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- (NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00001)
-
- Microsoft's Flight Simulator Scenery Design Contest 07/02/92
- REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Microsoft, in
- conjunction with Compaq Computer, has announced the first annual
- scenery design contest on the Flight Simulator forum on Compuserve.
-
- Microsoft Aircraft & Scenery Design users will have the opportunity
- to win a Compaq laptop computer by creating a new scenery design in
- the forum. The winner's entry will also be placed on a poster, and
- will have the option of having the winning design included in the
- next version of Aircraft & Scenery Designer. Complex scenery
- including mountains, buildings, and lakes can be created with the
- program.
-
- Flight Simulator users can fly their choice of different type
- aircraft, from antique to modern, over a variety of scenery, landing
- and taking off from several airports worldwide. Microsoft says it
- has sold more than one million copies of the program.
-
- Aircraft & Scenery Designer is an add-on software program that
- allows the user to fly new aircraft, including the Boeing 747-400
- and to design custom scenery such as their home town or favorite
- airport.
-
- Microsoft's Bev Auld told Newsbytes that the contest will run
- through the months of July and August, with winners to be
- announced on September 30. The prizes will be awarded October 9.
-
- Microsoft Flight Simulator Product Manager Greg Levin told
- Newsbytes that contestants can enter the contest by creating
- their scenery file and uploading it to the Microsoft Flight
- Simulator forum on Compuserve.
-
- Auld said that although Microsoft publishes DOS and Macintosh
- versions of Flight Simulator, the contest is only for DOS users.
- Microsoft doesn't publish a Windows version, said Auld, because
- the complexity of the graphics in conjunction with Windows
- would cause the program to be very slow.
-
- Each of the top two winners in the contest will receive one of
- Compaq's recently announced Contura 3/25 notebook PCs. Flight
- Simulator, which includes the design module, has a suggested
- retail price of $39.95.
-
- (Jim Mallory/19920701/Press contact: Bev Auld, Microsoft,
- 206-882-8080; Reader contact: 800-426-9400)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00002)
-
- MCI Moves Against AT&T Megacomm Business Service 07/02/92
- WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- MCI has improved
- its MCI Vision calling plan for business, to make it more
- competitive against AT&T's Megacomm offering.
-
- The new plan adds incoming toll-free calling, called MCI Vision
- 800, as well as a billing and analysis package called MCI
- Perspective, which is delivered electronically, and automatic
- discounts on domestic and international destinations which get
- the most calls. These last two offerings are in line with
- Sprint's "Most" plan, which also offers automatic discounts to
- simplify billing. The Vision plan delivers a single invoice, and
- all calls are consolidated for greater discounts. Location
- Invoicing, a separate bill for each office, is also available.
-
- For smaller businesses, MCI is heavily pushing its "Friends of
- the Firm" plan, a version of "Friends and Family" offering 20
- percent discounts to all members of a "calling circle" who agree
- to make MCI their primary long distance carrier. The business
- portion of that plan has been matched, quietly, by AT&T, which
- continues to advertise against the consumer version as an
- invasion of privacy.
-
- Finally, MCI tried to steal a march on AT&T in the patriotism
- department by announcing that on Saturday, July 4, it will offer
- free long distance calls around the world from special calling
- centers in 21 cities, mainly in California, the Washington DC
- area, the Southeast, and Texas. The free phone calls may be three
- to five minutes in length, to people in the United States or to
- more than 250 countries and places worldwide. Callers are
- under no obligation to MCI because of making the call.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19920701/Press Contact: MCI, Kate Fralin,
- 703-415-6941)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00003)
-
- Comp Labs Ships 64 KB/S Videoconferencing Product 07/02/92
- SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Compression
- Labs is aiming at a portion of the videoconferencing market now
- dominated by rival PictureTel with its latest version of the
- Rembrandt II/VP video codec, which complies with the CCITT
- H.261 videconferencing standard, commonly called px64.
-
- The new codec can use CLI's own proprietary compression
- algorithms, but also connects to codecs from other manufacturers
- which meet the px64 standard. "The videoconferencing market is
- entering the era of standards," acknowledged Senior Vice
- President Wayne Lasson in a press statement. He said the company
- will continue to play a role in setting those standards on CCITT
- committees.
-
- CLI technology is part of the new AT&T VideoPhone 2500, which
- delivers pictures on standard phone lines. The low-speed digital
- videoconferencing market has in the past been dominated by
- PictureTel, of Peabody, Massachusetts, while CLI itself made its
- name in applications with 384,000 bits/second service or higher,
- where it could deliver full-color, full motion images. The
- company is now trying to leverage that technology in the new
- Compressed Digital Video arena, as cable networks and satellite
- networks look for ways to increase the channel-carrying
- capacity of satellites using digital compression techniques.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19920701/Press Contact: Compression
- Labs, Tracy Beaufort, 408/922-4610)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00004)
-
- Turtle Beach Offers Multimedia Toolbook In Upgrade Kit 07/02/92
- YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Turtle Beach
- software says it is offering Asymetrix Multimedia Toolbook
- bundled with selected Turtle Beach Multimedia Upgrade Kits.
-
- The selected multimedia upgrade kits include Turtle Beach's highly
- rated Multisound card, a Toshiba compact disc read-only memory
- (CD-ROM) drive (one of the fastest CD-ROM drives available), Wave
- for Windows software, a Wave file editing tool from Turtle Beach,
- and the Asymetrix Multimedia Toolbook.
-
- The Multimedia Toolbook software is an object-oriented
- development environment for Microsoft Windows with a royalty
- free runtime package included. Asymetrix representatives told
- Newsbytes the product allows for the development of multimedia
- Windows applications that can be distributed by the developer.
- The company claims IBM and NEC already bundle Multimedia
- Toolbook with their systems.
-
- Turtle Beach boasts its sound card is a premium card for
- multimedia in Windows and claims its has solved problems other
- cards have when accessing large sound files under Windows with
- a technology the company calls "Hurricane." The Hurricane
- technology does not use the direct memory access (DMA) that
- other industry cards do and that Turtle Beach describes as
- problematic.
-
- The company claims DMA is older technology and was never
- designed to be used for multi-tasking environments. Problems
- with using the DMA for sound show up when moving large
- quantities of data from the hard drive to an external device,
- the company maintains. The effects are jerky, slow video and
- clicking in the sound when large sound files are played with
- large video files. Also, DMA only runs at four megahertz, no
- matter what the clock speed of the CPU (central processing
- unit), Turtle Beach asserts.
-
- Jeff Klinedinst of Turtle Beach described it to Newsbytes as the
- sound card "choking" the video because of the number of calls the
- average sound board has to make (called "interrupts") through
- DMA to the CPU. As the sound card makes more and more calls,
- more and more of the CPU's processing power to turns to the
- sound card's demands, which means less CPU processing time
- for video or other applications. In games and short multimedia
- applications, this problem doesn't show up, Klinedinst said.
-
- Hurricane is a combination of hardware and software that does not
- use the direct memory access (DMA) channels like other sound cards,
- but instead includes a Motorola 56001 digital sound processor (DSP)
- chip. The Motorola chip is the difference that allows the card to
- add horsepower to the computer's CPU in playing and recording
- sound, Turtle Beach maintains. The effect is large sound files play
- or record through the Multisound card using less than 10 percent
- of the computer's processing power under Windows, according to
- Turtle Beach.
-
- However, Turtle Beach's Multisound card is one of the most
- expensive cards on the market with a retail price of $995, and
- a street price in the $799 range. The Turtle Beach Multimedia
- Upgrade Kits are available directly from the company
-
- (Linda Rohrbough/19920701/Press Contact: Sandy Anderson,
- Asymetrix, 206-637-1560; Jeff Klinedisnst, Turtle Beach,
- tel 717-843-6916, fax 717-854-8319)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00005)
-
- UK's Vodafone Plans Bid For Australian Phone Network 07/02/92
- LONDON, ENGLAND, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Vodafone, one of the two
- UK cellular phone network operators, has announced plans to bid
- for a digital mobile license in Australia. If the company is
- successful in its bid, then it will invest around AUS$550 million
- in building its Australian network.
-
- Unlike the current British mobile phone network, the planned
- Australian network will adhere to the Groupe Speciale Mobile
- (GSM) pan-European digital standard.
-
- Pilot GSM networks are already in place in parts of Europe,
- including London, and use a "smart card" which holds the
- subscriber ID and phone number -- the cards can be moved
- between phones, so allowing, for example, a GSM subscriber
- in one country to use GSM phones in another country, with the
- network accepting calls to the subscriber's "universal number"
- and routing them accordingly.
-
- According to Vodafone, the company's Chief Executive Gerry Whent
- is in Australia at the moment, organizing details of the bid. He
- is reported to have told the Australian press that Vodafone plans
- to join with a number of Australian companies in a consortium,
- to be known as Arena, if the license bid is successful.
-
- Vodafone says that preliminary bids for an Australian license
- close at the end of this week, after which the Australian
- government will report formally on who may go on to the
- second and final stages of the tendering procedures.
-
- If successful, Vodafone plans to take a highly aggressive stance
- against its known primary competitors in the Australian mobile
- phone stakes - AOTC and Optus. AOTC is the state-owned
- operation, while Optus is a consortium of several companies,
- including Bellsouth and Cable and Wireless.
-
- (Steve Gold/19920701)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(00006)
-
- Claris To Sell Hypercard Developer Kit In Europe 07/02/92
- UXBRIDGE, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Claris has
- announced it is taking over responsibility for Hypercard with
- effect immediate. The change completes the switch of Hypercard
- from Apple to Claris, which began in the US in late 1990.
-
- According to Claris, the change-over of responsibility in Europe
- means that Claris will now sell and support the Hypercard 2.1
- developer kit on this side of the Atlantic. To date, only version
- 2.0 of the developer kit has been available through Apple UK.
-
- Version 2.1 of the developer kit includes support for Quicktime,
- as well as Apple Events. Quicktime under Hypercard allows
- developers to include Quicktime movies in with their "stacks,"
- while Apple Events support under Hypercard enables Hypercard
- to communicate with other Events-aware applications on another
- Mac or even over a network, in a manner similar to the dynamic
- data exchange (DDE) facility for Microsoft Windows.
-
- Other features of version 2.1 include a new and enhanced script
- language, as well as an upgrade path for future package
- revisions.
-
- Interestingly, Claris UK is not supporting Hypercard directly,
- Instead, the package is being support through Applelink
- (CLARIS.TECH), Compuserve (76004,1614), America Online
- (Claris) and Internet (76004,1614@compuserve.com). Fax
- support is available on (US) 408-987-7447.
-
- Hypercard 2.1 developer kits will cost UKP 99. Existing users of
- version 2.0, and earlier, can upgrade for UKP 49, though users
- who received their kit free with a Mac will have to pay the full
- price (UKP 99) to upgrade. Apple will continue to ship the
- sampler edition of Hypercard with the Mac at least until the end
- of the year.
-
- (Steve Gold/19920701/Press & Public Contact: Claris UK - Tel:
- 081-756-0101; Fax: 081-573-4477)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00007)
-
- Transpac Teams With Ram Mobile Data In UK 07/02/92
- LONDON, ENGLAND, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Transpac Network Services,
- the UK data networking subsidiary of France Telecom, is to team
- up with Ram Mobile Data, to offer mobile data network access to
- the Transpac packet data network (PDN).
-
- The introduction of the mobile packet data network interface is
- significant, since, for the first time, radio modem users will
- have access to the world's PDNs, which includes Tymnet and
- Sprintnet in the US. To date, private mobile data network
- operators have not offered PDN access, owing to inter-network
- agreement problems.
-
- The RAM mobile data network is based on the Mobitex technology
- which is currently also in use in Canada and the US, as well as
- parts of Europe, including the UK.
-
- According to Transpac, the blueprint for the UK network is
- based on Transpac's existing French network, which covers all
- of France at local call rates, Initially, outbound calls from the
- RAM network will be routed through a London concentrator and
- on to the French network.
-
- (Steve Gold/19920701/Press & Public Contact: Transpac
- Network Services - TelL 071-379-4747)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00008)
-
- Australia: School's Computer-Based Music Lab Opens 07/02/92
- MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- A Melbourne school
- has established a music computer lab featuring 25 Macintosh
- computers on a network. The lab, at Wesley College, is believed
- to be the first of its type in Australia, and allows students
- from years 2 to 10 to compose and study music with state-of-
- the-art equipment.
-
- Each of the 25 Mac workstations is connected to a music
- synthesizer and an Ensoniq SQ1 sequencer. For individual work,
- students listen on their own set of headphones, and all the
- computers are linked to speakers for performance work. Students
- use the Performer composition package, and for notation, Mosais
- notation software is used. An example of the potential of the
- system is presented in the form of an exercise whereby they
- enter the melody for The Drunken Sailor using Mosais, then add
- an accompaniment and percussion instrument using the
- Performer. "It promises to revolutionize the way students
- approach and perceive many aspects of music education," said
- Wesley music teacher, Andrew Blackburn.
-
- The system is designed to allow students to learn about
- fundamental music aspects such as notation, beat, timbre and
- performance, as well as encourage work in sound synthesis,
- wave formation, digital recording technology and post-
- production techniques. The College is also looking at expanding
- its software library for the lab to include interactive teaching
- programs to develop specific skills.
-
- (Sean McNamara/19920630)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00009)
-
- Australia: Telecom Accused Of "Killing" Videotex Service 07/02/92
- SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Telecom, Australia's only
- national carrier until recently, has been accused of killing its
- videotex service, currently known as Discovery. Paul Budde, the
- developer of the first marketing plan for what was then Viatel,
- has claimed it was Telecom's greed which saw the popularity of
- the service decline, and that plans are now afoot to close the
- service.
-
- Budde accuses Telecom of using its carrier monopoly to force
- information providers out of the market or to sell to Telecom.
- Budde says many service providers asked Telecom to help
- establish a strong videotex industry, but to no avail. In 1990,
- after Viatel began its slide, Telecom renamed it Discovery, and
- focused its marketing on business users. Despite the change,
- the decline continued, while videotex services around the world
- reported massive growth unheard of in Australia. With a large
- number of disgruntled former and current users, the system has
- declined to the point, where "last month Telecom decided to
- pull the plug," Budde said.
-
- The failure of Discovery is in sharp contrast to the success
- seen in other countries, particularly European ones. Between
- 1988 and 1992, Australian users of the system dropped by 50
- percent, while users increased by 680 percent in Finland, 650
- percent in Switzerland, 380 percent in Spain, 270 percent in
- Japan and 260 percent in Germany in the same period. Budde
- expects parts of Discovery to be absorbed by other departments
- within AOTC (Australian and Overseas Telecommunications
- Corporation, formed by the merger of Telecom and OTC), but
- that a videotex service as such will not be offered.
-
- (Sean McNamara/19920630)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00010)
-
- Australia: Ex-Telecom Chief Appointed To Logica Board 07/02/92
- SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Mel Ward, former head of
- Telecom, has been appointed to the board of the local subsidiary of
- software development company Logica. Ward was Telecom's chief
- from 1986 until the beginning of this year, when Telecom merged
- with OTC.
-
- Ward has been involved in the telecommunications industry for
- over 25 years. The appointment comes only a week after Ward's
- appointment to the recently floated JNA Telecommunications.
-
- The Logica position is a non-executive one, with the company's
- chief executive and managing director, Carmel Gray, taking care
- of the company's day-to-day operations. Gray sees strong
- potential in exploiting Ward's many international contacts to
- help the company's expansion plans.
-
- "Mel will be able to contribute most effectively to our plans for
- expansion from his knowledge of the global business community,
- which is important for our international technology transfer
- policy," Gray said. The appointment was coordinated by the
- parent company Logica Plc and its director of international
- operations, Dr Colin Rowland.
-
- Logica's first client in Australia was Telecom, and it currently
- has 150 staff and an annual turnover of AUS$25.2 millon. Ward
- has also taken up directorial positions on the boards of the
- Australian Ballet Foundation and the Victorian Education
- Foundation. American, Frank Blount, took over Ward's position
- at Telecom when AOTC was established.
-
- (Sean McNamara/19920630)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00011)
-
- Australian Developed GPS Receiver To Be Exported 07/02/92
- CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- The Australian
- developers of a GPS (global positioning system) receiver are
- set to sell the device internationally. Auspace, a Canberra-
- based company, have launched the Multinav GPS receiver, which
- was designed for individual and fleet/vehicular use.
-
- The Multinav receiver is five channel, and can be used as a hand
- held unit or as a module integrated within other systems by
- systems integrators. It utilizes the 21-satellite network of the
- US Department of Defense to provide 24-hour two-dimensional
- position fixes. The system is expected to offer continuous three-
- dimensional fixes by 1993. Auspace spent AUS$4 million
- developing the Multinav, and is selling the technology back to
- its parent company for use in Europe.
-
- Auspace claims to have a better GPS receiver than the 50 or so
- already on the market. "We went back to basics to come up with a
- product that definitely has a technical edge. It is more robust and
- does not lose the satellite signal as easily," said Ted Stapinski,
- Auspace's managing director. Stapinski sees a large market for
- such devices in fleet management. This even includes rail stock,
- for which New South Wales Sate Rail is investigating a tender
- for installing receivers and communications equipment in all
- stock cars to track stock car movements.
-
- (Sean McNamara/19920630/Press Contact: Ted Stapinski,
- phone in Australia, +61-6-242 2611)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(MOW)(00012)
-
- Humanitarian Informatics Conference Set For Moscow 07/02/92
- MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- A conference to discuss
- the use of computers in the social sciences and education is
- scheduled to happen in Moscow in the first week of the
- November, 1992.
-
- The International conference and exhibition, entitled: "The
- Humanitarian Informatics-92." will discuss the use of
- computers in non-technical sciences and educations, info
- systems, databases, expert systems, and hypermedia tools
- which can be used to assist non-computer literate
- scientists and educators.
-
- The event will take place at the International Center of
- Scientific and Technical Information in Moscow (ICSTI) on
- November 1-6, 1992.
-
- More information can be obtained from Yuri Gornostayev of
- ICSTI (phone +7 095 198-1341), or A.G.Romanenko, of the
- Russian State Humanitarian University (phone +7 095
- 250-6648).
-
- (Kirill Tchashchin/19920627/Press Contact:Yuri Gornostayev,
- ICSTI, phone +7 095 198-1341; e-mail enir@ccic.icsti.msk.su;
- or A.G.Romanenko, Russian State Humanitarian University,
- phone +7 095 250-6648)
- (NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00013)
-
- ****TI, Samsung Resolve Licensing Dispute 07/02/92
- DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Texas Instruments (TI)
- has announced that it has settled its patent infringement suit
- against Samsung Electronics Company Ltd., of Korea.
-
- TI had filed suit against Samsung in 1990, claiming infringement
- on TI's microcomputer systems patents. Under terms of the five
- year agreement, Samsung has agreed to pay royalties to
- TI for use of its patents. The companies said details of the
- agreement are confidential.
-
- TI's patents on microcomputer systems cover ways in which a
- microprocessor or a microcomputer interacts with the input/
- output functions of personal computers. One patent held by TI
- deals with the automatic diagnostic routine a computer puts
- itself through each time it is turned on, or "booted". That
- self-test is also known as a POST or "power on self-test."
-
- The microprocessor is the heart of a PC, frequently referred to
- as a "chip." Current chips include 386 and 486 models, with 286
- and 8088 chips found in older computers. The input/output, or
- I/O, refers to keyboard and pointing device input to the
- computer, and output to the monitor screen or printer.
-
- Newsbytes recently reported that Texas Instruments has filed
- suit against Sanyo Corporation for patent infringement
- after Sanyo threatened to file suit against TI. Sanyo reportedly
- wants TI to reduce the amount of royalties to be paid by Sanyo.
- In that case, TI told Newsbytes that TI has asked for a
- declaratory judgment that the conduct of TI's negotiations
- with Sanyo does not constitute patent misuse or antitrust
- violations.
-
- (Jim Mallory/19920630/Press contact: Terri West, Texas
- Instruments, 214-995-3481)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00014)
-
- Motorola Establishes Employee Child Care Center 07/02/92
- BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Saying it is
- responding to employee surveys about issues about work and
- family, Motorola Paging Products Group will soon open a child
- care/early learning facility near its Boynton Beach, Florida
- facility.
-
- "For many of us, the most important aspect of our lives is our
- children, and as working parents we all want, and need, assurance
- that our kids are taken care of while we're at work," said
- Motorola Senior VP Hector Ruiz.
-
- Ruiz, general manager of the company's paging products group,
- said the company saw that one of the best things it could do to
- address those concerns was to establish an early learning center.
-
- Motorola said it has developed an alliance with Kidstop Early
- Learning Centers of Lake Worth, Florida to develop a curriculum
- for the center, which will be located in Quantum Park, less than
- a mile from the plant. The facility is expected to open next
- January. Area residents will also be able to use the facility.
-
- Motorola's Ken Countess told Newsbytes that the Kidstop center
- will have a capacity of 128 children. Countess said Motorola has
- guaranteed to fill 90 of those slots. Motorola employs about
- 2,200 employees at Boynton Beach, with "a relatively young
- employee population," according to Countess.
-
- The company said that it will take an active role in the site's
- construction, providing guidance to Kidstop on facilities such as
- a group activities center, parent/teacher conference rooms, and
- instructional equipment.
-
- Gretchen Magee, manager of Motorola's workforce diversity
- programs, said the center will be a win-win situation for everyone.
- "The kids, the parents, Kidstop, and Motorola, all benefit. We can't
- wait until it's open," said Magee.
-
- Magee also oversees the paging products division's affirmative
- action activities and programs such as the division's flex time
- work scheduling, the loaning of pagers for family emergencies,
- and care for school age children during holidays.
-
- Boynton Beach is Motorola's headquarters for the design,
- manufacturing, sales, and marketing of paging products, and the
- design and administration of the company's next generation
- cordless phone program.
-
- (Jim Mallory/19920702/Press contact: Ken Countess, Motorola,
- 305-475-5603)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00015)
-
- Florida County's New Computer System Tracks Criminals 07/02/92
- MIAMI, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- The courts in Florida's
- Dade County will close down today to allow the county to install
- a sophisticated computer system to keep track of everyone
- charged with a crime in the county.
-
- During the shutdown, bond hearings, jail bookings and arraignments
- will continue in temporary locations, but there will be no trials
- until next Tuesday when the new system is expected to be up and
- running.
-
- According to Susan Witkin, the courts' research and systems division
- director, the new criminal justice information system will be one of
- the most advanced in the country. It replaces a system nearly 20
- years old, and will include all felony cases in Circuit Court,
- misdemeanor crimes in County Court, and dependence and
- delinquency cases in Juvenile Court, Witkin said.
-
- Witkin said three separate databases will carry information on
- more than 1.2 million people and more than 1.4 million open and
- closed cases. She said designing and building the system, which
- uses more than 1,000 separate programs, was the largest program
- ever undertaken by the county. The entire system was developed
- in-house by county court and computer personnel.
-
- Witkin said more than 350 separate information screens replace
- the 75 used by the old system. "From the moment of booking,
- we'll always know where a defendant is. We'll even be able to
- track defendants who use aliases," said Witkin.
-
- The system runs on an Amdalhl 5890-600E which the county
- purchased. That mainframe could also be used for disaster
- recovery should another county mainframe crash, said Witkin. The
- county budgeted about $6.6 million, with another $10 million
- coming from various court fees. The system will be shared by the
- courts and the police department. Fees will also fund the ongoing
- cost of operating the system, Witkin said.
-
- The more than 10,000 lawyers, court officers, and law enforcement
- users access the system through a network of personal computers
- and terminals. Witkin said the planning and execution of the
- monumental project, "is because of the cooperation of all the
- departments involved. I'm glad it's finally here," she told
- Newsbytes.
-
- Witkin told Newsbytes she has worked on this system since it's
- inception in 1985. This weekend, the 20 years worth of previous
- data on the old system will be converted to the new system format.
- Witkin said conversion will start Thursday evening and is expected
- to be complete by Saturday, July 4th.
-
- (Jim Mallory/19920702/Press contact: Susan Witkin, Dade
- County, 305-547-4816)
-
-
- (NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00016)
-
- New For Mac: Text/Graphics Retrieval Software From TMS 07/02/92
- STILLWATER, OKLAHOMA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- TMS says it will
- release InnerView For Mac, a Macintosh version of the company's
- Windows program for full text and image retrieval, in August.
-
- TMS says Innerview includes full text search capability and
- hypertext access, along with the ability to display images. TMS
- spokesperson Marc McClure told Newsbytes that Innerview is
- designed for the retrieval of technical documents by organizations
- such as banks that store large numbers of text and graphics images.
-
- Another typical application, said McClure, would be electronically
- stored catalogs of parts or other items. He told Newsbytes that a
- database prepared for use with Innerview can be used in both
- Macintosh and Windows environments.
-
- While the paperless office envisioned when personal computer first
- became popular in offices hasn't arrived - and may never arrive -
- many large companies are storing their documents electronically by
- scanning the images into a computer, instead of storing the paper
- copy in a filing cabinet. That's where programs such as Innerview
- come in.
-
- Innerview offers search functions by word, phrase, Boolean
- expressions such as "and," "or," and "not." Wildcard searches are
- also possible, allowing the user to instruct Innerview to retrieve
- all the images or documents that contained the string "Smi." The
- hypertext feature allows the user to click on a reference in the
- text, jumping directly to the referenced information. For example,
- a description of a part might include the word "transducer."
- Clicking on that word would jump directly to the description or a
- picture of the transducer.
-
- TMS offers Innerview on a license basis. McClure told Newsbytes
- that the pricing structure varies with the number of workstations.
- A single site license is $5,000 per year, or pricing can be
- established dependent on the number of workstations to use
- Innerview.
-
- (Jim Mallory/19920702/Press contact: Marc McClure, TMS,
- 405-377-0880, fax 405-372-9288)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00017)
-
- ****IBM Announces Multimedia PM For OS/2 07/02/92
- ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- IBM has announced
- its set of extensions to OS/2 2.0 to incorporate sound graphics,
- video, and images called Multimedia Presentation Manager/2
- (MMPM/2) is now available.
-
- The company says the MMPM/2 has a standardized interface and
- provides device independence which insulates the user from the
- underlying configuration and file formats so programs are more
- portable. IBM is asserting the advent of MMPM/2 allows
- applications and tools to be written independent of the variety
- of multimedia devices and formats available.
-
- Also, IBM says the resource manager built into MMPM/2 has a device
- sharing feature which allows full use of the multimedia hardware
- available. IBM also maintains MMPM/2 can incorporate new data
- types and formats as they evolve due to it's extendable
- architecture.
-
- An MMPM Toolkit/2 is available from IBM for the integration of
- multimedia into new and existing OS/2 applications, the company
- said. The toolkit includes C language bindings, utilities, and
- sample programs.
-
- MMPM/2 requires OS/2 2.0 (available to Windows for $49 from
- IBM) and retails for $125, the company said. The MMPM Toolkit/2,
- which includes MMPM/2, comes on compact disc read-only
- memory (CD-ROM) for a retail price of $199.
-
- IBM is also saying its "Columbus Encounter, Discovery and Beyond"
- and "Illuminated Books and Manuscripts" interactive multimedia
- titles are now available under OS/2 2.0. The Columbus title was
- introduced at the Fall COMDEX show in Las Vegas and shipped in
- January of this year, IBM said.
-
- Geared toward the educational market, both titles are interactive
- multimedia and each represents 180 hours of instruction or the
- equivalent of a full academic year of study, IBM said. The programs
- have entertainment as well as education appeal and were developed
- in conjunction with well-known multimedia, television, film, and
- acting professionals, IBM added.
-
- The company offers each program at an educational discount of
- $2,000 each, which is $857 less than the retail price. IBM also
- offers a multimedia configuration that can be purchased as a
- package for the titles to be played upon which includes IBM
- Personal System/2 Ultimedia M 57 SLC computer, the company
- said.
-
- (Linda Rohrbough/19920701/Press Contact: Jim Keller, IBM, tel
- 914-642-5472, fax ; Public Contact, 800-426-9402 ext 160)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00018)
-
- Borland Says 2.5 Million Quattro Pros Shipped 07/02/92
- SCOTTS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Borland
- has announced it has shipped more than 2.5 million copies of
- Quattro Pro, the company's spreadsheet application software.
- This is the software application the company is currently
- defending itself in a "look-and-feel" suit filed by Lotus,
- developers of the spreadsheet product Lotus 1-2-3.
-
- Borland quotes the Software Publishers Association in saying
- Quattro Pro had 30 percent of the North American spreadsheet
- market in 1991 and 25 percent of the world spreadsheet market
- in the same year. The company's 1992 estimates are its North
- American market share is the same, but its world share is up
- to 26 percent.
-
- Borland says Quattro Pro was introduced originally in 1989. Lotus
- filed suit against Borland over the product in 1990, a suit industry
- observers expect to be settled this year.
-
- Lotus has already had two "wins" in similar cases. It won a similar
- suit against Paperback Software International over its VP Planner
- spreadsheet product and a suit Lotus filed against the Santa Cruz
- Operation over spreadsheet product SCO Professional was settled
- out of court. SCO removed its spreadsheet product from the market
- in August of 1991 and recommended Lotus 1-2-3 to its customers.
-
- While VP Planner was reportedly a Lotus 1-2-3 "clone," Borland
- President Philippe Kahn said the Lotus suit is based on one small
- menu in the Quattro Pro product that his company could easily
- remove. "Its the principle of the thing now," Kahn told a Pasadena
- audience last year.
-
- Court dates have been tentatively set for November 2 of this year
- and a pre-trial conference has been announced for September 23.
-
- (Linda Rohrbough/19920701/Press Contact: Catherine Miller,
- Borland, tel 408-439-4691, fax 408-439-9273)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00019)
-
- Hong Kong: Microsoft Extends Customer Training 07/02/92
- CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Microsoft has announced
- the appointment of four new authorized training centers (ATCs) in
- Hong Kong, to cope with anticipated growth in demand for training
- places in the territory.
-
- Computerland, Computer Power Training Institute and Swire
- Systems join Gilman Business Systems and System Pro as ATCs for
- the full range of Microsoft desktop technology and applications. In
- addition, Winbliss Technology has been named as an ATC focusing
- specifically on Microsoft's networking and workgroup products.
-
- "The appointment of these four organizations greatly extends the
- capacity available in Hong Kong for delivering Microsoft accredited
- courses," said Laurie Kan, Country Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong
- Ltd.
-
- "Expansion of training is one of a number of steps that we are
- taking to provide Microsoft customers in Hong Kong with the
- highest quality service and support in the industry," he said. "We
- will shortly be making further announcements as we roll out our
- program."
-
- The Microsoft Hong Kong office has been re-evaluating training
- requirements in the territory since shortly after its establishment
- late last year, based on the performance of the existing ATCs.
-
- "Since 1990, both Gilman and System Pro have been offering
- courses addressing our full range of DOS-based and Windows-
- based products," said Kan. "Both report that their courses are
- popular, well received and profitable."
-
- According to Kan, the amount of Microsoft Authorized Training
- taking place in Hong Kong has grown rapidly and since September
- 1991 has trebled.
-
- "We anticipate strong future growth in demand for training,
- particularly on the Windows 3.1 platform," he said. "We are also
- planning new products and new classes of product in the near
- future that will further fuel demand for training places."
-
- Kan noted that the establishment of a training center focused on
- networking is particularly important in the context of supporting
- Microsoft's LAN Manager product.
-
- "While the desktop training courses empower individuals to be
- more productive by getting the most out of their Microsoft
- products, the performance of a network administrator can have
- an impact on 20 or 30 people in an office who are connected to
- a LAN," said Kan.
-
- The LAN Manager administrator course offered by Winbliss
- Technology is targeted at both computer professionals and non-
- professionals such as office managers. The course is of two days
- duration and is split into modules covering configuration,
- resource utilization, security, asset management and fault
- analysis.
-
- While ATCs have access to Microsoft courseware which can be
- directly used for instruction, most choose to localize this
- material to better fit the requirements of their students. To
- ensure quality and conformance to standards, tailored course
- material has to be certified by Microsoft.
-
- (Brett Cameron/920626/Press contact: Ramny Fite, Microsoft
- HK), tel: +852-848 9240;HK time is GMT + 8)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00020)
-
- HDS Announces ESCON Support, Schedules For Peripherals 07/02/92
- CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Hitachi Data Systems (HDS)
- has announced details of its plans for peripheral interface adapters
- for industry standard optical channels which were disclosed
- earlier this year.
-
- The 7980-3 Storage Controller and 7490 Tape Control Unit
- Extended Serial Adapters (ExSA) will allow the attachment of
- current disk and tape products to both the HDS mainframes and
- industry-standard optical channels, using the ESCON (Enterprise
- Systems Connection) protocol.
-
- The basic Extended Serial Adapters allow disk storage and tape
- subsystems to be operated at distances of up to nine kilometers
- from the host processor, when used in conjunction with
- compatible directors. A 7980-3 with four basic ExSAs will
- support a total throughput of approximately 100 megabytes-per-
- second.
-
- Other advantages include greater configuration flexibility, non-
- disruptive addition or removal of peripheral subsystems and
- dynamic configuration management via compatible software
- programs.
-
- "Our customers now have a third HDS attachment alternative,"
- said Geoff Kennedy, manager in Hong Kong at Hitachi Data Systems.
- "They will be able to choose either our standard parallel interface,
- our proprietary optical interface, or our new ESCON-compatible
- interface. These options will allow them to protect their current
- investments, while planning for future data center expansion
- needs."
-
- All current HDS peripheral products are supported on industry-
- standard converters.
-
- The 7980-3 and 7490E adapters will be available by the end of the
- second quarter of 1993. The 7490 adapters will be available by the
- end of the third quarter of 1993. HDS will continue to offer the
- parallel interface as an option after the new adapters begin
- shipping.
-
- HDS believes that the 7980-3 Storage Controller already provides
- the equivalent of enhanced fast dual copy capabilities for the
- parallel environment. This function will also be supported on
- serial channels in the future, claims the company.
-
- The company also announced its intention to provide additional
- enhancements for the 7980-3 Storage Controller, including
- concurrent copy, sequential data striping, enhanced dynamic
- cache management, ESCON non-synchronous operations
- enhancement, PSD search assist and ESCON distance extension.
-
- Additionally, the company announced its intention to provide
- support for its 7490 and 7490E cartridge tape subsystems at
- greater ESCON distances. Specific pricing and schedules will
- be released at a later date.
-
- (Brett Cameron/19920630/Press Contact: Geoff Kennedy,
- Hitachi Data Systems, tel: +852-521 6275;HK time is GMT + 8)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00021)
-
- Canada Needs IT Program, Industry Veteran Says 07/02/92
- TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Canada needs to
- embark on a multi-year plan to develop its information technology
- industry, a veteran industry executive and consultant contends. In
- speeches across the country, William Hutchison has been
- promoting an eight-year plan he calls IT 2000, and which he
- compares to American President John F. Kennedy's 1960s crusade
- to put an American on the moon.
-
- Now managing partner for the information technology consulting
- practice of the consulting firm Ernst & Young in Toronto,
- Hutchison has been active in the Canadian computer industry for
- many years as an executive and consultant. He is also a former
- vice-chairman of the National Advisory Board for Science and
- Technology, and chairman of the executive committee of the
- Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry,
- and Education (CANARIE).
-
- Canada's over-all investment in research and development has
- declined to about 1.2 percent of gross domestic product in the past
- five years, Hutchison said. Manufacturing jobs are disappearing,
- Canada's share of international high-technology trade is dropping,
- and in 1989 the country had a trade deficit in telecommunications
- for the first time ever.
-
- To deal with the problems, Hutchison is proposing a five-point
- plan with an eight-year timetable. The five elements are:
- communications infrastructure; research and development;
- information technology industry development; application and
- implementation; and training and education.
-
- Canada's present communications infrastructure is woefully
- inadequate, according to Hutchison, who points to the fact that
- CA*net, the national research communications network, has a
- capacity of only 56,000 bits-per-second (bps), while the United
- States, Japan, and various European countries have networks with
- capacities from 44 million to nearly 500 million bps.
-
- "Communications facilities are to the 1990s what roads and
- ewers were to the post-war years," Hutchison said in a speech
- prepared for presentation to various business and industry
- groups. CANARIE, which Hutchison chairs, was set up to build
- a major research communications network.
-
- Hutchison is also calling on the Canadian government to improve
- tax incentives for industrial research and development. Further,
- he wants capital gains taxes eliminated for the next eight years
- for investors who start up new information technology businesses
- and hold their investments for at least five years. And he called on
- government to provide more support for international marketing.
-
- All Canadian businesses should be encouraged to make more use of
- high technology through faster tax writeoff for investments in new
- technology, Hutchison argues. Finally, companies need to provide
- workers with more training, he contends, and government needs to
- help by providing training resources.
-
- The IT 2000 program would cost about C$5 billion per year,
- Hutchison says, suggesting that the money might come from the
- "peace dividend" resulting from reduced military commitments in
- Europe thanks to the end of the Cold War.
-
- In an interview with Newsbytes, Hutchison admitted that there
- have been many calls for action to build up the Canadian high-
- technology industry in the past, and little has been done. "I've
- thought there might be a chance so many times that sometimes
- I wonder if I'm smoking opium," he said. However, he added,
- problems of which some in the industry have warned for 20 years
- are becoming more obviously real, and awareness of the
- importance of high technology seems to be growing.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19920702/Press Contact: David Eisenstadt or
- Loretta Lam, The Communications Group for Ernst & Young,
- 416-696-9900, fax 416-696-9897)
-
-
- (NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00022)
-
- Spinnaker Updates Personal Access, Signs Alliances 07/02/92
- CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Spinnaker
- Software has announced a new release of Personal Access, its
- database query tool. The company also unveiled strategic alliances
- with database software vendors Sybase, Ingres, and Informix
- Software, Inc.
-
- Cooperative programs between Spinnaker and the three companies
- call for various joint marketing and support activities including a
- product bundling and seeding program, direct marketing, trade
- advertising, customer seminars, industry trade shows, and user
- group meetings and conferences.
-
- Jane Eisenberg, director of marketing at Spinnaker, said her
- company is very interested in bundling Personal Access with the
- Sybase, Ingres, and Informix products, and while details of the
- cooperative programs have yet to be worked out, that is likely to
- be part of the strategy.
-
- "We're starting to put the program together now," Eisenberg told
- Newsbytes, and a number of joint marketing programs should be
- in place by the time Personal Access Version 2 becomes
- available early this fall.
-
- Personal Access supports multiple databases including Oracle,
- Sybase SQL Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Borland's Paradox and
- dBase, and Novell's NetWare Btrieve. Version 2 adds support for
- IBM's DB2, Ingres, Novell's NetWare SQL, Informix, Progress,
- SQLBase, XDB, Excel, ASCII, and OS/2 EE DBM.
-
- Personal Access Version 2 will also let technical users enter
- native SQL commands. It will incorporate a Windows-standard
- context-sensitive Help system and some improvements in ease
- of use, the vendor said.
-
- The Report Writer has been also expanded to support calculated
- fields and break headers and footers. The user interface to the
- Report Writer and View facility has been streamlined and made
- more intuitive, the company said.
-
- Stand-alone copies of Personal Access are priced at $695 with
- individual corporate and site licenses available. Current users of
- Spinnaker's Plus hypermedia development tool, which is
- incorporated in Personal Access, can upgrade to Personal Access
- for $199 per copy. Upgrades from Version 1.5 are free.
-
- In an introductory promotion, Egghead Discount Software's
- Corporate and Government Sales organization will offer four
- complete copies of Personal Access for the regular list price
- of one copy, $695.
-
- Personal Access requires a personal computer with an 80386
- processor or higher, four megabytes of memory, a hard disk and
- high-density diskette drive, DOS version 3.1 or higher, and
- Microsoft Windows 3.0 or higher. The company recommends a
- VGA or 8514 display.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19920701/Press Contact: Douglas Campbell,
- Spinnaker, 617-494-1200 ext. 357; Dave Thurman, Spinnaker,
- 617-494-1200 ext. 459)
-
-
- (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00023)
-
- ****Banyan Systems In Initial Public Stock Offer 07/02/92
- WESTBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Banyan
- Systems has filed a registration statement with the United States
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public
- stock offering. The networking vendor will offer 2.67 million
- shares of its common stock at $10 to $12 per share.
-
- Of the shares being offered, 1.4 million will be offered by the
- company and 1.27 million by certain stockholders. The offering
- will be managed by Robertson, Stephens & Co. and Alex. Brown
- & Sons Inc.
-
- The company plans to have its stock traded on the National
- Association of Securities Dealers NASDAQ system.
-
- Proceeds of the offering, which is expected to raise about
- $13.77 million, will be used for working capital general
- corporate activities and have not been earmarked for any
- specific purpose, company spokeswoman Jennifer Jester said.
-
- Banyan Systems sells the Vines local area network operating
- system and related products. Banyan officials said the company
- believes it is the first to offer a global directory service --
- useful in integrating large networks -- and other network services
- integrated with a network operating system. The company also
- claims it currently offers the most comprehensive and technically
- advanced set of network services in the industry.
-
- According to the prospectus, Banyan had revenues of $58.024
- million and net income of $2.91 million in 1991. Those figures
- compared with revenues of $44.367 million and net income of
- $4.696 million in 1990. In the first quarter of this year, ended
- March 31, Banyan earned revenues of $16.961 million and net
- income of $1.614 million, up from $12.437 million and $170,000
- in the first quarter of last year.
-
- A registration statement has been filed with the Securities and
- Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective, Banyan said.
- The SEC has 30 to 45 days to review the prospectus, after which
- Banyan will be free to go ahead with the offering, but the company
- does not necessarily have to proceed with the offering right away,
- Jester said.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19920702/Press Contact: Jennifer Jester or Gary
- Wolfe, Banyan, 508-898-1000)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00024)
-
- ****Northern Telecom, Matra Announce Partnership 07/02/92
- MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- Northern
- Telecom has announced a partnership with French telecoms
- equipment supplier Matra that involves Northern buying interests
- in Matra and its parent company, as well as formation of two
- joint ventures.
-
- Subject to approval by the French government and other authorities,
- Northern Telecom is to buy a 20 percent stake in Matra
- Communication. Northern is also to buy a small share in MMB SA, a
- holding company that controls the Matra Hachette group. The Matra
- group has diversified operations include defence, aerospace,
- communications, and transport.
-
- Northern will pay US$265 million for its initial 20 percent share
- of Matra. The company will also buy five to eight percent of MMB
- SA, said spokesman Preston Peek, who could not confirm reports
- that the MMB stake would cost Northern about US$50 million.
-
- Northern will also make a US$130-million loan to Matra. This
- investment will become convertible into Matra shares as of 1995.
-
- An expansion of Northern's stake in Matra may be a possibility,
- Peek said, but he could not confirm that it would take place.
-
- Northern and Matra Communication plan to form two joint
- ventures. One will focus on cellular and other mobile
- communication technology, while the other will be concerned
- with public networks. Each company will own a half-interest
- in each joint venture.
-
- Northern plans to fold its French private branch exchange
- marketing, sales, and service operations into Matra
- Communication.
-
- Matra Group and Northern will establish a holding company to
- manage Matra Communication jointly.
-
- (Grant Buckler/19920702/Press Contact: Preston Peek,
- Northern Telecom, 416-238-7140)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00025)
-
- Congress/Bush Battle Over Iraq Computer Sales 07/02/92
- WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- "If we'd known it,
- it wouldn't have happened," said President Bush on national
- television Wednesday morning. "We did not aid Iraq's nuclear
- development effort." These remarks were in consistent with
- the often-repeated administration line when challenged about
- support of a government with which we then went to an
- undeclared war.
-
- But Congress says President Bush is dissembling when he says
- that his administration did not knowingly send computer
- technology to Saddam Hussein which was intended for use in
- advancing Iraq's efforts to develop nuclear and chemical weapons.
-
- According to previously classified papers just released by
- members of Congress piqued by the President's election-year
- claims, Iraq's Post Office and Education Department received a
- number of high-level computer systems in the late 1980s,
- almost up to the date of the country's invasion of Kuwait.
-
- In a 1985 Department of Defense Document, intelligence analysts
- state: "Iraq continues to actively pursue an interest in nuclear
- weapons." Another document says: "There are indications of at
- least some use of fronts (to obtain materials) for nuclear-
- related research."
-
- Unannounced Presidential candidate Ross Perot told a National
- Press Club audience more than a year ago that the US Commerce
- Department tried hard to push a supercomputer through channels
- to a Brazilian-based Iraqi front company only days before the
- invasion - a claim denied at the time in a very public manner by
- Secretary of Commerce Mosbacher during a call to the Larry
- King TV show (CNN).
-
- Recent Congressional investigations have shed new light on the
- truth or Mr. Perot's charges and yesterday, in the wake of
- President Bush's repeated denials of aiding Iraq, members
- released documents in which the Pentagon clearly states that the
- military was concerned about the uses to which Iraq was putting
- some advanced computers. Specifically, the documents say that
- they could easily be used in mass destruction weapons research
- and development.
-
- (John McCormick/19920702)
-
-
- (NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00026)
-
- Database World: Ingres To Incorporate GIS, Medical Imaging 07/02/92
- BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- With their
- eyes keenly set on new geographic information (GIS) and medical
- imaging horizons, officials of Ingres have announced that the
- company will extend the capabilities of its relational database
- management system (RDBMS) to incorporate multidimensional data.
-
- In plans made known at Database World, Ingres stated
- intentions to collaborate with ESL, a leading developer of spatial
- data management applications, on integrating maps, genetic
- diagrams, and physical characteristics such as height and weight
- into the Ingres Intelligent Database.
-
- "The addition of RDBMS multidimensional data management is vital
- to rapid application development and deployment in many emerging
- high-growth application areas. With ESL, we have a technology and
- market leader to help us maintain our leadership and evolve the
- database market agenda we established with the introduction of the
- Ingres Intelligent Database in 1989," commented Dennis McGinn,
- president of Ingres.
-
- Also in the announcement, Ingres officials maintained that, to be
- stored and manipulated effectively, multidimensional data must be
- incorporated into the RDBMS kernel. This integration can be
- achieved, they asserted, through the Ingres Object Management
- Extension, a tool already being employed to let users of the
- Intelligent Database use familiar SQL commands in dealing with
- such unconventional information as binary, fractional, and spatial
- coordinate data.
-
- Ingres stated that the company will be particularly aggressive in
- pursuing the GIS application market, projected to reach sales of
- $25 billion by 1997. Aside from medical imaging, other
- application areas being looked at include CAD/CAM (computer-
- aided design/manufacturing), asset management, and global
- change research.
-
- In addition to the Intelligent Database, Ingres produces the
- Ingres/4GL applications development tool; desktop products that
- enable DOS, OS/2, Unix and Macintosh desktop computers to access
- Ingres database software running on hosts; and open connectivity
- products for running applications without change across multiple
- networks, machine architectures, outside database managers, and
- distributed single point data sources.
-
- ESL, a division of TRW's Avionics and Surveillance Group,
- develops advanced imagery, signal processing, reconnaissance,
- and communications systems for the federal government.
-
- (Jacqueline Emigh/19920702)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00027)
-
- UK's GPT Moves US Operations From NY To Atlanta 07/02/92
- ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- GPT Video
- Systems of England is going to make a new effort in the US
- market, moving its North American headquarters from the
- New York suburbs to Atlanta.
-
- The company said that it also plans to re-build its sales
- efforts. GPT also plans to produce what it calls the world's
- first standards-compatible multimedia and desktop
- videoconferencing system, and increase administrative
- spending.
-
- At the heart of all this is a module demonstrated at the ICA
- show. The prototype "communication module" will not be
- available until mid-1993, and is aimed at a US multimedia
- market which GPT estimates to be worth $1.5 billion by 1997.
-
- GPT Video Systems is part of GPT Limited of Nottingham, England.
- The parent company is jointly owned 60 percent by GEC in the UK
- and 40 percent by Siemens AG in Germany. GPT Limited has annual
- sales of almost US$2 billion in 113 countries, and employs
- 14,000 people.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19920702/Press Contact: GPT Video Systems,
- 404-448-1947)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00028)
-
- International Phone Update: Kuwait Back To Normal 07/02/92
- ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- On the eve of the
- US July 4 holiday, international telecoms news is highlighted
- by word that Kuwait's phone infrastructure is back to normal.
-
- The Middle East News Network, quoting the Arab Times, reported
- that over 19 million foreign calls were made by Kuwaitis and
- expatriates in the first 14 months after US-led forces
- liberated the country. Call volumes are continuing to increase,
- the government said. The country's phone company is now back to
- demanding payment on bills and disconnecting customers who fail
- to pay. Foreign workers, which Kuwaitis had sworn immediately
- after the invasion would no longer be relied upon, were given
- substantial credit for the return to normalcy.
-
- In fact, the service might be even better than it was before the
- invasion, since the equipment is newer. Bahrain's Batelco system
- said its call volumes to Kuwait are back to pre-invasion levels.
- The country has also increased its calling capacity to Iran in
- recent weeks.
-
- In other news, Motorola won a contract from Telecommunicaoes
- Moveis Nacionais, to build a GSM digital cellular phone system in
- that country. The three-year contract is the fourth GSM award
- given the US company this year, following successes in the United
- Kingdom, Germany and Norway. GSM is a pan-European standard
- related to the TDMA scheme in the US.
-
- Dansk MobilTelefon, a Danish company partially owned by BellSouth
- Enterprises, also inaugurated its GSM system under the trade name
- "Sonofon." The company had been running an experimental system
- since March. Once implemented in all European countries, GSM will
- let Europeans roam throughout the continent, making and
- receiving calls as they go. Dansk MobilTelefon competes with the
- existing Tele Danmark Mobil cellular network. BellSouth has a 29
- percent share. GN Great Nordic of Denmark holds 36 percent,
- NordicTel holds 20 percent, and Kryolitselskabet Oresund of
- Denmark holds 15 percent. BellSouth representatives told a
- meeting in London recently the company will concentrate its
- expansion plans on Europe in the near future.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19920702/Press Contact: Maria Schnabel,
- BellSouth International, 404-249-4877, David Pinsky, Motorola,
- 708-632-2841)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00029)
-
- ****AT&T Settles With Unions 07/02/92
- WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1992 JULY 2 (NB) -- AT&T and its two
- major unions signed a contract giving workers 11.8 percent wages
- over the next three years, a little less than what unions got in
- a recent contract extension with NYNEX. In addition, pensions
- will increase 13 percent for workers retiring after May 31, 1992.
-
- The pact is still subject to ratification by some l25,000 AT&T
- employees, is retroactive to May 31 and runs through May 1995.
- In addition, AT&T said it will set up an employee stock ownership
- plan, awarding $3,300 worth of stock to workers over the life of
- the contract. Provisions were included to help employees whose
- jobs will be cut by automation over the next few years,
- including thousands of operators affected by office closings.
-
- Additions were made to funds used to improve the quality of
- care given employees' children, and telephone referrals were
- offered to help employees find quality schools. Also, the
- company will fund 40 academic scholarships, up to $l0,000 per
- year for four years, for the children of employees. Improvements
- were also made to insurance programs.
-
- Perhaps just as important to the union, the company agreed to
- have union officials serve on joint planning councils to provide
- input on key business decisions, such as the way technology that
- affects people is deployed.
-
- The unions felt a strong contract was needed to set a precedent
- for upcoming negotiations with regional Bell companies, and
- they appear to have won one without a strike.
-
- (Dana Blankenhorn/19920702/Press Contact: AT&T,
- Jim McGann, 202-457-3942)
-
-
- (NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00030)
-
- ****UK Survey Shows Finance Managers Reject Windows 07/02/92
- MARLOW, BUCKS, ENGLAND, 1992 JUL 2 (NB) -- A detailed survey
- recently carried out by computer industry guru Dennis Keeling,
- and published by Computer Publications, has revealed what many in
- the industry have suspected for some time -- that finance managers
- in the majority of companies regard Microsoft Windows as a low
- priority when selecting business and accounting software.
-
- The survey was compiled using replies from around 10,000
- questionnaires sent out to companies in the UK. They asked
- finance managers to answer questions on their existing business
- systems and their future requirements. The results threw up the
- Windows revelation, as well as other unexpected trends.
-
- Top priorities, when it came down to selecting accountancy
- software, were functionality and user-friendliness, but Windows
- got a thumbs down from users in the financial community.
- Although more than 19 percent of respondents still use
- proprietary systems, only 13 percent wanted to continue with
- them -- over 30 percent of users expected to move to open
- systems.
-
- The answers on future choices of software showed that 31
- percent of single user PC users would consider buying Sage
- software, while 40 percent would go for Tetra software.
- Interestingly, 40 percent of proprietary system users would
- go for Oracle.
-
- The "trends in business computing" survey, which was carried in
- conjunction with Management Consultants News, asked a total of
- 38 questions. A full summary of the report is available for UKP
- 50, while the full report costs UKP 450. A complete database in
- Foxpro format costs UKP 950.
-
- (Steve Gold/19920702/Press & Public Contact: Computer
- Publications - Tel: 0628-474492)
-
-