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/1990/nb900607

Text File | 1990-06-06 | 92.3 KB | 2,130 lines

(EXCLUSIVE)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00003)

TOUR OF COMDEX SHOW FLOOR SHOWS MAJOR TRENDS}
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- Some in the media
criticized the Spring Comdex show for the lack of attendance by
big-name firms like IBM and Microsoft, but a tour of the show
floor found interesting trends in abundance.

Key Tronic Corp. of Spokane, WA, best known for its
keyboards, showed a prototype of its 386SX notebook computer.
The box weighs under 5 pounds, has a full-size screen and
keyboard, and runs on AA batteries. It includes an innovative "j-
key mouse," which takes up the space of one key on the keyboard
and can control a cursor on the screen. The two adjacent keys to
the "mouse" can be used as mouse buttons. The computer will be
sold on an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) basis,
meaning consumers will see it later this year with a
variety of different nameplates. It may give Toshiba's
Dynabook a run for its money.

Hewlett-Packard showed signs of challenging the Japanese giants
on their own turf. The company exhibited competitive products in
markets the Japanese are used to dominating -- printers, storage
devices, and laptop computers. They were mainly arrayed facing
the nearby Sharp booth. Hewlett-Packard also demonstrated
scanners and an erasable optical drive with 650 megabytes of
capacity per disk, which is shipping now. "The core of that drive
comes from Sony," Jack Huffman of Hewlett-Packard told us, "but
we're developing our own core." Hewlett-Packard is also taking on
Microsoft with its New Wave operating environment, which was
displayed in the booth.

For the Japanese, meanwhile, it was business as usual. Panasonic
showed its line of printers, plotters and PCs, but the biggest
crowd in its booth was gathered around its optical disk drives,
which won't ship until November. They read and write data up to 1
million times. Sharp emphasized color laptop technology in its
booth, with a line which runs the gamut from the 4-pound 6200 to
the 28 pound MultiColor 386, which sports a fast Intel 386 chip,
an 80 megabyte hard drive and 2 megabytes of memory for about
$10,000. Still, larger crowds stood around a display of its TFT
thin-film color screen technology.

That TFT thin-film color screen is everything it's cracked up to
be, judging from crowd reaction to prototypes shown at the Comdex
show. Hitachi, Sharp and Toshiba all exhibited the screens, which
were razor-thin yet displayed incredibly sharp color, whether
used as computer screens, overhead projectors or plain TVs.

The Japanese are also becoming more savvy about the U.S. market,
and upgrading their fax product lines. Jeff Holloway of
Hitachi said his company will introduce a high-capacity
plain paper fax machine called HiMail at the National
Office Machine Dealers Association show in Las
Vegas next month. Holloway said the HiMail unit is "like having
your own post office for national and international fax."

Two European companies were also making their presence felt in
the U.S. computer market at this show. Olivetti was demonstrating
a full line of PCs in a room off the show floor, including a unit
running the new Intel 80486 chip. Magnavox, a division of N.V.
Philips of Holland, made a bigger splash through its new
HeadStart division, which it purchased earlier this year. That
unit introduced the 500CD, a $2,700 PC which contains a CD-ROM
player as well as a floppy drive, Intel 80386SX chip, an 80
megabyte hard drive, 2 megabytes of memory and VGA graphics. The
CD-ROM drive, unfortunately, only conforms to the High Sierra
text standard, and cannot run CDs containing graphics.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19900606)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00001)

COMDEX: US VIDEO ADDS DIGITIZER; PLANS MULTIMEDIA TOUR}
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- USVideo, maker of
the TVGA Video Platform, announced a digitizing module at the
Spring Comdex show and planned a tour of multimedia kits for
U.S. computer stores.

The TVGA Video Platform is an add-in circuit card for the IBM PC
which offers a link between the VGA graphics standard and the
NTSC standard used for U.S. television broadcasting. Each $800
card comes with a copyrighted feature connector onto which
additional boards can be piggy-backed. The digitizing module lets
users capture high quality color images from a video source, like
a video camera or tape recorder, and save them in standard
computer graphics file formats like GIF, TIF, and PCX.

The company also announced it will work with other firms this
summer to give computer stores a first-hand look at how various
technologies can be combined to create animated multimedia
presentations. TempReps, which provides temporary marketing
representing, will visit stores with a package combining the TVGA
card with some audio cards from Video Associates Labs, a Canon
XAP shot camera, Autodesks's Animator software, a Mitsubishi
Diamond Scan color monitor and color thermal printer, all
integrated with the ASK-ME 2000 product form Innovative
Communication Systems. Pictures taken with the camera can be
recorded onto a floppy disk, then downloaded to an IBM PC using
the TVGA card. The Autodesk software adds professional animation
capabilities, and the Video Associates Labs card adds sound.

Newsbytes spoke with USVideo founder William Erdman, who noted that
additional modules can be plugged into his card in the same way.
"We also have a voice board and Genlock overlay module so you can
add sound and titles," he said. "The three television networks
are using this for storyboards and news work-ups." A professional
video plug will be added to the product in the very near-future,
he added, although broadcasters are not the primary market for
the board. "Think of this as a video motherboard," he said, with
features added as you need them for use in making presentations
or creating courseware. It's the latter area where Erdman said
the card will make its biggest impact. "I started this company in
1985 to create interactive education tools," he said.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19900606/Press Contact: John James, 203-964-
9000; TempReps, 801-731-7005)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00002)

COMDEX: EXPERTS PREDICT 1-2 MILLION WINDOWS SOLD THIS YEAR}
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- At the software
summit session of the Spring Comdex show, hosted by Soft*Letter
publisher Jeffrey Tarter, the major topic of conversation was
from a company which was not exhibiting at the show: Windows 3.0
from Microsoft.

Rod Turner of Symantec, Carole Patton of the ACKnowledge
newsletter on Windows, Mark Eisner of Softbridge,
Paul Grayson of Micrografx and Cameron Myrrvold of Microsoft all
predicted that 1-2 million copies of the package will be in use
by the end of the year. But Tarter warned that may not be enough
copies to make a worthwhile market, noting that 2 million
Commodore Amigas are in use worldwide, and that Apple Macintosh
software developers went hungry when 2 million of those machines
were in use. About 50 million IBM PCs and clones are in use
worldwide, the panel estimated.

As the number of Windows users climbs in the next few years,
however, new opportunities will be created for "bread and butter"
business applications, the panel indicated, and some of the
industry's big names could be in trouble. "Two kinds of companies
won't do well, those that don't recognize Graphical User
Interfaces, or GUIs, and those who don't have the know-how to
develop the products well," said Turner. "The market won't just
go to those who use the latest GUI du jour."

Patton suggested Lotus Development may be in trouble if it
resists Microsoft's suggestions on how to address functions
within Windows, as users become accustomed to a standard
way of using the environment."We have a contest developing
between corporate America and Jim Manzi, and I'll bet
on corporate America."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19900606/Press Contact: John James, 203-964-
9000; TempReps, 801-731-7005)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00000)

NEW FOR MAC: Compatible CD-ROM Drive Bundled With Shareware}
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 3 (NB) --  Chinon America has
announced that it is bundling a 575 megabyte disc containing
Educorp's public domain Shareware software to provide fonts,
utilities and games with its Model CDA-431 CD-ROM/audio drive
unit for Macintoshes.

The Model CDA-431 is a full-featured CD player and CD drive for
Mac Plus, SE and II computers. It comes with SCSI (Small Computer
Systems Interface cabling and features auto-eject button,
separate headphone volume control and a front-loading disk tray
with one-touch open/close button. It automatically recognizes
either ROM disk or audio disk and reverts to the appropriate
command format. Average access speed is 350 milliseconds with a
25,000 hour MTBF (mean time between failure) rate.

Suggested retail price is $795 and the product is expected to be
available for shipping in about 30 days. A version for the IBP PC
and compatibles is already shipping.

Chinon has also added bundled software for desktop publishing,
image processing and optical character recognition (OCR) to its
DS-3000 optical scanner for the Macintosh. For a suggested retail
price of $895, the 300 DPI (dots per inch) DS-3000 Scanner comes
standard with SCSI interface adapter package, cabling, utility
software and AC adapter as well as either the Digital Darkroom
gray scale editor or Personal Press desktop publishing software.

For a suggested retail price of $1295, the DS-3000 Scanner is
bundled with the interface package and the latest version of
OmniPage 2.1.

(Janet Endrijonas/19900606/Press Contact: Jeff Swartz, Daly-
Swartz Public Relations, 714-361-6888)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00000)

MITEK INTROS TEMPEST-ACCREDITED MACINTOSH}
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Mitek Systems
has announced the introduction of a new Macintosh personal
computer, the Model 660T based on the Macintosh IIfx.

Mitek is a value-added manufacturer of the TEMPEST-accredited
computer products that are modified to prevent electronic
eavesdropping. These products are used by both the US government
and NATO as well as in industrial high security applications.

The 660T features a 68030 microprocessor and 68882 math
coprocessor that operate at 40 MHz (megahertz) and a built-in 32K
Static RAM (random access memory) Cache memory subsystem. A
dedicated SCSI/DMA (Small Computer System Interface/Direct Memory
Access) controller reduces the workload of the main processor and
speeds performance of the SCSI bus. Together, processors and
cache are said to speed program execution of CPU-intensive
(central processing unit) systems by up to 100 percent over
Macintosh IIci and up to 300 percent over Macintosh IIx and IIcx
systems.

(Janet Endrijonas/19900606/Press Contact: Glenn Ritzman, Mitek
Systems, 800-367-5660)


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

NEW FOR MACINTOSH: RasterOps 24-Bit Display Boards
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- RasterOps
has released new video peripheral boards for the Macintosh II
line -- the 24-bit 8L and 24L Display Boards which are
said to offer flicker-free, multiple-resolution displays
for most 13-, 16- and 19-inch monitors.

The boards provide system configurations that support image
resolutions of 640 X 480, 800 X 600 or 1024 X 768 pixels at
screen refresh rates of 60Hz (hertz) or 75Hz.   The 8L Display
Board offers the same features as the 24L but is less expensive,
and can be upgraded to 16.7 million colors by adding additional
memory with the RasterOps 8L VRAM Expansion Kit.

The boards support display bit modes from monochrome through
photorealistic color with true WYSIWYG (what you see is what
you get) display resolution (72 dots per inch),
which allows users to visualize the actual
printed result. Pan/Zoom capabilities allow two to four times
screen enlargement and quick document panning.   The Extended
Desktop feature creates a bigger desktop window, advantageous
when working with large documents.

The 8L Display Board will have a suggested retail price of $1,995,
while the 24L Display Board will be priced at $3,995.   The 24L
is available immediately; the 8L will begin shipping in June.
The RasterOps 8L VRAM Expansion Kit will cost $1,995.

(Wendy Woods/19900606/Press Contact: Scott Brodrick, Rasterops,
408/562-4200)


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

FARALLON SHIPS NEW MACRECORDER VOICE DIGITIZER
EMERYVILLE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Farallon Computing
is shipping the newest version of its MacRecorder Voice digitizer,
an upgrade which allows users to record voice into
sound-supporting applications, such as CE Software's QuickMail 2.2x,
WordPerfect Office Mail, Microsoft Mail verion 2.0, and
BrightStar's InterFACE.

These applications are the first programs to incorporate
Farallon's Sound Toolkit, a set of programming routines that
build up on Macintosh system software, giving developers a
standard and easy way to add sound input and playback
capabilities to their applications.

The MacRecorder Voice digitizer contains a microphone and an
analog-to-digital converter.  It plugs into the modem or
printer port of a Macintosh computer.

Both digitizers work with electronic mail or any applications
that support sound input, and are fully compatible with the
Macintosh Plus SE, SE/30, Macintosh II, IIx, IIcx, IIci and IIfx.

The complete MacRecorder Voice digitizer package will be
available in a single pack, or 10-packs for large customers
that want to make sound a standard capability of all of their
Macintosh computers.

The original MacRecorder Sound System is the complete sound
editing system for the Macintosh.  It includes a sound digitizer
with a microphone input that allows connection to external
microphones and a line jack that allows input from CD players
or other stereo components. It also includes SoundEdit,
HyperSound and HyperSound Toolkit software.

The MacRecorder Sound System has been shipping since January 1988
and is considered a standard for recording sound on the Macintosh.
The system is priced at $249.

The MacRecorder Voice digitizer is $149. The 10-pack has a
suggested retail price of $995.  Both single and 10-packs are
available and shipping in quantity.

(Wendy Woods/19900606/Press Contact: Wendy Keough, Farallon,
415/596-9303)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00000)

COMPAQ AUTHORIZES NEW DEALERS IN MEXICO}
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) --Compaq Computer has
authorized six computer dealers in Mexico to sell its personal
computers. The company has also announced that it will provide
comprehensive sales training and technical support programs for
these dealers.

The six include Division Conectividad, Grupo Cige, Grupo Tea,
Pixel Internacional, Execuplan and Mundo Digital.

Compaq began sales operations in Latin America in 1989
authorizing dealers in Chile, Colombia and Venezuela. The company
added authorized dealers in Argentina and Trinidad earlier this
year. Compaq's international operations also include 17 wholly-
owned sales and marketing subsidiaries located in Australia,
Singapore, Canada, New Zealand and a number of European
countries.

(Janet Endrijonas/19900606/Press Contact: Bob Beach, Compaq, 713-
374-4616)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(NYC)(00003)

ZIFF ACQUIRES 3 DATABASE COMPANIES}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- Ziff
Communications has announced the purchase of three database companies,
Focus Research, Atoll and Storeboard. The acquisitions will augment the
continued expansion of Ziff's Computer Intelligence Company.

Computer Intelligence is located in La Jolla, CA and is a source of
market information about end-user sites and resellers in the computer
industry. Focus Research, located in Farmington, CT, was purchased
from Dun & Bradstreet and is a provider of computer site data. Atoll
is  a Paris, France-based provider of European computer site data
while Storeboard, located in Dallas, TX, tracks PC retail distribution.

Announcing the acquisitions, Hugh Tietjen, president of CI said: "The
purpose of acquiring Atoll was to develop in Europe the same
informational authority we possess in North America. Since we acquired
Atoll, it has been expanded to having research groups, who conduct
interviews in French, Italian, German, Spanish, and English. We now have
a European database of over 35,000 end-user sites in 11 European
countries." Tietjen added, "Storeboard helps us fill a gap in our
understanding of PC distribution channels. It maintains a directory of
computer specialty stores and tracks sales of PCs and other related products
through this channel. Focus Research also fills out a niche for CI."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19900606/Press Contact: Greg
Jarboe, Ziff, 617-497-2430)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00001)

BUSINESSLAND/JAPANESE FIRMS IN JOINT VENTURE
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Businessland
has formed a joint venture with several major Japanese firms to sell
computerss in Japan. The partners are Softbank, a software
and peripheral distributor and technical publishing house in Japan,
Canon, Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp.

The new company is called Businessland Japan Co. Ltd., and has
headquarters in Tokyo.

Businessland is the majority equity holder with 54 percent; Softbank
owns 26 percent and each of the other partners has a 5 percent stake.
The total capitalization of the company is US $20 million.

The initial product line will include products from Canon, Fujitsu,
IBM, NCR, NEC, Sony and Toshiba. Hardware service, network
consultation and installation services and software support
will be available from Businessland Japan Co., in July.
Customer training will follow in September.

Businessland estimates the Japanese market is currently 10-20
percent of the United States market which was $27.2 billion in 1989,
with the potential to grow to 50 percent within the next 10 years.

(Wendy Woods/19900606/Press Contact: Beverly Bird, Businessland,
408/437-4366)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00006)

ARROW TO WIDEN AVAILABILITY OF SIEMENS PCS}
MELVILLE, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- Personal computers
from Siemens Information Systems will be available to smaller
American resellers for the first time thanks to an agreement with
Arrow Electronics here.

The Melville, New York-based distributor will resell Siemens
personal computers nationwide, along with Siemens processor
boards. The Siemens machines use a passive-backplane design in
which the processor, memory, interfaces and graphics and disk
controllers are on a plug-in board, so the PCs can easily be
upgraded.

Alice Andors, a spokeswoman for Siemens' OEM/VAR Personal
Computer Division in Boca Raton, FL, said that in the past,
Siemens PCs have only been available to original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) and very large value-added resellers (VARs).
The Arrow contract will make them available to a much wider
market, she said.

The product line includes machines based on the Intel 80286,
80386SX, 80386 and 80486 processors.

(Grant Buckler/19900606/Press Contact: Alice Andors, Siemens,
407-994-7433; Pamela George, Arrow, 516-391-1608)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00000)

XEROX DESKTOP SOFTWARE CHANGES NAME TO VENTURA SOFTWARE}
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- Xerox Desktop
Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox Corp. has announced
that it is changing its name to Ventura Software, Inc., a Xerox
company.

According to Larry Gerhard, president of the company, Ventura
Software will remain in San Diego but has moved to larger
quarters. Ventura Software  is following the lead of other
companies in the computer industry who have changed their names
to reflect their flagship product, in this case Ventura
Publisher.

(Janet Endrijonas/19900606/Press Contact: Ronald Kuhl, Ventura
Software, Inc., 619-673-7537)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(NYC)(00002)

COASTAL ASSOCIATES LAUNCHES NEW MAGAZINE}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- Coastal
Associates Publishing, a two-year-old partnership between Ziff-Davis
Publishing Co. and Patch Communications, has announced the launching of
PC Sources, a magazine aimed at the computer mail order market.

The new magazine will begin publishing in October with an initial
circulation of 100,000. Its publisher will be Jeff Ballowe, the former
associate publisher of sales and marketing for Computer Shopper.
Peter McKie, former executive editor of Personal Computing, will be the
magazine's founding editor.

In announcing the new publication, William B. Ziff Jr., chairman of Ziff
Communications and president of Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., said: "PC
Sources will meet a very specific need in the computer marketplace -- the
need for a medium where often inexperienced direct buyers can make
contact with direct sellers in a unique editorial forum. Computer Shopper's
tremendous increase in circulation and linage has made it the bible of the
direct channel, but we feel that its surge upwards has created a place for
the right kind of lower-cost publication. That publication is PC Sources."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19900606/Press Contact: Per
Lofving, Coastal, 212-503-3863)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MOW)(00002)

EAST GERMAN ROBOTRON EXPECTS TO GAIN FROM GERMAN REUNIFICATION}
MOSCOW, U.S.S.R., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- A representative of
Zentron, a Soviet-East German joint venture based in Kalinin,
has told Newsbytes that he expects German reunification to
improve business his company's prospects.

According to Fatikh Romashkin, a Zentron executive, the Zentron
joint venture is currently comprised of the Soviet software
translator and  manufacturer, CentrProgrammSystem, and East
Germany's Robotron, provider of CP/M and MS-DOS computers
for Eastern Europe. Robitron will soon be acquired by the
giant West German corporation, Siemens.

Siemens plans to buy Robotron and all its subsidiaries in
the near future. "That means one more 'socialist'
supplier of computers to the USSR will become a
'capitalist' one," Romashkin told Newsbytes.

According to Romashkin's estimates, the current level of
cooperation between Germany and Kalinin will rise once the
anticipated Siemens/Robotron deal is completed.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19900605/Press contact: Fatikh Romashkin, Zentron,
phone [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00001)

INDUSTRY DOWNTURN IN AUSTRALIA HITS CONTRACTORS}
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- Industry observers believe
that the computer industry slump in Australia, has spread to
contractors. This follows a move by a number of large banks and
companies to cancel contracts and bring work in-house.

Westpac Bank has terminated 50 contractor agreements, saying it
was time to "stand back and assess the situation." The move
means an estimated saving of $4M per year. Other corporations
have reportedly cut contracting staff by around 50 percent
over boom periods of 15 months ago.

Personnel placement agencies say that the situation has reached
a position where for the first time in many years there is an
oversupply of computer professionals in the market.  A statement
by National Australia Bank said that there is a house policy
of increasing in-house staff to replace contractors.

(Paul Zucker and Computing Australia/19900606)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00002)

AUSTRALIAN COMPANY CRITICAL AS UK PARTNER PULLS-OUT}
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 JUN 4 (NB) --  Australian computer company,
Rimpac, is highly critical of equity partner Oceanic of the UK,
which pulled-out of a bid to save Rimpac from collapse. It claims
that Oceanic had promised to acquire 81 percent of Rimpac stock
with an initial cash injection, but had reniged on the promise.

Rimpac has posted a loss of $2.6M for the last year and share trading
has been suspended on the stock exchange. Chairman Max Vardanega told
Newsbytes that he was considering supreme court action to
force Oceanic to fulfil the agreement, which he says is also a
legal obligation because of the companies' relationship.

(Paul Zucker and Computing Australia/19900606)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00000)

TOSHIBA AMERICA INFO GROUP ESTABLISHES PRINTER PRODS GROUP}
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- Toshiba America
Information Systems (TAIS) has created Toshiba Printer Products,
located at the company's Irvine headquarters, to handle product
planning, marketing, sales and distribution of advanced printer
products.

The new printer group, to be headed by Richard Walker who has
been named vice president/general manager, will build on existing
product support formerly handled by the Computer Systems
Division. According to Kiichi Hataya, president of TAIS, plans
are now in place to continue to expand both existing dealer
distribution channels nationwide and establish Toshiba as a
leading supplier of laser and 24-pin dot matrix printers.

Walker joined TAIS in 1989 as vice president/general manager of
the Copier Products Division and vice president/corporate
marketing for TAIS. He will retain these roles while taking on
his new position with the Printer Products Division.

(Janet Endrijonas/19900606/Press Contact: Sean Fitzgerald,
Berkemer, Kline Golin/Harris, 213-620-5711)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00000)

AST, TEXAS INSTRUMENTS CREATE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE}
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) --AST Research and
the Information Technology Group (ITG) of Texas Instruments (TI)
have announced the formation of a worldwide alliance under which
TI will provide service to users of AST computer systems. This
alliance follows an original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
agreement signed by the two companies in March under which AST is
developing custom computer systems for TI.

TI's ITG Services Division will provide onsite warranty and post
warranty repair services to resellers, distributors and end users
of AST computers. TI will offer AST resellers and distributors
incentive programs similar to those offered to TI's distribution
base including an annual discount on services that resellers
contract to TI and a finder's fee to resellers who sign customers
to TI service contracts.

(Janet Endrijonas/19900606/Press Contact: Jeanne Jalan, AST
Research, 714-727-7960; Cindy Smith, Texas Instruments, 512-250-
7984)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00004)

ATARI PUSHES PORTFOLIO PC DOWN "THE DRAIN" IN LONDON}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 JUN 06 (NB) -- Atari has announced it is
pushing its Portfolio pocket PC down the drain in London.
"The drain" is better known as the London Waterloo/City line, a
stretch of track that the 900,000 commuters who use the rail link
each month call have named on account of its underground route.
Atari has acquired the exclusive rights to all posters on the
commuter route.

The posters are designed to promote the benefits of Portfolio
to commuters. "They can now use 'wasted' travelling time to write
reports, manipulate spreadsheets or carry out calculations on
their Portfolio," said Atari.

Backing up the unusual poster campaign is a national press
advertising campaign which is already under way. Atari is
spending UKP 5 million ($8 million) on promoting its products
this year in the UK alone.

(Steve Gold/1990606/Press Contact: Louise Powell, Atari press
office - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BRU)(00001)

TECHNOLOGY STOCKS: Midweek Quarterly Results, Wednesday June 6}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Fewer companies
are reporting results at mid-quarter, making it more difficult to
estimate future financial results. Companies reporting this week
included:

[] TEMPEST TECHNOLOGIES lost $1.2 million in its fourth quarter
ending Mar. 31, 1990 on revenues of $1.975 million. The company
had reported a net income of $148,000 and revenues of $2.664 million
for the same period last year. For the full year, the company
reported a loss of $1.32 million on revenues of $8.1 million.
These results compare with income of $316,000 and
revenues of $8.57 million for 1989. Tempest Technologies blamed
the results on a one time write-off of $348,000 and
$890,000 towards a facility that will no longer be used. The
company makes TEMPEST-accredited equipment for defense applications
in the United States.

[] COMMUNICATIONS CABLE earned $379,766 for its second quarter
which ended Apr. 30, 1990 on revenues of $5.42 million. For the
same quarter last year, the company earned $273,000 and had
revenues of $5.783 million. For the first six months, the
company reported earnings of $757,000 on revenues of $10.995
million. Communications Cable manufactures special application
cable for computers and telecommunications uses.

[] BASE TEN SYSTEMS reported earnings of $416,000 in its second
quarter which ended Apr. 30, 1990, on revenues of $12.16
million. The company reported revenues of $14.4 million and
earnings of $1.25 million for the same period in 1989. For the
first six months, Base Ten reported profits of $973,000 on
revenues of $24.57 million while the results of the like quarter
in 1989 showed earnings of $1.33 million and sales of $21.61
million. Base Ten Systems manufactures complex electronic
devices.

[] VIDEO DISPLAY CORPORATION reported a net loss of $1.22 million
for its fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, 1990, on sales of
$13.185 million. For the same period last year, the company
reported sales of $10.58 million and earnings of $636,000. The
company took a write-off worth $1.9 million for various assets.
For the full year, VDC earned $681,000 on sales of $54.54 million.
VDC manufactures and markets video display terminals and
associated equipment.

[] TRANSACT INTERNATIONAL reported profits of $273,000 for the
fiscal year ended Apr. 30, 1990 on sales of $11 million. For the
same period in 1989, the company reported sales of $11.51 million
and a loss of $178,816. Transact manufactures and markets
materials handling systems and is based in Memphis, TN in
the U.S.A..

[] TELEPHONE & DATA SYSTEMS posted a quarterly dividend of 7
cents per share, which represents an increase of 7 percent over
its second quarter 1989 dividend. Telephone & Data Systems owns
three subsidiaries operating communications circuits in the U.S.
- TDS Telecommunications Corporation, United States Cellular and
American Paging - all of which are subsidiaries serving
communications needs, mainly in the cellular telephone area.

(John Verhelst/19900606)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BRU)(00003)

TECHNOLOGY STOCKS: Midweek Market Summary, Tuesday June 5}
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- The Dow Jones
Industrial Average (DJIA) inched near the 3,000 mark this week,
but took a slight setback at the end of Tuesday's trading when it
retreated by more than 10 points. The DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial
Average) closed on Tuesday at 2,925. It had gained 34.22 points
on Monday.

Technology stocks were again in the limelight including IBM which
gained 37.5 cents, rising to $120.75 (IBM stood at $99 at the
beginning of the year), with AT&T falling the by the same amount
as IBM's gain ending Tuesday at $43.25. IBM's gain was attributed to
news that the company is lowering prices for the PS/2 models by
up to ten percent.

On the American Exchange, Wang fell 12.5 cents to end at $4.50,
Western Digital closed up 12.5 cents at $13 while Amdahl remained
unchanged at $15.75.

Over the Counter (OTC) stocks saw considerable activity on
Tuesday when Apple led other issues losing $1.25 to close at $39.50
and Intel Corporation followed the company down $1.375 to finish at
$47.125. Adobe Systems, ended down $1 at $32.25, while Microsoft
fell by $3.625 ending at $73.375. MCI Communications ended down
25 cents at $42.75.

(John Verhelst/19900606)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00001)

WALT DISNEY LAUNCHES NEW SOFTWARE LINE
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- First it was cartoons,
then full-length movies, later it was amusement parks and hotels.
Now Walt Disney is moving into computer software.

In a private showing in a Chicago Hotel, the newly formed
Walt Disney Software of Burbank, CA, demonstrated its
new line of personal computer software. Initially the
products will be in three lines: entertainment, education,
and personal productivity.

Products will be available for the Amiga, IBM-PC, C-64,
and the Apple II. Initial products are expected to be
released during the third and fourth quarters of 1990.

Disney announced that one of its first products will be a new
hardware device - The Sound Source. The Sound Source is a
three-inch speaker that attaches to the parallel port of an
IBM-PC or compatible. (The port can still be used for printers.)
The device will generate speech, music, and sound at much
better quality than the standard PC speaker. The Sound Source
uses Disney's own proprietary system but the company is making it
available to other software developers. The price is $34.95 and
it will be bundled with some of Disney's initial releases.

A representative from another software company did not
welcome the introduction of yet another sound standard into
the PC marketplace and questioned whether his company would
support it.

Most were impressed by a demonstration of Disney's animation
package - The Animation Studio ($179.95). The program will be
released initially for the Amiga followed by a version for MS-DOS
computers. The program includes a tutorial on animation using
actual examples from Disney cartoons. The program uses onion
skin technology to allow designers to see the current animation cell
and the three behind it. The program includes a public domain
projector so people can distribute their animation products to others.

Also included is a full range of sound effects from Disney cartoons.

(Saul Feldman/19900604/Press Contact: Ralph Giuffre, Marketing,
Walt Disney Software, 818-567-5340)


(EXCLUSIVE)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00001)

COMMODORE SHOWS NEW CD-ROM BASED AMIGA AT CES
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- Commodore unveiled
its Commodore Dynamic Total Vision (CDTV) at the summer Consumer
Electronics Show. Rather than make a big splash about the new system,
which is an Amiga capable of playing CDs, it was hidden behind
partitions and not shown on the floor. There were not even
press kits available for distribution in the press room.

The system, with a list price of $999, consists of a one megabyte
Amiga, a CD player capable of playing audio CDs, CD-ROMS, and
CD+G (audio CDs with a video track). There is no keyboard;
rather, input is through a 10-key, 20-function infrared hand-held
remote unit. The unit connects directly to a television set and
a home stereo unit.

Commodore's major selling point is the library of CD-ROM software
that will be available for the system. They expect 100 titles
to be available at the time of the CDTV's release during the
third quarter of 1990 and 200 titles by the end of the year.
Software includes reference material such as a 180,000-word
dictionary, cookbook, encyclopedia, and atlas as well as
entertainment products from major game companies. Commodore will
also manufacture a CD-ROM unit so that existing Amigas can take
advantage of the new software.

With the addition of a floppy drive and keyboard, the unit can
be upgraded to function as a fully functional Amiga. The system
contains 7 rear expansion ports and 2 front ports for a stereo
headphone and a personal RAM card. Commodore has not finalized
distribution yet but they will launch the product internationally.

Commodore is based in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

(Saul Feldman/19900604/Press Contact: David Rosen, Commodore,
215-431-9100)


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

CANON SETS UP RESEARCH COMPANY IN AUSTRALIA}
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 JUNE 6 (NB) -- Canon Australia has
established a research and development company, Canon Information
Systems Research Australia, which will develop products for use in
the Canon product line. The establishment of the company is part
of what a spokesman for Canon said was a "globalization" of Canon's
Research and Development (R&D) and production operations.

Employing approximately a dozen computer software and hardware
specialists, the new company will utilize what Canon sees as
Australia's expertise in software development to provide flexibility
in its R&D programs. The move by Canon to establish the company
follows the decentralization of R&D to the U.S., Germany and Britain.
A similar facility has also been announced to be set up in France.

The new company will be owned jointly by Canon Australia and Canon Inc.
of Japan, with capital of AUS$2M. Akihiro Tanaka, Canon Information
Systems Research Australia's managing director, felt that the move would
not only enhance Canons ongoing R&D efforts, but would also show
Canon's commitment to its Australian operations. Canon spends
approximately 10 percent of its sales income on R&D, and has a high
number of U.S. patent registrations each year.

(Sean McNamara/19900606/Contact: David English, phone in Australia
[phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00003)

INTERLEAF GIVING SCHOOLS A DEAL ON SOFTWARE}
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Interleaf is
offering its big-ticket publishing software to North American
universities and colleges at a big discount.

Degree-granting, non-profit universities and colleges in the
United States and Canada can get the software, normally priced at
about $30,000, for under $1,000, said Christine Marshall,
marketing manager at Interleaf's Canadian office in Toronto. That
price covers one copy of disk media and documentation, but
schools can make and share copies of the sofware and manuals, she
said.

The price is C$975 in Canada, slightly lower in the United
States. The exact U.S. figure was unavailable at Newsbytes'
deadline.

(Grant Buckler/19900606/Press Contact: Christine Marshall,
Interleaf Canada, 416-670-5980)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00005)

NEW PRODUCT: Smith Corona Launches Personal Word Processor}
NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- Smith Corona
has introduced the PWP 1000 Personal Word Processor with a
personal card file and battery backup.

The PWP 1000 has 32K bytes of internal memory and an eight-line
by 80-character liquid-crystal display. A bidirectional printer
is built in. An external 32K-byte DataStore memory card is
optional. The PWP 1000 also includes a 75,000 word spelling
dictionary.

The card file, which the company likened to a Rolodex on screen,
lets users manipulate information such as addresses and telephone
numbers in an index card format. Battery backup preserves text
and card-file data when the unit is turned off, or in case of a
power failure.

Suggested retail price for the PWP 1000 is US$499.99.

(Grant Buckler/19900605/Press Contact: Lisa Hendrickson or Sissi
Semprini, Manning, Selvage & Lee Inc. for Smith Corona,
212-213-0909)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00006)

NEW PRODUCT: Selectronics Shipping Berlitz Translators}
PITTSFORD, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- SelecTronics has
begun shipping its Berlitz Interpreter and Berlitz EuroTraveller
handheld language translators.

Based on the Berlitz phrase books and dictionaries, the
electronic devices measure four and a half by three inches and
are half an inch thick. Each has a two-line scrolling
liquid-crystal screen which can display translations of words and
phrases into several European languages, said Connie Connors, a
spokeswoman for Selectronics.

The US$120 Berlitz Interpreter translates 12,500 words and 300
phrases between English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The
US$150 Berlitz contains 17,000 phrases that can be translated
between 10 languages: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German,
Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.

SelecTronics also unveiled slimmer, lighter versions of its
WordFinder 220 spelling checker and thesaurus and its WordFinder
224 dictionary, spelling checker and thesaurus. The hardware is
the same as the translators, Connors said. Suggested retail is
US$50 for the WordFinder 220 and US$80 for the WordFinder 224.

The company also said it is developing a series of read-only
memory (ROM) and random-access memory (RAM) cards to bring
dictionary and translator functions to its handheld Electronic
Bible and Random House Electronic Encyclopedia.

(Grant Buckler/19900606/Press Contact: SelecTronics Inc.,
716-248-3875; Connie Connors, Connors Communication for
Selectronics, 212-431-9300)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00001)

GRAHAM MEAD ASSOC GAINS APPROVAL FOR SSADM COURSES IN ASIA}
WANCHAI, HONG KONG, 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- Asia's leading provider of
computer education, Graham Mead Associates (GMA), has become the
first organization to gain approval to offer an accredited Structured
Systems Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM) course in Asia.

SSADM is the de facto modern standard in the United Kingdom and is
achieving a similar position in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Government and a number of large companies have adopted
it for their software development activities. Both local
polytechnic institutes have also made it their standard and are now
producing graduates who use the methodology.

The GMA course will lead to the award of an SSADM Certificate awarded
by the Systems Analysis Examination Board based at the British
Computer Society in London. This is the examining authority that also
administers the NCC Certificate in Systems Analysis worldwide. It
recently added the SSADM Certificate to its portfolio of
qualifications.

Only accredited courses, such as GMA's, may prepare students for the
SSADM Certificate.

Graham Mead Associates offers various internationally recognizd
courses in information technology and also publishes Asia's leading
statistical reports and analyses of the industry. Prior to founding
the company, Graham Mead set up and directed the Department of
Computer Science at the Hong Kong Polytechnic.

(Norman Wingrove/19900606/Press Contact: Ms Karvie Lee, GMA,
[phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00002)

HONG KONG BANKS UPGRADE NCR SYSTEMS}
ADMIRALTY, HONG KONG, 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- Two Hong Kong banks are
upgrading from NCR I9000 series minicomputers to the newer System
10000, to gain enhanced performance while maintaining compatibility
with existing applications.

Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) has ordered a
$200,000 System 10000 Model 75 to run its bills application,
providing four times the throughput of the 9400IP system it replaces.

The new machine is configured with 12 megabytes (MB) of main memory
and a 435 MB disk drive. Running the latest version of NCR's ITX
operating system, Release 6.1, BCCI will be able to use ITX Windows
Executive to achieve cooperative processing between the host and PCs,
which will be installed in branches to replace dumb terminals in the
bank's bills application.

Meanwhile, Overseas Union Bank is upgrading its retail banking system
from an NCR I9020 to a System 10000 Model 55, and simultaneously
replacing its existing teller terminals with NCR 5267 financial
workstations.

Won in open tender, this order includes six NCR PC286 personal
computers and is worth $250,000.

Commenting on the two banks' upgrades, NCR (Hong Kong) Financial
Systems Manager, Andrew Liu, said: "Committed as we are to open
architecture and industry standards, we nevertheless have a huge
installed base of proprietary systems whose users look to us to offer
them a growth path as their business increases. We have promised to
protect the investment of existing users and these orders reflect our
customers' faith in that assurance."

(Norman Wingrove/19900606/Press Contact: Vivian Kung, NCR,
[phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00004)

HONG KONG: GUILTY CONSCIENCES SHOW UP FOLLOWING ARTICLE COMMENTS}
POKFULAM, HONG KONG, 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- Following remarks in his
regular South China Morning Post column, castigating poor customer
support from Hong Kong PC and office equipment suppliers, information
technology consultant, Keith Cameron, reports that his phone has run
hot with calls from worried companies and angry customers.

In this week's column, he writes: "Aggrieved customers have added
many entries to my book of information technology anecdotes, but the
bulk of calls came from vendors trying to establish whether or not I
was referring to them."

Cameron comments that responsibility for satisfactory sales
support and service lies squarely with senior management, although
the front line takes the brunt of the blame.

He told Newsbytes: "If you buy a car, you expect to be able to have
it serviced, and pay for it after an initial warranty period. The
same principal applies to PCs. But while Hong Kong customers do tend
to expect lifetime free service for their computers, they still have
the right to expect the vendor to take an interest after the sale and
provide chargeable backup after the guarantee expires."

Among cases related in his earlier article, Cameron told of one
customer who bought a new PC system from a prominent dealer. When it
was eventually delivered, he was left with a pile of boxes to unpack.
Once everything was connected, he realized the machine was useless
because it had been delivered without the operating system, included
in the price. After he called the supplier, a technician arrived,
started the computer with the system disk he had brought with him,
then left, taking the disk. If the owner switched off the power, he
would have to send for the vendor's technician again.

"It's ludicrous," says Cameron, "but unfortunately fairly typical.
I've been complaining about this sort of thing for years, both in
public and in private to the dealers themselves, but to no avail. Too
many vendors are striving to increase market share at the expense of
good business practices."

Newsbytes also learned recently of a PC user who took delivery of a
famous facsimile adaptor card for his machine, only to find the box
contained no manual. Meanwhile, another received the same model with
the manual for an earlier version which did not match the current
software or the card itself. Both units were supplied by the same
leading supplier.

"Hong Kong businesses have always been able to adapt and cope with an
ever-changing business scene," says Cameron, "so why is it so
difficult for suppliers of information technology?"

(Norman Wingrove/19900606/Press Contact: Keith Cameron, Cameron
Microsystems Ltd, [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00005)

UK: ATARI BUNDLES UP 1040ST IN PRODUCTIVITY PACKAGE}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Atari UK has unveiled its
first bundling deal based around the 1040 STe machine, the
"extra" pack.' Retailing for UKP 499 ($800), the package includes
software worth more than UKP 300 ($480).

The aim behind the "extra" pack, which includes a free magazine -
"making the most of your new Atari ST," - is to encourage users
of less sophisticated machines to upgrade to the 1 MB (megabyte)
STe machine.

Unlike the original 1040ST, the 1040STe (the e stands for
extended) has a modular construction. This allows the machine's
memory to be expended to 4 MB internally using single inline
memory modules (SIMMs). Other features of the STe series include
Tos 1.6, a new version of the ST's operating system.

The software in the "extra" pack includes ST-Word (word
processing); ST-Base (database); ST-Calc (spreadsheet) and ST-
Graph (business graphics). A Basic programming package (First
Basic), an adventure creator (Stac) and an arts package
(Hyperpaint) are included along with Prince, a strategy adventure
game, in the UKP 300-plus software bundle, which is available
immediately.

(Steve Gold/19900606/Press & Public Contact: Atari UK - Tel:
0753-33344)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00006)

AMIGA GETS AMOS, THE GAMES CREATOR}
ADLINGTON, MACCLESFIELD, ENGLAND, 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Mandarin
Software has announced the availability of Amos, a games creation
package for the Commodore Amiga. The package retails for UKP 49-
95 ($80-00).

Amos was created by Francois Lionet, the author of Stos, a
similar games creation environment for the Atari ST. According to
Chris Payne, Mandarin's managing director, Amos on the Amiga is
"ten times better" than Tos on the ST.

Mandarin claims that Amos features the fastest Basic interpreter
ever for the Amiga. The package features more than 500 different
commands allowing users to create both arcade and adventure
games, as well as demonstration, educational and database
packages.

"Amos stretches the Amiga to its limits. It has many more
features and is much faster than Stos and really gets to grips
with those custom chips," said Payne. "Over the past two
months, we have been inundated with telephone requests from both
dealers and end users. It's going to be a massive hit," he added.

Amos works with any Amiga from the A500 upwards. Included in the
package is a sprite editor, Magic Forest (an arcade game) and
Amosteroids (Amiga Asteroids), as well as Amos Adventure Castle
and Number Leap, an educational package. Also supplied is a 300-
page manual and 80-plus example programs on disk.

(Steve Gold/19900606/Press & Public Contact: Mandarin Software -
0625-859333)


(NEWS)(IBM)(MOW)(00003)

DIALOGUE QUARTERLY DEALER SEMINAR ENDS}
MOSCOW, U.S.S.R., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- The regular meeting of Soviet
distributors of Microsoft software, held in Moscow, has concluded.

During the meeting, Alexander Berest, division chief of the joint
venture, Dialogue Distribution, told representatives of 30 affiliates
from across the country that the Soviet computer market is now at a
stage through which Western markets have already passed.  He noted
that at this time, people don't want to buy software preferring
instead to make illegal copies. But, he urged dealers to stay on
in the market and not become discouraged as he estimates that market
normalization will come soon and the rewards to dealers will be
worth the wait.

Another spokesman, Ivan Shestakov, Dialogue hardware expert
mentioned another trend in Soviet computer market structure. More and
more customers require not only "a PC and software" but also add-ins
that Shestakov called "hardware support" -- special boards
to fit users' needs. He forecast that before long, selling
programs will require shipping add-in boards with many programs.

During the seminar, Dialogue spokespersons also noted that the need
for COCOM licenses can delay shipping. They suggested that the best
way to handle this situation is to work with the system making
requests for licenses to cover each individual buyer rather
than waiting to obtain a general license, which takes
a much longer time.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19900605)


(EXCLUSIVE)(IBM)(ATL)(00002)

COMDEX SPRING: WORDPERFECT HOLDS BACK UPDATE
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUNE 4 (NB) -- WordPerfect had
planned to offer Version 3.0 of its WordPerfect Office program at
this Spring Comdex, but decided to hold back owing to delays in
producing the documentation. The package was promised for later
this month, possibly in time for the PC Expo show in New York.

In addition, the company announced it will soon issue an update
for its DrawPerfect program, which first shipped last March.
Version 1.1 features a runtime module for the distribution of on-
screen slide shows, new presentation advance options, a "go to"
menu which can help direct viewers to other slides, and other
drawing features. The update will ship in about a week and will
cost $15 for individual users who own version 1.0.

Responding to increased interest in Microsoft Windows since
Version 3.0 was released last month, WordPerfect announced it
will develop a version of its flagship word processor for Windows
before it develops a version for the Presentation Manager. This
is a reversal of its earlier position, and a victory for
Microsoft over IBM. "We saw the light," said spokesman Jeff
Acerson, "and responded to our users." The company denied that
delays in delivering Presentation Manager 2.0 were behind the
decision.

Finally, Word Perfect demonstrated its new "hold jockey" feature
on its customer support lines. A disk jockey has been hired to
monitor the company's 200 support lines and tell people how many
people are waiting in line ahead of them to ask questions, and
how long they can expect to wait, depending on the nature of
their query. Background music plays in the background, and the
announcer also reads ads for upcoming versions of WordPerfect
products.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19900604/Press Contact: Kathryn Pond-Sargent,
WordPerfect, 801-222-5004)


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

COMDEX SPRING: DCA RELEASES IRMATRAC
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUNE 4 (NB) -- At a press lunch
prior to the start of the Spring Comdex show, DCA announced
IRMAtrac, a board for IBM PCs and compatibles which links Token
Ring networks to IBM mainframes.

The IRMAtrac board features an unique plug-in module which
allows it to be used with either ISA or Micro Channel plugs,
and comes with software for all the leading local area network
schemes, including Novell NetWare and 3Com.

Chris Carter, IRMAtrac product manager, noted that 1.5
million Token Ring cards were shipped in 1989 and the total is
expected to climb to 3.7 million by 1992. He said micro-mainframe
links via LANs are replacing the old links which went through
cluster controllers like the old IRMA micro-mainframe boards, of
which one million were sold during the 1980s. "Most of our
customers now are linking their Token Ring networks to the
mainframe either directly or through LAN gateways, like our
IRMALan or Select server," said DCA President Garry Betty.

Besides offering a single board for ISA and Micro Channel
machines, Carter said, the $895 IRMAtrac board features support
for both four million bit/second and 16 million bit/second networks,
and a special chip which automatically determines whether a PC
can handle a higher-performance connection. There is 128K of
extra memory on the board, with more available, for those whose
PCs are too slow to handle the board's speed.

IRMAtrac will ship in the early fall. Early runs of the product
are being made at the company's factory in Alpharetta, Georgia,
but full-scale production will be in Puerto Rico. The hold-up on
deliveries, the company said, is due to a delay in delivery of
chips from Texas Instruments.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19900604/Press Contact: Bill Marks, DCA, 404-
445-4520)


(EXCLUSIVE)(IBM)(ATL)(00004)

COMDEX SPRING: WINDOWS, 486 ARE MAJOR COMDEX TRENDS
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUNE 4 (NB) -- The two major
technical trends at this Comdex show come from companies which
aren't even exhibiting, Microsoft and Intel.

Microsoft Windows 3.0, which finally shipped late last month, has
brought excitement back to the PC platform. Existing Windows
developers, including Samna, report great increases in speed and
performance for their products under 3.0, which breaks the 640K
memory barrier. "Version 3.0 truly makes Windows a viable
platform," said Bill Jones of Samna. "The enhanced memory
addressability makes applications run much faster, and takes full
advantage of the PC hardware." Major vendors of connectivity
products like DCA and Eicon also ported their software to
Windows, and WordPerfect announced it will now produce a Windows
version of its flagship word processor ahead of a Presentation
Manager version.

As for Intel, the promised 486 machines of last fall are now
working all over the show floor. American Megatrends of Norcross,
Georgia displayed one unit which features the chip on a plug-in
board. The motherboard contains a fast 386 chip. "We think this
is the highlight of the show," said vice president-sales John
Morrison, who noted that if the 486 board breaks, the 386 can
still run with no reduction in performance. Other 486 vendors at
this show include Olivetti, Acer, and Systems Integration
Associates of Chicago, which showed a 486 machine using the EISA
bus.

Perhaps the most interesting comments on the 486 came from
Patrick Lee, vice president of Pioneer Computer, Fremont,
California. "The fastest growing end of the market is the Unix
workstation area, and Intel knows that," he told Newsbytes. Lee
says Intel told him they will ramp up production of the 486 even
if they have to sacrifice 386 production to do it. "Intel wants
to get into this market with a low-cost machine, and they're far
behind Sun and Motorola." Lee predicted that the 33 megahertz
version of the 486 chip, originally scheduled to ship late this
year, will now ship this month, and that a 50 megahertz version,
originally due next year, will ship in December. "What that means
to the industry is Intel is putting their entire investment into
making the 486 a success in the workstation market," concluded
Lee.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19900604/Press Contact: Bill Jones, Samna, 404-
851-0007; John Morrison, AMI, 404-263-8181; Patrick Lee, Pioneer
Computer, 415-623-0808)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00006)

AT&T ANNOUNCES NEW PRODUCTS FOR COMDEX
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUNE 4 (NB) -- AT&T has announced
two dozen new products at the Spring Comdex show.

Leading the list is the StarServer, the company's first work
group system using the Extended Industry Standard Architecture,
or EISA, plugs pioneered by Compaq and others. It uses the Intel
486 chip and offers symmetric multiprocessing for redundancy,
making it fault-tolerant for applications like
telecommunications.

The company also announced an enhancement to its 6386E/33 WGS
Model S computer which will allow for a simple field upgrade to
the Intel 486 chip. "We want to protect our customers investment
by ensuring that investments they make today can grow gracefully
to new technology," said AT&T Computer Systems President Richard
A. McGinn.

In addition, the company introduced enhancements to its Informix
database management system, improvements to its 3B line of
computers running the Unix operating system, new remote
management and video products, and the AT&T 595 laser printer, a
15 page-per-minute unit which can run off up to 25,000 pages each
month and comes with a free cartridge containing 172 fonts and 20
symbols.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19900604/Press Contact: Dick Gundlach, AT&T,
201-898-3842)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00001)

ROLODEX GOES ELECTRONIC
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- Rolodex, long
associated with helping people manage information on paper, is
moving to the computer age with two new electronic products -
The Electrodex Plus and The Pocket Electrodex.

Just as in the firm's 50-year-old product, the Secaucus, New
Jersey firm offers you a way to manage a list of
names, addresses, and phone numbers on your desktop. Its larger
unit, The Electrodex plus, looks much like older Rolodexes, with the
addition of a key pad and a six line screen. The unit has 64K
memory and serves not only as a place to store names and
addresses but has built in organizing functions including
several to-do lists and a calendar.

The Pocket Electrodex is a 2-line pocket compact version of
The Electrodex Plus. Information can be exchanged between the
two units via wireless infrared transfer. In addition,
data can be exchanged with MS-DOS computers. A company
representative stated that subsequent versions will also support
Macintosh systems.

Both units are now shipping. The desktop version lists for $249
and the pocket version for $199. Both units are battery powered
and have a back-up memory system to prevent information loss from
battery failure.

(Saul Feldman/19900604/Press Contact: Richard Tremmel, Rolodex
Corporation, 201-348-3939)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00001)

RICOH OFFERS ADD-ON TO MAKE STANDARD FAX A PC SCANNER
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- Ricoh was
demonstrating its DX-1 Fax adaptor at the summer Consumer
Electronics Show in Chicago. This unit allows a standard fax
to serve as a scanner for input into a personal computer.

The system consists of a $799 4.5-pound hardware unit and a
$275 software package. This system is currently available for
Microsoft Windows. An MS-DOS version will ship in two weeks and
the Macintosh version will be available in July.

With this system, users can scan single pages into their
fax and transfer the image to their computer. PC versions
include Hijaak, a graphics file conversion program. The
Macintosh unit requires no file conversions. The DX-1 will
allow users to transmit files via fax directly from their
computers. In addition, the system will let the fax serve
as a printer.

The DX-1 will work with any Group Three fax. It can use
the computer's memory for background fax applications
including sequential broadcasting and storage of distribution lists.

Ricoh Corporation is based in West Caldwell, NJ.

(Saul Feldman/19900604/Press Contact: Mark Stanton, Ricoh
Corporation, 201-882-2000)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00001)

NEW FOR IBM: Personal Weather Forecasting With WeatherBrief
CHATSWORTH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- Mindscape
has released WeatherBrief, a personal online weather forecasting
program. The software lets you access up-to-the-minute
weather information at any time of day, for any part of the
country, in just a few seconds.

From WeatherBrief's vast array of information, including
temperatures, radar maps, and cloud cover, you can select up
to 300 topics at a time. You then connect to WeatherBank, an
online weather database used by television and radio
meteorologists.

Downloading is said to be quick and easy; your modem connect time
lasts only seconds. WeatherBrief can tell you the drought
conditions in Texas, the 90-day forecast for Barbados and the
weekly weather highlights for New York, all in one phone call.
You can get satellite pictures of the West Coast, lightning and
hurricane reports for Florida or fire danger areas in California.
You can even get weather information for Africa, Asia, Australia
and the USSR.

WeatherBrief is available for PCs. The program sells for $49.95
and is distributed by Electronic Arts (San Mateo, CA).
Call 818/885-9000 for more information.

(Computer Currents/19900604)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00000)

AST AND MITEK COMBINE ON NEW TEMPEST PRODUCTS}
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Mitek Systems
(San Diego, CA) and AST Research (Irvine, CA) have announced an
agreement under which Mitek will purchase AST Cupid-32
architecture-based computers for TEMPEST modification and resale.

Mitek is a value-added manufacturer of the TEMPEST-accredited
computer products that are modified to prevent electronic
eavesdropping. These products are used by both the US government
and NATO as well as in industrial high security applications.

The addition of AST computers represents an entire new product
line for Mitek. AST's Cupid-32 architecture provides the ability
to upgrade a computer system's processor with the exchange of a
single card as user needs change and new technology becomes
available. Mitek will be developing a variety of TEMPEST-
modified versions of AST's Premium Computer line ranging from 16
MHz (megahertz) 80386-based systems to 33 MHz 80486-based models.

(Janet Endrijonas/19900606/Press Contact: Linda Lofstrom, Mitek
Systems, 800-342-4215; Joel C. Don, AST Research, 714-727-7957)


(NEWS)(IBM)(NYC)(00001)

IBM ANNOUNCES PS/2 PRICE REDUCTIONS}
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- IBM has
announced a 4 to 10 percent reduction in the suggested retail
prices of various models in its PS/2 line of personal computers.
A 15 percent reduction was also announced on 30 MB (megabytes)
drives for the PS/2 line.

The reductions within the PS/2 line range from $100 on a Model 30/286
with a 20 MB fixed disk to $400 on the Model 55 SX with 30 and 40 MB
fixed disks.

An IBM source said: "You always have to adjust prices and this
adjustment on our low-end 286 and 386 machines had been planned
for a while. It was not a reaction to anything other firms have
done but was simply a reduction for those machines for
which we presently have extra capacity. We can't build enough
Model 70s for the demand so you'll note there was no reduction
on it."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19900606/Press Contact:
Madeline Epstein, IBM, 914-642-5363)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00001)

Q.W. PAGE FOUNDER BACK AS PRESIDENT, UPGRADE ADDRESSES INTEGRITY}
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1990 JUN 1 (NB) -- After 18 months in
his company's research and development (R&D) department, Phil
Quackenbush has returned to the president's chair at Q.W. Page
Associates. One of his first acts was to announce an upgrade to
the company's NewViews accounting software that deals with data
integrity problems.

Quackenbush said that with previous versions, which kept a set of
books in nine different files, it was possible for a failed copy
operation to leave two sets of books jumbled together. By putting
all the data for a set of books in a single DOS file, he said,
Q.W. Page has eliminated that problem.

Quackenbush said user problems due to the integrity weakness were
not widespread, but "one instance is serious." Along with beefing
up data integrity controls in Version 1.13, he said, the company
has speeded up the software and made it easier to use.

Commenting on his 18-month stint in R&D, Quackenbush said he
wanted to get that part of the company on track for the 1990s. He
said he enjoyed development and would not rule out returning to
it, but at least for the short term his main concern is Q.W.
Page's over-all direction. "Sometimes you can tell you're the
right person for the job and you go do it," he said.

Jim Peterson, who assumed the president's duties for the past 18
months, has returned to consulting in Seattle, WA.

(Grant Buckler/19900605/Press Contact: Phil Quackenbush, Q.W.
Page Associates, 416-923-4567)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00002)

NEW FOR IBM: Updated Freestyle Supports MCA, Windows 2.10}
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) --  Wang has
unveiled a new release of its Freestyle system that supports
Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) PCs and Microsoft's Windows
environment. The latest release of Windows, however, is not yet
supported.

Freestyle is a document management tool for personal computers.
The hardware-software combination lets users manage handwritten
notes, spoken comments, computer data, scanned images, and
facsimile messages.

The hardware part of the product is a graphics tablet and pencil
used mainly for handwriting annotation. The new Release 1.21 lets
this pencil replace the mouse as a pointing device for Microsoft
Windows Release 2.10. However, Wang is not yet ready to support
Windows 3.0, the new version which has been dominating the news
and collecting commitments from many application developers over
the past couple of weeks.

"We are researching compliance with Windows 3.0 at this time,"
Wang spokeswoman Hanne Herwick told Newsbytes. The company plans
Windows 3.0 support but cannot say when it will be available, she
said.

Wang also announced that an interface card to connect its
graphics tablet and pencil to PCs using Micro Channel
Architecture is now available. Buyers can specify when ordering
Freestyle whether they want the Micro Channel interface or the
card for the traditional AT bus (also known as Industry Standard
Architecture or ISA). The price is the same for either version,
Herwick said: US$995 including tablet, pencil, interface card and
software. A software-only version of Freestyle continues to sell
for US$249.

Freestyle Release 1.21 also offers new facsimile communications
for IBM PC AT-compatible systems.

(Grant Buckler/19900606/Press Contact: Hanne Herwick, Wang,
508-967-6405)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00001)

UK: JUGI TANDON LAUNCHES ULTRA-LOW PRICE 486 AND 386SX-BASED PCS}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- In a move designed to place
Tandon back on top of the innovation charts, Jugi Tandon, the
firm's founder and president, has unveiled a below-UKP4,000
($6,400) 80486-based PC and a budget 386SX-based machine.

Tandon, visiting London earlier this week for the special launch,
told Newsbytes that his company originally made its name for
price/performance-busting products. "Back in the late 70s we
produced drives that undercut the competition more than half.
That's what we're now doing with the PCA sl/486," he said.

On paper, the 25MHz (megahertz) 486 machine looks impressive
with its 110 MB (megabytes) hard disk and full-specification
486 chip which Tandon said cost the company around $1,000.

"What we've done is to take the 486 technology and redesign
most of the support systems. This includes our own 286 MIAT
chipset, and has allowed us to shave the production price - as
well as the end user price - right down to an absolute minimum,"
he said.

Tandon is pitching the new 486 machine firmly at the single-user
market, rather than the networking/multi-user arena at which its
earlier 486 offering was pitched. "This is because the 486
support systems such as the hard drive are not as fast as on our
high-end 486 machine," he told Newsbytes.

Despite the slight limitations, Tandon said that the PCA sl/486
is technically as fast as most other 486 machine on the market,
thanks to the technical innovations on the motherboard. These
have been made possible, he said, by Tandon's team of ex-IBM
programmers and developers.

"We've been working for the past eighteen months on this new 486
machine, as well as the new 386SX-based PC. The machines
represent a major breakthrough in terms of price/performance," he
said.

The Tandon PCA sl/386sx, unveiled alongside the budget 486
machine, is a UKP 1,499 ($2,400) PC with 1 MB of RAM (Random Access
Memory, expandable to 5 MB on the motherboard), a single 3.5 inch
floppy drive, and a 40 MB hard disk. Options include a 110 MB
hard drive for UKP 300 ($480) extra. As supplied, the system
comes with twin serial and single parallel ports, three 16-bit
and one 8-bit expansion slots, and a Hercules graphics adapter
and monochrome monitor.

(Steve Gold/19900606/Press & Public Contact: Ann Barnbrook,
Tandon - Tel: [phone])


(ADVANCE)(IBM)(LON)(00002)

INTEL READIES PLANS FOR PLANT EXPANSION IN IRELAND}
DUBLIN, IRELAND, 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Intel will shortly announce
plans to establish an advanced chip manufacturing plant outside
Dublin, Ireland, in order to meet the rising demand PC components
in Europe, Newsbytes has learned.

This latest $320 million development will join the 14,000 square
meter manufacturing plant that Intel started in 1989 in County
Kildare, Ireland. A quarter of the new 18,000 square meter plant
will be certified as a Class one clean room - with no more than
one 0.5 micron particle per cubic foot of air.

The plant will make Intel's latest generation of sub micron
components including 386 SX, 386 DX and i486 chips for personal
computers. Craig Barrett, executive vice-president of Intel, told
Newsbytes: "This new wafer fabrication plant will play a key role
in supplying advanced products to Europe and the rest of the
world."

Intel Europe's annual revenue of about $1,000 million coupled
with the growth record of the European PC business "justify this
important investment" according to Barrett.

Frank Quinn, editor of the Irish Computerscope industry monthly
said: "The politicians will say it's jobs for our workers but it's
really recognition of the quality of our workforce. We have
the highest number of graduates per capita in Europe."

Ireland has been the focus for several American computer
technology firms recently. All of the major software houses,
Lotus, Ashton Tate, Claris and Microsoft, now have plants in the
country. DEC, Wang, Intel and Apple all assemble systems in
Ireland. Technology business is being attracted to Eire by
government initiative.

(Paul Lavin/19900606/Press Contact: Intel UK - 0793-696000)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00003)

UK: ATARI LAUNCHES NEW 386SX MACHINE}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- Atari has launched the
ABC386SX/40, a 40 MB (megabyte) hard disk-equipped 16MHz (megahertz)
386SX microprocessor-based PC. The machine was launched at the
Atari 90 show, held in London last weekend.

According to Atari, the machine marks the company's entry into
the field of affordable, 32-bit PC-compatible computers. It
is priced at UKP 1,499 ($2,400) and comes with 1 MB of RAM
(random access memory) - expandable to 8 MB on the
motherboard - and a single high-density
floppy drive in either 3.5 or 5.25 inch disk formats.

Other features of the new machine include serial and parallel
ports, an analog video port and three XT/AT expansion slots.
Graphics modes support include EGA, CGA, MDA, HGC and VGA,
providing resolutions ranging from 320x200 pixels color to
720x350 pixels monochrome.

The machine is available in the UK immediately.

(Steve Gold/19900606/Press Contact: Mark Williams, Atari UK -
Tel: [phone])


(EXCLUSIVE)(IBM)(BRU)(00002)

MICROSOFT BUG REVEALED: USE IBM KEYBOARD TO MAKE IT WORK}
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- The bug
previously reported to be in the Microsoft Windows 2.10 package has
been found to be connected with the incompatibility of Windows
with keyboards other than those manufactured by IBM.

As a followup to Newsbytes' report to Microsoft of the bug's discovery,
Newsbytes has been told that MS-Windows 2.10 uses a new type of
keyboard driver which does not work with certain types of
keyboards available with various systems. Keyboards proving to be
incompatible include those manufactured by Cherry (part of
Honeywell), Qtronix and others. The symptom is easily seen: the
keyboard locks up completely although everything else works.

There are two fixes for the problem: install MS Windows 2.10 and
above using an older keyboard driver (select other in the
keyboard menu and insert the old setup disk) or ask your keyboard
manufacturer for a new EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory)
which can be installed inside the keyboard (this may void the
warranty - check with the supplier first).

Microsoft has not said whether they will accept any charges
relating to users updating their keyboards. Cherry has said that
its keyboards currently shipping have the new EPROMS fitted as
standard.

(John Verhelst/19900606)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00000)

PHONE WEDS COMPUTER AT CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 2 (NB) -- DesignTech, a
Springfield, VA company involved in the design and manufacture
of "smart" control products, is showing several items at the summer
Consumer Electronics Show of special interest to computer users.

The Interruption Blocker is especially designed for the home or
small office that can't afford a dedicated line for modem or fax
transmission. Such communications will be interrupted if someone
picks up a phone line during transmission. Phones connected to the
same line as the fax or modem (those most likely to cause
interruption) are plugged into the Interruption Blocker which has
been already plugged into the phone line. Anyone picking up a
phone during modem or fax transmission will not interrupt the call.

The Interruption Blocker retails for $14.95.

Call-In-Control will allow people to turn on a computer or
any appliance from a remote location. Individuals who forget to
turn on a computer for automatic downloading or who don't want the
risk of leaving a computer unattended for extended periods, may
simply dial their home or office number. Call-in-Control will
respond to a touch-tone signal and activate any electronic device.
Call-In Control will also be useful to activate air conditioners,
coffee pots, lights, and hot tubs. It retails for $79.95.

(Saul D. Feldman/19900605/Press Contact: Michael Weiss, DesignTech
International, 703- 866-2000)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00007)

PROFILE INCREASES RANGE OF ONLINE SERVICES}
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- The Financial Times' Profile
information service, has announced several new publications have
been added to its online range of searchable files. Beginning June 4,
The Investor's Chronicle, Business Computing News and ICI Update
have been added to the database.

Announcing the additions, Robin Oliphant, Profile's managing
director, said: "We recognize the importance of having as wide a
range of business interests online as possible. The addition of
these three sources will provide both business managers and
information professionals with the specialist choice they need."

Profile is an online database service that can be key-word
searched. The service is available on direct subscription, as
well as via gateway "pay as you go" services on several UK online
services, such as Mercurylink, Microlink and Telecom Gold.

(Steve Gold/19900606/Press & Public Contact: Robin Oliphant,
Managing Director, Profile Information - Tel: [phone])


(EXCLUSIVE)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00001)

COMDEX SPRING ATTENDANCE LOW
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUNE 4 (NB) -- Comdex Spring,
which caters to computer dealers and resellers, has
always been half the size of its fall season cousin, held
each November in Las Vegas, but observers here were heard to
comment that this one may have been the smallest ever.

IBM is the largest firm that chose not to show at this
Interface Group trade event. Others who didn't show
included Apple Computer, Microsoft, Compaq, Commodore and
Lotus. Among Japanese companies, two of the largest, Epson
and Ricoh, also didn't come.

AT&T is the biggest name on the floor. It released a slew of
new products, provided the keynote speaker, and provided the
hardware and software for the press room, which featured its line
of 386-based PCs with modems, running together under the StarLAN
local area network.

Olivetti has a room off the show floor to demonstrate its
product line, including a new machine based on the Intel 486
chip.

Tektronix, which has suffered some severe layoffs recently,
is showing its Phaser PX color printer, an $8,000 full-color
printer using specially coated paper which can produce a
page of luminous output for roughly 44 cents a sheet.

The show is populated this year mainly by foreign companies with
little market presence and those which are trying to get their
feet in the door, or trying to make a comeback.

Hurting this year's event are competing shows -- the summer Consumer
Electronics Show in Chicago is taking place at the same
time as Comdex; Commodore executives, for instance, chose to
exhibit there rather than in Atlanta. Other vendors, who
believe it's now more important to reach end-users than dealers,
are holding out for the PC Expo show later this month in New
York. Still other analysts say the industry is generally "showed-
out" -- they point to the fact that major vendors like IBM and
Microsoft are even skipping PC Expo. Even those vendors who
believe firmly in the dealer channel note that, with the rise of
"super-stores" like Soft Warehouse, which simply put merchandise
on the floor and let buyers make their own decisions, it's more
important than ever to have your name on the consumer's lips
before he goes shopping. This means effective advertising is more
important than show attendance.

Other analysts cite a general slowdown in the industry, economic
worries. The press found a sparse list of parties, and those
that were held were relatively tame and not heavily attended.

All eyes will be in Las Vegas in November, where The
Interface Group opens its new exhibit hall behind the Sands
Hotel, slated to total one million square feet by late 1991.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19900604)


(EXCLUSIVE)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00005)

COMDEX SPRING: KAVNER KEYNOTE HIGHLIGHTS OFFICE OF FUTURE
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUNE 4 (NB) -- In contrast to the
keynote address at last fall's Comdex, where IBM executives
created a multimedia extravaganza on behalf of their Presentation
Manager, the spring keynote by AT&T Group Executive Bob Kavner
was low-key.

Working without an elaborate slide show, Kavner talked of
a "passage" in the industry from "its traditional goal
of creating massive processing power to a new and exciting goal
of using that power to create, assemble and communicate
information among people...wherever they are located."

The Kavner theme might be described as teleputing, with
telephones and computers working together as one. "In the future,
computer technology will transform the office from a piece of
real estate into a mindscape, where thoughts and ideas are
attended to and nurtured, not just as personal productivity
tools, but as interpersonal productivity tools," Kavner said. He
predicted that networks will become the dominant form of
computing in this decade. "If you doubt that, look around. What
do you see on the show floor. Networks everywhere. And networks
are great for allowing us to communicate within our individual
workgroups."

In the 1990s, Kavner predicted, such networks will become
geodesic in nature, transcending time and space. "The new
networks have nodes leading into lines, which lead again into
nodes, which lead again into communication paths. These are ever
similar patterns only differing in scale from the largest to the
smallest, like fractal structures, not pyramids."

But to make this happen, Kavner continued. Standards are required
which every vendor will follow. "Standards must be set.
Frequencies must be allocated for radio and micro-cell networks,"
he said. "We don't want to see innovation inhibited by squabbles
among manufacturers on standards. We need unity of purpose and
standards." Kavner concluded, "just as my predecessor Vittorio
Cassoni called for consolidation around standards and openness at
Comdex three years ago I, too, again ask for openness and
standards. Without these, the promise of a bright new future will
be tarnished and postponed."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19900604/Press Contact: Dick Gundlach, AT&T,
201-898-3842)


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

CES: NEC SHOWS NEXT GENERATION OF HAND-HELD GAME UNITS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 6 (NB) -- The quality of
hand-held game units has taken a quantum leap forward with the
introduction of NEC's TurboExpress. This portable unit
utilizes a backlit liquid crystal technology capable of
displaying 512 colors simultaneously.

The new game unit, from NEC of Wood Dale, Illinois, weighs about
a pound with a screen size of 2.7 inches. It has a resolution
of 238 X 312 pixels, making it much sharper than the Atari
Lynx's 160 X 102.

NEC has already made a splash with its razor-sharp 16-bit
TurboGrafx video game system. The Turbo Express, a miniature
version of the TurboGrafx, will read TurboGrafx game cards.

There are currently 16 game cards on the market with over 50
expected by Christmas.

The unit operates on six AAA batteries, which should last
between 4 to 6 hours. The unit has an optional snap-in tuner
which will allow it to serve as a portable TV. No official
price has been set but the TurboExpress should list
for about $249 with the TV tuner listing between $80 and $100.

Additional accessories include a communications link for
two-player games, an AC adaptor, battery pack, and car cigarette
lighter adaptor. There is a speaker but users can use their own
headphone to listen to the TurboExpress's 6-channel sound.

Don't rush out to the buy it though, it will first be released
in Japan this fall. Limited US distribution will begin in New
York around November with wider distribution after the first
of the year.

(Saul Feldman/19900605/Press Contact: Noriko Fricke, NEC,
708-860-9500, x 4139)


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

VIDEO GROUP SEES EYE-TO-EYE ON NEW REFRESH RATES
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- The Video Electronics
Standard Association (VESA) has agreed to make 72 Hz (hertz)
the standard refresh rate for future Super VGA video products,
an event which promises to ease eye strain among video display
users and provide more compatibility between monitors and
graphics boards.

VESA, an organization predominantly made up of major US
vendors in computer graphics, based in San Jose, CA,
has met at Comdex in Atlanta, where it proposed and agreed upon
a monitor frequency that best displays the 800 by 600 pixel
resolution known as Super VGA.

A spokesman for Sigma Designs, one of the standard's sponsors,
says the adoption by the organization of the 72 Hz refresh
rate will solve the traditional compatibility problem between
monitor makers and board vendors.

Higher refresh rates are not only technologically feasible, but
reduce eye strain and stress among computer users. A higher
speed means less flicker.

The standard, if adopted by the industry, could enhance sales of
US graphics products in Europe where health regulations regarding
computer monitors tend to be stricter, Newsbytes was told.
In many cases, American manufacturers in Europe have been told
their products must run at a speed of at least 70 Hz to
be sold. Germany and Sweden are among the strictest enforcers of
VGA health laws.

Sigma Designs is one of the first out of the starting gate with
a new product conforming to the standard. Its VGA Legend board
supports the 72 Hz refresh rate standard. Available immediately,
it carries a price tag of $449. The 16-bit VGA Legend offers up
to 1024 by 768 resolution and either 16 or 256 on-screen colors
depending on the amount of memory on the board.

(Wendy Woods/19900604/Press Contact: Michael Mills, 415-349-8400,
VESA, 408-971-7525)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00004)

IT SPENDING GROWTH IN AUSTRALIA BELOW EXPECTATIONS}
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 MAY 31 (NB) -- Spending on information
technology (IT) in 1989 was AUS$10.8B, according to market
research company IDC. Growth in the market was expected by
forecasters to be around 20 percent, and it is felt that the
slowing economy, the election and the ever-increasing
balance of payments figures have all contributed to the lower
than expected increase.

IDC's Client Services Manager, David Noble said about the figures:
"We're not saying it's all doom and gloom but it isn't all that
good either. World-wide trends are now being reflected in the
Australian market, whereas previously we were living in very
buoyant times. The figures put Australia eighth in the world in
IT spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
IDC's figures to date also foreshadow a further downturn in the
first quarter of 1990.

(Sean McNamara/19900606)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(HKG)(00003)

DIGITAL EDI PRODUCTS LAUNCHED IN ASIA}
ADMIRALTY, HONG KONG, 1990 JUN 4 (NB) -- Simultaneously with their
worldwide launch, Digital Equipment Far East has announced the
introduction in the Asia-Pacific region of a raft of new electronic
data interchange (EDI) products.

Digital expects the use of EDI to grow dramatically in the region in
the next five years. It anticipates the market in Australasia
alone will reach $980 million, compared with the present $150
million.

Following a worldwide trend, EDI is making a slow start, though some
countries in the region are advancing in this field more rapidly than
others, notably Singapore, where it is already strongly supported by
its use in some government departments.

In Hong Kong, the main drive for use of EDI so far has come from
business, though the Government has recently, if belatedly,
acknowledged its importance. It will also receive a big boost during
the prestigious IT (Information Technology) Week event
scheduled for September.

Nevertheless, most companies are still unaware of the possibilities,
or are waiting to see how EDI progresses before making a committment
- a traditional attitude in Hong Kong, where businessmen invariably
strive to be first into second place. Although this outlook is slowly
changing, it represents the sort of caution and conservatism that is
typical of the old-style Asian entrepreneur.

Digital's projections point to sales of about 50 of its Network
Applications Support-based DEC/EDI software packages in the next 18
months. It says the apparently small figure is deceptive because the
market is tiny at present. The first few sales will almost certainly
be the hardest, until a critical mass of interest is achieved.

The corporation is also offering consulting services to assist in the
design and management of EDI applications for customers.

(Norman Wingrove/19900606)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00000)

COROLLARY, DIGITAL SIGN MULTIPROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY PACT}
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) --  Corollary has
announced the signing of a technology agreement with Digital
Equipment for joint development of multiprocessor hardware and
software systems based on Intel's 386 and 486 chips.

Corollary's multiprocessing technology, the 386/smp and 486/smp,
extends the power of industry standard systems running SCO Unix
V/386 by providing support for multiple processors. Digital has
recently announced a DECsystem family of computers based on the
SCO Unix V/386 operating system and the Intel 386 microprocessor.

This DECsystem is said to provide more than 3,000 small business
applications that complement digital's Microvax portfolio of
applications.

Commenting on the agreement, George White, president of COrollary
said: "We are delighted with our relationship with the second
largest computer manufacturer in the world. Corollary's strength
is in providing the finest in multiprocessing software and
hardware to manufacturers such as Digital, which possesses the
marketing and sales expertise to reach the end user."

(Janet Endrijonas/19900606/Press Contact: Judi Uttal, Corollary,
714-250-4040)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(NYC)(00004)

CONCURRENT COMPUTER TO PORT AT&T SECURITY SYSTEM}
TINTON FALLS, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- AT&T &
Concurrent Computer Corp. have announced an agreement under which
Concurrent will port AT&T's V/MLS multi-level security system to its
real-time Unix RTU operating system. Concurrent expects to offer its RTU
system with the System V/MLS port by February 1991 for use on the
company's 6000 and 8000 series computers.

UNIX System V/MLS, released by AT&T last September, is the only Unix
system presently certified at the Orange Book B1 level by the US
Department of Defense National Computer Security Center (NCSC). This
certification has become a requirement for United States federal
government contracts.

Bill Leighton, AT&T's head of securities systems engineering at Bell
Laboratories, told Newsbytes: "Seventeen companies -- some announced
and some unannounced -- have licensed AT&T's V/MLS to date." He added
that the governments of Canada and Sweden have made V/MLS a
requirement for inclusion on computer system.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19900606/Press Contacts:
Kathleen Horoszewski, AT&T, 201-386-2641; Brynett Stephen,
Concurrent, 508-692-6200)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(NYC)(00007)

IBM AIX RECEIVES XPG3 CERTIFICATION}
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) --IBM has
announced that AIX Version 3 for the RISC System/6000, its operating
system for the RISC System/6000 family of workstations and servers, and
several languages marketed by IBM for the RISC System/6000 have met
specifications of the X/Open Portability Guide Issue 3 (XPG3) and received
XPG3 branding certification.

X/Open, a non-profit organization formed in 1984 to focus on unifying
standards issues in open systems environments, today separately announced
details of its XPG3 branding program. XPG3, the third release of
X/Open's XPG specifications, contains published specifications that define
an open systems environment.

IBM's Judy Radlinsky told Newsbytes that the XPG3 branding represents
"another sign of IBM's commitment to open systems. It also will give
customers greater assurance that these products have met the X/Open
standards which are set based on stated customer requirements."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19900606/Press Contact: Judy
Radlinsky, IBM, 914-642-4634)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(NYC)(00008)

SUN PRODUCTS RECEIVE X/OPEN BRANDING}
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 JUN 5 (NB) -- Sun
Microsystems has announced that six of its software products and three
Sun-based products from independent software vendors have received the
latest branding from X/Open. Sun made its announcement in conjunction
with X/Open's introduction of its newest branding program, based on
version three of the X/Open Portability Guide (XPG3) specifications.

X/Open, a non-profit organization formed in 1984 to focus on unifying
standards issues in open systems environments, today separately announced
details of its XPG3 branding program. XPG3, the third release of
X/Open's XPG specifications, contains published specifications that define
an open systems environment.

Commenting on the branding, Scott McNealy, Sun's president and chief
executive officer, said: "Sun has been a strong supporter of the X/Open
Branding Program since it was announced almost two years ago.
Customers are demanding open systems because they see the value they
bring in terms of application portability and long-term investment
protection. XPG3 brings the industry one step closer to a true open systems
environment."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19900606/Press Contacts:
Karen Rohack, Sun, 415-336-7841; Jeff Hansen,  X/Open Company Ltd.,
415-733-5383)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(00004)

EMPRESS CLAIMS FIRST IN PORT TO SYSTEM/6000}
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1990 JUN 1 (NB) -- Empress Software
says its relational database software, also called Empress, is
the first such package to be ported to IBM's RISC System/6000.
Empress also has a co-operative agreement with IBM, which will
market the Toronto company's software.

Njai Wong, Empress's product development manager, told Newsbytes
the Empress software is quick and easy to move to new systems and
most ports take less than a week. Empress already ran under IBM's
AIX operating system -- a variant of Unix -- on the IBM RT PC.

Empress for the System/6000 is available now, Wong said. Under
the co-operative agreement with IBM, both Empress and IBM will be
selling the software worldwide.

Empress Software, founded in Toronto, has its research and
development operations here and its sales and marketing offices
in Greenbelt, MD, USA.

(Grant Buckler/19900606/Press Contact: Njai Wong, Empress
Software, 416-922-1743)