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/nb020294

Text File | 1994-02-02 | 81.6 KB | 1,819 lines

(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00001)

Merisel Completes Purchase Of Computerland Div 02/02/94
PLEASANTON, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Four months
after announcing its intention to purchase the Franchise and
Distribution Division of Computerland, Merisel Inc., says the unit
has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

Under terms of the deal Merisel will pay up to $110 million for the
division, which the company says had sales of $1.1 billion in 1993.
Merisel said it paid $80 million in cash upon the close of the sale,
$20 million of which will be converted to Merisel common stock
at a price of $18.13  per share.

Up to $30 million more will be paid by Merisel to Computerland
over the next two years. The actual amount will depend on "the
division's future sales and other performance criteria."

Merisel says that it now has the rights to the Computerland and
Datago names in the United States. Computerland plans to
announce a new name in March, but will retain rights to the
Computerland name abroad.

According to Computerland, the company also signed a two year
agreement with Merisel to continue "providing purchasing,
distribution, systems, and other services currently supplied to
ComputerLand franchised dealers and Datago affiliate dealers,
which are customers of the Franchise and  Distribution Division."

Merisel has to pay a fee to Computerland for the services
and will receive credit terms for its purchases. A total of 66
Computerland employees switched companies as a result of the
purchase.

Computerland plans to provide integrating multi-vendor computer
services and technologies, mainly to large organizations in the
US, including product procurement and asset management,
hardware maintenance, networking services, help-desk phone
support, and end-user training. The company also plans to offer
some services, such as hardware maintenance contracts, to be
re-sold by dealers and even manufacturers, said the company.

Newsbytes reported on the original agreement in September.
Four months prior to that, the company laid off 6.5 percent of its
workforce -- about 170 workers.

At the time, Merisel Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Michael D. Pickett, said: "The proposed purchase of the ComputerLand
Franchise and Distribution Division is intended to enhance Merisel's
customer intimacy strategy, and provide the benefits that come from
doing business with a full-line distributor focused exclusively on
selling to resellers."

William Y. Tauscher, Computerland's CEO and chairman, said at the
time that: "This agreement will help us focus on our core business,
providing products and services to corporate end-users. It also
improves our cash position substantially."

(Ian Stokell/19940202/Press Contact: Alan Bernheimer,
510-734-4005, Computerland Corp.)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(SFO)(00002)

Banyan & HP Announce ENS For HP-UX 02/02/94
WESTBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- For a
network management system to be successful in today's
enterprise-wide corporate networking environments, it must
support a variety of platforms. Now Banyan Systems and Hewlett-
Packard have announced the availability of Banyan's Enterprise
Network Services (ENS) software running on top of the HP 9000
Series 800 PA-RISC-based Business Servers.

Combining Unix and PC networks can produce a variety of problems
which prevents users from accessing resources across both
environments. According to the companies, the new product
addresses that problem.

The companies maintain that ENS for HP-UX offers the benefits of
Banyan's ENS, which includes the ability to "create a uniform,
enterprise-wide platform for application sharing and development,"
with the claimed "cost-effectiveness, scalability and broad
software and standards support" available on the HP 9000 Series
800 Business Server. The combination allows all users to access
databases, applications and network resources regardless of their
physical location while at the same time allowing for effective
administration of the network, claims the companies.

ENS for HP-UX includes DOS, OS/2, Windows and Unix client
support. ENS includes the StreetTalk III Directory Service and
StreetTalk Directory Assistance (STDA), security, intelligent
messaging and network management, along with file and print
sharing capabilities.

According to Jim Schaper, Banyan senior vice  president of
worldwide sales and marketing, "Using Banyan's ENS, customers can
easily and effectively combine their PC and Unix environments for
full PC and Unix network integration. Running ENS on the HP 9000
Series 800 RISC Business Server, customers can take advantage of
the rich suite of HP-UX applications."

Database vendors Sybase and Oracle have both announced support
for ENS for HP-UX. Banyan and Oracle have reportedly developed
Oracle SQL Net products that integrate Oracle7 with ENS for HP-UX.

Sybase plans support too. Said Mark Page, Sybase vice president of
connectivity products, "As an element of Sybase's overall support
for distributed applications and enterprise client/server technology,
we plan to support Banyan's new ENS product by integrating the
StreetTalk directory service with Sybase System 10."

Banyan and HP first announced a development deal in April, 1993.
According to the companies, the relationship also includes
technology sharing, joint product development, network attached
printer support, technical support alliances, and joint marketing.
In Europe it also includes a distribution arrangement whereby HP
will sell ENS for HP-UX through its direct sales force and selected
resellers. However, in the US, Banyan says that the distribution
will be through its "premier network channel."

Enterprise Network Services for HP-UX is already available
through Banyan's Premier Network Integrator channel. The price
depends on the number of users and costs: (Application Server) -
$4,995; for 20 users - $5,495; 50 users - $8,495; 100 users -
$10,995; 250 users - $18,995; 500 users - $28,995; and 1000
users - $54,995.

(Ian Stokell/19940202/Press Contact: Siobhan Carroll, Gary
Wolfe, 508-898-1000, Banyan Systems; or Kelly Emo,
408-447-5334, Hewlett-Packard/PHOTO)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00003)

 ****Powering Up NA - Time Ripe For Info Highway 02/02/94
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- North America faces
no pressing economic problems in the next few years, so it is a good
time to concentrate on building infrastructure for the future in
the form of the much-heralded information highway. That was the
opening message to delegates at Powering Up North America, a
conference on the information highway that opened in Toronto on
Tuesday.

The message came from Rudiger Dornbusch, a professor of economics
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He delivered it
in a country with unemployment running above 10 percent, in a
province that had to shut down government services on several
Fridays last summer and has tried to cut the pay of civil servants
to help fight a mounting deficit.

Dornbusch was not ignorant at least of the unemployment statistic:
he mentioned Canada's unemployment problem and the somewhat less
severe rate of unemployment the United States faces, but said there
is nothing government can do to correct it in the short term.
"Growth over time will take care of it," he said. And he pointed to
the so-called information highway as one way of making sure that
growth happens.

Dornbusch said North America is virtually the only part of the
world today where the economic situation is such that it is
possible to focus on the long term rather than on surviving until
the end of the year. And he suggested that if North American
governments and business get to work on the widespread network of
communications networks, it could keep the region on top of the
world economy for the next 20 years.

That does not mean government should build the infrastructure or
control it, the economist added. If it did, he remarked, it would
emerge looking like "a cow with 11 legs." The role of governments
should be to make it easier for private industry to invest in the
network, ensure that there is open competition, and make sure
the network is accessible to everyone.

It seems the United States government, at least, largely agrees
with that point of view. Dr. Michael Nelson, a senior science
policy analyst at the White House and an advisor to Vice-President
Albert Gore, said one of his government's priorities is revamping
telecommunications policy to promote competition and open access.
However, he also said the government has a role to play in research
and development and the running of pilot projects meant to help the
information infrastructure develop.

Two other priorities are to protect intellectual property rights
and the privacy of information and to make the government itself a
user of the new communications technology.

The Canadian government's position on the role of the state is --
as always -- more ambiguous than that of its US counterpart. In
a brief address beamed to the conference from Ottawa, John Manley,
minister of industry in the recently installed Liberal government,
said government cannot do the job alone. But he also said his
government's infrastructure project will make money available to
provincial and municipal governments for projects related to the
information highway concept.

Jon Gerrard, Canadian minister of state for science, research, and
development, is to give a luncheon speech on the conference's
second day on Wednesday, and it is expected this may bring further
detail on the government's recent vague promise to develop an
information highway strategy.

Nelson said the present US government wants to deregulate
telecommunications, though he was careful to qualify the statement.
"We're hoping to do intelligent deregulation in this area, unlike
what was done with the savings and loan industry, for instance."

And he made a point of universal access to new communications
services, saying that economically it makes sense to hook up about
two thirds of the population of the US to the networks, while
socially it makes sense for everyone to have access, and part of
the government's job will be to make sure the latter happens.

Nelson also acknowledged that the tag National Information
Infrastructure, which his government has applied to the concept of
high-capacity, interlinked networks, is a misnomer. "Bits don't
recognize borders," he said.

That was a popular sentiment on the first day of the conference,
which was organized by the Information Technology Association of
Canada (ITAC) and the Canadian Advanced Technology Association
(CATA). Larry Ellison, president and chief executive of software
vendor Oracle Corp., suggested the term Global Information
Infrastructure during his lunchtime commercial for a new
interactive television system Oracle has developed. And Nicholas
Negroponte, director of the MIT's Media Lab, put it bluntly. "When
I hear the expression National Information Infrastructure," he said
in a speech this morning, "I really want to puke."

(Grant Buckler/19940201)


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

 ****Powering Up NA - Canadian Telecom Bosses At Odds 02/02/94
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- The information
highway is not waiting to be built -- it already exists. Top
executives of three prominent Canadian telecommunications concerns
seemed to agree on that much as they spoke one after the other at
the Powering Up North America conference on information
infrastructure here.

Top officers of the Stentor consortium of telephone companies,
Unitel Communications Inc., and Rogers Communications Inc., also all
said they favored competition. But the consensus stopped there, and
each one seemed to define competition in a slightly different way.
As each executive took potshots at one or more of the others'
companies, the scene resembled a series of drive-by shootings on
the information highway.

Wesley Scott, president and chief executive officer of Stentor
Resource Centre Inc., the policy arm of the telephone company
consortium, was the least combative of the three. He called for
further deregulation of the Canadian telephone business, saying the
present system creates an artificial pricing structure. That was a
reference to the terms under which Unitel and others were let into
the long-distance market, and to federal regulators' refusal -- so
far, anyway -- to let Stentor member companies raise local
telephone rates in response to growing competition in the
long-distance market.

Scott also used the occasion to announce two trials of asynchronous
transfer mode (ATM) communications technology, which he said will
be a key to new telecommunications services. Stentor is working
with the Montreal Cardiological Institute on a project that will
involve transmitting cardiograms, mammograms and other
data-intensive medical images over an ATM network. This will
start in Montreal but later extend to other parts of the country, he
said. A second, similar project means creating a metropolitan
area network in London, Ontario, to link several hospitals, the
University of Western Ontario, and other users.

Speaking after Scott, George Harvey, chairman of Toronto-based
Unitel, attacked Stentor as a cartel, chastising its member
companies for refusing to compete in each others' territories and
failing to buy services from anyone but other members of the
cartel. He also complained that Unitel is "having to fight every
inch of the way" for access to local telephone networks, portable
800-number service and other concessions it needs to compete
against the phone companies.

Harvey praised the US telecommunications industry, where he said
regional phone companies are opening cellular telephone and pager
operations in each other's territories and inter-exchange carriers
are competing in areas such as cable.

There was some sniping at telephone companies too from Ted
Rogers, president and chief executive of Toronto-based Rogers
Communications Inc., whose interests include many local
cable-television services, radio stations, and a 32 percent stake
in Unitel. Rogers said cable television companies, and not
telephone companies, are best placed to bring the information
highway services to Canadian homes because they have broadband
networks in place now, while telephone lines have much lower
capacity. Expanding the telephone network to handle those services
will take too long and ordinary telephone users will end up footing
the bill, Rogers claimed, calling that possibility "information
highway robbery."

Rogers maintained that cable television carriers and telephone
companies will compete in a variety of other areas, but neither
will move into the other's home turf before the end of the decade.
And while calling for competition, he also said the Canadian
government should protect Canadian culture from a glut of foreign
programming, and referred to the competition cable companies will
soon face from US-based providers of direct-to-home satellite
television services.

To cap the spirited exchange, Nicholas Negroponte, director of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, spoke
directly after Rogers and began his address by saying "I'm sorry
that Mr. Rogers left the room, because 50 percent of what he said
was wrong, and I'd have liked to have him hear that first hand."

Negroponte said bandwidth is not a major issue, because consumers
will use interactive technology to choose the content they want and
then have it transmitted to their homes, rather than choosing from
a torrent of information after it reaches their living rooms.

(Grant Buckler/19940201)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00005)

 ****Powering Up NA - Forget Widening Info Highway 02/02/94
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Less is more.
Bandwidth is not the point, according to Nicholas Negroponte,
director of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT).

Speaking to the Powering Up North America conference on the
so-called information highway here, Negroponte said the word
highway is an unfortunate metaphor for the interconnected network
of networks carrying voice, data, and video traffic that North
American policy makers and business people are getting hyped up
about lately.

Highway is a poor word because it suggests that width is important,
Negroponte said. In fact, he contended, the width of the highway --
meaning bandwidth -- will not be a big issue because the wealth of
information to which people are expected to have access in a few
years does not have to travel to their homes or offices. Only the
subset of that information they actually choose to use must make
the journey from high-capacity servers to the user's desktop or
living room.

Negroponte said interactive systems will allow people to choose
what they want, whether it is data from a remote computer or
game-show reruns from a video server, and have it downloaded to
their homes. The intelligence of local devices will substitute for
huge information pipelines into every home and office, he said,
remarking that "broadband is the license to be dumb."

After all, Negroponte said, most people don't want more
information -- what they want is the right information. In fact,
"I would pay a newspaper the inverse proportion to the number
of pages they delivered."

Negroponte said the interface to widespread information networks
of the future will be an electronic "agent" that will go out and find
information of interest to the individual and package it for him or
her.

When the network user wants something, it will be sent from a
nearby server -- a computer with large amounts of storage,
essentially -- to the home or office.

While saying bandwidth is not as important as many people think,
Negroponte also predicted that higher-capacity networks will spread
quickly with or without a concerted effort to build them.

For instance, he said, telephone companies are now putting in fiber
rather than copper cabling in most cases simply because it is more
cost-effective, and about five percent of the telephone network is
replaced every year in the normal course of events. "Do nothing,
folks, and in 20 years you're going to have fiber to the home."

(Grant Buckler/19940201)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00006)

 ****Powering Up NA -  Info Highway "Misconceptions" 02/02/94
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- American
Vice-President Albert Gore recently said he wants the information
highway -- a term he coined in the 1980s -- to give every child in
every American school access to the Library of Congress.
Wouldn't it be at least as innovative and at least as useful, asked
William Esrey, chairman and chief executive of Sprint Corp., to
make sure every one of those children could read?

Esrey, whose company is one of the three top providers of
long-distance telephone service in the United States, did not come
to the Powering Up North America conference here to praise the
much-hyped information highway. He did not come to bury it either.
Esrey said he is "excited about what is to come" and believes
the interlinked network of networks will be a reality. But, he
said, "It's going to happen in different ways and in different time
frames than we expect."

Policy-makers in the United States and Canada have been touting
information infrastructure as vital to the North American economy,
and businesses have been scrambling to get in position to profit
from it. Esrey noted that US humorist Dave Barry recently wrote,
tongue-in-cheek of course, about a special kind of fiber-optic
network in Chicago that lets people receive Chinese food
electronically. "When Bell Atlantic and Time-Warner hear that,
they're going to start buying up Chinese restaurants," he remarked.

The media and telecommunications companies that are fighting
takeover battles in an apparent effort to prepare for an
information highway boom think they are getting in on the ground
floor, Esrey said, but "some of them are going to end up buried in
the ground on which the others build."

He said it is not at all clear that consumers want many of the
services the information highway is expected to provide to the
home. In particular he mentioned video-on-demand, which is
supposed to provide a wide choice of movies and other viewing
fare. In a recent market trial in Cerritos, California, Esrey said,
hardly anyone used it.

And he added that consumers are likely to be daunted by the wide
variety of information made available to them. Picking out what
they want, he said, will be like plucking a few snowflakes from an
oncoming avalanche.

Another misconception, Esrey added, is that the information
highway is waiting to be built. In fact it already exists. Sprint is
installing asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and optical fiber
systems now, and "we'll be able to handle any gee-whiz job that
anybody ever fantasized about," he said.

For the next three to five years, Esrey said, any money made from
new high-capacity networks will be in business applications.

(Grant Buckler/19940201)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(MSP)(00007)

 ****Newsbytes Offers Daily Summary 02/02/94
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Each day,
along with the thirty or more full-text reports generated
by the Newsbytes reporting team, a summary of the day's
news will now be included.

Entitled "Newsbytes Daily Summary," the report will offer
one paragraph from each news story of the day. The feature
is intended to be a concise view of the day's top news items.

Newsbytes currently offers a Newspix picture library
summary on a weekly basis, and Roundup, a summary of the
top stories in major computer industry news publications,
each Friday.

Newsbytes, a service of the Newsbytes News Network, reaches
an estimated audience of 4.5 million daily. Newsbytes News
Network has been reporting the day's top computer and
telecommunications industry news stories worldwide since
1983.

(Wendy Woods/19940202)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BOS)(00008)

Survey - Network Specialists Surpass MIS Generalists 02/02/94
MANHASSET, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Network
professionals have surpassed their generalist management
information system (MIS) counterparts to become the single most
influential group impacting computer-related purchasing, according
to a new Intelliquest survey sponsored by Communications Week.

Exactly 54.1 percent of the MIS professionals surveyed were either
"formally" or "informally" involved with networks, up from 38.8
percent two years ago, the survey reported. Intelliquest projects
that 63.2 percent of the group will fall into this category two
years from now.

Most of the new networking personnel will come from in-house, the
researchers theorized, since the surveyed companies anticipate only
minimal growth in the total numbers of computing professionals.

At the average site in the survey, 63 percent of all PCs were
connected to networks. Intelliquest forecasts that this figure
will rise to 85 percent by 1995. An earlier Intelliquest survey,
released in 1992, predicted that the majority of department-level
information would be available on company-wide networks within
the next few years.

"The numbers demonstrate the burgeoning demand for systems that
can communicate any time, anywhere -- a demand that is driving the
interconnect business worldwide," said Beth Ruffenach, publisher of
Communications Week.

"Consider, for example, that people who now routinely communicate
through text-based electronic-mail will also want to send page
layouts, charts, and even digitized sound with the same speed and
convenience. The higher required bandwidth will open whole new
markets, and that's going to make a fast-growing industry grow
even faster with the network professional right at the center," she
added.

The new survey also found that more than two-fifths of respondents
have either dedicated a person to overseeing the network function,
or plan to name one by 1995. Comparatively few of these designated
individuals yet hold the title of "chief networking officer,"
though. Most networking specialists are still called systems
analysts, programmers, or information technology specialists, the
study discovered.

Another survey finding showed a shift away from "ad hoc" corporate
computer purchases, with increased participation by networking
professionals in the purchasing process. Forty-two percent of the
surveyed sites have assigned a committee or task force to evaluate
acquisitions of computer hardware and software.

Among these sites, 78 percent include a networking professional as
part of the purchase decision, and 42 percent said a networking
professional is relied upon for almost all purchases.

Three-quarters or more of all individuals with networking
responsibilities take part in the purchasing of PCs, printers,
operating system software, microprocessors, and application
software.

The survey determined that 29.8 percent of the MIS professionals
have "formal network involvement," while 24.3 percent have
"informal network involvement." Two years ago, 21.8 percent of
these workers were formally involved with networks, and only 17
percent informally involved.

The outlook from Intelliquest is that, two years from now, 39.1
percent of the group will be formally involved with networks,
and 24.1 percent will be informally involved.

The report also projects a surge in the numbers of MIS personnel
with "network responsibilities" -- from 27.7 percent two years ago,
to 37.7 percent today, to 44.1 percent two years from now.

"We're seeing a crumbling of the traditional wall that once
separated computer people and communications people. In its place
is a new breed of professionals with both skills. Meeting that
person's needs will change the way hardware and software are sold
to corporate America. In this new world, vendors will invariably
make communications a part of their core product message," noted
Ruffenach.

Said Joe Noel, Intelliquest's general manager of telecommunications
services: "The old guard that is currently being replaced by these
networking professionals has often been a barrier to the
implementation of new technology. This new breed of professional
is much more open to alternative methods of computing and
interconnection of corporate sites. This new openness (brings)
significant opportunities (to) vendors who are targeting these
markets."

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940101/Press & Reader Contacts: Maggie
Wells, Communications Week, 408-725-4311; Christine Tavella,
Alexander Communications, 415-923-1660)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BOS)(00009)

Blyth Reports Record 3Qtr Financial Results 02/02/94
FOSTER CITY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Blyth Software,
producer of the Omnis line of cross-platform client-server
application software for the Mac and Windows, has reported record
financial results for the third fiscal quarter, ended December 31,
1993.

Blyth experienced robust sales of its principal product, Omnis 7
version 2, during the third quarter, and these strong results are
continuing, according to Owen Brown, executive vice president of
operations.

Blyth's third quarter revenues for fiscal year 1994 were
$4,434,450, a rise of 55 percent over revenues of $2,852,371 for
the third quarter of fiscal year 1993.

Revenues for the nine-month period ended December 31, 1993,
also stepped up substantially, to a total of $10,901,443, versus
$8,292,510 for the nine-month period ended December 31, 1992.

Net income for third quarter, 1994, was $256,157, in contrast
to a net loss of $260,914, for the same period a year earlier.

For the nine-month period ended December 31, 1993, net loss was
$301,388. Net income was $22,248 for the same nine-month period
the year before.

During the third quarter of the current year, Blyth sold several
corporate licenses for Omnis 7 products and services, at prices in
excess of $100,000, said Brown. The Omnis product line is designed
for deployment of mission-critical client-server applications
throughout large enterprises that use Windows and/or Macintosh.
The software can be used to build applications that run on
multivendor networks and are capable of accessing both structured
query language (SQL) and non-SQL databases.

Also during the third quarter, Blyth continued to expand sales and
marketing coverage, as well as research and development (R&D)
investment. General and administrative (G&A) and sales (G&A)
increased for both the third quarter and the first nine quarters of
the fiscal year.

For the quarter ended December 31, 1993, these expenses were
$2,899,411, compared to $1,510,420 for the same quarter the
previous year. For the nine months ended December 31, 1993, the
expenses were $7,496,213, as opposed to $4,303,846 for the same
period in fiscal 1993.

The G&A expenses reflect an increase in Blyth's management staff
in addition to increased corporate insurance coverage, according to
Brown.

Blyth's total R&D costs for the third fiscal quarter were
$1,029,963, versus $578,156 for the same quarter of the prior
year. During the first nine months of fiscal 1994, Blyth invested
$2,709,359 in R&D, compared with $1,453,644 for the nine months
ended December 31, 1992.

Of the total R&D costs for the quarter, $279,805 was reflected as
R&D expense on the statements of operations while $750,158 was
capitalized software development. Of total R&D costs for the first
three quarters of the year, $781,670 was R&D expense, while
$1,927,689 was capitalized software development.

Blyth's balance sheet also reflects $628,189 in deferred revenue
at the end of the third quarter of 1994, versus $180,036 on
March 31, 1994, a gain attributed mainly to increases in customer
subscriptions to annual maintenance and support services.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940201/Reader Contact: Blyth Software,
800-346-6647; Press Contact: Phyllis Grabot, Capital Relations
for Blyth, 818-889-9100)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00010)

Cannon Intros New BJ-200e Bubble Jet Printer 02/02/94
COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Cannon
Computer Systems Inc. (CCSI), a subsidiary of Cannon Inc., has begun
shipping the BJ-200e, an enhanced version of their BJ-200, bubble
jet printer.

The BJ-200e offers a new eight-bit driver, a multi-pass mode and
software driver, 20 more TrueType fonts, software-based on-line
help and bi-directional text printing.

CCSI is targeting the "SOHO" (small office, home office) market and
will continue to offer the same features of reduction, 256 shades
of gray, and 360 dots-per-inch (dpi) found in the BJ-200.

Karen Lippe, public relations manager for CCSI, told to Newsbytes,
"The benefit of this product is that there is no streaking even in
complex graphics. Our multi-pass feature makes it far superior to
other inkjet printers in its class."

BJ-200e replaces BJ-200 and competes with the Epson Stylus 800
and the HP-500. With this new graphics ability, CCSI claims the
200e will follow the award-winning path of the 200 model, which
won a number of "editor's choice" and "best buy" categories in 1993
and doubled sales figures in the same year, claims the company.

The BJ-200e is added to a family of larger printers which include
the BJ-230 (11 by 17 format), as well as the LBP-430 and
LBP-860 laser printers.

The price of the BJ-200e is the same as the current manufacturer's
suggest retail price ($399) of the BJ-200.

(Patrick McKenna/19940202/Press Contact: Karen Lippe,
714-438-3075, CCSI)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00011)

Dow Jones Changes Pricing Scheme 02/02/94
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Dow Jones
News/Retrieval is changing how it computes prices. But instead of
going to a flat-rate scheme, it is going to charge per byte.

As of March 1, the company said, US customers will pay $1.50
per 1,000 characters downloaded, including letters, spaces, and
punctuation marks. This eliminates surcharges on searches and
charges for time spent by users wondering what they should type
next. But the service indicated that bills should not change
much either way as a result. "If someone is a heavy text user,
this may change how you get charged," spokesman Maggie Landis
told Newsbytes.

Also gone, however, will be surcharges based on the time of day
and modem speed. In a statement, Executive Director Allen
Grossman said the company is committed to making its service the
choice in the "corporate market." In addition to its own stories,
the service will add same-day articles from the New York Times
news service in the second quarter of this year.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940202/Press Contact: Maggie Landis, Dow
Jones, 609-520-4638)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00012)

Prodigy Launches Education Service 02/02/94
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) - Prodigy has
announced a version of its network for schools, called Classroom
Prodigy.

This follows, by about six months, the launch of the Scholastic
Network, a special version of the America OnLine service sponsored
by Scholastic Inc., a major education publisher. Currently, there is
no primary sponsor for the Prodigy service.

The classroom service includes links with National Geographic
Magazine, the Nova science series, and the Sesame Street and
Reading Magic shows, along with complete teacher support
materials.

The Classroom Prodigy service does not include on-line
commercials, a major feature of the regular service. It also does
not support commercial transactions.

Among the early uses of the new service are a series of "on-line
field trips," including reports from 88-year old mountaineer
Norman Vaughan as his eight-man, 22-dog team embarked on an
expedition to climb a 10,203 foot Antartic peak named after Mr.
Vaughan by explorer Robert Byrd in 1929, in honor of Vaughan's
service during the first dog-sled expedition to the continent in
1928. The section included reports from Vaughan, and things like
maps, newsletters and learning activities.

The next field trip, the service said, will be a project with NASA
involving the April shuttle launch of a remote sensing satellite,
called SIR-C.

As with Scholastic, Classroom Prodigy will be priced on a per-
class, per year basis, with a 12-month flat fee subscription
including any of three service membership plans: a 10-hour
per month Test Pack; a 25-hour per month Class Pack; and a 100
moth per hour Library/Media Lab Pack.

As part of a charter membership drive, the company is giving away
9,600 baud modems to those who purchase the top tier tiers of
service by October 1.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940202/Press Contact: Connie Connors, for
Prodigy, 212-995-2200)


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

Spectrum Troubles Continue, But May End Soon 02/02/94
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Former Spectrum
Chairman Peter Caserta apparently sold-out his position in the
company soon after hiring former Apple chairman John Sculley to
run the company, according to Invest/Net, a service which tracks
insider trading.

The move could become part of a wider, private Securities and
Exchange Commission examination of Caserta's running of the firm.

Last May, some shareholders sued Spectrum after Caserta made
statements about the value of an AT&T license agreement which
AT&T quickly denied.

Sculley settled a suit on that question soon after taking control of
the company last fall. He has also recently settled patent suits
filed under Caserta's regime against Microcom and Data Race. In
the case of Data Race, its royalties due Spectrum could be offset
by its advertising of Spectrum products.

Spectrum spokesman John Henderson declined to comment on all
this to Newsbytes, but it seems stock buyers are beginning to take
the view that the worst is behind the company, which is in the
process of renaming itself Spectel and moving its head office to
Manhattan, an easier commute from Sculley's Greenwich,
Connecticut home.

If there has been bad blood between Caserta and Sculley, as a
recent "Wall Street Journal" article alleges, analysts say, it may
be that Sculley now has the upper hand due to Caserta's stock sales.

In early trade February 2, Spectrum stock was among the most-
active on the NASDAQ exchange, trading at $6 per share, up about
75 cents. The stock has been extremely volatile, trading at prices
of as high as $12 when the AT&T license agreements and Sculley's
hiring were announced.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940202/Press Contact: John Henderson, for
Spectrum, 212-489-6900)


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

Price Wars Quickly Hit V.34 Market 02/02/94
NORWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Even before
the V.34 standard, a modulation system for modems moving data at
28,800 bits-per-second (bps), is finalized, a price war is hitting
the market.

Microcom, best known as a software company, said it is entering
the retail market with new models of its DeskPorte line of
modems, running at 28,800 bps. The news here is that the
modems are priced extremely aggressively, as low as $299 for a
model which uses a serial port interface, $399 with a faster
parallel port interface under Microsoft Windows.

The company also announced a V.32bis product to its line, at $239,
which runs data at 14,400 bps, and the firm announced it will
market a V.Fast modem under the PCMCIA (Personal Computer
Memory Card International Association) PC Card standard later
this year.

The DeskPorte 28,800 bps modems are being made available
to BBS (bulletin board system) operators, and interested system
operators should call the company's sysop order administration
office at 800-822-8224.

But buyers must be wary when buying fast modems, as Newsbytes
learned from Microcom spokesman David Powers. Since V.34 is not
final yet, the DeskPortes' firmware holds a preliminary version
of it. Microcom says it will change-out those chips for $39 when
V.34 becomes final. Some other vendors are implementing the
necessary software on flash chips, and offering to upgrade
them free through a call with the modem.

Powers told Newsbytes that the low prices are a deliberate effort
to give the retail channel what it wants. "V.32bis prices,"
covering modems running at 14,400 bps, "have been driven
incredibly low over the last nine months. A modem is now a
commodity buy. Regardless of the technology. People are looking
for reliable high-speed connectivity, and they're not going to pay
a lot for it."

He concluded; "For the first time, we're entering the retail
market with our modem products. The prices that are needed in
the retail channel are much lower in price than our higher end
products. The retail buyer isn't worried about the security or
other features in our $499 product."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940202/Press Contact: David Powers,
Microcom, 617-551-1955)


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

US Robotics Licenses AT&T Modem Patents 02/02/94
WARREN, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- US Robotics
said it has signed, what it termed, a bi-lateral license agreement
on modem technology with AT&T.

While specific terms on the patents, which cover systems running
up to the soon-to-be-ratified V.34 standard for 28,800 bits-per-
second (bps) products, were not released, some cash is involved.

"It's going from USR to AT&T," said AT&T spokesman Marianne
Carlton, and US Robotics spokesman Karen Novak confirmed that.
"The patents relate to implementation of modem data
communication standards up through V.34. They also cover
fundamental techniques used in all modern high speed modems,"
added Carlton.

In addition to the up-front cash, US Robotics agreed to pay a
licensing fees on product sales beginning in the sixth year of
the agreement.

Spokesman Karen Novak emphasized the bi-lateral nature of the
agreement, however. "We benefit from each others' technologies.
It's a bi-lateral agreement. It's for future products, and patents
related to datacomm standards through V.34. So it also covers
what we do today."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940202/Press Contact: Marianne Carlton,
AT&T Bell Laboratories, 908-582-4760; Karen Novak, US Robotics,
708-982-5244)


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

Octel, VMX To Merge 02/02/94
MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Voice mail
companies Octel and VMX have agreed to merge. The first
announcement of the talks came in a definitive merger agreement
which could become final in three months.

Newsbytes discussed the deal with VMX spokesman Ellen Pensky,
noting from the outset that it appears that the two companies
are offering pretty much the same products, and that the merger
is, in fact, a consolidation of the industry.

"From the outside, that may be how it appears," she said, then went
on to explain what the two companies do. "VMX has three markets.
Our Rhetorex division makes PC voice and fax processing boards.
The bulk of our business is in the CPE market, and we have systems
running from two to 96 ports. We also have integrated electronic-
mail systems."

She continued: "On the Octel side they have PC based systems
through their Compass division, and a CPE market. That's where
there is the overlap -- they go four to 144 ports. But they've
focused more on the Fortune 500 than we have. They also go into
the voice information service market, selling to telephone
companies. We don't do that at all."

However, Pensky acknowledged that jobs could well be cut as a
result of the agreement. The two companies' offices are just two
miles apart in Silicon Valley, and Octel is presently building a
new facility next to its existing structure which should hold
both companies.

"They're saying there will be cost savings from the consolidation
of facilities," Pensky said. The new building will be occupied in
June. Together the two companies have about 30,000 systems
installed with over 17,000 customers.

Under the terms of the deal, VMX shareholders will get one share
of Octel common for every five shares of VMX they hold. Octel
currently has 18,131,450 shares outstanding and will issue
approximately 5,295,865 additional shares in accordance with the
transaction.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940202/Press Contact: Octel
Communications, Barbara Burdick, 408-321-3245; VMX, Ellen
Pensky, 408-441-1166 ext 4366)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00017)

Knowledgeware Settles Stockholder Suit 02/02/94
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- A computer
software company run by a former National Football League star
quarterback has settled a stockholder lawsuit for $1.75 million.

The 1991 class action lawsuit alleged that Knowledgeware Inc.,
led by NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, knew for several months
that the company's president and senior vice president would
resign but withheld that information from stockholders. The suit
alleges that those resignations were instrumental in the company
reporting its first quarterly loss since going public in 1989.

The loss caused Knowledgeware stock, which was selling for
$43.25 in April 1991, to fall to $12.25 in October of that year.
Chairman and CEO Tarkenton has contended that the suit was
without merit and that Knowledgeware fully complied with
applicable securities laws.

Under terms of the settlement Knowledgeware's insurance
company will pay the shareholders $1.75 million in cash and
Knowledgeware will issue warrants that will allow stockholders
in the suit to buy 500,000 shares of common stock at a price of
$17.50 per share. Tarkenton said the company settled to avoid the
cost of a trial.

Knowledgeware spokesperson Denese Van Dyne told Newsbytes
the settlement has been tentatively approved by the US Court in
Atlanta. She said by settling the suit, Knowledgeware does not
admit the allegations and denies any wrongdoing.

Knowledgeware develops computer-aided software engineering
(CASE) programming tools that help computer programmers
break down work into basic procedures which can be handled by
prewritten modules. In 1992 the company sold to IBM a product
and maintenance license that gives Big Blue the perpetual right to
use 12 Knowledgeware application development tools in its
manufacturing and development operations. The $25 million deal
also gave IBM certain associated maintenance services into 1995.
IBM owns an 8.9 percent stake in Knowledgeware and is
believed to be Knowledgeware's biggest customer. Knowledgeware
had revenue of $128.8 million in fiscal 1993.

Tarkenton was a quarterback with the Minnesota Vikings and the
New York Giants during his career.

(Jim Mallory/19940202/Press Contact: Denese Van Dyne,
Knowledgeware Inc., 404-231-8575 ext 2345; Reader
Contact: Knowledgeware, 404-231-8575)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00018)

Jones Computer Network To Carry Profile TV Series 02/02/94
ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- The Jones
Computer Network has announced that it will air a 13-part
series profiling what it calls "Today's leaders of technological
innovation."

Guests scheduled to appear on the 30 minute show in February
include Jim Cannavino, the new head of global strategies for IBM;
Ray Smith, chairman and CEO of Bell Atlantic; Drew Takahashi,
founder and CEO of Colossal Pictures; and Glenn Jones,
chairman and CEO of Jones International Limited.

Called JCN Profiles, the cable television series will be seen as part
of the Mind Extension University: The Education Network. MEU
spokesperson Jeff Baumgartner told Newsbytes the guests for
the other nine episodes will be announced at a later date.

The series will be seen Saturdays at 9pm Eastern Standard Time
beginning February 5, 1994. The programs will be repeated on
Sundays at 10:30pm EST. More information is available on the JCN
bulletin board on Prodigy. Type JCN to reach the bulletin board.

Marc Doyle, president of Atlanta, Georgia-based Doyle &
Associates, will produce and host the program. Doyle is the
author of "The Future of Television," and has received awards
that include three Emmy's and the George Foster Peabody Award.
United Press International has twice recognized him as the
television "News Leader" of the year.

"JCN Profiles enables viewers to spend a half hour with cutting-
edge leaders of the Information Age," says Doyle. "These
visionaries come from the converging worlds of computers,
telecommunications and television. The knowledge and insight
viewers will gain from watching JCN Profiles have great value
because they can be directly applied to critical lifestyle and
career strategies."

JCN went on the air in May 1993. The company says its
programming is designed to help individuals become more
knowledgeable about computers, communication, multimedia,
software, and other microcomputer-based technologies. Current
programming includes New Media News, Komputer Kids' News,
CD-ROM Review, The Hacker, and Home Computing. JCN says it
will become its own cable network later this year.

(Jim Mallory/19940202/Press Contact: Andrea Montoni,
Mind Extension University, 303-792-3111; Reader Contact: Mind
Extension University, 303-792-3111 or 800-777-6463))


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00019)

UK - PPCP Announces First Shipping V.Fast Modems 02/02/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- PPCP - the communication
peripherals specialist distributor, has announced it is shipping the
first of new range of advanced modems manufactured by General
DataComm.

According to John Nolan, PPCP's managing director, the new
modems support the V.Fast standard soon to be ratified by the
ITU-T (International Telecommunications Union), the new name
for the CCITT international telecoms approvals committee.

The V.Fast standard has been under active development by several
modem manufacturers for several years. Only now is the standard
achieving approval (ratification) by the ITU-T, owing to the
complexities of creating a new modem standard.

The existing V.32 and V.32Bis -- 9,600 and 14,400 bits-per-second
(bps) -- modem standards were originally thought to have pushed the
available audio bandwidth of a phone line (around 3,200 cycles per
second) to its limit. The arrival of digital phone exchanges in the
last decade or so, however, has meant that this "technology
envelope" could be pushed still further. The V.Fast standard -- soon
to be known V.34, once ratified by the CCITT -- pushes the basic
data throughput to 28,800 bps.

PPCP notes that modems produced by the General DataComm are
different from other 28,800 bps modems. The distributor claims they
are ready to be upgraded to the final V.Fast standard (once agreed
by the ITU-T) by downloading software directly to the modem's flash
memory. Other makes of modems, the company claims, will have to be
returned to base for a firmware swap, which makes the procedure
expensive and time consuming.

The new modems include features such as 2/4 wire leased line
working band automatic dial back up. This feature claims to provide
protection against failure of their leased lines by placing the call
over the public networks and then reversing back to the leased line
when operating again.

So when, precisely, will the V.Fast/V.34 standard be ratified fully
by the ITU-T? According to Mike Welbrock, PPCP's operations
director, the V.34 Rapporteur Group will submit the standard to the
ITU-T some time this month. He claims that the formal approval
should happen by June of this year at the latest.

"Intensive data users, such as data centers and bureaus, can take
advantage of the cost and time savings from 28.8 Kbps operation
right now, with a free upgrade to V.34 when it is ratified. I
believe the market need wait no longer to trade up to 28.8 Kbps,"
he said.

(Sylvia Dennis & Steve Gold/19940202/Press & Public Contact:
PPCP, 44-81-893-2277)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00020)

UK - Motorola Reorganizes Information Systems Div 02/02/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Motorola, one of the world's
leading providers of wireless communications and electronic
equipment, has announced the reorganization of the Information
Systems Group (ISG) in the UK.

The newly created ISG division, which comprises of the Codex
Corporation and Universal Data Systems (UDS), has been integrated
into a new business section known as the Messaging Information
and Media Sector (MIMS).

As a result of merging the UDS and Codex's transmission
capabilities, Motorola claims that it has created a new industry
leader in the high speed modem market. The aim of this new division
is to provide closer development and distribution of wireless modem
and PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association) products with other Motorola units.

"This new structure offers clear and immediate benefits to both the
transmission and the networking groups. Direct and substantial gains
in product engineering and development as well as focused strategies
and goals will contribute to enhancing the leadership positions
currently held by ISG in these two markets," explained Frank Lloyd,
vice president and general manager of ISG.

Motorola claims that its Codex V.Fast and the USD FasTalk modems
are currently the leaders of in the modem marketplace. The UDS
CELLect 14.4 PCMCIA data/fax modem and CELLect 14.4 pocket-
sized data/fax modem were developed in conjunction with the
Motorola Cellular Subscriber Group.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940202/Press & Public Contact: Simon Boyle,
Motorola Codex, 44-81-669-4343)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00021)

UK - Mercury Communications Opens 1st Data Entry Center 02/02/94
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Mercury Communications,
one of the now several companies licensed as a public telecoms
operator in the UK, has set up its first data entry center in the heart
of Glasgow, Scotland. The new center aims to support the company's
wide business and consumer customer services.

The business was set up in Scotland due to the Mercury's 30,000
business and consumer customers located there. Another reason was
that 49 of the top 50 Scottish companies are Mercury's customers.

According to Colin Wileman, Mercury's customer services and
development director, the availability of the local workforce was
also one of the reasons of placing the company there. "We chose
Glasgow because we found the right building in the right location
and a local workforce with appropriate skills to provide top level
customers support", commented Colin Wileman, customer services
and development director of Mercury.

According to Wileman, the creation of an independent data entry
was a positive step towards Mercury's stated intent to provide
world-class customer service. The company claims this will
enhance Mercury's success -- attracting over 750,000 business
and consumer customers thorough the country.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940202/Press & Public Contact: Mercury
Communications, 44-71-528-2000)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00022)

Siemens Expects Smart Card Sales To Triple Over 5 Yrs 02/02/94
MUNICH, GERMANY, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Siemens AG, which claims to
be Europe's largest electrical engineering group, says it expects its
sales of smart cards to triple by the time 1999 comes around.

At a press conference held recently in Munich, officials with
Siemens said that sales of smart card ships, the "silicon" that
forms the basis of smart card's "intelligence," are expected to rise
from DM100 million ($56 million) to around DM300 million ($168
million) over the next five years.

According to Peter Bauer, one of the senior directors in charge of
Siemens' smart card ship production facilities, smart cards are
being found in an increasing variety of industries, ranging from the
obvious applications in credit and debit card systems, through to
health care.

Bauer claims that the cards are naturals for banking applications,
since the intelligence of the card far outweighs the amount of data
that can be stored on a conventional magnetic stripe encoded card.

Siemens claims that, despite the recent downward trend in pricing of
smart card technology, its smart card operations will continue to be
profitable for the company.

This is in marked contrast, Newsbytes notes, to some of the other
operations of the country, which sources suggest are only breaking
even because of increasing competition.

Bauer said that the company expects smart card component and
finished product prices to drop by as much as 15 percent over the
next 12 months. He said that, despite this trend, the company can
still maintain profitability in the division.

(Sylvia Dennis & Steve Gold/19940202/Press & Public Contact:
Siemens AG, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00023)

Lotus Ships 1-2-3 Release 4 - Multimedia Edition 02/02/94
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Lotus is
shipping 1-2-3 Release 4 for Windows: Multimedia Edition, a new,
multimedia CD-ROM (compact disk read-only memory) version of
its Windows-based spreadsheet.

The company says that 1-2-3 Release 4 for Windows: Multimedia
Edition combines 1-2-3 Release 4 for Windows with 28 animated
learning and educational movies, an audible proofreader, and tools
for creating customized help sessions.

The new disk exploits the high capacity of CD-ROM to provide a
robust, low-cost application that reduces users' training and
support costs while enhancing productivity, according to Lotus
officials.

The release adds entirely new multimedia features that include
ScreenCam, Lotus Media Manager, Lotus Annotator, and Lotus Sound,
a company spokesperson told Newsbytes.

The new disk also incorporates an expanded version of Multimedia
SmartHelp, a series of multimedia learning tools that first
appeared in an earlier CD-ROM disk from Lotus, called 1-2-3 for
Windows Release 1.1 with Multimedia SmartHelp.

"One of our primary design goals with 1-2-3 is to give users a
powerful spreadsheet that is easy to learn and use.  The
introduction of integrated multimedia learning and communications
tools in the multimedia edition is the next important phase in
accelerating the learning curve, enhancing the usability, and
leveraging user productivity of 1-2-3 Release 4," said Jeffrey R.
Beir, vice president of Lotus' Spreadsheet Division.

Fran Rabuk, director of applied business technology for Towers
Perrin, predicted that Lotus' new multimedia tools will result in
substantial savings in training and support for his company, an
international organization of actuaries and management consultants
based in Philadelphia.

"The SmartHelp tools will allows users to become productive more
quickly, while the ScreenCam tools will enable us to deliver
tailored help sessions where applicable. The overall result will
be that 1-2-3 users will be more productive, while our training and
support resources will be able to focus on other areas," noted
Rabuk.

The new ScreenCam feature is designed to let users capture screen
activity, cursor movements and sound into moves that can be
distributed and shared with others to improve learning,
presentations, and communications.

ScreenCam allows end users and developers alike to create their
own tutorial sessions, "showing" what is being done on screen
while "telling" what is happening through sound, said Steve
Barlow, product manager of Lotus' Multimedia Product Group.

The ScreenCam movies can be distributed to other ScreenCam users
either as stand-alone, executable files or as embedded OLE (object
linking and embedding) objects in documents. The movies can also
be distributed for playback to Windows users who do not have
ScreenCam, because ScreenCam incorporates a runtime player
facility. Lotus will soon release ScreenCam as a stand-alone
product, for a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of
under $100, according to Barlow.

The new Lotus Annotator capability in 1-2-3 Release 4 for Windows:
Multimedia Edition is aimed at allowing users to create and embed
multimedia Notes in Windows applications. Lotus Media Manager lets
users preview multimedia files on the system. Lotus Sound is for
creating, editing, playing and saving sound as WAV files.

The expanded SmartHelp tools in Release 4: Multimedia Edition
include: an animated and narrated Guided Tour; an audible
proofreader; a complete on-line documentation set with read and
links to Help; and a series of "QuickMovie animations" that
interactively educate users about 1-2-3 concepts and procedures.

1-2-3 Release 4 for Windows: Multimedia Edition is available in
North America through Lotus resellers at an MSRP of $495.
Customers who purchased 1-2-3 for Windows Release 1.1 with
Multimedia SmartHelp between November 15, 1993 and March 11,
1994, are eligible for a free upgrade to 1-2-3 Release 4 for
Windows: Multimedia Edition until April 11, 1994.

Existing owners of the standard 1-2-3 Release 4 for Windows may
exchange it for the multimedia edition for a $25 fee which includes
shipping and handling.  Upgrades from all other releases of 1-2-3
and from competitive spreadsheets are available at an MSRP of $129.

1-2-3 Release 4 for Windows: Multimedia Edition requires a 386-
based or higher IBM-compatible PC with a minimum clock speed of 25
megahertz (MHz), including IBM PS/2 and Compaq models. Other
requirements include a minimum of four megabytes (MB) of random
access memory (RAM) with a 2MB swap file (8MB recommended);
Microsoft Windows 3.1 in standard and enhanced mode; a Standard
VGA 16-color graphics adapter and monitor, and a CD-ROM drive
with a minimum transfer rate of 150K-per-second.

Some features also require an eight-bit, Windows-compatible sound
device, speakers or headphones. The proofreading feature requires
a sound device that comes with the First Byte text-to-speech
Windows library. A mouse is recommended, but not required.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940202/Reader Contact: Lotus Development
Corp., 800-343-5414 or, in Canada, 800-GO-LOTUS; Press
Contacts: Rick McLaughlin or Rob Rosenweig, McGlinchey & Paul for
Lotus, 617-862-4514; Peter A. Cohen, Lotus, 617-693-1283)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00024)

Apple Intros 2 Macs For Education Market 02/02/94
TAMPA, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- With the expected
announcement of Power PC in the Spring of 1994, Apple Computer
has introduced, for immediate shipping, two new Macintosh
computers at the Florida Educational Technology Conference in
Tampa, Florida.

Hoping to appeal to increased demands in the education market
for educational software, multimedia and networking, Apple has
designed the LC 575 and the LC 550 with educators and students
in mind.

The LC 575 is the more powerful of the two models, with a 68040
LC microprocessor, a built-in Sony Trinitron color display for
32,000 colors, stereo speakers, a microphone, internal double-speed
CD-ROM drive, five megabytes (MB) of RAM, 160MB hard disk, and a
new expansion communications slot for networking or a high-speed
modem.

Apple claims that the LC 5-575 is three times faster than the LC
520 and is comparable to the speed of the Macintosh Quadra 800.

The LC 550 is the compatible Student Workstation, featuring a 33
megahertz (MHz) 68030 processor, an optional math coprocessor,
a 14-inch Sony Trinitron display, stereo speakers, microphone,
4MB of RAM, 160MB hard drive, and an internal slot for a CD-ROM
drive.

Both LC models are expandable to 33MB of RAM and are equipped
with Apple's System 7.1 operating system, AppleTalk networking,
serial and high-speed SCSI (small computer systems interface)
ports, and a 1.4MB Apple SuperDrive that reads and writes and
formats Macintosh, MS-DOS, OS/2, and Windows.

Apple has added a Power PC upgrade option as a means of protecting
and preparing the new models for the soon to be released Power PC.

To meet the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Program,
which establishes maximum energy use requirements for government
purchases, the new models consume less than 30 watts when idle.
Through a screen control panel, users can set the operation of the
power shut-down feature.

Within the US, the models are available to K-12 and higher
institutions only. Outside of the US, both models will be available
for education, home and office use. The LC 575 is priced at $1,699
and the LC 550 is priced at $1,199.

Additional information is available to educational institutions
by calling 800-793-3389, or 800-800-2775 for K-12 call.

(Patrick McKenna/19940202/Press Contact: Jenny Smith, Regis
McKenna Inc., 415-354-4460)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00025)

UK - Manchester Airport Starts Bar Coding Passengers 02/02/94
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Manchester Airport has
revealed it is testing out the bar-coding of passengers and their
luggage throughout the airport in a bid to increase security.

The bottom line for the British Airport Authority (BAA), which runs
the airport on behalf of the British Government, is to improve
security at the airport, in an attempt to avert the threat of
terrorism.

The passenger will also benefit, officials with the BAA claim, since
their luggage can now be tracked very easily, making its location
within the airport system easy to follow.

As soon as a passenger checks in his luggage and/or themselves,
both their tickets and luggage are bar coded. Laser scanners log the
location of the passengers as they pass through the various airport
formalities, while their luggage is similar tracked on to the
aircraft.

This bar coding tracking system allows the airport authorities to
quickly identify a problem where a passenger has not reached the
boarding gate, yet his/her luggage is on the aircraft. Furthermore,
as a gate gets ready for final boarding, the computer system can
backtrack down the boarding system to stop potential problems,
before the plane needs to take off.

Because of potential bomb threats, airline regulations prohibit a
passenger from checking in his/her luggage and then not travelling
with or on the same aircraft. This can delay a plane, since the
luggage must then be removed, causing major delays as the plane
misses its "take-off slot."

The Poole-based company of Telxon developed the bar coding
technology now being tested at the airport. According to the
company, potential problems can be quickly identified, before a
crisis situation occurs.

Telxon's systems tie into a special computer system, previously
installed by Ferranti. The total cost of the system is of the order
of around UKP15,000, since it ties in with the airport's existing
security network.

(Steve Gold/19940202/Press & Public Contact: Telxon,
44-202-682590)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00026)

British Rail Saves UKP20M With New Anti-Fraud Sys 02/02/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- British Rail has announced that
it has saved an estimated UKP20 million in fraudulent fare evasion
using a computer system known as MOOSE.

MOOSE, which stands for the Monitoring of On-train and Station
Effectiveness system, cost around UKP23,000 to develop and allows
the company to monitor the activities of its ticket inspectors and
other staff on Network South East, which includes the London area,

According to Ian Perry, the information technology (IT) manager
with Network South East, the MOOSE system, which runs on a standard
386-based PC fitted with four megabytes (MB) of memory, allows the
inspectors to analyze the daily returns from passengers traveling
without valid tickets and concentrate their efforts on those lines
which have the highest incomes.

The MOOSE software was developed by Independent Computer
Solutions (OCS) using Borland's Paradox and processes data on a
daily off-line basis. The system, which has been in active use
across the entire network since last September, is expected to
save around UKP15 million for BR during the coming year.

(Steve Gold/19940202/Press & Public Contact: British Rail
Network Southest, 44-71-928-5151)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00027)

Latest Technology Info From NIST 02/02/94
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- The National Institute
of Standards and Technology or NIST, formerly the Bureau of
Standards, has announced work on flat-panel display standards, a
conference on high-tech developments, and a paper describing the
National Information Infrastructure (NII) project.

NIST will participate in the development of some flat-panel
(liquid crystal display) display standards with Video Electronics
Standards Association (VESA) which has formed a special interest
group to develop laptop computer standards for the use of chip
makers, computer manufacturers, and liquid crystal display (LCD)
panel makers.

VESA is now looking for additional industry participants in its
Flat Panel Display Interface Special Interest Group. For more
information contact - VESA at 408-435-0333.

The NIST also offers information on its technical work on flat-
panel displays. To obtain this information, contact Mark
Williamson, A61 Technology Building, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD
20899. Telephone [phone], fax [phone], or
electronic-mail - [e-mail].

NIST will sponsor the Conference on Manufacturing Technology
Needs and Issues at the agency's Gaithersburg, Maryland
headquarters on April 26 and 27. The conference will help foster
a clearly defined national strategy for developing advanced
manufacturing technology.

Panel discussions and presentations by industry and government
leaders will take place at the conference, which will try to
identify methods of establishing priorities for collaborative
government and industry efforts to develop new technologies.

Conference sponsors are the US Departments of Commerce,
Defense, Energy and Agriculture; the National Science Foundation;
the US Navy; and private industrial organizations. Registration
for the conference is $150. Interested parties need to contact
Lori Phillips at 301-975-4513, or fax [phone], for
registration information. Additional information is
available from Mark Bello, at 301-975-3776, or electronic-
mail - [e-mail]

The NIST is also offering a technical paper on the proposed NII.
The Committee on Applications & Technology of the President's
Information Infrastructure Task Force has produced the paper
which includes a list of 16 key issues that must be resolved before
the NII can be applied to education, libraries, manufacturing,
electronic commerce and telecommuting, environmental
monitoring, health care, and government services.

Questions raised involve privacy, equal access, security, and
systems standards which will assure the ability to interconnect
diverse computer networks to the information superhighway.

Hard copies of "What It Takes to Make it Happen: Key Issues for
Applications of the National Information Infrastructure" are
available by sending a return mailing label to NII Issues, A1000
Administration Building, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. An
electronic copy is available to Internet users from the IITF
gopher (iitf.doc.gov), under "IITF Committee Reports and Minutes
- Applications and Technology Committee Report 01/25/94," or
from the IITF BBS (bulletin board system) at 202-501-1920.

(John McCormick/19940202/Press Contact: Anne Enright Shepherd,
301-975-4858, or [e-mail], for flat-panel display
information; Mark Bello, 301-975-3776, or [e-mail],
for manufacturing technology conference; Michael Baum, 301-
975-2763, or [e-mail], for NII information)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00028)

Gateway 2000 Expects Record 4Qtr; But Stock Falls 02/02/94
NORTH SIOUX CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, U.S.A., 1994 FEB 2 (NB) --
Personal computer maker Gateway 2000 has announced that it
expects to show record sales and record earnings for the fourth
quarter, but the stock market was unimpressed as the stock fell
$0.875.

Gateway said it expects fourth quarter sales to exceed $545
million, up from the $400 million recorded for the third quarter this
year and the $354 million for the fourth quarter last year. Based on
those figures annual sales are expected to surpass $1.73 billion
on the sale of nearly 700,000 units. Revenue for 1992 was about
$1.11 billion.

Analysts said the stock dropped despite the record sales and
earnings because of the much better-than-expected results of
companies like Compaq Computer Corp., and AST Research. Fourth
quarter earnings for Gateway are expected to be in the $0.41 to
$0.43 per share range.

Gateway President Ted Waitt said the revenue growth was due to
strong demand for computer products that use Intel Corp.'s
Pentium microprocessor, multimedia PCs, and the company's line
of portable computers.

Gateway 2000 went public in December 1993 with a $160
million initial public offering. The company opened a sales and
manufacturing facility in Dublin, Ireland in October, 1993, and
said  fourth quarter revenue from the European subsidiary will
be  approximately $15 million.

(Jim Mallory/19940202/Press Contact: Wendell Watson, Gateway
2000, 605-232-2723; Reader Contact: Gateway 2000, 605-232-
2000 or 800-523-2000)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00029)

UK - HP's PostScript II Software Upgrade For Laserjet IIISi 02/02/94
BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Hewlett-Packard (HP)
has announced a software upgrade package that it claims offers
authentic Adobe licensed PostScript software capabilities to
already installed HP Laserjet IIISi network printers.

According to Nicky Ayre, HP's Laserjet program manager, the
upgrade package is available in both read-only memory (ROM) and
single in-line memory module (SIMM) versions for both, first time
PostScript buyers, and for current PostScript Level 1 users.

"This Postscript Level 2 upgrade helps extend the useful life,
functionality and performance of the HP LaserJet IIISi. It is
another example, along with the HP JetDirect network interface
cards, of how HP can help protect and extend the investment
customers make in our products," she said.

According to HP, the true PostScript Level II package includes a
host of new features, including color space painting cache,
compression and decompression filters, 35 PostScript typefaces,
resource management and a new driver for Apple Macs.

In addition, a fulfillment card is provided for the latest level II
Windows drivers, when they become available. Full instructions,
manuals and equipment for installation are included.

The kit is available to new buyers for UKP657 through HP dealers in
the UK. PostScript Level I users can obtain an upgrade pack through
the Netherlands operation center for US$149, provided they return
their original Postscript I ROMs and/or SIMMs by post.

The HP Netherlands upgrade center can be contacted by writing or
faxing to: Anna Jackson, PO Box 12121, 1100 AC Amsterdam, The
Netherlands. The fax number is 31-20-691-9808.

(Steve Gold/19940202/Press & Public Contact: HP Customer
Information Center, 44-344+369222)


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

UK - 1st Details Of Hutchinson Digital Mobile Phone Sys 02/02/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- Hutchinson Microtel has
given a first glimpse of what its planned digital mobile system,
which is expected to be announced this coming April.

The Microtel network is the second of its type in the UK, the other
being the Mercury One-2-One system which operates in the London
and Southeast area of the UK.

Both systems are based on a technology known as the digital
communication system (DCS) 1800. The 1800 stands for the 1,800
megahertz (MHz) waveband the service operates in -- twice the
900-MHz waveband that the global system for mobile
communications (GSM) digital phone networks operate in.

According to Hutchinson, the as-yet unnamed DCS-1800 service is
on target for a national launch this April, with a planned 50 percent
coverage from day one. Officials have revealed that it will be
possible for each phone handset to have two numbers assigned to it,
meaning that a phone could be used, for example, for a business and
a personal phone number.

Hutchinson also revealed that it has been working with Nokia, the
Swedish telecoms company, on the development of a highly advanced
version of its existing GSM digital phone. The DCS-1800 phone will
be capable of interacting with, what Hutchinson refers to as, the
"intelligence" of its network to provide enhanced information on the
extended display of the Nokia phone.

Announcing what is the first public information on the Microtel
services, Hans Snook, Hutchinson Telecom's managing director, said
that the company's planned Nokia handset is far in advance of
anything currently available for personal communications network
(PCN) usage.

He said that, when the service is launched in the Spring, "Our
customers can be sure of getting the best from the best. We are
already the UK's fastest growing player in paging, we have a
major presence in cellular, and we are now close to the launch of
our nationwide PCN network. We see major synergies between all
these technologies under the umbrella of an integrated and truly
personal communications service."

(Steve Gold/19940202/Press & Public Contact: Hutchinson
Microtel, 44-992-501234)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(MSP)(00031)

Newsbytes Daily Summary 02/02/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.,  1994 FEB 2 (NB) -- These are
capsules of all today's news stories:

1 -> Merisel Completes Purchase Of Computerland Div 02/02/94 Four
months after announcing its intention to purchase the Franchise and
Distribution Division of Computerland, Merisel Inc., says the unit  has
now become a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

2 -> Banyan & HP Announce ENS For HP-UX 02/02/94 For a  network
management system to be successful in today's  enterprise-wide corporate
networking environments, it must support a variety of platforms. Now
Banyan Systems and Hewlett- Packard have announced the availability of
Banyan's Enterprise Network Services (ENS) software running on top of
the HP 9000  Series 800 PA-RISC-based Business Servers.      Combining
Unix and PC networks can produce a variety of problems which prevents
users from accessing resources across both environments. According to
the companies, the new product addresses that problem.

3 ->  ****Powering Up NA - Time Ripe For Info Highway 02/02/94 North
America faces  no pressing economic problems in the next few years, so
it is a good time to concentrate on building infrastructure for the
future in the form of the much-heralded information highway. That was
the opening message to delegates at Powering Up North America, a
conference on the information highway that opened in Toronto on Tuesday.

4 ->  ****Powering Up NA - Canadian Telecom Bosses At Odds 02/02/94 The
information highway is not waiting to be built -- it already exists. Top
executives of three prominent Canadian telecommunications concerns
seemed to agree on that much as they spoke one after the other at the
Powering Up North America conference on information infrastructure here.

5 ->  ****Powering Up NA - Forget Widening Info Highway 02/02/94 Less is
more. Bandwidth is not the point, according to Nicholas Negroponte,
director of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT).

6 ->  ****Powering Up NA -  Info Highway "Misconceptions" 02/02/94
American Vice-President Albert Gore recently said he wants the
information highway -- a term he coined in the 1980s -- to give every
child in every American school access to the Library of Congress.
Wouldn't it be at least as innovative and at least as useful, asked
William Esrey, chairman and chief executive of Sprint Corp., to make
sure every one of those children could read?

7 ->  ****Newsbytes Offers Daily Summary 02/02/94 Each day, along with
the thirty or more full-text reports generated by the Newsbytes
reporting team, a summary of the day's news will now be included.
Entitled "Newsbytes Daily Summary," the report will offer one paragraph
from each news story of the day. The feature is intended to be a concise
view of the day's top news items. Newsbytes currently offers a Newspix
picture library summary on a weekly basis, and Roundup, a summary of the
top stories in major computer industry news publications, each Friday.
Newsbytes, a service of the Newsbytes News Network, reaches  an
estimated audience of 4.5 million daily. Newsbytes News Network has been
reporting the day's top computer and  telecommunications industry news
stories worldwide since  1983.   (Wendy Woods/19940202)

8 -> Survey - Network Specialists Surpass MIS Generalists 02/02/94
Network professionals have surpassed their generalist management
information system (MIS) counterparts to become the single most
influential group impacting computer-related purchasing, according to a
new Intelliquest survey sponsored by Communications Week.

9 -> Blyth Reports Record 3Qtr Financial Results 02/02/94 Blyth
Software, producer of the Omnis line of cross-platform client-server
application software for the Mac and Windows, has reported record
financial results for the third fiscal quarter, ended December 31, 1993.

10 -> Cannon Intros New BJ-200e Bubble Jet Printer 02/02/94 Cannon
Computer Systems Inc. (CCSI), a subsidiary of Cannon Inc., has begun
shipping the BJ-200e, an enhanced version of their BJ-200, bubble  jet
printer.

11 -> Dow Jones Changes Pricing Scheme 02/02/94 Dow Jones
News/Retrieval is changing how it computes prices. But instead of  going
to a flat-rate scheme, it is going to charge per byte.

12 -> Prodigy Launches Education Service 02/02/94 rodigy has announced a
version of its network for schools, called Classroom  Prodigy.

13 -> Spectrum Troubles Continue, But May End Soon 02/02/94 Former
Spectrum Chairman Peter Caserta apparently sold-out his position in the
company soon after hiring former Apple chairman John Sculley to  run the
company, according to Invest/Net, a service which tracks  insider
trading.

14 -> Price Wars Quickly Hit V.34 Market 02/02/94 Even before  the V.34
standard, a modulation system for modems moving data at  28,800
bits-per-second (bps), is finalized, a price war is hitting  the market.

15 -> US Robotics Licenses AT&T Modem Patents 02/02/94 US Robotics  said
it has signed, what it termed, a bi-lateral license agreement  on modem
technology with AT&T.

16 -> Octel, VMX To Merge 02/02/94 Voice mail  companies Octel and VMX
have agreed to merge. The first  announcement of the talks came in a
definitive merger agreement  which could become final in three months.

17 -> Knowledgeware Settles Stockholder Suit 02/02/94 A computer
software company run by a former National Football League star
quarterback has settled a stockholder lawsuit for $1.75 million.

18 -> Jones Computer Network To Carry Profile TV Series 02/02/94 The
Jones Computer Network has announced that it will air a 13-part  series
profiling what it calls "Today's leaders of technological  innovation."

19 -> UK - PPCP Announces First Shipping V.Fast Modems 02/02/94 PPCP -
the communication peripherals specialist distributor, has announced it
is shipping the first of new range of advanced modems manufactured by
General DataComm.

20 -> UK - Motorola Reorganizes Information Systems Div 02/02/94
Motorola, one of the world's leading providers of wireless
communications and electronic equipment, has announced the
reorganization of the Information Systems Group (ISG) in the UK.

21 -> UK - Mercury Communications Opens 1st Data Entry Center 02/02/94
Mercury Communications,  one of the now several companies licensed as a
public telecoms operator in the UK, has set up its first data entry
center in the heart  of Glasgow, Scotland. The new center aims to
support the company's wide business and consumer customer services.

22 -> Siemens Expects Smart Card Sales To Triple Over 5 Yrs 02/02/94
Siemens AG, which claims to  be Europe's largest electrical engineering
group, says it expects its sales of smart cards to triple by the time
1999 comes around.

23 -> Lotus Ships 1-2-3 Release 4 - Multimedia Edition 02/02/94 Lotus is
shipping 1-2-3 Release 4 for Windows: Multimedia Edition, a new,
multimedia CD-ROM (compact disk read-only memory) version of  its
Windows-based spreadsheet.

24 -> Apple Intros 2 Macs For Education Market 02/02/94 With the
expected announcement of Power PC in the Spring of 1994, Apple Computer
has introduced, for immediate shipping, two new Macintosh  computers at
the Florida Educational Technology Conference in  Tampa, Florida.

25 -> UK - Manchester Airport Starts Bar Coding Passengers 02/02/94
Manchester Airport has revealed it is testing out the bar-coding of
passengers and their luggage throughout the airport in a bid to increase
security.

26 -> British Rail Saves UKP20M With New Anti-Fraud Sys 02/02/94 British
Rail has announced that it has saved an estimated UKP20 million in
fraudulent fare evasion using a computer system known as MOOSE.

27 -> Latest Technology Info From NIST 02/02/94 The National Institute
of Standards and Technology or NIST, formerly the Bureau of Standards,
has announced work on flat-panel display standards, a conference on
high-tech developments, and a paper describing the National Information
Infrastructure (NII) project.

28 -> Gateway 2000 Expects Record 4Qtr; But Stock Falls 02/02/94
 Personal computer maker Gateway 2000 has announced that it  expects to
show record sales and record earnings for the fourth  quarter, but the
stock market was unimpressed as the stock fell  $0.875.

29 -> UK - HP's PostScript II Software Upgrade For Laserjet IIISi
02/02/94 Hewlett-Packard (HP)  has announced a software upgrade package
that it claims offers  authentic Adobe licensed PostScript software
capabilities to  already installed HP Laserjet IIISi network printers.

30 -> UK - 1st Details Of Hutchinson Digital Mobile Phone Sys 02/02/94
Hutchinson Microtel has  given a first glimpse of what its planned
digital mobile system,  which is expected to be announced this coming
April.

(Ian Stokell/19940202)