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/nb901109

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

NEWSBYTES COVERS COMDEX LIVE NEXT WEEK 11/09/90
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- A team of
five reporters will be at the Fall COMDEX show in Las Vegas next
week to file daily reports. The logistics of putting together the daily
editions may cause a delay in uploads, so readers and publishers,
please note: Our 12-noon Pacific Time deadline will be extended to
2 PM (Eastern Time 5 PM) on Tuesday through Thursday of the show.
Monday and Friday only, the regular deadline of 12 noon for the
complete edition will be in effect.

This notice does not affect those who read the twice-weekly edition
of Newsbytes.

(Wendy Woods/19901109)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00002)

SIEMENS AND GPT MERGE US TELECOM OPS 11/09/90
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- The third largest US public
network equipment supplier will emerge after Siemens and British
GPT have merged their telecom operations in the United States,
company sources said. AT&T and Northern Telecom, currently holding
the numbers one and two spots in that market, will have to contend
with a $400 million vendor, they said.

Richard Reynolds, GPT chairman, said that the Florida-headquartered
company would hold 7 percent of the market for public telephone
switches, packet switching and transmission systems.

The merger will bring together Siemens Communications Systems
and Stromberg-Carlson Corporation, part of GPT and will be known
as Siemens-Stromberg-Carlson.

Both employ about 4,000 people in Florida, Arizona and New Mexico.
The new company's CEO will be Volker Jung, presently president and
CEO of Siemens Communication Systems.

Siemens has a 40 percent stake in GPT, a General Electric Company
of the UK holding the rest. Last year the West German electronics
giant bid and purchased with GEC the British electronics corporation
Plessey which was renamed GPT.

(Eric Dauchy/19901109)


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

BULL IN THE BLACK BY 1992 ? 11/09/90
PARIS, FRANCE, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- A bull's eye always being preferred
over a black eye, the loss-making French computermaker Bull has
targeted 1992 as the year when the red will clear from its eyes.
Groupe Bull is the sole loss-making state-owned French company. French
Industry Minister Roger Fouroux recently announced his intentions
to nod in approval if a big outside force would step in to steer
Bull to the right pastures again.

The firm is planning heavy job-losses in Europe and the US as well
as a complete reorganisation of production management and the
spin-off of parts of businesses it feels it will never muster.

Confidence in Chairman Francis Lorentz is being retained and his
strategy to change the French company from a hardware manufacturer
into a systems integrator will be speeded up.

French sources estimate the company suffered record losses to the
tune of FFR 1.88 billion ($376 million in the first half of this year,
about twice budgeted, and Minister Fouroux warned Parliament the
Group will continue to lose money for the rest of 1990.

(Eric Dauchy/199011090)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00004)

SABRE AND AMADEUS CLOSE TO LINKAGE 11/09/90
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- SABRE, the American airline
reservations system and its European counterpart Amadeus are on the
verge of joining forces in a highly lucrative market segment.

Airline officials in Europe admit that the deal would be a blow for
the Amadeus consortium in its bid to counter the threat of American
dominance in Computer Reservation Systems (CRS). If the deal takes
off, SABRE would get an excellent in-road into the otherwise difficult
to penetrate European market, the official said.

Amadeus, which cancelled two news conferences in Paris recently
at short notice, might announce a deal shortly which may involve
SABRE taking an equity stake in the European group headed by
Lufthansa, Air France, Scandinavian Air Systems and Iberia.

In Brussels, Frederik Sorensen, head of the European Commission's
air transport division, has warned before that the project was
turning into a fiasco. Part of the trouble stems from the
three-headed organisation structure with the operations site
based in Munich, Germany, while development and marketing is
served out of Nice, France and Madrid, Spain respectively. But
the main itch seems to be the troubled state of the industry and
the resulting concentration on the core business.

Computer Reservations Systems are a highly profitable business;
SABRE took in $134 million profits on income of $495 million,
representing a return of 27 percent. Its chairman has been quoted
as saying that if he had to choose between the airline and his CRS,
he would have to think "long and hard."

But American regulators are not happy with the trend. A solid
stream of complaints have been heard about Sabre and Apollo, United
Airlines CRS, about increases in booking fees as the market is in
effect a oligopoly.

(Eric Dauchy/19901109)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00005)

HITACHI OEM-SUPPLIES 419MB 3.5-INCH HDD 11/09/90
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Hitachi is now offering to the
OEM (original equipment manufacturing) market its 419 MB (megabyte)
3.5-inch HDD (hard disk drive). The new drive, DK314C-41, has a
1.7 times larger storage capacity than its predecessor by
incorporating a high-density storage technology and fast,
high-precision data access mechanism.

The drive adopts the industry standard interface, SCSI (Small
Computer System Interface) and its average seek time is 16.8
milliseconds.

The sample price is 480,000 yen ($3,700). The drive will be
available in late January , 1991. Hitachi expects to sell 200,000
units to workstations and personal computer makers over the
next four years.

(Ken Takahashi/19901108/Press Contact: Hitachi, Ltd., 03-763-2411)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00006)

40MB, 2.5-INCH HARD DISK ON CARD UNIT 11/09/90
OSAKA, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- ICM, a company which mainly develops
and markets hard disk units for PC-9801 personal computers, is now
offering a card-type hard disk unit developed jointly with Fuji
Electric. ICM claims this unit is the industry's first to have
a 40 MB (megabyte) 2.5-inch hard disk.

The hard disk card unit can be used for most NEC PC-9801 and Epson
PC personal computers. With a 256 KB (kilobyte) cache memory on the
drive, it has achieved both large storage and speedy data access.
With a standard bus interface, SCSI (Small Computer System
Interface), the hard disk unit can connect to as many as six SCSI
devices.

The price per unit is 108,000 yen ($830).

(Ken Takahashi/19901108/Press Contact: ICM, 06-648-4705)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00007)

FUJI XEROX TO OBTAIN MANAGEMENT RIGHTS OF RANK XEROX 11/09/90
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Fuji Xerox has agreed with
U.K.-based Rank Xerox to receive the management rights to and
ownership of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia
as a part of reorganization of the Xerox Group.

In accordance with the transfer, Fuji Xerox will pay about 53
billion yen ($400 million) to U.S.-based Xerox and Rank Xerox.
The transfer of the management rights and ownership require
the approval of each nation's government.

Fuji Xerox will establish a new firm in Singapore to manage the
above countries as well as five Southeast nations that it continues
to manage: Korea, Taiwan, Philippine, Thailand, and Indonesia.
The firm's director and general manager of international
business, Akira Yokota, will take a responsibility for Asia-Pacific
regions.

Rank Xerox is a joint firm of Xerox and U.K.-based Rank
Organization. And Fuji Xerox is a joint firm of Rank Xerox
and Fuji Photo Film.

(Ken Takahashi/19901108/Press Contact: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.,
03-585-3211)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00008)

JAPAN: CRAY TO OFFER POWERFUL SUPERCOMPUTER DISKS 11/09/90
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Cray Research Japan has announced
the availability of two disk units, DD-60 and DD-61, for the
Cray Y-MP2E supercomputer which was announced in May as an
entry system of the Cray Y-MP series. The new disk unit enables
the storage of vast data files and enables higher-speed data
transfer on the Y-MP2E, Cray says.

The disk units are available to run under the Unicos operating system,
a derivative of AT&T Unix System V. Both DD-60 and DD-61 can
connect as many as eight supercomputers with their one disk channel
and can support more than 400 GB (gigabytes) for the Cray Y-MP2E in
maximum configuration. Moreover, under the Unicos storage system
environment, the disk units support integrated large-scale and
high-speed system data transfer, with capacity beyond 19 terrabytes
by using an automated online storage unit.

DD-60 has a maximum data transfer speed of 24 MB (megabytes) per
second, which is more than twice the speed of previous Cray disk units
The data capacity of 1.96 GB. On the other hand, DD-61 has a maximum
transfer speed of 3 MB per second and can store up to 2.23 GB. The
price for DD-60 is 8,325,000 yen ($64,000) while DD-61 is 5,897,000
yen ($45,400). Both units will be available in the second quarter of next
year.

The disk units are one of the important components of "Network
Supercomputing" which Cray is advocating as a new direction in
supercomputing for the 1990s.

(Ken Takahashi/19901108/Press Contact: Cray Research Japan Ltd.,
03-239-0711)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00009)

NEC CLAIMS WORLD'S FASTEST SRAM 11/09/90
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Japan's top chipmaker NEC has
created what it claims is the world's fastest access time
of 20 nanoseconds for a one-Mb (megabit) SRAM (static random access
memory) chip.

The newly developed SRAM chip incorporates a CMOS (complimentary metal
oxide semiconductor) configuration suitable for high integration and
the minute process technology with a minimum circuit line width of 0.8
micron. The chip size is 85.72 square millimeters.

In October of last year, NEC developed a one Mb SRAM with an access
time of 25 nanoseconds. This time it has shortened the access time
by five nanoseconds with improvements such as a power-up for
transistors and change of wiring location.

NEC expects a demand for the SRAM chips to come from makers of
large mainframes and supercomputers which process data at
super high speed.

The sample units, priced at 50,000 yen ($380), will be supplied
this month. NEC will start with monthly production of 10,000 units
and plans 70,000 to 80,000 units each month next year.

(Ken Takahashi/19901108)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00010)

JAPAN: PERSONAL COMPUTER SALES GROWING WELL 11/09/90
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Japan showed healthy growth
in sales and shipment of personal computers during April through
September of this year, according to a survey conducted by the Japan
Electronic Industry Development Association.

1,292,000 Japanese personal computers, including exports, were
shipped and 620.6 billion yen ($4,800 million) was made in sales,
with 15 percent and 24 percent growth respectively, compared with
figures during the same period last year. The growth is attributed
for the most part to 32-bit and laptop personal computers.

In 32-bit personal computers, sales increased by 73
percent and shipments by 91 percent compared with
the first half of last year.

Laptop computers, including notebooks, accounted for
the majority of shipments. The growth rate over the first half of
last year was 61 percent for sales and 63 percent in shipped numbers.

Total shipments within Japan totalled 976,000 units
and the association firmly expects the shipment for Japan for
April through next March to exceed 2 million units.

(Ken Takahashi/19901108)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00011)

DEC JAPAN ADDS 12 MEMBERS FOR VAX FAMILY 11/09/90
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Digital Equipment Corporation
Japan has announced four new series and twelve new machines for
its VAX/VMS line-up. They are six types of medium-class, general purpose
computer VAX 6000 model 500, and two server machines, two types
of general purpose desktop computer Micro VAX 3100, and two server
machines.

All the machines are designed to cope with a networking environment,
predicted to be the mainstream computing arrangement for the 90s,
an environment of upgraded central processors, expanded capacity
of main memories and external memories, and increased input and
output performance.

A private show called DECWorld is slated in the end of November
at Tokyo Bay NK Hall and the machines are expected to be exhibited
for the show.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19901108/Press Contact: Digital Equipment Corp.
Japan, 03-989-7145)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00012)

SCO AIMS AT JAPANESE UNIX MARKET 11/09/90
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- To establish the Unix OS (operating
system) in the Japanese personal computer and WS (workstation)
market, SCO or Santa Cruz Operation has announced the first
Japanese version of its Unix OS and intention to establish a
Japanese office.

The OS is known as SCO Unix in the Western and it runs on
personal computers equipped Intel 80386 and higher versions
of CPUs (central processing units). The Japanese version was
developed with Matsushita Electric Industrial.

Sam Spadafora, senior vice president of sales for the firm, said
in the press conference that the company has no plan to distribute the OS
directly and it is negotiating for OEM (original equipment
manufacturing) with leading Japanese personal computer makers.

SCO is also translating Open Desktop, an OS incorporating a
graphical user interface, into Japanese. Open Desktop is an
integrated Unix OS environment which runs DOS applications.

The shipment of the Open Desktop is slated in March, next year,
on some Japanese personal computers.

Meanwhile, SCO revealed a plan to establish a Japanese office within
six months where its engineers will support Japanese users.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19901108/Press Contact: Micro Mouse Co., Ltd.,
President, Mr. Furukawa 03-366-8778)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TYO)(00013)

TOSHIBA TO MARKET LAPTOP WS FOR EUROPE, US 11/09/90
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Toshiba has revealed a plan to
market its RISC (reduced instruction set computer) laptop EWS
(engineering workstation) SPARC LT in the U.S. and European
market, the daily industrial news paper Business & Technology
reports.

Toshiba started shipment of the SPARC LT in July this year for
the Japanese market and had orders for 1,800 units by
the end of September. The machine is the object of
inquiries from overseas, especially from Europe and the U.S., so Toshiba
has decided to distribute it via its sales channel for
personal computers, the paper explains.

The paper, however, mentions that immediate export or local
production is far from reality due to the limited quantity of
active matrix LCD (liquid crystal display) available. The paper
said the machine will be available sometime next year for
Europe while three more years are required for the U.S. market because
local production is a necessary condition.

Meanwhile, the paper disclosed that Sun Microsystems, the OEM
(original equipment manufacturing) supplier to Toshiba, Fujitsu,
Unisys and others, is eying Toshiba's laptop machine and planning
to add the laptop machine to its WS lineup.

(Naoyuki Yazawa/19901108)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00014)

HITACHI TO SET UP COMPUTER PRODUCTS PLANT IN FRANCE 11/09/90
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Hitachi has decided to set up
a plant in Orleans, France, to manufacture computer-related products
such as magnetic disk units. Hitachi Computer Products (Europe) SA
is being built on a 728,500-square-meter parcel of land, starting in
February next year, and will then be capitalized at 100 million
French francs, due to increase to 174 million in 1993.

The new plant, as a manufacturing foothold for computer-related
products in Europe, will start operation in April 1992.

(Ken Takahashi/19901108/Press Contact: Hitachi, Ltd., 03-258-2057)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00015)

MOTOROLA SUPPLYING PRIVATE MEXICAN CELLULAR NETS 11/09/90
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Motorola
will supply the equipment for four of Mexico's eight new cellular
telephone systems. The four private consortia, one of which
Motorola has a stake in, will compete with Mexico's TelMex phone
monopoly outside the capital of Mexico City.

Areas covered include Baja Celular Mexicana in the northwest with
Tijuana and Ensenada; Comunicaciones Celulares de Occidente in
the west with Guadalajara; Portatel del Sureste in the southeast
with Cancun; and Telefonia Celular del Norte in the north with
Juarez and Chihuahua. Motorola has a minority position in Norcel.
In each case Mexican entities hold the controlling interests. The
Guadalajara system is already working.

Motorola spokesman Mario Salvadori told Newsbytes the systems
being installed can support roaming, meaning drivers will be
able to drive across the country and stay on the phone. "The four
regions we have will be interconnected," he said, and the other four
could be, depending on the wishes of their owners. TelMex'
nationwide system, however, will support nationwide roaming.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901109/Press Contact: Mario Salvadori,
Motorola, [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016)

CARIBBEAN CRUISE SHIP PHONES GET WORLDWIDE COVERAGE 11/09/90
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Ships throughout
the Caribbean will be able to call all over the world thanks to
a deal between IDB Aero-Nautical Communications and Cruisephone.
Under the deal, IDB-A will use its satellite-based phone system
to automatically augment Cruisephone's cellular phone system
throughout the Caribbean.

Theoretically, Cruisephone customers will be allowed to call from
anywhere in the world, with IDB-A's satellites. As a practical
matter Cruisephone operates from the Virgin Islands to Grenada.

In September, IDB-A extended its satellite network, which serves
both ships and airplanes in flight, worldwide, through agreement
with Overseas Telecommunications of Australia and Morsviazsputnik
of the Soviet Union. The company has also begun building three earth
stations, in California and New York, which will link to the
Inmarsat international satellite network.

Michael Teeling of IDB told Newsbytes, "We believe this is the
first combination of cellular and satellite technology. The idea
is calls will be automatically switched to satellite service if
you're not near a cellular station. So you'll have worldwide
coverage."

Besides calling other ships and planes, Teeling added,
ship owners will be able to call any landline phone, or a
cellular phone on land. IDB earned a $44,000 profit for the
quarter ending September 30, mainly due to cost-cutting and
broadcast services to the Middle East, where demand for its
satellites picked up after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901109/Press Contact: IDB Communications
Group, Michael Teeling, 213/870-9000)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00017)

NYNEX REMAINS UNDER SIEGE 11/09/90
WHITE PLAINS, NY, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- NYNEX, the Bell
company for New York and New England, may have its bonds
downgraded by Moody's. A statement from the company identified
the causes as weakness in the Northeast economy, competitive
markets, and uncertainty about New York Telephone's rate case.
But NYNEX' problems with regulators go much deeper than a rate
case, and NYNEX says its problems could saddle New York phone
users with an outdated network in just a few years.

New York regulators granted New York Tel only a few million
dollars in rate increases, after NYNEX had asked for much more.
The company is asking courts to overturn that award, saying that
without more money it will not be able to improve the technology
in its New York Tel network. Worse, the New York regulators now
want to consider forcing NYNEX to divest itself of New York Tel,
which was accused of buying goods at marked-up prices from an
unregulated NYNEX subsidiary which has since been folded. New
York Tel is NYNEX' largest subsidiary.

The charge of cross-subsidization was first made by the Federal
Communications Commission, which dismissed it last month after
NYNEX agreed to pay $32.6 million in fines and make refunds
totaling $35.5 million, without admitting any liability for its
actions. The agreement covers not only actions discovered by an
FCC audit, but any other actions not found in the audit.

That agreement is now under attack from Allnet, a small long
distance company, which filed papers with the FCC asking that
commissioners to reject the consent decree and open the whole
proceeding to the public. Scott Rafferty, who was once a
consultant to one of the NYNEX subsidiaries under attack, charged
in an affidavit that the FCC audit "may only locate the tip of an
iceberg," as suggested by New York Attorney General Abrams.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901109/Press Contact: NYNEX, Peter T.
Goodale, 914/644-7220; Roy Morris, Allnet, 202-293-0593)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00018)

NORTHERN TELECOM TRYING PHONE-COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY 11/09/90
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Northern Telecom,
IBM and NYNEX are testing direct links between telephone switches
and computers, which would let the computers control the phone
network. Syracuse University will link a Northern Telecom switching
system to an IBM AS/400 minicomputer using IBM's CallPath Services
Architecture and New York Telephone's network.

The idea is to automatically link a caller's number to databases stored
on the AS/400, allowing more rapid delivery of services. In the trial, a
call to Syracuse's 711 emergency number from any point on campus
will provide simultaneous voice and data transmission of the
building and room number from which the call was placed and the
location of the nearest fire exits.

Northern Telecom will put this kind of capability in its new
CompuCALL software. It is an open interface, said Northern
Telecom spokesman Mark Dill, written to meet new telephone
standards called Switch to Computer Applications Interface.
CompuCALL will be released early next year to owners of Northern
Telecom's switches, but it requires a computer link to work.
Since Northern Telecom is publishing the specifications used to
create CompuCALL, other switch-computer combinations will
eventually be possible.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901109/Press Contact: Northern Telecom, Mark
Dill, 919/992-3200)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00019)

COMSAT WINS EMERGENCY PHONE CONTRACT 11/09/90
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Comsat and Bell
Atlantic's cellular phone group announced they have won a
contract to create a new system which will provide emergency
phone service to the government during a natural disaster.
The National Transportable Telecommunications Capability will be
leased in an emergency and provide satellite service in the Ku-
band, linked by a ground station to a digital phone switch and
cellular phones working on microwave frequencies.

Comsat will link the system to the public phone network, while Bell
Atlantic will provide the cellular phone network. It will be available for
lease in January, and field-tested later.

The work is being done under a contract awarded by the Defense
Communications Agency's Defense Commercial Communications Office
as the acquisition agent for the National Communications System.
The system can be set up in 24 hours, and fits inside a single
C-130 cargo aircraft.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901109/Press Contact: Comsat, John F. Gulick,
202/863-6182; Bell Atlantic, Brian Wood, 908/306-7508)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00020)

NEW REPORTS SAYS CENTREX LEADS TELECOM GROWTH 11/09/90
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Comtec Market
Analysis Services, a division of the Gartner Group, released the
latest edition of its Telephone Systems report. According to the
report, the U.S. telephone market is saturated with 68,987,493
phones in use as of January, 1990, up 3.5% from a year earlier.
The study is created through a poll of U.S. businesses and
interviews.

The fastest growing segment of the U.S. phone market is phones
linked to a Centrex, or a central office switch which provides
services like an in-house private branch exchange. The report
says 5.5 million phones are linked to Centrex, up 17.3% over a
year ago.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901109/Press Contact: Comtec, John M. Kupik,
203/967-6852)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00021)

TRADEMARKSCAN ENHANCED 11/09/90
NORTH QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., NOV 9 (NB) -- Thomson &
Thomson announced enhancements to their Trademarkscan databases,
which are available on the Dialog online system of Knight-Ridder.
A new Design Code Search Capability in the Trademarkscan-Federal
database will allow more thorough and precise searches for
specific design elements on trademark registrations and
applications.

It can be used to run a preliminary screening search for designs that
might conflict with a proposed logo or seek out images to support
litigation.

A new Exact Trademark search option will let users retrieve
information about a specific Federal or State record. The
feature is especially helpful when searchers lack a registration
or serial number, and can be used in citing marks that begin with
a particular word.

New trademark ownership fields will streamline that search
process and yield more comprehensive results. They can be used in
Federal or State files.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901109/Press Contact: Ann Candura, Thomson &
Thomson, 617-479-1600)


(EXCLUSIVE)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00022)

JIMMY STEWART BACKS COMPUTER LITERACY 11/09/90
DIAMOND HILL, KOWLOON, HONG KONG, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Hollywood legend
James Stewart has put his weight behind efforts to make computer
literacy universal. Stewart gives his views in a letter to the
Hollywood representative of Hong Kong's Golden Harvest Films,
producers of blockbuster "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

In the letter, shown to Newsbytes by Russell Cawthorne, Golden
Harvest's vice president, marketing and advertising, Stewart writes,
"My pal Bob Hope and I share founding chairmen duties of The American
Spirit Foundation, conceived to bring about a renewed sense of love
of country and the development of hope among our kids. A current
project is the elimination of computer illiteracy by the year 2000.

"The only way we know to do this is to get computers and instructors
to kids in the disadvantaged areas who have no access to equipment or
to instruction. Help us get some of our computer-equipped vans 'on
the road' through the proceeds of this [MCA/Universal diamond jubilee
celebration] dinner."

Commented Cawthorne," Jimmy Stewart has spoken out on behalf of all
of us who are concerned with our childrens' future. This call from an
international star of such magnitude should have an impact on every
educator throughout the world."

(Norman Wingrove/19901107)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(HKG)(00023)

BIG PROFIT GROWTH FOR HONG KONG TELECOM 11/09/90
WANCHAI, HONG KONG, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Hong Kong Telecom, the
British colony's telecommunications giant, has announced profits for
the half-year ended September of US$310,256,410 million. This figure
represents a rise of 17 percent and takes place against a background
of local uncertainty in the run-up to China's takeover of Hong Kong
in July 1997, and of the continuing crisis in the Gulf.

The mainstay of what is widely regarded as an excellent mid-year
result, is a 19 percent increase in earnings from international
traffic. A policy of low monthly rental charges and free local calls,
coupled with inexpensive international calls has for some time been
the mainstay of the company's profits.

Another lucrative field of business continued to be facsimile
services. Although it is possible, as in other countries, for
subscribers to connect their fax machines to ordinary voice lines,
Telecom offers Faxline 100, a service that guarantees a specially
conditioned digital line with a range of value-added services,
including automatic remote checking of a user's system. This results
in almost 100 percent of local fax calls and a very high proportion
of international calls connected at the maximum possible
transmission speed of 9600 bits per second.

In the past twelve months, Telecom achieved a Faxline 100 growth of
28 percent.

(Norman Wingrove/19901107/Press Contact: HK Telecom, [phone];
HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00024)

BIG BOOST FOR EVEREX HONG KONG ARM 11/09/90
KWUN TONG, HONG KONG, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Everex Computer Products
(ECP), a subsidiary of US PC vendor Everex Systems Inc, has announced
a 15 percent boost in profits for the 1990 financial year. General
Manager Carmen Meakin said the results provide the foundation from
which Everex will launch itself in markets in the Far East. She said
they were a strong indication that the company was heading in the
right direction.

"Everex puts its computers through stringent quality testing in the
US before being shipped," Meakin said. "This testing is now having
its effect in the marketplace."

Simultaneously with the financial results, ECP announced the arrival
in Hong Kong of a shipment of a new range of PCs named Everex Far
East. The range includes entry level 12- and 16 megahertz (MHz)
286-based PCs, plus more powerful 386 models running at 20-, 25-
and 33MHz.

The new PCs will stand alongside Everex's high-end STEP range.

(Norman Wingrove/19901109/Press Contact: Dannie Francis, MDL,
[phone]; HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00025)

NEW PCS: ALR Intros Powerful Systempro Challengers 11/09/90
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Advanced Logic
Research has announced five new families of ALR Powerpro (Compaq
Systempro-compatible) computers at 30% lower prices than
comparable Compaq systems. The lowest-priced system ($7,495)
features five megabytes (MB) of memory, a 33 megahertz (MHz)
80486 processor, and no hard disk, but can be upgraded with a
second 486 processor and up to 49 MB of memory.

Other new ALR Powerpro computers come with 17 MB of memory
standard (expandable to 49 MB), 12 expansion slots (eight-EISA or
Extended Industry Standard Architecture), up to 130 serial ports,
over one gigabyte of hard disk storage, dual 486 processors, and
512 kilobyte (per processor) memory cache.

ALR's Chairman and CEO says that the high end dual-processor
Powerpro computers can reach 40 million instructions per second
or MIPS processing speeds.

(John McCormick/19901109/Press Contact: Dave Kirkey, ALR, 714-
581-6770)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00026)

NORTHERN TELECOM LAUNCHES OFFER FOR STC 11/09/90
MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- In what would be
its largest acquisition ever, Northern Telecom is offering UKP1.3
billion, or about US$2.6 billion, for the balance of STC, a
British telecommunications equipment manufacturer of which it
already owns 27.1 percent. Some analysts question the move's
benefits for investors, however.

Stephen Bowen, senior vice-president for public affairs at
Northern Telecom headquarters, told Newsbytes the company
sees potential for "great synergy" between Northern Telecom and
STC. The acquisition would help Northern strengthen its position
in the United Kingdom and European markets, Bowen said.

Northern Telecom bought 27.1 percent of STC in 1987, and has two
seats on the company's board. But Bowen said the company believes
it can reap more benefits if it owns 100 percent of the British
firm. "Owning 27 percent of something is just that, owning 27
percent," he said.

Mark Lawrence, a technology and telecommunications analyst for
Midland Walwyn Capital in Toronto, agreed that Northern might be
better able to rationalize operations between the two companies
with 100-percent control. But he cast doubt on the benefits of
the proposal.

"They made this acquisition as a strategic move," Lawrence said,
"which when you use those words sometimes infers that you paid
too much for it."

STC has a limited presence in Europe, Lawrence said, so buying it
will not help Northern as much as the company might hope. "At the
end of the day, Northern will have a lot of debt and will not
really have a larger structure in Europe."

Suggesting that Northern's desire to sell more central-office
telephone equipment to British Telecom might be another reason
for the move, Lawrence said he doubt whether BT will be eager to
add another supplier of central-office switches.

Northern may have felt it had to make the purchase partly because
a buyer was needed for the 72.9 percent of STC that Northern did
not own, and no other telecommunications company would have been
comfortable about buying that stake while Northern remained a
significant shareholder. Northern may have faced a choice between
buying all of STC and giving up the piece it already owned,
Lawrence suggested.

Bowen said STC's board of directors is expected to recommend the
Northern offer to STC shareholders, and Northern is "very
positive" about the outcome of the offer. The sale is likely to
close some time early in 1991, he said.

Bowen said it is too early to speculate about the degree of
independence and separate identity STC will retain after the
purchase.

(Grant Buckler/19901109/Press Contact: Stephen Bowen, Northern
Telecom, 416-566-3020)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TOR)(00027)

INTEL OFFERS REAL-TIME VIDEO IN SMALLEST PACKAGE 11/09/90
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Intel's newest
multimedia processors, introduced earlier this week, represent
the first time full multimedia capability has been available using
just two computer chips, according to Intel.

Applications for the i750 Video Processor chip set are not
limited to PCs, said Karen Andring, an Intel spokeswoman in
Princeton. "We expect this stuff to be designed into almost
anything that contains microelectronics," she said. The chip set
is designed to work with a variety of central processing units
(CPUs), including Intel's 80x86 line, she said.

Multimedia enhancements boards for PCs are among the potential
applications, she said, but so are multimedia enhancements to
automated teller machines, fast-food drive-through systems, and
high-end graphics workstations.

In an industrial education environment, Intel said, employees can
use a computer for training. Instead of reading how to prepare a
hamburger or calibrate a machine, they can watch and interact
with the process, improving retention. In a travel agent's
office, travelers can "walk through" rooms at various hotels to
choose the right one for their tastes. They can also review
sites and activities to finalize their schedule of events.

Samples of the i750-video processor are available today.
Production quantities will be available in the first quarter of
1991. The cost of the i750-video processor is US$105 in
1,000-unit orders, US$85 in 10,000-unit orders.

(Grant Buckler/19901109/Press Contact: Karen Andring, Intel,
609-936-7619)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00028)

NCR ANNOUNCES OS/2 WORKGROUP PLATFORM 11/09/90
DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- NCR has announced the
NCR OS/2 Workgroup Platform, a suite of OS/2-based products for
client-server computing. The products are industry standards
offered by NCR under original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
arrangements with their developers, said spokeswoman Kim Warnock,
but they are optimized for NCR's System 3000 hardware.

NCR said the suite of products is a key component of its Open,
Cooperative Computing Strategy, a standards-based architecture
launched early this year. The NCR OS/2 Workgroup Platform will be
demonstrated in Las Vegas at COMDEX/Fall '90.

"The NCR OS/2 Workgroup Platform gives users an industry-standard
set of functions for developing and/or integrating client-server
applications," said Alok Mohan, vice-president of NCR's
Workstation Products Division, in a prepared statement.

The NCR OS/2 Workgroup Platform consists of: NCR's version of
MS-OS/2 1.21; NCR LAN Manager 2.01; NCR SQL Server 1.1; NCR
Communications Server 1.0 - which links OS/2 and DOS to
enterprise resources in a hierarchical or peer SNA network; and
NCR SNA Software Distribution Product (SDP) for OS/2, a set of
software products for distributing software and data files over
an SNA wide-area network.

NCR also announced a joint marketing agreement with Micah
Systems, a Reading, Pennsylvania developer of turnkey systems for
the health-care industry. The two companies provide a Health
Information System to hospitals and health-care facilities that
will use Micah's Client/Server software and NCR's System 3000
hardware.

(Grant Buckler/19901109/Press Contact: Kim Warnock, NCR,
513-445-4732)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00029)

KCR TECHNOLOGY FILES FOR CHAPTER 11 11/09/90
EAST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- KCR
Technology has filed a voluntary petition seeking reorganization
under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. The
company, majority owned by Moore Business Forms, suspended
manufacturing of its high-speed, direct-charge deposition
printers at the beginning of October.

At that time, KCR spokesman Ron Derby said the company needed a
partner to provide the financing necessary to carry on its
business, and was looking for such an investor. KCR is continuing
to maintain 18 printers already installed with customers in
various lines of business.

Moore Business Forms, which owns 62 percent of KCR, has agreed to
provide temporary, limited funding during the Chapter 11
proceeding while alternatives for the future of KCR are explored.

(Grant Buckler/19901109/Press Contact: Richard Coburn, KCR
Technology, 203-289-8618)


(EDITORIAL)(TELECOM)(NYC)(00030)

I HATE TELEPHONE MUSIC - Editorial by John F. McMullen 11/09/90
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 9 (NB) -- Yesterday, I
spent 45 minutes listening to light classical music while waiting for
Borland's Technical Support personnel. Today I spent 15 minutes listening
to light rock while an Outbound Systems operator tried to track down its
chief operating officer for me.

In recent history, I have listened to country music while waiting
for the chief executive officer of Texas-based K&M Tools to explain
an innovative tool-tracking system that he has implemented on PCs,
rock while waiting to discuss a medical system with management
of New Jersey's Catawba Computer, etc., etc. Quite frankly, I'm
sick of it!

When waiting for someone on the telephone, SILENCE IS GOLDEN. If
the telephone is not trying to entertain me, I can cradle it in my ear or,
better yet, turn on the speaker phone and proceed to do other things while I
wait. I can even have conversations with others in the room without having
to scream over Merle Haggard, Billy Joel or the New York Philharmonic.

When I hear noise from the telephone, I know that's it's a real person on
the other end and not the announcer on Boulder's "94.7 The Wave" (or
that's what it sounded like) talking about the benefits of banking with First
Federal Savings or trying to entice me down to the local Ford Dealer.

That's another real annoyance! It's bad enough that I have to listen to
someone else's choice in music but it's simply adding insult to injury to
inflict local advertising on me. Why should I, sitting in New York, have
any interest whatsoever in hardware sales in Salt Lake City, car deals in
San Francisco or local restaurants in Spring, Texas? -- or is it that these
firms never expect to receive calls from outside the immediate area?

Most of the firms that I speak to are high tech firms -- firms that use
computers to communicate, computers to design other computers,
computers to do just about everything. In my judgement, they should
understand that some things are better done "the Old Fashioned Way" --
and telephone wait time is one of them.

The only reason that I can conceive that these things got set up in
the first place is that, perhaps, those who plan these abominations
think that the caller won't be as annoyed waiting 20 minutes if
he/she can listen to Bruce Springsteen or Tony Bennett in the
meantime. WRONG! Both Bennett and Springsteen are
welcome on my CD or tape deck, not on my telephone.

I've been doing my own informal, non-scientific poll since this practice
began to infuriate me and, after speaking to literally hundreds, have yet to
find someone who actually likes telephone music. Many are ambivalent
while others actively dislike the practice Some tell me they actually hang
up when the music comes on (I don't do that .. .yet. The only call I ever
automatically hang up on are the ones from computers -- you know, the
ones that begin "I have an important message for .." Click!).

I happen to like all types of music. I don't, however, let other people
choose it for me. I don't like being forced to pay attention to it so that I
don't miss hearing the person that I called pick up. I don't like it getting in
the way of me proceeding with my work while I wait. I don't like anything
about it. In short, as the headline says, I HATE TELEPHONE MUSIC!

If you feel the same way -- Tell Them! If the company is a major high tech
player, it should be smart enough to listen. You probably can't do anything
about the recession or the Persian Gulf. Maybe, at least, you can turn off
the Noise! If so, you'll have my eternal thanks --and I'm sure that that will
bring tremendous gratification!

(John F. McMullen/19901031)


(REVIEW)(APPLE)(SFO)(00031)

Review of: Teleport, a modem for a Mac with ADB Ports 11/09/90

Runs on: All Macintosh computers with ADB ports.

From: Global Village Communications 1204 O'Brien Dr. Menlo Park, CA
94025 [phone]

Price: $225

PUMA rating: 4  (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for NEWSBYTES by: Naor Wallach, 11/09/90

Summary: A small, portable, 2400 baud modem that is easy to set up and
use.

=======

REVIEW

=======

Teleport is a small, portable, 2400 baud modem that uses your Macintosh's
ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) port -- where your keyboard and mouse plug
in -- for its power and for communicating to the computer. Teleport
comes in a box with the necessary cabling and instructions and is
billed as "The Macintosh way to modem." I have used this product for
over a month now and can happily report that it does work, and that
it does work well.

Installation of the Teleport is very simple. You attach its one connected
cable to an unused ADB port on the Macintosh. It needs to be the only ADB
device on that port due to its power requirements so some of you may need
to rearrange the configuration of your ADB devices. Then, you need to
connect up two telephone wires: one from the telephone to the Teleport,
and the other from the Teleport to the phone outlet. The Teleport comes
supplied with a set of six-foot cables to make this easy. Once you finished
with that, you copy the supplied software from the diskette to your
System Folder, set up the program to use the Teleport, reboot the
Macintosh and you are ready to use the Teleport.

The Teleport has one red LED on its outer case. When your Teleport is
attached to the Macintosh, its red LED flashes occasionally to let you
know that it is working. When you are using the device, the red LED acts as
the send/receive lights to let you know when data is being exchanged.
Aside from this one LED, there are no other external indicators of any kind.
Nor are they needed. Teleport works with any communications software
that you may already own. I tried it with Red Ryder V10.3 and Microphone
and did not have any problems. Both programs ran fine with any scripts
that I had created.

There is one visual indication on the screen when you are using Teleport
that is otherwise not present. The Teleport software puts a small display
in your menu bar that is the equivalent of a Hayes Modem's LEDs. These
software LEDs (for lack of a better term) turn black when they are being
used exactly like an equivalent Hayes modem would have. I find this
display somewhat distracting and inaccurate as the LEDs change state at
discrete time intervals and may have a small time lag between the event
and the display.

One of the touted benefits of the Teleport is its portability. And, indeed, it
would be very easy to unhook the Teleport, take it to another place, and
rehook it up for communications. However, aside from the major benefit of
not needing a separate power cord, there is very little that the Teleport
offers over other modems for the same task. I suppose the lack of
separate power cord and its relatively small size (about two decks of
cards worth) are what distinguish it as a "portable" modem.

=============

PUMA RATINGS

=============

PERFORMANCE: 4 This modem works, it works well, it is completely Hayes
compatible, and displayed no problems with the different software
packages that I used.

USEFULNESS:  4 If you need a 2400 baud modem, then this one is one to
consider. The portability benefit is a bit overplayed but there are
advantages to not having to worry about a separate power cord.

MANUAL:  4 The manual is complete, explains every step of the installation
clearly, and contains lots of information on how to use the Teleport with
various and sundry telecommunications packages. I found no typos or
mistakes in it.

AVAILABILITY: 4 There is almost no need for technical support on a
product like this. But, should you have any questions, the manufacturer
does offer a toll-free number for you to call.

(Naor Wallach/19901031)


(REVIEW)(IBM)(ATL)(00032)

Review of: RightWriter ver 4.0, word processing on the PC 11/09/90

Runs on: PC, PC-XT, PC-AT, PS-2, AND 100% compatibles with 512K
RAM using PC/MS-DOS 2.0+, and a VGA, EGA, CGA, or Hercules
compatible monochrome monitor. Two floppy drives or a floppy
drive with a hard disk are required. Macintosh, DeskMate, UNIX,
and Network versions available.

From: QUE, 11711 N College AV, Carmel  IN 46032, 800-992-0244,
FAX [phone].

Price: $99.00

PUMA Rating: 4 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest )

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: tbass  HNDYPRSN, MCI:379-5378  11/9/90

Summary: RightWriter ver 4.0, an intelligent grammar checker, is
reported to detect more than 25,000 writing errors by using over
5,500 grammatical rules.

======

REVIEW

======

QUE starts with a guarantee on RightWriter ver 4.0. It guarantees
that a user's writing will improve within 30 days or they get
their money back. That's hard to beat.

RightWriter allows the user to customize the checker to their
writing style. The program will allow the user to include and
exclude specific grammatical rules. RightWriter also allows the
user to focus on particular levels of reader understanding. The
RightWriter package includes a paperback copy of Strunk & White's
The Elements of Style to assist in style understanding and
development.

This program uses 5,500 grammatical rules to detect 25,000 types
of writing errors. There is a long list of common errors on the
back of the package. This list appropriately ends with, "*And
more!"

The literature states that it compatible with all the
major word processors -- a list which covers the field well.
However, compatibility does not mean interface. QUE says that it
interfaces with 5 of the major word processors via a "hotkey"
function. They are Wordperfect, MS-Word, WordStar, MultiMate
Advantage II, pfs:Professional Write, and Q&A.

It works with my ASCII text editor, PC-Write, but it
does not interface with PC-Write. I wish it did for it would
save me many steps in the process of using it. Saving steps, of
course, means saving time.

When the user is finished making corrections RightWriter ver 4.0
cleans up the copy. That is it offers a batch file to strip the
remarks from the file.

Have no fear, Rightwriter does write copy for the user.

============

PUMA RATING

============

PERFORMANCE:  4 RightWriter ver 4.0 is easy to install and
customize to fit the users need. It works fast.

USEFULNESS: 4. It's a great help in making you look like a better
writer than you are!

MANUAL: 4  The program is intuitive, but the manual
explains the basis for the charts and how to customize the
programs reports. Adding the Strunk & White book
to the package was an added benefit.

AVAILABILITY: 4 RightWriter ver 4.0 can be found at most
software retailers. SoftWarehouse offers it for $65.95 presently.
The program is readily available from the QUE order desk at
800-992-0244 where VISA, American Express, Mastercard, personal
checks, COD, or POs are acceptable.

(tbass HNDYPRSN/19901004/Press contact: Beth Douglas, 317-571-3489)