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/nb041494

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(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BOS)(00001)

Bull Signs Multi-Million $ Deal With Instant Publisher 04/14/94
BILLERICA, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Bull HN
has signed a multimillion-dollar contract for systems integration,
installation, service, and worldwide distribution of standalone
color printing units from Instant Publisher that incorporate
a 486-based PC, Windows-based software, a monitor, and a
thermal printer.

Instant Publisher, which is based in Barbados with offices in
Toronto, expects to sell more than 30,000 of its IPS950 printing
units over the next few years for use at sites ranging from "quick
print shops" to shopping mall kiosks, and from home offices and
small businesses to corporate and manufacturing environments.

The standalone "printing data centers" are able to perform
"instant" multi-color printing on paper as well as cloth, leather,
and a variety of other materials, said officials of Bull and
Instant Publisher in a series of interviews with Newsbytes.

Potential applications run the gamut from business cards and
invitations to cloth garment labels and leather luggage tags.
The units require some training to operate, because of the
specialized software involved.

Up to now, Instant Publisher has distributed the units in the US,
Canada, and the Caribbean, according to Jack Banks, president of
Instant Publisher. The company's desire for expansion of sales into
Europe is a major reason behind the deal with Bull HN, said Banks.
Bull HN is part of Groupe Bull, a French-based corporation with
presence in more than 100 countries, over 28,000 employees, and
combined revenues of $5 billion.

Instant Publisher has also been impressed with Bull's "strong
reputation for service" and extensive service network, Banks added.

Jim Gonyo, an account executive for Bull, told Newsbytes that
Instant Publisher is a good fit for Bull, since Bull's
manufacturing expertise includes PCs as well as thermal printers,
and Bull is highly experienced in systems integration,
installation, and maintenance of both kinds of units.

Dave Dearborn, business manager for Bull Electronics and Bull's
Contract Management Services Division, added that Bull
manufactures, supports, and integrates products ranging from
printed circuit boards (PCBs) to networks. The PCBs are made
at the Bull facility in Brighton, Massachusetts, and the other
work is done at Bull's plant in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Bull will integrate and service the Instant Publisher units in
Lawrence, Dearborn told Newsbytes. Bull will buy the PCs and
monitors from an outside source, while the rest of the components
will be supplied by Instant Publisher. Bull will also produce
floppy disks containing Instant Publisher's proprietary software,
and will use these disks to load the software on top of DOS and
Windows on the PCs.

The PCs used in the Instant Publisher units will include a 486 DX
33 megahertz (MHz) processor, 8 megabytes of random access
memory (RAM), 512 kilobytes (KB) of VRAM (video RAM), 240MB
or more of hard disk space, 64KB of cache, a 1.44MB flex disk,
a 101-key keyboard, and a .28 dot pitch SVGA (Super Video Graphics
Array) monitor.

Bull's site in Lawrence also provides systems integration for a
number of other outside customers, according to Dearborn. Bull has
been integrating "entire networks" for one of these customers for
the past 10 years, he added.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940413/Reader Contacts: Bull HN, 508-294-
6000; Bull Contract Management Services Division, 800-444-3CMS;
Press Contacts: Bruce McDonald, Bull HN, 508-294-6602; Jack
Banks, Instant Publisher, 416-754-9293)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00002)

UK - Apricot Boosts Fault Tolerance On FT//ex Servers 04/14/94
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Apricot Computers has
announced it is enhancing its entry-level FT//ex server range of
machines with new fault tolerant RAID (redundant array of
inexpensive disks) data storage options.

According to the company, the optional high performance RAID
subsystem will give the FT//ex, Pentium and 486-based servers,
which were introduced in November of last year, the best
combination of performance and fault tolerance.

The new RAID subsystem consists of a system backplane which
can take up to eight "hot pluggable" hard drives and a high
performance caching RAID drive controller which supports RAID
levels 0, 1, 1/0, and 5.

Apricot claims that the RAID options are reasonably priced. An
FT//ex system with 60 megahertz (MHz) Pentium processor, 32
megabytes (MB) of memory, CD-ROM (compact disc read-only
memory and RAID system with five 525MB hard disks, sells for
UKP8,995.

Announcing the new options, Peter Pearson, Apricot's director of
server development said: "At Apricot we take fault tolerance very
seriously and RAID is a vital option to guard against the unlikely
event of disk failure in our entry level FT//ex range. RAID is the
industry standard, tried and tested, and is an important fault
tolerant option for our customers with business applications
which cannot be allowed to fail," he said.

Pearson added that Apricot is fully committed to sourcing the
highest quality components from proven suppliers and "focusing
upon reliability as an absolutely essential design criteria."

"Correspondingly, the RAID options compliment our stringent
design criteria to produce a level of fault tolerance traditionally
associated with specialist minicomputer solutions," he said.

(Steve Gold/19940413/Press & Public Contact: Apricot
Computers, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00003)

UK - Smith Quicklink & US Robotics Modems Bundled 04/14/94
SLOUGH. BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Claiming that
the move will allow the company to offer a complete fax and data
communications package to modem users, US Robotics has started
to bundle the Quicklink II fax comms package from Aliso Viejo,
California-based Smith Micro Software Incorporated.

The new package includes both PC fax and data comms facilities
for both DOS and Windows users and replaces Delrina's Winfax and
DOSfax Lite products.

According to Clive Hudson, US Robotic's UK managing director, the
old Delrina packages will be phased out over the next few months
as stocks are depleted.

"End users and resellers have been stressing the need for a total
data comms and fax offering, especially for the Sportster, which
is targeted at first time users. We believe that Quicklink, even its
basic form, offers excellent facilities and gives the users the
features they require," he said.

Marketing Services Manager Lucy Brown backed up Hudson's
comments, saying: "We are moving the Sportster into the retail
sector which means it has to be simple to use and offer all the
popular software features the consumer expects."

Customers of US Robotics will be able to upgrade from the basic
bundled package to Quicklink Gold, which includes OCR (optical
character recognition) facilities for reading incoming faxes,
later this month, Newsbytes notes.

(Steve Gold/19940413/Press & Public Contact: US Robotics,
44-753-811180)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SFO)(00004)

Power Mac Used For Holiday Inn Reservation System 04/14/94
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Hot on the heels
of Apple's recent debut of its new Power Macintosh platform, the
company has announced that Holiday Inn has ported its Expert
Reservation Manager (HERMAN) to over 100 Power Macintosh
7100/66 systems.

Holiday Inn's central reservation office in Amsterdam, handling
reservations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is the first of
fourteen worldwide reservation centers to operate HERMAN on
Power Macintosh computers.

Holiday Inn Worldwide developed HERMAN as a state-of-the-art
reservations system to streamline its reservations and training
operations.

Running on Power Macintosh, this new reservation system provides
more detailed customer information, an improved sales process, a
five to ten percent increase in confirmations, a 15 to 20 percent
increase in revenue sold per agent per hour, a call handling time
reduction of ten to 20 seconds and a 60 percent reduction in
training time.

HERMAN was first deployed on Macintosh Quadra 650s in June of
1993. In April of this year, the system was ported to the first
Power Macintosh computers. Holiday Inn Worldwide, using 1,800
reservation agents with 756 Macintosh computers, log
approximately 23 million calls for 340,000 rooms in 50 countries
throughout the calendar year.

The company expects greater increases in those categories, as
well as enhancement to the agent work environment and overall
customer satisfaction.

Eric Wee, Apple spokesman, told Newsbytes, "We are pleased that
companies like Holiday Inn are using Power Macintosh computers
with its superior performance in customized applications. We
started working together more than a year ago to move the
reservations system from a mainframe to a client/server system
originally using the 68K-based system and then aided them in the
porting of HERMAN to the Power Macintosh platform."

(Patrick McKenna/1994/Press Contact: Eric Wee, Apple,
408-862-7797)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00005)

Creative Labs Offers Sound Chip Technology 04/14/94
SINGAPORE, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Creative Labs, probably best-
known for its 8-bit and 16-bit Sound Blaster technology, has
announced the long awaited sound chips for installation on
motherboards as well as other sound cards.

Newsbytes has previously reported on the expected change from
audio boards to sound-inclusive motherboards over the past few
months. In an attempt to maintain an aggressive position in the
market, Creative Labs is currently sending its sample products
to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers).

The new audio chips, named Vibra Pro, Vibra 16, and EMU8000,
fully incorporate all existing board features for the 8-bit, 16-bit
and E-mu System's digital sample playback synthesis technology,
respectively. The E-mu technology is the heart of the newest,
most advanced Creative audio card, Sound Blaster AWE32.

A recent Dataquest study suggested a leveling off of the dynamic
growth of the audio card market as motherboards incorporating
audio chips come to market in 1995. Creative claims that full
production will allow the chips to be shipped to OEMs by the end
of 1994.

Steffanee White, manager of corporate of communications, told
Newsbytes, "We still see a strong and large market for audio
cards and will continue to produce and support them extensively.
We realize that to remain as the leader in audio technology, we
have to continue to expand and develop the latest technology. Our
announcement of these chips answers the questions of many
people in the industry who have been waiting to see this
development."

Added White, "It is important to understand that while we have
created the chip to include all of the Sound Blaster technology,
motherboards will have to use in addition, the Yamaha OPL 2 or
OPL 3 chip as well."

Volume pricing is not yet available, but Creative maintains that
the technology will provide an "economical audio solution,"
while offering the highest sound technology.

The company also claims that the Vibra 16 is the only chip
"solution" available that provides 100 percent software
compatibility with the Sound Blaster 16 audio standard.

(Patrick McKenna/1994/Press Contact: Steffanee White,
Creative Labs, 408-428-6600)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00006)

Dell Intros DX4 & Pentium-Based PCs 04/14/94
AUSTIN, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Dell Computer Corp.,
has announced five new desktop computers that use Intel's 90
megahertz (MHz) Pentium or the Intel DX4 100MHz microprocessors.

The new Dimension line computers include the XPS P90, a Pentium-
powered PC that is immediately available, and the XPS4100V, a
DX4-based system that Dell says will ship by the end of April. XPS
P90 pricing starts at $2,999, while the XPS4100V models begin at
$2,199.

Two new Omniplex models are also being introduced, the 4100 and
the 590. Both use a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus
architecture and are immediately available. Prices for the 4100 and
590 start at $3,199 AND $4,649 respectively.

The final model being announced is Dell's Optiplex 4100, also
shipping now, with pricing beginning at $2,099.

In conjunction with the new product announcements Dell says it is
lowering the price of existing Optiplex and Omniplex systems by up
to $300.

The XPS P90 is an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus system
with a 64-bit PCI local bus video card and up to four megabytes
(MB) of video memory. The XPS 4100V also uses ISA architecture
and incorporates Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) technology that
allows multiple devices such as CD-ROM drives and hard drives to
be connected to the input/output (I/O) subsystem simultaneously.

Dell's Omniplex 4100 uses Extended Industry Standard
Architecture (EISA) architecture with PCI local bus technology and
includes a zero insertion force socket that allows the processor to
be upgraded. Up to 2MB of video memory is supported.

The Omniplex 590 is an EISA/PCI system using a SCSI II (small
computer system interface) contained in a chassis with a
removable expansion card cage, external drives that snap in
and rear thumbscrews for easy cover removal.

(Jim Mallory/19940414/Press Contact: Kellie Leonard, Dell
Computer, 512-728-4100; Reader Contact: Dell Computer,
800-289-3355 or 512-338-4400)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MSP)(00007)

Data General, Performance Computer In OEM Deal 04/14/94
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Performance
Computer has entered into a three-year, multi-million dollar
deal to provide its PT-SBS430 SCSI (small computer system
interface) SBus host adapter and other products to Data General
for use in its CLARiiON family of open storage systems for Unix
systems-based servers.

The CLARiiON disk arrays are based on the latest RAID
(redundant array of inexpensive disks) storage technology.
They offer storage capability of 2.5 gigabytes (GB) to 24GB in
a footprint of 2.7 square feet and contain up to twenty 3.5-inch
SCSI-2 disk drives.

PCC's high-performance SCSI-2 host adapter is, according to
PCC, the industry's fastest SCSI for Sun and Sun-compatible
SBus platforms.

The PT-SBS430 provides up to 10 megabytes-per-second
sustained data transfer rates between the host and storage
peripheral devices.

The PT-SBS430 is listed at $695 in quantities of six. The 20
megabytes-per-second model PT-SBS440 is also available.

(Wendy Woods/19940413/Press Contacts: Barbara Patterson,
Patterson & Associates, 602-957-4500; Jim Dunlap, Data
General Corporation, 508-898-6546)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(TOR)(00008)

Catalogs On CD-ROM With The Merchant For Mac 04/14/94
CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Magellan
Systems has announced The Merchant, a compact disk read-only
memory (CD-ROM) intended for home shopping.

The Merchant contains 39 catalogs and brochures offering more
than 6,000 products, the company said. Catalogs on the disk
include those from Spiegel, Lands' End, Peachpit Press, Lillian
Vernon, Books On Tape, Critics' Choice Video, The Home Shopping
Network, and Crutchfield.

The selection includes clothes, sporting goods, furniture,
electronics, hardware, flowers, and other items. General Motors
even advertises cars on the disk. There is also a travel section
containing brochures from hotels, tour and cruise companies, and
the Alberta Tourism and Trade department.

According to the vendor, consumers can search for products and
services by entering key words, and as purchase selections are
made, they are automatically entered on an order form. The user
can print this order form and mail or fax it to the merchant. Or,
said Chris Comfort, vice-president of advertising at Magellan,
they can use the toll-free order numbers that appear on the
screen in most of the catalogs.

Magellan is currently offering the disk for Apple Computer
Macintosh computers, Comfort told Newsbytes. A version that can
be used with either Macintoshes or IBM-compatible PCs is planned
for this fall. Starting in October, Magellan plans to update this
multi-platform disk every three months, he said.

The company is promoting the disks through advertising in a
Macintosh-oriented magazine and is working with CD-ROM drive
makers to offer them as giveaways with the purchase of new
drives, Comfort said.

Magellan said it is distributing about 100,000 of the initial
Mac disks, and plans to distribute 200,000 copies of the
multi-platform disk planned in October.

CD-ROM users can obtain the disk for a shipping and handling
charge of $3.50 by calling Magellan at 800-663-3472.

(Grant Buckler/19940414/Press Contact: Chris Comfort, Magellan
Systems, 403-299-5998; Public Contact: Magellan Systems,
800-663-3472)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00009)

Fulcrum, WAIS Team Up With Software Bundle 04/14/94
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Fulcrum Tech Inc.,
and WAIS Inc., have announced an agreement to integrate Fulcrum's
SearchServer text retrieval software with the Network Publishing
Protocol from Menlo Park, California-based WAIS to create an
Internet-compatible tool kit for use in implementing
text-intensive applications.

Fulcrum SearchServer is the core of the Fulcrum SearchTools
family of products, a suite of tools based on structured query
language (SQL) and meant to help integrate text retrieval into
on-line or corporate information systems in client/server
computing systems.

The resulting product is slated for shipment starting at the end
of 1994. Fulcrum will initially sell the product in North America
and Europe with plans to extend the offering later to the Far
East market.

WAIS will also offer Fulcrum's SearchServer to its own customers,
Fulcrum spokeswoman Barbara Johnson told Newsbytes. WAIS,
which has been bundling its own retrieval engine with its network
publishing tools, will continue offering both its own engine and
Fulcrum's, Johnson said.

According to the companies, the move will allow Fulcrum's widely
installed retrieval engine to be used to search document
databases on the Internet and will broaden the number of
databases available.

SearchServer provides standard Boolean and proximity searching
along with advanced capabilities such as Intuitive Searching,
which the vendor said lets users search for information in a
natural and instinctive way.

The announcement also means Fulcrum customers will be able to
distribute information in a different way without costly
conversions or programming changes, according to the company.

WAIS sells products and services for organizations that want to
deliver information over the Internet. Fulcrum, founded in 1983,
sells software that indexes and retrieves electronically stored
documents.

(Grant Buckler/19940414/Press Contact: Barbara Johnson, Fulcrum,
613-238-1761 ext 171; John Duhring, WAIS, 415-617-0444)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00010)

IBM Japan Increases PC Sales 04/14/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- IBM Japan is attempting to
strengthen its personal computer (PC) business in Japan. The
company has already created a special project team to increase
sales of PCs, and wants to show a 75 percent rise in sales this
year.

As part of its PC sales strategy, IBM Japan has recently
created the Server Business Development Group. Twenty employees
are being transferred to the new group, which will initially
concentrate on sales planning and promotion, targeting such areas
as client/server and local area networks (LANs).

The company also intends to strengthen its mail-order department,
having already transferred the department from its Roppongi to
its Fujisawa office, where the firm's PCs are produced. IBM Japan
hopes the move will help speed up PC delivery to customers.

The company also intends to add more PCs to its mail-order list.
Currently, only a few PCs, mainly notebooks, are sold through the
firm's mail-order operation, which started last year.

Other firms, such as Seiko-Epson and NEC, have also started
selling their products through mail-order, in order to lower the
retail price by cutting down on distribution costs.

IBM Japan will reportedly spend three billion yen ($30 million) on
PC advertisements and promotion this year -- ten times more than
in 1993.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940414/Press Contact: IBM
Japan, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(DEL)(00011)

Power Macintosh Debuts In India 04/14/94
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Apple Computer has
introduced its first three Power Macintosh models in India, all
based on the PowerPC 601. The three new Power Macs are the
6100/60, the 7100/66, and the 8100/80.

Besides, claiming such features as the "power of a workstation,"
"ease of use," and "affordability," Apple is emphasizing the Power
Mac's ability to run Mac, DOS and Windows applications, in a bid
to position them as office machines.

"Our systems will sell in the office segment on the basis of price-
performance ratio," claimed Sandeep Bhagi, country manager,
Apple Computer. "The PowerMac 6100/60 for R1.25 lakh can easily
score over an average branded 486 system, priced at about R1.6
lakh," he claimed.

However, Apple's Indian distributors -- Wipro Infotech Ltd., and
Odin Computers India Ltd. -- appear to be aiming at the graphics
market. "The new systems are targeted at present Mac users who
want more power. This means publishing, graphics and multimedia,"
said Sanjiv Mittal, general manager of marketing with Wipro
Infotech.

To stress on the price-performance advantage over a standard PCs,
Apple plans to demonstrate third-party applications that have been
"optimized" for the new RISC (reduced instruction-set computing)-
based computing platform in a series of roadshows to be held in
Delhi and Bombay.

Apple claims it will demonstrate the Power Macintosh running
third-party applications faster than a Pentium-based PC. Vendor
applications will reportedly come from WordPerfect, Aldus,
Adobe, and Microsoft.

The entry-level Power Macintosh 6100/60 is claimed by the company
to run two to four times faster than the Quadra 650 and is aimed at
complicated word processor and spreadsheet applications.

The mid-range 7100/66 is targeted at business applications, and
runs 35 percent faster than the 6100. The 8100/80, aimed at
publishing, engineering and multimedia authoring, runs at twice
the speed of 6100.

The 6100/60 base system comes equipped with eight megabytes
(MB) of RAM, while the 8100/80 base system is offered with 16MB
of RAM, a 1000MB hard disk and an internal CD-ROM drive.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19940414/Press Contact: Sandeep Bhagi,
Country Manager, 91-11-642 8214; Wipro Infotech, Bangalore,
tel [phone], 58 8642, fax 58 5657, tlx 0845-8356)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00012)

New DSP Aimed At Personal Communications Products 04/14/94
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- The DSP
Group has announced its Oak digital signal processor (DSP)
technology. According to the company, the new architecture offers
the low power consumption and small size needed for the "new
generation" of personal communication products.

Described as semiconductors that allow the marriage of analog
and digital processing, the Oak DSP technology is a 16-bit fixed
point DSP core designed to be used as an engine for DSP-based
applications.

The company claims that the Oak design is highly modular in the
amount of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM),
input/output (I/O) blocks, and peripherals which can surround the
core on the same silicon die. The implication is that the DSP chips
designed with the Oak technology can be tailored to specific
needs of an application.

Shaul Berger, vice president and general manager of the DSP
Group's semiconductor division, said: "Products like cellular
telephones, small and portable personal computers, personal
digital assistants, and modems all are enhanced by using DSP
technology. But the key characteristics of successful DSP
technology for this new generation of products are low power
consumption and relatively low cost without compromising
performance. Our Oak technology is designed specifically to
meet those needs."

Other applications for the chips could also include disk drives,
advanced fax machines, and voice recognition, according to the
DSP Group.

DSP Group said it does not plan to manufacture the Oak technology
DSP chips, but intends to stay out of the highly competitive
manufacturing business by licensing the technology to others. The
Oak hardware and software tools in the development environment
are available now, but the silicon encompassing the Oak DSP is
scheduled for availability in the third quarter of 1994.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940414/Press Contact: Abigail Johnson, Roeder-
Johnson PR for DSP Group, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00013)

 ****IBM, Cyrix Sign Chip-Making Deal 04/14/94
ARMONK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- In what looks like
a significant endorsement for the maker of Intel-compatible
microprocessors, Cyrix Corp. has signed a deal that gives IBM the
right to manufacture Cyrix chips for its own use and to sell to
other personal computer makers, as well as supplying them to
Cyrix.

IBM has been building 486 chips for Cyrix, of Richardson, Texas,
since last September. The new deal covers not only Cyrix's
486-class processors but its upcoming M1, a competitor to Intel
Corp.'s Pentium that is expected by the end of this year, Jim
Chapman, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Cyrix,
told Newsbytes.

The inclusion of the M1 is especially significant in light of the
fact that IBM recently announced it would not exercise its option
to extend an existing chip-making agreement with Intel to include
the Pentium.

Under the existing deal with Intel, IBM has the right to make
Intel's chip designs for use in its own hardware, and to create
its own variations on Intel chip designs both for its own use and
for sale as part of board level products -- but not as individual
chips, explained Ron Soicher, assistant general manager of
worldwide marketing at sales at IBM Microelectronics.

Soicher told Newsbytes that IBM chose to sign a deal to
manufacture Cyrix's M1 instead of Intel's Pentium because it was
able to secure the right to sell individual chips on the merchant
market, and because the Pentium uses a bipolar complementary
metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) design that does not fit well
with IBM's manufacturing facilities.

Cyrix has chosen IBM's half-micron CMOS technology for use in the
M1, officials said.

There has also been speculation in the industry that IBM's
decision not to extend the agreement with Intel had to do with
IBM's promotion of the PowerPC processor that it has co-developed
with Motorola Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. as a competitor to
the Pentium.

Soicher said the deal with Cyrix will let his company offer
customers another microprocessor choice in the x86 family while
continuing to position PowerPC as a chip for the future.

He added that use of Cyrix's chips -- both its 486-class
processors and the M1 -- in IBM's own personal computers is a
definite possibility. However, he said, the decision is ultimately
up to the IBM Personal Computer Co., a separate business unit,
and IBM Microelectronics will have to convince the PC Co. of the
Cyrix chips' merits.

Chapman said the IBM deal is a major gain for Cyrix. "With this
relationship with IBM," he said, "we ensure that our advanced
designs get into the marketplace in larger volume."

(Grant Buckler/19940414/Press Contact: Tracy O'Neill, IBM,
914-765-6141; Lisa Chiranky, Cyrix, 214-994-8402; Public
Contact: Cyrix, tel [phone] or 214-234-8387,
fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00014)

Microsoft Seeks $22 Million In Chinese Pirating Case 04/14/94
REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Microsoft
Corporation is seeking $22 million in lost revenue from a Chinese
institute it says counterfeited tens of thousands of Microsoft's
hologram. The hologram is the package identifier intended to
assure buyers they are purchasing an authentic Microsoft product.

The trademark infringement claim stems from a 1992 raid on the
Shenzhen Reflective Materials Institute where authorities seized
fake holograms and the moulds used to make them. The institute
is the research arm of Shenzhen University.

Earlier this year Newsbytes reported Microsoft's dissatisfaction
with the punishment handed out by a Chinese court to the
institute, a fine equivalent to just $260 US. The International
Anti Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC), a trade association, says US
software makers have experienced counterfeiting in Asia for at
least 10 years.

IACC spokesperson Margaret Morrell told Newsbytes there is
some leverage available to obtain changes in the Chinese
intellectual property laws and attitudes since China hopes to
become a signatory to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff
(GATT) treaty. The US government could also withhold Most
Favored Nation status.

Microsoft attorney David Curtis said this week that the company
believes it can prove that the fake holograms were used in
shipments of about 220,000 units of counterfeit MS-DOS 5.0.
According to Curtis, Microsoft is entitled to compensation for
lost sales at about $99 per copy plus attorney fees under Chinese
law.

Microsoft filed its claim for damages with the Shenzhen
Administration of Industry and Commerce shortly after the 1992
raids.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates visited China recently in an apparent
effort to see if his company can break into the Chinese computer
market with its Chinese version of Microsoft Windows.

(Jim Mallory/19940414/Press Contact: Beverley Flower, Microsoft
Corp., 206-882-8080; Reader Contact: Microsoft, 206-882-8080 or
800-426-9400)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEN)(00015)

Zebra Intros Wide Label Thermal Transfer Printer 04/14/94
VERNON HILLS, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Zebra
Technologies Corp., has introduced a RISC (reduced instruction-set
computing)-based wide label thermal transfer printer.

The company says its 170Xi printer is designed for printing the
wide label formats commonly used in compliance shipping
applications. The 170Xi can print a 6.6-inch wide label at 300
dots-per-inch (dpi).

The company adds that the printer width is significant because it
can print virtually all industry-mandated standards, including
the ODETTE labeling standard that is common in the European
Community without rotation.

Zebra says the 300 dpi print-head can print very small fonts with
exceptional clarity, and the RISC-based architecture results in
formatting times as much as four times faster than Zebra's
previous top-of-the-line printer.

The 170Xi comes standard with two megabytes (MB) of internal
memory. The company says production quantities will be available
early next month.

(Jim Mallory/19940414/Press Contact: Charles Whitchurch, Zebra
Technologies, 708-634-6700)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00016)

Watermark Brings COM & OLE 2.0 To Image-Enablement 04/14/94
BURLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) --- In its
recently announced Professional Edition and Image Server software,
Watermark is using Microsoft's Common Object Model (COM) and OLE
(object linking and embedding) 2.0 to enhance the functionality of
"image-enabled" Windows applications, according to Peter Brumme,
Watermark's senior VP for sales and marketing.

In addition, Image Server takes advantage of the symmetrical
multiprocessing (SMP) and multithreading capabilities of Windows
NT, together with support for Microsoft SQL (structured query
language) Server, to deliver "mainframe-level" production speed to
application developers, said Brumme, in an interview with
Newsbytes.

Like Watermark's previously released Discovery Edition, the new
Windows 3.1-based Professional Edition lets the developer add
capabilities that allow end users to integrate scanned and
faxed documents into Windows applications.

Professional Edition can be used either on a standalone basis or as
a client to the new Windows NT-based Image Server, Brumme
maintained. Image Server, though, can currently be used only with
Professional Edition, and not with Discovery, as a client.

Watermark Professional Edition and Image Server are the first
imaging products to provide "full" support for OLE 2.0, including
new features such as OLE automation, in-place editing, and the
ability to drag-and-drop objects between applications, according
to the senior VP. The new products can image-enable Windows
applications that support either OLE 2.0 or 1.0.

Further, Image Server and Professional Edition both bring support
for the Component Object Model, a concept that was originated by
Microsoft and is now being adopted by many independent software
vendors (ISVs), he continued.

COM calls for starting with a "container application" like
PowerBuilder, Lotus Notes, or Visual Basic, and then using OLE to
link the "container application" to applications such as imaging,
fax, electronic mail, workflow, back-end relational databases, and
mainframe access, said Brumme.

Under the COM model, the applications can be thought of as "Legos,"
and OLE 2.0 as "the glue that holds the Legos together," Newsbytes
was told.

The new OLE automation capability in OLE 2.0 has been described by
Watermark as a feature that "enables container applications to
fully control key functions in a component object." Essentially,
the feature lets developers write scripts or macros that automate
OLE tasks in a way that is "transparent" to end users, Brumme
explained.

Newsbytes notes that the new edit-in-place feature in OLE 2.0
allows an OLE object to be edited within one application with the
use of menus from a different application. In contrast, under OLE
1.0, the developer had to exit the application and launch a second
application to do this job.

Aside from OLE 2.0 and COM, Professional Edition also brings many
other new capabilities, according to Brumme, including "tight
integration" with Lotus Notes through a series of pre-programmed
smart icons, and the ability to mail an image from directly within
Watermark, using MAPI (messaging application programming
interface) or VIM (vendor independent messaging).

Also new in the Professional Edition are a "de-skew" feature for
correcting misaligned scanned or faxed documents, improved
annotation tools that display the name of the author, and
integration with Expervision OCR (optical character recognition)
and fax server products from vendors such as Alcom, Optus and
Delrina.

Watermark's new Image Server delivers "mainframe-class"
performance and throughput to client-server image archiving and
retrieval, Brumme added. "Image Server operates as fast as most
high-end, mainframe-based approaches, but it is a much less
costly, PC-based system," Newsbytes was told.

Image Server's use of SMP and multithreading capabilities of
Windows NT allows "parallel processing in the software mode,"
the senior VP elaborated.

In recent tests on Compaq PCs with dual Pentium ProLiant
processors, Image Server retrieved single-page images at the rate
of 28,000 images per hour, and archived single page images to the
server at a rate of 19,000 per hour, according to Brumme. For
10-page documents, Image Server retrieved images at the rate of
103,000 images per hour and archived single-page images to the
server at a rate of 99,000 pages per hour.

Watermark is working closely with Microsoft around Chicago and
other upcoming steps in the ongoing evolution of Windows and
Windows NT, Brumme told Newsbytes. A major goal for Watermark
is to provide "best-of-breed business applications" that will
support these product developments by Microsoft, he reported.

Image Server is priced at $2,995 for 25 users and $9,995 for 100
users. Professional Edition is priced at $295 for a single user,
$1,395 for five users, $2,495 for 10 users, and $19,995 for 100
users. Both of the new products from Watermark are scheduled to
ship this month.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940413/Reader Contact: Watermark Software,
617-229-2600; Press Contacts: Kevin Lach, Watermark, 617-229-
2600 ext 228; Leahanne Hobson, Albie Jarvis, or Peter Gorman,
Copithorne & Bellows Public Relations for Watermark,
617-252-0606)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00017)

Silicon Casino For Newton 04/14/94
SALINAS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- If you have a
Newton and want to gamble, Apple Computer's Starcore Group is
distributing Silicon Casino from Casady & Greene. The program
offers Baccarat, Blackjack, Craps, Slot Machines, and even Video
Poker.

Ken Wirt, director of marketing at Apple's Personal Interactive
Electronics Group said: "Silicon Casino allows the player to
experience all the excitement of playing games of chance
without the risk of losing any of the real green-stuff."

A serial number, supplied with the software, begins the program
which starts as a bird's eye view of a casino. The user taps the
desired activity with the Newton's pen to begin the action. A
full explanation of each game is offered as well as tips on how
to play. You can also lose the $200 the software generously
starts you with.

Silicon Casino requires a Newton-compatible device with 600
kilobytes (KB) of free memory on a Flash random access memory
(RAM) Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
(PCMCIA) card.

The software comes on a disk, so the user will need either
a Macintosh running System 7 or later with a Newton Connection
Kit or Connection Kit cable, or an IBM-compatible personal
computer (PC) running Windows 3.1 or higher and the Newton
Connection Kit for Windows. Retail price for the game is US
$59.96.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940414/Press Contact: Judith Frey, Casady &
Greene, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact:
Casady & Greene, 800-359-4920/PHOTO)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00018)

Sen. Bumpers Wants Curbs On Information Superhighway 04/14/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Sen. Dale Bumpers
(D-Ark.), an influential member of the Senate, has said he wants
to see consumer protections if electric utility holding companies
are allowed to compete with telephone, cable and other
telecommunications firms on the "information superhighway."

In a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings
(D-S.C.), obtained by Newsbytes, Bumpers said that during markup of
Hollings' S. 1822, the Communications Act of 1994, "an attempt will
likely be made to amend the Public Utility Holding Company Act
(PUHCA) to permit utility holding companies to engage in the
provision of telecommunications services."

While Bumpers said he believes there is merit in this proposal,
"several issues must be addressed if consumers are to be protected."

Bumpers said he wants to see the legislation reverse a 1992 US
Court of Appeals decision that gives the Securities and Exchange
Commission oversight of transactions between utility holding
companies that are registered under PUCHA and elbows out the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

"The court's decision has left FERC (and possibly state utility
commissions) powerless to protect consumers from interaffiliated
transactions," said Bumpers, including transactions between
holding companies and their telecommunications affiliates.

"If FERC and the state utility commission are unable to review the
associated costs (of telecommunications activity), consumers will
be left unprotected with regard to contracts potentially involving
millions of dollars," Bumpers wrote.

Bumpers noted that legislation to reverse the Appeals Court has
been pending in the Senate Energy Committee, where Bumpers is
the second ranking Democrat, but has been stalled by opposition
from the holding companies. "It is absolutely essential that the
(court) issue be resolved before the holding companies are
permitted to engage in the provision of telecommunications
services," he told Hollings.

If PUHCA is amended, said Bumpers, "Either the state commission
or FERC must be granted authority to guard against the potentially
adverse impacts of holding company involvement in
telecommunications."

He noted that Congress created PUHCA in 1935 "because the
corporate structure of utility holding companies was such that
states could not adequately regulate holding company activities."

There are currently 10 registered electric utility holding companies,
which include some of the largest monopoly utility systems in the
nation, including American Electric Power, which spans the Midwest,
Entergy, which serves the middle south, and Southern Co., which
covers much of the Southeast.

Bumpers, the senior Senator from Arkansas, knows Clinton well and
preceded him as governor of the state. He also worked closely with
Gore when the vice president was Senator from Tennessee.

(Kennedy Maize/19940414)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00019)

Software AG Intros SQL For Windows Query Tool 04/14/94
RESTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Software AG is
rolling out Esperant, a graphical query tool to give users with no
knowledge of structured query language (SQL) or of the structure
of a database the ability to create accurate queries using a
Windows-based "point-and-click" interface.

Esperant can access SQL-compliant databases and common PC
databases such as dBase, Paradox, FoxPro and Microsoft Access.

Esperant will be available on May 31 for machines running
Windows 3.1 or higher, Tina Bosse of Software AG told Newsbytes.

Prices begin at $595 each for one-to-eight copies, dropping to $355
each for 513-1,014 copies. Local area network (LAN) block pricing
ranges from $3,700 for up to eight users and $79,970 for LANs with
129-256 users.

"Although not yet widely recognized, it is amazingly easy to create
misleading or incorrect reports with almost all end-user access
tolls," said John Rymer, vice president at the Patricia Seybold Group
consulting firm. "Unfortunately, there is no way for users to realize
they have even made a mistake." Rymer says other vendors of SQL
query tools are not addressing this issue.

Esperant uses expert technology to protect users from generating
semantically incorrect SQL statements that would return misleading
or wrong information. According to Bosse, the SQL expert monitors
every selection the user makes. Based on the context of the query,
the expert "grays out" and makes unaccessible subsequent choices
that would result in an illegal or illogical SQL query.

Esperant also automatically creates complex SQL statements,
such as dynamic CREATE/DROP VIEW, UNION operations and
subqueries that give end users the ability to ask a wide range of
business questions. Other tools cannot do this, even if a user
knows SQL, claims Software AG.

Esperant also transforms the physical database into a conceptual
view. Most query tools show data to users in the terms of the table
and column names of the underlying database.

"Providing end users with powerful ad hoc data query and reporting
capabilities is becoming increasingly critical to business success,"
said Rob Vonderhaar, director of the application engineering
program at Software AG.

Esperant also includes an integrated report generator that
generates presentation-quality reports using drag-and-drop to
manipulate fonts, report elements, grouping and sorting criteria
and embed other Windows objects with OLE 2.

With a single click, Esperant results can be transferred to other
applications such as spreadsheets and wordprocessors and output
as delimited ASCII files, says the company.

Software AG has primary locations in Reston, Va., and Darmstadt,
Germany, and is one of the largest software firms in the world
with 1993 revenues of over half a billion dollars.

(Kennedy Maize/19940414/Press Contact: Tina Bosse,
703-391-6720)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BOS)(00020)

 ****Nestor/Intel Chip Gives PCs "Human-Like Abilities" 04/14/94
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Nestor
Inc., and Intel have announced the Ni1000 Recognition Accelerator,
a chip aimed at replicating the pattern-recognition capabilities of
the brain to give computers "human-like ability" to recognize
speech, handwriting, objects, shapes and sounds, as well as
patterns like medical syndromes and financial trends.

Nestor and Intel officials told Newsbytes that the jointly
developed "recognition engine" can be used for PC board-level as
well as embedded applications. Under an agreement between the
two companies, Intel will manufacture the chips, and Nestor will
be the exclusive marketing and distribution channel.

The Ni1000 will greatly increase recognition speeds, with the
ability to perform over 10 billion operations per second and to
recognize 33,000 patterns per second, said Mike Glier, VP of
embedded systems for Providence, Rhode Island-based Nestor,
in an interview with Newsbytes.

In addition, accuracy will improve through the ability for "real-
time integration and feedback" between context processing and
"multiple recognition phases," according to Glier. Learning and
classification will be carried out on-chip. The chip will use
syntax, dictionaries, and "logical relationships among related
pattern measurements."

Providence, Rhode Island-based Nestor expects the increased
accuracy to prove especially useful in applications such as
machine- or handprint optical character recognition (OCR),
fingerprint identification, industrial inspection, and military
inspection.

Applications in industrial inspection might include real-time
monitoring and diagnosis of faults in automobile engines,
mechanical systems, and industrial machinery, Glier said.
Defense applications could include voice recognition, target
recognition, unmanned vehicle control, and sonar and radar
signature identification.

Glier told Newsbytes that the Ni1000 Recognition Accelerator
combines Nestor's "recognition architecture" with Intel's CMOS
(complimentary metal oxide semiconductor) flash EPROM
(erasable programmable read-only memory) technology. The
Ni1000 project started in 1990 with funding from the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and the Office of
Naval Research (ONR), in addition to matching funding from
Nestor and Intel.

In 1993, nine customers began to beta test the product, for
applications ranging from defense to high-speed OCR (optical
character recognition), machine vision, and law enforcement.

The Ni1000 will be available by the third quarter, according to
Glier. "We plan to support the product in a very complete way,"
Newsbytes was told.

Independent software vendors (ISVs) and systems integrators
will be able to obtain a "full suite of development tools" that
includes a card that plugs into a standard PC, the VP said.
Nestor also plans to release a "second generation" of
development tools later this year, he noted.

An Intel spokesperson told Newsbytes that the chip can also be
used in embedded applications. The design of the chip "does not
preclude" its use with non-Intel systems, the spokesperson added.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19940414/Reader Contact: Nestor Inc., 401-331-
9640; Press Contacts: David Fox, Nestor, 401-331-9640; Xenia
Moore, Franson, Hagerty & Associates for Nestor, 619-457-4490;
Janet Woodworth, Intel, 916-356-6653; John Raftrey, Intel,
408-765-6007)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(LAX)(00021)

Oracleware For Unix Announced by Oracle, Novell 04/14/94
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Multiplatform
database developer Oracle, and Novell, known for its Netware
networking product, have collaborated on an integrated product
for enterprise network computing, Oracleware System -- Unixware
Edition 1.0. The companies say Oracleware is designed to connect
IBM-compatible personal computers (PCs) to Unix servers in a way
that is convenient for users to purchase, install, manage, and
support.

The Oracleware System -- Unixware Edition integrates Novell's
Unixware Application Server Release 1.1 operating system with the
Oracle7.0.15, Oracle Office 2.0.11, Oracle Glue 1.0, and Oracle
Book 1.0.

Oracle7 is a cooperative server database, Oracle office
offers client-server messaging and a scheduling system, Oracle
Glue provides connections between Oracle server-based information
and front end environments such as Microsoft Excel, and Oracle
Book is text/image management software.

An installation program allows Unixware and all the Oracleware
components to be installed quickly from the same Unixware
console, the companies said.

Oracleware offers connectivity to both standard Unix Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networks, Netware
local area networks (LANs), and Internetwork Packet
Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange (IPX/SPX) networks. The
companies also said Oracleware connects to a variety of client
systems such as MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2 on a wide variety of
hardware platforms.

Fred Cutler, vice president of business development at Oracle,
said: "With the hundreds of third party  applications
available for Oracle7, customers can protect their existing
investments while scaling upward to support their growing
business needs." In addition, Oracle said Oracleware provides
application portability with the Oracleware for Netware version,
which shipped in December of last year.

Novell also said that the Oracleware System - UnixWare Edition
established a "world record" for the "best price/performance" on
the Transaction Performance Council's TPC-B benchmark. Novell
has received criticism from industry analysts that its increasing
pricing structure was causing customers to begin looking for
other networking products.

The OracleWare System - UnixWare Edition came in at $432.55 per
transaction per second (TPS) when run on a Compaq Proliant 2000
Model 5/66 server based on Intel's 66 megahertz (MHz) Pentium
processor. The actual processing speed benchmarked at 184.54
tpsB. Novell claims this mark represents the highest result ever
achieved for an Intel-based, single-processor system and is
competitive with much higher priced reduced instruction-set
computing (RISC)-based servers.

US list price for OracleWare System -- UnixWare Edition 1.0
begins at $5,095 for a five-user Oracle7 license. The companies
claim they have trained and authorized close to 500 resellers
worldwide in order to support and sell the new Oracleware.

(Linda Rohrbough/19940414/Press Contact: Ry Schwark, Novell,
908-522-6264; Brenda Hansen, Oracle, tel [phone],
fax [phone]; Public Contact: Oracle, US 800-633-0643
ext 15)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00022)

Berenstain Bears Travel To Broderbund 04/14/94
NOVATO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Living Books, a
Random House/Broderbund Software company, has acquired
worldwide multimedia rights to Berenstain Bears "First Time
Books," the best-selling books by Jan and Stan Berenstain.

Living Books has chosen "The Berenstain Bears Get In A Fight" as
the first title to be published and made available in early 1995.

The "First Time Books" series were first published 12 years ago
and deals with children's first visit to the doctor, first day in
school, fear of the dark, and other experiences by making them
"bearable" for 3-to-6 year old children. More than 165  million
copies have been sold worldwide.

William Loverd, vice president, corporate affairs for Random
House, told Newsbytes,  "Living Books is the name of the
partnership of Random House and Broderbund. This first project
is just the beginning of what we plan for future multimedia
production of our juvenile titles."

Also speaking to Newsbytes, Jessica Switzer, corporate
communications for Broderbund, said, " Our first concern with
the development of our children's titles is to make them fun. We
provide an easy-to-use point-and-click style that allows
children to explore words and actions on each screen, while
helping them learn to read. Once a parent starts the CD, it is
very simple for the child to learn to navigate through the story."

Broderbund has other children's titles, such as "Arthur's Teacher
Trouble" by Mark Brown, in which a different language may be
chosen from the same disk. This has been very beneficial to ESL
(English as a second language) teachers and multilingual homes
and educational environments. "Arthur's Teacher Trouble" can be
played in either English or Spanish. Broderbund has other titles
offering the choice of two or three languages.

Updating the Electronic Arts acquisition of Broderbund, the
company disclosed that the process is moving as expected and
should be finalized in May after a stockholders approval.

(Patrick McKenna/19940414/Press Contact: Jessica Switzer,
Broderbund, 415-382-4568)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00023)

Telecommuting Security Session Set For NETSEC '94 04/14/94
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- The
Computer Security Institute (CSI) has announced a special
telecommuting session to be held at NETSEC '94, due to open June
13 at San Francisco's Sheraton Palace.

NETSEC is devoted exclusively to network security issues with
tracks including such areas as, "Introduction to Network Security,"
"Product Specific Solutions," "Technical Innovations and New
Developments," "Wide Area Networks and Telecommunications
Security," "Client/server Security and Local Area Networks," and
"Security Administration." The three-day conference will also
feature exhibits of network security products and services.

The special telecommuting session is designed to deal with
security issues involved in the telecommuting trend which is
expected to grow from 7.8 million people in 1994, to an estimated
30 million by 2001.

Speaking to Newsbytes, Patrice Rapalus, director of CSI, said,
"There are some security elements that need to be set up when a
company starts to introduce telecommuting. They need to establish
a policy that deals with software licensing rights, unauthorized
access, and virus detection. Basically it is a matter of a people
issue more than a technology issue. It is a matter of setting up
policies with the people who are working at home. This session
is directed towards the discussion and establishment of these
policies."

Rapalus concluded, "The LA  quake brought out a lot of these issues
because people who could not get to work due to downed freeways
began to telecommute. With the sheer increase of these numbers
companies became aware of the security issues and what happens
when the workforce no longer needs to report to the office."

(Patrick McKenna/19940414/Press Contact: Patrice Rapalus,
Computer Security Institute, 415-905-2626)


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

CompuServe Announces New Forum For UK Members 04/14/94
READING, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- CompuServe
has announced the creation of a new forum known as the UK
Communications Forum. According to the online service provider,
the creation of the new area is in response to growing interest in
computer communications among British members.

The UK Communications Forum aims to cover all sorts of
communications, including the Internet, modems, communications
software, networking, telecommunications, and telephones. The
forum consists of a message board, a live conferencing area and
a library containing text and software files which CompuServe
says is easy to download.

Newsbytes notes that UK Communications is the third of the UK-
oriented forums available on the service. The idea of the forums
is so that members can receive computer information other than
communications, to exchange ideas and get product support.

"The UK Forums have been a great success since the first was
launched three years ago with more than 150,000 messages posted
in the UK Forum alone," explained Steve Manners, system operator
of all three forums.

"Demand from new local vendors and from existing forum members
has seen the launch of two new forums in the past 12 months and
there will almost certainly lead to other UK forums on the near
future," commented Steve Manners, system operator of all three
forums.

According to Manners, direct product support are provided by modem
manufacturers such as Psion Dacom, US Robotics and Pace, and
software providers such as Finansa Limited, Datasoft, and
Ashmount Research.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940414/Press & Public Contact: CompuServe UK,
44-734-391064)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00025)

UK - Chase Intros New LAN Print Server 04/14/94
BASINGSTOKE, HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Chase
Research has announced the Chase Ioprint2 print server for the
Ethernet local area network (LAN) marketplace. The unit is the
company's second print server, following on from the Ioprint v4,
which is claimed to offer "reliable, high speed" printer server
facilities on a network.

According to Chase, this new print server has a number of extra
benefits over and above the Ioprint v4. These include dual serial
and parallel ports, which allow peripherals to be located anywhere
on the Ethernet LAN, rather than having to have them physically
attached to the main host computer.

The server is also billed a "true" multi-protocol system, with the
ability to serve Novell, TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/
Internet Protocol) and Apple Ether/Talk LANs simultaneously. Each
serial port can handle data streaming at up to 38,400 bits-per-
second (bps), while the parallel ports can handle more than
150,000 bps each.

The parallel ports are IEEE 1284 compatible, with the company
claiming them as capable of supporting bi-directional
communications with printers supporting this standard. Both BNC
"T" (thin) and UTP (unshielded twisted pair) Ethernet connectors
are provided, with auto-sensing of the Ethernet connection type
without the need to use jumpers.

The new server also employs flash memory for its programming. This
allows, Newsbytes notes, the ability to upgrade firmware from disk.
Installation scripts and interface scripts are provided, however, to
simplify configuration and allow easy customization for Unix
environments.

Security features on the unit include multi-level password
protection and Novell encrypted passwords, and data scrambling
between the computer and server for enhanced network security.

Other features include log reports and page counting, remote status
monitoring, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) electronic-mail
support, back channeling, Novell queue prioritization, auto sensing,
and switching and load balancing.

Chase Research is a designer and manufacturer of connectivity
products, including serial I/O (input/output), Ethernet terminal
and print servers, as well as ISDN (integrated services digital
network) terminal adapters.

(Sylvia Dennis/19940414/Press & Public Contact: Chase
Research, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00026)

UK - HP Intros New PC Storage Products 04/14/94
BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Hewlett-
Packard (HP) has announced a range of new storage products for the
network server market, claiming to integrate higher capacity with
online and offline storage capabilities and offering new
management features.

According to the company, the HP Disk System and HP Disk
Array simplify the company's range of local area network (LAN)
server storage products by offering "mix-and-match" configurations
that include hard disk modules, digital audio tape (DAT) and
enhanced diagnostic features.

HP claims that, because of the product's modularity and
expandability, customers tend to initially only buy what they need.
Additional storage capacity can be added as user's requirements
grow, the company claims.

The new products have been designed to operate on all major PC
operating systems and platforms, including AST, Compaq, Dell
and IBM, as well as on the HP NetServer.

"Collectively, these two products present a better overall solution
for the reseller and the end user," explained Karen Windows, HP's
storage product manager. "We're offering flexible, fault-tolerant
solutions that are easy to manage and provide lower cost of
ownership than our competitors' products," she said.

The HP Disk System and HP Disk Array are billed as supporting all
market-leading network operating systems, including Novell NetWare;
Microsoft Windows NT, LAN Manager and DOS; IBM OS/2 and LAN Server;
SCO Unix; Banyan Vines and Vines for SCO Unix, and Univel UnixWare.

According to HP, the HP Disk System also offers a new SSDiag
diagnostic software feature which provides soft error monitoring.
This utility monitors errors on disks, and uses the data to predict
disk failures.

The HP Disk System now supports Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)
host bus adapters used by IBM PCs and servers. Together with EISA
(Extended Industry Standard Architecture) and ISA host bus adapters,
the HP Disk System provides "a complete solution for virtually every
environment," the company claims.

Both the HP Disk Array and the HP Disk System are available
immediately in the UK. The HP Disk Array is priced from UKP5,380
(entry-level) to UKP12,836, and the HP Disk System from
UKP2,615 (entry-level) to UKP 11,300.

(Steve Gold/19940414/Press & Public Contact: Hewlett-Packard,
44-344-369222)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00027)

QMS Signs Printer Distribution Deal For South Africa 04/14/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- QMS UK has revealed it has
signed an agreement with Nashua to distribute QMS printers in
South Africa.

The deal was signed by Moira Craig, QMS UK's managing director,
Newsbytes understands.

On her return from South Africa, Craig said that, with the changing
political climate in Southern Africa, "The opportunity to sell
printers has grown at such a tremendous rate in recent years that it
was absolutely vital for us to find a suitable partner to cope with
the ever-increasing demand."

Continued Craig: "Nashua is the largest business and office
equipment supplier in Southern Africa where it has been operating
since 1973. Currently it has 57 franchises throughout the region
and an excellent reputation."

Craig added that this reputation is attributed to quality and
technical excellence of the products it handles.

Coupled with after-sales service, "This makes it an ideal
partner for QMS," she said.

(Steve Gold/19940414/Press & Public Contact: QMS,
44-784-430900)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00028)

CA Intros Tutorial Books, SuperCalc/Windows Video In UK 04/14/94
SLOUGH, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Computer
Associates (CA) has announced a SuperCalc for Windows tutorial
video and two tutorial books to complement its existing training
courses,

Announcing the video and books, George Kafkarkou, CA's assistant
vide president, said that, "Although many users find either a
scheduled or an on-site training course, of which CA offers a
comprehensive range, to be a highly efficient means of learning
new software, others, particularly small business users, simply
cannot afford the time to attend such courses."

This type of user, Kafkarkou said, is the type that video and books
are aimed at. "At CA we're giving people a choice -- users now have
the option to learn at their own pace and in the comfort of their
own office or home, which I am convinced will lead to greater
productivity all round," he said.

The tutorial video has a retail price of UKP17, including tax and
postage. The video has six lessons on it, covering topics such as
creating and manipulating spreadsheets, working with multi-
dimensional models, global formula, and graphics.

The two books are "Mastering CA SuperCalc for Windows" and
"Multi-dimensional Modeling with CA SuperCalc for Windows." Both
sell for UKP19.95 each including postage. CA is also offering a
companion PC disk that contains all the examples in the book, for
UKP5.

Purchasers of CA SuperCalc for Windows get a leaflet advertising
the video, books and disk. Newsbytes understands that, if both
books are purchased, then the disk is supplied free of charge.

(Steve Gold/19940414/Press & Public Contact: Computer
Associates, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(00029)

AppleSoft UK Intros New Volume Licensing Program 04/14/94
UXBRIDGE, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- Applesoft,
the software division of Apple Computer UK, has announced a new
volume licensing program for its software products with discounts
for corporations ranging from 38 percent to 60 percent, and from 65
percent for educational users.

So what do corporations and educationalists have to do to qualify to
get these discounts? According to Apple, they qualify automatically
when they buy 25-49 copies of a package (for 38 percent discount)
and, the more they buy, the better the discount, although the 60
percent discount is aimed at 10,000 or more users of a package.
The educational discount of 65 percent is available for 25 or more
users.

The new structured pricing, support and maintenance program will
be administered, Newsbytes understands, through European Software
Publishing (ESP). ESP, founded in 1988, claims to be the leading
independent publisher of PC software in Europe.

Announcing the new volume licensing plan, Paul Gardner, Apple
Computer UK's director of enterprise solutions, said that the
program, "Provides large organizations with a cost-effective
means to purchase software for use throughout the corporation.
With a quantified license, users can legally copy and distribute
software over networks and services to specified users without
the fear of software piracy."

(Steve Gold/19940414/Press & Public Contact: Apple Computer
UK, 44-810569-1189; Toll-free (UK only) on 0800-127753; E-mail
on Applelink, [e-mail])


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

UK - Colloquium Announces Full Internet Facilities 04/14/94
KILBARCHAN, RENFREWSHIRE, SCOTLAND, 1994 APR 14 (NB) --
Colloquium (CQMNet), the Scottish online conferencing system,
has announced the facility of allowing its subscribers to access
the full range of Internet facilities on its service.

To allow subscribers the maximum access to the Internet,
the service is introducing ISDN (integrated services digital
network) and Mercury private wire links to its service, in addition
to the existing direct dial-up ports and access links via the Mercury
packet data network (PDN).

"We realized that subscribers who spent some time on our network
were paying reasonable rates for the basic Colloquium service, but
were getting hit for trunk or Mercury PDN calls. We reckon that, if
users access our service for just a few hours a week, then a
Mercury private wire is financially viable," Brian McMillan, head of
Colloquium, told Newsbytes.

According to McMillan, the new service will be marketed as an
alternative to the existing Colloquium on-line internet facilities
for subscribers wishing to use the Internet directly from their PC
or Mac. CQMnet will also provide a low cost connection to the
Internet for organizations based in Scotland.

The initial point of presence (pop) for CQMnet will be provided in
Glasgow with pops planned for Edinburgh and Aberdeen by July,
1994. These pops will be in addition to access methods using
Mercury's PDN, Newsbytes understands.

"This makes our system very reasonable for users, with prices
starting for as little as UKP10 a month. We expect to get a lot
more company users online to CQMNet using this improved access
services," he said.

(Steve Gold/19940414/Press & Public Contact: CQMNet, tel
44-224-625054, fax [phone]; E-mail on the Internet:
[e-mail])


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

Newsbytes Daily Summary 04/14/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 APR 14 (NB) -- These are
capsules of all today's news stories:

1 -> Bull Signs Multi-Million $ Deal With Instant Publisher 04/14/94
Bull HN has signed a multimillion-dollar contract for systems
integration, installation, service, and worldwide distribution of
standalone color printing units from Instant Publisher that
incorporate  a 486-based PC, Windows-based software, a monitor, and a
thermal printer.

2 -> UK - Apricot Boosts Fault Tolerance On FT//ex Servers 04/14/94
Apricot Computers has announced it is enhancing its entry-level FT//ex
server range of machines with new fault tolerant RAID (redundant array
of  inexpensive disks) data storage options.

3 -> UK - Smith Quicklink & US Robotics Modems Bundled 04/14/94
Claiming that the move will allow the company to offer a complete fax
and data communications package to modem users, US Robotics has
started  to bundle the Quicklink II fax comms package from Aliso
Viejo,  California-based Smith Micro Software Incorporated.

4 -> Power Mac Used For Holiday Inn Reservation System 04/14/94 Hot on
the heels  of Apple's recent debut of its new Power Macintosh
platform, the company has announced that Holiday Inn has ported its
Expert  Reservation Manager (HERMAN) to over 100 Power Macintosh
7100/66 systems.

5 -> Creative Labs Offers Sound Chip Technology 04/14/94 Creative
Labs, probably best- known for its 8-bit and 16-bit Sound Blaster
technology, has announced the long awaited sound chips for
installation on  motherboards as well as other sound cards.

6 -> Dell Intros DX4 & Pentium-Based PCs 04/14/94 Dell Computer Corp.,
has announced five new desktop computers that use Intel's 90 megahertz
(MHz) Pentium or the Intel DX4 100MHz microprocessors.

7 -> Data General, Performance Computer In OEM Deal 04/14/94
Performance Computer has entered into a three-year, multi-million
dollar  deal to provide its PT-SBS430 SCSI (small computer system
interface) SBus host adapter and other products to Data General for
use in its CLARiiON family of open storage systems for Unix
systems-based servers.

8 -> Catalogs On CD-ROM With The Merchant For Mac 04/14/94 Magellan
Systems has announced The Merchant, a compact disk read-only  memory
(CD-ROM) intended for home shopping.

9 -> Fulcrum, WAIS Team Up With Software Bundle 04/14/94 Fulcrum Tech
Inc.,  and WAIS Inc., have announced an agreement to integrate
Fulcrum's SearchServer text retrieval software with the Network
Publishing Protocol from Menlo Park, California-based WAIS to create
an Internet-compatible tool kit for use in implementing text-intensive
applications.

10 -> IBM Japan Increases PC Sales 04/14/4 IBM Japan is attempting to
strengthen its personal computer (PC) business in Japan. The company
has already created a special project team to increase sales of PCs,
and wants to show a 75 percent rise in sales this year.

11 -> Power Macintosh Debuts In India 04/14/94 Apple Computer has
introduced its first three Power Macintosh models in India, all based
on the PowerPC 601. The three new Power Macs are the 6100/60, the
7100/66, and the 8100/80.

12 -> New DSP Aimed At Personal Communications Products 04/14/94 The
DSP Group has announced its Oak digital signal processor (DSP)
technology. According to the company, the new architecture offers the
low power consumption and small size needed for the "new generation"
of personal communication products.

13 ->  ****IBM, Cyrix Sign Chip-Making Deal 04/14/94 In what looks
like a significant endorsement for the maker of Intel-compatible
microprocessors, Cyrix Corp. has signed a deal that gives IBM the
right to manufacture Cyrix chips for its own use and to sell to other
personal computer makers, as well as supplying them to Cyrix.

14 -> Microsoft Seeks $22 Million In Chinese Pirating Case 04/14/94
Microsoft Corporation is seeking $22 million in lost revenue from a
Chinese institute it says counterfeited tens of thousands of
Microsoft's hologram. The hologram is the package identifier intended
to  assure buyers they are purchasing an authentic Microsoft product.

15 -> Zebra Intros Wide Label Thermal Transfer Printer 04/14/94 Zebra
Technologies Corp., has introduced a RISC (reduced instruction-set
computing)-based wide label thermal transfer printer.

16 -> Watermark Brings COM & OLE 2.0 To Image-Enablement 04/14/94  In
its recently announced Professional Edition and Image Server software,
Watermark is using Microsoft's Common Object Model (COM) and OLE
(object linking and embedding) 2.0 to enhance the functionality of
"image-enabled" Windows applications, according to Peter Brumme,
Watermark's senior VP for sales and marketing.

17 -> Silicon Casino For Newton 04/14/94 If you have a Newton and want
to gamble, Apple Computer's Starcore Group is distributing Silicon
Casino from Casady & Greene. The program offers Baccarat, Blackjack,
Craps, Slot Machines, and even Video Poker.

18 -> Sen. Bumpers Wants Curbs On Information Superhighway 04/14/94
Sen. Dale Bumpers  (D-Ark.), an influential member of the Senate, has
said he wants  to see consumer protections if electric utility holding
companies  are allowed to compete with telephone, cable and other
telecommunications firms on the "information superhighway."

19 -> Software AG Intros SQL For Windows Query Tool 04/14/94 Software
AG is rolling out Esperant, a graphical query tool to give users with
no  knowledge of structured query language (SQL) or of the structure
of a database the ability to create accurate queries using a
Windows-based "point-and-click" interface.

20 ->  ****Nestor/Intel Chip Gives PCs "Human-Like Abilities" 04/14/94
Nestor Inc., and Intel have announced the Ni1000 Recognition
Accelerator,  a chip aimed at replicating the pattern-recognition
capabilities of the brain to give computers "human-like ability" to
recognize speech, handwriting, objects, shapes and sounds, as well as
patterns like medical syndromes and financial trends.

21 -> Oracleware For Unix Announced by Oracle, Novell 04/14/94
Multiplatform database developer Oracle, and Novell, known for its
Netware networking product, have collaborated on an integrated product
for enterprise network computing, Oracleware System -- Unixware
Edition 1.0. The companies say Oracleware is designed to connect
IBM-compatible personal computers (PCs) to Unix servers in a way that
is convenient for users to purchase, install, manage, and support.

22 -> Berenstain Bears Travel To Broderbund 04/14/94 Living Books, a
Random House/Broderbund Software company, has acquired worldwide
multimedia rights to Berenstain Bears "First Time Books," the
best-selling books by Jan and Stan Berenstain.

23 -> Telecommuting Security Session Set For NETSEC '94 04/14/94 The
Computer Security Institute (CSI) has announced a special
telecommuting session to be held at NETSEC '94, due to open June 13 at
San Francisco's Sheraton Palace.

24 -> CompuServe Announces New Forum For UK Members 04/14/94
CompuServe  has announced the creation of a new forum known as the UK
Communications Forum. According to the online service provider,  the
creation of the new area is in response to growing interest in
computer communications among British members.

25 -> UK - Chase Intros New LAN Print Server 04/14/94 Chase Research
has announced the Chase Ioprint2 print server for the Ethernet local
area network (LAN) marketplace. The unit is the company's second print
server, following on from the Ioprint v4, which is claimed to offer
"reliable, high speed" printer server facilities on a network.

26 -> UK - HP Intros New PC Storage Products 04/14/94 Hewlett- Packard
(HP) has announced a range of new storage products for the network
server market, claiming to integrate higher capacity with online and
offline storage capabilities and offering new management features.

27 -> QMS Signs Printer Distribution Deal For South Africa 04/14/94
QMS UK has revealed it has signed an agreement with Nashua to
distribute QMS printers in South Africa.

28 -> CA Intros Tutorial Books, SuperCalc/Windows Video In UK 04/14/94
Computer Associates (CA) has announced a SuperCalc for Windows
tutorial  video and two tutorial books to complement its existing
training  courses,

29 -> AppleSoft UK Intros New Volume Licensing Program 04/14/94
Applesoft,  the software division of Apple Computer UK, has announced
a new  volume licensing program for its software products with
discounts  for corporations ranging from 38 percent to 60 percent, and
from 65 percent for educational users.

30 -> UK - Colloquium Announces Full Internet Facilities 04/14/94
Colloquium (CQMNet), the Scottish online conferencing system,  has
announced the facility of allowing its subscribers to access  the full
range of Internet facilities on its service.

(Ian Stokell/19940414)