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/nb901128

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(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00001)

DATA PERIPHERALS RELEASES LAPTOP HARD DRIVE IN UK 11/28/90
STAFFORD, ENGLAND, 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Data Peripherals has
released the Teac SD-340 hard drive in the UK. The unit, which
has been designed for laptop usage, has a formatted data capacity
of 43MB.

Unlike other 43MB hard disks, the SD-340 comes in a very small
casing - 1 inch high by 3.5 inches square - and has been designed
to replace a standard 3.5 inch floppy disk unit. The head
assembly uses a rotary actuator, allowing the drive to be
installed in almost any physical orientation, and an auto-lock
mechanism that parks the head in a fixed position when the power
is turned off.

As supplied, the SD-340 features a choice of an embedded SCSI
interface or IBM PC/AT-compatible controller. Disk access times
average 23 milliseconds, and buffer to disk data transfer runs as
fast as 8Mbits a second.

According to Data Peripherals, pricing on the new drive depends
on what quantities are required. The unit has a mean time between
failure rate of more than 30,000 hours, and an in-built
diagnostic program continually searches for faults.

(Steve Gold/19901117/Press & Public Contact: Peter Brophy, Data
Peripherals - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00002)

UK: WORDSTAR EXPRESS NOW ON OPEN RELEASE 11/28/90
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Wordstar International has
announced that its Wordstar Express package, an all-in-one word
processor and mail system, will now be available in general
release. Previously the package was only available from Amstrad,
licensed for use on the Amstrad PC1512 and PC1640 series of
machines.

According to Wordstar, Wordstar Express proved to be a best-
seller, with more than 200,000 copies sold to date. The general
release of the software - enabled for any PC - will sell for UKP
69-95.

Announcing the general release of the software, Joe Corr,
Wordstar's director of Northern Europe, said that the package
offers full featured word processing power with minimal training
required, at a low price.

"As such, it directly addresses the needs of a broad sector of
low-end users. The product has already proven its worth in
Amstrad's software portfolio and our taking it back on board will
mean that, as user's requirement grow, they will benefit from the
advantages of a clear and easy upgrade path," he said.

Wordstar Express is primarily aimed at the home and small
business user. The package includes a standard Wordstar module
for creating and editing text, as well as a mailing list
generator. When used together, the modules allow personalized
letters to be created.

(Steve Gold/19901127/Press & Public Contact: Wordstar
International - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00003)

SUN APPROVES STORAGE VENDOR FOR CATALYST PROGRAM 11/28/90
MARKHAM, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Sun Microsystems of
Canada has approved Avalon Technologies, a Toronto maker of
storage and networking products and other workstation options, as
a member of its Catalyst program.

Catalyst is a developer support program that assists third
parties in the development and marketing of hardware and software
that works with Sun workstations.

Avalon offers high-capacity storage subsystems, expansion options
for Sun's Sparcstation line of workstations, removable storage
systems, terminal serves, networking products, and a variety of
workstation accessories. Its storage products include erasable
optical drives.

(Grant Buckler/19901126/Press Contact: Carol Smith, Sun Canada,
416-477-6745; Greg Shove, Avalon Technologies, 416-487-7701)


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

OPEN SYSTEMS TO STAR AT HONG KONG SOFTWARE SHOW 11/28/90
WANCHAI, HONG KONG, 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Open systems is the theme of
the Hong Kong Productivity Council's annual exhibition, Software
'90, at the China Resources Exhibition Center in Wanchai, the heart
of the territory's information technology (IT) business.

Both Electronic Document Interchange (EDI) and the Unix operating
system are taking prominence at the show, continuing a rapidly
growing trend in Hong Kong towards the development and expansion of
open systems strategy.

Earlier this year, HOSIC, the Hong Kong Open Systems Interconnect
Cooperative, was founded and was a center of attention at the CeNIT
exhibition held during ITweek in September. Hong Kong's container
port is now using EDI for the exchange of documentation and both the
government and many private companies are now preparing for wider use
of the technology.

In addition to open systems and EDI, Software '90 is making a special
feature of Chinese language business software products. It is widely
believed that the past relative slowness of many local companies to use
office automation systems has been a result of the unavailability
until recently of Chinese software. With the gradual achievement of
industry standards for the input, processing and output of data in
Chinese, demand from more traditional Hong Kong companies for
automated systems is beginning to take off.

(Norman Wingrove/19901127/Press Contact: HK Productivity Council,
+ 852 735 1656; HK time is GMT + 8)


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

MINITEL PRICES CUT FOR CHRISTMAS 11/28/90
PURCHASE, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Minitel Services,
which is still trying to bring the Minitel Teletel service to
U.S. homes, is trying a new tack -- lower prices. For the next
month, per-minute charges are being dropped up to 40% on a wide
range of U.S.-based Minitel services, including some using the
ASCII text standard of Genie and Compuserve.

Current prices for services range from 10-20 cents per minute.
The French government is continuing to push Minitel in
foreign markets, but recently decided to give more emphasis to
its videophone technology. While Minitel has failed to nudge
aside the text-only ASCII standard in the U.S., the Prodigy
joint-venture claims 600,000 users of its NAPLPS standard,
which carries much of the same baggage as Teletel.

In the U.S., Minitel has been hampered by a number of factors,
analysts told Newsbytes. The teletel standard lacks
sophistication, few services have local appeal, and perhaps more
important, Minitel tied itself to the failed Bell gateway
experiment. In New York, for instance, the sole Minitel-link
license is held by Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, which is
keeping outside information providers off the system by charging
high prices for access. Newsday got its link from American
Citinet, which failed last summer. In response to the problem
with the Bells, Minitel has tried offering its services via
caller-paid 900 numbers, but that leads to prices of $1.50 per
minute or more.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901127/Press Contact: Minitel Services, 914-
694-6266)


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

DIGITAL BROADCAST HAMPERED BY BUREAUCRATIC CATFIGHT 11/28/90
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Want CD quality
from your radio? You'll have to wait, because of a bureaucratic
catfight between the recording and broadcasting industries now
making its way through the Federal Communications Commission.

At issue is who will control Digital Audio Broadcast technology.
The recording industry, fearful that DAB will let anyone make a
digital recording of songs received over-the-air, wants DAB
licenses limited to the UHF spectrum now used by TV channels 14-
82, and wants existing broadcasters to be allowed to play only a
limited number of DAB cuts. The National Association of
Broadcasters, by contrast, wants DAB to be considered an
"enhancement" to current broadcasters, used only by them, and for
their own purposes. In particular, the NAB is opposed to the idea
of a satellite-delivered DAB system, saying it would fail "to
promote the Congressionally-sanctioned principles of localism,
and discourage diversity of ownership and programming." The FCC
is expected to decide the issue next year.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901127/Press Contact: Doug Wills, NAB, 202-
429-5350)


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

PC HELPLINE OFFERS SUPPORT ON AN 800 NUMBER 11/28/90
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- PC Helpline has
decided to compete head-on with 900-Pro Help, a caller-paid
support service using the 900 exchange, except using the 800
exchange. The move continues a trend to use formerly all toll-
free 800 lines for caller-paid services. Many of the sexually-
explicit services formerly listed on the 900 exchange, for
instance, have moved to the 800 exchange, adding a front-end to
collect credit card numbers from callers.

PC Helpline will answer any PC-related support question for
prices starting at $1.50 per minute when you call 1-800-366-8125.
The company is trying to market its services to large
corporations, who will give their users PIN numbers like those
used at bank teller machines to avoid the charge. The idea is
that simpler support questions will go to the Helpline, freeing
the corporate MIS staff for more important work. PC Helpline
provides information on any aspect of personal computers from
assistance with DOS commands or application software packages to
specific recommendations of hardware or software.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901127/Press Contact: Mark Schumann, PC
Helpline, 404-956-8125)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(ATL)(00008)

ANIMATION STAND UNBUNDLED: NEW RELEASE PROMISED 11/28/90
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Linker Systems is
unbundling its broadcast-quality Animation Stand package, and
releasing a new version of the software with more features.
Animation Stand combines a paint box and animation a system for
the Apple Macintosh II System 7.0 software. It could bring the
cartoon industry back to the U.S. by replacing the expensive
process of hand-painting and photographing cels with a
computerized-drawing-and-saving process.

The new software, Version 1.2, features support for the new Sony
laser disk recorders, third-party external drivers, and various
file format, speed and memory improvements, along with a better
user interface and other technical improvements to eliminate the
visible "jaggies" which now plague computer animators when their
work is compared with the hand-drawn variety. In addition, the
new version allows exposure sheets and animation set-ups to be
displayed in a stacked format, which lets the animator check
continuity as though he were at a light-table, and it allows for
easier loading of cels onto an exposure sheet.

The unbundling of Animation Stand is designed to bring it into
the high-end of the business presentation market. The product now
has an entry-level price of just $2,000 for a single copy of the
software, with training, phone support and upgrades offered at an
additional charge. Linker Systems hopes the new pricing will also
help it crack the advertising and training markets which don't
require "broadcast quality" output.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19901127/Press Contact: Anne Mudge, Linker
Systems, 714-552-1904)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BRU)(00009)

DISTRIBUTED REAL-TIME PROCESSING WITH TRANS-RTXC 11/28/90
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Transputer fans behold.
Intelligent Systems International (ISI) has developed a distributed
version of its real-time kernel for Transputers.

The Trans-RTXc in itself was an industry first and its distributed
version will open the door to a wide range of applications,
Managing Director and ISI Founder Eric Verhulst told Newsbytes,
starting with a 10 MIPS processing unit to over a 1,000 MIPS
distributed processing network. ISI is a specialist in parallel
processing products and founding father of a IP3, the
International Parallel Processing Partners.

Eleven companies in the field met in Germany recently  to join
forces and work out ways to integrate their products and services
as well as to commit themselves to Transputer-based
hardware within the framework of common standards. "The team
spirit is very much alive and kicking," Verhulst continued
enthusiastically. "Competitors in some domains we all are, but
nevertheless we strongly believe it is an opportunity to work
together we cannot afford to miss."

The 10 MIPS Inmos Transputer was created from the outset as a
parallel processing  microprocessor -- the 4 on-chip serial
links providing each 20 Mbit/sec communication bandwidth. The
T-family is a range of 16/32 bit microprocessors now established
as an industry standard for multi-processing and parallel
processing.

Verhulst explained that marrying the Transputer's speed with
real-time constraints has been successfully tested and first
reactions from the United States and Japan are "ecstatic."
"Current Transputer software tools allow tasks to be
programmed and placed on a specific processor. They and their
distribution can then be tuned for maximum speed or for best
response times. For the development of critical systems that
is not good enough; the Trans-RTXc enables a programmer to
specify exactly when tasks must run. With the new distributed
version, this functionality is extended to any network of
Transputers while keeping the source code intact."

ISI's Trans-RTXc will support up to 128 processors but said
that extensions can easily be arranged. Verhulst said that
while a basic context switch takes less than 6 microseconds,
a complete task scheduling can be completed in 35 microseconds.
"When the invoking kernel calls on remote processors, the router
embedded in the Trans-RTXc kernel is so fast that each additional
node only adds a delay of around 35 microseconds. This implies
that a transputer cluster can easily be regarded as a single
real-time processing unit while running several critical tasks
at the same time."

The real-time distributed kernel is delivered as a system
generation utility with debugger, runtime monitor and kernel
library, manual and a demo.  Typical applications are to be
found in embedded process control and what ISI labels "simulation
in the control loop" systems as well as fault-tolerant systems.

One of the first users of the kernel is the Belgian Institute
for Space Aeronomy which will use the system in scientific
experiments aimed at measuring the electron and electrical
fields of the planet Mars as part of a European project called MAREMF.

Peter Judge, a British analyst, said that parallel processing so far
has had little impact in the commercial market despite its
supercomputing performance at  very low prices. "The industry is
looking for an acceptable face of parallelism and that face
may be Unix," he said.

(Eric Dauchy/19901126/Press Contact : Eric Verhulst,
Intelligent Systems International, [phone] or
for North America : A.T. Barrett & Associates,
(713)-728-9688.)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BRU)(00010)

EDI IN EUROPE PROGRAM EXTENDED 11/28/90
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1990 NOV 28 (NB) --  Trade Electronic Data
Interchange or TEDIS received a substantial financial boost
from the European Commission as the EC program was extended
for three more years and granted 31.5 million European
Currency Units (ECUs).

TEDIS is a fierce fighter in the EDI battle zone to avoid,
what it calls, progressing from a paper mountain to an electronic
Tower of Babel and is a strong advocate for open systems and
international standards. Therefore it focuses on the
integration of X.400 Message Handling Systems and EDIFACT standards
and bases its interfaces protocols on the OSI reference model.

Coming from a two-year 5.3 million ECU project. it is being
catapulted forward as a major cost-cutting possibility.
The Commission figured that between 3.5 and 15 percent of
the final cost of a product is related to administrative costs,
amounting yearly to 400 ECU. If EDI can chip away a mere one
percent, the European Community would save 400 million ECU, it said.

(Eric Dauchy/19901126/Press Contact : EDIFACT Secretariat,
Commission of the European Commission : +32-2-235.7330)

(NEWS)(IBM)(NYC)(00011)

IBM TO SELL OVER $300 MILLION TO GOVERNMENTS 11/28/90
ARMONK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- IBM has
announced that it is selling more than $300 million worth of State and
Local Government Installment Payment Agreement (IPA) contracts via the
IBM 1990-1 Tax-Exempt Grantor  Trusts. These contracts are full-payout
loans by IBM and made to various state and local government entities for
the purchase of IBM  equipment.

IPA contracts are fixed-rate, one- to five-year installment loans, which
allow customers the to make monthly, quarterly, semiannual or annual
payments. IBM Credit Corporation will be the servicer for this offering,
and the issue is credit enhanced by a surety bond from the Financial
Guaranty Company of IBM Credit Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary
of IBM Credit. The offering was underwritten by The First Boston
Corporation. IBM stated that this issue is rated AAA/Aaa by Standard &
Poor's Corporation and Moody's Investors Service Inc., respectively.

IBM and its subsidiaries will continue to be the sole servicer on these
contracts.  There will be no changes to the billing and collection process
between IBM and its customers.  In the announcement,  IBM stated that it
"will continue to offer competitive financing alternatives to its state and
local government customers  as it has for more than 25  years."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901128/Press Contact: Peter
W. Thonis, IBM, 914-765-6565)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(NYC)(00012)

DATA GENERAL TO SERVICE OTHER VENDOR HARDWARE 11/28/90
WESTBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Data
General has announced that it will begin to offer service to customers using
Sun Microsystems equipment and peripherals. This offering is Data
General's first move into the business of servicing non-Data General
workstations, servers and PCs in multi-vendor network environments.

Norm Hodge, Data General manager of the Compatible Products Business
Unit, commenting on the announcement said: "Data General has provided
service on peripheral equipment it doesn't market, like printers and disk
drives, for almost three years. However, our ability to service complete
systems such as Sun products is a new differentiator for our sales force,
compared to other equipment manufacturers, as Data General aggressively
enters the open systems market."

Data General will begin the Sun Microsystems service program at 14
metropolitan areas with plans to expand nationwide in six months. Initial
Data General service centers for Sun support are located in: Atlanta,
Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York city,
Orlando, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington,
D.C. The service, with pricing contingent on the equipment services, will
include same-day four hour response and next day response options.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901128/Press Contact:
Daniel Williams, Data General, 508-898-4083)


(NEWS)(IBM)(NYC)(000013)

DIGITAL AND SCTC ENTER MARKETING AGREEMENT 11/28/90
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Digital Equipment Corp. and
Systems & Computer Technology Corp. have announced an agreement  to
jointly market SCT's BANNER Series for higher education running on
Digital computer systems. The agreement, announced at the annual meeting
of the CAUSE educational technology association, is part of Digital's
Cooperative Marketing Program (CMP).

Making the announcement, Michael D. Chamberlain, SCT senior vice
president of software and technology services, said: "We are very proud to
be Digital's newest partner in higher education. We expect that the greater
synergy between our sales forces will enable us to develop and implement
the right administrative solutions for our mutual clients."

SCT introduced the BANNER Series in 1988.  The first implementation
ran on a Digital platform, and more than half of SCT's BANNER licenses
are on Digital systems today.  More than 200 BANNER systems have been
licensed by institutions nationwide ranging from small, private universities
to large, statewide higher education systems.

Roger Strickland, Digital's education marketing manager, commented on
the new relationship, saying, "We are pleased to work with a leading
vendor of administrative software for colleges and universities through our
Cooperative Marketing Program. The combination of BANNER's rule-
based architecture and Digital's distributed processing capabilities creates a
computing environment that enables decision-makers at all levels to access
strategic information.  This access is vital to higher education's need to
increase productivity and cost-effectiveness."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901128/Press Contact:
Mary Hoffman, Digital Equipment Corp., 508-467-5351; Eric
Haskell' SCT, 215-640-5175)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(NYC)(00014)

WANG TO SUPPLY GREAT AMERICAN PYRAMID 11/28/90
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Wang
Laboratories Inc. today announced that it has signed an agreement
that will make it the official computer company of The Great
American Pyramid and Festival Island, a sports and entertainment
complex currently under construction along the banks of the
Mississippi River in Memphis, TN.

Wang will supply the Pyramid and Island with personal computers (PCs),
mid-range systems, cabling, point-of-sale devices, security and
timecard processors, voice mail systems, office systems,
application systems, and consulting.  The agreement calls for
Wang's products to enjoy exclusive status and be included in
numerous promotions involving the Pyramid.

Making the announcement, Dean Bonham of Bonham/Shlenker &
Associates, the sports-marketing agency for the Pyramid project,
said: "We feel that the relationship with Wang is perfect for us. We
decided to approach Wang because it is on the leading edge of
computer technology, providing products and services that pull
together a lot of different components.  Wang showed us how to
computerize our project in a way to provide the maximum efficiency.
But more than anything else, we were impressed with the Wang
people -- their professionalism, vision, and foresight.  They
are the kind of people with whom we wanted to do business."

Scheduled to open in June 1991, The Great American Pyramid and
Festival Island is slated to be the nation's largest sports and
entertainment complex.  The stainless steel enclosed Pyramid
will be more than 30 stories tall and will contain a number of
multi-media attractions including the Egyptian Experience; the
Memphis Music Experience and American Music Awards
Hall of Fame; a glass-enclosed Inclinator ride rising to the
Pinnacle of the Pyramid; a 22,000-seat, all-purpose arena;
the College Football Hall of Fame; and a variety of shops
and restaurants.

Michael Bullard, corporate account executive in Wang's Memphis
office, commented on Wang's participation, saying: "We are
extremely excited to be the official computer supplier to the
Pyramid project. This is an opportunity for Wang to be affiliated
with one of the most unique attractions in the world. Memphis can
be particularly proud of the Pyramid, and Wang is enthusiastic to
share in the excitement over the project."

A Wang spokesperson told Newsbytes that the dollar amount of the
contract "is being kept confidential at this time."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901128/Press Contact:
Linda Volpe Kincaid, Wang Laboratories, 508-967-6425; Mitzi Swentzell,
The Great American Pyramid, 901-529-1991)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(NYC)(00015)

EMPLOYMENT DOWN IN ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY 11/28/90
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- According to a
study conducted by the American Electronics Association (AEA), domestic
employment in the electronics industry on Sept. 30, 1990, was 2.51
million, or 80,000 (3.1 percent) less than the 2.59 million reported for
September, 1989. The September 1990 figure was also down 40,000 (1.6
percent) from the 2.55 million reported June 1990.

J. Richard Iverson, AEA president and chief executive officer, said
that the continuing shrinkage of electronics employment in the 1990
third quarter is yet another indication that our industry and the
economy are contracting. Iverson stated "Although month-to-month
fluctuations have been small, this represents the thirteenth
consecutive month in which there was no employment growth in our
industry. As has been the case in the past, the only growth was
in prepackaged software."

The prepackaged software employment, referred to by Iverson, increased
by 13.7 percent from September, 1989  to September 1990 while all other
major industry segments declined.

The figures used in the study are AEA estimates based on data
provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and are subject
to later revision.

The Association's John Hatch told Newsbytes: "Although we do not
make projections, it's easy to see that there is an ongoing
downturn. While the prepackaged software industry rose by
approximately 14,700 in the period, everything else continued to fall."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901128/Press Contact: John
Hatch, American Electronics Association, 202-682-4430)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(NYC)(00016)

WANG, USC TO MARKET STUDENT ADMISSIONS PROCESSING SYSTEM 11/28/90
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Wang Laboratories
and the University of Southern California (USC) have announced plans
to market an automated student admissions processing system that has
been installed and successfully used at USC. The system is designed
to help colleges and universities improve their admissions
process and achieve strategic advantage over competing schools.

Using the system, admissions counselors are able to electronically
view student applications, transcripts, letters of recommendation,
and other paper-based documents interactively with computerized
student data records. At USC, the system has reduced the
processing time for new applicants from six down to three weeks.
It is also credited with eliminating lost documents, a problem
common to paper filing systems and decreasing file space
requirements.

The application runs on the Wang Integrated Image Systems (WIIS)
that are based on Wang VS mid-range computers.  Wang is
demonstrating the system at CAUSE90, the confernece of an
association of college and university information technology
professionals currently in progress in Miami Beach, FL.

In reference to the strategic advantage to be gained by employing
this system, Tom Myers, director of Information Systems and
Research at USC said: USC competes with many top-ranked schools
for students. The faster we can decide and notify an applicant of
acceptance, the greater the chance the student will select USC."
He noted that the increasing competition for students among
institutions [of higher learning] will lead them to computer
imaging to gain advantage in processing admissions."

Wang's Albie Jarvis told Newsbytes that pricing for the product will be
determined when it becomes available in the first quarter of 1991. He also
said that "Education is a key market for Wang and our alliance with USC
demonstrates our commitment to delivering customer-driven solutions."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19901128/Press Contact:
Albie Jarvis, Wang, 508-967-1523; Tom Myers, USC, 213-740-6586)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00017)

NEW FOR IBM: VirusCure 1.4 Removes 200 Viruses
SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- International
Microcomputer Software Inc. (IMSI) has introduced VirusCure 1.4, a virus
identification and removal program in an improved, menu-driven
version. From McAfee Associates of Santa Clara, CA, VirusCure can
identify and remove some 200 viruses from all disks and memory,
generate three types of reports, repair most COM and EXE files, and
it also supports networks, the company says.

VirusCure also identifies any boot sector or partition table virus that
may be present.  If a virus is discovered, VirusCure will open a
window in the center of the screen, listing the name of the infected
program and the name of the virus.

VirusCure costs $89.95.  For more information, contact IMSI at
415-454-7101 or 800-833-4674 (resellers). Plans are
underway now for a tech support bulletin board system (BBS) from
which registered users may download the latest update.

(Wendy Woods/19901128)
(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00018)

SEMI ISSUES CALL FOR PAPERS FOR EUROPEAN PROGRAM 11/28/90
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA,  U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) --
Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) has
issued a call for papers for the SEMI Technical Education Program
(STEP) in Europe to be held in Brussels, Belgium in October 1991.

The theme of the program will be "Process Technology Challenges."
There will be three sessions including Device Technologies
covering innovations in devices, microstructures, sensors, and
actuator technologies. Sessions on Process Technology and Process
Integration will feature papers on flexible and optimal
utilization of fabs.

Papers will be selected based on presentation of new concepts,
data, or information and those selected will be published in the
conference proceedings. The deadline for submitting abstracts is
January 18, 1991. For more information contact Lisa Gilroy, 415-
940-6932 at SEMI in the US or Caroline Renton at SEMI's European
Secretariat in London at (44)(71) 379-3434.

(Janet Endrijonas/19901128/Press Contact: Terry Berke, SEMI, 415-
940-6958)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00019)

FIRST ANNUAL NETWARE USERS CONFERENCE IN SAN DIEGO 11/28/90
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA,  U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- The first
annual NetWare Users Conference is scheduled to be held in San
DIego, CA, December 6-7 featuring the latest in computer
networking.

The conference will feature product exhibits by leading network
companies along with 19 seminar sessions. A partial list of the
seminars scheduled includes Introduction to Local Area Networks,
Client/Server Technology, LAN Training Technologies, Integrating
Macs Into A Network, Network Printing, Network Diagnostics and
Trouble Shooting, Data Security, Desktop Publishing and Graphics
on LANs and Electronic Mail Systems.

The conference will be sponsored by the San DIego Netware Users
Group and Netware Users International which, with local user
groups, is sponsoring other regional conferences across the
country.

The admission fee of $195 covers all seminars and exhibits and
the seminar is open to all interested parties. For more
information, call 1-800-453-1267 or 619-565-1153.

(Janet Endrijonas/19901128/Press Contact: Chad Hill, Hill
Communications, 415-945-7910)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00020)

AUTODESK TO ADD WINDOWS COMPATIBILITY TO PROGRAMS 11/28/90
SAUSALITO, CALIFORNIA,  U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) --  Autodesk has
announced plans to make FLI files produced by its MS-DOS-based 2D
and 3D animation programs accessible under multimedia extensions
to the Microsoft Windows graphical environment. The company is
currently developing a Windows player that will allow FLI
animation files created in Autodesk Animator or Autodesk 3D
Studio to be played back in windows under Windows 3.0

The Autodesk player is implemented as a Dynamic Link Library so
it can be accessed by other Windows 3.0 applications including
multimedia authoring tools.

Player will allow the simultaneous playback of digitized sound
and FLI animation allowing 286 computers without large amounts of
RAM to be used in multimedia applications. The player should be
available to qualified developers in the first quarter of 1991.

(Janet Endrijonas/19901128/Press Contact: Kathleen Doney,
Autodesk, 415-491-8803)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00021)

ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS TO DEVELOP MULTIMEDIA PC 11/28/90
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA,  U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Zenith Data
Systems, a Groupe Bull company, has announced that the company is
developing a desktop personal computer built around forthcoming
multimedia extensions to the Windows operating environment.

In making the announcement, Andrew Czernek, vice president of
product strategy and development for Zenith Data Systems said
that the '386-based PC should be introduced in the first half of
1991 and will have both the Windows multimedia environment and an
updated version of the MS-DOS operating system installed on its
hard drive along with Asymetrix Corp.'s Toolbook 1.0 that can be
used as a multimedia programming tool.

Czernak added that initially Zenith Data Systems will focus on
training and other simulation-oriented applications for the
company's primary markets, large businesses, government, and
education. He noted, however, other applications for which the
new system would be appropriate such as serving as the front end
to "ImageWorks," the server-based document management system
offered by another Groupe Bull company, Bull HN Worldwide
Information Systems of Billerica, MA.

(Janet Endrijonas/19901128/Press Contact: Glen-Eric Nelson,
Zenith Data Systems, 708-699-4848)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00022)

UK: MERCURY TAKES THE SYSTEMS INTEGRATION ROUTE 11/28/90
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Mercury Communications -
BT's rival in the UK telecoms market - has dramatically
redesigned its range of datacommuniations equipment and services.
Central to Mercury's strategy is a revamp of the company's
packet data network and a high-speed (V.32) modem.

According to Don Parry, general manager of Mercury Datacoms, the
prime target of the company's revitalized datacommunications
division is the London Times' top 100 companies.

"We believe that our greatest strength lies in the value added
services we offer. Because we are Mercury, we can offer customers
the one-stop shopping they need, with complete end to end
solutions, including the public network and private circuits," he
said at the Telecoms Managers Association (TMA) conference in
Brighton this week.

As part of the new look datacommunications division, Mercury has
become the main authorized UK distributor for Newbridge Networks.
Newbridge's range of Mainstreet digital network products will
join Mercury's existing datacommunications products and services.

The Mercury V.32 modem is a high-specification intelligent modem
costing UKP 895. The unit is capable of all modem speeds from
9,600 bits per second downwards, and supports the V.42Bis error-
correction and data compression standard. A UKP 495 version -
without the V.32 facility - is also available.

(Steve Gold/19901128/Press Contact: Steve Hannington, Mercury
Communications - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00023)

UK: MITSUBISHI BUNDLES SUPERPRINT MS-WINDOWS UTILITY 11/28/90
HATFIELD, HERTS, LONDON, 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Mitsubishi has
announced that its color range of printers will in future come
bundled with a free copy of Zenographics' Superprint, a software
package that supports graphic, bitmap and scalable font printouts
from applications running under Microsoft Windows 2.1 and 3.0.

Superprint, which normally sells for UKP 325, consists of three
program modules: Superdriver for rasterizing images and high-
speed printing; Supertext manager for creating and managing high
quality screen fonts; and Superqueue for managing multiple output
files for delayed batch printing.

The minimum system configuration needed to run Superprint is a PS/2
or AT-compatible PC, Dos 3.0, 640K of Ram and a hard disk with at
least 2MB of free disk space.

(Steve Gold/19901128/Press & Public Contact: Philip John,
Mitsubishi Electric - Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00024)

NEW FOR IBM: IMSI Release 2 of TurboCAD 11/27/90
SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 27 (NB) -- IMSI has
started shipping TurboCAD Release 2, a low-priced computer-aided
design package for IBM PCs offering increased speed and other
new features over its predecessor.  The company says TurboCAD Release
2, in benchmark tests, demonstrated a speed up to five times faster
than earlier versions. Release 2 also uses disk caching to optimize
memory allocation.

IMSI President Martin Sacks said that "TurboCAD Release 2 offers the
small business or end user a heavyweight CAD program at an affordable
price. The response to Release 2 at COMDEX/Fall in Las Vegas
demonstrated that this is a software product that fills a great need
in the business community."

Other features of TurboCAD Release 2 include VGA support, the ability to
create drawings of almost unlimited size (regardless of available RAM), a
scientific calculator, and 250 drawing symbols.  Other features are
128 layers, 100 line and arrow types, 256 line thicknesses, pull-down
menus, a powerful macro language, and context-sensitive help.
TurboCAD Release 2 supports DXF, HPGL and ASCII file formats, and will
generate program code for any drawing in BASICA or Turbo Pascal.

The suggested list price is $149.95.  Registered users of earlier versions
may upgrade for $49.95.  For more information, contact IMSI:
1-800-833-4674.

(Wendy Woods/19901127)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00025)

NEW FOR IBM: Multiuser/LAN Accounting Package Released as Shareware
CONCORD, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 22 (NB) -- Online Resources
has announced a shareware release of its new Online Accounting
System, a combined general ledger, accounts payable, and accounts
receivable package, so customers can try the product before purchasing
it.

"We are releasing this program as shareware through user groups, disk
distribution services, and our own BBS, and are planning to release other
affordable multiuser/LAN-compatible business software as shareware
in the near future," said a spokesperson for the company.

The package features multiuser/LAN support, interactive menu-driven
modules, context-sensitive help, extensive reporting capabilities,
multiple and programmable printer support, multiple profit centers,
encrypted data files, and anti-virus program compression/encryption,
according to the company.

Online Resources can be reached at 415/686-3304 (phone) or
415/686-6489 (BBS).

(Computer Currents/19901122)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00026)

NEW FOR MACINTOSH: New HyperCard Utility for Text Import/Export
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 22 (NB) -- Concentrix
Technology has announced the release of HyperPort, a new HyperCard
text-transfer utility. Designed by HyperCard pioneer, Danny Goodman,
the utility eliminates the need of writing HyperTalk scripts to transfer
information between any text file and any HyperCard stack, the company
says.

HyperPort allows users to combine multiple database fields into single
HyperCard fields or to export sections of single HyperCard fields into
multiple database fields.

"The myriad of possibilities made writing a universal script impossible,"
Goodman says. "Instead, I designed HyperPort to analyze the data and let it
essentially write the scripts for making the transfer."

The product lists for $79.95 is available directly from Concentrix
(415/358-8600) or Heizer Software (800/888-7667).

(Computer Currents/19901122)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00027)

NEW FOR NETWORKS: Token Ring Network Monitoring Products
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 NOV 22 (NB) -- Network General
has announced a set of network monitoring products for Token Ring
networks, calling it the most comprehensive set of monitoring
products available for 4- and 16-Mbps Token Ring LANs.

The products include a new feature called Traffic Routing Analysis,
designed to help Token Ring customers understand complex routing
problems on multiple, interconnected rings.

Token Ring monitoring also includes statistics for analyzing network
performance, network malfunction alarms, report writing features,
as well as Token Ring security capability based on the IBM standard
definition. Harry Saal, president of Network General says that "by
adding monitoring functions to our Watchdog Network Monitor, we
are helping our customers optimize network performance and save
money on costly upgrades."

Scheduled to ship in December, the 16/4 Token Ring Sniffer Analyzer
price ranges from $12,500 to $24,000, and the board-and-software
Watchdog version is priced at $2,695. Owners of the 16/4 Token Ring
Sniffer network analyzer will receive the advanced monitoring feature
upgrade at no additional charge. For more information, call
415/688-2700.

(Computer Currents/19901122)
(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00000)

MICOM HAS WAY TO LOWER OFFICE COMMUNICATIONS COSTS 11/28/90
SIMI VALLEY, CALIFORNIA,  U.S.A., 1990 NOV 28 (NB) -- Micom
Communications has a new product that it says completely
eliminates toll charges on phone calls and faxes sent from one
networked office to another. The device is categorized as a
Data/Voice Network Server and Micom's Marathon 5K model is the
first of a series of products aimed at reducing communications
costs for small to medium sized businesses with at least one
remote office.

Micom's President, Subhash Bal says that many potential customers
are unaware that such technology exists and is so affordable.
"It's a concept most businesses can't grasp until you tell them
they can make as many phone and fax calls to a remote office as
often as they want and never have to pay for them," he says.

The Marathon 5K takes the phone and fax traffic that companies
usually send over the public telephone network and puts it onto a
companies leased lines where it then "rides for free."  Any
operation sending personal computer, terminal-to-host, or local
area network data can add voice and fax traffic to their wide
area network and Marathon 5K can be used to bring data
capabilities to what have been traditionally voice-only networks.

The Marathon 5K integrates communications by using a technology
its calls Rapid Relay that enables the Marathon Voice/Data
network server to compress data and voice signals to fit more
traffic on one line and can handle differences between fax and
voice signals effectively.

The bottom line customer benefit according to Micom is saving
money. The company claims that just one hour of daily phone and
fax traffic between offices can allow the Marathon 5K to pay for
itself in under a year by eliminating toll charges.

(Janet Endrijonas/19901128/Press Contact: Richard S. Borden,
Micom Communications, 805-583-8600)