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/mar_apr_94/nb031194

Text File | 1994-03-11 | 100KB | 2,158 lines

(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00001)

 ****Apple Australia Unveils PowerMac - A Week Early 03/11/94
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Apple Australia just
couldn't pass up the opportunity. It used the PC '94 show to
let more than 50,000 people see the new PowerMac machines that
are due to be formally released next Tuesday March 15.

Australian press had attended a large launch for the machines
last month, but were under strict embargo until the 15th. However,
as one Sydney journalist, Sue Lowe asked, "Are they going to get
50,000 people to sign non-disclosure agreements as they walk
into the show?" As a result Apple extricated itself from an
impossible position by releasing journalists from their
agreements. Publications such as Computer Daily News and PC
Week have published full details. Not only did Apple show the
machines, but handed show-goers detailed color brochures and
a complete specification and price list.

The first three PowerMac machines that Apple is releasing slot
into the mid-to high end of the Macintosh lineup, but Apple
doesn't expect the new PowerPC-based boxes to outsell existing
68XXX machines until next year. Having a new processor
architecture, the machines perform best with applications
written specifically for them (native applications), but
Apple has pledged long-term support for the existing Macintosh
base by including transparent Mac emulation with all PowerMac
machines. The emulation is in ROM with extensions in the
systems software.

At first the new machines will ship with a special version of
System 7 operating system but later this year the company will
release a common System 7.5 which will run on both Macs and
PowerMacs.

Apple claims that 97 percent of existing applications will
run on the new machines. The machines are very fast, but
because these existing Mac applications must run in emulation,
they are only as fast as on a mid-level Mac. Native applications
for the new chip are said to run between three and ten times as
fast as this.

Although the new machines have long been touted as being system
independent and the answer to incompatibilities between different
architectures, they appear to fall short of the mark. For one
thing, the PowerMac will not be compatible with IBM's PowerPC
despite running the same processor family (and IBM used the
show to comment that it was using the PowerPC chip for open
architecture while Apple was doing anything but that.)

Second, the DOS/Windows abilities of the new machines, while
impressive come at a price. Insignia Solutions SoftWindows will
be available in bundles with each machine, and this allows
users to run DOS applications and Windows 3.1 applications
(but only in standard mode). To do this requires 16 megabytes
of RAM or more and only emulates a mid-level PC at that.

When asked why Apple was unable to show any benchmark results for
Windows on the PowerMacs, the spokesperson told Newsbytes, "We
haven't had the programs optimized for the machines yet."

The three introductory models are the 6100/60, the 7100/66 and
the 8100/80. The first part of the number shows the form factor
and the second part shows the processor speed. 6 is the slimline
one-slot, 8 is the mid-sized three-slot and 8 is the minitower
three-slot. Australian list prices including tax (but surprisingly -
excluding monitor and keyboard) for the basic versions of the
three models are AUS$3995 (8/160M), AUS$5795 (8/250M) and
AUS$10,695 (16/500M) or around US$2800, US$4100 and US$7500.

The machines have Ethernet, SCSI, NuBus, 16-bit stereo audio,
two serial ports and Apple Desktop Bus as standard. An option
on the lower two machines (standard on the top one) is the AV
Technologies which adds video in and out in NTSC, PAL and SECAM
standards of composite and S-video.

(Paul Zucker/19940311)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00002)

First Inmarsat Satellite Cellphone Call Made 03/11/94
PERTH, AUSTRALIA, 1994 MAR 10 (NB) -- Inmarsat has revealed it has
successfully made the world's first satellite voice link with a
hand-held satphone.

According to Jan Singh, executive vice president of Inmarsat, the
call, which was made earlier this week, will silence critics of the
proposed satphone system who said it was not possible to make calls
using existing technology. "This is the first time anyone has proven
it is possible using a handset and antenna for a satellite phone
call," he said.

Singh attributed the success of the call as due to a special phone
antenna that was designed by the Indian Space Research Organization.

According to Singh, the call was made on one of the first satellites
to go online to the Inmarsat P phone system, the Inmarsat Pacific
Ocean regional satellite. A taped novel was played into a terminal
in Perth, Australia, and routed 24,000 miles up to the satellite,
which then routed the call to the hand mobile, which was also in the
Perth region. Reception of the digital call was perfect, according
to Inmarsat.

It's still very early days with Inmarsat's P satphone network,
Newsbytes notes, but the whole system should be globally operational
within the next two years. Ironically, even when the system goes
live globally in 1996, it will be out of date, as Inmarsat will be
busy launching more satellites and setting up its next-generation
system, which will handle fax and data transmissions alongside the
Inmarsat P network's planned voice and paging services.

Inmarsat has still to decide on what satellite technology to base
its proposed Inmarsat P successor system, although the costs are
still expected to top the UKP 1,700 million mark. Inmarsat
executives will have to choose between two satellite systems. One
centers around 10 satellites in a 7,000-mile intermediate circular
orbit (ICO). The other has six larger satellites in a 24,000-mile
geostationary earth orbit (GEO).

The ICO-based system comprises different planes of satellites,
perhaps three or four, crossing the equator at 47 degrees, so that
mobile-phone users anywhere in the world would be within range of at
least two satellites.

The GEO system will use larger satellites with a greater range.
Since they are geostationary, ICO satellites will work on a cellular
system not unlike terrestrial mobile phones, except that the cells
will be hundreds of miles in diameter.

With GSM mobile networks continuing to expand, will there be a need
for the Inmarsat P phone system and its successor? Inmarsat claims
yes, since it predicts that only 15 percent of the world's land mass
will be reachable by terrestrial cellular networks by the year 2000.

(Steve Gold/19940310/Press & Public Contact: Inmarsat UK - Tel: +44-
71-728-1000)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00003)

UK - 2nd High-Freq Digital Mobile Phone Net 03/11/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- After months of waiting,
Hutchison has revealed the name of its national DCS-1800 digital
mobile phone network. The network is called "Orange."

Unveiling the brand name in London, managing director Hans Snook
said: "We want to create a consumer brand. Orange is the color for
the nineties." Marketing director, Chris Moss, meanwhile, said: "In a
cluttered market most telephone companies talk 'technojargon' and
confuse the public. Orange is a name which marks us out as simple,
open, and customer-friendly. It will become known as the national
telephone service that is innovative and trustworthy."

The unusual name was created by Wolff Ilins, the corporate ID
specialist, and chosen from several possibles, although Hutchison
has refused to say what other names were considered. The new
network, company officials have revealed, will launch on April 28
and has, from day one, a 50 percent national coverage, rising to 70
percent by the end of the year.

The network coverage contrasts with the other DCS-1800 network,
Mercury One-2-One, which currently covers London and the South East,
with city center coverage in several cities across the UK, and
growing motorway coverage.

DCS-1800 is distinct from the global system for mobile (GSM)
communications network which works at 900 megahertz (MHz), since DCS-
1800 services, as the name implies, operates at 1,800MHz. The higher
frequencies make for smaller cells and tighter control over the use
of frequencies.

Snook scoffed at suggestions that Orange would have roaming
agreements with One-2-One. "We don't need them," Snook said, adding
that, while there would be a lot of advantages for Mercury in a One-
2-One roaming agreement, "all the advantages are one-sided because
our customers will have no need to roam onto Mercury's network."

Snook said that Orange will offer digital quality ahead of the two
analog cellular networks, Cellnet and Vodafone.

"Orange will offer digital call quality and better security than an
analog cellular service," he said, adding that at launch time, the
network will be within reach of 30 million people, rising to 40
million by the end of the year.

Installing a national DCS-1800 network will not come cheaply,
Newsbytes notes. The group will have spent UKP 450 million by the
end of this year to build its network and expects to spend UKP 700
million to complete the program.

(Sylvia Dennis & Steve Gold/19940311/Press & Public Contact: - Tel:
[phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00004)

IBM Spain Reports First-Ever Loss 03/11/94
MADRID, SPAIN, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- IBM's Spanish subsidiary IBM
Espana is reported to have lost most of its manufacturing work to
IBM Europe's facility in Montpellier, France, following the launch
of the latest line of mainframes.

Coupled with the massive recession currently hitting Spain, this has
meant that the company has, for the first time, reported a loss.

During 1993, IBM Espana reported a net deficit equivalent to $70
million, compared with a $3.2 million profit in 1992 and $130.6
million profit in 1991. Turnover in 1993 dropped to $1,575 million
from $1,674 million reported in 1992.

Analyzing the figures, the domestic market turnover for IBM Espana
fell by 7.1 percent to $1,050 million, while exports fell by 4.5
percent to $525 million. Cash flow, meanwhile, was up to $155
million in 1993 from $125 million. Operating profit
for 1993, meanwhile, was #81 million - up from $72 million in 1992.

According to IBM Espana, the red ink was due to a 1993 restructuring
charge of $170 million, with the staffing levels falling from 4,479
on the payroll in 1992 to 3,826 million at the end of 1993 -- a fall
of 11 percent.

(Sylvia Dennis & Steve Gold/19940311/Press & Public Contact: IBM UK
- Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00005)

Australia - PC'94 Show A Hit 03/11/94
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Australia's largest PC
show ended today in Sydney, with exhibitors, press, and visitors
all wearing smiles. The show was jam-packed with over 300
exhibitors, and attendance of between 50,000 and 60,000,
despite it being off-limits to anyone under the age of 18.

All the major vendors were in attendance, with some showing as-yet
unreleased products such as the Apple PowerMac and new IBM notebooks.
Apart from local vendors, distributors and resellers, there were
contingents from Taiwan, USA, Canada and New Zealand. As with last
year's show, the predominant theme was multimedia, but prices have
halved in that short time, making both hardware and software more
affordable to the public. Entry-level Media Vision kits were
available for around US$180, including CD drive, 16-bit sound card,
and software.

One unusual sight was the combined Borland/WordPerfect stand,
leading some to suggest a possible name for a (purely
speculative) merger between the two could be "Perfect Bore"
given that it sounds more interesting than "WordLand." The other
speculation on the floor, unconfirmed, was that Symantec was in
the process of purchasing SPC.

Sex reared its ugly head again as exhibitors outdid each other
with more and more girls wearing skimpy costumes, none of which
seemed completely appropriate for a technology show. Strange
creatures doing the rounds included a person-sized PCMCIA card
(complete with person inside) and astronauts from planet Compaq.

As in previous years, a number of resellers used the show to
sell product, and appeared to be doing very, very well.

The annual PC awards went to the following companies:

Best new hardware - Apple PowerPC Macintosh

Best new software - Norton Administrator for Networks

Best new Australian product - Statute Software Suite

Best new Mac product - shared by Power Mac and Farallon Etherwave

Best new Mac software - Live Picture

Best networking product - Netwave Access Point

Best new Australian Networking product - Labtam X-Terminal
ISDN/Ethernet Router

Best multimedia product - Reel Magic

Best stands - Kyocera and Columbia Pelikan

(Paul Zucker/19940311/Contact: Cockle Public Relations tel.
[phone] fax. [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00006)

 ****Commodore Australia Is No More 03/11/94
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Commodore Business Machines
(Australia), the one-time big shot of mass market personal
computing, has gone into liquidation following a creditor's meeting
last week. Accountant firm Ferrier-Hodgson confirmed the company
was put into liquidation last Friday.

Hodgson's Max Donnely was called in last month to act as
administrator when it became insolvent after Westpac Bank
indicated it would not roll over CBM's bills. The total debt
is believed to be around AUS$3M (US$2M) with a similar amount
owed to Commodore International.

In mid-February Commodore Australia was put up for sale although
the Australian distribution rights for Commodore computers were
not included in the offer. Ferrier-Hodgson said there were
potential takers but the decision was made to liquidate the
company. Most of the warehouse stock has been sold off.

From now on distribution of Commodore Amiga computers will be
handled by Commodore Asia Pacific, headed by Pat Byrne who was
MD of the failed Commodore Australia. He said he has no financial
interest in Commodore Asia Pacific, Commodore Australia, or the
company which will service Commodore machines from now on,
Compu-Aid.

Industry observers say the new company appears to have obtained
the stock of the failed company, so supply should not be a
problem. They also noted that during the past few weeks there
have been stories of dealers receiving Commodore computers
without insides, or even boxes without computers.

(Stuart Kennedy, CDN and Paul Zucker/19940311)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00007)

 ****IBM Power PC Products Due Late '94 03/11/94
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- While Apple was flaunting
its new PowerMac machines at PC'94 show in Sydney, IBM was briefing
the press on its upcoming models. The PowerPC machines are due
late this year.

The guest speaker was David Hauger, brand manager for the Power
Personal Systems division in Boca Raton, FL. He said the new
machines would not be constrained by existing concepts of
personal computers, and that IBM would not make the mistakes
it made when the PS/2 range was launched. He said the
machines will all have CD-ROM drives and speech recognition
as standard. "The software manufacturers won't develop for
speech until there is an installed base, so we'll develop
and market our own applications, even if we only ever sell one
machine!" he added, wryly.

Emphasis will be placed on new ways to interact with the computers,
such as giving the interface a personality and allowing it to
work as an agent of the user. The notebook version will be
equipped with a video camera allowing it to be used for data
capture as well as mobile videoconferencing.

The demonstration machine showed to press was running the AIX
operating system and Windows applications were running on that
via WABI. Hauger said this would be an operating system of choice,
although many others such as Windows NT would be used.

(Paul Zucker/19940311)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00008)

Compuserve Extends To Internet 03/11/94
COLUMBUS, OHIO, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Many online
subscribers anxiously await full Internet access through their
online service with the hope of a navigation tool that will save
them from the labyrinth world of slash-commands. Taking a step
towards that goal, CompuServe has announced a path to reach
CompuServe Information Service from the Internet beginning
late March.

Existing CompuServe and Internet users wishing to become members
may access CompuServe by using telnet protocol which eliminates
the need for a separate modem and in some cases, the need to dial
long distance. Hourly and baud rate fees will be the same
as standard CompuServe rates.

According to the company, this year a number of Internet
services will be introduced to Compuserve members. An "easy to use"
interface is being developed to access the planned features of
USENET Newsgroups, remote log-in and file transfer.

Debra Young, corporate communications for Compuserve, told Newsbytes,
"Telnet access to CompuServe and CompuServe access to Internet
has been a request of our members and this first step it our
response to them. As well, we are creating additional value
to our service, which was the first to offer an e-mail
link to Internet."

(Patrick McKenna/19940310/Press Contact: Debra Young, CompuServe,
tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00009)

Customer Service Workflow Software 03/11/94
SOUTHBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- The Asset
Group, a consortium of six network systems integrators, has
unveiled its first product, a suite of Lotus Notes 3.0-based
workflow automation applications that are based on tools developed
internally to improve the operations of a shared customer service
center.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Dennis Callagy, director of
technical services for the Asset Group, said that the new
ServiceCenter suite consists of modules for help desk management,
service billing, parts management, sales management, and project
management.

The five modules can be used independently, as a suite, or in any
combination with one another, according to Callagy. The
applications also support Lotus Notes: Document Imaging (LN:DI).

Callagy explained that The Asset Group, creator of ServiceCenter,
is made up of companies that have come together to pool their
expertise in a range of technical areas related to network systems
integration.

Members of the consortium include The Lead Group Inc., Detroit,
Michigan; Trellis, Princeton, New Jersey; International Micronet
Systems Inc., San Francisco, California; Integrated Systems Group
Inc., Los Angeles, California; Aquila Technologies Group Inc.,
Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Hayes Computer Systems Inc.,
Tallahassee, Florida.

Although some members of the consortium have released commercial
products, ServiceCenter represents the first commercial offering to
be jointly produced.

The shared customer service operation, known as The Asset Group
Response Center (AGRC), serves as a "common thread" for members,
according to Callagy, who is also a Trellis employee.

The Asset Group is headquartered in Houston, Texas, but the AGRC is
based in Southborough, Massachusetts, a site selected for its
location nearby a large pool of technical experts, as well as many
of the computer manufacturers the network systems integrators work
with regularly.

In servicing customers of the consortium members, The Asset Group
developed a suite to tools to ease communications between members'
offices as well as to improve the overall quality of service,
Newsbytes was told.

ServiceCenter, the product that emerged from the internally
developed tools, is aimed at extending these benefits to internal
customer service centers and field service groups in industries
such as utilities, health care, manufacturing, and retail.

Some of the applications in the suite, such as client billing and
project billing, can also be used in a wide range of other fields,
according to The Asset Group's director of technical services.

HelpDesk, a component application priced at $5,000, is designed to
track service problems, either locally or remotely, and also to
provide "client tracking" for identification of authorized users
and requests for assistance.

The Parts Manager, Service Billing, Sales Manager, and Project
Manager modules are priced at $3,000 each. Parts Manager tracks
Return Materials Authorizations (RMAs), materials requisitions, and
parts. Service Billing is aimed at time card and client billing
activity. HelpDesk, Parts Manager, and Service Billing each
include a client-tracking database.

ServiceCenter software is available through The Asset Group, or
through any of its members. The members of The Asset Group are
also Lotus Notes Business Partners.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940310/Reader contact: The Asset Group, 713-
880-2299; Press contacts: Amy Bermar or Kathleen Buckley,
Corporate Ink for The Asset Group, 617-969-4036)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00010)

Creative Technology Expands To Publishing 03/11/94
SINGAPORE, CHINA, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- On the heels of a
report that predicted the decrease of audio card sales due to
sound inclusion on motherboards, Creative Technologies announced
its investment in Creative Insights, an entertainment products,
publishing and licensing company.

Creative Insights, combining Ybarra Productions and Monte
Designs, will further efforts to develop audio and multimedia
cards and kits by focusing on developing, publishing and licensing
new titles. Edward M. Esber, Jr., president and COO for Creative
Labs, was named chairman, CEO and president of Creative Insights.

In another announcement, Creative Technology reached agreement
with 3DO to jointly produce an add-on board for PCs that will
play software titles using 3DO format.

A Creative Labs spokesperson told Newsbytes that the talents of
Ybarra Productions and Monte Design will give them the opportunity
to explore and develop the next generation of interactive CD
software. Newsbytes has further learned that Sound Blaster
multimedia kits may ship this year. Creative Labs would
not confirm or deny the statement.

Recently Dataquest stated that the inclusion of sound on the
motherboards would affect the growth rate of audio card sales.
This would seem to force audio card companies into a
repositioning of marketing efforts.

(Patrick McKenna/19940310/Press Contact: Gail Pomerantz, Creative
Technology, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(BOS)(00011)

Lower Prices For Midrange HP 9000 Series 700 Workstations 03/11/94
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Hewlett-Packard
has lowered the prices of its recently enhanced midrange HP 9000
Series 700 Model 715/50, 715/75, 725/50, and 725/75 technical
workstations by as much as 20 percent.

Models 715/50 and 715/75 are aimed at 2-D (two-dimensional) and 3-D
(three-dimensional) wireframe design, and when used with the CRX-
24Z graphics subsystem, at 3-D solids modeling, according to Gary
B. Eichorn, VP and general manager of the Workstation Systems
Group. Models 725/50 and 725/75 are targeted at technical users
who require greater performance and "expandabilty."

The price cuts on HP's midrange systems occur 30 days after HP
decreased the pricing an its high-end Model 735 and Model 755
technical workstations, and also announced improvements in the
integer and floating-point performance of all HP 9000 Series 700
workstations through enhancements to HP-UX compiler technology.

By lowering pricing on the technical workstations and upgrading the
compilers, HP is boosting the price/performance of the products, a
strategy that is helping the company to gain market share against
its competitors, Eichorn said.

At the new pricing, for example, the Model 715/50 delivers
$262/SPECint92 and $164/SPEC/fp92, bettering the price/performance
of the IBM RS/6000 Model 355 by more than 25 percent and that of
the Sun SPARCstation 10/40 by more than 35 percent, according to
the VP and general manager.

The Model 715/75 now reportedly delivers a 40 percent
price/performance advantage over the IBM RS/6000 Model 37T and Sun
SPARCstation 10/51.

The Model 735 and Model 755 are billed as supplying twice the
floating-point and 65 percent integer performance of the
SPARCstation 10/51; 75 better floating point and 25 percent better
integer performance than the SGI Indigo2 R4400 Extreme; and 40
percent better floating point and 55 percent better integer
performance than the IBM RS/6000 Model 375.

A company spokesperson told Newsbytes that new C, Fortran and C++
compilers are being provided through an upgrade to the HP-UX
operating system, available free of charge to existing customers as
part of their standard service and support contracts.

The compilers have been enhanced through improvements to "high-
level optimization" during compile time, tuning of floating point
libraries for top performance under PA-RISC technology, and
advancements to a new technique called "profile-based
optimization."

HP's "profile-based optimization" is designed to permit the
compilers to gather data about "the runtime behavior of an
application" and to carry out customized modifications to meet the
needs of the particular application.

The new compilers support Release 9.03 and later of HP-UX, and are
meant to maintain full binary compatibility with all Series 700
models, in addition to HP 9000 Series 800 business servers.

"Fully configured" Model 715 and 725 workstations include HP's CRX-
24Z graphics subsystem, a 1 gigabyte (GB) hard disk, 32 megabytes
(MB) of random access memory (RAM), and a 19-inch color monitor,
according to HP.

Pricing for a fully configured Model 715/50 is now $12,905, down
from $16,175. A fully configured Model 715/50 is now $15,605, down
from $18,195. In the Model 725 family, fully configured systems are
now $15,905 for the 725/50 and $18,605 for the 725/75, down from
$19,175 and $21,195, respectively.

A fully configured Model 735 CRX workstation includes a 525 MB hard
disk, 32 MB of RAM, and a 19-inch color monitor. A fully
configured Model 755 CRX provides a 2 GB hard disk, 64 MB of RAM,
and a 19-inch color monitor.

A fully configured Model 735 CRX is now priced at $29,995, in
contrast to the previous price of $29,995. A fully configured
Model 755 CRX is now $40,995, reduced from $48,995.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940310/Reader contact: Hewlett-Packard, 415-
857-1501; Press contacts: Jim Barbagallo, HP, 508-436-5049; Tim
Hurley, Copithorne & Bellows for HP, 508-436-5042; Susan Stevens,
Copithorne & Bellows for HP, 617-252-0606)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00012)

Microsoft Remote Mail For Handheld Devices 03/11/94
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Microsoft
Corporation promises to develop software that will
allow uses of handheld devices to access Microsoft Mail running on
mail system servers.

Microsoft says the software that will work with its Winpad operating
system for handheld devices known as mobile companions. "Putting
Microsoft Mail in the palm of your hand is very compelling,"
according to Bruce Baker, Microsoft general manager of handheld
systems. "That kind of messaging will help make mobile companions
successful."

Winpad is Microsoft's project name for its Microsoft At Work-based
handheld device operating system. Microsoft has said that MAW will
have a graphical user interface that will have all the features
available to the user. It is expected to offer digital connections
between the various type of machines uses in most offices, such as
fax machines, copiers and personal computers running Microsoft
Windows.

When the software is available it will allow mobile companion users
to connect remotely by modem to Microsoft Mail servers, download
electronic mail, and read and create mail offline. Microsoft says
more than 130,000 licenses have been sold for its Remote Mail
package for the Windows operating system. A Microsoft spokesperson
told Newsbytes the date for release of the software will be tied
to the release of the mobile companion devices produced by its
partners, companies such as Compaq Computer Corporation and other
vendors.

(Jim Mallory/19940308/Press contact: Collins Hemingway, Microsoft
Corporation, 206-882-8080; Reader contact: Microsoft Corporation,
206-882-8080 or 800-426-9400)


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

Ameritech Aims At Government Info Market 03/11/94
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Ameritech, the
regional Bell company for the upper Midwest, is aiming at the
government database market through an alliance with state-owned
BC Systems of British Columbia, Canada.

Spokesman Steve Ford told Newsbytes "What we plan to do is forge
partnerships with various government branches so together we can
co-market services that will allow businesses and eventually
consumers to access information they need today." Examples
include property titles and other court records, but the idea is
to eventually allow electronic applications for things like
driver's licenses. The new group will also work for electronic
retrieval of US government data under the Freedom of
Information Act.

"The fact is there's no one in the industry doing something of
this magnitude today," Ford added. "There are niches, people
providing court information, but you have to go to a location for
it, not get it from your terminal. Our customers, the governments
we work with, have expressed a need for this offering. We found
one firm, BC Systems, doing this." Lana Porter, the company's
vice president of government sales, who's heading the new
venture, also said she wasn't familiar with other companies
operating in the company.

But that's not entirely true. Newsbytes has reported about one
such company for years. Information America, based in Atlanta,
has been providing court records to lawyers and other interested
parties for over a decade. Now publicly traded on the NASDAQ
over-the-counter market under the symbol INFO, the company had
sales of $25.2 million for its most recent fiscal year, up 38
percent from $18.27 million a year earlier. The company tried
unsuccessfully to merge with the legal information units of
Paramount, failing as Paramount became the subject of a bidding
war between Viacom and QVC. That merger would have given
Paramount 49 percent of Information America's equity, and
Information America took a charge of over $1 million against its
last year's earnings to cover its costs in the effort. Beyond
that, president Mary Madden told shareholders in a press
statement on the earnings, the market for selling government data
to lawyers remains soft -- the company is making further efforts
in other niches, like private investigators.

BC Systems is what is known as a "crown company," created by the
government to offer data for sale.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940311/Press Contact: Ameritech, Steve Ford,
312-750-3975


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

Cellular Industry Continues Growth 03/11/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- The Cellular
Telecommunications Industry Association says it reached the 16
million customer level last year, and sales by member firms
reached $10.9 billion. The industry gained 2.9 million new
customers in the last six months of 1993.

The group's president, Thomas Wheeler, called those results
"simply incredible" in a press statement. Spokesman Mike
Houghton, reviewing the results with Newsbytes, was more
circumspect. "What we're seeing is there's more of a growing
consumer base," he said.

The industry group, which has added SMR companies like NexTel,
CenCall and Dial Page to its ranks, held its annual trade show
last week, and Houghton revealed the group has pretty much run
out of room at its favorite trade show location, San Diego,
California. The show early this month drew 10,061 attendees, up
from 7,500 a year before. "Next year it's New Orleans," he added.

As to the figures, the average bill for subscribers continued its
long decline, this time dropping 10.5 percent to $61.48 per
month. Houghton ascribed the fall to the growing popularity of
cellular phones as lifelines for consumers on the road. "A lot of
these carriers have different pricing plans, and consumers are
getting on who don't use it as much. We don't see any decline in
business." The industry report indicated that at the end of 1993
there were 39,775 employees in the industry, $13.946 billion in
capital invested, and $773 million of the $6.072 billion in
revenues came from "roaming charges," incurred when people accept
calls outside their normal service areas.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940311/Press Contact: Mike Houghton, CTIA,
202-736-3207)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00015)

APM Tools Use OS/2 For Finetuning DB2 Mainframe Apps 03/11/94
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Programmart
has introduced APMPower Release 2.0 and its new APMPower SQL
(structured query language) Analysis Feature, a pair of products
aimed at helping developers who work on OS/2-based workstations to
create efficient DB2 applications for MVS-based IBM mainframes.

Leslie Scott, director of public relations for Programmart, told
Newsbytes that APMPower 2.0 is an upgrade of a tool originally
released about a year and a half ago.

APMPower and the new APMPower SQL Analysis feature work with
Programmart's Strobe Application Performance Measurement (APM)
System and its Strobe DB2 Feature to identify performance problems
with DB2 applications -- which are frequently the result of
inefficient SQL code -- and to suggest solutions.

APMPower and its new SQL Analysis Feature, two products equipped
with OS/2- as well as MVS-based components, let developers address
problems that occur during the early phases of the life cycle,
according to Scott. Strobe operates on the mainframe. When used
together, she added, the Programmart tools cover the entire life
cycle: development, test, production and maintenance.

Founded in 1969, Programmart started out as a consulting company,
introducing Strobe as its first commercial product in the
mid-1980s, she reported. The Strobe product is based on tools that
were originally created by Programmart for inhouse use. The
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based vendor still provides consulting
services.

"Our products and services are used by the data centers of many
very large, major corporations," Scott told Newsbytes. In one
recently announced application, for instance, United Parcel Service
(UPS) signed a capacity software license deal worth more than
$500,000 for Strobe.

Under terms of the pact, UPS has installed Strobe on five mainframe
computers at its Mahwah and Paramus, New Jersey, data centers, for
potential use by more than 300 members of its application
development and technical staff. In addition, the two companies
agreed that Progammart will consult with UPS on the development
and implementation of APM programs.

Programmart's MVS-based Strobe and its Strobe DB2 Feature measure
the resource usage of applications using DB2 and then present a
Strobe Performance Profile, according to Scott. Criteria measured
includes static and dynamic SQL statements within DB2 programs,
queries or procedures.

APMPower uses the Strobe Performance Profile to highlight the
inefficient, or "resource consumptive," SQL statements and
SQL-invoked system services.

The new APM SQL Analysis Feature then gives the developer DB2
access path explanations for the highlighted statements, and
suggests ways of improving application performance through a series
of four reports.

The "EXPLAIN Command Output Report" is designed to identify the
access path that DB2 will take to meet a SQL request. The
"Translation Report" correlates and reports access path
explanations with DB2 catalog information that could be affecting
application performance. This information might include views,
indexes, and referential constraints, for example.

The "Opportunities Report" provides rules-based recommendations for
making the SQL statements more efficient within the context of the
database conditions.

The "Catalog Statistics Report" shows DB2 catalog statistics for
the referenced SQL statements to help illuminate the state of the
catalog at the time the "EXPLAIN" report was executed.

Programmart's Strobe is priced at $20,000 to $150,000, depending on
hardware configuration and MVS environment, Newsbytes was told.
APMPower 2.0 is priced at $2,000 per seat or $4,000 for a
concurrent user license. The APMPower SQL Analysis Feature costs
$700 per workstation or $1400 for a concurrent user license.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940311/Reader contact: Programmart
Corporation, 617-498-4045; Press contact: Leslie Scott,
Programmart, 617-498-4045)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00016)

Unisys Lands Big Russian Bank Contract 03/11/94
BLUE BELL, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Unisys Corp.
said it has been awarded the largest single banking automation
contract in Russia by the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation.
The integration project is valued at $127 million and will last
about 31 months, company spokeswoman Lisa Conrads told Newsbytes.

The Savings Bank of the Russian Federation is one of the world's
largest financial institutions in geographic coverage and number
of customers and branches. In addition to its Moscow
headquarters, the bank operates 78 regional headquarters banks,
2,300 branches and 43,000 bank agency locations. It employs
190,000 people and handles 212 million accounts. Its assets are
worth $4.25 billion.

The Savings Bank of the Russian Federation is a new client for
Unisys. The company has done some business in Russia before,
Conrads said, but "nothing quite this sizable."

Unisys is to provide the systems integration, consulting, program
management, application development, training and implementation
to automate the bank's commercial banking, clearing, and treasury
operations.

The technology involved includes 77 Unisys A Series
dual-processor open enterprise servers. Unisys will also
integrate Unisys PW2 personal computers and non-Unisys PCs in the
client/server network.

The bank plans to customize all of its commercial banking and
payment clearing operations using Unisys software, the computer
vendor said.

(Grant Buckler/19940311/Press Contact: Lisa H. Conrads, Unisys,
215-986-5859)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00017)

Networking Roundup 03/11/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- This is
a regular Friday feature, summarizing networking news not covered
elsewhere by Newsbytes this week: Webster Computer Corp.,
NetWorth Inc., 3Com Corp., MICOM Communications Corp., Network
Management Forum, Combinet Inc., Telco Systems, Network
Computing Inc., LAN Support Group Inc., Asante Technologies Inc.,
Telebit Corp.

Webster Computer Corp., (408-954-8054), has introduced its newest
generation MultiPort/LT AppleTalk Router/Ethernet Gateway System
developed to link Macintosh workstations to Ethernet, LocalTalk, or
dial-up network connections. The introduction of the improved
MultiPort/LT system is claimed by the company to add support for
both versions 1.0 and 2.0 of the Apple Remote Access (ARA) Protocol.
The Webster MultiPort/LT is a five-port multiprotocol unit that
combines support for Apple's Remote Access (ARA) protocol, an
AppleTalk Router, and an Ethernet Gateway in the same device. The
unit has four serial ports which can be assigned as either LocalTalk
routing connections or for remote dial-up access to the network. A
fifth port is provided to link the MultiPort/LT to Ethernet using
either an AUI, BNC, or RJ-45 connector for thick, thin, or
twisted-pair cable connections. The MultiPort/LT is a full
multiprotocol router with support for ARA, AppleTalk, TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), and DECnet
Level 1 routing. It retails for $1,995 and comes with a 12-month
warranty.

NetWorth Inc., (214-929-1700), has joined the Fast Ethernet
Alliance, a multivendor effort that says it is committed to providing
customers with an open, cost-effective and interoperable 100
megabits-per-second (Mbps) CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access
with Collision Detection) Ethernet "solution." Founded in August,
1993, the Fast Ethernet Alliance says it provides a forum in which
such companies as NetWorth, 3Com, National Semiconductor, Grand
Junction, SynOptics, Cabletron, Unisys, Intel and Sun Microsystems
submit specifications to the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers) 802.3 standards committee.

3Com Corp., (408-764-5137), announced new internetworking
software and hardware that the company claims assures cost-
effective WAN (wide area network) access to remote sites,
increased data prioritization options and automated centralized
network management operations. 3Com says it will offer users:
"true interoperability" with Novell's MultiProtocol Router Plus 2.X
and other routers using IPXWAN (RFC 1362) -- Internetwork
Packet Exchange for Novell WAN environments; capital savings on
costs associated with WAN operations through a new high speed
V.35 tri-port module effectively tripling WAN port density;
non-mesh frame relay and dial-on-demand support to help ease
rising WAN service costs. The company recently introduced its
new NETBuilder Remote Office family. The company says its
Boundary Routing system users will benefit from "more robust
dial connectivity and non-mesh frame relay support, further
reducing the cost of remote office internetworking." NETBuilder
software enhancements will be available during the first calendar
quarter of 1994, and will range in price from $350 for NETBuilder
basic protocol software to $2,000 for NETBuilder II software
with complete protocols2, extended WAN support, and X.25
connection service. 3Com's new tri-port V.35 module for the
NETBuilder II router lists for $3,295.

MICOM Communications Corp., (805-583-8600), has formed a
partnership with MPS, claimed to be the largest Mexican-owned
distributor. Under terms of the deal, MPS will distribute MICOM's
network integration product, NetRunner, through its two-tier
distribution channel. NetRunner is an internetworking device that
integrates remote data, voice, fax and local area network (LAN)
over low-speed (9.6 to 128 kilobits-per-second - Kbps) leased
lines throughout a corporate-wide network.

The Network Management Forum, (201-425-1900), has announced
public availability of specifications that enable interworking
between SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and CMIP
(Common Management Information Protocol) environments. The
SNMP/CMIP package reportedly enables information from SNMP-
based management systems to be integrated with information
from CMIP (X.700)-based systems, which allows end-to-end
services to be managed from a single point.

Combinet Inc., (408-522-9020), has introduced, what the
company claims is, simpler plug 'n' play efficiency for high-speed
remote network access over ISDN (integrated services digital
networks). The company new Everyware 160 ISDN bridge
incorporates NT1 functionality into "a compact, economical and
convenient unit." The Everywhere 160 is claimed to eliminate
the need for users, such as telecommuters, small business owners
and workers at branch offices, to purchase and install relatively
expensive standalone NT1 equipment. An NT1 is an interface
between conventional two-wire telephone lines and four-wire
ISDN lines. The company says that the cost of the NT1, power
supply and cabling is typically $300-400. Instead, users can plug
the Everyware 160 into a standard AC electrical wall outlet. The
bridge is then ready to use for access to the enterprise network
from a desktop system. The company says that users can expect
to reduce their overall equipment cost by about $200, while
eliminating the inconvenience of dealing with multiple devices
with a separate NT1 vendor. The Combinet Everyware 160 bridge
is available immediately at $1, 190, and volume discounts are
available.

Telco Systems, Network Access Division, (800-776-8832), has
announced a network access server, the Access60, which provides
integrated access to domestic and international public network
services. Integrated network access allows users to consolidate
traffic from voice, data, image and video applications, resulting
in reduced network access charges. According to the company, the
Access60 provides the "flexibility, redundancy and quality that
are important to keep networks operating at their maximum
capability." The Access60 is available at prices ranging from
$6,500 for "typical" branch office applications to $20,000 for a
"typical" fully redundant system used for disaster recovery.

Network Computing Inc., (800-736-3012), and LAN Support Group
Inc., (800-749-8439), have announced that NCI will resell a
customized version of BindView NCS, LAN Support Group's
inventory management system. BindView NCS will be integrated
with LANAlert, NCI's NetWare-based network management system.
The customized version of BindView NCS will have the capacity to
pass alerts to LANAlert, which the companies say will provide
customers with a "comprehensive alerting, monitoring and
software inventory solution for their NetWare network."

Asante Technologies Inc., (408-435-8401), has introduced the
NetStacker, a two-slot stackable chassis Ethernet hub offering
"modular growth capabilities, manageability and cabling
flexibility normally associated with chassis-based hubs."
According to the company, the product offers between 24 and 72
ports. Pricing works out at $79 per port, for a "fully loaded"
72-port NetStacker. The NetStacker based and expansion units
operate with or without an optional SNMP network management
module. The NetStacker can be managed, monitored and controlled
by AsanteView version 2.3 or by the AsanteView Lite SNMP-based
network management application. The NetStacker Base (unmanaged,
with 24-ports) will cost $1,699 and be available this month. The
NetStacker Base (managed with 24-ports) will cost $2,399

Dial-up remote LAN access company, Telebit Corp., (408-745-
3340), is introducing four new NetBlazer PN dial-up multiprotocol
router/hubs: the NetBlazer PN1 Hub, the NetBlazer PN2 Hub, the
NetBlazer PN4 Hub and the NetBlazer PN4. All four new models
will be available at the beginning of April. The PN1 Hub, PN2 Hub
and PN4 Hub include an integral hub and offer one, two and four
WAN connections, respectively. The PN1 Hub also features a V.32
bis integral modem. The NetBlazer PN4 is a new four-port
version of the Net Blazer PN2, introduced in 1993. Pricing for the
PN Hub starts at $2,999 for the PN2 Hub, which offers two WAN
ports. The PN1 Hub with one WAN port and integral modem costs
$3,399 and PN 4 Hub with four WAN ports is priced at $3,699. The
new NetBlazer PN4, with four WAN ports, and without the hub, is
priced at $2,999.

(Ian Stokell/19940311)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00018)

Canadian Researchers Win IT Awards 03/11/94
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Awards were handed
out to two Canadian information technology researchers at a
recent ceremony here. The awards went to Dr. Mohamed I. Elmasry,
professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at the University of Waterloo, and Dr. Richard C.
Holt, professor in the Department of Computer Science at the
University of Toronto.

The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), a
private industry association, and the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council, a federal granting agency, fund the
ITAC/NSERC Awards. They began the program in 1989. Each award is
worth C$50,000, made up of $25,000 from ITAC and a $25,000
research grant from NSERC.

Elmasry was honored for his design of novel advanced very large
scale integrated (VLSI) circuits and systems meant to achieve
high performance at low power. This technology is considered
important to the wider use of mobile computing, since it will
help to make portable devices smaller, lighter, and less
expensive. He was also co-founder of the Canadian Conference on
Very Large Scale Integration.

Elmasry plans to use the research portion of his award for
further work on low-voltage, low power enabling technology for
nomadic computing.

Holt is a researcher in software engineering. He developed a
programming language called Turing -- named for British
mathematician and computing pioneer Dr. Alan Turing -- that is
used in more than 400 high schools in the province of Ontario and
in more than 30 universities around the world. His current work
has to do with improving methods of developing large software
programs that contain 100,000 to one million lines of code. His
"software landscape" approach is meant to help programmers
navigate through complex designs.

Holt is also a senior research fellow at IBM's Centre for
Advanced Studies, and his 1970 doctoral thesis laid out the basic
theory of deadlock in computer systems which is now a widely
accepted principle.

(Grant Buckler/19940311/Press Contact: Janet Carnegie, ITAC,
416-485-1582)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00019)

Personnel Changes Roundup 03/11/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- This is a
regular feature, summarizing personnel changes at companies
not covered elsewhere by Newsbytes: Aldus Corp., Maxwell
Laboratories Inc., Accolade, General DataComm Industries Inc.,
Andersen Consulting, Computer Sciences Corp., CAI Wireless
Systems Inc., Silicon Graphics Inc., Claris Corp., and The
ImagiNation Network.

Aldus Corp., (206-628-2352), has announced that David Appel has
been named executive director of the Aldus Developers Cooperative,
an independent, member-owned, not-for-profit organization created
for developers of add-on products to the Aldus product line. He will
oversee general management of the co-op including marketing,
membership services, and product fulfillment. Appel, 31, assumes
the new position after serving four years with ManyLink Corp., a
software company developing PC software for digital phone
connectivity. At ManyLink, Appel was vice president of sales and
marketing. Previously, Appel was a district manager at AST
Research and a sales manager at Egghead Software.

Maxwell Laboratories Inc., (619-279-5100), an advanced technical
services company and a developer and manufacturer of high-energy
pulsed-power technology and systems, has announced that Sean
Maloy was appointed executive vice president of operations.
The company also announced the promotion and appointment
of Gary Davidson to chief financial officer. Davidson had been
corporate controller since 1986.

Entertainment software company, Accolade, (408-985-1700), has
announced the appointments of John Scheff, 38, to vice-president
of operations and Brenden Maloof, 35, to vice-president of
international sales. John Scheff will report directly to Alan Miller,
president and chief executive officer of Accolade, and Brenden
Maloof will report to Robert Bonham, vice-president of sales.
Scheff is responsible for operating worldwide manufacturing of
all Accolade products. Maloof fills a newly created position at
Accolade where his charter is to grow international business
outside of North American and European territories, as well as
to develop new business opportunities worldwide. Scheff was
previously with Logitech where he was director of strategic
procurement. Maloof spent the last six years in Tokyo, where he
worked as vice-president of international for Arrow Micro-Techs,
Ricoh's largest value-added distributor for ASIC (application
specific integrated circuit) chips.

Communications network and product firm, General DataComm
Industries Inc., (203-574-1118), elected John L. Segall to the
company's board of directors. Segall recently retired from GTE,
where he had held the posts of vice chairman and director since
March 1991.

International management and technology consulting firm,
Andersen Consulting, (312-507-9244), says that its Utilities
Industry unit has added two functional marketing managers to
its practice: Barry D. Lyons and Ross D. Parr. Lyons will serve as
the manager of Andersen Consulting's growing Utilities Industry
Energy Management practice; Parr will act as the new
functional marketing manager for its Financial Management
practice.

Computer Sciences Corp., (310-615-0311), an information
technology services company, says that Claude Czechowski has
joined its European business unit as president of its French
operations. In addition to heading CSC France, Czechowski will
lead the company's management and information technology
consulting activities throughout Europe. Prior to joining CSC in
February, Czechowski spent 13 years with Sema Group, where he
served as managing director of the company's consulting and
business systems integration unit in France, in addition to
heading Sema's consulting practice throughout Europe.

Wireless cable system operator, CAI Wireless Systems Inc.,
(212-688-5144), has appointed John E. Brinker to
oversee the launch and operations of its system in Hartford, Conn.
Brinker will be a vice president of CAI Wireless Systems and
general manager of the Hartford unit, which is due to begin
operations later this year. Greg Bicket was recently was named
president, chief operating officer, and a director of the company.
The company says that Brinker has extensive experience with
franchise acquisitions and system launches and management at
United Artists Cablevision and Daniels & Associates in Colorado,
Georgia, and Tennessee.

Silicon Graphics Inc., (415-390-2863), announced that the National
Academy of Engineers elected chief technology officer and senior
vice president of research and development, Forest Baskett, for
induction to membership in their Class of 1994. The honor
reportedly recognizes pioneers in the field who have demonstrated
unique ability with new and developing technology. Baskett's major
technical achievements include development of one of the first
RISC microprocessors, creation of the first time-sharing operating
system on an early supercomputer, development of one of the first
raster scan graphics products, and creation of an experimental
operating system on the Cray-1 supercomputer at Los Alamos
National Labs.

Software company, Claris Corp., (408-987-7202), has announced
that Steve Pollock, a six-year veteran of the company's marketing
organization, has been promoted to vice president of worldwide
product marketing. Pollock joined Claris in 1988, starting as a
product manager for Claris graphics software, including the
MacDraw family. He was named director of product marketing in
1992, and senior director in 1993. Pollock worked for Microsoft
Corp. in Windows database product marketing from 1987-88, and
in software product marketing for Apple Computer Inc., from
1986-87.

Interactive entertainment company, The ImagiNation Network,
(209-642-0700), formerly known as The Sierra Network, has
appointed Thomas W. Pomeroy vice president of marketing and
sales. Pomeroy has held executive management and consultative
positions with companies such as: Activision Inc., where he
reportedly chartered the building of a new company in the
entertainment software industry; Interactive Network, where
he developed a subscriber plan for a patented interactive
entertainment device; and MusicWriter Inc., where he managed
the national launch of multimedia kiosks.

(Ian Stokell/19940311)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00020)

Company Results Roundup 03/11/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- This is
a regular feature, summarizing company results not reported
elsewhere by Newsbytes: National Semiconductor Corp.,
Tele-Communications Inc., Sanctuary Woods Multimedia Corp.,
BLOC Development Corp., Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd.,
Brooktree Corp., and 3D Systems Corp.

National Semiconductor Corp., has reported earnings of $63.8 million,
or 48 cents a share, for its third quarter ended February 27, more
than double earnings of $26.9 million, or 19 cents a share, in the
year-ago quarter. Sales were up 11 percent to $544.7 million.
Nat Semi began making major cuts in operations in late 1990,
closing two assembly lines, eliminating products and laying
off about 2, 000 employees. It then made further cuts in
1992. According to the company, market conditions
improved in the third quarter as worldwide orders rose compared
to the second quarter, in spite of holiday shutdowns.

Tele-Communications Inc., (303-267-5048), announced its
preliminary unaudited results. Revenue for the 12 months ended
December 31, 1993, was reportedly $4.153 billion, compared
to $3.574 billion reported for the same period in 1992, or a 16.2
percent increase. Operating cash flow increased 13.5 percent to
$1.858 billion in 1993, from $1.637 billion in 1992. Both revenue
and operating cash flow growth were "primarily attributable to
continued strong subscriber growth and the consolidation of the
company's equity interest in Storer Communications Inc. on
December 2, 1992." The company reported that it lost $44 million
in revenue, over the four month period beginning September 1,
1993, due to "service rate rollbacks associated with the FCC rate
regulation." TCI says it also experienced $21 million in "one-time
expenses from compliance with the FCC's regulation."

Multimedia title company, Sanctuary Woods Multimedia Corp.,
(604-380-7582), announced results for the fourth quarter and
year ended December 31, 1993. For the fourth quarter the company
reported revenues of $919,363, an increase of 270 percent over
the same period in 1992. For the quarter, the loss was ($1,605,621)
or ($0.11) per share. For fiscal year 1993, revenues for the company
were $2,201,973, an increase of 360 percent over 1992. The loss
for the year ended December 31, 1993, was ($3,327,031) or ($0.25)
per share.

CD-ROM reseller and software/hardware company, BLOC Development
Corp., (305-460-6270), announced operating results for the fourth
quarter and year ended January 1, 1994 for the corporation and its
Tiger Direct and Information Management Division (IMD) businesses.
Revenues for the year increased 18 percent to a record $72,256,000,
reflecting primarily a 16 percent increase in sales at Tiger Direct.
In addition, the IMD produced a 57 percent increase in sales of its
F3 Forms Automation Software systems.

Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd., an Israeli designer, developer,
manufacturer and marketer of proprietary software security products,
(011-972-3-537-5795), has reported its operating results for the
fourth quarter and for the year ended December 31, 1993. Sales for the
fourth quarter rose by 55 percent and reached $1,364,000, compared
with $880,000 for the same period in 1992. Sales for the year ended
December 31, 1993, increased by 59 percent to $4,213,000,
compared with $2,642,000 for the year ended December 31, 1992.
Net income for the fourth quarter reached $515,000, a 201 percent
increase over net income of $171,000 for the fourth quarter of
1992. Net income for the year ended December 31, 1993 reached
$1,315,000, a 104 percent increase over a net income of $646,000
in the year ended December 31, 1992.

Brooktree Corp., (619-535-3303), which designs and markets
proprietary high-performance digital and mixed-signal integrated
circuits, announced that it expects revenues for the second quarter
of fiscal 1994 will be slightly below the levels reported for the
first quarter of fiscal 1994, and that earnings from operations
will be at break-even or a slight loss. At the same time, the firm
announced plans to reduce its work force by approximately six
percent during the quarter and to record a reserve in connection
with a restructuring of its automatic test equipment (ATE)
division. As a result, the company expects to report a net loss
for the quarter. The company intends to record a charge of about
$2.8 million during the current quarter for the costs related to
the reduction in work force and the reserve against a portion of
its ATE inventory, equipment and related costs.

3D Systems Corp., (805-295-5600), a developer and manufacturer
of solid-imaging systems has announced a profit for 1993 on record
sales of $31.1 million, a 20 percent increase over sales of $26
million in 1992. The company's net income for the year was
reportedly $30,717, compared with 1992's net loss of $2.8 million.
The break-even earnings per share in 1993 were a substantial
improvement over the 12 cent net loss per share last year,
according to the company. In the fourth quarter, the company earned
a record $951,186 on record quarterly sales of $8.6 million,
compared with a net loss of $1.5 million in last year's fourth-
quarter on sales of $6.1 million. Earnings per share were 3 cents,
compared with a net loss per share of 5 cents for the prior-year
quarter.

(Ian Stokell/19940311)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(DEN)(00021)

Female Business Leaders Say Telecom "Extremely Important" 03/11/94
MADISON, WISCONSIN, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- A recently released
survey conducted by the University of Wisconsin found that an
overwhelming majority of women business leaders believe that
telecommunications services are extremely important to their
success.

The survey found that 72 percent of the women surveyed believe
that telephones, fax machines and voice mail are essential to their
success and the success of their organizations. An even larger
portion, 94 percent, believe enhancements in telecommunications
services will be of particular importance to working women in
their struggle to balance career and family responsibilities. That
is particularly significant in an economy where the majority of
families depend on two incomes.

"The rate at which women are incorporating telecommunications has
the potential to revolutionize their ability to manage the
personal and professional demands they face daily," according to
the study's author, Dr. Robin Douthitt. Dr. Douthitt is a professor
at the university.

The university said it set out to survey women leaders nationwide
on the importance of telecommunications services to their
organizations, business and families, and to determine their view
on national telecommunications policy issues currently being
studied by government leaders. What they found was that women are
increasingly looking towards innovative telecommunications service
to help them manage often conflicting tasks and responsibilities.

"For a national organization, telecommunications can be the key
vehicle for assuring greater access to information for the masses
of women who traditionally are left out of the communications
network. Telecommunications facilitates decision-making,
stimulates action, and connects us to a greater network of national
constituency-based organizations," said Dorothy Height, president of
the National Council of Negro Women and a member of the survey
review panel.

Some of the advantages cited by survey respondents include
telecommuting and remote educational and health services. They
also have strong opinions regarding the provision of telecom
services. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said increased
competition among telecommunications service providers will produce
lower prices and a wider choice of services. Many expressed
frustration over the long distance service market and said they
aren't sure they have selected the least expensive services for
their needs. Two-thirds of the respondents favor allowing local Bell
companies to compete with other long-distance service providers and
with cable companies because it would produce lower costs and more
choices for consumers.

(Jim Mallory/19940311/Press contact: Robin Douthitt, University of
Wisconsin, 608-263-5675)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00022)

IBM To Build Set-Top Boxes For UBI Project 03/11/94
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- IBM will build
set-top boxes for the Universality Bidirectionality Interactivity
(UBI) project, which aims to provide a variety of information
services through cable television links to homes in Quebec.

IBM announced a deal with Groupe Videotron Ltee, leader of the
UBI project, to provide set-top boxes for some 1.475 million
homes. The boxes will use IBM's PowerPC processors and Motion
Picture Experts Group MPEG II compression technology.

It has not yet decided whether the boxes will be built in Canada,
the U.S., or elsewhere, Mike Quinn, a spokesman for IBM Canada,
told Newsbytes. Homes participating in the UBI project in Quebec
will be the first to get them, but "we're viewing this as an
international project."

IBM is not saying how much it is investing in the project, Quinn
said. Over all, the UBI project is expected to cost some C$750
million.

In January, Groupe Videotron unveiled the UBI partnership with
the National Bank of Canada, electric utility Hydro-Quebec, the
government-run lottery Loto-Quebec, Canada Post Corp., and
Hearst. The service is to begin in the Saguenay region next year,
reaching 34,000 homes, and then be extended to the Montreal and
Quebec metropolitan areas over the next seven years, Videotron
said.

Customers will be able to do basic banking with the National
Bank, pay their electricity bills to Hydro-Quebec, buy lottery
tickets, and send and receive electronic mail using Canada Post's
services. Canada Post will also provide services such as deferred
bill payment and order fulfillment -- and it will use the service
to deliver "addressed and targeted advertising." Hearst will
offer access to business directory services.

In addition to the founding partners, some 75 other service
providers have signed letters of intent to participate in the
launch of the service, Videotron officials said. Videotron does
not plan to charge cable subscribers for the service, officials
said. Instead, service providers will pay for usage.

(Grant Buckler/19940311/Press Contact: Mike Quinn, IBM Canada,
905-316-2255; Jovette Demers, 514-938-6431; Jean-Paul Galarneau,
514-985-8837; David Harrah, IBM, 914-765-6666)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEN)(00023)

Univ of WA Unveils Superfast Multimedia Computing System 03/11/94
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- The University of
Washington has unveiled a digital computing system it says will allow
users of low-end microcomputers access to high quality video.

The university said the system uses Texas Instruments' new
high-speed Multimedia Video Processor digital signal processor (DSP)
Newsbytes reported earlier this week. The university says the
computing system, called Mediastation 5000, allows users to
receive, watch, store, send and edit video with CD-quality audio in
real time, over any distance, at five times the resolution of the
best conventional television available today. The MVP contains five
processors and four million transistors on a half-inch-square form
factor.

System pioneer U of W Professor Yongmin Kim says Mediastation 5000
heralds the digital convergence of high definition TV (HDTV),
computers, camcorders, CD-ROM, cable, telephone, and audio.
Professor Kim worked with his research staff and graduate students
to develop the system.

"This system helps usher in the information superhighway, offering
a new generation of computing with versatile, easy-to-use
multimedia information extraction and processing," Kim said. It is
orders of magnitude faster than anything available today for
multimedia processing."

Mediastation 5000 is essentially a parallel supercomputer on a
board, capable of more than two billion operations per second. It
compresses and decompresses full-motion video digital signals
arriving over the system at 30 frames a second, a speed Kim called
"incredibly fast." He says the system does in one-fiftieth of a
second what personal computers available in the mid-1980s took 20
minutes to process. Kim says he has been working with TI since 1989
on the design of the MPV architecture. The project is funded by
Goldstar, Texas Instruments, and the Washington Technology Center.

Digitizing a video signal converts it from a more complex
structure, such as is used on videotape, to the digital code
computers understand. That code is a combination of zeros and
ones. Compressing and decompressing the signal as it is sent and
received speeds up the transfer process.

Kim says Mediastation 5000 is capable of a variety of
applications, including desktop video teleconferencing, video on
demand, desktop video and audio editing, and interactive television.
He also cited applications for scientific, industrial, medical and
graphics arts imaging.

While exact costs are still unclear, co-inventor and staff research
engineer Stuart Milton said he is confident Mediastation 5000 will
be available later this year "at a much, much lower cost compared
to the closest comparable units now available commercially."

The University of Washington Office of Technology Transfer has
entered into a long term licensing agreement for Mediastation
5000 with Precision Digital Images Corporation located in Redmond,
Washington. That company says it plans to bring the technology to
market for commercial use. It runs under Microsoft Windows NT on
personal computers available today.

(Jim Mallory/19940311/Press and reader contact: L.G. Blanchard,
University of Washington, 206-543-2580)


(REVIEW)(IBM)(SFO)(00024)

Review of - Treasure Cove - PC Game, 03/11/94

Runs on: MS-DOS Compatibles with a minimum of 640K RAM,
mouse, and a Sound Blaster compatible sound card

From: The Learning Company, 6493 Kaiser Dr., Fremont, CA
94555, [phone]

Price: $59.95

PUMA rating: 3.75 on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest

Reviewed for NEWSBYTES by: Naor Wallach

Summary: Treasure Cove offers an adventure game format for
reviewing science, thinking, reading, and math skills and
facts. This is a fun game for the 7 to 10 year old set and
can be enjoyed by adults as well.

=======

REVIEW

=======

Another problem has surfaced in Treasureland. That evil person,
Morty Maxwell, The Master of Mischief, is up to his old
tricks again This time, Morty managed to get across the
rainbow bridge to Invention Island. To make sure that no
one can come and interfere with his plans, he destroyed
the bridge. Some of his experiments have backfired (as usual)
and now he is polluting the ocean. Your task as the Super Seeker
is to collect the 200,000 gems that are hidden in the ocean
cove between Treasureland and Invention Island so that the
elves can rebuild the bridge, get to Invention Island, and
stop Morty's pollution-generating activities.

The game comes on two 3.5-inch diskettes or four 5.25-inch diskettes.
Installation is very simple since The Learning Company
(TLC) has included an installation program on the diskettes.

Treasure Cove is one of a series of three programs that
TLC has released. The other games are called Treasure Mountain
and Treasure MathStorm. This game concentrates on science,
reading, thinking, and math skills. Game play is similar to
the others. Essentially one has to progress from level to
level until a goal is reached. During one's travels one needs
to collect items - in this game these are gems - and they
are given to the elves before you start the process
all over again. You will also need to figure out what you
need to collect or do to move from level to level.

In Treasure Cove the scenery is almost completely under water,
the main action is in a sunken ship with many empty chambers.
When one exits the ship one finds a series of underwater scenes
with different animal life in each of the scenes. These animals
tend to be very colorful and exist in different groupings.
One has the ability to swim to the left or right
and change your vertical position. You are armed with an
air gun and a flashlight.

One of the problems that you need to solve is how to keep
the flashlight and air gun loaded with charges.

Floating around this area along with you are three more
denizens. The polluting Goobers that Morty Maxwell has
released roam the oceans polluting anything that comes in
touch with them. Then there are pink and orange starfish
that also move around. These you can catch with your
air gun. A pink star fish will give you a flashlight load.
An orange starfish will give one a riddle to solve.
If the riddle is solved successfully, the orange starfish
will offer you a clue. Collect three clues and one has
the ability to figure out where all the gems are hidden
at that level.

There will also be a special sequence of clues that hide a
blowfish. This blowfish is a very necessary ingredient but
I will describe its function in a little bit.

As I stated before, catching pink starfish yields one
flashlight charges. These charges have two uses -- they can be
traded for air gun charges at a ration of one flashlight
charge for two air gun charges. This can only be done at the
filling station where an orange lobster will operate the sea
horse pump. The other use of the flashlight charges
is to shine the flashlight on a group of creatures to discover
gems or the blowfish.

After one collects three clues from the orange starfish, one
can start collecting the gems and blowfish. When you enter
a scene, check the animal life that is present there. If
it matches two of the three clues, flashing one's light at
them will make them yield a quantity of gems. If the
animals match all three of your clues, then flashing the
light at them will give you the coveted blowfish. Your next
step is to find the Goobie hole and plug it with the blowfish.
After this you will be transported to a different part of
the ocean and can collect more gems.

Each scenario has several gems. The screen display lets you
know how many gems you currently have and how many more
can be found within that scenario. In your searches you
should not neglect to check out the tunnels and other
hidden areas. Besides, they are fun. Wouldn't you want to
see what is showing at the Sea Circus?

When one has finished all three levels and has plugged the last
Gooby hole, one is transported to the Shark Compound. Here
one will find a number of sharks (from one to three) guarding
a purple gem. One must find one's way through them without
touching them. Should the shark catch you, you will lose one '
flashlight charge and be thrown to the edge of the screen to
start again.

Once past the sharks, you are treated to an animated
sequence that shows you delivering the gems to the
shorebound elves and receiving a gift in return. At the
same time you see the size of the bridge that your efforts
have built. As you accumulate gems and enlarge the bridge,
you will be promoted from one star to five stars and then
on to the status of Champion Super Seeker. Once
through inspecting your handiwork, one is brought back
into the bowels of the ship where a gift awaits you.
The gifts are little items that have something in common
with the theme of the game and that perform some very small
animation.

But, I hear you ask, where's the educational content? Well,
to progress through the game you need to figure out the best
way to do all of the above. You must also figure out how to
get the most benefit from all of those gems. Finally,
I did mention that the orange starfish asks one a question or
poses a riddle every time it is caught. These riddles are
the place where most of the learning takes place. In the
early stages of the game, the riddles are pretty simple and
do not require much knowledge to answer properly. As the
game progresses, and one answers the riddles correctly for
a larger percentage of the time, they get more difficult.

Concepts covered include math story problems, English grammar
elements, ecology, conservation, science, and multiplication
and division.

The game is rated for play by children ages 5 to 9. I disagree
with that assessment. My five-year-old testers were content
to simply shoot the different swimming life forms and to
collect flashlight and air gun charges. Answering the riddles
required the presence of an adult since they are all written
out. To make things a bit more difficult, the riddles are
written in lower case. This makes it easier for us adults
and for fluent readers, but it is very frustrating to a
five-year-old that is just beginning to understand the
alphabet and how to put letters together to form words.

The questions and riddles also tend to become somewhat more
sophisticated than a 5 or even a seven-year-old can handle
easily. The most enjoyment was gathered by my 9-year-old
testers and by myself. A difference between me and the nine-
year-old was that I tended to get bored with the monotony
of the game relatively quickly at each session. The nine
year old was more tolerant of that.

To win this game requires a lot of perseverance as 200,000
gems take quite a bit of time to collect. However, when
you do reach that point, you are treated to a relatively
lengthy animation that involves the bridge's construction,
the transformation of Invention Island, and the fate of
Morty Maxwell. Then you are allowed to continue playing
the game if you wish.

Overall, I like this game. Although aspects of it proved
tedious to me, many other parts were quite interesting. Once
the mechanics of game play were learned, I found that
answering the riddles was quite interested and occasionally
challenging to all ages. I would recommend this game to
people who have children in the 7 to 10 age range and then
play along with them.

The program will support multiple players although only one
can be active at a time.

=============

PUMA RATINGS

=============

PERFORMANCE: 4 The program ran well and speedily enough.

USEFULNESS: 3.75 My one quibble is with the monotony of the game.

MANUAL: 4 Everything you want to know is there as well a lot
of background information.

AVAILABILITY: 4 Available from mail order and software stores.
TLC is well known in the educational software field and
maintains a toll-free number for technical support.

(Naor Wallach/19940215/Sharyn Fitzpatrick, The Learning Company)


(REVIEW)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00025)

Review of - The Chair, EAC-1 03/04/94

From: Forminco, 9610A Ignace, Brossard, Quebec, Canada J4Y 2R4

Price: $299

PUMA rating: 4 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Dana Blankenhorn

Summary: If you work at home, or control your company's
furniture budget, this is the chair you want.

=======

REVIEW

=======

"Fetch hither the comfy chair!" so said Michael Palin in the
famous Monty Python skit "The Spanish Inquisition."

I know. You weren't expecting the Spanish Inquisition, were you?
But I can't help it -- this chair makes me giggly.

Most workers today spend as much time in their office chairs as
in bed, and it's amazing how little thought they give to them.
If you're not self-employed, you have no choice in the matter.
But even the self-employed give the matter little thought. For
most, the chief question is whether the thing has arms. That's an
executive chair. Secretaries' chairs lack arms.

The Forminco chair is the first honest effort I've yet seen to
deal with the real issues in office furniture -- comfort and
health. The two are related, as anyone with carpal tunnel
syndrome or chronic neck pain from working at a computer terminal
will tell you. But people are different, not just in size and
shape but in habit. It would seem impossible to create a chair
that would fit everyone.

Forminco has dealt with this by designing a chair that's
infinitely and easily adjustable. It took this klutz just a few
minutes to set it up -- stick the wheels on the base, put the
pedestal into the center of that base, and stick the seat on the
pedestal. Every other factor in chair use is up to you.

For that aching back, there's a lumbar support pad, with a simple
Velcro adjustment. Fold the top pad up, remove the pad and put it
where it's needed. To handle the angle of your back, there's a
knob in the back. To adjust the chair forward, push the top and
tighten the knob clockwise. To adjust it back, again push the
chair and this time adjust the knob counter-clockwise.

Do you like a firm seat or a loose one? A knob below the seat
lets you move anywhere between the feel of a wooden seat and that
of a beanbag. Share your home-office with a taller or shorter
spouse? A simple lever on the right, below the seat, takes care
of that -- just stand a bit and lift it up to raise the chair,
sit and lift the level to lower the chair. On the opposite side
there's a tilt-lock lever that lets you keep the chair-back rigid
or let it flip back.

My favorite parts of the chair, however, is the wheels and round
base. The wheels let me quietly roll around the office, while I
can put my feet on the base. Not only does the chair comform to
your comfort, in other words, it can even comform to your bad
habits.

One final note. I reviewed this chair on a wooden floor. Your
mileage may vary. If you've got shag carpeting, in other words,
you won't roll as fast or far. But you can lock the wheels in
place and solve that problem.

I'll admit I liked the Forminco chair the first time I saw it at
a trade show two years ago. Now that I've experienced it, I like
it even better.

=============

PUMA RATINGS

=============

PERFORMANCE: 4.0 The easiest thing I've ever put together,
infinitely adjustable, incredibly comfortable.

USEFULNESS: 4.0 Who can't use a nice chair?

MANUAL: 4.0 A coated cardboard card explains both how to
assemble the chair and completely adjust it.

AVAILABILITY: 4.0 Available at various dealers in the U.S., or
the IBM Order Center. The IBM number is 1-800-342-6672. Call
Forminco at 1-800-663-6764 for the dealer near you.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940304/Press Contact: Stacey Gerson,
Boardroom Communications, 499 NW 70th Ave., Suite 118,
Plantation, Florida 33317; 305/321-6334; FAX: [phone])


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

 ****AMD Wins Decision Over Intel 03/11/94
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- A buying frenzy
took place as Advanced Micro Devices stock climbed to $28.12
1/2 a share at closing March 10th and Intel slipped $1.50 a share.
A jury rendered a verdict in favor of AMD that legitimizes its
developments in the microprocessor market.

The decision, which Intel claims it will appeal, states that AMD
did not violate Intel copyrights because of a 1976 licensing
agreement. An earlier 1992 case had been thrown out and a
retrial ordered because a judge ruled that Intel had withheld and
altered documents.

Speaking with Newsbytes, John Greenagel, director of corporate
communications for AMD, said, "We are delighted to have the jury
reach what we thought was the expected result." When asked what
evidence was brought out that made the second case different,
Greenagel said, "The second case was different in that more
extensive documentation was provided. In the first case the
Litigation Reporter that we subpoenaed was not the one delivered.
In the second case the correct Litigation Reporter, which is
an internal news bulletin at Intel, was made available.
The statements in that document clearly stated the position of
Intel in relation to the copyright issues. A number of reporters
have stated this case as a patent case, which it is not.
This is a copyright case."

Asked what this means for AMD, Greenagel said, "This legitimizes
our position in the market and will free us in the eyes of
Japanese PC manufacturers who have been hesitant to deal with a
company tied into litigation."

Intel claims that it did not give AMD the right to copy Intel
microcode except through the 1976 agreement which gave AMD
the right to copy the microcode in microcomputers. Intel claims
that this term did not include microprocessors. The jury with
the additional evidence did not agree with Intel. Intel claims
this decision will have little effect on their business.

(Patrick McKenna/19940311/ Press Contact: John Greenagel, AMD,
tel [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEN)(00027)

Building Industry Show To Feature Virtual Reality 03/11/94
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- When the building
industry gets together in June for its annual international
computer show, attendees won't just look at the latest design
techniques, they will have the opportunity to be right inside them.

Thanks to Worldesign Inc., a virtual worlds design studio and
product development company, the centerpiece exhibition at the
show will be a virtual design Pavilion where designers can step
right into the middle of new technologies for rapid design and
implementation of industrial, commercial, and residential
construction.

For the exhibition, Worldesign will implement a Super Virtual
Environment Theater (SuperVET), an enhanced version of the VET
currently located in the company's Seattle studio. Worldesign
says SuperVET is "an immersive virtual environment based on video
projection and surround-sound technology, driven by networked
workstations, in which virtual worlds called Worldspace are created."

The term "virtual reality" usually invokes the image of placing
a helmet your head, but Worldesign spokesperson Chet Dagit told
Newsbytes show attendees will enter a 10-foot by 10-foot booth where
they will be surrounded by giant screens that display a virtual worlds
model of the Port of Seattle's central waterfront, including a new
Port headquarters, cruise ship berths, a pleasure craft marina,
hotels and office building, and the Odyssey Maritime Museum.

The model will be interactive and permit participants to explore
current and future renditions of the Central Waterfront
development. Features will include both the building themselves and
the phenomena associated with the development, including changing
surface traffic patterns and the effects of expansion on marine
life. Dagit said the company may also set up a virtual reality
headset to demonstrate that concept of virtual reality.

Financial support is being provided Worldesign by ARPA and Sun
Microsystems, which is also providing the workstations. Evans and
Sutherland "Freedom" accelerator boards will provide the
foundation for the presentation. The company says it expects other
sponsors in the coming weeks.

The show, called A/E/C Systems 94, opens its three-day run June 21,
1994 in Washington, DC.

(Jim Mallory/1994031/Press and reader contact: Robert Jacobson,
Worldesign Inc, 206-781-5253)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00028)

BT Cries Foul On European Info Highway Plans 03/11/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- After claiming to watch the
rest of the telecoms industry steal a march on it, British Telecom
(BT) has hit out at the British government, claiming that it will be
trapped in the slow lane, unless impeding legislation is lifted.

Speaking before the British government's parliamentary trade and
industry committee, Sir Iain Vallance, BT's chairman, said that, not
only will BT remain trapped in the slow lane, but the rest of British
industry will be as well.

The problem, he explained, was that it is not worth BT's while to
build a national fiber optic network, which he claims will cost UKP
15,000 million, if the company is restricted from providing
broadcast video services. And, since BT has an 85 percent share of
the UK telecoms market, if it cannot afford the network, neither can
anyone else.

Vallance said that, if BT were to be given reassurances that it
would be allowed to recoup its investments over a reasonable period
of time, it could start building a video broadband network, which
could reach 80 percent of homes and offices by the end of the
decade.

"BT wants to invest in broadband networks in the UK, but there's a
lack of clarity in the public policy framework which is a
prerequisite for getting our act together," he said.

According to a spokesman for BT, the telecoms giant has the
technical resources and the cash to build a broadband network, but,
if it is not allowed to offer broadcast services, it cannot recoup
its investment in a reasonable period.

"BT, with its existing core fibre optic network and its current
roll-out to business customers, has the technical capability and
physical capacity to provide a national broadband network," BT said
in an official public statement.

"However, if changes are not made to the regulatory regime it would
be difficult to justify the use of risk capital to build the
network," BT's statement added.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940311/Press & Public Contact: BT - Tel: +44-71-
356-5000)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00029)

French To Sell Groupe Bull 03/11/94
PARIS, FRANCE, 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- After years of investing money
into an apparently ailing Groupe Bull, the French government has
admitted defeat and put the troubled computer company up for sale.
The move follows the European Commission's (EC's) decision to block
any further investment in Bull, on the grounds that they are not
financially viable.

Officially, the climbdown is being touted as a privatization, with
Bull and a second company, Assurances Generales de France (AGF), the
state controlled insurance giant, being up for the first phase of
what the government is called its major privatization project.

Wile government officials have said they will have no problems in
selling AGF off, they admit there will be problems with Bull.
Instead of a straight sale, the French government has said it will
be pursuing a policy of selling off stakes in the company, without
the debt burden. The idea is to offset the debt burden with the cash
raised from the sale for the company, Newsbytes understands.

The government's problem, according to French officials, is that the
longer the sell off is delayed, the more debt will be incurred. In
1993, Newsbytes notes, Bull generated a loss of almost $590 million,

According to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French Budget Minister, Gerard
Longuet, the French Industry Minister is in Japan at the moment,
with a schedule that includes meetings with NEC. According to French
sources, the idea of the visit to assess whether NEC is interested
in upping its current 4.4 percent stake in the Bull group.

(Sylvia Dennis & Steve Gold/19940311/Press & Public Contact: Groupe
Bull -- Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00030)

 ****Dataquest Releases PowerPC Estimates 03/11/94
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- Dataquest, a
23-year-old global market research company, released projections
for Apple Computer's Macintosh with PowerPC, the first major
release of a RISC (reduced instruction set computer) microprocessor,
to be released on March 14.

Dataquest estimates that Apple will ship 700,000 computers based on
PowerPC. They further claim that the Apple will introduce a low,
entry-priced model and that Macintosh with PowerPC will offer better
performance than Unix workstations. The firm also reports that
high-end models are competitive with 90MHz Pentium PCs.

Gathering information from a number of reports and vendors,
Dataquest does not expect Windows users to move to the PowerPC
platform. Speaking with Newsbytes, Dominic Ricchetti, Dataquest
principal analyst, said, "There are still some questions as to
application availability and we do not expect to see a large
number of native applications until later in the year. While
applications written for the Motorola 68XXX microprocessor
will run on the PowerPC, they will not take full advantage of
PowerPC until they are written as native to PowerPC.
Windows users, on the other hand, will not experience
such problems stepping up to the Pentium processor."

Ricchetti further stated, "The December quarterly report from
Apple stated that they held a $1 billion dollar inventory of
Motorola's 68000xxx microprocessor." This should lead to an
interesting pricing situation for those waiting to purchase a Mac,
as Apple reduces this inventory, he suggested.

(Patrick McKenna/19940311/Press Contact: Paul Wheaton, Dataquest,
408-437-8312)


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

Newsbytes Daily Summary 03/11/94
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S.A., 1994 MAR 11 (NB) -- These
are capsules of all today's news stories:

1 ->  ****Apple Australia Unveils PowerMac - A Week Early 03/11/94
Apple Australia just couldn't pass up the opportunity. It used the
PC '94 show to let more than 50,000 people see the new PowerMac
machines that are due to be formally released next Tuesday March 15.

2 -> First Inmarsat Satellite Cellphone Call Made 03/11/94 Inmarsat
has revealed it has successfully made the world's first satellite
voice link with a hand-held satphone.

3 -> UK - 2nd High-Freq Digital Mobile Phone Net 03/11/94 After
months of waiting, Hutchison has revealed the name of its national
DCS-1800 digital mobile phone network. The network is called
"Orange."

4 -> IBM Spain Reports First-Ever Loss 03/11/94 IBM's Spanish
subsidiary IBM Espana is reported to have lost most of its
manufacturing work to IBM Europe's facility in Montpellier, France,
following the launch of the latest line of mainframes.

5 -> Australia - PC'94 Show A Hit 03/11/94 Australia's largest PC
show ended today in Sydney, with exhibitors, press, and visitors all
wearing smiles. The show was jam-packed with over 300 exhibitors,
and attendance of between 50,000 and 60,000, despite it being
off-limits to anyone under the age of 18.

6 ->  ****Commodore Australia Is No More 03/11/94 Commodore Business
Machines (Australia), the one-time big shot of mass market personal
computing, has gone into liquidation following a creditor's meeting
last week. Accountant firm Ferrier-Hodgson confirmed the company was
put into liquidation last Friday.

7 ->  ****IBM Power PC Products Due Late '94 03/11/94 While Apple
was flaunting its new PowerMac machines at PC'94 show in Sydney, IBM
was briefing the press on its upcoming models. The PowerPC machines
are due late this year.

8 -> Compuserve Extends To Internet 03/11/94 Many online subscribers
anxiously await full Internet access through their online service
with the hope of a navigation tool that will save them from the
labyrinth world of slash-commands. Taking a step towards that goal,
CompuServe has announced a path to reach CompuServe Information
Service from the Internet beginning late March.

9 -> Customer Service Workflow Software 03/11/94 The Asset Group, a
consortium of six network systems integrators, has unveiled its
first product, a suite of Lotus Notes 3.0-based workflow automation
applications that are based on tools developed internally to improve
the operations of a shared customer service center.

10 -> Creative Technology Expands To Publishing 03/11/94 On the
heels of a report that predicted the decrease of audio card sales
due to sound inclusion on motherboards, Creative Technologies
announced its investment in Creative Insights, an entertainment
products, publishing and licensing company.

11 -> Lower Prices For Midrange HP 9000 Series 700 Workstations
03/11/94 Hewlett-Packard has lowered the prices of its recently
enhanced midrange HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/50, 715/75, 725/50,
and 725/75 technical workstations by as much as 20 percent.

12 -> Microsoft Remote Mail For Handheld Devices 03/11/94 Microsoft
Corporation promises to develop software that will allow uses of
handheld devices to access Microsoft Mail running on mail system
servers.

13 -> Ameritech Aims At Government Info Market 03/11/94 Ameritech,
the regional Bell company for the upper Midwest, is aiming at the
government database market through an alliance with state-owned BC
Systems of British Columbia, Canada.

14 -> Cellular Industry Continues Growth 03/11/94 The Cellular
Telecommunications Industry Association says it reached the 16
million customer level last year, and sales by member firms reached
$10.9 billion. The industry gained 2.9 million new customers in the
last six months of 1993.

15 -> APM Tools Use OS/2 For Finetuning DB2 Mainframe Apps 03/11/94
Programmart has introduced APMPower Release 2.0 and its new APMPower
SQL (structured query language) Analysis Feature, a pair of products
aimed at helping developers who work on OS/2-based workstations to
create efficient DB2 applications for MVS-based IBM mainframes.

16 -> Unisys Lands Big Russian Bank Contract 03/11/94 Unisys Corp.
said it has been awarded the largest single banking automation
contract in Russia by the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation.
The integration project is valued at $127 million and will last
about 31 months, company spokeswoman Lisa Conrads told Newsbytes.

17 -> Networking Roundup 03/11/94 This is a regular Friday feature,
summarizing networking news not covered elsewhere by Newsbytes this
week: Webster Computer Corp., NetWorth Inc., 3Com Corp., MICOM
Communications Corp., Network Management Forum, Combinet Inc., Telco
Systems, Network Computing Inc., LAN Support Group Inc., Asante
Technologies Inc., Telebit Corp.

18 -> Canadian Researchers Win IT Awards 03/11/94 Awards were handed
out to two Canadian information technology researchers at a recent
ceremony here. The awards went to Dr. Mohamed I. Elmasry, professor
in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the
University of Waterloo, and Dr. Richard C. Holt, professor in the
Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto.

19 -> Personnel Changes Roundup 03/11/94 This is a regular feature,
summarizing personnel changes at companies not covered elsewhere by
Newsbytes: Aldus Corp., Maxwell Laboratories Inc., Accolade, General
DataComm Industries Inc., Andersen Consulting, Computer Sciences
Corp., CAI Wireless Systems Inc., Silicon Graphics Inc., Claris
Corp., and The ImagiNation Network.

20 -> Company Results Roundup 03/11/94 This is a regular feature,
summarizing company results not reported elsewhere by Newsbytes:
National Semiconductor Corp., Tele-Communications Inc., Sanctuary
Woods Multimedia Corp., BLOC Development Corp., Aladdin Knowledge
Systems Ltd., Brooktree Corp., and 3D Systems Corp.

21 -> Female Business Leaders Say Telecom "Extremely Important"
03/11/94 A recently released survey conducted by the University of
Wisconsin found that an overwhelming majority of women business
leaders believe that telecommunications services are extremely
important to their success.

22 -> IBM To Build Set-Top Boxes For UBI Project 03/11/94 IBM will
build set-top boxes for the Universality Bidirectionality
Interactivity (UBI) project, which aims to provide a variety of
information services through cable television links to homes in
Quebec.

23 -> Univ of WA Unveils Superfast Multimedia Computing System
03/11/94 The University of Washington has unveiled a digital
computing system it says will allow users of low-end microcomputers
access to high quality video.

24 -> Review of - Treasure Cove - PC Game, 03/11/94 Runs on: MS-DOS
Compatibles with a minimum of 640K RAM, mouse, and a Sound Blaster
compatible sound card

25 -> Review of - The Chair, EAC-1 03/04/94 From: Forminco, 9610A
Ignace, Brossard, Quebec, Canada J4Y 2R4

26 ->  ****AMD Wins Decision Over Intel 03/11/94 A buying frenzy
took place as Advanced Micro Devices stock climbed to $28.12 1/2 a
share at closing March 10th and Intel slipped $1.50 a share. A jury
rendered a verdict in favor of AMD that legitimizes its developments
in the microprocessor market.

27 -> Building Industry Show To Feature Virtual Reality 03/11/94
When the building industry gets together in June for its annual
international computer show, attendees won't just look at the latest
design techniques, they will have the opportunity to be right inside
them.

28 -> BT Cries Foul On European Info Highway Plans 03/11/94 After
claiming to watch the rest of the telecoms industry steal a march on
it, British Telecom (BT) has hit out at the British government,
claiming that it will be trapped in the slow lane, unless impeding
legislation is lifted.

29 -> French To Sell Groupe Bull 03/11/94 After years of investing
money into an apparently ailing Groupe Bull, the French government
has admitted defeat and put the troubled computer company up for
sale. The move follows the European Commission's (EC's) decision to
block any further investment in Bull, on the grounds that they are
not financially viable.

30 ->  ****Dataquest Releases PowerPC Estimates 03/11/94 Dataquest,
a  23-year-old global market research company, released projections
for Apple Computer's Macintosh with PowerPC, the first major
release of a RISC (reduced instruction set computer) microprocessor,
to be released on March 14.

(Wendy Woods/19940311)