Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June/Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso/pc/text/mac_text/1987/nb871222.236

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[***][12/22/87][***]
MICROSOFT/BORLAND BURY HATCHET OVER EMPLOYEE
SCOTTS VALLEY, Ca. (NB) -- Microsoft and Borland have settled out
of court a trade secrets dispute over a former Microsoft employee
now working at Borland.  Rob Dickerson, the center of the controversy,  former senior product manager for language programs
at Microsoft, joined Borland as vice president of product management
last month.  Microsoft feared he would divulge trade secrets
to rival Borland International, so sued to keep him off the job.

The settlement calls for Dickerson to stay away from language
products and not to disclose any Microsoft trade secrets at Borland
for nine months.  The text of the settlement says Dickerson can
work on a project called "GOLDA," now underway at Borland.

But more significantly, the two software producers agreed not to
hire from each other's ranks for a period of six months.

[***][12/22/87][***]
GUY KAWASAKI, APPLE'S EX-SOFTWARE GURU SAYS "GO FOR THE THROAT"
RENTON, Wa. (NB) -- Guy Kawasaki didn't get the honorary title of
guru by being squeamish.  His blatant attack on IBM in an interview
in the December issue of MACINTOSH HORIZONS shows Kawasaki as
a fighter to the core.

On IBM vs. Apple:  "I think there is a three year gap (IBM is behind
Apple in the market).  Let's say they deliver Presentation Manager
next year.  It takes two more years of hard core evangelizing to
get software.  People can either buy a Macintosh today or wait
three years and buy the same thing from IBM.....I have infinite
faith in the Gassee Gang in Apple's product development world.
They will leapfrog IBM the way Evel Knievel jumps cars.  Apple
has it in the bag for the next three years.  They should go for the
throat, they should try to kill."

On whether to port 4th Dimension, the new product of his firm
Acius, to the MS-DOS world:  "Port is a four letter word....At
Acius we drink Taittinger, not port.  We are not going to defocus
ourselves with MS-DOS hallucinations.  We'll pick our battle
where we can win."

Kawasaki said recently in another interview that he was approached
by an IBM officer to port 4th Dimension to the OS/2 operating
system.  "I told him his installed base was too small," he said.

[***][12/22/87][***]
MACWORLD EXPO PREVIEW
SAN FRANCISCO (NB) -- Look for a wide variety of new products to
come out of the MacWorld Expo, slated for January 15-17 at the San
Francisco Moscone Center.  Here are a few:

CONNECT INC. will introduce MacNET, an online Macintosh network
for business and Macintosh product vendors and developers.  It
will offer electronic mail, stock quotes, and other information
services at the low price of $8/hour prime time and $4/hour
in the off-peak hours.  The service is described as a next-
generation AppleLink, Apple's current online network to its
customers.  Connect Inc., interestingly, is a start-up currently
working inside Apple Computer.  The MacNET network will run on
an IBM 4300 mainframe.

CHROMALINE, another bird under Apple's wing, is reportedly ready
to show its first offspring to selected high-level customers -- a
high-resolution, bit-mapped imaging slide recorder priced
steeply at between $5,000 and $8,000.

BARNEYSCAN CORPORATION, Berkeley, Ca., plans to demonstrate
a reverse-process slide recorder -- a configuration which makes
slides into bit-mapped computer images.  The Barneyscan is
composed of a scanner, software, and peripheral card for the
Macintosh II.  The product of the scan is said to be a 1000-line,
high resolution computer graphic image.  Price is reportedly
in the range of $8,700.

TRUEVISION Inc. of Indianapolis will unveil what's described as
television-quality video on a Macintosh II.  The firm has made a
Mac II version of its TARGA board for the PC that also has features
found in its top-of-the-line VISTA board.  The board allows a
Mac II to display up to 16 million colors.

[***][12/22/87][***]
APPLE AND HYPERCARD IN HYPERSPACE
CUPERTINO, Ca. (NB) -- Apple claims to have sold a quarter of a
million copies of HyperCard since its release this summer, and
developers are working at a frenzied pace to put hundreds of
"stacks" on the market.  Apple says there are some 300 "stacks"
now available and 200 developers are working on more applications.
The news comes as Apple prepares to release its latest quarterly
report which is expected to show record earnings and revenues.
"Sales in both our product families are exceeding our expectations
due to strong demand in all of our markets," Chairman and CEO
John Sculley reports.

[***][12/22/87][***]
COLOR WOZ INFRARED
LOS GATOS, Ca. (NB) -- When we last left Steve Wozniak, he was
ending a difficult marriage and shipping his product two-years-in-
the making, a hand-held, infrared controller called CORE.  Wozniak
has big plans for CORE and expects to sell between 150,000 and
175,000 of the units to "gadget freaks" in 1988.  But CL9, his firm,
is again into infrared research and development.  CL9 engineers are
reportedly developing infrared locks for doors and are working
with lock manufacturers to develop this product.  But wait--there's
more.  CL9 is also said to be working with another, unnamed
company on a "home of the future" project that will probably
involve a great deal of infrared-activated devices.  Let's hope
these products get out the door faster than CORE did.

[***][12/22/87][***]
SEMATECH BUOYED BY $100 MILLION PROMISE
SANTA CLARA, Ca. (NB) -- Sematech, the industry/government
consortium set up to develop a stronger American technology base,
has just won the support of a House/Senate committee for a
grant of $100 million.  But before Sematech gets the check, the
matter must go before Congress and the President.  Sematech
has promised to set up a $250 million/year consortium aimed at
improving high technology manufacturing techniques.  Sematech
will announce a site for the endeavor early next year.

[***][12/22/87][***]
PACTEL INFOSYSTEMS SHUTS DOWN 15 OF 24 STORES/COMPUTERLAND EXPANDS
HAYWARD, Ca. (NB) -- Citing slow sales and a new emphasis on
personal door knocking, PacTel InfoSystems has closed 15 of its 24
retail computer stores in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
PacTel officers say the firm can save money on real estate costs by
closing the stores, plus its direct-sales force accounts for most of
its sales to businesses.  Observers were skeptical when the Bell
company tried to make it in the computer retail market back in
1985 and their skepticism seems to have been well-founded.

The news comes the same week that ComputerLand has announced
an expansion of its store network.  ComputerLand plans to have 1,000
retail outlets compared to the current 800 by 1992.

[***][12/22/87][***]
THIS FELIX ISN'T A CAT, IT'S A MOUSE
EMERYVILLE, Ca. (NB) -- A new kind of mouse which never needs
cleaning, and takes up just 6 inches of desk space has been introduced.
Felix, marketed by Lightgate Inc., uses electro-optical technology
to communicate with a computer.  Company officers say the patented
system is completely self-contained, far more sensitive than an
ordinary mouse device, and is perfect for everything from common
microcomputer use to sophisticated workstation applications.
The Macintosh version costs $149, the IBM version is $199.  Look for
a big ad campaign to announce Felix soon.

[***][12/22/87][***]
IN BRIEF --

ATARI, Sunnyvale, Ca., has won a round in a suit filed by Nintendo.
The Japanese corporation charged Atari was engaging in false and
misleading advertising in a TV ad which claimed the Atari XE video
game console was a better buy than the Nintendo home entertainment
system.  A US District Court judge ruled against Nintendo's request
for a preliminary injunction against the ads.

BRODERBUND, San Rafael, Ca., get the NEWSBYTES best Christmas card
from a computer company award by sending cards from the Save the
Children Foundation.  Broderbund made a contribution in the name of
each recipient of a card.  Bravo!

HERCULES COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY, Berkeley, Ca., has reduced the price
of its InColor Card by $150 to $349.

SAINT SILICON, aka Jeffrey Armstrong, is the newest candidate in the
presidential race.  Campaigning for the Technocratic Party, St. Silicon
promises a completely open government with access to all online
information, and the world's first computer-literate leader.  You
can purchase a copy of his book, "The Binary Bible," ($14.95) in lieu of
campaign contributions by writing him at Saint Silicon, 1803 Mission
Street, #174, Santa Cruz, Ca. 95060 [phone].

SEAGATE TECHNOLOGIES, Scotts Valley, Ca. has purchased Integrated
Power Semiconductor Ltd. of Scotland,  for $7.75 million.  The deal
culminates a long-standing relationship between the hard drive
maker and the custom chip company.

SHAREDATA INC., Chandler, Arizona, has just watched a slew of
managers resign in light of devastating losses.  The net fiscal year
loss for the software company equals its sales -- $4.1 million.
Sharedata is restructuring.  The firm produces such software
"delights" as games based on the TV programs "Jeapardy" and "Wheel
of Fortune" as well as the "Pro Staff" series of business software.

[***][12/22/87][***]
MACROMIND COINS NEW BUZZWORD, EXPANDS ART COLLECTION
CHICAGO (NB) -- NEWSBYTES SOUTH had the pleasure of talking to
Marc Canter December 17. Marc's MacroMind Inc. is the creative
force which brought forth VideoWorks II and new buzzwords like
"clip animation," a way of automating "desktop presentations"
which turn business meetings into Bugs Bunny cartoons. The Southside
Chicago-based company introduced four new art disks for its
product: Clip Animation, Clip Charts, Clip Sounds, and Clip Movies
to make using its product even easier. It also set up a production
house to do animation for heavy users like DuPont and the Pentagon.
"There's a $50 million animation budget on SDI alone" Marc gushes. In
January, Canter sits in on a panel about marketing techniques
at MacWorld in San Francisco with Stewart Alsop, Jeff Tarter, and
Esther Dyson. In his 20-man staff's spare time he works on
drivers which could make cartooning a standard feature of
Macintosh software products; imagine Hypercard with full-motion
video, for example! (Things like this put the "wow" back in
computing.)

CONTACT: Marc Canter, MACROMIND [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
THE VALUE OF YOUR OWN FIBER OPTIC TRUNK LINE
ORLANDO, FL (NB) -- With all the hoopla over superconductivity
and new silicon chips, we tend to take fiber optics for granted
because glass cables only do what older copper cables did -- send
signals. Yes, it's clear, it's digital, and the phone system is
all being re-done with it, but to most of us that just means more
of what we're getting now, maybe cheaper. Which makes what
"Network World" reported December 14 about the SunTrust Bank so
interesting. The bank recently installed a 1/4 mile link between
two buildings for $120,000 instead of building a microwave
center. The one line can handle 23 T-1 circuits at once, each
running at 1.54 million bits per second. All the bank's voice and
data calls combined use just 4 of those 23 channels now, with
plans to use 4 more lines sorting checks and growing over the
next 3 years. And even at that, the single line will only be
half-full.

CONTACT: Chris Cagle, SUNTRUST SERVICES [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
APPLE ADD-ON FIRMS TO USE 68030 CHIPS A YEAR BEFORE APPLE
ATLANTA (NB) --  Third-party developers will sell add-in cards for
the Mac II next spring featuring the 68030 chip from Motorola,
a move they say will make the Mac II a competitive engineering
workstation for the first time. Novi Systems of Ormond Beach, FL,
Dove Computer Corp. of Wilmington, NC, and MacPeak Systems Inc.
of Austin, TX, are all said to be working on the cards, which
should cost $2,000 each when they start shipping in March. "PC
Week" claims AST Research, Radius Inc., and TSI Inc. are also
working on 68030 cards. They estimate 30% of Mac II owners will
want them.

Apple, however, won't be among the first players in this new
market. Chairman John Sculley has warned analysts not to expect
an Apple product with the new chip until 1989 at the earliest.

[***][12/22/87][***]
HOME SHOPPING SHOW SHAKE-OUT BEGINS
HOUSTON (NB) -- Entertainment Marketing Inc. has decided to shut
down its home shopping network, the Consumer Discount Network.
EMI said it lost $2.4 million in 3 months as a company, and the
network alone lost $3.6 million. The service was carried by 23
broadcast stations and two cable TV systems seen by 21 million.
Attempts to sell it were unsuccessful, and the 175 employees will
go into other EMI operations like Crazy Eddie Inc., a discount
electronics outfit EMI chairman Elias Zinn picked up recently.

CONTACT: EMI, [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
NEW SUPERCOMPUTER NETWORK PLANNED
DETROIT (NB) -- The U.S. has 6 supercomputing centers linked to
150 universities and research centers, but the telephone system
linking those centers is horrible. So over $26 million is now
being invested by government and industry to improve it. The National
Science Foundation is kicking in $14 million for improvements,
directed by a Michigan company called Merit Inc. They're also
taking equipment donations: IBM has kicked in $20 million in
equipment, MCI has offered $7 million.

CONTACT: Merit, [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
HONEYWELL BULL INTRODUCES NEW PCS
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (NB) -- Honeywell Bull, the joint venture between
Honeywell of the U.S., NEC of Japan, and Bull of France,
introduced a new line of IBM-compatible micros. The AP-X series
has prices starting at $2,950, the SP Series has prices starting
at $5,880. A new line of peripherals, such as monitors and 3 1/2
inch disk drives, are also part of the package. The company said
its new systems use designs that make them easy to upgrade. They
call it a "split-plane" technology, with the main processor on a
separate board for standard functions like input-output.

Also, Honeywell Bull sold its small communications systems
business to TIE Communications Inc. of Shelton, CO.

CONTACT: Bruce McDonald, Honeywell Bull, [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
STORIES WE'D LIKE TO SEE IN 1988
ATLANTA (NB) -- Since this is the last column of 1987, it's
time to sneak a peek at 1988. I'd like us all to talk a little
more about the social issues in computing in 1988. Not just
hacking and computer crime, but the implications of keeping
information about others on these little machines. Do we need new
protections against computing abuses? It will be a political
year, after all.

I'd also like to clear up the question of cloning once and for
all. Is it fair game or foul? Is it even legal? IBM has told
vendors cloners of the full PS/2 are welcome, but warned it will
still protect all its intellectual property rights. Apple growls
whenever the subject comes up, although Tandy has long been
rumored to be working on a Mac clone. (Tandy denies it.) So far
the cloners (Franklin, SoftKlone) have lost in court but stayed
in business.

More wishes. A horizontal Hypertext application, one we'll all
want and understand. Cheaper desktop publishing, maybe with some
printer engines Made in the USA. A big American computer export
boom. Plus an end to the word hacker, the phrase "user friendly,"
and jargon a normal person can't understand like "386," "MIS
guy," and WYSIWIG used as a noun.

[***][12/22/87][***]
PECAN GOLDEN CHIPS

TELEX, Tulsa, OK, escaped the clutches of New York arbitrageur
Asher Edelman and agreed to let Memorex International buy it for
$62 a share, $900 million in cash and stock. Memorex is the
creation of New York financier and conservative political
activist Eli Jacobs, who started it by buying Unisys' tape
division in December of '86. The combined company will have a
debt load of $1.3 billion. (Telex had total sales of about $775
million in 1986.)

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, Dallas, unloaded 60% of its oil field computing
business to Halliburton Co. of Dallas, a big oil field service
company. It was TI's initial business, in the 1930s, and was
expected to have $250 million in sales this year. (TI had 1986
sales of $3.6 billion.) TI recently cut $100 million in costs at
the unit and Halliburton thinks it can make money with it.

TANDY, Fort Worth, said November sales were $363.91 million, 8%
over a year ago. But there's less than meets the eye here. U.S.
operations recorded a 6% gain, and comparable stores' sales were
only up 4%.

DCA, Alpharetta, GA, moved its listing from the NASDAQ to the New
York Stock Exchange. Its new ticker symbol is DCA.

[***][12/22/87][***]
PECAN CHIPS

COMPAQ is trying to halt gray-market sales of its machines,
according to "Computer Reseller News." Dealers are happy, but
Compaq risks a loss in its own sales volume. The company also
confessed to some incompatibility problems between its new Compaq
DOS 3.31 and common disk fixers like the Norton Utilities and
Paul Mace Utilities.

ZENITH is readying a new ad campaign for laptops with its Flat
Technology Monitor. Buy the competition, the ads warn, and you'll
have to "put it where the sun don't shine."

CORE INTERNATIONAL, Boca Rotan, FL, introduced a magnetic disk
drive for the PS/2 line with up to 310 megabytes of capacity. It
can find a piece of data in 1.7 milliseconds.

CONCEPT TECHNOLOGIES, Panama City Beach, FL, began shipping
Floppydriver, a $80 utility to speed old floppy disk drives,
replacing the DOS device driver.

COMPUTONE SYSTEMS, Norcross, GA, announced a $295 Unix and Xenix
shell called Compushell; it includes tools to copy files between
DOS and Unix.

TDT Group, Miami, is shipping two new X.25 emulation programs for
the PS/2 Models 50, 60 and 80 which emulate IBM 3270 and 3770, as
well as Honeywell Bull VIP Terminals.

[***][12/22/87][***]
AND FINALLY, ANOTHER COMPUTER SHOW (BE STILL, MY HEART!)
ATLANTA (NB) --  Just when you thought it was safe to turn on
your cable TV, along comes "Computer Magazine," another attempt
to make computing an interesting, visual experience. Tim List of
Marietta's Soft Touch Technologies is the host, his brother Tom
is the producer. It's carried on the Tempo Network of Tulsa, OK,
and has a magazine format, with quick 5-minute interviews,
demonstrations, and a short news segment. "The carrier is aimed at
businesspeople, a potential audience of 14.5 million, who may be able
to watch a little TV on Saturday," List told NEWSBYTES.  The show
airs Saturdays at 11:30 AM Eastern Time.  The first show
ran December 5, and Soft Touch is committed to producing 52
episodes. "We keep it newsy, low-tech," Tom adds, claiming other
shows in the market have a "bits and bytes mentality."

CONTACT: Tom List, SOFT TOUCH TECHNOLOGIES [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
EPSON CANADA GETS RECORD FINE FOR PRICE FIXING
TORONTO (NB) -- Epson (Canada) Ltd. has been convicted of nine
counts of illegal price maintenance on its computer printers and
fined C$200,000.  District Court in Toronto was told that Epson
told its dealers across Canada not to advertise its printers at
prices below the manufacturer's suggested retail price, and
threatened to cut off the dealers' supplies if they defied that
order.  That breaches Canada's antitrust legislation, the
Combines Investigation Act.

The fine of C$200,000 is the highest fine ever assessed against a
company convicted of price fixing in this country, although a
fine of the same size was levied against Sunoco Inc. in 1986 for
attempting to fix gasoline prices.  Price fixing charges that had
been laid against two Epson Canada executives were withdrawn.

[***][12/22/87][***]
MAI CANADA BOUGHT BACK BY FORMER PARENT
MARKHAM, Ont. (NB) -- MAI Canada Ltd. is once again a subsidiary
of MAI Basic Four of Tustin. Calif.  The California firm has
bought MAI Canada, along with the Basic Four computer maintenance
business of Sorbus Inc., from Bell Atlantic for a total of $148
million (U.S.).

Bell Atlantic acquired MAI Canada and Sorbus in 1985 from
Managament Assistance Inc. -- the former name of MAI Basic Four -
- for $203 million (U.S.). MAI Canada, which has 600 employees,
has continued as the sole distributor of MAI Basic Four computer
equipment and service in Canada.  In this deal, Bell Atlantic
keeps about of 75 per cent of Sorbus, while MAI takes back only
the portion of Sorbus assets specifically related to the
maintenance of MAI Basic Four computer equipment in the U.S.

The acquisition of MAI Canada and the North American maintenance
service business is strategically significant to MAI Basic Four,
William B,. Patton Jr., president and chief executive, said in a
prepared statement.  The deal is expected to be completed in
early January, pending regulatory approval.

CONTACT: MAI CANADA INC., [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
EGA WONDER TOPS SOFTSEL LIST
TORONTO (NB) -- This fall has been kind to ATI Technologies Inc.,
a manufacturer of graphics boards for IBM and compatible personal
computers.  The latest good news for the company is that its EGA
Wonder video card has been ranked the top-selling video card by
Softsel Computer Products, topping the video card category on the
Softsel Hot List, computer-industry equivalent of the hit parade.

Just last month, ATI was pleasantly surprised to find that same
EGA Wonder card named number one video card by PC Magazine.

CONTACT: ATI TECHNOLOGIES INC., 3761 Victoria Park Ave.,
         Scarborough, Ont. M1W 3S2, [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
BELL-NORTHERN ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL ISDN TEST
OTTAWA (NB) -- Bell-Northern Research says it successfully
completed an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) telephone
call using Primary Rate Access, the business version of ISDN that
provides full ISDN features across the entire telephone system.
The call was made between a central office switch and a private
branch exchange both made by Northern Telecom, which along with
sister company Bell Canada owns Bell-Northern Research, Canada's
largest private-sector research operation.

CONTACT: BELL-NORTHERN RESEARCH, P.O. Box 3511, Station C
         Ottawa, Ont., K1Y 4H7, [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
BITS, EH?
-- ACCUGRAPH CORP., the Toronto-based vendor of computer-aided
design software, has sold 2.1 million class A shares to Kinburn
Technology Corp. of Ottawa, which was already Accugraph's major
shareholder, for C$3.99 million.

-- BELL CANADA ENTERPRISES INC., parent of Northern Telecom, Bell
Canada and several other companies, will change its official name
to BCE Inc. effective January 1.

-- COMTERM INC., Montreal-based terminal manufacturer, lost C$2.9
million in the nine months ended Oct. 31, compared with C$1.3
million in the same period of 1986.  Revenues rose to C$26.3
million from C$24.9 million.

-- DEVELCON ELECTRONICS LTD., Saskatoon-based communications
equipment maker, lost C$7.8 million on revenues of C$17.2 million
in the year ended Aug. 31.  Last year Develcon lost C$6.5 million
on C$16.9 million in revenues.

-- GEAC COMPUTER CORP. of Markham, Ont., announced that its U.S.
subsidiary, Geac Computers Inc. of California, has acquired Vista
Financial Systems Inc. of St. Louis and the in-house and field
engineering group of Citicorp Information Resources Inc.

-- LANPAR TECHNOLOGIES INC., Markham, Ont., lost C$1.7 million in
the nine months ended Oct. 31, on revenues of C$30.5 million.  In
the same period last year, Lanpar had a profit of C$127,000 on
revenues of C$30.7 million.  Lanpar distributes and services a
variety of computer equipment and manufactures terminals.


[***][12/22/87][***]
BORLAND STARTS OVER WITH JAPANESE TURBO C
TOKYO (NB) -- I/O magazine reports a Japanese version of Turbo C
was already developed in July of 1987, but was scrapped before
release.  President Hiroshi Katayama of Southern Pacific, a
Japanese dealer of Borland International (Ca.,USA) products,
says his company agreed with Borland to develop a Japanese
version of Borland's Turbo C, and completed the Japanese library
in July.  But, Borland abruptly told Southern Pacific to stop
further development of the Japanese version in August.  According
to president Katayama, the reason Borland has changed its
mind was because it had designs on its own Japanese subsidiary
and a collaboration with other Japanese firms. So, it is likely
that the new firm will develop the Japanese version of Turbo C
from scratch.  Meanwhile, Southern Pacific is reportedly
asking Borland to pay the cost of its program development.

[***][12/22/87][***]
JAPANESE MACINTOSH SE AND II DEBUT
TOKYO (NB) -- The Japanese versions of Apple's Macintosh SE and
II will be released on February 1.  Both models have three kinds
of technical term dictionaries to help provide a powerful
Japanese word processing capability.  They also support five
kinds of Japanese fonts.  The prices will be same as their
American counterparts.  Apple Japan will provide a free upgrade
service for original SE and II users at its authorized dealer
shops here in Japan.

CONTACT: Apple Japan, Akasaka-Twintower Honkan, 2-17-22 Akasaka,
         Minato-ku, Tokyo 107

[***][12/22/87][***]
ASHTON-TATE BUYS OUT ITS JAPANESE SUBSIDIARY
TOKYO (NB) -- Ashton-Tate (USA) has purchased Ashton-Tate Japan
from Japan SE in Tokyo.  In this takeover, the former joint venture
becomes a 100%-owned subsidiary of Ashton-Tate.  Apparently the
company is trying to beef up marketing capability in Japan.
The new president of Ashton-Tate Japan is Jim Lewis, who had been
the manager of the Far East division.  So  far, no other changes
have been reported in this newly acquired Japanese subsidiary.

CONTACT: Ashton-Tate Japan, Sunrise-Aoyama Bldg. 3F, 2-13-2
         Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107

[***][12/22/87][***]
JAPANESE PRINTERS GO TO U.S. PENTAGON
TOKYO (NB) -- Alps America, a U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Alps
Electronics, has signed a $10-million contract with Zenith Corp.
in the U.S.  In the agreement, Alps will supply its nine pin dot
matrix printers to Zenith.  Zenith will bundle Alps' ASP-1000
printer with Zenith laptop computers, the Z-181 and Z-183, and
supply them to the Pentagon over the next three years.
Judging from the enormous size of the printer contract ($242
million) with Zenith from the Pentagon, Alps is expected to
receive more printer orders from Zenith in the future.  This is
the second time Alps has received an order from Zenith, a report
says.

[***][12/22/87][***]
THE RESURRECTION OF COMDEX JAPAN?
TOKYO (NB) -- The rumor mill says that the Interface Group will
hold a Comdex in Japan in the spring of '88. The NIKKEI PERSONAL
COMPUTER magazine is so sure of this story, it has published
specific dates and the site in its latest issue, reporting that
Comdex Japan will be held on March 1 through 3 at Harumi, Tokyo.
But, a spokesman from the Interface Group's Japan office flatly
denies the report.  He added, however, that the trade show group
does hope to resume the show again in the near future.

CONTACT: Interface Group Japan, Shuwa-Kioicho-TBR Bldg. No.1210,
         5-7 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102

[***][12/22/87][***]
IRONIC BEST SELLER IN JAPAN - COCOM RULES
TOKYO (NB) -- A strange book has gained a popularity in Japan.
It's the COCOM Compliance Program, written by Toshiba Corp.
Toshiba originally wrote the book for corporate, in-house use in
order to prevent recurrence of the COCOM-rule violations
within its group.  However when the book was completed, dozens of
export firms, who do business with Communist countries, asked
for copies.   So, a subcommittee of the Japanese Ministry of
International Trade and Industry has published it.  The book is
expected to help exporters understand COCOM rules, which are notorious
for their vague provisions. The COCOM Compliance Program (53 pages)
costs only 500 yen or $3.90.

CONTACT: Tsusho-Sangyo-Chosakai, 2-8-9 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

[***][12/22/87][***]
DAWN OF JAPAN'S INTERNATIONAL VAN SERVICE
TOKYO (NB) -- The Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunica-
tions has just granted NEC and Network Information Service (both
in Tokyo) permission to start an international VAN (value
added network service) business.  This is the first time
private companies have gained this permission since the national
phone service was deregulated in September '87.  NEC and Network
Information Service have tied up with General Electric (USA) and
McDonnell Douglas (USA) respectively, and have already started a
worldwide electronics mail service.  The charge will be
approximately 20% cheaper than the same service provided by
Japan's international telecom giant KDD.

Meanwhile, IBM Japan and Japan's domestic telecom giant NTT will
also set up a venture business for international VAN in January.
With these kinds of international network services, the number of
Japanese subscribers for overseas personal computer networks, such as
the Source and Comp*Se*ve, is expected to increase in the near
future.

[***][12/22/87][***]
JAPANESE DG/ONE WITH EL DISPLAY, AND 4TH GENERATION LANGUAGE
TOKYO (NB) -- Data General Japan has upgraded its Japanese
computer, the Data General/One Model 2.  The new model includes
an electro luminescent (EL) display, which consumes less
electricity than a plasma display.  Also, it is thinner and
lighter.  However, the system still weighs 5.2 to 5.5 kg, which
is quite heavy as a laptop computer.  With the release of the
Japanese EL Model, the price of the current Japanese LCD model
was cut down by as much as 20 percent.  The basic EL Model is
priced at 448,000 yen or $ 3,500.  The LCD Model is priced at
358,000 yen or $ 2,797.

Meanwhile, Data General Japan has developed a fourth generation
programming language, Japanese STYLE, in cooperation with
Computer Soft (CSO/Tokyo).  Compared with current programming
languages, such as COBOL, the new language is said to be 3 to 10
times more productive in the task of software development on super mini-
computers or workstations.  STYLE was originally developed by
Foothill Research (U.S.A.), and later a Japanese function was
added by CSO.  It is priced between 2 million yen ($15,625) and
10 million yen ($78,125).

CONTACT: Data General Japan, 4-3-13 Toranomon, Minato-ku,
         Tokyo 105

[***][12/22/87][***]
SHIFTING FROM 256KBIT DRAM TO 1M DRAM
TOKYO (NB) -- According to the Japanese Ministry of International
Trade and Industry, the production of 256k-bit DRAMs in Japan in
the second quarter of next year is expected to decrease, while
the production of 1M DRAMs will increase a great deal.  Total
production of 256K DRAMs will go up by 0.4 percent in the first
quarter next year, but is expected to shrink to 159.9 million
units (down 2.6 percent) in the second quarter.  Meanwhile, 30.8
million 1M DRAMs will be produced in the first quarter of '88 (up
46 percent) and 43.5 million units in the following quarter (up
41 percent), the ministry said.

[***][12/22/87][***]
<<< SUSHI BYTES >>>

BEST SELLER PROGRAMS RELEASED FOR IBM PS/55 -- Just Systems
(Tokushima, Japan) has released a best-selling Japanese word
processing program and a graphic program for the PS/55, IBM's
Japanese PS/2 family.  The word processing software is called
Ichitaro, and the latter is called Hanako.  They're priced at
68,000 yen, or $531 respectively.

NCR JAPAN'S 32-BIT COMPUTERS -- NCR Japan has released four types
of upgraded Japanese workstations, including an 80386-based 10MHz
model.  The high-end 80386 model, the NCR9005 2E Model 1303, is
four times faster in processing information than the 16-bit models.
The three other models are based on an 80286 MPU.  All of the
models support MS-DOS 3.2.

TOKAI CREATE UPGRADES JAPANESE VP-PLANNER -- Tokai Create (Tokyo)
has added a rule drawing function to its Japanese VP-Planner,
which was originally developed by Paperback Software, Inc. in
California.  It can draw 14 kinds of rules and designate six
different colors.  The new version costs 36,000 yen or $281.

AT&T JAPAN REPLACES ITS PRESIDENT -- Vice President Timothy
Robert Schrader of AT&T Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) will assume the
president's post at AT&T Japan in January.  Current President
William J. Moody will go back to AT&T's U.S. headquarters to become
vice president of sales management.

OKI'S 32-BIT MPU -- Oki Electronics (Tokyo) has announced it will
develop a 32-bit microprocessing unit based on the TRON
architecture.  In the past, Oki produced an 8-bit and a 16-bit
MPU with technical help from Intel (USA).  Since Intel won't
license its 32-bit MPU, Oki has decided to do it alone.  Oki's
32-bit MPU will be produced in early '89.

HIGH-SPEED 1M DRAM FROM TOSHIBA -- Toshiba has developed 81 kinds
of high-speed dynamic RAMs, which include an access time of 70
nanoseconds.  The company will ship sample products in
January.  The price of the fastest model will be 7,000 yen or
$54.7 each.

HITACHI OPENS UP VISTAS FOR 64M DRAM -- Hitachi has developed
a new transistor called an atomic layer doping (ALD) transistor.
The ALD transistor provides ways to produce 0.2 to 0.3 micron
structured elements, which realize the production of 64M DRAMs.

HITACHI TO PRODUCE CHIPS IN U.S. -- Hitachi (Tokyo) has decided
to beef up the chip production lines at its Dallas plant in the
U.S.  With the expanded production lines, the company will
produce 256K bit and a 1M bit DRAM.  The decision was made
due to pressing demand for the chips, and because it's cheaper
to manufacture in the US due to the surging price of the Japanese yen.

AIWA ENTERS VHS ALLY -- Japan's THE NIKKAN KOGYO newspaper
reports Aiwa of Sony will start producing a VHS-based VCR
next spring.  That's bad news for Sony, which started the
Beta format and is still sticking to it.  Because of  IWA's
shift to the VHS format, there's wild speculation among analysts
that Sony might eventually accept the VHS standard.

SONY PRODUCES MORE 3.5-INCH FDDs -- Sony will start producing
more 3.5-inch floppy disk drives (FDD).  Sony will increase
its monthly production volume from current 300,000 to 500,000
by next April.  It seems Sony will keep the top share in the
3.5-inch FDD production.


[***][12/22/87][***]
COMMODORE LAPTOP?
FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- NEWSBYTES EUROPE has learned
that Commodore is working on a laptop computer system which will
be built in the Far East, and will be designed in Braunscweig,
Germany. Commodore is planning a laptop with a 80286-based
CPU that runs at either 10 or 12 MHz and has 1MB of RAM, one
floppy and one hard disk, all in a battery-powered device that
uses  CMOS chips exclusively.

The system is slated to be available in the third quarter of 1988.
If this system indeed is released on such a date, you know
where you have heard it first!

[***][12/22/87][***]
IBM MAKES MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS IN EUROPE - 6150 DEMISE?
LA HULPE, BELGIUM (NB) -- At its opulent Thomas Watson European
Education Center, IBM finally announced new products for
the PS/2 model 80 and confirmed the existence of an OS/3, to be
designed and be available only for 80386-based micros such as
the PS/2 model 80.

The standard edition of OS/2 is to be available in Europe
in January 1988 and will be followed by version 1.1 in November
1988. An enhanced edition is to be available as version 1.0
in August 1988,  followed by version 1.1 in December 1988.

Presentation Manager, Database Manager and Communications
Manager are all to be part of the final product, version 1.1,
available at the end of 1988.

Other products include the IBM 3270 Workstation program, IBM
GDDM PC Link program, IBM PC LAN program and IBM OS/2 LAN
Server, all to be available by the end of 1988.

PS/2-80
-------
For the PS/2 model 80, which uses the 80386 microprocessor, IBM
announced the availability of AIX, the IBM UNIX operating system
also available for the RT/PC (known in Europe as the 6150). AIX
Operating System, AIX Operating System Extension, AIX DOS Merge
(enables DOS applications to run under AIX and was written by
Locus Computing of Sunnyvale, Ca.), AIX Usability services,
AIX Text Formatting System, X Windows and various other languages
were also announced during the press conference.

Regarding the future of the 6150, an IBM spokesman said, "Well,
currently they're a niche, mainly the graphics applications
which are covered very well with the 6150, but it would be wise
to think that this may change next year." IBM's argument in
favor of the 6150 is the system's high performance, but such
performance is easily duplicated by the 20MHz 386 model 80.
Analysts suggest that the 6150 will end up as one of
those great inventions that just did not work in the real
world.

OS/3
-----
IBM also confirmed that since OS/2 only supports a maximum of
16MB of RAM, the advantages of the 386 microprocessor are not used.
Thus, there will be another operating system, called OS/3 (as
reported by NEWSBYTES a few weeks ago) which will be specifically
written for the 386. The release date for OS/3, NEWSBYTES has
learned, is to be the latter half of 1988.

IBM also spent the day talking about OS/2 and PS/2, almost
are interchangeable, which makes one wonder whether the model 30
has been mislabeled. In addition, no decision has been made
about the model 25 for Europe.

And finally, IBM told the press that the PS/2 series project
started in 1982 and went through many re-design stages, including
the last one which resulted in the Micro Channel Architecture (MCA).
There were numerous internal squabbles within IBM.  There were
those that preferred to continue the IBM PC bus as it is or with
minimal changes (such as those announced by AST), and those that
wanted a completely new design.

[***][12/22/87][***]
AEG FORMS AEG-OLYMPIA
FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY (NB) -- AEG, one of the largest
industrial concerns in West Germany, has announced the creation of
AEG-Olympia, a company that will sell typewriters, office
computers and related products. AEG-Olympia will comprise AEG
Olympia Systems and AEG Olympia. The first will concentrate on
the data processing sector while the latter will comprise the
telecommunications sector.

About 10,000 employees will be allocated to the Olympia
concern and sales are expected to reach about DM 1.5 billion
(about $1 billion). AEG Olympia will commence operations on
January 1, 1988.

[***][12/22/87][***]
AUDIO PROCESSING NOW AVAILABLE IN EUROPE
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NB) -- Antex Electronics, the Gardena,
California-based maker of electronic sound boards, has announced
the availability of two of products, the VP620E and the
VP600, for the European market.

The VP620E records and plays back digital sound with a 20Hz to
7KHz band width fidelity. A 29MB hard disk can store up to one
hour of sound. The VP600 is a half-size board that offers 80
minutes of sound with 10MB of storage at lower quality than
the VP620E.

CONTACT: Maggie Sheridan, Export Manager, Antex Electronics,
         16100 S. Figueroa St., Gardena CA 90248, 213/532-3092



[***][12/22/87][***]
SUIT AND COUNTER-SUIT: THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT AT LOTUS
BOSTON (NB) -- Sued by Lotus Development Corp. of Cambridge,
Mass. for allegedly offering to sell trade secrets to competitor
Microsoft, Boston advertising agency Rossin Greenberg Seronick &
Hill plans to file a countersuit charging Lotus with damaging its
reputation. Rossin Greenberg spokeswoman Chris Goddard told
NEWSBYTES that the suit will ask for "several million dollars" in
damages. The tiff began when Lotus filed suit in state court
alleging that Rossin Greenberg sent a letter to Microsoft
offering Lotus trade secrets in a bid to win the lucrative
Microsoft account. Lotus said the Rossin Greenberg letter claimed
"the reason we know so much about Lotus is that some of our
newest employees spent the past year and a half working on the
Lotus business at another agency." Microsoft declined the honor
of hiring the firm and turned the letter over to Lotus.

Rossin Greenberg President Neal Hill denied the charges at a
Boston press conference. "Rather than pick up the phone -- and
they would have found out immediately there is no issue here --
[Lotus] decided to conduct war by press release," Hill said.
James O'Donnell of Lotus says his company had an "obligation to
its stockholders" to sue Rossin Greenberg.

[***][12/22/87][***]
ADMINISTRATION TRYING TO OUST GREENE
WASHINGTON (NB) -- The Reagan administration is working on
legislation that would bump federal Judge Harold Greene from
overseeing the regional Bell operating companies. Administration
officials from the White House, the Justice Department, and the
Commerce Department have met with officials of the Baby Bells to
discuss legislation, according to Washington sources. The leading
figure behind the administration effort is said to be Alfred
Sikes, head of the Commerce Department's National
Telecommunications and Information Administration and a frequent
critic of Greene. The trust of the proposed legislation would be
to shift jurisdiction from the court, where Greene has been
overseeing the AT&T breakup since 1984, to the FCC. The Baby
Bells would be allowed to get into information services and
manufacturing, areas where Greene has barred their entry.

Even if the administration can agree on a legislative package,
selling it in Congress will not be easy. The measure will be
controversial, and will have to pass through the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, where the powerful and partisan Chairman John
Dingell (D-Mich.) might use the legislation to hammer the
Republicans. Also, next year is an election year, which always
clouds the legislative process.

[***][12/22/87][***]
NEW PRINTER TECHNOLOGY ON THE HORIZON
RANDOLPH, Mass. (NB) -- A $50 million printer order could usher
in a new printer technology. Unisys placed the order with Delphax
Corp., a joint venture of Xerox Corp. and Dennison Manufacturing
Co. which has been selling ion deposition printers in dribs and
drabs for about four years. The ion deposition technology
promises to rival laser printers for some applications, and could
easily work its way down to the micro market from the
mainframes in short order. The technology shoots negatively
charged ions onto an anodized aluminum roller, which attracts
magnetic toner to the charged areas. The roller then crushes the
toner into the paper. The technology offers high-speed and
reliability, with a shorter paper path and a third the moving
parts of a laser printer.

Unisys will buy the printers from Delphax and add software and
packaging. Then Unisys will resell them as the Unisys B9275, at
(gulp!) $82,000 each. Why would anyone pay that price? How about
high-quality printing on standard sheets of copier paper (no
more fanfolds and tractors) at 75 pages a minute. Watch for this
technology to start migrating downward.

[***][12/22/87][***]
11 BECOMES 7: MBI SLIDES DOWN THE TUBE
ROCKVILLE, Md. (NB) -- MBI Business Centers, once one of the
highest fliers in the retail computer trade, has asked the U.S.
bankruptcy court to change its status from Chapter 11
reorganization to Chapter 7 liquidation. The company cited third
quarter losses of $3.6 million. The final blow to MBI: the
decision by the General Services Administration to cancel MBI's
contract to run three computer stores for federal agencies. The
contract accounted for 13 percent of the company's revenue din
the second quarter. It is likely that MBI's assets will be sold
at auction in the new year, and the proceeds used to settle with
creditors.

[***][12/22/87][***]
FIGHTING AIDS ONLINE
WASHINGTON (NB) -- The Public Health Foundation has created AIDS-
Net, designed to link public health officials at the federal,
state and local levels with the latest in AIDS information. The
bulletin board operates under the Dialcom online messaging
system. "The network's electronic mail and bulletin board
services allow members to exchange information and messages at
the touch of a button," said a health foundation spokesman.

CONTACT: The Public Health Foundation, 1220 L St. NW, Suite 350,
         Washington DC 20005, 202 898-5600.

[***][12/22/87][***]
FUNKY NEW SPREADSHEET TOOLS
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (NB) -- Funk Software Inc., the folks who
brought us sideways printing of spreadsheets, have a bucket of
new goodies for 1-2-3 users, called The Worksheet Utilities
($99.95). The program offers a multi-line formula editor, a file
manager that can describe and catalog files, a printer utility,
an auto-save tool, and a add-on that will set the width of a
range of columns globally.

CONTACT: Funk Software, 222 Third St., Cambridge, MA, 02142, 617
         497-6339.

[***][12/22/87][***]
WANG TO TALK TO IBM AND DIGITAL
LOWELL, Mass. (NB) -- Wang Laboratories had announced
InterOffice, software that allows Wang users to exchange
electronic mail and documents with Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX
users. The software written for Wang by The Boston Software
Works, Inc., will also allow VAX users to exchange information
with IBM's PROFSS and DISSOS users. Prices for the Wang software
will run from $6,500 to $24,500.

[***][12/22/87][***]
BRIGHT IDEAS IN STACKWARE
PORTLAND, Me. (NB) -- Bright Ideas Inc. is offering two new
stackware products for Apple's HyperCard database. Hyper
Christmas Card has a variety of displays, sounds, stories, and
carols for the holiday season. It's $29.95. Hyper Chef is a
stackware cookbook center on New England recipes (how about the
South of France, guys?). Tell Hyper Chef what you have in the way
of food in the pantry and fridge and Hyper Chef will tell you
what recipes you can make. It will also print grocery lists.

CONTACT: Bright Ideas, Inc., 52 Exeter Street, Portland ME 04102,
         207 775-1330.

[***][12/22/87][***]
NEWS NIBBLES FROM AROUND THE REGION

COMMODORE BUSINESS MACHINES of West Chester, Pa., will make
repairs on the 1581 disk drives made during early production
runs. Repairs made at authorized service centers will be treated
as warranty work, even if the warranty has expired. Commodore
says that between 500 and 2,000 drives have problems.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. has reorganized the former
ROLM systems marketing division, customer support division and
national operations division into its Information Systems Group
in Rye Brook, N.Y. The move is intended to put IBM loyalists into
control of ROLM, Big Blue's entry into the telephone wars.

DATA GENERAL CORP. of Westboro, Mass., has lined up a three-year,
$30 million revolving credit deal with Shawmut Bank N.A. of
Boston. Earlier, DG lined up a $200 million line of credit with a
group of international banks.

IMS AMERICA of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., says 3.5-inch disks have
take the lead in dollar volume sales in retail stores at 56
percent, while the 5.25-inch floppies still dominate in units
sold with 59 percent. The market research firm says the venerable
8-inch disks have almost vanished from the market, recording .6
percent of dollar sales and .5 percent of unit sales.

GERBER SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT CO. of South Windsor, Conn., has
bought out Cambridge Robotic Systems of Watertown, Mass.
Cambridge Robotic makes automatic optical inspection systems for
printed wiring devices which can be integrated with Gerber's
line of CAD/CAM products.

LOTUS DEVELOPMENT CORP. has opened its Australian subsidiary,
Lotus Development Pty. Ltd., with new offices in Sydney. The
offices will be the headquarters for Lotus sales efforts in
Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.

STAR MOUNTAIN INC. of Alexandria, which will apply high-tech
systems to the management decision-making process.

HALBRECHT ASSOCIATES, an executive headhunting firm from
Stamford, Conn., says senior-level information systems executives
will continue to be in demand in 1988. "Most major companies have
a relentless need for senior people in information systems and
emerging technologies," says President Herb Halbrecht.

GCA CORP. of Andover, Mass., a maker of semiconductor
manufacturing equipment, has issued $20 million in notes that can
be converted to stock, alleviating a cash crunch. The company
appears to have stepped back from the brink of extinction since
orders have picked up.


[***][12/22/87][***]
RUDOLPH, THE ONE-BIT PROCESSOR
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer,
Had a very binary nose.
And if you've never seen it,
On-and-off is how it goes.

All of the other reindeer,
Used to laugh and call him "Nerd,"
They never let poor Rudolph
Frolic with the reindeer herd.

Then one dark and stormy night,
Santa came to say:
"The mainframe's down again, old pal.
I've got bills to pay."

Rudy put his nose in action,
Flashing out the ones and os,
Sorting the bills and vouchers,
Impressing even reindeer does.

Oh, how the reindeer loved him,
As they passed down the word:
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer,
you're not a reindeer nerd."

[***][12/22/87][***]
ACORN APPOINTS NEW MD
Cherry Hinton, Cambridge (NB) -- As suddenly as Brian Long left
the post of managing directorship of Acorn last October, the
company has appointed a successor - Harvey Coleman.  The 48-year-
old is currently head of marketing strategy at Olivetti, Acorn's
parent company.

Coleman, whose hobbies include sport and bridge, inherits one of
the industry's toughest jobs.  Long's departure is said to have
been due to his decision to cut #100 off the price of the
Archimedes, Acorn's Risc-based PC.  Press sources cattily remark
that Long's successor will be someone who does as he is told.
Time will tell whether Coleman lives up to this prediction.

CONTACT: ACORN COMPUTERS, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge.
         Tel: [phone]

[***][12/22/87][***]
APRICOT TEAMS UP WITH SEQUENT
Edgbaston, Birmingham (NB) -- In one of the month's best-kept
secrets, Apricot Computers has announced a five-year strategic
partnership with Sequent Computer Systems in the US, and Sequent
Systems in Europe.

The partnership allows Apricot to produce and market Sequent
products in the UK, with reciprocal deals for Apricot kit in
Sequent's home countries.  The agreement initially covers three
Sequent systems, all based on the 80386 microprocessor running
from 6 to more than 100 MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second).

Roger Foster, Apricot's group chief executive, sees the deal as a
key development for both countries.  "Apricot is now unique in
being able to demonstrate that it's really feasible to offer one
consistent architecture from a PC through to a 100 MIPS
departmental computer system - and do so with staggering levels
of price performance," he said.

The new machines will be assembled at Apricot's existing plant at
Glenrothes, Fife, in Scotland.  Don't go throwing your old PC out
just yet though - The Apricot/Sequent parallel processing
machines start at #40,000 rising to #100,000 for a full-blown
system.

CONTACT: APRICOT COMPUTERS PLC, Apricot House, 111 Hagley Road,
         Edgbaston, Birmingham B16 8LB.      Tel: [phone].

[***][12/22/87][***]
ATARI NEW YEAR DESKTOP PUBLISHING BLITZ
Slough, Berkshire (NB) -- Confounding the sceptics, Atari UK is
about to launch a major offensive into the desktop publishing
(dtp) market.  Starting January 4, several dtp systems centering
around the SLM804 laser printer, 2 and 4Mb Mega STs, and desktop
publishing software will be launched in the UK.

Initially, there will be at least four systems.  Entry-level to
the Atari dtp world will be via a #2,400 package consisting of a
2Mb Mega ST, SLM804 and Atari's proprietary Deskset dtp software.
Further systems, with a 4Mb Mega and/or high-end dtp software
will become available later in January.

"The #2,400 system is obviously a beginner's system," Bob
Gleadow, Atari UK MD, told NEWSBYTES UK.  "We're working on
producing a number of dtp systems to satisfy all levels of
user... Flexibility is the keyword here," he added.

Gleadow went on to explain that to ease Atari dealers into the
dtp field, the company is planning comprehensive dealer training
as part of its dealer service.  "That way, the dealers will be
able to service user's queries and problems directly," he
explained.

CONTACT: ATARI UK Limited, Atari House, Railway Terrace, Slough,
         Berkshire, SL2 5BZ.                    Tel: [phone].

[***][12/22/87][***]
CIX REACHES 1,000 MEMBER MARK
Guildford, Surrey (NB) -- Cix, the Compulink Information eXchange
bulletin board system, has reached the 1,000 member mark, a
milestone in the system's lifetime.  Several other enhancements
are planned for the coming months, including a move to Surrey,
when the number of lines available will expand from 8 to 15.  And
London subscribers will have a local number to dial in order
to reach the service.

Perhaps the most exciting news is that Cix is to become the first
public online system to be connected to the Mercury Packet Data
System (MPDS).  MPDS functions the same as British Telecom's PSS,
except it's more user-friendly and cheaper, according to Cix
founder Frank Thornley.

"We considered PSS for some time, but opted for MPDS as it's got
better national coverage and is committed to high-speed, error-
checked modems," he told NEWSBYTES UK.  "We should be hooked up
sometime in January, when MPDS local call access to Cix will be
available to subscribers over most of the UK.

CONTACT: COMPULINK INFORMATION EXCHANGE, 67 Woodbridge Road,
         Guildford. GU1 4RD.        Tel: Voice - 0483 65895.
                                         Data - 0483-573337.

[***][12/22/87][***]
PC VIEWDATA HOST FROM TANDATA
Malvern, Worcestershire (NB) -- After several years producing a
variety of communications equipment, ranging from modems through
to complex data broadcast kit, Tandata Communications has
released its first low-cost viewdata host for the PC.

Tanstar provides most of the facilities seen on Prestel, BT's
viewdata system, but at a fraction of the cost.  The system runs
on a PC with 10Mb hard disc and allows four modems or terminals
to be interfaced to single multiplexor cards which slot into the
PC's expansion ports.

System configurations start at under #5,000, which includes
hardware, making for one of the lowest cost multiple-user
viewdata systems on the market today.

CONTACT: TANDATA COMMUNICATIONS, Albert Road North, Malvern,
         Worcestershire, WR14 2TL.         Tel: [phone].

[***][12/22/87][***]
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ BRITBYTES - Bytes of news from around the UK... +
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

AMSTRAD is reported to be working on a very low-cost networking
system for release early in the new year.  Pricing is expected to
be well under #100.

GENERAL ELECTRIC is considering selling its UK semiconductor
plant to PLESSEY.  The revelation comes only weeks after a
similar deal was struck by Plessey for Ferranti's chip
manufacturing business.  If the GE/Plessey deal goes ahead, then
Plessey will become the UK's largest chip producer with a book
value of #160m.

MASTER SYSTEMS of Camberley has released MASTER KEY, an RS232-
linked unit which encrypts data at up to 128 Kilobaud in real
time.  The #975 unit sits between a PC and a modem and functions
automatically.

The NATIONAL COMPUTING CENTRE (061-228-6333) is holding a one day
seminar in London on 27 January entitled 'Computer Related
Fraud.'  The event costs #165 per person.

PRECISION SOFTWARE, Worcester Park, Surrey, has launched
SUPERBASE PROFESSIONAL for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga
computers.  A version of the #249-95 relational database package
will be released in January next year.

SOFTSEL of Brentford has launched the Video Seven Vega VGA card
in the UK.  The #299 PC card enhances graphics to the IBM PS/2
VGA standard, as well as supporting CGA, EGA, Hercules and
Monochrome graphics standards.

TELECOM GOLD, the London-based Dialcom affiliate has made a
number of enhancements to its systems.  City financial analysts
can now access Forexia currency prophet newsletters on the
service, whilst the Times Network subset of Telecom Gold has
launched the Sportnet database.

VICTOR has booked the London Cafe Royale for the 14th January.
Informed sources say that the company is planning to launch a new
range of micros on that date.

[***][12/22/87][***]
AND FINALLY...

In common with other publications, NEWSBYTES UK will be taking a
break next week.  Our next issue will be dated the 5th of
January.  May I join, with my co-bureau chiefs and editor, in
wishing you - wherever in the world you are - a Happy Christmas
and a very prosperous New Year.  Have a happy one, and see in
'88!
====