Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June/Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso/pc/text/mac_text/1992/nb920505

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(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00001)

Compaq Gets New VPs, Announces New Support Policies 05/05/92
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Compaq Computer
has announced the appointment of several new executives to the
vice president level, and has outlined its new customer support
program.

The new VPs are all concerned with customer service and sales.
Gian Carlo Bisone, who has been Compaq's VP of corporate
marketing since  last November, is now VP of North American
marketing. Gus Kolias will occupy the chair of VP of customer
service, and Dave Davis takes over as VP of North American sales.
Davis was the director of North American sales. Former head of
North American sales, Mac McLoughlin, is the new VP of corporate
sales. Patrick LeFeuvre will assume Davis' former position as
director of NA sales.

Newsbytes asked Compaq spokesperson Nora Hahn the purpose
of the appointments, since most of the executives were directors in
their divisions. Said Hahn: "It will give them more decision making
ability, and more freedom to make decisions."

Hahn said international activity now accounts for about 60 percent
of the company's sales. A prepared Compaq statement said the
organizational changes are designed to: "expand our marketing,
sales, and customer support activities and ensure the success of
our products in the North American marketplace."

Bisone may be the key player in the new structure. Compaq said his
responsibilities will include: market and new channel development;
consumer product marketing; desktop, portable and systems
marketing; corporate and marketing communications; and
advertising and public relations.That would include Compaq's
recently announced advertising campaign, which Hahn told
Newsbytes should begin sometime during the second quarter. The
company is still not saying what media the campaign will break in,
but Newsbytes expects it will first appear in magazine ads.
However, no one at Compaq would confirm that.

The new changes are not the first shuffle in Compaq management in
recent months. Last October, President and co-founder Rod Canion
suddenly found himself out of a job, replaced by Eckhard Pfeiffer.
About the same time, five Compaq directors resigned, with the
company saying that their departure was not related to the ousting
of Canion. A Compaq spokesperson told Newsbytes they were
planning to leave anyway. One director reportedly resigned for
medical reasons.

Two weeks after his appointment, Pfeiffer made public his plan to
regain Compaq's slipping position in the marketplace. The
company has been hard hit by competition from Dell and other PC
manufacturers. Pfeiffer said in early November that: "the company is
in the midst of a marketing revolution," and cited greater customer
support as one of the planks in his platform.

The newly announced management could easily make Compaq
stockholders nervous, and most of them probably were already
uneasy. Compaq's recently announced first quarter results reported
net income and earnings per share down more than 50 percent over
the same period last year. At the same time, Eckhard told his
stockholders not to expect much for the second and third quarter. He
said the company plans to increase its advertising budget by about
70 percent to publicize its new products. Some reports claim that
Compaq will introduce a PC in the $1,000 range in June.

Compaq has taken two other significant actions recently which could
have a significant effect on sales. Last month they were not among
eight of the top ten PC makers to sign up with Microsoft to
pre-install Windows, and last week they announced that they would
drop their involvement with RISC (reduced instruction-set
computing), after initially saying it would be an important part of
their strategy.

(Jim Mallory/19920505/Press Contact: Nora Hahn, Compaq,
713-374-4613)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00002)

Compaq Announces New Support Programs 05/05/92
HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Compaq Computer
is delivering on one of Pfeiffer Eckhard's promises, announcing a
new customer support program the company calls Compaqcare.

Compaqcare features on-site warranty service as part of the
purchase price, advanced network support for some network
operating systems, a Compuserve technical forum, a new telephone
support system, end-user training, and enhanced support for
in-house maintenance staffs.

Customers who buy Compaq hardware will now receive one year of
on-site limited warranty service, covering parts and labor, at no
extra charge. The old policy called for the coverage to be
purchased separately. Under the warranty service, Compaq owners
will get "second business day" repair at their locations, and the
company said some service providers can provide "same-day"
service. Present owners can upgrade to the new coverage for $39
if their equipment is still under the original manufacturer's warranty.
Compaq has agreements with GE and TRW to provide warranty
service, and has had third-party support agreements with vendors
since 1986. Support in Canada is provided by Xerox Canada and 3M
Canada, with ACL Engineering providing maintenance for Australian
customers.

The company is now offering an optional network support agreement
for advanced levels of technical expertise in the configuration,
installation, and ongoing operation of local area networks. This
coverage applies to Compaq platforms running under operating
systems from Banyan, Microsoft, Novell, and The Santa Cruz
Operation. Asked by Newsbytes how this differed from the previous
network user coverage, which carried a price tag of $3,000 for ten
"support incidents," a Compaq spokesperson said that the
coverage would be more comprehensive in nature, providing
assigned technical teams and priority problem escalation and
issues resolution.

As Newsbytes previously reported, Compaq will offer a technical
forum on Compuserve beginning the middle of May. Using the 24-
hour service, Compuserve subscribers can ask questions of
Compaq engineers, as well as exchanging information among
themselves.

Compaq also offers Compaq Paqfax, a 24-hour fax line that can
send the user product brochures, technical specifications, and other
product specific documents at no cost. To contact Paqfax,
customers should call the toll free Compaq support line.

The company is also planning a series of training courses which
are designed to increase technical skills and integration expertise.
Compaq says the classes, which will be held at regional offices
throughout North America, "will cover everything from Compaq
products to LAN (local area network) and network systems
integration."

Compaq's Mike Berman told Newsbytes that the average cost for
the courses would be $300 per day for a hands-on course, and
$200 per day for informational courses. Berman said the courses
would be 1-3 days in length.

(Jim Mallory/19920505/Press Contact: Mike Berman, Compaq,
713-374-2510; Customer support: 800-345-1518)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(DEN)(00003)

Ohio Company Intros Waste Materials Disposal Database 05/05/92
CINCINNATI, OHIO, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Cincinnati Bell
Directory (CBD),a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell, has announced a
new on-line computer service designed to help businesses find a
way to dispose of recycleable waste without having it hauled to the
landfill.

Called Team-W, the system uses a Cincinnati Bell Directory
mainframe  computer on which companies with recycleable and
reusable materials can list those items, and other companies can
make offers for their reuse. For example, a company might list 200
wooden pallets, which would otherwise be taken to the landfill for
disposal. Another company, who needs pallets, would offer to haul
them away, or offer a price for them.

Company spokesperson, Donna Noll, told Newsbytes that a wide
range of reusable materials can be gotten rid of without adversely
affecting the environment, such as pallets, packaging materials like
styrofoam peanuts, corrugated cardboard, and recyclable chemicals
and petroleum products.

It costs $395 for a one year subscription to the service, but Noll
said the directory company, who is not restricted from providing
on-line service like the RBOCs (regional Bell operating companies)
are, is offering an introductory price of $295. Noll told Newsbytes that
the special price would be in effect for the next month or so, until an
upcoming direct mail campaign is complete.

Cincinnati Bell Directory says it developed TEAM-W (The
Electronic Answer For Managing Waste) in conjunctions with local
waste management consultants, and is based on the concept that a
majority of solid waste can be reused. Noll said all companies
produce solid waste which they have to pay to have hauled away,
and TEAM-W offers an economically viable alternative.

According to Jack Mueller, Cincinnati Bell Directory's vice
president, TEAM-W offers a win-win answer for everyone concerned:
businesses win because TEAM-W finds a market for their discarded
materials; and the environment wins because the use of precious
natural resources is reduced and the life of landfills is extended.

Cincinnati Bell Directory also operates two other on-line services:
Ole' and Tri-State Online. TSO is a local, free access community
service which contains local sports and recreation information,
community activities, a small business forum, and on-line dialogue
bulletin board. Noll said TSO has more than 100 different service
areas. The company also operates Ole', a dial-in system used by
students at several Cincinnati colleges to obtain homework
information and otherwise enhance the college program. Noll told
Newsbytes that Ole' is operated without cost to its users. She said
TSO was the test system for CBD to develop subscriber services
such as TEAM-W.

The TEAM-W computer can be accessed using a personal
computer equipped with a modem and most of the popular
communications packages.

(Jim Mallory/19920505/Press Contact: Donna Noll, Powers &
Associates for Cincinnati Bell Directory, 513-721-5353)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00004)

New For PC: Bible Atlas Software 05/05/92
HIAWATHA, IOWA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Parsons Technology,
maker of a number of biblical-oriented programs, has released PC
Bible Atlas.

Parsons said PC Bible Atlas contains both geographical and
historical information about locations, events and journeys
throughout the Holy Lands, using a series of high resolution maps.
The text is stored in a hypertext-format using keyword linking,
providing fast retrieval of details about places and events, as well
as map annotations.

The maps illustrate the path of biblical travelers, including points
of interest and distanced between locations. The user can study the
entire region, or zoom in on a particular area. The program also
supplies lists of maps, indexed by region, events, and Bible
passages.

PC Bible Atlas can print any of its maps, and the user can create
their own maps using a laser jet or dot-matrix printer. Maps can
also be drawn in most of the popular paint programs.

Like most of Parsons Technology's programs, PC Bible Atlas has
a suggested retail price of $69. It requires an IBM compatible with
either monochrome or color graphics display, 640 kilobytes of
RAM, and a hard disk. Parsons has a toll free order line.

Parsons' Anne Rawland told Newsbytes that the company also
offers: QuickVerse; a Bible concordance; GreekTool and
HebrewTool, to learn the languages of the old and new testament;
Bible Illustrator, Bible quotes, stories and news arranged topically;
and Membership Plus, a church records and membership program.
Rawland said Bible Illustrator fans can exchange Bible illustrations
through the religion forum on Compuserve.

(Jim Mallory/19920505/Press Contact: Anne Rawland, Parsons
Technology, 319-395-9626; Reader contact: 800-223-6925)


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00005)

Automated Photo Scanning Software For Windows 05/05/92
LARKSPUR, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Light Source
is now shipping its Ofoto image scanning software for Windows,
which the company claims fully automates the scanning process,

Ofoto, which Light Source has been shipping for the Macintosh since
October of last year, allows users to incorporate photographs and
art into their word processing or desktop publishing programs. The
program, which works with various flatbed scanners from several
different companies, can automatically identify, straighten and crop
an image, according to Light Source president Michael Solomon.

Using Ofoto, the user places the original image, such as a
photograph, on the scanner bed, selects the printer to be used, and
presses the "return/enter" key.  Ofoto's autoscan identifies the
original as either a grayscale photo or line art. The program then
performs a high resolution scan of the image, setting variables such
as dots-per-inch (dpi) and bit-depth properly for the printer to be
used. The image is automatically enlarged or reduced to the size
and resolution selected by the user, and straightens the image by
rotating it to the correct angle. Any extra white space is cropped
and an feature called "AutoSharpen" optimizes the focus.

Sophisticated users can separate the process into prescan and
scan sequences, in order to manually edit the preview scan.
Cropping, resizing, straightening, and sharpening can be performed
using built-in tools. When the scan is performed, Ofoto applies each
specified editing process, but in the sequence which will provide
the best possible results. Ofoto comes with a calibration chart
which is scanned and printed to calibrate the program to any
peculiarities of the user's hardware.

High quality scanning of photographs and line art has just recently
come into its own, with users being able to reduce the cost of art
used in documents such as brochures by using the new scanning
and image editing capabilities, rather than having to rely on outside
agencies. With programs such as Ofoto, the quality of the art
included in documents will be limited only by the quality of the
output device and the resolution of the original art.

The sample output images provided to Newsbytes by Light Source
were of excellent quality, and included photos of home interiors and
exteriors, as well as a studio-type portrait. However, they were
printed on Linotronic film to an offset press, which would have a
higher resolution than a printer found in most offices.

Ofoto supports scanners from Apple, Abaton, Epson, HP, and
Microtek, with several models of all but Apple being supported.
The only Apple scanner supported is the Apple OneScanner.

Light Source said Ofoto can also cut down on the size of stored
images by eliminating unusable and unnecessary pixels (picture
elements, the elements which make up each picture). EPS, TIFF,
Tiff compressed, PC Paintbrush, and Bitmap file formats are
supported.

Ofoto has a suggested list price of $395, and Light Source said it
expects to have English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and
Swedish versions of Ofoto ready to ship in June of this year.

Both the Windows and the Macintosh versions of Ofoto can be
purchased bundled with an Apple OneScanner through authorized
Apple dealers. The combination has a suggested retail price of
$1,299.

Light Source said users will need an IBM-compatible 286-based or
better computer, VGA graphics, Microsoft Windows, two megabytes
(MB) of RAM and 10 MB of hard disk space, not including room for
image storage.

If you buy Ofoto, you will also receive a copy of "Worth A Thousand
Words," a book by the founders of Light Source covering uses and
possibilities of desktop scanning.

(Jim Mallory/19920505/Press Contact: Lisa Goldman, Cunningham
Communications for Light Source, 408-982-0400; Public Contact:
tel [phone], fax [phone])


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

New For PC: Deck Designing Software For Homeowners 05/05/92
BOTHELL, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- If you've
ever sat at your desk or kitchen table and drawn up a crude plan
for that deck you want to build on the back of the house, Autodesk
has a product for you.

Deck, is a deck design program which Autodesk told Newsbytes
is intended for homeowners to use on their PCs to create
professional quality plans for new decks or for remodeling a
present deck. The program runs on any IBM-compatible PC and
has a suggested retail price of $59.95. The company said it has
no plans to produce a Macintosh version.

Autodesk spokesperson Bob Morse told Newsbytes that Deck can
save, or at least significantly reduce, the cost of designing a deck,
before the contractor shows up with the materials and his tools.
Deck even prints a materials list.

Morse cautioned that Deck is only as good as the knowledge of the
user. If you design a deck that does not have enough supports for
example, the program cannot tell you that. You will have to rely on
the contractor to help. But when you show your plans to a
contractor and he points out weaknesses in the plans, you can go
back to Deck and make the adjustments.

Morse said Deck comes with drawing tools as well as a set of
pre-drawn symbols such as concrete piers, joists, and beams. The
shopping list of materials will calculate the total amount of lumber
in the drawing, and can allow for a margin of error. Deck includes
four different types of railings and deck tops, offers several types
of benches, and has symbols for deck furniture, grass, and brick
walkways.

Tina Armacost, Autodesk product marketing manager, says there
are  already personal computers in 25 percent of the US homes. She
says that with more and more people choosing to remodel their
existing  homes rather than buy new ones, "products such as Deck
and our Home Series address this growth as well as addressing the
needs of consumers in regard to do-it-yourself projects."

In addition to Deck, other software programs in Autodesk's Home
Series, each with a suggested list price of $59.95, include Home,
Kitchen, Bathroom, and Landscape. Each performs design tasks
similar to Deck for various parts of the home.

Morse told Newsbytes that Autodesk plans to expand the line further,
with one or two more design programs being introduced during 1992.
He declined to say what those products would be.

(Jim Mallory/19920505/Press Contact: Bob Morse, Morse McFadden
for Autodesk, 206-821-7385, Public Contact: Gary Kerr, Autodesk,
tel [phone] or 206-487-2233, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(DEN)(00007)

Music Semiconductors Intros High Quality PC Video 05/05/92
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) --
Music Semiconductors has introduced a family of SYNDACs
(synthetic digital analog converters) for OEMs (original equipment
manufacturers) will use on their video cards to improve the quality
of the display on PCs.

Music Semiconductor said it uses the SYNDACs on the video
cards it builds for the PC makers, especially in the Asian market.

Music (which stands for multi-user specialty integrated circuits)
Semiconductors spokesperson, Jill Goebel, told Newsbytes that the
boards using SYNDAC's are particularly appropriate for PCs which
require higher resolution, such as CAD (computer-aided design).
SYNDAC devices can display 256 colors from a palette of
over 260,000 colors, and are also designed for use in high
performance notebook and laptop computers. Several companies
have already announced color laptops.

One model of SYNDAC has power-down modes to extend battery
life in notebook and laptop PCs, while others use an external power
source  or a non-chip source. The company says the 9750 and 9760
series devices offer a more accurate on-chip voltage reference.

Goebel said SYNDAC graphics are fully compatible with VGA,
super-VGA, VESA, TIGA, and 8514/A video standards. One feature
of SYNDACs is the inclusion of two programmable clock synthesizers
for flexible control of graphics sub-system timing. One synthesizer has
eight programmable clock rates for use as a video dot clock, while
the second has two programmable clock rates for use as a controller
or frame buffer refresh clock. While all the frequency values are
preset, they can be preprogrammed by the user after the system is
turned on. An output sense comparator permits the detection of color,
monochrome, or no monitor connection.

SYNDACs also have a proprietary feature called "Pixel Replicate."
This features allows read and write access to a color lookup table
when the display is active without produce sparkle or noise in the
graphics display.

Prices for the various models of SYNDACs to OEMs range from $6
to $8.25 in lots of 1,000. The company said production qualities are
available now.

(Jim Mallory/19920505/Press Contact: Tom Weldon, Music
Semiconductor, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(DEN)(00008)

Ceram Ships PC Data Compression Board, Unix Accelerator 05/05/92
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) --
Ceram Inc., has announced that it is now shipping its PC-compatible
HardPak data compression board and its TurboSwap Unix
accelerator card.

Ceram said the HardPak data compression board is designed to
work with all popular PC applications, including Microsoft Windows,
desktop  publishing programs, spreadsheets, graphics, and CAD
(computer-aided design). Data compression can save PC users
considerable disk storage space, particularly when saving
graphics images.

According to Ceram, HardPak can improve performance and
boost disk capacity by as much as 50 percent. That figure will
vary, depending on what type file is being saving.

HardPak fits into a single eight- or 16-bit PC expansion slot, and is
compatible with both ISA (industry standard architecture) and EISA
(extended ISA) PCs, including 386 and 486-based systems.

TurboSwap is an accelerator card for Sun Microsystems
SPARCstations, SPARCstation IPCs, SPARCservers, and
compatible systems running under the Unix operating system.
Ceram claims that TurboSwap boosts performance by replacing
slower fixed disk swap partitions with fast access memory. The
company said that, depending on the size of the working data set
used by the application, TurboSwap can improve performance
from 1.5 to 15 times.

A Ceram spokesman told Newsbytes that HardPack has a
suggested list price of $119, while TurboSwap prices range from
$3,400 to $22,400, depending on the configuration of the system.
Both products are available directly from Ceram.

(Jim Mallory/19920505/Press Contact: Jill Goebel, Origin Systems
for Ceram International, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public
Contact: Fred Chadinger, Ceram, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00009)

Australia: Custom Phone System For Prisoners 05/05/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Prisoners in the
Australian state of Victoria have been given access to a custom-
designed telephone system that allows access only to specific
numbers and on a limited call basis.

Developed by Nec Australia, "Prisoner Telephone Control System"
runs on standard Nec PABX (private automatic branch exchange)
hardware. Instead of giving prisoners access to telephone lines, it
has numbers coded into the system, so the prisoner requests a
key number, thereby eliminating access to any unauthorized
numbers.

As incredible as it sounds, the system was developed after it was
discovered how much organized crime was being controlled from
within jails. Despite its seemingly specific purpose, the system is
attracting interest from universities and colleges, and other
institutions where call limiting is desired.

The system can also produce logs of calls made and their
duration.

(Paul Zucker/19920505)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00010)

Japan: Six-Language Pocket Translator Debuts 05/05/92
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Tokyo-based software maker
Map Japan has developed a pocket translation machine, which will
give translation verbally through the built-in speaker.

This language translation machine supports six languages, so a
total of 30 kinds of combination to translate from one language to the
other can be chosen.

The pocket translation machine, called the Mister Speaker, was
jointly developed by the Shuttle Computer Group in California. It
weighs only 140 grams, and can fit into a shirt pocket.

The applicable languages include Japanese, English, French,
German, Chinese, and Spanish. The device translates only
set phrases according to 85 kinds of situations. It has a total of
1,300 kinds of set phrases saved into memory, and with a single
push of the button, the target phrase in the target language will be
shown on the small LCD (liquid crystal display) screen.

This device is equipped with other features, which can be
commonly found in regular business organizers, including
a scheduler, a calculator, and a alarm clock. The device
operates with removable batteries.

The Mister Speaker costs 39,800 yen ($300) and is
manufactured in Taiwan.

(Masayuki Miyazawa/19920505/Press Contact: Map Japan,
[phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(DEL)(00011)

India: Tata Unisys's Signbank Banking Pkg Goes To Mexico 05/05/92
BOMBAY, INDIA, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Signbank, the on-line signature
verification package from India's second largest software company,
Tata Unysis Ltd. (TUL), is doing its maker proud. TUL has won
another order for its electronic signature storage and retrieval
package from one of the largest Mexican banking corporations,
Banca Serfin.

Besides this order, the company has already earned about $1.5
million from the sales of Signbank from more than fifty national
and international banks.

Signbank, the Windows 3.0-based signature verifier, which allows
for the storage of thousands of signatures on magnetic media and
their display on computer monitors, was made available on
microcomputers last summer.

It uses image scanners to capture signatures from existing
signature cards or documents. This digitized data is then
compressed and stored either on a local hard disk or a file-server
which can later be displayed on monitors for the convenience of
the tellers and other mass signature users.

Signbank also has an application program interface that enables
users to integrate signature display functions into their own
applications. Apart from PCs, Signbank is available in Unix and
can run on the Unysis A series, U6000 minicomputers and IBM
machines.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19920505)

(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00012)

Australians To Lead Telecom User Group Formation 05/05/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- The Hong Kong
Telecommunications User Group (HKTUG) has called on its
Australian counterpart ATUG (Australian Telecommunications User
Group) to be the driving force in the establishment of a regional
user group of telecommunications users. HKTUG made the call
because of what it sees as a greater access to administrative
and executive resources for ATUG.

Despite the call for ATUG to lead in the establishment of such a
group, HKTUG chairman, Tim Cureton, would still like to see a
significant role for HKTUG in the process. The idea has already
been discussed by Cureton and his Australian and International
counterparts, Wally Rothwell and Peter Smith of INTUG. These
talks last year after a conference in Singapore led to general
agreement that the telecommunications market in the Asia region
had developed its own "character," and that users in the region
had their own questions to ask of providers and their own needs
to be fulfilled.

Cureton sees the insular nature of user groups as a potential
stumbling block for the moves to a regional body. However,
he feels that user groups will be willing to give up their
"independence" when dealing with matters involving their own
country.

Cureton saw the time as ripe for the well established groups in the
region (Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand) to begin the real
push for the regional group. As far as the actual establishment of
the group goes, Cureton said: "I suppose we're waiting for a bit
more flesh to be put on the bones (of the idea) by INTUG."

Cureton also said he thought that the Australian telecoms
market had the most to gain if it were the leading force in the
process of establishing the group.

(Sean McNamara/19920505)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SYD)(00013)

Australia: AOTC Tests GSM Network 05/05/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- AOTC (Australian
and Overseas Telecommunications Corp) has begun testing its
GSM (global system for mobile communications) after the delivery
of GSM equipment from Ericsson. The GSM is to be tested by
AOTC's mobile telecommunications division, MobileNet.

Mobile Net has been operating in Australia for around five years
now, and is growing at the rate of around 50 percent annually.
Despite this large growth in the market, Australia still lags behind
other countries in the number of mobile phones per head of
population.

This points to a large untapped market for AOTC and its new rival
Optus, who also has plans for a GSM network. At the moment, GSM
networks are not allowed to be established until April 1993, and
Optus is only allowed to resell capacity on MobileNet. However,
both carriers are gearing up for their own GSMs. A third network is
to be decided on by the government by the end of this year.

The GSM technology is the standard chosen by the European
Community for a pan-European mobile cellular radio system. The
system complements existing analog networks, and will be adopted
by the 18 member countries of the EC into a single network.

It is expected that by 1994, unit sales of GSM equipment will surpass
analog sales. The choice of GSM by Austel, the regulatory body for
the Australian telecommunications industry, was made to ensure
Australia was compatible with a system which would be servicing
a major part of the world telecommunications market.

(Sean McNamara/19920505)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(SYD)(00014)

Australia: Chinese Medicine HyperCard Stack Developed 05/05/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- A Sydney doctor has
used Apple HyperCard program to develop a database of Chine
medicines. Dr. Daniel Weber developed the HyperCard stack over
the past two years.

The database incorporates information on 390 medical symptoms,
which are distinguished by 1,100 separate patterns, as well as 257
medical formulae and 378 medical herbs. A complete guide to
traditional Chine medicine is provided with the stack. The stack is
aimed at easing access to information on Chinese medicine for
practitioners, Weber said.

"Chinese herbalism has long been acknowledged as an efficacious
medicine but has been difficult to access," said Weber. "We've used
the ease of HyperCard to access a complex and mysterious
medicine."

Weber developed the stack for the Green Medicine Company, and
the company sees the US as the main market for the database.
"There is no similar database available in the US, where the
demand for Chinese medicine is increasing. We have organized
distribution in the US as the first step in assisting practitioners to
prescribe this medicine," Weber said.

The package will retail in Australia for around AUS$1,000, and in
the US for around US$350. The package is available for versions
1.2.2 and 2.1 of HyperCard, and will be available for Windows on
Spinnaker Plus by the end of May.

(Sean McNamara/19920505/Press Contact: Dr. Daniel Weber,
tel in Australia [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00015)

Australia: Govt Opposition Says Tech Education Lacking 05/05/92
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 05 (NB) -- The Federal
Opposition spokesman for technology, Peter McGauran, has
claimed that Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world in
technologically-based education, and has been concentrating
too much on humanities-based subjects.

McGauran has cited the lack of communication between industry and
the education sector for what he sees as Australia's generally poor
showing in promoting sophisticated technical disciplines. "Australia
must be one of the few countries where the education system and the
private sector are still locked in a cold war," McGauran told a
conference on technology education being held at the University of
New England, in northern New South Wales.

He went on to say that Australia's ratio of humanities to technical
graduates was too low. "Australia produces one engineer for every
five humanities students...Germany produces seven engineers for
every 2 humanities graduates while the ratio in the US and the UK is
two for one and Japan's is one for one," McGauran went on to say.

McGauran also refuted what he saw as a predominant belief held by
educational systems, that the higher numbers of humanities students
was due to the increase in school retention rates, which now stands
at 60 percent. "Australia's future competitiveness rests squarely
on its ability to lock its educational resources into its long-term
industry strategies. In this, local businesses are guaranteed
increasing levels of relevant, sophisticated skills while the
universities become the focus of new investments and centers for
leading-edge industry research," McGauran said.

(Sean McNamara/19920505)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SYD)(00016)

Australian Tech Center May Be Model For Finnish Equivalent 05/05/92
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Finland is considering
using a South Australian (SA) technology center as a model for its
planned Finnish Technology Application Center (FTAC). Finnish
representatives visited the Adelaide center last year, and have
invited its chief executive to Finland for discussions on the FTAC.

John Cambridge will investigate the Finnish plans and determine if a
center modelled on the Adelaide center would work in Finland, and,
if so, how they should go about setting the center up. Cambridge
will be joined in Finland by General Electric (GE) representatives,
as their company has close ties with the Adelaide center.

Commenting on the Finnish tour, Cambridge said: "The Finnish
mission was very impressed with what we have been able to
achieve in a short time in a state with a small population and a
diverse range of manufacturing operations. The Finns can see
that we have devised the right approach for working with small
and medium-sized manufacturers; helping them - not merely
lecturing them about new ideas and new technologies. We have
spent five years getting the recipe right and that experience will
be invaluable."

Cambridge also feels that despite the geographical differences
between Finland and South Australia, he sees many similarities
which he feels a center modelled on Adelaide's would cater for.
Cambridge and the GE representatives will spend a week in
Helsinki talking with industry leaders and studying local
companies.

(Sean McNamara/19920505)

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

Motorola, Northern Telecom Finalize Cellular Agreement 05/05/92
SCHAUMBURG, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Motorola
and Northern Telecom signed their agreement to work together
on cellular telephone networks. Motorola is the leading maker of
cellular phones, Northern a leading maker of cellular switches.
The two companies entered into formal negotiations in February.

Before creating the joint-venture, Motorola-Nortel Communications,
which will be based near Motorola's Chicago-area offices,
Motorola had been reselling cellular switches from DSC
Communications of Plano, Texas.

DSC ran into trouble with the software in its signal transfer points
last year, resulting in phone service outages on both the East and
West Coast, and since then its cellular switches have been
criticized for being behind-the-times in terms of technology. More
important, both Motorola and Northern have recently been losing
business to AT&T and L.M. Ericsson of Sweden in the cellular
business.

According to the final agreement, the two companies will not
sell phones, just cell sites, switches, and services. Motorola
will continue to sell phones on its own. The new joint venture
will operate throughout the Western Hemisphere.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920505/Press Contact: Motorola, Sue
Schmitz, 708-632-6024; Northern Telecom, Bob O'Brien,
703-712-8526)


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

Illinois Faces May 15 Telecom Law Deadline 05/05/92
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- The state
of Illinois faces a May 15 deadline to rewrite its
telecommunications laws, and a joint House-Senate committee
held hearings on proposed changes.

Illinois Bell, a unit of Ameritech, wants to change the nature of
regulation from a scheme based on its rate of return to one of
price caps, which are used by the Federal Communications
Commission. The state's Citizens Utility Board, on the other
hand, wants to keep the system as it is, noting that costs to
provide service are going down and price caps would give
Bell a windfall.

The Bell-backed proposal is being sponsored by East Moline
Democrat Dennis Jacobs, who called himself a "profit type guy,"
implying that the consumer groups are somehow against profits.
The CUB had launched a lobbying effort against the bill just a
day earlier, claiming the Jacobs bill will result in "dramatic
rate increases" and claiming that the industry has already spent
over $2 million on its behalf, including campaign contributions
and lobbying expenses.

The CUB claimed that consumers would have been overcharged
by up to $1.6 billion over the last five years if the Bell-backed
provisions were in the law. A coalition including the American
Association of Retired Persons, Illinois Public Action, and
Illinois State Council of Senior Citizen has lined up against the bill.
After the hearing, Jacobs suggested that a compromise is possible.

Lawmakers must adopt new changes in the state's
Telecommunications Act or extend the current law before it
expires May 15. This would be the second extension of the
law -- an extension until May was passed last year.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920505)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00019)

 ****AT&T Enters Cable TV Supply Business 05/05/92
MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- AT&T
is entering the cable television equipment business, promising the
ability to deliver pay-per-view and video-on-demand services
using digital compression techniques.

AT&T said it will offer an "end-to-end" system - ranging from
equipment used by program providers down to the set-top box in
people's homes. It announced partnerships with ComStream, which
makes satellite products and services, and  News Datacom, which
creates systems to authorize and process pay-per-view requests
using "smart card" technology. News Datacom is a unit of The News
Corp., which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch. AT&T has been
looking to create applications for smart cards over a number of
years.

AT&T said it will initially provide satellite program delivery
system needed to carry channels from programmers to the
"head-end" offices of cable television service providers,
including compression, transmission and access control network
elements at the satellite up-link and down-link sites. Equipment
will be available for sale in 1993.

At the same time, AT&T said it is exploring potential
partnerships for the cable-plant portion of the system - from the
head-end to consumers' homes. The company ultimately plans
to offer an end-to-end system that will boost the capacity of
today's cable networks between 300-1300 percent.

The AT&T offering will likely have to compete both with existing
cable suppliers and a planned tie-up between Time Warner and
IBM. The Time-IBM tie-up is aimed more at the "multimedia" end
of the market, creating new types of products for cable operators
to sell, while AT&T seems aimed at producing real equipment to
expand current offerings.

The National Cable Television Association, through its Cablelabs
research group, is presently testing a variety of schemes for
both compressing signals and making it impossible for consumers
to tape cable programs. But Cablelabs is looking at compression
ratios of 4:1 -- AT&T is promising a 13:1 improvement. AT&T is
offering Cablelabs a digital compression scheme, in conjunction
with Zenith and Scientific Atlanta. But that system is basically
designed to compress HDTV (high definition television) signals
into the bandwidths used by today's NTSC video.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920505/Press Contact: AT&T, Patricia
Stortz, 214-658-8432)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00020)

 ****New Jersey Bell Installing Fujitsu Gear 05/05/92
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- A few months
after winning incentive regulation from New Jersey legislators,
New Jersey Bell is delivering the benefits -- Japanese
telecommunications equipment.

New Jersey Bell, a Bell Atlantic unit, said it is teaming with
Fujitsu Network Transmission Systems, a unit of the Japanese
computer giant based in Richardson, Texas, to deliver Sonet
(Synchronous Optical NETwork) survivable fiber optic ring systems
directly to businesses. The company said the gear, which will be
ready in August, will let New Jersey Bell provide voice, data and
video services to businesses in hours instead of days and correct
service almost instantly.

The main targets of the new offering will be businesses along the
shore of New Jersey opposite New York, which were given low-
capacity Sonet gear in 1991, in systems that could not survive
disasters or outages. The new, higher capacity system, called
OC-12, can survive outages, and was designed using Bellcore-
developed software called the "Sonet Toolkit." The new system
can handle speeds up to 622 million bits-per-second (bps), and
can be upgraded to provide 2.4 billion bps service, the equivalent
of 32,256 phone lines or about 50 TV transmissions.

New Jersey Bell said the Japanese company was chosen for the
work because it is one of the few companies making Sonet
equipment and "the only company that met New Jersey Bell's rigid
specifications," according to a press statement. The company
has filed plans for new regulation called "Opportunity New Jersey"
which would move it to invest $1 billion or more in its network
through the end of the century, allowing for statewide deployment
of Sonet technology.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920505/Press Contact: Larry Plumb, Bell
Atlantic, 703-974-5446; Greg Wortman, Fujitsu, 800-777-3278)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00021)

Southnet Looking Again At Telecom America Buy 05/05/92
TAMPA, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Southnet's board of
directors put the company's president, Robert J. Zradicka, and
vice president, Philip G. Jacobs, on a two-week leave of absence
while it studies an April 30 agreement to buy Telecom America.

The company's board of directors said it is seeking lawyers'
opinions on whether it should have been required to approve the
merger, which was called definitive when it was announced a
week earlier. A majority of the board is of the opinion that such
agreement is legally necessary. The executives disagreed. The
board met May 5 to look at the agreement.

Southnet, which operates a long distance network and offers
billing and collection services, as well as a calling card, said
it would buy Telecom America, an alternative operator company
controlling 6,700 pay phones and 90 hotel accounts, in a stock
swap valued at $3.4 million, with Telecom America's two
principal shareholders joining the Southnet board. At the time of
the acquisition, Southnet said the acquisition was expected to
double Southnet's revenue base.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19920505/Press Contact: Robert J. Zradicka,
Southnet, 813-287-2880; Ron Morris, Telecom America, 305-931-
5443)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00022)

IBM Takes Stake In Software Firm 05/05/92
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- IBM has
agreed to acquire a minority stake in Sapiens International, a
software firm registered in the Netherlands Antilles. IBM also signed
a software development assistance agreement with Sapiens, which
has its United States headquarters in Cary, North Carolina.

Sapiens' software product, also called Sapiens, is a rule-based,
object-based technology for developing business applications on
IBM mainframe computers. Sapiens uses rapid application
development (RAD) techniques, which are said to increase
productivity and reduce maintenance time.

The software development assistance agreement calls for
Sapiens and IBM to work together on expanding the set of
application development tools supporting IBM's AD/Cycle
application development framework. As part of the deal, Sapiens
will extend its client-server product, Sapiens Workstation, to run
on the OS/2 operating system.

IBM spokesman Paul Neuman said his company is buying a
minority share in Sapiens, although "we never say" exactly how
large such a stake is. This is not IBM's first investment of the kind
in a company doing AD/Cycle development; the firm has minority
shares in other software firms, including KnowledgeWare.

Nor is the relationship with Sapiens entirely new. IBM and Sapiens
have both been marketing the Sapiens software in the United States
since August, 1991, and the two companies also have marketing
agreements in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, and the United
Kingdom.

(Grant Buckler/19920505/Press Contact: Paul Neuman, IBM,
914-697-6537; Barbara Claire Morrow, Sapiens, 919-677-8711)


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

Phoenix Unveils Windows 3.1 Products, Microsoft Deal 05/05/92
NORWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- In a
pair of announcements that thrust its Packaged Products Division
into the limelight, Phoenix Technologies has unveiled companion
products for Microsoft's Windows 3.1 operating software and a new
licensing agreement with Microsoft.

The announcements partly reflect PC manufacturers' growing
interest in bundling software with their hardware as a way of setting
their offerings apart from the competition, said Michael Deutsch, a
spokesman for Phoenix.

Phoenix will offer original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who
bundle Microsoft Windows 3.1 with their PCs the following new
products: the Windows 3.1 Slim manual, a 448-page condensed
and lower-priced version of the Windows documentation; the
Windows 3.1 Troubleshooting Guide, a 40-page booklet to help
vendors handle Windows-related technical support calls; and
custom engineering services to reduce the number of diskettes
needed to ship Windows 3.1 with pre-configured systems.

All these are similar to products already offered for Windows 3.1
and for DOS, Deutsch told Newsbytes. However, Phoenix is also
working on on-line hypertext documentation for Windows, based on
Lotus Development's SmarText hypertext software. This should be
available this summer, Deutsch said.

Phoenix also announced a new licensing agreement with Microsoft,
authorizing Phoenix to publish many of Microsoft's other software
products for licensed OEMs. This agreement extends a prior
agreement between Phoenix and Microsoft for MS-DOS and
Windows, and now includes publishing rights to the latest versions
of Works, Works for Windows, Windows for Pen Computing, Money,
Publisher, MS-Mouse, Word for Windows, Excel, and Powerpoint.

Started in 1989, Phoenix's Software Publishing business now
supplies more than 100 major OEMs worldwide with publishing
services and value-added software. Deutsch said demand for
software for bundling is growing, and "you might see Phoenix
Software coming out of the box, so to speak, a little more."

(Grant Buckler/19920505/Press Contact: Michael Deutsch,
Phoenix Technologies, 617-551-4184)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00024)

Phoenix, Quadtel Plan PCMCIA Software 05/05/92
NORWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) --
Phoenix Technologies and its wholly owned subsidiary Quadtel
are working on software to support the Personal Computer Card
International Association (PCMCIA) specification for attaching
memory and peripherals to personal computers.

PCMCIA has been frequently in the news this year as a variety of
vendors announce small portable computers and associated
peripherals that support the specification. It is emerging as a
standard way of connecting flash memory devices, an alternative to
disk drives for storage on notebook and sub-notebook PCs. It can
also be used for attaching peripherals such as modems and
external disk drives to small computers. PCMCIA has been
described as the notebook computer's equivalent of the AT bus
used in desktop PCs.

Phoenix and Quadtel said their new system software helps PC
manufacturers design PCMCIA compatibility into their systems
efficiently and quickly. Some companies, including AT&T and
Sharp, are already using PCMCIA software developed by the two
firms, said Phoenix spokesman Michael Deutsch. He noted that the
software will have to be customized to each vendor's hardware,
saying, "there's no such thing as off-the-shelf product."

The software is designed to provide consistent access to PCMCIA
cards. This saves hardware vendors having to adapt their
higher-level software to a particular socket implementation,
Phoenix said, and makes it easier to port software to other
hardware platforms.

This is the first product area to benefit from a codevelopment
effort between the recently merged Phoenix and Quadtel.

The two companies announced plans to merge in January, and
completed the transaction at the beginning of March. Phoenix makes
system software products for manufacturers of personal computers
and printers. Its shares are traded on the NASDAQ over-the-counter
system. Quadtel, based in Costa Mesa, California, supplies system
and video basic input-output systems (BIOS) and other system and
utility software and firmware for personal computers.

Officials of the two companies said the merger would produce
a good combination of Quadtel's focus on technology and
engineering with Phoenix's strong worldwide marketing, sales,
and service organization.

(Grant Buckler/19920505/Press Contact: Michael Deutsch, Phoenix,
617-551-4184; Scott Daniel, Quadtel, 714-754-4422)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00025)

New For PC: Probe 4GL Language Aimed At Downsizing 05/05/92
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) --
Prologic, an eight-year-old software company, has released a
fourth-generation programming language called Probe. Probe is
unique in that it is intended for developing large-scale transaction
processing applications on local and wide area networks, said Rob
Murray, a Prologic spokesman.

Murray said Probe is aimed at customers who are downsizing from
mainframe computers to networks of smaller machines and who
need to set up transaction processing applications that support
dozens or hundreds of client stations.

The software has already been used to build systems ranging in
size from a single computer to a network setup where more than
300 clients have access to a 15-million-row database with response
times less than three seconds, according to Prologic officials.

Prologic has used the software for its own systems development
projects for a variety of clients, officials said, but has not
previously offered the software for sale. The initial release is
labelled Version 2.0, but is in fact the first version to ship,
Murray told Newsbytes.

The company claims that Probe offers a 70-to-1 productivity
improvement over third-generation programming languages
such as C and COBOL.

A Probe development license costs $2,500, and production
licenses are $750 per node. A test drive version, crippled to limit
database size to one million rows, is available for $99.

For a development machine or server, the software requires at least
an 80286 processor, DOS 3.3 or later, and six megabytes (MB) of
available hard disk space. A development machine must have 640
kilobytes (KB) of base memory plus at least 256KB of expanded
memory, while a server must have 640KB of base memory and at
least one MB of expanded.

Any PC with 640KB of base memory and at least 384KB bytes of
expanded memory, plus DOS 3.3 or later, can work as a client
machine, the vendor said.

(Grant Buckler/19920505/Press Contact: Rob Murray, Prologic,
604-278-6470)


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

 ****UK: BT Teams With IBM On Videophone Project 05/05/92
LONDON, ENGLAND, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- British Telecom has
teamed up with IBM to develop a videophone that works over
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) phone lines.

Unlike existing ISDN videophones or, for that matter, the recent
rash of analogue videophones that can be used over existing
phone lines, the BT-IBM phone will consist of a card to plug into
a PC, displaying the image on-screen, and having a small
external camera capture the video image and sound from the
user.

This approach will save the user having to pay for a complete
ISDN videophone, although the real emphasis, BT officials have
said, is on the integration between the videophone and the PC
environment.

It is still early days on the project, Newsbytes notes, so neither
party is talking exact figures. BT officials have admitted
privately that the ISDN videophone card is likely to cost more
than UKP 1,000, but will accept video and sound from a variety of
sources.

This contrasts with the UKP500 figures that have been quoted by
BT and Amstrad for their analogue videophones which are
scheduled for launch later this year. These phones use modem
technology to squeeze a data signal over the existing telephone
network, rather than pump pure digital data over an ISDN data
highway.

Plans call for both companies to formally launch their videophone
later this year. Prototypes of the PC card system already exist,
although mass production is still some way off, Newsbytes
understands.

Will the technology take off? That all depends on whether
subscribers elect to install ISDN in their homes and offices,
Newsbytes notes. Currently, since no interconnect between the BT
ISDN service and the packet switched networks (PSS, Tymnet)
exists, subscribers are limited in their ISDN applications.

(Steve Gold/19920505)


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

Germany Paralyzed By Public Worker's Strike 05/05/92
FRANKFURT, WESTERN GERMANY, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- The
normally efficient Western German public services are grinding to
a halt, courtesy of the public service unions, who have rejected the
government's 4.8 percent pay offer -- they want twice that figure.

So far, both sides appear to be deadlocked, despite the fact that
the strike has now entered its second week. Citizens of Western
Germany are reported to be appalled at the sight of black plastic
bags of rotting garbage piling up in the street.

Perhaps worse, workers are finding it increasingly difficult to
get to work as trams, trains, and buses fail to turn up. Those
that are running are jam-packed full. Even planes are backing up
at the airports, as ground staff refuse to work. Those that are
working are working to rule, meaning that their work rate is
slowed up.

The dispute between the public service workers and the
government is now rated as the most serious since the end of the
Second World War. The last strike on this scale was in 1974 and
resulted in a settlement within three days. No-one anticipates that
either side will cave in with this dispute.

Chancellor Kohl has gone on record as saying that his offer of
4.8 percent is the final offer. The unions, meanwhile, want 9.5
percent. Attempts to get both sides to the negotiation table have
failed.

Kohl has said that, if he does pay the workers more, then jobs
will have to be sacrificed. The workers seem undeterred. "Wages
policy must not only take account of the interests of those who
have a secure job. It must also bear in mind those who are counting
on new employment opportunities emerging in our companies,"
Kohl said on TV over the weekend.

Kohl added that the West German workers should regard their
"sacrifice" of a major pay rise as contributing towards their
colleagues' in East Germany. The unification of the two Germanies
has cost the West German economy dearly, he has admitted.

(Steve Gold/19920505)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00028)

 ****Dutch Government Wins $1 Billion Contract With China 05/05/92
EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- The
Chinese government has committed an unprecedented $1,000
million of trade contracts to the Netherlands in apparent gratitude
for not selling submarines to Taiwan.

Although neither government has admitted to an actual "tit for
tat" deal, most industry watchers say that the contract -- arranged
by J E Andriessen, the Dutch Economics minister, on a recent
six-day visit to China -- is the direct result of the Dutch block on
technology contracts with Taiwan.

When asked by the press recently if the $1 billion-worth of
contracts was a reward for stopping a sale of submarines to
Taiwan, Andriessen hinted that it was, but stopped short of
admitting there was a link.

"This started one or two months ago and you can draw your own
conclusions why," Andriessen said. In February, the Dutch placed
a block on the sale of submarines to Taiwan after formal protests
from the Chinese government.

The new spirit of cooperation between the two countries is in
marked contrast to the links of a decade ago. Between 1981 and
1984, Taiwan downgraded its links with the Netherlands after a
Dutch company sold two submarines to Taiwan. It took an
agreement in early '84, at ministerial level between the two
countries to restore diplomatic links.

French officials are said to be watching the developments between
China and the Netherlands with interest. Last year, France got
into trouble with the Chinese government after it allowed the
sale of a number of frigates to Taiwan to go through.

Currently, Dessault Aviation, the French plane company, is said
to be lobbying to be allowed to sell more than 100 planes to
Taiwan - China has made representations to the French
government on the matter, but no-one has made any official
comment on the matter.

The deals which Andriessen and his staff have clinched with China
seem solid enough. According to the Dutch Economics minister,
the deal is for $300 million worth of services and $700 million in
products. The products include aircraft, dredging equipment, and
telecommunications switchgear.

(Steve Gold/19920505)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00029)

UK: Lotus Attempts To Lure Wordperfect Users To Ami Pro 05/05/92
STAINES, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- Lotus
has announced it is making  a version of its Ami Pro Switchkit
available to users of Wordperfect. The free software kit allows
users of Wordperfect to migrate to Ami Pro with little effort,
Lotus claims.

In parallel with the free offer, Lotus has cut the price of Ami
Pro to UKP 395 for all comers, a reduction of UKP 50 in official
pricing. The price cut brings Ami Pro into line with the rest of
the Windows word processing software marketplace, the
company claims.

"The Ami Pro Switchkit has everything that Wordperfect users need
to move up to Ami pro, walking users through Ami Pro steps rather
than executing commands," explained Mark Mallinson, word
processing product marketing manager with Lotus UK. "Together
with the price reduction, we think we have overcome any
objections to moving to Ami Pro," he added.

The Ami Pro Switchkit offers two levels of keystroke help and
training to Wordperfect users. In level one, if the user enters a
Wordperfect command such as "shift F7," the Switchkit displays
the instruction's parallel in Ami Pro, in this case, the Ami Pro
print command.

In level two, the same information is displayed, along with a
demonstration of how to complete the same command using a
pull-down menu. The kit stops short of actually printing the
document, so the user can observe everything taking place,
clicking on the "OK" box to execute the command.

In addition to the two levels of help, the Switchkit features a
batch file conversion program that translates groups of files or
entire subdirectories of Wordperfect files into Ami Pro format.
The batch file conversion program also converts files from other
popular PC word processing formats, including Wordstar,
Multimate, MS-Word, and Word for Windows.

(Steve Gold/19920505/Press & Public Contact: Lotus UK,
0753-532044)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(WAS)(00030)

Samsung Intros Three New SRAM Lines 05/05/92
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1992 MAY 5 (NB) -- San Jose,
California-based Samsung Semiconductor has begun mass
production of three new families of fast five-volt CMOS
(complimentary metal oxide semiconductor) memory chips.

The new SRAM (static random access memory) chips, which do
not require a regular refresh current to maintain data integrity, are
made using Samsung's 0.7-micron double-layer metal CMOS
process technology and come in 64 kilobit, 256 kilobit, and 1
megabit sizes. The chips are available immediately in quantity.

The memory chips are available in Joint Electronic Development
Engineering Council (JEDEC) or SIP (single in-line pin) packages
and all share common operating characteristics, including a
standby power consumption of only 500 pico watts.

SRAM chips are much faster than the cheaper DRAM (dynamic
random access memory) chips because, although both require a
supply of power (data is lost when power is removed completely),
they do not require the regular refresh cycles of power that tie up
DRAM circuits for about half the time.

SRAM is often used in high-speed cache software where a small
amount of expensive memory can greatly speed the overall
performance of a system by acting as a buffer for the less
expensive and slower main DRAM memory.

CMOS technology lowers the amount of power required to keep
data in memory. It is therefore used in laptop computers to store
information when the system is not running, and to backup system
configuration information in nearly all modern PC computers. This
information is essential to the proper bootup of a PC and when
the internal battery goes dead after several years the computer
goes down and will have to be reconfigured.

Three.three volt technology is now being used in many advanced
portable computers, but five volt circuits are still the standard in
desktop and tower computers.

Samsung is a Korean-based company with sales in the $50 billion
range.

(John McCormick/19920505/Press Contact: Darlene Eynon,