Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1983 May to 1994 June

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[***][3/31/87][***] 12TH WEST COAST COMPUTER FAIRE SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- This year's Faire has attracted huge crowds and hundreds of exhibitors, many of whom are small, start up companies in keeping with the flavor of the past. But unlike last year's Faire, this one is definitely a PC show, few exhibitors showing any products for the Apple or Macintosh, and Apple has chosen not to exhibit at all this year. In fact, there are few product introductions, many more of the booths devoted to retailing with numerous "faire specials" on announced products. We'll be returning to the Faire Sunday and will file a longer update by Monday morning. [***][3/31/87][***] ENGLISH-GERMAN/ENGLISH-SPANISH TRANSLATOR SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- A very interesting new software product for the PC comes from tiny International Computer Products of Los Angeles. The software company's six products will translate English to German or English to Spanish, spanning three levels of difficulty . We saw a demonstration of "Learn German" and were very impressed. The program translates, conjugates, places sentences in the correct grammatical order, and assigns correct gender. The translation of a sentence on a PC clone with 256K took just five seconds. We think this is a good product for anyone in need of corresponding with our German or Spanish friends. The products range from $70 to $170. CONTACT: Axel Beyreuther, president, INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER PRODUCTS, Los Angeles 213/462-8381 [***][3/31/87][***] A VISIT TO THE FUTURE STANFORD, Ca. (NB) - While the Faire's keynote speakers, took a nostalgic approach and reflected on the past ("We had a mission. Our motive was not to start a company, it was to make the world progress," said Steve Wozniak), 25 miles south, the future -and real progress - was in the minds of conferees at a VSLI (very large scale integrated circuits) conference at Stanford University. Some 300 experts in this field gathered to hear about more than 200 projects under development. They range from advances in supercomputing to flat panel television sets. The VSLI chips, for instance, will enable a supercomputer to fit inside a desktop machine, and the price tag of such a machine, able to carry out 100 million instructions per second, could come down to $100,000, compared to the current $20 million, according to conference chairman Paul Losleben. Other speakers discussed technology which will enable doctors to view 3-D displays of human organs, and flat panel television, only a few inches thick, which can be hung on a wall. GE predicts such technology will reach the market within five years. [***][3/31/87][***] SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS AWARDS OAKLAND, Ca. (NB) -- The scenic Claremont Hotel in the Oakland Hills was the setting for the Software Publishers Association's annual awards ceremony (3/26). Hundreds of products compete for the coveted 22 awards each year, and among the winners: - BEST SOFTWARE PROGRAM: Microsoft Works - BEST ENTERTAINMENT: ChessMaster 2000 from Software Toolworks - BEST CREATIVITY: ToyShop by Broderbund and Active Arts - BEST GRAPHICS: Airheart by Broderbund PCW Communications' David Bunnell also announced the winner of the first annual Andrew Fluegelman Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement by an individual in public domain or shareware software. The winner was Tom Jennings, creator of FidoNet, a BBS program in use by at least 1300 boards worldwide. Created in 1984, FidoNet serves an estimated 125,000 users every night, according to PCW's Shirley Gines. Tom Jennings, who dropped out of the PC business last year to pursue his favorite pastime - skateboarding - now runs a cooperative for skateboarders in the "South of Market" area of San Francisco. Jennings thanked the hundreds of people who have made improvements to FidoNet over the years. A man who now sports a bright orange crew cut and earrings, Jennings did don a tuxedo for the occasion. He wins $5,000 for his distinction. [***][3/31/87][***] COMPUTERLAND RIDES THE WAVE HAYWARD, Ca. (NB) -- ComputerLand, having just emerged from its strongest quarter in years, is bullish about the industry, and says that despite a slowdown for many retailers, it hasn't seen any slackening of demand for PCs pending IBM's April 2nd announcement of new products. Lest we forget, ComputerLand is also a multi-media publisher. COMPUTERLAND magazine has hit a monthly circulation of 400,000, and CL-TV, its weekly satellite program produced at KCSM-TV in San Mateo, is beamed out to over 150 stores nationwide, including 19 new sites - half of its owned - not franchised - stores. It is the only live broadcast to retailers in the computer industry. There is no new development concerning a report last week that a sale of William Millard's major shares of ComputerLand are about to be sold. Spokeswoman Diane Douglas said, "We're in the same place we have been (concerning negotiations with unnamed parties). Other than that, I have no comment." Meanwhile some 500 ComputerLand retailers are heading for Florida this week. IBM will put them all up in a Miami hotel, free of charge, for the gala product introductions April 2. The event will include a tour of IBM's Boca Raton facilities. [***][3/31/87][***] MYSTERY ONLINE SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. (NB) -- A research firm here is doing a major market study to see if the world needs another online computer service. They've been hired by a "big player" (that's all I could get) to send out questionairres to hundreds of personal computer owners. The package contains slick brochures offering home bill paying, travel services, shopping, investment tracking, and games, a free start-up kit and a toll-free help number. Called EXPRESS, the service lists the New York address of 4400 Sixth Avenue, NYC. But such a business does not exist there, according to the operator. Any of you know who this could be? [***][3/31/87][***] PACIFIC BELL'S PROJECT VICTORIA CONTINUES LOS ANGELES, Ca. (NB) -- The second field trial of Project Victoria, technology which allows a single phone line to carry seven simultaneous voice and data channels, has been scheduled for South Central Los Angeles this fall. The second field test requires permission from the FCC and the California Public Utilities Commission, but it would involve 1,750 people and may last as long as a year. Pacific Bell's Michael Eastman, head of the phone company's new network applications division, says, optimistically speaking, the service could be offered commercially as early as next year. The big problem is not the technology, but the interest. Will people pay to have the equivalent of a trunk line installed in their homes if it gives them several outgoing phone lines, incoming data channels, and services such as fire alarms, home meter reading, home banking, etc.? CONTACT: Scott Smith, PACIFIC BELL, 415/542-0597 [***][3/31/87][***] BRIEFS -- - NEC's General Manager for memory products, John Marck, says that in the wake of President Reagan's harsh penalty imposed against Japanese electronics imports, Japan may retaliate by not only making still-cheap chips more expensive, but by cutting back on their shipments to the U.S. Among those expected to suffer from such a move will be our own IBM and Apple Computer which utilize some Japanese DRAMS in their computers. - MONOLITHIC MEMORIES of Santa Clara says it "miscalculated" the market for custom gate arrays and will quit producing them just five months after announcing its intention to do so. - TANDON CORPORATION claims a Dow Jones New Service story which said Sears would drop its product line is untrue. "The most recent shipment was made in the last few days," says Tandon's Chairman. - HEWLETT PACKARD is starting shipments of its RISC-based HP 3000 Series 930 business computers. The initial delay was attributed to software problems. - ASHTON-TATE of Torrance, Ca. has been hit by a suit from a programmer who developed some of the dBase technology. Gary Balleisen of Pacific Grove says he has rights to sell Shrink, which uses some of the dBase technology, based on an agreement with Ashton-Tate which required the firm to market the product within a specified amount of time. He's started selling it, but Ashton-Tate has reportedly stopped him. Ashton-Tate has not made a public comment. - IOMEGA has signed with LEADING EDGE to supply its removable- cartridge Beta-20 disk drives with the computer company's hardware. No terms of the arrangement have been disclosed, but the agreement reportedly spans four years. - 3COM of Santa Clara is about to introduce a "diskless PC" 80286-based workstation for networking environments, according to BIX. The online daily says the new workstation will be called the 3Station and will sell for $1895. - MANZANA MICROSYSTEMS of Goleta, Ca. is preparing to launch 3.5" floppy drives for 386 and 286 computers that it promises will be compatible with IBM's coming offerings. The drives store up to 1.44 megabytes on a single diskette. - PCW COMMUNICATIONS will announced its new Macintosh weekly -this - week, on April 2. Sorry for the error last week. [***][3/31/87][***] SOURCE STILL NUMBER ONE -- WHERE IT COUNTS NORWALK, CT (NB) -- "Electronic Mail & Micro Systems," a newsletter owned by International Resources Development, in Norwalk, CT, released its annual survey of where various electronic services stack up. The big surprise -- MCI Mail trails both Western Union Easylink and US Sprint Telemail in both number of mailboxes and number of messages per month. EMMS said there are now over 750,000 electronic mailboxes used for business, sending less than 19 messages each month. On the consumer side, CompuServe leads in mailboxes, but in the all-important messages per month category, The Source still leads. According to EMMS, there is no real #3, with traffic volumes at other networks barely 1/10th the size of the two leaders. (NEWSBYTES EAST last week reported The Source may be up for sale. The EMMS numbers are a starting point for what it may be worth.) Consumer-Oriented Electronic Mail Networks ------------------------------------------ The Source 65,000 mailboxes 1.4 million messages/month CompuServe EasyPlex 300,000 1.1 million GEnie 40,000 150,000 Delphi 35,000 140,000 American People/Link 65,000 130,000 BIX 13,000 30,000 others 15,000 90,000 [***][3/31/87][***] UNISYS' FIRST PRODUCTS INCLUDE INTEL 80386-BASED DETROIT, MI (NB) -- Unisys Corp. made its first product announcements since the Burroughs-Sperry merger last week. Six products were featured, including a workstation based on the Intel 80386 chip, and two mainframe computers with 4 times the power of existing models. The workstation runs BTOS, a proprietary operating system originally developed by Burroughs, although they include a cluster system to let them coexist in networks with IBM PC compatibles. The new mainframes run Unix 5.2 from AT&T, and upgrade Burroughs' old V series. The Burroughs XE 550 series and Sperry 5000 and 7000 model lines were merged under numbers derived from the Sperry line. Finally, the company announced two new software products for the mainframes. They are a security system called InfoGuard and an executive database manager called InfoExec. CONTACT: Jim Kenyon, UNISYS (313)972-9515 [***][3/31/87][***] HIGH-TECH MERGER & ACQUISITION MARKET HEATING UP NASHVILLE, TN (NB) -- Comdata Network Inc., a computer services firm specializing in moving money around for trucking companies, check writers and MCI users, among others, last week took a $16.50 per share cash offer ($314 million) for 60% of its stock from Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe, a New York venture capital firm. Comdata rejected an $18 cash-and-stock offer from First Financial Management Corp., Atlanta, another computer services outfit. Comdata had signed an intent-to-merge agreement, at $15/share, with the New Yorkers March 5. Meanwhile, a Creskill, New Jersey securities partnership, Alpine Associates, told the SEC it now holds 7.5% of Intelligent Systems MLP, owner of Quadram, Peachtree Software, and Princeton Graphics Systems. Alpine said it paid $1.3 million for 159,700 IS MLP units since mid-January, (a little over $8/share) but gave no reason for the purchase. [***][3/31/87][***] WHERE ARE THEY NOW: LANIER BUSINESS PRODUCTS MELBOURNE, FL (NB) -- Lanier Business Products, born as a spin- out from a textile maker (Oxford), sold at the peak of the micro (October, 1983) boom to a mini computer maker (Harris), turned out to be just one great sales organization. Most of the pieces (dictation equipment, PCs, etc.) were absorbed into Harris, but a joint-venture with 3M to sell copier supplies has turned into a gold mine under former Lanier chairman Gene Milner with sales of over $400 million and 4,000 employees. Gene, now 62, is retiring, and his successor was been named. It's Wes Cantrell, 52, formerly president of Lanier. (Lesson: we usually get what we most want, and in the computer business what we most want isn't technology, but sales. On those terms, Gene and Wes are our men-of-the-year.) CONTACT: Jim Murphy, HARRIS CORP., (305)727-9126 [***][3/31/87][***] PECAN CHIPS BELLSOUTH SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, Atlanta, gave commemorative handsets to the media at the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans. BST, a subsidiary of RBOC BellSouth Corp., runs convention center phone systems, and contracted for phone rights to the SuperDome event. THE PERISCOPE CO. INC., Atlanta, released version 3.0 of its Periscope debugger. Its accompanying RAM board now takes just a half-slot in the IBM PC XT. TANDY, Ft. Worth, loosened controls on its VARs a bit, dropping annual purchase commitments as of April 1, and adding discounts for cash orders. ZYLAB CORP., Chicago, released version 2.2 of its ZyIndex, claiming the new version is 5-10 times faster at finding strings in files than before. SAMNA CORP., Atlanta, announced its Word IV was approved by the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Advisory Council, the first word processor given the designation. QUADRAM, Norcross, announced it's giving away merchandise and coupons worth up to $1,074 with its QuadEGA ProSync graphics board. Free mice, plus discount coupons Windows, GEM and GEM Graph are included. INFORUM, Atlanta, has begun offering buying seminars on technology for the 250,000 gift, furniture, and clothes buyers who frequent the Atlanta Market Center. The John Portman designed, developed, and owned market also sent out a neat, new artists' rendering of the 1.5 million square foot building, with a sky walk to the Atlanta Apparel Mart and other Portman attractions. Sorry, no ground breaking: the site is still empty. (Maybe if God threatened to take . Portman home unless we leased another 60,000 square feet....naaah, that's been done to death.) [***][3/31/87][***] GAG DISK CALLED DRAIN A disk that defies description, but which calls itself Drain, arrived here at NEWSBYTES SOUTH last week. Shove it in drive A, type that word at an A> prompt, and you get the messages "Water detected in Drive A; standby while water is drained; spin dry cycle starting, and system OK now...you may proceed. All this happens with appropriate dishwasher-like sound effects. [***][3/31/87][***] MICROSOFT ASKS COLLEGES TO HELP PREVENT PIRACY MONTREAL (NB) -- Microsoft Canada Inc. has been sending out letters to colleges in the Province of Quebec, asking them to help prevent software piracy. The letters ask that the institutions inspect their computing facilities and look for illegal copies of software. Microsoft already offers the colleges an educational licensing agreement under which they buy the first copy of a package at a little less than the regular price and pay only 10 percent of the full price for each additional copy. Microsoft Canada spokeswoman Louise Aubertin was quoted recently in the industry newspaper COMPUTING CANADA as saying no lawsuits against educational institutions are planned, but the letters are intended to remind the colleges that Microsoft doesn't want them copying its software. [***][3/31/87][***] INTERNATIONAL SERVICE BUREAU, DATABASE PROVIDER SELLING OUT TORONTO (NB) -- I.P. Sharp Associates Inc., a Toronto-based computer service bureau with branches around the world, is to be sold to Reuters Holdings PLC of London, England. Reuters announced last Wednesday that it has reached an agreement in principle to buy I.P. Sharp for C$62.4 million, provided Canadian regulatory bodies approve the deal. I.P. Sharp provides a wide variety of computerized databases of international stock data, news, energy and aviation information. Ian Sharp, who founded the company with seven partners in 1964, will continue as chairman, and the company senior management team will also remain. I.P. Sharp Associates reported a loss of C$1.6 million last year on C$55 million in revenues, compared with a C$1.9-million profit in 1985. [***][3/31/87][***] FIRMS FORM AI RESEARCH CONSORTIUM KINGSTON, Ont. -- A national research effort on artificial intelligence and robotics will manage private sector and government research projects and distribute information to the 22 companies banding together to set it up. Intelligent Systems Inc., announced last week by Gordon MacNabb, associate to the principal at Queen's University here and a former president of the federal government's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, will get C$25,000 in start up money from each of the 22 founding companies. The backers include steel manufacturer Stelco Inc.; Spar Aerospace (developer of the Canadarm remote manipulator used on the Space Shuttle); Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.; Alcan Aluminium Ltd.; and the provincial electrical utility Ontario Hydro. The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, which coordinates basic research projects in a number of areas including AI, is also a partner. [***][3/31/87][***] LASER TECHNOLOGY USED IN ELECTRONIC COURIER SERVICE TORONTO (NB) -- CNCP Telecommunications and Purolator Courier Ltd. have launched Lasercourier, which will transmit messages through CNCP's data communications network and print them on laser printers for delivery by the courier company. The service is promising delivery to all major urban centres within 90 minutes, with same-day and overnight services also available. Purolator has been particularly active in adding services based on new technologies. It also operates Purofax, a facsimile- courier service similar to Federal Express's discontinued Zapmail. [***][3/31/87][***] GOVERNMENT OUTLINES HIGH-TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY OTTAWA (NB) -- Frank Oberle, Canadian Minister of Science and Technology, outlined last week what the government plans to do about making Canada more competitive in high technology. The InnovActions strategy, which Oberle discussed at a conference on research and development sponsored by THE FINANCIAL POST, is still vague but focuses on five areas: -- improving transfer and application of new technologies and encouraging cooperation between government, industry and universities; -- focusing on strategic technologies where Canada could become a world leader; -- better managing federal spending on R&D; -- providing better retraining and ensuring that an adequate supply of scientists and engineers come out of the educational system; and -- fostering a "science culture" in Canada through public education. At the same conference, T.S. Allan, president of Control Data Canada Ltd., complained that research and development in Canada lacks strategic direction. [***][3/31/87][***] TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER COULD GO ON BLOCK OTTAWA (NB) -- Part of CNCP Telecommunications, the major competitor to the telephone companies for data communications in Canada, might be sold. The company is jointly owned by Canadian National, the government-owned railway, and Canadian Pacific, a privately owned railway. Barbara McDougall, the federal minister responsible for selling government-owned corporations to the private sector, has named Canadian National's share of CNCP as one of the candidates to be sold off. It would be the second telecommunications company sold by the current government, which got C$608 million for the satellite communications carrier Teleglobe Canada in February. [***][3/31/87][***] FINANCIAL BITS -- Logibec Groupe Informatique Ltee, a Montreal software developer, has agreed to buy 27 percent of Groupe Visiontronique Inc., another Montreal software vendor. The two companies will continue to operate independently, according to management. -- Kinburn Technology Corp. of Ottawa has filed a proposal to offer US$100 million worth of exchangeable debentures in the U.S. The debentures will be exchangeable for common shares of SHL Systemhouse Ltd., the software house 31.6 percent owned by Kinburn. [***][3/31/87][***] BITS, EH? -- Apollo Computer (Canada) Ltd. will install about 75 Domain workstations in three military colleges operated by the Canadian Armed Forces. Students will use them to learn about computer- aided design, engineering, artificial intelligence and computer graphics. -- International Verifact Inc. of Toronto is the exclusive supplier of credit card verification terminals for a credit card venture by Union National Bank of Little Rock, Ark., and the American Society of Travel Agents. -- Nelma Information Inc. of Mississauga, Ont., has installed its president, Ron Wilson, as president, chairman and CEO of recently acquired subsidiary Browning Communications Inc., also of Mississauga, which manufactures wireless telephone equipment. [***][3/31/87][***] JAPANESE CHIP DUMPING DISPUTE: WERE THERE TRAPS? TOKYO (NB) -- The ASAHI Daily has reported a detailed account of the incident which a U.S. firm cites as evidence for tough sanctions against Japan - but which from _here_ is suspected of being a classic "frame" job. According to the report, Oki Electronics' Hong Kong office received a phone call from a Miss Tong of "Mag Corporation" (Hong Kong) on 3/17 requesting Oki to sell her 5,000 sets of 256K dynamic RAM at US$2.00 per piece. Oki's reply was, "We cannot sell them under US$2.30." But later, the employee agreed to sell her some old and slow-type 256K DRAMs, which have been in stock since last August, at US$2.00. On the following day (3/18), an unknown couple visited Oki-Hong Kong to ask for 5,000 sets of DRAM. They asked for another 5- cent discount to buy the chip at US$1.95 a piece. Industry sources say it is very unusual for chip buyers to visit offices to purchase chips. It is also unusual for them to buy chips in cash. Coincidently enough, President Juan Benitez of Micron Technology (Idaho, USA) told the press on 3/18 that the company had obtained a sales invoice from the Hong Kong office of Oki Electronics, dated March 18, for a shipment of 5,000 256K-DRAM chips at below fair- market value. Oki-Hong Kong's employee immediately tried to call "Mag Corp." in order to purchase back those chips but there was no answer, says a report. This has prompted speculation that Mag Corp. may be a ghost company which was temporarily created by third party. The "Wall Street Journal" says the U.S. Commerce Department has directed Micron Technology to reveal this invoice. Meanwhile, The NIKKEI Daily says one of Hitachi's former dealers Rocken Industrial Corp. (Hong Kong) also received similar phone call on 3/18 from Mag Corp., requesting Hitachi's 256K DRAMs at under US$1.70 a piece. Rocken's salesman reportedly replied, "Hitachi's chips cannot be obtained at such a low price. But if you insist, we'll get them for you through some other sources (gray market)." And Rocken sold those chips to Mag Corp. on 3/19. In Tokyo, Hitachi's spokesman met the press on 3/26 and said the last shipment of 256K-DRAMs was made to Rocken in July 1986. Hitachi contends Rocken sold all of them by the end of that month. Since then, Hitachi has not sold any chips to Rocken, says the spokesman. Coincidently enough again, Micron Technology has revealed a photocopy of Rocken's March 18 invoice for the sales of 4,000 256K-DRAMs at US$1.89 per piece, just after the deal. MITI's (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) minister Hajime Tamura has strongly admonished Oki for the incident. But later, Tamura was furious with the U.S. for the alleged sting operation by the U.S. Commerce Deptartment and Micron Technology. A MITI official has commented in a newspaper that MITI is ready to take retaliatory action against the U.S. if MITI confirms the U.S. government has actually used these invoices as the evidential materials for proving Japanese chip dumping. Regarding the U.S. decision (3/27) to give 100% duties to Japanese electronics products, MITI's Tamura has expressed a strong regret. He has suggested the ministry is seriously thinking of filing a complaint against the U.S. for violating the 1974 Trade Law 301 at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). However, he will continue talking with the U.S. government until very last moment, Tamura said. [***][3/31/87][***] HONG KONG ATTACKS JAPAN, WHILE JAPAN ATTACKS U.S. ON CHIP ISSUE TOKYO (NB) -- MITI says it has done its best to abide by last year's Japan-U.S. semiconductor pact. Especially regarding on the U.S. claim against Japan to stop dumping in third countries, MITI said Japan has made the best effort that can be made in this free democratic society. MITI now worries that further actions may infringe the sovereignty of those countries. In fact, the Hong Kong Industry Society has denounced Japanese monitoring of the chip prices in Hong Kong. The Society is reportedly thinking of accusing Japan of stepping onto the GATT agreement if Japan continues the strict chip-price monitoring. Currently, Hong Kong's semiconductor industry has been depending on Japanese chips by almost 80 percent. Due to MITI's chip-price monitoring, it is becoming hard for them to obtain Japanese DRAMs in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, MITI's Tamura has blamed the U.S. and South Korean chip makers for dumping chips below fair prices in third countries. In a recent letter to the U.S. officials, he has proposed a Japan-U.S. joint investigation to find out the facts whether Japanese makers are really dumping chips in third countries. [***][3/31/87][***] JAPANESE MINISTRY ACCUSES U.S. LOBBYISTS FOR ALLEGED REMARKS TOKYO (NB) -- MITI's Minister Tamura said the Japanese government has filed a verbal complaint with the Reagan administration over a U.S. newspaper report on the controversial remark allegedly made by a high-ranking Japanese official. The "Washington Post" reported this past week that MITI's Vice Minister Makoto Kuroda had told U.S. trade officials that it was a waste of time for the U.S. to seek to sell supercomputers in Japan, regardless of price and quality. Kuroda flatly denied this remark immediately. A report says the Japanese Foreign Ministry has strongly come out against such sentiment and that such remarks could only result in further anti-Japanese sentiment in the U.S. [***][3/31/87][***] DEC SETS UP NEW R & D CENTER IN JAPAN TOKYO (NB) -- Japan Digital Equipment Corp. (Japan DEC) has purchased approximately 10,000 square. meters of land in Yokohama. This land will be used for building DEC's new Research & Develop- ment Center, which will be completed around early 1989. Meanwhile, Japan DEC has been preparing to assemble the VAX series in its Chiba factory this July, and supply them to the company's overseas branches. These DEC's policies may not be the best ones regarding the surging Japanese yen and retaliatory import duties in the U.S. market. However, apparently DEC wants to do it since the company thinks there are lots of advantages, such as getting the most competitive parts for the company's computers in Japan. The recent visit of DEC's (U.S.A.) president here for the first time in almost 21 years hints that DEC has been thinking Japan as the world's most important strategic base. Interestingly enough, it is said he has long been a nationalist who hates Japan. Perhaps he has overcome nationalism, just as lots of successful multinational firms have, including IBM. CONTACT: Japan Digital Equipment Corp., 35F Sunshine 60, 3-1-1 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170 [***][3/31/87][***] TRON PROTOTYPE-PC DEBUTS OSAKA (NB) -- Matsushita Electronics announced (3/20) it has developed a prototype personal computer based on Japan's 32-bit future operating system TRON. Matsushita's B-TRON personal computer (a 16-bit model) has an 80286 microprocessing unit, a 2 megabyte memory, a 3.5-inch disk drive, and a 20 megabyte hard disk. It has a half-moon shaped TRON keyboard. The 32-bit model of this B-TRON computer will also be developed within a year, says Matsushita's spokesman. Further details have not been reported yet. CONTACT: Matsushita Electronics, 1006 Oaza-Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka-fu 571, Japan [***][3/31/87][***] VERSATILE 32-BIT REAL-TIME OPERATING SYSTEM TOKYO (NB) -- NEC has developed a real-time operating system for its original 32-bit microprocessing unit V60. The I-TRON-based RX616 supports UNIX programming environment, and its system files are upper-compatible with UNIX files. With Ada's rendezvous feature, the RX616 provides multitasking capability. And NEC plans to market C compiler for the RX616 later. To start, NEC aims to sell this operating system for various industrial systems, such as robots, PBX, and measurement systems in June. Analysts are closely watching whether the RX616 replaces UNIX in the future. CONTACT: NEC, 1-4-28 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108 (Phone: 03-451-2974 . Takahashi) [***][3/31/87][***] <<< SUSHI BYTES >>> KANJI TELECOM SOFTWARE FOR MAC -- Ergo Soft (Tokyo) has developed Japanese telecommunication software for Kanji-Talk, which is a Japanese version of Plus. "Easy-Talk" will be sold at US$255 around the end of May. ZILOG'S CHIP DESIGN CENTER -- Zilog (Campbell, Ca.) met the press in Tokyo on 3/20, and said the company will set up its chip design center in Japan this October. Zilog has already installed a host computer for chip designing in its California office, and started training Japanese designers, says a report. TOSHIBA'S DESIGN CENTER IN HONG KONG -- Toshiba will open its LSI design center in Hong Kong on April 1. It's the company's seventh design center outside Japan. NTT TO BUY CRAY COMPUTER -- In consideration to reduce Japan-U.S. trade deficit, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (NTT) has decided to purchase Cray's supercomputer Cray 2. The Cray 2 will be installed in its telecom laboratory in Tokyo. It's the third Cray computer for NTT. ==== [***][3/31/87][***] WHITE HOUSE LOWERS THE BOOM ON JAPAN WASHINGTON (NB) -- President Reagan decided last week to impose 100 percent tariffs on a broad range of electronic consumer goods from Japan that contain semiconductors. The move, recommended by a Cabinet-level group, came in retaliation for Japan's alleged failure to live up to last July's semiconductor anti-dumping agreement. Among the likely targets for the new tariffs are Japanese-made personal computers, computer disk and tape drives and laser printers. The Commerce Department will actually impose the new tariffs in two weeks, after receiving comments from the public and consulting with the Japanese government. "Regrettably, Japan has not enforced major provisions of the agreement aimed at preventing dumping of semiconductor chips in third-country markets and improving U.S. producers' access to to the Japanese market," Reagan said in a statement. The economic sanctions came just hours after Reagan announced that Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone would visit Washington April 30. The action would put a 100 percent tariff on Japanese goods valued at up to $300 million. This was calculated to be the amount lost by U.S. semiconductor producers, many of whom have been driven out of business by Japanese dumping of dynamic RAM chips, the White House said. Fueling the anti-Japanese fires was a report in the WASHINGTON POST just before the Cabinet council meeting that an important Japanese official told visiting Americans last month that U.S. firms would never be able to penetrate the Japanese supercomputer market. Makato Kurodo, vice minister of trade and industry, reportedly told the Americans that "it was a waste of time for the United States to try to sell supercomputers to Japanese government agencies or universities, no matter how superior they were in price or quality." The Semiconductor Industry Association praised the White House action. The chip makers' trade group has been complaining about Japanese enforcement of the chip deal for months. SIA president Andrew Procassini said the Reagan move should "provide reasonable incentives for the Japanese government and industry to comply with the agreement." The U.S. Electronic Industry Association, trade group for the electronic equipment makers, said it supports the president's action, but is "saddened that the retaliatory measures to be implemented by the administration have had to be taken." The White House action came amid a political firestorm of rage against Japan in the U.S. Congress. Both the House and Senate have passed overwhelming resolutions calling for retaliation for Japanese chip dumping. "It's about time the United States retaliated against a violation of a trade agreement," said Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), a major figure in trade legislation. Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.), a Japanese-American who was the author of the House resolution calling for retaliation, said Reagan's action was a "strong signal to the Japanese that they can't go around violating agreements and getting away with it." Japanese officials are expected to meet with U.S. trade officials during the next two weeks, trying to head off implementation of last week's decision. If the U.S. actually implements the Reagan policy, and that is by no means certain, they would represent the most sweeping sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Japan since the end of World War II. Japan may also complain to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in Geneva, which provides a forum for settling international trade disputes. [***][3/31/87][***] COMMODORE AND ATARI SETTLE SUIT NEW YORK (NB) -- Long-running litigation between Commodore International Ltd. and Atari Corp. has been "settled and discontinued on terms satisfactory to both sides," according to a Commodore spokesman. The companies have been locked in litigation since Commodore ousted founder Jack Tramiel in 1984 and Tramiel turned around and acquired Atari from Warner Communciations. Atari then filed a lawsuit against Amiga, Inc., a tiny Silicon Valley firm that Commodore acquired later that year. Atari wanted $150 million in damages for alleged breach of contract. The settlement also ends another suit filed by Atari, charging the Commodore Amiga violates Atari patents. No terms of the settlement were revealed. In other news from Commodore, the company has inked two more agreements licensing Amiga technology for coin-operated applications. Commodore has reached agreements with Mastertronic Ltd. of London and Grand Products of Elk Grove, Ill., for Amiga graphics hardware and software. Mastertronic's California subsidiary, Arcadia Systems Inc., will market the Amiga-based video games in the U.S. Commodore recently announced a similar agreement with Bally Manufacturing Corp. [***][3/31/87][***] AP ANNOUNCES MAC-BASED GRAPHICS SERVICE NEW YORK (NB) -- The Associated Press last week unveiled a new service designed to deliver original art to AP members with Apple computers. The service is open to any AP LaserPhoto member with a Mac and a modem, and $150 for the sign up fee. The new service is called AP Access. AP artists will create the graphics on a Mac, then transmit them to a host computer in State College, Pa., site of AP's weather map provide, Accu-Weather. The AP Access member dials up Accu-Weather to select a graphic from a menu. Downloading the digitized graphic takes one to three minutes, the wire service said. Once the member has the graphic, it can be changed to alter type styles, provide localized information, or accommodate local style preferences, according to AP graphics director Don DeMaio. [***][3/31/87][***] FCC WRAPS UP COMPUTER INQUIRY WASHINGTON (NB) -- The Federal Communications Commission last week completed writing rules, known as the computer inquiry, to permit AT&T and the seven Bell operating companies to offer information services. The agency has been working on the rules since 1985, attempting to unshackle the telephone companies so they can offer new services, while also assuring that conventional telephone users aren't subsidizing the new services. The new rules will allow AT&T and the Baby Bells to offer such services as burglar and fire alarm monitoring and message storage, or voice mail. The FCC has also agreed to leave protocol conversions services unregulated. "The incentives for innovation are in place," said FCC chairman Mark Fowler. "The safeguards to keep the competition fair are in place. We have set the stage to let the information age begin." [***][3/31/87][***] GOLD HILL ANNOUNCES SERVICE FOR AI DEVELOPERS CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (NB) -- Gold Hill Computers has announced a technical and marketing support plan for independent software vendors who are using Gold Hill's artificial intelligence software to develop new PC products. Marketing support includes access to the Gold Hill customer base, application portfolios, and the like. The vendors will also get priority technical support, access to pre-released Gold Hill products, and free minor software releases. To qualify, the independent vendors pay a support fee and commit themselves to buy a minimum quantity of Gold Hill products semiannually. "Our goal is to help [independent vendors] create a new generation of products based on AI technology," said Carl Wolf, Gold Hill president. CONTACT: Gold Hill Computers, 163 Harvard Street, Cambridge, Ma, 02139, 617-492-2071. [***][3/31/87][***] SONY PLANS TO SHIP ERASABLE OPTICAL SCSI DISK SYSTEM NEW YORK (NB) -- Sony Corp. will begin sample shipments of erasable magneto-optical disks this fall. Sony says the disks, which will start shipping in October, will store 325 megabytes of data on each side for a total of 650 megabytes. The drives will have an SCSI interface. The sample drives will be priced at one million yen, with sample media priced at 30,000 yen. The disks feature structured recording layers using a polycarbonate base, high power lasers and miniaturization of the optical block. According to Sony, the disks will be formatted with 1024 byte sectors. The disks will rotate at 1,800 rpm, with a transfer rate of one megabyte per second and a data rate of 510 kilobytes per second. The drives will be 6 1/2 inches wide by 3 3/4 high by 9 inches deep. CONTACT: Sony Corp. of America, 9 West 57th St., New York, N.Y., 212-418-9470. [***][3/31/87][***] READY SET GO FOR PAGEMAKER SWAP OFFER EXTENDED PARAMUS, N.J. (NB) -- Letraset is extending its trade-in promotion until April 30. Under the deal, any Pagemaker owner can exchange the front cover of the manual plus $99 for a version of Ready Set Go 3, which normally retails for $395. The offer was originally scheduled to run through March 22. Contact: LETRASET 201/845-6100 [***][3/31/87][***] NOVELL, MICROSOFT STOCK SOARS ON BIG BLUE EXPECTATIONS NEW YORK (NB) -- Shares of Novell Inc. and Microsoft Corp. were rising last week in anticipation of International Business Machines's expected new computers. Novell stock picked up more than six points on heavy volume while Microsoft reached a new high of 93 3/4 briefly last Thursday. Both firms are expected to gain when IBM announces its new line of personal computers later this week. Analysts expect that Novell's Netware networking software will be included in the IBM announcement, as will new operating system software from Microsoft. Microsoft will also benefit from the use of its Windows as the graphic interface for the new PCs. Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund says Microsoft will be "on top of the winners list" following the IBM announcements. Other winners analysts expect from the new generation of Big Blue machines: computer chain retailers like Businessland, Inacomp and Entre, other strong IBM-oriented software firms like Lotus Development, and selected peripherals firms such as Hewlett Packard. [***][3/31/87][***] COMMODORE AMIGA 2000 SHIPPING EARLY MAIDENHEAD, BERKS (NB) -- The Commodore Amiga 2000, only unveiled in Europe at the beginning of this month, is already shipping to UK dealers, according to CBM UK MD Chris Kaday. At the press launch of the new Amiga range just a few weeks ago, Kaday had said that it would be April before any Amiga fans got their chance to buy the MS-DOS compatible 68000 machine. NEWSBYTES UK understands that a limited number of machines are already available on dealers shelves. MICRONET 800 on Prestel, the UK's viewdata network, quotes its friendly Commodore dealer as taking three machines into stock this week. Meanwhile, NEWSBYTES UK understands from an Amiga owner (who wishes to remain anonymous) that the 80286 plug-in card for the Amiga 2000 is available to order from Commodore UK. "But don't quote me," grins our source. ** Commodore US have just announced that existing owners of the A1000 series can obtain $500 discount on the A2000 machine if they hand in their A1000 system at an authorized CBM dealer. NEWSBYTES UK spoke to Paul Thompson of Harvard Marketing, PR for CBM UK as we went to press. Paul confirmed that there are no plans to introduce such a scheme to the UK at the moment, but he stressed "that it's still early days yet for this marvellous machine." CONTACT: COMMODORE (UK) LTD, Commodore House, The Switchback, Gardener Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 7XA. Tel: 0628-770088. [***][3/31/87][***] MICROSOFT MOVE IN ON FALCON LONDON, UK (NB) -- Microsoft UK has threatened to move in on dealers and distributors selling illegal copies of its MS-DOS discs under the brand name of Falcon DOS. The discs, which allegedly originate from Taiwan, are being distributed on both sides of the Atlantic. Whilst the packaging on the DOS denotes 'Falcon DOS,' once the disc is booted up, Microsoft logos start appearing all over the place. NEWSBYTES UK has seen a copy of Falcon DOS, until recently on sale at 25 pounds ($38), and notes that, packaging aside, it's a dead ringer for the the Microsoft product. One dealer, Keen computers of Slough, Berkshire, has been caught in the cross fire. Managing director Tim Keen is on record as saying that his company expected MS-DOS to be delivered, but got Falcon DOS instead. After supplying DOS to several customers, Keen was persuaded to replace the DOS packages with the Microsoft brand. Microsoft UK is pulling no punches. After confiscating 50,000 copies of the rogue DOS in the US last week, it's gunning for any UK dealer selling the product. MD David Fraser of Microsoft UK is quoted in this week's COMPUTING magazine that as soon as 'hard evidence' of a dealer selling Falcon DOS is obtained, then his company will take immediate legal action. CONTACT: MICROSOFT UK - 0734-500741. [***][3/31/87][***] MICRONET INDUSTRIAL ACTION WORSENS LONDON, UK (NB) -- Following a week of industrial action (see last week's NEWSBYTES UK for details), the industrial action by National Union of Journalist (NUJ) members on EMAP (East Midlands Allied Press) publications shows no sign of easing. Over at Micronet 800, the computing information provider to Prestel, staff are working solidly to rule. For the 20,000 plus subscribers to Micronet this means no weekend updates on the service's normally busy news pages, and a rescheduling of production dates for special features. NEWSBYTES UK understands that the action, which affects several of the UK's top computer magazines published by EMAP, will continue until the firm's management accept the new pay and conditions of service. Whilst the effect of the action is being felt immediately by Micronet subscribers, NEWSBYTES UK understands that several monthly magazines from the EMAP group will appear later, and in a slimmed-down format, for the time being. CONTACT: MICRONET 800, Durrant House, 8 Herbal Hill, London EC1R. Tel: 01-278-3143. [***][3/31/87][***] BORLAND SETS UP SHOP IN THE UK LONDON, UK (NB) -- Borland International are to set up a representative office in the UK. The California-based firm announced last week it is to appoint Tom Cahill as MD of UK operations. Cahill is no stranger to the world of computing, Until joining Borland, he was second in command for Ashton Tate's operations in the UK. Borland guru Phillipe Kahn is on record as saying "it was Tom Cahill's outstanding record in making tremendous strides in sales and operations management that convinced us... Borland now has a major player in the (UK) market at the helm." CONTACT: BORLAND INTERNATIONAL, 4585 Scotts Valley Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 95066. Tel: 800-255-8008 [***][3/31/87][***] BARGAIN COMPUTER HOLDS STATE SECRETS OXFORD, UK (UK) -- Irangate had nothing on this one. The "London Times" revealed last Sunday that an Oxford student got more than he bargained for when he bought a second-hand computer for 45 pounds ($68) at WS Surplus Supplies in his home town. Upon booting the 64K CP/M computer up, Mark Storer found an array of expensive programs available, as well as more than 1,500 files still intact on the machine's 40Mb hard disc. When he peeked at the files, Storer realized the computer's origin - The Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Malvern, Worcestershire. Aside from being a Ministry of Defence establishment, the Malvern site carries out some very hush-hush research into the kind of things we can't print. Suffice to say that the files included lists of base personnel, their job descriptions and personal history, and a full inventory with costings of the base since 1980! "They effectively let me walk inside the base, into their offices, and look through all their files," said Storer, talking to the press of his find last week. NEWSBYTES UK understands that the machine has now been returned to the MoD and that a full investigation is under way. [***][3/31/87][***] AND FINALLY... GREENOCK, SCOTLAND (NB) -- It's official. The big launch is scheduled for Thursday, April 2nd, when the PC-2 series (billed as 'a major new product') will be wheeled out to the expectant masses. Thursday? Previous launches have always stuck to Tuesday. NEWSBYTES UK hears on the grapevine that the Thursday launch has been chosen on account of the fact that most UK computer weeklies come out on or about that day. What a wicked thought - IBM foiling the weeklies ability to broadcast the hot news to the nation this week. Too bad that most of the industry cogniscenti already know about the new machines...