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/nb040594

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(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00001)

"Live Picture" Intro'd For Mac, SGI Server Added 04/05/94
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Live Picture, a
high-end 48-bit color imaging package for the Mac that originated
in France, has been launched in the North American marketplace.
Silicon Graphics (SGI) has agreed to support Live Picture's image
file format with its network servers, Torque Systems has been
chosen to publish the first of these application servers for SGI,
and Total Integration has unveiled software for interfacing with
Live Picture from outside programs.

Aside from 48-bit color, Live Picture offers "optimized output
quality" and a series of advanced features such as "resolution
independent brush technology" and "unlimited numbers of independent
layers" that are aimed at increasing the creative freedom of
artists, according to officials of FITS (Functional Interpolating
Transformation Systems) Imaging and HSC Software, the Paris-
based developer's North American publisher.

The support from SGI and Torque will mean that large image files
from Live Picture can now be stored on network servers, letting
prepress users of networked Macs work with and transport only as
much Live Picture data as is needed on the desktop, said Silicon
Graphics and Torque officials in a press conference held to
announce the FITS/SGI/Torque alliance at Seybold Boston.

"The biggest implication is the promise of actually making
networking possible in the prepress environment," said Sam Bagoch,
president of Torque, speaking at the press conference, which was
attended by Newsbytes. Bagoch's company will produce the
Torqued!FITServer for Silicon Graphics.

Mark Kalow, VP of marketing for FITS Imaging, announced that FITS
recently opened an office in Soquel, California, and has hired Mike
Kass, who was previously an engineer at Apple, to work at the
Soquel site as director of technology.

"The essence of FITS is to improve (prepress) workflow," Kass noted
at the press event. The FITS technology that underlies Live Picture
processes data only once, he explained. The technology describes
image editing functions mathematically, and stores the mathematical
expressions in a separate, nonlinear file containing "unlimited"
numbers of layers that can be independently moved, added,
duplicated, hidden or removed and at any time during an editing
session.

Each layer in Live Picture has four functions, according to the
companies that are collaborating on bringing the product to market.
The functions include image, mask, stencil and visibility. Layers
are created automatically whenever the user selects a new function,
said Kristin Keyes, director of corporate communications for Santa
Monica, California-based HSC, speaking with Newsbytes.

The layers can be used for painting, image insertion, image
cloning, colorizing, distortion, silhouette, image cloning,
blurring. sharpening, and lighting. A "scrolling layer bar" down
the right side of Live Picture lets the designer move individual
layers. Users can also display individual layers, group them, hide
them, "name" the layers, and represent them visually through
thumbnails. Each element in a layer can also be individually
manipulated.

At the press conference, Kass explained that the images used in
Live Picture are first converted to a new file format known as
IVUE, which displays only as much data on the screen as is needed
by the screen size and zoom factor.

A new output file is then created from the IVUE files in a single,
final, RIP (raster image process) which is designed to prevent
"cumulative processing errors." Instead of serially playing back
every editing action taken during a session, the output file only
processes the information "implied by the final build."

The final file output can be set at whatever resolution is needed
without changing the original data, including different resolutions
for different printers and other devices, said Kass. The brushes
in Live Picture are also resolution independent, as well as
unlimited in size, according to HSC's Keyes. Furthermore, the size
and resolution of brushed effects can be "optimized" for specific
outputs.

Although Live Picture operates in real time or near-real time for
all operations, officials project that the combination of Silicon
Graphics' processing power and Torque's server software will
accelerate IVUE's performance five to ten times over, thereby
preventing delays in opening and working with large files on the
Mac desktop and in transmitting large print jobs to the RIP for
rasterization.

"SGI has graphics hardware which we hope to use to accelerate the
RIP," Kass observed at the news conference. Much like PostScript,
IVUE offers an opportunity to speed up back end RIP processing at
the server level, added Kass's co-worker, Mark Kalow.

"IVUE is going to become an imaging standard, much like TIFF
(Tagged Image File Format) is today," predicted Connie Miller, a
public relations spokesperson for Mountain View, California-based
SGI, also during the press conference.

Officials of FITS and Palo Alto, California-based Torque concurred
with Miller. When enhanced by FITServer for SGI, IVUE will work
much better than JPEG (Joint Photographics Experts Group), the
commonly used standard for image compression, said Kass. Users
will be able to view and manipulate bigger image files on the Mac,
and send them out over networks providing less bandwidth, without
the "sharp edges" and other kinds of image degradation that JPEG
can cause.

The new image processing method will help to prevent the current
practice of "Sneakernet," or walking with magneto-optical or
Syquest storage cartridges among the various prepress systems
involved, added Torque's Bogoch.

Torque officials expect that the Torqued!FITServer will make it
possible to view and work with full resolution, 48-bit Live
Picture image files over standard Ethernet and FDDI (fiber
distributed data interface) networks.

Live Picture's 48-bit color space uses 16 bits per channel, to
prevent color banding and allow "multiple layer opacity," HSC's
Keyes told Newsbytes. Color palettes include RGB and HSV.
Designers can control H, S and V values, or "globally shift" the color
balance between red, green and blue. Live Picture also contains a
conversion engine for converting images between RGB and CMYK
(cyan, magenta, yellow, and black).

Live Picture was originally released in mid-1993 in an "early
adopter" phase, according to Keyes. Since then, FITS has added new
features aimed at facilitating use as a production tool, including
faster RIP processing, support for a "new generation" of RIP
servers, and support for the Acquire and Export plug-in
architecture, so users can be scanned directly into IVUE format
and Live Picture composites can be output directly to printers.

FITS has also added enhanced on-screen rendering, including on-the-
fly convolution and anti-aliasing, and a new user interface,
"Paramount." Paramount is designed to provide faster access to
tools by replacing the floating tool palettes of the past with
tools fixed in a single location, she said. Users can toggle
between two sets of Live Picture tools -- mechanical and creative.
The mechanical tools are for cropping and positioning images.

The "creative" interface lets users work with brushes, marquees,
and path tools. The path tools create bezier paths, which can be
used as masks and stencils, and which also let users input text.
Designers can select bush size palettes, brush speeds, and
"specialty brush modifiers," which include noise controls, pastel,
and water color. Users can access all the creative tools at every
layer.

Other special features aimed at designers include "selective undo"
and quick creation of masks and stencils. When a brush is working
in "silhouette mode," it can detect the outline of an object by
"sensing" color differences and contrast, according to Keyes, The
brush computes a mask automatically. The user can then convert the
brush to a stencil for dropping in a new effect or image.

In addition, the artist can undo part or all of an effect at any
time by erasing any portion of the brush strokes, Newsbytes was
told. A user can distort part of an image, for example, and then
undo the distortion, restoring the image either to its original
state or to any step in between.

Also at Seybold, Total Integration announced the first two products
to be based on FITS Imaging IVUE Tool Kit for applications
development. One of these new products, FASTedit/IVUE, is designed
to let Live Picture users open and work on IVUE files from within
Photoshop or other image editing programs. The other package,
PaintPort, lets users of the Quantel Graphic PaintBox exchange
files with a Macintosh, converting the files to and from IVUE.

HSC, the exclusive publisher of Live Picture in North America,
expects to release Live Picture for Macintosh in the second
quarter, at a suggested retail price of $3,995, including hardware
key protection.

HSC plans to release a Power Macintosh version of Live Picture
about one month later. Torque is scheduled to ship the
Torqued!FITServer for Silicon Graphics within 60 days of the
release of Live Picture for the Mac, at retail pricing of $6,500
per Silicon Graphics server.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940404/Reader Contacts: HSC Software,
310-392-8441; FITS Imaging (France), 33-1-4558-0199; Torque
Systems, 415-321-1200; Silicon Graphics, 415-960-1980; Press
Contacts: Kristin Keyes, HSC Software, 310-392-8441 ext 40;
Robert Blumberg, FITS Imaging (France), 33-1-4558-0199; Julie
Brodeur, Torque Systems, 415-321-1200; Ginny Babbitt, Silicon
Graphics, 415-390-2527)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00002)

Ray Dream's addDepth Coming To Windows, With Wizard 04/05/94
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Ray Dream
is porting its addDepth three-dimensional (3-D) business graphics
software from Macintosh to Windows, and adding a new "wizard"
graphics assistant in the process.

The Mountain View, California-based vendor has also announced the
start of the second annual edition of "Modern Masters of 3-D," an
international artwork competition for RayDream Designer and
addDepth users.

Ray Dream's addDepth software, available on the Mac side for about
a year now, is aimed at letting business users quickly add 3-D
graphics to newsletters, reports, logos, presentations, and other
business communications, said Teri Chadbourne, director of public
relations.

The upcoming Windows edition, which is slated to ship
in June for $149, will be the second Windows-based product for
RayDream, a vendor that originally focused on the Mac market
only. RayDream's first release for Windows, the JAG anti-aliasing
program, has become one of the vendor's top-selling products,
Chadbourne told Newsbytes.

The new wizard graphics assistant in addDepth for Windows is
similar in concept to the Modeling Wizard in the Mac-based Ray
Dream Designer, according to Chadbourne. The addDepth Wizard
guides the user through 3-D graphics production on a step-by-step
basis.

The addDepth Wizard also provides over 50 professionally created
3-D graphics, which can be used "as is" or customized, and offers
choices and suggestions on matters such as textures or "styles"
("brick" for example), bevel, and lighting.

As with the Macintosh edition, users will also be able to create
3-D graphics from scratch, and apply different colors and styles to
various parts of a 3-D graphics. A rainbow-shaped color picker will
present a choice of up to one million colors.

Other capabilities common between the platforms include a "virtual
trackball" that permits the objects to be viewed from any angle, a
sphere for experimenting with the placement of the program's single
light source, and "uninterruptible full-color preview," according
to Chadbourne.

Thanks to the preview feature, users can perform any function in
addDepth, including pulling down menus and working with large or
complex graphics files, without waiting for the screen to redraw,
she noted.

The Mac and Windows versions of addDepth are billed as "100 percent
compatible," meaning that any addDepth file can be opened in both
versions. In addition, the editions operate almost identically,
except that command key sequences and import and export file
formats differ somewhat between the two, and, at present, only the
Windows version offers addDepth Wizard.

Chadbourne told Newsbytes that RayDream has no plans to add the
addDepth Wizard to the Macintosh edition at this time. Users of
addDepth for Macintosh tend to be very familiar with 3-D
techniques, she added.

Ray Dream's forthcoming addDepth for Windows will support
Microsoft Mouse and all other Windows 3.1-compatible pointing
devices, all Windows 3.1-compatible printers, and TrueType as
well as Type 1 fonts, according to Chadbourne. The software will
print directly in PostScript to all PostScript devices. Use of
Adobe Type Manager, version 2.5 or higher, will be required for
Type 1 fonts.

Ray Dream's "Modern Masters of 3-D" International Art and Design
Contest will revolve this year around a "New Worlds" theme. Artwork
will be judged and prizes awarded in five categories: Commercial
Art, Non-Commercial Art, Commercial Art Logos, Best addDepth Art,
and Best New World Art. Entries will be reviewed and winners
announced at Seybold San Francisco this fall.

The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to one of the
following locations: New York City, New Orleans, or New Mexico.
Entries must be submitted by August 5, 1994 to be eligible.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940401/Reader Contact: Ray Dream,
415-960-0768; Press Contact: Teri Chadbourne, Ray Dream, 415-
960-0768 ext 121)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00003)

"Easy Notebook Office" Productivity Suite For Mobile Users 04/05/94
BOLTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Apsley-Bolton
has released Easy Notebook Office, a suite of PC productivity tools
for mobile professionals that carries the subtitle, "For People Who
Know Nothing About Computers."

The new Windows-based package, which is the first of a series
planned by the Bolton, Massachusetts-based startup, "hides the
complexities of Windows and DOS" to such an extent that users never
have to look at either Windows or DOS unless they want to, company
officials said in a series of interviews with Newsbytes.

"Our goal is to make software available to people who are not going
to sit down and learn Windows or DOS, either because they shy of
computers or simply very busy. We believe everyone should have
access to the power of computing," Brenda Evans, product manager,
told Newsbytes.

The top screen of Easy Notebook Office offers on-the-go users a
full-screen graphic of a car interior. By pointing and clicking on
various objects in and around the driver's seat, the user gains
access to a letter writer, filing system, address book, calendar,
phone, trash basket, applications manager, and systems information.

Rex Perkins, VP of software development, gave Newsbytes some of
the details on how the opening "Car Screen" works. By clicking on
a rolodex on the passenger's side, the user gains access to the
address book. A "cellular phone" on the dashboard brings the user
into a program for automatically dialing phone numbers from the
address book.

A click on the glove compartment calls up an "applications manager"
with buttons for either entering the Windows Program Manager or for
exiting into programs directly. Information on hard disk space and
battery charge status is accessible from a clipboard on top of the
glove compartment.

The "letter writer" is accessed by clicking on one of a pair of
"envelopes" on the driver's seat. A briefcase on the passenger side
contains program files, along with a calendar. The trash basket is
used for discarding files.

Easy Notebook Office provides a graphical interface throughout,
noted Evans. "It's not the Car Screen only," she said. Each
component of the program has buttons at the bottom of the
screen which are accompanied by graphical images.

The buttons are used for selecting functions such as editing or
deleting entries, printing, and exiting the program. "You can think
of this as a tool bar, but it is really less intimating. The exit
button, for example, has a picture of a man who goes through
a door," she explained.

The buttons also allow users to access other program components,
Evans added. "A person can look through his card files in the
morning to see who he wants to contact later that day, for example.
By hitting a button, he can transfer the phone number to the phone
list he'll be using later that morning," she illustrated.

"Similarly, if the user is looking at a customer's card, and
decides to write a letter to that customer, he can go right into
the letter writer, set up his own address and that of the customer,
type a note, print the letter, and get it right out," she continued.

Also in pursuit of ease-of-use, Ashley-Bolton has devoted about
one-third of the code in Easy Notebook Office to error handling,
Evans said. Errors are explained to users in plain English, through
a series of pop-up boxes that ask you to confirm a choice you have
just made, or warn you that you have entered data incorrectly. If
you type "35" as the "day of the month," for instance, you will be
given a warning box.

Perkins told Newsbytes that an upcoming add-on, to be called Easy
Data, will allow conversion of the program's proprietary file
format into ASCII, and possibly into other file formats as well.

Ashley-Bolton is also in the process of developing a desktop
edition of Easy Notebook Office, to be known as Easy Desktop
Manager, as well as packages for "easy" contact management and
electronic mail/fax communications, according to Evans.

Easy Notebook Office is available now, direct from Ashley-Bolton,
for $199. The package is also being sold at the retail level at the
Harvard Coop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Easy Data will be priced
at about $50 when it becomes available, Evans estimated. Pricing
has yet to be set for the other products currently under
development.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940403/Reader Contact: Apsley-Bolton
Computers, 508-779-5043; Press Contacts: Brenda Evans,
Apsley Bolton, 508-779-5043; Christine Sheroff, public
relations counsel for Apsley-Bolton, 508-655-3339)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEL)(00004)

India - Compaq Sets Up Office, Appoints Retailer 04/05/94
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Compaq Computer Asia Pte
Ltd. has now entered the Indian market directly. Besides appointing
Tangerine Electronic Systems Pvt. Ltd., as its master retailer in
the country and setting up shop in Bangalore, Compaq also launched
the Contura Aero sub-notebook, Compaq LTE Lite notebooks,
Presario PC, and ProSignia servers. Even though the Presarios have
been available since February, the series has been officially
launched only now.

Abhishek Mukherjee, formerly executive director (marketing) at
Pertech Computers Ltd., has been appointed general manager of the
Indian office of Compaq Computer Asia. Said Mukerjee, "This office
will function as the spares and support end for our Indian
distributors and not sell systems.'' He also talks of "opening
offices at Delhi, Bombay and other cities shortly."

Tangerine, Compaq's third marketing partner in India, will sell and
support its retail range which includes the Presario and Contura
notebook and sub-notebook line ups. Compaq already has two
distributors in India--Unicorp Industries Ltd. of Delhi and
Bangalore-based MicroLand Ltd.

The Compaq Contura Aero family of sub-notebooks, weighing 1.59
kilograms (kg) and providing six hours of battery life, is priced at
R99,000 and up for monochrome models and R1.39 lakh for color
versions. The product line is driven by 486 processors.

The Aero models come with a STN (super twist nematic) backlit
VGA display -- measuring 20.3 centimeters (cm) on monochrome
models and 19.8  cm on color machines. They feature a built-in
trackball pointing device, a touch-type keyboard with a palm rest
and a PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association) Type II slot. The Aero series supports over 150
PCMCIA cards and a SpeedPaq, 14.4 PCMCIA Data/Fax and cellular
modem.

Each Compaq Contura Aero comes pre-installed with DOS 6.2,
Windows 3.1, TabWorks, Lotus Organizer and an integrated package
with a calendar and planner, WinLink File Transfer software and a
serial cable.

The 486-based Compaq ProSignia VS, with configured hard drive
models, is available at R1.69 lakh and up. The servers have a
32-bit local bus network interface card and 32-bit local bus
Fast-SCSI (small computer system interface) controller.

Models of the EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture)-
based ProSignia come with either a 486SX/33, 486DX/33 or a
486DX2/66 microprocessor. Other features include: 8 or 16
megabytes (MB) of RAM, NetFlex-L ENET controller on the local
bus or a NetFlex-2 Token Ring in an EISA slot.

The five models of Compaq LTE Elite notebooks, with removable
hard disk drives up to 510MB, are being offered at R1.99 lakh and
up. Other features include: two Type II or one Type III PCMCIA
slots; and memory upgradable to 20MB or 24MB. With the
built-in AC adapter and easypoint trackball the product weighs
about 3.11 kg.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19940405)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00005)

Japan - NTT Docomo & Sharp In Digital Link 04/05/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- NTT Docomo and Japan's Sharp
have signed an agreement concerning a digital link-up involving
Sharp's latest pocket business organizer. NTT Docomo wants to
promote its digital cellular phone in the deal, while Sharp
hopes to increase sales of its pocket organizer.

NTT Docomo, a subsidiary of NTT, is a specialist in cellular
and mobile phones. Under the agreement, NTT Docomo and
Sharp will jointly develop an interface cable for Sharp's
electronic pocket organizer, called the "Zaurus," or the Pencom.
With this interface cable, both firms hope to link the Zaurus
with NTT Docomo's digital cellular phone.

This move is seen as the fastest way for Sharp to add a
telecommunications feature to its pocket organizer. Sharp's
Zaurus is an economic version of Apple's Newton. Sharp and Apple
jointly developed the Newton. So far, the Zaurus does not have a
telecommunication feature.

NTT Docomo has recently released a 1.5 gigahertz version of its
digital cellular phone, called the Digital Mova 1.5G. There are
three versions available.

An NTT spokesman told Newsbytes that NTT Docomo has also been
developing card modems for digital phones, fax machines, and
personal computers (PCs).

Sharp has been encouraging PC software firms to develop interface
cards for the Zaurus. This measure has already been fruitful. Tokyo-
based Personal Media has recently developed card-based interface
software for NEC's and IBM's notebook PCs and the Zaurus.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940404/Press Contact: NTT
Docomo, tel [phone], fax [phone], Sharp,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00006)

CIC Intros Yellow Pad For Windows 04/05/94
REDWOOD SHORES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) --
Communication Intelligence Corp. (CIC), having recently announced
its new Handwriter 4.0 recognizer for pen-top computing in
Windows, has now released news of Yellow Pad for Windows (YPad),
a software product that will allow CIC pen computing users to add
electronic note-taking to their desktop use.

YPad, now in the beta stage, features a store-and-retrieve note-
taking function that allows drawings and provides a "post-it" note
for fax and/or print. YPad utilizes Microsoft's OLE (object linking
and embedding) so that individual pages can be posted into other
applications such as word processors and spreadsheets.

Speaking to Newsbytes, Anne Butler, director of investor relations,
said, "YPad has been designed to add value to our Handwriter for
Windows. Our main concern has been speed and ease-of-use. There
are other products that offer note-taking features, but we have
simplified the process so that our users can count on simplicity
and speed."

She added: "YPad requires very little memory or hard disk space,
because of the compression technology that we use. This software
literally acts like a yellow tablet for taking notes and can be
reviewed by date and page. In future upgrades, YPad will offer
more complicated note-taking features."

CIC has yet to announce a price for YPad. However, it will be bundled
as part of the Handwriter 4.0 upgrade. It is expected to ship in the
middle of May. Since the November 1993 release of its Handwriter
for Windows, which includes software, tablet and stylus, CIC has
sold more than 10,000 units. CIC also licenses multilingual
Handwriter recognition systems and dynamic signature verification.

(Patrick McKenna/19940405/Press Contact: Beverly Scott, CIC,
415-802-7888 )


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TYO)(00007)

Japanese Ministry To Start Cable TV Multimedia Tests 04/05/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- The Japanese Ministry of Posts
& Telecommunication says it will begin the testing of digital and
interactive broadcasting on cable television at the its
Telecommunication Research Institute.

The ministry has already gained the necessary budget for the
project -- 500 million yen ($5 million) this year. Private firms
will also reportedly participate in the project.

The project research room will be equipped with a variety of
equipment, including cable TV broadcasting devices, television
sets, fax machines, and personal computers (PCs). The ministry
is also planning to provide "video-on-demand" devices and game
software transmission devices.

In addition to telecommunication firms, software and PC
firms are also expected to participate in the project. The actual
testing will start around the end of this month. The ministry
is hoping to standardize a cable TV broadcasting method.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940405/Press Contact:
Posts & Telecommunication Ministry, tel [phone],
fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00008)

Activists Fight Hollings Telecommunications Bill 04/05/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- A grass roots
campaign funded by the regional Bell operating companies is
fighting the Senate rewrite of the Communications Act, S. 1822,
being sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest
Hollings (D-S.C.).

The Campaign to Advance America's Telecommunications Future is
an unusual alliance of the Baby Bells and community-based groups
usually on the other side of big business.

The Hollings bill, says Ken Deutsch, the manager of the campaign,
"Is severely flawed because of the unfair delays and restrictions
built into its provisions." The Hollings bill, Deutsch told
Newsbytes, "has a lot more roadblocks to full competition
than in the legislation that is moving in the House."

Deutsch is a veteran of several Ralph Nader-affiliated
organizations and he has created an alliance of the Bells with a
wide array of groups of disabled citizens, mayors of small towns,
black groups, local consumer groups, and labor union locals.

Founded last year, the campaign's statement of goals says it
supports "a robust telecommunications marketplace that promotes
consumer choice, fair prices, product innovation, and open and
equal access. This is best accomplished by the full development
of the public switched network within the evolving framework of
state and federal regulation."

Deutsch points to a number of weaknesses in the Hollings bill.
Competition from the Bell companies is restricted  because of
the imposition of tests and procedures that can be used by the
incumbent long-distance provides to delay Bell company
competition. As a result, consumers may be deprived of money
saving choices.

The campaign has installed toll free voice, fax and TDD lines as
part of its outreach effort to the grass roots. "We want to build
as much pressure for real people, outside the beltway, as we
can," says Deutsch. "That's how you convince Congress that you
are more than just a special interest group."

(Kennedy Maize/19940405/Press Contact: Ken Deutsch, 202-408-
1920, Public Contact: tel [phone], fax [phone],
TDD, 800-364-1262)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00009)

 ****Software Sales Boom In Asia & Latin America 04/05/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A, 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Personal computer
(PC) software sales are soaring in the Asia/Pacific and Latin
American markets, according to the Software Publishers
Association. Application software sales in those regions grew
53 percent between 1992 and 1993, according to the trade
association for the software industry.

Software sales were $637 million last year in those regions, says
SPA, with Japan the largest market at $306.4 million. According
to SPA's David Tremblay, research director, sales of software to
Japan jumped 73 percent over 1992 as Japanese users moved
aggressively to graphical interface-bases software.

Tremblay told Newsbytes that sales of Windows applications in
Japan were up 236 percent and Macintosh applications were up
144 percent. "Sales are booming," he said.

Sales in Australia and New Zealand were lagging a bit, up only 13
percent over 1992 for a total of $141 million. That reflects
lingering softness in their economies, notes SPA. Unit sales were
up 39 percent.

Sales in Latin America totaled $103 million in 1993, an 80
percent increase over 1992. Unit sales were up 157 percent. Sales
in Mexico were $37 million, while sales in Brazil were $20
million. SPA says it does not have separate growth figures
available for Brazil.

"These figures show a growing opportunity for US publishers in
the Asia/Pacific and Latin America regions," said Tremblay.
"While most of these areas are not as large as the European
markets, they are growing more rapidly than all but one European
market." But Tremblay warned that high piracy rates in many of
these countries requires some caution by publishers.

Agreement should mean more business for US publishers and less
piracy. "NAFTA formalized and improved intellectual property
protection in Mexico," he says.

SPA gets its data from 41 primarily US-based software firms
that submit confidential data to the accounting firm of Arthur
Andersen, which prepares the report for the SPA. Among the
participants are Aldus, Borland, Claris, Lotus, Microsoft,
Software Publishing, Symantec, and WordPerfect.

(Kennedy Maize/19940405/Press Contact: David Tremblay,
202-452-1600 ext 317)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00010)

DOE Puts Human Subject Database On Internet 04/05/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- The Department of
Energy has established a new database involving current research
on human subjects it is funding. The database is available on the
Internet, and also includes human subject research funded by other
government agencies, such as the National Institute of Health,
performed at DOE labs.

While the new database was prompted by the disclosures of DOE
research on radiation effects done clandestinely in the 1940s
through the 1970s, the information available is already public,
but has never been assembled in one place before.

The information on each project includes a title, a brief
abstract, funding level, name of the research institution and the
name of the funding agency.

However, DOE spokesman Jeff Sherwood warns Newsbytes readers
that "this information wasn't developed for public purposes, but for
management purposes. In other words, much of it isn't recognizable
as English." Sherwood says DOE is trying to write new summaries
for the database that describe the projects in "lay" language.

The creation of the database fulfills a promise Secretary of
Energy Hazel O'Leary made last January to Sen. John Glenn (D-
Ohio), chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee. Glenn
has been pushing for legislation codifying existing federal
rules on conduct of research with human subjects.

Despite its reputation resulting from its now notorious work on
radiation, DOE funds a lot of uncontroversial research using
humans. For example, a study at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center developed monoclonal antibodies labeled with a
radioactive tracer, so called "magic bullets" for detecting and
treating cancer. DOE no longer performs or contracts for research
on effects of radiation on humans.

Other agencies also fund work at DOE's national laboratories. The
National Institutes of Health, for example, is paying for work at
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California on the effects of
exercise and diet on cholesterol. The Justice Department is
funding a study at the Sandia National Laboratory of a less-than-
lethal "sticky foam" restraint system.

According to Sherwood, the database is available now from
the Johns Hopkins University Welch Laboratory of Applied
Bioinformatics via Gopher and the World Wide Web.

The database may be reached at the Johns Hopkins University
Computational Biology gopher server by pointing a gopher client
at gopher.gdb.org and selecting: -- NIH, NSF, DOE, and Other
Funding Agencies/ -- DOE -- Department of Energy/ -- The DOE
Human Subjects Database.

For anyone who already has access to WWW client software the
database may be reached at the Johns Hopkins University
BioInformatics WWW server. The address for that server
is: http://www.gdb.org/hopkins.html.

Hopkins offers a dial-up connection to gopher and WWW client
systems. This can be reached by using a modem to dial 410-614-
2665. Modem settings are 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop. For a gopher
client, login as gopher. For a WWW client login as www.

(Kennedy Maize/19940405/Press Contact: Jeff Sherwood, DOE,
202-586-5806)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00011)

Galvin/Gates/Qureshey/Reitveld To Speak At Comdex 04/05/94
NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Major
speakers at the Comdex/Spring and Windows World shows in
Atlanta this spring will include Christopher B. Galvin, Bill Gates,
Safi Qureshey, and Adrian Reitveld.

Galvin, president and chief operating officer of Motorola Corp.,
is to deliver the Comdex/Spring keynote address on Tuesday,
May 24 at 9 am. He will talk about the interactive home, with
emphasis on the convergence of computer, communications, and
entertainment technologies.

Gates, chairman and co-founder of Microsoft Corp., will give the
keynote address for Windows World, the show his company
co-sponsors with Comdex organizer Interface Group. His topic is
billed as The Future of PC Computing, and like Galvin he will
focus on converging industries and the so-called information
highway. Gates speaks Monday, May 23, at 9 am.

Qureshey, chairman, chief executive, and co-founder of AST
Research Inc., leads off the Comdex/Spring International
Marketing Forum with a talk on Global Strategies for IT
Markets Worldwide on May 23 at 4 pm.

Reitveld, president and chief executive of WordPerfect Corp., is
the CEO Perspective speaker on May 24 at 1 p.m. He will talk
about using computer technology to enhance voice communication.

The Interface Group is expecting some 90,000 people to attend
this year's edition of the annual show, and about 1,100 companies
have booked exhibit space, a spokeswoman said.

(Grant Buckler/19940405/Press Contact: Cheryl Delgreco or
Peter Young, Interface Group, 617-449-6600)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00012)

DEC To Put Windows For Workgroups On PCs 04/05/94
MAYNARD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Digital
Equipment Corp., has announced that it will preinstall Microsoft
Corp.'s Windows for Workgroups software on its full line of
personal computers in the United States, and will do so in the
rest of the world as local language editions become available.

Windows for Workgroups will replace Windows 3.1 on DEC's DECpc
XL, MTE, LPv+, and LPx desktop and desk-side computers, company
spokesman Greg Soucy told Newsbytes.

Windows for Workgroups has built-in peer-to-peer networking,
resource-sharing, and information-sharing capabilities. It also
provides links to popular local area network (LAN) operating
systems, Soucy noted. However, the networking capabilities of the
software are not the only reasons for including it with DEC PCs,
Soucy said. Windows for Workgroups runs many Windows
applications faster than Windows 3.1, he said, providing a
performance boost even to stand-alone PC users.

The software provides new file and print toolbars and access to
the facsimile capabilities of Microsoft At Work, DEC said. It
also provides better connections to DEC's Pathworks, Microsoft's
Windows NT and LAN Manager, Novell Inc.,'s NetWare, Banyan
Systems Inc.'s VINES, and IBM's LAN Server, according to Digital.

DEC said it will not charge extra for Windows for Workgroups on
its PCs. PCs with the software are available immediately in the
United States and the English-language version will be available
in Europe within a few weeks, Soucy said. Availability in other
languages will depend on the availability of translated versions
of the software from Microsoft, he added.

(Grant Buckler/19940405/Press Contact: Greg Soucy, Digital
Equipment, 508-496-8152)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00013)

Iomega Closes Colorado Floptical Lab 04/05/94
BOULDER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Iomega Corp., has
announced it is terminating development of its Floptical product
line at its laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. The Roy, Utah-based
company is best known for its mass storage removable data
cartridge Bernoulli drives and its minicartridge tape drives.

The company said the lab closing is part of its previously
announced plans to drop future development of the Floptical
product line.

In September 1992 Newsbytes reported that Iomega had paid $2
million to Insite Peripherals, a San Jose, California company, for
a license to develop, manufacture and sell Floptical media
products.

At that time Iomega President Fred Wenninger said Iomega
licensed the technology, "because we saw good market potential
for Floptical products." Other companies, including 3M Corp., and
Maxwell Corp., also licensed the technology.

Iomega spokesperson Corey Maloy told Newsbytes that most of the
18 employees in Boulder will lose their jobs, although a few may
be retained in the Colorado mountain town to work on special
products.

Maloy said the decision to stop development of future Floptical
products was made due to a failure of the market to develop. "We
will continue to sell and support Floptical products and will
continue to manufacture Floptical media," said Maloy.

(Jim Mallory/19940405/Press Contact: Corey Maloy, Iomega
Corp., 801-778-3712; Reader Contact: Iomega, 801-778-1000)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00014)

Artisoft Takes Its Networking Show On The Road 04/05/94
TUCSON, ARIZONA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Computer users
across the nation will have the opportunity this month to find out
everything they want to know about network productivity, cost
and decision-making, according to Artisoft Inc.

The Tucson, Arizona-based company says it will conduct a series
of nationwide free seminars for end users in conjunction with
computer maker Compaq computer Corp., and computer superstore
chain CompUSA.

Artisoft says the seminars are designed for business managers,
network administrators and business owners. The sessions will
provide participants with an overview of networking and how
computer networks can improve productivity and lower costs.
Information will also be presented on how to tailor a network
for specific needs and building a network piece by piece.

Specialists from the three companies will demonstrate Artisoft
products, including the company's newly released LANtastic
network operating system version 6.0, its Simply LANtastic
network operating system, the Central Station II connectivity
processor, and the Artisoft Noderunner adapter series. Compaq
will demonstrate a number of its computers including the new
Compaq Prosignia VS server.

Artisoft spokesperson Joe Stunkard told Newsbytes many of the
seminars will be in some of the 78 cities where CompUSA has
stores. The tour kicks off in Boston and Dallas April 5. Other
cities include Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, San Francisco, Miami,
Atlanta and a host of mid-west and east coast locations. Specific
locations and dates are available by contacting Artisoft.

(Jim Mallory/19940405/Press Contact: Joe Stunkard, Artisoft Inc.,
602-670-7145; Reader Contact for seminar info: 800-233-5564,
or 602-670-7100, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00015)

Wordperfect Launches Around-The-Clock Paid Support 04/05/94
OREM, UTAH, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Wordperfect Corp., has
inaugurated around-the-clock paid support for users of its word
processing program, Wordperfect.

Called Priority Service, the seven-day-a-week support provides
access to senior and certified support technicians to all end
users. Priority Service during the hours 7am to 6pm Mountain
Standard Time Monday through Friday except holidays has been
available for workgroup applications and Dataperfect since
March 1, 1994.

Customers can choose from two payment methods. Toll-free lines
allow the customer to use a credit card to cover the $25 per
incident charge, or you can call a 900 number which adds $2 per
minute to your monthly phone bill through AT&T's Multiquest 900
Service.

Wordperfect says companies can program their private branch
exchange (PBX) equipment for calls to specific 900-555 numbers
or to the entire 900-555 exchange without worrying that office
telephones will be used to call non-business 900 lines.

A list of Priority Service numbers is available by contacting
Wordperfect. Separate numbers are available for specific tasks,
such as installation, macros, laser printers, networks, and
graphics support. Priority Service is available for both DOS and
Windows versions of Wordperfect.

(Jim Mallory/19940405/Press Contact: Lyle Ball, Wordperfect
Corp., 801-228-5060; Reader Contact: Wordperfect, 800-321-
5906 or 801-225-5000)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00016)

Racom Provides UK Transportation Automated System 04/05/94
DENVER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Racom Systems Inc.,
a company owned by Ramtron International Corp., has been selected
to supply contactless smartcards and radio frequency
communications controllers for use in a regional automatic fare
collection system for public transportation in Manchester, England.

Smartcards are a form of electronic money. When used with
contactless terminals the user simply passes the card near the
terminal and the charges are deducted from the amount
programmed into the card. The cards use Ramtron's proprietary
non-volatile ferroelectric random access memory.

Racom says the first 100 Manchester buses were equipped in
February and 5,000 riders got their cards. During a second phase
scheduled to begin later this year more than 3,000 buses, schools
and retail businesses throughout the greater Manchester area will
be equipped to accept payment. Racom says it expects more than
one million contactless smartcards to be in circulation.

Similar systems are reportedly being tested in Los Angeles, Hong
Kong, Paris, Tokyo, and London. Market research firm Frost and
Sullivan estimates the world wide market for electronic
transaction cards exceeded $1 billion dollars in 1993 and could
exceed $4 billion by the year 2000.

(Jim Mallory/19940405/Press Contact: Richard Horton, Racom
Systems, 303-771-2077; Reader Contact: Racom Systems,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


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

Journalist - A New Prodigy Add-On 04/05/94
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- PED Software
has  launched Journalist, an add-on for the Prodigy service under
Windows.

The product lets users automatically retrieve the information
they most want from the service and presents it in the form of
custom-designed newspapers. A press release from PED Software
quoted Larry Magid, an industry analyst and author who works with
Prodigy.

PED Software Chief Executive Chris Hassett said that Journalist
is aimed at consumers and business owners by helping them focus
on information rather than interfaces. The product uses the
"frame" metaphor from desktop publishing applications.

Users select frames for specific types of stories, and Journalist
then fills them by connecting to Prodigy and operating in the
background. Users can then format their newspapers before
printing them, with some TrueType fonts provided free of charge.

The product carries a retail price of $79.95 and is offered by
Prodigy by typing "jump journalist" at any prompt. The product
will also be distributed at stores like Comp USA and Egghead
Software, with technical support provided free by Prodigy. The
product requires five megabytes (MB) of hard disk space, at least
4MB of free memory, a modem, and MS Windows Version 3.1, as
well as Prodigy for Windows.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940405/Press Contact: Gail DeLano, PED
Software, 408-761-1953; Customer Contact: 800-548-2203)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00018)

BellSouth Aims New Strategy At Business Market 04/05/94
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- BellSouth is
changing its strategy for business customers, selling an
equipment supply operation and opening a new systems operation.

BellSouth is currently focused on integrated services digital
network (ISDN) as its near-term growth platform. ISDN divides an
ordinary phone line into two 64,000 bits-per-second (bps) digital
channels, and a 16,000 bps signaling channel, which customers
can use as they see fit. As a practical matter, this can allow a
single phone line to share fax, modem, and voice functions, or
allow small businesses to conduct digital videoconferences.

BellSouth says it is deploying ISDN software in switches
throughout its nine-state network, and recently-approved tariffs,
or price lists, for the service in Georgia give small businesses
lower rates for basic ISDN than residential customers can get,
since the small business price lists are inclusive of regular
monthly charges, while residential tariffs of exclusive of such
charges.

Meanwhile, WilTel announced it completed acquisition of part of
its BellSouth Communication Systems unit, involving equipment
sales operations outside BellSouth's local service region. WilTel
will use the resources to strengthen its position in Texas and
the Chicago area, and base the operation out of The Woodlands, a
"new town" outside Houston.

The acquisition increases the number of WilTel employees in its
WCS division by 40 percent, to 2,500. Along with the BellSouth
deal, WCS announced a distribution agreement with NEC -- WCS
also handles Northern Telecom Meridian PBX systems, equipment
from Hitachi, Octel, Centigram and some local area network
products.

BellSouth's new operation is called BellSouth Business Systems,
or BBS, and is based in Atlanta. Its president is Phil Jacobs,
who said in a press statement his aim is to stop approaching the
market as a mass, and offer custom solutions that improve
customers' customer service. He said BBS will focus on faster
development of applications, alliances with system integrators,
and flexible billing plans, under account teams dedicated to
individual customers.

"We want to become more focused on our customers in the
Southeast," Jacobs explained to Newsbytes. "Our direction with
ISDN is consistent with this direction that we're involved in
solutions. With ISDN we can offer broader solutions to large
customers." Jacobs added that BBS is one of four market units for
the company, and BBS is focusing on large businesses.

Other units are involved in consumer, small business, and inter-
connection markets. "In the past we were state-by-state focused,"
Jacobs added. "This structure will allow us to address multi-
state customers through a single point of contact."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19940405/Press Contact: Dick Miles,
BellSouth, 404-330-0143; Len D'Eramo, WilTel, 713-547-1000)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00019)

Automated Daily News Service For Apple's Newton 04/05/94
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Powernews, a
customized, daily news service is now available for Apple Newton
Messagepad users. Pentekk Software Technologies, developers of
the service, say users can receive news feeds from a variety of
sources, including USA Today's Decisionline.

Starting at $6.95 a month, Newton users can pick from up to
18 categories of news and have those news reports delivered daily
to their Messagepad. The categories include: advertising, topical
reports, energy, insurance, issues & debate, personal investing,
sports, telecommunications, trends & marketing, banking and
economy, business law, health, international news, USA news, real
estate, technology, travel, and weather.

To receive Powernews, Messagepad users need a modem and an
electronic mailbox on Applelink, America Online, Apple's new
eWorld service, or Compuserve. In the evening, the Messagepad is
connected via the modem to a telephone outlet and turned off. The
Powernews software sets the Messagepad internally to "wake"
during the night and download the Powernews feed from the
electronic mail box. The next morning, the news is there, ready
for the Newton user.

The Powernews software uses the Newton's built-in alarm
feature to awaken the unit for the download, freeing the
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
(PCMCIA) slot for a modem or other software.

The shortage of memory in the original Newtons caused problems
for the Powernews service, but the new Messagepad 110 works fine,
company officials said. Ninety to 95 percent of the Newtons out
there work fine, the company said. As long as there is 20 kilobytes
(KB) of internal memory free on the Messagepad, there will be no
problem receiving Powernews. Apple is also expected to release
bug fixes for the Newton Mail program that will help resolve
memory problems, Powernews representatives said.

Pentekk said it is looking at wireless delivery modes, but
currently wireless services cannot handle the volume of data
Powernews needs to transmit.

News stories of particular interest may be saved in the
Messagepad's notepad and then faxed, electronically mailed,
printed, or beamed at the users convenience.

The Powernews software is available directly from Pentekk for
$29.95. It may also be downloaded from Applelink, America Online,
or Compuserve and that version comes with a three-day free trial.
At the end of the three-day period, users are billed for $19.95. The
subscription rate for Powernews varies from $6.95 to $11.95
depending on the type of news and the number of categories users
choose for delivery. News is delivered Monday through Friday.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940405/Press Contact: Chris Dawson, Pentekk
Software Technologies, tel & fax [phone]/PHOTO)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00020)

Min Yee Resigns From Media Vision 04/05/94
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Min Yee,
executive vice president of Media Vision, has resigned from his
position at the company, effective immediately.

A company source told Newsbytes that while Media Vision may
have had some idea that Yee was looking into other options, the
company felt shocked by the abruptness of his announcement
and surprised to be left with the vacancy of his position.

Yee said in a press release that he plans to start a new
publishing venture in the next 90 to 120 days.

Min Yee played a critical role in the development of multimedia
products published by Media Vision. He produced such titles as
Critical Path, Quantum Gate, and the Daily PlanIt series. The first
two titles were named among the top interactive titles of 1993
by Business Week.

A spokesperson for Yee said that he had been thinking of leaving
Media Vision for some time and that he feels that he has left
under good terms.

Observers can only speculate at this time if Yee's new
publishing venture will match him up against Media Vision in
direct competition.

The company source indicated that Media Vision has no immediate
plans to fill the position left vacant by Yee and that the firm does
not think that his departure will effect current negotiations with
a number of multimedia developers nor distract from their ability
to continue to attract top talent for titles.

Prior to Media Vision, Yee was vice president of multimedia division
of Microsoft, publisher of Microsoft Press. While there, he headed
the development of Bookshelf, Cinemania, Musical Instruments, and
Encarta and served as chairman of the first six Microsoft
International Conferences on CD-ROM and Multimedia.

During his stay at Microsoft he published more than 200 books on
computer programming. He has authored five books, served as
editorial director of Chevron's Ortho Information Services and
held editorial positions with Newsweek and the Boston Globe.

(Patrick McKenna/1994/Press Contact: Rolland S. Going, The
Terpin Group, 310-798-7875)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00021)

Data Compression Market Revenues To Increase 04/05/94
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- The need
to compress motion video is what will spur the expansion of the
data compression market to six times its current size by 1999,
according to market research firm Frost & Sullivan. The market is
projected to grow from $101 million in 1993 to 1999 levels of
$667 million, at a compound rate of 35 percent.

Data compression market growth will accelerate because of its
pivotal role in emerging applications such as videoconferencing,
digital television, electronic identification systems, desktop
publishing, digital cellular, and digital answering machines, the
marketing group said.

Compression squeezes the enormous amounts of data involved in
digital video transmission down so it will fit through current
delivery channels. However, demand for better quality images
after compression is also increasing. Frost & Sullivan predicts
the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standard will continue to
support a variety of applications.

Improved MPEG hardware components have already been announced
by vendors. These motion-video compression products will be used
in applications such as videoconferencing, digital television, high-
definition television, medical, and military applications. In
addition, speech compression is expected to be more tightly
integrated with other technologies.

Competition in the data compression industry is already
intensifying and Frost & Sullivan predicts more companies will
rush into the marketplace as demand continues to climb. Growing
volumes and increased competition will bring falling prices,
which in turn will cut into profit margins. For example, while
revenues will grow between six and seven times, unit shipments
will jump 14 times, predicts the market research firm.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940405/Press Contact: Amy Arnell, Frost &
Sullivan, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00022)

Ameriquest Buys Distributor Kenfil 04/05/94
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Having just gone
through a name change, Ameriquest Technologies, formerly CMS
Enhancements, has announced it will purchase earthquake-hit,
microcomputer software distributor Kenfil of Van Nuys,
California, in a merger valued at $16.6 million.

Ameriquest Technologies, maker of hard disk drives and
peripherals for personal computers, says Kenfil shareholders will
receive .34 shares of Ameriquest stock for every share of Kenfil
stock. However, certain of Kenfil's principal shareholders
(holding more than a majority of Kenfil's outstanding shares of
common stock) will first exchange their shares for shares of
Ameriquest, with the remaining Kenfil shareholders to receive
AmeriQuest shares at the same conversion ratio in a merger.

Simultaneously with the merger, holders of approximately $7.3
million of Kenfil subordinated debt will exchange their debt for
additional shares of Ameriquest common stock, the companies said.
All together, Ameriquest said it will issue approximately 3.9
million shares to the Kenfil stockholders and debtholders.

The transactions are subject to conditions, including the ability
to obtain necessary consents, regulatory approvals, and approval
of the stockholders of Ameriquest and Kenfil.

According to Standard & Poors, Kenfil reported sales of $184
million in 1993, and net income on those sales of about $1 million.
Ameriquest reported revenue of approximately $74 million and net
income of about $.2 million.

Kenfil reported to shareholders it expected to absorb significant
expenses as a result of the January Los Angeles earthquake, but
upon the merger the companies said shipping and warehousing
functions will be consolidated at the Ameriquest's central
shipping/warehouse facilities in Wilmington, Ohio. Software
sales and marketing will continue to be run out of Van Nuys, but
management and administrative functions will be consolidated
in Irvine, Ameriquest added.

Ameriquest officials assert that the Kenfil acquisition will
offer a competitive advantage.

Ameriquest has said it intends to broaden through acquisitions.
The company's other subsidiaries are CDS Distribution, Irvine-
based CMS Enhancements, the Management Systems Group, and
Rhino Sales.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940405/Press Contact: Mike Rusert,
Ameriquest, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Peter
Grubstein, Kenfil, 818-785-1181)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00023)

 ****IBM Mainframes Include Parallel Offerings 04/05/94
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Working to bring
its proprietary mainframe line into the new reality of open
systems and client/server computing, IBM has announced several
new models in the System/390 line, along with other new
hardware and software.

John Thompson, senior vice-president and group executive
responsible for IBM's server offerings, said at a New York press
conference that the announcements would "fundamentally change the
nature of large-scale computing." He said IBM is positioning its
mainframes -- a category of computer whose future has been in
doubt in recent years -- as "ideal super-servers" for
client/server computing.

Among the new developments is the System/390 Parallel Sysplex,
technology which will allow as many as 32 systems running IBM's
MVS mainframe operating system to appear to the user as a single
system. IBM said it is aiming this product at the large-scale
transaction processing market, which includes applications such
as airline reservation systems and banking.

Part of the Parallel Sysplex is a Coupling Facility that will let
ES/9000 511 and 711 models, and a new System/390 Parallel
Transaction Server, share data.

This new Transaction Server will be available some time this
year, said Nicholas Donofrio, senior vice-president and general
manager of IBM's Large Scale Computing Division, during the press
conference. It will first with IMS data, then next year with the
DB2 database management software and in 1996 with VSAM.

The Transaction Server is to be available in June, IBM said.

The new System/390 Query Server is a specialized database server
for existing ES/9000 machines, which can attach via an ESCON
channel to a processor running MVS and DB2 and manage complex,
unstructured database searches. According to IBM, these searches
have in the past been so costly, time-consuming, and disruptive
that many mainframe users simply avoided them.

This new technology was developed with the aid of software
partners Candle Corp. and Information Builders, Donofrio said.
The System/390 Query Server is to be available early in April,
according to IBM officials.

New ES/9000 models include a high-end 10-processor machine called
the 9X2, which Donofrio described as a "continuous-availability
platform." Because of the complexity of the 9X2, Donofrio
stressed its built-in workload balancing and system management
capabilities.

IBM claimed the 9X2, due to be available in October, can provide
as much as 22 percent more processing power than the
eight-processor Model 982, which was formerly the most powerful
machine in the ES/9000 lineup. It can also be hooked up as part
of a Parallel Sysplex arrangement, according to IBM.

At the low end of the ES/9000 line, IBM added five new air-cooled,
rack-mounted processors, including the single-processor models
191, 201, and 211, and the dual-processor 221 and 421. All five
are upgradable from existing models and use System/390
complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology,
Donofrio said. These new models are available now, IBM said.

Donofrio said a new Parallel Competency Center being opened in
the Hudson Valley in New York state will help customers adapt
existing applications to take advantage of parallel computing
technology.

IBM also addressed user concerns about the price of software by
dropping two categories from the hardware classification system
it uses to determine what customers pay for software. The 90 and
100 machine groups, which carried the highest software prices,
are no more. The new 9X2 is introduced as member of the 80
machine group, Donofrio said.

Dropping the highest machine groups merely formalizes a move IBM
made last year when it set the software prices associated with
those groups at the same level as the prices for group 80.

IBM also announced a Measured Usage option which will let
customers choose to pay for software based on usage levels, as
measured periodically by IBM, rather than on the processor
running the software. The measurements will be based on the
amount of work actually done by the central processing unit
(CPU) of the computer running the software, IBM said.

IBM also said that in Parallel Sysplex installations, it will
charge for software based on the power of the processors
actually running the software in question.

Also on the software front, IBM promised new openness in its
traditionally closed MVS and VM operating systems. A new MVS
component called OpenEdition MVS brings with it the possibility
of compliance with the Portable Operating System X (POSIX)
standard. Donofrio said support for the Distributed Computing
Environment (DCE) standard is also coming. Both OpenEdition MVS
and a new version of VM called VM Open will let distributed Unix
applications interact with MVS and VM applications and data, the
company said.

(Grant Buckler/19940405/Press Contact: Ed Trapasso, IBM,
914-642-5359; Paula Smail, IBM, 914-642-5467)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00024)

Lotus Plans Future Updates To ScreenCam For Windows 04/05/94
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Lotus
Development Corporation is planning a pair of future updates to
ScreenCam for Windows, a multimedia screen and sound capture
utility released as a standalone product for the first time
yesterday, according to Steve Barlow, senior manager for the
Multimedia Products Group at Lotus.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Barlow said that the first
standalone edition of ScreenCam will be followed by Release 1.1,
an update that will ship with the next release of Notes and will
probably be sold in retail stores as well.

ScreenCam for Windows 1.1 will be followed, in turn,
by ScreenCam 2.0, a product that will definitely be sold at
retail, Barlow added.

Although the first standalone release of ScreenCam will carry a
suggested retail price of $79, street pricing will be in the $50
range, the senior products group manager said. Over the next ten
days, the single floppy disk will start to appear in retail stores
throughout North America, packaged in a half-inch "Lotus yellow"
box for easy display on a rack, he noted.

ScreenCam is aimed at letting users capture screen activity, cursor
movements, and sound from Windows-based applications into
integrated files, or "movies," that can be saved and distributed to
other users. End users and tech support specialists can employ the
product to explain how to perform a process or solve a computing
problem.

Barlow told Newsbytes that the first standalone edition of
ScreenCam represents "Release 1.0A" of the multimedia utility, and
offers two kinds of enhancements over Release 1.0, the version
available as a bundled promotion with 1-2-3 Release 4 for Windows.

In one enhancement, Lotus has modified the ScreenCam code for
greater compatibility with non-Lotus Windows-based applications,
Barlow said.

In another improvement, the company has added a one-step "file
read" command that eliminates the need for the multi-step process
that must otherwise be followed to successfully modify a previously
created OLE (object linking and embedding) file.

Release 1.0 and 1.0A of ScreenCam both allow users to distribute
ScreenCam movies either as standalone, executable files or as
embedded OLE objects in documents, according to Barlow. The movies
can also be distributed for playback to Windows users who do not
have ScreenCam, since ScreenCam incorporates a runtime player.

The ScreenCam movies are screen-based, not frame-based like video,
so they can be played back in full-screen format. In addition, even
at the present time, ScreenCam calls for only about one megabyte
(MB)-per-minute, or much less storage space than video, according to
Barlow.

The movies can be run on any PC that is 386-based or higher and
equipped with Windows 3.1 a sound card or a portable sound device.
Special hardware, such as a CD-ROM (compact disc - read only
memory) or video card is unnecessary.

In Release 1.0 and 1.0A of ScreenCam, the ScreenCam runtime player
is integrated into the files being exported for distribution to
other users, Newsbytes was told.

The upcoming Release 1.1 will add the option of keeping the runtime
player separate from the file, so users receiving the ScreenCam
movies will be able to devote even less disk space to playing back
the movies, Barlow noted.

The ability to separate the runtime player from the file will also
make it easy for users to exchange ScreenCam movies over online
services such as CompuServe, he predicted.

Release 1.0 and 1.0A of ScreenCam do not include built-in
compression, Barlow added. "Users can employ PKZip or other
compression tools to cut the file size down even smaller," he
suggested. Sound files, he explained, constitute the largest
element in the two current versions of ScreenCam.

Release 2.0 will bring "a variety of sound compression schemes" to
ScreenCam, according to Barlow. The eight-bit sound of the current
releases will be reduced to four-bits. No date has been set yet for
Release 2.0, Newsbytes was told.

In the second quarter, Lotus expects to ship localized versions of
the first standalone edition in Czechoslovakian, Danish, Dutch,
Finnish, French, French Canadian, German, Hungarian, Italian,
Japanese, Norwegian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish,
Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Russian.

For the most part, the international versions will differ from the
English edition only at the user interface level, although in some
instances, such as the Japanese version, the driver architecture
will be modified to accommodate a different character set, said
Barlow.

The enthusiasm of ScreenCam users that was reported in Newsbytes
in January continues to be a mounting trend, according to Barlow.
Users keep sending him more and more movies from all over
the world that have been produced with ScreenCam, he maintained.

"And when I walk down the hallways at Lotus," he added, "it seems
like I can't go more than a couple of feet without someone saying,
`Look what I've just done with ScreenCam!'"

The availability of ScreenCam in so many languages will help to
"bridge communications" between different countries, he observed.
To illustrate this point, Barlow told Newsbytes about a ScreenCam
movie, recently sent to him, that captures a demo by Lotus of the
Japanese version of Improv on a press tour of that country.

"Without the ScreenCam movie, it's likely that I never might never
have seen the 'Japanese Improv.' I would have needed Japanese
versions of both Windows and Improv," Barlow noted.

Aside from end users, ScreenCam is being targeted at publishers and
OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), for use in demonstrating
new products and developing courseware and online help.

Barlow told Newsbytes that, at the end of this month, Lotus will be
announcing several major OEM deals for ScreenCam, and that
several publishers will also be ready to talk about their use of the
product at that time.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940405/Reader Contact: Lotus Development
Corporation, 617-577-8500; Press Contact: Diane Horak or Dana
Lieske, McGlinchey & Paul for Lotus, 617-862-4514)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00025)

PCMCIA-Based Cryptographic System Intro'd 04/05/94
HOLLIS, NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Telequip, a US
technology company, has unveiled Crypta Plus, a PCMCIA (Personal
Computer Memory Card International Association) memory card that
it claims allows PC users to transfer data between machines
without fear of interception.

The company says that the public key cryptographic system, which
includes a digital signature sub-system, is ideal for transferring
data between portable machines.

The card provide two types of protection. Firstly, it can be used to
physically "carry" data on a PCMCIA RAM system between machines,
and, secondly, it encrypts and decrypts data passed over a modem
link between two PCs.

Company officials say that the system is more an "enabler" for smart
card technology rather than a standalone data encryption system,
but, in the initial stages, the encryption features are likely to
appeal more than the smart card facilities.

Crypta Plus cards start at $50. The company says that RAM versions
cost around $50 over and above the market price for ordinary RAM
card configurations.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940405/Press & Public Contact: Telequip,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00026)

French Penal Code Updated To Incorporate Computers 04/05/94
PARIS, FRANCE, 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- In France's biggest legal shakeup
in 184 years, a new penal code has taken effect that takes into
account modern problems, ranging from environmental terrorism to
computer fraud.

Eighteen years in the making, the new code is the most extensive
overhaul yet of the legal guidelines set down by Emperor Napoleon
Bonaparte in 1810. Its 650 articles in four volumes generally
increase jail terms for existing crimes, while introducing new
crimes to the statute books.

For the first time, the code makes corporations, small companies and
non-profit groups accountable for endangering others. "The new law
is innovative because it is meant to be preventative," explained
Pierre Drai, France's highest ranking magistrate, in a press
conference. "It sanctions anyone who deliberately violates the
security of another person, and that applies to the construction
site and the highway."

An example cited by Drai involves driving that endangers others,
which now carries a $17,000 fine and a one-year jail term.
Previously, only drivers who hurt others could receive prison
terms, which went up to a maximum of two years for manslaughter.

The code also has provisions for terrorism, environmental
terrorism including wilful pollution, vandalism and computer fraud.

Newsbytes notes that, along with France, the Napoleonic Code is
still the basis of law in Louisiana and Canada's French-speaking
province of Quebec, as well as in former French colonies.

New crimes specifically included in the new penal code include:
environmental terrorism such as wilful pollution; biomedical
experimentation on humans without their consent; and computer
hacking or invasion of private data banks -- all of which are
punishable by a prison sentence and/or a fine of up to $9,000.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940405)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00027)

Large Reward To Catch Scottish Computer Chip Thieves 04/05/94
GREENOCK, SCOTLAND, 1994, APR 5 (NB) -- A reward of up to
UKP230,000 has been offered for information leading to the arrest
of the gang which stole computer components worth more than
UKP2.3 million from Haven Products in Greenock, Scotland, in late
March.

According to Haven, a reward of up to 10 percent of the value of the
chips stolen is waiting for informants, provided the information
leads to a successful conviction and recovery of the stolen chips.

In the raid, thieves threatened a security guard with a knife and an
iron bar, before abducting him, and eventually dumped him beside
the M8 freeway, then escaping with the load of computer chips.

The case, which is thought to be one of the biggest in the UK, has
highlighted the problem of chip theft which, until the beginning of
this year was very much a US phenomenon.

The problem with computer chips, according to the Association of
British Insurers (ABI), is that they have become "the dope of the
90s.

That opinion is shared by Crispin Strachan, Strathclyde's
assistant chief constable who, commenting on the Haven theft,
said that computer parts have become an international currency
in their own right. He said they are, "High in value, universal in
designation and widely saleable."

According to figures released by the Department of Trade and
Industry, meanwhile, the value of computers stolen in the UK last
year was somewhere between UKP60 million and UKP100 million,
a figure that excludes the growing problem of computer chip theft,
such as the Haven Products incident.

(Steve Gold/19940405/Press & Public Contact: Haven Products,
475-637137)


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

Netherlands - Motorola Receives Major Order For Telepoint 04/05/94
SLOUGH, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Motorola has
revealed that, following its successful presence at the Cebit
Computer Faire in Hanover, Germany, last month, the company has
scooped up a major order for its telepoint (CT-2 , cordless
telephony type 2) technology from the Netherlands telecoms
administration.

The Netherlands contract comes from Greenpoint, the existing CT-2
network which is available in several city areas of the country.
Newsbytes understands that the contract calls for Motorola to supply
base stations and handsets to extend the network to all main roads,
gas stations, shopping malls and urban areas not already covered by
the Greenpoint network.

According to Motorola, the Greenpoint network is one of the most
successful digital mobile networks in Europe, since it now has
around 40,000 subscribers. The network has been operational
since May of last year, Newsbytes notes.

Telepoint, which is based on public cordless phone systems, in
contrast to cellular systems such as GSM (global system for mobile
communications) and PCN (personal communication networks), does
not use a radio cell structure. Instead, subscribers make and receive
calls when within range of a base stations and stay within that base
station's area in order to maintain the calls.

According to Motorola, CT-2 technology is therefore a lot cheaper
to install and maintain than a cellular network.

Greenpoint is similar to the French Bi-Bop CT-2 network,
Newsbytes notes, which operates in Paris and other major French
cities.

According to Erich Beurchert, Motorola GmbH's marketing manager,
the digital CT-2 technology that provides the basis for Greenpoint
and Bi-Bop, is developing into a European standard in its own right.

"In public networks, in the office and at home, CT-2 offers a
superior voice quality and security against eavesdropping. This is
great importance, particularly for self-employed people such as
doctors, lawyers, investment advisors etc., who often have
confidential calls," he said.

(Steve Gold/19940405/Press Contact: Motorola Germany, tel
49-611-36110, fax [phone]; Motorola UK, tel 44-753-
575555, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00029)

UK Report Says Corporate Mobile Comms Has Potential 04/05/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Ovum, the technology
research and reporting company, has published a new report
entitled: "integrating Mobility into the Corporate Network."

According to the report, the corporate sector in the UK will be
especially important to mobile communications suppliers over the
next five years. According to Ovum, neither suppliers, nor user
organizations, have paid much attention to how a large company
"as a whole" can use mobile to its best advantage.

Existing users of mobile services, the report argues, are primarily
business individuals. According to Ovum, there is currently a drive
towards a mass market for mobile comms and fierce competition is
forcing mobile operators to lower prices. "By developing products
and services for the corporate sector, mobile operators will be able
to sustain their profit margins," the report notes.

According to the report, given that mobile comms products and
services are widely regarded by telecoms managers as too expensive,
suppliers need to find ways of stimulating market growth which do
not focus primarily on cost reduction.

These include: adding value to individual products and services,
such as data over GSM (global system for mobile telecoms); moving
new applications to mobile comms, and educating corporate users
about the benefits of using mobiles based on case studies from
leading users; and integrating services across technologies, adding
value for users and providing cost control for the company.

Further details of the report, including international pricing, are
obtainable from Jennie Batchelor at Ovum.

(Steve Gold/19940405/Press & Public Contact: Ovum Limited,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00030)

UK - Industrial Spy Loophole To Be Closed, Eventually 04/05/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- Currently, Britain's industrial
spies enjoy a legal loophole. Under current legislation, if they
access a computer to which they are not authorized, they can be
found guilty under the Computer Misuse Act, 1990.

If, however, they manage to deceive an authorized user into giving
them information from that computer, they almost certainly commit
no offence. The UK government signaled on March 24 this year that it
would introduce remedial legislation. However the precise form is
still unclear and there appears to be no date for implementation.

Newsbytes notes that English Law knows no concept of information
theft -- you can steal pieces of paper and data media containing
information, but there is no specific law protecting commercial
secrets.

The general consensus is that the law is more concerned with
catching the means of industrial espionage -- bugging and tapping
are criminal offenses, respectively under the Wireless Telegraphy
and Interception of Communications Acts. The Computer Misuse Act
punishes unauthorized access without, in section 1, caring what the
reason was.

Recent coverage by the BBC-TV's leading current affairs show
Panorama and by the London Sunday Times has revealed that UKP200
is the average rate charged by private detectives to assemble a
dossier of an individual's bank balances, medical records, and tax
status.

Nearly all of the information comes via abuse of this loop-hole. The
technique is variously called the pretext call, the voice-hack, the
impostor, and the masquerade. The private detective assumes
whatever "official" identity is necessary to mislead the bank clerk
or government employee into revealing the data.

If any offence is being committed, it is probably by the computer
owners, who, under the Data Protection Act, have an obligation to
take appropriate steps to secure data under their control. (Eighth
Principle, Data Protection Act, 1984)

A case in a magistrate's court (the lowest level of British judicial
system) last December suggested that there might be a way of
extending the Computer Misuse Act to cover such third parties.

Malcolm Farquharson induced a female employee of a cellular phone
company to obtain details of cellular phone numbers and their
electronic serial numbers (ESNs) so that he could fraudulently clone
the phones. The numbers were held on a computer to which the female
employee had authorized access. In court, Farquharson, but not the
employee, was found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison,
despite the fact that he had never touched the computer.

However, legal experts believe that this case would not survive
appeal to a higher court.

The UK Home Office say that the loophole will probably be closed by
means of an amendment to the Data Protection Act, but have so far
produced no wordings nor a timetable. Even when the loophole is
closed, the abuse is likely to continue -- enforcing a law where a
telephone-based perpetrator is already doing a good job pretending
to be someone else is never going to be easy.

(Peter Sommer/19940405)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00031)

Newsbytes Daily Summary 04/05/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 5 (NB) -- These are
capsules of all today's news stories:

1 -> "Live Picture" Intro'd For Mac, SGI Server Added 04/05/94
Live Picture, a high-end 48-bit color imaging package for the Mac
that originated in France, has been launched in the North American
marketplace. Silicon Graphics (SGI) has agreed to support Live
Picture's image file format with its network servers, Torque
Systems has been chosen to publish the first of these application
servers for SGI, and Total Integration has unveiled software for
interfacing with Live Picture from outside programs.

2 -> Ray Dream's addDepth Coming To Windows, With Wizard 04/05/94
Ray Dream  is porting its addDepth three-dimensional (3-D)
business graphics software from Macintosh to Windows, and adding a
new "wizard" graphics assistant in the process.

3 -> "Easy Notebook Office" Productivity Suite For Mobile Users
04/05/94 Apsley-Bolton  has released Easy Notebook Office, a suite
of PC productivity tools  for mobile professionals that carries
the subtitle, "For People Who Know Nothing About Computers."

4 -> India - Compaq Sets Up Office, Appoints Retailer 04/05/94
Compaq Computer Asia Pte  Ltd. has now entered the Indian market
directly. Besides appointing  Tangerine Electronic Systems Pvt.
Ltd., as its master retailer in  the country and setting up shop
in Bangalore, Compaq also launched  the Contura Aero sub-notebook,
Compaq LTE Lite notebooks, Presario PC, and ProSignia servers.
Even though the Presarios have been available since February, the
series has been officially launched only now.

5 -> Japan - NTT Docomo & Sharp In Digital Link 04/05/94 NTT
Docomo and Japan's Sharp have signed an agreement concerning a
digital link-up involving Sharp's latest pocket business
organizer. NTT Docomo wants to promote its digital cellular phone
in the deal, while Sharp hopes to increase sales of its pocket
organizer.

6 -> CIC Intros Yellow Pad For Windows 04/05/94
 Communication Intelligence Corp. (CIC), having recently announced
its new Handwriter 4.0 recognizer for pen-top computing in
Windows, has now released news of Yellow Pad for Windows (YPad),
a software product that will allow CIC pen computing users to add
electronic note-taking to their desktop use.

7 -> Japanese Ministry To Start Cable TV Multimedia Tests 04/05/94
The Japanese Ministry of Posts  & Telecommunication says it will
begin the testing of digital and interactive broadcasting on cable
television at the its Telecommunication Research Institute.

8 -> Activists Fight Hollings Telecommunications Bill 04/05/94 A
grass roots campaign funded by the regional Bell operating
companies is fighting the Senate rewrite of the Communications
Act, S. 1822, being sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee
Chairman Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.).

9 ->  ****Software Sales Boom In Asia & Latin America 04/05/94
Personal computer  (PC) software sales are soaring in the
Asia/Pacific and Latin  American markets, according to the
Software Publishers  Association. Application software sales in
those regions grew  53 percent between 1992 and 1993, according to
the trade  association for the software industry.

10 -> DOE Puts Human Subject Database On Internet 04/05/94 The
Department of Energy has established a new database involving
current research  on human subjects it is funding. The database is
available on the  Internet, and also includes human subject
research funded by other government agencies, such as the National
Institute of Health, performed at DOE labs.

11 -> Galvin/Gates/Qureshey/Reitveld To Speak At Comdex 04/05/94
Major  speakers at the Comdex/Spring and Windows World shows in
Atlanta this spring will include Christopher B. Galvin, Bill
Gates,  Safi Qureshey, and Adrian Reitveld.

12 -> DEC To Put Windows For Workgroups On PCs 04/05/94 Digital
Equipment Corp., has announced that it will preinstall Microsoft
Corp.'s Windows for Workgroups software on its full line of
personal computers in the United States, and will do so in the
rest of the world as local language editions become available.

13 -> Iomega Closes Colorado Floptical Lab 04/05/94 Iomega Corp.,
has announced it is terminating development of its Floptical
product line at its laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. The Roy,
Utah-based company is best known for its mass storage removable
data  cartridge Bernoulli drives and its minicartridge tape
drives.

14 -> Artisoft Takes Its Networking Show On The Road 04/05/94
Computer users  across the nation will have the opportunity this
month to find out everything they want to know about network
productivity, cost  and decision-making, according to Artisoft
Inc.

15 -> Wordperfect Launches Around-The-Clock Paid Support 04/05/94
Wordperfect Corp., has inaugurated around-the-clock paid support
for users of its word processing program, Wordperfect.

16 -> Racom Provides UK Transportation Automated System 04/05/94
Racom Systems Inc.,  a company owned by Ramtron International
Corp., has been selected  to supply contactless smartcards and
radio frequency  communications controllers for use in a regional
automatic fare  collection system for public transportation in
Manchester, England.

17 -> Journalist - A New Prodigy Add-On 04/05/94 PED Software  has
launched Journalist, an add-on for the Prodigy service under
Windows.

18 -> BellSouth Aims New Strategy At Business Market 04/05/94
BellSouth is  changing its strategy for business customers,
selling an  equipment supply operation and opening a new systems
operation.

19 -> Automated Daily News Service For Apple's Newton 04/05/94
Powernews, a customized, daily news service is now available for
Apple Newton Messagepad users. Pentekk Software Technologies,
developers of the service, say users can receive news feeds from a
variety of sources, including USA Today's Decisionline.

20 -> Min Yee Resigns From Media Vision 04/05/94 Min Yee,
executive vice president of Media Vision, has resigned from his
position at the company, effective immediately.

21 -> Data Compression Market Revenues To Increase 04/05/94 The
need  to compress motion video is what will spur the expansion of
the  data compression market to six times its current size by
1999, according to market research firm Frost & Sullivan. The
market is projected to grow from $101 million in 1993 to 1999
levels of $667 million, at a compound rate of 35 percent.

22 -> Ameriquest Buys Distributor Kenfil 04/05/94 Having just gone
through a name change, Ameriquest Technologies, formerly CMS
Enhancements, has announced it will purchase earthquake-hit,
microcomputer software distributor Kenfil of Van Nuys,
California, in a merger valued at $16.6 million.

23 ->  ****IBM Mainframes Include Parallel Offerings 04/05/94
Working to bring its proprietary mainframe line into the new
reality of open systems and client/server computing, IBM has
announced several new models in the System/390 line, along with
other new  hardware and software.

24 -> Lotus Plans Future Updates To ScreenCam For Windows 04/05/94
Lotus Development Corporation is planning a pair of future updates
to ScreenCam for Windows, a multimedia screen and sound capture
utility released as a standalone product for the first time
yesterday, according to Steve Barlow, senior manager for the
Multimedia Products Group at Lotus.

25 -> PCMCIA-Based Cryptographic System Intro'd 04/05/94 Telequip,
a US technology company, has unveiled Crypta Plus, a PCMCIA
(Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) memory
card that  it claims allows PC users to transfer data between
machines  without fear of interception.

26 -> French Penal Code Updated To Incorporate Computers 04/05/94
In France's biggest legal shakeup in 184 years, a new penal code
has taken effect that takes into account modern problems, ranging
from environmental terrorism to computer fraud.

27 -> Large Reward To Catch Scottish Computer Chip Thieves
04/05/94 A reward of up to  UKP230,000 has been offered for
information leading to the arrest  of the gang which stole
computer components worth more than  UKP2.3 million from Haven
Products in Greenock, Scotland, in late  March.

28 -> Netherlands - Motorola Receives Major Order For Telepoint
04/05/94 Motorola has  revealed that, following its successful
presence at the Cebit  Computer Faire in Hanover, Germany, last
month, the company has  scooped up a major order for its telepoint
(CT-2 , cordless  telephony type 2) technology from the
Netherlands telecoms  administration.

29 -> UK Report Says Corporate Mobile Comms Has Potential 04/05/94
Ovum, the technology  research and reporting company, has
published a new report  entitled: "integrating Mobility into the
Corporate Network."

30 -> UK - Industrial Spy Loophole To Be Closed, Eventually
04/05/94 Currently, Britain's industrial spies enjoy a legal
loophole. Under current legislation, if they access a computer to
which they are not authorized, they can be found guilty under the
Computer Misuse Act, 1990.

(Ian Stokell/19940405)