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(NEWS)(TELECOM)(WAS)(00001)
AT&T Wins $4 Billion Saudi Arabian Telecom Job 05/12/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- With a major
boost from the Clinton administration, AT&T has won a massive
contract to upgrade and modernize the telephone system of Saudi
Arabia. The deal with worth about $4 billion over the next
several years, according to AT&T.
AT&T won the contract in a tough competition with Siemens AG of
Germany, Alcatel Alstrom SA of France and Sweden, Northern
Telecom Ltd. of Canada, and a joint bid by LM Ericsson of
Sweden and NEC Corp. of Japan. According to experts who follow
the international telecommunications business, the Saudi
contract was the most lucrative on the market in the next few
years and is a major coup for AT&T.
The deal calls for AT&T to install an advanced fiber optic
network in Saudi Arabia, doubling the number of people in the
oil-rich kingdom who have access to modern telephone service.
The contract also includes development of a wireless digital
network capable of service 200,000 customers.
According to AT&T, the deal was the result of heavy lobbying by
the Clinton White House and the administration. Commerce
Secretary Ron Brown traveled to Saudi Arabia on two occasions
over the past year to make the American case and Secretary of
State Warren Christopher is also said to have whispered in the
Saudi's ears about the deal.
According to the US Trade Representative's office, the Saudi
award is the largest telecommunications equipment contract
awarded outside the borders of the United States. The victory
was the second for AT&T outside the US as China recently
picked AT&T to upgrade its telecommunications system in a deal
worth more than half a billion dollars.
Most of the work on the Saudi contract will take place in
AT&T's Oklahoma facility which builds the digital switches that
are the heart of the system, as well as at an Andover, Mass., plant
that makes transmission equipment, and a facility at Columbus,
Ohio, that makes wireless equipment.
(Kennedy Maize/19940512)
(NEWS)(APPLE)(WAS)(00002)
MacWorld -- Imaxis Offers Document Management 05/12/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Need help in
managing your documents in a Macintosh environment? Systems
Engineering Solutions of Dunn Loring, Va., may have some help
for you. The company's Imaxis software, which debuted at the
MacWorld Expo in Washington, includes a set of tools useful
in managing the plethora of documents that come your way on
either a standalone computer or a network.
The software includes scanning, optical character recognition
(OCR), cataloging, annotation, and four methods of retrieving
documents, says the company. "No other document management
package for Macintosh workgroups provides these wide-ranging,
large system capabilities," claims Heather Oles of Systems Energy
Solutions.
The basic package is a four-user bundle that contains one set
of the Imaxis server software, along with four sets of client
software and one set of scanning technology software. The
suggested retail price is $2,695.
According to the company, the software can be customized to
meet the needs or larger, or smaller, groups.
The software allows users to combine diverse documents,
including scanned images, online documents, and application
files, into organized "collections" that can be customized and
archived. The software also stores each set of documents into a
an electronic drawer that can be protected with three levels of
security.
Document retrieval includes browsing through drawers and
folders, searching through one or a combination of fields, full
text query, and bookmarks that users can place in documents.
According the company, the software offers low-cost, but
powerful, document search and retrievable capabilities that are
also easy to use.
The Imaxis client and server software runs on a Macintosh II or
higher, running System 7.1 with five megabytes (MB) of RAM. The
scanner and OCR software wants a minimum of 98MB of RAM.
(Kennedy Maize/ 19940512/Press Contact: Heather Oles, tel
703-573-4366, fax 703-207-9146)
(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00003)
EDS Signs JV To Tap Malaysian IT Services Market 05/12/94
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) --In a bid to tap Malaysia's
billion dollar information technology market, EDS Asia Pacific has
signed a joint venture agreement with Malaysia's UMW Holdings Bhd,
one of the country's major diversified industrial groups.
The joint venture will initially provide information technology (IT)
services to Malaysia's government and transportation sectors. The
deal represents the first agreement of its kind in Southeast Asia
for EDS, a subsidiary of General Motors.
The new company has already signed a letter of intent with Keretapi
Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTM), Malaysia's national railway, to be their sole
provider of information technology. In addition, through a facilities
management contract with UMW, the joint venture will be responsible
for enhancing the UMW group's internal IT capabilities to upgrade
efficiencies, increase productivity and improve the company's
overall business performance.
"UMW brings to the partnership a strong commitment to information
technology, deep market knowledge and an established presence
throughout Malaysia," said Ed Yang, president and group executive
of EDS Asia Pacific. "These capabilities, combined with EDS's global
strengths, should provide the basis for a strong partnership in
Malaysia's rapidly growing marketplace for years to come."
Continued Yang: "The entire process of implementing information
technology is relatively new to the local market. But if you look at
the IT market throughout Southeast Asia it is clear that Malaysia
is in the top three in terms of potential because of its industrial
and economic growth."
According to Jeff Heller, EDS senior vice-president, the Asia
Pacific IT market is still relatively small compared to the global
industry market, but is growing at a very rapid pace.
"Today, the total IT market for this region, including Japan, stands
at about US$260 billion, with an annual growth rate of 9.6 per cent,"
Heller said. "The IT services market is around US$50 billion, but is
expanding at almost double the growth rate of the worldwide market,
in excess of 12 per cent annually."
The UMW Group is a major public listed company in Malaysia with
core businesses in key industry sectors, namely automotive, heavy
equipment, manufacturing and engineering, material and environment
management, energy, industrial and power equipment, and financial
services. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, it has operations in
Singapore, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands, as well as
representative offices in Japan and China.
(Keith Cameron/19940512/Press Contact: Terrence Shan,
852-867-9860, EDS)
(NEWS)(GENERAL)(HKG)(00004)
DEC Enhances Presence In Asia-Pacific Region 05/12/94
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Digital Equipment
Corporation's Asia Pacific President Bobby Choonavala has
announced that the company is expanding and strengthening its
Asia Pacific operations.
"Because of the growing importance of the Asian countries' business
opportunities, Digital is enhancing its internal organization in order
to serve our customers in the Far East, who are showing a greater
acceptance of our open client/server computing solutions and Alpha
AXP 64-bit RISC technology," said Choonavala.
"The Asia Pacific region is a very bright spot for Digital, reporting
over 20 percent growth so far in 1994 and over 25 percent in 1993.
It is important for Digital to reallocate resources to this area in
order to support our expansion and meet the challenge," he said.
"We are continuing with the 'twin hub' concept by having regional
operational headquarters in Singapore and Hong Kong. Hong Kong
continues to be the headquarters for Digital's Asia region, which
includes 10 countries. The Asia regional office, Japan and the
South Pacific countries of Australia and New Zealand all report
directly to me," he concluded.
Digital has also extended the brief of the president for the US
to include all the countries where Digital operates in Central and
South America. The European operations remain essentially
unchanged.
Under the leadership of the Asia Pacific office, Hong Kong's Asia
region office will be concentrating on four regional sub-blocks;
India, under the leadership of Som Mittal; Korea, under George
Glassick; Greater China, under Paul Chan; and the ASEAN nations,
whose manager will be named shortly, are reporting now to Graham
Long. This arrangement reportedly allows more management and
operational resources to be distributed to these geographical
areas and to the individual country subsidiaries, improving
response time to increasing demand and customer needs.
Choonavala also announced that Asia Region President and Managing
Director Edmund J. Reilly has decided to leave the company to pursue
other career and personal interests. "Ed has held several professional
and management positions since joining Digital in 1963 in customer
services," he said. "First appointed in 1974 to a senior management
position as customer services manager for Latin America, he held
key appointments as president of Digital Japan and most recently
as president in Asia, one of the most successful areas of the world
in terms of growth for Digital."
(Keith Cameron/19940512/Press Contact: Bonnie Engel,
852-805-3510, DEC)
(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00005)
TV Reporter Sues Over Bill Gates' Wedding Security 05/12/94
WAILUKU, HAWAII, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- A Seattle television
reporter has sued Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and the owner of a
Hawaiian island over, what many journalists said, was over-zealous
security at the billionaire's wedding.
Gates married Microsoft business unit Manager Melinda French January
1st on a piece of land overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the Manele
Bay Hotel golf resort on Lanai, an island about 10 miles west of
Maui. Lanai is owned by Lanai Company, a subsidiary of the Dole Food
Company. KIRO-TV reporter Scott Rensberger said he was arrested by
Lanai Company security guards while walking along a public roadway
on the island.
Although the island is privately owned, Hawaii state law mandates
public access to all beach areas. Rensberger claims he was arrested
while trying to get local reaction to the New Year's Day wedding. He
said he was told he would be arrested a second time if he did not
leave the island.
The suit, filed last week in Maui Circuit Court, accuses Gates and
Lanai company of blocking public rights-of-way and seeks
unspecified damages. KIRO-TV new Director Bill Lord told
Associated Press the station is not involved in the lawsuit, but
supports Rensberger.
Security surrounding the wedding was tight. About a dozen reporters
and photographers say they were restricted from covering the
wedding and threatened with arrest, although no other arrests were
reported.
Gates and his bride-to-be apparently tried to mislead reporters and
photographers by leaking a false wedding date. Once the actual date
and location got out Gates reportedly booked all the rooms at the
hotel and reserved helicopters photographers might have chartered
for a better view of the event.
Microsoft spokesperson Erin Carney said she has not seen the suit
and is only aware of it through press reports. She added that
Microsoft has no comment.
(Jim Mallory/19940509/Press contact: Microsoft Corporation,
206-882-8080 or 800-426-9400)
(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00006)
IBM Australia To Market Unix Message Handler 05/12/94
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- IBM Australia has entered
into a marketing arrangement with Message Handling Systems Pty
Ltd to market and distribute MHSnet. The product is a Unix-based
message handling system, available on all major Unix platforms,
including IBM's AIX. IBM Australia will market MHSnet through its
Software Services Center.
MHSnet is an Australian developed messaging system, suitable for
wide area networks (WANs) with "an emphasis on performance and
network integrity." Messages may be formal business documents
such as EDI (electronic data interchange), multimedia
correspondence (containing text, image and voice), files, program- to-
program communication or simple electronic mail messages.
MHSnet is able to transfer any binary message over any virtual
circuit, from low-speed dial-up to X.25 and full OSI (Open
Systems Interconnect) stacks. Internally it uses X.400 style
addressing.
According to the companies, the software provides an OSI
alternative with reduced operating costs yet remains fully in
line with the movement to X.500 Directory Services as well as
providing external X.400 interaction.
Current uses include file transfer and software distribution
for computer vendors, EDI messaging between insurance brokers
and insurance companies, the international transfer of courier
data, and electronic-mail messages between a number of office
automation packages.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs uses MHSnet for
its formal communications between Australian offices and 96
overseas posts. Other local users include Telecom, the Royal
Australian Navy, and the Australian Electoral Commission.
(Paul Zucker and Joseph Allbeury/19940512/Press Contact: IBM
Australia, tel 61-2-354 4869, fax 61-2-354-4604)
(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00007)
Japan - Portable Phone Sales Increase 05/12/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Sales of portable telephones
are increasing in the Japanese market and supply cannot keep up
with demand. As a result, most phone makers are preparing to
increase production.
Mitsubishi Electric has been supplying cellular phones to NTT
Docomo on an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) basis. The
firm has recently increased cellular phone production to 10,000
units per month.
NEC is also preparing to raise production of cellular phones and
car phones -- doubling output from the current 200,000 units, to
400,000 units per month.
Matsushita Telecommunication has also been raising production,
from 30,000 units to 40,000 units per month in March, and up
another 10,000 units in April.
Fujitsu is currently producing about 170,000 units per month. The
firm plans to raise that figure to 400,000 units by the end of this
year. In order to do this, the firm will invest one billion yen ($10
million) to increase capacity at its Nasu production facility.
Other electronics firms such as Sanyo Electric and Sharp are also
preparing to raise production.
(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940509/Press Contact: Mitsubishi
Electric, tel 81-3-3218-2332, Fax 81-3-3218-2431, NEC,
tel 81-3-3451-2974, fax 81-3-3457-7249)
(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00008)
Japan - DOS/V PC BTRON Kit, Mac JIS Keyboard Debut 05/12/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Tokyo-based small personal
computer (PC) firm Personal Media has developed a BTRON software
kit for DOS/V PCs. Meanwhile, Apple Computer, will release the
Macintosh JIS keyboard, which supports the Japanese JIS standard.
Personal Media's BTRON software kit for DOS/V is called the
1B/V1 Software Kit, and will be sold for 70,000 yen ($700). The
product also operates on OADG (Open Architecture Developers'
Group)-based DOS/V-compatible PCs.
The BTRON kit reportedly supports multitasking and hyper-text
features. It also supports multiple languages including Japanese
and English, and is based on the concept developed by Professor
Ken Sakamura of Tokyo University.
At first, BTRON PC was considered to be the Japanese PC standard
at schools by the Japanese government. However, the government
backed off the idea after overseas PC makers contended that
BTRON creates a barrier against imported PCs from other countries.
Meanwhile, Apple Computer, Tokyo, will release a Macintosh
keyboard based on the Japanese JIS X6002, called the Apple
Keyboard IIJIS. The retail price will be 15,000 yen ($150), and it
will be released within a couple of weeks.
(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940509/Press Contact: Personal
Media, +81-3-5702-7858, Fax, +81-3-5702-7857, Apple Computer,
Tokyo, +81-3-5411-8715)
(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00009)
Japan - NEC To Push Software Sales 05/12/94
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- NEC plans to enter the
personal computer (PC) software market. Also, NEC Home
Electronics, an NEC subsidiary, plans to develop game software
for the firm's video game machine.
NEC will sell application software on an OEM (original equipment
manufacturer) basis. The firm has already started talks with
a number of software firms in Japan, according to an industry
source. NEC will reportedly obtain licenses to software and add
its own original features. In this way, the firm is planning to sell
a variety of business application programs, including financial
software, database programs, network software, and Japanese
word processing software.
It is expected that most of the software will be for the firm's
best-selling PC, the PC-9801.
Meanwhile, NEC Home Electronics wants to develop more powerful
game software for the firm's video game machines. NEC Home
Electronics is currently selling a 16-bit video game device, and
is preparing to release a 32-bit video game machine in the near
future.
NEC Home Electronics will reportedly link with four software
makers, taking an equity position in each.
(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940509/Press Contact: NEC,
tel 81-3-3451-2974, fax 81-3-3457-7249)
(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00010)
Hong Kong - Display Research/Apexsoft In Multimedia Deal 05/12/94
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Display Research
Laboratory has signed a cross-licensing agreement with Apexsoft
System, a local multimedia software company, in a move designed
to boost the development of multimedia applications in Hong Kong
and China.
Under the agreement, Display Research will license the Apexsoft
RamGrab Library for its image capture card, MR RamGrab. Apexsoft
will be responsible for marketing the complete solution and
providing technical support and consultancy for customers in Hong
Kong and China.
"Our alliance will enable the two companies to provide a
comprehensive image capture solution for multimedia applications
in the business and institutional market," said SC Mok, founder and
president of Display Research Laboratory.
According to Mok, most image capture cards currently available are
designed around a memory-mapped architecture, which is
insufficiently flexible for developing tailor-made applications.
"Memory-mapped cards are often incompatible with other PC
hardware, especially the VGA card and extended memory," he said.
"Also, since they are connected to the VGA card through the feature
connector, most run into timing or stability problems at resolutions
beyond 640 by 480 pixels, whereas most Windows applications today
are designed to support resolutions from 800 by 600 to 1024 by 768."
Display Research uses a port-based architecture for MR RamGrab.
According to the company, that makes it the only manufacturer in
Hong Kong to offer an image capture card that allows users to
redisplay captured images in VGA data format directly.
"By using a port-based architecture, our interface board avoids
incompatibility with the VGA card because captured images are
sent to the CPU (central processing unit) in VGA data format
before they are redisplayed on the screen," said Mok.
Since Mr RamGrab is designed as an I/O (input/output)-based
interface card, users are able to install multiple video capture
boards in each computer. "This flexibility has made our image
capture solution popular for car park security and other remote
surveillance applications where images are captured from several
video cameras," said Mok.
Bassanio Kum, director and project manager of Apexsoft System,
said the Apexsoft RamGrab Library is a high-level Windows based
toolkit that enables users to create a wide variety of image
capture functions with just a few high-level calls from Windows
compatible or database language. As a result, development time
can be reduced to as little as a few hours, depending on the
scale of the project.
Kum said that, while packaged multimedia applications were
popular with Hong Kong consumers, the technology's potential in
the business environment was underdeveloped because tailor-made
"solutions" have traditionally been expensive to develop.
"By offering our software library with MR RamGrab at a retail price
of just HK$3,000 (US$385), we hope to simulate more interest in
multimedia applications among companies in Hong Kong and China,"
he said. "As local businesses develop their own multimedia
capabilities, more vendors will be encouraged to enter the
multimedia market."
In addition to marketing MR RamGrab and the Apexsoft RamGrab
Library in a standard package, Kum emphasized that Apexsoft will
also provide intensive technical support to its customers. "In some
cases, we may even consider investing in our customers' projects,"
he said.
Apexsoft System was founded in 1992. The company provides
multimedia software project development within the Microsoft
Windows environment.
(Keith Cameron/19940512/Press Contact: Bassanio Kum,
852-3933373, Apexsoft)
(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00011)
Desktop Data Updates NewsEdge 05/12/94
WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Desktop
Data Inc., has updated its NewsEdge news-filtering software, adding
support for servers running Microsoft Windows NT, greater storage
capacity, and some user-interface improvements.
NewsEdge is designed to take incoming news feeds from more than
260 sources and select relevant material based on profiles of
users' interests. It runs on a local area network (LAN) and feeds
news to customers' desktop computers.
The software requires a dedicated server running either IBM's OS/2
operating system or Microsoft NT, company spokeswoman Marni
Hoyle told Newsbytes, and it can support a number of clients,
including PCs running Windows, Windows NT, or OS/2, Apple
Macintosh computers, and such Unix variants as Sun Solaris and
Sun OS, Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX, and Digital Equipment's Ultrix.
The software also works with Lotus Development Corp.'s Notes
workgroup software.
There are no plans at the moment to support other server
platforms, Hoyle said.
NewsEdge is mainly suited to organizations with a fairly large
number of users. Hoyle said the company's target market is the
Fortune 1,000. For an organization with about 400 users
monitoring 2,000 or more news stories a day, officials said, the
cost will be less than $1 per user per work day. For a smaller
group, Hoyle admitted, the cost per user would be somewhat
higher. However, she said some organizations use it where a small
group of people have a critical need for up-to-the-minute news.
The new NewsEdge Release 2 has improved searching and profiling
capabilities, including recallable searches, an icon tool bar,
more news views, and customized cut-and-paste options, the
company said. It also has four times as much storage capacity on
the server.
Desktop Data provides complete installation and full-time support
for NewsEdge.
(Grant Buckler/19940512/Press Contact: Marni Hoyle, Desktop
Data, 617-672-2421)
(NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(00012)
Dataware Launches Software, Services For Internet 05/12/94
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Dataware
Technologies Inc., has announced software and services for
electronic publishers who want to make databases and other
material available through the Internet.
Dataware, best known for its compact disc read-only memory
(CD-ROM) publishing business, is building on its BRS/Search text
database system, which the company said is already used by more
than 1,200 customers. Some of these customers, including Cornell
University and the National Technology Transfer Center, already
use the database system to distribute information over the
Internet, Dataware said.
Publishers can install the Dataware server in their own facilities,
Dataware said, or they can take advantage of services offered
by Dataware using the software.
According to the company, the server supports existing Internet
protocols, including Z39.50, and Internet clients such as Gopher
and Mosaic. Publishers can also license Dataware client software
to provide customized access to their offerings.
Company officials said the Internet server provides extensive
security and accounting, complete systems administration
functions, and support for clients and servers on multiple
platforms.
The company said its software is used by more than 1,000
organizations worldwide, including Dun & Bradstreet, the US
Government Printing Office, the US Parent and Trademark Office,
Siemens, and Toyota.
In early April, the company acquired Optim Corp. of Ottawa, a
distributor of its CD-ROM products. Dataware said it would merge
Optim with another Canadian company it acquired last December,
Ottawa-based Megalith Technologies, to form a new Canadian
subsidiary under the Dataware name.
(Grant Buckler/19940510/Press Contact: G. Mead Wyman,
Dataware Technologies, 617-621-0820)
(NEWS)(APPLE)(SYD)(00013)
****Apple Australia Readies For New PowerBooks 05/12/94
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Apple Australia, along
with other Apple subsidiaries worldwide, is going to launch radical
new PowerBook portable Macintosh computers next week. But Apple
President and CEO Michael Spindler will arrive in Australia, also
next week, for reasons that have not been made clear. According
to Apple, they are not associated with the PowerBook launch.
The new machines are the 520, 520c, 540 and 540c series. They
have the Motorola 68LC040 processors mounted on a replaceable
daughterboard, allowing an easy, though probably not cheap,
upgrade to PowerPC processors later this year.
They feature a sleek, concave casing, and in place of a mouse or
trackball they have a finger-operated glass "touch pad." There is
space for two batteries or one battery and an expansion card,
including the first PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association) cards on any Mac.
Apple could do with a boost in Australia as its notebook sales
have slipped from second to third in the IDC estimates of the
marketplace.
Apple is not having a launch for the machines in Australia but has
invited the press to meet with Spindler on Thursday, May 19. He
will just have finished presenting Golden Apple awards on the
Australian Barrier Reef, and will presumably be talking with
Steve Vamos, the new local managing director, fresh from IBM.
PictureTel had scheduled a press conference at the same time,
well in advance of the Spindler event, but has announced that
"rather than compete, we're moving ours!"
(David Frith & Computer Daily News/19940512)
(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00014)
Ottawa Doctors Offered Multimedia Training 05/12/94
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- A Toronto startup,
working with the Stentor consortium of telephone companies, has
launched a test of networked multimedia training for doctors in the
capital city area.
Mentor Networks Inc. will run the trial from May through July, in
cooperation with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Canada, the Ottawa Civic Hospital, the University of Ottawa, and
Stentor.
The trial course, entitled Chest Pain in the Emergency Department,
was written by Dr. Dan Cass of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto
and Dr. Lauren Greenspan, a private practitioner in Toronto. Both
are prominent specialists in emergency medicine, said Elaine Lindo,
vice-president of marketing at Mentor.
Using personal computers, doctors will be able to work with
simulated cases using a mixture of full-motion video, audio,
animation, text, and clinical images. They will be able order
electrocardiograms, ultrasound, and X-rays of the simulated
patients, as well as use tutorials and reference materials.
While the system will be tested initially with doctors in the
immediate area of Ottawa, it has much potential to serve physicians
in remote areas, Lindo told Newsbytes.
Doctors will connect to the system using an advanced communications
technology known as Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL),
which Stentor announced in January of this year. ADSL can transmit
full-motion video, graphics, and animation over ordinary telephone
lines.
Mentor said it has contacted some 2,700 doctors about the trial,
and based on initial response expects more than 500 to participate
in demonstrations or take the trial course. Depending on the
outcome of the trial, Mentor hopes to expand its service to other
parts of Canada.
The company is also conducting a pilot project with the Ontario
Medical Association in the Halton region, near Toronto. There,
doctors are sharing an electronic mail system, electronic bulletin
boards, and workgroup software and conferencing services. Mentor
hopes to develop this into a national network.
Mentor is a new company, but its principals have been following
communications technology for some years and waiting for the right
time to launch services of this type, Lindo said. "We've been
waiting a long time for the technology to catch up with the needs
of doctors."
In future, she added, Mentor plans to offer services to other
professions, but the company has started with doctors because "they
present some interesting challenges." Doctors are demanding --
partly because of the life-and-death nature of their work -- and
more than 75 percent of them are not experienced computer users,
Lindo said. "Everything beyond doctors will be easier."
(Grant Buckler/19940512/Press Contact: Elaine Lindo, Mentor
Networks, 613-230-4564; Liz Cherry, Stentor, 613-781-7882; Public
Contact: Mentor Networks, 416-861-1933, fax 416-861-8184)
(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00015)
America Online Buys Redgate 05/12/94
VIENNA, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- America Online
has announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Redgate
Communications Corp., a new media company active in interactive
marketing, for stock representing a 6.2 percent interest in AOL.
Additional shares will be used to pay-off Redgate stock option
plans which will continue in-force. Redgate is privately-held and
employs about 100 people, with 1993 revenues of about $13
million. AOL says it its 1994 earnings will not be impacted by
the merger, and earnings should accelerate in 1995 as a result.
Ted Leonsis, president of Redgate, will remain as head of the
unit and become a member of AOL's board. In a press statement,
AOL President Steve Case said that the result will be marketing
systems that combine Redgate CDs and AOL's online service into a
complete program, or combine cable and phone networks in
marketing programs. "This will accelerate convergence," he said.
At a telephone press conference attended by Newsbytes, Case
said that current CD-ROM titles lack connectivity, while online
services lack pizzazz. "These hybrid offerings will serve as the
training wheels for an eventual broadband world."
Case noted that AOL now has about 800,000 subscribers and
expects to have one million by the end of this summer. "Still, only
five percent of households subscribe to any online service," he said,
making more innovation necessary to create a mass market. "A mix
of capabilities is necessary to move us into a mass market."
Case noted that, while all of AOL's revenue now comes from
subscribers, 80 percent of magazines revenues come from
advertisers, and with newspapers half the revenue comes from
advertisers. "We want to develop those revenue streams, but in a
creative way. This is a new medium requiring new paradigms. The
net result will hopefully be services welcomed by customers as
well as profitable for companies that want to reach our audience."
Leonsis said he was very excited by the merger. "We see the
opportunities as immense, so large and fast-growing we decided
that rather than go public" in order to take-out venture capital
investors like AT&T and Olivetti, "a merger would be the best
solution.
"We were founded in 1985," Leonsis continued, providing
background on his private company. "We have four business
segments. We are a large multimedia content aggregator. The
content is either owned by Redgate or the service is out-sourced
to a client. We bring in multimedia, digitize it, and deliver it
via a multitude of vehicles, including magazines, directories,
fax, online, CD-ROM, a private network, cable and broadband.
"Another business is new media development. You may remember En
Passant, which we co-founded, which started as a CD-ROM based
digital shopping service. We see a big opportunity in combining
that with a back-end online service like AOL. We also help
Fortune 500 companies a series of services, conducting audits of
content and media spending, and the creation of interactive
program."
He continued: "We published our first CD-ROM in 1989, and while
we're on the leading edge now we were on the bleeding edge then.
We also understand private networking, launching the Interactive
Information Network 18 months ago -- an all-digital, industry
oriented media network."
Added Case: "It's our belief that as this medium emerges it will
have a dramatic impact on many businesses. Media will become
more interactive and more participatory. We're going from special
interest to personal interest media. They'll be a shift from
intrusive advertising to the delivery of information and engaging
in dialogues with customers."
AOL's chief financial officer, Lennert Leader, said forms on the
deal should be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
in two weeks, and unless the SEC does a formal review of the deal
it could close soon thereafter. "To the extent that the SEC
reviews the S-4, we're under their timetable and would close
later in June, perhaps as late as July."
Newsbytes asked Case and Leonsis whether Redgate would be able
to help AOL advertisers get paid. Currently online transactions
are handled on a batch basis, while stores interface directly
with payment networks through terminals and credit cards.
"Redgate's skill is in alliance building and creation. We bring
that back-end. En Passant was a pilot, and a good example. It was
a well-designed digital shopping environment, but it was missing
a key piece of the puzzle -- it didn't complete the transaction,"
said Case.
"We're in the second phase on En Passant," added Leonsis. "We're
creating more of an electronic-mediated service. One of the
natural delivery vehicles would be an online pathway. Others are
developing. But having the back-end, like frequent flyer programs
and shopping, the kinds of things CompuCard is developing, needs
to happen."
"Our goal remains to be the number one interactive services
company," concluded Case, and the Redgate deal will help it
toward that goal.
(Dana Blankenhorn/19940512/Press Contact: Pam McGraw,
America Online, 703-556-3746)
(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016)
PictureTel Launches Distance Learning Product 05/12/94
PEABODY, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- PictureTel
has launched Socrates, a videoconferencing system designed for
use by instructors, presenters, and meeting moderators, and
aimed primarily at the growing distance learning market. The
product lists at prices as low as $19,500 and starts shipping in
July.
Socrates is based on the company's best-selling System 4000 and
includes peripherals controlled by a touchscreen interface. The
screen is mounted inside an expandable teaching podium, which
also houses optional VCRs, slide projectors and other video
devices. It can link to any system compliant with the H.320
standard, including PictureTel's own System 1000 and PictureTel
LIVE products. It can also work with H.320 compliant equipment
from such competitors as Compression Labs and VTEL.
Greg Eckstein, Distance Learning Product Manager for PictureTel,
emphasized to Newsbytes that the system is easy to use and
designed with presenters in mind. "It's a convertible piece of
furniture. You can create a large or small work surface,
depending on whether you like to stand or sit. The System 4000
starts with cameras, and you can place them anywhere." A
classroom instructor might have one in the back of the room
pointed at him or her, one in the front of the room pointed at
the in-room audience.
"You can make any room into a classroom," Eckstein added. "On the
podium surface we've designed it so that, even in the closed
configuration, there's a flat surface deep enough for a three-ring
binder. And on either side there are wings for more notes. It
would be different from the standard 4000 with a keypad. This
has a touchscreen, and was built to add tools for distance learning.
(Dana Blankenhorn/19940512/Press Contact: Ron Taylor, PictureTel,
508-762-5178/P'Tel940512/PHOTO)
(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00017)
Disclosure Signs OEM Deal With Mead 05/12/94
DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Mead Data Central
has signed a deal with Disclosure to develop information products
based on the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval,
or EDGAR, system, as well as Access Disclosure. EDGAR is an
electronic filing system managed by Disclosure for the Securities
and Exchange Commission, or SEC.
Under the agreement Lexis and Nexis users will be able to access
EDGARPlus, which includes typed-in files going back to 1987,
based on the search system they have grown accustomed to, and
including tagging and formatting of documents by Disclosure as
well as the ordering of electronic documents online through Mead.
Access Disclosure is that company's index of SEC filings which
goes all the way back to 1968. The companies also will develop a
hardcopy fulfillment option through Disclosure's network of 15
Info Centers.
Tim McLean, corporate communications manager for Disclosure,
described it to Newsbytes as a sort of OEM (original equipment
manufacturing) deal for the information highway, with
Disclosure manufacturing the information through its contract
to run EDGAR and Mead acting as OEM, offering special access
tools and putting its name on the result. "These products will be
available via Mead Lexis-Nexis, and Mead has plans to enhance
EDGARPlus with their search engine," he explained.
As to the financial arrangements, "We'll receive royalties for
their use. Our other databases are also available on major online
services like Dow Jones, Dialog, and others. This is a non-
exclusive agreement, so Disclosure could make deals to put
EDGARPlus and Access Disclosure on those or other services."
The SEC is phasing in a requirement that reporting companies make
filings through its EDGAR service, eventually eliminating the
traditional paper filings.To date, an estimated 3,500 corporations
are filing via the EDGAR System, and an estimated 8,000 companies
will be filing by the end of the year. All filers will be required to
file electronically by 1996.
Mead Data Central and Disclosure are both subcontractors on the
EDGAR project. Mead has contracts to manage the text management
segment of the project and the public dissemination of the
electronic data at prices regulated by the SEC. Disclosure has a
contract to make microfilm and paper copies of both paper and
EDGAR filings for archival and public dissemination. Under terms
of their EDGAR subcontracts, both companies must purchase the
electronic data in arms-length transactions at the same prices
available to all other users.
Mead is a unit of The Mead Corp., a forest products company.
Disclosure is owned by VNU Business Information Services Inc.,
and the parent organization, the United Dutch Publishing
Companies, is the largest publisher in the Netherlands.
(Dana Blankenhorn/19940512/Press Contact: Judi Schultz, Mead
Data Central, 513-865-7466; Maureen Stevens, Disclosure,
301-961-2769)
(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00018)
****Utilities Want Place On Information Highway 05/12/94
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Electric utilities
want a place on the Information Highway. Speaking at a Senate
hearing for the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group
representing publicly-traded electric companies, chairman
Lawrence Gressette Jr. of SCANA, which owns South Carolina
Electric and Gas, said his fiber cable can link telephones,
televisions and computers to interactive shopping, electronic
education and movies-on-demand just like telephone and cable
television systems can.
Like many other electric utilities, especially in the Southeast,
SCANA has run fiber cables along its high-power electric lines to
help big customers manage demand. Copper cables would not have
worked because of interference from the nearby electrical fields.
The result, according to SCANA spokesman Roger Schrum, is a 1,600
mile fiber network whose extra capacity is already sold in bulk
to long distance companies through a subsidiary, MPX Systems.
Another 600 miles in construction is planned, Schrum added.
Grassette spoke at a Senate hearing considering the
Communications Act of 1994, sponsored by Ernest Hollings, a South
Carolina Democrat. "We are particularly pleased that S. 1822
explicitly recognizes the importance of participation by electric
utilities in providing telecommunications services," Grassette
said.
He noted that electric utilities are now the third-largest
operator of private telecommunications facilities in the US.
Grassette noted in his testimony that many load management
signals had once been sent by microwave relays, but utilities
have come to depend on fiber cables under pressure from
regulators to release those frequencies for use by others.
"Utilities anticipate substantial energy savings and
environmental benefits through use of fiber optics and
telecommunications technology in the future," he added. "The good
news for the telecommunications field is that electric utilities
are using only a small part of their fiber capacity, often 10
percent or less. The reserve, which is available for voice, data
and video communications, can provide a critical link on the
information superhighway. A 40-strand cable can carry 1.3 million
phone conversations or 1,920 TV channels simultaneously. One
strand is about the size of a human hair."
The Clinton Administration once hoped to have a deregulation
bill finished by now, but it is stalled in part by opposition
from regional Bell companies. US West head Richard McCormick
spoke out last week against the bills.
Schrum of SCANA told Newsbytes that, unlike other southern
utility companies like Entergy and the Southern Co., his firm
does not have plans to extend its network into the "local loop,"
where demand management savings could pay for the new lines
allowing for the additional sale of cable and phone service.
But, he said, electric utilities in general are in a good
position to compete for those revenues. "We're into 90-plus
percent of all homes. When it comes to wires going into a home,
not everyone has cable, but they have electric."
(Dana Blankenhorn/19940512/Press Contact: Roger Schrum,
SCANA, 803-376-6777)
(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00019)
International Environment, Health & Safety Conf 05/12/94
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Hoping to address
environmental and safety concerns, an international group of
semiconductor associations joined to put on a conference with
the intention of establishing standards for protecting the overall
environment, while emphasizing industry employees' health and
safety, as well as, environmental issues of the general public.
"The World's Environment - Where the Electronics Industry wants
to be in the Year 2000," which began on May 10, and runs through
May 12, brought semiconductor manufacturers from around the
world to discuss the issues.
According to the US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA),
one of the most positive outcomes of the conference is the
agreement to share technological information and systems
relating to the conference topics.
Kevin Brett, spokesperson for SIA, told Newsbytes, "The impetus
for this conference has been the environmental discussions over
the past five years between the Electronic Industry Association
of Japan (EIAJ) and SIA."
He continued: "Realizing the need to expand this to a global level,
we developed this first international conference. Today is the last
day of the conference and already we have agreed to the need to
continue with annual meetings. The enthusiastic atmosphere of
the participants is complimented by a very serious exchange of
technical information, such as complex mathematical models used
in system solutions, related to these environmental issues."
Conference participants also reportedly showed interest in working
with government agencies in the establishment of environmental
standards that would be a "starting point" for the industry's more
stringent and detailed analysis of itself.
Commenting that the semiconductor industry is, in general, a very
clean and environmentally safe industry, Brett said, "We are
committed to taking our industry beyond an already sound
environmental position by seeing to it that the semiconductor
industry is a leader in these issues. This industry wants to attract
the brightest talents of the coming generations. We will do this by
assuring them of an industry with which they can be comfortable
with in terms of environmental safety."
Addressing issues of hazardous substances, chemical alternatives,
waste reduction, recycling, control technologies and management
systems, the three day conference is hosted by the European
Electronic Component Manufacturers Association (EECA) and
co-sponsored EIAJ, the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association
(KSIA), and SIA.
The conference had six overall themes: National Regulations,
Policies and Laws; Projects or Standards at National or Association
Levels; Environmental Management Programs; Influence of Chemical
Substances to the Environment; Safety and Health; and Industry Case
Studies on Various Subjects.
In conclusion, Brett said, "The industry feels very strongly that it
is a leader in environmental, health and safety issues, but it will
not rest on its laurels. We have agreed to interact with other trade
associations and to influence our own contractors in the
establishment of this industry as a leader in these issues.
Secondly, we have agreed that these issues are far too important to
allow other issues such as trade debates and technical disagreements
to interfere with the exchange of knowledge and technology in the
areas of environment, health and safety."
(Patrick McKenna/19940512/Press Contact: Kevin Brett,
Semiconductor Industry Association, tel 408-246-271)
(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BOS)(00020)
****Electro '94 - Global Highway Can Change Lives 05/12/94
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- The information
technology industry is now in the midst of a "defining moment"
just as crucial as the world's first two-way long-distance
telephone call, placed over 100 years ago by Alexander Graham Bell,
said Gregory N. Hughes, president of AT&T Transmission Systems,
speaking at Electro '94.
In a keynote presentation at the conference and expo in Boston,
Hughes noted that Bell carried out the historic 1876 phone call to
Thomas Watson over borrowed telegraph wire strung between Boston
and neighboring Cambridgeport, Massachusetts.
"Boston is 'ground zero' (for) modern communications," the AT&T
exec told the electrical engineers, executives, and marketers
attending the electronics show. "Now, decades of change and
progress have led us to a new vista of opportunity, one no longer
national or regional in character, but global."
The current "communications revolution" is more than just "a ride
on the 'information superhighway' or a journey through 500 channels
of television," but a chance to "unshackle economic resources and
dramatically change lives -- not only in the United States, but
throughout the world," Hughes explained.
Over the past decade, he pointed out, communications in the US has
witnessed a transition from POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) to
PANS (Pretty Amazing New Stuff). Expectations are growing for
services such as visual communications, home shopping, movies-on-
demand, and interactive gaming.
"But in much of the world, the promise of 'pretty amazing new
stuff' finds a more modest but powerful translation. It's simply
having the ability to pick up a phone, place a call, and talk with
another human being," he added.
Although worldwide communications networks today provide nearly
600 million access lines, these networks still reach only 10 percent
of the people in the world, according to Hughes.
"Over half of the world's population has yet to make their first
telephone call," he pointed out. "Most of the access that does
exist is narrowband, voice-only telephone lines."
Meanwhile, studies show that "at least another 2.2 billion people
have specifically requested and are willing to pay for access --
any kind of access," Hughes said in the speech at Electro, a show
sponsored each year by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical &
Electronics Engineers) and the ERA (Electronics Representatives
Association). Electro was managed this year by Miller Freeman.
Afterward, Hughes told Newsbytes that these 2.2 billion people
represent about 50-percent of all individuals who are not yet
receiving telephone services today.
The challenge facing AT&T right now is to help produce "anytime,
anywhere" communications everywhere in the world, Hughes
reported in his keynote. To meet this challenge, AT&T must weave
together the "seemingly disparate threads" of globalization, visual
and multimedia communications, and the "necessity for quality."
AT&T is already establishing broadband networks, in the US and many
other countries worldwide, that will enable visual and multimedia
as well as voice and data communications, according to Hughes.
AT&T recently signed agreements to become a strategic supplier and
integrator for broadband networks being installed by Pacific
Telesis and Southern New England Telephone throughout California
and Connecticut, he illustrated.
"And many developing countries that have antiquated or virtually
no communications infrastructure at all aren't waiting to
incrementally upgrade their networks. They're leapfrogging directly
to advanced information infrastructures."
In the Czech Republic, for example, AT&T has built "the largest SDH
(Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) network in the world with the
latest technology," Hughes said. The Czechs "avoided intermediate
steps, installed an advanced network, and are now in a strong
position to power economic growth."
Mexico has accomplished much the same goal by installing a high-
speed fiber optic backbone nationwide, he added. "In Mexico, the
government wanted to attract manufacturers. But the
telecommunications network couldn't handle the data communications
needed to manage the sourcing and delivery of materials or the
financial transactions characteristic of a vibrant economy."
Today, it is possible to install hybrid fiber/coax communications
network that allows two-way broadband services to consumers at a
cost less than that of providing voice-only services, he explained.
"The impact on standards of living in a global economy can be
immense. But there's much work to be done," he continued. "The
integrated circuits and optoelectronics that some of you will
design and manufacture, coupled with your systems engineering
ingenuity, will tackle the formidable challenge of global
networking and product development."
Yet the "emerging multivendor, multilayer, multifunction networks
-- from Mexico to the Czech Republic to the People's Republic of
China" must be made to "operate as part of a greater, unified
entity -- as part of a global information infrastructure."
The global networking environment also calls for inventiveness in
successfully creating new services, he added. "And service
providers like AT&T will be challenged to provide an inexhaustible
menu of these services to meet the evolving communications needs
of people everywhere."
Competition in the global networking marketplace will be intense,
he predicted. Worldwide sales for telecommunications infrastructure
equipment, alone, are projected to exceed $200 billion by the year
2000. Quality will be the key differentiating factor for success.
"Quality counts. In the global marketplace, it gets you in the
door," Hughes advised. AT&T caught on to this lesson in the
mid-1980s, when the company started shipping product to Japan,
he recalled. "Some of it was shipped back with appropriate
criticism. Our initial reaction? We thought they were picky.
But we listened. We learned."
Today, said Hughes, AT&T is the only non-Japanese transmission
supplier that is "quality certified" to deliver product to NTT
(Nippon Telegraph and Telephone), the public telephone service
provider of Japan, without site inspections.
To achieve quality, managers must do more than just "demand quality
improvement," recommended Hughes. Managers should provide
employees with "information about the process," along with the
training needed to improve the process. "You can't just tell people to
do better. You need to `unmask' them...give them a clear vision," he
said.
"Empowered people can create flawless circuits and global networks.
If you doubt its power to change the world, I wish you could have
been with me when I met with the CEO of one of the largest
industrial groups in India...a country of 900 million people."
The CEO of the corporation in India "had tears in his eyes" as he
told Hughes about what information technology could do for his
country and his people. "He was telling me about healthcare and
education, about saving lives, saving children...of being able to
pick up a phone and call for help," said Hughes.
"The opportunity exists to change lives. And we should all be
excited about the roles we can play, the contributions we can make.
The emerging global infrastructure, and the access people have to
it, will determine the significance of our contributions and the
speed of change," he concluded.
(Jacqueline Emigh/19940512/Press and Reader Contact: Miller
Freeman, 214-239-3060)
(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00021)
Compaq Expands UK Distribution Outlets 05/12/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Compaq has appointed Ingram
Micro and Ideal Hardware as new distributors for its PCs. Although the
move means that the two new distributors can supply Compaq hardware
to any dealer in the UK, Compaq is at pains to stress that the
distributors intend to concentrate on specific sections of the
marketplace.
"The addition of Ingram Micro enhances our ability to supply the
general distribution market, and especially to focus on expanding
Compaq's penetration of the small business market," said Dave Furniss,
market development group manager for Compaq.
According to Furniss, Ideal Hardware has elected to focus its efforts
on the server side of the business. The idea of the two signings is
not to expand the company's existing mainstream distributorships, but
to fill in the specialist side of the business.
Furniss' comments are obviously designed to appease the company's
other distributors, Newsbytes notes. Currently, Compaq distributes its
products through Systems Resellers, Associates, Systems Associates
and Product Centers.
Despite the "specialized" nature of the two distributors, Furniss
admits that the number of sales outlets handling Compaq kit could
double from its present 600 across the UK. The signings are a major
step for the company, he said.
(Steve Gold/19940512/Press & Public Contact: Compaq UK,
44-81-332-3888)
(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LON)(00022)
UK - TTL Intros Super-Serial I/O Subsystem 05/12/94
CALDICOT, GWENT, WALES, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Terminal Technology
Limited (TTL) has announced the Super-Serial processor (SSP), an
advanced sub-system design to assume the serial I/O (input/output)
port load of the host computer.
The SSP operates at 30 megahertz (MHz) when measured in Intel CPU
(central processing unit) terms and, according to TTL, is as an
application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). This makes the SSP
the fastest serial port on the market, the company claims.
"This SSP is the heart of the new SST (new company's product range)
products and takes the physical place of over 100 individual, costly
and comparatively failure-prone components, found in other products.
This guarantees greatly improved reliability at lower prices than
comparable sub-systems," explained Gary Lock, TTL's general manager.
"The release of the SSP processor is the latest chapter in Equinox's
continuing development toward pressing I/O to the end of the envelope.
The fact that we have first applied the SSP to increasing the speed,
performance and reliability of Equinox's line of I/O subsystems, is
not really the entire story, though it is what one might logically
expect. The real significance of the SSP is what applications we and
others may have in stores for it in the future," he said.
Lock told Newsbytes that pricing on the SSP technology starts at
UKP536 for an eight-port system. This price, he claims, is very
aggressive. "The systems were shown for the first time at Cebit
in Germany this March. We handle the boards, which are
manufactured by Equinox," he said.
The SSP is available in several different formats, including Industry
Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA) and Micro Channel
Architecture (MCA). Typical speeds of up to 230 kilobits per second
(kbps) on all channels simultaneously can be achieved, with a maximum
speed of 920 kbps where only a few channels are in use.
For users with larger needs, the SSP is available in an eight- to 128-
port configuration, with the SSP SS/XP eight-port starter system
costing UKP 1,150.
The SST system supports Unix, Unixware, Novell Netware, DOS,
Windows, OS/2, Solaris and Netware Connect technologies. This
makes the system able to hook up to most PCs, excluding the Apple
Mac series.
(Steve Gold/19940512/Press & Public Contact: Gary Lock, TTL,
tel 44-291-430404, fax 44-291-425442)
(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00023)
British Telecom Rebuffed On Video License Application 05/12/94
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Earlier this year British
Telecom (BT) revealed it was disappointed to be blocked in its
application for a video broadcast license. While launching a
video-on-demand (VoD) service to fill the gap, it has been
quietly conducting a campaign to lobby for reconsideration by the
British government. Newsbytes can report, however, that any
reconsideration now appears to be out of the question.
British Technology Minister Patrick McLoughlin has now gone on
record as acknowledging BT's request, but has officially restated
the government's intention to prevent BT from sending broadcast
entertainment over its phone wires for the immediate future.
According to McLoughlin, the heavy investment by the cable TV
companies has vindicated the government from its decision back in
1991 to block new entrants to the market. To allow free market
competition now would mean that these new operators would not
get a return on their investment, he said.
Interestingly, McLoughlin has revealed in his statement that both BT
and Mercury are banned from offering video broadcast services until
the year 2001. After that, Newsbytes notes, video broadcasting will
be allowed over the phone network.
BT has retaliated by following Time-Warner's lead in the US and
entering the video-on-demand (VoD) service sector. BT's VoD system
allows a phone subscriber to punch in a request over the phone line
for a video film and for that film to be transmitted over the copper
cabling to his/her house.
BT argues -- as Time-Warner has done -- that such video transmissions
are not broadcasting, but a highly specialized form of narrowcasting,
with an audience of one subscriber. In many ways, the video call is
transmitted as if it were a standard phone call -- just that the
bandwidth is a lot wider.
Under the BT VoD scheme, which is being pilot tested at several sites
around the UK, video transmissions do not affect the normal phone
line, which can be used even while the video film is being transmitted
over the circuit.
"Naturally we're disappointed, but we intend to press on with our
video-on-demand service," said a spokesman for BT, who added that
plans for BT's broadcast network are still in abeyance. Newsbytes
notes that BT had claiming it was earmarking UKP15,000 million for
its broadcast entertainment project.
(Steve Gold/19940512/Press & Public Contact: 44-71-356-5000)
(NEWS)(TELECOM)(LON)(00024)
UK - Orange Mobile Phone Net Hits Interconnect Glitch 05/12/94
BRISTOL, AVON, ENGLAND, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Creating a new mobile
phone network from scratch is not without its problems, as Orange,
the mobile phone service from Hutchison, has discovered. Subscribers
opting for the "virtual local number" facility on certain exchanges
have found themselves unable to dial the numbers when using a
Mercury phone line, despite the fact that British Telecom (BT)
routes the calls correctly.
In the UK, unlike many other countries, calls to mobile phones cost
more than a conventional wireline (fixed) network call. Many people
are dissuaded from calling a mobile as a result and, since Orange is
pitched as the ideal replacement for a wireline number, the service
offers virtual numbers with divert facilities.
In return for UKP15 a month plus eight pence per minute for incoming
calls from the divert, mobile users elect to have a wireline (fixed)
network number on the national phone network which routes (diverts)
calls to the mobile. The idea is to persuade callers they are calling
a landline, rather than a mobile, phone.
According to Neil Duffield, an Orange user who is a computer support
manager for a major bank, calls to his London 362-xxxx virtual number
for his mobile cannot be reached by anyone using a Mercury One-2-One
mobile phone or linking over the Mercury phone network. Callers are
greeted with an unobtainable tone.
Colin Tucker, Orange's operations director, said that the problem was
one of an interconnect nature. "Although we signed an interconnect
agreement with Mercury, Mercury didn't reprogram its computers to
accept these new codes. They are now doing this," he told Newsbytes.
The problems caused by interconnects such as Mercury's is likely to
increase as more networks arrive later this year. At least six new
national wireline telecoms carriers will be launch in the UK before
the end of this year and Tucker agreed that the problems involved with
such interconnects are "immense."
Duffield told Newsbytes that the main reason his bank was evaluating
the Orange mobiles was the local number option. "The problem is that
our bank PABX (private automatic branch exchange) is linked into
Mercury's direct network. We can force the calls to go via BT, but
that makes calling an Orange local number too difficult. It's a crazy
situation," he said, adding: "I don't blame Orange. It's not their fault.
It's Mercury's,"
(Steve Gold/19940512/Press & Public Contact: Orange,
44-454-618500)
(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00025)
UK - Computers For Business Acquired By P&P 05/12/94
ROSSENDALE, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- P&P PLC, the
major computer distribution chain, has announced plans to acquire
Computers for Business, the Scottish computer systems integrator.
The move marks a distinct change for the company, which has shied
away from its dealer origins and has always maintained it is a
computer product distributor.
Computers for Business has around 100 staff and offices in Aberdeen,
Edinburgh, and Glasgow. The deal will cost P&P around the UKP6.6
million, with UKP3.75 million payable in cash and paper notes
initially, followed by phased payments, dependent on profitability,
in the years to come.
According to P&P, Computers for Business is a potential highly
profitable concern, having generated UKP530,000 profits on sales
of almost UKP100 million last year. Net assets of the company are
around the UKP2.5 million, Newsbytes understands.
The Computers for Business deal could prove to be something of a
headache for Computerland, Newsbytes notes. Computerland currently
has five franchise outlets in the UK, three of which are operated by
Computers for Business.
According to Martin Jeffrey, Computers for Business' managing
director, no decision on whether to continue the Computerland
franchise operations has yet been taken. In the latest issue of PC
Dealer, a weekly UK computer reseller publication, however, Jeffrey
said that, for the time being, the Computerland name will be used.
Computerland's headquarters in Luxembourg, meanwhile, is expected
to issue a statement on the takeover at the end of this week. No press
comment is being made on the P&P/Computers for Business takeover
in the meantime.
P&P is fast becoming a major distributor in all areas of the computer
business in the UK. This contrasts sharply from its origins in the
early 1980s, Newsbytes notes, when the company was an Apple
dealership known as Pete & Pam. The company changed its name to
P&P in the mid-1980s to reflect a more professional image, since
then it has moved out of end user sales and into supplying products
to resellers.
(Sylvia Dennis & Steve Gold/19940512/Press & Public Contact:
P&P, 44-706-217744)
(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00026)
Sweden - Storel Considers Saudi-Arabian Joint Venture 05/12/94
MALMO, SWEDEN, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Storel International, the
Swedish electronic and networking giant, has announced it is
considering a joint venture operation with Jeddah-based Select,
a Middle-Eastern company with similar interests.
Currently, Select is a distributor for Storel's products. If the joint
project goes ahead, then a new company will handle the supply,
maintenance and support of Storel's products in the Gulf area,
Newsbytes has been told.
Details of the possible joint venture operation were revealed by Ken
Bertilsson, the Swedish Consul General, who have the keynote speech
at the Diya Al-Deen high-tech exhibition which opened in Jeddah
earlier this week.
Bertilsson said that, even though the Gulf is a very rich area, this
does not mean that electrical products can be ignored. In the heat of
the Gulf, he said, electrical products must be handled with care.
He added that there are a number of Swedish companies in joint
ventures with Saudi firms, and bilateral trade and business relations
are increasing. "Saudi investments in Sweden are growing and more
Saudis are visiting Sweden. Also, more Swedish businessmen are
visiting the Kingdom now than before," he said.
Bertilsson said that the building industry "is doing well and the
private sector is also active in different sectors. There should be a
big demand for these products."
According to Leif Svensson, Storel's export manager, the Saudi
Arabian market for electrical products is worth at least SR1,000
million, with Storel scooping up around two percent of the market
currently.
(Sylvia Dennis/19940512/Press & Public Contact: Storel,
36-40-500-1293)
(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00027)
Olivetti Claims Turnover Up, Omens Good 05/12/94
IVREA, ITALY, 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Olivetti, the troubled Italian
computer and electronics manufacturer, seems to be pulling back.
That, at least, is the picture that Carlo de Benedetti, the company's
chairman, wants to paint for the world.
In a statement given to the press in Ivrea earlier today, de Benedetti
said that turnover for the company had increased six percent in the
first four months of the current year, when compared with the
January to April period of 1993.
Orders, meanwhile, were up 11 percent on last year, with every
likelihood of that situation continuing through the summer, a
normally traditionally quiet period for all electronics suppliers.
According to a spokesman for Olivetti UK, the company is starting to
go through a renaissance period, after a troublesome 1993. In March
of this year, he noted, the company won a tender for the second
cellphone network in Italy.
In January of this year, meanwhile, the company restructured its
Italian domestic operations, a factor that has contributed heavily to
a continuing return to profitability. "The turnover increase is due to
to this restructuring. The company is now a much more aggressive
animal," he told Newsbytes.
(Sylvia Dennis/19931223/Press & Public Contact: Eugenio Pccchili,
Olivetti Italy, tel 39-125-523733; fax 39-125-522377)
(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00028)
****3DO Still Losing, 4QTR Income Mostly Japanese 05/12/94
REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Japanese
sales account for most of the income 3DO is reporting in its
fourth quarter and fiscal 1994 results. 3DO is still reporting
losses, as it predicted, and may not be profitable until 1996 or
even 1997.
3DO's revenue stream is from the licensing of its technology both
in hardware and software. Matsushita, who has licensed and is
making the reduced instruction-set chip (RISC)-based Panasonic
Real 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, claims 120,000 of the units
have been sold worldwide.
As for a sales break down, all 3DO and Matsushita will say is the
majority of the sales have been in Japan since the March 1994
launch of the unit there. 3DO did confirm most of the $4.2
million in revenue reported in its fourth quarter has come from
those sales.
The company reported a loss of $51.4 million for the year ($2.60
per share) on revenues of $10.3 million. The loss includes a non-
recurring operating charge of $21.4 million from the company's
acquisition of NTG LP and NTG Inc. in April of last year.
Most of the purchase was done by issuing 3DO common stock,
with a cash outlay by the company of $0.7 million.
For the quarter, 3DO reported a loss of $7.4 million ($0.37 per
share) on the $4.2 million in income, compared to zero income and
a loss of $7.7 million ($0.51 per share) last year.
US sales of the 3DO player are picking up due to the price cut to
$499 of the Multiplayer, an advertising campaign, a special
promotion, and new titles released in March. The game Crash 'N
Burn and a Compact Disc (CD) Sampler comes with the player, but
the special promotion, good until the end of June, offers buyers
the new title John Madden Football at the point-of-purchase for
no extra charge. Other new titles are Twisted and The Horde.
3DO says there are currently about 35 3DO software titles
available in US retail stores, and over 15 software titles
available in Japan. As of April 30, 1994, more than 550
development systems had been shipped to over 200 licensee
companies worldwide, the company added.
(Linda Rohrbough/19940512/Press Contact: Diane Hunt, 3DO,
tel 415-261-3214, fax 415-261-3231)
(NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00029)
Old Movies, TV Shows Planned For CD-ROM 05/12/94
NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Old
movies and children's shows on compact disc read-only memory (CD-
ROM) is the focus of new titles from Miami Beach, Florida-based
Gametek Cinema. The company plans to release classics such as
"Night of the Living Dead" and compilations of "Our Gang"
episodes on CD-ROM for full-motion video playback on computers.
Gametek has developed entertainment software titles for Nintendo,
Sega, Commodore Amiga, and other platforms, such as game show
simulations "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!" as well as games
"Frontier Elite II" and "Humans." For the movie CD-ROM titles,
the company says users will be offered a pop-up computer
interface that leads them through a virtual movie theater. The
lobby will have arcades, an interactive refreshment stand, and
other surprises, the company said.
One movie or television show will be featured on each CD-ROM.
Viewers will have video cassette recorder (VCR)-like control with
Play, Pause, Fast Forward and Rewind, but will also have Frame-
by-Frame Forward and Frame-by-Frame Backward and variable speed
controls added.
The company hopes to have 36 titles available by Christmas. Six
full-length animated children's features such as "Treasure
Island" and "Wind In The Willows" are planned under an exclusive
license with Omnivision, Los Angeles to be released under the
Kidstuff Cinema label. Other titles will be based on PBS-TV's
award-winning "Reading Rainbow" series.
Gametek is hoping to release the first titles at retail prices in
the lower $20 range for both Macintosh and Windows CD-ROM in
September.
(Linda Rohrbough/19940512/Press Contact: Charleen Carty,
Gametek Cinema, tel 305-935-3995 ext 103, fax 305-932-8651,
Adam Wahlberg, Mona Meyer McGrath & Gavin, 612-832-5000)
(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00030)
Fujitsu Upgrades DeskTop Conferencing, Cuts Price 50% 05/12/94
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- Fujitsu
Networks Industry has added new network management and remote
dial-in access capabilities to its Windows-based DeskTop
Conferencing (DTC) software for Novell networks, while cutting
the price of the product just about in half.
In an interview with Newsbytes, Jim Zimmerman, director of
marketing, said that DTC is the only PC-based package now on the
market that allows document conferencing by more than two users,
and also the only product in the category currently capable of live
application sharing.
DTC permits document conferencing by workgroups of up to eight
users, as well as full sharing of any Windows and DOS-based
applications by two conference participants. Fujitsu's offering
competes against systems like new Intel's ProShare, according to
Zimmerman.
Fujitsu's new DTC Version 1.5 operates two to four times faster
than its predecessor, Version 1.2, and now offers high enough
performance for remote dial-in access by 14.4 megabit-per-second
(Mbps) V.32 bis modems, Zimmerman told Newsbytes.
The new release of the Windows-bases shared whiteboard software
also adds a new option designed to let network managers control the
amount of traffic generated over a LAN (local area network) or a
WAN (wide area network) by desktop conferencing among various
workgroups.
The new "conference control option" provides a "conference room"
that lets the administrator designate the number of desktop
conferences permissible per group, as well as the number of
simultaneous conferences that can be conducted over the network.
The conference control option replaces the service advertising
protocol (SAP) messages of previous editions, Zimmerman said. The
SAP messages notified users of conferences going on throughout the
network. At installations where DTC is used extensively, the
messages tended to "clutter" the network, he explained.
DTC allows conference participants to colloboratively create
graphics on a "shared whiteboard" called a FlipChart, and annotate
the shared documents with a set of drawing tools. Meanwhile,
workgroup members can discuss the documents over a telephone
link-up.
Whiteboard sessions can be conducted in either of two ways. A
conference chair can be appointed, who is given the authority to
determine which participants can contribute input to the shared
whiteboard, and at what times. Alternatively, a less formal mode
allows for "free-form discussion" among participants.
"Live document sharing," another DTC option, operates in a manner
similar to remote control software, Newsbytes was told. The option
allows two conference participants to jointly access any Windows-
or DOS-based application, with other participants looking on.
Fujitsu's DTC 1.5 is priced at $99 for a three-user starter kit,
$1,290 for a 10-user pack, and $7,900 for a 100-user pack. The
starter kit is an especially good deal, when purchased alone or
with a larger pack, Zimmerman advised. "Pricing on the start kit is
only $33 per seat," he said. In comparison, DTC 1.2 was priced at
$2,490 for a 10-user pack and $7,900 for a 100-user pack.
DTC requires Novell NetWare 2.2, 3.11 or 4.0, and Novell's IPX
(Internetwork Packet Exchange) protocol. The software can be used
on any LAN topology. For wide area interconnects, a bridge or router
with at least 56 kilobits-per-second (kbps) bandwidth is
recommended. A dial-in remote LAN software package such as RLN
(Remote LAN) from DCA (Digital Communications Associates) is
required for remote access by modem.
(Jacqueline Emigh/19940512/Reader Contact: Fujitsu Networks
Industry, 203-326-2700; Press Contact: Leahanne Hobson or Narina
Sippy, Copithorne & Bellows Public Relations for Fujitsu, 617-252-
0606)
(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00031)
Newsbytes Daily Summary 05/12/94
PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 12 (NB) -- These are
capsules of all today's news stories:
1 -> AT&T Wins $4 Billion Saudi Arabian Telecom Job 05/12/94 With a
major boost from the Clinton administration, AT&T has won a massive
contract to upgrade and modernize the telephone system of Saudi
Arabia. The deal with worth about $4 billion over the next several
years, according to AT&T.
2 -> MacWorld -- Imaxis Offers Document Management 05/12/94 Need help
in managing your documents in a Macintosh environment? Systems
Engineering Solutions of Dunn Loring, Va., may have some help for you.
The company's Imaxis software, which debuted at the MacWorld Expo in
Washington, includes a set of tools useful in managing the plethora of
documents that come your way on either a standalone computer or a
network.
3 -> EDS Signs JV To Tap Malaysian IT Services Market 05/12/94 n a bid
to tap Malaysia's billion dollar information technology market, EDS
Asia Pacific has signed a joint venture agreement with Malaysia's UMW
Holdings Bhd, one of the country's major diversified industrial
groups.
4 -> DEC Enhances Presence In Asia-Pacific Region 05/12/94 Digital
Equipment Corporation's Asia Pacific President Bobby Choonavala has
announced that the company is expanding and strengthening its Asia
Pacific operations.
5 -> TV Reporter Sues Over Bill Gates' Wedding Security 05/12/94 A
Seattle television reporter has sued Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and
the owner of a Hawaiian island over, what many journalists said, was
over-zealous security at the billionaire's wedding.
6 -> IBM Australia To Market Unix Message Handler 05/12/94 IBM
Australia has entered into a marketing arrangement with Message
Handling Systems Pty Ltd to market and distribute MHSnet. The product
is a Unix-based message handling system, available on all major Unix
platforms, including IBM's AIX. IBM Australia will market MHSnet
through its Software Services Center.
7 -> Japan - Portable Phone Sales Increase 05/12/94 Sales of portable
telephones are increasing in the Japanese market and supply cannot
keep up with demand. As a result, most phone makers are preparing to
increase production.
8 -> Japan - DOS/V PC BTRON Kit, Mac JIS Keyboard Debut 05/12/94
Tokyo-based small personal computer (PC) firm Personal Media has
developed a BTRON software
kit for DOS/V PCs. Meanwhile, Apple Computer, will release the
Macintosh JIS keyboard, which supports the Japanese JIS standard.
9 -> Japan - NEC To Push Software Sales 05/12/94 NEC plans to enter
the personal computer (PC) software market. Also, NEC Home
Electronics, an NEC subsidiary, plans to develop game software for
the firm's video game machine.
10 -> Hong Kong - Display Research/Apexsoft In Multimedia Deal
05/12/94 Display Research Laboratory has signed a cross-licensing
agreement with Apexsoft System, a local multimedia software company,
in a move designed to boost the development of multimedia
applications in Hong Kong and China.
11 -> Desktop Data Updates NewsEdge 05/12/94 Desktop Data Inc., has
updated its NewsEdge news-filtering software, adding support for
servers running Microsoft Windows NT, greater storage capacity, and
some user-interface improvements.
12 -> Dataware Launches Software, Services For Internet 05/12/94
Dataware Technologies Inc., has announced software and services for
electronic publishers who want to make databases and other material
available through the Internet.
13 -> ****Apple Australia Readies For New PowerBooks 05/12/94 Apple
Australia, along with other Apple subsidiaries worldwide, is going to
launch radical new PowerBook portable Macintosh computers next week.
But Apple President and CEO Michael Spindler will arrive in
Australia, also next week, for reasons that have not been made clear.
According to Apple, they are not associated with the PowerBook launch.
14 -> Ottawa Doctors Offered Multimedia Training 05/12/94 A Toronto
startup, working with the Stentor consortium of telephone companies,
has launched a test of networked multimedia training for doctors in
the capital city area.
15 -> America Online Buys Redgate 05/12/94 America Online has
announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Redgate Communications
Corp., a new media company active in interactive marketing, for stock
representing a 6.2 percent interest in AOL.
16 -> PictureTel Launches Distance Learning Product 05/12/94
PictureTel has launched Socrates, a videoconferencing system designed
for use by instructors, presenters, and meeting moderators, and
aimed primarily at the growing distance learning market. The product
lists at prices as low as $19,500 and starts shipping in July.
17 -> Disclosure Signs OEM Deal With Mead 05/12/94 Mead Data Central
has signed a deal with Disclosure to develop information products
based on the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval, or
EDGAR, system, as well as Access Disclosure. EDGAR is an electronic
filing system managed by Disclosure for the Securities and Exchange
Commission, or SEC.
18 -> ****Utilities Want Place On Information Highway 05/12/94
Electric utilities want a place on the Information Highway. Speaking
at a Senate hearing for the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group
representing publicly-traded electric companies, chairman Lawrence
Gressette Jr. of SCANA, which owns South Carolina Electric and Gas,
said his fiber cable can link telephones, televisions and computers to
interactive shopping, electronic education and movies-on-demand just
like telephone and cable television systems can.
19 -> International Environment, Health & Safety Conf 05/12/94 Hoping
to address environmental and safety concerns, an international group
of semiconductor associations joined to put on a conference with the
intention of establishing standards for protecting the overall
environment, while emphasizing industry employees' health and safety,
as well as, environmental issues of the general public.
20 -> ****Electro '94 - Global Highway Can Change Lives 05/12/94 The
information technology industry is now in the midst of a "defining
moment" just as crucial as the world's first two-way long-distance
telephone call, placed over 100 years ago by Alexander Graham Bell,
said Gregory N. Hughes, president of AT&T Transmission Systems,
speaking at Electro '94.
21 -> Compaq Expands UK Distribution Outlets 05/12/94 Compaq has
appointed Ingram Micro and Ideal Hardware as new distributors for its
PCs. Although the move means that the two new distributors can supply
Compaq hardware to any dealer in the UK, Compaq is at pains to stress
that the distributors intend to concentrate on specific sections of
the marketplace.
22 -> UK - TTL Intros Super-Serial I/O Subsystem 05/12/94 Terminal
Technology Limited (TTL) has announced the Super-Serial processor
(SSP), an advanced sub-system design to assume the serial I/O
(input/output) port load of the host computer.
23 -> British Telecom Rebuffed On Video License Application 05/12/94
Earlier this year British Telecom (BT) revealed it was disappointed
to be blocked in its application for a video broadcast license. While
launching a video-on-demand (VoD) service to fill the gap, it has been
quietly conducting a campaign to lobby for reconsideration by the
British government. Newsbytes can report, however, that any
reconsideration now appears to be out of the question.
24 -> UK - Orange Mobile Phone Net Hits Interconnect Glitch 05/12/94
Creating a new mobile phone network from scratch is not without its
problems, as Orange, the mobile phone service from Hutchison, has
discovered. Subscribers opting for the "virtual local number" facility
on certain exchanges have found themselves unable to dial the numbers
when using a Mercury phone line, despite the fact that British
Telecom (BT) routes the calls correctly.
25 -> UK - Computers For Business Acquired By P&P 05/12/94 P&P PLC,
the major computer distribution chain, has announced plans to acquire
Computers for Business, the Scottish computer systems integrator. The
move marks a distinct change for the company, which has shied away
from its dealer origins and has always maintained it is a computer
product distributor.
26 -> Sweden - Storel Considers Saudi-Arabian Joint Venture 05/12/94
Storel International, the Swedish electronic and networking giant,
has announced it is considering a joint venture operation with
Jeddah-based Select, a Middle-Eastern company with similar interests.
27 -> Olivetti Claims Turnover Up, Omens Good 05/12/94 Olivetti, the
troubled Italian computer and electronics manufacturer, seems to be
pulling back. That, at least, is the picture that Carlo de Benedetti,
the company's chairman, wants to paint for the world.
28 -> ****3DO Still Losing, 4QTR Income Mostly Japanese 05/12/94
Japanese sales account for most of the income 3DO is reporting in its
fourth quarter and fiscal 1994 results. 3DO is still reporting losses,
as it predicted, and may not be profitable until 1996 or even 1997.
29 -> Old Movies, TV Shows Planned For CD-ROM 05/12/94 Old movies and
children's shows on compact disc read-only memory (CD- ROM) is the
focus of new titles from Miami Beach, Florida-based Gametek Cinema.
The company plans to release classics such as "Night of the Living
Dead" and compilations of "Our Gang" episodes on CD-ROM for
full-motion video playback on computers.
30 -> Fujitsu Upgrades DeskTop Conferencing, Cuts Price 50% 05/12/94
Fujitsu Networks Industry has added new network management and remote
dial-in access capabilities to its Windows-based DeskTop Conferencing
(DTC) software for Novell networks, while cutting the price of the
product just about in half.
(Ian Stokell/19940512)