200                20 MgB     350                375     350

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              40MgB     750                800     700

Toshiba T-3100                20 MgB     400                400     400

Toshiba T-3200                40 MgB     450  DOWN 100      600     400

Toshiba T-3200 SX             40 MgB     575   DOWN 25      650     500

Toshiba T-4400 SXC           120 MgB    2550               2700    2400

Toshiba T-4400SX             120 MgB    2000               2200    1900

Toshiba T-4400C              200 MgB    3525               3700    3500

Toshiba T-5200               100 MgB    1200               1300    1100

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].

(BOCOEX/19930727)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(00026)

 ****Apple's Newton To Support PC/Mac "Seamless Connections" 07/27/93
UXBRIDGE, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- As the information
tap starts to flow at Apple Computer and from third-party vendors who
support the Newton personal digital assistant (PDA), which is
scheduled to be unveiled next week, Apple Computer UK has revealed
plans to release a Newton Connection Kit (NCK).

According to Apple, the NCK will allow data to be moved between the
Newton and a PC or an Apple Mac, using semi-intelligent software
that will allow intelligent transfer, synchronization, backup and
updating for information between the two machines.

The NCK is based upon Apple's claimed unique "Smart Synchronization"
technology that automatically updates information between the Newton
and a PC or a Mac. Any changes made to the information on the Newton
or the personal computer will be synchronized and updated when
the two machines are connected.

Interestingly, the Newton side of the NCK is programmed to keep
track of deleted information and keep a copy of it on the personal
computer "just in case" it is needed later.

The NCK comes with a set of complimentary Newton applications that
allow users to create, view and edit Newton information on a Mac or
a PC, even when that machine is not connected to a Newton. This
information can be automatically synchronized and updated between
the personal computer and the Newton the next time they are
connected.

In addition to this, the NCK is designed to enable users to backup
their Newton information to the personal computer's hard disk for
safe keeping and, if required, to move back on to the Newton if a
full restore is required.

According to Apple, there are plans in hand to develop a
"professional" version of the NCK that includes additional
information translation capabilities.

These new information translators will enable users to directly
share their Newton information with popular Windows and Mac
graphics, word processing, spreadsheet, database and personal
information manager (PIM) applications, Apple claims.

Mike Tchao, Apple's Newton product line manager, claims that the NCK
is a significant improvement on the handheld to desktop connectivity
packages on the market today.

"We have designed the Newton environment around the concept of
integrated communication. The NCK demonstrates that we have create a
platform that can intelligently communicate and co-exist with both
the PC and the Macintosh," he said.

Pricing on the NCK will be announced at the launch of the Newton in
the US next week and a month later, when the machine is expected in
the UK and Europe.

(Steve Gold/19930727/Press & Public Contact: Apple Computer - Tel:
081-569-1199)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00027)

Lotus Alliance With Staffware 07/27/93
STAINES, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Lotus Development
Corporation has announced a worldwide alliance between itself and
Staffware, a division of FCMC, the London-based office automation
specialists.

The idea behind the agreement is to bring together Lotus Notes, the
client/server applications environment for workgroups and Staffware,
a workflow automation package from FCMC.

According to Lotus, Staffware allows users of Notes to share common
data and pass messages between the two environments; invoke Notes
from Staffware and vice versa; and use Notes as the Staffware form
where required.

Under the alliance between the two companies, Notes will be
integrated with Staffware's workflow automation package. The roll-
out of Lotus Notes 3.0 in recent months has, Lotus claims, created a
market for users to incorporate both Notes and Staffware in their
organization.

Lotus also claims that any companies interested in running both
packages in conjunction will be able to do so with the availability
of the new interface in the third quarter of this year. Plans call
for packages containing the new interface to be distributed to more
than 30 countries through Staffware's worldwide reseller network, as
well as Lotus' international sales outlets.

Mike Fitzpatrick, the director of Lotus' European Communications
Business Unit, said that, as Notes becomes more widely used
throughout organizations, "our customers are asking us to ensure
that we work with other `best of breed' technologies throughout the
world."

"Workflow is certainly key component of our users; applications and,
as such, we are delighted to be announcing our partnership with
Staffware. Notes users can take maximum advantage of the additional
Staffware workflow capabilities," he said.

(Steve Gold/19930627/Press & Public Contact: Lotus Development -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00028)

NatSemi Intros Twisted-Pair FDDI Twister, Cyclone 07/27/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- National
Semiconductor says it is sampling the Twister and Cyclone
networking products for the Physical Media Dependent (PMD)
layer of twisted-pair FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface).

Leslie Davis, spokesperson for the company, told Newsbytes that,
"This new technology has been developed to help lower the cost
of FDDI. They have been developed specifically to run over
unshielded twisted pair. The (products) would reside on an adapter
card, which could go either into your desktop PC or a concentrator
where a number of different computers are connected in an office
network."

The Twister is the transceiver for twisted-pair FDDI, and the
Cyclone is the twisted-pair stream cipher scrambler/descrambler.

Davis also told Newsbytes, "The important thing about this, is that,
up until now, the technologies that have been developed for chips
have been designed to run over fiber, which is a much more
expensive medium for getting 100Mbps or very fast transmission of
information."

In announcing the products, Jim Jones, manager of FDDI product
marketing at National Semiconductor's Advanced Networks Division,
said: "We project, from our own bookings, a five-fold increase in
adapter card sales between 1993 and 1994. People have been
waiting for a standards-based, interoperability-proven, copper
solution for high speed networks."

The two BiCMOS (bi-complimentary metal oxide semiconductor)
integrated circuits offered are the Twister, which is a standards-
based transceiver, and the Cyclone, the standards-required
scrambler/descrambler circuit.

According to the company, the Twister takes advantage of National's
strength in mixed analog and digital technology and BiCMOS process
expertise to provide the MLT-3 encoding required by the copper FDDI
PMD standard. The Twister's on-chip adaptive equalization, is claimed
to be unique, and allows reception of signals over any length of
copper up to 100 meters in length. The company says that on-chip
adaptive equalization means that no external tuning circuitry is
required thereby increasing the reliability of FDDI connections and
reducing manufacturing costs.

The company also says that the Twister also meets FDDI PMD draft
standard requirements,    and can be programmed to operate in NRZI
mode to support such emerging standards as 100Mbps Ethernet and
ATM (asynchronous transfer mode).

The Twister also includes on-chip filters that would normally be
found on the transformer required in all copper LANs (local area
networks), says the company.

The company says that, unique to the Cyclone, it sends and
receives serial bit streams rather than the parallel bit streams
found    in some other devices. The serial feature of the Cyclone
reportedly allows manufacturers to offer modules with the same
footprints and pinout as optical datal links (ODLs), which can be
used by designers as a direct replacement for ODLs without
requiring board re-design.

The DP83223 Twister is priced at $18 each in lots of 1,000, while
the DP83222 Cyclone is set at $11.75 each in 1000 lot quantities.
Both are sampling now and are scheduled to be in volume
production by September 1.

(Ian Stokell/19930727/Press Contact: Leslie Davis,
408-721-5000, National Semiconductor)


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

 ****New Credit-Card-Size Motherboard From Epson Demo'd 07/27/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Seiko
Epson and its privately held affiliate S-MOS Systems have
announced a 386 personal computer (PC) motherboard that is the
size of a credit card. The company says it will show off the
tiny Cardio system board at the Integrated Circuit (IC) Card
Expo in Santa Clara, California this week.

Epson says the main market for the Cardio is in industrial
applications such as factory automation and navigation systems,
but says the card might also be used in handheld computers.

Joel Silverman, S-MOS System's director of marketing said: "The
card increases design possibilities by enabling OEMs (original
equipment manufacturers) to incorporate a general purpose PC
into a wide variety of applications such as point-of-sale (POS)
terminals, portable equipment, video cassette recorders (VCRs),
facsimile machines, vending machines and other devices."

Cardio is IBM PC AT compatible and measures 85.6 millimeters
(mm) by 54.0 mm by 5.5 mm or roughly the size of a credit card.
The microprocessor, an Intel 80386SL low-voltage chip, is in a
tape carrier pack (TCP) and with an input/output (I/O)
controller is mounted to the card using tape automated bonding
(TAB) technology. The memory devices on board are in thin small
outline packaging (TSOP). Other integrated circuits (ICs) are
assembled with chip-on-board (COB) technology. A new 236-pin
connector interface was developed to support functions on
Cardio, including industry standard architecture (ISA) and I/O
ports.

In addition, the card's on-board chip design provides direct
support for peripheral devices, such as liquid crystal display
(LCD), hard and floppy disk drives, and keyboards. CARDIO
versions using 8086 chip technology and 80486 microprocessor
units (MPUs) that incorporate industry standard architecture
(ISA) interfaces or the proprietary Epson All-in-one System
Interface (EASI), are also in development.

The development of other Cardio motherboards based on other
microprocessors leads to Epson's biggest selling point -- easy
upgradability. Because all main motherboard components are
housed in a single card, systems incorporating this technology
can be easily and quickly reconfigured simply by replacing the
card. Epson also claims the Cardio saves product development
time and resources because the packaged design allows OEM
system manufacturers and vendors to concentrate on the
development of system I/O ports and dedicated circuits.

The Cardio will be available in full production quantities
beginning in October, Epson added.

S-MOS Systems Inc. designs, develops and markets custom and
semicustom ICs and board-level products, and a variety of
standard ICs for low-power applications in desktop and smaller
computing systems. The company also provides contract
manufacturing services through corporate affiliate, Seiko
Epson.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930727/Press Contact: Dan Beck, S-MOS
Systems, tel [phone]; Kathleen Buczko, Manning, Selvage &
Lee, tel [phone])


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

Computer Sciences Reports Revenue Up, EPA Ban Lifted 07/27/93
EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Known for
its large government contracts and last year's allegedly over-
billing of the Environmental Protection Agency reported first
quarter earnings up 13 percent over the same quarter last year.
The company reported earnings of $18.2 million, or $1.07 per
share, before the effect of an accounting
change, in its fiscal first quarter, up from last year's $16.1
million, or 96 cents per share, on a greater number of shares
outstanding.

The company lost the remaining two years of an EPA contract for
which it was accused over over-billing about $13 million in
1992. The EPA announced last summer it decided not to exercise
the final two years of the $347 million, five-year contract due
to a Congressional investigation. Representative John D. Dingall (D-
MI), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on
Oversight, was quoted as saying that he had never before seen
such dominance of an agency by a contractor.

CSC reported its revenues rose slightly, from $605.1 million to
$608.1 million and said the rise was due to solid growth in the
commercial sector, partially offset by a modest decline in
federal revenue. William Hoover, CSC's chairman and chief
executive officer said CSC reached settlements on July 16 with
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Civil Division of
the Department of Justice concerning a contract with the EPA.
The settlements include payments totaling $2.1 million and the
lifting by the agency of a temporary suspension it had imposed
on June 21 prohibiting a CSC business unit from bidding on new
federal contracts. The payments were $1 million to the EPA and
$1.2 million to the Civil Division of the Justice Department
for alleged misstatements made during the bidding process, CSC
representatives said.

Hoover said CSC's federal revenue is expected to resume growth
in the second half of the year. CSC has already announced it
will negotiate a seven-year software development contract worth
about $16.8 million with NASA to design, develop and install
software for NASA's Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility at the
Huntsville, Alabama Marshall Space Flight Center.

Headquartered in El Segundo, California, CSC describes itself
as a $2.5 billion company with revenues divided equally between
federal and commercial markets, and 26,000 employees in 300
office locations, principally in the United States and Europe.
The company says it offers information technology services,
including business reengineering and management consulting,
systems development and integration, and systems operations and
outsourcing.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930727/Press Contact: Bill Lackey, Computer
Sciences, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(MSP)(00031)

Computer Associates Extends Free Software Giveaway 07/27/93
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 27 (NB) -- Computer
Associates has reached its goal of a giveaway of one million
free copies of Kiplinger's CA-Simply Money and since response
is still overwhelming, will give away more for the next 100
days, the company reports.

The announcement on June 8 that CA would give away one million
copies of the program prompted hundreds of thousands of calls,
the company's chairman, Charles Wang, says. "We've heard from
so many people who thought the giveaway ended long ago that we
felt it only fair to keep the phone lines open a while longer."

Through November 4, CA will keep open its 1-800-FREE MONEY
line 24-hours-a-day to accept calls. Callers need to pay a
$6.95 shipping and handling charge.

Designed for computers equipped with Microsoft Windows 3.1,
Kiplinger's CA-Simply Money offers financial management and assists
with mortgages and refinancing of investments, household help and
payroll, college tuition, retirement, taxes, and debt. Also,
Kiplinger Financial Advisor is built-in. The program also offers
the ability to print personalized checks, record electronic
payments, update stock portfolios by modem, and track
investments and the value of home improvements.

(Wendy Woods/19930727/Press Contact: Bob Gordon, 516-342-2391)