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/1992/nb921215

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(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00001)

Defense Department Computers Under New Mg't 12/15/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- While some top
administration at the Pentagon still strongly resists moves to
put more information technology under a single management agency,
the Defense Information Systems Agency in the US has already begun
to assume overall management of Department of Defense computer
systems.

Under plans put forward last summer, the Defense Information
Technology Services organization, a Denver-based division of the
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), would gain about 20,000
information science employees while a slightly larger total number
of IS jobs are lost in the current DoD divisions which operate
their own smaller computer divisions.

Under the recently signed Defense Information Infrastructure
resource plan, most of the DoD's major information services will
come under the control of the DISA by the middle of 1993.

The December 14 issue of Federal Computer Week reports that the
Department of the Navy will lose the largest number of information
technology employees, with nearly 6,500 going to DISA, while the Army
will loose direct management control of 3,300 employees and DoD
sub-agencies will contribute another 3,800 employees to DISA's staff.

High-level managers in the Department of Defense have fought this
move to consolidate information technology activities under one
sub-agency on the grounds that it would reduce their access to
information services and that DISA lacked the resources to
properly manage the massive information needs of the Pentagon,
but many of the very same staff will continue to operate and
manage computer systems -- control over them would merely move to
a centralized agency.

Therefore Washington insiders say that DoD managers in the
various military branches (and in particular the Navy) are
actually objecting to consolidation of services and management
because they would lose control over these tens of thousands of
staff. One way a government worker measures their power
is by counting the number of people under their control.

(John McCormick/19921215)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00002)

Softimage Acquires Eddie Video Editing Software 12/15/92
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Softimage Inc., has
acquired the ownership of the source code and all rights to the Eddie
video editing software from Animal Logic Research of Australia.
Softimage sells its own three-dimensional image editing software
suite, the Softimage Creative Environment.

Animal Logic, the developer of Eddie, will continue to be
involved in its design and development, the firms said. The
purchase price was not disclosed.

Until recently, Eddie was distributed in Canada by another
Montreal company, Discreet Logic Inc. In mid-December, Discreet
Logic dropped the distributorship to concentrate on its own Flame
and Inferno video-editing tools.

Eddie will continue to be sold internationally through
Softimage's established distribution network.

Eddie provides interactive digital editing, morphing, and image
processing capability and emulates the majority of functions
found on a vision mixer or optical printer, according to
Softimage. It reduces the need to go on-line for video resolution
finish or to an optical printer for film finish.

Softimage spokesman Paul Lefebvre said that Eddie will fit well into
his company's strategy for two-dimensional image editing products
and will complement the company's existing products. He added
that some technology from Eddie may be incorporated into the
Softimage Creative Environment, but Eddie will continue as a
separate product.

Softimage is a five-year-old company with about 80 employees,
Lefebvre said. The company produces three-dimensional animation and
visualization software for the broadcast, film, and advertising
industries.

(Grant Buckler/19921215/Press Contact: Paul Lefebvre, Softimage,
514-845-1636)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00003)

Digital Offers New Networking Products 12/15/92
TAIKOO SHING, HONG KONG, 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Digital Equipment Asia has
introduced a portfolio of networking products, programs and
partnerships to enhance the company's open networking
strategy.

Included in the announcement are enhancements to Digital's DECNIS
multi-protocol routing, Advantage Networks, Fiber Distributed
Data Interface (FDDI), LAN Access, 802.5/Token Ring and network
management product families.

Navin Mehta, regional networking manager for Digital
Asia, said, "We are committed to providing customers with a fully
integrated, enterprise-wide computing environment from desktop to
data center, which at the same time enables them to achieve both
central control and local freedom."

The announcements made include DECNIS Version 2, Digital's
router. It provides multivendor interoperability, lowest cost of
ownership and high performance with throughput of more than
80,000 packets per second, DEC says.

DECNIS Version 2 includes: FDDI support; enhanced TCP/IP support,
including OSPF; SNMP management; PC LAN protocol routing support for
IPX and AppleTalk; additional WAN datalink options for
interoperability, such as PPP, DDCMP, and frame relay; and T3 wide
area networking capabilities via Digital Link's DL3000 T3 Digital
Service Multiplexer.

DECNIS Version 2 will also interface with 802.5/Token Ring,
Switched Multimegabit Data Services (SMDS), and Channelized T1.

Advantage Networks, Digital's fifth generation of networking, provides
OSI, TCP/IP, and DECnet integration and interoperability across a
variety of system platforms.

Other new products from the company include:

OSI Application Developer's Toolkit Version 1.1, designed to enable
users to write distributed applications that communicate over an OSI
network and provide a consistent set of application program interfaces
(APIs) for OpenVMS and Ultrix environments.

DECnet-VAX Extensions Version 5.4, which has received the Corporation
for Open Systems International's COS Mark Certification and meets the
requirements of US GOSIP version 1.

DECANTERS for OpenVMS Version 5.5, which will derive its conformance
from the DECnet-VAX Extensions.

DECANTERS for ULTRIX Version 5.1, which has completed its
certification and has been submitted for GOSIP and COS approval.

"Digital believes that networking products and services must be
standards-based and they must solve business problems," said Mehta.
"Networks must be transparent to users, scalable, flexible, cost-
effective, managable, global, and protect future investments. Above
all, they must be open."

Digital also claims that its standards-based FDDI systems have been
cost-effectively extended to the desktop with the delivery of the
DEC FDDIcontroller/EISA network interface card, featuring dual and
single attachment station (DAS and SAS) options that connect i386 and
i486 PCs with an EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture) bus to
an FDDI network.

DECconcentrator 500 Software Microcode Version 3.2 provides enhanced
standards-based management capabilities which support American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) X3T9.5 Station Management (SMT)
Version 7.2 Draft Standard, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
Management Information Base (MIB), RFC 1285 FDDI MIB and enhancements
to the DEC Vendor MIB.

(Brett Cameron/19921215/Press Contact: Walter Cheung, Digital, +852-
805 3533;HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00004)

New For Unix: O'Reilly X-Windows Books 12/15/92
SEBASTOPOL, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- The ink has
barely had time to dry on the X Consortium's latest standard
specification and O'Reilly & Associates already has a pair of books
that can be used to better understand and use the technology.

The X Consortium is the body that plans and distributes
specifications and standards that have to do with the X Windows
system which is increasing popularity among users of Unix-based
workstations.

To date, most of the graphics-related capabilities of X have been
limited to two-dimensional screen drawing primitives. There was a
lack of three dimensional graphics outside proprietary systems. The
X Consortium decided to address this issue.

Their work produced the PEXlib library, an extension of the PHIGS
standard of several years ago. Today's updates relate it very well
to current concepts in computer graphics and in the standard
approach to the X Windows system.

O'Reilly's two books are called "PEXlib Programming Manual" and
"PEXlib Reference Manual." Between the two of them, any prospective
PEXlib programmer, it is hoped, will receive all of the information
needed to use PEXlib. The books also detail a whole host of tricks,
tips, and techniques that can be employed in relation to this
technology. These volumes are a part of O'Reilly's continuing
series on the X Windows system.

These books are not for the faint of heart. The PEXlib Programming
Manual fills more than 1,100 pages and is densely packed with
technical information. Every aspect of PEXlib is covered in 25
chapters and six appendices. This book is considered to be so
comprehensive that Hewlett-Packard has selected it as its
standard PEXlib reference manual and is enclosing a copy with every
X-based graphics workstation.

Both books are available now. The PEXlib Programming Manual retails
for $44.95. Its ISBN number is 1-56592-028-7. The PEXlib Reference
Manual retails for $39.95 and its ISBN number is 1-56592-029-5.

(Naor Wallach/19921215/Press Contact: Brian Erwin, O'Reilly &
Associates, 707-829-0515/Public Contact: O'Reilly & Associates, 707-
829-0515, 800-998-9938)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00005)

New For Mac: TimesTwo Driver-Level Compression 12/15/92
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Compressing
data on a computer's hard disk is a good way to increase storage
capacity and avoid buying a larger drive. Golden Triangle's new
TimesTwo is claimed to be the first driver-level disk expansion
product for the Apple Computer Macintosh.

The company claims that other products on the market, such as
AutoDoubler and More Disk Space, increase disk storage by
compressing individual files. But, according to Golden Triangle,
this results in compatibility problems and the need for constant
upgrade.

The company claims that TimesTwo "actually makes a user's disk
bigger, transforming a 40-megabyte (MB) disk into an 80MB."

The product works by "compressing disk blocks at the driver
level, reducing the amount of space needed to store them, and
increasing the true size of the disk."

Chris Theriot, spokesperson for the company, told Newsbytes that
TimesTwo is different from other products on the market as it
operates at the "drive level" by "replacing the driver on the hard
disk."

The product, she said, is "not file compression," but operates instead
under the Finder, "compressing data as it is written to the disk."
The compression, said Theriot, is "completely transparent."

According to the company, the Macintosh finder actually sees a
40MB hard disk as an 80MB disk when TimesTwo is operational.

Golden Triangle claims that TimesTwo is especially attractive to
PowerBook users who do not want to add an external drive or replace
their internal disk. The package is also appropriate for use with
removable disks because the program is installed on the disk itself.
Users can just take the disk and use it on another machine, and it
will appear as a larger disk on that machine too, claims the company.

TimesTwo carries a suggested list price of $149, although
Theriot told Newsbytes that "the street price is around $100." The
package requires a Macintosh Plus or above, a minimum of 2MB of RAM,
and System 6.0.4 or better.

(Ian Stokell/19921215/Press Contact: Chris Theriot, 619-279-2100,
Golden Triangle Computers Inc.)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00006)

Caseworks Bundles CASE:W, Microsoft C/C++ Compiler 12/15/92
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Caseworks Inc., has
announced that its CASE:W Intro Edition for Microsoft Foundation
Classes will be bundled with Microsoft's C/C++ version 7.0 compiler.

CASE:W is a special introductory version of CASE:W, Caseworks visual
interface design and code generation tool for developers of the
Microsoft Windows operating system. The company says the software
addresses the needs of developers developing applications for
Windows and is similar to its CASE:W corporate edition, with
slightly reduced functionality.

According to Caseworks spokesperson Patricia Nicolas the intro
edition allows programmers to define the behavior of their graphical
interface, then generates the source code required for the
application to interface with Windows.

This is the second bundling agreement between Caseworks and
Microsoft. Caseworks tools are already being bundled with the
Microsoft QuickC compiler for Windows.

Paul Mitchell, Microsoft languages senior product manager, said the
tools increase programming productivity and can also be used as a
learning tool for programming with the Microsoft Foundation Classes.
"Caseworks tools will be valuable to anyone doing Windows development
with C/C++ 7.0 and Microsoft Foundation Classes," said Mitchell.

Caseworks said it is including a special upgrade coupon to
CASE:W corporate edition in the C/C++ 7.0 compiler package. With the
coupon programmers can upgrade for $495. The suggested retail price
of the corporate edition is $1385.

(Jim Mallory/19921215/Press contact: Patricia Nicolas, Caseworks,
404-399-6236, fax [phone]; Reader contact: Caseworks,
404-399-6236, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00007)

New For Windows: Illustrated, Animated Repair Manual 12/15/92
CYPRESS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Emulating the
popular automobile repair series of books from Chilton, Dariana has
come up with an illustrated, even animated, guide to for IBM and
compatible personal computers (PCs) in its new Winsleuth Gold
PC diagnostic product.

The company has taken advantage of the Windows environment to
graphically illustrate as well as perform diagnostic and system
analysis with the goal of educating users on their own PC.

The product delivers all the system information you expect
about port addresses, performance, troubleshooting, and
diagnostics, but adds graphical animations of the components it
is testing.

For example, during the hard disk test, a graphic of the inside
of a hard disk drive, showing the read head moving across the
platters, is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the
screen. Another graphic shows a peripheral card being inserted
into a slot on the motherboard, while another display shows a
PC with cut-away views of inside.

The company also has incorporated an utility it calls
"Installation Assistant" so the user can see what input/output
(I/O) port, memory addresses, interrupt request (IRQ), or
direct memory address (DMA) channels are available.

A "Tuneup" utility can automatically, or with the user
involved, arrange commands in system files WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI,
AUTOEXEC.BAT, and CONFIG.SYS to get the most memory and
performance.

Utilities to perform benchmark and memory testing are offered
in the product. The memory tests fall into two categories, one
to look for bad random access memory (RAM) chips, and the other
to determine how much memory is available, whether it is
conventional, extended, or expanded memory, and how memory is
being utilized.

A video testing utility is also included as well as utilities
to check network boards and connections, terminate and stay
resident (TSR) programs, exception handlers, device drivers,
open files, and operating tasks.

While the pricing of the package is the same, some packages
offer additional software while others don't, company
representatives told Newsbytes.

Co-Session, one additional package, allows Windows users to
remotely operate another PC via telephone lines. This means
consultants or troubleshooters can help diagnose PC troubles by
running Winsleuth Gold on a remote PC without being on-site.

Also included in some packages is a DOS version of the diagnostic
software, System Sleuth Professional 4.0. To do professional PC
troubleshooting it is necessary to have a DOS-based diagnostic
utility because if the system won't boot or the hard disk fails,
Windows won't run.

The program also offers the ability to print basic input/output
system information (BIOS) and save those critical complimentary
metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) settings used to store
system information.

While the graphical views are generic ones now, and not
specific to any single PC, the company is planning to offer
views of specific PCs and components. Users will then
go through a visual listing and choose their PC, after which
they'll be able to see actual graphics that match what's under
their own hood.

The company says it is even equipping the new version to
allow the graphical views to display faulty system
components discovered in tests. So, for example, an arrow
would point on a graphic to which one of several memory
cards, known as single in-line memory modules (SIMMs), needs
replacement, in addition to providing the memory address of
the faulty SIMM.

The new version isn't expected until next year, but users can
start learning the internal workings of their PCs now and then
upgrade when the new version is released.

Winsleuth Gold will work with Windows versions 3.0 and 3.1 and is
retail priced at $169. Winsleuth Professional users can upgrade for
$29.95, while System Sleuth for DOS users may upgrade for $59.95. A
competitive upgrade from PC Tools, Check It, QA Plus, and Norton
Utilities, requiring a copy of the front page of the manual or of an
original disk, is also $59.95.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921215/Press Contact: Frank Westall,
Dariana, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact
800-892-9950)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00008)

Survey: HP Unix Midrange Systems Up, Proprietary Systems Down 12/15/92
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- While the
overall midrange computer market has been decreasing over the
past two years, predictions are that proprietary mid-range systems
are expected to be hardest hit in the future, according to a
Infocorp report completed by analyst Robert Sakakeeny. Midrange
vendor Hewlett-Packard, however, has been experiencing sharp
growth.

The Infocorp report covers midrange systems, defined as fully
configured systems in the $25,000 to $699,000 range.

According to the report, IBM is still leading the mid-range pack,
but Hewlett-Packard (HP) has moved up to the number two slot,
passing Digital Equipment Corporation in revenue for the first time.

In market share of the estimated $14.1 billion US midrange
computer market, the report says IBM has 24 percent, HP has 17
percent, DEC controls 13 percent, NCR has 8 percent, and 38
percent is divided among other smaller vendors.

Sakakeeny is attributing HP's revenue growth to its non-
proprietary Unix operating system. HP is currently the number
one Unix midrange vendor, according to the report and the
company's success in the Unix market is a major contributor to
its overall market standing. "The future does not bode well for the
revenue flow of proprietary midrange vendors," he said.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921215/Press Contact: Lorri Weston,
Infocorp, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00009)

3Com Breakthrough In Remote LAN Internetworking 12/15/92
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- 3Com has introduced
Boundary Routing Systems Architecture, a software innovation that
it claims will dramatically ease the burden of linking local area
networks in branch offices to the corporate network.

Boundary Routing will enable customers to add five to ten times more
remote site connections without adding administrative resources,
complexity or risk, the company says.

"Boundary Routing architecture will enable customers to connect
remote office LANs to central office networks more quickly, easily
and inexpensively than any remote office internetworking solution
available today," explained Doug Dennerline, general manager of 3Com
Asia.

"Any organization that needs to connect with remote offices can
benefit from 3Com's Boundary Routing technology because it enables
remote network-to-network communication without the need for
technical routing expertise at every office."

Boundary Routing Systems Architecture extends the LAN interface over
the WAN. It maintains the advantages of routing for the WAN backbone
-- efficient data traffic management, efficient WAN link utilization,
availability of multiple paths, and standards-based management --
while offering simpler and faster administration, installation and
change control.

This architecture optimizes the router for the most common remote
internetworking configuration, a single WAN link to the corporate
network. In this case the remote router has a simple decision to
make: whether to forward a packet to the corporate WAN. The central
router makes the more complex routing decisions.

3Com's installed base of remote routers will be able to take
advantage of the benefits of Boundary Routing architecture. In
addition, because Boundary Routing is an open architecture, the
potential market for this innovation includes all remote sites
requiring connectivity to headquarters or regional offices.

Independent research suggests that network administrators in large
organizations spend a disproportionate amount of time managing the
connections to remote sites.

Nick Lippis, principal of Strategic Networks Consulting, cites a
leading financial services firm with 20,000 employees, 10 percent of
whom work in 200 remote sites: "The MIS staff spends 90 percent of
its network management time on these 200 sites, servicing only 10
percent of the user base. This means they can spend only 10 percent of
their time supporting the central site, where 90 percent of the users
are located," he said.

The Boundary Routing approach overcomes these problems by
centralizing complexity at headquarters where there are network
administration resources, and simplifies devices required at remote
sites. It moves the maintenance of routing information and routing
intelligence to the central router which makes all routing decisions
for the packet. Instead of performing packet identification, packet
routing, route management and network management, the remote router
now only makes the intelligent forwarding decision.

"With traditional multi-protocol routing customers hit a complexity
barrier when expanding their internetwork," said Dennerline. "Doubling
a network's size may more than double the customer's network
administration load."

When adding a routing function to the network that employs Boundary
Routing, the network administrator only needs to update the backbone
routers at the central site with software changes. Hence, Boundary
Routing architecture is designed to reduce administration costs.
Installation is a plug-and-play procedure; end users only need to
power up the remote router.

Many large companies already link their branch office via IBM's
Systems Network Architecture (SNA). According to Janet Hyland,
director of Network Strategy Research at Forrester Research, "SNA is
entrenched in branch office networking. But now that LANs are
rolling out to branches at a rapid pace, users are re-thinking their
wide area networks.

The majority are trying to graft LANs onto existing SNA networks to
avoid the cost, complexity, and anxiety of moving to a LAN
internetwork. With its plans to merge SNA and LAN internetworks and
the new Boundary Routing architecture, 3Com offers users attractive,
innovative options in each of these areas."

3Com's Boundary Routing model requires at least one NETBuilder II
router running on the central backbone. However, due to 3Com's
leadership in standards implementation, Boundary Routing software
will run on a network that includes other vendors' standards-based
devices.

"Boundary Routing architecture is designed to be an open system which
is interoperable with other vendors' remote routers. 3Com expects
Boundary Routing architecture to become a model for building wide
area networks that will ultimately be adopted by the industry," said
Dennerline.

Consistent with its commitment to open systems, 3Com plans to submit
the Boundary Routing specification to the Internet Engineering Task
Force in November 1993. Prior to standards adoption, 3Com will offer
technical service agreements to other vendors who wish to provide the
benefits of Boundary Routing architecture to their customers.

3Com will announce the specific functionality, pricing and
availability of Boundary Routing software and new hardware platforms
during the first quarter of 1993. Products will be available
world-wide through 3Com's direct sales force, as well as authorized
VARs and OEMs.

(Brett Cameron/19921215/Press contact: Doug Dennerline, 3Com, +852
868 9111;HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00010)

German Mobile Phone Tech Rolls East 12/15/92
BONN, GERMANY, 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- At the end of this month, the
German Government will issue a licence for the E-Net, a second
generation mobile phone service in the country. The network, which
will cover both the former west and eastern areas of Germany, is
expected to help the east in the creation of several thousand jobs, as
well the provision of telephone services to phone-starved areas.

Two groups of companies, E-Star and E-Plus, are bidding for the
licence. E-Star is thought to be slightly in front, since it is led by
BMW, the well-known German car company.

The E-Plus network, however, could be the better of the two in terms
of employment prospects for former Eastern Germany. According to the
consortium, which is led by Thyssen, the E-Net service will create
around 3,500 in eastern Germany. E-Star reckons that only around half
of that number of jobs will be created in eastern Germany as a result
of the E-Net phone service creation.

Unlike the D-Net, which went into service in July of this year, the E-
Net will be based around smaller lower-power cells and be pitched much
more that the residential user rather than the business user of the
D-Net. Both D-Net and E-Net make use of digital telephone technology.

Two companies are offering the D-Net service in Germany -- DBT and
Mannesman Mobilfunk. The E-Net service, in contrast, will probably
only have one service provider, owing to the cost of installing a
personal communication network (PCN) covering the whole country.

(Steve Gold/19921215)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00011)

UK: Microcom Relay Gold LAN 5.0 12/15/92
WOKING, SURREY, ENGLAND, 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Microcom UK has unveiled
Relay Gold LAN 5.0, the latest version of its Relay range of PC to
mainframe communications software.

Microcom is pitching the package into what it calls "corporate
computing environment," which typically use several methods of
connecting their PCs to IBM 3270 systems.

The company claims that, by supporting a broad selection of terminal
emulations and file transfer protocols, Relay Gold LAN 5.0 "saves the
time and expense of buying, installing and managing different software
products needed to support multiple access methods."

In use, the package runs on a network file server, allowing up to 250
PC network users to link to a mainframe or mini, as well as to other
computers on the network.

Announcing the package, Don Winston, Microcom UK's general manager and
vice president, said that server-based LAN software offers clear
management and maintenance advantages.

"Relay Gold LAN 5.0 is a powerful communication tool that provides
corporations with a standardized and cost-effective method of
fulfilling a wide variety of communications needs," he said.

In the UK, the package is available exclusively through Comware
International at UKP 995 for a 10-node pack. Extra nodes can be added
at UKP 75 per node.

(Steve Gold/19921215/Press & Public Contact: Microcom - Tel: 0483-
740763; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00012)

Frame Offers Help To European Resellers 12/15/92
DUBLIN, IRELAND, 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Frame Technology has announced
its European Systems Integration Program (ESPI), which it claims has
been designed to address the market's growing need for custom-built
document publishing applications and to develop expertise among
systems integrators.

The program has been introduced in parallel with Framebuilder, the
electronic document image specialist's structured document software.
The main aim of the program is to educate the company's value-added
resellers (VARs) who then sell the Framebuilder suite of software as
part of their own "business solutions."

"Today, more and more companies are looking to manage the integration
of Frame products into their total document information systems,"
explained Geraldine Kelly, Frame Technology's vice president of
European operations. "With our European Systems Integration Program,
we will build up the expertise in this field throughout Europe," she
added.

In return for sales support and training, Frame is expecting great
things of its resellers. Frame says that its VARs and system
integrators should have a solid financial performance and a business
model "focused on value-added business applications," as well as
expertise in the design and development of document management and
database applications.

What's interesting about this sudden flurry of activity from Frame is
that the company is clearly pushing out the boat when it comes to
supporting its resellers. Traditionally, specialist companies such as
Frame have adopted a stand-off approach to their resellers, owing to
the sheer cost of supporting them.

(Steve Gold/19921215/Press & Public Contact: Frame Technology Europe -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00013)

Document Technology Vendors Slate April Meeting 12/15/92
DENVER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- XPLOR International has
announced that it will sponsor the first annual Vendor Interaction
Symposium for document technology vendors in Denver, Colorado April 25,
through the 28, 1993.

The meeting, scheduled for the Denver City Center Marriott Hotel,
will provide information to address customer needs through 1996.
Organizers say the three-day symposium will include industry keynote
speakers, technology reviews, partnering orientation sessions, and
new technology demonstrations.

XPLORER spokesperson Anne Davison told Newsbytes that the formal
part of the symposium starts Monday, April 26, but attendees who
arrive on Sunday will have the opportunity to have a tour of the
convention hall, play golf, and attend a pre-symposium cocktail
party. Davison said a large crowd is expected.

XPLORER, a non-profit liaison organization between document imaging
users and vendors, sponsors two conventions for the document imaging
industry annually. The November conference will also be held in Denver
in 1993.

Davison said that conference attendance costs $395 if you register
prior to January 22. After that pre-registration is $495, and if you
wait to register at the door it will cost $595.

Symposium chairperson Tony Sassi of SassPro Associations, said that
the seven keynote speakers "are truly representative of our industry
leadership. Their participation sets the tone for the symposium's
emphasis on information, opportunities, and networking."

All of the keynote addresses are scheduled for the first day, and
will feature John Warnock, Chairman and CEO of Adobe Systems,
speaking on Document Communications - The Shape of Things To Come;"
and Xerox Technology Ventures President and CEO, whose subject is
"Strategic Alliances."

Other speakers include Russell Harrison, corporate vice president and
CEO of McKesson Corporation, addressing "The Corporate Data Center in
1996;" John Massie, president of Ecocenters, who will talk about the
service bureau as a business in 1996; and Tony Corbin, VP of
Comvestrix and editor in chief of Xploration Journal, focusing on
"Technology & The Service Bureau in 1996."

Stephen King, associate director of for Office Information Technology
at Harvard University, will discuss "Innovation on Campus," and Robert
Lynch, VP & director of electronic database publishing systems at
McGraw-Hill, will speak on "The Future of The Publishing Industry."

Sassi said that technology sessions will address 15 different topics.
A chairperson and a panel of speakers will participate in each three
hour session, which will be followed by a Q&A period. Vendors from
Delphax, Eastman Kodak, IBM/Pennant Systems, Siemens Nixdorf, and
Zeros will speak on various topics.

To make reservations or arrange for exhibits, contact conference
manager Carol Anderson at XPLOR.

(Jim Mallory/19921215/Press contact: Jim Porter, 310-373-3633;
Attendees contact: Carol Anderson, XPLOR, 310-373-3633, fax 310-375-
4240)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00014)

Sequent Lands Veterans Administration Contract 12/15/92
BEAVERTON, OREGON, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Sequent Computer
Systems has announced that it has been selected as part of a
multi-vendor team to provide a modernized information systems for a
branch of the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

The company said that the open systems, client-server architecture
will be installed for the Veterans Benefits Administration to allow
that agency to migrate from the present proprietary system utilized.
Sequent said it will function as a subcontractor to Federal Data
Corporation, the company managing the overall installation.

Sequent spokesperson Tami Sturdevant told Newsbytes the company will
furnish four of its Symmetry 2000/750 high-end systems, and 61 of its
Symmetry 2000/450 mid-range systems. Sturdevant said Sequent will
provide the hardware over a two-year period, and will provide service
over the eight-year life of the contract. It's expected to be worth in
excess of $30 million to the company.

Sturdevant added that this is the largest federal contract the
company has ever been awarded, and is nearly the largest in the
company's history. "We're hoping it will help us get other
business in the government market," she said.

The system is designed to support over 12,000 users of VBA's sector
and regional office database servers, and provides local area networks
(LANs), distributed database management systems, workstations and
peripherals, application development tools, and workflow management
systems. The new system is expected to be interoperable with
existing equipment.

A VBA spokesperson said that the new system is designed to provide a
central point of access for veterans to obtain all of their benefits
information and services at one location, as well as determine their
status in every benefit program. Other goals are reduced processing
cycles, improves applications, data sharing across applications,
higher employee productivity and streamlined business processes.

The system being replaced is based on 15-year old proprietary
technology, according to the VBA, which uses four large central
processors and different applications for each benefit program.

Once Phase I has been completed, the VB says Phase II and III will
focus on providing imaging technology and on replacing its mainframe
data centers. VBA is estimated to be the fourth largest insurance
provider in the US, serving about 33 million people. The agency said
about one-third of the US population is eligible for such benefits as
insurance, loans, compensation, pensions, education, burial services
and allowances and vocational rehabilitation.

(Jim Mallory/19921215/Press contact: Mike Green, Sequent Computer
Systems, 503-626-5700)


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

AT&T Telecom Update 12/15/92
BASKING RIDGE, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- AT&T
continues to play the most powerful role in world telecommunications.
The awesome deals -- for NCR, McCaw Cellular, and with the
Personal Communicator -- are in place. AT&T is dedicated to
winning the race in field computing, combining wireless networks
and powerful handheld terminals.

Already the stocks of companies which specialize in handheld PCs, like
Telxon and Symbol, are reeling, as sales plunge in advance of AT&T's
product release. Rumors continue to swirl that AT&T will do a deal
with Tele-Communications Inc., the giant cable television company, to
offer long-distance service when the cable giant, as expected, goes
into microwave-based PCN phone services and uses its own cables to
handle local telephony.

AT&T's stock is, at over $48.50 per share, is at its highest point
since divestiture. Meanwhile, AT&T keeps issuing press releases
marking small advances.

AT&T said it's working with MCI, AAC Corp.'s Account-A-Call
Division plus Blue Cross and Blue Shield against toll fraud. The
idea is to produce an "early warning system" for national
accounts, which can detect unusual patterns in the use of toll-
free numbers and virtual private networks maintained by phone
companies.

The plan is that AT&T and MCI will filter call records to get rid of
obviously normal calling patterns, sending AAC 15-20 percent of the
records online, which AAC will analyze for potential fraud.

Also on the toll-free front, AT&T made a new pitch for its
personal phone numbers, in a move countering an existing MCI
offering. AT&T Signature 800 is designed to give consumers
inexpensive toll-free numbers they can give out to friends and
relatives, and which ring on their regular home phones.

The company is pitching the service this year as a Christmas gift.
AT&T said it will also cut costs on nights and weekends starting next
January, to 20 cents per minute, while daytime calls remain at 27.5
cents per minute, and the monthly charge stays at $5.50 and the
installation charge stays at $10.

On the caller-paid 900 front, AT&T has begun offering its MultiQuest
900 services within Massachusetts. Services can be delivered by
live operators, voice messaging equipment or computer. While the
900 exchange has been available from AT&T since 1980, it has come
into disrepute in recent years, due to sexual talk, sports
touts, pseudo-astrologers, as well as outright consumer rip-offs
for credit cards and other things.

The companies which run numbers on the exchange have been working to
clean it up, but some services remain, and, as a result, it's been
hard to convince businesses which prize their reputations to offer
services on 900.

Finally, AT&T filed tariffs to raise the costs of operator
services by $78.6 million. Charges for collect, billed-to-third
party and person-to-person calls, would increase approximately
two cents a minute, while charges for coin calls and calls where
operators provide rate quotes would decrease by approximately one
cent per minute.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921215/Press Contact: AT&T, Mark Siegel,
908/221-8413, Signature 800 Service, consumers call 1-800-327-
9700; AAC, Kevin Young, 818/564-4900)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00016)

 ****Moviemaker Paramount Moves Into Multimedia 12/15/92
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- From the big
screen to the small screen -- Paramount, a major movie producer, has
formed what it calls the Paramount Technology Group, a combination
market research and technology company assigned to integrate
multimedia technologies with the company's entertainment and publishing
operations.

Keith E. Schaefer, formerly chief executive of its Computer Curriculum
publishing unit, will head the group as a vice president of the
corporate parent. Dr. Sueann R. Ambron, formerly vice president,
advanced media, at Paramount's publishing operation, and Bruce
Churchill, formerly vice president, financial planning, at the
company's Paramount Pictures operations, are vice presidents of the
new Group.

The group will create what it calls a "Media Kitchen" -- a
product research and development center. It will also identify
strategic technology alliances and explore, manage, and "nurture"
new business ventures. Schaefer was formerly president of
Worlds of Wonder, a toy company, and a senior vice president at
NEC. Ambron is a 9-year veteran of Apple who started that
company's Multimedia Lab. Churchill comes out of the company's
movie unit.

Newsbytes discussed the new unit with spokesman Carl Folta.
"It's a think tank, and the 'Media Kitchen' will take new
products to market," he said. The Palo Alto base was chosen
because Paramount already has "significant operations out there,"
including Computer Curriculum "which is a leader in computer-
assisted learning.

That's part of our educational publishing operations. In addition to
this group cutting across business lines, the executives also cut
across business lines -- two people come from education publishing,
the other from Paramount Pictures." The education market in particular
is of interest to Paramount, Folta added. "We're the largest
educational publisher in the country -- everything from pre-school
materials to adult education, and in a variety of formats, including
multimedia, computer-assisted textbooks, and traditional textbooks."

He concluded: "There are a lot of creative businesses here based
on ideas and copyrights, and the ideas between them are blurring.
With education moving into multimedia, our experiences come into
play with CD-ROM and other more visual learning products."

The new group will work with such areas as movie and TV
digitalization, data compression and networking, which Folta said are
creating new platforms and markets for Paramount's library of
entertainment and publishing copyrights.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921215/Press Contact: Carl D. Folta,
Paramount Communications, 212-373-8530; Ron Fortune, Computer
Curriculum, 408-745-6270)


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

Comtex Wins E-Mail Agreement With Newsnet 12/15/92
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Comtex will
distribute some information from NewsNet through electronic
mail. The deal does not cover Comtex' products in online
networks such as GEnie.

Newsnet said that over 350 newsletter titles will be made available in
several industry groupings for matching against Comtex' OmniNews
electronic mail customer profiles. The articles are delivered on a
daily basis directly into the subscriber's electronic mail box or made
available for corporate electronic bulletin board access. The Newsnet
data will carry a premium charge on a monthly basis.

Newsbytes discussed all this with Comtex general manager, Bob
Schwartz. "OmniNews is our most popular product," he confirmed.
"It encompasses all our news from various sources."

The company sells a total of six different products, some of them
subsets of OmniNews. These include services which are called ExecuGrid
on CompuServe and Newsgrid on GEnie, which are distributed on the
online equivalent of an "OEM basis," under names chosen by the vendors
which offer them to the public, and under conditions or using software
chosen by the online vendors.

"The agreement with NewsNet is strictly for delivery of
newsletters by e-mail," Schwartz emphasized. "You won't see it on
CompuServe or GEnie. It's for corporate customers who develop
profiles through us, using our own algorithms. We match their
interests against our entire flow of news stories. The business
alliance gives us the chance to add sources of information to
those clients. For Newsnet the advantage is it helps increase
their market share and presence -- this information is not sold
generally."

He gave an example: "Southern California Edison has many users
within the enterprise that are registered to receive e-mail news
from Comtex. Each has communicated a profile of interest, and no
two profiles are alike. One could be asking for utility pricing
strategies, another could be natural gas prices. Each profile has
about 15 terms, and the yield of stories varies," generally
between 5 and 15 each day.

"At any time a user may need to modify the profile. They can
communicate that to our client services department, either by sending
us an e-mail message, a fax, or via telephone. We also monitor the
profiles from our end, trying to give each user what they need. They
communicate their requests in plain English, and we translate those
requests into commands. In some cases we call the user back and ask
further questions. We position this as an alert service to send news
as it's picked up by the wires -- it's not a batch service, it's
online. We expect most customers will not be requesting single
newsletters. It's grouped by industry topics, which is the power of
the product."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19921215/Press Contact: Bob Schwartz, Comtex,
203-358-0007)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00018)

New For Mac: Portable Storage For Powerbooks 12/15/92
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- What do you
do if you have a big presentation to make, or a Quicktime movie to
show at a remote site? Traditional answers normally included shipping
a desktop Macintosh to the remote site which is kind of awkward and
does not seem to take full advantage of the technology available in
PowerBooks.

Adambyte is a small start-up company that has a different answer to
the question. Adambyte's solution is to create a large storage space
that you can take with you and your Powerbook. Hence the PowerBox. The
Powerbox is big storage capacity for your Powerbook. At this time
there are two models being offered. One has a 200 MB hard drive and a
155 MB micro-streamer tape drive. The other has a 500 MB hard drive
and the tape drive.

Both models come in similar boxes and share all of their
characteristics. They both have the tape drive. They both have two
batteries. And they both are housed in a container that is color
matched and size matched to the Powerbooks. Since the box's height
is only 1.4 inches, it is very likely that a user would place the
Powerbook on top of a Powerbox to achieve his goal.

The Powerbox connects to the Powerbook through the SCSI port. As a
matter of fact, any Macintosh can use the Powerbox which leads to the
possibility of using a desktop machine to create the Quicktime movie
discussed above. Once the movie is created, the Powerbox gets
attached to the desktop machine, the movie is downloaded to the
Powerbox, and then the Powerbox is disconnected and reattached to
the Powerbook.

The batteries inside the Powerbox will operate the storage devices for
about 2 hours. Battery life may be better if the tape drive is not
used frequently. Once both batteries are discharged, it takes about
one hour to recharge them. The batteries will recharge automatically
whenever the unit is plugged directly into a power source. The
batteries will also recharge if the Powerbox is attached to a
Powerbook which is attached to the wall.

The 200 MB model retails for $1990. The 500 MB model for $2490. Both
units are available now.

(Naor Wallach/19921215/Press Contact: Jim Lochmiller, The Lekas Group
for Adambyte, 415-948-8907/Public Contact: Adambyte, 415-988-1415)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00019)

New For Mac: Pyro! 4.1 12/15/92
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- One of the
original Macintosh screen saver programs has gotten a face-lift.
Newsbytes has learned that Fifth Generation Systems is about to
release a new version of Pyro! The new version will be known as
version 4.1 and will feature 25 new modules.

The new modules include Brick B'gone which can be played against the
computer or watched; Eyes which run around the screen watching your
every move; Flipper which rearranges your desktop constantly; Linear
Automaton which changes colors and shapes on your screen; Munger which
draws psychedelic shapes and colors; and Turbolinsky which takes you
on a thrilling ride through a 3D tunnel.

Other screen savers are Fingerpoint, which doodles on your screen
in a specified finger size; Flashlight which illuminates only a
part of the screen; Hopalong draws dots on your screen; Inversion
which has color squares moving around; Just Blink turns your screen off;
Love Lamp draws finer and finer shapes; Low Resolution makes the print
on your screen bleed off; MadPointer leaves a colorful trail behind
your mouse; Melt is something you never want to see happen for real;
Play Sound to select which sound plays when; Pulsar has different
figures appear and disappear from your screen; Pyro Puzzle makes you
screen into quite a jigsaw; Rain & Disks causes water drops to splash
against your document and radiate out on the calm pond; Sinkholes
causes parts of the screen to disappear; In Boxes, the screen shrinks in
stages; Sleeper is a square that bounces off the edges of your screen;
Zoom feels like those high speed car chase games; Spheres has colorful
spheres appear on your screen; Sinus has sound waves plotted on your
screen.

Pyro! 4.1 retails for $39.95. Registered owners of any previous
version of Pyro! can upgrade to version 4.1 for $15.

(Naor Wallach/19921215/Press Contact: John Crowe, Miller Communications
for Fifth Generation, 310-822-4669/Public Contact: Fifth Generations
Systems, 504-291-7221)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00020)

New For PC: BitFax 4.0 For DOS, 3 More Products 12/15/92
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- BIT Software
has introduced a voice-ready and memory-saving DOS-based edition of
BitFax. In addition, Newsbytes has learned that three unannounced
versions of the fax/data communications software are now on the
drawing boards for next year.

Jonathan Wan, founder and president, told Newsbytes that release of
the just announced BitFax 4.0 for DOS in January will be followed
later in 1993 by shipment of BitFax/OCR for DOS, plus the network
capable BitFax 4.1 for DOS and an upgrade to the company's
BitFax/OCR for Windows.

BIT's announcement of BitFax 4.0 for DOS comes soon after delivery
of the first edition of BitFax/OCR for Windows, a program that
integrates Caere Corp.'s Anyfont optical character recognition
(OCR). Like other OCR technologies, Anyfont is designed to make
fax documents easier to use on a computer by letting the user
convert the documents from image format and store and manipulate
them as text files.

In contrast to the Windows program, the new DOS program does not
integrate Anyfont, but Caere's OCR technology will make an
appearance in the upcoming BitFax/OCR for DOS, said Wan, meeting
with Newsbytes during a business trip to the Boston area.

"We're extremely excited about BitFax 4.0 for DOS," the company
chief commented. BIT's latest fax software for DOS will mark BIT's
debut of an interface to a new voice-capable DSP (digital signal
processing) semiconductor from Rockwell, he stressed.

When fax modems using the new chip come to market, the BIT software
will work with the modems to let the PC act as a telephone
answering machine as well as a fax machine, he said.

Further, BitFax 4.0 consumes only 85K of memory, far less than
previous software from BIT, he added. The terminate and stay resident
(TSR) package can be loaded into extended memory, preserving
the 640K of conventional memory on a typical PC.

Wan told Newsbytes that the new voice messaging/retrieval option in
BitFax 4.0 calls for software recognition of the differences between
incoming voice, fax, and data calls received by a voice-capable modem.
When a voice call is detected, the software will evoke a module that
provides voice prompts.

Like previous versions of BitFax, Version 4.0 for DOS comes with
full send/receive fax and data communications capabilities. A new fax
interface in the upcoming DOS release lets the user choose between
function keys, command buttons and pull-down menus. Also included are
such conveniences as short-cut access to the phone book and the "send
fax" mode. The memory-consciousness of the new BitFax software is
targeted at portable computing needs, as well as at stand-alone desktop
and networking applications, he explained.

BitFax 4.0 for DOS will be bundled with the Safari handheld PC from
AT&T/NCR, a new cellular notebook from NEC, all portable PCs from
AST, Samsung and Daewoo that ship with fax/modems, and every PC
from DEC that is equipped with a fax/modem, he stated. The program
will also be sold separately in major software retail stores.

The upcoming DOS release is the first product from BIT to be
available in Kanji, a language that uses the Roman alphabet to
spell out the syllables represented by Japanese characters. The
program also comes in English, Spanish, French, German and Italian,
according to Wan.

BitFax 4.0 for DOS is now in the final stages of beta testing. The
company is projecting delivery of BitFax/OCR for DOS in April, and
the second release of BitFax/OCR for Windows in July, he said.

Wan also told Newsbytes that Caere's OCR technology is present in
BitFax/OCR for Windows but absent from BitFax for DOS 4.0 because
it takes more time to add OCR to a DOS-based program. "The
software libraries in DOS aren't as easy to work with as the DLL
(Dynamic Link Library) in Windows," he said.

The forthcoming upgrade of BitFax/OCR for Windows will bring
sophisticated new document management capabilities, he disclosed.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19921215/Public contact: BIT Software Inc., tel
510-490-2928; Press contact: Cathy Brooks, S&S Public Relations
for BIT Software, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00021)

New For PC: Caere Corporation's Fax Software For Workgroups 12/15/92
LOS GATOS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Caere Corporation
has announced FaxMaster Server, a new fax software product designed
for workgroup and small business faxing. The software automates
computer-based faxing for groups of up to 25 users.

FaxMaster Server is an extension of Caere's FaxMaster fax/OCR package
for Windows-compatible personal computers. FaxMaster provides
integrated fax send, receive, recognize (OCR) and compress
capabilities to individual users, allowing them to transmit, edit,
store, share and print faxes electronically. Now, FaxMaster Server
brings these same benefits to workgroups and small networks.

Using FaxMaster Server, a workgroup administrator can manage inbound
and outbound fax logs, assign priorities to individual users, route
incoming faxes and control security access among users.

FaxMaster Server lists for $695, with Caere offering a specially priced
"Workgroup in a Box," which includes FaxMaster Server and a five-license
version of FaxMaster, for $995.

Caere may be reached at 800/643-3915.

(Computer Currents/19921215)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00022)

New For Networks: ModularLink Connects 16 PCs To A Printer 12/15/92
CAMPBELL, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Primax Electronics
has introduced ModularLink, which allows a simple and transparent
interconnection of 16 or fewer personal computers with a single printer,
eliminating the need to purchase dedicated printers for each computer
user or install an expensive local area network.

The ModularLink starter kit, comprised of two PC nodes and a single
printer node, retails for $149.95.

ModularLink uses easily installed interface units which attach to the
parallel ports of the PC and printer and are connected via
standard telephone-type cabling.

ModularLink is designed for use in any parallel printer-based computing
environment and offers error-free data transmission at distances of up to
1,200 feet, the company said. The product's flexible topology
configurations allow for interconnection in daisy-chain, bus or
a combination of both approaches. Additionally, no external power is
required for most applications.

Primax Electronics can be reached at 800/338-3693 in the US.

(Computer Currents/19921215)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00023)

New For Mac: Franklin Quest Ascend PIM 12/15/92
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Franklin Quest Co.,
has released a version of Ascend, its personal information management
software for the Macintosh line of computers. Prior to this
development, Ascend was available only for PCs using Microsoft
Windows.

Ascend consists of 12 different modules to handle tasks, appointments,
notes, contacts, filing, goals, projects, etc. Ascend even has a
module for storing and retrieving your favorite literary quotes.
All of Ascend's modules follow the time management techniques taught by
Franklin Quest Company. Ascend can print task lists, calendars, and
other information directly onto Franklin Day Planner pages or onto
blank 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper.

The suggested retail list price for Ascend is $199. Franklin can be
reached at 801/975-9992.

(Computer Currents/19921215)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00024)

Tektronix Intros New Thermal Wax Color Printer 12/15/92
WILSONVILLE, OREGON, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Tektronix has
new additions to its Phaser line of color printers which
incorporate Postscript Level 2 software from Adobe.

The new printers, called the Phaser 200 family, are thermal wax
color printers which produce 300 dot-per-inch (dpi) output at two
pages per minute. In addition to printing on thermal wax paper, the
units include a new technology that allows them to print on
conventional laser printer paper.

The new line includes two models, the Phaser 200e and 200i. The 200e
uses a 16 megahertz (MHz) AMD 29000 RISC chip and comes standard
with 4 megabytes (MB) of memory, which can be doubled. The unit
includes 17 Type 1 fonts from Adobe, and another 22 fonts are
available with an optional font single inline memory module (SIMM).
Standard configuration includes parallel, serial, and AppleTalk
connections. TCP/IP and DECnet connections are available as options.

The Phaser 200i ships with 6MB of memory, expandable to 14, and
uses a 24 MHz AMD 29000 RISC processor. It ships with 39 Type 1
fonts, has a small computer system interface (SCSI) port for a font
drive, and has serial, parallel, and AppleTalk interfaces.
Optionally it can also be equipped for Ethertalk, TCP/IP or DECnet
interfaces. Dual paper trays are available for both machines.

Both systems use Tektronix's new ColorCoat thermal wax technology
which applies a transparent precoat in the areas of the laser
printer needed to print color. Jennifer Fox, spokesperson for
Tektronix, told Newsbytes that the 200i will have a suggested retail
price of $5,995 and that the 200e will sell for $3,695.

Tektronix introduced the Phaser line in July of last year with the
announcement of the Phaser II PXi. Fox said the PXi will be phased
out of the line.

Last week the company announced that it was splitting its television
and telecom division into two units. Daniel Terpack was named vice
president of the new telecommunications division effective December
21st. Lawrence Kaplan, who had headed the two divisions prior to the
split, said he would leave the company after the transition.

(Jim Mallory/19921215/Press contact: Kathy Melcher, Tektronix,
503-685-3150)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEN)(00025)

New For Mac: Envisio Ships Flat Panel Displays 12/15/92
ST PAUL, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Envisio has
announced that it is now shipping an external flat-panel color
display for use with Apple Macintosh and IBM-compatible computers.

Called ColorFrame, the 9 inch by 12 inch by 2.5 inch unit, which has
a screen size measuring 10.5 inches diagonally, uses active matrix
technology. The company says ColorFrame supports any color-capable
Apple Computer Macintosh, PowerBook 180 or 160, and IBM-compatible
PCs with VGA output. It can also be used with Apple's PowerBook 140
or 170 when combined with Envisio's ColorBook 16 or Notebook Display
Adapter.

Envisio says the display refresh rate is much faster than most LCD
panels, eliminating cursor "ghosting." It also utilizes correction
software which optimizes on-screen color for the Macintosh palette.

Flat screen displays are designed to reduce the image distortion at
the edge of convex cathode ray tubes in conventional monitors. The
company says the wide-angle view offered by the ColorFrame makes it
ideal for group presentations.

The technology is much more expensive than regular displays.
ColorFrame has a suggested retail price of $5,495.

(Jim Mallory/19921215/Press contact: Thomas Burke, Envisio,
612-339-1008; Reader contact: Envisio, 612-339-1008, fax
612-339-1369)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TOR)(00026)

Conversational Computers Compete With People In Tournament 12/15/92
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- The second
annual Loebner Prize competition for "thinking computers" takes
place today (Tuesday) at the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.

In a competition inspired by the ideas of British mathematician
Alan Turing and funded by New York philanthropist Dr. Hugh
Loebner, computers running artificial intelligence programs
converse with a panel of judges through terminals. Alongside the
computers are human carrying on similar conversations with the
judges, who don't know which are the computers and which the
people.

The idea is for the computer program to fool the judges into
thinking it is a person.

In a paper Turing published in 1950, he suggested that artificial
intelligence could be said to exist when judges asking questions
of a computer and a human, by way of an electronic connection, were
unable to tell which was which.

In the first Loebner Prize competition, 10 judges conversed via
terminals with six computer programs and two humans. While the
real people were identified as human by more judges than any of
the computers, one of the computers fooled half the judges, and
three of the judges took one of the human respondents for a
computer.

This year, three computer programs are entered. This is a
restricted competition: conversations are limited to one topic at
a time, though each program will have to handle limited
conversations on several topics. This year's topics include dream
analysis, relations between men and woman, hockey, and the Boston
Red Sox, a spokeswoman said.

The top prize in this year's restricted competition is a bronze
medal and $2,000. At some point in the future -- not yet
determined, the spokeswoman said -- the center plans an
unrestricted competition, where conversations will be allowed to
touch on any topic. The first computer to fool more than half the
judges in an unrestricted competition will earn a $100,000 prize
and the contest will end then, organizers said.

Last year's competition was held at the Boston Computer Museum,
and this year's was originally slated for mid-November, but was
delayed and moved to the Cambridge Center because of funding
delays.

(Grant Buckler/19921215/Press Contact: Cambridge Center for
Behavioral Studies, 617-436-4400, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00027)

IBM Takes 22% Stake In Caseworks 12/15/92
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- IBM has
bought a little more than 22 percent of Caseworks, Inc., an
Atlanta-based supplier of workstation-based application software
development tools.

Caseworks offers software development tools meant to help create
graphical user interface (GUI) applications for IBM's OS/2
operating system and other platforms. Caseworks' family of
products allows customers to build the GUI (graphical user interface)
component of client/server applications with a common look and feel
across platforms in multiple languages.

Caseworks has worked with IBM as an independent software vendor
(ISV) for some time and has exhibited its products in IBM booths
at trade shows, company spokeswoman Patricia Nicolas said. She
said the IBM investment "legitimizes" Caseworks' technology,
noting that the 22-percent stake is an unusually large position
for IBM to take in a company.

The announcement is "really the biggest news that Caseworks has
experienced in quite some time," she said.

Also, a new version of Caseworks' OS/2 GUI development tool is
now available.

CASE:PM VIP (Visual Integration Platform) uses IBM's CUA 91 user
interface specifications to generate the GUI components
exploiting IBM's 32-bit machine architectures.

Caseworks said that its products employ a patented knowledge-based
technology called Knowledge Assisted Software Engineering (KASE) which
allows customers to add, save, change, and reuse rules for generating
code, so that they can develop new application components quickly.

The company also announced a development agreement that will advance
the integration of Caseworks' OS/2 tools with IBM's AD/Cycle work-
group software development environment.

(Grant Buckler/19921215/Press Contact: Karla Feuer, IBM,
914-642-5473; Patricia Nicolas, Caseworks, 404-399-6236)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MOW)(00028)

 ****Moscow: Microsoft Registers First Russian Subsidiary 12/15/92
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- After months of speculation,
Microsoft has announced it has registered its first wholly owned
subsidiary, Microsoft A/O, in Russia. The new company has a
registered capital of $5,000.

To date, most of Microsoft's products have been sold in Russia through
third-party companies. That situation may change, as it has done in
other East European countries where Microsoft has got a foot in the
distribution door. Microsoft officials have said that the company
plans to invest several million dollars in the Russian operation.

Industry observers, however, suggest that it could take some time
before the software giant generates actual profits from its Russian
operations.

Microsoft A/O is headquartered at 14 Staraja Basmannaja St, Moscow and
will be headed by Robert Clough, a Californian University graduate who
was formerly a business development manager with Nantucket's
operations in Moscow.

Plans call for the new company to service the needs of all the
republics within the former Soviet Union, including the Asian and
Baltic republics.

Announcing the formation of the new company, Bernard Vergnes,
Microsoft Europe's president, said that there are no plans -- for the
time being at least -- to open any further subsidiaries in Central
Europe. This would appear to exclude the company's Romanian operation,
which opens for business after Christmas.

Vergnes was speaking at a two-day presentation at the
Balchug-Kempinsky hotel, a plush site in downtown Moscow. According to
Jurgen Stranghoener, Microsoft Eastern Europe's director, the
relatively low capitalization of the new company does not suggest that
Microsoft will not put money into the operation. Plans call, he said,
for the software giant to continue to invest in the Russian
market-place and for it to support the development of the software
industry in the country for the coming years.

Clough, Microsoft A/O's managing director, said that the new company
officially came into being on December 1, when it was first
registered. Plans call for business to start in early January, with
Microsoft taking on another nine staff early in the New Year,
complementing the two (including Clough) already on the payroll.

Clough is wasting no time when it comes to getting the show on the
road. A new price list for the company's complete range of products
has been issued and distributor orders will be accepted for delivery
from the beginning of January. Among the many products on the
company's price list are international versions of Windows, DOS, and
Works for DOS.

The new prices could spell the end for many profitable software import
operations in Russia. Pricing has been set in rubles, which
could cause a long-term headache for Microsoft in that cheap Russian-
sourced versions of its software could -- in theory at least -- be
exported to other Central European countries. Microsoft claims it can
handle the potential problem.

Microsoft is working on a number of local language editions of its
software, including Windows 3.1, Word for Windows, Works for Windows
and Excel for Windows.

The news contradicts previous reports that a Russian version for
Windows 3.1 would be available in November, 1992. Some Microsoft
sources had suggested that a swathe of Russian language editions of
Microsoft software would ship in the first quarter of 1993 -- that
suggestion now looks to have been over-optimistic.

Microsoft officials said they are also speaking with Apple about the
localization of Microsoft Excel for the Mac. This comes as something
of a surprise as some sources have indicated that there are barely
2,000 Macs in active use here in Russia.

Microsoft is wasting no time when it comes to new country operations.
Last month saw new subsidiaries open in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and
Poland. Plans are in hand for a new company to begin operations in
Bucharest, Romania in January.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19921215/Press Contact: Microsoft Moscow, Dmitry
Kartsev, phone [phone]; fax [phone]; Paul Robson,
Microsoft Germany, phone [phone] )


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00029)

 ****IBM To Cut 25,000 More Jobs, Manufacturing Capacity 12/15/92
ARMONK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- IBM plans to cut
its work force by another 25,000 people in 1993, and will cut
back its manufacturing capacity around the world. The cuts will
mean a special charge against IBM's fourth-quarter earnings of
about $6 billion, officials said.

The announcement, following a special board meeting Tuesday
afternoon, continues a series of restructuring measures that
included earlier cuts of 20,000 jobs and a reorganization of the
company into semi-autonomous operating units such as the IBM
Personal Computer Co., a consulting group, a mass-storage
products organization called Adstar, and most recently a group
focused on client/server computing.

IBM said it will give those units even more autonomy in 1993 as
it struggles to become more responsive to a fast-moving
market-place that some analysts say has left the technically
competent but slow-moving IBM behind.

IBM, which has for many years avoided outright layoffs, hopes to
achieve its job-cutting goals through voluntary means such as
early retirement incentives as much as possible. However, there
was a hint that the company's full-employment practice could soon
be a thing of the past in a prepared statement that quoted
Chairman John Akers as admitting "if current business conditions
do not improve significantly, however, it is likely that some
business units will be unable to maintain full employment in
1993."

Earlier this year, IBM announced an adjustment of its no-layoff
practice that shifted responsibility for avoiding layoffs to the
general managers of its business units. At the time, observers
suggested the move was a step toward eliminating the practice, a
contention that IBM spokespeople hotly denied.

IBM plans to cut development spending by about $1 billion in
1993. The company plans to shift spending and people to growth
areas such as services, software, client/server computing,
networking, and multimedia. The areas hardest hit by capacity
reductions will be old-line businesses such as Enterprise Systems
(mainframes), the Adstar storage systems group, and the
Technology Products operation.

IBM also said it expects its fourth-quarter operating results to
be below analysts' estimates and "in the break-even range." That,
coupled with the expected $6-billion special charge for further
restructuring, seems to guarantee a substantial loss in the
quarter.

Veteran IBM-watcher Robert Djurdjevic, editor of Annex Computer
Report in Phoenix, Arizona, said IBM is still not doing enough.
The company needs to reorganize its business around customer
needs and industry sectors rather than simply setting up units
based on its own product lines, he said.

IBM needs new blood in its top management, Djurdjevic said. Even
then, he added, the company can never regain the kind of industry
dominance it once enjoyed.

IBM officials could not be reached for further comment.

(Grant Buckler/19921215/Press Contact: Rob Wilson, IBM,
914-765-6565; Jim Ruderman, IBM, 914-765-6631)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00030)

 ****Syquest Seeking Monopoly, Nomai Alleges 12/15/92
AVRANCHES, FRANCE, U.S.A., 1992 DEC 15 (NB) -- Nomai is alleging that
Syquest is playing dirty and is attempting to retain its monopoly on
the removable cartridge market for the Syquest drives. Syquest filed
suit against Nomai S.A. and a consultant, Srinivasan "Ravi" Chari, for
making cartridges compatible with the Syquest drive.

Syquest manufacturers hard disk drives which feature removable
Winchester-disk cartridges. Chari, a technical consultant to Syquest
in the past, is accused of stealing the company's trade secrets and
aiding Nomai in doing so.

While Nomai hasn't shipped any Syquest compatible cartridges, Syquest
has posted a bond and gotten a temporary restraining order against
Nomai, claiming no one can make Syquest compatible cartridges without
violating or in some way using the company's trade secrets.

Nomai says it is considering a countersuit against Syquest and claims
Syquest is practicing anti-competitive trade practices as well as making
slanderous and libellous statements about Nomai products.

Syquest has said the Nomai 5.25-inch 44 megabyte (MB) and 88 MB
cartridges "could cause catastrophic head crash failures."

Syquest claims that it obtained this information by testing a sample
cartridge. Nomai says it asked Syquest to test the cartridges and
Director Marc Fouin says privately Syquest officials have told Nomai
the cartridges meet their specifications.

Syquest officials admitted to Newsbytes the company got the
cartridges from a visit to the French plant where Nomai officials
offered sample cartridges to Syquest sales representatives.

While there are other removable cartridge type storage
systems, such as the Bernoulli, Syquest has the only
Winchester-type removable cartridges. Nomai says this is a
monopoly and it wants to give Syquest drive owners a choice
from another manufacturing source.

(Linda Rohrbough/19921215/Press Contact: Marc Frouin, Nomai,
tel [phone], fax [phone])