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/1989/nb890815

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(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00001)

APPLE DEBUTS VISUAL ALMANAC
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Apple Computer
will bestow upon a limited number of educators its "Visual Almanac," an
interactive multimedia demonstration kit. The set-up combines a Mac
with HyperCard and videodisk to illustrate ways in which the
technology can be used in the classroom.

The Visual Almanac is divided into three sections: Activities, Collections,
and Composition Workspace. In the Collections are some 7,000 objects
divided into ten categories of visual images and two categories of
sound. Topics include solar systems, animals and plants, history, or
culture. The Activities section presents curriculum-related activities
on screen -- for instance a Playground Physics chapter shows how the
merry-go-round and teeter totter relate to the concepts of physics.
The third section allows users to record research and create reports
electronically.

The product will not be commercial, but is clearly seen by Apple as a
system to inspire other commercial products for the education market.
Educators interested in the Visual Almanac can ask for a grant to
receive one by writing Visual Almanac Grant, 20525 Mariani Ave.,
M/S 27-SF, Cupertino, California, 95014.

(Wendy Woods/19890809)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00002)

MACINTOSH COMMON LISP 1.3
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Apple Computer has
announced version 1.3 of Allegro Common Lisp, an interactive
development environment derived from an implementation of Common Lisp.

Common Lisp is a standard dialect of the Lisp programming language which
is used to develop artificial intelligence programs. Macintosh Allegro
CL extends the Common Lisp language with Object Lisp -- an object-
oriented programming system used to implement standard Mac user
interface features such as windows, menus, and dialog boxes.

Version 1.3 has enhancements over the earlier version with a Foreign
Function Interface for MPW 3.0 object files, an improved interface designer,
automatic memory management, and a Stand-Alone Application Generator.

The product is $495 and is expected to be available from Apple in October.

(Wendy Woods/19890809/Press Contact: John Cook, 408-974-3145)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00003)

BOEING, KODAK BUYING PORTABLE MACS
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- The first 5,000
portable Macintoshes are already sold to Kodak, Boeing, and KPMG Peat
Marwick, according to Macintosh News in its August 7 edition.
The big three firms are said to be waiting in line for the still-to-be-
announced, 17-pound machines, due for a mid-September debut here.

Apple, and the three companies named, all deny the report.

(Wendy Woods/19890809)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00004)

APPLE OUTLOOK BETTER, SAY ANALYSTS
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Financial analysts
attending a meeting with Apple Computer Chief Executive Officer John
Sculley came away saying they were optimistic, but cautious, about the
firm's coming results for fiscal 1990.

Reuters quotes analysts attending the meeting as saying the basic
tone was upbeat, with Sculley announcing that there will be more new
versions of the Apple Macintosh before the end of September. Sculley
added that sales of the older Macintoshes -- the SE, Plus, and Apple
II -- were sluggish but demand for high-end machines is vibrant.

Hambrecht and Quist forecasts earnings per share for fiscal 1989 of
$3.24 and $4.05 for fiscal 1990.

(Wendy Woods/19890808)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00005)

MICROSOFT MAIL: OCTOPUS OF COMPUTING
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Microsoft's new mail
package has more connections than an octopus and the company is trying
to sell it as "the first microcomputer electronic mail package to
support true enterprise-wide connectivity over a large, multivendor
network." Microsoft Mail 2.0 for AppleTalk allows Macs to exchange
mail to PCs and offers third-party gateways for the exchange of mail
files with a wide variety of other mail systems, including IBM PROFS,
X.400, VMS Mail, DEC Message Router/Malibus, MCI Mail, Unix, SMTP,
Applelink, and Wang Office.

Microsoft, which says the product will be shipping in September, works
with any AppleTalk-compatible network, including EtherNet, LocalTalk,
and PhoneNet from Farrallon. Microsoft says the product is extremely
easy to use, isolating the user from the various translation protocols
required to communicate via dissimilar networks.

Key new capabilities include store-and-forward messaging, and better
directory management.

The product will cost $395 for a server version and $125 for each Macintosh
or PC node. A 20-node pack is $1,495.

Microsoft also announced the availability of three Software Development
Kits that will allow third-party vendors to integrate other applications
and mail systems with Microsoft Mail Version 2.0.

Among the third-party gateways currently available include the MCI Gateway;
Alisa Systems' AlisaMail -- a VAX/VMS-based server for Microsoft Mail
as well as a gateway to Digital's VMS Mail and an SQL-based "Information
Switch"; Cayman Systems' GatorMail-M to link Microsoft Mail to the Simple
Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) of most Unix computers; Portland, Oregon-
based Infosphere's Liaison Gateway version 2.1 which automatically
connects the gateway to a remote system at specified connect times.
Solutions, Inc. offers FaxGATE which connects Microsoft Mail to its
BackFAX program. With FaxGATE, any user on a Microsoft Mail network
can send or receive fax messages and only a single modem attached to
a server is required.

(Wendy Woods/19890809/Press Contact: Sarah Charf, Microsoft, 206-882-
8080)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00006)

NEW PRODUCTS AT MACWORLD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- Here is a brief
sample of some of the new products shown at MacWorld.

Connectivity:

Ashton-Tate of Torrance, Ca., announced Clear Access for Full-Impact, a
program which allows users to automatically update reports based on
information resident in Digital Equipment's VAX/VMS and IBM DB2
databases -- $395, shipping now in the U.S. and Canada.

Excelan of San Jose, Ca., has introduced Kinetics FastPath LTR, a gateway
to connect Apple Macs running on LocalTalk to computers and peripherals
connected to a four megabyte-per-second Token Ring network. The
software provides connectivity to up to 32 LocalTalk nodes. Due to
ship in the first quarter of 1990, the product will run $3495.

TOPS, a division of Sun Microsystems, has licenced Symmetry Corporations'
HyperEngine, a developer's tool that will give users of TOPS InBox for the
Macintosh context-sensitive help based on Hypercard stacks.

Databases:

Odesta, Northbrook, Illinois, showed Double Helix 3.0, $595, which supports
Network Innovations' CL/1 connectivity language, which provides access
to Structured Query Language (SQL)-based relational databases on
Digital VAX and IBM VM and MVS platforms. The program also has a
new Hypercard-style user interface and new development tools.

Desktop Publishing and Presentation Tools:

Adobe Systems of Mountain View, Ca., announced Adobe Type Manager which
brings Postscript page description language to Quickdraw printers
such as the ImageWriter and the Hewlett-Packard DeskWriter, and to the
Quickdraw screen display. $99, and ships in October.

Aldus, Seattle, Washington, showed Persuasion 2.0, the latest version of
its presentations toolkit which allows Mac users to create overhead
transparencies, 35 millimeter slides, hand-outs and speaker notes. The
product is $495 and requires a Macintosh with two megabytes of memory
or more and it will be available in the fourth quarter of this year.

Bitstream of Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced MacFontware
Typeface, providing improved type quality on Postscript devices
and support for more printers. Bitstream fonts take advantage of the
text fill routine in the Adobe interpreter as opposed to the graphics
fill routine to provide higher-quality output on devices using a
Postscript interpreter. The product's 10 typeface packages are $169
each and are distributed in the U.S. and 19 foreign countries.

Logitech of Fremont, California, announced Scanman software version 2.0
which offers true gray-scale editing and advanced half-tone capability, in
addition to an enhanced set of general editing features. Slated to
ship "later this year." No price.

Graphics:

Claris is shipping Claris Graphics Translator, a program which allows the
Macintosh to share and import computer-aided design (CAD) drawings with
a wide variety of software platforms. Claris, in Santa Clara, Ca.,
says the program is priced at $299.

Intel Corporation of Santa Clara unveiled its first Macintosh graphics
product, a $4,795 board for the Macintosh II which provides 24-bit
high-resolution graphics. Called Mac'langelo/24, the board allows the
II to display 16.8 million colors simultaneously on a range of monitors.

Miscellaneous:

Microtouch of Wilmington, Massachusetts, is offering the UnMouse, a new
kind of mouse device -- actually a compact, touch-sensitive tablet --
that takes up less desk space than a mouse. The price is $235 and
shipping is taking place now.

Utilities:

Symantec announced SUM II, an upgrade to Symantec Utilities for Macintosh.
SUM II is a set of utilities to recover crashed disks and deleted
files, backup and optimize disks, and provide protection against
viruses and unauthorized access. Shipping this month from the Cupertino,
California-based company, SUM II costs $150.

(Wendy Woods/19890809)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00007)

NEW MAC FILE COMPRESSION: SHORTCUT
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- Shortcut, a new
commercial software product from Raymond Lau, author of Stuffit, was
shown at MacWorld only a few days after it began shipping.

Stuffit is the most popular file compression and archiving software for
the Apple Macintosh. A shareware program, Stuffit often is used to save
file space on national electronic information services and electronic
NEWS boards.

Shortcut provides several functions to increase the usefulness of
Stuffit and to make it easier for users to handle the files on their
hard disks, said officials of Aladdin Systems, Inc., which is selling
the software.

The $79.95 program allows users to find files quickly, even if they
are contained in another file archived by Stuffit. It also allows users
to keep the names of often-used documents in a special list so they can
be retrieved quickly, the company said.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890811/Press Contact: Dave Schargel, Aladdin
Systems, [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00008)

MAC NEWS ON TV
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Come October, the
Macintosh will not simply be a machine for displaying video. The
Macintosh will be on video.

A Colorado company plans to publish Macintosh Video News, a monthly
hour-long video containing news, reviews, tips and other information
about the Macintosh. The videos will have a format similar to the
Entertainment Tonight television show, with a man and a woman
introducing each segment.

Initially, the video service will be available only by subscription.
Later, the publishing company, Macintosh Video News, Inc., plans to sell
the videos in book and computer stores.

Michael R. Starita, company president, told Newsbytes people who have
Macintosh computers also have VCRs because "they're nuts about their toys."

Asked why someone who could read Macintosh magazines would want to
subscribe to the video service, Starita answered, "ever see software work
in a magazine?"

Subscription prices will range from $14.95 an issue for a 12-month
subscription to $17.95 per issue for a three-month subscription,
plus $1.50 handling fee. The subscriptions are available by calling
1-800-MAC-2515.

The videos will be available in several American and European video
formats.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890811/Press Contact: Michael Starita, Macintosh
Video News, [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00009)

MACWORLD: BUSHNELL MIXES TV AND MACS
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Executives of a
new company founded by entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell demonstrated a
product that can display a live television signal in a window on an Apple
Macintosh II screen.

Aaps Corp. executives displayed MicroTV, an add-on board and software
that enables a person with a Macintosh II and a 13-inch monitor to display
a live television signal or video in black-and-white while using another
software program. MicroTV can handle video and VHF television and is
cable ready for 98 channels.

MicroTV also is capable of making a digitized grey-scale image of a
frame of the television signal or video, saving it and pasting it into
another software program.

The regular Macintosh II product displays one small window in a portion
of the screen. An enhanced professional version features two windows,
the second four times as large as the first. The windows can be moved,
but not resized.

Asked why he got involved in developing the product, Bushnell,
Aaps chairman and founder, told Newsbytes, "I've been interested in
multimedia for a long time." Bushnell added he felt the product sold
had to be "a low-cost solution."

The $395 Macintosh II version is due to ship in two months, with the
$595 professional version coming at Christmas. A version for the
Macintosh SE, which will not be able to capture the television images,
is due early next year.

The MicroTV line will not have a product capable of displaying a
television or video signal in color for 18 months.

The prospect of being able to watch television while doing work at the
computer has some future owners worried about what their bosses will
think. An Aaps executive told Newsbytes the most commonly requested
feature is a panic button in which the user can quickly remove the
television window from the screen. The company hasn't decided yet
whether to include one.

One market for the product, said company executives, is training.
A person would be able to play a video on using a product in the
video window and carry out the steps on the application running
alongside. The product also will be useful for creating interactive
video because MicroTV allows the video signal be incorporated into
HyperCard stacks.

Bushnell mentioned another thing MicroTV users could do.

"Watch the Mets."

(Karlynn Carrington/19890811/Press Contact: Tim Leary, Aaps Corp.,
[phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00010)

MACWORLD: TYPESET QUALITY OUTPUT ON LASER PRINTERS
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- LaserMAX Systems
demonstrated a line of plain-paper typesetter products enabling Apple
Macintosh users to produce typeset-quality output on laser printers.

The LaserMAX 1000 printer will enable customers to print 8 1/2 by 11
inch sheets of paper or other material at typeset-quality resolutions.
As a result, proofs on regular typesetting equipment will not be needed,
company executives said.

Also, the LaserMAX products also increase the speed with which text
and graphics can be printed, they said.

LaserMAX employees use the LaserMAX 1000 to produce the company's own
marketing material. For example, a four-sided company brochure was
created by printing the four pages directly onto velum. The velum pages
were spray-mounted onto a board, which was then taken directly to a
printer, company employees told Newsbytes.

The type in a recent LaserMAX ad in MacWeek also was produced on a
LaserMAX, the company said.

The LaserMAX 1000 produces output at either 400 by 400 dots per inch,
or 1,000 by 400 dots per inch, four times the resolution of a normal
Macintosh laser printer, the company said. The LaserMAX 1000 printer
will sell for $7,995.

For persons who do not want to replace their existing LaserWriter
printers, the company will sell the MX6 controllers, add-on equipment
that increases print resolution up to as much as 600 by 300 dots per
inch, depending on the MX6 model. The MX6 controllers will cost from
$2,795 to $5,095, with 2, 4 or 6 megabytes of memory.

The products will be available in late September.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890811/Press Contact: Bruce Butler, LaserMAX
Systems, [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00011)

MACWORLD: JASMINE'S FILESERVER, DEAL WITH FUJITSU
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Jasmine Technologies
has announced an original equipment manufacturer agreement with Fujitsu
in which the Japanese giant will provide Jasmine with high capacity
drives for the U.S. market.

The deal calls for Fujitsu's high-performance 182 and 135 megabyte 3.5-inch
drives to be distributed by Jasmine in a deal worth at least $7
million per year.

At Macworld, meanwhile, Jasmine displayed DirectServe, its file server for
AppleShare networks that enables users to have a file server of Macintosh
II quality at a fraction of the price.

Instead of dedicating an expensive Macintosh II as a file server for
an AppleShare network, a person can buy DirectServe for $1,795,
company officials said. Although DirectServe manages the network,
the customer still must add a hard disk to DirectServe to actually store
the files.

DirectServe comes with 1 megabyte of internal memory, expandable up to
8 megabytes. Up to seven hard disks can be daisy-chained to DirectServe.
The product will begin shipping in a month, the company said.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890811/Press Contact: Chris Inman, Jasmine,
[phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00012)

MACWORLD: WALLABY DEMOS MAC LAPTOP
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Wallaby Systems,
has demonstrated prototypes of its Wallaby Laptop System that will
provide portability and increased power to Macintosh Plus and SE
computers.

By using transferred read only memory (ROM) chips from a Macintosh Plus
or SE, the Wallaby provides a compact, 10-pound portable computer.
Because the ROM stays in the Wallaby, the Macintosh no longer works
independently unless the two computers are linked by cable.

As a result, Wallaby officials see their market as different than that
of the new Apple Computer laptop, which will be introduced Sept. 20.
Wallaby officials told Newsbytes the Wallaby system will be of interest
to the 2 million current owners of Macintosh Plus and SE computers who
want to add functionality to their computers.

When linked, the Wallaby enables the Macintosh to run faster, using
a higher-speed 68000 microprocessor. The Wallaby's backlit,
high-resolution screen will allow its users to view information on both
the Wallaby and the Macintosh screens at the same time.

The Wallaby accepts up to four megabytes of internal system memory.
In addition, a special silicon disk with up to 16 megabytes of memory
will be available. The silicon disk provides additional internal memory,
separate from the computer's main memory, enabling faster execution
of software.

The Wallaby will begin shipping in limited quantities in October or
November, with full shipments beginning in 1990. The prototypes
demonstrated in a hotel meeting room near MacWorld were put together
only a few days before the show -- mainly to show something to
interested corporate executives.

One evident glitch the company is still working to resolve is an
occasional jerkiness to the cursor controlled by ISOPOINT, a rod built
into the keyboard. While the cursor generally moves smoothly when
controlled by the ISOPOINT, it sometimes jerks when being finely
positioned.

The keyboard is totally detachable; signals are sent between the keyboard
and main computer through infrared signals.

Company officials told Newsbytes they have just begun testing the
system's compatibility with applications software. So far, the major
problems encountered have only been with utility software.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890810/Press Contact: Wallaby System, Inc.,
[phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00013)

MACWORLD: PHONENET ADDS ETHERNET
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Farallon Computing
has introduced additions to its PhoneNet line of networking products that
allow customers to add Ethernet connections.

PhoneNet is Farallon's networking system that allows Macintosh users
to link their Macintoshes in a local area network using ordinary
twisted-pair telephone wiring. The PhoneNet system uses the LocalTalk
(originally called AppleTalk) networking standard. However, for some
users, the LocalTalk standard does not provide enough speed.

At the MacWorld press conference, Farallon officials said that providing
the Ethernet capability allows its customers to provide the
higher-speed, higher-cost Ethernet connection only to users who need it,
while using lower-cost LocalTalk connections for everyone else.
As a result, network managers will be able to create cost-effective
networks that meet their needs.

Users who access electronic mail, print and occasionally transfer files
will be content with LocalTalk. Persons who use desktop publishing,
computer-aided design and other scientific or engineering work will
benefit from using Ethernet, according to Larry Jones, network product
manager.

The new products include a $29.95 connector for the LocalTalk
connections, a $195 connector and a $2,495 controller for the Ethernet
connections, and a new version of StarCommand, the network management
software.

StarCommand 2.0 will monitor both the LocalTalk and Ethernet networks
and provide automatic notification of the system manager that there is a
problem on the network.

The LocalTalk connector is available immediately, but the new Ethernet
products and Star Command software upgrade will not be available until
September. StarCommand 2.0 will be provided free with the purchase of
the network controllers, with free upgrades provided to current registered
users.

Farallon has installed more than 750,000 nodes under PhoneNet.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890810/Press Contact: Wendy Keough, Farallon
Computing, Inc., [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00014)

MACWORLD: MARTIN LUTHER KING VIDEODISC
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- ABC News
InterActive will release on Oct. 1 "Martin Luther King Jr.," an interactive
videodisc that allows students to view and analyze ABC video and other
information on the late civil rights activist.

The $395 videodisc, announced at MacWorld, includes the uncut version
of King's I Have a Dream" speech and interviews with other civil rights
activists. The videodisc works with Apple Macintosh computers and
HyperCard software. Students will be able to analyze events in whatever
order they choose. The videodisc features English or Spanish narration
and closed captioning.

The King videodisc is the third in a series from ABC News InterActive
and Optical Data Corp. that uses video from ABC News archives.

At a press conference Wednesday, William E. Lord, vice president of ABC
InterActive, said ABC decided to open its film archives for such products
because contemporary history should be preserved and examined.

"In a sense, we are creating a new learning environment," Lord said.
The videodiscs use the same video as that shown on the network news.
Normally, that video costs $3,500 a minute to use, he said.

While the American public gets a majority of their news from television
networks, less than 2 percent of American children view the news and
even less read magazines and newspapers, Lord said.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890810/Press Contact: Pam Herber, Optical Data
Corp., 201-668-0022)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00015)

MACWORLD: SCULLEY PREVIEWS ANIMATION
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- Apple Computer
has demonstrated a prototype of equipment that enables a Macintosh
computer to run animated images on the Macintosh desktop.

The system, under development by Apple's Advanced Technology Group,
allows a Macintosh to display an animated image running in a regular
Apple window. In the demonstration that was part of a MacWorld keynote
address by Apple Chairman John Sculley, a moving picture of a galloping
horse as well as text were presented in one window. The galloping horse
continued to run uninterrupted as the window scrolled up and down.

Later, Apple showed the Macintosh displaying the horse, a digitized video
image of an Apple employee and a color picture, all moving. Even though
the Macintosh contained only 3 megabytes of random access memory, the
system was able to run images that used 1.6 gigabytes of data by
compressing and decompressing the data as needed "on the fly."

The demonstration was part of Apple's multimedia theme at MacWorld, in
which executives from Apple and third-party companies showed products
that enable Macintosh users to display and mix text, graphics, sound and
video on their computers.

During his keynote speech, Sculley said he saw three areas for multimedia.
One area is presentation tools to enable people to make the "message they
want to communicate more interesting and compelling."

The second area consists of using multimedia as a learning tool so the
learning process is self-directed and very personalized, Sculley said.

Third, Scully said, it can be used for entertainment, to "widen our
experience bandwidth for greater enjoyment.

Another product demonstrated during Sculley's presentation was
"In the Holy Land," an interactive videodisc from ABC News InterActive
and Optical Data Corp. that allows students to explore the Israeli and
Palestinian views on the Middle East conflict.

Using "In the Holy Land," a student could listen, for example, to videos
of Jewish and Palestinian children talking about the conflict. Then,
the student could explore a issue raised by a child in more detail.
For example, when a Jewish child talks about God giving the Holy Land
to them, the student using "In the Holy Land" could call up the citation
from the Bible.

In the Holy Land, as well as Martin Luther King Jr., another interactive
videodisc announced Wednesday by ABC News InterActive, will be
available in October.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890810/Press Contact: Pam Herber, Optical Data
201-668-0022)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00016)

MACWORLD: HARVARD DEMOS CRISIS SOFTWARE
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Corporate
executives often do not learn how to handle a major crisis until they
encounter one. Officials at the John. F. Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University want to change that through a series of
interactive videodisc products announced at MacWorld.

The multimedia packages, which will use an Apple Macintosh, a
videodisc player and a television, will provide crisis management
simulations. The first product is a simulation of the nuclear accident
at Three-Mile Island.

Working from the view point of the director of communications for the
utility company, the simulation has the manager make key decisions about
the crisis, such as how much the public should know and how soon.

Depending on the funding that the project receives for development, the
product may come to market as soon as next January. No pricing has been set.

Jerry Mechling, director of the school's Strategic Computing and
Telecommunications program, noted that airline companies use
simulators to train pilots on handling crises. They don't train the pilots
by crashing planes.

However, general business managers do similar training, even
though businesses undergo major crises, such as the Exxon oil spill and
the Union Carbide industrial accident in India.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890810/Press Contact: Steve Singer, Harvard
University, [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00017)

MACWORLD: NOVA FOR SCHOOLS
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Would you like your
students to follow the migration of a monarch butterfly? Watch a
hummingbird hover? Students will be able to with a new multimedia
educational program called Interactive NOVA: Animal Pathfinders.

The product, which uses an Apple Macintosh, HyperCard software and
a videodisc player, enables students to explore information about
animals. The product from WGBH grew out of the television station's
popular NOVA science series. It was previewed at MacWorld Wednesday
and will be available to schools in September.

While the NOVA series has been highly praised, it has also been
criticized because of the difficulties in incorporating the show into
school curriculum, said Barry Cronin, WGBH's director of telecommunications.

The regular 60-minute NOVA television show is too long for most school
class sessions. Also, the topic of a NOVA show does not necessarily mesh
with the current topic being discussed in the classroom, Cronin said.
With the new interactive product, teachers and students can decide what
information to explore. The product provides text and graphics on the
Macintosh screen, and slides and videos on the videodisc player on
animals, their behaviors and habitats.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890810/Press Contact: Jean Angier, (617) 492
-2777, ext. 2666)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00018)

MACWORLD: MOZART ON CD-ROM
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Music appreciation
is getting a major high-tech boost with Audio Notes, a new series of
combination audio compact disc and compact disc-read only memory
introduced at MacWorld by Warner New Media.

Audio Notes will enable listeners to hear full audio CD versions of
music as well as view annotations and other information about the music.
The first product in the series will be a $66, three-CD package of
Mozart's The Magic Flute, to be released in October.

With that product, a person will be able to witness the entire opera
through audio CD, watch the libretto of the opera in German or English
on a television set, and explore information about the opera on the
Macintosh.

After the debut of The Magic Flute, Warner New Media, a division of
Warner Communications, will release about one such audio CD/CD-ROM
product a month. Recordings being prepared include Stravinsky's The
Rite of Spring, Bach's The Art of the Fugue Beethoven's Seventh
Symphony and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.

Persons featured on the products will include Roger Englander,
producer-writer of the "New York Philharmonic Young People's Concert
with Leonard Bernstein" and prominent musicologists.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890810/Press Contact: Stan Cornyn or Linda
Rich, Warner New Media, [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00019)

MACWORLD: DATAPRO'S MACINTOSH CD-ROM
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Datapro announced
the Datapro Macintosh Consultant, a compact disk read-only memory
database of information on Macintosh products.

The CD-ROM will provide ratings of Macintosh products as determined
by Datapro and its National Software Testing Laboratories; company
profiles and financial information; and buyer's guidelines and other
information.

The information used in the Datapro Macintosh Consultant will come
from Datapro, which is owned by McGraw-Hill Information Services
Company as well as other McGraw-Hill publications such as Business
Week and Byte. Standard & Poor business information also will be used.

Richard Peck, Datapro vice president, said the product will take
Datapro's business-oriented market and expand it to the government and
education markets and Macintosh enthusiasts.

The Datapro Macintosh Consultant will be published quarterly beginning
in October. It will cost $249 for a single installment or $899 annually
and require at least a Macintosh Plus with Apple-compatible CD-ROM reader.

(Karlynn Carrington/19890810/Press Contact: Raymond DeAngelo or
Luciana Borbely, McGraw-Hill Information Services Co., [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(WAS)(00020)

NEW MAC GOFER FROM MICROLYTICS
PITTSFORD, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Microlytics has
announced Gofer 2.0, a text search program for the Macintosh, which the
company says is 50 percent faster than the previous version.

Gofer 2.0 can do keyword searching in the background with or without
Multifinder, something its current version cannot do. There is also a new
wild card option, a search-set function, and support for additional
software packages.

Priced at $79.95, ($25 to registered users), version 2.0 also supports a
number of new file formats, including MacWrite, Word, Pagemaker,
and WordPerfect in addition to Fullwrite, MacWrite II, Word 4.0, and
Microsoft Works.

Unlike file managers, GOfer actually searches disks for strings
of text and numbers, and, unlike most such programs, it does not
require any pre-indexing, file conversion, or other changes to
existing files.

(John McCormick & Wendy Woods/19890810/Press Contact: Mike
Riedlinger of Microlytics, 716-248-9150)


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

3-D GRAPHICS ON MAC
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Strata of
George, Utah chose the MacWorld venue to announce StrataVision
3d, a three dimensional graphics program that works with 32-bit
Color QuickDraw. With this program, users can create their own
graphics and add them to a database or import graphics.

The program uses "extrusion" to push a two dimensional
graphic through space to create a 3-dimensional object.
SpectaVision 3d offers six rendering modes. It imports DXF,
EGES, Super 3D, Swivel 3D, PICT, Encapsulated Postscript and
MiniCAD+ files. It exports PICT and TIFF.

SpectraVision 3d can run on Mac II, IIx, IIcx or an SE/30
with 2 megabytes of RAM, a hard disk, System 6.0.3 and 32-bit Color
Quickdraw. The program is priced at $495. The attribute library
costs $89 and the object library, $150.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Strata, 801-628-5218)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00022)

DAYNANET LAN O/S SHIPS
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Dayna
Communications has announced shipment of its DaynaNET local area
network (LAN) operating system (O/S) for Macintosh and mixed
Mac/PC workgroups.

DaynaNET consists of a server-based operating system and a
DaynaTALK PC network interface card and is priced at $1,249.
DaynaNet is a specially adapted version of Novell's NetWare
operating system and contains the latest Macintosh Value-Added
Processes developed and tested by Dayna that allow NetWare to
support Mac workstations. The operating system also includes a
sophisticated security system and advanced print services,
including print queues, spooling and support of non-AppleTalk
printers.

Using an IBM AT or compatible as a central server, DaynaNET
offers print and file services to as many as 100 concurrent Mac
and PC users over LocalTalk and compatible cable systems.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: David Pascoe, Dayna
Communications, 801-531-0600)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00023)

MACMATRIX LINKS MACS & TOSHIBA PRINTERS
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Toshiba America
Information Systems has announced a new software program called
MacMatrix that allows Mac users to interface with Toshiba's 24-
pin letter quality, high resolution printers.

MacMatrix retails for $49. It comes in a kit complete with
disk, cable and manual. With MacMatrix, Toshiba's SL and SX
printers can be used with Mac Plus, SE, SE/30, II, IIcx or IIx
with System 6 or later. MacMatrix supports sheet-feeders,
envelope feeders and color printing.

The only Mac system requirements for using MacMatrix are one
megabyte RAM minimum and at least 800K free space on the Macintosh
hard disk.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Chuck Stegmeir, Les
Goldberg Public Relations, 714-730-4774)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(00024)

ADOBE TYPE MANAGER READIED FOR EURO-LAUNCH
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- In the wake of the U.S.
chip set of its new Type Manager product at last week's MacWorld
Expo in Boston, Adobe Systems Europe has announced plans to
launch the $99 package in Europe at the International Desktop
Publishing Show (London 4/6 October, 1989).

U.K. and European pricing on the package, which ships in the U.S.
from this October onwards, has not yet been decided. The package
seems likely to price it at around the UKP 79 mark, according to
informed sources.

Adobe Type Manager makes Adobe's scalable font technology
available to software developers and end users. Using Adobe's
outline fonts to generate characters on-screen, the software can
create characters on any computer screen at any size.

(Steve Gold/19890812/Press Contact: Evelyn Ness MPR Leedex Group
- Tel:[phone]; Public Contact: Ingrid van Rossum, Adobe
Systems Europe - Tel: (Netherlands) 020-575-3193)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(TOR)(00025)

APPLE CANADA GOES SHOPPING
MARKHAM, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Apple Canada is
setting up a Strategic Procurement Office to buy Canadian-made
products and technologies for its parent company's worldwide
operations. Located at Apple's Canadian headquarters in this
Toronto suburb, the new office will coordinate procurement
requirements with Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Apple Canada also announced it will incorporate the 1.4-megabyte
Apple FDHD SuperDrive into all Macintosh SE personal computers,
and said it is reducing prices on all configurations by more than
C$400, effective immediately. An SE with one megabyte of memory,
20-megabyte internal hard disk and one SuperDrive will cost
C$5,058, and a two-megabyte model with 40-megabyte hard drive and
SuperDrive will go for C$5,937. Apple said current SE owners will
be able to buy a SuperDrive upgrade kit in the fall.

(Grant Buckler/19890810/Press Contact: Apple Canada Media
Relations, 416-477-5539)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(TOR)(00026)

ULTRAMAX LINKS MACS/IBMS
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Newbridge
Microsystems unveiled additions to its Ultramax family of
Macintosh enhancements, and its parent company Newbridge Networks
announced software and hardware to let Macs communicate with IBM
PCs.

At the MacWorld show in Boston August 9-12, Newbridge Networks
introduced EasyStreet Net/Mac, a hardware and software networking
system that can link Macintoshes, PCs and serial peripherals. The
package includes pop-up desktop accessory software for the
Macintosh, and works over a Newbridge MainStreet data controller.
The network connects to the serial ports. An introductory package
containing all necessary hardware to connect eight devices,
called PC-Mac, sells for C$995.

Newbridge Microsystems introduced the Ultramax NM400WD and
NM800WD external write-once-read-many (WORM) optical drives. The
company also announced the NM400RWD and NM800RWD read-write
optical drives. The NM400WD and NM400RWD hold 400 megabytes of
data; the NM800WD and NM800RWD hold 800 megabytes. The NM400WD
and NM800WD sell for C$3,500 and C$5,500 respectively, and are
available now. The read-write versions will be priced at
approximately C$4,500 and C$6,500, and are not yet ready to ship.

(Grant Buckler/19890810/Press Contact: Lyman Gibson, Newbridge
Networks, 613-591-3600)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00001)

COMMODORE LOSES $8.9 MILLION
WEST CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Commodore
International has announced a loss of $8.9 million for the fourth quarter
on sales of $180.3 million. For the same period last year, the company
showed a profit of $12.2 million, on sales of $215.2 million.

Company spokesmen say the poor results are due to the strong U.S.
dollar and high interest rates in Australia, an important market
for Commodore's computers. They also report that Commodore
expects to show a profit in the next quarter.

In other Commodore news, Willie Scheiwiller, until recently the
sales manager at Industrade, an Apple distributor, has been
appointed general manager of Commodore International's Swiss
Division as part of a move to strengthen Commodore sales in
Europe.

(John McCormick/1989089/Press Contact: Gary Fishmann, 212-661-
1830)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00002)

COMMODORE UK IN THE BLACK
MAIDENHEAD, ENGLAND, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- In the wake of
disappointing fourth quarter results from its parent company in
the U.S., Commodore UK has revealed that it is trading in profit.
In a statement issued last week, Commodore U.K. said that it will
not be reporting any fourth quarter losses.

The statement said that "The quality and experience of the people
currently recruited will assure the success of Commodore's push
into the corporate market-place. CBM UK anticipates a modest
profit on UKP 46 million turnover for the 1989 fiscal year
ending June 30th (1989)."

During the quarter to 30 June, 1989, Commodore posted a loss of
$10.1 million on sales of $180.3 million. The figures compare
with profits of $12.2 million on sales of $215.2 million for
the same period last year. The financial blip has been blamed
on the volatility of the dollar, coupled with a general
softening in certain markets.

(Steve Gold/19890812/Press Contact: Tim Rafferty, Spire
Communications - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SIN)(00003)

TAIWAN INVESTS IN U.S. HANDWRITER
TAIWAN, CHINA, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- Behavior Technology Computers
Corporation (BTC) has committed US$1 million to Communications
Intelligence Corporation (CIC) of California in the U.S. to jointly develop
a Chinese character input method for CIC's artificial intelligence-
programmed Handwriter input system.

BTC paid US$250,000 on signing of the agreement which also
includes manufacturing and distribution rights for Taiwan. The
balance will be paid in installments over the next few months.

CIC's Handwriter is well established in Japan, with more than
2,000 units installed, including many at All Nippon Airways which
uses the Handwriter for the direct input of handwritten
Japanese language. Licence arrangements in Japan include Seiko,
Mitsubishi and C-Itoh.

James Dao, CEO and founder of CIC, says: "The BTC association
will assist us to further expand our operations in Asia where
the market for idiomatic language input is a severe barrier to
the satisfactory implementation of computer systems. The Korean
and Thai languages will be next on the list. We are actively
pursuing partners and distributors in both those countries. In
addition we have been speaking with prospective partners in
Hongkong and Singapore."

CIC was formed in 1982 when SRI transferred artificial
intelligence signature recognition technology to the
corporation. At the time SRI took an equity position with CIC,
This was the first private equity position ever taken by SRI
and it still retains that position.

Recent visits by James Dao and other executives to Hongkong and
other parts of the Asian region have attracted a great deal of
attention both by manufacturers and investors who are
understood to be clamoring to be involved.

One interested Hongkong manufacturer, John Beukema of Westpac
Technology (HK), said, "If you consider that there are an
estimated 100 million PCs installed throughout the world, and
that this product will attach to any of them, the potential
market is enormous. In this part of the world, simple things
like form-filling at government departments would be a vast
market."

(Keith Cameron/19890811)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00004)

ELECTRONIC ARTS TO GO PUBLIC
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Electronic Arts,
a maker of productivity and entertainment software, has filed to make
an initial public offering of 1.94 million shares of common stock.
The offering price is expected to be between $8 and $10 and will
be underwritten by Alex Brown and Sons, and Paine Webber.

The company says it plans to use the money for working capital and
general corporate purposes. A prospectus can be obtained from the
offices of Alex Brown and Sons, 135 East Baltimore St., Baltimore,
Maryland, 21202 or Paine WEbber, 1285 Avenue of the Americas,
New York, N.Y. 10019.

(Wendy Woods/19890809)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00005)

WANG PRESIDENT RESIGNS
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- At a special
meeting of the board, Frederic Wang, president and chief operating
officer of Wang Laboratories and son of founder An Wang, chairman
and chief executive officer, resigned effective immediately.

The board of directors accepted the resignation and appointed
Harry Chou, vice chairman and director, as acting president and
chief operating officer. The board also appointed Peter Brooke,
Louis Cabot, and Mr. Chou to a search committee charged with
finding a permanent president and COO.

Frederic Wang, who presided over the company for the past three
years, a time which saw Wang Labs pile up losses totaling more
than $400 million dollars, will remain on the board of directors.

In other Wang Laboratories news, Dr. An Wang, the founder of Wang
Labs, returned to work on a part-time basis as of Monday, after
having surgery for cancer of the esophagus last month.

On Thursday, August 10, Dr. Wang announced that negotiations with
banks over its revolving credit agreements have resulted in their
extension until August 15.

(John McCormick/19890810/Press Contact: Paul Henning, 508-
967-1090)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00006)

GRUMMAN/SINGAPORE CONNECTION
BETHPAGE, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- SCS-Grumman
Computer Systems PTE, Ltd., a new joint venture company formed to
market systems integration services in the Pacific Rim area, has
been formed by Grumman Data Systems and Singapore Computer
Systems, Ltd.

The new venture will provide computer-aided design and
manufacturing (CAD/CAM) and supercomputer networks.

(John McCormick/19890810/Press Contact: Frank Weghorn of Grumman,
516-682-8631)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00007)

NEW EXEC VP AT GENICOM
WAYNEBORO, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Genicom
Corporation, a manufacturer of daisy-wheel, dot-matrix, line and
laser printers founded in 1983, has named Kenneth E. Hendrickson
as executive vice president and president of the Printer Products
Division.

Mr. Hendrickson was formerly with Control Data and spent 18 years
at IBM.

(John McCormick/19890811/Press Contact: Ron Dresner, Eisner,
Petrou & Assoc., 301-685-3390)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00008)

NEW BECHTEL VP NAMED
ACTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- A.B. Cleveland, a
Bechtel Fellow, and deputy manager of automation technology, has been
appointed a new vice president of Bechtel Software. He will remain at the
 Gaithersburg, Maryland office of the Bechtel Corporation, but will provide
technological direction and strategy for the company.

Bechtel software has recently expanded into the expert system and
Unix software fields.

(John McCormick/1989811/Press Contact: Linda Johnson of Bechtel
Software, 508-635-0580)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00009)

CULLINET SHAREHOLDER MEETING SET
WESTWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Cullinet
Software, which is planning to merge with Computer Associates,
has called for a shareholder on September 12, 1989 to consider
the proposed merger.

(John McCormick/1989811/Press Contact: Michael J. Greeley,
Cullinet, 617-329-7700)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(WAS)(00010)

XEROX STOCK BUYBACK ENDS
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Xerox
Corporation has announced the results of its stock buyback
program which was aimed at reducing the number of outstanding
shares to offset new shares available through an ESOP or Employee
Stock Ownership Program.

As of the deadline of midnight Monday night, Xerox has bought
11.5 million, or about 11 percent, of its own shares at $68 per
share. The closing price for Xerox shares on the New York Stock
Exchange Monday was 67 5/8, or $65.625 per share.

(John McCormick/1989087/Press Contact: Thomas C. Abbott, 203-
968-3378)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(ATL)(00011)

IMPRIMIS INKS MAJOR SUN DEAL
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A, 1989 AUG 4 (NB) -- Imprimis
Technology, in the process of being sold by Control Data to
Seagate Technologies, will deliver more than $100 million in eight-inch
disk drives to Sun Microsystems for use in Sun's new SPARC and Sun-3
desktop and server products. It's the first major deal for Imprimis
since Control Data sold it a month ago.

The three-year agreement primarily covers the Sabre family of
8-inch disk drives. Sun will integrate the Storage Module Device
and Intelligent Peripheral Interface versions of the Sabre disks
into its deskside and server systems. Sun is also using the
company's Wren IV 5.25-inch drives in various other products.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Constance Fukuda,
Imprimis Technology, 612-936-6267)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00012)

TANDON'S 2ND QTR, 1ST HALF REPORT
MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 4 (NB) -- Tandon has
reported its financial results for the second quarter and first
half of 1989.

For the quarter, net sales and other income amounted to
$97,698,000 representing a 20 percent increase over the
$81,138,000 reported for the same period a year ago. Eighty-six
percent of total revenues were acquired in Europe.

The company reported a loss for the current period of
$1,990,000 (3 cents per share) as compared with a profit of
$6,014,000 (10 cents per share) last year. The loss was
attributed to changes in foreign exchange rates.

The company indicated that future financial results could be
impacted favorably or unfavorably depending on what happens to
the dollar in worldwide currency exchange.

For the first half of the year, net sales and other income
totalled $190,385,000, an 18 percent increase over the $161,460,000
recorded for the first half of 1988. The company reported a loss
of $11,853,000 (19 cents per share) during the first six months
of 1989 compared with a $13,173,000 (22 cents per share) profit
for the same last year. This loss included an accrual in the
first quarter of approximately $5 million for expenses connected
with restructuring the company's US operations and was also a
result of the currency exchange rates.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Ranjit Sitlani, Tandon,
805/523-0340)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00013)

WESTERN DIGITAL LICENSES ETHERCARD PLUS
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Western Digital
has announced the licensing of its EtherCard PLUS design and
software to Chipcom Corporation for use in that company's
ORnet/PC fiber Ethernet Adapter Card.

Included is Western Digital's new Ethernet chip set and
rights to its SuperDisk which provides software drivers for all
major network operating systems.

The combination of Chipcom's fiber optic technology with
Western Digital's Ethernet design reduces the cost of connecting
a PC to fiber optic networks by eliminating the external
transceiver and PC interconnection cable.

Ethernet local area networks are implemented using twisted
pair telephone wire, coaxial cable or fiber optic cable. Western
Digital provides Ethernet products for the first two connections
and with this licensing agreement the benefits of Western
Digital's designs will be available for fiber optic connections.
Fiber optics are currently preferred for use in campus-wide
networks, high security applications, and to provide an
integration path to 100 megabits per second distributed data
interface (FDDI) networks.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contacts: Lynda Orban, Western
Digital, 714-757-4234; Pamela Herbert, Chipcom, 617-890-6844)


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

STERLING BUYS CANADIAN ZANTHE
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Sterling Software
has completed the buy-out of Zanthe Information, a software
development company located in Ottawa, Canada.

The Canadian company will become Zanthe Systems Division of
Sterling's Systems Software Group. Zanthe's leading product, ZIM
is a comprehensive application development tool for users of
relational database management systems. This product will
complement and expand Sterling's current range of advanced
applications development products.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Ray Hannon, Sterling
Software, 214-891-8600)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00015)

PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS SOLD TO HAYES
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Practical
Peripherals has been sold to Hayes Microcomputer Products of Atlanta.
Both companies are makers of modem devices.

Practical Peripherals will continue to operate as a wholly-
owned subsidiary of Hayes and its current management will remain
in place. Practical Peripherals will be known by its own name as
a separate corporation with "A Hayes Company" added. The company
will remain in its California location and continue product
development activities at that location.

Financial terms of this agreement are being kept
confidential. As part of the acquisition, Hayes and Practical
Peripherals have settled litigation pertaining to the Modem with
Improved Escape Sequence patent issued to Hayes in 1985.

The acquisition of Practical Peripherals gives Hayes an
entre into the lower-end, price sensitive part of the modem
market.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Debbie Lacy, Lloyd &
Clark Marketing and Communications/818-990-1235)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00016)

MAI TOSSES IN TOWEL
TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- MAI Basic Four
has allowed its tender offer for Prime Computer to expire.

The offer expired by its own terms because Prime's annual
stockholder's meeting at which MAI candidates for election to the
board of directors were to have stood for office was not held as
had been previously scheduled. The meeting has now been pushed
back to August 24.

The Prime board of directors has recommended accepting a
"white knight" offer received from J.H. Whitney, a New York
venture capital firm. During the past week, Whitney lowered its
offer though it remained economically superior to the MAI offer.
The action was taken after Whitney's lenders withdrew support
after Prime announced an $18.9 million dollar second quarter
loss.

Both companies have been hurt by the prolonged struggle.
Prime spent more than $38 million defending itself. MAI has not
disclosed the extent of the money it spent on the takeover
attempt. Analysts believe MAI will write off these expenses over
the next two quarters.

It's not completely over. MAI Chairman Bennett S. LeBow, a
New York-based investor (43 percent of MAI's outstanding stock, 2
percent of Prime's) plans to continue his personal fight to gain
control of Prime's board at that company's annual meeting.
Should he win, he plans to sell Prime's minicomputer business.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Peter Rosenthal, Howard
J. Rubenstein Associates, 212-489-6900)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00017)

EECO POSTS 2ND QTR LOSS
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 -- EECO lost $3.2
million in the second quarter. Most of the loss was attributed
to the company's ailing keyboard division.

Operating loss for the quarter totaled $3.9 million but part
of the deficit was offset by the proceeds from the sale of
several divisions. EECO has shown a loss of $166,000 for the
same period a year ago. Revenue was down 6 percent to $13.8
million.

EECO has finalized the sale of its former avionics division
receiving $11 million in cash and a $2 million note. This money
is earmarked for use in paying a bank debt. The company expects
the problems in the computer keyboard division to continue
indefinitely.

For the first half of the year, EECO had a $5.7 million
operating loss, a net loss of $4.7 million and revenue of $27.4
million. In the first half of 1988, EECO lost $366,000 on
revenues of $31.2 million.

In related news, a group of Minnesota investors who control
5.5 percent of EECO have revealed that talks have been held with
a computer equipment manufacturer about a possible sale. The
investor group, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, indicated that it would be monitoring the company's
operation and might seek, at some future date, a more active
interest in the management of the company.

Also, ECI, an EECO subsidiary, has received $1 million in
orders for its hotel property management computer systems from
three major hotel groups including the Sheraton Washington
(Washington, DC), the Helmsley Hotels (New York) and the Walter
Company's Hilton Hotel in Palm Springs, CA. Delivery and
installation began in July.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Jeff Swartz, Daly-
Swartz Public Relations, 714-361-6888)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BRU)(00018)

SIEMENS CLINCHES PRESSFAX DEAL
ISTANBUL, TURKEY, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Siemens affiliate Rudolf
Hell GmbH has secured a $2.25 million contract with a Turkish
newspaper group. Terms of the contract call for Hell to deliver
14 Pressfax systems.

Veb Holding of Istanbul, Turkey, will operate the Pressfax to
send complete newspaper pages over the telephone network to its
hard-to-reach printing offices to assure fast delivery of
news in Turkey, a country not noted for its strong communications
links. Using state-of-the-art technology, daily newspapers such
as Gunaydin and Tan will be published regularly at seven points
within Turkey, as well as in Frankfurt, West Germany where there
is a large community of Turkish immigrant workers.

(Eric Dauchy/19890811)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00019)

AUS'LIAN UPSTART HYPERTEC'S GROWTH
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- Hypertec, Australia's only
designer and builder of large memory boards and accelerator boards for
the PC market has reported sales of AUS$5.8million for the year ended
June 1989 -- a $1.5 million increase on the previous year.

Managing Director David Cunneen said that much of Hypertec's market
success had been gained at the expense of imported products from the
US and Taiwan. Hypertec estimates turnover for the 1989-90 Australian
financial year will exceed AUS$10 million, with a large portion coming
from the UK where Hypertec has established a subsidiary company and
office.

Hypertec hopes to make further inroads into the international memory
board market with a new range of memory boards that have been improved
with the help of a locally developed application specific integrated
circuit.

(Gavin Atkins/19890807/Press Contact: David Cunneen, (61-2)8161211)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00020)

AUS PROFIT FOR ASHTON-TATE
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Ashton Tate's Australian arm has
reported an increase in profits and a 128 percent rise in revenue
despite its parent firm's recent losses.

A spokesman for Ashton-Tate in Australia said the profit had been made
with increasing numbers of staff and greater investment in the
marketplace. He said the low dBASE IV sales had only a marginal impact
on Australian operations.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19890808)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00021)

ARCHE SETS SIGHTS DOWN UNDER
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 3 (NB) -- The American PC manufacturer
Arche technologies says it wants 10 to 15 per cent of the high end
Australian corporate and government PC market.

It is spearheading its offensive with a two-year equipment warranty
and overnight delivery of all equipment to dealers throughout
Australia. Already, Arche claim to be on the brink of securing several
major corporate orders for its dealers, and plans to open offices in
Brisbane and Perth within three months.

(Gavin Atkins/19890809)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00022)

AUS: EPSON NOW RENTS
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Through its existing dealer
network, Epson Australia is now offering rental and leasing schemes
for purchasers of its equipment.

Strategic Marketing Manager Tim King told Newsbytes that rental
schemes had become very popular in Australia because all costs are
directly tax deductible. "Also, our users aren't committed to
equipment which falls behind their needs. They can change equipment
after 12 months."

In offering these purchase methods, Epson is joining other large PC
distributors like IBM and NEC who have offered these schemes for more
than a year. In general, these schemes are operated by third-party
finance companies.

(Paul Zucker/19890811/Press Contact: Mariko Marton ph. 61-2-4525222)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00023)

STM OFFER COMPLETED
MARKHAM, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- Semi-Tech
Microelectronics has announced that its Far East subsidiary Semi-
Tech Microelectronics (Far East) has completed an open offer
dated August 1, raising C$60 million in new equity in the process.
As part of the offer, the parent company has capitalized a
previous cash advance to its subsidiary.

Semi-Tech also announced a joint venture between SSMC Inc., the
Delaware company it bought earlier this year, and Berjaya Corp.
of Malaysia. The joint venture will manufacture sewing machines
under the Singer name, to which SSMC, a former subsidiary of
Singer, held the rights. Berjaya bid against Semi-Tech for SSMC.

(Grant Buckler/19890810/Press Contact: Michael List, Semi-Tech,
416-475-2670)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00024)

CD-ROM PUBLISHERS LINK
HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 AUG 4 (NB) -- The Canadian Centre
for Occupational Health and Safety, based here, has signed a deal
with Chemron Inc. of San Antonio, Tex., under which the two CD-
ROM publishers will promote each other's compact disks. Chemron
publishes ChemLink, a data base on fine chemicals, and CCOHS
publishes CCINFOdisc, a set of three disks containing databases
on chemicals and other occupational health and safety topics.

CCOHS also announced a local-area network utility to allow
CCINFOdisc to be shared on a LAN. The system allows four disks to
be in use at a time with up to four users reading each one
without noticeably increasing response time, CCOHS said.

(Grant Buckler/19890810/Press Contact: David Cohen, CCOHS, 416-
572-2981)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00025)

SYSTEMHOUSE FILES PUBLIC OFFERING
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- SHL Systemhouse has
filed a final prospectus for a rights offering expected to raise
about C$116 million. Each holder of common shares will receive
one right for each share held as of August 17. Five rights
entitle the holder to buy two common shares at C$11 per share.
The stock closed at C$11 per share on the Toronto Stock Exchange
August 9.

Kinburn Technology, also of Ottawa, will maintain its 50.1-
percent ownership of Systemhouse by purchasing the 5.37 million
common shares for which it will be issued rights. BCE Inc. of
Montreal, parent company of Northern Telecom and Bell Canada, has
agreed to purchase all common shares not taken up under the
rights offering, and has said it may also acquire rights on the
open market. Though it has a significant stake in Systemhouse,
BCE does not currently own any common shares. The rights will be
traded on the Montreal and Toronto stock exchanges and on the
NASDAQ over-the-counter system in the United States beginning
August 11. They will expire September 7.

(Grant Buckler/19890810/Press Contact: Roderick Bryden,
Systemhouse, 613-236-9734)


(EXCLUSIVE)(GENERAL)(BRU)(00001)

HACKERS PARTY HELD IN AMSTERDAM
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- For three days,
Amsterdam's Club Paradiso was a paradise on earth for hackers.
From the second until the 4th of August, it was the venue of the
eloquently named Galactic Hacker Party & ICATA '89, organised by
the Dutch hackers magazine Hack-Tic ('the magazine for techno-
anarchists').

Hundreds of hackers, with more than a sprinkling of journalists
and policemen amongst them, thronged Paradiso's main hall, but
the 'holy grail' room -- the hacker's ante-chamber -- was upstairs.

No photographing or taping allowed but there were plenty of
telephone lines for some DIY-hacking. International attendance
was good, with representatives from the German Computer Chaos
Club and the American 2600 Magazine, to name but a few. Those not
present in body were at least present in spirit through worldwide
electronic links.

"To hack or not to hack," was a major question against a
background of growing legal restrictions -- hacking will become a
criminal act in the Netherlands in only a couple of months,
this being one of the reasons why the party was held in this
country. The recent KGB/hackers link was another subject for
heated debates, with one of the culprits accused of defaming the
hackers' collective reputation (Wau Holland vs. Pengo).

Indeed, organizer Rop Gonggrijp stressed the basically non-
destructive philosophy of hackers. "Hacking is a disrespectful
use of (somebody else's) technology while respecting the person
whose tool it is," he said. He also referred to the hacker's role
as a gamekeeper, drawing EDP manager's attention to potentially
dangerous weaknesses in their systems.

One idea above all was considered vital by all hackers present:
information is free and freedom is an unobstructed access to
information and to the means for communicating this information.
This fundamental right figured prominently in the final 'declaration'
as of the very first draft, a freedom of communication that was
dramatically illustrated by the Amsterdam-Moscow link through the San
Francisco/Moscow Teleport, master-minded by the illustrious Captain
Crunch, better known as John Draper.

Gonggrijp also stressed the importance of hackers in the creative
use of information technology for the good of society. That
explains the ICATA (International Conference on the Alternative
Use of Technology) side of the event, as exemplified by Lee
Felsenstein and his Community Memory project. In a keynote
speech he stressed the importance of the 'secondary information' --
knowing whom to send the information to -- as against the
'primary information' -- the content of the message. Good
secondary information allows for the use of information systems
to create communities based on common interests, rather than
geographical locations, while retaining all possibilities for a
good horizontal/democratic rather than vertical/hierarchic
communication.

Other examples of alternative applications were proposed in
workshops and discussions concerning citizen networks, a balanced
flow of information, computer literacy amongst others.
Felsenstein introduced his 'cyberpunk space' concept for the
creation of an environment in which programmers can follow up on
their wildest dreams without the restraints of the present
commercial software scene. "The biggest change in the past ten
years? The 'Sovietization' of the software companies -- their
becoming almost like state companies," he mused.

There even was a workshop on Computers and Ecology, with some
startling figures concerning computer waste -- that is, wasted
computers. "According to a government sponsored study, this
mountain of discarded computers would weigh in at 4 to 8 million
kilograms a year," stated Theo Lambs of The Friends of the
Earth. Furthermore, an inexpert destruction of this waste could
result in the emission of such toxic wastes as dioxin and CFC's.

Another 'toxic waste' product under discussion was computer
viruses. Allan Lundell presented his latest book on this subject,
Virus!, with the facts behind the rumours and some interesting
insights in the probable personality of virus builders.

"Spread the knowledge of how to build viruses until their
construction and release in the community won't add to the
prestige of the builder," would appear to be his conclusion or "if
it doesn't appeal to their ego, they won't do it." Releasing
viruses in the community seems to be the key element. Indeed,
whilst condemning the spreading of viruses, quite a few hackers
nevertheless expressed respect for a well-hacked virus and there
even was some discussion concerning positive virus-like
applications.

Whether classed as crypto-criminals or anarcho-guardians of
democracy, the Galactic Hacker Party clearly showed that the hacker
community has reached a turning point in its history. The result
of the current hacker evolution is not clear yet, and a
'cyberpunk society a la William Gibson' is still considered to be
one of the possibilities. Felsenstein however clearly drew
everybody's attention to the unique opportunities of today's
technos to apply their expertise for the good of society.

(Peter Vekinis, Guy Kindermans & Eric Dauchy/19890811)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SIN)(00002)

PIRATE SOFTWARE THRIVES IN HONGKONG
HONG KONG, ASIA, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- Industry professionals have long
complained that the local distributors of PC software packages
are providing very poor service and support. A change may be
on the way.

Complaints of charlatanism by distributors finally found the
ears of Software Publishing Corporation which reacted swiftly and
appointed new distributors in Hongkong.

Software buyers in the U.S. may be surprised to learn that,
despite all the theories to the contrary, PC software in
Hongkong and the region is generally offered at ridiculously
high prices, often exceeding U.S. recommended list. Upgrade discounts
are either blatantly refused or actively discouraged by authorized
distributors. The education offerings which are accepted as the
norm in the U.S. are also ignored by local distributors who try and
sell at full price or near it to the institutions.

It is easy to see why the dreaded pirate has a market. Despite
government crackdowns in Hongkong, software pirates have
gone underground and now offer an order and delivery service
rather than present software at retail shops.

The man who sold the first computer in Hongkong in 1963, Mr.
A.F.M. Conway, sums up the situation, " The U.S. software
publishers must come to Hongkong and other locations in the
region. They must spend some time investigating the true
situation independently of their appointed distributors. If
they do that, hardly any would retain the distributors presently
appointed."

Another well-known industry personality, Norman Wingrove, is
much firmer. "The pirates offer a better service. They support
their customers and they know what they are talking about.
Most of them would make better distributors for the publishers
than the ones that have been chosen.

"No serious buyer will install pirated software to run his or
her business, but there is no way to obtain a reasonable demo
from the authorized distributors, so the pirates get the
business initially.

"It is absolutely ludicrous that it is far cheaper and much
faster to order software by mail order from the U.S. than it is
to buy it locally. It seems that U.S. publishers have no idea of
the support necessary in an international market when it comes
to inventories and availability of services."

(Keith Cameron/19890810)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00003)

DOWN UNDER CD-ROM YELLOW PAGES
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- Sydney-based Read Only
Memory has released its latest database-on-CD product. "Australia On
Disc 2" contains all names, addresses and phone numbers contained in
the telephone books of all Australian capital cities.

Far from being a cooperative effort with Telecom Australia, every
entry was read in from printed pages, by United Directory Services.
The package consists of two disks - one from the standard phone books
and one from the Yellow Pages classified directories.

At AUS$2000 for the two disks, the manufacturer points out that it is
slightly more expensive than free phone directories. Offsetting this
is the ability to quickly target any given group of businesses or
people. Text searching and retrieval software supplied with the disks
enables searches like "All watchmakers in Wagga Wagga" or "All Wilsons
in Woolloomooloo" to be done in seconds.

(Paul Zucker/19890811/Press Contact: 61-2-6981525)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00004)

TOOLKIT FOR LAPTOP TRAVELLERS
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Computer
Products Plus (CP+) has recently released the Road Warrior and
Delux Road Warrior Toolkits for travellers who run into problems
hooking up their laptops to phone systems when they travel.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Marketing Director Wendy
Clifford explained that CP+ seeks to increase the productivity of
laptop computers and their users beyond traditional limits by
offering productivity enhancement accessories and reliable expert
service.

The toolkits will work with any laptop computer although
they have been designed for the Toshiba line. The Toolkit is a
compact travel pouch with all the necessary tools, adaptors and
instructions to hook up a modem to almost any US hotel or
commercial phone system. Clifford told Newsbytes that
international versions are in the works.

The detailed instructions that come with the kit include
scenarios on several types of connections ranging from a simple
Y-connector to hooking alligator clips under a wall plate. The
kit even has a lighted magnifier for seeing phone connections in
dark corners and behind hotel beds.

The deluxe kit contains the CP+ Connector that avoids the
need for dedicated modem lines when connecting to a digital PBX
phone system. A three minute installation allows the phone to be
used for both voice and data.

The Road Warrior Toolkit lists for $49.95 while the Deluxe
Road Warrior Kit sells for $ 139.95. CP+ Connectors are
available separately for $99.00 each.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Jerry Kalman, Kalman
Communications, 213-829-5664)


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

GOOD NEWS FOR CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME SUFFERERS
NOVATO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 1 (NB) -- Sunflex, the folks
that bring you devices to shield glare and radiation from your monitor,
now have a product to protect your wrist. Wrist Relief is a device
which holds any computer or word processor keyboard while
providing support for the operator's hands in the "doctor-recommended
straight position," according to the company.

Sunflex created Wrist Relief to meet the needs of an increasing
population of the typing-wounded -- those with tenosynovitis,
tendonitis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and other musculoskeletal
problems. The product is $40 from Sunflex directly. Call 415-883-
1221 to order.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is the most common keyboard-related
ailment, induced when computer operators type for hours a day using
repetitive wrist and finger motions without proper support. The
symptoms of nerve damage resulting from this conditions are tingling
or numb fingers, pain in the thumb, index, or middle finger, and aching
or weakness in one or both arms. Severe CTS is said to be corrected
only by surgery.

(Wendy Woods/19890809/Press Contact: Pat Lucas, Sunflex: above
number, extension 315)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00006)

GEORGE MORROW KEYNOTES PORTABLE SHOW
FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- Laptop
computer pioneer George Morrow is slated to keynote Portable Computing
Fall '89, which will take place September 27-28 at the Marriott Marquis
in New York City.

Best known for establishing Morrow Computer, and for developing the
Pivot II, technology sold to Zenith, Morrow is now designing another
portable packed with features and expected to be shown at Fall Comdex
in Las Vegas.

The show will feature various conference sessions as well as exhibits
by the portable computer industry. Registration information can be
had by calling Dorothy Ferriter (attendance) or Robin Poulin
(exhibiting) at IDG Conference Management Group. Phone [phone]
or toll-free in the U.S. and Canada 800-343-6474.

(Wendy Woods/19890810)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00007)

MICROPROSE HONORED
HUNT VALLEY, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Microprose
Software has announced that F-19 Stealth Fighter received two
awards during the 1989 Origins Convention, sponsored by the Game
Manufacturers Association.

This is the fourth year in a row that the game and simulation
software developer has received one or more of the prestigious
Origins Awards. F-19 was honored as the Best Military/Strategy
Game of 1988 and received another award for Best Screen Graphics.

F-19 Stealth Fighter runs on IBM-compatible computers with
special Tandy graphics included and sells for $69.95.

In other gaming news, Microprose's subsidiary, Medalist
International, will definitely release three new games this
month, according to spokesperson Kathy Gilmore, who spoke with
Newsbytes this Wednesday.

Due for August release are Xenophobe, an alien extermination game
for IBM-Tandy compatibles, Commodore 64/128, Amiga, and Atari ST
computers; Carrier Command, an action/strategy wargame set in an
energy starved future for IBM compatibles and Macintosh; and
StarGlider II, a sequel to the popular interplanetary war game,
for IBM-Tandy compatibles and Macintosh computers.

(John McCormick/Kathy Gilmore, Microprose, 301-771-1151, X 217)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00008)

MONACO TO HOST INFO INDUSTRY
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- The Gartner
Group, a leading information industry research firm, has
announced that its European Information Industry Scenario
Conference will be held November 15 through 17 at the posh Monte Carlo
Sporting Club, Monte Carlo, Monaco.

According to the Gartner Group, ""This conference will be the
single most definitive analysis and forecast meeting covering
vendors and users of computers, telecommunications and office
automation equipment," and is intended for all information
technology executives including vendors, users, and financial
organizations.

IS conferences will also be held this fall in Orlando, Florida,
U.S.A. from October 2 through 4, and on September 18, 19, and 20
in San Francisco, U.S.A.

Newsbytes was told that the cost for the conference is $750 per
person for Gartner Group clients or $950 for non-clients. A
spokesperson at the Gartner Group said that people should sign up
at least two weeks in advance.

(John McCormick/19890811/Press Contact: Kris Dale, 203-967-6107,
or Kelly Wolin, 203-967-6806 at the Gartner Group)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00009)

FIRST SOUTH AFRICAN MAINFRAME
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Technology
Systems International has announced that it is making the first
mainframe computer built in South Africa. According to the
Johannesburg Financial Mail, TSI's parent company, the Barlow
Rand computer group, has invested 35 million rands in developing a
manufacturing facility for this IBM 370-compatible computer.

Although the computer, the MF100, should eventually be built with
75 percent or more of local components, it is currently being produced
with 50 percent imported parts. Also, users must purchase a license to
run the MVS or VM operating system from IBM.

Another report indicated that SA was able to produce this
computer with the help of three Taiwanese electronics companies,
including Mitac.

This development could be of major importance for South Africa
because until now it was not thought financially feasible for the
country to build mainframe computers for its relatively small
market.

An industry spokesperson indicated that the R400,000 MF100 is a
relatively low-powered computer, operating at only 4 million
instructions per second, or MIPS, about the equivalent of a 25
megahertz 80386 PC costing $3,000, and therefore would have a
greater financial impact on SA than any important military
implication.

(John McCormick/1989088)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00010)

WEST ANNOUNCES REFERENCE DATABASE SYSTEM
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, U.S.A. 1989, AUGUST 11 (NB) -- The Data
Retrieval division of West Publishing has announced TextBook
Online Manuals, which uses a freeform database to manage large
amounts of references and images online in IBM and DEC systems.

After transferring text and images into a database with a scanner
or word processor, users of TextBook can search and retrieve
information by any word or phrase. Facilities include a table of
contents, and word index, both generated automatically. To manage
images, TextBook has a "live link" to graphics within the
database.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/Press Contact: Kelly Keyes, West
Publishing, 612-228-2515)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00011)

TANGRAM ANNOUNCES VERSION 2 OF ARBITER
CARY, NORTH CAROLINA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 4 (NB) -- Tangram
Systems announced Version 2.1.1. of its Arbiter and Peer Services
software. Arbiter provides data access between micro and
mainframe computers. Peer Services provides an SAA compliant
toolbox which lets micros and mainframes communicate.

LU 6.2 Arbiter adds a new Remote File Server product, which lets
mainframe disk space serve PC-compatible DOS files. That means
applications written in dBASE, RBase or other DOS databases can
run on mainframe disks.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/Press Contact: Tangram, 919-481-4444)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00012)

EPSON CATCHES THE FOOTBALL
TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- Epson
America has been named the sole sponsor of an 11 city tour
celebrating the 20th anniversary of Monday Night Football on ABC.

The tour will consist of a series of luncheons to toast the
success of the longest-running prime time sports program in
American television history. Expected to attend are former
national Football League (NFL) stars, ABC sportscasters including
Al Michaels, Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf, Epson America
officials, local celebrities, prominent members of the media and
local civic and business dignitaries in each city.

Sponsoring this tour is part of Epson America's aggressive
sports marketing campaign to promote its printer and personal
computer products. Epson is also the official computer products
company of the Professional Golfer's Association (PGA) and Senior
PGA tours. The company sponsors the annual Epson Stats Match and
Senior Stats Match contests for statistical leaders on the PGA
and Senior PGA tours.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Jan Marciano, Epson
America, 213-539-9140)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00013)

UK: BUDGET ATARI ST RAM UPGRADE
HARROGATE, ENGLAND, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- Frontier Software has
announced the launch of a new version of its Xtra-RAM memory
upgrade for the Atari ST series. The new version offers two
options: a 512K upgrade for owners of the 512K-equipped Atari ST;
plus an extra piggy-back upgrade of 1.5MB, pushing the 520ST to
2,5MB in total.

The Xtra-RAM upgrade can also be fitted to the 1040ST, plus the
Mega 1 and 2 ST machines. On these machines, as with the 520ST,
up to 2MB of extra RAM (random access memory) can be fitted with
the Xtra-RAM card.

Martin Walsh, Frontier's marketing manager, said that the card
can be installed in about an hour, and is supplied with a fully-
illustrated 25-page manual. "We believe that we have a very well
developed and reasonable priced product in the Xtra-RAM,
especially when it is compared with some other suppliers'
upgrades which require a great deal of soldering and are roughly
the same price," he said.

Pricing on the Xtra-RAM card has been set at UKP 69-95 for an
unpopulated (0K) version. Fitted with 512K of RAM, the card
retails for UKP 99-95, whilst the full 2MB RAM version costs UKP
399-95.

(Steve Gold/19890812/Press & Public Contact: Martin Walsh, Tel:
0423-67140; Email: Compuserve - 72007,163; Dialcom/Telecom Gold -
72:MAG40240)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00014)

UK: IBM & COMPAQ PROFIT AT AMSTRAD'S EXPENSE
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- Romtec, the U.K. market
research company, has released its latest round of monthly
statistics on the U.K. PC market-place. The figures show IBM
continuing to dominate the market with 24 percent of January
to May 1989 sales, followed by Amstrad with 16 percent. Compaq
continues to firm up its challenge to IBM , rising 3 percent to
14 percent on its 1988 market share average.

Among other companies , Apple went from six to seven percent share
between 1988 and 1989, Apricot stayed with 7, Toshiba went up to five
from four percent, Olivetti dropped below three percent from four,
Zenith increased one percent to four percent share, and all others made
up 19 percent of sales in 1989.

Sales are based on returns from Romtec's panel of 350 resellers.
Romtec produces reports on a monthly basis on PC market sales and
shares. The full report is available for an annual subscription
basis for UKP 6,300.

(Steve Gold/19890812/Press & Public Contact: Kate Wilkins, sales
and marketing director, Romtec - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BRU)(00015)

FRENCH ASIC PARTNERS JOIN UP
PARIS, FRANCE, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- ES2, a French ASIC producer,
has rounded up nine big European partners to assist it in the
production of integrated circuits (ICs), company President Amand
Cochet has announced.

Philips, Olivetti, Telefonica of Spain, Saab of Sweden, British
Aerospace, Bull, Brown Boveri, Aerospatiale and Siemens have all
agreed to participate in the ES2 venture to make more than double
the number of custom-built integrated circuits -- ASIC's for short.
In the European market-place, ES2 is rated as in third place and
rising fast according to Dataquest, the market research company.
First and second places are held, respectively, by VLSI and AMS.
Turnover doubled from a tiny 7 million $ to 14 million in 1988.

"Our American affiliate US2 will account for 30 percent of our
turnover next year and is growing at a rapid pace," said Cochet,
looking forward to setting up a plant in the United States in the
near future. After two straight years of losses, ES2 hopes to be
in credit in 1989, and is on target to be quoted on the Paris and possibly
even the London stock exchanges.

Technologically lagging behind its two competitors because of a
late start, ES2 plans to produce 1.2 micron chips by September of
this year, moving down to one micron sized IC's by 1990.

"This will reduce our time-lag to a mere six months," Cochet said
optimistically. Today, ES2 production figures work out to be 45
percent in two micron chips, 40 percent for 1.5 micron IC's , 10
percent in 1.2 micron ASIC's and a mere five percent for one micron
chips.

These figures should rise to, respectively, 50, 30 and 10 percent
for the last three categories, ES2 said, as demand has
dramatically fallen for the two micron devices -- an important
reason to convert rapidly to the new standards while continuing
to deliver at very short notice. Currently ES2 ships its 1.5
micron ASIC's with a four to five week's delay from ordering.

(Eric Dauchy/19890811)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00016)

AUS STOCK EXCHANGE REVAMP
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- The Melbourne Stock Exchange
will replace its Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard and Tandem mainframes with
a DEC computer system over the next 12 months.

A spokesman for the stock exchange said four DEC 8800 mainframes will
be installed in a new location on the city's western side, and they
would be updated when DEC brings out its 6300 and 6400 series. DEC
minicomputers would be used for in-house applications.

The mainframes will handle the stock exchange automated trading
system, the flexible accelerated securities transfer system, a data
service for brokers, and the joint exchange computer network used by
data providers such as AAP Reuters.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19890808)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00017)

AMIGAS AIMED AT AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 4 (NB) -- Commodore has announced a joint
venture with Microbee, the Australian computer manufacturer which has
found a niche in the Australian education sector. In the agreement
between Commodore and Microbee, software written for the Microbee will
be adapted to suit the Commodore Amiga.

Part owner of Microbee, Giuseppe De Simone said, "For too long the
Australian education market has been dominated by the US multinational
software suppliers. Commodore has broken this software domination by
linking with Microbee. We're both committed to the long term support
and development of computer education in Australia, particularly
low-end software for primary and secondary schools."

The agreement involves the provision of in-service training for
teachers covering both Amiga and Microbee hardware and software.
Microbee education centres will also sell the Commodore range,
concentrating on the Amiga and low-end PCs.

(Gavin Atkins/19890809)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00018)

SOFTWARE ASSOCIATIONS MERGING
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 1989 AUG 4 (NB) -- The
membership of Software BC, British Columbia's provincial software
association, have voted to merge their group with the Canadian
Association of Data Processing and Service Organizations
(CADAPSO), based in Ottawa. Software BC will retain its name and
become CADAPSO's first regional chapter. The provincial group
said merging with the well-established CADAPSO, which represents
most of Canada's largest software and computer service firms,
would give it more influence with the federal government. The two
organizations have been negotiating since February.

(Grant Buckler/19890810/Press Contact: Ken Sadowski, Software BC,
604-291-2353; Fruji Bull, CADAPSO, 613-230-3524)


(EXCLUSIVE)(GOVT))(LAX)(00001)

UP TO 1 MILLION WESTERN DIGITAL CHIPS STOLEN
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Western Digital
has discovered the theft of between 500,000 and one million
rejected Paradise VGA 1A video graphics chips and Paradise video
graphics boards that were to be junked.

According to company spokesperson Lynda Orban, the thefts
were discovered internally through careful auditing procedures
and through both internal and customer reports of low pricing in
the gray market. Western Digital customers known to buy either
of the stolen products have been notified and the company has
offered assistance to customers to determine if, in fact, any of
the merchandise in their possession is part of the stolen
property.

The chips were rejects that were supposed to have been
scrapped. Orban has told Newsbytes that with the high standards
maintained by Western Digital, even chips that might be
considered okay by other manufacturers are scrapped by this
company. There is no way of knowing what defect caused the chips
in question to be scrapped.

At the time of the theft, the suspects included one former
employee, two current employees (since dismissed) and an outside
contractor. Western Digital has filed a lawsuit seeking $20
million in damages from the suspects. According to Orban in her
conversation with Newsbytes, this incident should have only a
non-material impact on Western Digital.

In the theft of the video boards, it is also an ex-employee
in concert with two employees (since fired) who are suspects,
though not the same threesome as in the chip theft. Criminal
charges have been filed against the three.

Orban has told Newsbytes that video board customers have
been notified and Western Digital has a way to determine the
identity of the stolen boards. The company is filing an
insurance claim and does not expect any material impact on the
company to result from this theft.

Western Digital is no longer scrapping rejected chips. "We
are grinding them up -- from sand to silicon and back to sand,"
Orban told Newsbytes. She added that she hopes other
semiconductor manufacturers will consider doing the same.
Western Digital is also tightening internal inventory control
procedures to avoid any repeat of these events.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Lynda Orban, Western
Digital, 714-757-4234)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00002)

NINTENDO SLAMS VIDEO RENTER
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Nintendo has
been granted a preliminary injunction against the 750-store Blockbuster
Video chain following its claim that the video vendor was infringing
on its copyrights.

Nintendo's complaint stems from Blockbuster's alleged photocopying
of manuals for Nintendo video games. The giant Japanese entertainment
firm pledges to now seek damages against Blockbuster but makes no
mention of whether the firm was allegedly copying or renting actual
Nintendo video games.

Nintendo's legal department is working overtime to protect against
alleged abuses. In June, the 188-store Erol's of the mid-Atlantic U.S.,
another video rental chain, was forced to buy 1,000 copies of Nintendo
games after Nintendo objected to the rental scheme.

Other individual stores and small chains have reportedly experienced the
same trouble, indicating a firm policy on Nintendo's part to restrict rentals.

(Wendy Woods & John McCormick/19890809)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00003)

CHINA RESTRICTS SOFTWARE
BEIJING, CHINA, 1989 JULY 24 -- Beijing's Renmin Ribao reported
that the State Council is calling for tighter controls on software copying,
development and distribution in China as a means of eliminating much
duplicated and wasted work.

Reportedly there are presently over 300,000 computers in China,
with an additional 70,000 being added each year.

(John McCormick/19890811)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00004)

UNISYS LOSES IN COURT
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Unisys
Corp. today lost a breach-of-contract suit and was ordered by a
federal judge to pay $8.9 million in damages to Advent Systems
Ltd., Berkshire, England, U.K.

The civil suit was brought as a result of an agreement to delay
the introduction of a software product until the two companies
could work together.

Advent Systems had asked for damages in excess of $70 million
because Unisys had announced its software before reaching a
further agreement with Advent.

(John McCormick/19890810)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00005)

SPA RELEASES EXPORT KIT
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- The Software
Publishers' Association has announced the Software Export
Procedures Kit, an easy-to-use complete guide designed to help
software firms to export their programs.

The do-it-yourself kit for shipping departments includes
directions and export declarations and was prepared for the SPA
by Jonathan Feil and Melvyn Simburg of Simburg, Ketter, Sheppard
& Purdy, a Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based law firm.

SPA members can purchase the kit for $175 while non-members will
pay $450. Call the SPA at 202-452-1600 for further information.

The SPA is the major trade association for software companies in
the U.S., and the latest issue of SPA News, the association's
newsletter, contains a long article on export considerations and
doing business in Brazil.

(John McCormick/19890810/Press Contact: Jodi Pollock, SPA, 202-
452-1600)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00006)

NEW TRW TEST LAB OPENS
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- TRW has today
dedicated a new anti-submarine signals processing laboratory
intended to prototype a variety of military hardware and software
for the U.S. Navy.

The $10 million facility will be able to do real-time processing
and analyze high-density digital tape recordings made during Navy
low-frequency tests using an APTEC 10, two VAX 750, and two VAX
3500 computers.

(John McCormick/1989811/Press Contact: Al Frascella, TRW, 703-
968-2036)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00007)

MAI WINS RULING OVER BB/X
TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 31 (NB) -- MAI Basic Four
has announced that the United States Court of Appeals in Denver
has made an important ruling for MAI in its suit against Basis
International (Albuquerque, NM) and three of its principle
officers.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Elliott Stein, associate
general counsel for MAI explained that the three officers named
in the suit are all former MAI employees. The suit revolves
around a product marketed by Basis called BB/x which is a copy of
MAI's BB/m -- a connectivity language product that allows computers
operating on DOS or Unix to run programs written in Business
Basic, specifically the Business Basic dialect that is
proprietary to MAI.

The suit alleges that Basis and the named individuals
unlawfully developed and are wrongfully marketing a computer
product known as BB/x, a product that legitimately belongs to
MAI. At issue is a question of whether agreements that restrict
the use of company information (within a specified period of
time) by former employees as constituting a covenant not to
compete or misuse of trade secrets.

The Denver court reversed a New Mexico District Court's
finding that certain agreements relating to BB/x were
unenforceable, namely that the agreements were a covenant not to
compete, the enforcing of which would curtail the ability of the
founders of Basis to make a living in their chosen field.

MAI believes this ruling will give the company exclusive
right to BB/x.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Elliott Stein, MAI,
714-731-5100)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(BRU)(00008)

CANADA MAIL SORTED BY AEG SYSTEMS
MONTREAL, CANADA, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- West Germany's AEG has won
a major order for letter sorting systems from the Canadian Post
Office. The systems, which are worth about DM 400 million ($200
million), will be able to sort letters automatically with the
help of optical character recognition (OCR) systems.

Each system can process up to 32,000 items per hour
automatically. Using patented AEG OCR methods, the systems can
read the names and addresses on 70 percent of mail received, so
long as the address is written by either typewriter, or using
block letters. AEG already has 60 percent of the world's letter
sorting systems and hopes to install the systems by the end of
1989.

(Peter Vekinis/19890811)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00009)

AUSTRALIAN HACKER CHARGED
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- A 32-year-old Melbourne
student has become the first Australian to be charged with "computer
trespass and attempted criminal damage" after allegedly introducing a
virus through educational institutes and businesses.

Swinburne Institute business student Deon Barylak could face a
maximum of ten years' jail and a AUS$2500 fine. The investigating
officer, senior detective Maurice Lynn, alleged that on May 10 this year,
Barylak was seen loading a PC with a disk which was later found to
possess a virus. "Fortunately, it was stopped before it could spread,
which is why the charge was only attempted criminal damage," Lynn
said.

Police say they expect to make further arrests in connection with the
case. In a separate case, Barylak faces charges of possessing computer
equipment allegedly stolen from a community centre.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19890808)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00010)

SUN RISES OVER NZ NAVY
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, 1989 AUGUST 11 (NB) -- The New Zealand Navy
has awarded a NZ$3 million contract to Sun for the supply of three
SPARC file servers and 19 SPARC-1 workstations, which are based on
Sun's reduced-instruction set chip. Having only set-up in New Zealand just
three months ago, the company beat 15 NZ and overseas competitors.
The main project for the equipment is the development and maintenance
of shipboard software.

(Paul Zucker/19890811)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00011)

AUS: COMPUTERIZATION STRIFE
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- More than 4,500 employees of
the Australian Tax Office may strike over management's delay in
meeting union demands to reassess its computerization plan. The union
claims that the AUS$700million plan could threaten 4,000 jobs.

A spokeswoman for the union said it pulled out of negotiations with
management on July 21 after talks broke down. The union's log of
claims demanded maximum Australian content in the tender, no
redundancies, occupational health compliancy and compulsory retraining
and staff redeployment.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19890808)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TOR)(00012)

CANADA: NO SUIT IN COMPUTER SCAM
REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA, 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- The provincial
government of Saskatchewan will not lay charges over a
controversial computer translation firm in which it invested, The
Canadian Press reports.

Earlier, a senior organizer for the governing Progressive
Conservative party was accused of influence peddling after he
received an interest-free loan of C$150,000 from GigaMos founder
Guy Montpetit. The provincial government had invested some C$4
million in GigaMos's effort to develop a computer-based
translation system.

(Grant Buckler/19890810)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00001)

WESTERN DIGITAL & CMS SELL IBM HARD DRIVE
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Western Digital and
CMS Enhancements will both be selling IBM 320 megabyte hard disk
drives based on new agreements with Big Blue.

Western Digital will market IBM's 320 megabyte 3.5 inch Small Computer
Systems Interface (SCSI) hard disk drive on a worldwide basis.
Western will sell them under the Western Digital brand name as a
stand-alone drive, in machine-specific kits and storage subsystems to
OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), value-added resellers and
value-added dealers. Western Digital will provide worldwide support for
the drives.

Meanwhile, CMS Enhancements, a company specializing in mass storage
devices, has been awarded a contract from IBM to distribute the same
drive under the name "Cougar." CMS has been selling value-added IBM
3.5-inch disk drives for the past year according to CMS President Jim
Farooquee. Cougar will carry a suggested retail price of $2,995.

IBM's disk drive can handle the equivalent of 160,000 double-
spaced typed pages and has an average seek time of 12.5 milliseconds.
It uses the new SCSI-2 interface, and supports both synchronous data
 transfers at 4 megabytes/sec and asynchronous transfers at 2 megabyte/sec.

SCSI can be used as an interface with high-end PCs and workstations
that use the new generation microprocessors.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Lynda Orban, Western
Digital, 714-757-4234, Jim Farooquee, CMS, 714-2595801)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00002)

TOSHIBA'S T1600 NOW WITH 40 MB
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 3 (NB) -- The Toshiba
battery powered T1600 lap-top is now available in two versions,
the original 20 megabyte hard disk and now the T1600/40 with a 40
megabyte hard disk drive.

The systems are identical except that the higher capacity
drive model features a 29-millisecond average disk access time,
weighs 12.6 pounds and retails for $5,599 while the original 20
megabyte model has a 27-millisecond access time, an 11.6 pound
weight and a $4,999 suggested retail price.

Current T1600 owners will be able to purchase a 40 megabyte upgrade in
the near future.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Gerry Lynne Baker, Les
Goldberg Public Relations, 714-730-4774)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00003)

POWER DESK BECOMES SHAREWARE
ANNANDALE, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- Power Desk, a
multipurpose package for IBM PC XTs and faster compatibles, has
been released as shareware, according to program author Wade
Dowdle. Previously, the program sold at retail for $99. Now you
can have a copy for $10 or $49 with the manual.

Power Desk consists of a four-million name database integrated with
a word processor and spell checker/corrector. It also has such
utilities as a calculator, calendar/reminder, timekeeper,
autodialer, duplicate checker, alarm, and DOS file manager. It
uses pull-down menus and has context-sensitive help.

The program can be used to track clients, prospects and friends,
print mail merged letters, labels, invoices or telephone
directories, do autodialing, calculator functions, DOS file
functions, word processing, and keep track of appointments.

Power Desk automatically sorts address records by name, company,
zip code, record type, or expiration date. Records may be marked
for printing letters, envelopes, labels or custom reports. A
duplicate checker based on a unique algorithm will display
duplicates and near duplicates.

It prints with boldface and underline and a convenient letterhead
can be automatically added to letters. In addition, an automatic
date stamp and an automatic insertion of addressee information
are available.

Besides being sold directly, Power Desk is also available through
online services like CompuServe, shareware distributors, and
bulletin boards.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Wade Dowdle, Power
Desk, 703-978-2339)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00004)

WYSE CUTS PRICES
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- You can now pick
up a Wyse PC up to 12 percent cheaper, following price cuts
instituted by the firm. The price cuts follow speculation that the
company, which has had three quarters of multimillion dollar losses,
is on the block and could be sold to Acer of Taiwan, a rumor hotly denied
by the company.

The price cuts affect Wyse's top-of-the-line 80386-based, 25
megahertz WYSEsystem 386, now $7,599 from $8,599. The 150-
megabyte model is $10,199 from $11,199. The price of the 16 MHz
WYSEpc 286 is $2,399 compared to $2,699. The 2 megabyte model
is $2,899 compared to its previous price of $3,199.  The 12 megahertz
WYSEpc 286 is now $2,199 compared to $2,299 and the 40 MB hard disk
version is $100 cheaper at $2,899.

Company Marketing Manager for PCs Ron Okamoto attributes the cuts
to an attempt by Wyse to stay competitive.

(Wendy Woods/19890809)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00005)

TIME TRACKER BILLING SYSTEM
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- Time Tracker is
a new program based on its shareware sibling from Superior Micro-
Techniques. The product is a professional time billing and accounts
receivable program at a fraction of the cost of competing products.

Running on a PC, Time Tracker has a pull-down menu interface and an
array of income accounting reports. It prints aging and income
reports, invoices, statements, client lists, labels, and several other
reports. It also has on-screen viewing of client and invoice history.
The price is $69 from Superior Micro-Techniques, 10020-A Main
Street, Suite 67, Bellevue, Washington, 98004. Phone 206-646-
9577.

(Wendy Woods/19890810)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00006)

SOUTH AFRICA: ASTRO PC SMALLEST YET
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 1989 AUG 14 (NB) -- According to the
Johannesburg Citizen, DMS Computers has produced the world's
smallest IBM-compatible computer, taking up only 30 square
centimeters or about four-and-two-thirds square inches of
desk space in a four-centimeter-high (one-and-one-half-inch)
package.

According to Mel Cunningham, managing director of DMS, the new PC
was built and designed almost entirely in SA, including such
parts as motherboard, power supply, and electronics, with the
only imported parts being the disk drives.

(John McCormick/1989088)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00007)

KENSINGTON TRACK BALL SHIPS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 1 (NB) -- Kensington
Microware Ltd., has started shipping Expert Mouse, a track-ball
mouse substitute for PS/2 computers which provides the
convenience of a mouse with the space-saving features of a track-
ball.

The 100-percent Microsoft Mouse-compatible, 200 count-per-inch
resolution, $170 Expert Mouse plugs into the pointing device of PS/2 of
compatible computers and comes with pop-up software that makes it
compatible with programs like Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect that do
not normally support mice.

A mouse is used to quickly move the cursor around the computer
screen or to control graphics creation and editing in paint or
draw programs. A major drawback of using a mouse is that it
requires a certain amount of clear desk space to operate, while a
track-ball resembles an upside-down mouse with a large ball that
is operated by passing the hand over the ball.

For further information, contact Kensington Microware Ltd., 251
Park Ave. South, New York, New York 10010, 800-535-4242.

(John McCormick/1989086/Press Contact: Rosanne McClellan, 212-
475-5200)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00008)

WHITE CRANE SELLS BROOKLYN BRIDGE
NORCROSS, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- White Crane
Systems has sold The Brooklyn Bridge, its laptop-desktop utility
program, to Fifth Generation Systems of Baton Rouge, makers of
the Fastback back-up system. Pat Parker, director of marketing,
says the company isn't going out of business, and in fact still
has a retail presence. "We market another product, a data
translation utility called Auto Import. We released that in
February. It supports about 15-20 different PC formats and has a
very simple, Lotus-like front-end. It sells for $170, directly
and through stores like Egghead Software."

White Crane President Guy Gordon has long had a development
agreement with Fifth Generation Systems, and will continue to
develop products for both companies.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Pat Parker, White
Crane, 404-446-0544)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00009)

DAUPHIN LAPTOP
LOMBARD, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11, 1989 (NB) -- Dauphin
Technology, whose 16 pound, 286 and $3,500 386-based laptop computers
have been trumped recently by much lighter models from the U.S.
and Japan, promises to strike back.

Karen Schmitz of Dauphin confirmed to Newsbytes, "We'll have three
more models later this year. Two will be 286s, and they'll be much lighter.
The third will have a slightly different design, and some additional
features."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Karen Schmitz, Dauphin
Technologies, 312-627-4004)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00010)

CIPHER INTROS TAPE FOR IBM AS/400
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- Cipher Data
Products has introduced the highest capacity, fastest and
smallest tape backup system available for the IBM AS/400 midrange
computer.

Dubbed the Cipher 383, the half-inch cartridge tape drive
helps ensure data integrity in the event of disk drive failure
and makes use the use of AS/400 applications such as online
transaction processing more feasible.

Two models will be available and both will be available for
the AS/400 models B30 through B70. Production is scheduled to
begin in September.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Mark Forster, Cipher,
619-693-7084)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00011)

APRICOT READIES STAND-ALONE PC LAUNCH
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- Apricot Computers will
launch a new range of standalone PCs on 1 September. The machines
build upon the success of the Qi series of networked and file-
server PCs released in recent years.

According to Tim Taylor, Apricot's group marketing director, full
pricing and configuration details will be announced on 1
September. He did reveal, however, that the launch will centre
around three main PC series: the Qi PC-I, a 25MHZ 80386-based
high-end machine; the Qi PC PS/2-compatible series - based around
a 16MHz 80386SX chip set; and the AT-compatible Xen-S PC386, also
based around the Intel 80386SX microprocessor.

"These new machines are without the Ethernet board seen on the Qi
series of last year. Research has shown that many users linking
Apricot PCs into token ring networks, so the Ethernet board is
not required," he said.

Taylor refused to be drawn on the new PC's pricing, saying that
all will be revealed next month. "All I can say is that the
machines will be very aggressively priced against the
competition, which includes IBM," he said.

To support the new machines, Apricot will blitz the trade and
national press during September with a UKP 1 million advertising
campaign.

(Steve Gold/19890812/Press Contact: Jes Dorell, Marketing
Communications Manager, Apricot Computers - Tel: [phone])


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

ADD-ONS FOR NEWVIEWS
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 AUG 4 (NB) -- Q.W. Page Associates
has announced three add-on products for its NewViews accounting
package.

nvSelect is a pop-up select box with pull-down menus providing
instant access to any account, report, printer or procedure in
the system. It sells for US$79 or C$99.

nvImport imports data from other programs, provided it is in
fixed-position or ASCII-delimited files. It costs US$59 or C$79.

nvReport is a report formatter allowing such capabilities as
multi-line headers and footers, note insertions, automatic
placement of dollar signs, rounding, automatic indentation,
centering and underlining. It sells for US$79 or C$99.

The three add-ons are available individually or in a bundle
called nvPluspack, which also includes a NewViews speed-up
utility and a subscription to the company's quarterly QW Journal.
This package costs US$169 or C$199.

(Grant Buckler/19890810/Press Contact: Mary Smyth, Q.W. Page,
416-923-4567)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00013)

NEW AMSTRADS IN CANADA
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- AudioVideo
Specialists, Amstrad's exclusive Canadian distributor, has
announced that the Amstrad PC1286 and PC1386 will be available
here this fall.

The PC1386 will list for C$4,700 with VGA video support, one
megabyte of RAM expandable to 16 megabytes on the motherboard, a
single 1.44-megabyte diskette drive, mouse, MS-DOS 4.01,
Microsoft Windows 386 and GW BASIC. Its central processor is a
20-megahertz Intel 80386.

The PC1286, with a 12-megahertz Intel 80286 processor, will have
a suggested list price of C$2,400. Standard equipment will
include VGA, one megabyte of RAM expandable to four megabytes on
the motherboard, mouse, single diskette drive, DOS 4.01,
Microsoft Windows 286 and GW-BASIC.

(Grant Buckler/19890810/Press Contact: Lou Nemeth, AudioVideo
Specialists, 514-683-1771)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00014)

CANADA: PROGRAM TEACHES EXPORTING
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA, 1989 AUG 4 (NB) -- The Dalhousie
University School of Business Administration is offering for sale
software designed to teach export marketing. Developed by Mary
Brooks, an associate professor at the school, Developing an
Export Quote is an educational program originally created for
students' use. It is now available through the American Marketing
Association (AMA) clearing house or directly from the university.
A site license costs US$89.95, a single-user version US$39.95.

Brooks said the software will teach users "enough to not get
yourself into hot water," about concerns such as currency,
insurance and transportation documentation. It runs on an IBM PC
or compatible with 512K bytes of memory. A stripped-down version
is available for PCs with only 256K.

(Grant Buckler/19890811/Press Contact: Mary Brooks, Dalhousie
University, 1-902-424-2211)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00001)

NINTENDO ANNOUNCES ONLINE NETWORK
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Nintendo of
America will launch a games-oriented online network next year in
the U.S. The Japanese giant, based in Kyoto, Japan, has sold 30 million
of its Famicom game machines, and already offers a successful online
service in its home country.

Nintendo has hired Jerry Ruttenbur, formerly of Home Box Office,
Atari [when it was owned by Warner Communications] and Microsoft,
as well as the old Koala Systems touchpad company, to spearhead the
project. He'll start work in October.

A spokesman for the company said that regardless of what AT&T
decides to do, and it was rumored to be going into the Nintendo
online business, his company has plenty of options. "We've
already received strong interest from major players in corporate
America. People who already have products and want to put them on
Nintendo, others interested in joint-ventures. We're exploring
them all."

Nintendo of America President Minoru Arakawa called the
hiring of Ruttenbur "a formal commitment" to deliver an
interactive entertainment and information network to the
marketplace in 1990. "By year-end, more than 20 million U.S.
households will have the Nintendo system, and in 1990 each of
these households will have access to the NES Network."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Richard Lindner, Hill
and Knowlton, 213-937-7460)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00002)

MINITEL ONLINE TO ITALY
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Through a tie-in with
la Nouvel Observateur, the largest information provider on the Minitel
System, and the Italian phone company, SIP, Americans and their Italian
cousins can now keep in touch no matter how bad the phone lines.

Newcom Link of New York now offers direct connections to Italy at 17
cents per minute, says spokesman Kathleen Dooley. SIP has promised to
rent up to 300,000 Minitel terminals for just $6 per month, and the
terminals will also be able to reach France and other Minitel
destinations. "This enables the Italians to get online just as
the French do. They write in Italian, although theyUre more likely
to know French and English than Americans are to know Italian."

Newsbytes also interviewed Phillippe Perron, Newcom vice
president, "This went online four weeks ago," he said, and response
has been "overwhelming." There is already an existing base of
terminals, about 50,000. There's an Italian system called
Videotel, run by the Italian PTT, and we've connected to it, so
we can give them access to Paris, then to New York. We've had
some encouraging remarks in America from this. Even during real
time dialogue through terminals it can be cost-effective -- one-
tenth the price of a phone call. And it's easier to connect with
than with a phone." A marketing campaign for the Italian
connection is planned in New York's Italian neighborhoods this
fall.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Kathleen Dooley,
Newcom Link, 212-832-8311)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00003)

HOME SELLERS GO ONLINE
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- The property owner
seeking to sell his home by himself or herself has few of the tools at
the disposal of the real estate agent. But a new online network hopes
to change that.

Minitel Services Company has announced FIZZBO, a real estate multiple
listing network dedicated to For-Sale-By-Owner (FSBO) property.
The service is run by Jane Shapiro of Dial Direct Response Marketing in
San Francisco.

For $100, FIZZBO will list your property on its Minitel network-accessed
database where people pay 17 cents a minute to read it. There is,
however, a special offer to those with Minitel terminals or those with
front-end PC Minitel-compatible software and log-on IDs. The listing will
be free through the month of September provided one signs on manually
and enters the data themselves through easy-to-follow directions.

The FIZZBO database can be searched 24 hours a day by a number of
criteria, including city, state, area codes, price category, type of
property, or even by number of baths or bedrooms.

Those without modems and log-in software can also list their property
for $100 by calling toll-free in the US 1-800-383-FSBO (383-3726).

Richard Bruno, the system's co-creator tells Newsbytes, "This is the
first of its kind in the nation. A way for home sellers to list and locate
properties themselves." Other networks are not publicly accessed and
charge $250 to $300 for a listing, he adds.

The software to access the Minitel services is free to PC users by
contacting the company in Purchase, New York at Minitel Services,
2900 Westchester Ave., Suite 101, Purchase, New York, 914-694-6266.
Software is also available through some Regional Bell Operating
Companies, including Southwestern Bell, and Nynex.

(Wendy Woods/19890810/Press Contact: Richard Bruno, 415-239-6162)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00004)

ELECTRONIC MALL EXPANDS TO TORONTO
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Telecommerce Corp.
is expanding its Electronic Mall International to Toronto from
Montreal in September, and other cities in Canada and the United
States will follow.

Peter Hirsch, chairman of Telecommerce, said the 60-merchant
electronic shopping service will be offered in Toronto through the
French Minitel group, which will begin offering its videotex service
here September 15 and plans to expand to other Canadian centers.
Electronic Mall International has been available in Montreal since last
December through Alex, the videotex service offered by Bell Canada.
Bell has not yet decided whether to expand Alex beyond Montreal.

Minitel Services, a joint venture of France Telecom and InfoNet,
is rolling out its Minitel service in Montreal Sept. 1 and in
Toronto Sept. 15, said Dennis Ross, director of sales for the
eastern region. It will offer French and American information
services, including the Easy Saabre airline reservation system,
CompuCard home shopping and a variety of databases.

Hirsch said he hoped all the merchants who sell their goods
through Telecommerce in Montreal will participate elsewhere as
well, although one, hardware and auto parts retailer Canadian
Tire, had not yet made a commitment.

He added that Telecommerce has agreements with five of the
regional Bell operating companies in the United States and hopes
to offer its service through Southwestern Bell, Bell Atlantic and
Nynex this fall, closely followed by US West and BellSouth.

(Grant Buckler/19890811/Press Contact: Peter Hirsch,
Telecommerce, 416-971-6840)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00005)

FAX BOARD FOR NETWARE NETWORK
ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- Big companies with
a fax log-jam may be interested in a new product from The Network
Connection. It's offering Novell Netware network users a simple way to
give the entire network access to fax services. The TNC 4000 Fax
Server costs $6,700 plus $925 for every fax board you want -- it
can hold 4. Included is Para-Mail from Paradox Development
Systems, a program which organizes your fax traffic.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Jim Riner, The Network
Connection, 404-751-0889)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00006)

MAXWELL HINTS AT DATABASE PRICE WAR
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Maxwell Online,
the British owner of Orbit, Pergamon, BRS, and the Official
Airline Guide, is beginning to hint at an online database price
war through its Orbit facility.

A cryptic release on Orbit's newest service, SciSearch, carefully notes
that its $145 connect hour rate "is substantially lower than some other
host services." That last is a dig aimed squarely at Dialog, a spokesman
acknowledged. SciSearch is created by ISI in Middlesex, in the
United Kingdom. SciSearch is also online through DataStar of
Wayne, Pennsylvania and Dimdi, a German system.

SciSearch, which came online with Orbit August 1, is the world's
most popular citation index, with 9 million records from 4,500
journals and 14,000 new records added per week. Maxwell also
trumpets the "get" command it has added to SciSearch, which lets
you perform online statistical analyses, finding out which
authors are most prolific in an area, which organizations are
most active in a given area of research, or balance of countries
researching a particular area.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Kim Briggs, Orbit,
703-442-0900)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00007)

DATA-STAR ADDS CURRENT PATENTS FAST ALERT
WAYNE, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Data-Star has
added Current Patents Fast Alert to its list of databases. The
service, produced by Current Patents Ltd. of London, England,
is updated weekly, and is culled from monthly printed evaluation
journals. Data-Star, a service of Radio-Suisse, is the first
company to put Fast-Alert online. The service comes online
September 14.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Beverly Murphy, Data-
Star, 215-687-6777; James Drake, Current Patents, +01-323-0323 or
+01-631-0341)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00008)

DUN'S NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
PARSIPPANY, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- For just
$125 per year, plus 85 cents per record, you can now search at
your leisure through Dun's list of eight million businesses.

Data Access, a PC communications program, is the Dun's product which
will make the search easy, says a spokesman for the company.
Previously customers would go through salespeople to get this
information. Through Dun's Market Identifiers, the company's
mother lode, you can access business and executive names,
addresses, phone numbers, SIC codes, and analyze competitors or
customers by sales volume, number of employees, or other
measures.

Dun & Bradstreet got in trouble last year both for high-pressure
sales tactics on its credit reports, and its refusal to give
reporters online access given other customers. The company was in
some financial trouble this year, but has righted itself.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Gary Alexander, Dun's
Marketing Services, 201-605-6462)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00009)

THREE BELLS ON STRIKE, THREE MORE COULD GO THIS WEEK
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- About 157,000
operators and technicians are on strike against NYNEX, Bell
Atlantic and Pacific Telesis, meaning longer waits for operators
and repair service in the northeast and on the west coast.
Meanwhile, the Communications Workers of America settled on a
contract with BellSouth. That deal will bring workers a 4 percent raise,
guarantees that wages will keep ahead of inflation, and gives
workers up to a year off for child care.

Unions blame company attempts to put a lid on health care costs
for the walk-outs. Companies could be testing union resolve in
the wake of Eastern Air's successful union-busting despite a
labor shortage. And they have automation to protect them --
computerized telephone networks keep humming without people, and
operators will soon be replaced by computers as well. The health
care problems, however, are serious -- some companies are now
talking of National Health Insurance as a substitute.

Workers at Ameritech, U.S. West and Southwestern Bell could go
out this weekend. That could give unions enormous clout if a
trunk line breaks. The hassle factor is already rising over the
shortage of operators to look up out-of-state numbers. So far no
major problems are reported in the networks, which shows just how
profitable they are. All major U.S. phone outfits, including
AT&T, are reporting record earnings.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00010)

META NETWORK LEAVES COMPUSERVE
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- The Meta Network
has left CompuServe's packet network and is negotiating with
other services to give its users a flat hourly rate for access,
without kilocharacter charges.

Users of the Caucus-based conferencing and mail system will be
minimally affected -- most dial it directly, and access is still
available via PC Pursuit.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/Press Contact: Metasystems Design,
703-243-6633)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00011)

HRIN LISTS RETIRED MILITARY PERSONNEL ONLINE
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- The Human
Resource Information Network has added the 6,500 resumes of the
Military in Transition Database to its list of online offerings.
Militran includes resumes from separating and retiring personnel.
HRIN also offers the college recruitment database, a listing of
new college graduates, according to spokesman Becky Ruehl. HRIN
is aimed at corporate recruiters.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/Press Contact: Becky Ruehl, HRIN, 317-
872-2045)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00012)

GENIE ADDS ROUNDTABLE ON ITSELF
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 3 (NB) -- GEnie, the
number two consumer online service, has added a Roundtable about
itself called GEnieus. It's managed by Mark Hiatt, who is not a
GEnie employee. GEnieus will feature tips on using GEnie, an
online manual, a phone access list, and a bulletin board on which
users can talk back to the system.

"If there is something you like about the GEnie service and you want
someone to know about it, this is the place to do it," said Hiatt. "Likewise,
if you don't like something and want to blow off some steam, we're here
to listen to that, too. And if you have an idea for something you
would like to see on GEnie, there's even a place for that."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/Press Contact: Steve Harasznak, GEnie,
301-340-2294)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00013)

BBS COMPETES WITH PR NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- From a small
bulletin board system in Virginia running the Caucus conferencing
system, Rick Smith is competing directly with the PR Newswire and
Business Wire, which are both available through Dow Jones News-
Retrieval.

Newsusa has a twist, however -- sponsored stories are slugged and
written as though they're written by neutral reporters. Sponsors pay the
freight, while newspapers can access the stories free.

Rick Smith runs the service, and says it's "pretty successful, so far."
While the printing of sponsored stories violates the ethics of some
newspaper editors, many convert quickly, he adds, when they realize the
stories are free and don't need extensive rewriting as press releases do.
Among Smith's biggest boosters, he says, are trade groups.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/Press Contact: Rick Smith, Newsusa,
FAX: [phone]; modem: 703-243-9696)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00014)

ISDN FOR THE PC
RICHARDSON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- For PC users who
want ISDN (integrated services digital network) capability,
Vadis, Inc., has PC[2], a board/software package that provides
full 144K bit per second connectivity through all three ISDN
channels.

As is common to most PC ISDN products, this package is only
compatible with AT&T's 5ESS central office computer switch. It
uses a coprocessor for simultaneous voice and data and TSR
software on top of DOS. Memory requirements are 242 kilobytes with
standard RAM.

The package features seven applications including an
optional Screen Share package to enable two people to
simultaneously work on the same PC application from different
locations.

The Voice Call Manager helps users place a voice call to
anyone on the PC's phone list database while the Data Call
Manager assists in sending a data only call to another ISDN
device. There is an E-Mail function included.

PC[2] sells for $1,180. Screen Share costs an additional $125.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Vadis, 214-690-2481)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00015)

AMADEUS CONSORTIUM ORDERS UNISYS
PARIS, FRANCE, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- The Amadeus consortium, which
is currently developing an airline reservation system for a
number of European airlines, has ordered five Unisys 2200 Model
600 mainframes. The computers will be used to run the Amadeus
fare quote system, and will handle all Air France reservations,
as well as the airline's specific SITA communication system which
makes use of Air France's Transaction Oriented Processing (TOP).
Its database is believed to include some 45 million seats.

The whole project is estimated to cost $40 million and will be
competed in the fourth quarter of 1990. An IBM 3090 system will
connect the reservations systems of other participating airlines
and the travel agents involved in the project.

(Eric Dauchy/19890811)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00016)

FRENCH/DUTCH PTT COOPERATE
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- A bilateral
agreement between the Dutch and French PTTs envisages closer
cooperation on international telecommunications services between
the two countries, Dutch PTT President Dik has announced.

A first result would be the direct coupling of both 64 kilobits-per-
second (64 Kbps) networks by October as well as the two nation's X.400
electronic mail services. The Dutch and French PTTs believe that this will
lay the foundation of an international electronic data interchange
groundwork.

Apart from this, a one-stop-shopping system will be implemented
for clients from the two PTT's who want to use international
digital 64 Kbps or 2Mps leased lines from either side.
Both are already involved in Infonet, a network for financial
applications previously acquired from Software Sciences.

At the ceremony both delegations announced that they were willing
to let third parties participate in the international
telecommunications services that they initiated.

(Eric Dauchy/19890811)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(IBM)(00017)

W. AFRICA'S TOGO IMPROVES TELECOM
LOME, TOGO, WEST AFRICA, 1989 JUL 31 (NB) -- The European Investment
Bank is will loan Togo (West Africa) ECU 9.3 million towards
improvement of its national telecommunications system.

The funds are being made available to the Togolese Republic in
the forms of loans at reduced interest (2 percent). The project
will serve the update the capacity of telephone systems as well
as installation of digital circuits which permit error-free data
communications. To be completed by the end of 1991, the project
will provide Togo with one of the most up-to-date telecommunications
networks in West Africa.

(Peter Vekinis/19890811)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00018)

DATASOFT'S TELECLONE RELEASED
ILMINSTER, ENGLAND, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- Datasoft has released
Teleclone, a remote PC communications package that allows one PC
to connect to another over a variety of links and control the
functions of the distant machine.

The memory-resident package is the first UK-produced product of
its type and takes up where Carbon Copy, PC Anywhere and other
similar software leaves off. The UKP 150 package feeds all
relevant screen, printer and keyboard data over a modem, serial
cable or network-enabled link, and effectively allows one PC to
exert partial or complete control over the actions of the other.

Unlike other packages of its type, Teleclone functions over
Novell or NetBios-compatible networks. In addition, the program
supports the two-way transfer of data files at the same time, and
can be paged into the background when such tasks are taking
place. Other features include low memory requirements (down to
63K), support for expanded memory (Lotus/Intel Microsoft) and
error-corrected multiple file transfers.

According to Jenny White, Datasoft's sales director, Teleclone is
a superior product to other remote PC communications software,
due to its ability to work over networks, support voice chats and
bidirectional file transfers. "We think that Teleclone is a
superior product. It has the benefit of being based on a
knowledge of communications derived from Datatalk, our existing
PC communications software. It is also backed up by our free end-
user telephone hotline," she told Newsbytes.

(Steve Gold/19890812/Press Contact: Jenny White, Datasoft - Tel:
0460-57001)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00019)

TOUCHBASE MODEMS IN THE UK
MILTON KEYNES, ENGLAND, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- Andest
Communications, a new communications company, has secured the
exclusive distribution rights to the Touchbase series of pocket
modems and fax modems. The Milton Keynes-based company has
applied for BABT approval on two of Touchbase's modems - the
Worldport 2423 pocket modem and the Worldport 2496 fax and data
modem.

The Worldport 2423 is a quad-standard (V21, 22, 22Bis and 23)
modem that can be powered from three sources: RS232 power rail,
integral battery or A/C adapter. A version of the UKP 399 modem
will be launched later this year with error-correction.

The Worldport 2496 is a tri-standard data modem (V21, 22 and
22Bis) and 4800/9600bps Group 3 fax modem in the same box. The
UKP 699 unit has the same choice of power supply as the Worldport
2423, and comes with PC communications software on 3.5 or 5.25
inch disks to drive the fax modem.

Tony Sellars, Andest's managing director, told Newsbytes that,
although the Worldport 2423 had been previously available in the
UK through distributors Trend, Andest was now taking over the
importation of the units, and have applied for BABT approval.

"Trend is now one of our distributors. What we can offer is full
approval, and a 'ready to run' package of either modem unit,
complete with phone and RS232 cables, and even a battery," he
said.

(Steve Gold/19890812/Press Contact: Frank Smith, TDM Marketing -
Tel: [phone]; Public Contact: Tony Sellars, Andest
Communications - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00020)

UK: BT TO CLOSE SYSTEM 4 PHONE NET
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- British Telecom has
announced plans to close its System 4 mobile phone network. The
network will close in July 1990 in England & Wales, with the
Scottish transmitters closing down in July 1991. At that time,
the 159 to 163MHz bandwidth will be handed back to the British
Government for re-allocation.

System 4 started in the UK in 1981, replacing the then Post
Office Radiophone network, which was launched in 1959. System 4
offered the advantage that direct-dialled calls were possible on
both an inbound and outbound basis.

At its peak in 1985, System 4 had 20,000 subscribers. Today,
because of its successor, the analogue cellular phone systems -
operated by Cellnet and Vodafone in the UK - System 4 has around
6,000 subscribers. Saturation level usage was reached in 1982,
with the result that BT started waiting lists for subscriptions.

The result was predictable -- black market prices of $3,000 per
System 4 set were being asked. BT and the British Government put
their heads together and came up with the solution -- the existing
UK cellular telephone network.

System 4 will be missed by many. Despite its antiquity, it covers 95
percent of the UK. Cellnet and Vodafone currently have 85 percent
national coverage, but BT plans to extend this to 98 percent by
1991, when the remote Scottish section of the System 4 network
will be finally closed down.

As a sweetener to existing users of System 4, BT is offering
cellular phones connected to Cellnet at half-price. Despite this,
several users of System 4 will be sad to see the old network
close down. "Cellnet is more expensive to use and is less
reliable," said one user contacted by Newsbytes.

(Steve Gold/19890812)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SIN)(00021)

HONG KONG CABLE CONTRACT AWARD
HONG KONG, ASIA, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- The award of Hongkong's first
cable TV network to magnate Y K Pao's WorldWide International stable
has been received with mixed feelings by many business people
in Hongkong. The HK$5.5 billion contract, which was awarded
last week, was expected to go the massive Hutchison International
camp, led by competing magnate Li Ka Shing.

The Hutchison Group had been preparing for the bid for more
than three years and had an established organization in place.
It is believed that the Group had invested more than HK$100
million in the venture to date.

WorldWide, on the other hand, entered into the race last November
at the request of the Hong Kong government ostensibly because
it did not want a one-horse race.

At the eleventh hour the Hongkong Government demanded a HK$1
billion guarantee on the grounds that if the successful bidder
did not perform, the guarantee would be forfeit. Hutchison
apparently declined to make this guarantee because it considered that
it had clearly demonstrated commitment to the project.

The Government decision is being viewed poorly by many
interested business people because it suggests some form of
collusion between the private sector and government at a time
when confidence in Hongkong is at an all-time low.

But the Li Ka Shing camp has been extraordinarily quiet, only
the managing director of the cable subsidiary has spoken up.
The fact that Li Ka Shing himself and his CEO Simon Murray have
not issued any statements suggests to many that Li Ka Shing
preferred not to extend his investments in the territory and in
fact breathed a sigh of relief when the contract was awarded to
his competitor. This possibility has also had a dampening
effect on confidence levels in the territory.

(Keith Cameron/19890810)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(WAS)(00022)

BEIJING'S COMPUTERIZED AMBULANCES
HARBIN, CHINA, 1989 JUL 29 (NB) -- Beijing's English language
China Daily has reported that a radio and computer network, the
first of its kind in China, was recently installed to help the
Harbin Red Cross route ambulances in the city.

The network is expected to be fully operational by the end of August.

(John McCormick/1989089)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00023)

A LLAN BY ANY OTHER NAME
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- Hands up those who thought
only humans were prejudiced? Novell Netware user Allan Marillier says
that the networks electronic mail system has it in for him. Every time
someone entered 'Send Memo to Allan,' the system refused to send the
mail. Why? Because it assumed that the message was 'Send Memo to All'
with a typing error. In a letter printed in Australian PC Week, Allan
explained that he (and all other Allans) could partially overcome the
problem by creating a group named Allan.

(Paul Zucker/19890811)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00024)

ONLINE AIRLINE BOOKERS SIGN PARTNERSHIP
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 Aug 11 (NB) -- Gemini Group
Automated Distribution Systems, the Canadian airline reservation
system, has signed a definitive partnership agreement with
Chicago-based Covia, operator of the Apollo reservation system.

Gemini's system becomes part of Covia's international network and
Covia becomes one-third owner of Gemini. Gemini gets exclusive
Canadian rights to Apollo and all of its features.

United Airlines owns 50.1 percent of Covia, with USAir, Alitalia,
British Airways, KLM and Swissair holding the remainder. Gemini
is jointly owned by Air Canada, Canada's largest airline, and PWA
Corp. of Calgary, Alberta, parent of Canadian Airlines
International and Wardair, the other two national carriers.

(Grant Buckler/19890811/Press Contact: Richard Wertheim or Helen
Leung, Burson-Marsteller Toronto, 416-964-8300)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00025)

TOKYO MAGAZINE WIRETAPS FIREMEN'S FAX
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- MagazineLand Publishing of Tokyo
illegally tapped radio fax messages sent by the Tokyo Metropolitan Fire
Department, then published its technique and a chart of the firehouse's
layout in the March issue of its monthly radio magazine, "Actionland,"
according to Teleputing Hotline, a twice-weekly newsletter covering
telephone-computer connections worldwide.

This greatly annoyed The Tokyo Fire Department, which uses a radio-
driven fax on its fire engines to receive burning buildings' layouts from
the firehouse. After finding the article they strongly reprimanded the
magazine editor, and switched to using public telephone lines for their
fax traffic.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Dana Blankenhorn, The
Teleputing Hotline, 404-373-7634)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00001)

MULTIMEDIA JAPANESE INSTRUCTION
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- The best way to
learn Japanese is to immerse oneself in its culture, but the second
best way may be the unique multimedia project called Understanding
Spoken and Written Japanese, projects in development by a group called
the CALL Education Project.

CALL, supported by Fujitsu Ltd., Nippon Television Network Cultural
Society and Japan Satellite Broadcasting, is creating a laser disk/
PC-based system which will teach Japanese language by including
excerpts from television broadcasts -- including Japanese soap
operas -- as well as newspapers, magazines, and depictions of everyday
situations. Beginner-level scenes include such situations as a trip to
the supermarket or getting information at a train station, while
advanced lessons include a typical job interview, gossip between
coworkers, and reading a letter.

"American students with 150 hours of classwork in Japanese are
often frustrated when they find themselves in Japan unable to
communicate with people," explains Professor Robert Russell of
Brigham Young University, a project advisor.

The laserdisk, guided by the PC-based instructional program, allows
the learner to advance, back-up or repeat lessons depending on
comprehension. The dialogue is in written as well as spoken form,
either in Kanji or Romaji -- English-language letters.

Slated for commercial release in late 1990, Understanding Spoken
Japanese currently operates on a Sony View System with a laser
disk and will work on an IBM InfoWindow System and PC with a
laser disk in the future. Understanding Written Japanese runs on
a Macintosh with HyperCard.

The program has taken three years of research, 18 months for
development of the prototype, and will require one year for actual
product development. Testing and evaluation is taking place at
Harvard, University of Maryland, and San Diego State Universities.

(Wendy Woods/19890809/Press Contact: Romi Adachi, CALL, 619-
755-0945)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00002)

ENGLISH-TO-AFRIKAANS TRANSLATING COMPUTER
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 1989 AUG 12 (NB) -- A computer
capable of translating natural language is under development by
the Human Sciences Research Council, according to a report in The
Star, a Johannesburg newspaper.

The first prototype, already in use at the Pretoria Weather Bureau,
translates weather information from English into Afrikaans at the
rate of four pages every 10 seconds, and can also translate from
English to nine so called "Black languages."

Working on the computer's development are teams from the HSRC,
and the Universities of South Africa, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, and
Witwatersrand.

With so many languages in use in South Africa, a translation
computer would be an important development for that country.

(John McCormick/19890811)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00003)

SUN/HP MAKE FOREIGN DEALS
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Hewlett-Packard
has teamed up with Samsung, South Korea's largest electronics firm,
to develop micros based on HP's RISC microprocessor technology.
Samsung is the second firm to give HP's reduced-instruction-set
chip technology a solid boost in as many weeks -- last week Hitachi
announced it had signed a license to make HP RISC chips.

The news comes as Sun Microsystems, HP's chief competitor in the
RISC arena, has announced a new alliance of its own -- N.V. Philips,
Europe's largest electronics firm, will incorporate the Sun RISC
chip, called the SPARC, into ASICs, or application-specific integrated
circuits.

The players are lining up in this lucrative arena, since RISC chips,
which have simpler programming and are designed for faster, more
efficient computing, are expected to make up a vast portion of the world
semiconductor market by mid-1990.

(Wendy Woods/19890809)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00004)

INFORMATION PROS GETTING AXED
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- When a company
merges, cuts costs, updates its computer system, and acquires
computer-savvy executives, the first to generally get axed are
information services professionals.

That's the finding of InfoTrack, a New York-based corporate executive
placement service.

InfoTrack's president, Bert Upson, says, "The IS (information services)
function has always had to bear its share of staff reductions, but
since last year the numbers of both senior and middle-level information
services executives being outplaced have nearly doubled."

The matter is made worse by this group's frequent tendency to have
"inadequate communications skills," and suffer the pitfall of being
wholly wrapped up in the technology and fail to think like business
managers, says Upson's report.

On the upside, the IS professional could come in handy in start-up firms,
consulting organizations and corporations. But the bottom line, implies
the study, is that as managers learn how to access information
themselves and the technology becomes simpler to use, the information-
seeker at a company will become an increasingly vanishing breed.

(Wendy Woods/19890810/Press Contact: Robert Weinstein, Infotrack,
212-645-1544)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00005)

BRAZILIAN OPTICAL CHIP
CAMPINAS, BRAZIL, 1989 JUL 31 (NB) -- O GLOBO (Rio de Janeiro)
reports that Campinas State University researchers are developing
the first optical chip to be made in Latin America.

Already developing the second prototype, the Department of
Semiconductors, Instruments, and Photonics is working to develop
optical computers which process information using photons or
light, instead of electrons.

(John McCormick/1989089)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00006)

ADAPSO SAYS MERGERS INCREASING
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- According to a
report released by the ADAPSO trade association, although major
deals, those with a value over $100 million, have been far less
common this year than last, there were 168 acquisitions in the
first of half of 1989 among information services and software
companies.

ADAPSO, the Association of Data Processing Service Organization,
released the Broadview Associates/ADAPSO Mergers & Acquisitions
Report which shows that the total value of acquisitions for the
first six months of 1989 was only $1.9 billion verses $5.4
billion for the same period in 1988, but points out that the
current rate is in line with previous years and that 1988 was an
exceptional year for acquisition activity, especially for very
large or mega-deals, which greatly affect the total value of
deals.

For the year so far, the median value of transactions was about
$4 million, essentially the same as last year and Harvey L.
Poppel, a Broadview partner, says that the continuing trends are
toward expanding software product lines to other hardware
platforms, and concentrating on core business.

He points out that the year's largest deal, Computer Associates'
acquisition of Cullinet; Olivetti's purchase of ISC; and Jostens'
addition of Education Systems Corporation's line of educational
software were all aimed at increasing the acquiring company's
strength in its major field of activity.

Copies of the 10 page report (with charts) are available from
Linda Muir, G.S. Schwartz and Company at 212-696-4744.

(John McCormick/19890811/Press Contact: Francis Ianacone, ADAPSO,
703-522-5055)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BRU)(00007)

EUROPE BUILDING 1000 MIPS COMPUTER
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- A European
consortium has been set up to build a 1000 MIPS computer, a
spokesman for the Dutch Associated Computer Experts group has
announced. The project was started six months ago but was kept
secret until now.

Amongst the other participants in the Espirit project are British
Aerospace, a West German and two British universities, plus
Kontron Elektronik from Munich, West Germany and Systems &
Equipment from Bracknell, England. The European Community is a
main sponsor for the 1000 MIPS station with 5 million ECU.

(Eric Dauchy/19890811)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BRU)(00008)

EC ADOPTS BRAIN RESEARCH PROGRAM
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- After an experimental try-out
in 1983-85, the BRAIN project has got the go-ahead from the
European Commission (EC) to do fundamental research on adaptive
intelligence and neural computing.

The BRAIN project has been sponsored by the European Community to
theorise, experiment or simulate neuron networks in a human brain
to see how this can be programmed into a machine without
referring to artificial intelligence, a closed system in itself.

Ilya Prigogine,the Belgian Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, plus Thomson
researcher Pierre Aigrain and Claude Frejacques, head of CNRS, the
prestigious French research institute, are amongst the team whose
task it is to set up the BRAIN program.

The project will study the unique feature of a human brain to
self-program itself. The most ambitious element in the project is
to endeavor the simulation of a human neuron network with the
help of Transputer microprocessors, a theme which will be
explored by Cambridge University, as well as the Universities of
Edinburgh in Scotland, La Sapineza in Rome, and CNRS in France.

(Eric Dauchy/19890811)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BRU)(00009)

ZILOG UNVEILS NEW 16-BIT PROCESSORS
CAMPBELL, CALIFORNIA, USA, 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Zilog, one of the
front runners in the eight bit micro world with the ubiquitous
Z80, has announced the Z16C00 chip, a new 16-bit embedded
microprocessor.

The Z16C00 is designed to be used in hard disk controllers,
floppy controllers and similar devices and offers a new Super-
integration bus that supports expanded registers, thereby
allowing the user to have as much data in register storage as
needed. This translates to very high speed operations.

The Z16C00 uses RISC-like hard-wired instruction logic together
with 16 general purpose registers, 32-bit long word support and a
total of 414 instructions. Offered in the Z16C01, Z16C02 and
Z16C03 formats, it can support from 64 kilobits to 8 megabits of main
memory and is compatible with the Z8000 central processor.

In a related story, Zilog announced the Z84C50, a newly revamped
Z80 microprocessor (originally shipped in 1976), which adds clock
circuitry and 2K-bytes of static RAM on chip. The chip runs at
10MHz and will cost about $6.50 in 1000-up quantities. More than
70 million 8-bit microprocessors are sold annually.

(Peter Vekinis/19890811)


(EXCLUSIVE)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00010)

ASIC CHIP BOOSTS MEMORY
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUGUST 9 (NB) -- Australian PC add-on board
manufacturer Hypertec has announced its new application specific
integrated circuit (ASIC), custom designed for its memory cards. It is
a 6000 gate, 84-pin package, developed on a PC with commercial CAD
(computer-aided design) software.

The first product to use the chip is the HypeRAM MC32/16 which gives
up to 8 or 32 megabytes (with either 1 or 4 megabit Zip pack memory
chips). The board can be built up in 512 kilobit increments for 16-bit
PS/2s or one megabyte increments on 32-bit PS/2s.

The board supports DOS, Xenix and OS/2, has a serial and parallel
port, and supports EMS 4.0 in both software and hardware. The board
with two megabytes of RAM is AUS$2387 recommended retail.

At the launch of the new board and ASIC, Managing Director David
Cunneen told Newsbytes how the chip developed. "Micro Channel boards
are very tight for space so to get the maximum RAM on a board we
developed this chip because it replaces 13 others. We'll now be able
to use it on our other AT bus boards, and EISA too, when that becomes
a reality." He said that the project was made possible through a
sizable grant from the Australian government.

(Paul Zucker/19890811/Press Contact: David Cuneen ph 61-2-8161211)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00001)

SCO FORUM 89 SLATED
SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Santa Cruz
Operation (SCO) , maker of the PC version of the Unix operating system --
Xenix -- will sponsor SCO Forum89 on August 21 through 25 at the
University of Santa Cruz campus.

The forum will feature technical sessions, marketing, panel discussions,
workshops, a new product showcase, and, of course, parties. SCO will
unveil new products and discuss marketing strategies, and some 60
other firms will exhibit their wares. One full-day session will be
devoted entirely to the issues and technologies that comprise Open
Desktop, the out-of-the-box user-friendly interface for Unix.

Among slated speakers are Doug and Larry Michels of SCO, Pauline Alker of
Acer America, John Forbes of Autodesk, Larry Dooling of AT&T Unix,
Jim Bell of X/Open, David House of Intel, Paul Maritz of Microsoft,
Ray Noorda of Novell, and Bob Puette of Hewlett-Packard.

For more information, in the U.S., Pacific Rim, Asia, or Latin
America, contact SCO Forum89 information at 408-425-7222 or
toll-free from the U.S. or Canada at 800-626-UNIX (626-8649).

In Europe, the Middle East, or Africa contact SCO Forum89 at
44-0-923-816344.

(Wendy Woods/19890809/Press Contact: Zee Zaballos, 408-425-7222)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00002)

FREE UNIX-TO-PC MAIL SOFTWARE
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- A new software
package for the PC allows PC owners to exchange file, mail, and news-
groups with UUCP/USENET, the Unix network -- two previously
incompatible worlds. The package, called UFGATE, from Late Night
Software, will gate between UUCP/USENET and FidoNet or can be run as
a stand-alone application, effectively as a leaf site in UUCP/USENET. The
program is shareware.

UFGATE runs on IBM-PC/XT/AT or PS/2 machines or compatibles.
UFGATE will also work with MS-DOS or PC-DOS machines that are not
100 percent IBM-PC hardware compatible with an appropriate FOSSIL
(a communications device driver). This is needed for the UUCICO
clone, GNUUCP (aka. UUSLAVE).

The package will handle the importing, exporting of UUCP messages, and
also the automatic deletion of old USENET newsgroup messages. UFGATE
will also handle mail/newsgroups that have been either 12 or 16 bit
compressed.

UFGATE is free to non-commercial, non-supported users. If you are
interested in support, which includes updates for a year, the Late Night
Software telephone support service, and a hard copy of the manual, a $35
fee is asked. If you are a commercial site, you will automatically get
the support described above, and the manual for $195. Support is
available to all users via the UFGATE echo on FidoNet.

The UFGATE package can be downloaded directly from the Late Night
Software BBS at 415-695-0759. The time to transfer the file (UFG_
103.ARC) at 9600b/s is 10 minutes, or at 2400b/s, it would be about 40
minutes. If you prefer your copy on a floppy, send either a 360Kbyte or
1.2Mbyte 5.25-inch floppy. If you send 360Kbyte floppies, send four. The
package will fit completely on one 1.2Mbyte floppy. The floppies should
be pre-formatted on your machine.

Send the floppies in a standard floppy mailer with a return label, and
return postage to Late Night Software, Tim Pozar, 671 28th Street,
San Francisco, CA 94131 or call 415 695 7727.

(Wendy Woods/19890811)


(NEWS)(SFO)(UNIX)(00003)

NEXT GREETS PUBLIC
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- You can now see the
look and feel of the NeXT Computer workstation for yourself at
Businessland and ComputerCraft stores. Previously reserved only for
corporate executives' viewing, the NeXT machines are now reaching
Steve Jobs' chosen exclusive retail outlets in quantity, and are slated
for delivery to customers in September. ComputerCraft is part of the
Businessland chain.

The Porsche of the computer business, the Next Computer System sells
for $10,000 at Computercraft, and so far customers are coming in
droves to see the sleek, black workstation with the CD-ROM drive.

(Wendy Woods/19890809)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00004)

CONCURRENT EXPANDS DISTRIBUTION
TINTON FALLS, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Concurrent
Computer Corporation has announced the signing of an agreement with
Scientific-Atlanta's Spectral Dynamics Division which will result in SA
using Concurrent Model 5550 (68000-based dual processor) computers
worldwide as a part of signal processing and data acquisition systems.

Concurrent's computers are designed to run RTU 5.0 or Real Time
Unix, a Concurrent Unix operating system, in critical engineering
test applications where real time or immediate responses are
required.

(John McCormick/19890810/Press Contact: Joseph J. Kerrigan,
Concurrent)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00005)

EMPRESS 4.0 RDBMS AT UNIFORUM
GREENBELT, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- An SQL (structured
query language) relational database design system from Empress
Software, Inc., will be shown later this month at booth # 321 at
UniForum/Boston.

John Kornatowski, president and cofounder of Empress Software
said that the new product will allow design engineers to enjoy
many of the same advantages of SQL that end users now have
available.

SQL is a standard language incorporated in IBM mainframe, OS/2
and some MS-DOS database programs.

(John McCormick/1989811/Press Contact: Vic Hess, Empress, 301-
220-1919 or Robyn Sachs, RMR Assoc., 301-231-9393)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00006)

OPTICAL CACHE INTERFACE FOR UNIX
VIENNA, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Advanced
Technology Systems, Inc., will demonstrate LCACHE/386, an
interface that lets Unix users access optical storage discs like
a hard disk, at booth 328 at UniForum/Boston later this month.

The new software is intended to greatly decrease access times by
providing a large software cache between the WORM (Write Once
Read Many) storage devices and 80386-based Unix systems.

(John McCormick/1989811/Press Contact: Dan Madish, ATS, 703-761-
3200 or Robyn Sachs, RMR Assoc., 301-231-9393)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00007)

NEW RABBIT UNIX TO MAINFRAME
MALVERN, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Rabbit
Software will be displaying five new Unix-to-IBM mainframe
connectivity products at booth # 321 at the upcoming
UniForum/Boston on the 21st of this month.

The RabbitPLUS 3270 will provide 3270 (terminal) emulation over
SNA (Systems Network Architecture) for Unix, Xenix, and AIX,
providing a unique BROWSE function that lets the user make
comparisons and references by flipping between previously
displayed screens.

RabbitPLUS NETCOM II, X.25 for Unix and Xenix allows 386-based PCs
to connect to domestic and international X.25 packet switched
networks.

RabbitPLUS RJE provides IBM Remote Job Entry emulation over SNA
for Unix users.

(John McCormick/1989811/Press Contact: Robyn Sachs, RMR Assoc.,
301-231-9393 or Jesse Bornfreund, Rabbit, 215-647-0400)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00008)

NAVY & PHILIPS OPT FOR SPARCS
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Sun Microsystems
was able to announce two big new contracts in one week -- its RISC, or
reduced-instruction set, microprocessors have been chosen by the U.S.
Navy as the heart of its new computer systems and by Philips as the
basis for application-specific controllers.

The Navy contract was actually won by C3, Inc., a systems integrator,
to fulfill the Navy's Desktop Tactical Computers project. C3 teamed with
Sun to provide 32-bit SPARC central processors in the Navy workstations.
C3 is also putting together GX graphics accelerators, a suite of Unix
system software, ruggedized cabinets, third-party peripherals,
systems integration and installation, training and maintenance
services as part of the deal. The potential value of the contract is worth
$115 million.

Meanwhile, N.V. Philips of the Netherlands has chosen the simplified
SPARC processors as the basis of new application-specific embedded
controllers for electronic data processing, industrial, military,
telecommunications, and consumer markets. The company may also
design and sell SPARC microprocessors as part of the licensing agreement.

The Philips gives Sun a ring-side seat in Europe where it can bypass
trade barriers which are expected to be erected against companies
without European bases when new European Community rules take effect
in 1992.

The deals are seen as a big boost for Sun, which lately has dimmed in
the eyes of investors due to poor earnings and internal problems.

(Wendy Woods/19890809/Press Contact: Cindee Mock, Sun, 4115-336-3563)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(ATL)(00009)

IBM UNIX GURU JUMPS SHIP
DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- Mead Data Central his hired
away one of IBM's chief Unix gurus for its online services, including
Lexis and Nexis. Claymon [Clay] A. Cipione, 46, director of AIX Systems
for IBM in Austin, Texas, is the new vice president of Systems and Product
Technology for Mead Data Central. Cipione will oversee all technology
and system operations.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Michelle B. Love, Mead
Data Central, 513-865-7466)