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/1994/jan_feb_94/nb010494

Text File | 1994-01-07 | 74KB | 1,604 lines

(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00001)

India - Multimedia Network Project Planned 01/04/94
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- An ambitious $20 million
telecommunications project is currently being considered by the
Kerala State Electronics Development Commission in association
with Comsat Tech Services of the US.

To build and operate the multimedia communications network that
will provide a range of data, voice, fax and video services, the
Kerala government has sought the approval of the Foreign
Investment Promotion Board for the proposed Southern Wireless
Communication Company being formed between the state
government and Comsat.

Comsat will have 25 percent of the equity. Another 23 percent
will be owned by international financial institutions and venture
funds.

Comsat and foreign investors will provide the entire foreign
exchange, and rupee funds will be used for in-country expenses such
as local procurement of equipment, sales, and initial operating cost.

The first phase will cost about $20 million during which a wireless
communication system will be established in India through 20
service points. The second phase of the project will cost more --
$175 million for providing 150 additional points of service in
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. Fifty percent of the
total revenues will be allocated for providing subsidized service
to low-income group users belonging to remote areas.

Southern Wireless Communications Company will provide a range of
telecommunication services, such as Group III facsimile, data and
video distribution (at a later stage), in addition to telephone
services. Subscriber billing, consisting of a monthly subscription
fee and call-minute usage fees would be provided to Department of
Telecommunications by SWC for incorporating into a single bill.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19940104)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00002)

Dell & Sony Plan OEM Notebook PC Deal 01/04/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- US-based Dell Computer will
reportedly receive a supply of notebook personal computers from
Sony. According to the Nikkei newspaper, Dell Computer and Sony
have already reached a basic agreement.

Dell had been sounding out some Japanese PC firms concerning
the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) supply of notebook
computers. It is reported that both firms will sign the
agreement in the near future.

Dell Computer intends to sell the notebooks in the world market,
including Japan. Dell's notebook PC will be IBM-compatible and is
expected to be equipped with a 486 processor.

Sony will manufacture the PC at its Nagano plant in Japan and
a US plant. Sony supplied an early version of the Powerbook
notebook computer to Apple Computer.

Dell's marketing strategy is to sell low-cost computers in
high quantities. The companies are reportedly planning to
ship between 50,000 and 60,000 units per month.

Dell introduced a low-cost DOS/V-compatible desktop PC in
Japan over a year ago. The firm has reportedly stopped the
development of new PCs due to high costs and is now seeking
OEM suppliers.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931222/Press Contact: Dell
Computer, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00003)

Mortgage World "Goes Wireless" With Ethos & Embarc 01/04/94
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- At MacWorld
San Francisco this week, Ethos will demo a cross-platform system
for on-the-road mortgage brokers. Developed with Claris' FileMaker
Pro, the new system is aimed at allowing practically instantaneous
updates to Mac and PC databases over Motorola's Embarc network.

In an interview with Newsbytes, David McCloskey, president of the
Boulder, Colorado-based startup, said that the Ethos system is a
faster, more accurate, less expensive, and more "usable" alternative
to faxing, the method still prevailing in the mortgage industry at
present.

More and more these days, mortgage brokers are going out into the
field to prepare mortgage agreements in clients' offices, he
told Newsbytes. "Typically, a broker has to struggle through a
couple of dozen pieces of fax paper, trying to find the mortgage
program that best meets the borrower's needs. At the same time,
the customer is seated across the desk, asking what kind of deal
he'll be able to get," McCloskey said.

In the tension and confusion of the moment, brokers sometimes miss
pricing revisions or make other errors in dealing with the faxed
documents. Known as "dings," these mistakes can cost the broker
"points" and eat into profits, reported the company chief. "It's
not uncommon for a broker to lose $500 or $750 in this way."
Meanwhile, lending organizations commonly pay out many thousands
of dollars each month in phone line charges alone for faxing the
updates, he noted.

In contrast, the new system from Ethos allows rapid updates to a
database running on a desktop Mac or PC -- or more often, on a
PowerBook or IBM-compatible notebook. Once inside the database,
the information can be combined with other data to prepare custom
reports recommending the best mortgage programs for individual
customers, and manipulated in other ways.

The use of Embarc's technology allows "one-to-many" transmission
of binary files, he said. Ethos encrypts the binary files and
compresses them to an average size of only 3.2 kilobytes (KB) --
plenty small enough, according to McCloskey, for the 32KB storage
capacity of Motorola's NewsStream pager or the 128KB capacity of
Motorola's NewsCard PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association) card.

The compressed Ethos files can be broadcast over Embarc's
nationwide network for about $90, and received within 15
minutes, he maintained.

Ethos' new system for the mortgage industry revolves around three
graphical user interface (GUI)-based software modules: Ubiquitous;
MortgageShop PreQual (known for short as "PreQual"); and an update
to the company's MortgageShop. When initially delivered last
March, MortgageShop was the only "mortgage processing database"
to run under Windows, Newsbytes was told.

MortgageShop is still the only one in its product category to allow
files to be shared between IBM-compatible PCs and Macs, a
capability provided through FileMaker Pro, McCloskey added.
Ubiquitous and PreQual will permit the same kind of file
sharing. Nationally, most mortgage brokers use IBM-compatibles,
but the Mac holds strong sway in the California segment of the
mortgage industry, he observed.

MortgageShop is aimed at quick and easy processing of conventional,
Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and Veterans Administration
(VA) mortgage applications. At the end of February, Ethos plans to
announce a revised version of the package that will be compatible
with the new PreQual module.

PreQual will be able to "prequalify" loans for processing in
MortgageShop by letting the broker use borrower-specific
information to find appropriate loan programs for the customer,
McCloskey said.

PreQual also permits multiple mortgage programs to be evaluated
side-by-side. A variety of search criteria can be used, including
such mortgage conditions as the "lock period," or the amount of
time given to the mortgage customer for completing all necessary
paperwork. "If you lock further out, the risk is higher for the
lender. The price to the borrower is therefore slightly higher,"
he illustrated.

The third module, Ubiquitous, is intended to keep track of all
mortgage programs, provide historical data on past programs, and
maintain a log of all rate sheets the brokerage firm sends out.

First unveiled in November, PreQual and Ubiquitous are slated for
delivery in January. The updated MortgageShop will ship shortly
after its announcement in February, according to McCloskey.

The new mortgage system is now in beta, with as many as 20 mobile
mortgage brokers simultaneously receiving updates to notebooks and
PowerBooks off wireless servers at individual mortgage brokerages.
Ethos is also looking at the possibility of developing a version of
the system for the Apple Newton, the company president informed
Newsbytes.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940103/Reader Contact: David McCloskey,
Ethos Corp., 303-442-4010; Press Contact: Susan Rozmanith,
Phase Two Strategies for Ethos, 415-772-8418)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00004)

Conference On Information Highway Set For Toronto 01/04/94
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- A number of
high-profile speakers, including Canadian Prime Minister Jean
Chretien and US Vice President Albert Gore, have been invited
to a conference on the information highway set for Toronto in
early February.

The conference -- Powering Up North America -- is being organized
by the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), a
group of the larger computer and telecommunications companies in
Canada, and the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA),
whose members are largely smaller, Canadian-owned high-tech
firms.

Neither Chretien nor Gore has officially accepted the invitation
yet, but ITAC spokesman Barry Gander said the organizers are
optimistic. He said the lineup of other speakers, including a
number of prominent names in the technology sector, should
interest Gore, who has been an outspoken proponent of the
information highway concept.

The information highway, besides being the fastest-rising
buzzword of 1993, is an umbrella term for a high-capacity
communications network that would carry data, voice, and
video. In the US, Gore has backed a National Information
Infrastructure program meant to help develop this kind of
capacity.

Speakers slated for the conference, to be held at the
Metropolitan Toronto Convention Center February 1 and 2, include:
Rudiger Dornbusch, professor of economics at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and a frequent speaker on trends; author
and futurist George Gilder; Nicholas Negroponte and Russel Neuman
of MIT's Media Lab; Bill Murphy, chair of the US' National
Information Infrastructure Testbed; Don Tapscott, co-author of
the recent technology trends book Paradigm Shift; former Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Alfred Sikes; and
heads of assorted Canadian and American high-technology
companies.

About 1,000 people are expected to attend, Gander said.
Registration costs C$895 for members of ITAC or CATA, and
C$995 for non-members.

(Grant Buckler/19940103/Press Contact: Barry Gander, ITAC,
613-256-5060; Norm Kirkpatrick, CATA, 416-473-9548; Franca
Miraglia, Powering Up North America public relations committee,
905-513-5511; Public Contact: Powering Up North America, c/o
Co-ordination Plus, 416-862-9067, fax [phone]/PHOTO)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00005)

Compuadd Names New CEO 01/04/94
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Compuadd Computer
Corp., has named acting Chief Executive Officer Richard Krause
to replace company founder Bill Hayden as permanent CEO.

Krause was named as temporary CEO after Hayden resigned in
November 1993, five months after Compuadd filed for protection
under Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy laws. Compuadd's board
of directors named him to that position permanently this week.

Hayden founded Compuadd in 1982 and led the company to
become the 11th largest personal computer maker in the US by
1992 with sales of about $525 million. He retained a 20 percent
stake in the company as part of its bankruptcy reorganization
plan. The company emerged from bankruptcy recently after
creditors approved its reorganization plan.

Compuadd's problems arose when it could not satisfy its
indebtedness to landlords and suppliers of its 110 retail
outlets across the nation when it closed those stores.

(Jim Mallory/19940104/Press Contact: Wendell Watson,
Compuadd Corp., 512-250-2530; Reader Contact: Compuadd
Corp., tel [phone] or 800-456-3116, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00006)

Gateway PC Owners Get FidoNet Access 01/04/94
NORTH SIOUX CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) --
If you own a Gateway 2000 personal computer, you can now
connect to the PC maker's FidoNet service through any local
FidoNet address that has NetMail.

FidoNet is a network of individual computer bulletin board
operators who share common message and file areas. Operators
choose the message bases to be carried on their boards based
on the interest of their users or of the system operators (sysops)
themselves. Gateway 2000 says about 28,000 bulletin boards are
currently FidoNet participants.

Gateway 2000 users can access the company's FidoNet service
by providing a company on-line system operator with their
customer ID. Once access is granted, access FidoNet and type
1;288/17.

As reported earlier by Newsbytes, Gateway offers its
customers CoSession Host software at no cost with the
purchase of a Gateway modem. The software is a remote control
communications tool that enables Gateway technicians to
remotely connect to the customer's PC and perform on-line
diagnostics. Access is controlled by the PC owner. The software
also provides an efficient way to obtain new device drivers and
allows technicians to edit configuration files if necessary.

Gateway 2000 is also offering a special price on CoSession
Remote, which allows users to connect to a remote system and
run DOS or Windows applications resident on the remote
computer. It can also transfer files, access networks, and dial
into on-line services and bulletin boards. The company is offering
CoSession Remote for $29.95 with purchase of a Gateway 2000
modem.

(Jim Mallory/19940104/Press Contact: Wendell Watson,
Gateway 2000, 605-232-2723; Reader Contact: Gateway 2000,
tel [phone] or 800-846-2000, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00007)

Motorola Intros Revised Fast Static RAM Data Book 01/04/94
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Motorola's
Microprocessor and Memory Technologies Group has released
revision 1 of its Fast StaticRAM Data book.

The company says the new data book includes data sheets on the
complete library of 64 kilobyte (KB) by 18 and 32KB by 18
families to support PowerPC and Pentium microprocessors.
Recently announced Motorola products such as 6-nanosecond
256KB and 8-nanosecond 1-megabyte (MB) asynchronous RAMs
and the new OMPAC (over molded pad array carrier) devices
are also included in the book.

Motorola says new additions to the data book include a section
on thermal performance of memory packages, including: a
reference table; a new application note entitled "A Zero Wait
State Secondary Cache for Intel's Pentium;" a guide on device
part number designators; an updated reliability section; and a
combined selector guide and cross reference section.

Copies of the book are immediately available from Motorola's
Literature Distribution department for $4.05.

(Jim Mallory/19940104/Press Contact: Gordy Davies, Motorola,
512-322-8820; Reader Contact: Motorola, tel [phone],
fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEN)(00008)

Virtual Reality Ride Tours Human Digestive System 01/04/94
LEAGUE CITY, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) --  Want to know
exactly how the human digestive system works. If you live in, or
are planning a trip to Oklahoma City later this year, you are in
luck, because a League City, Texas-based software company is
developing a virtual reality program for the Omniplex Science
Museum of Oklahoma City that will take you on a close up tour
from input of the food to output of the leftover material.

Avian Graphics Limited spokesperson Sharon Goza told
Newsbytes that Avian Vice President Mike Goza has lots of
experience developing virtual reality programs. Goza works for
NASA's Johnson Space Center and is currently in charge of the
center's virtual reality lab where Hubbell mission programs
were developed so astronauts could evaluate the technology
as a possible training tool for the future.

Virtual reality systems use a helmet worn by the user to place you
right in the environment you choose, such as the digestive tract
or the cockpit of a supersonic fighter. As the user turns their
head the view changes to accommodate that changed perspective.

In the Avian Graphics production the program's audio track is
keyed to your current location in the digestive tract. You start
your tour viewing the tract from the outside, then shrink down
and find yourself in the mouth watching food being chewed.

The user then moves down to the stomach, seeing how food is
processed there, and finishes the trip by moving through the
colon and leaving the body.

The program runs on an Silicon Graphics Indigo 2 platform. The
system is scheduled for delivery in February 1994, with the
first visitor expected in early March 1994.

(Jim Mallory/19940104/Press Contact: Fred Grisson, Avian
Graphics, 713-486-8719; Reader Contact: Avian Graphics,
713-554-4066)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00009)

Iomega Cuts 8% Of Salaried Staff 01/04/94
ROY, UTAH, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Iomega Corp., the
company that makes optical disk drives and removable media
drives, has cut its salaried staff by eight percent.

Iomega spokesperson Kristy Pregill told Newsbytes the reduction
in force would eliminate 50 positions. All the jobs are at the vice
president, manager, and staff level. No direct labor production
workers were effected. Affected employees were notified
yesterday and will leave January 17, 1994, according to Pregill.
Details of the separation package were not disclosed.

According to acting CEO Leon Staciokas: "The company needed
to reduce its infrastructure and the associated overhead
expenses in order to improve Iomega's competitive position in
the industry." Staciokas also said Iomega would move away from
its current product line organization structure and move toward
a more traditional functional organization.

Pregill told Newsbytes the Iomega structure until now has
included a branch for each separate product line. The
restructuring will form the company into a structure that includes
finance, administration, production and other departments, with
all product manufacturing under one department.

Iomega will take a one time charge in the fourth quarter for the
restructuring costs, but declined to disclose how much that
would be. Iomega is a publicly held company traded on the
National Market System (NASDAQ) so the restructuring costs
will appear on its fourth quarter financial statement.

(Jim Mallory/19940104/Press Contact: Kristy Pregill, Iomega
Corp., 801-778-1000; Reader Contact: Iomega Corp.,
801-778-1000)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00010)

Corel Launching Clip Art CD-ROM At CES 01/04/94
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- At the upcoming
Consumer Electronics Show, Corel Corp., is announcing a library of
clip art on compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM). The contents
of the Corel Gallery disk are a subset of the clip art collection
provided with Corel's flagship CorelDraw graphics software,
company spokeswoman Julie Galla said.

The disk contains 10,000 images in a variety of file formats,
Galla said. They can be imported into various graphics, word
processing, and desktop publishing packages. Support for
Microsoft Corp.'s object linking and embedding (OLE)
specification means images can be "dragged and dropped"
directly into applications supporting OLE 2.0 or via the Windows
clipboard into those supporting OLE 1.0, Galla added.

The clip-art images are professionally designed and more than
6,000 of them are in color, Corel officials said. Buyers of the
disk may use the images however they choose without paying
further royalties, according to Galla. Corel Gallery is due to
ship in February with a list price of US$129 or C$159.

Corel also announced price cuts on CD-ROM versions of CorelDraw
and its Corel Ventura desktop publishing software in North
America. Effective right away, the CD-ROM versions will cost $50
less than diskette versions of the package. New prices are US$149
or C$199 for the CD-ROM version of CorelDraw 3, US$549 or C$649
for CorelDraw 4 on CD-ROM, and US$199 or C$249 for Ventura on
CD-ROM. The list price of Corel's Photo CD Sampler has also been
cut to US$19.95 or C$24.95.

Similar price cuts will probably take place outside North America
soon, Galla said. Corel's CD-PowerPak, CorelSCSI 2, CorelSCSI
Network Manager, and Professional Photo CD-ROMs are not
affected.

(Grant Buckler/19940104/Press Contact: Julie Galla, Corel,
tel [phone] ext 1672, fax [phone]; Public Contact:
Corel, 613-728-8200)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00011)

Voyager To Intro 3 CD-ROM Titles At MacWorld 01/04/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Voyager
plans to release three new interactive multimedia CD-ROM titles
at MacWorld.

The trio includes: the initial volume in the Voyager
Shakespeare series; a nature documentary produced by 14-
year-old Murphy Stein and the St. Louis Zoo; and a multilingual
CD-ROM edition of an historical film originally made during the
McCarthy era.

"Macbeth," "A World Alive," and "Salt of the Earth" will all be
immediately available for the Macintosh. A Windows edition of
"A World Alive," the nature documentary, is scheduled to follow
in June of this year. "Salt of the Earth" is accessible to speakers
of Spanish, French and German, as well as English.

"Macbeth" is designed to open up Shakespeare's work to the general
reader, while at the same time satisfying the needs of the serious
student and scholar, according to Voyager officials. Prepared by
David S. Rodes and A.R. Braunmiller of University of California at
Los Angeles (UCLA), the title offers a 24,000-word commentary,
over 1,500 annotations, and a video performance of the entire play
by the Royal Shakespeare Company, prepared in QuickTime.

"A World Alive," Voyager's first "interactive documentary,"
features a 30-minute documentary film in QuickTime, narration by
James Earl Jones, color drawings of each of the more than 100
animals in the film, extensive data on the animals, and five
indices to the information - by geography, habitat, classification,
place in the film, and alphabetical order. An interactive game
called "What Is It?" tests the knowledge that child and adult users
are gaining on their multimedia journey through the St. Louis Zoo.

"Salt of the Earth," a title based on a 1950 union strike by zinc
miners in Silver City, New Mexico, is aimed at an international
audience made up of film lovers as well as those interested in the
history of labor relations, the women's movement, and the struggle
of minorities in the US. The disk revolves around a QuickTime
version of the entire original film -- produced in the 1950s by a
group of film makers blacklisted under McCarthyism -- complete
with the original screenplay in English, Spanish, French and German.
In the film, Ramon and Esperanza Quintero, a Mexican-American
union leader and his wife, play out a family drama against a
background of social injustice.

"Salt of the Earth" also includes autobiographies, articles and
reviews in all four languages; the short film -- "The Hollywood
Ten" -- in QuickTime; critical, historical, and biographical essays;
interviews with actors and production personnel; and hundreds of
photos from the strike by Local 890 of the International Union of
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, and from the production of "Salt
of the Earth."

Voyager's "Macbeth," a title priced at $39.95, requires a Macintosh
with five megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM), 3.5MB of
which is allocated to HyperCard. Also required are System 6.07 or
later, a QuickTime-capable CD-ROM drive, and a 13-inch, 256-color
or better monitor.

"A World Alive," also priced at $39.95, requires a Macintosh with
4MB of RAM and System 7.0 or later, with a QuickTime-capable
CD-ROM drive, and 13-inch, 256-color monitor.

"Salt of the Earth" calls for a Macintosh with System 6.07 or
later, a QuickTime-capable CD-ROM drive, and a 640 by 480
pixel monitor, either grayscale or 256-color.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930104/Reader Contact: Voyager, 212-
431-5199; Press Contact: Alexandra Fischer, Voyager,
212-431-5199)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00012)

Virtual Tarot To Be Demo'd At Macworld 01/04/94
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Virtual Reality
Works says it will be demonstrating a new tarot card reading game
at the Macworld Expo this week in San Francisco. However, instead
of having to remember what the cards said, attendees can get a
print-out to take with them.

Virtual Media Works, developers of the compact disc read-only
memory (CD-ROM) game Virtual Tarot said the game was created
with the help of Bay Area tarot card reader M.L. Foster.

The program can be used with or without a deck of cards, according
to Jeff Manning of Virtual Reality Works. With a deck of cards, a
divination could be done and the cards selected manually in the
program as they come up so that the computer can "read" each
card.

The game offers computer generated graphics, animations,
digital video, original music, and vocals all surrounding the ten
different card layouts on such popular topics as Career, Money,
Love and Relationships. Short definitions of each card and short
definitions of each card position can be printed, but the majority
of the information is vocal in order to take advantage of the
multimedia capability of the program, Manning said.

Available now for the Macintosh, Virtual Tarot will also be
available in a Microsoft Windows version planned for release in
the first quarter of this year.

The game requires at least a Macintosh LC running System 7, with
a 13-inch, 256-color monitor, five megabytes (MB) of random
access memory (RAM) and a CD-ROM drive. Alone, the program
retails for $49.95, but with a Rider-Waite deck of Tarot cards,
the price is $64.95.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940104/Press Contact: Jeff Manning, Virtual
Media Works, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public
Contact, Virtual Media Works, 800-292-3157)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00013)

Cox Commits To GI Converters 01/04/94
HATSBORO, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Cox Cable,
the nation's number six cable operator, has committed to buying
200,000 General Instrument DigiCable set-top converters so it can
offer digitally-compressed video. The transaction is estimated to
be worth $40 million. Cox has a total of 1.8 million customers.

The DigiCable units are dual-mode, meaning they can offer
services using either GI's own DigiCypher compression scheme or
the related Moving Pictures Expert Group, or MPEG-2, system.

A General Instrument spokesman told Newsbytes that MPEG-2
should be an approved standard by the middle of this year, after
balloting by the group's members, at which point General
Instrument and others will be able to implement it.

So far the General Instruments Broadband Communications division,
which was renamed from General Instruments-Jerrold from the
beginning of the year, has won commitments to sell 2.5 million of
its DigiCable converters. Included is a firm order of one million
units from TCI, the nation's largest cable operator.

The spokesman said his company is succeeding in this market in
part because it is a traditional supplier, but also because its
system lets cable operators offer digital services on an
on-demand basis. After purchasing analog-digital converters for
installation at their cable head-ends, "you can send both analog
and digital on the same coax," he explained. "The homes with
digital boxes get extra channels. This means these things can be
put in incrementally As you get subscribers who'll pay for extra
services, you give them the new converters. That's why people are
buying them and putting them incrementally."

DigiCable converters with MPEG-2 will be delivered as soon as the
standard is set, the spokesman said. Current versions are dual-
mode, offering an early version of MPEG-2 and GI's own related
DigiCipher technology.

With digital compression, operators can offer more channels to
their subscribers. A number of pay-movie services, like HBO, are
now using digital compression to transmit multiple channels,
which can be charged-for differently, and many existing service
providers, like ESPN, are creating additional channels aimed at
digital systems which can handle them.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940104/Press Contact: Jim Barthold,
General Instrument, 215-956-6448)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00014)

Franklin Digital Book To Support SkyTel 01/04/94
MOUNT HOLLY, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Franklin
Electronic Publishers will create a ROM card for its Digital Book
supporting the SkyTel paging network.

Franklin and SkyTel signed an agreement under which Franklin's
low-cost Digital Book System-2 system will offer the paging
service, which uses satellites and a network of antennae around
the US.

The DBS-2 system has been available in stores for some time,
Franklin spokesman Mindy Fendrick told Newsbytes, and there
are over 30,000 outlets, plus catalogs, selling the product
in 77 countries. "This new pager card will come out mid-year. It
will be available through Franklin retail outlets and SkyTel. It
will be a pop-in ROM card that goes in the back of the system,
and will look just like a digital book."

The DBS-2 weighs just 4.6 ounces, about 110 grams, and will be
able to display incoming messages on a five-line screen. The
agreement is exclusive, meaning SkyTel is Franklin's exclusive
messaging-services provider for the SkyTel/Franklin card used
with the DBS-2. Franklin's catalog of Digital Books for the DBS-2
includes dictionaries, encyclopedias, medical references and
games. Each card can hold the information equivalent of 20
printed Bibles. Customized products can also be put onto the
system.

Franklin noted in a press statement that Allen-Bradley
Co., of Milwaukee, a unit of Rockwell International, recently
began distributing DBS-2 cards to its sales force with 1,000
pages of product specifications on its electronic sensors.

Franklin's executive vice president, Michael Strange, said the
company's customers had asked for a paging service. SkyTel had
265,400 subscribers as of September 30, covering 90 percent of
the US, along with its North American territories, and such
international destinations as  Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas,
Bermuda, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940104/Press Contact: Franklin
Electronic Publishers, Mindy Fendrick, 609-261-4800 ext 266)


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

JJ Kenny In Distribution Deal With Reuters 01/04/94
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- McGraw-Hill's
J.J. Kenny unit has signed a non-exclusive agreement to sell its
bond databases through Reuters.

Included in the long-term agreement are: the Blue List of daily
municipal and corporate bond offerings issued by dealers; various
Kenny Drake market data; and Kennybase, an on-line database
describing over 1.6 million tax-exempt securities.

During the year, Reuters will also introduce a municipal securities
news service to complement the Kenny data. The companies also
agreed to develop new products jointly that will serve
professionals in the expanding municipal securities marketplace,
the first of which will be offered during 1994. Over time, they will
include both live market data, accompanying news or descriptive
information, as well as historical data and analytics.

Newsbytes discussed the deal, and its impact, with Mark Harrop,
director of publicity at McGraw Hill and spokesman for J.J.
Kenny. "We make our data available through a number of third
party vendors as well as directly off terminals we sell," he
explained. "You can access some of that material off the
Bloomberg terminal, as well as Reuters, and through Telerate.
We've also worked with the people at Govtx, a relatively small
pricing information service. Very importantly, we have the
McGrawHill Municipal Screen, an electronic encyclopedia of
evaluations, pricing, other trading information. That's our
terminal."

Harrop continued: "This just broadens the availability of this data
in what's still a relatively small market within the brokerage
community. The market has been blooming, and it's in the
interest of many investors for that reason. It's also attracted
the attention of regulators, and they welcome any new means of
disseminating information to the investor community."

Harrop emphasized that, "This is a non-exclusive agreement, not
entirely dissimilar to the one we worked out with Bloomberg three
months ago." But it is still very important for J.J. Kenny. "They
have a very broad following," he said of Reuters. "They have
several hundred thousand terminals out there, and we love that.
We also like some of their analytic software, and we look forward
to developing new products with them using it in 1994. They can
take data we get from primary dealers and do some interesting
historical charts, things investors can really use." In the US,
Reuters runs a national network of offices in about 25 cities.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940104/Press Contact: Reuters America,
Robert Crooke, 212-603-3587; J.J. Kenny Company Inc., Cathy
Callender, 212-770-4016)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016)

 ****MCI Details Local Network Plans 01/04/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- At a press
conference attended by Newsbytes, MCI unveiled its strategic
vision under which it and unnamed partners will invest over $20
billion to create an end-to-end network for the delivery of voice
and data services, bypassing, not just AT&T, but local phone
networks. MCI has already begun marketing the offering under
the brand name networkMCI.

MCI Metro is the most controversial element in the strategic
vision. This new MCI subsidiary will invest $2 billion in fiber
rings and switches throughout the US, and in time it will
compete with the regional Bell companies in the local services
market.

Many cable operators have recently entered this market, building
fiber trunk lines mainly to increase the capacity and reliability
of their cable television services, but adding additional fibers to
take calls from offices to local MCI switches. They join existing
"bypass" companies like MFS Communications and Teleport, itself
owned by an alliance of cable operators, which mainly compete
for local business traffic.

MCI, however, is already testing a bypass service for residences
in northern Virginia, in cooperation with Jones Intercable, the
nation's seventh largest cable operator. MCI Metro will also hold
MCI's own local phone assets, including rights of way in 200
cities purchased from Western Union in 1989.

Gary Parsons will be the chief executive of the new unit, and he
said it is already the fourth-largest competitor to the regional
Bell companies in providing local access to long distance services.
He added that the first leg of MCI Metro's local networks, already
under construction, will be in Atlanta, and will quickly be
extended to the nation's 19 other large metropolitan areas.

The second element in the new offering is a fast data network MCI
is now building, using optical fiber, under the synchronous
optical network, or SONET standard. MCI said its implementation
of SONET runs 15 times faster than any other SONET network
available today, or 2.5 billion bits-per-second.

The NSFnet, an affiliate of the global Internet, will be the first
user of the new network, operating a backbone between New York
and Los Angeles. NSFnet, which is a backbone for the Internet,
reaches nearly 15,000 networks today, and traffic on the Internet
doubles every year, according to the Internet Society, transferring
the entire contents of the Library of Congress each day. MCI said its
version of SONET will be available throughout its US network by
the end of 1994 and on international routes to Europe and Asia by
1995, at speeds up to 10 gigabits-per-second.

A third element of the new program is an advertising campaign,
which has already debuted, aimed at explaining what MCI is doing
to consumers, businesses, investors and potential partners. MCI
said it wants partners in its efforts, and is willing to invest
heavily without owning or controlling its partners. That was a
reference to AT&T, which has ended up acquiring many of the
companies it initiated strategic partnerships with, most notably
McCaw Cellular.

In a press conference attended by Newsbytes, Chairman Bert
Roberts and Parsons addressed the questions arising from their
announcement, and spent a lot of time addressing the regional
Bells' argument that MCI's entry into the local calling business
justifies their entrance into long distance markets.

"In the absence of any competitive pressure, the Bell companies
have not lived up to their responsibility to provide the local
access capabilities MCI and its customers need at a decent
price," Roberts charged. "The local monopolies will never give us
what we need. So MCI is now launching an historic assault on the
local monopolies. We'll push to change the laws that stifle
competition."

Roberts praised regulators in New York, Illinois, Massachusetts,
and Washington state for taking the first steps toward leveling
the playing field, and suggested that customers there will be the
first to feel the benefits of local competition.

"They'll try to use this to their own advantage," Roberts continued
of the regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs), "and get into
the long distance business. But it took 10 years to bring effective
competition in long distance. It may take just as long in the local
exchange market. Competition means the great majority of
customers truly have a choice, and freely exercise that choice.
Until that happens it would be a giant step backward to let the
Bells into long distance. We don't believe the nation's decision
makers will let that happen, but someone has to provide
competition on the local level, and we're doing this."

Later, Parsons elaborated on the arguments MCI will use against
Ameritech's "Customers First" plan, which aims to let it into the
local exchange market in exchange for its entry into long
distance. "MCI pays less than 1/2 of 1% of local access charges
to the CAPs," companies like Teleport and MFS which now compete
in the local exchange market. "AT&T's payments are the same.
RBOCs gets 99.6% of moneys provided for access. For them to claim
we have effective competition in the local market is ridiculous
on its face, and this will be proven as facts come out."

He continued: "The proof was in Ameritech's announcement. They
wanted a trial in Illinois, and wanted to offer long distance
with MCI, AT&T and others. And in Illinois, they would commit
that they would offer long distance rates lower than MCI and
AT&T. The way they were going to do that was not charge
themselves access. That's the way a monopolist thinks. They're
a monopoly and can cross-subsidize. There are no other local
access providers. You've got to look underneath the rhetoric to
understand what they are saying and why."

Parsons also addressed Ameritech's charge that MCI and AT&T are
raising their long distance rates. "The RBOCs don't understand
what's happening. The rates of AT&T, MCI and others are still
declining because promotions and incentives are driving rate
structures, and not the umbrella rates. We had an independent
study done, which showed that rates have gone down 63 percent"
since divestiture, "and totally refuted the arguments of the RBOCs.
They haven't responded to that study. The point is long distance
rates remain competitive today. Rather than ask the RBOCs how
competitive long distance rates are, why not ask the customers?
You'll get the true, factual answer that way."

Roberts said, "The biggest customer for MCI Metro initially will
be MCI corporate," and "40 percent of the money we spend goes to
Bell operating companies" for local access. By providing its own
local links, "that will mean profound savings as competition gets
going. If the regulations change, the revenue opportunity will
warrant far more than a $2 billion investment," Roberts added.
"The local access market is a $5 billion market per year, 40
percent of it within the 20 largest cities" MCI Metro is entering
now.

Parsons discussed, in detail, how Ameritech's proposal falls
short of the "level playing field" MCI seeks. "If you look at the
Ameritech proposal, competition is a non-entity. Will the
regulators enforce competition so a phone number can be retained,
or if you change to another carrier, would you have to change
your phone number? Those are the kinds of things that have to be
addressed to insure the playing field is level. Will regulators
assure that competitors have access to the conduits? There are
many things regulators have to address to assure competition.
But once the playing field is level, we'll be very aggressive in
providing the full range of services."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940104/Press Contact: Bernie Goodrich,
MCI, 202-887-2158)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00017)

Sigma Designs Reelmagic Upgrade Kit Supports CD-I  01/04/94
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Sigma Designs
says its latest Reelmagic compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)
Upgrade Kit for IBM and compatible personal computers (PCs) will
now also play CDs in the Philips Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I)
format. This means PC users can play CD-I game and educational
titles on their PCs, and feature movies and music videos as well.

Philips released its CD-I player over two years ago. Much in
appearance like a video cassette recorder (VCR) the CD-I player
uses a unique format. Last year, Philips announced a deal with
Paramount to put movies in its CD-I format, and now such hits as
"The Firm," "Top Gun," "Patriot Games," "The Hunt for Red October,"
and "Star Trek VI" are available in the CD-I format. The CD-I format
movies are even for rent in video rental outlets like Blockbuster
Video and Circuit City. Music videos, such as "Eric Clapton: The
Cream of Clapton," are also available in CD-I.

Sigma Designs announced in October that its forthcoming Reelmagic
Upgrade Kit would offer PC users the ability to play back movies,
but was unwilling to say at that time whether or not those movies
would be in the CD-I format. The company did announce it would
support the VideoCD format which is being backed by a consortium
of hardware manufacturers including C-Cube, Philips, JVC,
Goldstar, Commodore, and Samsung.

The kit includes the Reelmagic board, a double-speed, multimedia
personal computer (MPC) Level 2 CD-ROM drive, and a pair of
speakers. In order to get a movie to fit on a single CD it has to be
compressed. CD-I uses the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG)
compression standard for video and audio compression, which is
supported by the Reelmagic hardware for decompression of the
stored video to the computer screen at the standard full-motion
video playback speed of 30 frames-per-second.

Five entertainment and educational titles valued at nearly $600
are included in the kit. They are: Compton's Interactive
Encyclopedia MPEG Version 2.01; Return to Zork, a new game with
live action characters from Activision; and MPEG versions of
three best-selling titles from Aris Entertainment -- Video Cube:
Space, World View, and MPC Wizard. Retail price for the kit is
$849.

Fremont, California headquartered Sigma Designs (NASDAQ: SIGM)
says it will be demonstrating the Reelmagic Upgrade Kit by
playing CD-I Digitalvideo titles at the Computer Electronics Show
(CES) in Las Vegas, January 6-9. The company claims annual
revenues of $27 million.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940104/Press Contact: Letty Dupuy, Sigma
Designs, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact,
800-845-8086; Philips, CD-I Express Catalog, 800-824-2567)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00018)

Prodigy Interactive TV & Cable Delivery Demo At CES 01/04/94
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Prodigy, the
electronic graphical bulletin board service partnered by Sears
and IBM, will be demonstrating a prototype of a new interactive
television service as well as cable delivery of its electronic
services at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las
Vegas this week.

The cable delivery of the service to personal computers (PCs)
designed to address the one biggest consumer complaint about
Prodigy -- slowness. Prodigy has increased the rate of delivery
available over the telephone lines to 9600 baud, but still
complaints about the slow pace of the service abound.
Worse for Prodigy, other electronic graphical services, such as
America Online, are much faster in delivering services to
consumers via telephone lines and are gaining users at a rapid
rate.

Delivery of Prodigy to PCs via cable has been in testing stages
in San Deigo by Cox Cable since late last year. The testing was
made public at a cable trade show in Anaheim, California last
month.

Prodigy Interactive Television is new, however, and a
spokesperson for Prodigy told Newsbytes that the television
product is still in prototype stages. CES attendees will be
invited to see Prodigy TV in the Multimedia Pavilion at the show.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940104/Press Contact: Lydia Trettis, Connors
Communications, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(CORRECTION)(GENERAL)(DEL)(00019)

Correction - Fiserv Opens Offices In India 01/04/94
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- This is a
correction to a story entitled "Fiserve Opens Offices in India,"
which was broadcast on the Newsbytes wire January 3, 1994.
Newsbytes apologizes for the errors. The correct story follows:

Fiserv, the $332 million US-based financial services company,
has announced plans in India. According to a spokesman for
the company, plans call both IBM and Fiserv to market Fiserv's
retail banking software into the India business marketplace.

Fiserv ASPAC, the company's Asia-Pacific wing, recently signed an
agreement with IBM Southeast Asia to jointly address the financial
services market in Asia. Newsbytes notes that, under the
agreement, IBM and Fiserv will share resources.

It is not yet clear how the Fiserv/IBM alliance will work out in
India. Fiserv's banking package is on the IBM AS/400 series of
minicomputers and Big Blue has yet to break into this area of the
Indian market in a big way.

Newsbytes notes that Tata Information Systems Limited (TISL), the
Tata-IBM joint venture, which is marketing AS/400 in India is yet
to receive any communication from IBM on the Fiserv alliance.

Fiserv is one of the largest financial services company in the US.
Employing more than 6,300 professionals, it is a leading provider
of financial data processing systems and related information
management services to retail banks, building societies, credit
unions, mortgage banking firms, and savings institutions
worldwide. It has offices in Singapore, London, and Orlando.

(C. T. Mahabharat & Wendy Woods/19940104)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00020)

Unisys To Resell Chipcom's Network Hubs 01/04/94
SOUTHBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) --
Unisys Corp., of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, will resell intelligent
switching hubs from Chipcom Corp., under an agreement just
announced by the two firms.

The deal covers Chipcom's Online System Concentrator hub products
and related network management and internetworking products.
Initially Unisys is to resell the Chipcom products only in the
United States, but Chipcom spokesman John Ricciardone said that,
"without putting a timetable on it" both companies are interested
in extending the agreement to other countries.

The Online System Concentrator hubs are aimed at large
organizations, including banks, universities, major manufacturers,
with thousands of personal computers and a need to improve the
management of their networks, Ricciardone said.

Major users of the hubs include Chevron Corp., General Electric
Co.'s nuclear operation, and Kidder-Peabody in the United States,
and the Toronto Stock Exchange, he said.

Eleven-year-old Chipcom makes intelligent switching systems
for large network installations. It has operations in 40 countries
and reported 1993 revenue of $105.8 million.

(Grant Buckler/19940104/Press Contact: John Ricciardone,
Chipcom, 508-624-6840; Pete Cavanaugh, Unisys,
215-986-7884/PHOTO)


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

German Neo-Nazis Use Computers To Progress Aims 01/04/94
BONN, GERMANY, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) --  According to reports appearing
in the German computer press, German neo-Nazis are using on-line
computer networks and bulletin board systems (BBSs) to pass
information about explosives, bomb-producing, racist propaganda,
and the names of leftist foes.

In the latest Chip magazine (a popular computer monthly in Germany),
the editorial staff claim to have researched about eight so-called
Thule mail-boxes, which in fact were BBSs set up for individuals to
exchange messages linked in a national far-right network.

German police officials have said for some time now that the neo-
Nazis are using sophisticated tools, including computer networks,
to carry out the exchange of messages and propaganda generally,
although the description in Chip was one of the most detailed,
Newsbytes notes.

Despite the fact that 1993 saw fewer racist attacks taking place in
Germany, top security officials have said that this is not a sign
that neo-Nazi activities are on the wane, but is more likely to be
due to the neo-Nazis regrouping their forces in the light of
official action against them.

According to Chip magazine, "The network distributes information
on demonstrations and invitations to meetings, addresses for
contacting parties and groups, and it reviews and offers books and
magazines. One of the mailboxes contained instructions for
producing military explosives and letter bombs. A great deal of
space is taken up by 'political discussions' among the users."

Thule is Norse or Viking terminology for "top of the world,"
Newsbytes notes. According to Chip, some BBSs on the Thule
network have names such as "Wolf Box" and "Resistance."

Chip magazine asserts that the neo-Nazis have been able to run
their BBSs and stay on the right side of the law by avoiding blatant
calls for violence against foreigners and Jews.

Despite this, some of the topics discussed on the BBS network have
names such as "de-foreignizing, in which the author warned that
fellow neo-Nazis should avoid high-profile demands for foreigners to
be evicted but should, instead, spread their calls by word of mouth.

Newsbytes notes that investigators in Flensburg, Germany, have
announced the seizure of more than 3,000 copies of "The Peasantry,"
a far Right magazine which asserts that the mass murder of the
Jews in the Second World War did not take place. In Northern
Germany, meanwhile, prosecutors have opened two new cases
against Germans involving neo-Nazi propaganda.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940401)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00022)

Czech Republic - HP Signs $50M Deal With Skoda 01/04/94
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Skoda, the Czech car
manufacturer, has closed a prestigious deal with Hewlett-Packard,
terms of which call for the US computer manufacturer to install
computer systems that will allow Skoda to modernize the design
and production of cars, as well as the accounting systems
associated with their manufacture.

Central to the modernization of Skoda's production is the networking
up of the company's 15 business units in the Czech Republic,
Newsbytes understands. Several hundred PCs and more than 100
workstations will link their various production facilities together,
covering all aspects of production and accounting.

Plans call for Art Graph Computer, a local Hewlett-Packard reseller,
to set up the network for Skoda. According to the Czech car
manufacturer, production should be improved with the introduction
of computer-aided design/computer-aided management (CAD/CAM)
software to the production cycle.

Currently, designs for cars are drafted out on paper and then models
are built laboriously by hand. Once the HP computer is built, all
the design cycle will be carried out entirely within software.

Although details of the investment required to install the computer
system have not been revealed, Newsbytes' research suggests that
several million dollars are being spent on the upgrade. This is
almost certainly the result of actions by Volkswagen, the German
card manufacturer, which took a major stake in Skoda last year.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940104/Press & Public Contact: Skoda Diesel,
422-245-116-87)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00023)

Germany - Siemens To Site New Chip Factory In Dresden 01/04/94
DRESDEN, GERMANY, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Siemens AG, the largest
electrical engineering group in Europe, has announced plans to build
a computer chip manufacturing plant in Dresden. The plant will be
built in close collaboration with the regional state of Saxony,
Newsbytes understands.

The cost of the plant is high. According to officials with
Siemens, the facility will cost the company more than DM2,000
million ($1,250 million) over the next decade, as various
production facilities are built and brought on-line.

Siemens' officials declined, however, to state how much of the
investment will be made by Siemens itself and how much will be
financed by tax breaks and the German government. Press reports
suggest that third party companies may invest in the project in
order to ensure future supplies of chips.

"Siemens will assume majority partnership and management. At
the same time, the company will welcome outside partners,"
Siemens officials said in a prepared statement.

Other reports suggest that the plant may qualify for European
Community (EC) support, especially now that Germany is no
longer the richest member of the EC after its reunion with
the former Eastern Germany.

Plans call for the new plant to employ around 1,200 staff once
the systems get on-line, which should occur later this year.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940104/Press & Public Contact: Siemens AG,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00024)

UK - BT Launches Dial-Up X.25 Service 01/04/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- British Telecommunication's
Global Network Services (GNS) division has announced the
availability of GNS X.25 Dial, a dial-up X.25 network service,
across 50 percent of the UK on a local call access basis.

X.25 is an international standard for packet switching of
large quantities of data, routed over multiple calls which are
multiplexed together for economies of scale in data switching.

GNS X.25 Dial allows up to 16 data calls to be placed over a single
high-speed modem link. So, for example, a US company with offices
in the UK could have their UK offices dial up over the BT packet data
network (PDN) and link with offices in the US. Instead of having
each office making separate calls, only one modem call in the UK
would be necessary, with up to 16 individual calls being routed
over the link.

Tymnet and Sprintnet in the US launched their own X.25 dial-up
services last year, Newsbytes notes. This means that US data calls
could be link directly with UK calls and the cost of having several
calls in progress could be avoided.

Since international PDN calls have two chargeable elements -- time
and data -- having one call instead of as many as 16 in progress can
save a lot in international PDN call terms. In addition, the GNS
network supports IBM 3270 equipment, as well as adhering to the
Tymvalidate system of creating and deleting passwords.

In practice, GNS X.25 Dial will allow business to interconnect
geographically dispersed computer systems and terminals via the
GNS PDN network to national and international hosts. BT claims
that this is ideal for single users needing short-term simultaneous
access to more than one host computer in order to perform multiple
transactions.

Announcing the new service, Richard Fryer, UK marketing manager for
BT's GNS, said that it has been launched in response to a growth in
market demand for faster interactive response times and file
transfers.

"The launch of GNS X.25 Dial takes us a step further towards BT's
vision of truly global communications. In future, our customers will
be able to dial up the X.25 service and use a common log-on
procedure that they are familiar with, regardless of where in the
world they might be," he said.

The X.25 Dial service costs UKP25 per month, plus UKP2.50 per
month per user name. So, for example, four user names would cost
UKP30 per month. Standard usage is then charged on the basis of
time only for inter-GNS network calls.

Typical prices quoted are UKP2-23 for a two channel link to
Australia for five minutes, compared to almost twice that for two
standard public switched telephone network (PSTN) modem calls.
Newsbytes notes that data calls passing beyond the GNS network
incur standard time plus data charges.

(Steve Gold/19940104/Press Contact: Jenny Bailey Associates,
tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact: Any
BT sales office)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00025)

 ****IBM Returns To South Africa With Minority Stake 01/04/94
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- IBM has ended
its seven-year absence from South Africa by buying a 24 percent
stake in Information Services Group, whose subsidiary ISM has
distributed IBM products in that country since 1987.

ISM was formed by the former South African employees of IBM
after the US company pulled out of the country in 1987 due to the
racist policies of the South African government, said Mark
Holcomb, an IBM spokesman in Washington. IBM helped fund the
creation of ISM so that its former employees would not be without
jobs when it left the country, Holcomb said. ISM's creation also
allowed the company to continue selling its products there.

Since the South African government began dismantling its
apartheid policy and African National Congress leader Nelson
Mandela endorsed the lifting of sanctions last fall, international
companies have begun moving back into the country.

Campaigning is now under way for multi-racial elections due
this spring, and the once-outlawed African National Congress is
considered a serious contender to form the new government.

Another large computer maker, Digital Equipment Corp., of Maynard,
Massachusetts, launched its first-ever South African subsidiary
last May. Based near Johannesburg, Digital Sales & Services South
Africa (Pty.) Ltd., is wholly owned by the US-based company.

IBM has an option to increase its stake in ISM, Holcomb said. He
would not comment on whether IBM might eventually take a
controlling interest in the Johannesburg operation, but said IBM
is, "looking at business options that are in front of us." The
company is pleased at being able to consider re-investing in the
country, he added. IBM had its own operation in South Africa
from 1952 until 1987, Holcomb said.

(Grant Buckler/19940104/Press Contact: Mark Holcomb, IBM,
202-515-5187)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00026)

Appleshare Tune-Up Now Supports 040 Macs, Except AVs 01/04/94
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Apple Computer
says it has extended its Appleshare 4.0 networking server
software for small to medium sized workgroups to work on a wider
variety of its top of the line Motorola 68040-based Macintosh
computers. The new Appleshare 4.0.1 Tune-up software will now
work on all Macintosh 68040-based computers except the
Audio/Visual (AV) line, instead of just the Workgroup Servers 60
and 80.

The new 4.0.1 version has also been upgraded to operate with all
of Apple's network services, including the Apple Internet Router
in its latest release 3.0.1 as well as the new Apple Remote
Access MultiPort Server, Applesearch, Powershare Collaboration
Servers, and Powertalk. Apple says the implication is customers
will be able to run the network software simultaneously on the
same server with all of Apple's existing services.

In addition, the Appleshare Tune-up version has increased
functionality with Farallon's Phonenet PC. Phonenet PC is aimed
at integrating IBM and compatible personal computers (PCs) to
share Postscript printers, Appletalk Filing Protocol file
servers, and Appletalk network applications.

The Appleshare 4.0.1 version is only available in Tune-up format,
which includes an installer that updates English, French,
Spanish, Italian, and Dutch versions of Appleshare 4.0 to version
4.0.1.

Current Appleshare 4.0 users can upgrade without charge by
calling Apple toll-free, though a shipping and handling charge
for mailing diskettes applies. The Tune-up version can also be
obtained over Applelink via the Applelink Software Updates icon
or on the Internet via anonymous ftp to ftp.apple.com or
aux.support.apple.com.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940104/Press Contact: Emilio Robles, Apple
Computer, tel [phone], fax [phone]; John McCreadie,
Regis McKenna for Apple, 408-974-4398; Public Contact,
Appleshare Tune-up, 800-769-2775 ext 7851)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00027)

SGI Intros 50% Faster Entry-Level Indy R4400 01/04/94
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Silicon
Graphics Inc. (SGI), known in part for its computer workstation
products used in the motion picture industry for special effects,
says it has increased the performance of its entry desktop
graphics and media workstation by 50 percent with its
introduction of the new Indy R4400. The new system is based on
the 64-bit MIPS R4400 150 megahertz (MHz) reduced instruction set
computing (RISC) processor.

SGI says the Indy R4400 is aimed at power-hungry users in
computer-aided design (CAD), photo retouching, animation, video
production, and media authoring environments. The system
includes a built-in digital color video camera, a graphical user
environment, and digital media capabilities with advanced three-
dimensional (3-D) graphics and imaging.

Like the other system in the SGI Indy family, the Indy R4400
supports up to 256 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM),
2 gigabytes (GB) of internal disk storage and seven fast small
computer system interface (SCSI)-2 devices.  The Indy system bus
operates at 267 MB-per-second, while the memory bus is rated at
400 MB-per-second, the company said. An optional Indyvideo add-in
card is also available for digital media work.

The new workstation delivers faster two-dimensional (2-D) and
3-D graphics, with displays at 1.6 million lines per second and
800,000 3-D vectors per second. In addition, the Indy R4400 offers
a primary cache that is double that of its predecessor, the R4000,
with 16 kilobytes (KB) for both instruction and on-chip data cache,
while featuring 1MB of unified secondary cache. The R4400
processor in the new system integrates 2.3 million transistors
and includes on-chip technology to speed graphics processing,
SGI added.

Priced beginning at $15,495, the entry Indy R4400 configuration
includes the 150 megahertz (MHz) R4400 Indy system, Virtual
24-bit (dithered 8-bit) color graphics, 32MB of main memory,
535MB system disk, 16-inch 1,280 by 1,024 resolution color
monitor, the Indycam color digital video camera, a keyboard,
mouse, the Irix 5.1 operating system, and the Indigo Magic user
environment.

The new Indy R4400 workstations will be  available in March,
1994, the company said.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940104/Press Contact: Carl Furry, Silicon
Graphics, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00028)

 ****Apple's New eWorld Stands For "Electronic World" 01/04/94
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- The "e" in
"eWorld" could stand for either "entertainment" or "educational,"
but the letter officially represents the word "electronic," Apple
Computer executives said at an in-depth pre-briefing on Apple's
newly announced on-line service, attended by Newsbytes in Boston.

"And eWorld will be the most global electronic service you've ever
seen," pledged Peter Friedman, director and general manager of
Apple Online Services.

Alpha tested in late 1993, and set to enter beta this month, eWorld
will eventually come to incorporate Apple's current Applelink
service, evolving over the next three to four years into a
distributed system aimed at home users throughout the world and
accessible in more than 30 languages, the execs explained.

The new service, which will revolve around a color-coded "map"
graphical user interface (GUI) that starts out at a "mall," is
slated to be available this spring in English for Mac users in the
US, Friedman told the journalists and analysts at the briefing.
Later in 1994, Apple plans to introduce the first non-English-
language content, for people who speak French, German and
Japanese. Content will come from publishers, as well as from
enough vendors and other organizations to pack a global village.

Apple's eWorld will become available with a Windows interface,
and for devices based on Newton technology, Friedman said. The
first eWorld messaging service for Newton -- NewtonMail -- was
announced in November, and is scheduled for availability during
the first quarter of this year.

"We want eWorld to be aggressively priced," Friedman asserted.
To that end, the basic monthly subscription fee in the US will be
$8.95, which will include two free hours of evening or weekend
usage. Each subsequent hour of evening or weekend usage will be
$4.95. An additional network surcharge of $2.95 will be applied
during business hours. Apple will announce pricing for Europe, the
Pacific Rim, and Latin America later this year, he said.

By the end of this year, Apple will be bundling eWorld software
with all new Mac computers, according to Friedman. In a Q&A
session at the close of the briefing, Friedman told Newsbytes that
Apple will probably work out bundling deals for Windows-based
software with makers of IBM-compatible PCs. The eWorld software
will also be available in shrink-wrapped form for existing
computers, he said. Apple is considering extending eWorld access
to Unix workstations at some point, he added.

Research shows that the vast majority of on-line users today are
accessing services for business purposes, according to Friedman.
Right now, home consumers represent only three percent of all
revenues, but Apple projects that by 1997, this figure will rise
to 50 percent. Apple intends to provide this market with "services
consumers can use."

Also at the briefing, Richard I. Gingras, group manager, Worldwide
Services, for Apple Online Services, said that in developing the
eWorld concept, Apple looked closely at what publishers and
vendors, as well as subscribers, want and need in an on-line
service.

The company found that subscribers are seeking three things:
"order from chaos," "compelling media from data," and "additional
value for the money (they) spend."

Today, electronic services are still in their infancy, and do not
meet these three needs for the majority of end users, according to
Gingras. To garner consumers' attention, on-line services must
compete against a plethora of other media, including television,
which currently consumes about seven hours of time each day in
the average household, he noted.

To overcome the competition, he said, Apple decided to "give
users an interface that is easy to use," and to supply, "a careful
selection of content from respected providers."

In designing the user interface, he added, the company decided that
"a geographical metaphor would be a good idea at the top level," to
help users "build a map in their heads" of on-line services, a world
that is still unfamiliar and sometimes frightening terrain to many
computer users. As a further guide, the services are color-coded,

In a demonstration, the Apple executives showed how the first level
of the eWorld interface consists of a mall, with a Library for
doing research, a Business and Professional Plaza for business
information and services, an Arts and Leisure Pavilion for
entertainment and hobbies, a Computer Center for computer
assistance and software, an eMail center for worldwide electronic
mail, a Community Center for "chats" and on-line events, and a
Newsstand for on-line publications.

Newsbytes, which is taking part in the eWorld testing process,
was depicted at the Newsstand. Apple expects that many major
publishers, vendors, and users' groups will offer commercial
services on eWorld. As eWorld becomes increasingly distributed,
local services, such as on-line town and city newspapers, will
probably be added, according to Gingras. Users will be able to
access these local services for areas outside of their own
communities, he added, giving the Tokyo stock exchange as a
hypothetical example.

Apple has also determined that publishers want to be able to
represent their own identities on-line, he said. For that reason,
eWorld will supply easily identifiable icons to publishers.

Similarly, vendors wish to establish "brand identity" and "a unique
look." In response, Apple will offer tools for creating on-line
products and services, for migrating existing data on-line, and for
connecting remote services to the eWorld infrastructure.

Apple's eWorld service will ultimately evolve into a distributed
service, based around Sparc centers and VAX clusters at the local
level, noted Friedman.

Chris Bryant, marketing group manager for Apple Online Services,
added that Apple will produce a set of object-oriented APIs
(application programming interfaces) to assist with the
localization process. APIs will also become available for building
agents designed to seek out specific kinds of information on
eWorld, according to Gingras. A "sports agent" is one possibility,
he said.

Also with eWorld, Apple will attempt to position 9600 bits-per-
second (bps) as a "de facto" industry standard, said Bryant.
Internet access will be offered at no additional surcharge, and
many other gateways will become available over time. "We want
eWorld to be a challenging but inviting place to roam around," he
concluded.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940104/Press Contacts: Emma
Bufton, Regis McKenna for Apple, 408-974-1856; Jennie
Shikashio, Regis McKenna for Apple, 408-974-4104)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00029)

UK - Tricom Unveils Parallel Port Modems 01/04/94
HIGH WYCOMBE, BUCKS, ENGLAND, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- Tricom has
launched one of the industry's first V.Fast (28,800 bits-per-second)
modems that connects to a PC's parallel port, as well as to the more
standard serial port.

The Tornado 28/42 costs UKP599 and is available immediately in
both desktop and portable versions. Tricom claims that, at the price,
the modems offer great flexibility in terms of connections to a
computer, as well as the fastest possible speeds over the public
switched telephone network (PSTN).

As with all of Tricom's high-end modems, the Tornado 28/42 supports
the V.42Bis system of data compression and error correction, as well
as the Microcom Network Protocol (MNP) Class 10 error correction
system for problematic telecoms links, such as those encountered
over cellular phone lines.

Commenting on the release of the new modems, Mike Hafferty,
Tricom's chief executive, said that V.Fast offers higher speeds, as
well as vastly superior data throughput that can only be achieved
with the Tornado 24/42 and its parallel port links.

"We are the first company in the UK to do this, with a unique
parallel port interface that sends data to a V.Fast modem at burst
speeds of well over the serial port maximum of 115,200 bits-per-
second," he said.

Most PC/Windows applications are limited, Newsbytes notes, to
19,200 bps speeds, owing to the limitations of the PC's standard
serial ports. Lately, however, enhanced serial port cards
employing the 16550 chipset have allowed this speed to be pushed
to 115,200 bps, since the 16550 chip takes on a lot of the
processing power normally carried out by the PC's main processor.

Despite these advances, the maximum data speed which can be
achieved over a 16550 UART serial card is generally accepted to be
115,200 bps. By using a parallel port link, however, with its
eight data channels, compared to a serial link's one, the effective
data throughput to the modem can be greatly increased, although
needing special software drivers. In recent tests, Newsbytes has
calculated that data speeds -- albeit in burst mode - of around
500,000 bps are possible over a parallel port link.

The Tornado 28/42 comes bundled with Delrina's Winfax and
DOSfax Lite fax communications package.

(Steve Gold/19940104/Press & Public Contact: Tricom,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00030)

UK - 3Net Involved In BT's Euro-ISDN Project 01/04/94
BASINGSTOKE, HANTS, ENGLAND, 1994 JAN 4 (NB) -- 3Net, a UK
integrated services digital network (ISDN) internetworking
system specialist, has announced it is supplying British
Telecommunications (BT) with around UKP500,000 worth of ISDN
internetworking equipment. The contract comes after 3Net worked
with BT on tests at BT's Martlesham heath laboratories.

BT has been using the 3Net Interchange kit to introduce Primary Rate
Euro-ISDN at selected exchanges around Europe to support its Euro-
ISDN initiative. Under this initiative, vendors are provided with
the opportunity to introduce new products and applications, and to
have end users test them in readiness for the roll-out of Primary
Rate Euro-ISDN later this year.

Euro-ISDN is an enhancement to standard ISDN. BT has been
supplying enhanced ISDN with digital signaling conforming to its
own DASS2 standard for some time, but has agreed -- as all
European ISDN service providers have -- to switch to the Euro-ISDN
system as quickly as possible. DASS2 users will, however, continue
to be supported well into the next century, BT has said.

ISDN allows data to flow across a standard 64,000 bits-per-second
(bps) data channel. Many users, however, notably major corporations,
require extra signaling for the data calls, such as, for example,
to route data calls and information around private networks linked
into the public ISDN. Using DASS2 and now Euro-ISDN, this data can
be supported to an agreed standard, without affecting the main
ISDN compatibility.

Trevor Sokell, 3Net's managing director, said that he believes that
Euro-ISDN will further stimulate demand for ISDN services.

"Both Primary Rate and Basic Rate Euro-ISDN services are being
introduced right across Europe which will enable vendors such as
ourselves to introduce products into more markets more quickly,
and therefore see an earlier return on investment," he said, adding
that this will also be good for the end user as, "it will result in
more products, more applications and more choice."

(Steve Gold/19940104/Press & Public Contact: 3Net Limited,
tel [phone], fax [phone])