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/1993/nb930329

Text File | 1993-03-29 | 62.4 KB | 1,418 lines

(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00001)

Berenstain Bears Ed. Software Teach Manners & 3 R's 03/29/93
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Compton's
Newmedia has introduced educational software for children with
a twist. The new Learning at Home series based on the popular
Berenstain Bears books not only offers the three R's, but also
teaches personal hygiene, etiquette, and safety, as do many of
the books.

The company has released the first title in the series,
Learning at Home Volume I, a whopping twenty megabytes of
graphics, animation, sound, and music geared toward children
between two and seven years old.

The Sister Bear character from the Berenstain Bears is the
subject of the first title, and the way she meets and interacts
with her family and her new friends is designed to offer
children the opportunity to learn how to handle social
situations as well as learn facts. Interactive learning games,
such as the clock game and identifying opposites, are available,
but so are is "bathroom safety" starring Bumbler Bear and a game
that features Sister Bear cleaning her room.

Children can point and click on any object displayed on the
screen and see the word associated with the object displayed
while it is pronounced by the computer. Some surprising
animations come alive at times as well to encourage exploration
of the program, Compton's added.

Volume I is $49.95 and requires a minimum of a 286-based IBM or
compatible personal computer (PC) with a minimum of 640
kilobytes of memory, DOS 3.3 or 5.0, and an EGA or VGA display.
A mouse or sound card is recommended, though it is not required
and the program supports all sound cards, Compton's said.
Volumes II and III are expected this Spring.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930325/Press Contact: Christina Germscheid,
Compton's Newmedia, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00002)

Lack Of Qualified Singaporeans Forces Airline To India 03/29/93
BOMBAY, INDIA, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Singapore Airlines (SIA) will
set up a software development center in Bombay, India, as a result
of its need for additional manpower. The airline attributes the
problem to "the rising cost and difficulty in recruiting and
retaining staff in Singapore."

According to Mui Chee Wai, manager, Northern India, Singapore
Airlines, the development facility at Bombay will generate cost
savings of about one million dollars per annum.

The company has awarded a contract to Bombay-based Datamatics
Ltd. to recruit 30 persons to work for SIA, exclusively for a
period of five years. The selected candidates will be trained
as TPF programmers. TPF, which stands for Transaction Processing
Facility, is an operating system which allows for very fast
processing. Applications such as passenger reservations,
cargo handling and departure control run under TPF.

At the end of the five-year period, a joint venture company may
be set up with the same corporation to sell services in the open
market. "This approach will lessen the risks of starting an
offshore operation," explained Chee Wai.

"While evaluating offshore facilities, the factors we considered
were labor costs, availability and reliability of data
communication links, and the vendor's track record and experience
in managing offshore development projects," he added. Datamatics
has already undertaken large software projects for clients in
US and Europe, including the management of remote software
development and maintenance for the US telecom giant AT&T.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19930326)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00003)

Tandy Handheld Being Sold To Norand 03/29/93
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Tandy's proposed
spin-off subsidiary, TE Electronics, has signed a non-binding letter
of intent to sell its Micronic hand-held computer operation to
Norand Corporation. The Micronic product line is marketed primarily
in Germany, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Finland,
and France.

The transaction is still subject to the approval of governmental
authorities and the signing of a definitive agreement.

The sale to Norand reportedly involves the purchase of certain assets
and selected sales, marketing and procurement rights to the Micronics
product line. It also involves the assumption of some short-term
liabilities.

According to Norand, the purchase would be a cash transaction,
financed by a new working capital line on the purchased assets and
some long-term seller financing. The closing date is anticipated
within 90 days.

In addition, TE has announced that it was adjusting "the goodwill
associated therewith in the amount of $20 million in recognition of
this pending sale and the recent management decision to close two
of Tandy/Grid-Europe's smaller European offices."

The additional charge will be included in the company's results for
the six months ended December 31, 1992. The company says that
the pending sale will delay the filing of Tandy's Form 10-K
and other Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) filings and the
release of results for the six months ended December 31, 1992.
Those filings and release are now expected to be April 7, 1993.

(Ian Stokell/19930326/Press Contact: Philip M. Bradtmiller,
817-390-3731, TE Electronics Inc.)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00004)

Corel In OEM Deal With Compaq 03/29/93
OTTAWA, CANADA, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Original equipment
manufacturing agreements, in which a company takes another firm's
product and bundles it with its own, are an increasingly important
form of revenue for many vendors. In many cases, companies do
not sell their products direct to the public at all. Corel
has signed an OEM agreement with Compaq Computer in which Compaq will
offer the CorelDraw PC graphics package through its new direct
response program, called Compaq DirectPlus.

The bundling of software products is especially popular for
personal computer vendors who are trying to add extra value to their
hardware in the face of increasingly fierce market competition.

CorelDRAW is also available in a stand-alone version, with
future plans calling for pre-installation on Compaq PCs.

In announcing the deal, Dr. Michael Cowpland, president and CEO of
Corel, said: "With powerful drawing, painting, charting, and
presentation programs integrated into one package, CorelDraw is a
definite asset and an essential productivity package for the small
business audience that DirectPlus is targeting."

Barbara Krumland, vice president, Compaq DirectPlus, said:
"CorelDraw customers will enjoy the ability to purchase, from a
single source, the Compaq PC, CorelDRAW and other options they
may require to optimize their graphics systems."

According to Compaq, its DirectPlus program, includes a
combination of "competitively priced products," application
software packages, preconfigured hardware and software, a
trade-in rebate program, three-year warranty, and three levels
of service and support.

CorelDraw 3.0 combines illustration, photo editing and painting,
charting and presentation modules in a single package. The
software includes CorelTrace, a stand-alone color/black and
white autotracing utility, and CorelMosaic, a visual file manager
that allows batch importing, exporting, and printing. A bonus
CD-ROM offers more than 14,000 uncompressed clip art symbols
and images, more than 250 TrueType and Type 1 fonts, animation
flicks, and sample CorelChart templates, bitmaps, and special
effects.

(Ian Stokell/19930329/Press Contact: Media Relations,
Janie Sullivan, media relations assistant of Corel, 613-728-8200,
ext. 1672, or Mike Berman of Compaq Computer, 713-374-2510)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(NYC)(00005)

Social Security Numbers Not Public Info, Says Court 03/29/93
JEFFERSON VALLEY, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- The
Washington Office of Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility (CPSR) has announced that a federal court of
appeals has ruled that Virginia's release of the Social
Security numbers (SSN) of registered voters violates the
Constitution.

CPSR had filed an amicus brief with the court in support of a
suit brought by Marc Greidinger, a resident of Falmouth,
Virginia. According to Greidinger, the State of Virginia
refused to register him as a voter unless he provided his
Social Security number. CPSR, which had testified before
the US Congress and the state legislature in Virginia about
growing problems with the misuse of the SSN, provided both
technical and legal support to Mr. Greidinger.

CPSR also worked with Paul Wolfson of the Public Citizen
Litigation Group, who argued the case for Mr. Greidinger.

In its brief, CPSR noted the long-standing interest of the
computing profession in the design of safe information
systems and the particular concerns about the misuse of the SSN.
The CPSR brief traced the history of the SSN provisions in the
1974 Privacy Act. The brief also described how the widespread
use of SSNs had led to a proliferation of banking and credit
crime and how SSNs were used to fraudulently obtain credit records
and federal benefits.

In the court's ruling, it noted that when Congress passed the
Privacy Act of 1974 to restrict the use of the Social
Security number, the misuse of the SSN was "one of the
most serious manifestations of privacy concerns in the
Nation."

The Court then said that since 1974, concerns about SSN
confidentiality have "become significantly more compelling.
For example, armed with one's SSN, an unscrupulous individual
could obtain a person's welfare benefits, or Social Security
benefits, order new checks at a new address, obtain credit cards,
or even obtain the person's paycheck."

The Court said that Virginia's voter registration scheme would
"compel a would-be voter in Virginia to consent to the possibility
of a profound invasion of privacy when exercising the fundamental
right to vote." The Court held that Virginia must either stop
collecting the SSN or stop publicly disclosing it.

Commenting on the decision, Marc Rotenberg, director of the CPSR
Washington office said, "We are extremely pleased with the Court's
decision. It is a remarkable case, and a real tribute to Marc
Greidinger's efforts. Still, there are many concerns remaining
about the misuse of the Social Security number. We would like to
see public and private organizations find other forms of
identification for their computing systems. As the federal court
made clear, there are real risks in the misuse of the Social
Security number."

Rotenberg also said that he hoped the White House task force currently
studying plans for a national health care claims payment system would
develop an identification scheme that did not rely on the Social
Security number. He said, "The privacy concerns with medical
records are particularly acute. It would be a serious design error
to use the SSN."

The Court's opinion is available from the CPSR Internet Library via
Gopher/ftp/WAIS. The file name is "cpsr/ssn/greidinger_opinion.txt." The
CPSR amicus brief is available as "cpsr/ssn/greidinger_brief.txt."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/David Banisar, Computer
Professionals For Social Responsibility,
[e-mail]/19930322)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00006)

Australia - WordPerfect 6.0 Previewed 03/29/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- WordPerfect Australia
showed the Australian press the upcoming WordPerfect version six
for DOS. In an effort to lift the event from the ordinary,
Wordperfect put on a special event for the journalists.

They were first shuttled to Sydney airport, then loaded into
five-seater helicopters. (WordPerfect had thoughtfully sent out
RayBan sunglasses a week earlier.) After takeoff, the choppers
did a circuit over the city and skirted Sydney Harbour before
taking a quick trip back to Randwick Racecourse where "Wordperfect
SIX0" was set into the turf in huge letters.

Then it was inside for a look at the product. All this reporter
can say is, thank goodness the helicopters didn't have the same
habit of crashing that the software had. While those attending
were impressed with the product, it was still beta software, and
crashed many times (as did the slide-show software that was used
to introduce the product.)

Although WordPerfect pointed out that it was non-optimized
software, most journalists were surprised to see how slow the
software was in graphical mode. Scrolling through a document on
the 486 machine was much slower than any Windows application.

The new version will probably ship in early third quarter. It gives
DOS users a choice of the familiar text-based interface with or
without pull-down menus and button bars, or a full graphical user
interface (GUI) with all the bells and whistles that one would
expect of a Windows product. It will run in much less than 640K
of memory (compared to the megabytes needed by Windows programs),
but is probably not suitable for less than a 386 PC.

Other features include direct faxing (via fax modem), improved
tables, a complete spreadsheet subsystem and a "coach" system to
guide users through operations. Users can now edit documents while
in page-preview mode. Nine documents can be edited and viewed
simultaneously.

(Paul Zucker/19930326)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00007)

Singapore Office For Progress Software 03/29/93
SINGAPORE, SEA, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Progress Software Corporation
is establishing a wholly owned subsidiary office in Singapore.

Progress is an application development system that operates on
a number of platforms. It consists of a fourth generation
language, a relational database system, and a range of end-user
query and reporting tools and developer aids.

With the Singapore office, Progress now has 15 wholly owned
subsidiaries worldwide. In the Asia-Pacific region these include
Australia (headquarters), Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines,
Taiwan, Thailand, and New Zealand. The regional director is Stephen
Brady. He is responsible for all product and support operations
in the region.

"As the software capital of ASEAN (Association of South East
Asian Nations), Singapore provides an ideal location within the
Pacific Rim to increase our presence in the area," said Brady.

Base Management, the former distributor of Progress in
Singapore/Malaysia, is now a Progress VAR (value-added reseller).

(Paul Zucker/19930326)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MOW)(00008)

Novell Expands Russian Operations 03/29/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Novell Eastern European
director, Mrs. Gita Holloch, recently visited the company's
numerous Russian partners and announced a number of changes in
the company's Russian trade strategy.

The company is debating whether to assign a full-time
representative and open an office in Moscow later. Novell does plan
to train and certify its dealers, and provide them with a broader
range of support materials than they currently have. Up to 15
companies will receive the internationally recognized "authorized
reseller" titles in May 1993, according to Mrs. Holloch.

Changing its trading patterns, the company will also start selling
software to large accounts in Russia. Novell will also actively
support a recently established users group.

Companies selling Novell local area networking products in
Russia include Interprocom, Unitech, Merisel, Softtronic, and Lanit
companies.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19930326)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(HKG)(00009)

Hong Kong - Integrated Pager and Handset 03/29/93
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Chevalier (Telepoint) Ltd.,
 a joint venture between Chevalier (OA) International Holdings, and OTC
International (HK) Ltd., Australia's national and international
telecommunications carrier, has become the first CT2 operator in Hong
Kong to announce an integrated pager and CT2 handset.

CT2, introduced into Hong Kong last year, is the latest in cordless
telephone technology. Users are able to make outgoing calls but not
receive incoming calls. Chevalier is now enhancing the service with
a small paging unit that snaps right into the handset. When
customers are paged and are within range of one of Chevalier's 2,500
base stations, they can immediately return the call.

"The integrated pager is the next step in our aggressive roll out
program to bring new levels of service to our Hong Kong customers,"
said Neil Montefiore, managing director of Chevalier (Telepoint) Ltd.

"The new clip-on pager is completely compatible with all our existing
Chevalier CT2 handsets," Mr Montefiore told Newsbytes, "which means
new customers can buy their Chevalier CT2 handset now and add the
pager later and existing customers have a clear upgrade path, so their
investment is safe."

Chevalier claims to be the first company in the world to offer such a
service.

The pager system is currently undergoing tests and will be available
for distribution in June this year. Orders are already being
accepted. There will be a choice of two types of pagers, those with
numeric or alpha-numeric displays.

The base stations are good for a radius of 150 meters. Due to the
rather confined space in Hong Kong, the base stations' respective
coverages often overlap. However, this does not allow the caller to
become totally mobile because the CT2 system must stay locked into one
allocated line per base station. If the caller wanders out of range,
the connection will be lost.

"Over 1,900 of our base stations are equipped with six lines, which is
more than ample," Neil Montefiore told Newsbytes. "Our competitors,
like Hutchison, have installed base stations equipped with only two
lines."

Chevalier have currently 40,000 active CT2 subscribers in Hong Kong,
said Mr Montefiore.

The Chevalier (Telepoint) network is claimed to have doubled in size
since its launch less than a year ago. Base stations are now located
at all the major urban areas throughout the territory, including over
100 government housing estates, as well as strategic locations such as
bank automatic teller machines (ATMs) and major transportation hubs.

Chevalier is planning to increase the number of base stations in the
territory to four thousand in about a year.

"Chevalier has set up a strong competitive position in Hong Kong,"
said Montefiore, "Investment in new technology, such as the integrated
pager, and superior customer service are the issues that will make CT2
the universal communications medium of the future."

(Brett Cameron/19930327/Press Contact: Neil Montefiore, Chevalier,
Tel: [phone];HK time is GMT + 8)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00010)

 ****Electronic Pub Conf - Geschke Details "Acrobat" 03/29/93
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Charles
Geschke, founder, president and CEO of Adobe Systems,
was an appropriate keynote speaker for the first conference
on Electronic Publishing sponsored last week by the Graphics
Communication Association, but not necessarily because his
company represents the future of electronic publishing,
according to some attendees.

Geschke spoke about the pivotal role his company has played
in linking computers with publishing, and then led into a
pitch for Adobe's new product focus, dubbed "Acrobat."

The Acrobat project is an attempt to define a portable
document format that will be used for the interchange of
documents in a paperless way, but nonetheless in a format
identical to the one presented on paper.

Adobe's answer to this is effectively a rework of Display
Postscript, the display and windowing system Adobe developed
for platforms such as the Next computer. Acrobat's portable
document format is effectively the Postscript language, which
made Adobe wealthy, with printer control removed, but with the
added ability to tag parts of the document and navigate through it.

Geschke's main argument is compelling. People are spending
a fortune copying, filing, mailing, faxing and sending by courier
documents that were generated on computers. Over $11
billion is spent per year on courier services. Three hours
of every manager's time is spent per week looking for
documents. It makes a lot of sense to send the computer
information that constitutes the document via computer
networks, and even today many people are doing just that.

Adobe's plan is to formalize electronic documents and let the
receiver of a document, not the generator, decide whether to view
it on a screen or print it.

The main advantage of Adobe's idea is that it can be derived
from Postscript. Adobe will launch Acrobat with "distiller"
programs which look like ordinary print drivers. Print
Postscript to the distiller print driver and voila! One has an
Acrobat file that is considerably smaller and simpler
than the Postscript version, using JPEG and other compressions
for images, among other tricks.

This will be useful for those who just want to eliminate
the last step of their document process -- the sending to
the printer. Down the road Adobe plans to incorporate
mechanisms to edit and massage Acrobat files, including
as a replacement for processes such as COM (computer
output to microfilm), faxing, and other such activities.

The audience for this keynote -- primarily documentation
managers for large companies, along with electronic
publishers -- was not entirely receptive. For some it was a
good solution, but for many it does not seem to go far
enough.

The push among this audience is towards higher level
document interchange, primarily using SGML, the markup
language standard that stores the structure of documents
rather than their final rendition.

Most of the conference focussed on systems dedicated to SGML and
its competitors. When windows are resized they want the text
to modify itself. Document developers want one source document
that can be displayed differently, and appropriately, on paper
and on screens of various sizes and resolutions. Acrobat is not
that -- the final Acrobat document retains exactly the same layout
no matter what the medium -- or what fonts are available on the
target machine. This is touted as a feature, and correctly so, but
the question by some was whether it solved the right problem.

Adobe says it is "betting the company" on Acrobat as its
new generation technology.

(Brad Templeton/19930329)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(ATL)(00011)

IBM Workstation In Computer Stores 03/39/93
MANHASSET, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- In a move
that reflects the changing fates of retailing, IBM RS/6000
workstations will be featured on computer store shelves through
an agreement between Decom Mid-America Inc., Oak Brook, Ill., and
Spectrum Information Technology's Computer Bay chain.

Computer Bay is adding the RS/6000 to its line in order to
provide support for the Unix operating system. Spectrum
specializes in remote computing applications, but Computer Bay is
a full-line retail operation. Any Computer Bay reseller who gets
authorization will become an IBM Industry Remarketer Affiliate of
Devcom under the agreement. The agreement should be in full swing
in the next 45 days.

Computer Bay is a franchisee which has 280 affiliates. They are
already an advanced product dealer aggregator for IBM products
and a value-added distributor for other hardware companies.

DevCom is best known for its FaxFX, a fax package for Unix-based
systems. The system could be integrated with mobile computing
systems offered by Spectrum and Computer Bay to automate sales
and repair staff, with the RS/6000 as a central facility serving
the mobile workforce.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930329/Press Contact: Jean Young, for
Spectrum, 301-309-9404)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00012)

Evans and Sutherland To Make Video Games 03/29/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- US military supplier Evans
and Sutherland, seeking innovative ways to cope with the US
military downsizing, has linked with Japan's game machine
maker Namco to develop game software based on E&S's
computerized flight simulation systems.

Namco, hoping to develop various advanced game programs,
will have access to the three-dimensional computer graphics
technology of Evans and Sutherland. E&S has supplied its
aircraft simulation systems to the US military and NASA for
years and has also produced computer graphics systems for
private airline firms. A similar level of graphic sophistication
is expected to appear now in the Namco games.

Namco will apply E&S's graphics technology in coming
"virtual reality" arcade games.

The link up between a gamemaker and a military-related firm
is the second for a US and Japanese company. Japan's second
largest game machine maker Sega Enterprises has tied with
the military industry division of General Electric. Both
firms are developing next-generation game software
incorporating GE's virtual reality technology.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930329/Press Contact: Namco, +81-3-
3756-2311, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00013)

Federal Register Added To First! Service 03/29/93
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Individual
Inc., has added Counterpoint Publishing's daily electronic edition
of the Federal Register to its daily custom news service, First!
The register is a daily publication of the US government,
containing all rules, proposed rules, notices, and presidential
documents published by federal regulatory agencies.

The First! service filters news from a number of sources,
including major news wires, and selects items according to
interest profiles created by its subscribers. All current
subscribers will now receive material from the Federal Register
if it fits their profiles, company spokeswoman Liz Bishop said,
although subscribers can choose to have specific sources excluded
from their profiles.

Subscribers pay for the First! service based on the number of
stories they receive, Bishop said.

Counterpoint Publishing makes the Federal Register available on a
compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) disk updated weekly.
Material will be downloaded to Individual's service nightly,
Bishop said.

Individual was founded in 1989, and officials said it currently
has about 14,000 subscribers for its First! service. Bishop said
material for First! comes from a total of about 20 information
providers, some of which provide more than one information feed.

(Grant Buckler/19930329/Press Contact: Majed Tomeh or Liz Bishop,
Individual Inc., 617-354-2230; Jonathan Robbins, Counterpoint
Publishing, 617-547-4515)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00014)

Canadian Product Launch Update 03/29/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- This regular
feature, appearing every Monday or Tuesday, provides further
details for the Canadian market on announcement by international
companies that Newsbytes has already covered. This week: Lotus
Notes 3.0, new PCs from Unisys, and some price cuts on Toshiba
notebooks.

Version 3.0 of Lotus's Notes work-group applications platform was
launched in Canada concurrent with the US launch (Newsbytes,
March 24 & 25). A single client or server license costs C$569 in
Canada, and the Starter Pack for Microsoft Windows is priced at
C$1,149.

In Canada, the Basic support package is C$359 per year or C$59
per call; Premium is C$2,999 per year or C$179 per call.

Unisys Canada launched five new models in its PW2 Advantage
line of personal computers. All the models are based on Intel's
486 chips. The PW2 Advantage models 4253, 4256, 4333, 4336, and
4666 were introduced in the United States in early March
 (Newsbytes, March 8).

Toshiba of Canada has cut prices on the T6400/200 and
T6400C/200 notebooks, the latter of which was just introduced to
the European market at the CeBIT fair in Hannover, Germany
 (Newsbytes, March 26). The new prices ate C$6,399 for the
T6400/200 and C$9,899 for the color-display T6400C/200. Toshiba
Canada has also stopped selling the earlier T6400DX and T6400DXC
models.

(Grant Buckler/19930329/Press Contact: Cohn & Wolfe for Lotus
Canada, 416-924-5700; Sam Orthlieb, Toshiba of Canada,
416-470-3478, fax [phone]; Public Contact: Lotus Canada,
416-979-8000; Toshiba of Canada, 416-470-3478)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00015)

Offshore Data Entry Becoming Popular 03/29/93
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 29 (NB) -- Need a
paper document converted to computer form? Just call one of
several firms that will type it in for you at a low price --
by sending the work offshore.

It's often predicted that in the data network world of the
future, geographic locality will mean little, and people in
foreign countries willing to work for far lower wages will
compete head to head with domestic labor.

That's already true in data entry, where some of the biggest
firms now do all their work in Manila, Jamaica or India. A
few of the firms doing this were promoting their services at
the first conference on Online Publishing held last week in
Pittsburgh, PA.

Call Innodata Corporation in Brooklyn and you'll get an office
with only a few people. The firm has 1500 employees in the
Philippines, most of them university graduates. You courier
your material over and they have two low-wage staffers type
it in independently. Then the two results are compared in
digital form to find almost all errors -- after all, every
typist makes typos, but two typists are unlikely to make the
very same typo.

The result is sent back by high speed data link and you pay
around 70 cents per kilobyte -- a price not available in the
USA, where that cost might buy one typist with minimal
proofing.

For 40 to 50 cents/kilobyte these same employees will have
OCR equipment do the conversion and then they will proof the
many errors OCR today makes.

Other firms are doing the same thing, since it can be very
cheap to set up an office in one of these nations with a
lower wage standard.

These services tend to hunt the larger jobs that are many
megabytes in size. Many large firms facing huge jobs of
document conversion -- in many cases to put all their
documents online in a common format -- are moving to
offshore service bureaus like this.

The trend many predicted for the future may be here today.
There is also question by some that this may lead to data
sweatshops, and speculation that Russia may be the next
country to take a strong role in this industry. It has
already become common to hire cut-rate scientists and
programmers from Russia and China in this fashion.

(Brad Templeton/19930329/Press Contacts: Innodata 718-625-7750,
Data Conversion Laboratory, 718-357-8700, Saztec International
503-343-8640)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00016)

CeBIT - Zenith Unveils Galaxy Exchange Routers 03/29/93
HANNOVER, GERMANY, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Zenith Electronics has
announced a new version of its Galaxy network router that allows
private X.25 networks to be linked together. The company claims
that this new version is a major step forward in networking terms.

Up to seven X.25 network links can be hooked together using the new
Galaxy router. Newsbytes asked a company representative why, if
X.25 networks are supposed to adhere to an internationally agreed
standard, it should be necessary to use a router to link them
together.

"The problem is that different countries have slightly different
X.25 standards. The Galaxy router gets around this by allow a
variety of different X.25 "enhanced" standard networks to be
linked together," explained a spokesman on the company's stand
at CeBIT.

In use, Galaxy Exchange allows users to interface Token Ring and
Ethernet networks with X.25 networks, with the router doing all the
legwork when it comes to converting between the protocols used.
Despite this flexibility, the US company claims its Galaxy Exchange
router costs a lot less than the competition, with prices starting
from $5,995.

(Steve Gold/19930329/Press & Public Contact: Zenith Electronics -
Tel [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00017)

CeBIT - Gammalink's Fax Strategy For UK 03/29/93
HANNOVER, GERMANY MAR 29 (NB) -- Gammalink, the US computer fax
board manufacturer, is making use of its platform at CeBIT to
announce its plans to develop the British market for its products.

Rather than rely on the entire distribution channel in the UK to
handle its products, Gammalink has begun manufacturing in the UK, as
well as signing a local distribution agreement for the country. At the
same time, the company has announced a fax server partner program, a
liaison program between itself and its major fax server resellers.

The whole aim of all this, according to the Sunnyvale, California-
based company, is to establish the Gammalink name in the UK, rather
than be known as "just another fax board supplier."

According to Douglas Stone, Gammalink's president, the company
products will be distributed in the UK by Northamber, rather than its
former agent, Comwave. "Northamber has an excellent reputation for
customer support and technical expertise, both of which is essential
for our customer base," he said.

The UK partners for Gammalink's server partner program are Alcom,
Cracchiolo & Feder, Octus Software, Optus, Traffic Software and
Transfax. They will be backed up by a new office, which will be sited
at a location to be decided, in the UK.

In the immediate term, Gammalink has signed a local manufacturing
agreement with Scantronics, a Greenford, Middlesex-based company.
Terms of the agreement call for Scantronics to manufacture the fax
boards in the UK. Although the company claims this will cost more in
the short term, it will shorten delivery times, as well a act as an
"insurance" against any trade wars between the US and Europe which
look likely, judging from current events. Gammalink's products
are already being manufactured by Scantronics in the US.

Charles Heindel, Gammalink's director of international operations,
said that local manufacturing also makes life a lot easier when it
comes to obtaining local country telecom approvals, "Local
manufacturing is vital to properly serve a marketplace. With the debut
of our new products, this agreement has added significance," he said.

(Steve Gold/19930329/Press & Public Contact: Gammalink - Tel: (US)
408-744-1400; Fax: (US) 408-744-1900)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00018)

CeBIT - Cray Communications Demos ISDN 03/29/93
HANNOVER, GERMANY, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Cray Communications is busy at
CeBIT promoting its relatively new communications division, acquired
last year when the Dowty Group was folded into its UK operations.

According to the company, integrated services digital network (ISDN)
is the way forward in terms of future networks. While this statement
could cause a few raised eyebrows in the ranks of Token Ring and
Ethernet network users, the company backs it up by pointing to the
high speeds, multimedia nature, and flexibility of ISDN services.

Cray Communications claims to be at the forefront of ISDN service
development, with its membership of the CCITT, ETSI and IEEE standards
bodies. In addition, the company is a member of the Research and
Development in Advanced Communications in Europe (RACE) project.

Barry Gilder, the company's marketing director, summed it all up by
claiming that organizations are now taking a much more pragmatic and
longer term view of their datacomms requirements, rather than "mixing
and matching," as has been the case over the last decade.

"New information technology projects are now more likely to be aligned
with corporate objectives. They are also being carefully planned and
implemented, and their successes measured with more attention. It's
therefore increasingly important that the system components used
within an application collectively provide the performance required to
satisfy that application against corporate requirements," he
explained.

ISDN may be the network of the future, but what about integrating all
the various network and existing data communications systems
together? That's where Domainview, Cray's network management system,
comes in. According to the company, it forms the "glue" that holds
all the various network technologies together.

Domainview was demonstrated at the Cray stand at CeBIT. The
system is actually a complex series of hardware and software
switches, all leading down to a central control system, interfacing
with mere humans with a graphical software package.

The software, which runs on several computing platforms, including
PC, Sun, and RS/6000 workstations, consists of a foundation system, on
to which is strung a series of product specific modules (PSMs) that
control the various pieces of hardware. The idea, according to a
spokesman for the company demonstrating the system, is that users can
customize the Domainview system to meet their needs, adding or
subtracting PSMs as required.

"One of the strengths of Domainview is that it can be run on a variety
of hardware platforms," explained Glider, adding that this flexibility
gives a continuity and consistency that no other system can offer.

Gilder cited the example of a user controlling his/her network using a
Sun workstation. Later on, the company may decide to switch to an IBM
RS/6000 system. Domainview, he claimed, can work on both hardware
platforms, with the same graphical user interface.

(Steve Gold/19930329/Press & Public Contact: Cray Communications -
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00019)

CeBIT - Wollongong Ships Pathway Messaging 03/29/93
HANNOVER, GERMANY, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Wollongong Europe, the
networking company, announced at CeBIT that it has begun shipping
Pathway messaging, its new family of open system networking messaging
software.

According to David Langlais, the company's vice president of
marketing, Pathway Messaging is Wollongong's response to the growing
demand for enterprise-wise electronic mail. The package is available
in Unix, Apple Computer Macintosh and PC (DOS and Windows) flavors,
and interconnects the three hardware platforms together as far as
e-mail is concerned.

"Pathway Messaging fulfills, almost directly, the stated messaging
needs of mid to large-scale companies who have already trodden
down the dead-end road trying to connect islands of e-mail," Langlais
explained.

Langlais reckons that the market now realizes that network
architecture should be based on standards that provide the greatest
potential for open systems networks that are both flexible and
scalable. "We bring open standards right to the desktop, as opposed to
LAN-based proprietary systems," he said.

So how does Pathway messaging work? From a user's perspective, the
software provides an intuitive interface on all three hardware
platforms, all of which present the same graphical interface. Messages
may be sent or received, in either ASCII or binary mail format --
programs, for example, can be clicked upon using a mouse and attached
to the mail message as items. They are then sent on their way by the
software.

In reality, Pathway Messaging uses a variety of systems to get its
message through. In most cases, the software uses TCP/IP protocol to
feed its messages between computing platforms.

The technology, although simple, costs quite a lot. Prices quoted to
Newsbytes for a server started at $12,995, while a single-user node,
known as a messenger client, costs $249 per node licence.

(Steve Gold/19930329/Press & Public Contact: Wollongong Europe - Tel:
[phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00020)

CeBIT - Speed Up Network RAID Systems By 500% 03/29/93
HANNOVER, GERMANY, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- One of the problems with
networked redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAIDs) is the lack of
speed with which data writes to the disk surface. Now a US company,
Chantal Systems, a division of Buslogic, exhibiting at CeBIT,
claims to have solved that problem for Netware users with its
Paragon Array package.

The aim of the package, according to Frank Bellucci, the San Diego-
based company's engineering manager, is to speed up disk writes by as
much as 500 percent, without losing the benefit of any of the
verification checks carried out on the disk surface.

This is done by creating an image of the "stripe" of the disk surface
in memory and feeding all data to that image. Only when the stripe is
full is it written to the physical disk. Data transaction backups are
maintained, meaning that, if the power fails, the transactions can be
rolled back.

Traditionally, three operations take place when a RAID system
receives data: a read operation, then a modify operation, and
finally a write operation. This R-M-W sequence takes
place for several block of data so, for a magnetic stripe on the
disk surface, the complete write sequence can take several tenths
of a second.

The Paragon Array package's technique is known as intelligent stripe
job combination (ISJC). According to Bellucci, RAID systems have not
delivered the performance that users have expected, owing to the R-M-J
sequence. "With Paragon 3.0, we provide fault tolerance and a
substantial increase in performance over other RAID 5 products," he
said.

In addition to the ISJC technology, Paragon also supports a "hot swap"
facility that allows for the automatic replacement of a failed drive
by using a previously installed standby drive. If a drive in the array
fails, data destined for that drive is written to the standby, while
all retrievable data is moved to the new drive. Lost data is recreated
using the transaction logs and written to the new drive "on the fly."

This extends the fault tolerance facility of a RAID storage system by
preventing any system downtime. Some RAID systems have to be slowed
down or even taken off-line to allow the system to recreate and
replace the data automatically when a major drive goes down.

(Steve Gold/19930329/Press & Public Contact: Chantal Systems - Tel:
619-621-2810)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00021)

CeBIT - Create A CD-ROM On The Desktop In 33 Minutes 03/29/93
HANNOVER, GERMANY, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Mathematica is showing its
Tempra CD Maker software at CeBIT this week. The Windows-based
package allows users to "burn" CDs (compact discs) on their
desktop PCs in just 33 minutes, the company claims.

The package is the final block in a suite of CD-ROM (compact disc
read-only memory) packages that the company supplies to allow
PC users to create their own CD-ROM discs. According to the
Lakeland, Florida-based company, CDs created with Tempra are
completely compatible with all CD-ROM systems, unlike some
competing systems.

"This move to Windows marks the culmination of many years of hard work
in adapting the standards for high quality imaging, which we helped to
set by introducing Tempra Pro before it became the "popular" thing to
do," explained Derek Hodges, president of Mathematica, adding that, as
soon as Windows New Technology (Windows NT) arrives, the company will
release a Tempra suite of software for that environment.

At $2,500, Tempra 3.0 is the most expensive offering in Mathematica's
range of CD-ROM technology. At the other end of the scale is
"Multimedia: Making It work," a book from the company on how
multimedia works and how CDs can be created.

(Steve Gold/19930329/Press & Public Contact: Mathematica - Tel: US,
813-682-1128)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00022)

CeBIT - Moon Shines Over Europe 03/29/93
HANNOVER, GERMANY, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Moon Valley Software is
one of the smaller software houses exhibiting at the CeBIT
computer faire this week, but that hasn't stopped the Phoenix,
Arizona-based company from thinking big.

According to the company, several deals with European distributors are
being worked out at CeBIT. Pete Ryan, president of the company, says
that the time is right to unleash Moon Valley's "goofball" range of
packages on Europe.

"We're watching the emerging mass computer market develop in Europe
and feel the time is right for our family of 'utilitainment' titles.
We're eager to find distributors in selected European countries," he
said.

At CeBIT, Ryan and his staff are showing the company's trio of
"utilitainment" packages: Icon Do-It, Icon Hear-It and Icon Make-It.
The first package is an icon and screen saver utility, while the
second allows Windows users to add sounds to their files.

Icon Hear-It allows all types of sound files to be "attached" to an
icon. For example, if the erase option is selected on a file, then the
sound of pencil eraser can be heard or, as a file is closed, Arnold
Schwarzenegger can be heard saying "I'll be back."

Icon Make-It, as the name implies, allows icons to be created and
edited under Windows. Like the other two utilities, this package sells
for $49.95.

(Steve Gold/19930329/Press & Public Contact: Moon Valley Software -
Tel: (US) 602-375-9502)


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

CeBIT - Swatch Watch Maker Offers Designer Mice 03/29/93
HANNOVER, GERMANY, 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Just when you thought that
the computer industry was safe from fashion, Sicos Computer
Accessories (SCA) has unveiled the 1993 designer range of
computer mice. In a mini fashion show held at CeBIT, the
German mouse manufacturer showed off the latest season of
mice, backed by a complementary range of mouse mats.

The designer collection is an annual creation by the German
company, produced after the great success of its Luigi Colani
mouse, unveiled at CeBIT last year. This year's offerings
include the designer annual collection and a new Limited
Edition set of mice.

According to the company, this year's "in" design is the "bio mouse,"
a hand-friendly shaped mouse in what Newsbytes can only describe as
the graphical equivalent of an explosion in a spaghetti factory --
various background colors, with a melee of coloured squiggles
printed on them.

The annual collection was designed by Niklaus Troxler, who has been
responsible for creating several hundred Swatch watch designs. The
concept shows through in his mice.

Troxler refers to his mouse creation as falling into three series:
tropical, jazz, and dance. He admits that the design is similar to
the Flack series of Swatch watches.

"Colorful lines and fragments in loose and unconfined arrangement
produce entertaining pictures. A move from abstract to the concrete --
just like work on a computer," he said when introducing his mice.

The Limited Edition, meanwhile, are range of mice in three "comic
style" formats: Don't drop, Jackpot and Service. Though not as a
colorful as Troxler's creations, these are expected to cost even more
on account of their relative scarcity.

Pricing on all the Sicos mice will be announced after CeBIT.
Newsbytes anticipates that pricing on the mice will be similar
to "designer" clothes -- i.e. rather higher than potential
customers expect!

(Steve Gold/19930329/Press & Public Contact: Excom AG International -
Tel: Switzerland, [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00024)

 ****Microsoft Says MS-DOS 6.0 Pre-Launch Sales "Incredible" 03/29/93
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Microsoft says
pre-launch sales of its latest version of MS-DOS are incredible,"
exceeding the record-setting pace of MS-DOS 5.0 when it was
introduced in the spring of 1991.

The newest version of the software that controls millions of
personal computers will get its official kickoff tomorrow evening on
a satellite broadcast intro presided over by Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates at a PC Users Group meeting in San Francisco. Newsbytes will
be present at one of the broadcast sites.

As reported previously by Newsbytes, Microsoft will accompany the
DOS 6.0 kickoff with a 60-day print and electronic ad campaign
encouraging users to upgrade to the newest version of its operating
system and offering low cost upgrades to many of its other software
programs. But judging from the pre-launch reports, users don't need
any encouragement to upgrade to DOS 6.

The new version of MS-DOS has some significant improvements which
will benefit the user but may spell trouble for small software
publishing companies. Several software developers have made a
living publishing utility programs that enhance earlier DOS
versions, providing services like data compression, virus
detection, memory management, and menu-driven shells that eliminate
the need for users to remember command line syntax.

One of the touted features of DOS 6.0 is data compression, which
Microsoft says can almost double the amount of data that can be
stored on hard disks. Features like better memory management, data
backup, and protection from computer viruses will reportedly also be
included in DOS 6.0. One company, Stac Electronics, the publisher of
a data compression program called Stacker, has filed suit against
Microsoft claiming violation of Stac's patents.

DOS 6 will also reportedly offer improved memory management for 386
and 486-based systems, which could cut into the sales of memory
management programs like QEMM 386 from Quarterdeck. Virus
protection utility programs have also sold well, jumping
significantly last year when the mostly unrealized fear of a
worldwide virus attack was anticipated.

DOS sales have been declining recently, while Microsoft Windows
sales have been climbing as users switch to that popular user
interface program. The Software Publishers Association says North
American sales of DOS fell almost 13 percent in 1992, while Windows
jumped more than 95 percent.

(Jim Mallory/19930329/Press and reader contact: Microsoft,
206-882-8080 or 800-426-9400)


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

There May Be An Apple In The Cockpit 03/29/93
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- There may be an Apple
in the cockpit of the next airliner you fly on. Apple Computer and
Honeywell have announced a deal to use Honeywell's Electronic
Library System (ELS) on an Apple Macintosh computer to perform
non-flight functions on commercial airliners.

The Mac will be a ruggedized version of Apple's Quadra 800 personal
computer, which will use Honeywell's ELS to provide flight and
maintenance crews with access to the information they need to
operate and maintain the aircraft, excluding aircraft flight
control tasks.

According to Honeywell VP for marketing, Don Schwanz, there's a
growing need for automated information systems that can reduce the
tens of thousands of printed pages of text and graphics necessary to
operate and maintain a commercial airliner. ELS includes those
functions in a hypertext document retrieval system that stores
flight and operations manuals, navigation charts, and maintenance
manuals.

Honeywell says it plans to offer airlines the capability to
integrate and manipulate graphics, audio, and video using
off-the-shelf software. "This provides airborne software application
compatibility with computer systems on the ground, and should help
to incorporate more fully the aircraft into an airline's overall
information management system," according to Mark Anderson, the ELS
project lead engineer. The company said it plans to use Apple's next
generation Macintosh, based on the PowerPC RISC architecture, in
future generations of the ELS system.

(Jim Mallory/19930329/Press contact: Betty Taylor, Apple Computer,
408-974-3983; Jim Veihdeffer, Honeywell, 602-436-2203)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00026)

HP Cuts PC Scanner Pricing, Bundles Adobe PhotoShop 03/29/93
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Software
companies often bundle "limited versions" of their products
with hardware in order to get users to try them out, such as
Adobe System's new deal involving Hewlett-Packard's scanners.
The company has announced a limited-time bundling deal that
provides a free copy of Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition
image-editing software with each Macintosh-compatible HP
ScanJet IIc scanner shipped through September 30. Hewlett-
Packard has also cut the price of its PC- and Micro Channel-
compatible color and grayscale scanners.

HP says that the HP ScanJet IIc 24-bit color and grayscale
scanner has been cut to $1,599 from $1,756. The price of the
grayscale HP ScanJet IIp scanner has been reduced from
$1,036 to $879. The prices for the Apple Macintosh-compatible
models of the HP ScanJet IIc and HP ScanJet IIp scanners
remain unchanged.

According to the company, Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition
allows users to create original artwork, correct, retouch and
manipulate color or monochrome scanned images and prepare
"high-resolution output."

LaVon Peck, spokesperson for Adobe, told Newsbytes
that the target market for the promotion is, "Anyone that is
buying the scanner that needs to clean up images, which is
the majority of what people do who want when they scan in
images."

HP DeskScan II 1.61 image-scanning software for Macintosh-
compatible models of the HP ScanJet IIc and HP ScanJet IIp
scanners now supports the ColorSync color management
system from Apple Computer. The company also says that
the HP DeskScan II software includes automatic-scanning
controls, as well as features that allow "experienced users to
edit and manipulate images manually."

ColorSync is Apple's new operating system-based technology
for color and grayscale management, which allows users to more
closely match colors that are scanned, displayed, and printed.

In announcing the cuts and bundling deal, Douglas W. McCord,
general manager of HP's Greeley Hardcopy Division, said: "The
price reductions and Photoshop Limited Edition promotion
underscore HP's resolve to make its scanners more affordable
and more functional for businesses. As the market leader in
scanning, HP is committed to setting new standards by
continually boosting performance, reducing prices and making
scanners easier to use."

The HP ScanJet IIc is a flatbed desktop scanner featuring
24-bit, single-pass color scanning. It offers eight-bit grayscale
image-scanning capabilities and 400 dots-per-inch (dpi) optical
resolution.

The combined Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition software and
Macintosh-compatible HP ScanJet IIc is available for a
suggested retail price of $1,599.

According to the Adobe, Photoshop Limited Edition provides the
basic functionality of Adobe Photoshop version 2.5. It does,
however, lack some of the high-end expert features such as
alpha channels and CMYK separation capabilities. Both the
Limited Edition and full version support the TWAIN application
program interface imaging standard.

Users who purchase the HP ScanJet IIc scanner with Adobe
Photoshop Limited Edition can upgrade to Adobe Photoshop 2.5
for $249. The company says that the suggested retail price for
Adobe Photoshop 2.5 is $895.

(Ian Stokell/19930329/Press Contact: LaVon Peck,
415/962-2730, Adobe Systems Inc.)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00027)

New Version of VMXworks 03/29/93
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- VMX released a
new version of its VMXworks software for voice processing
systems.

Release 3.0 integrates well with other text-to-speech or speech-
recognition devices and allows direct links to the fax resources
of the company's VMX 200/300 platform. It consists of system
software, connectivity software and application development
tools, and is used by developers to create applications called
Worksolutions that run on the VMX voice processing systems.

VMX systems, like other systems from traditional voice mail
players, are becoming increasingly similar to the offerings of
voice processing system companies like Intervoice, which should
in time lead to a market shake-out. The market battle is being
fought in the integration of computers, which offer sophisticated
data-handling but low reliability, with private phone switches,
or PBXs, which offer high reliability but little intelligence.

The company offered an example of an application for its new
software in a press release. While taking calls from
customers making such requests, the customer service agents
type all relevant information into a host database. The
VMXworks application would extract this from the database,
turn it into voice mail with text-to-speech technology,
and place it into the repair person's mailbox. Technicians could
also get the information faxed to wherever they are. The software
will be released by the end of June.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930326/Press Contact: VMX, Ellen Pensky,
408/441-1166x4366)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00028)

WordPerfect, Jurisoft Target Lawyers 03/29/93
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- WordPerfect is
reported to be highly popular in the legal profession, claiming
as many as 84 percent of firms with more than 50 attorneys using
WordPerfect word processing. Taking advantage of that popularity,
WordPerfect and Jurisoft have announced plans to develop links
between the best-selling word processing software and Jurisoft's
Legal Toolbox software, which is designed for the legal profession.

According to the companies, the links will give users "seamless"
access to Jurisoft's CompareRite, CheckCite, CiteRite II, and
FullAuthority, while using WordPerfect.

Initially, the companies plan for the integration will be made
available to users of both companies' MS-DOS products, with plans
to extend the capabilities to other platforms as new products are
introduced.

Jurisoft says its Legal Toolbox includes: CompareRite for redlining
documents which highlights all the differences between two
versions of any document; CheckCite, which uses the Lexis service
to automatically retrieve information and produce customized
reports; FullAuthority for compiling tables of authorities; and
CiteRite II, which checks cites for proper Bluebook or California
citation form.

WordPerfect's recently announced WordPerfect Information System
Environment (WISE) calls for promoting the integration of
WordPerfect products with strategic third-party products.

Jurisoft was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mead Data
Central, the provider of the Lexis/Nexis services.

(Ian Stokell/19930326/Press Contact: Ken Merritt, 801-228-5059,
WordPerfect Corp.; Carolyn Krusinski, 617-864-6151, Jurisoft
Division of Mead Data Central Inc.)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00029)

Dev't Tools For Solaris On PC Platform 03/29/93
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- Sunpro,
Alsys, and Talarian are all offering new software development
tools for Sun's Solaris operating system on IBM or compatible
x86-based personal computers (PCs). The products include
Proworks, Adaworld, and Rtworks (Real-time works) for the
Solaris 2.x operating system.

Sunpro says software developers have been able to port existing
applications in C, C++, and Fortran to the Solaris PC platform
using its Proworks family of development tools. The Mountain
View, California-headquartered company says the Proworks tools
are the same tools used to create application for the Sun
SPARCstation workstation and will also work with the next
generation processor from Intel, the Pentium expected this
summer.

The Proworks tools include the Proworks Manager, for launching
and managing individual tools; the Debugger, a debugging
facility with support for optimized code; a Sourcebrowser, for
understanding program structure; an Analyzer, for tuning
program performance and memory use; a Maketool, for viewing and
controlling system build procedures; and the Filemerge tool for
combining source code from multiple programmers.

Proworks C development environment is retail priced at $995,
the C++ compiler is $895, and the Fortran compiler is $1,095.
The company said it is offering site license discounts for 10,
25, and 100 licenses to as low as $600 per license.

Alsys says Adaworld is a computer-aided software engineering
(CASE) tool geared toward Ada programming language developers
and includes a complication system, an editor, a set of library
tools, a source-level debugger/program viewer, as well as
bindings to POSIX and additional tools and bindings. Besides
the Solaris platform running on 386- and 486-based PCs, Alsys
says Adaworld will also be available for x86-based PCs
running Unix System VR4 and on SPARC-based systems running
Sunos 4.x. Alsys said it will soon announce support of Solaris
2.x for SPARC-based systems.

Burlington, Massachusetts-based Alsys says it will ship
Adaworld in the third quarter of 1993 and is asking $3,895
retail for the development environment.

Talarian of Mountain View, California describes its Rtworks
product as development tools for the Solaris operating system
for use in acquisition, analysis, distribution and display of
real-time data. The company says the product has the ability to
display real-time data in a graphically meaningful way and
maintains the product is geared toward complex, time-critical
monitoring and control systems.

Rtworks for Solaris 2.x on the SPARC hardware platform will
ship first, in late August, then Rtworks for Solaris on the x86
platform is scheduled for development later this year and the
SPARC version will be priced at $35,000.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930329/Press Contact: Pattie Walters,
Sunpro, tel [phone], fax [phone] ms:mtv12-03; Tom
Erickson, Alsys, 617-270-0030, 617-270-6882; Aleta White,
Talarian, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00030)

 ****Nat'l Semi Automates Fuzzy Logic Design 03/29/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 29 (NB) -- "Smart"
appliances such as vacuum cleaners and coffee makers are what
National Semiconductor says could be the end result of its
introduction of a new software program to implement designs for
its fuzzy logic chip on the IBM and compatible personal
computer (PC) platform. The program combines neural networking
and fuzzy logic and has been dubbed the Neufuz4.

The market for fuzzy logic products to build smarter consumer
devices is predicted to grow to eight billion dollars worldwide
by 1998, according to Market Intelligence Research Corporation
analysts. But the time and expense involved to implement
fuzzy logic has stifled the implementation of an otherwise
useful and profitable technology, according to Emdad Khan, head
of intelligent systems for National Semiconductor's Embedded
Systems Division. "National's NeuFuz4 is the only product to
solve the rules generation problem, enabling rules generation
in hours that previously took weeks or even months," Khan
added.

National Semiconductor says its new NeuFuz4 software program
works under Microsoft Windows on the IBM and compatible
personal computer (PC) platform and will allow engineers to
automate the creation of a fuzzy system. Designing a fuzzy
logic system is a complex process as up to four inputs can be
required to produce one output. The fuzzy system is designed
based on desired system inputs and outputs, then verification
and coding of the system takes place.

The company says the NeuFuz4 software uses a neural network to
learn system behavior based on system input-output data. It
then generates fuzzy rules and membership functions based on
the learned system knowledge. Also, the trial and error
approach to fixing and tuning fuzzy logic membership functions
are eliminated as NeuFuz4 can fine tune membership functions
based on neural network learning. The NeuFuz4 is based on use
of National Semiconductor's own COP8 family of embedded
microcontrollers, the company added.

"NeuFuz4 makes implementing fuzzy logic much easier and less
expensive, allowing more intelligent and reliable products,
like adaptive braking systems, fuel injection, and suspension
control or 'smart' vacuum cleaners, pressure cookers, coffee
makers, and other automotive and consumer appliance
applications," according to Khan.

National Semiconductor says NeuFuz4 products are available now
in three packages. A $10,000 NeuFuz4 Development System
includes the Windows-based software, COP8 development tools,
documentation, consulting and technical support. For $3,975
developers can obtain a NeuFuz4 Development Kit containing the
software, documentation and an introductory set of COP8
development tools, and support. For $199 a limited version of
the NeuFuz4 Learning Kit containing the Windows-based
development software and documentation is available, the
company said.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930329/Press Contact: Celeste Martino Sa,
National Semiconductor, tel [phone], fax [phone];
Reader contact 800-272-9959)