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/nb901127

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(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00001)

NTT PROCUREMENT IN EUROPEAN COMMUNITY UP 11/27/90
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Nippon Telegraph and Telephone,
the world╒s leading supplier of communication services, bought 50.4 billion yen
worth of equipment from EC countries in 1989, the Japanese Mission
to Japan said.

Citing an explicit policy of promoting foreign procurement, NTT
stressed that all called for tenders are published in the EC
Journal and telecommunication associations are notified
in the 12 EC countries.

Rising from a scant 11 billion yen worth in 1982 to 50.4 billion last year,
NTT has increased its procurement from European suppliers. According
to the Japanese Mission to the EC, products purchased by NTT were
plasma deposition systems from Britain╒s Electrotech, DX Packet
Sequence Display and Testing Equipment from Siemens, Gel Tape
(special compounds) from Raychem, and a two-axis earth sensor
from Italy╒s Officine Galileo.

There is a different side to this gallant galloping to a global village
concept. Telindus, a Belgian modem manufacturer, confirmed that
NTT bought products from them but "only in very small amounts"
one official privately said. Buying what is only a teaspoon of telecom
equipment at a time, NTT adds to its public relations campaign as
new names can be added, a source told Newsbytes, but NTT is far from
being a big buyer in the European arena.

NTT sponsored various seminars and participated at major
telecommunications fairs throughout Europe in 1989. The Japanese
telecom giant has had an office in Geneva since 1964 and opened a
branch in London last year. They have bought equipment from over
300 companies since 1984, NTT said.

Net cash rose 11.9 percent in 1989 to 2,154.2 billion yen. NTT spent
1,831.5 billion yen in capital expenditures to further digitize its
network and boost other telephone and non-telephone services.
Operating revenue rose from 5.8 billion yen to 6.02 billion yen while
net income stood at 261.1 million yen.

(Eric Dauchy/19901126/Press Contact : NTT Geneva Representative
office : [phone].)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BRU)(00002)

FRENCH COMPUTER SERVICES MERGE 11/27/90
PARIS, FRANCE, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- The merger of three leading software
specialists in the financial and banking sector established the biggest
consortium in its field in France. Segin, FTIB and Sodinforg will have
consolidated sales of 2.3 billion French francs and a market capitalization
of 750 million FF (150.6 million $), the new CEO Michel Fievet told
a news conference.

Segin is a computer services company while FITB specializes in banking
and securities market systems. Sodinforg controls the French market
in bank card operations and automated teller machines.

The new name for the group will be Axime. The group will have about a
15 percent market share in the French computer services market which
in itself has climbed a steady 20 percent yearly for some time.

Axime will be ahead of Sligos, until now the market leader and well in
front of Sesa Cap gemini, now placed third, it said.

(Eric Dauchy/19901126)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BRU)(00003)

FRENCH UNVEIL PROTOTYPE VIDEOPHONE 11/27/90
PARIS, FRANCE, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- France Telecom, the state-controlled
telephone company, unveiled a prototype videophone which it claims
is more advanced than its Japanese counterpart. Capable of transmitting
voice, data, and color-TV images, it is set to enter the market next year,
French PTT Minister Paul Quiles said.

At a unit price of 30,000 FF ($6,000) and for home use by 1995 at the
stiff going price of $ 5,000, it was designed as a European alternative
to Japanese projects which are in an advanced stage.

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone claimed that its Visual, Intelligent
& Personal services will "enable voice, visual or data communications
anywhere anytime" including #D, High-Definition visual communications
services, a machine-translation-assisted service, a confidential
intelligent communication service and a portable directory. NTT
predicted that "within the next 15 years there will be 15 million
pocket phone users, 20 million e-mail subscribers, five million
visiphone customers and 20 million digitized subscriber access lines."

For France meanwhile the videophone is of strategic importance to
remain on the forefront in telecom technology. "We must develop an
offensive strategy of telecommunications technology development,"
Quiles told reporters. France subsidizes a multibillion franc HDTV
project undertaken by Thomson SA and Dutch electronics manufacturer
Philips NV. Currently, the country has pledged to support heavily
mobile telephone technology, another potential boomer expected to
rise significantly before the end of the century.

By the end of 1992, France Telecom is expected to order 100,000
videophone sets for sale to mass market consumers. It expects
producers to take two years to start providing marketable units
for the general public, it said.

Matra of France has acquired a license to produce the videophone
which the French hope to use as a springboard to promote other
telephone products "Made in France" such as mobile telephones
and pocket phones.

(Eric Dauchy/19901126)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BRU)(00004)

PHILIPS A DAY OLDER AND DEEPER IN DEBT 11/27/90
EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Never shy to drop a
bomb, Dutch electronics giant Philips NV announced that its estimated
1990 loss will be to the tune of four billion guilders ($2.4 bn) or double
that which it forecast a few months ago.

In a press release, Philips predicted "considerable improvement of
results as from the second half of 1991." The embattled electronics
company apparently wants to show a profit next year, not incidentally
its centennial year.

Also, it announced plans to produce fax machines in Austria in a joint
venture with Ricoh of Japan. Critics said that Philips and Ricoh had
chosen an expensive country in which to produce the units at a time
when the fax market is slowing in Europe as are other
computer-related businesses.

Additional provisions to service the huge loss will total 1.8 billion
guilders for the year to 4.5 billion guilders, the hardware manufacturer
announced. Philips said that as of yet it has not completed an analysis
of which operations to sell, close down, put in joint ventures or
"drastically" restructure, as one source put it. About 45,000 people
are to made redundant on a total workforce of 285,000 and the
Dutch have also pulled out of the European Community JESSI program,
considered a serious blow to the high-tech program. One source said
that Matsushita of Japan is interested in acquiring its component
manufacturing division.

Financial analysts said they were pessimistic about Philips' ability
to return to profitability next year, citing the worldwide slowdown
of the computer industry, which is equally affecting other European
manufacturers such as Bull and Olivetti.

(Eric Dauchy/19901126)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00005)

EC GREEN PAPER ON SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS 11/27/90
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- The European Commission
laid the political foundation for a satellite-based array of trans-European
networks and services, its vice president said. Filippo Mario Pandolfi
called for a debate on the issues, laid out in a Green Paper which says
that despite considerable technological progress, regulations and
organizations of satellite communications remain in most member
states as it was in the 1960s and 1970s.

Recalling the days when 30m dishes were controlled by telecom
and radio broadcasting organizations, the Paper said that 50cm dishes
had been available on the market for some time now -- creating
"substantial demand for specialized communications services such
as communications between subsidiaries of companies throughout the
Community. These VSATs have the potential to become vital elements
for the development of business communications at a European level,
news gathering systems and direct-to-home television," the Paper
underlined.

Especially the last element will be instrumental for the implementation
of High definition TV in Europe, it stressed. Regulatory restrictions are
being lifted in some member states but need to be coordinated on a truly
European level. Therefore, the Commission proposed to fully liberalize
the earth segment, including the abolition of all exclusive and special
rights in this area, i.e. give viewers the chance to buy satellite dishes
for direct reception without any restrictions.

Furthermore, the Green Paper set out to give unrestricted access to the
space segment capacity, giving service providers transmission capacity
through their right to contract satellite providers and have their signals
beamed via satellite to the television viewers.

The ultimate aim is to establish the commercial freedom for space
segment providers, in particular EUTELSAT (European Telecommunications
Satellite Organization).

"This concerns in particular the mutual recognition of licensing and
type-approval procedures, frequency coordination and matters related
to the coordination of services provided to and from countries outside
the Community, and the definition of Community standards to ensure a
better compatibility of equipment and techniques," the European
Commission said.

Come 1992, the integrated European market must bring economies of
scale for the satellite part estimated at up to 40 percent whereas the
price of the dishes could plummet by a factor two or three, the Green
Paper believes. Current market-breakdown by revenue of satellite
communications in Europe is telephony, mainly transatlantic (44 %),
specialized business communications (10 %) and television services
(46 %) all in all worth 440 million ECU.

Europe╒s efforts to pry and open the door to global telecom markets
comes as no surprise if one looks at the success story of the European
Space Agency╒s Ariane satellite-launching platform. With Ariane, Europe
effectively holds 60 percent of this particular market after NASA
neglected rockets and went full blast ahead with the Shuttle program
instead. The share of satellites supplied by European manufacturers
will account for a fifth of the world market and its future generation
is forecast to grab a sturdy 39 percent of world markets.

However, the Commission said, this technological competence has not
been sufficiently translated into market share at a world level. Europe's
20 percent in the world's satellite manufacturing market is almost
balanced by the total weight of the European market in the world.
The United States, it said, supplies 75 percent of the world's
satellites but weighs a mere 38 percent in the world market.

Why? Well, European production runs, to no one╒s surprise here, remains
fragmented and fraught with political intrigues while at the same
time the runs are shorter than in the U.S. Future economic impact
will be determined by two factors, the Commission argued --
its impact on the audio-visual sector and its effect in improving
efficiency vastly on a European scale through new point-to-multipoint
communications services distributed by satellites. Both these
sectors, if explored well, could add a whopping 20 bn ECU to Europe's
economy in the period to the year 2000, the Commission figured,
if existing restrictions are lifted.

However, satellite communications will still only correspond to
1.5 to 2.5 percent of total telecommunications services revenues
in Europe by the end of this century.

In 1990, Europe totalled 32 satellites with a footprint large
enough to cover the 12-nation Community (and states lucky to fall
into this area) out of which 15 were of European origin. Total
transponder capacity stands at 350 of which INTELSAT takes
48 percent and its European smaller brother EUTELSAT controls
another 23 percent. If all goes as planned, satellite capacity is
expected to more than double by 1993.

(Eric Dauchy/19902611)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(NYC)(00006)

EMC DISPUTES JURY FINDINGS 11/27/90
HOPKINTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- EMC
Corp. has announced that it will file motions to attempt to overturn a
Middlesex Superior Court jury decision of November 21st which found
that EMC had misappropriated trade secrets of Cambex Corp.

EMC's John Ryan told Newsbytes that EMC will file post-trial papers with
the judge who must reach a decision in January as to the awarding of
damages relating to the jury's preliminary finding. Ryan said, "We will
attempt to overturn the verdict at that level. If we are successful, the
matter will end right there; if we are unsuccessful, we will pursue
the matter to appeal."

The 13-member jury found that Cambex had lost $2 million dollars as the
result of the actions of EMC, RPB Consulting, Inc. and Richard P.
Belanger. Cambex had alleged that Belanger, a former Cambex consultant,
gave its trade secrets to some of the defendants in breach of a duty of
confidentiality. EMC's Ryan told Newsbytes, "We don't know where the $2
million figure came from. It was never mentioned by any of the parties at
the trial. While it is not a significant figure to a firm of our size, we will
vigorously oppose the awarding of any damages in this case."

Cambex has been quoted as saying that it will seek final judgment including
interest, lawyers' fees and treble damages against each defendant when
post-trial submissions begin in early January.

The EMC statement stated that "Both RPB Consulting and EMC
strenuously denied any misappropriation of any proprietary Cambex
property, and EMC maintained that no improper or illegal activity took
place. EMC further maintained that the microcode changes were not
proprietary to Cambex Corp. and EMC presented evidence that it had
developed some of the microcode changes itself and, when necessary, had
purchased the changes from multiple, readily available sources in the
marketplace.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901127/Press Contact:
Brian W. Fitzgerald, EMC Corp., 508/435-1000)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(NYC)(00007)

SIEMENS NIXDORF ACQUIRES RECOGNITION UNIT 11/27/90
BURLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) --
Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems Inc. and Recognition Equipment Inc.
say that the acquisition of Recognition's Wand Products Division
by Siemens Nixdorf has been completed. The purchase price was
approximately $8.75 million, subject to certain possible after-sale
adjustments.

Siemens Nixdorf's Ian Robb told Newsbytes that the Wand Products
Division will continue to operate from its sales offices in Dallas,
TX and its manufacturing facility in Irving, TX. Robb said that the
newly acquired unit will "become an integral part of Siemens Nixdorf
Information Systems Inc."

Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems is headquartered in Burlington,
MA and employs approximately 1,300 throughout the United States. It is a
subsidiary of Siemens Nixdorf Informationssyteme AG of Munich, Federal
Republic of Germany, Europe's largest computer company with over
50,000 employees.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901127/Press Contact:
Michele Nadeem, Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems Inc., 617-273-
0480)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(NYC)(00008)

HARRIS RECEIVES $11 MILLION ARMY CONTRACT 11/27/90
MELBOURNE, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Harris
Corporation has announced that its Government Electronic Systems
Division (GESD) has been awarded an $11 million contract by the U.S.
Army to produce portable tactical communications systems. Harris
also stated that the Army may also select options increasing
the contract value to $59 million.

The two-year contract was awarded by the U.S. Army's Communications-
Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Under the contract, Harris
GESD will integrate, test, and deliver the Digital Group Multiplexer
Antenna Mast Program (DAMP) systems. The systems will be used in
forward communications outposts and include an antenna positioner and a
graphite mast adjustable from three to 30 meters in height. The contract
stipulates that Harris will deliver 200 mast assemblies and 75 transport
pallet assemblies and the Army has the option of ordering up to 1,800
additional masts and 900 transport assemblies.

As prime contractor, Harris will integrate the DAMP systems and design
and build the pallet assemblies, which support and protect the ancillary
equipment masts, and positioners while they are being stowed and
transported.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901126/Press Contact: Jim
Burke, Harris Corporation, 407-727-9126)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SYD)(00009)

AUSTRALIA: STUDY FINDS LOCAL SOFTWARE INDUSTRY IN NEED 11/27/90
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- A study by a Queensland
professor has found that the Australian software and services
industry needs more support than current policies give them -- or
they will suffer internationally. The study also found that
quality issues also need to be addressed, and that these changes must
occur as soon as possible to give developers the best chance of being
competitive in international markets.

The author of the report, Professor Dromey of Queensland's
Griffith University, states that local infrastructure is one of
the areas needing reforms. According to the report, the main area
to be changed in the Australian scene is quality control.

"Quality and project management methods are often outdated and
lack the sophistication needed to produce quality software at
internationally competitive prices," the report states. "There is
an indifference to the attainment of quality that pervades the
industry from senior executives down to the programmers. The
problem is exacerbated by lack of community interest in, and
consciousness of, quality."

The report offers several suggestions to get the software
industry ready for international competition, including the
sponsoring of a national strategy and policy for the industry;
conducting a national quality survey; setting up software
standards to be adhered to; the establishment of a national
accreditation scheme for local software developers. In response
to the report, which has been released for discussion, the
Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce has issued a
letter for comment covering the accreditation scheme
recommendation. The department plans to have a proposal covering
the full recommendations of the report by early next year.

(Sean McNamara/19901126)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00010)

AUSTRALIA: COMPUTER PALS KEEPS DISABLED IN TOUCH 11/27/90
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- A communications network
originally started in 1983 by connecting two schools in Australia
and Alaska is now providing disabled students with links around
the world. Computer Pals Across the World (formerly known as The
Australaskan Writing Project) has around 12,000 educational users
around the world, and has now turned its attention to servicing
the needs of disabled students.

The students access the system from the Independent Center, which
is part of the Spastic Center of New South Wales (NSW). Students
compose letters using either a Touch Talker or a Light Talker
(input devices), and these are then transmitted to overseas Pals
via OTC Dialcom. The Touch Talker utilizes a pointing device to
allow students to select words to include in letters, while the
Light Talker lets students point at individual letters with an
infra-red pen. Once entered, the letters are imported into Apple
Works on an Apple IIGS, which allows spell checking to be carried
out.

The Center relies on donations for the bulk of its equipment,
with some of the computers being purchased by the Center. The
remaining computers are donated by charity groups, with modems
donated by Netcomm, OTC Dialcom being provided by Network
Connections, and further support from OTC and the NSW Department
of Education. The Center still needs more corporate sponsors;
the Light and Touch Talkers cost AUS$6,000 each, and more
computers and computer-literate volunteers are needed as well.

(Sean McNamara/19901126/Press contact: Bruce Alcorn, phone in
Australia [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00011)

SIX NEW EX SERIES INTERMEDIATE MAINFRAMES FROM HDS 11/27/90
ADMIRALTY, HONG KONG, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Hitachi Data Systems (HDS)
has announced the addition of six new intermediate level models to
its EX Series of IBM-compatible mainframe computers. The EX 11, EX
22, EX 27, EX 31, EX 38 and EX 42 are claimed to offer increased
flexibility to customers by giving them more performance option
within the EX family.

They are rated as 1.09 to 1.24 times more powerful than the nearest
existing models in the family. All will be available in January and
upgrades of old models to the new versions will be available within the
second quarter of 1991.

The new computers are all air-cooled and are based on 2,000 and 5,000
gate Emitter Coupled Logic (ECL) gate arrays.

HDS also announced storage and channel enhancements to all
intermediate level EX Series models, from EX 11 to EX 44. Maximum
storage on the uniprocessor models - EX 11 to EX 33 - has been
increased to 512 megabytes, matching the maximum capacity previously
available only on models EX 38 to EX 44.

(Norman Wingrove/19901123/Press Contact: Geoff Kennedy, HDS,
+ 852 521 6275; HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00012)

WESTPAC BANK PICKS BIS FOR ASIA PACIFIC BRANCHES 11/27/90
ADMIRALTY, HONG KONG, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Australia's Westpac banking
Corporation has acquired a regional licence for 11 Midas ABS systems
from BIS Banking Systems. The IBM AS/400-based systems will be
installed in Hong Kong and at 10 other sites in the Asia Pacific
region to automate the company's wholesale banking operations. The
major applications will cover foreign exchange, money market,
lending, retail, exposure management and payments and communications.

"We chose Midas ABS because it meets our wide range of functional
requirements, including our very sophisticated management accounting
needs," said Darcy Ford, general manager of Westpac's Asia Pacific
Group.

The selection of Midas ABS followed a year-long evaluation by Westpac
of strategic hardware and software installations throughout the
region. A pilot Midas ABS installation in Jakarta persuaded the bank
to proceed with the system throughout the region. It will next be
installed in Singapore, followed by Tokyo and Hong Kong. The pilot
project followed Westpac's use of BIS Midas 36 on IBM System/36
computers over the past ten years.

(Norman Wingrove/19901123/Press Contact: Bruce Quick, BIS,
+ 852 524 2065; HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TOR)(00013)

SCANGRAPHICS AWARDED SCANNER IMAGING PATENT 11/27/90
BROOMALL, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) --
This supplier of large document and aperture card scanners and
software has been awarded a patent for a "High Speed, High Resolution
Image Processing System," the broader implications of which remain
unclear. The patent covers an image scanning process for transforming
picture elements from paper, film or similar material into
electronic digital signals.

In announcing the patent, Scangraphics' vice-president of engineering,
Tony Trolio, said the "technology covered by this patent, and other pending
patents, have application, and are presently being utilized in
facsimile products, office copiers and image scanners."

Scangraphics said its management is evaluating the licensing
business opportunities provided to it by the issuance of this
patent. However, David Gaines, executive vice-president of the
company, told Newsbytes he was "not really in a position to make
any hypotheses at this point" about whether Scangraphics would
seek licensing fees from other manufacturers.

Scangraphics uses the patented technology in its line of large
document scanners called the CF (Continuous Feed) Series. These
have been on the market for about two and a half years, Gaines
said.

(Grant Buckler/19901127/Press Contact: David P. Gaines,
Scangraphics, 215-328-1040)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00014)

MORTON LEAVES STRATFORD SOFTWARE 11/27/90
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Alex
Morton has resigned as president of Stratford Software, operator
of the Suzy online information network here. Morton, who has also
quit his position as a director of Stratford, will remain as a
consultant to the company. Thompson McKie, 60-percent owner of
Stratford, who replaces Morton as president, said the decision
was primarily a cost-cutting measure.

McKie will be paid substantially less than Morton, who joined
Stratford in its previous incarnation as Bedford Software from a
senior marketing role at Borland International. McKie told
Newsbytes that the company, which sold its Bedford accounting
software to Computer Associates to concentrate on developing the
Suzy network, wanted to "cut down our burn rate to a much lower
level than it has been" until the Suzy operation becomes
profitable.

Morton will provide consulting services to Stratford primarily in
the marketing area, McKie said, and will work as an independent
consultant to other companies as well.

Morton could not be reached for comment.

Stratford also announced that Software Publishing has chosen the
Suzy system to host a new Canadian information network for
dealers and users of Software Publishing's products.

(Grant Buckler/19901126/Press Contact: Thompson McKie, Stratford
Software, 604-439-1311)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00015)

CA UNVEILS MULTI-PLATFORM PLANS FOR SUPERPROJECT 11/27/90
GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Computer
Associates International has announced that it will deliver CA-
SuperProject, its project management software, on multiple
hardware platforms within the next year. Currently, SuperProject
runs on MS-DOS and OS/2.

In the coming year, CA plans to release SuperProject versions for
Microsoft Windows, OS/2 Presentation Manager, Digital Equipment's
VAX/VMS, and the IBM mainframe operating systems MVS and VM. The
move is part of Computer Associates' CA-90s multi-platform
strategy, said Kristin Keyes, a company spokeswoman. Offering
applications across a range of hardware has been "the driving
development force of the company" since it began branching out
from IBM mainframe software in the early 1980s, she said.

Keyes added that CA "definitely" will announce multi-platform
approaches in other applications areas. She added that accounting
software, the area for which CA is best known in the personal
computer world, will probably be among the last areas affected.
CA already has mainframe accounting software called Masterpiece,
but Masterpiece and Accpac, the PC product, "don't look alike at
all," Keyes said.

(Grant Buckler/19901127/Press Contact: Kristin Keyes, Computer
Associates, 408-922-2310)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00016)

MISSION CYRUS RENAMED DARIUS, RETAINS PRODUCTS 11/27/90
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Mission
Cyrus, the maker of high-end IBM-compatible PCs that fell flat
for lack of financing last summer, has been renamed Darius
Computers and will operate for the time being as a wholly owned
subsidiary of ABS Technologies, another Vancouver-area PC maker.

Tania Elvin, former marketing manager for Mission Cyrus and now
doing the same job for ABS, said the newly named Darius may
eventually be merged into ABS's operations, but will continue as
a separate subsidiary for now.

The purchase agreement included giving up rights to the Mission
trademark, which belongs to Mission Electronics, an audio
equipment maker based in the United Kingdom. Mission Electronics
has been acquired by the Japanese firm Sansui, and Farad Azima,
founder of both Mission Electronics and Mission Cyrus, has
returned to the U.K. to become chief executive of Sansui Mission,
Elvin said.

Darius will continue selling the Darius personal computers and
CentralNtelligence file server. ABS said it plans to continue
Mission Cyrus' strategy of building only premium-quality machines
aimed at power users -- the product line starts with a 386-based
system -- and to be very selective in choosing dealers.

Parent company ABS, meanwhile, announced plans for two lower-
priced machines. The compact new 286- and 386-based systems will
be aimed at students and at the market for network workstations,
according to ABS. No prices were available for the ABS machines,
due to be available in January.

(Grant Buckler/19901127/Press Contact: Tania Elvin, ABS
Technology, 604-433-8186)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(NYC)(00017)

NEW FOR MACINTOSH: Tesserae, Puzzle Game From Inline Design 11/27/90
SHARON, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Inline Design
is offering Tesserae, a puzzle game for the Macintosh scheduled to
ship the first week of 1991 with a suggested retail price of $49.95.

Darryl Peck, president of Inline Design, told Newsbytes: "The new
lower-cost Macintoshes seem to have rejuvenated the game market.
Our sales have gone up dramatically since their introduction and I
think that the market for color games will skyrocket when the LC
becomes available. People want to run color games but don't want
to spend $5,000 for a machine to run them on."

Peck described Tesserae to Newsbytes, saying: "It is a game based on the
manipulation of tiles. If it is run on a color Macintosh, the system uses the
primary and secondary colors to differentiate the tiles; if used on a black
and white system, symbols differentiate the tiles."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901126/Press Contact: Anne
Lyndon, Inline Design, 203-364-0063)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00018)

CA SETS UP STRATEGIC ACCOUNTS GROUP FOR ACCPAC 11/27/90
GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Computer
Associates International has created a Strategic Accounts Group
to support major users of its Accpac accounting software. The
group will provide customers with a single point of contact but
will not eliminate the role of dealers, Kristin Keyes, a CA
spokeswoman, told Newsbytes.

The new group will support major CA clients, including the Avis
Rent-A-Car System and the International Marketing and Refining
Division of Mobil Oil. It will also support qualified Accpac
installers. Members of the new group will work directly with
major accounts, Keyes said, and will enlist the aid of dealers,
qualified installers, and sometimes third parties such as
consultants and developers of add-in software as needed.

"In essence," she said, "it becomes a coordination effort."

Keyes acknowledged the move reflects a growing need among large
microcomputer-software buyers for the kind of support vendors of
mainframe and minicomputer software have traditionally provided.
But she added that it does not foreshadow the disappearance of
the independent dealer. "The way that PC software is sold right
now is certainly going to continue for the foreseeable future,"
she said.

(Grant Buckler/19901127/Press Contact: Kristin Keyes, Computer
Associates, 408-922-2310)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00019)

IT A SURE BET AT HONG KONG CONFERENCE 11/27/90
HAPPY VALLEY, HONG KONG, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- The Royal Hong Kong
Jockey Club (RHKJC) is playing host to a five day international
conference on the use of information technology (IT) in the gambling
industry. Nearly fifty delegates from around the world are taking part
in the conference, which will cover such issues as the effect of IT on
lotteries and off-course betting in Canada and France, the part
played by telecommunications, and the development of direct-betting
by users of hand-held terminals developed by the RHKJC.

One of these, the Customer Input Terminal, or CIT, is a palm-sized
unit complete with four LCD displays and a keypad. It can be plugged
into any telephone line for a direct connection into the Jockey
Club's betting computers. The user can then interactively enter bets
without the intervention of a telephone operator or human betting
teller. Although thousands of CITs are already in use, the club still
has to employ more than 200 operators to handle up to half a million
calls during any one twice-weekly race meeting.

CIT users can transfer up to HK$6,000 (US$770) of their winnings into
their own bank accounts for immediate access, instead of having to
wait overnight to do so at a bank branch, as they did before the CIT
was introduced early last year.

Betters can also place bets via self-vending terminals, which accept
the betting tickets together with a cash voucher purchased at another
machine. The terminal returns the validated ticket and a cash voucher
for any remaining balance.

The RHKJC also uses IT to connect its two race courses at Happy
Valley on Hong Kong Island, and at Shatin in the New Territories. The
betting computers at the two courses are linked and both tracks also
have massive Diamond Vision video screens that can display the
current race in close up simultaneously at both venues. Many punters
opt to go to the nearer track and watch - and bet on - the races via
Diamond Vision and a direct optical fibre link to the active track.

Live pictures are also exchanged with other countries, notably
Australia and Britain. Hong Kong races shown this way have proved a
great attraction among London's Chinese community, most of whom
originated in Hong Kong, while Hong Kong punters have spent more in
bets on a single Australian meeting than Australians spend at many
meetings over a period of months.

The club is also a pioneer in betting software, and supplies racing
authorities in other countries, notably Australia, Britain, Macau and
Sweden.

Earlier this year, the RHKJC started a scheme to offer employment in
Australia to staff who had emigrated there, in the hope of attracting
some of them back to Hong Kong to ease the IT personnel shortage
arising from the brain drain of young professionals in the run-up to
Hong Kong's hand over to China in 1997.

(Norman Wingrove/19901127/Press Contact: David Yau, RHKJC,
+ 852 837 8111; HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00020)

NEW EPSONS FOR SINGAPORE SHOW 11/27/90
SINGAPORE, SOUTHEAST ASIA, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Following the
unveiling of a line of new products at COMDEX earlier this month, Epson
is to show its first colour portable computer and its new six
page-per-minute laser printer at Informatics '90, Singapore's biggest
information technology (IT) show in December.

The computer is the 80386-based PC AX3/33. This machine runs at 33
megahertz (MHz) and comes with 4 megabytes (MB) of RAM, expandable to
12 MB. Disc storage consists of an 80MB hard disc and a 1.44MB floppy
drive. The monitor is to VGA standards and is available in backlit
monochrome or colour LCD versions.

The PC ZX3/33 is supplied with DOS 4.01 and features automatic system
configuration and a power-on password function.

The new printer is the EPL-7100. This is equipped with Micorart
Printing, a feature producing 300 dots-per-inch resolution with a
claimed higher-than-average image density and more accurate fine line
reproduction.

The EPL-7100 has multi-interface emulation capabilities, making it
possible to connect it to more than one PC at a time. Each PC is
online direct and command signals from one PC do not interfere with
those from another.

Thirteen resident outline fonts are provided, while extra fonts can
be added by inserting optional font cards.

Informatics '90 will take place at Singapore's World Trade Centre
from 13 to 16 December.

(Norman Wingrove/19901127/Press Contact: Epson Singapore Pte Ltd,
+ 65 533 9477; Singapore time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00021)

STRATUS MOVES FURTHER ONLINE 11/27/90
MARLBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Stratus
Computer is moving further into transaction processing with new
networking products, Network Express and OSI Server Version 2.0.

The company won exclusive marketing rights for Network
Express, from Scientific Software of Atlanta. Network Express
lets users unite incompatible computers into a single online
environment.

Alice Randall of Scientific explained to Newsbytes
how Network Express would work with one of her company's
applications, Electronic Window, in the financial industry. "It's
a direct dial access from remote terminals, so you can log into
many different systems with one log-in procedure. Blue Cross may
have hospitals look up patient information for account
verification using this. You can also have various levels of
security," with passwords and phone numbers linked to a table of
system accesses. Network Express runs under Stratus' proprietary
VOS operating system, but it will be ported to the Unix-like FTX
which Stratus has promised to ship by the end of the year.

The second product, OSI Server Version 2.0, establishes a
platform for the development of applications that comply with the
Open Systems Interconnect model of the International Standards
Organization. OSI is the emerging standard that defines
communication between hardware and software products from
different manufacturers. Most companies today use a competing
standard called TCP/IP, but have promised to move to OSI real
soon now.

Release 2.0 extends the capabilities of the product's first
release, which was designed only for wide area network
applications, to local area networks as well. Both products are
designed for use with Stratus' XA2000 Continuous Processing
Systems. As with Network Express, OSI Server will be ported to
FTX, said Stratus spokesman Denise Ferbas.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901127/Press Contact: Stratus Computer,
Denise Ferbas, 508/460-2742; Scientific Software, Alice Randall,
404-551-6411)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00022)

IMM WINS NEW ORDERS FOR ITS ULTRAPHONE 11/27/90
KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) --
International Mobile Machines continues to gain ground with its
Ultraphone radiophone, which is designed to bring regular phone
service to remote regions. IMM received purchase
orders exceeding $5.2 million from Telefonos de Mexico S.A. de
C.V., the Mexican state phone company, which will begin offering
phone service to the Mexican interior using the Ultraphone
instead of running wires.

"From a dollar standpoint Mexico is very important," spokesman John
Goetz told Newsbytes. "There were questions being raised last week
about privatizing Telmex. Since we're now the standard," a decision
announced last month by Telmex, "we're in fine position there."

Jim Bracknell, executive vice president, pointed out in a press
release that the new contract extends the range of the Ultraphone
beyond the resort areas like Cancun and Cozumel. "We will now
ship systems to remote locations where no electrical power
exists, and the subscriber units will be powered by solar energy,
another first for IMM."

Goetz emphasized this will not make Mexico easier to reach by
phone, however. "This does not effect the long distance
transmission lines going in and out of the country. This puts
telephone service into areas that had none," he said.

Beyond the Telmex deals, Goetz emphasized that IMM is making its
Ultraphone a standard worldwide, with technology agreements
signed by Alcatel of France and Hughes of the U.S., the latter
including engineering and marketing services, and $1.4 million
in new orders from GTE making the Ultraphone a remote standard
for the nation's largest local phone company.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901127/Press Contact: John A. Goetz, IMM,
215-278-7800)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00023)

PRODIGY IN ISDN TEST 11/27/90
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Prodigy, the
IBM-Sears videotex venture, is being featured in an ISDN test of
residential services by AT&T and Rochester Telephone. The two
companies are testing whether subscribers warm up to Prodigy, with
its slow screen refresh rate, when they get the service at 9,600
bits/second.

The main purpose of the trial, which will run for 4 months in 35
homes in the Rochester area of upper New York state, is to test a
home network controller made by AT&T. The controller acts as an
ISDN "front-end," linking all phones, fax machines, and modems
into the home into digital lines, and eliminating the need to
get separate ISDN cards for each device. Using ISDN, a homeowner
could run his modem, fax machine, and phone on the same line, at
the same time, and get pure digital quality on each device.

Project Manager Carol Schuhart of Rochester Tel told Newsbytes
her test is an "alpha" site, and she'll be watching closely to
make sure the AT&T device works as advertised, and as the
homeowners want it to work. "The second part of the trial is a
marketing study, to determine interest in ISDN. There will be a
lot of listening to the customer, about the controller."

She added, "Prodigy's role is to be a benefit for those trying
out the controller. Homeowners may be used to a 1,200 bit/second
modem connection, and the screen refreshes with Prodigy are slow.
The ISDN will speed it up a bit."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901127/Press Contact: Carol Schuhart,
Rochester Tel, 716-777-7337)


(EXCLUSIVE)(APPLE)(LON)(00024)

APPLE AND ACORN TO DEVELOP RISC-BASED NOTEBOOKS 11/27/90
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Apple and Acorn will this
week announce plans to set up a joint research and development
company called Arm Limited. The new company's primary aim will be
to develop a new series of notebook computers based around
Acorn's RISC chip to be marketed under the Apple brand name.

Full details of both companies' plans for the new company will be
unveiled later this week, Newsbytes sources say. Neither company
was releasing details of their plans as Newsbytes went to press.
The move is particularly significant in light of Apple's interest
in a new generation of machines, previously thought to be
based around the 88000 and 88110 series of microprocessors.

According to informed sources, Malcolm Bird, technical director
with Acorn, has been instrumental in forming the new company. It
was not clear at press time whether he will head up Arm, but it
seems more than likely.

This week's announcement is not the first time that Apple has
expressed an interest in Acorn's RISC technology. According to
industry sources of the time, a deal involving the Acorn RISC
technology was in the offing when Apple was developing its
successor to the Apple II series, but this was dropped when the
company began developing the IIGS series based around a modified
6502 microprocessor.

(Steve Gold/19901127)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LON)(00025)

NEW FOR IBM: Dell's Unix V4 Released in UK 11/27/90
BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Dell Computer
Corporation has announced the release of Unix System V.4 for its
desktop and floor-mounted PCs. The release follows
September's launch of a range of Unix computers and related
multi-disk storage systems plus networking products.

Dell's SVR4 version of Unix will ship to users early next
month. Prices start from UKP 3,515 for a two-user license running
on a System 320LX with 4MB of RAM, an 80MB hard disk and tape
back-up unit. A deskside System 433TE with 8MB of RAM, 640KB hard
disk, tape back-up unit and an unlimited user license for Unix
SVR4 costs UKP 11,865.

For existing users of Unix on its hardware, Dell is offering an
upgrade kit for Unix Release 3.2 users for UKP 399 on a limited
user basis, and UKP 599 for an unlimited user version of Unix
SVR4.

According to Roger Stone, Dell UK's product marketing manager,
Dell is one of the first PC manufacturers to offer an enhanced
version of Unix SVR4. "This further underlines our commitment to
provide enhanced systems at aggressive prices. When purchased in
conjunction with a Dell system, Unix SVR4 gives users with
complete industry standard hardware and software solutions at
outstanding price/performance," he said.

(Steve Gold/19901127/Press & Public Contact: Dell Computer
Corporation - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00026)

NEW FOR IBM: Lotus Ships 1-2-3 V3.1 For Networks 11/27/90
STAINES, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Lotus UK has
announced it is shipping network editions of 1-2-3 Release 3.1,
its advanced graphical spreadsheet for Dos environments.
According to Rob Ingram, senior product marketing manager with
Lotus, the network editions provide an efficient method of
installing, managing and using 1-2-3 on a local area network.

"1-2-3 continues to dominate the UK spreadsheet market and the
availability of network editions plays a significant role in our
customer's decisions to upgrade to new Lotus applications," he
said.

"The availability of 1-2-3 Release 3.1 network editions, so
closely following the initial shipment of Release 3.1 with its
excellent reception in the marketplace, is yet another example of
our commitment to support the network computing needs of Lotus
customers," he added.

The release of the network editions of 1-2-3 Release 3.1 means
that the spreadsheet package is now available in three versions -
standard, server and node. The standard and node editions sell
for UKP 395, while the server edition sells for UKP 695. The
server edition includes support for the server plus a single node
on the network.

As with server/node editions of other packages in its range of
software, Lotus has some interesting offers available for
existing users of 1-2-3. Registered users who buy or have bought
1-2-3 Release 3.0 server or node editions since May 7 this year
can upgrade to Release 3.1 free of charge until the end of
the year. All other Release 3.0 users can upgrade for UKP 35.

Release 2.2 users, meanwhile, can upgrade to Release 3.1 for UKP
140. In addition, Release 1, 1A, 2 or 2.01 users can upgrade for
the same price.

(Steve Gold/19901127/Press Contact: Jennifer Bacon - Tel: 0784-
455445)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(WAS)(00027)

POTENTIAL SECURITY PROBLEMS ON NEXT SYSTEMS 11/27/90
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- CAIC, the Computer
Incident Advisory Capability, has advised that they have received
a series of reports on security problems involving the operating
system of the NeXT computer and advises remedies including the
removal or replacement of some files.

Detailed information and fixes are available on the NIST (National
Institute of Standards and Technology) security BBS at 301-948-5717
(8-bit, NO parity, 1 stop bit) but a few specific cases follow.

Users of Release 1.0 and 1.0a should remove file /usr/etc/restore0.9.
This file allows any user to gain root access and is only needed during
installation. You must have root status to remove this file using the
command # /bin/rm/usr/etc/restore0.9.

If your NeXT system has publicly accessible printers, replace
 /usr/lib/NextPrinter/npd with a more secure version obtained from
NeXT.

The BuildDisk command allows any user to become root - change
permissions to eliminate this problem.

For more details on these and several other potential security
problems, contact the NeXT Support Center.

(John McCormick/19901127)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00028)

BUSH VETOES BILL TO EASE EXPORT RESTRICTIONS 11/27/90
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- President Bush has
vetoed the recently passed bill which would have reauthorized the
expired export law and provided for an automatic update of the
level of computer technology barred from export set at a minimum
of 25 percent of the current fastest readily available systems.
Instead, the President has issued an executive order mandating
tighter controls on those technologies that might be used to
develop chemical or biological weapons but has also directed
government agencies to ease some export rules.

In a rather surprising move, President Bush directed the
government to ease the export restrictions in some of the ways
called for by the bill he had just vetoed. A Presidential memo
which accompanied the veto directed government agencies to make
certain that U.S. vendors are not placed at a competitive
disadvantage when others are free to sell systems where U.S.
companies are barred; shorten the lengthy process now required to
obtain export permits; and increase performance thresholds.

A spokesperson for CBEMA, the Computer and Business Equipment
Manufacturing Association, told Newsbytes that since this
presidential directive lacks the force of law it will be less
effective than the bill and that there is no way to predict in
advance what the economic impact of the directive will be.

CBEMA had backed the legislation which would have helped open up
markets for U.S. computer manufacturers. Last Spring CBEMA
confirmed that it had restricted foreign manufacturers to only 30
percent of CBEMA's membership.

(John McCormick/19901127)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00029)

DELL EARNS $6.9 MILLION IN THIRD QUARTER 11/27/90
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- Dell Computer Corporation
is emerging one of the winners in the industry-wide slowdown, reporting
record earnings in the third fiscal quarter of 1991. Sales were up
43 percent to $136.7 million, fueled by strong gains in both domestic
and international operations, the company says.

"We are especially pleased with our domestic growth in light of the
continued sluggishness in the United States market for personal
computers," said Michael S. Dell, chairman and chief executive officer.
Domestic sales increased 25 percent to $95.1 million in the third quarter,
compared with $76.1 million in the third quarter a year ago, and were
up nearly 19 percent over sales of $80.2 million in the second quarter
of this fiscal year, the firm says.

International sales more than doubled to $41.6 million, vs. $19.4 million in
the prior-year period. Half of the year-to-year revenue increase came
from sales of five new higher-end systems introduced in late August.

In total, sales of systems based on the Intel 386, 386SX and i486
microprocessors accounted for 88 percent of system revenues in the
quarter, compared with 58 percent of system revenues in the third
quarter a year ago.

(Wendy Woods/19901127/Press Contact: Michele Moore or
Brian Fawkes, Dell, 512-338-4400)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00030)

3COM, IBM OFFER NET MANAGEMENT SPECS 11/27/90
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- 3Com and
IBM say their jointly developed network management specifications
are now available for industry-wide review. The specs are designed
to provide interoperability among different computing systems.

Publication of the IBM-3Com draft Heterogeneous LAN Management
specifications follows preliminary evaluation by technical teams of
four leading computer software companies: Banyan Systems, Microsoft
Corp., Novell Inc. and The Santa Cruz Operation.

The Heterogeneous LAN Management specifications provide the underlying
structure for developing management products that function with a
variety of network operating systems, the companies say. The
specifications are available without charge by calling 3Com Corp.
at 408/764-5161. They are also available by writing 3Com
Corp., Attn: Jim Healey, 5400 Bayfront Plaza, Santa Clara, Calif.
95052 or by writing IBM Corp., P.O. Box 12195, Department C13,
Building 002, Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27709.

(Wendy Woods/19901127/Press Contact: Leah A. Strauss, 3Com,
408/764-6508)