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(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00001) Action! For Windows 3.0 Intro'd, CD-ROM Version 05/24/94 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Macromedia has announced that the new version of its multimedia presentation tool Action! for Windows 3.0 contains new features and a lower price tag. In addition, the company is offering a second CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) version with sound editing capability thrown in. Aimed at the entry-level multimedia user, Action! adds to its ability to make presentations using text, graphics, animation, digital video, and sound new text tools, templates, and an enhanced user interface, according to the company. Macromedia said Action! now includes an outliner and a spelling checker. The outliner is for planning and organizing key points of the presentation and the spelling checker helps prevent "typos." Over 300 templates are available in the new version, including graphic design, motion, font/color selections, visual flourishes, and synchronization. The template libraries are interchangeable so context created with one template may be transferred to a different template. Automated motion and transition effects are available to the user, including flying bullets and a motion palette. The company claims it has enhanced the user interface to make it easier to use with commonly used commands accessible in the tool bar and in floating palettes. The right mouse button is also being used as a context sensitive help button providing the options available in the working area of the screen at any particular point. Action! 3.0 is also compatible with Microsoft Office and uses Microsoft's object linking and embedding (OLE) 2.0 technology. OLE support allows users the ability to work with other programs also supporting OLE, so users can drag-and-drop data between programs, edit information in place, and share data between programs. Action! for Windows 3.0 has been cut nearly $100 from $295 to $199. Upgrades for those with previous versions are $49 until July 31, 1994, and $69 anytime later. The CD-ROM version will be $295 when it is available in June and it offers 230 megabytes of Clipmedia as well as Wave Tools and musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) editing software. The additional software is from sound company Turtle Beach, and allows users to create or edit their own sound clips and special sound effects. Upgrades to the CD-ROM version for those with previous versions will be $69 until July 31, when the price goes up to $89. (Linda Rohrbough/19940523/Press Contact: Lynn Stadler, Macromedia, tel 415-252-2234, fax 415-626-0554) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00002) AmCoEx Index Of Used Computer Prices 05/24/94 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- By John Hastings. Intel has set an extremely ambitious goal to sell over 7 million Pentium CPU (central processing unit) chips before the end of this year. Some estimate the company has sold fewer than one million chips during the past thirteen months. For Intel to realize its goals in the face of mounting competition, chip prices will surely fall. Some industry experts are expecting fire sale prices during the fourth quarter. Smart shoppers are delaying large purchases until the real bargains appear. Apple is expected to lower the prices on some low end Macintosh computers soon. These are the models that have the greatest effect on used computer prices. Hence, used prices could be forced lower as a result. Color Classics are expected to sell between $600 and $700, but supplies are limited and the impact on the used computer market could be short lived. The Quadra 605 prices may drop by several hundred dollars. This could force used prices down by an equal or slightly greater amount on a more permanent basis. Most of the software for the Macintosh is currently being converted to take advantage of the phenomenal speed increase available from the new PowerMacs. Some of these conversions are relatively simple matters involving a process known as recompiling. Other applications may have to be essentially rewritten. Over the course of the next year virtually all applications will be available in PowerMac format. IBM compatible users will face a similar transition next year when the next version of Windows is released. Because Windows 4.0 will be a 32-bit operating system and Windows 3.1 is a 16-bit operating system, most of the Windows applications will need conversion effort ranging from minor to major. Unfortunately, Windows users will not see the same speed improvement as will the Macintosh users. However, Microsoft does plan to put a completely new and different user interface on the new version of Windows. The new interface may be optional to eliminate retraining for those familiar with the current version. The new interface is said to be easier for first time users to learn. Apple is trying to capitalize on the video capabilities built into many of its new models. It is expected to announce a device which will allow television programs to be displayed on the computer screen. While this is not the first device to accomplish that, it may be the first to sell for less than $100. Computer sales to large corporations have fallen flat lately due to saturation. Meanwhile, small business sales have grown dramatically. Graphical interfaces have allowed more small businesses to computerize with less effort and training. In addition, lower prices have made computers more affordable. Small businesses today account for more than half of all computer sales. Average Average Buyer's Seller's Machine Bid Ask Close Change IBM PS/2 Model 30/286 20MB $250 $450 $300 +25 IBM PS/2 Model 70 60MB 400 700 550 .. IBM ThinkPad 350 1000 1550 1025 .. IBM ThinkPad 700 1100 1700 1350 -50 IBM ThinkPad 720 1600 2000 1775 -25 AST 386/20, 80MB 450 850 525 .. Dell 325SX,60MB 400 800 525 -50 Dell 386/20, 120MB 600 900 675 -25 Gateway 386SX/20, 80MB 400 850 525 .. Gateway 386/25, 80MB 500 800 650 .. Gateway 486/33 120MB 900 1300 975 +50 Clone Notebook 286, 40 MB 350 700 400 -25 Clone Notebook 386SX, 40 MB 500 900 750 +25 Clone 386/25 80MB, VGA 450 850 650 .. Clone 386/33 80MB, VGA 550 950 700 .. Clone 486/25120MB, VGA 800 1250 950 +50 Compaq SLT/286 20MB 250 500 350 .. Compaq LTE 286 40MB 300 675 400 -25 Compaq Deskpro 386/20e 100MB 500 800 650 .. Compaq Contura 320 60MB 500 1000 775 +25 Macintosh Classic 40MB 350 600 400 -25 Macintosh SE/30 40MB 375 800 550 -25 Macintosh II 40MB 350 650 500 -25 Macintosh IIcx 80MB 400 700 550 +50 Macintosh IIci 80MB 700 1000 800 .. Macintosh IIfx 80MB 800 1400 1050 +50 PowerBook 100 20MB 525 900 650 .. PowerBook 140 40MB 900 1400 1100 +75 PowerBook 170 40MB 1200 1700 1350 +50 PowerBook 180 80MB 1400 1800 1575 .. LaserWriter IINT 700 1000 750 -25 Toshiba 1200XE 300 650 550 +25 Toshiba 1900 120M 1000 1700 1175 .. Toshiba 3200SX 40MB 400 800 550 .. Toshiba 5200 100MB 850 1250 1025 +25 HP LaserJet II 400 850 750 .. HP LaserJet IIIP 375 950 575 .. HP LaserJet III 750 1100 925 +25 HP LaserJet IV 1000 1300 1125 .. John Hastings is the president of the American Computer Exchange Corporation. The American Computer Exchange matches buyers and sellers of used microcomputer equipment. For more information contact the American Computer Exchange Corporation at (800) 786-0717. (AMCOEX/19940523) (NEWS)(APPLE)(LAX)(00003) Adobe Intros Illustrator 5.5 For Mac & Power Mac 05/24/94 MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Adobe has announced the latest version of Illustrator, its illustration and single-page design program, is available for both the Macintosh and Power Macintosh platforms. The new version contains the software for both Macintosh platforms as well as a CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) with an interactive how-to presentation. Since Apple Computer's introduction of the PowerPC-based Power Macintosh, applications that run "native" on the new computer are in short supply. The Power Macintosh will run regular Macintosh applications, but those programs do not get the benefit of the added processing speed of the reduced instruction-set computing (RISC) PowerPC chip. Adobe has placed both the Macintosh and Power Macintosh versions in the same box with Adobe Illustrator 5.5. Added features of the new version include: text-handling functions such as tabs; a spelling checker; search and replace by font; and the ability to import, edit, and export with a new Portable Document Format (PDF), and some new or expanded filters aimed at high-end, quality publishing. The Pathfinder filters have been expanded to enable trapping, which allows the user to blend the colors better before printing, so color boundaries are not obvious. A new Document Info filter lists files in the image, including the needed fonts and images so a last minute check can be made before going to the service bureau for printing. A new Custom-To-Process filter highlights custom or spot colors developed by the user that need to be converted back to process color before going to print. Adobe is claiming some beta testers gave up their page layout programs because they can now lay out copy and produce small documents as large as eight pages. The CD-ROM Edition is now a standard component, Adobe added, and contains: an interactive presentation on Adobe Illustrator tips and techniques; 220 of Adobe's Type 1 fonts; 100 clip art drawings; and Adobe Collectors Editions I and II. Documentation for both the Adobe Illustrator and Acrobat manuals is also on the CD-ROM as well as technical notes for the file import PDF. Quicktime, the multimedia system extension, is provided on the CD-ROM for use by the interactive presentation. Adobe Illustrator requires at least a Macintosh computer with a 68020 or greater processor, System 6.0.7 or greater, 4 megabytes (MB) of application random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, and a 13-inch color monitor. A CD-ROM drive is recommended for making use of the information provided on the CD-ROM Edition. Retail price for Adobe Illustrator 5.5 for Macintosh is $595 and the product is available through Adobe resellers, the company said. Adobe recently announced its intention to combine with page layout software maker, Aldus, known for its Pagemaker product, in a merger valued at over $525 million. (Linda Rohrbough/19940523/Press Contact: Patricia Pane, Adobe Systems, tel 415-962-2967, fax 415-962-2930/ ADOBE940524/PHOTO) (NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00004) ICL Plans NetWare NLM Version Of TeamOFFICE 05/24/94 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Workgroup computing software is designed to work on a network, in order to take advantage of interactive capabilities between users. As a result, software companies often write versions of their products to work with specific networking environments. Now ICL's TeamWARE Division has announced that it will begin shipping groupware products for the "native" Novell NetWare environment during the third quarter. Newsbytes notes that Novell's NetWare commands about 65 percent of the network operating system (NOS) market. Native versions of NOSes are designed to take advantage of specific functions and capabilities within the environment. As a result, users of native versions can usually expect better performance, increased speed, and less compatibility problems. ICL says that the first available NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) products in the TeamOFFICE groupware line will be TeamMail electronic mail and TeamForum electronic conferencing. Other TeamOFFICE modules are planned for later in 1994, along with support for additional NetWare services including MHS, Novell's message transport protocol, and NetWare Directory Services (NDS). According to Mika Enberg, ICL TeamWARE Division marketing director, "ICL sees NetWare as one of the primary platforms for its TeamOFFICE products. It's all about giving customers greater choice. The further integration of MHS, NDS and additional X.400 support, announced May 10 as part of a strategic development agreement (SDA) with Novell, will give our customers a powerful multi- platform solution for enterprise wide client-server computing." ICL and Novell have worked together before. Also, the recently announced SDA calls for Novell to offer ICL's NLM version of TeamOFFICE as a third party product through its own authorized distribution channels in Europe. Plans are also under discussion for US distribution of TeamOFFICE through Novell's US reseller channel. The company says that TeamOFFICE is an "open," modular office information system, that combines a range of workgroup applications with scalable enterprise-wide groupware services. TeamOFFICE modules include TeamForum, TeamMail, TeamLibrary document management, TeamCalendar group and resource scheduling and TeamFlow workflow routing. TeamOFFICE runs on multiple server platforms, including NetWare, OS/2, Windows NT, SVR4 Unix, and Solaris (set for a third quarter 1994 release). It supports Windows, DOS, Macintosh, OS/2, and ASCII terminal clients. No-one was available at the company for comment by Newsbytes press time. (Ian Stokell/19940523/Press Contact: Anne Prine, 714-855-5505, ICL TeamWARE Division) (NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00005) Comdex - 7th Level's Grayson On Multimedia 05/24/94 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A,. 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Former Micrografx head George Grayson now heads 7th Level, a multimedia CD-ROM company known for "Tuneland," an interactive cartoon starring Howie Mandel, and TopGun, the authoring system used to produce it. At this show the company accepted three awards for "Tuneland" from New Media magazine, and announced something completely different -- a CD-ROM based on the "Monty Python" TV show. Also of interest is Grayson's business vision, fueled by his attempt to merge Silicon Valley with Hollywood, begun at Micrografx's chili cook-offs for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "Silicon Valley will never get entertainment right, outside of games," he said. Disney and Warner Brothers still have all the best animators working for them -- no one in Silicon Valley can do it. The reason to put a studio in LA is to attract that talent." Among 7th Level's crew now are Dan Kuenster, who was once offered control of Don Bluth's studio, and Steve Martino, an Oscar winner formerly from MetroLight, as well as former music producer Bob Ezrin. "With them, we can compete with the studios. But my competitors out of Silicon Valley don't have that kind of thinking." An example of Grayson's thinking is his new three-year deal to produce multimedia with Charles Fleischer, the voice of "Roger Rabbit" and a comic known for his bit on numbers called "Moties." Other examples are the TopGun authoring system and Annie, an animation tool. "We'll create our own production standards and technologies that will be so far ahead of what they have, they'll have to come to us. That's our business --- get there first and capitalize." Grayson is convinced that the PC platform will dominate the information highway. He is developing his best stuff for the 486 this year, and next year will start expecting Pentium-based systems with 16 megabytes of memory for top performance. He is not impressed with either the 3DO or the Apple, and told a story of how cruel kids can be in enforcing tastes. "I was checking out a software store stocking 'Tuneland' and overheard two kids talking. One bragged that his mother had bought him a Nintendo. The friend immediately replied, 'Well, my mother just got me a 486.'" Newsbytes asked Grayson where multimedia developers can go to show their wares. "There isn't a good show right now for us," he admitted. "One big challenge now is how to market to this very loosely affiliated mass market," which he figures now totals six million families. "It's horizontal, it's people from all walks of life -- they tend to have more money of course, 35-45 year old parents, and half have small children. They can't be targeted in the normal way....so I spend a lot of time talking to writers. I can reach more people through PR than other ways." And he gave some other insights into his marketing plan. "What we've done is hire part-timers around the country, with three key salespeople for each region. The part-timers work our primary outlets. Then we do all the merchandising things, send our stars, like Howie Mandel, onto TV shows to talk about us, and we'll do the same thing with Charlie Fleischer. We may get Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones or Michael Pahlin to work with us on 'Python,'" probably around the Fall Comdex. (Dana Blankenhorn/19940524/Press Contact: Karen Hart, for 7th Level, tel 214-394-5115, fax 214-394-5272) (NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00006) Comdex - NewMedia's Envision Awards 05/24/94 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- One of the major events of this show was the presentation of awards by NewMedia magazine for multimedia. The Envision awards, which started last year, drew 600 entries, and this year drew such stars as M.C. "Weird Al" Yankovic and "Roger Rabbit" voice Charles Fleischer. Technology being as squirrely as it is, the show was 45 minutes late getting off the ground. Fleischer vamped some comedy, then gratefully introduced an all-star band featuring 7th Level Executive Vice President Scott Page, who formerly played with Pink Floyd, and former members of such bands as Steely Dan and Crosby, Stills & Nash. As entertainment, the band proved better than the show itself, which mainly featured executives, publishers looking uncomfortable in black ties, and canned demos. Real emotion was reserved for winners with socially relevant titles like those on addiction and AIDS prevention. Perhaps better than the show was the "playground" put together for all the winners outside the Windows World show hall, which opened right after the ceremony and stayed open through the rest of the show. Best of Show was "Addiction and its Processes" and "Life Moves: The Process of Recovery," from the American Institute of Learning. Other top titles ran all over the map, and here are a sampling of the gold medal winners. Andersen Consulting won for its "McDonald's Service Enhancement Training," while Noal Multimedia won for its "This Old Pump," a training application. Artemis Alliance won a gold for its Skyvision, a manufacturing/technical support product. The Wall Street Journal took a gold for its "The Affluent Investor," while North Communications Inc., won a point-of-sale kiosk award for the "Singapore Post." "Books That Work" won gold in the advertising category for its "Home Survival Toolkit," while Mackeral Interactive Media took gold for its "Mackeral Stack 2.0." Disc Manufacturing Inc. took gold for its product demo, "DMI Interactive Gallery, and intouch group won for its ad, "The iStation." West End Post Interactive also won a gold for its Electronic Business Card. In the education area, D.C. Heath took gold for its "Discovering French Interactive and the Open Learning Unit of John Moores University won gold for its CytoVision Laser." Another education winner was the Interactive Media Lab of Dartmouth College for "HIV & AIDS: An Interactive Curriculum." In the Entertainment Area, Sanctuary Woods won gold for "Sitting on the Farm." Grid Media Ltd. also won for its "Journey to the Source." Among reference works, Microsoft took two Silvers but gold was won by "AARX:Kronolog II" by Human Code. Consumer Gold winners included: Maris Multimedia for "Red Shift Multimedia Astronomy;" Sierra Online for "Berlitz for Business Japanese; and "Birdsong" from Mackeral Interactive Media. Microsoft also won a gold for the "Microsoft Art Gallery," as did Philips Interactive Media for its "Voyeur." Other gold winners in the same area were "Make My Video: INXS" from Digital Pictures, and "Lenny's MusicToons" from Paramount Interactive. Among the best end-user designed applications were "The Dynamic Spine" from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine," and "Brothers" from the Brother's Network: National Task Force on AIDS Prevention," as well as the "Arris Imaging System from Chiropractic Consultants Ltd. On the technical side, gold winners included: "En Passant: Experiences in Interactive Shopping" from Medior Inc; "the 7th Guest" from Trilobyte Inc; "Total Distortion" from Pop Rocket Inc; and "World Tour Golf" from Media Designs. In addition to merit, some observers contended that the judges also wanted to honor programs that could use the attention. Thus, among those who did not win top honors were some very well-known products, like Microsoft's "Encarta" encyclopedia, and "Tuneland" from 7th Level. (Dana Blankenhorn/19940524/Press Contact: Susan Lake, NewMedia Magazine, 415-573-5170) (NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00007) Comdex - "Open" Standards Waiting 05/24/94 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- When last Newsbytes saw the Comdex crowd, they were arguing over patent rights. Things have changed. At this show there were numerous "open" standards begging to be used. The first few hours held a flurry of such announcements. Folio said it would welcome the creation of application programming interfaces, or APIs, for its Open Views 2.0 technology. A group code-named Shamrock said it would work toward open interfaces for corporate databases, and Plantronics offered a mini-DIN plug as a replacement for RJ-11 plugs, noting it was better adapted to use with computers and, again, offering it as an open standard. Microsoft decided not to announce its Chicago operating system, a version of Windows not based on DOS. Bill Gates still hopes to ship it before year-end, but he is obviously not willing to bet on that. With no big announcement from Microsoft, that took the pressure off other exhibitors, who held off on announcements of their own. IBM talked about some minor add-ons for OS/2, but would have made a bigger deal of them under pressure. Lotus also held off. WordPerfect put on a show using one of the World Congress Center's auditoriums, but there was little news there, either. (Dana Blankenhorn/19940524) (NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00008) VMark Software Intros Vantage Services 05/24/94 FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Shortly after reporting its 21st consecutive quarter of financial growth, VMark Software, a producer of "post-relational databases" and object-oriented client-server software, has unveiled Vantage Services, a suite of support, education and consulting services for customers and distributors. In an interview with Newsbytes, Steve Machnik, VP of marketing, attributed the spiraling success of the Framingham, Massachusetts- based vendor to the ability of value-added resellers (VARs) to use VMark's uniVerse and HyperStar software for developing "real world" vertical applications. The applications are designed for areas like manufacturing, health care, finance, libraries, legal, and retail and wholesale distribution, Machnik told Newsbytes. Most of VMark's customers are mid-sized organizations with networks based on Unix servers and PC clients, the VP added. VMark's 15,000 customer organizations include Stanford University, Electronic Data Systems, BP Oil, the London Underground, Anheuser-Busch, and the French National Office of Forestry. VMark conducts 90 percent of its business through VARs, Machnik emphasized. From first quarter 1993, to first quarter 1994, the ten-year-old company added 83 more resellers to its roster, for a total of 316. Over the same period, earnings per share increased 53 percent to $0.23 from $0.15 per share in the previous year's first quarter, exclusive of a one-time special charge related to VMark's purchase of Constellation Software. Revenues also rose 53 percent exclusive of the one-time charge, to $9,907,000 for first quarter 1994 from $6,458,000 for the same quarter last year. Machnik told Newsbytes that VMark had been distributing HyperStar, a client-server middleware product originally produced by Constellation, for about a year before acquiring Constellation in January. The Constellation move marked the second acquisition for VMark in just a few months. In October, 1993 VMark purchased ComputerVision's Prime Information relational database management (RDBMS) software, PI/open and Prime, together with a portion of the business unit that provided support for the Prime Information customer base. Meanwhile, VMark has evolved its flagship uniVerse product into a "post-relational database" with multi-dimensional viewing capabilities, Machnik said. By incorporating multiple values into a single data field, uniVerse allows users to look at data from a variety of perspectives, he explained. In addition, unlike competing RDBMSes, which adhere to two- dimensional rows and columns, uniVerse permits fields and records of variable lengths, he noted. "As a result, we are able to connect more users on small systems than RDBMSes can," he maintained. "Oracle, for instance, makes a lot of statements about being able to connect 100 users. Well, 100 users is very easy for us to do. In fact, we have many customers with 1,000 users on a system, and some with 2,000 users." UniVerse is now able to work with structured query language (SQL) queries, as well as with other data retrieval methods, such as other additional language languages and VMARK's BASIC programming language, he added. "So the benefits of SQL are available to more people than just SQL users." VMark's HyperStar uses an object-oriented approach, meaning that unlike much client-server software, it is not "hard-wired to anything in particular," according to Machnik. The HyperStar middleware employs a "very advanced set of object- oriented messages" to present requests, commands or results to data structures "in ways that are native to that particular data structure," he explained. To communicate with Oracle, for example, HyperStar uses Oracle SQL. HyperStar is currently available in versions for Oracle, Sybase, Informix, and uniVerse, as well as for PI/open, a Unix-based RDBMS, and Prime, a proprietary RDBMS. The versions for Prime and PI/open are generally used when "somebody had Prime to begin with, and now wants to move to Unix," he said. HyperStar can also be easily adapted to almost any other data source, according to Machnik. The new Vantage Services suite fulfills another expansion opportunity for VMark, he reported. "Our core business with the database and applications is still very good and growing. The opportunities with HyperStar and the client-server market are excellent for our existing core activities. But services present another market in and of themselves," he told Newsbytes. Last year, VMark added consulting and education elements to its existing product development, sales and support services. The newly announced Vantage Services make these offerings available in a modular format that allows VARs and customers to "choose what they want," Machnik said. The services are available either directly from VMark or through VARs. Some of the offerings are brand new, such as the ability to enjoy "24-by-7" telephone support, a service provided by VMark's new Vantage Premier Twenty-Four service. Vantage Services also supplies four additional levels of phone support: Vantage Standard Support, for phone access from 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday; Vantage Plus Twelve, for access 12 hours a day, Monday through Friday; Vantage Plus Twenty-Four, for access 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday; and Vantage FlexCare, for "five days of 24-hour telephone support, to be used sequentially or individually at any point throughout a single year." Other VMark support options include Vantage Install, for on-site installation of VMark products by a VMark Technical Support Engineer; and the Vantage Certified Support Engineer Program. The new Vantage Services program also provides three consulting programs and a pair of education options, according to Machnik. The consulting programs include Application and Data Conversion Services; Conversion Planning Services, which are focused on analyses of platform, network, application and data conversion needs; and Program Management Services. The Program Management Services include project management and planning; "vendor selection and coordination;" product acquisition; application conversion, testing and validation; and training of support personnel and end users. Vantage Education Services fall into two categories: classroom courses and "self-paced training." The classroom courses teach a number of VMark database fundamentals, including VMARK BASIC programming, uniVerse communications/networking, HyperStar, and systems administration. The self-paced training encompasses a range of individual and bundled courses on open systems, networks, and databases, according to Machnik. As a provider of support services, VMark claims a competitive edge that stems from the company's long experience in working with supporting multivendor hardware and software platforms, he said. UniVerse, for instance, runs in 20 different hardware and software environments, including RS 6000, HP 9000, and, most recently, Windows NT. HyperStar also offers a great deal of flexibility, according to Machnik. The client-server middleware can be used with any application development tool that is based on either C, C++, the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) standard, or dynamic data exchange (DDE). "In terms of moving forward our open systems capabilities, we're spending our time on uniVerse," the vice president noted. "We've been incorporating more PI Open Functionality in uniVerse, so PI customers have a way to get there." Also for the future, VMark is looking at further ways of expanding its business. "The applications development market is very hot right now. Just about every VAR (value-added reseller) is planning to make a decision as to its development platform in the near future. Companies like Powersoft and Uniface have been very successful," Machnik pointed out. "Our plan is to get closer to (the application development tool) vendors, and possibly to offer our own application development products, as well," he added. Vmark has already established strategic alliances with both Powersoft and Uniface, Newsbytes was told. (Jacqueline Emigh/19940523/Reader Contact: VMark Software, 617-879-3311; Press Contacts: Paula Levis Suita, VMark, 508-879- 3311, ext 3311; Jeff Aubin or Ann Hawkins, Brodeur & Partners for VMark, 617-894-0003) (NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00009) Comdex - 7th Level's Grayson On Education 05/24/94 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Newsbytes spoke to George Grayson of 7th Level, at Comdex in Atlanta. One of the subjects discussed was education. Grayson's next project will be an interactive science disk called "The Universe According to Virgil," based around a character called "Virgil Reality," a mad scientist whose voice will be by Charles Fleischer, who also did Roger Rabbit. Grayson showed some sketches from the proposal and called it, "The world's first interactive pencil test. We're creating the whole feature in outline, and then after compositing we can ink and paint, and anti-alias." Animation will be in the Warner Brothers style, but what really excites Grayson is the amount of material the disk will cover. "You can click on galaxies and learn about astronomy. You can click on the Earth and learn about geologic time, or explore continental drift." On the Earth "objects also change based on the age -- some are facts, some are jokes. If you're in a period with dinosaurs," one "might stick his head through the glass and roar at you. There's also digital video, and Virgil flies around. There's a biology section, done through a microscope. There's a song called 'I'm an amoeba,' and particle people like the muzon, with additional facts." He continued: "The whole idea is to pique interest, to teach the wonder of the universe. So many people get lost in the details that wonderment is never taught." For instance, "The amount of matter that makes up the Earth, if you eliminate all the space between the particles, will fit in a teaspoon." That sort of thing also fascinates Fleischer, a physics "nut" and stand-up comic whose best-known bit, "Moties," involves the magic of numbers. Grayson strongly believes that multimedia will change the way we think about education. That vision brought him to 7th Level's major investor, Michael Milken. Grayson turned out other investors and went with Milken money because of that shared vision. But he sees his company as meaning more than money, but as a way to do something meaningful. Kids are ultimately going to become the engine for change, Grayson believes. "My son Nathan has 3 friends with computers, 15 friends who don't" have computers. "When they get together he'll show off his library of software, and they all play together. His friends know what they'd like if they had a PC...but they can't" get it until they have the hardware. "That's the phenomenon that will occur" -- kids getting educational tools the same way they now get Nintendo sets. Newsbytes asked where all this is going. "What we're going to get to, and few talk about it, is that every school desk will have a docking station, hooked to an intelligent network, and when you carry the computer from class to class the network will give you your restricted files. You'll carry your lessons from place to place and you'll carry it in that box. Think of the benefits administratively -- not to have our education system focused on this is unbelievable." Newsbytes mentioned the present political divide in education, between teachers and researchers on the left and religious conservatives on the right. It seems impossible to break that logjam, we said. "That's why it takes someone to come in...when I retire from 7th Level I'll work on trying to further children's issues. I did that from the birth of my first child. That's what the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is about. Children are our future. To the extent you deal with social problems of children, you solve problems. When you do it with adults, you paper over it -- it's a permanent scar. Children don't have those scars -- let's not let them form." Why not get into the political battle then? "You have to do it outside the political system. The only way to approach it is the grassroots. Politicians only deal with what they feel is consensus." Until then, Grayson will be happy making money demonstrating where that consensus might be. (Dana Blankenhorn/19940524/Press Contact: Karen Hart, for 7th Level, 214/394-5115; FAX: 214/394-5272) (NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00010) Trace Family History With Windows Family Ties 05/24/94 PLEASANTON, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- In an effort to entice Windows users to use its Family Ties program, Individual Software has released a new version of its genealogy software. Matt Hendrickson, product and marketing manager for Individual Software, told Newsbytes, "Our release of Family Ties for Windows is targeted towards people who want to trace their family lineage back a few generations. We have moved our Family Ties program from DOS-only to the Windows environment and can now offer all the features associated with Windows. This makes it easier for first- time users who might find genealogy a bit confusing. We are not trying to attract high-end users who want to trace their family to the Fourteenth century." According to Individual, the average street price of $19.95 for Family Ties for Windows is half that of its nearest competition. This new program will ship in June of this year and be available in most retail channels. Hendrickson continued, "Market studies have shown that a lot of our users are in the 50-and-over age group, which tells us that a lot of parents and grandparents use this program to develop a tree to pass down to their children. We have worked to develop Family Ties for Windows as a very user-friendly software. For users that want to graduate to a more complicated and professional program we have built-in a export and import feature which allows users to export all their data into another program." Family Ties for Windows highlights a Quick Tour for instruction, automatic verification, quick review of names, automatic save/back- up, cut, copy and paste, name and word search, additional notes area, and online help. The exporting and importing features use the Genealogical Data Communications format (GEDCOM) and the enclosed manual, prepared by Myrna Leferver Smith, offers extensive research information in reading lists, archives, libraries and genealogical centers in the US. A conflict alert signal notifies users when conflicting information has been entered. Individual claims the new version allows users to include divorces as part of the format. Completed output can be printed in ascending or descending style. This program requires a 386 or higher processor, Windows 3.1 or higher, two megabytes (MB) of RAM, a Video graphics array (VGA) or higher resolution display, 2MB of hard disk space and a mouse pointing device. (Patrick McKenna/19940524/Press Contact: Kathleen Turnbull, Individual Software, 510-734-6767) (NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00011) AT&T Intros PCs "Communications-Ready" 05/24/94 DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- AT&T Global Information Solutions has announced the Globalyst line of personal computers, which the company describes as "communications-ready." There are four models in the new PC line, using Intel Corp.'s 486 and Pentium processors and a combination of the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) local buses. AT&T Global Information Solutions -- the former NCR Corp. -- is applying the marketing tag "communications-ready" to the machines. Those experienced with PCs know there is nothing special about the ability to hook a personal computer to a network, so the availability of pre-installed network interface cards -- Token Ring, Ethernet, or WaveLAN -- and software is hardly revolutionary. What is more unusual is a refinement of the power-management features in the Globalyst models that makes for more effective energy conservation on a network. Most energy-saving PCs go into a "sleep mode" after a certain period of inactivity. The trouble is that when such a PC is attached to a network, the power-management software interprets routine network traffic as activity and wakes the machine up again, explained Jim Borton, Globalyst brand manager. The Globalyst PCs' power-management software ignores routine network traffic. AT&T also said it is certifying its products to work with Novell Inc.'s popular NetWare local area network operating system, under a program called NetWare Pledge. While Novell already certifies third-party products with its "Yes, it works with NetWare" label, Borton said AT&T is going one step farther by offering a money-back guarantee. If the company cannot resolve a compatibility problem with any product covered by its NetWare Pledge, he told Newsbytes, the customer can return it within 30 days of purchase for a full refund. The Globalyst line includes four models: the Globalyst 510, a small desktop PC with ISA and VESA buses; the larger-chassis Globalyst 515 desktop, also with ISA and VESA; the Globalyst 550, which uses the PCI local bus along with ISA; and the Globalyst 590, which offers a choice of 60 or 66 megahertz (MHz) Pentium processors in a mini-tower cabinet. A range of processors from the 33MHz 486SX to the 66MHz Pentium are available. The systems can be upgraded later using Intel OverDrive chips. A Flash BIOS (basic input/output) system allows the BIOS to be upgraded as well, AT&T said. Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) expansion slots are optional. All models are available now, AT&T said. Typical prices, all including diskette drive, keyboard, mouse, MS-DOS operating system and Microsoft Windows, are: $1,040 for a 510 with 33MHz 486SX processor, four megabytes (MB) of memory, and 170MB hard drive; $1,999 for a 515 with a 50MHz 486SX2 chip, 8MB of memory, 170MB hard drive, dual-speed compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) drive, stereo speakers, 16-bit sound card, and a bundle of multimedia software; $2,015 for a 550 with a 66MHz 486DX2 chip, 8MB of memory, and 270MB hard drive; and $3,075 for a Globalyst 590 with 66MHz Pentium, 8MB of memory, 340MB hard drive, 1MB of dual-ported video random-access memory, and 256 kilobytes of write-back cache. (Grant Buckler/19940524/Press Contact: Sean Glynn, AT&T, 513-445-1951; Kate Bochonko, Manning Selvage & Lee for AT&T, 212-213-1951; Public Contact: AT&T, 800-637-2600) (NEWS)(TELECOM)(LAX)(00012) Zilog Intros PC 28.8Kbps Modem Controller 05/24/94 CAMPBELL, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Zilog has announced a 33 megahertz (MHz) version of its Z80182 (Z182) modem controller that will transfer data along standard phone lines at the V.Fast speed of 28,800 bits-per-second (bps), yet still works with existing personal computer (PC) communication software. Aimed at the internal, external, and credit-card sized modem market, the company claims the controller is capable of its V.Fast or V.32 speed without using data compression. Currently popular modems operate at speeds of 2400, 9600, and 14,400 bps without data compression. The controller integrates the static Zilog Z8S180 microprocessor unit (MPU) core and the Z85230 Enhanced Serial Communications Controller (ESCC) by linking two channels, 24 bits of parallel input/output, and a 16550 MIMIC. These components link for a direct interface connection to a 16-bit Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, also known as an IBM personal computer advanced technology (PC AT) bus. The components provide 32-bit cyclical redundancy checking (CRC) error checking for wireless communications and emulation of the standard 16550 Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) for transmitting and receiving data on the serial port. It is the 16550 UART emulation that provides the PC Communication software compatibility, but the design also allows a parallel interface with the PC host so the controller can accommodate higher data transfer rates, by-passing the limitations of the UART. Zilog also said it is offering its customers who have been developing modem products for the company's Z80 and Z180 architecture to upgrade to the Z182. The upgrade is designed to make it easy to migrate to the V.34 with the idea of reducing design time and speeding up time-to-market, according to Scott DuBose, channel manager for the modem line at Zilog. The biggest disadvantage to the 33MHz version of the Z80182 is that it requires 5.5 volts, which takes it out of the running for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) credit-card sized modems that require low voltage. The 33MHz version is aimed at internal and external modems for desktop computers, the company said. However, a 20MHz 3.3 volt version is available for PCMCIA applications and other applications where low voltage is a requirement because the system has to run off battery power. The Z182 is available at 33MHz in a 5.5-volt 100-pin QFP/VQFP packages for $14.36 in 10,000 original equipment manufacturer (OEM) quantities. The 3.3-volt version running at 20MHz in 100- pin QFP/VQFP packages is available for $13.83 in 10,000 OEM quantities. (Linda Rohrbough/19940524/Press Contact: Chris Bradley, Zilog, tel 408-370-8246, fax 408-370-8056) (NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00013) ****IBM Launches First EISA Server 05/24/94 SOMERS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- IBM has announced a network server aimed at small businesses and workgroup local area networks (LANs), and at the same time made a concession to market realities by using the Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) system bus for the first time in one of its servers. The EISA bus is a rival to IBM's own Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), launched by a group of IBM competitors who disagreed with IBM's 1987 break with the traditional Industry Standard Architecture (ISA -- formerly known as the AT bus). Unlike the MCA bus, the EISA specification accepts expansion cards made for ISA slots. IBM talked to potential customers in the small business and workgroup LAN market, company spokeswoman Nancy Meyers told Newsbytes, and found that "they're looking for industry standards." IBM continues to tout MCA as a better option for interconnected networks and those with more sophisticated requirements, and will keep offering it in its higher-priced PC servers, Meyers said. The IBM PC Server comes in two models, one built around a 66 megahertz (MHz) Intel 486DX2 processor and one using a 60MHz Pentium chip. IBM will offer the machines to resellers without hard drives so they can be customized, or with a 728 megabyte (MB) Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) hard disk drive or a one gigabyte (GB) small computer systems interface (SCSI-2) drive. Both models are equipped with the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) local bus as well as EISA, and come with a SCSI-2 Fast PCI adapter, IBM said. IBM also upgraded NetFinity, its network hardware management package, adding the ability to manage Microsoft Windows clients and Novell NetWare servers, plus the ability to generate Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) alerts and call pagers automatically. The new release also adds database export and scheduling features. The new servers are due to ship within three weeks. The base price for the 486DX2 server with 8MB of memory, without a hard disk, is $2,499. With the 728MB disk, that model is $3,099. The Pentium server, with 16MB of memory, is $3,899 without hard disk and $4,999 with a 1GB SCSI-2 drive. These prices do not include monitors, Meyers said. NetFinity 2.0 is to be available in July. NetFinity Manager, including one copy of NetFinity Services, costs $850. NetFinity Services, for individual machines on a network, costs $115 per copy. (Grant Buckler/19940524/Press Contact: Nancy Meyers, IBM, 914-766-1027) (NEWS)(GENERAL)(LAX)(00014) MIPS R4400 200MHz Beats Pentium Running NT 05/24/94 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- MIPS is touting its 200 megahertz (MHz) reduced instruction-set computing (RISC)- based R4400 microprocessor. The company claims it is over three times faster than a 90MHz Intel P54C Pentium microprocessor when running 32-bit Microsoft Windows NT applications. Toshiba America Electronic Components (TAEC) is manufacturing the chip along with semiconductor partners Integrated Device Technology (IDT) and computer manufacturer NEC. The 64-bit MIPS processor is manufactured using a more compact 0.35 micron complementary metal-oxide semiconductor process (CMOS) and has a die size of 134 square millimeters with 2.3 million transistors, says the company. The chip operates at the low-power consumption of 3.3-volts and offers 32 kilobytes (KB) of internal cache, with 16KB for instructions and 16KB for data. MIPS made its claim at the Spring Comdex show in Atlanta, Georgia. The company says the Windows NT comparison tests were on real software applications rather than on synthetic benchmarks. In the standard workstation performance measurements, the R4400 running at 200MHz measured in the integer test a SPECint92 of 117 and a SPECfp92 of 131 in the floating-point test. Three versions of the new MIPS chip are available from Toshiba. The R4400PC supports primary cache and is aimed at desktop and high-performance embedded control applications. The R4400SC supports both primary and secondary cache and is designed for workstation and server-class products. The R4400MC provides secondary cache functionality plus multiprocessing support, and is aimed at high-performance computers and network superservers. First introduced in 1991, the R4000 series had the 150MHz R4400 as its fastest family member until the introduction of the 200MHz version. Toshiba, which has been making MIPS R4000 family chips since 1992, and claims it offers a complete range of RISC systems products, including its Tigershark chip set, introduced in May 1993. The Tigershark chipset converts R4XXX family system interface signals (SYSAD and SYSCMD buses) to a 32-bit local bus compatible with the Intel 486 bus. The Tigershark can talk to industry-standard buses available on IBM-compatible personal computers (PCs), including the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) or AT bus, the Extended ISA, the Video Electronics Standards Association Local (VL) bus, and the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) local bus standard from Intel aimed at multimedia. The Tigershark chip set also features a built-in cache controller that interfaces to second-level cache memory, Toshiba said. MIPS said the sampling price of the R4400/200 will be set individually by IDT, NEC, and Toshiba. Toshiba has announced its prices as: $1,600 for the R4400PC-200; $1,950 for the R4400SC- 200; and $2,150 for the R4400MC-200. Pricing is based on 10,000- piece quantities. The Toshiba R4400PC is also available in 179-pin pin grid array (PGA) packages, with the other two versions offered in 447-pin PGA packages. General sampling of the R4400/200 starts in June 1994, with production set to begin in the third quarter of this year. MIPS also provided a preview of processors to come. The company said its next generation processor as internally code-named the T5, will be announced later this year. The T5 will be binary compatible with software for the R4xxx series processors, but will add performance, MIPS said. MIPS added that it has already delivered complete specifications for the T5 to its customers, who were also involved in the early design stages of the chip. Another processor, aimed at supercomputing and high-performance image processing, code-named the TFP, will be announced this summer. (Linda Rohrbough/19940524/Press Contact: Jim Lucas, Toshiba America Electronic Components, 408-456-8900; Steve Schick, MIPS Technologies, 415-390-2573; Caroline Phillips, Integrated Device Technology, 408-492-8620; Joany Winkler, NEC Electronics, 415- 965-6495) (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00015) ****NCTA - Cross-Industry Cooperation Called For 05/24/94 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, U.S.A.,1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- As cable television systems-owners cope with the effects of rate rollbacks imposed recently by the Federal Communications Commission, they should look to online services and the computer industry in general for support. Speaking at the opening general session of the National Cable Television Association Cable '94 convention, NCTA Chief Executive Officer and President Decker Anstrom laid out a case for cross-industry cooperation. "We have to look outside our own industry to build alliances and partnerships with others that share our goals," he said. "We hope to improve the lives of our customers with new programming and new technologies, so we should seek out the computer companies, the newspaper companies, and yes, even the broadcasters -- in a spirit of cooperation." Anstrom attacked the FCC rollbacks, which must be implemented by July, "as nothing less than a political caning." Yet he added that although court appeals to the FCC were filed, the industry should think positively about the future. Noting the more than 20,000 in attendance at this year's NCTA, Anstrom said that "We are shattering attendance records, so I know you all didn't come here for a funeral. You came here because in spite of the regulatory obstacles, this industry is full of promise. This industry will lead America into a new revolution in telecommunications." Pausing after applause from the 4,000 general session attendees, Anstrom added that, "We put sound and images into the lives of more than 55 million Americans more than seven hours a day. We have the responsibility of making our commitment a powerful one. We've had enough of licking our wounds. it is time for us to get on with our business." (Russell Shaw/19940523/Press Contact: Rich D'Amato, National Cable Television Association, 202-775-3629 (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016) NCTA - Prodigy In Cable Deal With Media General 05/24/94 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, USA, 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Prodigy Services Company has announced a venture with Media General Cable, offering its services over cable to Media's entire 209,000 subscriber base in affluent Fairfax County, Virginia. Prodigy and Media General executives made the announcement during the National Cable Television Association Cable '94 Convention being held through Wednesday. Initial testing will take place in the next few months. Prodigy President Ross Glatzer said that the joint venture with Media General is a natural outgrowth of plans first announced six months ago to seek multimedia alliances with cable companies. Last year at the Western Show (a major cable industry trade show held in December in Anaheim, California) Prodigy announced its intention to be a major partner with the cable television industry. "It's important to us in our strategic direction to form partnerships with networks and multi-system operators to make products that are more acceptable and valuable to our subscribers," he said. Glatzer added that a prime motivator for the joint venture is the realization that broadband cable is a better transmitter of data than standard phone networks are. "For Prodigy, the fundamental basis of this (the agreements with cable companies) is that it means we can deliver our service 50 to 100 times faster than our members receive it today over conventional telephone lines," he said. "It also allows us to evolve the service using much more multimedia -- to go to images, to sound, and soon, to video. It helps us continually increase the value of our products." Glatzer was quick to add, however, that ventures between Prodigy and cable are mutually beneficial. "About 30 million households in America have a personal computer, so we simply want to help the cable industry expand their market and bridge to what we think is a pretty appealing customer base," he added. Scott Junit, executive vice president, products, marketing and development for Prodigy, reiterated Glatzer's perspective. "The cable industry is our absolute future," he said. "Because cable distribution makes our product so much more usable, if we could, today, switch all of our over-the-telephone customers to cable, we would do it." Plus, for cable networks, we increase viewership because we provide interactive, relationship marketing," he added. At the convention, Prodigy's Kurnit also said the service would expand its marketing effort to start proprietary discussion groups and bulletin boards for high-technology associations. (Russell Shaw/19940523/Press Contacts: Debra Borchert, Prodigy, 914-448-8305/Michael Harris, Media General Cable, 703-378-3922) (NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00017) Systems Support Expo - Fujitsu's DTC-Support 05/24/94 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- At Systems Support Expo, Fujitsu Networks Industry unveiled DeskTop Conferencing for Support (DTC-Support), a Windows-based system that lets a technical support specialist share a user's applications, use pen and pointer tools to mark up the user's screen, and call in additional experts as "consultants" in an online support session. In an interview on the show floor, Jim Zimmerman, director of marketing for the Stamford, CT-based company, told Newsbytes that the new system adds an alternative interface, specifically designed for tech support, to Fujitsu's Novell LAN (local area network)-based DTC. DTC-Support stands out from competing tech support systems by allowing technicians and users to share screens, Zimmerman said. The client-server software also includes a remote control option, he added. When a "flipchart" is invoked, a technician ("expert") and user ("client") can each access pens and pointers to take notes, brainstorm ideas, or give instructions, on either blank white pages or captured application screens. The screen sharing capability lets the technician see how a user is working with an application, and determine what the user might be "doing wrong," according to Zimmerman. Alternatively, the user can watch the technician work with the application, and then model the technician's actions while the technician looks on. If the user starts to run into trouble, the technician can take control of the user's mouse and keyboard. Technicians can also share their own screens, if desired. A user will typically learn more from actively working with an application than from passively observing an expert, Zimmerman noted. In a demo, the marketing director showed Newsbytes how the user double-clicks on an icon to set up a support conference. The "expert" then joins the conference by clicking on the client's name in a list of conferences displayed on the screen. Once begun, the remainder of the support conference session is conducted from the expert's machine. This eliminates the need to train multiple users in an organization in how to use DTC-Support, Zimmerman maintained. The technician can call in up to seven outside experts at a time for extra assistance in an online help session. These individuals might be other technicians or "power users" with special expertise in a particular application or technique, Newsbytes was told. Each expert or client in a session can be assigned a specific color for use in annotating pages in the flipchart. Flipchart pages can be saved for future reference. A built-in file transfer tool allows experts to distribute software updates or fixes by sending files to the client, and to transfer files from the client's machine for review purposes. Experts can also send or receive the contents of the local or remote Windows Clipboard. The recipient can then copy/paste the contents into applications, according to Zimmerman. Another capability, the "flipchart organizer," permits the expert to create, manage, and store flipchart pages in a "visual database." DTC-Support experts are also provided with a messaging feature that lets them exchange text messages of up to 240 characters with any or all other experts in a conference. Fujitsu DTC-Support is shipping now. A single client version is priced at $99 per user. Expert versions are priced at $299 for a single edition, $2,490 for a ten-pack, and $17,900 for a 100-pack. The client version requires Windows 3.0 or higher. The expert version requires Windows 3.1. Novell NetWare 2.2, 2.11 or 4.0 and IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange) are also required. The product works with any network topology. A bridge or router with at least 56 kilobits-per-second (kbps) bandwidth is recommended for wide area interconnects. (Jacqueline Emigh/19940523/Reader Contact: Fujitsu Networks Industry, 203-326-2723; Press Contacts: Leahanne Hobson or Narina Sippy, Copithorne & Bellows Public Relations for Fujitsu, 617-252- 0606) (NEWS)(GOVT)(TYO)(00018) Japan Plans Asia's Information Superhighway 05/24/94 TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- The Japanese Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications has unveiled a plan to set up an information superhighway in Asia. To begin with, the Japanese government plans to create a steering committee, or an institute, to push the project. The ministry will propose the plan at the Asia Pacific Telecommunications meeting in Thailand this week. First, the agency wants to hold talks on the standardization of telecommunications systems in the region. According to a ministry report, there are no institutes to study the standardization of telecommunication systems in some Asian countries. Also, telecommunication systems are different from the country to country. In addition, some countries are behind others in the development of such systems. Meanwhile, the ministry is also planning to support experiments on optical fiber data transmission in Japan in September. The experiments are planned by major Japanese telecommunications and computer firms, including NTT, IBM Japan, KDD, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Japan Digital Equipment, Japan Sun Microsystems, and Cray Japan. Under the plan, they will use optical fiber with a maximum data transmission speed of 156 megabytes per second. The experiments will include videoconferencing and remote medical diagnosis between Tokyo and Osaka. (Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940524/Press Contact: Japanese Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications, Press Bureau, tel 81-3-3504-4161, fax 81-3-3504-0265) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TYO)(00019) Japan - Casio/Nokia, Ricoh/LDL Forge Links 05/24/94 TOKYO, JAPAN, 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Japan's Casio Computer has signed an agreement with Finland-based telecom firm Nokia, that calls for Casio to help maintain Nokia's mobile phones in Japan. Meanwhile, Tokyo-based Ricoh has signed a deal with Light Work Design (LDL) involving the joint development of software interfaces. The agreement between Casio Computer and Nokia covers the maintenance service of Nokia's mobile phones in Japan. Casio will provide such a service through its 28 service centers in Japan. Currently, Nokia has an agreement with Mitsui Bussan Trading involving the sale of digital mobile phones in the country. Both Nokia and Mitsui Bussan are jointly providing the maintenance service through their joint venture firm, Nokia Mobile Phone Japan. Casio's maintenance service could provide strong support for Nokia in the sale of mobile phones in Japan. Casio has the Personal Handy Phone System technology as well as a variety of electronics equipment. It also has the powerful maintenance network in Japan. Meanwhile, Ricoh has signed an agreement with Light Work Design of the United Kingdom. Under the deal, both firms will develop the software interface for Ricoh's CAD (computer-aided design) software, called the Design Base, and Light Work's graphics program, called Light Works. Ricoh has already licensed Design Base software to over 70 firms in Japan, while Light Works has licensed Light Works to over 35 firms in the UK. (Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19940524/Press Contact: Casio Computer, tel 81-3-3347-4830, fax 81-3-3347-4669, Ricoh, tel 81-3-5411-4704, fax 81-3-3403-1578) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00020) UK Distributor Swallows Up French Counterpart 05/24/94 LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Azlan, the networking distributor, has acquired a 99.97 percent stake in Research and Development (R and D), a French computer distributor. According to David Randall, Azlan's managing director, the deal involves an initial payment of FF5.5 million (UKP650,000) followed by a payment of FF500,000 (UKP60,000) payable six months after completion. Further payments are due in the years 1995 to 1998, which could push the price as high as UKP3.4 million, Newsbytes understands. The final payments will be based on the performance of the company in the four years following the buy-out, a standard procedure in UK business operations, Newsbytes notes. Commenting on the deal, Randall said: "We see the acquisition of R and D as a stepping stone towards achieving our strategic objective of maximizing market opportunities that exist in Europe for the distribution of our network computing products and services." This is third acquisition deal by Azlan in recent times. Just over two years ago, Random, R and D's main shareholder (with a 75 percent stake) and a major French computer dealership, went into liquidation, causing the distributor some financial worries, which resulted in a pre-tax loss of FF1.3 million for financial year 1991/92. Since then, R and D has been operating in the black. In 1992/93, R and D generated a profit of UKP370,000 on a turnover of UKP8.5 million. (Steve Gold/19940524/Press & Public Contact: Azlan, 44-734-894400) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LON)(00021) UK - Silica's "Stores-Within-Stores" Computer Outlets 05/24/94 SIDCUP, KENT, 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Silica, the computer dealer operation subsidiary of Prodis, has announced plans to open a chain of "stores within stores" in the Debenhams chain of department stories across the UK. The move follows the successful trial of a mini-store in the Selfridges department store in London. The first new mini-store, which has just opened, is located in Debenhams' Oxford Street store in London. Plans call for the mini-stores to be rolled out to a further 18 locations around the UK. According to Silica, the mini-stores will offer consumer and business PC hardware and peripherals, as well as PC software with a bias towards Microsoft Windows applications. Plans are also in hand to offer training courses through the stores, as well as technical advice for all customers. Silica has a proven track record in the UK as a discount mail order supplier. According to the company, the Debenhams' mini-stores will maintain this price-competitive edge, with prices on a par with its mail order catalogs. So what sort of customer is Silica pitching for? A company spokesman told Newsbytes that all types of computer users, ranging from novice through to advanced, will be catered for at the outlets. (Steve Gold/19940524/Press & Public Contact: Silica Shop, 44-81-309-1111) (NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00022) UK - Compaq Number One In Computer Sales 05/24/94 LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Following figures released in the US that show Compaq as number one seller in unit sales terms in the portable marketplace, Compaq UK is citing Dataquest figures reportedly showing the company assuming the same slot across all PC markets in the UK. According to Dataquest's 1993 figures, Compaq moved ahead of IBM/Ambra and Apple Computer. Also, in the first quarter of 1994, Compaq cites Dataquest's figures showing that it consolidated its position in the market. During 1993, Dataquest rated Compaq as having 10.5 percent of the UK PC marketplace, as against 9.8 percent for IBM/Ambra, and 7.2 percent for Apple Computer. Compaq also pulled ahead of Big Blue in the professional PC marketplace, according to Dataquest, which shows Compaq with 12 percent in unit sales terms, as compared to 9.7 percent for IBM/Ambra. Is this a flash in the pan for Compaq? The company says no, citing Dataquest's European figures, which show Compaq as being responsible for 11.8 percent of the 2.7 million machines shipped in Western Europe in 1993, as compared with 11.0 percent for IBM/Ambra. This compares with Compaq's 10.8 percent market share in 1992, when IBM/Ambra was 12.8 percent. Jo McNally, Compaq UK managing director and vice president of the company worldwide, said that the figures underline "the dramatic surge that Compaq has been making in recent months," in its bid to achieve a number one slot worldwide within the next few years. McNally said that the company's UK operation is the first division of the company to achieve this goal. (Steve Gold/19940524/Press Contact: Dave Currer, A-Plus Group for Compaq Computer UK, 44-753-790700; Public Contact: Compaq UK, 44-81-332-3888) (NEWS)(GOVT)(DEN)(00023) ****Cyrix Asks $750 Million In TI Lawsuit 05/24/94 RICHARDSON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Cyrix Corp., has amended its 1993 lawsuit against Texas Instruments (TI) to ask for damages in the amount of $750 million. TI says the change is a tactic to delay the trial. The amendment filed this week in Dallas (Texas) County District Court, also asks the court to confirm that Cyrix rightfully terminated its 1991 manufacturing and supply agreement with TI, order TI to stop manufacturing Cyrix-designed chips and to return all Cyrix intellectual property. "As a result of TI's refusal to honor its production and allocation commitments, Cyrix lost hundreds of millions in additional profits that would have been generated by the unfilled demand for its high performance math coprocessors and microprocessors," according to Cyrix General Counsel Russ Fairbanks. Cyrix says that in 1991, TI agreed to supply Cyrix with math coprocessor chips and microprocessors in exchange for the license to certain Cyrix designs. The company says it granted TI rights to the Cx486SLC and Cx486DLC entry-level microprocessors, the type of chips that are the heart of personal computers (PCs). Cyrix said it was led to believe that in the original agreement it would receive commercial quantities of math coprocessors in the beginning, and then microprocessors once Cyrix provided the designs. The suit alleges that TI gave priority to manufacturing Cyrix-designed chips for TI's use, refusing to properly allocate production to Cyrix purchase orders. Cyrix contends that TI never intended to meet its production commitments. Cyrix terminated the agreement on July 28, 1993, allegedly because TI failed to meet its obligation to supply wafers to Cyrix in exchange for product rights. TI filed a countersuit in Delaware Chancery Court in December, 1993, demanding rights to Cyrix's 486DX and 486SX chips that were not included in the original agreement. Cyrix says TI has not manufactured any chips for it in over a year. Cyrix currently gets its chips from IBM Microelectronics and from SGS-Thomson. Texas Instruments spokesperson Terri West told Newsbytes TI believes the amendment to the suit is an attempt to delay its request for a speedy trial. "We are asking them to live up to what they agreed to. We've met all terms and conditions but they are refusing to," said West. A trial date hearing is scheduled June 3, 1994. TI has requested a July 18th trial date. "We're ready to go to court. It sounds like they are trying to delay," West told Newsbytes. (Jim Mallory/19940524/Press contact: Michelle Moody, Cyrix Corporation, 214-994-8302; Terri West Texas Instruments, 214-995-3481) (NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEN)(00024) TI Intros Color Inkjet Printer For Under $400 05/24/94 DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Texas Instruments (TI) has unveiled an inkjet color printer it expects will sell for less than $400. The company calls its new microMarc "two printers in one," since the color and monochrome print heads that come with the unit are interchangeable. Users can reduce operating cost by using the less expensive monochrome head except when they need to print in color. TI will shortly announce a driver for the microMarc called colorMarc Color Magic. No details were available about the driver, but TI spokesperson Julie Boutwell said it will be a "user-friendly, easy-to-install driver that will make color printing much easier." The new printer will print one to two pages per minute in color and three to four pages per minute in the monochrome mode, depending on the complexity of the print job. The system comes with a 120-sheet auto sheet feeder that can handle letter and legal size paper. Courier, Letter Gothic, Times, Nordic, BF Times and Linea fonts are built in. It also supports Truetype fonts. The suggested retail price is $439. Boutwell told Newsbytes the unit is expected to have a street price of about $399. In other TI news, the company says it has signed a license agreement to integrate Macrovision Corporation's patented video copy protection technology into its line of dedicated video compression integrated circuits. According to TI the technology allows digital video system makers to protect against unauthorized duplication of program material from Hollywood studios by implementing Macrovision's anti-copy technology. According to Ron Slaymaker, manager of TI's Digital Compression Products Group, the transition from analog VHS tapes to digital video products has created a new requirement for anti-copy technology. "By putting Macrovision's technology into silicon with minimal incremental cost and producing it in high volume, we make it easy for cable set-top box manufacturers and other OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to take advantage of this standard, allowing them to respond to Hollywood's need to protect programming against unauthorized copying. (Jim Mallory/19940524/Press Contact: Jerry Rycaj, (color printers), Texas Instruments, 817-774-6110; General Info: Terri West, Texas Instruments, 214-995-3481) (NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(00025) IBM Extends RS/6000 Offerings 05/24/94 SOMERS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- IBM has announced a wide range of new reduced instruction-set computing (RISC) computers, including additions to its line of systems built on the PowerPC microprocessor developed in cooperation with Apple Computer Inc., and Motorola Corp. IBM also added new models using its Power2 microprocessor, a RISC architecture related to PowerPC. The company beefed up the graphics capabilities of its RISC System/6000 workstation and claimed to have taken the performance lead in several areas. The company claimed its announcements include the industry's most powerful uniprocessor desktop and deskside servers and PowerPC-based systems with industry-leading two-dimensional (2-D) graphics performance plus three-dimensional (3-D) capabilities. In a New York press conference, William J. Filip, vice-president and general manager of IBM's RISC System/6000 division, said the announcements were aimed at "leveraging our technology in three different categories:" extending the PowerPC line; expanding the Power2 line; and adding to graphics capabilities. The announcements include seven servers. One, the Model C10, uses a PowerPC 601 processor running at 80 megahertz (MHz). Three servers are based on Power2 technology. IBM said the Power2-based Model 59H is the highest-performing uniprocessor desk-side server on the market now. The Model 380 and 390 servers are also Power2-based. The R10, R20, and R24 are rack-mountable servers. IBM said it plans to ship the C10 server in early June at a list price of $12,800, or $15,800 with one megabyte (MB) cache. The Model 380 is to ship in early June at $24,200. The Model 390 will be available in early June for $28,200, and in August a choice of .5MB or 1MB cache will be available. The Model 59H server is due in early June starting at $74,450. The rack-mount servers will range from $41,100 to $98,100, with the R10 and R20 models shipping in June and the R24 in mid-July. New graphics workstations based on PowerPC chips include the RS/6000 41T and the RS/6000 41W. The 41W is essentially the same machine as the 41T but sold without a monitor, officials said. The RS/6000 Model 3AT and 3BT workstations use Power2 microprocessors, and IBM claimed they deliver impressive technical computing performance, with the 3BT scoring 205.3 on the Standard Performance Evaluation Council's SPECfp92 benchmark. The 41T workstation has a list price of $12,100, or $13,600 with .5MB cache. The 41W is $10,895, or $12,395 with .5MB cache. The basic models are due to ship in early June and those with the cache later in the month. The 3AT workstation lists for $24,795, or $30,300 with .5MB cache, and the 3BT for $28,300, or $32,300 with cache. The non-cache models are due in early June and the cache models in early August. For owners of existing workstations there are new graphics accelerators to boost performance. Filip said demand for PowerPC systems have been strong, to the point where IBM has had trouble keeping up with orders. By the end of the second quarter, he said, the company hopes to be able to fill orders within two weeks. IBM also launched new versions of its Database 2 relational database management system for the OS/2 and AIX/6000 operating systems and for Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc. workstations, plus DB2 Parallel Edition for AIX, a version of the database software meant to exploit IBM's parallel-processing hardware. The company announced VisualGen, a client/server rapid application development (RAD) tool for OS/2, as well as the IBM Visualizer family of data presentation software and a family of data replication software. And the company's Storage Systems Division in San Jose, Calif., announced two new storage products and two new connecting devices, and enhanced other products. IBM Storage Systems unveiled two small computer systems interface (SCSI) controllers: the SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Adapter/A and the SCSI/2 Differential Fast/Wide Adapter/A. The new storage products are the IBM 7134 High Density SCSI Disk Subsystem, providing from four to 28 gigabytes (GB) of storage, and the 7204 External Disk Drive Model 315, a 2GB drive for the RS/6000. IBM enhanced its 7135 RAIDiant Array Models 010 and 110, 3514 High Availability Disk Array Models 212 and 213, 3494 Tape Library Dataserver, and 3490 Magnetic Tape Subsystem Enhanced Capability Models to work with the new SCSI controllers. Also, the division announced a new 5.25-inch optical disk drive with 600MB capacity for its 9334 SCSI Expansion Unit. (Grant Buckler/19940524/Press Contact: Steven Malkiewicz, IBM, 914-642-5449; Gregory Golden, IBM, 914-642-5463; Rick Bause, IBM, 914-766-1750; Terrie Phoenix, IBM, 914-766-1165; Carol Keslar, IBM Storage Systems, 408-256-9451) (NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00026) ****Microsoft/Creative Tech In Sound Technology Deal 05/24/94 REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Microsoft originally supported the Creative Labs Sound Blaster products for Windows 3.1, but later said the sound products market was not going the way it wanted and introduced its own sound products. Now Microsoft and Creative have announced a "strategic relationship" to share each other's technology for audio and digital signal processing (DSP) aimed at the IBM-compatible personal computer (PC) market. In this current agreement, Microsoft will license Sound Blaster 16 technology from Creative Technology, the parent company of the US subsidiary Creative Labs. Creative Technology, in turn, will license Microsoft's Windows Sound System software. Recent events have put Creative, already the leading audio and multimedia hardware manufacturer, into an even stronger market position. Its largest competitor, Media Vision, is on the ropes fighting for its life battling almost incredible reports of financial mismanagement, an exodus of the company's upper management, and investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Creative has also won several legal fights with smaller competitors over compatibility issues. Microsoft is openly acknowledging that Creative's Sound Blaster is a compatibility standard in the market. The agreement between the two companies covers DSP technologies aimed at the home and business marketplaces. Microsoft mentioned the implementation of its DSP Resource Manager and Interfaces in Creative products as a consistent method for accessing the resources of a DSP within future Microsoft operating systems. This appears to be a reference to Chicago, the next implementation of the Windows interface, but without DOS underneath. In addition, the agreement targets the inclusion of Sound Blaster 16 included in future Microsoft products, the inclusion of Windows Sound System 2.0 software in Creative's sound board products, voice recognition, and text-to-speech application programming interfaces (APIs). (Linda Rohrbough/19940524/Press Contact: Steffanee Foster, Creative Labs, 408-428-6600 ext 6430; David Hufford, Waggener Edstrom for Microsoft, tel 408-986-1140, fax 408-986-1390) (NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00027) ****US-Japan Trade Talks To Resume 05/24/94 WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Stalled trade talks between the US and Japan will resume following a compromise over the issue of how to measure progress in opening Japanese markets to American goods such as telecommunications gear, according to officials in Washington and Tokyo. According to US officials, the deal was wrapped up in a late-night agreement between Bowman Cutter, White House deputy economic adviser, and Japan's deputy foreign minister, Sadayuki Hayashi, in Washington. Negotiations over the meaning of the so-called "framework agreement" of last July broke down in February over the issue of numerical, market-share targets to measure progress. According to White House officials, who requested anonymity, the compromise involves two elements: Japan will acknowledge that measurable results are needed in areas where the US is attempting to boost sales in Japan; and the US will state in writing that it will not rely solely on numerical targets in judging whether Japan is keeping its trade promises. The framework talks -- hailed by President Clinton as the start of a new era in US-Japan trade relations -- crashed after an acrimonious meeting between Clinton and then-Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa February 11. The sticking point was the US desire for "objective criteria" for measuring trade gains in four major sectors: telecommunications equipment, automobiles and auto parts, insurance, and medical equipment. The Japanese charged that Washington was trying to practice managed trade, while Washington said the Japanese were attempting to cure their massive, $131 billion surplus with smoke and mirrors. The US is "not seeking numerical targets or managed trade," US Trade Representative Mickey Kantor told a news conference in Washington announcing resumption of the talks, but is committed to "objective criteria" on trade. The trade acrimony threatened to undermine the solid political relationship between Washington and Tokyo and to topple the shaky new government of Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata. According to White House officials, Hata sent the trade delegation headed by Hayashi to Washington with instructions to get the talks back on track and show results before the July Group of 7 economic summit in Naples, Italy. Washington has been signaling its intention to soften its hardline stance on Japan for weeks, ever since Kantor met privately with Japanese officials in Morocco during talks about the new World Trade Organization. The US was also worried about the "pounding" the dollar has been taking against the yen, which was making investors skittish. The discussions between Hayashi and the White House team began last Thursday. (Kennedy Maize/19940524) (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00028) NCTA - FCC Rollbacks Causing Project Pruning 05/24/94 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB)- In the light of rate rollbacks ordered by the FCC, cable systems are pruning their wish list of desired technical upgrades. According to National Cable Television Association Vice President of science and technology Wendell Bailey, operators have been "performing triage" on their equipment purchases and upgrade goals, reducing purchases often at the behest of financial managers at the companies involved. Bailey made these comments during a press conference at Cable '94, the annual convention of the National Cable Television Association. "The plain fact of the matter is, that during the years when our business, according to Congress and the FCC, was 'raising rates dramatically,' we had our largest subscriber gains in years. The reason was, we were putting money in programming and technology. What we had cued up here, until the rate rollback, was a variety of projects. There was a palpable excitement two years ago in our business," he noted. "You have these projects on your plate, and someone in a company has come to you, the engineer, and says, 'I'm sorry, you can have the first four projects, but you've got twelve, so some of those have got to be put off till the following year.' Yes, that's a damper, not on the willingness to do it, but on the ability to fund projects, because in that mix of project money comes technology as well as program launches as well as other operational issues. You'll see people go on, it's just that they will do some triage on the projects they are going to handle." Bailey added that in meetings with system-operator attendees, he has sensed this feeling. "If you have a severely constrained amount of project money, I think a lot of people will more finely tune the idea of the projects they would like to accommodate," Bailey said. He added, though, that smaller cable systems -- widely thought to be the most vulnerable to rollback-engendered cost-cutting -- have some workable alternatives by which to pursue technical upgrades. "One of the most positive things that has happened is the idea of "head-ends-in-the-sky," Bailey said of several regional hub arrangements. These are things that are very positive for small operators, because it allows them to trade capital investment in the capability of doing some of these things for what is essentially an investment in transactional fees to accomplish some of the same things." (Russell Shaw/19940523/PC: Rich D'Amato, NCTA Public Affairs, 202-775-3629 (NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00029) ****NCTA - "Online Services/Cable TV A Natural Marriage" 05/24/94 NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 -- Two leading engineers in the cable television industry predicted at the National Cable Television Association's Cable '94 convention that more online services will be carried by cable systems in the near future. "What's in it for the online services? The bottom line is simply, speed," said NCTA Vice President of science and technology Wendell Bailey. "Every online service looks like a totally new service, a service that no one has seen before, when you do it at the speeds that bandwidth can give you when compared to telephone dial-up lines. It's really that simple." Bailey added that carrying online services will be beneficial to cable operators as well. 'Operators I think are interested in (online services) for a couple of reasons," he said. "One is not withstanding the limitations of delivering this service on telephone lines, it (the online services) have got brand identity. People know what it is. So if you can make it look real spiffy -- which bandwidth does -- you've got a brand name product that is really impressive." Bailey predicted this synergy of advantages will lead to more partnerships similar to the arrangement announced this week that will make Prodigy available to the 230,000 Fairfax County, Virginia subscribers of Media General Cable in the near future. "I see that cable operators like the idea of an online service with brand identity potentially available to them," Bailey said. "Cable operators don't have to do anything, because in technical terms, this is a slice of a very large pie. We are quite conversant in the cable business of putting very large carriers of data on to our plants. There are several equipment suppliers that can do this." The major remaining technical hurdle, according to Bailey, "is upstream. As we go forward with architectures and upgrades of our plant itself, it will still, for a long time be what we call spin upstream, because the human interface doesn't originate a lot of data -- it elicits a lot of data. We're moving into areas where people want to exchange data files, compressed videos, and then the upstream capacity gets greater. It's gotten potentially easier because we've redeployed fiber to the feeder, and will get easier yet as new technical rules are implemented. Craig Tanner, vice president of advanced television projects for industry research arm Cable Television Laboratories, added that if online services are piped into homes via cable, the services will profit because traditional telephone lines previously used to deliver online networks to the home will not be tied up by voice communication. "From personal experience, as an America Online user, I have competition with my wife for the telephone line. She very often comes into the room, sees me sign on and says, 'I've got to make a phone call, when are you going to be off the computer?'" Tanner said. "Putting an online service on cable frees up the phoneline. I think that is probably to the advantage of the online service provider. Generally, you get so many hours for a flat fee, and then charge so much per hour. The more hours people spend on it, without competing for someone's phone line, the better they'll do and the happier the customer will be." (Russell Shaw/19940524/PC: Rich D'Amato, National Cable Television Assn., 202-775-3629 (NEWS)(IBM)(DAL)(00030) ****Apple, IBM, Sci-Atlanta Seek Interactive Apps 05/24/94 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- Apple, IBM, and Scientific-Atlanta are still talking about interactive services to home consumers. This time the companies are talking about combining to develop "open, scalable, interoperable, and interactive" television interfaces in an attempt to attract third- party application development. In June of last year, Scientific-Atlanta announced its intention to provide the television set connection in the form of a set-top box to deliver interactive services via cable. The PowerPC, a reduced instruction-set computing (RISC)-based microprocessor developed by a partnership between Motorola, Apple, and IBM, is to power the set-top boxes originally announced for delivery this summer. Scriptx, the multimedia programming language developed by the IBM/Apple joint venture Kaleida, is still the focal point of the software end of the system. But the interactive television venture may need third-party involvement to make it come alive. Kaleida recently announced it will layoff 20 percent of its staff and attempt to accelerate development on Scriptx, which is behind schedule. The company also said it would narrow its focus, cutting back on development of its Malibu graphics controller and development of an operating system for set-top boxes. However, Apple has added its Opendoc component software object model and IBM is contributing its SOMobjects/DSOM object model. The implication is that developers can leverage their investment by being able to develop for the new IBM workstation platform and the Power Macintosh, which are also PowerPC-based, as well as for the Scientific-Atlanta set-top boxes, Scientific-Atlanta Chief Executive Officer (CEO) James F. McDonald said: "In an open architecture environment, third party providers would be able to develop many new applications for use on home communications terminals, providing consumers a broad choice of information and entertainment options." The announcement is one of intention. The three companies said they still have yet to reach a definitive business agreement for creation of a combined technical and business team. (Linda Rohrbough/19940524/Press Contact: Betty Taylor, Apple Computer, tel 408-974-2042, fax 408-974-2885; Kevin Clark, IBM, 914-766-4280; Bob Meyers, Scientific-Atlanta, 404-903-4608) (NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00031) Newsbytes Daily Summary 05/24/94 PENN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 24 (NB) -- These are capsules of all today's news stories: 1 -> Action! For Windows 3.0 Intro'd, CD-ROM Version 05/24/94 Macromedia has announced that the new version of its multimedia presentation tool Action! for Windows 3.0 contains new features and a lower price tag. In addition, the company is offering a second CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) version with sound editing capability thrown in. 2 -> AmCoEx Index Of Used Computer Prices 05/24/94 By John Hastings. Intel has set an extremely ambitious goal to sell over 7 million Pentium CPU (central processing unit) chips before the end of this year. Some estimate the company has sold fewer than one million chips during the past thirteen months. 3 -> Adobe Intros Illustrator 5.5 For Mac & Power Mac 05/24/94 Adobe has announced the latest version of Illustrator, its illustration and single-page design program, is available for both the Macintosh and Power Macintosh platforms. The new version contains the software for both Macintosh platforms as well as a CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) with an interactive how-to presentation. 4 -> ICL Plans NetWare NLM Version Of TeamOFFICE 05/24/94 Workgroup computing software is designed to work on a network, in order to take advantage of interactive capabilities between users. As a result, software companies often write versions of their products to work with specific networking environments. Now ICL's TeamWARE Division has announced that it will begin shipping groupware products for the "native" Novell NetWare environment during the third quarter. 5 -> Comdex - 7th Level's Grayson On Multimedia 05/24/94 Former Micrografx head George Grayson now heads 7th Level, a multimedia CD-ROM company known for "Tuneland," an interactive cartoon starring Howie Mandel, and TopGun, the authoring system used to produce it. At this show the company accepted three awards for "Tuneland" from New Media magazine, and announced something completely different -- a CD-ROM based on the "Monty Python" TV show. 6 -> Comdex - NewMedia's Envision Awards 05/24/94 One of the major events of this show was the presentation of awards by NewMedia magazine for multimedia. The Envision awards, which started last year, drew 600 entries, and this year drew such stars as M.C. "Weird Al" Yankovic and "Roger Rabbit" voice Charles Fleischer. 7 -> Comdex - "Open" Standards Waiting 05/24/94 When last Newsbytes saw the Comdex crowd, they were arguing over patent rights. Things have changed. At this show there were numerous "open" standards begging to be used. 8 -> VMark Software Intros Vantage Services 05/24/94 Shortly after reporting its 21st consecutive quarter of financial growth, VMark Software, a producer of "post-relational databases" and object-oriented client-server software, has unveiled Vantage Services, a suite of support, education and consulting services for customers and distributors. 9 -> Comdex - 7th Level's Grayson On Education 05/24/94 Newsbytes spoke to George Grayson of 7th Level, at Comdex in Atlanta. One of the subjects discussed was education. 10 -> Trace Family History With Windows Family Ties 05/24/94 In an effort to entice Windows users to use its Family Ties program, Individual Software has released a new version of its genealogy software. 11 -> AT&T Intros PCs "Communications-Ready" 05/24/94 AT&T Global Information Solutions has announced the Globalyst line of personal computers, which the company describes as "communications-ready." 12 -> Zilog Intros PC 28.8Kbps Modem Controller 05/24/94 Zilog has announced a 33 megahertz (MHz) version of its Z80182 (Z182) modem controller that will transfer data along standard phone lines at the V.Fast speed of 28,800 bits-per-second (bps), yet still works with existing personal computer (PC) communication software. 13 -> ****IBM Launches First EISA Server 05/24/94 IBM has announced a network server aimed at small businesses and workgroup local area networks (LANs), and at the same time made a concession to market realities by using the Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) system bus for the first time in one of its servers. 14 -> MIPS R4400 200MHz Beats Pentium Running NT 05/24/94 MIPS is touting its 200 megahertz (MHz) reduced instruction-set computing (RISC)- based R4400 microprocessor. The company claims it is over three times faster than a 90MHz Intel P54C Pentium microprocessor when running 32-bit Microsoft Windows NT applications. 15 -> ****NCTA - Cross-Industry Cooperation Called For 05/24/94 As cable television systems-owners cope with the effects of rate rollbacks imposed recently by the Federal Communications Commission, they should look to online services and the computer industry in general for support. Speaking at the opening general session of the National Cable Television Association Cable '94 convention, NCTA Chief Executive Officer and President Decker Anstrom laid out a case for cross-industry cooperation. 16 -> NCTA - Prodigy In Cable Deal With Media General 05/24/94 Prodigy Services Company has announced a venture with Media General Cable, offering its services over cable to Media's entire 209,000 subscriber base in affluent Fairfax County, Virginia. Prodigy and Media General executives made the announcement during the National Cable Television Association Cable '94 Convention being held through Wednesday. 17 -> Systems Support Expo - Fujitsu's DTC-Support 05/24/94 At Systems Support Expo, Fujitsu Networks Industry unveiled DeskTop Conferencing for Support (DTC-Support), a Windows-based system that lets a technical support specialist share a user's applications, use pen and pointer tools to mark up the user's screen, and call in additional experts as "consultants" in an online support session. 18 -> Japan Plans Asia's Information Superhighway 05/24/94 The Japanese Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications has unveiled a plan to set up an information superhighway in Asia. To begin with, the Japanese government plans to create a steering committee, or an institute, to push the project. 19 -> Japan - Casio/Nokia, Ricoh/LDL Forge Links 05/24/94 Japan's Casio Computer has signed an agreement with Finland-based telecom firm Nokia, that calls for Casio to help maintain Nokia's mobile phones in Japan. Meanwhile, Tokyo-based Ricoh has signed a deal with Light Work Design (LDL) involving the joint development of software interfaces. 20 -> UK Distributor Swallows Up French Counterpart 05/24/94 Azlan, the networking distributor, has acquired a 99.97 percent stake in Research and Development (R and D), a French computer distributor. 21 -> UK - Silica's "Stores-Within-Stores" Computer Outlets 05/24/94 Silica, the computer dealer operation subsidiary of Prodis, has announced plans to open a chain of "stores within stores" in the Debenhams chain of department stories across the UK. 22 -> UK - Compaq Number One In Computer Sales 05/24/94 Following figures released in the US that show Compaq as number one seller in unit sales terms in the portable marketplace, Compaq UK is citing Dataquest figures reportedly showing the company assuming the same slot across all PC markets in the UK. 23 -> ****Cyrix Asks $750 Million In TI Lawsuit 05/24/94 Cyrix Corp., has amended its 1993 lawsuit against Texas Instruments (TI) to ask for damages in the amount of $750 million. TI says the change is a tactic to delay the trial. 24 -> TI Intros Color Inkjet Printer For Under $400 05/24/94 Texas Instruments (TI) has unveiled an inkjet color printer it expects will sell for less than $400. 25 -> IBM Extends RS/6000 Offerings 05/24/94 IBM has announced a wide range of new reduced instruction-set computing (RISC) computers, including additions to its line of systems built on the PowerPC microprocessor developed in cooperation with Apple Computer Inc., and Motorola Corp. 26 -> ****Microsoft/Creative Tech In Sound Technology Deal 05/24/94 Microsoft originally supported the Creative Labs Sound Blaster products for Windows 3.1, but later said the sound products market was not going the way it wanted and introduced its own sound products. Now Microsoft and Creative have announced a "strategic relationship" to share each other's technology for audio and digital signal processing (DSP) aimed at the IBM-compatible personal computer (PC) market. 27 -> ****US-Japan Trade Talks To Resume 05/24/94 Stalled trade talks between the US and Japan will resume following a compromise over the issue of how to measure progress in opening Japanese markets to American goods such as telecommunications gear, according to officials in Washington and Tokyo. 28 -> NCTA - FCC Rollbacks Causing Project Pruning 05/24/94 n the light of rate rollbacks ordered by the FCC, cable systems are pruning their wish list of desired technical upgrades. 29 -> ****NCTA - "Online Services/Cable TV A Natural Marriage" 05/24/94 Two leading engineers in the cable television industry predicted at the National Cable Television Association's Cable '94 convention that more online services will be carried by cable systems in the near future. 30 -> ****Apple, IBM, Sci-Atlanta Seek Interactive Apps 05/24/94 Apple, IBM, and Scientific-Atlanta are still talking about interactive services to home consumers. This time the companies are talking about combining to develop "open, scalable, interoperable, and interactive" television interfaces in an attempt to attract third- party application development. (Ian Stokell/19940524)