Title : SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ Alt Author : Julie Pitta, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: seybold Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ Although Unix is gaining ground in many small group- and workstation-oriented arenas, industry analysts said at a recent Seybold Desktop Publishing Conference that it will be some time before it becomes widely accepted for desktop publishing. The main obstacle limiting its use in the field is the shortage of easy-to-use software that already exists in the worlds of Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS and Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh, said Tim Bajarin, vice-president of Creative Strategies Research International, a Santa Clara, Calif., market research firm. ``If you're doing high-performance topography and composition, you need a high-performance tool,'' said Rick Young, industry analyst at San Jose, Calif., market research firm Dataquest, Inc. Pricing has steered users to MS-DOS-based systems or Macintosh personal computers. Unix-based workstations have been too pricey for the average user and are mostly found in technical environments where their power is needed for design purposes. However, the advent of Xenix-based PCs and Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s introduction of lower-priced Unix-based workstations _ particularly its 386I _ offer users a relatively inexpensive Unix alternative to PCs. Bajarin said Unix will grow in popularity, given its multitasking capability. ``The power of Unix will take desktop publishing far beyond what we know today,'' he said. In other Seybold happenings, Adobe Systems, Inc. introduced Adobe Font Folio, a 45M-byte hard disk drive that contains more than 300 typefaces. The Adobe Font Folio is priced at $9,600 and is scheduled for shipment next month. It was designed for use with the Macintosh Plus, SE and II. Additionally, Adobe debuted Adobe Illustrator, Windows Version, for the IBM Personal Computer. It is priced at $695 and is slated to ship by year's end. Wyse Technology introduced a 19-in. monochrome display subsystem for use in desktop publishing. It is compatible with IBM Color Graphics Adapter and Video Graphics Array and Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. color graphics. It features a 1,280- by 960-pixel display with an intelligent controller based on the Texas Instruments, Inc. 34010 graphics processor. The WY-7190 is priced at $2,195 and reportedly will ship next month. <<<>>> Title : Telebyte Technology, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1nettele Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Telebyte Technology, Inc. has introduced a remote terminal server package for ASCII terminals attached to IBM mainframes. Called the Model 570 Quick Mux, the product reportedly allows placement of as many as eight ASCII terminals at distances up to 5,000 ft away from the IBM 3174 Subsystem Control Unit. According to the vendor, each input port of the Quick Mux can accept full-duplex data at rates up to 19.2K bit/sec. Each port can also provide two control signals. The Model 570 Quick Mux with eight cables and eight modular adapters costs $548 in single quantities. Discounts are available for OEMs. Telebyte Technology, 270 E. Pulaski Road, Greenlawn, N.Y. 11740. 800-835-3298. <<<>>> Title : Dealing with the other si Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 13mgtcol Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: The transition is well documented. People with general business experience are moving into information systems management positions, while middle-level managers are shifting from information systems into the business community. What remains to be seen is the long-term impact of the trend. Will the transition be as smooth as ships passing in the night? Or maybe IS and general business will end up like the luxury liners Andrea Doria and Stockholm _ ``Crunch!'' ``Man the lifeboats!'' This trend stems from the legitimate need for people in information systems to learn more about the general business world. The concept of technologists having to become better businesspeople has been one of the hot ideas of the past few years, and anyone who rejects it probably hates apple pie and his mother. But for all of its merit, the trend also raises questions about long-term problems _ none of which should be insurmountable. One of the initial dangers lies in the idea of shipping talented middle managers from the information systems group out to the user community with the mandate of getting to know the business' goals and needs. They are systems developers sent out to act as liaisons between IS and the user community, thus ensuring that new systems address the company's needs as far as function and prompt delivery are concerned. That is a great idea, and plenty of companies are implementing it today. However, the danger may be that the participants in that program may never come back to the IS group. Therefore, the IS executive must be prepared to accept that loss of talent by offsetting it with the benefit of having IS-educated managers in the user community, or the executive must find a way to attract that manager back from the user side to IS a couple of years down the road. The challenge for the executive may lie in making IS and its growth path attractive enough to draw that manager back from the promise of a career in the user community and rewards such as the glamour of marketing and the cash in the sales department. It means the corporation has to say that a manager who understands IS and understands the business can become chief information officer and can go from there to chief operating officer or president. If all of this sounds like an executive rotation proposal, it is. However, when young executives and managers are rotated into IS, it must be with the understanding that they are doing more than putting in their time in computers. One of the mistakes some companies have made has been to rotate talented people into the IS group but only in general management capacities such as human resource manager for that group. Those developing executives must learn about IS from the inside and contribute to the group by using the experience they have gained in other departments. Shut out Another long-term problem associated with the mix of IS and the business side can hit near the top of the IS organization, with qualified IS managers being shut out of the top job because the company insists on bringing in a person with general business experience. That policy has worked well in many companies recently, as the general manager brings to IS a fresh outlook and the ability to ask what-if questions more easily than a person with a lifetime of technical experience and technical biases. The person who was brought in is then better prepared for the high-ranking positions in the executive suite. The irony is that the IS manager who is passed over for that top job is not considered for top jobs in other departments simply because he or she came up through IS. That manager faces the prospect of being stuck at a plateau within IS, making a lateral or even downward transfer into another department and trying to climb another ladder, or making a lateral or downward move into another company. There is also a danger in bringing too many general business people into top IS jobs, particularly if a company replaces each of those top executives after two years _ just when an executive has come to understand some of the technology _ with another computer neophyte. The doors between IS and the general business side must swing both ways. The two groups have to be brought closer together, but only through relationships that benefit each side and, as an end result, the company as a whole. That means that people who work in IS need a growth path, not only within the ranks of IS but to the company president's office. It means that people rotated into IS have to make it what people in the 1970s called ``a meaningful experience.'' It means that people who are rotated out of the systems group have to remember where they came from. Finally, it means that people who have spent all of their adult lives in IS have to gain exposure to the rest of the company, set aside their vendor biases and ``it can't be done'' attitudes and remember that they work for the company, not for the computer. By James Connolly; Connolly is a Computerworld senior editor, management. <<<>>> Title : Training for AS/400 can b Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: as400tra Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Moving your System/34, 36 or 38 programs to the Application System/400 platform will be a straightforward process, according to IBM. But while some MIS managers concur with this position, others say the path more closely resembles a convoluted mountain trail _ and the mountain-climbing gear is expensive. Users of IBM's popular System/36 series interviewed recently said what is certainly a worthwhile move to the IBM AS/400 will bring its share of problems, including training issues, before they will see its full potential. ``It will take the System/36 users six months to fully adapt to the AS/400,'' said consultant Keith Okano, director of research and development at Automated Training Systems in Woodland Hills, Calif. The firm offers courses on the AS/400 that range in price from $700 to $900 for a 40-hour course. Okano said that while the AS/400 was designed so people can begin to be productive within the first few days, to function in a true AS/400 environment is going to take a combination of on-the-job experimentation and training. All of the managers contacted agreed that on-the-job training will supplement any classroom training. In Orange County, Texas, data processing manager Phyllis Boudreaux has been making the transition from the county's System/36 to the AS/400 for a month, and she is signing up for many of the educational classes offered by IBM to supplement the in-house work. Still, Boudreaux said, the transition is time-consuming, difficult and expensive. She estimated the cost of the training her two programmers have received so far to be $3,000. The migration aids cost more than $500 each, she added. Boudreaux's programmers were first shipped off to school to learn the System/38 mode, which is the environment that most closely resembles the AS/400 mode. That training will make the transition easier, she predicted. In total, the programmers have received nearly three weeks of training through IBM, but they are not finished yet. Later, she will send them back to school to learn the subtle differences between the System/38 and the AS/400 technology. Those additional AS/400 programming workshops and classes will cost approximately $5,000 more, she estimated. Diane DeLaurier, manager of distributed systems at Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. in Miami, which plans to purchase approximately 100 AS/400s, said she has been holding in-house training courses for her System/36 programmers to gear up for the AS/400s. The instructors are IBM personnel and in-house people who have been through the formal IBM training. While Ryder has experienced some problem in moving programs to the AS/400, that could be because most of the company's programs are written in Cobol rather than RPG, DeLaurier said. DeLaurier said Ryder is easing the training burden by sending a small group of programmers to classes. Those employees have been helping to train other programmers. ``They came back, looked at our applications and how they were coded and put together our migration cookbook,'' which identified how things were done on the System/36 and how they would be done differently on the AS/400, DeLaurier said. Each programmer was given a cookbook as a reference when learning the AS/400. ``We felt that, by and large, when they sat down, they were fairly productive,'' she said. A road less traveled At the United Way of the National Capital Area in Washington, D.C., MIS Director John Walter has faced an even stiffer challenge _ moving from the old, 1974-vintage IBM System/3 Model 15D to the AS/400.``We have to go from the System/3 to tape, and then tape through the 38 with the migration aid to the AS/400.'' That meant training his programmers in the System/38's RPG III to accustom them to RPG 400, he said. Like most of the managers interviewed, Walter said his crew would not be immediately working in AS/400 mode. Instead, he will move the programs over in the System/38 mode and then gradually convert them. Surprisingly, System/38 technology is crucial to the AS/400 conversions even for those migrating from the System/36 and its predecessors. ``Even though we'll be running the AS/400 in System/36 mode,'' Orange County's Boudreaux said, ``we'll have to use some 38 technology in order to get it to run properly.'' For its part, IBM is offering a slew of courses for AS/400 training. Courses range from half-day tutorials for programmers making the easy migration from the System/38 to more complex classes for System/36 programmers to high-level classes for users planning to use the AS/400 for communications. ``We expect when a student leaves our course, he'll be productive,'' said Avis Hodge, an IBM System/36 and 38 curriculum planner in Atlanta. IBM's course offerings range in price from $75 for certain half-day courses to $1,500. As expected, the switch is a fairly smooth one for System/38 programmers, the MIS directors interviewed said. In many cases, the manuals IBM supplied with the AS/400 and the optional migration utility will be all that those programmers require, managers said. ``As far as I'm concerned, it should be a smooth transition'' from the company's System/38 to the AS/400, said Steve Poppe, vice-president of MIS at Roto Rooter Services Co. in Cincinnati. ``We've run the command-program languages through the migration aid and found programs that would not translate, but the basic RPG programs converted right over,'' he said. Roto Rooter has purchased eight AS/400 Model 10s that will be put in remote company sites across the country and will be the slaves to the AS/400 Model 30 at Roto Rooter headquarters in Cincinnati. Poppe said he expects that 90% to 95% of the commands will be easily translated from System/38 to AS/400 commands. The system should be up and fully functional in seven to eight months, he added. IBM has provided extensive documentation with the hardware, the programmers said, and this might be enough for sophisticated programmers. Marshall Morrow, president and chief programmer at Technical Construction, Inc. in Alexandria, Va., is making the AS/400 migration from an IBM System/34 to the AS/400, but he expects few snags. ``I haven't seen anything about native CL or native RPG that frightens me,'' Morrow said. ``I came from a System/3 to a System/32 with the manuals and from the 32 to the 34 with the manuals, and I intend to the do the same this time.'' Senior Editor Rosemary Hamilton contributed to this report. By Alan J. Ryan, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : `A lot to get done' Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: kailash Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: When 21-year-old Kailash Khanna left his home in Delhi, India, to acquire a master's degree at Columbia University in New York, he had every intention of returning home upon graduation. Twenty-nine years later, Khanna has never gotten around to moving back. He has, quite simply, been too busy shaping a career as a leading information systems executive. Khanna, a soft-spoken 25-year information systems veteran, raised more than a few eyebrows when he left his post as vice-president and head of corporate systems and technology at American Express Co. to join the troubled CIT Group in May. How could he leave such a prestigious spot in the glamour of downtown Manhattan, industry watchers wondered, for the relatively obscure asset-based financial institution headquartered in the New Jersey suburb of Livingston? For Khanna, the decision was hardly difficult. After nine years in a corporate staff job at American Express, he was itching for a new challenge. Despite talk that something must be wrong at American Express, Khanna says he simply wanted to move from a staff job to a line position. Though influential at American Express, he was relegated to a strategic overseer's role there. His task had been to decentralize systems into the company's four major business units, and he had done that over the course of four years _ perhaps too well. Just too good ``Kailash essentially worked himself out of a job,'' says Howard Clark Jr., executive vice-president and chief financial officer at American Express. ``He did a terrific job of decentralizing the information systems function, and in the end what was left in corporate headquarters was not significant enough or important enough for a man of his skills.'' Khanna wanted total responsibility for the delivery of technology. CIT, a subsidiary of Manufacturers Hanover Trust, gave him that chance. After careful thought, Khanna accepted the offer to become senior vice-president in charge of information systems, data processing and telecommunications. ``In terms of employee count and asset size, it may seem like a move down. But in terms of my leverage and influence on the business, it is significantly greater,'' Khanna says. Before American Express, Khanna spent extended stays with Trans World Airlines and American Airlines, where he learned what he calls a guiding principle. ``You go where there is tremendous need, where there is a lot to get done,'' Khanna says. ``That's where the greatest challenge is.'' At CIT, there is no lack of a challenge. Though its more than $9 billion in assets make it the nation's largest asset-based financial institution, CIT has gone through difficult times since being acquired by Manufacturers Hanover in 1984. A series of poor loans, along with questionable overall management of the company, caused CIT to become a major concern for its parent, which had hoped to gain millions in revenue from the acquisition. By 1987, a restructuring was set in place; one priority was to upgrade and revitalize the company's information systems. Khanna insists that he did not walk into a hornet's nest. The situation at CIT is nowhere near as bad as published reports painted it, and he has received enthusiastic support from Manufacturers Hanover and CIT in his mission, he says. To the cutting edge Khanna's mandate is to turn CIT's information systems delivery into a dynamic and efficient, if not leading-edge, operation that will help CIT's bottom line. ``I want to make the technology group at CIT among the best in New Jersey and in the country,'' Khanna states. Ed Nyce, the executive vice-president in charge of information technology systems at Manufacturers Hanover, believes that Khanna is the person best suited to handle the turnaround. Nyce, who hired Khanna, was seeking an experienced DP veteran with a good balance between business and technology. ``He faces three significant challenges,'' Nyce says. ``The applications portfolio at CIT is on average the oldest in the entire organization; he has to come up quickly on the learning curve in a new industry, and he is dealing with a very young and inexperienced staff.'' Nyce points out that Khanna didn't walk into a chaotic situation. Technology investments at CIT were under way before he joined the company. The systems problems, Nyce says, were also brought into focus before Khanna's arrival. ``We were just not getting to where we wanted to be as quickly as we should,'' Nyce admits. ``Some projects were slipping.'' If the situation called for a George Patton type, Khanna hardly fit the bill. Quiet, almost professorial in his manner, Khanna is not likely to give fiery speeches to inspire the troops. And Nyce noted this in his decision to bring Khanna aboard. ``Kailash is quiet but rock-solid, and the business managers immediately saw a chemistry between them _ that he could bring all the key groups together,'' Nyce says. Khanna also brought the intangible wisdom accumulated from a lifetime in the business. He points out that an information systems department has three principal constituencies: the company's shareholders and customers; the end users or clients, who are using technology to do their jobs; and the information systems staff. ``It's a continuous balancing,'' he says. ``If you can get good ratings from all three, than you are doing a good job. But you can't sacrifice any of the three.'' Khanna is quite clear on his goal. ``The bottom line is: What does technology bring to the business? What enhancement do you bring to the shareholders' value?'' he states. After less than five months on board, Khanna has already had an impact, says Al Gamper, chairman and chief executive officer of CIT. In the company's factoring business, which is labor-intensive, Gamper says that Khanna has demonstrated ways to reduce head count and have systems pick up the slack. ``Kailash has already shown us how to streamline the process to continue servicing the client,'' Gamper says. The division's numbers already appear to be far ahead of last year's _ a projected $120 million in earnings, after Manufacturers Hanover lost an estimated $20 million on CIT in 1987. As CIT moves into stable profitability, it will take pressure off the entire management team, including Khanna. But he says that his biggest challenge is to upgrade the use of technology throughout the division _ both in the field and in the home office. Khanna also notes that part of his challenge is a cultural one. The systems personnel have never been user-oriented. Though capable, their focus has been on centralized DP. ``They haven't had a customer mind-set,'' he says. Khanna claims that there has been no resistance to his changes and little turnover in his staff of 170. ``In fact, there is a great sense of excitement, of wanting to do it,'' he adds. Despite leaving the leading-edge atmosphere of American Express, Khanna is unapologetic about the level of technology at CIT. In Khanna's opinion, the monetary investment in technology is, on its own, not the criterion by which to judge value. ``Spending is a misleading guide,'' he insists. ``American Express got a lot of good press for using leading-edge technology, but the real question is, What value are you getting out of it for the business? There were pockets there where you didn't get the value.'' Khanna likes to measure his task not by how far behind he lags, but by how long it will take to get a top-quality technology exploitation plan functioning. For that he estimates a two-year timetable. And he is in no hurry. As he felt when he joined TWA, American Airlines and American Express, Khanna is in for the duration. He fully expects CIT to be his last stop, although that could easily change if the challenge disappears. Aside from trips to visit his extensive family in India, Khanna tries to find enough time for his passion _ tennis, which he and his wife, Lee, play regularly. Their 18-year-old daughter just made the move to campus life at her father's alma mater, Columbia, and their 14-year-old son is entering high school in Montclair, N.J., which is the hometown of the Khanna family. Khanna, who turned 50 in September, says he feels fortunate that his career has focused more on the innovative and changing nature of technology development than on the day-to-day running of DP. With a Ph.D. in operations research, he says he would rather be a constant driver of change than a status-quo preserver. ``In this industry, that's been a fantastic place to be for the past 10 years,'' he says. By Glenn Rifkin, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Tax units tap computer's Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: peat Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: NEW YORK _ One of the sectors making particularly good use of computers within the typical big corporation is the tax department, according to a study by Peat, Marwick, Main & Co. The Big Eight accounting firm's recent survey of 414 Fortune 1,000 companies found that 60% of those respondents have computerized more than half of their tax department functions and that one-third have automated more than 70% of them. Those tax departments reported that they are pleased with the automation efforts and are relying more on microcomputers. ``This study underscores just how successful and how widespread the integration of computers into tax work has been. The principal reasons cited for purchasing computers were anticipated improvements in productivity [87%], meeting an increasing volume of work [82%], improving accuracy [79%] and keeping pace with the complexity of changing tax laws [56%],'' said David C. Smith, vice-chairman of Peat Marwick's tax practice, in announcing the results. ``The fact that two-thirds of the respondents have achieved ratios of one or two tax professionals per microcomputer attests to both the magnitude of productivity gains and the willingness of corporations to continue to invest in hardware as a result of initial successes,'' Smith added. Feeling satisfied In the satisfaction portion of the survey, 94% of the companies said their tax departments are realizing or exceeding anticipated gains in productivity from computerization. When they were asked whether they had met or exceeded expected gains in quality, the satisfaction level reached 97%. Peat Marwick found the most significant problem tax departments faced in using computers was the loss of data files because of operator error (47%) or equipment malfunction (30%). But more than 80% of the respondents still do not back up their data daily, and nearly 30% have no backup policy at all. The study found that likely growth areas within tax department automation are the use of personal computers and multitasking systems software such as Unix, IBM and Microsoft Corp.'s OS/2 and Xenix. By James Connolly, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : It's solid but not sexy Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: nasty1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: It wasn't a White House press conference, but damage control descended like executive aides after a presidential gaffe. National Advanced Systems was in a snit. It didn't like what people were saying about its new mainframes so much that not only did the billion-dollar company send its lone public relations man on a post-announcement tour with analysts and press _ in a kind of ``what-the-president-meant-to-say-is-this'' mode _ but it tried to pin the bad press coverage on misquotes. The company's new line of mainframes _ actually a unification of its two earlier lines _ plus a little added processor capacity at the high end, had not been wildly received. Enthusiasm for the Sept. 13 announcement was further eroded by skepticism over NAS' poor financial situation _ few or no orders were taken for mainframes this summer. It's not that NAS has bad products. NAS, and its Japanese supplier, Hitachi Ltd., have a good reputation for reliable systems _ particularly in storage peripherals. But there's nothing sexy about the new systems. The mainframes don't live up to the CPU speed of NAS competitors Amdahl and IBM, and the bells and whistles sound more like kazoos. Analysts say that the lack of something sexy in the new line will prevent Amdahl and IBM customers from jumping ship. However, NAS offered serious list price reductions for those interested in the line. At the low end, the difference is less than $100,000, but at the high end _the top-of-the-line AS/EX 100 _ there is a $3 million difference in list prices from last year. Now, the operative word here is ``list price.'' NAS watchers have said that their earlier list prices have been way out of line with the actual selling price and that the new list prices are more in line with reality. If the price is the sexiest thing about the mainframes, then that beauty is undercut by the machines' residual value, which is said to plummet quickly after purchase. A customer shopping for a new mainframe and considering both NAS and IBM might be moved to purchase the more expensive IBM machine because it will retain more of its value at resale time. Why do the NAS processors, known to be reliable, lose their value so quickly? Maybe it's something the spin doctors could fix. Market observers say it's the public perception of the NAS machines, not the processors themselves. By J.A. Savage, Savage is a Computerworld West Coast correspondent. <<<>>> Title : IBM shadowboxing? Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: as9370 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Just when it looked like the IBM 9370 would become a moderate success, a report has surfaced to stir things up again. This time, the claim is that the IBM mid-range Application System/400 will snatch away what could have been future 9370 sales. The Sierra Group, Inc. in Tempe, Ariz., recently completed a survey of MIS executives and concluded that the bulk of them prefer the AS/400 over the 9370. Several of the executives surveyed in IBM 370 shops said they would halt future purchases of 9370s in favor of the other IBM mid-range offerings. However, Computerworld's random interviews with a handful of 9370 sites last week showed that roles as a specialized system in a 370 environment or as a host in small companies can still be claimed by the 9370. MIS executives contacted by Computerworld last week, independent of The Sierra Group, said they would not abandon their 9370s for the follow-on to the System/36 and 38 platforms. The Sierra Group's research was based on interviews with members of its MIS Executive Council, which it said is made up of top U.S. companies that it chooses not to identify. The recent survey was based on discussions with 62 council members, while 32 specific responses were included for the actual report. Of that group, ``most'' expressed a preference for the AS/400. ``The point is [the report] is less an endorsement of the AS/400 and more of a rejection of the 9370,'' said Marty Gruhn, vice-president of The Sierra Group. According to Gruhn, the report may also reflect reaction to the AS/400's highly publicized rollout. ``It could also be a product of the perception that the AS/400 is the latest and greatest, and the 9370 is a loser,'' Gruhn added. Nonetheless, The Sierra Group released a summary report that included comments from 21 respondents. Of that group, 10 said they thought the AS/400 was more appropriate for their needs than the 9370. Within that group, a few said they would stop buying more 9370s and go with the AS/400 instead. But in 9370 customer sites contacted by Computerworld, this opinion does not hold. At F. W. Woolworth Co. in Milwaukee, Wis., MIS Director Victor Bruenig runs a 9370 at a remote site strictly to drive an IBM 3800 printer. ``I wouldn't make a 9370 vs. an AS/400-type decision,'' Bruenig said. Bruenig said AS/400s might be installed in the future as replacements for System/36s in remote sites serving an office automation function. ``Out in the field, it would be a logical progression to move to an AS/400. But we wouldn't have been looking at 9370s for office automation anyway. That's overkill, putting a mainframe in an office.'' Similarly, the aerospace division of General Electric Co. in Philadelphia is using several 9370s to drive printers at remote locations. According to Howard Kerr, manager of the division's Valley Forge Computer Center, it would not make sense to replace 9370s in this capacity with AS/400s, because the printer function is controlled by the 3090 host. Another 9370 user has set up the low-end mainframe as the manager of its distribution center. The Jamesway Corp. in Secaucus, N.J., said it plans to offload applications that have been running on an IBM 4381 to the newer 9370 at the firm's distribution center. ``We wanted something that would eventually grow into a mainframe,'' said Richard Prince, DP director at Jamesway. ``Also, we run lean and mean when it comes to system development. Nobody here is an RPG programmer.'' According to Jeffry Beeler, an industry analyst at Dataquest, Inc., the switch from 9370s to AS/400s will happen in small numbers because of the migration effort involved. ``I don't think we'll see it in large numbers,'' Beeler said. ``The AS/400 will sell to small businesses or to divisions of large companies that aren't 370-oriented.'' By Rosemary Hamilton, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Tape negotiations stall Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: basf5 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: BASF Corp. and the Sun Exploration & Production Co., locked in a six-month dispute, sat down at the bargaining table but failed to reach a compromise last week. For several months, the Dallas-based Sun Exploration has been demanding replacement of 32,000 IBM 3480-compatible tape cartridges because it claims they are defective products [CW, Sept. 26]. Sun Exploration also requested $571,000 as financial reimbursement for the time it has already spent on its tape problem, as well as for the time it expected to spend in the future resolving the matter. BASF, until late last month, had maintained that it would not respond to either request until Sun Exploration provided system performance reports showing BASF tapes were the source of any problems Sun Exploration may have encountered. Last week, James Myers, Sun Exploration's manager of hardware and data storage, provided Computerworld with a letter from BASF in which the tape supplier said it would replace the tapes in an effort to resolve the dispute. In the letter, BASF held its position that Sun had never shown proof that the BASF product was defective. Myers said the offer is a positive step by BASF but that Sun will hold out until the tape supplier also offers the requested financial reimbursement. Myers said Sun would be willing to back off the $571,000 amount and negotiate a new sum. John Healion, director of marketing at BASF, said the company will ``absolutely not'' provide Sun with any money on top of the replacement tapes. Healion said the offer to replace the tapes in no way implies that BASF's products were defective. He would not say how much the replacement tapes would cost BASF. By Rosemary Hamilton, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Ready for security? Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sftlin2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Some of the biggest vendors _ IBM, DEC and Computer Associates _ have announced their intention to produce access control and operating system software that conforms to the National Security Agency's (NSA) B2 classification for system integrity. The B2 classification mandates rigid segregation of system files and processes according to security levels and categories. But the specific requirements are of less interest than the impact that conformance to B2 standards may have on the computer industry in general. While some of the vendors' announcements cover software that is currently under evaluation by the NSA, no version of Xenix, DEC's VMS, IBM's MVS, VM, RACF, CA's CA-ACF2 or CA-Top Secret is actually rated B2 as of this writing. In fact, most product plans are still in the statement-of-direction phase, with actual certification years away. Nevertheless, some defense contractors have begun to experiment with modified access control and operating system software that comes close to emulating a B2 environment. The results, briefly put, are that most proprietary software products _ and even some basic system functions like job scheduling or disk-space management _ will not run on a system that conforms to B2 requirements. Do you want to run what-ifs that merge cost data with varying levels of annual purchases? The absence of products meeting B2 specifications has not, of course, prevented defense contractors from doing classified computing. To date, each classified application has been controlled through physical, procedural and software access restrictions that are approved by the Department of Defense (DOD) on a case-by-case basis. Such controls, however, have proved costly: maintaining two separate classified applications on one CPU, for instance, may currently mean running each one on a stand-alone basis, maintaining separate copies of the operating system for each application and scheduling system access on separate days for each system's users. Meeting specifications A system that met B2 specifications could rely on software controls in the operating system to segregate the classified applications and their users, eliminating the need to run on a stand-alone basis for each. On the defense contractor's side, the impetus to move to B2 processing would be the lower cost resulting from increased user access and decreased system maintenance, as well as greater ease in obtaining DOD approval for classified work. The defense contractor, freed from the need to maintain separate systems and software for classified computing, will be passing many of his costs for doing classified work back to the software vendor, which must now maintain look-alike copies of its products for the classified environment. Will they bother? If the result of this cost transfer is inordinately higher prices for ``trusted'' software, defense contractors might not see any benefit in converting. While it may not happen right away, I think most vendors that intend to support B2 security will find the cost of maintaining two versions of the operating system and other basic products to be exorbitant. I think mainstream products that support B2 security will gradually but inevitably force vendors to accommodate the design of many more products to the demands of the system security interface. As each new B2-level product is released, the problem of incompatibility with existing software will become more clearly visible. The arrival of B2 security is something I eagerly anticipate. The lack of leadership in planning for its inevitable impact is a matter of concern. By John Bruce; Bruce is a computer security and disaster recovery planning officer at a Los Angeles aerospace firm. <<<>>> Title : Sharpening X/Open Author : Amy Cortese Source : CW Comm FileName: xopen2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: William Bonin was recently appointed vice-president of North American operations at the X/ Open Consortium, Ltd., the international consortium of computer vendors working toward developing a common application environment. Previously, Bonin set up and managed X/Open's Independent Systems Vendors relations program. He is now responsible for X/Open's North America work, including its technical program, public relations, and coordination of government relations for X/Open and its North American members. Computerworld Senior Writer Amy Cortese recently spoke with Bonin. What are X/Open's goals for the next year, and what will your role be in achieving them? We're focusing next year on trying to make sure that the CAE [the X/Open Common Applications Environment] is used in procurement. In the past, our goal has been to establish market awareness, and we think that we've been pretty successful at that. Bob Ackerman recently left as X/Open's chief marketing officer. Although you're not a direct replacement for him, will you be picking up a lot of his responsibilities? My position is almost a complete overlay of Bob's. The main difference is that instead of having a traditional hierarchical structure, we will have a matrix structure and different programs will be run out of different offices. Of the independent software vendors and hardware vendors that have announced intent to participate in the branding program, how many have products that comply now? We've had approximately 200 products declared conformant by their owners. But I have to draw a distinction between hardware branding and application software branding. Has there been any official statement of support for the branding program by the federal government? Is that something we will see the government specifying in the near future? Well, Roger Cooper of the Treasury Department was quoted as saying that he was going to use portions of the X/Open Common Application Environment in Treasury procurements. How would you define X/Open's relationship with other open systems groups? The one that comes to mind the most these days is the Open Software Foundation. We believe that we should all work together rather than working at cross-purposes. We also think we're a lot closer together than most people realize already. What are the distinguishing factors between the two, other than the fact that OSF is developing a product and you are specifying standards? That's an obvious difference. Another difference with X/Open is that we're further along in our program than they are _ we're a much more mature organization. We are currently on Version 2 of the Portability Guide, and real procurements have been made based on it. We're going to be issuing Version 3 in the fourth quarter of this year. That will achieve full convergence with Posix and will expand the scope of the CAE. How do you think the whole AT&T/OSF saga has affected the industry? For better or worse? I think it's unfortunate that we don't have a common Unix. I think that everyone in open systems computing would like that. And on the other hand, I think that all of the participants are sincerely motivated in doing what they've done. Now, the question is, what can be done today to bring things closer together? <<<>>> Title : Alis calls on Oracle Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: snotes Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Oracle Corp. in Belmont, Calif., recently announced an interface with Alis, an office automation package produced by Applix, Inc. in Westboro, Mass. They also said they will jointly market their products. The Oracle interface to Alis will allow users to run Oracle database queries using SQL from within the Alis environment. Alis users will be able to bring data from Oracle into any application, including multifont text-procesing, spreadsheets, business graphics and electronic mail. Boole & Babbage, Inc. announced recently that its full line of performance management tools is compatible with the IBM Enterprise Systems Architec- ture/370 environment as well as the IBM Processor/Resource/System Manager (PR/SM). PR/SM allows for a single processor's resources to be shared among multiple operating systems. Software 2000, Inc., a supplier to the IBM System/38 market, has signed an agreement with Arthur Andersen & Co. to market Software 2000 financial and human resource applications with Arthur Andersen's manufacturing and distribution applications. TLM, Inc. in Port Chester, N.Y., is publishing five $20 to $30 books on IBM's DB2 and SQL by Boris Musteata and Robert Lesser, who previously authored books on VSAM and CICS. The volumes include The DB2 Guide: Developing DB2 Applications and SQL Programming and Relational Data Base Design for DB2 Applications. Alliant Computer Systems Corp. competitor Convex Computer Corp. said its Ada compiler has been certified by the Ada Joint Program Office. VMark Software, Inc. has made Universe, its application development environment product, available on Interactive Systems Co.'s 386/IX, an implementation of Unix for the Intel Corp. 80386 platform. VMark's Universe enables applications written for either Pick Systems, Inc.'s Pick or the Prime Computer, Inc. Information environment to run on a variety of Unix-based systems. Stellar Computer, Inc. in Newton, Mass., recently signed agreements with five application software developers: Intelligent Light, Inc., Wavefront Technologies, Media Logic, Inc., Paragon Imaging and the University of Lowell. Stellar now claims 40 application packages for its GS1000 graphics supercomputer, introduced in March. Neuron Data in Palo Alto, Calif., and Teknowledge, Inc. recently announced an agreement under which Teknowledge will provide application development services and training courses for Nexpert Object, Neuron Data's leading expert system shell. Nexpert Object is an expert system software shell for developing industrial and commercial applications. It runs on a variety of workstations. <<<>>> Title : Opting for an 8978 Vaxclu Author : James Daly, CW S Source : CW Comm FileName: klineapp Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. _ Earlier this year, when Smith Kline & French Laboratories, a division of the Smith Kline Beckman Corp., was looking for more power than its Digital Equipment Corp. Vaxcluster was giving it, DEC was getting ready to roll out a high-end symmetrical multiprocessing system. But the pharmaceuticals laboratory stayed away from the newer technology and opted for a more powerful Vaxcluster instead. Six months later, officials at Smith Kline said they are pleased with their choice. The 8978 Vaxcluster gave them the power boost they needed immediately without disrupting their environment. The symmetrical multiprocessing systems would have taken much longer to become fully functional in their environment, Smith Kline officials said. ``There would have been at least a one-year void,'' said Ronald Lego, director of worldwide shared systems at the laboratory. Not only would the Smith Kline staff need time to adjust, but they would also have to wait for third-party software vendors to modify their software to the DEC VMS Release 5 operating system, which is required in the symmetrical multiprocessing environment. These days, the VAX 8978 cluster gets a ``10'' in terms of performance, Lego said. The cluster is based on eight 8810s, which are the single-processor versions of the 8800 series. Higher end models of the 8800 series offer the symmetrical multiprocessing. ``The system has been performing about as close to flawlessly as we could expect,'' Lego said. Since converting to the new cluster in April, Lego's group has observed a greatly improved response time, Lego said. His staff uses a test application, developed in-house, to measure response time. Any response time 4 sec. or less for this application is considered good. Anything above that means users will be unhappy. ``In the prior setup, we were way above the 4 margin,'' Lego said. ``Now there are virtually no complaints about response time.'' The earlier Vaxcluster consisted of two VAX 8700s and several smaller models. The current high marks for the cluster followed what was described as a very easy installation in mid-April during a 63-hour period occurring between Friday and Monday. When the first of the more than 1,700 researchers and scientists logged on Monday morning, it appeared as if nothing had happened. More than 2,000 personal computers, printers and assorted devices hummed seamlessly, the way they had the week before. Only two things gave indication of the big switch: the MIS department had expanded its processing capability with a more easily managed system, and the accounting staff would happily note that they had saved nearly $3 million by dispersing the older equipment to subsidiary offices. Two weeks later, the transition was announced in the company newsletter. The desire to replace its original Vaxcluster of two 8700s, two 8650s, four 11/785s and two 11/750s did not come as a need for speed, Calhoun said, but as a desire to grease the gears of systems management. ``Before, we had to tune five separate machines,'' Lego said. ``With the new setup, we find a tuning parameter that works well on one machine and move it across the rest.'' The MIS department had originally kicked around the idea of purchasing some more 8700s before DEC representatives sold them on the idea of the 8978, which is a Vaxcluster of eight 8810s. Preparation began months in advance. Blueprints of the MIS department were studied and an ``extremely detailed'' project plan was worked out. Time was of the essence, Lego said, and there was little room for mistakes. ``We had a couple of sticky problems,'' he said. ``First of all, the new machines were going to occupy the same floor space as the old ones. Second, it was imperative that we not interrupt service.'' The old machines were not destined for the scrap heap. ``We had other subsidiaries that were dying to make use of the outgoing machines,'' Lego said. <<<>>> Title : In an effort to increase Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwnixdor Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: In an effort to increase performance for its 8850-based data entry systems, Nixdorf Computer Corp. has unveiled a processor board designed to enhance both data entry and database applications. The CMX-3 reportedly allows as many as 80M bytes of block moves and has 512K bytes of on-board memory. The product also includes 384K bytes of cache memory and a 20 Nova million instructions per second processor, the vendor said. The CMX-3 costs $14,000. Nixdorf Computer, 300 Third Ave., Waltham, Mass. 02154. 617-890-3600. <<<>>> Title : Opus Systems, a supplier Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwopus Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Opus Systems, a supplier of Unix systems for IBM Personal Computers, PC XTs and ATs and compatible machines, has unveiled two additions for its Series 200 Personal Mainframe products. The 260PM and 270PM are based on National Semiconductor Corp.'s 32532 processor and provide simultaneous use of Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS and AT&T's Unix System V operating systems at speeds up to 10 million instructions per second (MIPS), the vendor said. The 260PM operates at 25 MHz and offers 8 MIPS of performance, while the 270PM operates at 30 MHz and provides 10 MIPS. Both systems incorporate 32381 floating-point processor architecture. The 260PM is priced from $15,180; the 270PM is priced from $16,280. The product is targeted at systems integrators, value-added resellers and OEMS. Opus Systems, Bldg. 400, 20863 Stevens Creek, Cupertino, Calif. 95014. 408-446-2110. <<<>>> Title : Contour Computer Services Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwcontou Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Contour Computer Services, Inc. has introduced a line of high-capacity storage subsystems specifically designed for use with Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s workstations. Dubbed the Series 6000 family, the products are reportedly offered with 5 -in. Winchester Systems, Inc. drives and will be offered in 155M- and 327M-byte configurations. A stand-alone 60M-byte cartridge tape subsystem is also available. The 6000 series features data transfer rates of up to 15M bit/ sec. and access times up to 3 msec, the vendor said. The Series 6000 units are priced as follows: $3,995 for a 155M-byte disk; $5,590 for a 327M-byte disk; and $2,495 for a 60M-byte cartridge tape subsystem. Contour Computer Services, 758 Sycamore Drive, Milpitas, Calif. 95035. 408-434-9290. <<<>>> Title : Versatec, Inc. is now off Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwversa2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Versatec, Inc. is now offering an interface board that supports output to Versatec electrostatic plotters from Digital Equipment Corp. Q-bus computers. The Model 127 with software driver is said to support output from the DEC Microvax I and II and the Microvax 3000 series to any Versatec monochrome or color printing or plotting device. A driver and diagnostic package are included, and the package supports data records up to 32,768 bytes long and spooling support under VAX/VMS Version 4, Ultrix 2.2 and University of California at Berkeley Unix 4.3 operating systems. The Model 127 costs $2,300. Versatec, 2710 Walsh Ave., Santa Clara, Calif. 95051. 408-988-2800. <<<>>> Title : Varityper has unveiled th Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwvarity Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Varityper has unveiled the VT600W, the latest model of the company's 600 dot/in. Adobe Systems, Inc. Postscript laser printer. The device outputs on plain paper up to 11 by 17 in. and is especially appropriate for computer-aided design drawings, newspaper publishing and financial reports. The product ouputs letter-size documents at 10 page/ min. and ledger-size documents at 7 page/min., the vendor said. The VT600W costs $22,995, and the product comes with 35 Adobe Postscript fonts preloaded on a 20M-byte Winchester Systems, Inc. disk. Varityper, 11 Mt. Pleasant Ave., East Hanover, N.J. 07936. 201-887-8000. <<<>>> Title : IBM starts distributing d Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1db2new Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: RYE BROOK, N.Y. _ IBM took an important first step toward a distributed version of its DB2 relational database last week, allowing one DB2 database to communicate with another. The new capability is included in DB2 Version 2, Release 2, which is set to be available in the third quarter of 1989. The announcement came at the same time that IBM said it began to ship Version 2, Release 1, which includes referential integrity. Release 2, although limited, is a building block in IBM's master plan to provide distributed data capability across all Systems Application Architecture environments, including mainframes, mid-range processors and personal computers, according to IBM. Vince Hilly, director of data administration at Depository Trust Co. in New York, said the distributed capability ``addresses a problem that we have with DB2. Data on one DB2 system is not currently accessible from another DB2 system.'' Making it accessible through CICS Cobol programs using LU6.2 is possible but difficult, he pointed out. Another large, experienced user of DB2 was less concerned about the DB2 2.2 announcement than implementing the referential integrity and data handling features of DB2 2.1. ``I don't see immediately a big bang here. We are just planning for a vanilla Version 2, Release 1,'' said Jim Williams, manager of database administration at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield in New York. His shop has no plans for the distributed capabilities of Release 2 but eagerly welcomes the improved performance of Release 1. He is in the process of implementing a large database of claim-history records that will be stored on 20 IBM 3380 Model K disk drives. IBM made several other software and hardware announcements: An Enterprise System/3090 Model 250S, made up of two Model 150S processors. The product is set to be available in the second quarter of 1989. VM/XA System Product Multiple Preferred Guest software, which allows up to six preferred guests to run on all ES/3090 models when used with Processor Resource/Systems Manager (PR/SM), a hardware feature that allows logical partitioning. Logical partitioning allows a single processor to simultaneously support multiple operating systems. Multiprocessor ES/3090 models running VM/XA can gain up to 12 multiple preferred guests by dividing the processor into two sides. Previously, VM/XA and PR/ SM could support as many as four multiple preferred guests. According to IBM, the capability to support six guests was included in the previous version of VM/XA and PR/SM but was not announced to users because it had not been thoroughly tested. No hardware or software changes were made to provide the new capability. An increase from four to six of the number of logical partitions available through PR/SM on some ES/3090 S models not running VM/XA. Those models are the 180S, 280S, 200S, 300S, 400S, 500S and 600S. All ES/3090 E models and ES/3090 S Models 120S, 150S and 250S not running VM/XA are limited to four logical units under PR/SM. Multiprocessor ES/3090 S models not running VM/XA other than the Model 250S can gain up to 12 logical units by dividing the system into two halves. Productivity enhancements for SQL/DS, a VM and VSE DBMS, and Query Management Facility, software that helps computer users get information from a relational database and write reports. Both are expected to be available in December. ``IBM is making a big splash of distributed capabilities, but it is only data sharing between two DB2 systems. There is no capability for sharing with the AS/400, for example,'' said Dale Kutnick, an independent consultant based in Redding, Conn. ``It's a major breakthrough for IBM,'' said Rich Finkelstein, president of Performance Computing, Inc. in Chicago. ``This is somewhat equivalent to what [Relational Technology, Inc.'s] Ingres relational database has already.'' Russell Donovan, database support marketing manager at IBM, described the capability as a multilocation read. He was careful to point out that the ability to do a multilocation update is not yet offered. Neither is the ability to perform a join between two DB2 databases. Nonetheless, Finkelstein explained, multilocation reads will save much work compared with what is required at present. Currently, data would have to be extracted from one region, brought to another and then subjected to a query. ``It is a troublesome and time-consuming process,'' he said. To assure the integrity of data across systems, changes to databases will be allowed only if an entire transaction can be completed successfully. For example, money could not be withdrawn from one bank account for deposit in another unless both actions could be completed successfully, Donovan explained. Kutnick predicted that by late 1990, IBM will offer a fully distributed version of DB2 but that it will not be until 1992 that IBM will deliver a fully distributed database across OS/2-based microcomputers, Application System/400 mid-range machines and mainframes. DB2 Version 2 Release 2 will be priced at a graduated one-time charge ranging from $108,000 to $223,550 or a graduated monthly license charge ranging from $3,060 to $4,140. By Stanley Gibson, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Users lament Lotus delay Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1late Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ Ouch! That is how users reacted last week after being slapped with the news that Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 Release 3.0 will be delayed until the second quarter of next year. The delay is the fourth since the original announcement in late April 1987. It also pushes back a series of critical products, including 1-2-3/M for IBM mainframes, 1-2-3/Mac for Apple Computer, Inc. Macintoshes and 1-2-3/Unix for workstations. These products are all based on Release 3.0 and were preannounced in what some viewed as an effort to freeze Lotus competitors out of the spreadsheet market. Even if Lotus makes this timetable, Release 3.0 will ship more than two years after the original announcement. Users rocked by prior delays had not braced themselves for this shocker. While some clearly remain loyal, others may just give up. ``You get tired of waiting after a while. I am not going to wait,'' said Frank Diasparra, vice-president of technology services at Fidelity Investments in Boston. Using a two-pronged strategy, Diasparra is still buying today's 1-2-3, but at the same time he is moving some users to Microsoft Corp.'s Excel. ``Excel will gain some steam,'' Diasparra predicted. Lotus Chairman Jim P. Manzi argued that Release 3.0 and the multiplatform era it ushers in is well worth the wait. ``We aren't seeing a whole lot of teetering going on,'' Manzi stressed in an interview last week. Lotus' sales force has met this year with some 370,000 customers to pitch 3.0 and reports no wholesale shifting toward other products, Manzi claimed. Like earlier delays, Release 3.0 is being pushed back because of product bugs and the sheer bulk of code. To be competitive, Lotus not only needs to squeeze the product into Microsoft MS-DOS's 640K-byte confines but needs to provide an adequate measure of work sheet space. King declined to say how much work sheet space Lotus is looking to provide. The firm is converting between 5% and 8% of the product from the C language to assembler to improve performance and trim the size, said Frank King, senior vice-president of the Software Products Group. The question remains: Can today's 1-2-3 stand the test of time? Already, half of the U.S.'s Big Eight accounting firms have switched, in some measure, to Excel running on either the IBM Personal Computer or the Macintosh. Further, Microsoft could get the go-ahead run if Touche Ross & Co. changes its tune. Up until now, Touche Ross appeared to be solidly behind Release 3.0. But a six-month delay, coupled with the news that users need an Intel Corp. 80286-based machine to achieve adequate performance, may change everything. ``This will cause a reconsideration,'' said G. Jeffrey Knepper, director of advanced technology-tax at Touche Ross. The main stumbling block to moving his firm to Excel is the $1,000 a pop it takes to upgrade a personal computer's graphics so it can run Excel effectively, Knepper said. When it rains So far, Lotus has avoided major customer defections. But once these begin, they may be impossible to stop. ``This is a high risk for them. Once the movement begins, the trickle turns into a flood,'' Knepper said. To shore up 1-2-3 sales, Lotus has announced a free upgrade to Release 3.0 for new customers; a special deal that gives customers a free copy of Allways, a spreadsheet publishing program from Funk Software, Inc.; and a $15 utility disk that removes copy protection and adds intelligent recalculation, macro recording, high-resolution graphics and printing support. The firm will continue to follow this approach to enhancements and may even crank out a new version of today's 1-2-3 positioned just below Release 3.0, Lotus officials admitted. In fact, 1-2-3 Release 2.01 continues to win rating awards from PC publications and recently gained top honors from Software Digest's ranking of spreadsheets. To maintain, or some say regain credibility, Lotus has to prove that Release 3.0 is real and worth waiting for. Something as simple as a beta release could help matters. ``They have to push that beta out. Then there is some reality associated with it,'' Knepper said. By Douglas Barney, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : It's a buyer's market Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1lease Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: That old whipping boy ``conventional wisdom'' sure has taken a beating in the computer leasing business. When federal tax reform wiped out the investment tax credit at the end of 1986, it was universally predicted that computer leasing deals, robbed of their status as a great tax shelter, would have to compensate by increasing users' rates. In addition, the resulting wave of consolidation among computer lessors reduced the number of players, and that, too, was supposed to drive rates up as competition declined. Wrong, and wrong again. Instead, the computer leasing industry, always known as competitive, has become a vicious battleground for market share. Lessors large and small are resorting to the leasing equivalent of chip dumping _ losing money on deals in order to entice new customers or keep old ones. And the big winners, at least for now, are the customers. ``It is very much a buyer's market,'' says William Dean, director of technology management services at Pepsico, Inc. ``A number of the competitive offerings we've seen are probably not realistic from the lessors' point of view, and they'll find that out in the next few years. But until then, we're enjoying the marketplace.'' Dean is not alone. In a recent Computerworld survey of leasing by large U.S. mainframe sites, 62% of respondents who lease computers and/or peripherals said their rates have decreased or remained about the same since the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Although rates always vary widely among lessors and products, users say rates have dropped 20% to 30% in some cases. That trend has sent major shock waves through an industry that has historically enjoyed hefty profit margins, sports cars and Rolex watches. ``The days of easy profits are long gone,'' says Philip Hold, president of Atlantic Computer Systems, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the UK's Atlantic Computers PLC. Surprise, surprise What has caused this unexpected shift to benefit the users? Independent lessors almost unanimously point the finger at IBM Credit Corp., which they contend is aggressively buying market share with hard-to-match deals for customers. ``I am convinced that IBM Credit is the culprit,'' says Kenneth A. Bouldin, president of the Computer Dealers and Lessors Association (CDLA), the Washington, D.C.-based trade group that represents third-party leasing firms. ``Our members have no choice but to meet or beat IBM Credit. A guy not willing to chase those deals gets no market share at all.'' The key to quoting lower rates for the users is a lessor's residual value assumption _ the projected value of the CPU or peripheral when its lease ends and the lessor resells it in the secondary market. The lessor's profit comes from the user's finance payment and the future resale value of the machine, so a high residual assumption means a lower lease rate. ``[Leasing] is very much a residual game now,'' Pepsico's Dean says. Some customers say they have leveraged that situation by carefully choosing which products to lease rather than buy. ``There is certain equipment _ 3480 tape drives and 3990 controllers, for example _ that I think will have a good life and that I'm willing to purchase,'' says Bill Fleischman, an assistant vice-president involved with computer leasing at Baltimore's Equitable Bank NA. ``But on other products I shop heavily for [lease] rates. I'd rather let some speculating leasing company take the gamble on it.'' Independent lessors charge that IBM Credit has become the industry's leading speculator, taking residual positions that result in what Bouldin calls ``kamikaze rates.'' CDLA members say IBM Credit has also taken on third-party competitors in other ways, such as seeking the upgrade business on 3090s that IBM Credit did not lease originally and giving incentives to IBM salesmen to steer leasing business to IBM Credit when they cannot convince the customer to buy. IBM Credit insists that its leasing strategy has not changed. ``We have not changed the way we do business,'' said a spokesman for Stamford, Conn.-based IBM Credit. Policy shift? Third-party lessors say, however, IBM Credit's recent aggressiveness represents a major IBM policy change that threatens the delicate, symbiotic IBM-CDLA relationship (see story below). But a former IBM Credit executive says the firm has also become a better leasing company. ``It's a maturing process, not a strategy change,'' says Darrell Balmer, IBM Credit's former manager of government financing, who joined the Gartner Group, Inc.'s financial strategies service earlier this year. ``They have learned more about how the industry operates and what you have to do to be effective.'' Competing with IBM Credit has made access to large amounts of capital a virtual necessity for independent lessors, and that has ignited the torrid pace of consolidation. Small and medium-size leasing firms are being bought every week by larger lessors or financial services firms not previously involved with computers. ``Everyone appears to be for sale,'' says Atlantic Computer's Hold. ``We literally get two to three proposals a week [from prospective acquisitions].'' But the industry is so competitive that size is no guarantee of success. The second-largest independent lessor, Continental Information Systems Corp. (CIS), shocked the industry last year by prevailing in a court fight to acquire its next-largest competitor, CMI Corp. But the result has been less than enviable: CIS reported an unexpected $7.5 million quarterly loss earlier this year. Another factor keeping rates down is that users have become more savvy about the business _ shopping around for the best deal and asking hard questions about the lessor's financing. The Computerworld survey, conducted by Focus Research, Inc., found that one-third of customers at large mainframe sites have changed lessors in the past three years, and 73% of them switched from one third-party lessor to another. ``We found a lot of price sensitivity and no real vendor loyalty,'' said Focus Research analyst Jeff Lee. Although rate is still the prevailing factor for choosing a lessor or deciding whether to lease at all, lessors are demanding more than that. ``I can say [to a lessor] that you're insulting my intelligence with that rate,'' Equitable's Fleischman says. Lessors agree. ``If we just did low bids, we wouldn't have any long-term relationships,'' says Richard Kazan, president of Colorado Springs-based Capital Associates, Inc., the U.S.' third-largest independent lessor behind Comdisco, Inc. and CIS. ``We're seeing a very sophisticated user at the decision-making level.'' By Clinton Wilder, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Congress passes shield fo Author : Mitch Betts, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: bankrupt Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ High-technology industries won a significant victory last week when the U.S. Congress approved a bill that protects companies from losing access to licensed technology and software if the licensor goes bankrupt. The legislation resulted from an intensive lobbying effort by the Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (CBEMA), as well as ADAPSO, a computer software and services association, and other industries. The computer industry grew concerned about the issue after a federal court ruled, in Lubrizol v. Richmond Metal Finishers, that when a technology licensor goes bankrupt, the bankruptcy judge may rescind all license agreements or even resell the technology to the high bidder. A computer company that depends on a particular semiconductor chip, for example, would face big problems if the chip maker went bankrupt and the chip license was retracted. CBEMA said the ruling cooled technology-license negotiations. Lubrizol v. Richmond Metal Finishers, decided in March 1985, had a chilling effect on large companies that wished to license technology from small ones, said Ron Polanski, general counsel in the government relations department of ADAPSO. ``There has been a certain reluctance on the part of potential licensees to do business with some companies for fear that small, entrepreneurial and undercapitalized companies are more likely to go bankrupt,'' Polanski said. ``The only recourse some licensees had was to demand outright ownership of the licensor's technology.'' The legislation exempts intellectual property _ copyrights, trade secrets and chip designs _ from the general rule that licenses can be rescinded in bankruptcy proceedings. The Senate passed the bill last month, and the House of Representatives quickly followed with a 415 to 1 vote last week. President Reagan is expected to sign the bill into law later this year. <<<>>> Title : Ameritech merges MIS Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: amtech Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: CHICAGO _ Ameritech announced last week that it implemented its long-planned move to merge the MIS staffs of its telephone companies and nonregulated subsidiaries into a single systems group. With the announcement, 3,000 MIS employees in five Midwestern telephone companies were transferred to the new Ameritech Applied Technologies. Most of these programmers, analysts and managers will, however, stay on-site with the operating companies in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The focus of the nonregulated subsidiary will be on systems development with a particular emphasis on building common systems, such as a single billing system that can be used by all five operating companies. A spokesman for Applied Technologies said such common systems would reduce the development and maintenance costs for each firm. It also would let Ameritech provide features such as single-point-of-contact ordering and billing for customers with operations in several states. ``We are going to try to tie this investment in technology, this resource, to the business plans of all the Ameritech companies,'' Applied Technologies President Glen Arnold said. He said the first common system to go on-line will be a payroll system in which another subsidiary, Ameritech Services, initiated work. That implementation is scheduled for January. Arnold said Applied Technologies will play the same role as an outside consultant who gets a set of requirements from an operating company, one of the nonregulated enterprise groups or Ameritech Services, which acts as a research arm for the operating companies. Applied Technologies would then design a system to meet those requirements and acquire the hardware. The internal Ameritech customers would take title to any systems for which they paid. While systems planning and development and equipment acquisitions will be managed by the new subsidiary, the telephone companies will operate the systems with their own staffs. Officials said it is unlikely that the new venture will seek customers outside of Ameritech, although it is taking over management of at least one small software subsidiary. By James Connolly, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Henson steps down at Prim Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: joe Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: NATICK, Mass. _ Prime Computer, Inc. offered up a shocker with last December's $435 million Computervision Corp. takeover. Last week, the company delivered another surprise _ this time, a changing of the guard. Joe M. Henson, the 55-year-old chief executive officer who piloted Prime through its growth from a ``hot-box company'' to a computer-aided design and manufacturing player second only to IBM, will step down sometime during the next several months. Henson, who said that he has no current plans beyond taking a long vacation and spending time with his family, will be replaced by Anthony L. Craig, a 17-year IBM veteran most recently credited with turning around General Electric Co.'s GE Information Services, which he headed from 1983 until last month. Forewarned According to Prime Chairman David J. Dunn, Henson told the board of directors last year that he wanted to leave sometime this year, and a search for a successor began. The successful courtship of Craig, a Prime spokesman said, triggered the timing of Henson's public announcement of his imminent departure. Henson, who will resign as a Prime director when he leaves his post, has committed to remaining with the company for the next few months to assist with a smooth transition. Craig, who is already aboard, will serve as chief operating officer, executive vice-president and board member during the interim before taking on Henson's titles of president and CEO. David Wu, an analyst at S. G. Warburg & Co., praised Henson's performance at Prime but also voiced disbelief that Henson, who served at IBM for 17 years before taking on the top job at Prime in 1981, is leaving of his own volition at this time. To begin with, Wu said, the idea that Henson preannounced his departure last year is incredible in light of subsequent events. ``I don't believe that the board would have let a lame-duck president go out and spend $435 million on the most critical move in the company's history,'' he said. What is more, Wu said, digesting Computervision has proven a longer, harder and costlier challenge than Prime originally anticipated, and the settling-in period is not over yet. The company recently warned that its third-quarter earnings will fall short of the $15.9 million logged for last year's comparable period. Out of character? ``For Henson to quit now, with his mission only partly accomplished, would be nothing short of irresponsible,'' Wu said, ``and Joe Henson is not irresponsible.'' Prime spokesmen denied that Henson was forced out. ``We regret his decision to pursue other interests and are indebted to him for the fine job he has done as CEO,'' Dunn said in a prepared statement. ``Under Joe's leadership, Prime has grown from $365 million in revenue to $1.6 billion today and has been widely regarded as one of the best-managed companies in the industry.'' In related news, Prime adopted two provisions last week to guard against ill effects from any attempt at a hostile takeover. A new stockholder-protection plan effectively increases the cost of an unfriendly takeover by providing for the issue of a dividend of one share-purchase right per each outstanding common share in case of a change in company control not approved by the board. An employee protection plan confers certain benefits on Prime employees who lose their jobs, salaries or level of benefits in the course of an unfriendly takeover. By Nell Margolis, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Unisys A machines tweaked Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: unisys6 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: DETROIT _ Unisys Corp. souped up three entry-level A series mainframes last week to meet _ or beat _ IBM's Application System/400 price/performance curve. The enhancement comes just one year after the introduction of the A 1, A 4 and A 6 entry-level A series mainframes. The enhanced A 1 FX, A 4 FX and A 6 FX, scheduled for shipment next month, were designed to compete in bidding wars against the IBM mid-range AS/400, said Michael C. Deneen, program marketing director of the entry-level A series. A dual-processor A 6, the A 6 KX, rounds out the line. ``This is a move to continue the momentum we've had in the last year in selling these machines to new customers,'' Deneen said. He did not provide the number of small A series systems Unisys shipped last year. The new computers range in price from $45,000 for the A 1 FX to $210,000 for the dual-processor A 6 KX. The A 1 FX supports about 20 users, while the dual-processor A 6 KX can support up to 96 users. Who gets them The systems are aimed at three types of customers, Deneen said: new customers, customers who already own other A series mainframes and owners of smaller Unisys systems, including the B 1000. For those who own a large-scale A series machine, the smaller A series computers can be used as test and development machines, Unisys said. Unisys compared the A series computers to the AS/400, using IBM's Ramp-C benchmark (see chart). ``We think we're performing about 20% better than IBM does in Ramp-C,'' Deneen said. Price/performance boost The new machines are positioned to offer more power at the same price or equivalent power at less price than the earlier models, Deneen said. ``We're keeping up with the aggressive pricing scheme of the AS/400,'' he said, adding that IBM itself had recently repositioned the IBM 9370 against the AS/400. Field upgrades from the low-end A 1 Model F up to the A 6 KX model are available to owners of the older A series machines, Unisys said. By Jean S. Bozman, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : AT&T answers OSF with adv Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: att Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: An independent group of AT&T Unix System V licensees and resellers is being formed to advise AT&T on product marketing issues. The group is AT&T's answer to criticism that led to the formation of the Open Software Foundation (OSF), sources involved in the group said last week. As keeper of Unix System V, AT&T has been charged with not being responsive to licensees of its operating system. AT&T initiated the group several months ago but has turned it over to the licensees to be run independently. The group is still in the process of being formed, and bylaws and objectives are being established. The unofficial charter of the group is to provide input to AT&T on issues regarding System V, such as licensing policies. The formation of the advisory group does not mean AT&T will not join OSF, according to Roger Sippl, president of Informix Software, Inc. and acting chairman of the group. ``Regardless of whether AT&T joins, they will still be doing future development on System V,'' he said, adding that AT&T recognizes it needs to communicate more and be more responsive. The group's constituency will be companies that license and resell Unix System V, which Sippl estimated at 200 to 300 companies. This would include virtually all of the OSF's membership _ and the OSF itself. About 20 companies have been represented in recent meetings, including Apollo Computer, Inc. _ one of the founding members of the OSF _ Unisys Corp., Convergent Technologies, Inc., Pyramid Technology Corp., HCR Corp., Oracle Corp. and Informix. AT&T officials could not be reached for comment. By Amy Cortese, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : The many hats of Oracle Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: disney2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: ORLANDO, Fla. _ Oracle Corp. no longer bills itself as merely a database management system supplier but rather as a software and services company. The firm even sees a possible future for itself as a hardware supplier. Like a snowball barreling down a steep hill, Oracle continues to pick up speed, grow in size and gain momentum. But as 3,000 customers overran the company's annual users' conference here last week, many were asking: What price growth? Oracle users expressed a refrain familiar to many a fast-charging company _that support could suffer as a result of escalating staff requirements. Many relayed stories of rookie support and field staffers unable to answer technical questions. One database administrator at a Canadian IBM MVS site said a new Oracle employee showed up to install the DBMS but forgot to install the data dictionary. A user at a midsize distribution firm exclaimed that he was ``tired of training Oracle's people'' when it comes to technical support. While declaring that the $10 billion revenue mark is not an inconceivable goal for the near future _ the company's latest mark was $282 million _ Larry Ellison, Oracle's chief executive officer, acknowledged that staffing is really the key issue. Can't eat just one Nevertheless, Ellison indicated that Oracle intends to go even further afield. He said the company is likely to get into the hardware business by selling commodity hardware along with its software _ when it makes sense to do so. In June, the company founded Oracle Complex Systems Corp., a wholly owned systems integration subsidiary with a lofty revenue goal of $100 million in five years. The company indicated it sees big things ahead in the hardware business. Ellison dropped hints that he has a project in the works involving a high-performance database machine, likely a parallel processor. Running Oracle, it would boost the database software's performance 10 to 100 times, Ellison said. Such a deal could explain Ellison's opening remarks that Oracle will reach 1,000 transaction/sec. by the end of 1989. The company has a tradition of exceeding industry expectations. It has doubled its revenue growth every year for the past 10 years. It adds new employees at the rate of more than 100 per month. To achieve this kind of growth, Oracle has broadened the scope of its business from DBMSs, tools and services to include financial applications, systems integration and distributed office automation. Oracle used the annual conference to highlight some of these areas. An electronic mail system, which the company claims is the only portable E-mail system, was demonstrated. According to Ron Wahl, the firm's vice-president of office automation, the E-mail sytem will be integrated with the Oracle DBMS and financial applications and will form a backbone system for communications. Oracle Starmail, as it is called, will be formally announced next month and will be priced at 50% of the DBMS' price, depending on platform, according to Oracle. But the majority of customers at the conference seemed to be interested in database issues and lukewarm to new forays like applications and E-mail. Most said they already have such systems and need a good reason to switch. Richard Winter, a comptroller at ATD-American Co., a distributor of textiles and furniture in Wycote, Pa., said he looked at Oracle's E-mail and accounting software but found that ``the facilities we've developed to handle these things are already working.'' ATD uses a packaged general ledger system it has modified and Digital Equipment Corp. Vaxmail along with the Oracle DBMS to handle functions like automatic letter generation. ``I'm not convinced people will jump off what they're doing,'' Winter said. Oracle Version 6 is scheduled to become generally available next month, and much time was devoted to expounding on the performance improvements it will bring. However, many users were unhappy about the price. Although one iteration of Version 6 is set to be available in January as a free upgrade under the maintenance contract, a high-performance option will be costly. The Transaction Processing System (TPS) option will cost large-system users as much as the full price of the DBMS; the price for medium-scale systems is set at 40% to 60% of the DBMS's price; for small systems, it is set at 20%. Oracle officials said they are charging for the TPS option because they did not want to force all users to pay for something that only some will need. But to some users, performance is not the only issue. The optional TPS also includes other features that plain-vanilla Version 6 will not _ such as PL/SQL, which is Oracle's procedural extension of SQL. By Amy Cortese, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Pirate hunt forms Top mic Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: short101 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Pirate hunt forms Top microcomputer software competitors Ashton-Tate Corp., Lotus Development Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are among the founding members of the Business Software Association (BSA). The industry group, which is scheduled to be formally announced Oct. 11, also includes Aldus Corp., Autodesk, Inc. and Wordperfect Corp. The association aims to combat international software piracy, promote strong intellectual property laws and reduce trade barriers. Those goals are also espoused by the Software Publishers Association (SPA), a group with membership that includes five of the six firms (the exception is Aldus, which was previously an SPA member). ``We hope to cooperate with them so as not to compete for the same funds,'' said Cheryl Davis, membership director of the SPA, who questioned the need for another association. CIS feels leasing pinch Cutthroat competition in the computer leasing industry (see story page 1) continues to affect the bottom lines of computer lessors. Continental Information Systems Corp. (CIS), the second largest independent lessor, last week reported its second consecutive quarterly loss, the layoff of 75 employees and the refinancing of its short-term debt. CIS reported a $2.7 million loss on the heels of a $7.5 million loss in the previous quarter. The layoffs will affect employees from the former CMI Corp. in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. CIS acquired CMI last year. President gets matching bill The U.S. Congress last week gave its final approval to legislation that will regulate federal computer-matching programs that compare personal data files [CW, Sept. 5]. The House vote was 393-8, sending the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act to President Reagan to be signed into law. US West stays put After threatening for 18 months to withdraw from Bellcore, US West officially decided last week to retain its membership in the jointly held consortium that does research and helps ensure product conformity among all seven regional Bell holding companies. US West had first objected to the prohibition against members funding independent, proprietary research through Bellcore, a spokesman said. That situation changed in January, when a new agreement took effect allowing a member to fund independent research and keep it proprietary for up to two years, after which it must be made available to all seven members. Novell backs away from hardware Distancing itself even further from the hardware end of the networking business, Novell, Inc. in Provo, Utah, has unveiled a royalty license agreement with Federal Technoloy Corp. (FTC). Under the pact, effective immediately, FTC will supply and support Motorola, Inc. 68000-based products for Novell customers. This includes Novell's 68B file server and related components. Also, FTC will acquire Novell's inventory of 68000-based products along with the exclusive rights to manufacture them. Novell pulled off a similar deal with its diskless workstations, which are now being manufactured and serviced by Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. MSA wins IBM favor Management Science America, Inc. (MSA) last week announced agreements with IBM to cooperatively market MSA products in two growth markets. The Atlanta-based software firm said it has been designated by IBM as an ``Authorized Application Specialist'' in the DB2 environment and the electronic data interchange (EDI) market. Claiming to be the first to beta-test a DB2-based application, MSA said its general ledger and expert reporting products for DB2 became generally available Sept. 1 and that all future products will be able to take advantage of IBM's relational database management system. MSA's Expert EDI system will be marketed as a gateway to IBM's Information Network. ET <<<>>> Title : Allies seek standard Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ub1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A handful of vendors, anxious to see a standard user interface developed for network management, have decided to form their own vendor alliance even though the OSI/Network Management Forum exists. According to Timeplex, Inc.'s Paul Lu, a member of the current forum, the OSI/Network Management Forum will probably not be addressing the issue of a standard network user interface; instead, he commented, it is focusing on the development of lower layer protocols. For that reason, frustrated vendors, including Hewlett-Packard Co. and Ungermann-Bass, Inc., have decided to form the Network Management Alliance. Other interested vendors include Honeywell Bull, Inc. in France, Siemens AG in West Germany and British Telecom, Inc. in London. ``We are still finalizing our missions statement, member fees and other administrative issues,'' one source said. According to sources at UB and Codex Corp., the group is still in its formative stages but has decided to address the International Standards Organization's Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) network management standards in applications development and user interfaces. Complementary group The source stressed that the group will not compete with the OSI/Network Management Forum but will, rather, be a complementary organization. ``We will adopt the other group's protocols that they develop,'' the source said. The OSI/Network Management Forum was officially launched in July by members of the computer and communications industry to further the availability of OSI-based network management products and services. Its initial goals include lower layer protocol handling such as messaging, object definition and the OSI's Common Management Information Protocol. Lu said he has heard rumors about the formation of the group. He said his forum would not have discussed the issue of a standard user interface because ``that may be a company's way of differentiation. I doubt that all vendors would want to make this a standard.'' But the alliance wants to further applications development so users can see the day when network management applications have a similar look and feel. The group wants to push forward in its desire to standardize a user interface. Of the vendors involved, HP is the only one that has a graphically oriented user interface, via its Openview network management architecture. ``Someday, users will access different applications but face a similiar screen and icons. You could click a UB icon and know what to expect. You could click an HP icon and it could have the similar screen format. That would be a major step forward,'' a UB source said. Having a similar interface in network management will allow users to deal with similiar parameters for messages, alarms and alerts, the source said. By Kathy Chin Leong, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Toshiba, NEC lead the lap Author : Julie Pitta, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: laps1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: October is fast becoming the month of the laptop. Toshiba America, Inc. and NEC Home Electronics USA, Inc. last week bolstered their personal computer lines with a slew of laptops. IBM and Compaq Computer Corp. are expected to follow suit with portables of their own in coming weeks. Laptops are finding their way into a number of corporations for use in field organizations requiring portable systems, according to industry analysts. In that specialized corner of the PC market, Zenith Data Systems and Toshiba are considered the two leading vendors. ``Toshiba and Zenith have the lion's share of the Fortune 1,000,'' said Tom Young, an industry analyst at Computer Intelligence, a San Diego market research firm. ``Zenith has had overwhelming success in the government sector.'' Toshiba's popularity has been based on the range of its laptop offerings, Young said. The American subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate was the first to offer an Intel Corp. 80386-based laptop and the first to offer hard disk drives as an option for its laptops. Zenith has been a leader in screen technology; it was the first vendor to offer backlit screens on its laptops, he added. Toshiba America, however, has lost government sales to Zenith because its parent, Toshiba Corp., has been shut out of that market for three years, after selling of equipment to the Soviet Union [CW, Sept. 26]. Last week, Toshiba added a battery-powered Intel 80286-based laptop and a 386-based laptop as part of its AC-powered line. Called the T1600, the 286-based portable weighs 11.6 pounds. It runs at 12 MHz and offers 1M byte of random-access memory, expandable to 5M bytes. Additionally, it offers an Intel 80287 coprocessor and a 20M-byte hard disk drive. The screen is detachable, uses backlit supertwist technology and is compatible with the IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter. Set to ship early next year, the system costs $4,999, the vendor said. Toshiba also introduced the T5200, its second 386-based AC-powered laptop. The system features more power, memory and disk storage than its predecessor. The T5200 has 2M bytes of RAM, which is expandable to 8M bytes, runs at a clock speed of 20 MHz and offers an IBM Video Graphics Array-compatible display system. The screen uses gas plasma technology. The system weighs 18.7 pounds. The T5200 will be offered in two models, Toshiba said: one with a 40M-byte hard drive, priced at $9,499, and a second with a 100M-byte hard drive, priced at $10,999. It is scheduled to be available later this year. NEC introduced three battery-powered laptops: a 4-pound system the vendor called the most compact on the market and 286- and 386-based models intended to broaden what has been considered a low-end line. The 4-pound laptop, called the Ultralite, features a NEC V-30 processor running at 9.83 MHz. It offers 640K bytes of RAM, an internal 2,400 bit/sec. modem and a backlit screen. It supports IBM Color Graphics Adapter text and graphics. Additionally, it offers a 1M- or 2M-byte silicon hard disk drive and a read-only memory card drive. The price of the system is $2,999. NEC also bolstered its line with the Prospeed 286 and 386 systems. The Prospeed 386 runs at 16 MHz, offers a choice of a 40M- or 100M-byte hard disk drive and has three expansion slots. The Prospeed 286 features 1M byte of RAM, runs at 16 MHz and offers the choice of a 20M-, 40M- or 100M-byte hard drive. According to NEC, the Prospeed 286 will be priced at $5,000 and will be available in February 1989; the Prospeed 386 will be priced at $7,699 and will be available next month. Compaq is expected to introduce a 286-based laptop at a press conference scheduled for Oct. 17 in Los Angeles. Computer Intelligence's Young predicted Compaq will quickly add a 386-based laptop to its line. IBM is expected to follow Compaq with 286- and 386-based versions of its PC Convertible. Young said he expects IBM to improve the Convertible's screen using supertwist backlit technology and to add 20M- and 40M-byte hard drives as options. However, neither company is expected to improve on the technologic advances of industry leaders Toshiba and Zenith. ``Unless they have something up their sleeves, I expect that they'll introduce systems to compete more effectively with Toshiba and Zenith,'' Young said. <<<>>> Title : Silicon Graphics brackets Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: iris Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. _ Silicon Graphics, Inc. hit the workstation market high and low last week with the simultaneous announcements of a new top-of-the-line series and a superpowerful entry-level model. The Iris Power Series _ a six-system server and workstation offering _ marks the company's entry into the sizzling minisupercomputer workstation niche. The Personal Iris, a real-time three-dimensional personal workstation priced at less than $16,000, provides a low-cost entry point to Iris Power. ``Silicon Graphics now offers an [exceptionally] compatible line across a particularly broad spectrum of price and power,'' said Russell Crabs, an analyst at Gartner Securities Corp. in Stamford, Conn. ``That's an impressive offer to make to potential customers.'' Get those 3-D glasses The Iris Power servers, Silicon Graphics said, are based on a new proprietary multiprocessing architecture; the three new workstations wed that architecture to the company's high-end 3-D graphics capability. The Power systems, a company spokesman said, support as many as four reduced instruction set computing (RISC) CPU/ floating-point unit chip sets and use Mips Computer Systems, Inc.'s latest and most powerful R3000 chips. They are able to kick out as much as 80 million instructions per second (MIPS) and 16 million floating-point operations per second. The Personal Iris, also based on Mips Computer Systems technology _ in this case, a 12.5 MHz, 32-bit RISC chip _ delivers 10 MIPS with 8M bytes of main memory and a wallop of 3-D graphics clout, analysts said. The company is counting on the Personal Iris to bring 3-D graphics visualization to a new class of users in traditional markets such as mechanical engineering, scientific research and industrial design and to open up new markets such as architecture, desktop publishing and computational graphics. In more traditional areas in which only customers with fatter wallets have been able to benefit from supercomputer-level technology, the Personal Iris should be enthusiastically embraced, Crabs said. Beyond its own technology, Silicon Graphics is touting the fact that more than 100 third-party software application packages are immediately available on the Personal Iris. Among these are finite element modeling and analysis software from Milford, Ohio-based SDRC CAE International, Inc. The 20-year-old, $61 million software and services purveyor to the mechanical computer-aided design market will support only what it perceives as market-leading hardware, spokesman Jere Hunter said. Silicon has ``truly matured into a leading company, and with the Personal Iris, they now have quite a range. This is the kind of capability and flexibility that gives our customers the flexibility they need,'' Hunter said. Meanwhile, Control Data Corp., Silicon Graphics' largest OEM, showed no doubt as to the anticipated reception of its workstation supplier's superbaby: Control Data's Personal Iris-based entry, the Cyber 910-400 series, debuted the same day as the Personal Iris. By Nell Margolis, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Wang marches into SAA cam Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: wang2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: LOWELL, Mass. _ Marching under the IBM Systems Application Architecture (SAA) banner, Wang Laboratories, Inc. last week extended its drive into IBM connectivity with a promise to support IBM's Netview network management system. Claiming that its offerings will exceed the capabilities of the IBM connectivity products recently unveiled by Digital Equipment Corp., Wang rolled out a statement of direction that clearly places it in the SAA camp. Wang said it will focus its development resources on connectivity and integration products that comply with SAA common communications support. ``SAA compliance is an important part of Wang's overall strategy to support multivendor environments,'' said Paul Demko Jr., Wang's vice-president of Communications Systems Development. Wang's Netview strategy calls for implementing Service Point System (SPS) functionality via a gateway that allows VS systems running Wang's network management system to deliver status and administrative data to mainframe-based Netview programs. SPS is an intermediate device that enables systems to route alerts through the mainframe to Netview. Reportedly, the gateway will not require additional hardware. Under that platform, Wang introduced five enhanced software products for its VS minicomputers and industry-standard personal computers. These include the following: Information Distribution System Release 2.5; VS/PC Systems Network Architecture (SNA) Services 3270 Release 1.1; VS SNA Standard Components Release 2.62, Wang Word Processing/Document Content Architecture Translators Release 2.5; and VS Systems Network Architecture Distributed Services Release 2.0. Open systems barrage Wang earlier kicked off an ambitious open systems battle game plan with a battery of products, including support for IBM's 3270 and Advanced Program-to-Program Communications protocols, which permit IBM mainframe resources and applications to access Wang VS products (see story page 78). Future IBM connectivity products will include full compliance with IBM's communications support for the System/36 and 38 mid-range computers and IBM and Microsoft Corp.'s OS/2 desktop platforms, as well as support for IBM's PU2.1 low-entry network multivendor, peer-to-peer communications under VS Access, according to Demko. Coupled with IBM Token-Ring support, PU2.1 will enable Wang to deliver communications capabilities that will be competitive with IBM products such as the Application System/400, Wang claimed. Of course, Wang will also continue to develop non-SAA products in response to market demand. Specifically, Demko cited SNA products for Unix systems, IBM Professional Office System gateways and additional bisynchronous network support. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : DEC, Allen-Bradley to mix Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: abdecmap Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: NEW YORK _ Digital Equipment Corp. and Allen-Bradley Co. hope to orchestrate a real-time marriage between factory-floor systems and business computers. Last week, the two unveiled a strategic alliance, claiming it sets a precedent for multivendor integration of industrial control and information management environments. It is also the first time that DEC has licensed the integration of any VAX processor for a jointly developed product for commercial use. Working with DEC, Allen-Bradley has developed the Pyramid Integrator, a turnkey modular system that reportedly eliminates the need to use a variety of interfaces and customized software to facilitate information sharing between business and factory-floor systems. The pact was applauded by Advanced Manufacturing Research, Inc. (AMR) in Salem, Mass., a market research firm specializing in industrial automation. In a recently conducted survey of users and vendors, AMR queried respondents about the role of the cell controller as an integrator between real-time device-level operations and plant information systems. One trend identified was DEC's position as the strongest general-purpose computer vendor in the factory. Allen-Bradley dominated in real-time controls applications. ``What users really want is to bring together the relative strengths of both'' vendor's products, AMR said, adding that the challenge is for controls and computer vendors to more comfortably coexist, not compete, at the cell level. VAX, Decnet support The product family includes the PLC-5/250 Programmable Controller, the CVIM configurable vision module and a DEC Microvax Information Processor module. Also incorporated in the Pyramid architecture are DEC's VAX/VMS architecture and Decnet/Open Systems Interconnect networking. The joint project also includes ongoing development, marketing and services. The vendors plan initially to target large automation projects. The Pyramid Integrator reportedly will be available in the second quarter of 1989. Pricing information will be available in January, Allen-Bradley said. It will be sold through Allen-Bradley channels. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Airlines get options free Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: freebies Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: SUNNYVALE, Calif. _ Trying to get a foot in the airline reservation door and offering storage flexibility in its multiple domain feature as well as a remote monitoring device, Amdahl Corp. is giving away three new options. For the airline market, it recently announced support for IBM's TPF software. With the option, Amdahl computers will be more suited to this niche, a company spokesman said. Adding to the flexibility of its Multiple Domain Facility, which allows a CPU to be divided to perform different tasks, Amdahl announced a dynamic storage-reconfiguration capability to let users move storage capacity to the domain in which it is most needed. Third, an Unattended Operations Facility allows remote supervision of the computer room and automatic response to routine events, the company claimed. The enhancements are set for this spring on Amdahl's 5890 and 5990 mainframes. <<<>>> Title : Cotton Tandy Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1010stoc Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Analysts in droves have noted it: When the going gets tough in the market at large, high-tech stocks take a leading-edge beating. IBM, expected to announce uninspiring third-quarter earnings, fell 1 points for the week to close Thursday at 114. Rumors that Digital Equipment Corp. may bolster its low-end performance line by reselling personal computers made by Tandy Corp. were dandy for Tandy, which picked up a point to close the week at 41 . DEC, however, suffered from what some saw as a sign of the company's crumbling confidence in its ability to make it _ literally and figuratively _ in the microcomputer market. By Thursday's close, DEC stock was down 4 points to 89. Silicon Graphics, Inc.'s vaunted entry into the minisupercomputer workstation arena earned analysts' plaudits but failed to move investors; the stock closed Thursday at 16 points, down point for the week. Lotus Development Corp. plunged about three points Friday after its latest announcement of a 1-2-3 Release 3.0 delay. Its stock was trading at 16 late Friday after beginning the week at 20. NELL MARGOLIS <<<>>> Title : Do the funky spreadsheet Author : Douglas Barney Source : CW Comm FileName: allways Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ New buyers of Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 Release 2.01 can soon be printing gussied-up spreadsheets, thanks to a product-bundling deal struck with Funk Software, Inc. last week. Little more than a week after announcing its Allways spreadsheet publishing product [CW, Oct. 3], Funk Software copped the bundling deal that gives the $149 package free to 1-2-3 customers. The promotion will begin later this month when Allways begins shipping and will last as long as supplies hold out. Allways allows users to modify spreadsheets by adding shading and fonts and changing character sizes. The deal demonstrated that Lotus is not content to let spreadsheet latecomer Microsoft Corp. grab away users with Excel's ability to doll up worksheets. In fact, some firms have Excel just to create better reports based on 1-2-3 data. The Allways promotion is just one of the ways that Lotus is staving off competition and setting the stage for the eventual shipment of 1-2-3 Release 3.0, scheduled for the second quarter of next year. For $15, Lotus is shipping Value Pack to customers, which allows them to remove copy protection and add Adobe Systems, Inc.'s Postscript and advanced graphics support. Customers also have the right to copy and distribute Value Pack throughout their organizations. Lotus has also tested bundling arrangements with other add-in products in various markets across the country. What about current users of 1-2-3 Release 2.01 who want spicier spreadsheets? Spend the $149, Lotus said. DOUGLAS BARNEY <<<>>> Title : Some firms exploiting IBM Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bored Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: While supporters of the proposed Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) belittle IBM's Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), at least a handful of board vendors are prepping boards that reportedly exploit the MCA. Details are scarce concerning these still unannounced products, but both Cumulus Corp. and Ideassociates, Inc. have boards in the works that would take advantage of the MCA's unique abilities such as multiple-processor support, 32-bit addressing and bus arbitration. One firm, AOX, Inc. in Waltham, Mass., already has a board that exploits the so-called bus-master capabilities of the MCA. For now, vendors are holding back EISA board development because the specification is incomplete, and they are skeptical that EISA will become a force in the industry. ``As far as I'm concerned, that standard doesn't exist yet, so we aren't doing anything,'' said Nora F. Gildes, director of marketing at Ideassociates. So far, no one has convinced Gildes otherwise. ``Compaq gave us outlines, but as far as I know, there's no standard specification. I am a bit skeptical about designing standards by committee.'' Meanwhile, Gildes said her firm will announce MCA products next month that will do things that are simply not possible under the current Personal Computer AT bus. The firm also has MCA versions of all its board-level products. Cumulus President Marty Alpert is even more pro-MCA. EISA vendors ``are doing a disservice,'' Alpert said. Not only are they asking users to wait more than a year, but it will take at least another year for high-performance peripherals to arrive that could exploit EISA, Alpert argued. Inching forward In the meantime, board vendors that have been at work for 1 years on MCA boards are finally getting closer to market. According to Alpert, users should look for several categories of boards to begin arriving early next year. These include multiuser boards, small computer systems interface adapters that use the bus-master capability to act as host controllers, communications processors, smart industrial and scientific boards, smart graphics cards, true coprocessors, software and application-specific processors and desktop publishing systems with different processors for different activities. Cumulus is working on some boards that exploit the MCA, but Alpert would not detail what his plans are. In fact, Alpert said he is skeptical that an EISA bus will ever make it to market and gives it only a 50-50 chance. EISA supporter Digital Communications Associates, Inc. (DCA) was more charitable. But despite DCA's stated support of EISA, the firm is only ``evaluating'' the bus and is not sure what its product direction will be, a DCA spokesman said. By Douglas Barney, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Fiber optics Author : Laura O'Connell Source : CW Comm FileName: trend101 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Fiber optics has found a niche that slowly but surely will provide users with data communication that is dramatically more cost-effective and flexible than current local-area networks. That was the conclusion of a recent report on industrial LANs performed by The Information Network, a San Francisco-based market research firm. Optical fiber use in LANs offers several benefits over twisted-pair wiring and coaxial cable. The small size allows for easy routing. Also, high bandwidth permits fiber-based systems to carry upwards of 500 MHz/km. The total U.S. market for fiber-optic LANs should grow from $35 million in 1987 to $315 million in 1992. Installations are projected to nearly double in the same time frame. The office automation sector is expected to contribute greatly to this growth, as Bell operating companies begin to replace private branch exchanges with fiber-optic LANs. The report predicts this portion of the industry will see an explosion in revenue from $28 million in 1987 to $214 million in 1992. Although the implementation of fiber-optic LANs has been slow, the price/performance outlook is sunny. The Information Network estimates that a fiber-optic LAN now costs $1,300 per connection for a star topology and $1,000 for a bus; those prices are expected to decrease by 1992 to $500 and $400, respectively. The number of connections per LAN is projected to simultaneously increase from 30 to 325. LAURA O'CONNELL <<<>>> Title : So close, yet so far. AT& Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: liner101 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: So close, yet so far. AT&T had intended to hold a press conference in New York Thursday to announce it was joining the Open Software Foundation, but the gathering was canceled at the last minute, according to a source with ties to the OSF. The source indicates the stumbling block is AT&T's demand that it join the OSF board along with 10 other new members. Reportedly, Sun's Bill Joy was the mastermind behind this strategy. The OSF apparently fears such a move would tilt the board in AT&T's favor. If at first you don't succeed . . . OK, so Microsoft nixed Novell's plans to bundle Ashton-Tate's Dbase IV and SQL Server with the Netware network operating system. Well, all is not lost; look for Ashton-Tate to swing a similar, Microsoft-sanctioned deal with longtime buddy 3Com, substituting 3+Open for Netware. Our heads are spinning. Independent database management system vendors are forging relationships with DEC left and right _ or is it the other way around? Relational Technology and DEC are scheduled to hold a briefing Oct. 17 to announce an agreement involving their two DBMSs, Ingres and RDB. The next day, at Dexpo, Oracle and DEC are slated to announce a technology and development agreement, Oracle officials told us. And Cullinet, at its users' conference last week, stated that its products will support RDB. Bull-y-ing on maintenance? Honeywell Bull has verbally informed several customers that DPS 7 and 8 series mainframes deinstalled for more than 10 days must be returned to Phoenix for maintenance recertification by the vendor. Under the current written policy, buyers of used machines could have them recertified after 30 days of operation at the new site. ``This will put the squeeze on being able to sell a used box,'' said Walt Pinson, MIS manager at Walter Drake & Sons in Colorado Springs _ one user who has been told of the new policy. They stoop so low. Early buyers of IBM's AS/400 are reportedly being told that the system will only recognize IBM PCs and terminals as input devices. But in a recent test of the system at an IBM customer training center, the system recognized a Leading Edge PC, much to the relief of customers who purchased a mass of non-IBM terminals for their new AS/400. Something for everyone. Switch vendor Northern Telecom is expected to detail plans to support both IBM's SNA and DEC's Decnet architectures via a new communications processor and a network management system. The processor will utilize different line cards that, for example, would let one card run IBM's Synchronous Data Link Control with SNA, another to run Ethernet with TCP/IP and yet another to run X.25, said Bart Stuck, an analyst at Probe Research. We'll all be extra HLAPPI. IBM will answer the wishes of many programmers at big corporations by including a high-level terminal emulation application programming interface with OS/2 Extended Edition 1.1, which is scheduled for release next month. The Extended High-Level Application Program Interface, or EHLLAPI, is an extended version of IBM's group of callable functions designed to emulate terminal user operations. The current version of HLLAPI is a favorite among many corporate users who let IBM know their feelings, said David Harrington, product manager at IBM's Data Systems Division in Austin, Texas. In the confusion of DEC's Micro Channel feelers (see page 1), DEC officials said their own Vaxmate is not a PC; it's a networking product. But on Friday, a DEC spokesman included the system in a list of DEC's past PC offerings; this reminded us that DEC President Ken Olsen called the Vaxmate a corporate PC when it was introduced in 1986. Following the Tandy deal, cynics quickly noted, the Vaxmate may soon not be a product at all. If you have the line on DEC's PC strategy of the month, call the hot line at 800-343-6474 or 508-879-0700. But don't ask for the news editor; he's on vacation, and Executive Editor Paul Gillin is leading our rapid response team. ET <<<>>> Title : Cullinet fires comeback s Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: culluse Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: ST. LOUIS _ Fighting an uphill battle to reverse its recent fortunes, Cullinet Software, Inc. last week sought to portray itself as the best source of software tools for large corporations. Before some 4,000 users gathered here at the annual Cullinet User Week, company officials outlined the firm's strategy, called Cullinet Enterprise Computing, which they said will make heavy use of cooperative computing on a variety of platforms. The strategy builds on Cullinet's previously announced three-by-three approach, meant to provide database, application and computer-aided software engineering tools across mainframes, departmental processors and personal computers. ``We're very interested in the ability to distribute data. We want the user to manipulate the data on a PC,'' said Robert Curran, executive director of computer services at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., a large Cullinet user. Enterprise Computing will stress client-server computing, in which workstations interact closely with corporate mainframes or departmental processors. ``The goal would be to access data from any SQL-based database,'' Cullinet Executive Vice-President John Landry said. Going to Unix Landry said that next month, Cullinet will announce support of AT&T's Unix System V. He suggested that a Unix version of IDMS/SQL will be available in the first quarter of 1989. Landry also said support for Oracle Corp.'s Oracle relational database will come in the first quarter of 1989. Landry said that Cullinet's application development products, Enterprise: Builder/VMS and Enterprise: Generator/VMS (formerly called Knowledgebuild) will support Digital Equipment Corp's. RDB as well as Oracle environments. Cullinet also chose the users' meeting to fire its salvo in the battle of transaction-processing benchmarks, unveiling results of a test of the TP1 benchmark on a DEC VAX 8820. The firm tested a new version of IDMS/SQL, which Cullinet renamed Enterprise:DB/VMS. The version achieved 43 transaction/sec., or about twice the performance of the original IDMS/SQL, which was announced in April. The results were verified by Aim Technology in Santa Clara, Calif. Enterprise:DB/VMS is slated for fourth-quarter delivery for license fees ranging from $8,000 on a Microvax II to $314,000 on a high-end VAX 8840. Cullinet sought to emphasize its work with the VAX as a cornerstone of its enterprise strategy. By introducing VAX software last spring, Cullinet sidestepped IBM's 9370 and has since taken a wait-and-see attitude toward the IBM Application System/400. However, Landry said last week that Cullinet may develop software for users interested in AS/400 software. In seeking to fill an enterprise's computing needs, Cullinet is going up against a multitude of others attempting to satisfy those same needs _ including IBM. ``They don't have the resources to compete with IBM'' or Oracle, said Dale Kutnick, an independent consultant in Redding, Conn. ``Of course you are concerned about their financial situation. But if they continue to pay attention to the requirements of their user base, they will do better,'' Curran said. ``We feel they have addressed the distributed need. With earlier products, that was not the case.'' ``They'll be around,'' said Michael Wilk of Oakland County North's data processing department in Michigan. Like Curran, he said he is interested in implementing cooperative processing between PCs and mainframes. Cullinet Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John J. Cullinane expressed optimism: ``We've got a lot of programs on a lot of fronts. We're starting to hit on all cylinders.'' By Stanley Gibson, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : What's in a name? Author : Stanley Gibson Source : CW Comm FileName: cullside Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Cullinet added some names and changed others as new and enhanced products were unveiled at its users' meeting: Cullinet's Knowledgebuild is no more. It is now called Enterprise:Builder/VMS and Enterprise:Generator/VMS. Cullinet also introduced Enterprise:Builder/PC-DOS and Enterprise:Generator/PC-DOS. The application development products, scheduled to be made available in the first quarter of 1989, will generate third-generation language code for a variety of platforms. A multiple application banking package for IBM and compatible mainframes. The package consists of a number of modular units, including software developed by Bob White Software, a Cullinet acquisition in 1984. A complete basic package is priced at $2 million. IDMS/Architect, Cullinet's microcomputer-based computer-aided software engineering tool that provides micro-to-mainframe communication, is currently being shipped. In addition, Cullinet said the IDMS-DC and IDMS-UCF version of Enterprise:Expert/MVS _ formerly called the Application Expert _ an expert system development tool for IBM mainframes, is currently available. An implementation workbench for use with Release 1.3 of Cullinet Applications Software, a microcomputer facility said to cut implementation time, will be shipped in the fourth quarter, Cullinet said. STANLEY GIBSON <<<>>> Title : DEC readying OS/2 LAN pla Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 3comdeal Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: BURLINGAME, Calif. _ Microsoft Corp.'s OS/2 LAN Manager is expected to get the nod today from the industry's two leading minicomputer makers at a briefing here. A 3Com insider and industry sources close to the vendors said the anticipated show of support from Digital Equipment Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. will both significantly boost efforts to position LAN Manager as the standard for OS/2 connectivity and alleviate users' micro-to-mini and wide-area-communications headaches. In an era of downsizing, systems vendor support for OS/2 LAN Manager will help provide a smooth migration path from the desktop to incompatible mini applications and greater processing power, said Steven Wendler, an analyst with Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Group, Inc. Mid-range support for OS/2 would also breathe new life into many middle-aged mini lines by allowing local-area networks to utilize minis as high-powered servers, analysts said. Desktop users would also gain access to applications such as DEC Windows without the requirement of local storage and processing power. Also, users could facilitate true wide-area networking by using HP's Advancenet or DEC's Decnet to bridge remote LANs. Spreading the word DEC and HP are expected to make their announcements at the 3Com Network Systems Forum. Actual capabilities are unlikely to be available before mid-1989. Also, 3Com is expected to confirm commercial availability for the first phase of 3+Open. HP will detail plans to support 3+Open, 3Com's LAN Manager-based network operating system, under Openview, the mini maker's Open Systems Interconnect-based network management system, sources close to HP and within 3Com said. Sources added that HP, which has contracted with Microsoft to develop LM/X, a Unix-based port of LAN Manager, will work with 3Com to integrate LM/X into 3+Open. This would provide 3Com with an entry into the Unix market, which it now lacks. And DEC _ which has expended a lot of energy on efforts to shore up its sagging desktop and PC LAN fortunes (see story page 1) _ will tap LAN Manager as a key component of its OS/2 connectivity strategy, sources close to DEC confirmed. ``From a tactical and strategic point of view, minicomputer vendors don't want to get cut off from the desktop,'' Wendler said. Reportedly in discussion stages are Wang Laboratories, Inc., another 3Com OEM, and Data General Corp., sources added. 3Com and HP spokeswomen confirmed that HP will make an announcement today but would not comment further. But 3Com President William Krause reportedly has said to expect a DEC-3Com announcement this week. Efforts to reach Microsoft and DEC were unsuccessful. The ties between the four vendors are strong. Both HP and DEC are OEMs of Microsoft Networks, LAN Manager's predecessor, and both have relationships with 3Com. The announcements would represent a real coup for Microsoft and 3Com, analysts agreed. If enough systems vendors jump on the LAN Manager bandwagon, it could force IBM to openly embrace that protocol. Users have been hesitant, delaying LAN purchases as they wait for IBM to reveal its plans concerning LAN Manager, said Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, Inc. in Washington, D.C. ``As more people belly up to the [LAN Manager] bar, more users will look very seriously at it,'' he said. Industry observers said the announcements will make Novell, Inc., the acknowledged leader in the MS-DOS LAN market, appear more vulnerable _ especially after Microsoft, in a surprise move two weeks ago, yanked the rug out from under a planned SQL-related strategic alliance between Novell and Ashton-Tate Corp. [CW, Oct. 3]. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : A large-screen projector Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwpanaso Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A large-screen projector with automatic scanning capability has been announced by Panasonic Industrial Co.'s Video Systems Group. Dubbed the PT-105 Datamaster, the projector can be used with Panasonic Pro Series S-VHS equipment and provides a bright picture of 550 lumens (at white peak) and a horizontal resolution of 1,100 lines (red-green-blue) and 650 lines (video). The unit can accept virtually any computer scanning frequency from 15 to 37 KHz horizontally and 50Hz to 100Hz vertically, the vendor said. It adjusts automatically when driven by any standard IBM Personal Computer, PC XT and AT or Personal System/2 Color Graphics Adapter or compatible board. The PT-105 costs $9,950. Panasonic Industrial Co., Video Systems, One Panasonic Way, Secaucus, N.J. 07094. 201-348-7183. <<<>>> Title : Schlumberger Instruments Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwschlum Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Schlumberger Instruments has announced a complete workstation for dynamic signal analysis, the SI 1220. In addition to traditional Fast Fourier Transform analysis, the unit also offers swept sine frequency response analysis, logarithmic analysis and octave analysis. The system is especially suited to applications in acoustics, structural and environmental testing and control system analysis, the vendor said. The 1220 is available in two- or four-channel configurations and can reportedly analyze all four channels to 50 KHz with 500-line resolution. The SI 1220 costs $18,250. Schlumberger Instruments, 20 North Ave., Burlington, Mass. 01803. 800-225-5765. In Mass., call 617-229-4825. <<<>>> Title : International Computer Po Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hpintern Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: International Computer Power has introduced the Rotoplus Load/Line Isolator for commercial and defense-industry applications. According to the vendor, the Isolator is aimed at facilities requiring protection from industrial espionage, breach of security and unauthorized access to confidential records and proprietary data. It is said to assure 100% isolation for common-mode and transverse-mode signal paths and does not need air conditioning. The Rotoplus Load/Line Isolator costs from $2,000 to $20,000 depending on configuration. International Computer Power, 501 S. Michillinda Ave., Pasadena, Calif. 91107. 818-793-8656. <<<>>> Title : Deltron, Inc. has expande Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwdeltro Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Deltron, Inc. has expanded its line of power protection products to include transient voltage surge suppressors. The Powermedic includes an audible alarm that alerts users to a power failure. The device is available in both four- and six-outlet configurations and plugs into any standard 120 VAC power outlet. The product will protect computers, electronic office equipment, telephone lines and medical diagnostic systems from surges, spikes and transients, the vendor said. The Powermedic four-outlet version is available for $55.99; the six-outlet unit costs $59.99. Deltron, P.O. Box 1369, Wissahickon Ave., North Wales, Pa. 19454. 215-699-9261. <<<>>> Title : L-Com Data Products has a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hylcompr Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: L-Com Data Products has announced a series of data line surge protectors developed specifically for Wang Laboratories, Inc. workstations. The LPW series protectors provide a suppression circuit to guard against lightning and other electrical disturbances and cost $77 each. L-Com Data Products, 1755 Osgood St., North Andover, Mass. 01845. 508-682-6936. <<<>>> Title : Security Dynamics, Inc. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsecuri Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Security Dynamics, Inc. has announced the ACM/6100 Access Control Module for IBM MVS systems. The software works with the firm's Securid card to provide user identification and authentication at mainframe sites running the MVS or MVS/XA operating system. The module reportedly runs as a VTAM application and was designed to stand alone or front-end popular privilege definition and audit packages. Each user requiring access to the MVS host is assigned a Securid card that displays a one-time-only card code every 60 seconds. The ACM/6100 Access Control Module is priced from $22,500. Security Dynamics, 2067 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Mass. 02140. 617-547-7820. <<<>>> Title : Nixdorf Computer Corp. ha Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swnixdor Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Nixdorf Computer Corp. has introduced an operating system for its 8850-based data-entry systems, the company said. Called Didos, the software is said to include a full-screen editor, a second magnetic-tape buffer, a printer locking and unlocking program and a memory-dump utility. The product also offers IBM 3270 and 3770 communications support. Didos is available for a monthly license fee of $85 to $300, depending on options. Nixdorf Computer, 300 Third Ave., Waltham, Mass. 02154. 617-890-3600. <<<>>> Title : A software product that a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swdbms Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A software product that automatically builds Cullinet Software, Inc.'s IDMS/R databases is available from DBMS, Inc. The Test Database Builder requires the user to define selection criteria for extracting entities from an existing database, which then automatically extracts the information to generate the new database. According to the vendor, this eliminates the need to write special programs or build new database structures. The Test Database Builder costs $24,900. DBMS, 600 Olympian Office Center, 4343 Commerce Court, Lisle, Ill. 60532. 312-961-5700. <<<>>> Title : Interactive Development E Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swide Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Interactive Development Environments, Inc. has introduced Version 4.0 of Software Through Pictures, its integrated multiuser computer-aided software engineering product. Key features include graphical editors, document preparation, object annotation and code generation. The package also offers support for DOD-STD-2167. Software Through Pictures 4.0 costs $11,000 and is available for Apollo Computer, Inc. machines, Digital Equipment Corp. Vaxstations (under VMS and Ultrix), Hewlett-Packard Co. 9000s and Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstations. Interactive Development, 12th Floor, 595 Market St., San Francisco, Calif. 94105. 415-543-0900. <<<>>> Title : Introl Corp. has introduc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swintrol Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Introl Corp. has introduced a C cross-compiler system that supports both C and assembly language development for embedded microprocessor applications. Introl-C reportedly includes a relocating macro cross-assembler, an object-module linker, a hex file conversion utility and a source- and object-code module librarian. Host systems supported include Digital Equipment Corp. VAX and Microvax machines, Apollo Computer, Inc. and Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstations, Apple Computer, Inc. Macintoshes and the IBM Personal Computer XT, AT and compatibles. Introl-C costs from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on the host computer. Introl, 647 W. Virginia St., Milwaukee, Wis. 53204. 414-276-2937. <<<>>> Title : GE Calma Co. has extended Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swgecalm Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: GE Calma Co. has extended its solids modeling product to enable users to create a translucent image of a solid. Prism/Solids' translucency feature was designed to display the complex internal detail of a part and can be used to highlight a certain component of an assembly, the vendor said. The latest release allows users to create wire-frame geometry such as lines, arcs and splines; a multiview drawing can be created from a three-dimensional drawing by performing hidden-line removal operations on each view. Prism/Solids is priced at $9,500. Enhancements are available to existing customers at no extra charge. GE Calma, 501 Sycamore Drive, Milpitas, Calif. 95035. 408-434-4000. <<<>>> Title : Envos Corp., formerly the Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swenvos Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Envos Corp., formerly the Xerox Artificial Intelligence Systems Business Unit, has announced that two major Xerox-developed software packages for the LISP programming language have been ported to Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Sun-3 and Sun-4 families of workstations. The Medley system was previously called the Xerox Artificial Intelligence Environment (XAIE). Medley is an advanced development environment for LISP, while Loops is said to provide object- and access-oriented programming extensions for Medley. Medley costs $10,000 for a single license and will be available to run on the Sun-3 workstation Oct. 1. Loops is currently available and costs $7,000. Envos, 1157 San Antonio Road, Mountain View, Calif. 94043. 415-966-6200. <<<>>> Title : Information Concepts, Inc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swinform Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Information Concepts, Inc. has released Version 88.1 of FSP, the company's full-screen processor, forms- and menu-manager software. The latest release reportedly includes a library of functions for applications developers and a command-level interface for systems administrators and prototyping. The product runs across several operating environments, including Unix, Xenix, Digital Equipment Corp.'s VMS and Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS. FSP Version 88.1 costs $395 to $795. Information Concepts, 2nd floor, 1413 K Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005. 202-682-0330. <<<>>> Title : Battelle recently release Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micbatte Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Battelle recently released a personal computer-based natural language software package for the IBM Personal Computer, PC XT, AT and compatible systems. Designated NQL, the software serves as a natural language interface to database management systems residing on the mainframe and reportedly enhances the utility of any DBMS by making it more accessible for users with varying levels of expertise. Features include dialogue capability, retrieval heuristics and DBMS and domain independence. The program requires 512K bytes of memory and an asynchronous communications port. NQL costs $500 per copy. Battelle, 505 King Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43201. 614-424-5570. <<<>>> Title : Mips Software Development Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swmipsso Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Mips Software Development, Inc. has announced that its Dyalog APL interpreter is now available to run on Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun-4 and Sun 386I machines. According to the vendor, Dyalog APL is a complete implementation of the APL language designed to run under the Unix operating system. The interpreter is written in C and reportedly offers nested arrays, a full-screen editor and a session manager. Version 5.2 can now be ported to Sun systems running SunOS 4.0 or higher. SunOS is a converged version of AT&T's Unix System V and University of California at Berkeley's Unix 4.2 and 4.3. Dyalog APL costs $5,500 on the Sun 4 and $3,500 on the Sun 386I. Mips Software Development, Suite 10, 33493 W. Fourteen Mile Road, Farmington Hills, Mich. 48331. 313-661-4565. <<<>>> Title : A fourth-generation langu Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swbinary Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A fourth-generation language and database management system designed specifically for Unix operating systems has been announced by Binary Research, Inc. Called Apogee QP/UX, the product reportedly provides full-screen editing of ASCII files and includes an interpreter that contains utilities for optimizing program code. A C translator is also included to accelerate program development. Apogee QP/UX costs $2,500. Binary Research, P.O. Box 57, Ft. Washington, Pa. 19034. 215-233-3200. <<<>>> Title : A Modula-2 language syste Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swanasys Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A Modula-2 language system designed specifically for the Hewlett-Packard Co. line of HP 9000 Series 300 workstations is now available from Ana-Systems. Called Modula-2/68, the product is reportedly suitable for professional software development or academic instruction on systems incorporating the Motorola, Inc. family of 32-bit microprocessors. Program modules can be compiled separately, and an executable process can be built by linking with previously compiled program modules or by linking with library procedures written in C. The standard C libraries are easily accessed by the Modula-2 program, allowing modules to use previously written and debugged subroutine libraries in other languages. Modula-2/68 costs $1,200 plus shipping charges. Ana-Systems, P.O. Box 4759, Foster City, Calif. 94404. 415-341-1768. <<<>>> Title : A fourth-generation langu Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swmrcltd Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A fourth-generation language productivity tool for the IBM Application System/400 has been introduced by Michaels, Ross and Cole Ltd. The AS/400 MRC-Query Series was designed to enable both programmers and end users to generate AS/400 reports and applications using either AS/400 data or data files and on-line applications migrated from IBM System/36 or 38 machines. Extracted data is displayed in free-formatted reports and graphs in either on-line or hard-copy formats. The AS/400 MRC-Query Series is priced from $3,000 to $35,000, depending on system configuration. Michaels, Ross and Cole, Bldg. E, Suite 304, 800 Roosevelt Road, Glen Ellyn, Ill. 60137. 312-790-5048. <<<>>> Title : Structural Dynamics Resea Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsdrc Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Structural Dynamics Research Corp. has extended its mechanical computer-aided software engineering system, I-Deas, to include plastic-injection molding simulation and numerical-control processing. The I-Deas for Plastics modules are said to combine part design with the simulation of the plastic molding process. The module can be used to perform both mold filling and cooling analysis. According to the vendor, the system will initially be available to run on Digital Equipment Corp. computers and workstations and is scheduled for release in the third quarter. The program can be licensed for a one-time charge of between $25,000 and $35,000 per simultaneous user. Structural Dynamics Research, 2000 Eastman Drive, Milford, Ohio 45150. 513-576-2400. <<<>>> Title : BBN Software Products Cor Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swbbn2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: BBN Software Products Corp. has released Version 8.3 of Dataprobe, its times-series analysis software for engineers and analysts working in a Digital Equipment Corp. VAX environment. The software runs under the VMS operating system, and the current release includes a file-server function that gives analysts direct access to data files not in Dataprobe format, the company said. The file server also eliminates the need to write custom code for time tag, record-header identification and data reformatting. Dataprobe software is reportedly used to analyze data from flight testing, telemetry, wind-tunnel testing and similar applications. Dataprobe 8.3 is priced from $30,000 to $75,000 in single units. BBN Software Products, 10 Fawcett St., Cambridge, Mass. 02238. 617-873-5000. <<<>>> Title : Timeline, Inc. has releas Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swtimeli Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Timeline, Inc. has released Version 1.4 of its Timeline Purchase Order and Accounts Payable system. The Timeline Financial Accounting System was designed for the Digital Equipment Corp. VMS operating system. New Accounts Payable functions include automatic generation of discounts at check-writing time and immediate check printing directly from the journal entry file. Recurring payment transactions can also be generated automatically. The Purchase Order system now offers the user the option of full or partial general-ledger coding, and unlimited text libraries can be developed as standard information to be included in the purchase order. The Purchase Order and Accounts Payable package costs from $10,000 to $32,500, depending on system size. Timeline, Suite 106, 3055 112th Ave. N.E., Bellevue, Wash. 98004. 206-822-3140. <<<>>> Title : Parameter Driven Software Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swparame Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Parameter Driven Software, Inc. has announced PDS-Adept and the General Business and Accounting modules for the Unisys Corp. 6000 series of Unix-based hardware. The Unix version of PDS-Adept reportedly incorporates the industry standard C-ISAM. Several general business and accounting modules are now available to run under Unix, including General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable. Asset Depreciation, Order Entry and Invoicing, Inventory and Purchase Orders modules are also available. PDS-Adept costs $2,600. A runtime module is also required. The General Business and Accounting modules are priced at $1,500, plus the cost of the run-time module. The runtime module itself costs between $900 and $6,150, depending on the number of users. Parameter Driven Software, Suite 3820, 30800 N. Telegraph Road, Birmingham, Mich. 48101. 313-540-4460. <<<>>> Title : Sterling Software Inc.'s Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsterl2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Sterling Software Inc.'s Systems Software Marketing Division has added new interfaces for three mainframe software packages to its quality assurance tool, Comparex. According to the vendor, Release 6.2.0. of the maintenance, debugging and quality assurance products includes interfaces to Applied Data Research, Inc.'s Datacom DB, Pansophic System, Inc.'s Owl and IBM's DB2. The software's interfaces reportedly permit direct comparisons of files from 25 different products and will compare both data and text files without record-length restrictions. It also will automatically resynchronize after inserts and deletes. The product is currently shipping. Comparex 6.2.0 is priced at $12,500 for the OS version and $6,000 for the DOS version. A VM/CMS configuration of the product costs $5,500. Sterling Software, 11050 White Rock Road, Rancho Cordova, Calif. 95670-6095. 916-635-5535. <<<>>> Title : M. Bryce and Associates, Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swmbryce Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: M. Bryce and Associates, Inc. has developed a formal interface for its Pride information resource manager to the Nomad2 database management system and fourth-generation language. Nomad2 is marketed by Must Software International, Inc. Pride is a software tool used to catalog and control corporate information systems and can also drive several DBMS packages, including IBM's DB2, Software AG of North America, Inc.'s Adabas, Oracle Corp.'s Oracle and others. The interface generates Schema Definition Statements required to create a Nomad2 database based on a set of inference rules from Pride IRM component descriptions. According to the vendor, the interface reportedly saves the database administrator significant time in producing Schema, Master, Segment and Item definition statements for Nomad2. The interface is marketed as an option to Pride and costs $10,000. Pride costs $45,000. M. Bryce and Associates, 777 Alderman Road, Palm Harbor, Fla. 34683. 813-786-4567. <<<>>> Title : Four utility packages for Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swamalga Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Four utility packages for the IBM System/36 minicomputer are now available from Amalgamated Software of North America, Inc. Manipul8 is a file editor that supports add, update and delete operations on files with an easy-to-use interactive system, the company said. The software incorporates several file-display options, such as hexadecimal and logical displays. Manipul8 costs $750. According to the vendor, the Termin8 software allows users to cancel all jobs, stop the job queue and stop the spool writer to gain a dedicated machine without operator intervention. All system termination can be done from a command line or as part of a procedure. Termin8 costs $500. Recre8 was developed for System/36 users who utilize the Copydata and Reorg functions. According to the vendor, the software reorganizes files 100% faster than with native Copydata and costs $750. Formul8 was designed to allow RPG programmers to use several operations, including exponentiation, square-root, logarithm and trigonometric functions. The software is priced at $500. All four products are available individually or as a package. Amalgamated Software, Suite 255, 4041 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach, Calif. 92660. 800-732-2070. <<<>>> Title : Six utility and office au Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swcherer Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Six utility and office automation software packages for the Digital Equipment Corp. VMS operating system are now available from Scherers Wizard Software, a division of Scherers. Called Wiz Kits, the software bypasses Digital Command Language syntax and is useful to both experienced and novice users, the vendor said. The Scherers Wizard Utilities kits include Queue Wiz, Terminal Server Wiz, Copy Wiz and Process Wiz. The Office Automation Utilities include Calendar Wiz and Menu Wiz. Each Wiz Kit includes an installation guide, an operating manual, a license and one hour of technical support. Single-copy prices range from $295 to $495 per kit. Scherers Wizard Software, 1308 Bardstown Road, Louisville, Ky. 40204. 502-456-4898. <<<>>> Title : An automated backup utili Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swcrt Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: An automated backup utility developed for Digital Equipment Corp. VAX systems has been announced by C.R.T. in Belmont, Calif. Called Autobax, the product is said to run on any VAX/VMS machine and will submit either full or incremental disk-to-tape backups in batch via interactive prompting. According to the vendor, little or no knowledge of the backup utility is required and backup listings are created for easy verification. Operator intervention is reportedly minimal. Autobax costs $25. C.R.T., P.O. Box 271, Belmont, Calif. 94002. 415-595-5595. <<<>>> Title : Trash those MCA rumors Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: dcolie Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: MCA stinks, till you lose data! Every cloner and his brother has been railing against the IBM Micro Channel Architecture as offering no advantages when running OS/2. Fortunately for them, no one has been running OS/2, because if they were, these statements would be exposed for what they are _ rubbish. Sure, IBM has failed miserably to make boards that exploit MCA's central benefits, such as multiple processor support and 32-bit addressing. But if you take a closer sniff, MCA really doesn't smell so bad. What the MCA really does for OS/2 users is protect their data. IBM told me that, and like most promises, it wasn't quite believable. In fact, it looked like the trail of parcels a well-fed horse leaves behind. But then two hugely respected software developers explained why IBM was right. Here's how it works. With today's so-called AT bus, interrupts are handled as they occur because the system was designed for single, linear-type tasks. But when people multitask, they are often telling printers and modems and screens what to do all at the same time. So just like your favorite nincompoop who chews gum and walks only to fall on his face, these buses just can't handle it. But with MCA, the interrupts are handled in levels so that they don't conflict with each other and give the whole ball of wax a major meltdown. It seems that the cloners have figured this out because their proposed bus, Extended Industry Standard Architecture, will use level-sensitive interrupts. I'm sure glad they thought of it. Speaking of EISA . . . Little more than two years ago, many were wondering how Compaq was going to make it. Most personal computers were finally compatible and getting cheaper all the time. Compaq's were compatible but still cost more. Analysts thought Compaq was about to get creamed. But then came the Yuppie strategy. The firm came out with a fancy Intel 80386-based box and became the Porsche of the PC set. A lot of the performance came from the chip itself, and some came from high-speed random-access memory. But to keep ahead, Compaq played with the bus and came up with a multiple-bus approach called Flex/Architecture. Now Compaq has agreed with the rest of the clone community that the 32-bit way is cool and that everyone should have the very same 32-bit foundation. Compaq can still differentiate on top of this bus, but since the bus itself is higher performance, this differentiation should have less impact. So what will Compaq do next to show up its competitors? We have no idea, but knowing Compaq, it'll think of something. The Lowe Letter. The press and analyst community has not been nice to IBM's Bill Lowe. In fact, they have been sardonically waiting for the ax to fall. Well, it hasn't fallen yet. Lowe is still the president of IBM's Entry Systems Division and is still calling a lot of IBM's PC shots. Many figured that Lowe was outski because he was passed over for promotion (if that was the case, we'd all be out of work) and because IBM's market share has fallen. We were a bit suspicious because Lowe has been resilient, the MCA was bound to be a tough sell and Lowe hadn't been given the boot. Those comments seemed to be nothing more than a Lowe blow. Lowe probably hasn't been too happy with outsiders predicting his fate, and IBM has decided to fight back. Highly personalized letters were sent to various offending publications (we didn't get one) such as The Wall Street Journal and USA Today that essentially said, ``Call off the dogs, Lowe's doing just fine.'' What did they say? Old IBM cohorts Frank King (now with Lotus) and Mike Maples (now with Microsoft) recently got together to discuss agreeing on something. We're not exactly sure what it is, although we hear a press release may be in the offing sometime. All we know is that it involves setting some kind of standard that spreadsheets should follow and means sharing a lot of code. Our best guess is that it has something to do with either file formats or Microsoft wanting in on Blueprint, the Lotus specification that allows applications to easily fetch data from other applications. One thing we know they discussed was the shipment of Presentation Manager spreadsheets. Each bragged that they would be the first to foist one on the market, but in true IBM fashion, each declined to give the other any details. He's mad as hell. Jeff Bernknopt has a bone to pick with poor ol' Computerworld and the way we have hyped SQL with a long-running series of articles. It is not that Jeff hates SQL; he just hates to see it touted again and again as the end-all and be-all. In fact, he threatened to rip CW in half next time it happens. We may have to bury the next one in the middle of the Manahattan phone book. Bernknopt's contempt for SQL gurus has focused on the latest affront, a two-part series by Fabian Pascal we ran called ``Which PC DBMS should I choose?'' [CW, Aug. 8 and 15]. Fabian argues that users should choose one that implements relational principles and SQL. Jeff agrees that both are important features but are wholly inadequate when judging the overall worth of a DBMS. Instead, end users need a DBMS that maintains ease of use but also offers the ``greatest power and set of capabilities.'' Here, things like graphics, access to calculations and file-exchange capabilities with spreadsheets are paramount. For developers, things beyond SQL are important, such as a high-level procedural language, a screen handler and computer-aided software engineering tools _ all of which help define a fourth-generation language. OK, Jeff. We still like SQL, but our SQL blinders are coming off, pronto! Ready, Set, GOS/2. You've read the articles that say OS/2 is going nowhere. You've probably rejected the product because it does so little and costs so much. But OS/2 may still have a future in the near term. It's called Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3.0. This little baby that's way overdue may be just the thing Microsoft has been waiting for. See, Release 3.0 runs under both Microsoft's MS-DOS and OS/2. Under MS-DOS, though, power users will still probably need at least 1M byte and definitely an AT or better. To run under OS/2, all you need is a couple of megabytes and an AT or better. You don't even need the added baggage of Presentation Manager. In return, you'll get nearly unlimited memory (your budget is your main limitation) and multitasking. Given the choice, many just might decide that OS/2 ain't so bad after all. By Douglas Barney; Barney is a Computerworld senior editor, Microcomputing. <<<>>> Title : Are micros too hot to han Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: crisis Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: It may not be as ominous as Soviet missiles in Cuba, but the constantly increasing demands of personal computer end users may well threaten the mental health of thousands of MIS information center staff, micro managers and other MIS professionals across the nation. The central problem is the abundant success of the personal computer. As PCs entered the workplace, information centers were established and microcomputer managers hired. Unfortunately, PCs have continued to stream briskly into companies, while the resources to manage them have grown far too slowly. The bottom line is that people who manage PCs are being asked to bite off far more than they can chew. ``We are being told we have to do better support with the same amount of people,'' said Monte C. Sellers, manager of PC consulting at First Chicago Corp. The bank has 2,600 PCs and 14 to 20 people to support them. Growing pains But it is not just that there are more PCs and more users. As each user gains knowledge, the questions and problems become more complex. Add to that the growing complexity of the products themselves, and it is not hard to see that a growing and troublesome support crisis exists. The problem is so widespread that the Chicago Association of Microcomputer Professionals (CAMP) held a meeting to air managers' grievances. At the meeting, attendees almost unanimously said things have simply gotten out of hand. Despite a clear need, budgets to support PCs have not grown fast enough; in some cases, they have even been slashed. ``We can't handle users' demands and the technical complexity of the demands. Information centers haven't grown, but demand has,'' said Julian Horwich, president of CAMP. ``Never mind OS/2, LANs and micro-to-mainframe links.'' Rather than give up, managers have scraped for any and all solutions. One approach is to designate sophisticated end users as local gurus and let them answer the bulk of the questions. Another solution involves increasing reliance on third parties such as training firms, sophisticated software resellers, computer dealers and the vendors themselves. ``We get really good support from Corporate Software [a software reseller]. They seem to know more about Lotus than Lotus does,'' Sellers said. The good mix Some use a variety of approaches. ``We are doing more leveraging of outside vendors. A computer store has been brought on site, and we are taking more advantage of using vendor support lines,'' Horwich said. For the American Cancer Society _ with 21 Chicago area offices _ one answer may be to acquire modems and software that allow remote manipulation of data. That way, a specialist can fix a user's problem without traveling to the site. But that is not enough. ``One thing is to push hard to get more budgeted for training for users and our own staff. But we also look for products that will be the most usable, even if we have to sacrifice some bells and whistles,'' said Jonathan Schwartz, EDP systems manager for the American Cancer Society in Chicago. Another trick is to keep the list of supported products small and make sure chosen products are as easy as possible to use. ``The fewer products we have, the better. We can't make anybody buy a particular product, but we do offer encouragement,'' Sellers said. Encouragement can come in a couple of forms. One is offering training on supported products, as Sellers does. But perhaps more importantly, he is better able to answer tricky questions about supported products. Managers grappling with this problem have no magic answers. But with a bit of thought and offloading support whenever possible, they might just keep their sanity. By Douglas Barney, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Add-ons simplify 1-2-3 Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: marq Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Users expecting advanced features from future versions of Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 can stop waiting. Two small add-in suppliers recently beat the spreadsheet giant out the door with products that give today's 1-2-3 a graphical user interface and spreadsheet linking. Marq Technologies in San Diego has announced its graphical interface, Marq Navigator for 1-2-3, which incorporates an easy-to-use mouse driver that reportedly speeds spreadsheet data entry and editing. With the interface, the company said, users no longer need to use multiple keystrokes for manipulating drop-down menus and submenus in 1-2-3, although they may still do so if they choose. In control According to Marq, the user is given additional control of what can be viewed on the screen by using the mouse's point-and-click functions. With this interface, the user can open and move worksheet windows, select ranges and define column widths within the worksheet and drag or push blocks of the worksheet on or off the screen. The interface also lets users select their own status and function keys from screen menus, and it expedites data entry and editing with automatic cursor controls. Marq Navigator for 1-2-3 is compatible with 1-2-3 Version 2.0 or 2.01 and requires 35K bytes of memory. It carries a list price of $149 and is available now, the firm said. Meanwhile, Personics Corp. in Maynard, Mass., has introduced its Look & Link application for 1-2-3. According to the firm, this product allows users to link and merge worksheets stored on disk to the 1-2-3 spreadsheet while viewing the linked worksheets on the screen at the same time. By linking worksheets that are stored on disk, users can build 1-2-3 models that would otherwise be too large to offload to random-access memory; they can also save the limited hardware memory capacity for other applications. By breaking the linked worksheets into smaller portions, the company said, the applications will consume less than 640K bytes of conventional memory. The simple things in life The product also simplifies the development of complex applications, Personics said. Portions of the worksheets can be developed separately in smaller, simpler portions, then linked together. The second worksheet is viewed in a pop-up window that the user can resize or reposition on screen. The data cannot be entered or edited in the pop-up window, but it can still be scrolled and moved about the screen. Look & Link is compatible with 1-2-3 Versions 2.0 and 2.01 and requires less than 640K bytes of memory. It carries a list price tag of $99.95 and is available now. By William Brandel, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Finance execs rely on PCs Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: research Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Ever since an electronic spreadsheet triggered the personal computer revolution, financial executives have been among the technology's heaviest users. But until a joint research report conducted by the National Association of Accountants (NAA) and Arthur Young, it was not clear what impact PCs have had on corporate financial departments. According to the study, 83% of financial executives are regularly using PCs. What is more, an overwhelming 98% say that PCs have added measurable value to their companies. ``The results of this survey in- dicate that financial managers in companies throughout the U.S. are reacting positively and aggressively to financial business systems,'' noted one of the research report's authors, Elizabeth E. McHugh, a manager in Arthur Young's information technology division based in San Francisco. ``They want to ensure that technology expenditures reap measurable benefits in the financial department, and they have for the most part been successful.'' The findings of the survey, summarized in The Impact of Systems Technologies on the Financial Function, are based on the responses of 510 senior financial executives who are members of the NAA. The respondents came from a variety of companies with annual revenues ranging from less than $50 million to $1 billion. Reaping the benefits Approximately 95% of the respondents said the use of financial business systems on PCs in their companies has resulted in a tangible economic benefit. The benefits include significant time-savings, increased productivity, improved timeliness, better accuracy of information and enhanced analytical capabilities. Of the 83% of financial executives who routinely use either a PC or a dedicated terminal, 85% said they use spreadsheet software, nearly 65% use word processing programs, more than 50% use database management software and 49% use graphics programs. According to the survey results, technology is used aggressively in most of the major functional areas for which financial executives are normally responsible. Financial business systems are most often used for management reporting, budgeting and forecasting, 75% of the respondents said. Critical to establishing a successful financial business system are the accessibility of technology resources and the involvement of company management in technology implementation, the report noted. The software tools used to support most of the financial functions analyzed in the survey reside more often on PCs than on centralized corporate computers. Despite a trend toward personal and departmental computing, the report's authors noted, it remains common to use centralized corporate computers to support financial applications. Centralized computers are used for management reporting by 67% and for financial accounting by 74% of respondents. Getting senior management involved with technology implementation is the second key to establishing a successful financial business system. The use of technology by senior executives promotes greater use of computer tools by staff members, creating additional benefits in productivity, efficiency and other areas, the report said. By Michael Alexander, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Excel second to none in M Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: octrevu1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: With Version 1.5 of Excel, Microsoft Corp. redefines itself as the current leader in the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh spreadsheet market. Features: On the whole, Version 1.5 is a worthwhile update. It fixes some bugs from the previous release, Version 1.06, and adds a few features and improved speed. Most important, this version adds full Multifinder support, which will work as a background task; a new Links command that replaces the older Open Links command; color printing; and support for Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3, Releases 1A and 2.01, and PC-Excel Version 2.0 file formats. Excel 1.5 also includes localized scrolling, financial-statement formats, an enhanced page-preview function, color display and chart options on a color Mac II, the ability to freeze split worksheet panes, an increase in the maximum number of data points for charts, a quick-creation facility for creating charts from multiple worksheet data selections, improved chart formatting, a dialogue editor and two new buttons (Next and Previous) in the Gallery menu to speed chart type selection. Performance: Good to excellent. Excel 1.5 has a strong collection of analytical features. Functions for everything from matrix multiplication to linear regression are included, along with a random number generator and Boolean functions. Excel's macro language lets users modify built-in functions or create new ones to fit their needs. We rate Excel 1.5 as excellent for formulas and analysis. Excel can read and write Lotus WKS and WK1 files, although it is not 100% compatible. When it encounters a 1-2-3 command or macro it does not understand, it flags the command so you can work with it yourself. It can read and write Sylk files and cut and paste information with other applications using the clipboard. This newer release will also read PC-Excel files directly. We rate its compatibility as very good. Overall, Excel 1.5 is a bit faster than its immediate predecessor. It supports the Motorola, Inc. 68881 math coprocessor on the Mac II, which can speed recalculation dramatically. Naturally, Excel 1.5 also runs much faster on an 8M-byte Mac II since it is sensitive to the fast RAM, the faster 68020 CPU and a math coprocessor. We rate its speed as good. The logical limitation to size is 16,384 rows by 256 col., quite roomy, given Excel's excellent consolidation and linking capabilities. We rate it as very good for capacity. Excel's database features are similar to 1-2-3's. For text manipulation in the database, there are 21 text functions for string searching, substitution, case conversion and the like. Despite the inherent limitations of Excel's RAM-based database, we rate Excel's database functions as very good. Excel continues to be the leader in spreadsheet graphics with the addition of display and printed color in this version. It includes full text and graphics printing and full support for Adobe Systems, Inc.'s Postscript as well as color printing on Apple's color Image Writer and Tektronix, Inc.'s Color Graphics Printer. Excel 1.5 rates a solid excellent in graphics and output capabilities. Excel 1.5's macro capabilities also rate as excellent. Documentation: Very good. Excel 1.5 comes with the same basic manuals as the earlier releases. Manual supplements are included for the Version 1.5 changes and the dialogue editor. The printed manuals cover both tutorial and reference topics fairly well. A separate manual on macros, functions and arrays completes the information. On-line Help is context-sensitive, slick and complete. There is no on-line tutorial. Ease of learning: Very good. We did not need to read the manual to use the product effectively. It is easy to install on the hard disk. The pull-down menus are self-explanatory, and the intuitive nature of the interface makes Excel 1.5 as easy a spreadsheet to learn as any on the market. Ease of use: Very good. Excel has always been strong in ease of use, and Version 1.5 extends that tradition. Improvements over previous versions include the leaner Links command, the additional commands in the Charts Gallery and the addition of color on a Mac II. Error handling: Very good. Excel 1.5 includes an Undo command that can save your hide. However, it lacks any kind of automatic backup feature. Excel's overall data integrity scores high. Support: Very good. Microsoft offers unlimited free, but not toll-free, phone support 12 hours a day, as well as a newsletter and a Compuserve forum. We called the technical support hot line twice during our review. Once we cleared the small hurdle of Microsoft's automated phone system, we got through to top-notch technicians. Value: Excellent. On the Macintosh, Excel 1.5 does not have much competition from other spreadsheets. It retails for $395, and the update from previous versions costs $25. For all the features, performance and ease of use it provides, Excel 1.5 remains a best buy in microcomputer software. <<<>>> Title : A full-featured, simple D Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: octrev2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A good DOS shell is fast and intuitive, and it doesn't get in your way if you need to access DOS directly. An ideal DOS shell includes extra features but doesn't force you to learn complicated commands. Peter Norton Computing, Inc.'s Norton Commander Version 2.0 comes close to being an ideal DOS shell. Features: You can have Norton Commander running at all times, yet use it only when you want to. To issue a command at the DOS level, you simply start typing. By pressing cursor or function keys at any point, you can activate the window-oriented file manager. A new pull-down menu system works in conjunction with the function keys and control-key combinations. The term ``point and shoot'' fits the user interface. You can point to a file or group of files in the directory list and perform all the common DOS functions such as Erase, Copy and Rename. Norton Commander allows you to display one or two directories simultaneously in separate windows and provides full control over file sorting. You can compare the files in two directories and mark those files that do not exist or those that are more recent in the other directory. Performance: Very good. The Norton Commander can run in either random-access memory-resident or reload mode. The resident mode is recommended for floppy-disk users and requires about 138K of RAM. The reload mode uses only 13K bytes of RAM. Commander works equally well with mouse or keyboard. Version 2.0 is 100% compatible with the earlier version. Not only does the product do just about everything you need in terms of file management, the new tree display helps you navigate through even the most complex directory hierarchy. There are a few features still lacking. Although the File-Find command will locate and display all the files that match your criteria, you cannot tag them all for subsequent action. Also, it would be nice to be able to sort the directory entries in the tree diagram, and we would also like to limit the file display to selected files. Documentation: Very good. The package comes with a reference manual and a smaller volume that provides a concise pictorial summary of the product. Both books are well designed and easy to read. In addition, rudimentary on-line Help is available. Ease of learning: Excellent. Installation consists of copying four files to your hard disk or a working floppy. Even a novice can learn the basics of this product in about 15 minutes or master it within an hour. Ease of use: Excellent. Norton Commander is intuitive and easy to pick up. The point-and-shoot interface will be familiar to most PC users, and in this version, mouse users can perform all functions available to keyboard users. Error handling: Very good. Norton Commander improves on DOS's error handling. For example, Commander makes you verify your intentions before overwriting a file with a copy command. Support: Very good. Unlimited toll-call telephone support is available. Norton Commander comes with a 90-day usability warranty with a 10% restocking fee. Bulletin board support is offered through Reader's Digest Association, Inc.'s The Source. Our first two calls to technical support resulted in waiting five minutes on hold, followed by an opportunity to leave a recorded message. Our calls were returned promptly. On the third try, we got through right away. The technicians we spoke with knew the product well. Value: Excellent. If you find yourself spending too much time struggling with file management, this is the product to buy. At $89, it stands out as the best all-around DOS shell on the market. For Version 1.0 users, Commander 2.0 is well worth the $33 upgrade fee. <<<>>> Title : Alpha poses as taskmaster Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: octrevu3 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Alpha Software Corp.'s Alphaworks is a low-end integrated package. Although not as well integrated as other packages, it has powerful task-switching features and an excellent communications module. Features: Alphaworks is an enhanced and renamed version of Electric Desk. It has individual modules for word processing, flat-file database management, spreadsheet analysis and telecommunications. It uses files from Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 and Ashton-Tate Corp.'s Dbase III Plus without modification. The spreadsheet module supports worksheets of up to 255 col. by 8,192 rows and includes all 1-2-3 functions except macros. You can split the screen into two ``viewports'' to look at different aspects of your worksheet and make the two scroll together. The module supports pie charts and line, bar, stacked bar and X-Y graphs. The word processor has a spelling checker and thesaurus, forward and backward search and replace, word count and very flexible formatting options. Alphaworks can keep as many as 29 tasks open at once, and you can toggle among them. It can use the Lotus/Intel/Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification, IBM Personal Computer AT extended memory or it can swap to a hard disk. There is a menu option that tells how much random-access memory and disk space is available for opening or holding more tasks. Performance: Poor to very good. The spreadsheet is solid but unexciting; it stays close to 1-2-3 in functionality. Formulas and macros are entered in much the same way, and you can select recalculation options from a menu. Graphs are clear but not spectacular. The word processing module is surprisingly full-featured, with almost everything but indexing and table-of-contents generation. The spelling checker and thesaurus are fast, and formatting options are flexible. A typewriter feature sends text to the printer either line-by-line or character-by-character. On-screen page breaks are automatically updated as you edit a document, and form letters and other database-merge documents are easy to create. We rate the word processing as good. The database module supports Dbase data types and functions but without Dbase's relational or programming capabilities. You can use a few simple if-then constructs to sort databases or generate reports. You can create several custom data entry screens for each data file; standard row-and-column reports are easy to set up. In comparison to Microsoft Corp.'s Microsoft Works, Alphaworks runs very slowly. We rate speed as poor. Integration features are uninspired, earning a satisfactory rating. Alphaworks earns a score of very good in additional features because of elaborate macro capabilities, the ability to access the operating system from any module and the communications module, which works like a charm. Documentation: Excellent. Alphaworks has tutorial and reference manuals, a quick-reference booklet and extensive and well-organized on-line Help. Each manual has a detailed table of contents and a good index. On-line Help is context-sensitive, clearly written and several levels deep. Ease of learning: Very good. The Alphaworks installation program would not work on a shared hard disk, and it locked up when we tried to install the program on an Intel Corp. 80286-based PC, but it worked fine on a 386-based PC. The company blamed a bug in early copies of the program and said it has been corrected. Because of its excellent documentation and on-line Help, as well as its consistent and intuitive command structure, Alphaworks is exceptionally easy to learn. Ease of use: Very good. The consistent menu structure of all Alphaworks' modules, its abundant speed keys, its macro capability, its ability to use 1-2-3 and Dbase III Plus files directly and its extensive on-line Help make Alphaworks a champ in ease of use. Error handling: Very good. Alphaworks traps most user errors very well. It is virtually impossible to forget to save a file or to delete anything by accident. Support: Satisfactory to good. Alpha Software provides free (but not toll-free) phone support to registered users weekdays from 9:15 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, as well as 24-hour support on its electronic bulletin board. When we called for phone support, the average wait for a technician was about four minutes. Technical support staff seemed to differ widely in their product knowledge. However, our questions were always answered, even if it meant waiting on hold while the support rep asked someone else. Value: Very good. For $195, Alphaworks is a well-documented and surprisingly full-featured integrated package. It offers robust word processing and database capabilities along with good report generation. <<<>>> Title : A rack-mount industrial p Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mictexas Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A rack-mount industrial personal computer bus has been announced by Texas Microsystems, Inc. The Model 3014 has a capacity of 14 IBM Personal Computer XT or AT plug-in boards in any combination, the vendor said. It also incorporates 1G byte or more of rotating memory in as many as five different drives and a 225W power supply. The standard configuration accommodates 12 PC AT boards and two XT boards, but any combination can be supplied, according to the vendor. The Model 3014 costs $1,595 without CPU board. Texas Microsystems, 10618 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. 800-627-8700. <<<>>> Title : Hyundai Electronics Ameri Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: michyund Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Hyundai Electronics America has raised prices on its line of Intel Corp. 80286-based personal computers and monitors. The increases pertain to the Hyundai Super-286C small-footprint IBM Personal Computer AT-compatible and the Super-286, a 12-slot file server and workstation. The Super 286C will be priced from $1,790 for a single 1.2M-byte floppy drive system with monochrome monitor. A single-floppy system with a 30M-byte drive will cost $2,440, and a 40M-byte configuration will cost $2,690, the vendor said. Hyundai monitors will also be affected by the increase. The HMM-1210 12-in. monochrome unit will be priced at $145. The company's 14-in. Color Graphics Adapter and Enhanced Graphics Array monitors, the HCM-1410 and the HCM-1420, will cost $485 and $645, respectively. Hyundai, 4401 Great American Pkwy., Santa Clara, Calif. 95054. 408-986-9800. <<<>>> Title : Everex Systems, Inc. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micevere Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Everex Systems, Inc. has released a graphic arts software package targeted at the IBM Video Graphics Array (VGA) market. Called Freestyle EVGA, the package is said to use Everex's EVGA graphics adapter with a 256-color palette and 512- by 480-pixel resolution. The VGA mode was designed to maintain compatibility with the Targa video standard, the vendor said. The product will also read and write images in the Targa file format. Freestyle runs exclusively on EVGA, and graphics design tools include fonts, custom shapes and color cycle animation. Freestyle costs $299. The Everex EVGA board costs $399. Everex, 48431 Milmont Drive, Fremont, Calif. 94538. 415-498-1111. <<<>>> Title : A software package design Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micimrs Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A software package designed to allow corporations to enter, validate, distribute and collect a wide range of unstructured data has been introduced by IMRS, Inc. Called Finalform, the package runs on IBM or compatible personal computers under DOS 3.0 or higher. According to the vendor, Finalform can be customized for a variety of business applications, including tax reporting, intercompany invoice control, product tracking and financial data collection. The system requires a hard disk and 640K bytes of memory. Finalform costs $40,000 for a headquarters site license. IMRS, 1033 Washington Blvd., Stamford, Conn., 06902. 203-323-6500. <<<>>> Title : Strategic Software Planni Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micssp Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Strategic Software Planning Corp. has released Version 3.0 of its Promis project management software for the IBM Personal Computer, XT, AT, Personal System/2 and compatible systems. The software was designed to plan the scheduling, resource management and cost control aspects of a project. Several enhancements have been added since the previous release, including out-of-sequence progress reporting capabilities and dual-scale histograms for side-by-side cost comparisons. The Time-Scaled Network Diagram in Version 3.0 reportedly will show zones of responsibility for each project manager. Promis 3.0 costs $2,995. Strategic Software, 245 First St., Cambridge, Mass. 02142. 617-577-8800. <<<>>> Title : A budgeting software pack Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miccpi Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A budgeting software package developed for the IBM Personal Computer, XT, AT, Personal System/2 and compatibles has begun shipping from Management Advisory Services, Inc. Called Master Planner, the product requires Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 Release 2.01 but reportedly does not require knowledge of the 1-2-3 program. Master Planner creates sales, personnel, inventory, fixed-asset and operating budgets, the vendor said. The product is recommended for managers responsible for profit and cost centers and for all financial personnel, including accountants, controllers and planning officers. Master Planner costs $495 for a retail license. Management Advisory Services, 2401 Fourth Ave., 3rd Floor, Seattle, Wash. 98121. 206-441-0500. <<<>>> Title : A software program that r Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micceres Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A software program that reportedly lets users visualize their thoughts by creating free-form diagrams on an Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh system has been announced by Ceres Software, Inc. Called Inspiration, the software allows diagrams to be modified and rearranged through the use of symbols, patterns and line thickness. Using standard editing techniques, topics can be reordered, added, deleted and changed as often as needed. All diagrams can be printed as presentation-quality material. Inspiration costs $149. Ceres Software, Suite 103, 9498 S.W. Barbur Blvd., Portland, Ore. 97219. 503-245-9011. <<<>>> Title : A security program for mi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsoftd Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A security program for microcomputers that prevents unauthorized access to data is available from Software Directions, Inc. Called Softsafe, the product reportedly provides hard-disk password protection and automatically encrypts data in designated subdirectories. The vendor claims the program also offers virus protection by maintaining a protected copy of critical system files each time the system is booted up. The software runs on IBM Personal Computer, XT, AT, Personal System/2 and compatible machines. Softsafe costs $99. Software Directions, 1572 Sussex Tnpk., Randolph, N.J. 07869. 201-584-8466. <<<>>> Title : Micromaps Software, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micmicro Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Micromaps Software, Inc. is shipping Macatlas Paint Version 2.0, an expanded collection of maps in Paint file format. The latest release includes two world maps, 16 maps of world regions defined by country, six maps of the U.S. by state and maps of all U.S. states by county. The maps can reportedly be edited with any Paint program and then pasted into other applications, including page layout and desktop publishing programs. Macatlas Paint Version 2.0 costs $79. Registered owners may upgrade for $35. Micromaps, P.O. Box 757, Lambertville, N.J. 08530. 609-397-1611. <<<>>> Title : Software Trust has announ Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsoftt Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Software Trust has announced Power Tools III, a package of advanced programming tools designed to work with Ashton-Tate Corp.'s Framework III software. Power Tools III functions include the ability to automatically filter databases and switch between frames or documents. Pop-up utilities, conversions of numeric values to text and routines for separating address information are also included. Power Tools III costs $195. Software Trust, 375 Broadway, Laguna Beach, Calif. 92651. 714-497-3600. <<<>>> Title : Sunset Software Engineeri Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsunse Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Sunset Software Engineering has updated its FPAC and DPAC Floating Point Libraries. For use with most microprocessing systems, the libraries are used in compilers, spreadsheets and embedded applications, the vendor said, and are offered in both single- and double-precision formats. Several trigonometric functions are available as well as data conversion and floating-point utility procedures. Code space for the single-precision version is reported to be 3.2K bytes; code space for the double version is 4.4K bytes. The FPAC and DPAC libraries are available for a one-time fee of $950 and $1,250, respectively, in absolute format. Sunset Software Engineering, 14215 N.W. Science Park Drive, Portland, Ore. 97229. 503-644-9676. <<<>>> Title : A DOS menu shell that is Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miclasse Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A DOS menu shell that is targeted at the corporate personal computer market has been announced by Lassen Software, Inc. Called Program Manager, the software allows users to assign each menu item its own Help screen and password. Menus, selections, screens and text can each display the user's choice of individual colors. The memory-resident portion of the program requires 15K bytes, and the software does not use batch files, the vendor said. Program Manager costs $39.95. Lassen Software is also offering Diskette Manager III, a Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS utility that labels and catalogs disks. The program will reportedly read directories, file names and statistical data from a disk and permit users to assign a 24-char. disk name and up to eight lines of comments. A disk label can then be printed with file names and the user-supplied information. Diskette Manager III provides three standard label formats for 5 - and 3 -in. disks, and the package contains 100 labels for each disk size. It costs $59.95. Lassen Software, P.O. Box 2319, Paradise, Calif. 95967. 800-338-2126. <<<>>> Title : An assembly language flow Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micquant Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: An assembly language flow-charting and source code analysis tool for Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS programmers has been announced by Quantum Software. Called ASMFlow, the program is said to automatically generate flow charts and call tree diagrams from Microsoft's Macro Assembler source files. Other features include stack size determination, CPU timing analysis and procedural cross-reference capabilities. The product requires DOS 2.1 or higher and 256K bytes of free random-access memory. Extended ASCII support for printers is also recommended. ASMFlow costs $99.95. Quantum Software, Suite 154, 19855 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, Calif. 95014. 408-244-6826. <<<>>> Title : A C library designed for Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micgreen Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A C library designed for advanced program developers has been announced by Greenleaf Software, Inc. Called Superfunction, the product offers access to up to 32M bytes of expanded memory using the Lotus/Intel/ Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification 4.0 interface, the vendor said. The software also allows access to high-level DOS functions such as critical error handling, and an advanced set of time and date functions is also included. The program runs on the IBM Personal Computer, XT, AT, Personal System/2 and compatible systems and requires DOS 2.0 or higher. Superfunction costs $265, which includes full documentation, demonstration programs and source code. Greenleaf Software, Suite 570, Bent Tree Tower Two, 16479 Dallas Pkwy., Dallas, Texas 75248. 214-248-2561. <<<>>> Title : Letraset USA has released Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micletra Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Letraset USA has released an enhanced version of Ready, Set, Go, its page layout software program for Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh systems. Version 4.5 reportedly includes fractional point sizes down to one hundredth of a point, user-controllable kerning and tracking. Letterspacing precise to the one-thousandth of an em space has also been added, the vendor said. Customers who purchased Version 4.0 before July 5 will receive the upgrade free of charge. Other 4.0 users will be charged $49.95, and owners of versions prior to 4.0 may order the upgrade for $85. The company has also announced an upgrade to its Imagestudio package. Version 1.5 of the image enhancement software is said to include a virtual-memory management system that lets the user maximize available memory for individual system configurations. Settings may be saved as the default. The software also supports gray-scale editing of 256 gray-level files at resolutions ranging from 10 to 2,000 dot/in. Version 1.5 will be available free of charge to registered users and will retail for $495. Letraset, 40 Eisenhower Drive, Paramus, N.J. 07653. 201-845-6100. <<<>>> Title : Kurta Corp. has introduce Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mickurta Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Kurta Corp. has introduced intelligent graphics tablets that were designed for use with Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh II and Macintosh SE computers. Called the IS/ADB input systems, the three programmable tablets reportedly enable Macintosh users to move screen cursors and draw, sketch and trace more accurately than is possible with a mouse. The tablets can also execute user-pro- grammed command sequences, and the units plug directly into the Apple Desktop bus. The three available sizes are an 8 - by 11-in. model that costs $395, a 12- by 12-in. model priced at $595 and the 12- by 17-in. version, which costs $965. Kurta, P.O. Box 60250, Phoenix, Ariz. 85082. 602-276-5533. <<<>>> Title : Avalon Development Group Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micavalo Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Avalon Development Group in Cambridge, Mass., has announced color photo-design software that runs on the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh II. Called Photomac, the product was reportedly developed to bring color image processing and separations to in-house graphics design and publishing groups. The software allows users to manipulate, retouch and correct color images, the vendor said, as well as print color proofs and generate four-color separations for printing. Images can also be combined with text in page-layout software. Photomac costs $695 and is scheduled to be available in November. The product will be distributed through Data Translation, Inc., 100 Locke Drive, Marlboro, Mass. 01752. 508-481-3700. <<<>>> Title : A 3 -in. form-factor hard Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micdolph Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A 3 -in. form-factor hard-disk storage subsystem for the Macintosh II has been announced by Dolphin Systems Technology. Called the AM80-III, the product fits into the position allotted for a second floppy drive in the Macintosh II. The disk has a formatted capacity of 80M bytes and an average access time of 19 msec, the vendor said. The product combines with the 40M-byte hard disk that is standard on the Macintosh II to raise total available disk storage to 120M bytes. The AM80-III costs $1,995. All necessary mounting hardware is included. Dolphin, 603-B E. Alton Ave., Santa Ana, Calif. 92705. 714-546-6938. <<<>>> Title : AST Research, Inc. has un Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micast2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: AST Research, Inc. has unveiled an 8-, 16- or 24-bit color image capture card for Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh II computers. Called Nuview, the card will digitize and manipulate real-world, real-time images from any national television standard code or red-green-blue source, such as a video camera or video cassette recorder, according to the vendor. The single-slot enhancement board captures 8-, 16- and 24-bit color and black-and-white images from the external video source and displays the images at a resolution of up to 640 by 480 pixels via any Apple-compatible video display card, the company said. Other features include panning, zooming, clipping and masking, and the product is supplied with AST's Review image processing software for providing image analysis and enhancement. Nuview costs $2,099, which includes Review and a two-year warranty. AST Research, 2121 Alton Ave., Irvine, Calif. 92714. 714-863-9991. <<<>>> Title : A software tool that allo Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsolut Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A software tool that allows developers to port code from DOS to OS/2 and back again has been announced by Solution Systems. Called the C-Worthy Interface Library for OS/2, the package is said to be compatible with Microsoft Corp.'s Microsoft C Version 5.1. The system will create and manage an entire user interface including on-line Help, errors, screen display and data input, the vendor said. Source code is available for both the DOS and OS/2 versions. C-Worthy Interface Library for OS/2 costs from $195. Solution Systems, Suite 410, 541 Main St., S. Weymouth, Mass. 800-821-2492. <<<>>> Title : Cadkey, Inc. has recently Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miccadke Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Cadkey, Inc. has recently enhanced its computer-aided design and drafting package, Cadkey 3. Several new features have been incorporated into the system, including construction planes, an on-line text editor and a full three-dimensional box mode that allows the user to surround 3-D data with a ``rubber box'' and translate these objects to a new X, Y and Z position. Graphics card support has been extended to include a wider variety of vendors, and the entity list that makes up Cadkey's basic construction methods now includes conics. The latest version of Cadkey 3 costs $3,195. Cadkey, 27 Hartford Tnpk., Vernon, Conn. 06066. 203-647-0220. <<<>>> Title : Cadware has introduced so Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miccadwa Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Cadware has introduced software that enables users to structure their own computer-aided software engineering (CASE) environments. Called Sylva Foundry MS-DOS, the product is an IBM Personal Computer-based workbench that contains tools for technique creation, technique modification and an open-architecture interface for other tools, the company said. The product automates the creation of modeling objects and the local and global rules that govern them. A diagram editor provides rule-based drawing capability through an intuitive interface. Sylva Foundry MS-DOS is priced at $8,500. Cadware, 869 Whalley Ave., New Haven, Conn. 06515. 800-223-9273. <<<>>> Title : Phar Lap Software, Inc. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micpharl Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Phar Lap Software, Inc. has updated its software development tool kit for Intel Corp. 80386-based systems. Version 2.0 of 386/ ASM/Link reportedly includes an 80386 assembler, linker and debugger. The product is designed to be used with 386/DOS-Extender, a proprietary protected-mode runtime system, according to Phar Lap. Additional features include the ability to call real-mode functions such as graphics libraries from protected mode. The vendor claims that the linker facility in Version 2.0 is 30% faster than the previous release. The update cost for Version 2.0 of 386/ASM/Link will be $125. The retail price for 386/ ASM/Link is $495. Phar Lap Software, 60 Aberdeen Ave., Cambridge, Mass. 02138. 617-661-1510. <<<>>> Title : A language tool kit that Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micabrax Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A language tool kit that allows SQL from Ashton-Tate Corp. Dbase III/Plus languages to be embedded in software application products is now offered by Abraxas Software, Inc. The kit reportedly runs in conjunction with the company's PCYACC and MACYACC, which generate source code for query languages for Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh and IBM Personal Computer software. PCYACC generates ANSI C source code for Microsoft Corp., Borland International and Lattice Software, Inc. compilers; MACYACC for Think Technologies' Lightspeed and Manx Software Systems, Inc. Aztec C compilers. Both retail for $395. Abraxas Software, 7033 S.W. Macadam Ave., Portland, Ore. 97219. 503-244-5253. <<<>>> Title : Priam Corp. is now shippi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micpriam Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Priam Corp. is now shipping 5 -in. optical write once read many storage systems designed for IBM Personal Computer ATs and compatible Intel Corp. 80286- and 80386-based PCs. The IW115 and the EW115 are internal and external units, respectively, and offer a reported 115M bytes of storage per side. The optical storage kits are especially suited to legal, medical and financial environments. According to the company, applications include storage of files and contracts, patient records, x-rays, credit histories, signature files and photographic images. Both internal and external versions are available with a controller. The IW115 costs $2,695, and the EW115 is available for $2,945. Priam Corp., 20 W. Montague Expwy., San Jose, Calif. 95134. 408-434-9300. <<<>>> Title : Flexstar Corp., a periphe Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micflexs Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Flexstar Corp., a peripheral test systems maker, has released Version 4.0 configuration software for its FS540 Plus Advanced Disk Drive Simulator. The FS540 is a stand-alone unit that can be controlled by an IBM Personal Computer, XT, AT or equivalent host microcomputer for test, correlation and characterization of disk drive and controller products. Features include the ability to view raw track buffer data and write splice detection. Version 4.0 costs $995. Flexstar, 606 Valley Way, Milpitas, Calif. 95035. 408-946-1445. <<<>>> Title : Microscience Internationa Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micmic Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Microscience International Corp. has entered the 3 -in. Winchester disk drive market with the 4050 through 7100 series of drives, designed for total system performance, the company said. The units are aimed at users and manufacturers of IBM Personal Computer ATs and Intel Corp. 80286-based AT clones, 80386-based machines and IBM Personal System/2s. The drives have a reported average access time of less than 18 msec, a track-to-track speed of 4 msec with zero latency read and data transfer rates up to 10M bit/sec. The products offer formatted capacities of 44M to 110M bytes. Prices range from $475 to $825 in OEM quantities and cost $625 to $1,295 retail. The units are scheduled to be available in the third quarter. Microscience International, 305 N. Mathilda Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif. 94086. 408-730-5965. <<<>>> Title : AT&T has added three line Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micatt Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: AT&T has added three line printers to its existing product offerings. All three work with a variety of computers and peripherals including AT&T's 3B line, the 6500 Multifunction Communication System, the 4540 and E4540 systems and the Workgroup System. The printers also work in conjunction with AT&T's System 75 and System 85 public branch exchanges and AT&T central office switches linked to 3B computers. The 442 Line Printer is a pedestal model that reportedly operates at a sound level of less than 68 db. The 444 Line Printer can be field-upgraded from a maximum speed of 400 to 650 line/min. Both the 444 and 446 printers come with acoustics cabinets said to maintain sound levels of 55 db. Standard features on all three models include fully formed character band printing, six-part print form capabilities, 16-digit LCD displays and bidirectional paper motion. The printers cost from $7,225 to $13,990, depending on printer and options selected. AT&T Data Systems Group, 1 Speedwell Ave., Morristown, N.J. 07960. 800-247-1212. <<<>>> Title : Wyse Technology has annou Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micwyse Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Wyse Technology has announced a series of monitors designed to be compatible with IBM's Personal System/2 Video Graphics Array (VGA) standard. The WY-550 monochrome monitor has a 14-in. diagonal display and a choice of paper-white or amber phosphor. The WY-650 color monitor is reported to be a fully IBM-compatible 12-in. display with 0.28mm-dot pitch and can simultaneously display up to 256 colors. It has a text switch to provide a monochrome mode for focused character resolution. Both monitors feature a horizontal scan frequency of 31.5 kHz, a vertical scan frequency of 50, 60 or 70Hz and a 640- by 480-pixel resolution. When combined with the WY-450 VGA adapter card, the displays reportedly offer full compatibility with IBM Personal Computers and Personal System/2 machines. The WY-550 costs $249; the WY-650 costs $629. Wyse Technology, 3571 N. First St., San Jose, Calif. 95134. 408-433-1000. <<<>>> Title : Toshiba America, Inc.'s I Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mictoshi Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Toshiba America, Inc.'s Information Systems Division has expanded its line of printer products with a 24-pin color printer, the P321SLC, and a color upgrade option for its P351SX 24-pin printer. The P321SLC reportedly prints seven colors and was designed for use in small to medium-size businesses or as a departmental unit. The product includes built-in paper-handling accessories and is said to print at 216 char./sec. in high-speed draft mode and 72 char./sec. in letter-quality mode. The printer costs $949. The P351SX's wide-carriage unit reportedly features 360 by 360 dot/in. graphics capability. The device prints at 360 char./sec. in high-speed draft mode and offers 120 char./sec. in letter-quality format. The upgrade kit enables users to install seven-color capability. The P321SLC costs $1,599, and the upgrade kit is available for $239. Toshiba America Information Systems Division, 9740 Irvine Blvd., Irvine, Calif. 92718. 714-583-3000. <<<>>> Title : Personal Computer Product Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micpcpi Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Personal Computer Products, Inc. has added three laser printers to its existing Laserimage series and has also announced a page description language for desktop publishing applications. The Laserimage 1000-IS, 2000-IS and 3000-IS are 6, 8 and 15 page/ min. printers, respectively. The 1000-IS is priced at $4,695. Designed for a workstation and office environment, the 2000-IS carries a retail price of $4,695, and the 3000-IS is said to be suited for the printing needs of large computer systems, high-volume workstations and corporate networks. It costs $7,695. All three printers can be used with the Imagescript cartridge. Imagescript was specifically designed for users of the Laserimage series of laser printers. The product is an emulation of Adobe Systems, Inc. Postscript and reportedly enables users to create scale fonts, rotate text and graphics and command other printing functions. The Imagescript cartridge costs $995. Personal Computer Products, 11590 W. Bernardo Court, San Diego, Calif. 619-485-8411. <<<>>> Title : Epson America, Inc. has e Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micepson Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Epson America, Inc. has extended its dot matrix printer line with the addition of several products. The company's announcements include the DFX-5000, a 9-pin serial dot matrix printer with dual paper paths designed to accommodate a variety of applications. The product incorporates a paper sensor that will automatically adjust the printer head to accommodate different thicknesses of multipart forms, the vendor said. The wide-carriage printer costs $2,199. The LQ-950 is a 24-pin, letter-quality model designed with multiple paper-handling control functions and enhanced desktop presentation capabilities. Output is delivered in a 110-col format, and print speeds are said to be 264 char./sec. in draft mode and 88 char./sec. in letter-quality mode. The unit is available for $949. The LQ-2550 24-pin printer is reportedly equipped with a front control panel that allows users to access several built-in functions, including draft and letter-quality print speeds, seven resident letter-quality fonts, 360 by 360 dot/in. resolution and color printing capabilities. Print speeds are reportedly 400 char./sec. in draft mode and 133 char./ sec. in letter-quality mode. The product costs $1,499. Epson America, 2780 Lomita Blvd., Torrance, Calif. 90505. 800-922-8911. <<<>>> Title : Microtouch Systems, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micmicro Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Microtouch Systems, Inc. has started shipping its ADB Mac 'n Touch Screen for Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh SE and Mac II computers. The SE kit now costs $695, a reported 45% reduction over a similarly configured serial version that was previously offered by the company. The touch screen is compatible with the Apple Desktop Bus and works with Hypercard and all Macintosh software, the vendor said. The product comes with driver software, a controller card and a 9-in. glass sensor for the Macintosh SE. A range of sensors is also available for the Mac II, including a 14-in. diagonal screen for the Apple Color High Resolution red-green-blue monitor and a 19-in. display for other large screens. Microtouch Systems, Ten State St., Woburn, Mass. 01801. 617-935-0080. <<<>>> Title : Supermac Technology Co., Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsuper Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Supermac Technology Co., a division of Scientific Micro Systems, Inc., is now shipping a plug-in accelerator for the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh SE. Called Speedcard, the product reportedly doubles the speed of the Macintosh SE via a 16-MHz Motorola, Inc. 68000 processor and a 16K-byte hardware random-access memory cache mounted on a plug-in card. An optional 16-MHz 68881 math processor is also available, and an on-board expansion port is provided for attaching Mac SE cards internally. The Speedcard costs $399. Supermac Technology, 295 N. Bernardo Ave., Mountain View, Calif. 94043. 415-962-2490. <<<>>> Title : Three data-acquisition in Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micnatio Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Three data-acquisition interfaces for the IBM Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Personal System/2 series are now available from National Instruments Corp. The MC-MIO-16, MC-DIO-24 and MC-DIO-32F MCA interface boards reportedly offer analog-to-digital conversion, timing I/O and digital I/O. The plug-in boards are compatible with the PS/2 Models 50, 60 and 80. The MC-MIO-16 comes in three speed configurations. The digital I/O boards, the MC-DIO-24 and the MC-DIO-32F, can be used with the PS/2 as controllers in laboratory and production testing and industrial process monitoring and control. The interfaces cost from $245 to $1,195, depending on configuration. National Instruments, 12109 Technology Blvd., Austin, Texas 78727-6204. 800-4333-488 (Texas); 800-531-4742 (outside Texas). <<<>>> Title : PC graphics flourishing Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: graphic Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: The personal computer graphics market has been heating up with a rash of new products from leading vendors, including Lotus Development Corp., Micrografx, Inc. and Adobe Systems, Inc. Lotus has kicked off the charge with Freelance Plus 3.0, an enhanced version of its popular graphics program. The $495 package, which includes both charting and drawing, adds the Portfolio feature for creating presentations. Portfolio leads users through the tedious process of developing presentations and has the ability to create black-and-white handouts. Freelance supports scanned images and a wider range of file types and reportedly provides greater ease of use. It is slated to ship in December. Micrografx has announced two versions of its Microsoft Corp. Windows-based software. The $395 Draw Plus, a free-form graphics program, now includes context-sensitive help, can import bit-map images and can connect and fill irregular objects. Draw Plus uses Windows' full complement of icons and pull-down menus. Adobe, broadly known for the Postscript page-description language, has ported its illustration package from Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh to the IBM Personal Computer. Adobe Illustrator, Windows Version, will butt heads with Micrografx's Designer, an illustration package with drafting and technical illustration capabilities. The $695 Adobe Illustrator requires a full megabyte of random-access memory, a hard disk drive and high-resolution graphics. In return, users gain the ability to do freehand drawing, copy and paste, zoom and output their work to a Postscript or compatible printer. By Douglas Barney, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Dest scanner picks up on Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: dest Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ End users who frequently enter large volumes of text into page-layout programs know how time-consuming and sometimes difficult a task it can be. Dest Corp.'s Workless Station II, a high-end multifunction scanner, promises to make the job easier. The Workless Station II offers a combination of connectivity options, applications interfaces and sophisticated text-recognition and image-input capabilities, according to the company. The device reads a variety of text output from phototypesetters, typewriters and dot-matrix, daisywheel and laser printers, Dest said. It also features a range of customer interface options for dedicated word processors, personal computers, minicomputers and phototypesetters. The Workless Station features image-scanning resolution of 300 dot/in. and 8-bit gray-scale input of 256 levels of image data, according to Dest. Three optical-character recognition techniques work together to enable the system to read a broad array of type styles with considerable accuracy and speed. Type sizes from eight to 18 points printed in plain and bold formats can be read at a speed of approximately 60 char./ sec., the company said. The Workless Station II, which is available now, has a suggested selling price of $9,795. <<<>>> Title : Timeline net has users ga Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: timeline Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: CUPERTINO, Calif. _ The 140,000 users of Symantec Corp.'s Timeline can now share their data _ at least, small groups of them can _ thanks to a network version of the project management system. ``The new version allows Timeline to run from a file server. Multiple users can view a Timeline schedule, but only one can edit the schedule,'' explained Rod Turner, vice-president of Symantec. In addition to providing multiuser access to schedules, the package can save an organization's overall use of hard-disk space and save money, to boot, according to the manufacturer. The software reportedly runs on IBM Personal Computers and compatibles and on all networks compatible with Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS 3.1. For a single copy, Timeline carries a price tag of $595. Each additional node is priced at $195. As with most packages, these prices are subject to the standard discounts, and they should end up costing users considerably less. The product is currently available. <<<>>> Title : Traders view colorful wor Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: quotron Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Stockbrokers who stare at dull, character-oriented terminals may soon see a brighter future. Quotron Systems, Inc., a leader in stock price information, has a new system that operates under Microsoft Corp.'s Windows, allowing traders to monitor real-time stock quotes and chart them simultaneously. Unlike the staid screen that traders are used to, this system uses full-color icons and pull-down menus. Many other trading organizations, including Reuters Ltd., have moved to the Windows environment because it provides ease of use, multiple windows and Microsoft's Dynamic Data Exchange, which is handy for feeding personal computers real-time data. The initial market for the product is small, with sales going largely to Quotron sites with PCs, company officials admitted. The market, however, is expected to grow as more traders move up to high-end PCs capable of running Windows. Quotron will market three separate Windows packages, including Quotdata for real-time stock data, Quotchart for analyzing and charting and Quotterm for terminal emulation. Quotron will also bundle the systems with Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet for data analysis. The Excel bundling deal would not prevent Quotron from reaching a similar deal with spreadsheet leader Lotus Development Corp., but Quotron is still waiting for a version of 1-2-3 that can work effectively with real-time stock data. Prices begin at $500, and the products are available now. An IBM or compatible PC with 640K bytes of random-access memory, a hard disk, a serial port and IBM's Enhanced Graphics Adapter are required. Users must also subscribe to the Quotron 1000 stock price service. <<<>>> Title : ISDN star of the day Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: kcisdn Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: SAN DIEGO _ Once confined within the walls of technical panels of past Tele-Communications Association (TCA) shows, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) bounded out of the closet in full force for the first time at last month's conference, with support from key suppliers such as IBM, Northern Telecom, Inc. and Intel Corp. As expected, IBM, for the first time, dipped its toes in the tepid ISDN waters and demonstrated its 7820 ISDN terminal adapter, which the vendor had announced the previous week. Nashville-based Northern Telecom unleashed a series of ISDN products. The company said that Wats Marketing of America, Inc. in Omaha is using its ISDN Primary Rate Interface (PRI) on its Meridian SL-1 private branch exchange (PBX) for customer service applications. Wats America is a telemarketing group that handles approximately 10,000 calls per hour. With ISDN, the company expects to cut phone costs and speed up customer services. The company also announced a T1 multiplexer family, the Meridian Bandwidth Controllers, which will give the Meridian SL-1 PBX T1 capabilities. The multiplexers will also be compatible with the PRI on the switch. Agreement reached Intel Corp. announced an agreement to implement Northern Telecom's T-Link rate adaption protocol on a chip for use in ISDN products. T-link reportedly will provide users with 64K bit/sec. transmission over ISDN networks and provide ISDN access for non-ISDN devices transmitting at 56K bit/sec. The chip reportedly lowers the cost of high-speed networking devices. Despite the recent rise in vendor support of ISDN, the telecommunications standard should account for only a limited percentage of Fortune 1,000 trunk lines during the next five years, according to Forrester Research, Inc. PRI lines will account for only 5% of trunks, because users will be unwilling to give up their private T1 networks, the Cambridge, Mass., market research firm predicted. While local carriers will use discounted rates to stimulate an initial market demand for Basic Rate Interface (BRI) lines, such connections will represent less than 8% of total user connections in Fortune 1,000 firms by 1993, Forrester said. Still, TCA exhibitors seemed to be expecting a hot ISDN market. Progressive Computing, Inc. in Oak Brook, Ill., unveiled an ISDN Tel-Adapter, a personal computer terminal adapter. It lets desktop users integrate phone systems into the PC to use it for speed dialing, call transfer and automatic redial. Files can also be transferred to other ISDN users. The company also introduced a PC-based ISDN protocol analyzer called Tel-Scope, which reportedly troubleshoots and analyzes ISDN networks that support the BRI connection. Troubleshooter A similar product was announced by Tekelec, based in Calabasas, Calif. Its portable ISDN protocol tester, the Chameleon 20-I, is said to monitor both BRI and PRI channels. The device is intended for use by field service personnel responsible for network troubleshooting. Also at the TCA, Teleos Communications, Inc. in Eatontown, N.J., announced that its B10PC ISDN Communications Coprocessor now allows a wide variety of hosts and workstations to communicate over the BRI ISDN link, using Crosstalk Mk.4 software. Developed by Digital Communications Associates, Inc., a subsidiary of Crosstalk Communications Co., Mk.4 is said to support file transfer and emulation of more than 20 terminals. Finally, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., introduced a software development kit for ISDN terminal equipment designers, claiming it can save man-years of research effort and help developers bring products to market six to 12 months earlier than otherwise possible. The turnkey package reportedly offers a complete ISDN system through layer three of the Open Systems Interconnect model for terminals. It complies with AT&T's BRI specification. By Kathy Chin Leong, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Novell cleans house at Ne Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: networld Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: DALLAS _ The biggest Networld ever held produced a bumper crop of product announcements under the sweltering Dallas sun _ and not all related to Novell, Inc.'s Netware network software. Despite the heat, attendance at the third annual Netware extravaganza peaked at 15,000, with some 200 exhibitors. Novell's one major announcement _ a strategic distribution and technology transfer agreement with Ashton-Tate Corp. [CW, Oct. 3] _ was canceled, but a number of minor housekeeping items were detailed: Shipments have begun of the previously announced Netware Requestor for OS/2, which enables OS/2 workstations to run on Novell networks and is compatible with OS/2 Extended Edition 1.0, and Netware for VMS, which allows Netware networks to share data, print services and applications with Digital Equipment Corp. VAX computers. The Novell Software Group was unveiled, composed of three divisions: Netware Products (NPD), Communications Products (CPD) and Development Products (DPD). Headed up by Executive Vice-President Craig Burton, the group includes: Mark Caulkins, marketing vice-president; and Nancy Woodward, Richard King and Darrell Miller as vice-presidents and general managers, respectively, of DPD, NPD and CPD. Six services debuted under the Novell Independent Manufacturer Support Program: independent product testing, hardware design consultation, hardware manufacturing engineering support, interoperability certification, technical training, education and support and marketing programs. An enhanced version of Novell's Technical Information Database, which is an on-line source for product and technical information on Netware that the vendor is offering as an option for the Netware Pro service and training kit. The launch of the Netware Technical Journal, a quarterly publication to be written for developers of Netware-compatible applications. A year's subscription is $60, and a two-year subscription costs $90. Third-party vendors exhibiting at the show made up the bulk of the announcements. Proteon, Inc. in Westboro, Mass., demonstrated an IBM Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) interface for its Pronet-4 and a Pronet-10 fiber-optics system. The P1840 MCA interface supports IBM's Programmable Option Select software. It reportedly allows users to combine the IBM Personal System/2's high-capacity memory and graphics with Pronet's 4M bit/sec. throughput for high-speed bulk data transactions, graphic image transfers and software development. It costs $830. Fault tolerance is a key attribute of fiber-optic support for the Pronet-10. The product family includes the P2617 Fiber Center, which supports eight fiber nodes and can be linked to a Pronet-10 ring; the P1307 IBM Personal Computer Fiber Interface adapter, which plugs into IBM PCs or compatibles to allow direct connection of fiber cable; and the P3000 Series Fiber Links, which enables integration of fiber cable into existing networks, the vendor claimed. Pricing is $3,700, $1,200 and $1,450, respectively. Gateway Communications, Inc. in Irvine, Calif., announced Advanced Netware and SFT Netware V2.12 support on all its wide-area networking products at no additional cost. Microserve, Inc. unveiled a product family said to allow Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh to run Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS applications under Netware. Novell's Netware V2.15 will link only Macintoshes running Mac applications, according to Microserve. Macnode reportedly enables users to print to network or local printers, multitask under Apple's Multifinder, transfer files and update a PC window while running in background mode. Crystal Point, Inc. in Kirkland, Wash., introduced Yak, which it claimed is the first multiuser bulletin board for local-area networks. Yak runs on a dedicated server and reportedly allows as many as 16 users to simultaneously read or enter both public and private messages. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Wang jumps into open syst Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: wangisdn Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: LOWELL, Mass. _ Wang Laboratories, Inc. dove headfirst into the open systems pool last month, creating wave upon wave of industry-standard product plans and strategic support. Among the announcements detailed were the following: Plans to support Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), including the integration of voice with other forms of information across global networks. IBM communications products that are said to permit mainframe resources and applications to access Wang VS resources utilizing IBM Advanced Program-to- Program Communications (APPC) protocols. Interoffix, a gateway developed by Boston Software Works, Inc. that links VS Office electronic mail to Unix-based systems. An agreement with The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc., giving Wang the right to market SCO Xenix System V and related applications for Wang's PC 200/300 series of IBM Personal Computer AT-compatible systems. Wang's ISDN strategy is two-phased: First, it will develop digital transport offerings for the VS system and the PC 200/300 series; then, it will expand and advance the integration of voice, data, text and image. The new integration services will include low-speed telemetry, interactive voice and data and high-speed data transmission, Wang said. Trial and error According to Wang, it is currently participating in ISDN trials with the McDonald Corp. and Illinois Bell and with GTE Florida. It is testing and analyzing voice and data applications through the ISDN Basic Rate Interface. In addition, Wang unveiled APPC-based additions and enhancements to its family of VS Access communications products, which are said to allow IBM users and applications to talk to Wang VS systems. Two products were introduced: LU6.2 Applications Program Interface (API), which has license fees ranging from $1,000 to $6,000; and LU6.2 Services, which is licensed at a total price of $10,000. Programmers reportedly can write advanced distributed applications that operate transparently without multiple logons or terminal emulation. The LU6.2 API will reportedly provide both Cobol and PL/1 programming interfaces, while the LU6.2 Services is said to offer a common transport for user-developed and Wang applications using LU6.2. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : T1 net analysis, design t Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: multiman Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Make, Inc. has introduced what it claims are the first commercially available analysis and design tools for T1 networks. The first version of Netool Workbench, which reportedly can be tailored to any vendor's T1 product line, will be marketed by Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. (NET). The workbench can be used either to design a network from scratch or to test out the impact of proposed changes and reconfigurations on an existing network without actually implementing them, said NET spokeswoman Sheila Sandow. ``We and Timeplex both recently announced network design and planning services, but this allows customers to do it on their premises.'' The workbench was designed to complement existing network monitoring and troubleshooting tools offered by T1 vendors, according to Make President Stephen Howard. A set of integrated tools available for Netool Workbench includes the following: Network Graphics Tool, which provides color views of the network, including topology and performance information such as circuit routings and link loadings. Failure Analysis Tool, which can test failure conditions across single T1 trunks, links, nodes and whole regions. Topology Design Tool, which builds T1 network topologies to meet specified circuit requirements and network constraints. Tariff Access and Query Tool, which provides access to current industry transmission tariffs for use by the other tools. To save the user from having to constantly load the latest network topology and configuration specifications into the workbench, the product is said to collect this information directly from the T1 vendor's network management database, Howard said. Make also provides updated network tariff information for the product. The system is said to accurately simulate network response under a variety of conditions as well as vendor-specific devices at a fairly low level, according to Howard. The NET version is scheduled to ship in the first quarter of next year. Pricing information is not available. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : TCP/IP laggards make debu Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: interop Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ The recent Interop 88 conference has gotten a lot of ink for its emphasis on migration paths between current bridging favorite Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and the still incomplete Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) architecture. But the network show also highlighted the strategies of two significant latecomers to the TCP/IP party. After a year of promises, Apple Computer, Inc. still managed to disappoint users expecting either an off-the-shelf product or immediate availability. Instead, it announced MacTCP, a developer's tool for enabling Macintosh computers to operate and share information with other systems using the TCP/IP protocols. It is set to ship in the first quarter next year. However, Apple's TCP/IP support is a continuation of a significant effort during the last 12 months to link ``the computer for the rest of us'' to the rest of the world. MacTCP runs on any Mac over both Ethernet and Apple Localtalk-compatible cabling systems. It will be site-licensed to third parties for use in application developments such as electronic mail, virtual terminal, file transfer, database access and distributed applications. Apple said key features include the following: support for concurrent multiple TCP/IP services; co-residence with Appletalk network protocols to preserve full access to Appletalk service; the ability to acquire network addresses dynamically, reportedly enabling plug-and-TCP/IP networking; and use of the Macintosh Control Panel to simplify address configuration for network administrators. MacTCP is said to be a full implementation of the TCP/IP protocol suite. An internal-use license costs $2,500; a commercial license is an additional $2,500. Although Apple declined to say so, Ungermann-Bass, Inc., which also belatedly unveiled TCP/IP support, co-developed the Apple product. That is why, as Apple pointed out in its release, UB is the first vendor to have developed a set of commercially supported end-user applications using MacTCP. UB announced Net/One TCP-Mac _ featuring file transfer, virtual terminal and E-mail _ along with TCP/IP support for Net/One systems. The Net/One TCP product family also includes TCP-PC and Network Management Console (NMC) software. These components are said to provide universal host connectivity; terminal emulation, including the Telnet virtual terminal protocol; and high-speed file transfers over local- and wide-area networks. Users retain access to all Net/One capabilities and products, including support for data link bridges and a variety of cabling schemes. NMC is sold on a per-network basis for $5,000. TCP-PC is licensed on a per-workstation basis for personal computers and IBM Personal System/2s at $250; TCP-Mac also costs $250 per license. A longtime OSI market leader, Hewlett-Packard Co. said it will extend its HP Openview network management to also manage TCP/IP networks by 1989. Using an HP 9000, HP said it coupled software based on the emerging OSI standard, Common Management Information Services and Protocol, with its HP Arpa Services software to communicate with a central network management console managing any TCP/IP networks. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Data Switch Corp. has ext Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netdatas Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Data Switch Corp. has extended its Intellinet product line with a family of network performance measurement systems. The Intellinet 4200 series was designed to improve the price and performance managing of both large and small networks, and provide a menu-driven, personal computer console. The series can monitor an entire network in real time, down to the device level, according to the vendor. Features reportedly include diagnostic data capture, automatic configuration and user-definable databases. The software offers support for asynchronous, CCITT X.25, Synchronous Data Link Control, Comten CNS trunking and other protocols. The Model 4205 supports from 16 to 96 lines, the Model 4215 handles as many as 512 lines, and the Model 4225 was designed to accommodate large, heavy data-traffic networks. Pricing ranges from $21,000 to more than $100,000, depending on system and configuration requirements. Data Switch, One Enterprise Drive, Shelton, Conn. 06484. 203-926-1801. <<<>>> Title : Digital Equipment Corp. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netdec Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Digital Equipment Corp. has unveiled two network security products: the Digital Ethernet Security Network Controller (DESNC) and the VAX Key Distribution Center software package (VAX KDC). The DESNC controller is said to be transparent to the user and incorporate encryption and decryption techniques when sending and receiving messages on the network. According to the vendor, the VAX KDC software system is necessary to manage the controller and runs on any properly configured DEC VAX processor to provide centralized management for network security. The DESNC controller costs $6,700 per unit, and the VAX KDC software is priced at $8,400 per license. DEC, 146 Main St., Maynard, Mass. 01754. 800-344-4825. <<<>>> Title : Micro Tempus, Inc. has an Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netmicro Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Micro Tempus, Inc. has announced an enhanced version of Tempus Access, its user-to-data-link package. The software package was designed to serve as a data-extraction and job-submission facility and allow personal computer users to select, sort and extract IBM mainframe data for import to most microcomputer applications. Version 1.1 features the Tempus-Access Windows Interface, which allows Microsoft Corp. Windows applications to import mainframe data, the vendor said. An optional IBM DB2 interface is also available. Tempus Access 1.1 costs from $11,000 to $34,000, depending on system configuration. Micro Tempus, Suite 1700, 440 Dorchester Blvd. W., Montreal, Quebec H2Z 1V7, Canada. 514-397-9512. <<<>>> Title : Network Software Associat Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netnetwo Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Network Software Associates, Inc. has announced Adaptmodem V.22bis, an asynchronous/synchronous communications board for IBM and compatible Personal Computers, XTs, ATs and Personal System/2 Models 25 and 30. The product reportedly provides a single-board connectivity solution by integrating the functions of three separate communications boards. Adaptmodem V.22bis supports PC-to-PC, PC-to-mini and PC-to-mainframe communications using the CCITT V.22 standard. The device consists of a synchronous modem, an asynchronous modem and a multiprotocol Synchronous Data Link Control adapter. AdaptSNA can be used with Adaptmodem V.22bis to provide PC-to-host communications via LU6.2 and IBM's Advanced Program-to-Program Communications cooperative processing. Adaptmodem V.22bis costs $575. AdaptSNA software packages range from $295 to $795. Network Software Associates, 22982 Mill Creek, Laguna Hills, Calif. 92653. 714-768-4013. <<<>>> Title : JDS Microprocessing Assoc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netjds Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: JDS Microprocessing Associates has announced a protocol converter/communications controller offering IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) support. Called Hydra SNA, it connects directly to the mainframe and incorporates the functions of an IBM 3274 controller and an IBM 3270 protocol converter. It was designed to allow both local and remote ASCII terminals, personal computers and printers to communicate with an IBM mainframe without the benefit of a front-end processor or controller. The product reportedly provides 3270-type emulation for ASCII PCs and terminals. Hydra SNA models are available with 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56 and 64 ports. The price of a 16-port model is $12,900, and each eight-port increment on the initial purchase costs $1,000. JDS Microprocessing Associates, Suite 206, 22661 Lambert St., El Toro, Calif. 92630. 800-554-9372. <<<>>> Title : Telenetics Corp. has anno Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: nettele2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Telenetics Corp. has announced a single-port CCITT X.25 mono-packet assembler/ disassembler (PAD) for use over leased lines and an X.32 modem offering X.25 capabilities. Called Model XM1000, the stand-alone unit is said to be compatible with AT&T 212A, CCITT V.22 or V.22bis modems for dial-up or leased-line operations. The single-port X.25 PAD features error correction capabilities at 1,200 and 2,400 bit/ sec. for asynchronous terminal users communicating with a host in a private X.25 network or through a direct connection to a public packet-switched data network. The XM1000 costs $395. OEM discounts are available. Telenetics, 5109 E. La Palma, Anaheim, Calif. 92807. 714-779-2766. <<<>>> Title : A modem package for Apple Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netpract Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A modem package for Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh system has been announced by Practical Peripherals, Inc. The package includes a Practical Peripherals PM2400SA stand-alone modem, two custom cables and the Microphone communications package from Software Ventures. The PM2400SA is a 2,400, 1,200 and 300 bit/sec., Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc.-compatible modem that normally retails for $239. With the Microphone communications software and cabling set, the bundled product costs $299. A five-year factory replacement and repair warranty is included with the purchase. Practical Peripherals, 31245 La Baya Drive, Westlake Village, Calif. 91362. 818-706-0333. <<<>>> Title : An eight-port, asynchrono Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netexcel Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: An eight-port, asynchronous multiplexer is now available from Excelan, Inc. The Export 2000 Communications Server reportedly connects RS-232 devices to Ethernet via Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. According to the vendor, the product can receive its operating software from a variety of host computers; the software can come from DOS-, Digital Equipment Corp. VMS-, MicroVMS- and Sun Microsystems, Inc. SunOS-based systems. Interacting with the host units, the product can perform various network management tasks, including booting and configuring other servers, the vendor said. The Export 2000 costs $2,495. Volume discounts are available. Excelan, 2180 Fortune Drive, San Jose, Calif. 95131. 408-434-2300. <<<>>> Title : A full-duplex, 9.6K bit/s Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netfastc Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A full-duplex, 9.6K bit/sec. modem is now available from Fastcomm Communications Corp. Based on CCITT V.32, the FDX 9624 reportedly allows data to travel at 9.6K bit/sec. in one direction and 1,200 bit/sec. in the other direction without using echo cancellation. The unit operates over the Public Switched Telephone Network or over leased lines, the vendor said. It also uses Microcom Networking protocol Class 5 adaptive data compression. The FDX 9624 costs $899. Fastcomm Communications, 12347-E Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Va. 22091. 800-521-2496. <<<>>> Title : MIS: Don't ignore Unix Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: zakcol Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Unix provides what may be the most striking set of contrasts concerning computer systems in the 1990s. On the one hand, there are many authoritative sources claiming that Unix will emerge as the dominant standard operating system in the decade ahead. At the same time, surveys of data processing professionals in the real world continue to show Unix to be little more than an idle curiosity with a truly insignificant share of mind _ to say nothing of market share _ in corporate America. The spectacular divergence of views over Unix is merely one example of the wide diversity of opinion over where the industry is going in the years ahead. Questions What impact is Unix likely to have on corporate computing? Is it just another fascinating topic to give the trade press something to write about and consultants something to consult about? Is the whole Unix phenomenon just another example of the fact that fads are as capable of sweeping the computer industry as they are in other aspects of human life? Or is there really something more important here that information systems professionals need to take into account? What follows is merely one person's opinion: mine. Hopefully it is a reasonably well informed opinion that will prove to be an accurate signpost to the future for those who read it. Coming on strong In the first place, Unix nearly certainly will emerge as the dominant standard in operating systems for systems built on a foundation of one or more microprocessors and designed to function in a manner similar to that of traditional mainframe and minicomputer systems. Vendors building multiuser systems around one or more Motorola 68000 or Intel 8086 microprocessors or newer reduced instruction set computing-influenced chips are virtually certain to make some form of Unix the foundation of their operating system. There are three fundamental reasons that Unix provides the operating system of choice for multiuser, microprocessor-based systems. First, it is good enough. Unix provides a more than adequate operating systems foundation for a multiuser system. Second, using Unix greatly reduces the development cost and development time for such systems. Relying on Unix to provide the operating system makes it much easier and less costly to develop a multiuser microprocessor-based system and reduces the time to bring it to market. Third and perhaps most important of all, however, Unix provides a standard environment common to multiple hardware vendors. This is important because it make users less dependent on the continued support from their system vendor, thereby making it easier to decide to buy from smaller, less secure vendors who offer attractive products at low prices. Strong base Equally important, however, is that in providing a standard environment for applications software, Unix has been able to attract a large and growing base of very capable software that can run on a large variety of Unix systems from many vendors. A very broad selection of both horizontal applications and specialized vertical market business software is readily available for Unix systems. What Unix is not as likely to do, however, is to capture a large number of general business desktops. Despite the enthusiasm of the more aggressive and more successful proponents of Unix, the chances remain good that it will be the migration from DOS to OS/2, rather than a ground swell for Unix, that defines the operating system on the office desk top for the 1990s. Nevertheless, it would be a major mistake for information system professionals in business organizations to ignore Unix. The operating system is likely to provide an invaluable key to unlocking and opening the doors to the very low costs that microprocessor-based systems provide in the service of large, corporatewide, mission-critical applications. Microprocessor-based Unix systems in various forms offer far lower costs than do traditional CPUs running proprietary operating systems from individual vendors. They thereby offer some of the least expensive and most effective tools for building the type of information systems that successful organizations will be required to have in the tougher decade ahead. By William Zachmann; Zachmann is president of Canopus Research, a computer industry research firm in Duxbury, Mass. <<<>>> Title : Braced for a tough quarte Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: qthree Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: ``May you live in interesting times.'' Ancient Chinese curse Disappointing numbers, diminishing opportunities and winds of a possible price war were the recurrent themes struck last week as analysts lined up to forecast an underwhelming third quarter for the computer industry. ``This is going to be a tough quarter for everybody,'' said Dale Kutnick, an industry analyst in Redding, Conn. Customers' fiscal conservatism and a plethora of product and strategy announcements, he said, combined in the summer months to slow growth across the board. ``People have been looking for any excuse not to buy,'' noted Stephen Dube, an analyst at Shearson Lehman Hutton & Co., ``and the industry has been giving it to them.'' Buoyed by a generally robust spring quarter, companies ``ramped up for a much stronger market than we actually saw; companies front-ended projects that they now can't back out of,'' said Smith, Barney & Co. analyst Shao Wang. Big-ticket commitments in a slow market, he said, are a major factor in the generally flat or reduced sales and earnings figures that the industry can expect to be deluged with. Subexpectation earnings, in fact, have already been warned of by the likes of Apollo Computer, Inc., Control Data Corp. (which expects a quarterly loss), Tandem Computers, Inc., Data General Corp., Lotus Development Corp. and Seagate Technology (which will report a substantial quarterly loss) _ to name just a few. Both IBM and Digital Equipment Corp., Wang said, should log earnings increases _ but nothing spectacular. ``If I'm wrong,'' he added, ``I bet I'm erring on the high side.'' Computer companies in the mature, highly competitive mid-range sector are expected to take the hardest hit. ``The mid-range is going to be a disaster,'' Kutnick said. ``DEC is still lead ing the pack, but even DEC is going to have problems.'' Much of the big chill, he said, can be attributed to the big squeeze: increasingly powerful microcomputers at the low end and PC local-area networks at the high end. ``What used to be a three-tier structure at many [user sites] _ mainframes, minis and PCs _ is now a 2 -tier structure: PCs, servers and mainframes,'' Kutnick said. Unix is the word However, Kutnick said, the main word striking confusion into the heart of the mid-range market is Unix. ``Unix is growing at about 40% this year,'' he said, ``and that's coming out of somebody's hide. And the birth of the OSF earlier in the quarter has people thinking about Unix even more than before.'' In addition, Kutnick said, ``the IBM AS/400 is starting to ship. It's not the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it is a very attractive box.'' ``There are stronger areas and weaker ones in the technology market this quarter,'' said Martin Ressinger, an analyst at Duff & Phelps, Inc., ``but most of the stronger areas are weaker than they used to be. I don't know of anything that's really flying.'' The microcomputer sector, while wreaking some amount of havoc for the mini sector, is not itself booming. Mixed bag ``PC hardware is a mixed bag this quarter,'' said Peter Rogers, an analyst at Montgomery Securities in San Francisco. ``Companies with the right products _ 386-based products, which is what everyone wants _ and the right distribution are doing well. Apple and Compaq, for instance, are both actually ahead of plan.'' On the other hand, he said, AST Research, Inc. and Wyse Technology, Inc., both of which are shipping Intel Corp. 80286-based boxes, are behind _ and both have warned investors to expect fallen earnings. While the bag might be mixed, Kutnick said, the signals are clear: ``I see a price war coming in the PC market.'' And the winner? ``The user. People will try to unload boxes at any price.'' ``The [PC] software side is a mixed bag, too, but for different reasons,'' Montgomery Securities' Rogers said. Delayed introductions of vaunted new product lines, he noted, presented Lotus and Ashton-Tate with credibility hurdles. ``Late introduction of new releases is a problem; when 60% or more of your sales come from that product line, it's a big problem.'' Give me shelter Mainframes, said Duff & Phelps' Ressinger, ``are a little better shielded from the PC and workstation rush that seems to be disrupting the mini sector _and disrupting itself.'' However, he said, with the European market looming increasingly large on the balance sheets of many mainframe companies, a slowed rate of economic growth in Europe and decreasingly favorable currency comparisons, as well as a greater sensitivity to the traditional European August vacation slowdown, dampened the third-quarter outlook in the mainframe sector. Looking ahead, analysts voiced cautious optimism with regard to a fourth-quarter upturn. ``Companies have been underspending, and by year's end, some decisions will have to be made,'' Shearson's Dube said. ``Hopefully, some of this year-end budget cleaning will benefit the computer industry.'' By Nell Margolis, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Paradyne's woes not over Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: paradyne Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: LARGO, Fla. _ Paradyne Corp. has just paid a whopping $26 million in order to disentangle itself from a seven-year litigation and jettison aging and unprofitable product lines. The money is well spent, according to Paradyne President and Chief Executive Officer John Mitcham, since it frees the troubled networking company to concentrate on profitable offerings. But Mitcham's hopeful picture was belied last week when Paradyne reported a third-quarter loss and revealed that it is now in technical default on some agreements with its creditors. ``The events speak for themselves,'' said Andrew Schopick, a senior analyst at Gartner Group, Inc. subsidiary Soundview Financial Group (formerly Gartner Securities). Last week's actions were ``another clear indication that Paradyne is still in financial difficulties, with little prospect of a turnaround in its performance,'' he added. Paradyne paid $6 million to settle out of court a suit filed by Sigma Data Computing Corp., now a subsidiary of M/A-Com, Inc. Sigma sued Paradyne for loss of profit in 1981, contending that the networking company had unfairly won a major Social Security Administration contract that would otherwise have gone to Sigma. The remainder of the $26 million, which Paradyne reported as a charge for the third quarter, is the result of severance payments, operational consolidation and the need to write off inventory for ``older product groups [that use] older technologies and for which there is no longer a market,'' spokeswoman Martha Good said. As of Nov. 1, products that Paradyne will continue to support but no longer sell include packet switches, data encryption, terminal products and certain peripherals. Severance was paid to some 300 employees, or about 10% of Paradyne's work force, who were laid off in July. The company has no immediate plans for additional layoffs, Mitcham said. Employees who had been associated with the discontinued product lines will be reassigned to other areas, he added. As a result of the $26 million outlay, Paradyne violated a covenant with some of its lending institutions, which required the company's net worth not to fall below a certain level, Good said. Paradyne was not able to renegotiate its agreements with creditors by quarter's end, and, consequently, it had to report the default. `Paid its debt' ``Paradyne has met its debt payments and will continue to do so,'' Mitcham emphasized. The company is now free to focus its development and marketing efforts on ``areas where we are strong,'' including channel extension offerings, modems, T1 switches, multiplexers and other digital products as well as service offerings, Mitcham said. However, Paradyne may be revamping its product strategy years too late, according to Schopick. The company has thus far failed to develop important new products and to make a timely transition from analog-based modems and network management to up-and-coming digital-based products, Schopick added. ``The channel-based networks are the only area of business that has any continuing growth in demand, and that has a number of established competitors,'' Schopick said. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Daisy eyes Cadnetix takeo Author : Julie Pitta, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: daze1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. _ Daisy Systems Corp. has launched a hostile takeover bid for Cadnetix Corp., a Boulder, Colo., manufacturer of computer-aided design (CAD) systems. Daisy already holds 1.03 million shares of Cadnetix stock, or a 7.6% stake in the company. It is looking to gain 51% of the company through a tender offer of $8 per share. The number of shares Daisy must purchase depends on whether Cadnetix completes a proposed merger with another firm and acquires a third company before Daisy completes its purchase. Recently, Cadnetix announced its intention to merge with HHB Systems, Inc. and acquire Simeaud, Inc. If the transactions are consummated, Daisy must purchase 11.73 million shares of Cadnetix stock to gain control of the firm. If not, Daisy will need to purchase only 7.24 million shares of Cadnetix to gain a 51% stake. A Daisy spokesman said the action came out of Cadnetix' refusal to enter into negotiations. Daisy officials contacted Cadnetix management in May and June and again two weeks ago. Cadnetix officials declined to return phone calls last week. No interest ``All we've done is call Cadnetix management and ask them about a merger,'' the Daisy spokesman said. ``They have so far declined to discuss it with us. The response has continued to be, `We're not interested.' '' Daisy refused to drop merger plans because ``the marriage between the two companies is too attractive,'' the spokesman said. ``It's easy to find acquisitions that are less hostile but not as attractive.'' Cadnetix has said it will respond to the Daisy tender offer by Oct. 14. Daisy officials said they are confident that the takeover will become friendly, according to the Daisy spokesman. Cadnetix markets turnkey CAD systems for printed-circuit board layouts. These are expected to mesh well with Daisy's system-simulation products, the spokesman said. <<<>>> Title : Alpha and Doelz: Odd coup Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: doe1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: SANTA ANA, Calif. _ Alpha Microsystems, Inc.'s attempt to take over Doelz Networks, Inc. has industry analysts shaking their heads. Alpha Microsystems, which has weathered its share of financial storms because of competition from the low-end personal computer market, has somehow acquired the option to purchase the operating assets and liabilities of Doelz, a privately held Irvine, Calif.-based networking company [CW, Oct. 3]. Brad Baldwin, an analyst at Dataquest, Inc. in San Jose, Calif., said, ``There doesn't seem to be a lot to be very positive about this. If it went through, it could limit Doelz's penetration into other host markets.'' John Cain, president of Alpha, would not disclose how the company attained the option to buy or how much it is offering. Cain refused to discuss the reasons for the desired acquisition and said the companies have had no relationships in the past. Doelz, in the meantime, has declined to comment on Alpha Microsystems' latest moves. Financially strapped Doelz sells a variety of digital networking equipment typically used by banks and universities. Doelz, which now has a head count of 100, has already been through one layoff of some 50 employees and has been embroiled in a lawsuit accusing AT&T of encouraging Bank of America to break a $20 million contract with Doelz. `A good choice' In a prepared release, Alpha Microsystems said Doelz was a good takeover choice because of the company's solid manufacturing capabilities and professional technical expertise. But spectators of merger mania find the match an odd one. Rick Villars, an analyst at International Data Corp., was lukewarm about the impending deal. ``Doelz has been on the block for a month at least. They do offer an excellent alternative for companies that are migrating from analog to digital data networks,'' he said. In September 1986, Televideo Systems, Inc. had its heart set on buying Alpha Microsystems for $25.6 million. It never went through because of a management shakeup at Televideo. By Kathy Chin Leong, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Sweeping changes at Sieme Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sie1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: MUNICH, West Germany _ Siemens AG, West Germany's largest industrial group, said last week it had launched the first stage of a far-reaching reorganization in an effort to gain greater efficiency. The company announced plans in July to restructure over a two-year period in a drive to improve its international competitiveness. As the company outlined, new divisions created at its headquarters here are company planning, finance, research and development, production and logistics and personnel. More than 9,000 employees at the firm's headquarters will be affected by a massive reshuffling designed to create smaller units with increased efficiency, according to a statement released by Siemens. In April, the company began restructuring its information technology activities when it started transforming four divisions into two private communications systems units. Divisions responsible for communications terminals and peripherals are being merged into an equipment division. Telecommunications networks and security systems represented 18%, or about $6.08 billion, of total sales of $30.7 billion last year. Communications and information systems represented 19%, or about $6.14 billion. In August, Siemens reported that net profit rose 2% to $577 million for the nine-month period ending June 30. Revenue rose 6.7% to $23.7 billion during the same period, the company said. Foreign sales accounted for 50.1% of total group revenue. The company has said that it expects foreign sales to account for 60% of total group revenue by 1990. Siemens is West Germany's largest supplier of electronics, computers and telecommunications equipment. By Amiel Kornel, IDG News Service <<<>>> Title : Micron money infusion Bo Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1010week Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Micron money infusion Boise, Idaho-based semiconductor maker Micron Technology, Inc. got a pat on the back and a boost in the bank account last week when $1.5 billion British consumer electronics and microcomputing products vendor Amstrad PLC bought $75 million worth of Micron stock, which totals 9.8% of the firm. Alan Sugar, chairman of Amstrad, will become a Micron director upon the closing of the deal, pending U.S. government approval. Whir of activity at Gould Comings and goings at Gould, Inc.: James McDonald last week resigned as chairman and chief executive officer of Gould to become a board member of Gould Navcom Systems, Inc., a new company subsidiary that will be part of a voting trust, which will hold what remains of the company's defense operations after the recent acquisition by Nippon Mining Company Ltd. Replacing McDonald is Gould Vice-President of Materials and Components C. David Ferguson. In related news, Gould also announced the imminent relocation of its worldwide headquarters from Rolling Meadows, Ill., to Eastlake, Ohio, home of its Foil Division _ one of the few units not subsumed under the Nippon buyout. About 50 jobs will be eliminated in the move. Miniscribe chops 350 workers Disk drive manufacturer Miniscribe Corp. lopped 350 employees from its rolls last week ``to accommodate forecasted shifts in the company's product mix over the next six months,'' according to a company spokesman. Approximately 85% of the affected workers constituted a temporary work force that had been put together to accomplish ``short-term production requirements'' at Miniscribe's Longmont, Colo., manufacturing site. According to Miniscribe Chairman and CEO Q.T. Wiles, annual revenues of $688 million and a pretax profit of $69 million projected for 1988 are still on target. CMS enhancing self with public offering CMS Enhancements, Inc. is taking its show on the road and its company public. The Tustin, Calif.-based purveyor of memory products to the microcomputer market recently filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an offering of 1.5 million shares of common stock. <<<>>> Title : Users find less pain, mor Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: syslead1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Jerry Garbacz learned one thing working for the Pentagon that stood him in good stead when he took a job in the book publishing trade: Managing information systems does not necessarily mean that you do everything yourself. Garbacz had his hands full when he first arrived at Baker and Taylor Books, Inc., a New York-based distributor with more than 100,000 general-interest titles. At that time, the firm provided a networked book acquisition system as a value-added service for its U.S. public library clients. It was a nice touch, Garbacz says, but there was a problem: The service didn't work. ``The old system had so many problems that end users mostly ignored it,'' explains Garbacz, now executive vice-president at W.R. Grace & Co., which is Baker and Taylor Books' parent company. ``The database was difficult to access, the response time was lousy, and there was a lack of integration between the inventory database and the warehouse, so information currency was poor.'' The former U.S. Department of Defense employee changed all that when he hired American Management Systems, Inc. (AMS), an Arlington, Va., systems integrator, to handle the Baker and Taylor Books book acquisition project from planning to implementation. The AMS system now in place at Baker and Taylor Books allocates and monitors all library funds, tracks library branch spending and provides statistical data on branch book purchases. The systems integrator also provides nightly store-and-forward services, providing a telecommunications buffer between the customer and the Baker and Taylor Books computer. When Garbacz made the decision to hire AMS seven years ago, most business organizations had not even heard of systems integrators _ let alone entertained the possibility of using one. Garbacz only thought about looking outside for help because he was emerging from an environment _ the federal government _ in which employment of systems integrators has long been commonplace. Systems integrators are companies that perform the tricky task of tying diverse populations of hardware and software together into a unified package, as fixed-price contractors. What they do The types of jobs that systems integrators tackle may include the following: the creation or combination of software for data processing, the building of turnkey DP systems, data communications projects such as electronic data interchange (EDI) and the custom creation of combined voice and data networks. According to Ernest Keet and John Pendray _ whose recent book, Strategic Development for High-Technology Businesses, looks at systems integration as ``an emerging trend in the information industry'' _ the union of DP and data networking for applications like EDI and manufacturing resource planning is now the highest growth area of systems integration. This is opposed to the construction of cohesive DP systems, which is the oldest market for integrators, and the unification of voice and data, which is still emerging. Similarly, a commercial market for systems integration is just beginning to develop. The federal government has long been and still is the major consumer of systems integration services. Researchers estimate that about 30% of all federal computer buying is through systems integrators. In 1987, the federal government spent $4.62 billion through and on systems integrators, according to International Data Corp. (IDC), located in Framingham, Mass. The market research firm predicts the government will spend $11.2 billion in 1993. Already, however, there are strong indications in the air of substantial growth potential in the commercial sector. According to IDC, commercial customers spent a total of $1.6 billion on and through systems integrators for hardware, software, subcontracting fees and direct fees in 1987 and will spend $5.4 billion in 1993. Other research firms are projecting similar growth curves. The International Technology Group, headquartered in Los Altos, Calif., for example, estimates that revenue from commercial systems integration will climb to $4.5 billion by 1992, at which point the sector will account for roughly one-third of the total systems integration market. Current trends The current interest in systems integration among commercial organizations is largely a result of four trends that have been building for some time. These are the following: The increased use of open systems architectures such as Unix, which make connecting products together easier. The increased acceptance of canned solutions such as packaged software. The myriad varieties of hardware and software used in decentralized organizations. The breakup of the monopoly control over customer sites by major vendors of proprietary systems. For example, in its shop a user might have an IBM mainframe alongside non-IBM auxiliary and peripheral equipment. But the expectations and attitudes that commercial organizations are bringing to that search seem to differ significantly from those exhibited in the government sector. ``The commercial market is more interesting and fluid because of the lack of contracting procedures,'' says Jack Epstein, vice-president of the integration group at IDC. ``The tradition of turning to resources outside of the company is not there, and so the rules for doing so are not set.'' Procedurally, he says, that means commercial users are more likely than federal buyers to use a mix of resources to complete their projects, including systems integrators, consultants, subcontractors and in-house MIS staff. Vague uneasiness In part, this tendency to treat systems integrators as part of a larger mix may reflect the pronounced uneasiness that many MIS managers in commercial organizations now seem to feel regarding this type of service provider. In many cases, the decision to hire a systems integrator originates with upper management, and it is MIS that acts as the resisting element. Among the reasons that company executives are inclined to consider the use of systems integrators is the fact that they offer a means of getting a project completed quickly, without either overburdening internal resources or adding temporary personnel to the payroll. According to Epstein, top executives often like using a systems integrator because it minimizes conflict between the dual priorities of completing a special project and support for day-to-day business operations. ``Upper management hears about the MIS backlog every time they ask for a new project and are told they have to wait three years,'' Epstein says. ``They don't want to add to that backlog.'' Predictability of costs is another major advantage from the viewpoint of corporate management. The contractual statement of a fixed price for a project transfers the risk of price overruns from the corporation to the integrator, which _ at least theoretically _ has the skills in bidding and project management to complete a project within budget. While experts estimate that the price quoted by systems integrators tends to be 5% to 10% higher than an organization would pay for time, materials and consulting services, many view that markup as worthwhile insurance against the possible danger of a project skyrocketing in cost. ``The biggest advantage of dealing with a systems integrator is that you eliminate most surprises,'' Garbacz says. ``You know how much things will cost, how long it will take to implement them and how it will work.'' Taboo topic So far, however, it seems that many MIS managers are not convinced by that argument. While few feel free to speak on the record, there is clearly a feeling in some organizations that integration of systems is a job that belongs in-house. Several MIS managers contacted for this article refused to go on record for ``internal political reasons.'' In one case, an individual explained that he did not ``want to take sides on the issue of his company's MIS vs. the systems integrator.'' In the course of speaking with organizations for his own research, IDC's Epstein says he has also found some opposition to the employment of systems integrators. ``Some MIS people are concerned with being replaced, since they were formerly the integrators,'' he says. The opponents are not the majority, Epstein adds. There are many MIS managers who don't feel there is any discredit attached to the use of trained outsiders for special projects that would put additional strain on staff resources. Melanie Kurdys, manager of business information systems at Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp. in Toledo, Ohio, is one of those managers. When Owens-Corning decided it needed a systems integrator to connect 12 Hewlett-Packard Co. 3000 Series 70 minicomputers at its six plants and six customer service centers to the IBM mainframe in the headquarters in Toledo, Kurdys coordinated the project. ``We wanted one supplier who could do everything for us,'' she says. ``It was not just hardware. It was the installation, the loading of the software, the testing, the wiring and the training. And it had to be done at six remote locations.'' For Kendall McGaw Laboratories, Inc. in Irvine, Calif., the decision to use a systems integrator came down to a matter of time. ``We have a lot of in-house expertise, and we probably could have done the work ourselves,'' says Lee Rizio, Kendall McGaw's director of management science information services. ``But we had a deadline.'' Two years ago, the company, a supplier of hospital laboratory equipment, was sold to the Kendall Co. after the buyout of its parent company, American Hospital Supply Corp. This meant that Kendall McGaw had to create its own direct order system to replace the one that American Hospital Supply had provided. The system that had to be replaced connected client hospitals to the company's computer. It accepted hospital orders, routed them to the nearest warehouse and sent back information about when the order would arrive. Recreating that kind of system was especially difficult, Rizio explains, because of the large variety of input devices used by client hospitals. ``We might prefer that all the hospitals use, for example, an IBM PC,'' he says. ``But we can't dictate that. Some have a Teletype, some a terminal and some a mini. We work pretty much at the request of our customers. It's hard to have in-house skills that cover connecting so many different devices.'' Actually, McGaw (or Kendall McGaw, as it became after the sale) did not find a systems integrator able or willing to take on the whole chore. Instead, it arrived at a compromise and assigned a portion of the complex project to McDonnell Douglas Information Systems Co. Lists, lists, lists The way that came about is this: After meeting with users, Rizio drew up three lists. The first contained those components that were absolutely necessary for the new system to run successfully. The second contained those things that were important but that the company could do without if it had to. The third list contained those things that the company would like to have but that were not important. Each item on the three lists was given a point value. The list was then sent to 10 integration companies, each of which submitted proposals that included as many of the items on the lists as it could supply, along with the price. McDonnell Douglas Information Systems, a division of McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Co., came in with the highest point value, but it had excluded some of the items on the must-have list. Those items were then negotiated. McDonnell Douglas Information Systems decided to do about one-third. Kendall McGaw determined that it could delay one-third for at least the first phase of the project and that the company would take on about one-third itself. Sometimes, as in the case of Alcoa Laboratories, Inc., the choice to share out a project between staff and a systems integrator is more deliberate. Alcoa did this in 1984, when it needed to install a broadband local-area network. The project involved designing and installing the physical system as well as some software design. ``We had many of the skills needed to install the system in-house,'' says Alex Lezark, technical specialist at the company. ``We knew something about broadband design, we knew about wiring, but we just weren't confident enough to tie it all together, and we couldn't find anyone with that experience to hire.'' So the engineering and MIS departments at Alcoa got together and decided to hire TRW, Inc.'s Information Networks Division to help design the system, provide the interface devices and some software and help supervise the wiring. The project was controlled by one of the engineers at Alcoa; the relationship between TRW staff and Alcoa engineers was similar to that of skilled subordinates to supervisors. The engineer monitored the progress and guided the installation, including making the decision about when to hire contractors. Near the end of the process, Alcoa finally found and was able to hire a LAN expert, who took over supervision of the project and made some course changes. ``We had hired TRW in place of hiring a LAN expert, which we couldn't find at the time,'' Lezark says. ``Basically, TRW was replacing one employee.'' Evaluate, then choose Even if the responsibilities of systems integrators are more limited in the commercial sector than they traditionally have been in the government, the systems they are working on are so critical that deliberation is advisable in the selection process. Since systems integration is a service, choosing a vendor often means evaluating proposals rather than viewing demonstrations. The initial phase for most companies is to determine the exact requirements of the project, including the time frame, geographic considerations and resource requirements. Although there is a lot of crossover between vendors that specialize in federal projects and those that specialize in commercial accounts, some significant differences exist. Systems integrators that specialize in federal projects tend to be generic _ large companies that can supply many kinds of computing services. Martin Marietta Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp. are two prime examples. On the other hand, integrators that specialize in commercial projects may be smaller and often have limited vertical niches. There is also often a willingness on the part of the commercial systems integrator to take on smaller parts of projects. At Owens-Corning, the first step was to convene a ``joint applications development group.'' This search committee consisted of 40 people from all over the company, including customer service, production, marketing and MIS. The group hammered out the requirements of the new system. The main point was that customer service representatives must be able to immediately access accurate information about parts, including where a part is, when it can be shipped and when it will arrive at the customer site. Then came the process of proposals, evaluations and new proposals, in which vendors had an opportunity to respond with better timing or pricing. Owens-Corning eventually chose Centel Business Information Systems primarily because it was the only company that could perform all the component tasks involved in the project, including training. Kurdys says, ``Most of the vendors submitted proposals that didn't meet all our needs. Normally, the missing component was training _ and the suppliers weren't even willing to subcontract that out.'' Another issue to consider in choosing a vendor is to find one that is willing to go beyond its contractual obligations to do what is necessary to get the job done. Kurdys remembers a situation in which lightning hit a controller in a customer service center just as the network was being installed. The Centel service representative couldn't finish his work until the problem was cleared up, so he helped Kurdys determine what parts had to be replaced. Although loss of managerial control is a concern for some MIS managers in contemplating the use of integrators, Garbacz maintains that managing one is in some ways easier than managing in-house personnel, since there is no need to oversee the project on a daily basis. His main responsibility, Garbacz says, was to make sure the integrator met the requirements that had been laid down in the contract and that work was proceeding on schedule. One management challenge, Garbacz notes, is to decide which tasks to take over in-house and when is the best time to do that. This decision is a judgment call: There are no set rules for when projects can be transferred to in-house personnel. At Baker and Taylor Books, many of the maintenance responsibilities for the system were taken over by the in-house staff relatively quickly, as the company developed skills in telecommunications and database management. Later, as needs arose for ancillary products, they were created in-house. These were short-term projects and did not require an inordinate expenditure of resources, and the necessary skills to perform them were developed gradually. Garbacz points out that some tasks are best never brought in-house. For example, one of AMS' responsibilities is to accept and store transmissions from Baker and Taylor Books' customers and then forward them on batch each night to W. R. Grace. This eliminates the peaks and valleys of work that come when transmissions can be received at any time during the day or night, and Garbacz can better allocate his resources. Baker and Taylor Books has no plans to take on these telecommunications tasks. Garbacz says, ``In terms of expertise, we're way ahead of seven years ago when we started the project. But in terms of available resources, we're about in the same place. Our backlog of potential projects always exceeds our manpower. That's an ideal management situation, but it's not one that encourages taking on large-scale endeavors.'' What happened at Alcoa _ at first, a close relationship between in-house staff and the systems integrator and eventually the total transfer of responsibility to in-house personnel _ is, however, probably more typical of commercial use of systems integrators. Systems integration in the commercial sector will not replace in-house staff or become a primary way of performing projects. But as more companies find themselves looking at large-scale projects involving different kinds of hardware and requiring skills that will be needed for only one job, using integrators will be an attractive alternative. By Larry Stevens; Stevens is a free-lance writer based in Springfield, Mass. <<<>>> Title : The bad news Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: weizerbo Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Commercial systems integration is being hailed as a major new growth phenomenon in the information systems marketplace. Norman Weizer, senior consultant at Arthur D. Little, Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., tempers the optimistic rhetoric with the following six reasons why systems integration may not achieve the kind of sweep that is often projected: Sticker shock. Using systems integrators is going to be much more expensive for users than handling integration in-house. Costs could be double or triple the base hardware cost on average. Limited appeal. A lot of smaller users _ from small mainframe users down to personal computer users _ are not going to need it. The channels that already exist for people to put together an entire package will be more than adequate for a lot of customers. Learning curve. It will take some vendors a long time to understand how to do business this way. There are a lot of barriers: How do you compensate your sales force? How do you get them to work as part of the team rather than against it? How do you convince a user that you have the capabilities to do systems integration? Slow takeoff. It could take a long time for hardware and software vendors to figure out that systems integration is the business they should be in and then do something about it. Bad press. Because this is a new way of doing business, a lot of failures will occur in the beginning, and that is going to scare potential customers. Fear of the unknown. A lot of users don't want to give up that much control. They don't feel safe giving outsiders control of projects that they don't fully understand. <<<>>> Title : MIS stakes a claim in new Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: gabel1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Some corporate MIS departments are smelling gold in the systems integration business, and they are looking to stake their claim while the prospecting is good. While it is difficult to gauge the full magnitude of corporate MIS' movement toward the systems integration business, managers in systems integration, and some analysts, say the market for this kind of service is growing, with no end in sight. Definitive numbers are hard to come by. Nevertheless, the business must be expanding, as more large corporations, such as Deere & Co. and Weyerhaeuser Co., are spinning off separate subsidiaries to handle systems integration and other kinds of computer-specific chores for a profit. Whether one is engaged in systems integration or not can be a matter of definition. The function could be defined as merely recommending particular hardware to run a vendor's software, or software to run on some specific hardware. Generally speaking, however, the systems integration function involves more: It implies the capability of providing a complete solution to a customer's problem. The problem could be distributed data processing, networking, computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) or a more vertical function. More than delivery ``Systems integration is a catch-all term meaning the delivery of hardware, software and services for the solution to some user requirement,'' explains Ernest Keet, coauthor of a book that examines the systems integration function and market possibilities in detail. But systems integration is more than just delivery. The term also implies the provision of a complete computer-based solution to some customer problem _ the hardware to run the task, the requisite software and the service and support to keep the solution going. This is the function in which Keet sees MIS professionals becoming more involved. MIS departments usually start in systems integration by providing integration services for the rest of the corporation _ hiring a data communications expert, for example, or a database maven. ``Or suppose that the company needs to develop a new personnel system,'' Keet says. ``They may take a manager from a line position and turn him into the project manager for the coordination of the development effort. ``In these cases, the customer is the corporation itself,'' he explains. ``In some cases, the integration is performed by an affiliate or a partially owned subsidiary.'' This function has almost been forced on the corporation because of the need for control and standardization in the office. But the systems integration expertise that MIS professionals and others develop in the process of working for their customer, the corporation, gives them the know-how to go out and sell the organization's own systems integration services to others. Competition, expertise ``We thought there were several reasons for getting into the business,'' says John Church, director of the information services division of Weyerhaeuser Information Systems in Federal Way, Wash. ``First of all, we felt that the market was there. We also looked at our skills and thought we could compete successfully in that market. And there was a third motive: We thought that if we were in the market competitively, it would improve our own skills at the same time.'' Church's organization, which started off as an internal corporate MIS organization, provides systems integration services to clients both inside and outside the parent corporation. ``Right now,'' he says, ``we are developing a court information system for the state of Washington. While we don't sell the hardware specifically, we help the customer make the hardware decision, and we provide software, support, installation and communications.'' Church says that his organization is still providing much of the data processing for other Weyerhaeuser divisions on a competitive basis. ``Some of the divisions do their own [processing] or contract out. We have no captive market within the corporation,'' he explains. ``Our internal business is something that we have to earn.'' How one determines if there is a market to be exploited is a major question, and often people don't explain how they did it. Reading market studies is one way to examine new markets. But the MIS manager who can claim an experience similar to that of David Scott could be thought of as truly fortunate. Scott, marketing manager at Deere Tech Services in Moline, Ill., and his group were involved in systems integration for John Deere's manufacturing operations. The group participated in a number of different projects involving automated systems and robotics, for which they made purchase recommendations, installed systems and provided training. After the tech services group's work won a company prize, ``the phone started ringing,'' Scott says. ``We decided that we should explore the market opportunities and convinced the corporate fathers that they should let us spin off a separate organization.'' So Deere Tech Services was set up as a consulting and systems integration operation consisting of ``people like LAN consultants, systems integration consultants and others _ guys who can wire the controllers to the robots on the shop floor,'' Scott explains. Things must be going well, because Deere Tech was a major player at the Enterprise Networking Event, a showplace for network applications recently held in Baltimore. Scott's group systems integration contract from the U.S. Air Force for its booth required setting up some examples of CIM in that booth and networking other exhibitors' booths together. Making the move Should DP managers plan a move for their organizations into systems integration? There are several considerations. First of all, it seems that there is, indeed, gold in the systems integration hills. ``Demand for systems integration is going nowhere but up,'' author Keet says. People have already done the back-office stuff, and now they are turning to things that will change the competitive nature of their business. ``Business is so good,'' Scott points out, ``that we are having trouble allocating resources to meet the demand.'' Church adds that ``there are new places for applications that didn't exist before. As the price of the hardware and technology drop, more applications become doable.'' Also, as in other areas of the computer industry, there is a trend toward spinning off successful internal projects into the commercial marketplace. Some of these projects can produce big bucks, too. According to Church, his company is involved in projects at about the $1 million to $5 million level, but some contracts can go to hundreds of millions of dollars. But what does it take for a DP or MIS organization to become a systems integrator as well? Church offers some basic ideas. First, he says, the parent organization must persuade itself _ or be persuaded _ that such a move is one worth backing. There must also be a commitment within the organization and its parent to stay the course. ``This takes a lot of work,'' Church says. ``It's not for the fainthearted.'' Second, the organization may need to incorporate different skills from the ones it currently has available _ a communications expert, database guru or personnel specialist, for instance. It may be that in a few more years, aggressive MIS managers will have changed the systems integration landscape. According to Keet and Pendray, ``These may be the real sleepers in commercial systems integration: MIS shops run by profit-driven managers who thirst for extra-company challenges.'' By David Gabel; Gabel is a free-lance writer and a former data center manager based in Northport, N.Y. <<<>>> Title : Can manufacturers be obje Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: stevensi Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: The traditional definition of a ``systems integrator'' is an independent coordinator who stitches together elements of hardware and software from a variety of vendors to create seamless computing environments. To some degree, however, that definition has been complicated by the entry of hardware vendors into the systems integration business. A number of manufacturers, including IBM, Digital Equipment Corp., Unisys Corp. and Xerox Corp., have started up systems integration divisions. This trend has given rise to some important questions about objectivity. How objective can an integrator be that is tied to a hardware producer? Opinions may vary, but some industry observers say that _ while some bias does exist _ it does not necessarily affect the quality of the end result. The profit motive is not the only reason that vendor-owned systems integrators would tend to recommend their parents' products, says Irv Shapiro, president of ISA Consultants Ltd., a systems integration consulting firm. ``It's natural that they would know their own products best and feel most comfortable with them. And they'll probably do the best job on them,'' he points out. Besides, Shapiro adds, although there may be some pressure to use the parent company's products when possible, market considerations make incorporating a competitor's hardware attractive to a vendor. Foot in the door For example, Shapiro says, IBM and DEC are both eyeing each other's markets, and integration is a way to get a foot in the door. ``IBM's market is immense and very loyal,'' Shapiro observes. ``It's unlikely that Digital will break in unless it ties its products into IBM's. And IBM is learning that it has to say, `OK, use Digital for the things we can't do, and we'll help tie it to our hardware for you.' '' Norman Weizer, senior consultant at Arthur D. Little, Inc., agrees that most major hardware vendors are moving from a position of insisting that their products can do everything to one that takes into account the multivendor configurations of many installations. ``It is clear from recent meetings with IBM that they consider integration the wave of the future,'' Weizer says. While IBM integrators will tend to write software to IBM machines, in a competitive proposal situation, they will be compelled to consider other machines if the situation warrants it. Weizer also points out that users and even the parent company expect the integration divisions of hardware vendors to at the very least consider alternative hardware solutions. This expectation stems from the fact that the integrator is generally called in only on complex problems that require going outside the company's hardware. He says, ``By the time the systems people are brought in, the sales people already had a shot at it and couldn't come up with a solution.'' Even if integration divisions do tend to use their parent company's products whenever possible, that may not be a problem for many clients. Shared bias Companies that call on the systems integration units of hardware vendors probably expect and share a bias toward those companies' systems, says Karen Kugel, program manager of computer services at International Data Corp., a market research firm in Framingham, Mass. ``If a company is 80% IBM, it is not going to be upset if most of the hardware solutions offered by an integrator are IBM,'' she says. Kugel says that in her interviews with users, fear of bias ranks third or fourth on the list of selection considerations. The No. 1 concern is that the integrator have a superior knowledge of the hardware and application. The second concern lies in the ability to integrate the equipment that an organization already has in place _ the constant of the problem _ with the rest of the integrator's recommended solution. Close ties Bob Johnson, vice-president of sales and marketing at Unisys, admits to a bias toward Unisys products. But he adds that Unisys integrators have an advantage in that they are closely tied to the company's design and engineering divisions. ``We are closer to information about future products. And this goes the other way as well, since we can make suggestions for product changes,'' Johnson says. According to Johnson, since there are always several different methods of solving a particular problem, the issue is not which vendor's products are used but rather how well the solution chosen works in the end. Experts agree with this ``proof-is-in-the-pudding'' analysis. Most say that when considering integrators, hardware vendors should not be rejected out-of-hand. Conversely, they should also not be hired simply on the basis of their hardware connection. Don't be blind ``You can't ignore hardware vendors. But you also can't be stupid about it,'' Weizer says. ``I wouldn't trust a manufacturer blindly, just as I wouldn't trust an independent integrator blindly. You get proposals from a number of integrators and you weigh the pros and cons.'' Another safeguard, suggested by ICA Consultants' Shapiro, is to use an independent systems integrator as an auditor. If there is any concern about bias, he recommends that an organization hire a second, unallied integrator to oversee the project. ``All companies have two accounting firms: one to do the books and one to check them,'' Shapiro points out, and there is no reason why the same method cannot be used with systems integrators. <<<>>> Title : Caution: Read the fine pr Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: contract Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: When negotiating a contract in a relatively new area such as systems integration, where precedent cannot be your guide, it is important to scrutinize both wording and assumptions. Julian Millstein, a partner in the New York law firm Brown, Raysman and Millstein, recommends that organizations take the following measures before signing a contract with a systems integrator. Millstein, who concentrates in litigation, contract negotiation and other areas of law as they relate to computers, is also the editor-in-chief of The Computer Law Strategist. Research the company you're dealing with. Does the systems integrator have the manpower to do the job? Are its relationships with its suppliers sufficiently established so that it can guarantee delivery of components in a timely manner? Stipulate the exact parameters of the job. You should know from the start whether the systems integrator will be responsible for training, documentation and all the various interface requirements. If the various hardware and software can't interface, you've just bought a bunch of things that don't work together. You should also address the coordination of maintaining the various systems. If the systems integrator will not agree to handle maintenance, you may be left dealing with five different entities. Insist on specific assumption of responsibility for the ongoing compatibility of the various components. Often, as the hardware is being modified by its manufacturer, the application software and the operating system software also undergo new releases. Is the systems integrator going to stand behind and somehow ensure the various components' compatibility over time? Determine what warranties the systems integrator is willing to offer on the overall package. Is it willing to stand behind not only its own work but also that of suppliers of the various components? Don't shortchange yourself when drawing up the payment schedule. Make sure that you hold back a sufficient amount of money until you can determine that the various components work together the way you would like. Make acceptance of the parts contingent upon the performance of the whole. Specify your criteria for acceptance of the overall system and reserve the right to test or benchmark the system as a whole before committing to purchase any specific component. For example, if hardware is coming from one source and software from another, you don't want to be in the position in which you're committed to purchasing the hardware without getting a guarantee that the software will function on that hardware. Frequently, contracts aren't set out that way, and organizations discover too late that they have committed to buying a half-million dollars' worth of hardware without having had a chance to properly benchmark and stress-test the application. Ask for definitions of terms. Don't take anything for granted, because usage in the computer industry changes rapidly. <<<>>> Title : The quantum computer Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: gruen1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Quantum physics is one of the most bizarre and profound theories of the physical world ever proposed. But can any of its mysteries be put to use to build a revolutionary computer that executes instructions in zero-time? If the theory of the quantum can be successfully translated into computing circuitry, we may well see the last generation in information processing technology. Quantum theory, like Einstein's theory of relativity, is taking a while to catch on with the general populace. Relativity theory was around for only 14 years before the first hard experimental confirmation was obtained in 1919, and it was many more years before some of its counterintuitive implications became the stuff of high-school physics classes. Quantum theory, however, has been in existence for about 70 years and still has not reached the level of acceptance or understanding achieved by relativity. It suffers many of the same plagues that relativity did, but in more virulent form. Its mathematical bases are vastly more complex than those of relativity, and quantum theorists argue constantly about whether their equations even represent reality or are just convenient models. Indeed, the physical implications of the theory are so patently ridiculous that no sane person can avoid an instant rejection of them at first hearing. Where Einstein tampered with the fabric of the universe, quantum theorists attack our very notions of reality itself and leave them in tatters. In fact, to his dying day, Albert Einstein himself refused to believe some of the theory's implications, even though he laid a good deal of the foundation for its postulation. In spite of the barriers to acceptance, quantum theory has proven to be the most stunningly successful description of physical reality since Einstein demonstrated Newton's theories to be simply a special case of general relativity, at least when Newton wasn't wrong altogether. In fact, a subset of quantum theory, known as quantum electrodynamics, is now regarded as the most accurate description of subatomic interactions in all of physics: No significant discrepancies have ever been found between the predictions of quantum electrodynamics and the most precise actual measurements it is possible to make. And while quantum physics has not achieved the household status of relativity because of the difficulty of grasping its concepts and the assault on our common sense, it nevertheless stands as a pillar of intellectual achievement that has withstood every test and challenge. It is so strong that, in those cases where it is in disagreement with relativity, it is beginning to appear certain that quantum theory will prevail. Still, for quantum theory to become as famous among the general populace as relativity, a ``demonstration'' would be helpful. A computer that takes no time to execute might do the trick. How might the principles of this strange theory help build one? Bottom-line units Today, the quantum transistor in the early stages of development (see story page 108) takes advantage of several predictions of the theory such as resonance, which is what the electron waves are doing in the ``quantum well'' as they bounce back and forth and constructively interfere with one another. However, it does not exploit an even more interesting implication of the theory, namely, that quantum-state transitions occur instantaneously. What is it about quantum theory that would lead us to believe that things can happen with no passage of time? The theory is based on the assumption that, at the most fundamental level of physical existence, things are not infinitely small but in fact have a discrete bottom line. For example, the amount of electric charge carried by an electron is the smallest amount that can exist _ ignoring quarks, which likely cannot be isolated anyway and would only complicate a discussion of quantum computing. Any electric charge at a more macro level is made up of whole-number multiples of this unit electron charge. Similarly, electrons around a nucleus can only occupy discrete ``shells,'' or energy levels. While they can jump from level to level as energy is absorbed or radiated, there can be no existence between the shells. Keep in mind that quantum theory is based on the ultimate indivisibility (quantization) of everything that exists. Electrons jumping across energy levels around an atomic nucleus take on no intermediate values during the jump. Knowing this fact leads directly to an interesting question: What happens to the electron after it leaves the first level but before it gets to the next one? It would seem that quantum theory presents us with an insurmountable paradox. Clearly, electrons do make the jump, and they must have an existence between the levels, and therefore the theory must be in error. Quantum leaps But given the many decades of overwhelming evidence of the theory's correctness, there is only one solution to this paradox, however counterintuitive it might appear: The electron in question disappears from one energy level and reappears in another at the exact same instant. The amount of time that passes in the interim is zero. Not virtually, nearly or essentially zero, but actually zero. Still going on the same assumption, what we have is a switch that changes state instantaneously. And a gang of them properly coupled would constitute a set of quantum flip-flops that, with an appropriate stimulus, would all switch at the same time. And this would allow for the execution of a computer instruction _ or a billion instructions _ with no passage of time at all. This is a tad faster than gallium arsenide or even quantum transistors. Could it be built? But would it be possible to actually construct a device based on quantum transitions like those that occur at the energy level of individual electrons? At the very least, there are two major problems with such single-particle switches. The first involves trying to figure out at what state transition actually occurs. The second is how to keep every stray subatomic particle in the neighborhood from wiping out the data. In order to determine whether a state transition has occurred _ or, more conventionally, whether the bit is on or off _ a measurement must be made. And in order to make a measurement, energy must be imparted to the thing being measured, whether it is an atom, a pint of milk or a planet. Further, in order for this energy not to unduly disturb the thing being measured, the energy added must be small in relation to it. For example, if you try to weigh the milk by monitoring its inertial resistance to being hit by a cannonball, you will likely disturb the milk to the point where it will upset your results. The energy of the cannonball is large in comparison to the pint of milk being measured. Setting the milk gently on a scale ensures that the energy imparted during the measurement is relatively small. Another example is bouncing lasers off the moon to measure its distance. The laser light hitting the moon disturbs its orbit and thus changes its distance from the earth, but this is a small effect compared with the results we seek. Thus, in the macro world, measurement is generally not a problem. The problem at the quantum level, however, is that the thing being measured is, by definition, quantized and already represents the lowest possible energy. Therefore, any energy imparted must necessarily change the state and ruin the measurement. If we use a large amount of energy to do the ``read,'' we overwhelm the quantum state to such a degree that we cannot isolate the effect we were trying to measure. If we try to use a single quantum of measurement, we are left with the problem of trying to determine the new state of the measuring quantum, which is the same as our original problem, and we can cascade this back, ad infinitum, without ever getting any information out. But what if we use only a slightly larger amount of energy _ just enough to affect the quantum state, but predictably, so that we do not blank out the effect we are trying to measure? Even in many types of conventional random-access memory, the measurement (the read) does, in fact, disturb the state of the bit being measured: It reverses it. The traditional solution is to flip the bit back after every read, thus preserving the initial state. The ability to do this is based on the precisely deterministic way the conventional field effect transistor behaves, depending as it does on classical physics. But at the quantum level we are dealing with quantum reality, and that brings us to the heart of the measurement problem. According to quantum theory, what we know as pure determinism breaks down at the individual particle level. While we know a great deal about the behavior of large numbers of particles, it turns out that we know less and less as the number of particles gets smaller and smaller until, at the level of the quantum, we are left with nothing but a distribution of probabilities. Consider the following analogy: The fact that 50,000 people will die on the roads next year tells you absolutely nothing about what will happen to you the next time you get into your car. In the same way, we know with a great deal of precision the probability of an electron behaving a certain way under a certain set of initial conditions. Because of the Correspondence Principle _ which states that quantum physics reduces to classical physics as things get larger and more particles are involved _ given enough electrons to start with, there will be no doubt of the overall outcome at a macro level of a subset of the electrons. But according to well-established quantum mechanical principles, we can never predict with certainty the behavior of any one particle. This is not because we lack information about the starting conditions. Nature itself doesn't know what any particle is about to do because it is inherently unknowable. For a macro device such as a quantum transistor or a Josephson junction, this is of no consequence because relatively large numbers of electrons are involved and because we don't care which ones get through as long as some do. The price we pay for this certainty is finite switching time. For an instantaneous switch based on an individual particle, however, this is a serious problem. The very basis of its existence guarantees its unreliability. Strange invaders The second major problem in building a quantum device _ how to keep stray subatomic particles from wiping out the data _ is a little less esoteric. The trouble is that the universe is a fountain of subatomic particles. They are everywhere. And in the macro scheme of things, few of them are of much consequence. But in our quantum computer, they are a disaster. At the subatomic level, inevitable collisions guarantee random change. Shielding will not help. One of the strangest predictions of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is that pairs _ never singles _ of particles can arise spontaneously from a vacuum, travel for a short distance and then annihilate each other. There is no protection from these for our unwary single-particle switch if it happens to be in the way. It appears that building a usable switch based on single-particle state transitions is a fundamental natural impossibility. Does this mean that we are forever precluded from building a computer that relies on instantaneous quantum jumps? Not necessarily. Enter the macroatom A group of scientists in England has succeeded in creating a device that in some ways mimics a quantum particle. It is a superconducting ring that is pinched extremely tight at one point, effectively forming an ``electromagnetic resonance cavity,'' much like the quantum well. As in the quantum well, the motions are represented by standing rather than traveling waves, and only certain wavelengths _ or frequencies _ can now exist: The quantization of the wavelength results from the confinement of the wave. Even more important, the ``cylindrical symmetry'' caused by the tight constriction makes the electron wave within the ring behave like a single quantum particle. It turns out that any magnetic flux applied along the axis of the cylinder causes quantized energy-state transitions within the ring in a periodic manner. Since the wave acts as a single quantum particle, the entire transition takes place at one time everywhere in the ring, regardless of where the stimulus is applied. This would appear to be impossible, as it violates the most basic tenet of relativity _ namely, that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. However, since no one has yet successfully integrated relativity with quantum mechanics, there is no good explanation for this discrepancy just yet. Nevertheless, the experimental results speak for themselves. Terry Clark, head of cryogenic studies at the University of Sussex in England, calls this quantum simulating device a ``macroatom.'' It appears that, operating as it does at the macro level and thus exploiting the Correspondence Principle, the device is not only reliably deterministic but also allows for unambiguous detection of the state transition, thereby solving both measurement problems. It would also seem that multiple macroatoms can be coupled in such a fashion that a state change in one triggers a simultaneous change in all the others. Whether it will be disturbed by the random intrusion of stray subatomic particles is yet to be determined. Rethinking programming Assuming that it is ultimately possible to fabricate hardware that incorporates the concepts of quantum theory, we are still left with a small problem: How do we design and program a computer with a zero execution time? Is it possible, for example, to depend on the state changes of linked devices that involve no delay between the outcome of one state change and the onset of the next? It might be. There is no theoretical barrier to one quantum transition triggering a second and then a third, even though no time passes after the detection of the original stimulus. A problem does arise, however, if we try to circle back to any macroatom that has already been used for this particular ``program.'' We have made the assumption that, since macroatoms only simulate quantum transitions and do so at relatively large energy levels, the measuring process will likely not change the state in an indeterminate manner. Thus, we can probably construct a group of serially linked operations that execute in zero time. However, if we try to reuse a macroatom that we have already used in this particular zero-time operation, that macroatom will be making two (or more) state transitions at the same time. There is no way to tell which state the macroatom is in when a particular sequence needs it, since, essentially, it will be in every state at the same time. To avoid this difficulty, our quantum computer design must ensure using only ``fresh'' macroatoms for each operation. Finite but fast An inelegant but pragmatic alternative to the requirement of using fresh macroatoms is to deliberately slow the machine down by introducing a small but finite delay between state transitions. This could be done by separating the macroatoms with tiny ``repeaters'' that act like microwave transmission towers, detecting one phase transition and retransmitting it to the next macroatom. A simple conducting wire might work if the macroatoms were fabricated appropriately. This would result in a machine that was conventional with respect to execution logic. So far we have been talking about binary switching at the lowest level. It takes many switches to construct a typical computer instruction. Even if we wish to slow down the quantum computer to let us take advantage of conventional logic _ that is, with serially executed instructions _ there is no reason why each individual instruction cannot be executed in zero time. Instead of connecting individual macroatoms with repeaters, we would connect groups of macroatoms, with each group constituting an instruction. Each instruction group would be built as a row of macroatoms, and the rows would be laid side by side, separated by repeaters. Execution of a group of instructions would proceed across the rows (see diagram below). Assume that each instruction group was 0.5 millionths of a meter wide and separated from the next group by a repeater of the same width _ any smaller, and not only might we be unable to fabricate the required macroatoms but we might also risk reintroducing measurement uncertainty. This would result in 10,000 devices per linear centimeter. Since each instruction group theoretically switches in zero time, the total time to carry out a set of operations would be a function of the speed with which a signal could traverse the repeaters. At one-half the speed of light _ which is a more than reasonable propagation speed in a wire _ our quantum chip would have an effective compute power equal to 150 trillion instructions per second. A remaining problem is that this design is not easily programmable: The instructions are fixed in position and would make good read-only memory but bad random-access memory. Even if we lose a full order of magnitude in the redesign, however, we still end up with a machine that is 1 million times more powerful than IBM's fastest general-purpose computer, the 3090 Model 600S. Note, too, that each individual instruction group could be a good deal more powerful than a computer instruction of today. Functional difference Whereas reduced instruction set computing technology is based on gaining speed by simplifying the task of each instruction, the goal in the zero-time instruction would be to maximize the functionality of each instruction group, since there would be no execution time penalty whatsoever. The limit on this maximum instruction set computing machine is how much can be done without reusing any macroatoms within an instruction. When will we see one of these machines? Speculation is risky; technological barriers seem to fall within weeks after they are declared impenetrable _ witness high-temperature superconductors. Others seem to defy breakthroughs with frustrating tenacity _ like natural language processing. The possibility of a quantum computer has been reinforced by isolated developments, but it has a long way to go. Even so, one thing is likely: If sufficient theoretical groundwork is laid to persuade the commercial world that this device is possible, the race will be on at an intensity level never before seen in the computer industry. By Lee Gruenfeld; Gruenfeld, a management consulting partner in the Los Angeles office of Touche Ross & Co., specializes in strategic information systems planning. The ideas in this article are the result of his personal study of theoretical physics. <<<>>> Title : Work already under way Author : Lee Gruenfeld Source : CW Comm FileName: gruside1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: There is already work under way to try to harness quantum effects for computing applications. While not approaching the proposed quantum computer in zero-speed instructions, the quantum transistor currently in the research lab is an important step in exploiting the useful features of the subatomic world. It is fundamentally different from the conventional transistor. The invention of the conventional silicon transistor ranks as one of the truly monumental achievements of modern technology, even though it uses purely classical _ that is, nonquantum _ physics for its operation. The modern, conventional silicon transistor consists of a source of electrons on one side and a drain on the other, separated by a channel. The trick is to get the electrons to flow from the source to the drain, which they normally would not do because the channel does not conduct electricity very well. That's why it is called a ``semiconductor.'' When a third terminal, known as the gate, is placed on top of the channel and a small positive voltage applied, electrons in the channel will be attracted to the gate and will cluster underneath it. This forms a path, known as an inversion layer, along which the electrons from the source can flow to the drain. A current is now set up (see diagram above). Remove the voltage from the gate and the inversion layer collapses, breaking the path. The current stops. Thus, the application of a small voltage allows for the control of a large current and we have a very fast switch with no moving parts _ hence the term ``solid-state.'' A gallium arsenide (GaAs) transistor works a little differently. The channel allows electrons to flow freely between the source and the drain when there is no voltage on the gate. In order to stop the flow, negative voltage is applied to the gate, which repels the electrons underneath it in the channel. This destroys the path and stops the flow of electrons. There is no advantage to this technique except that the lag between the moment the gate voltage is changed and the time a change occurs in the current is much shorter than in the silicon device. Thus, the GaAs transistor is a faster switch. Both devices are referred to as field-effect transistors (FET). While they are extremely effective, there are some limits on how small they can be and still work. Texas Instruments, Inc. scientist Robert Bates has pointed out that the smaller the FET gets, the worse it switches. Bates' team is working on a solution to this problem by turning to quantum physics. Their investigations center on attempts to exploit quantum effects in order to reduce the size and increase the speed of switching devices. It is not necessary to isolate individual subatomic particles in order to do this because of the ``quantum well,'' a construct that uses energy barriers to confine electrons to a very small space. If electrons can be confined closely enough within energy levels, they start to look more like waves than particles. And if the confinement is properly tuned, the electron waves bouncing back and forth between the barriers will line up so that the peaks of the waves going one way meet peaks going the other way, and constructive interference occurs. More correctly, the probability waves of the electrons overlap and increase the chance of finding electrons at the peaks. At the proper tuning voltage (that is, the voltage that induces resonance in the well), there is a sudden and pronounced increase in what is known as tunneling current (see diagram right). At other voltages, because nothing can happen in between the well-defined quantum levels, there is no such current. These highly isolated peaks in current constitute a switch that not only is very small, but could not even exist if it were any larger. Also, because of the rapidity of the jumps between quantum levels, the switch is extremely fast, even though it is made up of groups of electrons rather than just one. The quantum well results from confinement in energy, not physical, barriers. In order to give rise to these energy barriers, the actual working core of the physical device would be about two millionths of a centimeter in all three dimensions. Even allowing for sufficiently massive surrounding substrate to permit connection of ``wiring,'' it is easy to see that this technology would permit functional chips of extraordinary density. If each device were 100 billionths of a meter square, a one-centimeter-square chip could hold 10 billion quantum transistors per layer. Known quantity The quantum well is an established technology base. Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles have used it to develop a semiconductor that is 100 times more sensitive to light than any other. The chip is to be used in the coming generation of optical computers. In it, electrons, normally free to roam inside a crystal, are trapped between very thin layers that form a quantum well. This confinement limits the energy states in which electrons can reside and renders them much more susceptible to specific frequencies of light _in this case the exact frequency of a gallium arsenide laser. Scientists at AT&T Bell Laboratories are working on a quantum well heat detector that uses the same principles. Like conventional FETs, quantum transistor-based switches would still be three-terminal devices consisting of a source, a gate and a drain. While this might somewhat simplify the logic of circuit design, the electrical features are completely different: The FET-based circuit depends on the presence or absence of any voltage to control current, while the quantum transistor depends on specific voltages to induce resonance. The quantum transistor could speed up conventional computing enormously. But by whatever order of magnitude it does that, keep in mind that the quantum computer would dwarf even this achievement. LEE GRUENFELD <<<>>> Title : Operators facing automati Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: careers1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Through the years, computers have been harnessed to automate all sorts of mechanisms, displacing jobs along the way. Recently, computers themselves have become the target of labor-saving automation as data centers have snapped up software products that take over some of the work of operators and other workers. The goal of data center automation in its extreme form is ``lights-out'' operations, analogous to robotized factories devoid of workers. While some companies eye this goal, many look to automated operations for more modest trimming of crews or improved service, or some of both. Whatever the impetus for change, the career implications bear watching. ``The impact is going to hit nearly every data center,'' says Leonard Eckhaus, president of the Association for Computer Operations Management (AFCOM) in Orange, Calif. His group plans to make the issue the subject of half of its next annual conference _ to be held in February 1989 in San Diego _ and to begin an annual gathering devoted entirely to it in September 1989. ``This is going to become an industry of its own,'' Eckhaus says. A slew of techniques and technologies have sprung up to help data centers lift some of the load from their operators and other personnel. The most common are systems that keep track of tapes and that schedule operations or control production. They are used by 80% and 62% of AFCOM members, respectively. Others that are less widely used oversee documentation, manage disk space, monitor software performance, identify and react to problems, calculate chargeback, distribute reports, answer routine inquiries at consoles and check balances in reports or files. Driving speed Data center automation is driven by cost controls but also the urge to improve the speed and quality of service. ``We have to go at machine speed; we can't go at people speed,'' says consultant Arnold Farber at Farber/ LaChance, Inc. in Richmond, Va., a firm that specializes in data center automation. Some data centers have cut positions by 50%, and some run unattended for four hours a night, Farber says. However, most workers whose functions have been taken over by automation have been given new and more challenging jobs, sometimes running newly automated systems. Those whose positions were eliminated usually have been reassigned to other data processing jobs they consider more promising. US West, Inc. began working on homegrown software to respond to console messages at its Bellevue, Wash., data center in 1984. The effort has generated service improvements worth millions of dollars a year, claims Jerry Henderson, a member of the technical staff who was project leader of the automation program. But instead of eliminating positions, the company has plowed the manpower it has freed into further efforts to improve service. ``In our view, automation is a service issue, not a cost issue,'' Henderson says. ``Once you bootstrap and get the first few things done, it provides the resources to do more.'' Computer operators who had been ``glued to consoles waiting for things to happen'' are free to update operations documentation, monitor hardware reliability, analyze problems and take classes, Henderson says. Sovran Bank, NA in Richmond, which has automated tape management, scheduling and the output of microfiche, also has redeployed operators who had largely manual jobs such as hanging tapes. They have been switched to more technically demanding positions _ some that call for programming, says Bill Grubbs, manager of output operations. Du Pont Co. is an organization that has eliminated operations jobs. This year it consolidated operation of two data centers in Newark, Del., and now runs the smaller one _ with three IBM 3090 mainframes _ remotely. The company eliminated 19 jobs, including all at the smaller center except a couple of tape-mounting positions. Some people got more challenging assignments in operations, but most went to other positions with ``a DP flavor to them,'' says Steve Shey, operations supervisor at the data centers. The jobs include programming assistant, personal computer support and DP liaison for manufacturing departments. Most of the reassigned operators prefer their new jobs, Shey says. ``Almost every job was nonshift work. That's a very valued thing.'' The displaced operators are attractive to user departments, he adds. ``The operators tend to know the structure, they have some contacts, they know what's happening in the data center when you make a call.'' Put 'em to work Farber says companies automating a data center have an interest in retaining operations workers because ``it takes the staff to automate the process.'' It would be difficult to rally them to the task if they suspected their livelihoods were at stake. There should continue to be opportunities in data center automation. At Du Pont, Shey says, ``We're going to really start cranking up our unattended operations.'' Eckhaus says that in the future, data center automation products will have to talk to each other. ``It's the only way to get to lights out,'' he says. ``Right now, no one vendor has it all.'' By David A. Ludlum, CW Staff; Ludlum is a Computerworld senior writer. <<<>>> Title : To save the day Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: edit1010 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Look _ up in the sky! It's a VAR. It's an OEM. It's a systems integrator! And as the hero and rescuer of so many federal, state and local government data processing projects starts to eyeball the potentially lucrative commercial accounts, questions from information systems management about systems integrators surface. What can they do for me? What can they do to me? This week's Executive Report, which begins on page 93, highlights the complex issues that are surfacing as private-sector information managers grapple with the systems integration phenomenon. There is no question that the number and volume of projects and entire system installations handled by systems integrators _ independent contractors hired to weave and at times maintain seamless system tapestries _ will grow rapidly during the next five years. There are many reasons for this growth, with the greatest technology spur being the movement away from closed, proprietary architectures toward open systems characterized by greater standardization. But if you want to know the real reason why systems integrators will become such a prominent part of the commercial IS landscape, consider this. The Index Group, a Cambridge, Mass.-based consultancy, recently compiled data on major in-house development projects undertaken by large U.S. firms. Of the projects undertaken, less than 1% were finished on time and within budget. On average, they came in a year late and at twice the estimated cost. Small wonder that systems integrators, often offering fixed-price contracts for system development and installation, are gathering such appeal and acclaim despite the fact that these contracts don't come cheap at all. The problem is that, in many cases, the impetus for seeking out and hiring a systems integrator is originating with upper management, not within the IS department. It is perfectly reasonable for information managers to be suspect and even fearful of systems integration. No matter what kind of job the systems integrator leaves behind, the local manager is going to be responsible for it. Thus, hiring an integrator means giving up a measure of control over key points of development. Furthermore, there are scary implications for in-house staffing if integrators prove to be the panacea many feel they can be. Cutting in-house staff and farming out an increasing share of the work load is very much in sync with the broader trend of replacing permanent workers with contract labor, reducing fixed costs. Concerns notwithstanding, IS management will have to reconcile its fears and seek to exploit systems integrators as just another tool to accomplish the key goal of the coming decade: facilitating the proliferation of information technology throughout the organization and doing so by the most cost-effective means. <<<>>> Title : A world language Author : Charlie Hauser Source : CW Comm FileName: hauslet Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Regarding Amy Wohl's article, ``Computers still silent partners in high-tech'' [CW, Aug. 8], she states that HAL 9000 and its counterparts have tainted our view of computer-generated continuous speech and language processing. She mentions several national languages as obstacles. I agree that the structures of those languages are complex. But has anyone experimented with Esperanto? The language has few rules (16, I believe), no exceptions and a consistant vocabulary. Anyone who can handle any programming language's syntax can learn Esperanto. I concede that the primary reason Esperanto is so ``clean'' is that, as of 1987, only eight million people worldwide speak it. It hasn't had time to be corrupted. But what better place to start? Charlie Hauser Jansen Dane Companies Madison, Wis. <<<>>> Title : No hard sell Author : James T. Werther Source : CW Comm FileName: wertlet Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: I read with great interest the article on Computer Associates International, Inc. [CW, Aug. 29]. While the feeling of security in dealing with a mega-company may exist, I, too, have found the sales force aggressive to the point of extreme arrogant annoyance. After visits from several employees with this attitude, we now have a more customer-oriented salesperson who actually talks with us _ not to us. Hopefully, this trend will continue. And while Charles Wang discounts ``bigness'' as a non-issue on growth, it is indeed an issue when applied to an arrogant and abusive sales force. James T. Werther Vice-President of Systems Bombardier Credit, Inc. Burlington, Vt. <<<>>> Title : Tough all over Author : Marsha J. Rogers Source : CW Comm FileName: rogerlet Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: I was struck again by the pomposity of computer programmers when I read ``Living in two worlds: A programmer's lament'' by Dan Woods [CW, July 18]. Does he think programming is the only field that uses technical jargon? My husband is a recording artist. Music is not what I would consider a technical field. But when he gets excited about a song that he has just mixed down from eight tracks to two, re-equalized, added digital reverb and delay to, compressed, limited and put in a noise-gate, what can I say but to look at him with glazed eyes and say, ``It's a pretty song''? His own mother is even worse. She will listen to his pretty three-minute song that he has worked on for a week, then announce, ``It's nice, but when are you going to get a real job?'' Marsha J. Rogers Programmer/Analyst Indianapolis <<<>>> Title : Seeking secrets of SIS su Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: walter1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: A full-blown, useful strategic information system (SIS) has yet to make an appearance on the open market. It will take an invention or considerable innovation to produce it, because the proper approach is not obvious. Computerworld columnist Efrem Mallach has suggested that a successful SIS might be achieved by a process of ``working backward to strategic systems'' _ not bad thinking. However, this process would produce a flock of different system approaches. Each resulting SIS would be uniquely designed to satisfy the sponsoring company's needs, reflecting its own solution rather than a common or generally workable system. The typical approach to designing any such system is to provide information to the decision maker in the organization according to his special responsibility _ finance, accounting, engineering, marketing, sales. The system is then intended to be used exclusively by that part of the organization. Thus far, these computerized information systems tend to serve a useful purpose at the operating level of the organization, but they do little, if anything, toward serving the needs of middle and top management. What is needed first and foremost in inventing a useful SIS is to design a suitable information system framework: a common, formal way to collect, distill, organize, process, control and disseminate whatever information a system contains, no matter how or why it's collected or where it comes from. To achieve this first goal, the useful SIS should not be aimed at the decision maker, but rather should match the overall organization's decision process. In its most general form, the decision process consists of four steps: evaluating the impact of change, including defining alternatives; deciding among alternatives; planning; and implementing, including result tracking _ a closed-loop process. Operating within such a framework might be described as a``management by decision'' process. The key to determining what that framework should be is found in examining why an SIS is needed in the first place. Three issues come to mind: the acceleration of change; the information explosion; and the need for all levels of management of an organization to manage, rather than merely cope with issues. Being able to do nothing more than cope with change and the information explosion means to be forever in a reactive mode, always at the mercy of the waves and tides of world events. Getting on top of the situation means having the wherewithal to influence those winds and tides so that your competition does the reacting, not you. Attempts have been made to develop a useful SIS by integrating or otherwise interrelating individual MIS packages in various combinations (sales, marketing, manufacturing, engineering, finance and so on) to serve the information needs of middle and top management decision makers. All have been found inadequate. Other attempts at SIS include providing summaries of operating-level information to middle and top management. Those, too, have been found wanting. The reason, partly, is that the information needs of top and middle management are in constant, accelerating change. The information a given decision maker needs at the moment may involve finance, sales and engineering; the next decision may require access to the latest available information about legal, tax and insurance matters. Systems designed to serve the decision maker according to his organizational responsibility tend to be too restrictive _ canned software packages in which the issues addressed are preset and inflexible. That is precisely why the framework established for a useful SIS needs to be oriented to the decision process, irrespective of the structure of the organizational chart. One example comes to mind in which the framework of an existing MIS meets these criteria for an SIS: manufacturing resource planning (MRP). Interestingly enough, the notion that MRP is organizationally oriented is so strongly embedded in people's minds that even those who should know better think that MRP is exclusively a manufacturing information system. There are many cases in which this misconception has led to an otherwise useful SIS system being abused and misapplied. A properly managed MRP system serves the information needs of all levels of management, marketing, production, engineering and finance alike. MRP defined An MRP system is one in which the information system matches the manufacturing business decision process. The objective of MRP is to get the right material, in the right quantity, in the right place, at the right time. It was designed to provide top, middle and operating-level managers with the information they need to make the decisions that will achieve that objective routinely. The benefits of successful implementation of MRP are real; they include improved efficiency and profits. A growing demand is emerging among nonmanufacturing organizations, in both the private and government sectors, for a workable SIS. The Department of Defense, for example, is actively seeking a suitable SIS to assist in managing major weapon system development programs from the concept stage through operation. MRP alone cannot satisfy such a requirement. But an SIS based on a management-by-decision process just might produce satisfactory results. By William Walter; Walter is a program manager at Aerojet Solid Propulsion Co. in Sacramento, Calif. <<<>>> Title : EISA challenges IBM for d Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: kutnick3 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Controlling commercial users' desk tops is imperative for information systems providers because the desktop appliance provides the base-level user environment _ the interface to local and remote applications, connectivity to networks and access to other computing and database resources. PC hardware vendors are essentially slaves to de facto network and software standards. Significant desktop control is exerted by local-area networking companies like Novell and 3Com, by software companies like Microsoft, Ashton-Tate and Lotus and by software and networking companies like IBM and DEC. Nonetheless, personal computer hardware suppliers benefit not only from users' rapid growth to new systems but from add-on peripherals, memory and so on. Annual PC shipment growth is still topping 35%. But on the downside, there is minimal user loyalty to PC hardware vendors, and add-on sales often go to third parties. Finally, profit margins for most PC hardware suppliers are tenuous at best. Enter EISA Still, the battle for desktop real estate rages. The Sept. 13 announcement of Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) by a consortium of PC vendors _ almost all ex-IBM PC cloners, led by Compaq, AST, Wyse, HP, Tandy, Olivetti and NCR _ will only intensify this competitive environment. EISA's open, 32-bit, intelligent I/O bus _ based on an extended AT bus _ standard will offer users backward compatibility with their AT boards and will challenge IBM's proprietary Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Personal System/2 in both performance and functionality. Moreover, EISA will have clout because it is a unified standard; its members will cumulatively ship more than 60% of the worldwide business PCs in 1988, vs. IBM's 22%. Not only have most PC suppliers lined up behind EISA, but so have Intel and Microsoft. OS/2 compatibility will ensure a wide variety of application program availability when EISA systems are delivered. EISA is not, however, a panacea for the PC vendors. EISA products will not be available for nearly a year _ an advantage for IBM and Apple. Manufacturing overcapacity in the PC market will become an issue during the next two to six months, creating another price war. In addition, an open EISA will bring a flood of Japanese and Asian imports, exacerbating the oversupply and the pricing pressure. Finally, EISA members will be forced to differentiate their products outside the I/O bus _ in architecture and implementation of memory management, multiprocessor buses, coprocessors and so on. This effort will require substantially higher research and development budgets, which only the top players can afford. More important, IBM's MCA-based PS/2 has been isolated, and with it IBM's logical control of the desk top is being threatened, since EISA-based PCs will have no special affinity for the IBM Systems Application Architecture (SAA) environment. IBM's strategic blunder It once appeared that the IBM environment would dominate the desk top, as users moved to connect their PCs to each other (via Token-Rings) to seek higher levels of computing and to upgrade to more powerful systems. Indeed, the PC's success had finally enabled IBM to circumvent the minicomputer vendors and to reach the end user with a popular solution. But IBM PC-DOS-based PCs have no more affinity in terms of connectivity and interoperability for IBM's 370 and Application System/400 world than for other systems. PC-DOS is simply not robust enough to participate fully in SAA and continue to maintain its ease of use and its autonomy. OS/2 provides the first opportunity to really integrate SAA's broader capabilities, and the PS/2 was designed to take advantage of them. But IBM took a short-term, tactical perspective _ maximizing profits on the PS/2 _ and tried to take control of the desktop hardware and software markets by imposing proprietary systems. It is charging prohibitively high licensing fees for the privilege of spending millions to unravel the PS/2's difficult (for cloning) technology, and IBM legal action is still a threat. Given that broad SAA affinity was _ or should have been _IBM's strategic imperative, it would have made far more sense to have had the PC market standardize on the PS/2 with IBM's OS/2 Extended Edition. PS/2s and clones would occupy far more desk tops than the IBM version alone. Only about 1.3 million MCA-based PS/2s have been shipped thus far, along with another 1.3 million non-MCA PS/2s. A compound fracture In fracturing the PC business, IBM has made a grievous strategic error. It has become painfully apparent that IBM no longer controls the desk top. While it still has the largest share of any single vendor (about 22%), the EISA group cumulatively controls more than 60%. The EISA companies will not only gravitate away from MCA but will look to Microsoft for OS/2 standards and to Microsoft and Novell for LAN operating system leadership. Even more damaging, they will likely look to DEC's VAX and Unix-based minicomputer and LAN server systems for higher level computing options, relying on these systems to provide SAA connectivity. Thus, I expect that IBM's MCA-based PS/2 and its OS/2 Extended Edition will become primarily ``niche'' products in IBM-dominated accounts. There will be little incentive for other users to acquire these more expensive SAA-affinity systems. I also believe that IBM will adopt the EISA standard as its AT-bus replacement by late 1989 or early 1990. The bottom line is this: IBM is the big loser in the long run, especially from a strategic perspective. Apple will be a winner because its vision remains clear and intact. Its Macintosh looks even stronger as an alternative to a confused PC environment, especially given OS/2's continued delays. The strongest of the EISA members will be winners, albeit with lower margins. The Japanese and Asian PC vendors, which will quickly adopt EISA, will also be winners. DEC could be a winner, because IBM's control of the desk top has been broken, and it could emerge as one of the primary EISA upward connectivity champions; server vendors and Unix suppliers have a similar opportunity. Users will be the winners, because next-generation PCs will cost less and have backward AT compatibility. There will be more value-added differentiation among EISA suppliers. And there will be three stable platforms for software and board vendors: IBM's MCA-based PS/2, EISA machines and the Macintosh. By Dale Kutnick; Kutnick is a data processing and communications consultant based in Redding, Conn. He was formerly executive vice-president of research at the Gartner Group, Inc. and executive director of The Yankee Group. <<<>>> Title : Books in Brief Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bookrevs Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: BOOKS IN BRIEF Inside IBM: The Watson Years By Richard Elsberry Interesting insight into the decades Thomas Watson Sr. and Jr. ran IBM, told by a recently retired IBM veteran of 20 years. Hardcover, $15.95, 202 pages, ISBN 0-8059-3116-3, by Dorrance & Co. The Programmer's Survival Guide By Janet Ruhl Choosing the right size company, getting training in the most helpful languages, becoming an entrepreneur _ career strategies for the computer professional. Paperback, $16.95, 280 pages, ISBN 0-13-730375-0, by Yourdon Press, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. CIM: The Data Management Strategy By Olin Bray A wide-ranging technical and strategic look at computer-integrated manufacturing. Hardcover, $45, 320 pages, ISBN 1-55558-010-6, by Digital Press, Bedford, Mass. OS/2 Programming By Herbert Schildt A shortcut to understanding the core of OS/2, the operating system developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft. Paperback, $21.95, 500 pages, ISBN 0-07-881427-8, by Osborne McGraw-Hill, Berkeley, Calif. Data Dictionary By Rom Narayan Implementing and maintaining a data dictionary _ a ``crucial part of the MIS effort,'' the author argues. Hardcover, $47, 444 pages, ISBN 0-13-197351-7, by Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Publishers wishing to have their books considered for review can direct books, prepublication galleys, press releases, catalogs or other information to George Harrar, Book Review Editor, Computerworld, P.O. Box 9171, 375 Cochitutate Road, Framingham, Mass. 01701. <<<>>> Title : Retailers may soon be sol Author : Mitch Betts, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: retail2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ Now that electronic data interchange (EDI) and bar-code technology are becoming commonplace, the retail industry is starting to explore artificial intelligence for its next wave of strategic information systems. ``AI is in the same place that EDI was three to four years ago,'' said Rachel Graham, vice-president of MIS at Macy's California, Inc., at last week's Retail Information Systems Conference. The annual show is sponsored by the National Retail Merchants Association. There is some resistance from MIS managers who say they feel it is premature to get involved in AI, but Robert M. Zimmerman, director of retail consulting at Coopers & Lybrand in New York, said, ``Expert systems are the obvious next step in retail information systems.'' The goals are to help store managers and merchandise buyers make business decisions using the tremendous volume of data pumped out by MIS departments and to spread expertise throughout the chain of hundreds of stores, conference speakers said. Most retailers are in the exploratory phase. ``We're interested in exploring a pilot program involving expert systems, but we don't have anything going now,'' said Richard Skinner, systems and programming manager at J. C. Penney Co. in Dallas. But speakers at the conference indicated that some AI projects are under way. Computer cookies Mrs. Fields, Inc., a 600-store specialty food retailer based in Park City, Utah, developed three expert systems _ a labor scheduler, a job-applicant interviewer and a production planner _ that have proven successful. The company is now trying to sell the software to other retailers. Mervyn's, a Hayward, Calif.-based department store chain and subsidiary of Dayton Hudson Corp., developed two decision-support systems that use the Intellect natural-language interface from AICorp, Inc. in Waltham, Mass. Several major retailers have begun pilot projects using expert systems, but they refuse to talk about them publicly because the systems are aimed at gaining competitive advantage, according to Joseph B. Elad, chairman of Retail Mate Corp., a software development and consulting firm in Wilmington, Del. Elad and other experts said the most promising application for expert systems is in the field of merchandising, the process of getting the right merchandise in the right place at the right time at the right price. Retailers are much more interested in expert systems than they were at last year's conference, Elad said. ``Now they listen. Before they would just grin, thinking we were from Mars,'' he said. ``Retailers are generally cautious about adopting computer technology . . . because they see it as a cost rather than a benefit,'' said Max Dobres, retail industry manager for Digital Equipment Corp. in Merrimack, N.H. But he says he expects the more aggressive retailers will develop expert systems to help with the hundreds of decisions involved in ``micro-marketing,'' that is, marketing products to narrowly targeted consumers and locations. <<<>>> Title : The things they'll do Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: retailch Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Expert systems could perform the following roles in U.S. retail operations of the future: Expert sales assistant: Engages in on-screen dialogue with the customer, recommending the best selections for particular customer requirements. Inventory replenishment: Monitors store inventories and sales forecasts and uses expert rules to order just enough inventory to maintain satisfactory service. Employee scheduling: Develops employee work schedules that can be very complicated at large stores and in peak seasons. Merchandise planning and distribution: Plans the merchandise mix for each store as well as deciding how to distribute it. Buyer's workstation: Helps merchandise buyers to select the vendors with the best price breaks and shipping terms. Also monitors the purchase orders, invoices and shipping documents. Cash flow management: Gives small retailers the management expertise that only the larger chains can currently afford. Store site selection: Provides screening of new store sites, using demographic data and expert advice. Planning floor space: Plans or modifies floor space allocation to improve store image, profitability and customer traffic flow. SOURCE: RETAIL MATE CORP. <<<>>> Title : Airlines plan to combine Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: pars2 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Two Canadian airlines plan to join Trans World Airlines and the parent comany of Northwest Airlines as owners of the PARS computer reservation system, the airlines announced. Air Canada and PWA Corp., owner of Canadian Airlines International, are to merge their reservation system _ the Toronto-based Gemini Group Automated Distribution Systems, Inc. _ with PARS, which is owned by TWA and Northwest's parent, NWA, Inc., and is the fourth-largest of five U.S. reservation systems. The agreement in principle announced by the companies is subject to a completion of a formal pact and approval by boards of directors and Canadian regulators. It would add 3,500 Gemini travel agency locations to the 6,300 PARS sites, PARS said. Efrain Zabala, president of PARS Travel, the system's marketing arm, said travel agencies using PARS or Gemini should have access to both systems by the second quarter of next year. Canadian travel agencies are to move to a fully integrated system between the fourth quarters of 1989 and 1990, he said. PARS also said it is supplying software for the Abacus reservation system, owned by Singapore Airlines, Thai International and Cathay Pacific Airways, and is negotiating the inclusion of those airlines as partners. <<<>>> Title : Back to basics Author : David R. Fuller Source : CW Comm FileName: fullet Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Your column by Dan Nolan, ``Bad language'' [CW, July 25], reiterated a common and increasingly visible problem: the lack of basic language skills among many professionals today. While this article focuses on the inability of programmers to interact effectively with a computer if they do not understand the basic elements of langauge, the problem is more pervasive. More problems occur because programmers can't communicate effectively with analysts and customers. Communication is hard enough when all the parties are reasonably well versed in the basics of their language and its use. When one or more of the parties is lacking this understanding and knowledge, it is much harder to achieve an effective transfer of ideas, information and instructions. The bottom line is that our schools need to bring back programs that teach the basics of the English language. Grammar, sentence construction, proper use of vocabulary and all the rest of the missing ingredients of good language and communication need to be learned early in life. Overcoming the inability to use the language properly to achieve an effective communication, whether with another person or a machine, is one of the most important issues facing our educational system today. Regrettably, it will take years to turn around the programs until people begin to enter the work force who have a solid grounding in the language coupled with training in effective communications skills. Meanwhile, organizations of all types in this nation and the world are going to have to contend with this problem and make a significant effort to correct it. David R. Fuller Information Systems Manager Calmark Hospitality Systems San Diego <<<>>> Title : DEC splits ballot on PS/2 Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1digital Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: Digital Equipment Corp. effectively handed IBM's Micro Channel Architecture a vote of confidence last week by announcing software that will allow personal computers with the proprietary IBM bus to connect to the Decnet network. Simultaneously, DEC announced a technology exchange agreement with MCA-compatible vendor Tandy Corp. that enables DEC to resell Tandy products. Although DEC took pains to declare it was not endorsing IBM's Personal System/2 bus technology, it brought the Micro Channel into its own enterprise networking strategy, citing customer demand for a ``single networking solution.'' Actions speaking louder? Contradicting the appearance of Micro Channel support, DEC repeatedly hammered home its official position last week that ``no Micro Channel products will be supported by Digital.'' Despite proclaiming MCA support on Decnet after the announcement, DEC claimed that it still supports only the 16-bit industry standard architecture. But DEC may be poised to resell Tandy's version of the Micro Channel if circumstances warrant. According to a Tandy source, DEC has the option of reselling a custom version of the Tandy 5000 MC, an MCA clone. Speculation that DEC will resell an MCA-based Tandy PC if IBM chooses to reduce its 5% royalty fee is not unreasonable, one DEC official said. DEC introduced Decnet/PCSA Client and Decnet-DOS software, both of which allow IBM MCA products to be integrated into Decnet. Part of the Tandy agreement calls for DEC to service current Tandy products in customer sites. Company officials acknowledged that if customers were to demand MCA-based products or if the MCA were to become an industry standard, ``we would have to change our marketing strategy.'' IBM MCA machines have taken hold largely in the upper reaches of the Fortune 1,000, a market coveted by both IBM and DEC. De facto support ``The bottom line is that Digital now supports the Micro Channel,'' said John Dunkle, vice-president of the Aberdeen Group, a Boston-based market research firm. ``Digital can say what it wants, but by announcing support and service for Tandy's products, which include the Micro Channel, they have just announced that they support it.'' The agreement enables DEC to resell future Tandy products that have not yet been announced. DEC will also fully integrate Tandy products into Decnet/OSI. DEC chose Tandy because of its distribution channels, said DEC officials, who did not rule out Tandy's selling DEC products in the future. Speculation that the Tandy products will cannibalize the unannounced PVAX, DEC's 3 million instructions per second desktop ``personal VAX,'' is not warranted, said Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Neil Colvin. He added that his company will ``obviously be involved in the agreement,'' as it provides BIOS code to both Tandy and DEC. ``This agreement gives DEC a full product line and allows them to reach into IBM's back pocket,'' Colvin said. Without specifically referring to the PVAX by name, Colvin said ``the machines will be targeted at different applications.'' DEC also downplayed the impact the deal will have on the slow-selling Vaxmate, a computer that runs Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS and has an Intel Corp. 80286 processor and an IBM Personal Computer AT bus _ a general description of a personal computer. ``The Vaxmate is not a general-purpose personal computer,'' a spokesman said. Despite its disclaimer on the Vaxmate and the addition of the Tandy line, DEC still lives in the shadows of its PC history, one analyst said. This decade, DEC has introduced four PC-class machines: the Robin, the Rainbow, the Professional series and the Vaxmate. The latter is the only DEC PC still on the market. ``It will take much more than the Tandy deal to get over their past,'' the analyst said. Senior Editor Douglas Barney contributed to this report. By William Brandel, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Bull, users meet face-to- Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bull1 Date : Oct 10, 1988 Text: PHOENIX _ Wanting to believe that Honeywell Bull, Inc. is the new, strong and global company its marketing department presents, Honeywell Bull users came from around the globe last week and swamped the first unified users' meeting since the company's sea change. Tossing out straws as well as handles for the users to grasp, new President Roland Pampel blessed the meeting with some of the hottest technology buzzwords as well as a reassurance to users that the company will not abandon its long-standing GCOS operating system. Addressing a combined meeting of HLSUA, Inc., a large systems users group, and the North American Honeywell Users Group, Pampel noted the firm's new directions: Interest in acquiring another company. A unification of Unix and the GCOS operating systems in one product with coprocessors. Support of IBM's Systems Network Architecture (SNA). Interest in reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architecture. Company presentations assured users that the firm's focus, at least in the short term, will be on existing customers. But migration to the latest version of GCOS and its relational database package, Infoedge, is the price users will pay. In the future, Honeywell Bull will support only Fortran-77 ESV, C and Cobol 85 languages, product marketing manager Marilyn Guhr said. Waiting, waiting Users had waited for Honeywell Bull to reorganize before determining whether they would be abandoned and have to get rid of their systems, according to Charlie Kropac, director at large of HLSUA. Membership in the group has declined to a certain degree recently ``because Honeywell Bull hasn't been selling,'' HLSUA President Dan Gratkowski said. ``The critical issue has to be the care and feeding of the installed base,'' said Don Bellomy, an analyst at International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass. Bellomy added that dealing with its base is also the company's drawback ``because it locks you into a low-growth situation.'' In March 1987, Honeywell Bull _ due for an imminent name change _ emerged in its current state. It is owned 42.5% by Honeywell, Inc., 42.5% by Groupe Bull and 15% by the Japan-based NEC Corp. Groupe Bull will own a majority interest, with NEC's ownership unchanged by the end of the year. The company's share of the market has declined steadily since the early 1980s, Bellomy said. In 1982, it had about 17% of the market; that has declined to less than 7% worldwide, with 890 large systems in the U.S. Despite the figures, the new company is bullish. Pampel said his $5 billion company is hungry: ``If I told you the size of the company we were looking at acquiring, it would surprise you.'' He added that while that particular deal fell through, Honeywell Bull is still cruising. In an effort to modernize, Honeywell Bull is moving toward a nonproprietary future, according to John Butler, executive vice-president for U.S. marketing. Unix looms large in that plan, with Honeywell Bull Italia, based in Milan, Italy, developing a hardware platform and London-based Honeywell Bull Ltd. developing software. The Unix systems will have offers spanning the area between low-end mainframes and minicomputers with dual processors, one running Unix and one running GCOS, according to the company. It will keep GCOS, Butler said, because ``as good as standards are, you have to give up something'' in their implementation. Details and time lines for the availability of SNA support and RISC products were unavailable. By J.A. Savage, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : The physical and emotiona Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mis Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The physical and emotional test of the Vietnam War taught Martin Klitten many things. One of the things he learned while serving as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army was the art of managing and leading a fighting force of people from all walks of life. ``Believe it or not, there are a lot of similarities between this job and my two-year role in Vietnam,'' explains Klitten, president of Chevron Information Technology Corp. (CITC), a San Ramon, Calif.-based wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corp. ``You learn how to develop a sense of intuition in various situations and to develop people skills that you never thought you had,'' he adds. Klitten has had plenty of time to exercise his leadership skills. He arrived at Chevron in 1970 as a financial analyst and was elected to the position of comptroller for Chevron U.S.A. in 1985. He was promoted to his current position last November. Those people skills are coming in very handy as the MIS subsidiary serving the needs of Chevron undergoes a major reorganization that will not see completion until the end of the year. This March, all 2,000 employees were informed about the restructuring that involved closing one and downsizing another of the company's four data centers. More than 50% of the work force will be affected by redeployment or change of job responsibilities. According to the plan, the Houston and San Ramon data processing sites will stay open while the MIS facility in the Southern California town of La Habra will will be pared down to support research. The Concord, Calif., facility will later serve as a remote networking site for a credit card application. By December, the company is expected to have lost 100 employees due to attrition and a voluntary early retirement plan for operations personnel. But that is not all. The reorganization means a consolidation of two other data processing sites. According to Klitten, the MIS operations from the Chevron Geosciences Co. and the Chevron Oil Field Research Co. are being merged under his corporate MIS entity. Klitten is still responsible for the strategic and tactical implementation of the plan expected to carry Chevron through at least the next five years. One goal is for the MIS organization to spend the same amount of money as before but to spend it better. The company, which has $350 million in fixed assets, has an operating budget of $240 million for 1988. It will spend some $75 million on new purchases. ``We had too much duplication of effort before the reorganization,'' Klitten says. ``The goal of this project is to consolidate and not have competing forces within the organization. We want to save money, but more important, we want to operate in the future as an efficient utility.'' Since the MIS company serves everyone within Chevron, Klitten says, he wants to make sure that data processing and networking services are competitive with the services sold elsewhere. The charter of the MIS organization is not to seek a profit but to maintain an equal balance sheet between costs and revenue. In July, the company was able to refund $15 million to Chevron's various departments and to reduce rates on services. The reorganization sought to ensure that similar refunds will be the norm. The streamlining should also shave $8 million in costs annually. Technical aspects of the reorganization include moving at least four IBM hosts and other machines to the San Ramon and Houston facilities. Yet the overriding issue is not what to do with the technology but how to handle a transition that affects more than 50% of the staff. Immediately after the announcement, Klitten and his team of managers staged 12 group meetings with employees throughout the organization. Klitten explained the reasons for the consolidation and fielded questions from the staff. ``If you take away uncertainty, you can alleviate the morale problem,'' he says. Constant communication with employ- ees during the transition is critical, he says. ``I don't think people should underestimate the detailed planning necessary to instill confidence in people and the company.'' An employee newsletter focusing on recent moves is in the development stages. An electronic mail system has an open file called Team, designed for employees to contribute solutions and identify problems within the company. The ideas go directly to Klitten for resolution. Keep morale up After years in management, Klitten knows that morale has a direct affect on productivity and work quality. One of the keys to blunting a morale problem is to ``do what you told them you are going to do. Following through is critical.'' CITC has worked to be open with its clients during the transition. The key now is to make sure the quality of the services does not deteriorate. Technically, no downtime should be experienced as applications migrate to the two data centers during the weekends. The goal at Chevron is to maintain 99.2% availability at the host, he said. To ensure that service does not drop, Klitten says, he has made sure that the most knowledgeable people are stationed at the helm of key projects. ``Most people have been through the major war here _ the Gulf merger.'' In March 1984, Chevron merged with Gulf Oil Co. in a $13.3 billion transaction, which represented the largest merger in history. The merger essentially doubled Chevron's oil and gas reserves and led up to a major reorganization in the MIS departments of the two companies. After this, Klitten says, ``We know what does and doesn't work.'' Kathy Chin Leong, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Here's how Author : Kathy Chin Leong Source : CW Comm FileName: side Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: In a recent interview, Martin Klitten, president of Chevron Information, offered the following advice: Develop your plan thoroughly, both the strategic and tactical elements. Tell your plan to employees as soon as possible. They need assurance that they have jobs for the future. Keep communication with staffers open and continuous. Deflated morale can severely hamper services. Communicate with the user community. Your users need to keep abreast of any changes that might affect the services you provide them. Craft your migration plan with plenty of backup alternatives so that end users continue to have the quality services they have been used to receiving. Keep top management up to date on major moves and changes. Stress the benefits and cost savings to offset any skepticism you may encounter. After the reorganization, establish a time to review what has happened to determine if the goals you targeted have been acheived. KATHY CHIN LEONG <<<>>> Title : Atlantic Research Corp. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1netatla Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Atlantic Research Corp. has expanded its Interview test equipment line to include the new Interview 20 Data Tester. The handheld device is said to provide data rates as high as 256K bit/sec. and include 128K bytes of nonvolatile random-access memory. The product was designed for field-service personnel, data communications technicians and installation crews, according to the company. The Interview 20 costs $5,695. Atlantic Research, Teleproducts Division, 7401 Boston Blvd., Springfield, Va. 22153. 703-644-9190. <<<>>> Title : A fiber-optic time-divisi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1netradd Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A fiber-optic time-division multiplexer that allows six to 12 subchannels to be multiplexed on a single cable in synchronous or asynchronous mode has been announced by Rad Data Communications, Inc. Called the FLM-2, the unit reportedly allows users to choose individual transmission speeds _ via a rotary switch _ for each subchannel to be set on its own independent bit rate. Additional features include an internal selectable clock, internal and external loop-back and an integral modem. The FLM-2 is available in either a desktop unit or a 19-in. rack mount and costs $665 for a four-wire twisted-pair configuration. The unit costs $890 for use with fiber-optic cables. Rad Data Communications, 151 W. Passaic St., Rochelle Park, N.J. 07662. 201-587-8822. <<<>>> Title : Klitten exercises leaders Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1mis Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The physical and emotional test of the Vietnam War taught Martin Klitten many things. One of the things he learned while serving as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army was the art of managing and leading a fighting force of people from all walks of life. ``Believe it or not, there are a lot of similarities between this job and my two-year role in Vietnam,'' explains Klitten, president of Chevron Information Technology Corp. (CITC), a San Ramon, Calif.-based wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corp. ``You learn how to develop a sense of intuition in various situations and to develop people skills that you never thought you had,'' he adds. Klitten has had plenty of time to exercise his leadership skills. He arrived at Chevron in 1970 as a financial analyst and was elected to the position of comptroller for Chevron U.S.A. in 1985. He was promoted to his current position last November. Those people skills are coming in very handy as the MIS subsidiary serving the needs of Chevron undergoes a major reorganization that will not see completion until the end of the year. This March, all 2,000 employees were informed about the restructuring that involved closing one and downsizing another of the company's four data centers. More than 50% of the work force will be affected by redeployment or change of job responsibilities. According to the plan, the Houston and San Ramon data processing sites will stay open while the MIS facility in the Southern California town of La Habra will will be pared down to support research. The Concord, Calif., facility will later serve as a remote networking site for a credit card application. By December, the company is expected to have lost 100 employees due to attrition and a voluntary early retirement plan for operations personnel. But that is not all. The reorganization means a consolidation of two other data processing sites. According to Klitten, the MIS operations from the Chevron Geosciences Co. and the Chevron Oil Field Research Co. are being merged under his corporate MIS entity. Klitten is still responsible for the strategic and tactical implementation of the plan expected to carry Chevron through at least the next five years. One goal is for the MIS organization to spend the same amount of money as before but to spend it better. The company, which has $350 million in fixed assets, has an operating budget of $240 million for 1988. It will spend some $75 million on new purchases. ``We had too much duplication of effort before the reorganization,'' Klitten says. ``The goal of this project is to consolidate and not have competing forces within the organization. We want to save money, but more important, we want to operate in the future as an efficient utility.'' Since the MIS company serves everyone within Chevron, Klitten says, he wants to make sure that data processing and networking services are competitive with the services sold elsewhere. The charter of the MIS organization is not to seek a profit but to maintain an equal balance sheet between costs and revenue. In July, the company was able to refund $15 million to Chevron's various departments and to reduce rates on services. The reorganization sought to ensure that similar refunds will be the norm. The streamlining should also shave $8 million in costs annually. Technical aspects of the reorganization include moving at least four IBM hosts and other machines to the San Ramon and Houston facilities. Yet the overriding issue is not what to do with the technology but how to handle a transition that affects more than 50% of the staff. Immediately after the announcement, Klitten and his team of managers staged 12 group meetings with employees throughout the organization. Klitten explained the reasons for the consolidation and fielded questions from the staff. ``If you take away uncertainty, you can alleviate the morale problem,'' he says. Constant communication with employees during the transition is critical, he says. ``I don't think people should underestimate the detailed planning necessary to instill confidence in people and the company.'' An employee newsletter focusing on recent moves is in the development stages. An electronic mail system has an open file called Team, designed for employees to contribute solutions and identify problems within the company. The ideas go directly to Klitten for resolution. Keep morale up After years in management, Klitten knows that morale has a direct affect on productivity and work quality. One of the keys to blunting a morale problem is to ``do what you told them you are going to do. Following through is critical.'' CITC has worked to be open with its clients during the transition. The key now is to make sure the quality of the services does not deteriorate. Technically, no downtime should be experienced as applications migrate to the two data centers during the weekends. The goal at Chevron is to maintain 99.2% availability at the host, he said. To ensure that service does not drop, Klitten says, he has made sure that the most knowledgeable people are stationed at the helm of key projects. ``Most people have been through the major war here _ the Gulf merger.'' In March 1984, Chevron merged with Gulf Oil Co. in a $13.3 billion transaction, which represented the largest merger in history. The merger essentially doubled Chevron's oil and gas reserves and led up to a major reorganization in the MIS departments of the two companies. After this, Klitten says, ``We know what does and doesn't work.'' By Kathy Chin Leong, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Accounting lives! Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1acctg Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The accounting software market isn't dead yet. A wave of product introductions in recent weeks has infused new technology into the aging market. Financial accounting and other traditional back-office applications are increasingly viewed by executives as one more way to use information for strategic advantage, despite their image as tired workhorses. The market has not been the most dynamic in the computer industry in recent years. But David Brownlee, president of Walker Interactive Systems in San Francisco, noted, ``A market is only saturated until there is better technology available. Companies are always looking for a competitive edge.'' Vendors are responding to this shift and positioning their products as mission-critical applications. New capabilities now allow financial management software to be an integral part of a company's information systems. A number of new and enhanced products introduced recently illustrate this trend. Ross Systems, Inc. introduced last week its next generation of accounting software for the Digital Equipment Corp. VAX. Three weeks before, Oracle Corp. had launched a financial product line for the VAX, Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. environments, building on its success in the database market. On the mainframe side, Walker Interactive in July announced IBM DB2 support for its financial applications. And the mainstays of the IBM world, McCormack & Dodge Corp. and Management Science America, Inc., recently enhanced their aging product lines and made moves into the mid-range market. Financial applications are being integrated with word processing, electronic mail, spreadsheets, decision support and graphics to improve presentation and communication of financial information. Features becoming standard with financial applications include the ability to customize screens and tailor menus, integration with productivity tools and user-defined keystrokes. The net result of these improvements is to give users more control over their operations. Financial systems need to be more flexible than ever in order to adapt to changes in today's business environment, in which change is the only constant, several users said. Ross is the latest vendor to inaugurate new functionality with its Renaissance series. The product line succeeds the firm's MAP line and was designed to allow integration of applications in a single operating environment. The software features the ability to integrate the Ross financials with other VAX applications, such as spreadsheets, word processing, decision support and Vaxmail, Ross said. The Renaissance series consists of general ledger, accounts payable and purchase order _ all available now _ and accounts receivable and fixed assets _ set for availability in first-quarter 1989. Upgrades are free under the maintenance contract; otherwise, prices start at $23,000, depending on CPU. ``The financial accounting software market is a market waiting for something new to break it loose, and that is a characteristic of a mature market,'' said Robert Cameron, a senior industry analyst at Dataquest. What is needed to break it loose? ``A good distributed application.'' Oracle Financials may be just what the doctor ordered to liven up the ailing market, according to Oracle. Built on the Oracle relational database management system, the financial applications were designed to run transparently across many computer systems and will soon be integrated with E-mail, the vendor said. Bending with the wind Flexibility is certainly one of the most important qualities of financial systems today, according to users. In a situation typical with many mergers and acquisitions today, when R. J. Reynolds merged with Nabisco, a whole new accounting structure was required, according to Charlotte Myrick, manager of financial reporting and development at R. J. Reynolds Tobacco International. Flexibility to change was clearly the most important consideration in choosing accounting software, Myrick said. The tobacco division decided on M&D's General Ledger:Millenium Release 3.0 because of its customization and consolidation capabilities. Walker Interactive's Brownlee said IBM's Systems Application Architecture is the way to go for large shops. The company announced availability of its Strategic Software financial applications under DB2 in MVS environments in July. The products also work with IMS, Software AG's Adabase, Cullinet Software, Inc.'s IDMS and Applied Data Resources' Datacomm and provide customers with a migration path to DB2. Walker said there is a definite shift to doing processing on the workstation in conjunction with a host mainframe. ``There will be a fantastic shift in what people think is a workstation strategy'' as IBM's workstation strategy evolves, he said. And Walker technology will take advantage of that, he added. M&D also is looking to workstations to complement its mainframe line; last year the firm introduced the Satellite versions of General Ledger and Accounts Receivable as cooperative processing software. New is not necessarily better, however. To some customers, like Mike Wolfe, a plant controller at James Hardie Gypsum, Inc. in Las Vegas, reliability is what counts. Wolfe chose MCBA software last year for its accounting operations. MCBA was a pioneer in the VAX packaged accounting software market back in 1975 and has more than 25,000 installations. When an unexpected change in operations shut Wolfe's firm off from access to headquarters operations, the company had to get an accounting system up and running in six weeks. After evaluating many options, the firm chose MCBA because it was proven and easy to install, Wolfe said. In Wolfe's opinion, the functionality of most packages on the market is comparable; what is important is that updates and enhancements are timely and keep up with changes in tax rules. By Amy Cortese, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : AT&T counterattacks on Un Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 2war1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: In an unforeseen move to counter the Open Software Foundation, AT&T and several Unix System V licensees are expected to issue a joint announcement tomorrow supporting AT&T's Unix System V and detailing plans to form a rival group of System V backers. AT&T is also expected to announce that it is creating a Unix software group separate from its hardware operations to centralize control of System V outside its Data Systems Group. The move marks an abrupt shift in the negotiations between AT&T and the OSF, which had progressed to the point two weeks ago at which AT&T was considered a hairbreadth away from joining the OSF. While the talks have not broken off, AT&T is now requiring as a condition of its membership that System V be substituted for IBM's AIX as the OSF's core operating system technology. The System V issue remains the major obstacle to an agreement. Both sides said they are still talking, but AT&T membership in the OSF seems less likely today than it did a short while ago. In meetings held last week at OSF's headquarters in Lawrence, Mass., high-level representatives from both camps presented their analyses of the technical merits of the respective Unix versions _ AIX and System V. Predictably, the AT&T camp praised System V and OSF officials lauded AIX, according to a source who attended the meeting. ``The kernel of Unix has to be System V, Release 4. That is the sticking point,'' said Robert M. Kavner, president of AT&T's Data Systems Group, in an interview with Computerworld last week. AT&T, along with 10 other companies now shipping Unix System V systems, will form a group to counter the influence of OSF, he said. Kavner indicated that keeping System V intact was a demand coming from its prospective users group. ``That is what the 11 companies are insisting on for them to join [OSF],'' Kavner said. Kavner would not identify other members but suggested several vendors as candidates for such a group: Amdahl Corp., Unisys Corp., Control Data Corp., NCR Corp., Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., Fujitsu America, Inc., ICL Ltd., Gould, Inc., Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Prime Computer, Inc. All of the companies have built multiyear development programs around System V and would have to invest millions of dollars to retrofit systems to a new standard such as IBM's AIX version of Unix, according to Kavner. ``What they worry about is that if OSF adopts AIX, and the world goes to AIX, they'll be left behind _ or they're going to have to put a ton of money to get themselves on AIX,'' he said. In a subsequent teleconference last Thursday originating in Summit, N.J., AT&T called for a show of support from nearly 25 of its licensees and software vendors. Kavner asked the licensees to participate in a joint announcement Tuesday stating support for AT&T's Unix System V as the industry-standard version of Unix as well as the formation of a rival group backing Unix System V. The move led by AT&T to stand behind System V is admittedly a little late, Kavner conceded. ``I don't think we've done a good public relations campaign in understanding what OSF really is,'' Kavner told Computerworld last week. Kavner said he objected to the process of the OSF's deliberations even more than he did to the conclusions the OSF eventually draws. ``We are handing some people an incredibly important decision,'' Kavner said. ``If we're all going to follow OSF, shouldn't we all be satisfied that we've got the world's best making this decision? They are moving so quickly that I am concerned about the quality of this decision they're making.'' For example, he said, OSF has accepted 23 submissions for the OSF system's graphical user interface, including AT&T's own Open Look interface. Kavner is concerned that Open Look gets thorough consideration. Kavner said he also wants to be assured that the consideration process is an honest one. Like many users, Gary Biddle, vice-president of information systems at American Standard, Inc., expressed impatience with the progress towards a single Unix standard. ``Two years is forever,'' he said. When faced with a business problem, American Standard's policy is to go ahead with what is available and not wait for a standard, he said. Midwest Bureau Chief Jean S. Bozman and Senior Writer William Brandel contributed to this report. By Amy Cortese, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : The accounting software m Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: acctg Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The accounting software market isn't dead yet. A wave of product introductions in recent weeks has infused new technology into the aging market. Financial accounting and other traditional back-office applications are increasingly viewed by executives as one more way to use information for strategic advantage, despite their image as tired workhorses. The market has not been the most dynamic in the computer industry in recent years. But David Brownlee, president of Walker Interactive Systems in San Francisco, noted, ``A market is only saturated until there is better technology available. Companies are always looking for a competitive edge.'' Vendors are responding to this shift and positioning their products as mission-critical applications. New capabilities now allow financial management software to be an integral part of a company's information systems. A number of new and enhanced products introduced recently illustrate this trend. Ross Systems, Inc. introduced last week its next generation of accounting software for the Digital Equipment Corp. VAX. Three weeks before, Oracle Corp. had launched a financial product line for the VAX, Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. environments, building on its success in the database market. On the mainframe side, Walker Interactive in July announced IBM DB2 support for its financial applications. And the mainstays of the IBM world, McCormack & Dodge Corp. and Management Science America, Inc., recently enhanced their aging product lines and made moves into the mid-range market. Financial applications are being integrated with word processing, electronic mail, spreadsheets, decision support and graphics to improve presentation and communication of financial information. Features becoming standard with financial applications include the ability to customize screens and tailor menus, integration with productivity tools and user-defined keystrokes. The net result of these improvements is to give users more control over their operations. Financial systems need to be more flexible than ever in order to adapt to changes in today's business environment, in which change is the only constant, several users said. Ross is the latest vendor to inaugurate new functionality with its Renaissance series. The product line succeeds the firm's MAP line and was designed to allow integration of applications in a single operating environment. The software features the ability to integrate the Ross financials with other VAX applications, such as spreadsheets, word processing, decision support and Vaxmail, Ross said. The Renaissance series consists of general ledger, accounts payable and purchase order _ all available now _ and accounts receivable and fixed assets _ set for availability in first-quarter 1989. Upgrades are free under the maintenance contract; otherwise, prices start at $23,000, depending on CPU. ``The financial accounting software market is a market waiting for something new to break it loose, and that is a characteristic of a mature market,'' said Robert Cameron, a senior industry analyst at Dataquest. What is needed to break it loose? ``A good distributed application.'' Oracle Financials may be just what the doctor ordered to liven up the ailing market, according to Oracle. Built on the Oracle relational database management system, the financial applications were designed to run transparently across many computer systems and will soon be integrated with E-mail, the vendor said. Bending with the wind Flexibility is certainly one of the most important qualities of financial systems today, according to users. In a situation typical with many mergers and acquisitions today, when R. J. Reynolds merged with Nabisco, a whole new accounting structure was required, according to Charlotte Myrick, manager of financial reporting and development at R. J. Reynolds Tobacco International. Flexibility to change was clearly the most important consideration in choosing accounting software, Myrick said. The tobacco division decided on M&D's General Ledger:Millenium Release 3.0 because of its customization and consolidation capabilities. Walker Interactive's Brownlee said IBM's Systems Application Architecture is the way to go for large shops. The company announced availability of its Strategic Software financial applications under DB2 in MVS environments in July. The products also work with IMS, Software AG's Adabase, Cullinet Software, Inc.'s IDMS and Applied Data Resources' Datacomm and provide customers with a migration path to DB2. Walker said there is a definite shift to doing processing on the workstation in conjunction with a host mainframe. ``There will be a fantastic shift in what people think is a workstation strategy'' as IBM's workstation strategy evolves, he said. And Walker technology will take advantage of that, he added. M&D also is looking to workstations to complement its mainframe line; last year the firm introduced the Satellite versions of General Ledger and Accounts Receivable as cooperative processing software. New is not necessarily better, however. To some customers, like Mike Wolfe, a plant controller at James Hardie Gypsum, Inc. in Las Vegas, reliability is what counts. Wolfe chose MCBA software last year for its accounting operations. MCBA was a pioneer in the VAX packaged accounting software market back in 1975 and has more than 25,000 installations. When an unexpected change in operations shut Wolfe's firm off from access to headquarters operations, the company had to get an accounting system up and running in six weeks. After evaluating many options, the firm chose MCBA because it was proven and easy to install, Wolfe said. In Wolfe's opinion, the functionality of most packages on the market is comparable; what is important is that updates and enhancements are timely and keep up with changes in tax rules. Amy Cortese, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Shortcutting net guesswor Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 2cmanet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: UNIONDALE, N.Y. _ Attendees at last week's Communications Managers Association conference were cautiously enthusiastic about a new breed of simulation and modeling tools that promise to help them come up with hard numbers for proposed network installations. Recently announced simulation tools from IBM, Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. and Make Systems, Inc. reportedly allow users to perform what-if analyses in order to evaluate network response time, failure rates and costs. Such offerings could be used to either design a network from scratch or try out the effect of network changes before actually making them, vendors said. ``Network simulation tools would be absolutely invaluable to us, particularly if they showed the cost of building something and then having to tear it down,'' said Anthony Mattera, CMA president and manager of network planning at Prodigy Services Co. ``I just went through a budget crunch period and wish I had had them.'' However, Mattera expressed concern that such products would present a ``garbage-in, garbage-out'' problem. ``The human mind is hard to replace in terms of looking at contingencies and being able to say that if you build a node there, this will happen to your response time,'' he said. Users who have tried older network simulation packages complained that it takes too much time to come up with the complete and current information needed to ensure accurate results. Tom McDonald, principal consultant at MGT Technology Group in Natick, Mass., recently used Connections, a package from Connection Telecommunications, Inc., to do capacity planning for a major public network project. While praising the package's response-time analysis, McDonald complained about the amount of data entry it required. ``I couldn't even ask it to copy over information about one site into another, similar site,'' he said. Avon complaint Data collection is the biggest problem connected with network simulation at Avon Products, Inc., according to Philip Colaluca, a network project leader at Avon. His staff has been investigating the modeling capabilities of IBM's recently announced Transmission Manager, a Personal System/2-based system for NET switches. ``You can do network planning scenarios such as, `If I route all my traffic through Chicago, how will it impact New York traffic?' '' Colaluca said. Avon also uses Mind, a network simulation package developed by Contel Corp. No matter what package is used, however, ``you only get input as good as you put in,'' Colaluca said. His people tend to add more bandwidth than their simulations indicate is necessary, ``because we'd rather have too much than too little. But when you allow that margin for error, what you're doing isn't really scientific,'' he said. The data entry problem is at least partly addressed by two recently announced software packages: IBM's Network Design Aid for MVS and Make's Netool Workbench. Both offerings are said to collect up-to-date network routing and node configuration data from the network system itself. IBM's Design Aid obtains data about Systems Network Architecture networks through interfaces with IBM's Network Control Program and VTAM tables; Make's Netool Workbench finds out about T1 network configurations through the switch vendor's network management system. It also includes a database of carrier tariffs, regularly updated by the vendor. NET will sell the first release of the product, tailored to its own T1 offerings. Since Prodigy uses NET switches, Mattera was interested in NET's version of Netool Workbench. However, he questioned whether it could provide all the data he needed for his decision making. ``A primary objective of network design is to avoid vulnerable routes,'' Mattera said. Still, Mattera said that he would investigate Netool Workbench. ``That's why I come to the show _ to look at tools like this.'' By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : UNIONDALE, N.Y. _ Attende Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1cmanet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: UNIONDALE, N.Y. _ Attendees at last week's Communications Managers Association conference were cautiously enthusiastic about a new breed of simulation and modeling tools that promise to help them come up with hard numbers for proposed network installations. Recently announced simulation tools from IBM, Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. and Make Systems, Inc. reportedly allow users to perform what-if analyses in order to evaluate network response time, failure rates and costs. Such offerings could be used to either design a network from scratch or try out the effect of network changes before actually making them, vendors said. ``Network simulation tools would be absolutely invaluable to us, particularly if they showed the cost of building something and then having to tear it down,'' said Anthony Mattera, CMA president and manager of network planning at Prodigy Services Co. ``I just went through a budget crunch period and wish I had had them.'' However, Mattera expressed concern that such products would present a ``garbage-in, garbage-out'' problem. ``The hu- man mind is hard to replace in terms of looking at contingencies and being able to say that if you build a node there, this will happen to your response time,'' he said. Users who have tried older network simulation packages complained that it takes too much time to come up with the complete and current information needed to ensure accurate results. Tom McDonald, principal consultant at MGT Technology Group in Natick, Mass., recently used Connections, a package from Connection Telecommunications, Inc., to do capacity planning for a major public network project. While praising the package's response-time analysis, McDonald complained about the amount of data entry it required. ``I couldn't even ask it to copy over information about one site into another, similar site,'' he said. Avon complaint Data collection is the biggest problem connected with network simulation at Avon Products, Inc., according to Philip Colaluca, a network project leader at Avon. His staff has been investigating the modeling capabilities of IBM's recently announced Transmission Manager, a Personal System/2-based system for NET switches. ``You can do network planning scenarios such as, `If I route all my traffic through Chicago, how will it impact New York traffic?' '' Colaluca said. Avon also uses Mind, a network simulation package developed by Contel Corp. No matter what package is used, however, ``you only get input as good as you put in,'' Colaluca said. His people tend to add more bandwidth than their simulations indicate is necessary, ``because we'd rather have too much than too little. But when you allow that margin for error, what you're doing isn't really scientific,'' he said. The data entry problem is at least partly addressed by two recently announced software packages: IBM's Network Design Aid for MVS and Make's Netool Workbench. Both offerings are said to collect up-to-date network routing and node configuration data from the network system itself. IBM's Design Aid obtains data about Systems Network Architecture networks through interfaces with IBM's Network Control Program and VTAM tables; Make's Netool Workbench finds out about T1 network configurations through the switch vendor's network management system. It also includes a database of carrier tariffs, regularly updated by the vendor. NET will sell the first release of the product, tailored to its own T1 offerings. Since Prodigy uses NET switches, Mattera was interested in NET's version of Netool Workbench. However, he questioned whether it could provide all the data he needed for his decision making. ``A primary objective of network design is to avoid vulnerable routes,'' Mattera said. Still, Mattera said that he would investigate Netool Workbench. ``That's why I come to the show _ to look at tools like this.'' Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Inmate tattles on fed pri Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1startc Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Adam Starchild figured his criminal career had ended when he was convicted of mail fraud and sent to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., in August 1986. But for nearly a year, he was directed by officials at the U.S. penitentiary to break the law instead of rocks, Starchild alleged in a recent telephone interview. According to Starchild, he made as many as 100 illegal duplicates of copyrighted Apple Computer, Inc. Apple II-compatible software for use within the correctional institution, for other institutions and for the personal use of prison staff members. All of the software that he copied, Starchild said, was intended for use by inmates in the prison's adult education program. Prison officials acknowledged that inmates and staff members are copying microcomputer software and that the practice continues. But they deny doing anything illegal, claiming that they are merely doing what the documentation supplied with some programs licenses them to do. Spilling the beans Starchild, who was an adult education literacy instructor at the prison, said that from October 1986 to August 1987, he made copies of software published by Claris Corp., Minnesota Educational Computing Corp. (MECC) and other companies. He said that he duplicated these programs using unlicensed copies of Copy II and Disk Muncher, two popular programs that enable users to back up copy-protected software. He said he expressed to prison officials his concern about the legal problems stemming from duplicating copyrighted software. ``I pointed out the literature citing availability of a site license from MECC, for example, but [prison staff in the adult education program] told me that they did not need to buy it,'' Starchild recalled. ``I was outraged at the moral point of governmental criminality vs. rehabilitation,'' he said. ``My being made to copy disks defeats the purpose of rehabilitation.'' Starchild is serving a four-year sentence for mail fraud. He had ordered a variety of products, including computer software, by mail but did not pay for them. The inmate expressed his outrage in letters to the editor of Computerworld and The News-Times, a Danbury newspaper, which published his letter July 3. ``Much of the software [that was copied] came from the very same companies that I was accused of defrauding by ordering software on credit and not paying the bills,'' he wrote. ``Who is the greater criminal?'' Starchild's letter in The News-Times triggered an internal investigation into his allegations on July 5. ``There was copying but it was not illegal,'' said Craig Apker, executive assistant to the warden and public information officer at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury. ``We checked with the company that published the software and they said it was not a violation of their copyright.'' Prison staff concluded that no crime had been committed after reading the documentation of some of the programs in which it was indicated that making backups or working copies of certain programs was permissible and not an infringement on the copyright holder. Claris, mentioned by Starchild as one of the companies whose software he claimed to have copied, was unavailable for comment. They didn't ask But at least one company, MECC, said it had not been contacted by prison officials nor did it condone unlicensed copying of its software. ``MECC offers site licenses to purchasers of its software, largely school systems, and that site license allows software buyers to make a proscribed number of copies,'' said Dale LaFrienz, president of MECC. ``The Danbury Correctional Institution, unless it is part of the Danbury school system, which I seriously doubt, does not have a site license.'' The company states in its documentation that making copies is not permissible, the opening screens of its programs contain copyright notices, and its disks are copy protected. Apker readily admitted that the institution continues to make copies of software. ``My understanding is that making copies is OK and that there is nothing illegal about it,'' Apker said. ``We have not been infringing on anybody's copyright and are looking at it when we are not sure. We have enough staff members that know enough to check it out if they are unsure.'' Starchild, meanwhile, is serving the remainder of his sentence in food service at the U.S. Penitentiary in Sandstone, Minn. By Michael Alexander, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Adam Starchild figured hi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: startc Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Adam Starchild figured his criminal career had ended when he was convicted of mail fraud and sent to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., in August 1986. But for nearly a year, he was directed by officials at the U.S. penitentiary to break the law instead of rocks, Starchild alleged in a recent telephone interview. According to Starchild, he made as many as 100 illegal duplicates of copyrighted Apple Computer, Inc. Apple II-compatible software for use within the correctional institution, for other institutions and for the personal use of prison staff members. All of the software that he copied, Starchild said, was intended for use by inmates in the prison's adult education program. Prison officials acknowledged that inmates and staff members are copying microcomputer software and that the practice continues. But they deny doing anything illegal, claiming that they are merely doing what the documentation supplied with some programs licenses them to do. Spilling the beans Starchild, who was an adult education literacy instructor at the prison, said that from October 1986 to August 1987, he made copies of software published by Claris Corp., Minnesota Educational Computing Corp. (MECC) and other companies. He said that he duplicated these programs using unlicensed copies of Copy II and Disk Muncher, two popular programs that enable users to back up copy-protected software. He said he expressed to prison officials his concern about the legal problems stemming from duplicating copyrighted software. ``I pointed out the literature citing availability of a site license from MECC, for example, but [prison staff in the adult education program] told me that they did not need to buy it,'' Starchild recalled. ``I was outraged at the moral point of governmental criminality vs. rehabilitation,'' he said. ``My being made to copy disks defeats the purpose of rehabilitation.'' Starchild is serving a four-year sentence for mail fraud. He had ordered a variety of products, including computer software, by mail but did not pay for them. The inmate expressed his outrage in letters to the editor of Computerworld and The News-Times, a Danbury newspaper, which published his letter July 3. ``Much of the software [that was copied] came from the very same companies that I was accused of defrauding by ordering software on credit and not paying the bills,'' he wrote. ``Who is the greater criminal?'' Starchild's letter in The News-Times triggered an internal investigation into his allegations on July 5. ``There was copying but it was not illegal,'' said Craig Apker, executive assistant to the warden and public information officer at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury. ``We checked with the company that published the software and they said it was not a violation of their copyright.'' Prison staff concluded that no crime had been committed after reading the documentation of some of the programs in which it was indicated that making backups or working copies of certain programs was permissible and not an infringement on the copyright holder. Claris, mentioned by Starchild as one of the companies whose software he claimed to have copied, was unavailable for comment. They didn't ask But at least one company, MECC, said it had not been contacted by prison officials nor did it condone unlicensed copying of its software. ``MECC offers site licenses to purchasers of its software, largely school systems, and that site license allows software buyers to make a proscribed number of copies,'' said Dale LaFrienz, president of MECC. ``The Danbury Correctional Institution, unless it is part of the Danbury school system, which I seriously doubt, does not have a site license.'' The company states in its documentation that making copies is not permissible, the opening screens of its programs contain copyright notices, and its disks are copy protected. Apker readily admitted that the institution continues to make copies of software. ``My understanding is that making copies is OK and that there is nothing illegal about it,'' Apker said. ``We have not been infringing on anybody's copyright and are looking at it when we are not sure. We have enough staff members that know enough to check it out if they are unsure.'' Starchild, meanwhile, is serving the remainder of his sentence in food service at the U.S. Penitentiary in Sandstone, Minn. <<<>>> Title : Hurry-up-and-wait mentali Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1lotus2 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ While Lotus Development Corp. executives scrambled last week to explain why 1-2-3 Release 3.0 would be delayed by as much as six months, users by and large said they are still willing to wait. At a hastily called Columbus Day press conference, Lotus executives conceded that they had overestimated the enormity of the task of developing the product. W. Frank King, senior vice-president of the software products group at Lotus, said the job of developing Release 3.0 turned out to be ``an order of magnitude'' greater than designing Release 2.01, the current version of the product. Lotus developers have written some 330,000 lines of code in C language for Release 3.0, compared with about 100,000 lines for Release 2.0 written in assembler, he said. Lotus executives stressed that the second-quarter target to ship the new release is firm and one they are certain can be attained. Jim P. Manzi, president and chief executive officer, added, ``We're saying that we're not going to get together in this room again.'' King said much of the difficulty lay in writing Release 3.0 so that it is portable across five operating systems _ IBM and Microsoft Corp.'s OS/2, Microsoft's MS-DOS, IBM MVS, VM and Unix _ while still maintaining compatibility with previous versions of the best-selling spreadsheet. The timetable for other versions of the product _ 1-2-3/G, a graphics version of 1-2-3, and 1-2-3/M, which Lotus is developing with IBM for mainframes _ is uncertain, although Release 3.0 will provide the core for those and other products, company officials said. The mainframe version will be ready for testing five to six weeks after Release 3.0 is available; ``then it's up to IBM to do its own testing,'' King said. Later, Manzi admitted that ``one of the biggest opportunities we've blown [for a graphical version of 1-2-3] was in the Macintosh market. But in our core market, the IBM DOS market, we would not change places with anybody.'' Manzi and King appeared confident that the delay will not have a long-term impact on sales of Release 3.0. While some large customers expressed disappointment over the delay, most are willing to wait, the executives said. Several large buyers of 1-2-3 confirmed that view. The delay is not going to affect the work of most of the more than 1,500 1-2-3 users at The Gillette Co. in Boston, said Greg Chetel, director of systems planning and research. ``Most of our users are not pushing the limits of the existing product, and we do not see the delay as a big enough event to consider switching to an alternative like Excel,'' he said. Investors were less patient, however. On the day of the press conference, Lotus stock fell by of a point to close at 15 on 2.3 million shares traded. Robert Schechter, Lotus' chief financial officer, said that the current upgrade program for new buyers of 1-2-3 Release 2.0 will be extended until Release 3.0 is shipped but declined to say how much the program will cost as a result of the delay. By Michael Alexander, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ While Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: lotus2 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ While Lotus Development Corp. executives scrambled last week to explain why 1-2-3 Release 3.0 would be delayed by as much as six months, users by and large said they are still willing to wait. At a hastily called Columbus Day press conference, Lotus executives conceded that they had overestimated the enormity of the task of developing the product. W. Frank King, senior vice-president of the software products group at Lotus, said the job of developing Release 3.0 turned out to be ``an order of magnitude'' greater than designing Release 2.01, the current version of the product. Lotus developers have written some 330,000 lines of code in C language for Release 3.0, compared with about 100,000 lines for Release 2.0 written in assembler, he said. Lotus executives stressed that the second-quarter target to ship the new release is firm and one they are certain can be attained. Jim P. Manzi, president and chief executive officer, added, ``We're saying that we're not going to get together in this room again.'' King said much of the difficulty lay in writing Release 3.0 so that it is portable across five operating systems _ IBM and Microsoft Corp.'s OS/2, Microsoft's MS-DOS, IBM MVS, VM and Unix _ while still maintaining compatibility with previous versions of the best-selling spreadsheet. The timetable for other versions of the product _ 1-2-3/G, a graphics version of 1-2-3, and 1-2-3/M, which Lotus is developing with IBM for mainframes _ is uncertain, although Release 3.0 will provide the core for those and other products, company officials said. The mainframe version will be ready for testing five to six weeks after Release 3.0 is available; ``then it's up to IBM to do its own testing,'' King said. Later, Manzi admitted that ``one of the biggest opportunities we've blown [for a graphical version of 1-2-3] was in the Macintosh market. But in our core market, the IBM DOS market, we would not change places with anybody.'' Manzi and King appeared confident that the delay will not have a long-term impact on sales of Release 3.0. While some large customers expressed disappointment over the delay, most are willing to wait, the executives said. Several large buyers of 1-2-3 confirmed that view. The delay is not going to affect the work of most of the more than 1,500 1-2-3 users at The Gillette Co. in Boston, said Greg Chetel, director of systems planning and research. ``Most of our users are not pushing the limits of the existing product, and we do not see the delay as a big enough event to consider switching to an alternative like Excel,'' he said. Investors were less patient, however. On the day of the press conference, Lotus stock fell by of a point to close at 15 on 2.3 million shares traded. Robert Schechter, Lotus' chief financial officer, said that the current upgrade program for new buyers of 1-2-3 Release 2.0 will be extended until Release 3.0 is shipped but declined to say how much the program will cost as a result of the delay. Michael Alexander, CW Staff Picture, Jim Manzi is confident Lotus can hit its latest ship date <<<>>> Title : The daily acid test Author : Alan J. Ryan Source : CW Comm FileName: 1stock3 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: NEW YORK _ The floor of the nation's largest stock exchange is a constant proving ground for the computer systems that are designed to keep it running without a hitch. ``There is testing going on around here virtually the first and second shift of every single day of the week, on most Saturdays and occasionally on Sundays,'' said Geri DiCostanzo, the Securities Industry Automation Corp. (SIAC) senior vice-president in charge of New York Stock Exchange trading systems development and operations. SIAC is two-thirds owned by the NYSE. Aside from the routine diagnostic and quality assurance tests on the Tandem Computers, Inc. and Stratus Computer, Inc. hardware systems, there are also many upgrade checks. For major software releases, tests are performed that involve NYSE workers as well as the floor of the exchange, DiCostanzo said. Occasionally, there are the tests that put the NYSE's systems into the public eye. After last year's unprecedented market break in October, which slowed the systems at the exchange, the NYSE is trying to regain investor confidence by conducting periodic simulations to demonstrate that upgrades to its systems will let the exchange efficiently handle another Oct. 19. Unprecedented traffic The simulation testing in itself is not new, however. ``We've been doing that for five or seven years on a regular basis,'' said Richard Torrenzano, senior vice-president at the NYSE. But because all of the capacity-planning studies for the exchange, which are based on historical high-day data, showed that the maximum daily share-capacity level would reach 450 million by the end of 1987, tests had not been conducted at the 600-million-share level. In the capacity-planning model, no 600 million-plus share days were expected until 1990, DiCostanzo said. This year's first industry-related simulation testing was held on April 30 and involved more than 600 people. ``We actually had the whole floor manned with specialist clerk firms, NYSE personnel and SIAC operations people,'' DiCostanzo said. Invited to witness the feat were the press and officials of the General Accounting Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The test was conducted by replaying the actual data from Oct. 19, and the upgraded systems ran ``without any problems whatsoever,'' DiCostanzo said. ALAN J. RYAN <<<>>> Title : NEW YORK _ The floor of t Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: stock3 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: NEW YORK _ The floor of the nation's largest stock exchange is a constant proving ground for the computer systems that are designed to keep it running without a hitch. ``There is testing going on around here virtually the first and second shift of every single day of the week, on most Saturdays and occasionally on Sundays,'' said Geri DiCostanzo, the Securities Industry Automation Corp. (SIAC) senior vice-president in charge of New York Stock Exchange trading systems development and operations. SIAC is two-thirds owned by the NYSE. Aside from the routine diagnostic and quality assurance tests on the Tandem Computers, Inc. and Stratus Computer, Inc. hardware systems, there are also many upgrade checks. For major software releases, tests are performed that involve NYSE workers as well as the floor of the exchange, DiCostanzo said. Occasionally, there are the tests that put the NYSE's systems into the public eye. After last year's unprecedented market break in October, which slowed the systems at the exchange, the NYSE is trying to regain investor confidence by conducting periodic simulations to demonstrate that upgrades to its systems will let the exchange efficiently handle another Oct. 19. Unprecedented traffic The simulation testing in itself is not new, however. ``We've been doing that for five or seven years on a regular basis,'' said Richard Torrenzano, senior vice-president at the NYSE. But because all of the capacity-planning studies for the exchange, which are based on historical high-day data, showed that the maximum daily share-capacity level would reach 450 million by the end of 1987, tests had not been conducted at the 600-million-share level. In the capacity-planning model, no 600 million-plus share days were expected until 1990, DiCostanzo said. This year's first industry-related simulation testing was held on April 30 and involved more than 600 people. ``We actually had the whole floor manned with specialist clerk firms, NYSE personnel and SIAC operations people,'' DiCostanzo said. Invited to witness the feat were the press and officials of the General Accounting Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The test was conducted by replaying the actual data from Oct. 19, and the upgraded systems ran ``without any problems whatsoever,'' DiCostanzo said. ALAN J. RYAN <<<>>> Title : October 19, 1987 Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1stock1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: I remember looking out of my office, looking down Wall Street. Usually by 5:00 or 5:30, that's a very, very busy street. It was the most eerie evening because there was nobody on the streets. Everyone was just fighting their way through the aftermath. Linda Coleman, former vice-president, NYSE My overwhelming concern was the economy as a whole and what [the crash] would mean to all of the financial institutions on Wall Street. Geri DiCostanzo, senior vice-president, Securities Industry Automation Corp. It was exciting. We would love to see volume like that again soon _ in a positive light. W. H. Anderson, CIO and executive vice-president, Prudential-Bache Securities, Inc. It felt like the market was in a free-fall. It felt like the world was coming to an end. If the Dow had fallen another 500 points, it would have been catastrophic. Walter Raquet, senior vice-president of marketing and new products, Herzog, Heine, Geduld, Inc. As a result of the crash, people have been slower to move their money into equities, and they've been slower to trade. Jim Stoddard, senior vice-president, Fidelity Software Development Co. By noon, it was clear that we had traded more shares in one day than any day in history, and we had several more hours to go . . . Richard Torrenzano, senior vice-president, NYSE <<<>>> Title : DG's image problem Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1rcol Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: No doubt about it: DG has an image problem. The Data General announcement earlier this month shows that this company still knows how to come out with a good product. From analysts and users alike came loud applause for the high-end MVs. But from those same supporters came words of concern about DG's ability to turn this into a winner. Often, product alone doesn't carry a company to new heights of success. A firm also needs a good image to carry it. An image that says this company will be around for some time to come. An image that assures customers it is worth making a big investment in it. But these days, DG is perceived as a troubled minicomputer maker. Its troubles are real. The financial problems DG has had are fact. But it keeps shooting itself in the foot trying to fix those problems. If the company could more effectively communicate what it's trying to do to cope with these problems, users and analysts who help shape industry opinion might give the company the chance it needs to turn things around. Low-key rollout At the MV/40000 press conference in New York earlier this month, one could almost feel the negative perception in the air. Here we had a company rolling out the highest performing system in its history, the new generation of its flagship product line. Traditionally, companies in such a situation put together a show-biz event, with special effects and long speeches by gung-ho executives. But this event was a quiet one. Three speakers, including Edson de Castro, took about an hour to present the product. De Castro then offered a question-and-answer period, but fewer than 10 questions came from the audience. He then thanked the attendees for coming, and the event closed. There was none of the applause typical of a big product rollout. Certainly a contributing factor to the solemn atmosphere was the news of more layoffs, which DG had announced just a few days before the big event. One analyst said the timing of these two announcements is a typical example of DG's problem. The company consistently fails to manage its announcements _ good or bad _ in a way that helps its image. And the more it hurts its own image, the harder it is for DG get the industry back on its side. The product announcement had been in the works for weeks; invitations went out in early September. Yet the company sprung the bad news on the industry just days beforehand, managing to rain on its own parade. Work on that delivery Bad news is bad news, and I wouldn't suggest that DG try to fluff off layoffs as strictly a positive thing. But the way the company delivered the news could have been improved upon. DG could have worked more closely with customers and industry analysts who help shape opinion to help them understand why the consolidations were taking place. Instead, the firm just dropped the news on the industry, catching people by surprise. What this got DG was more skepticism and concern that the company can't resolve its problems. According to one industry analyst, DG executives provided an advance announcement of the big product introduction during the week before the consolidation announcement. The presentation was upbeat, and no mention was made of future cutbacks. The analysts, as one told me, came away feeling pretty good about DG. Then they got the surprise news that DG was axing 800 jobs and closing two plants. This, to say the least, didn't go over well. So the product rollout had a dark cloud hanging over it, which took away from the what was actually being announced. Afterwards, observers wrapped their praise of the product in heavy skepticism. ``Buying decisions are no longer just price/performance decisions,'' said Steven Widen, an analyst at TFS, Inc. in Westford, Mass. ``Long-term viability of the company is very important. ``Image is a very difficult thing,'' he added. ``Once a bad one is attached to a company, it's very difficult to get rid of it. DG will continue to struggle with that.'' By Rosemary Hamilton; Hamilton is a Computerworld senior editor, systems & software. <<<>>> Title : The story ``Bells ring ho Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: makelet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The story ``Bells ring hollow in information business'' [CW, Aug. 1] gave a biased view of my company, Pactel Infosystems. Who feels that Pactel ``botched up'' retail sales? Your reporter was editorializing, not reporting. Our decision to rechannel our focus from retail outlets to direct sales was based directly on an assessment of our customers' needs. Our surveys showed that our target customers, medium and large businesses, overwhelmingly prefer to be served via a direct corporate sales force. Michael M. MaKieve President, Computer Division Pactel Infosystems Walnut Creek, Calif. <<<>>> Title : Japan telco swipes gold Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: a103lech Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co. (NTT) has achieved the title ichi ban (Japanese for No. 1) largest company in the world by the market value of its shares _ total number of shares multiplied by the value per share. Second was IBM and third, Japan's Sumitomo Bank. AT&T commanded an impressive 21st place in the overall ranking and third _ behind IBM _ in terms of high-tech companies. Viewed as a kind of financial olympics, NTT has won the coveted gold medal, IBM, silver and AT&T, bronze. Morgan Stanley Capital International Perspective calculated this ranking of the world's 100 largest publicly traded companies as of June 30 by dollar value of all their shares using the exchange rates applicable at the time. To put things in a computer/communications world perspective, if ranked by the total value of shares, NTT is more than 3 times the size of IBM ($276.8 billion vs. $76.0 billion) and almost 10 times that of AT&T (with a mere $28.9 billion). That NTT became the world's most valuable company despite the fact that its home marketplace is no larger than Montana and its population is half that of the U.S. is a phenomenon. NTT reached this height based on 1987 sales of $46.6 billion and profits of $2.4 billion, reflecting a 6% and 52% increase, respectively, over the previous fiscal year. In comparison, IBM's sales were $54.2 billion, and profits were $5.3 billion, up 6% and 10%, respectively. AT&T's sales were $33.6 billion, and profits $2.0 billion, down 2% and up 43%, respectively. While profits are the major determining factor in the valuation of shares in U.S. companies, such is not the case in Japan. In the two years following its 1985 divestiture by the Japanese government, NTT's shares skyrocketed for reasons that had little to do with profits. Even with the impressive increase in NTT's profits from 1986 to 1987, these, if viewed as a percentage of sales, were less than half those of IBM's. Private, public offerings A total of 1.9 million shares were initially offered only to NTT employees at roughly $5,000 each shortly after the company's divestiture by the Japanese government in 1985. A second offering of the same number of shares to the Japanese public _ foreigners were excluded _ was held at approximately $20,000 per share. In the first week of this month, NTT held a third offering of 1.5 million of its shares to anyone who could cough up the cash _ roughly $17,000 each. Some brokers, the Japanese government and NTT executives are bemoaning the fact that shares have slipped in value from their high of approximately $20,000 each, but how they know what the price should be remains a mystery to me. Because NTT's victory in the race for world financial supremacy by value of its shares cannot immediately be traced to profits, one might be tempted to conclude that the Japanese government _ its former sole owner _ had been giving it a massive dose of financial steroids. That NTT's stock performance was achieved during a period in which competition in communications was introduced in Japan lets us know just about how much the Japanese public expects the newly competing companies to erode NTT's business. Like the newly competing U.S. companies vis-a-vis AT&T, they can do little but resell the prevailing communications company's facilities after buying them at wholesale prices. While this explains the lackluster increase in sales at NTT and the decline in AT&T's case, it also explains the whopping double-digit (40% plus) increases in profits for both companies. It is instructional to envision the extreme case, in which a communications-cum-computer company, which owns just about all the communications facilities in a country, gradually changes its business from serving the general public to doing little more than selling to a few wholesalers. Sales volume plunges indeed but not as fast as operating expenses _ there are far fewer clients to deal with, no marketing requirements, less end-user maintenance _ and profits soar. In the next financial high-tech olympics, we need not wonder too much how today's top three will rank. Since none of the three really competes with the others and there is no other company in their class, their positions as the top three high-tech firms seem fairly secure. Of course, should the long-awaited ISDN day arrive when the powers that today's computers provide can be offered over telephone lines, the situation could change. With ISDN, we can expect a vigorous battle between IBM and its two top-ranking nonrivals to occur. But until then, it's my guess that only a change in dollar/yen exchange rates will unseat NTT from its gold medal position as ichi ban largest in our high-tech world _ and in any other as well. By Charles P. Lecht; Lecht is an IDG News Service correspondent based in Tokyo. <<<>>> Title : Olivetti steering for U-t Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: aolivet1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: IVERA, Italy _ Ing. C. Olivetti & Co. late last month outlined a sweeping reorganization and shake-up of top management aimed at reversing the company's recent profit slide. The computer and office equipment vendor, headquartered here, announced a 24% drop in pretax profits to $122.4 million for the first half of 1988. Last year, the company posted a 29% decline in profits compared with 1986. Revenue during the first half of this year rose 16.1% to $2.59 billion. Company officials, nonetheless, expressed optimism about financial performance during the second half of the year, saying sales would grow as clients began buying recently released computer products. The restructuring bears the signature of managing director Vittorio Cassoni, the Olivetti executive who was recalled in late April from his position as president of AT&T's Data Systems Division by Chairman Carlo de Benedetti. Cassoni left Olivetti to join AT&T in 1986 with the understanding that he might eventually return to the firm. Under the restructuring plan, which will take effect Jan. 1, 1989, Olivetti will set up three separate companies dedicated to specific product areas. Each will be responsible for all operations in its area _ from product design to production and sales. All three will be controlled and coordinated by de Benedetti and Cassoni. The first, called Olivetti Systems and Networks, will regroup most of the firm's professional computer and communications activities, including minicomputers, personal computers, local-area networks, terminals, workstations, telecommunications systems, mainframes and related software. It will be headed by Luigi Mercurio, a former Olivetti executive who founded U.S. telecommunications equipment maker David Systems, Inc. The second company, Olivetti Information Services, will offer software, value-added network services, voice/data services, facilities management, education and training and electronic publishing. It will be headed by Olivetti's Franco de Benedetti. Olivetti Office, the third company, will concentrate on office equipment such as calculators, typewriters and text processors. Franco Tato, currently heading up Triumph Adler AG, Olivetti's West German subsidiary, will lead the office group. Notable for their absence from the senior management lineup are Vittorio Levi, vice-president of operations and Elserino Piol, vice-president of strategy. Whether they will be staying with the company is unclear. What about our relationship? Another question posed but not answered by the reorganization is what impact it will have on Olivetti's relationship with AT&T. The two companies have had an often-troubled relationship since they became strategic partners in 1983. The U.S. giant owns a 22% share of Olivetti, and the two companies have cross-marketing agreements under which AT&T markets Olivetti PCs in the U.S. and Olivetti sells AT&T minicomputers and private branch exchanges in Europe. Olivetti is said to be unhappy with declining purchases of its PCs by AT&T. Earlier this year, the Italian firm launched a line of minicomputers, the LSX series, that cast doubt over its commitment to pushing AT&T's 3B family. In April, Carlo de Benedetti rebuffed AT&T overtures concerning an increase in its capital share and management control in Olivetti. In May, Olivetti officials acknowledged that the allies were reassessing their relationship. Friction between the firms has been exacerbated by differences in management style and downward pressure on the dollar/lira exchange rate, insiders said. By Amiel Kornel, IDG News Service <<<>>> Title : Banyan spills two-year pl Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1banyan Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: BOSTON _ Breaking months of silence on its long-term strategic directions, Banyan Systems, Inc. recently detailed a two-year plan of action that underscores both its commitment to Unix-based servers and a willingness to support other environments. Chief Executive Officer and company founder David Mahoney said he expects the privately held firm to attain an annualized revenue run rate of more than $100 million next year. A two-year, 12-point initiative focused on large corporate networks will drive Banyan to the half-billion dollar mark within the next three to five years, he added. Banyan has been hinting at a public offering for several years now and is considered by many industry analysts to be a prime candidate for acquisition. Loyal to Vines The Westboro, Mass.-based network software vendor said it has no intention of abandoning its Unix-based Virtual Networking Software (Vines) network operating system and also reiterated support at a briefing in Boston for the role of minicomputers as local-area network servers. Banyan has already executed an agreement with minicomputer maker Wang Laboratories, Inc. under which it will supply core networking technology. Other such pacts will follow in the near future, the vendor said. One rumored arrangement involves a yet-to-be released Data General Corp. server. Some analysts are skeptical about the Wang deal, suggesting Banyan has little to gain by it. However, the networking concern's growth plans have been hobbled by its relatively small size and, consequentially, support and marketing limitations. Successful alliances with larger systems vendors could help expand Banyan's installed base and beef up its support capabilities, a key prerequisite to attracting corporate accounts. These alliances could become especially critical in the next few years, given the following trends: Leading players in the work-group LAN arena are moving upmarket to challenge mini-based terminal clusters. Concurrently, minis _ typically Unix-based _ are gaining a new lease on life via conversions to network servers. Users are demanding multivendor and multitechnology support. In response, Banyan promised to integrate and link multiple-protocol and hardware platform support under the Unix-based Vines server. It is still unclear whether Banyan will license Microsoft Corp.'s OS/2 LAN Manager, but OS/2 support is slated for next year and reportedly will include support for applications written to LAN Manager. Rivals 3Com Corp. and Novell, Inc. will ship OS/2 client support this year. Banyan currently supports Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh via a marketing arrangement with Tops , a division of Sun Microsystems, Inc. However, more direct Mac support will be available in 1989. Also planned is increased support for Unix workstations. By 1990, users can expect further enhancement of Banyan's distributed systems software support, directory services, global naming service and internetworking links. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Slant rant Author : Michael M. MaKie Source : CW Comm FileName: 1makelet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The story ``Bells ring hollow in information business'' [CW, Aug. 1] gave a biased view of my company, Pactel Infosystems. Who feels that Pactel ``botched up'' retail sales? Your reporter was editorializing, not reporting. Our decision to rechannel our focus from retail outlets to direct sales was based directly on an assessment of our customers' needs. Our surveys showed that our target customers, medium and large businesses, overwhelmingly prefer to be served via a direct corporate sales force. Michael M. MaKieve President, Computer Division Pactel Infosystems Walnut Creek, Calif. <<<>>> Title : Ask the Vendor Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: aiask Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: When does Information Builders expect to have Level 5 redesigned and modified so that it will operate directly from a Focus database? Larry Efird Director of MIS Briggs-Weaver, Inc. Dallas INFORMATION BUILDERS, INC.: Look for this capability early next year. We are currently working on the creation of an embeddable inference engine, and once that is created, we will put one inside Focus. Level 5 currently has the ability to read and write Focus files on Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX machines and mainframes. Does Carnegie Group plan to pursue the use of machine-to-machine interaction with Testbench? If so, when? Allen Reid Project Manager of AI Technical Support Prime Computer, Inc. Milford, Mass. CARNEGIE GROUP, INC.: Testbench supports a callout mechanism that allows a user to start external programs. Through callout, a user can start a process that queries a host machine through a modem and returns the response information to Testbench. Testbench then uses the information to guide the diagnosis. Carnegie Group currently offers custom extensions to the system that provide more functionality, and we are evaluating the market need for specific kinds of machine interfaces. Based on market needs, the company will implement new functionality in both the interfacing and core diagnostic areas. Does Aion plan on putting ADS on a DEC or Sun Microsystems, Inc. platform? If so, when? Stan Bronson MIS Director Systems Industry Milpitas, Calif. AION CORP.: Aion is committed to the support of commercial data processing in production environments and is aware that these environments include non-IBM platforms. Today, however, Aion's product is delivered on PC-DOS, OS/2, VM/CMS, MVS/TSO, CICS and IMS/DC _ all IBM systems running on IBM hardware. Our customers tell us that application transportability between these platforms _ personal computers and mainframes _ is a valuable characteristic. We believe that extending that transportability to include non-IBM platforms, such as DEC's, would increase our value to production data processing. Aion's long-range plans do include such support. It should be noted that there are also IBM platforms to which our product can be moved, such as the Application System/400. Does Gold Hill plan on establishing an internal interface from a personal computer to a mainframe for Gold Works? Ted Kao Lead Systems Designer Cigna Corp. Voorhees, N.J. GOLD HILL COMPUTERS, INC.: In August, Gold Hill announced Golden Connection/SQL, a tool that integrates applications written in Gold Works with SQL. For PC users desiring connectivity to IBM mainframes, this product will be compatible with DB2 relational databases and several IBM PC networking services, including 3270 data streams and Netbios. As the DB manager services become available, Golden Connection/SQL will support them. <<<>>> Title : Sudden shower enriches MI Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ailead Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Information systems managers are finally getting their chance to be consumers of artificial intelligence. Vendors of a variety of artificial intelligence products, including expert system-based tools, are targeting MIS and data processing personnel as customers and end users. Applications incorporating expert systems components are currently in development at several companies for mainframe performance analysis and management; capacity planning; network diagnosis and support; database design and maintenance; console operations; internal end-user technical support; software library management; and software generation. John Popolizio, director of AI at New Science Associates, Inc., a market research firm in South Norwalk, Conn., predicts that the number of AI-based applications being developed for the data center will double in the next year. At that time, the full breadth of products aimed at MIS shops, including database design tools, will make up roughly 20% of an expert systems market that will total in excess of $430 million, he says. Although few MIS-specific expert system-based applications have as yet reached the market, companies like Advanced Data Research, Inc. (ADR), Bachman Information Systems and Boole & Babbage, Inc. are leading the way in this area. Dave Kuznia, formerly a senior systems programmer at Syracuse University in N.Y., put ADR's mainframe performance-analysis tool, Mindover MVS, to dramatic use. At the university, the DP department knew for some time that a bottleneck existed in the system, but workers were unable to trace it. As an afterthought one day, Kuznia tried Mindover MVS, which incorporates expert system technology, and wound up solving the problem _ a need for added page data sets _ in two hours. ``The next morning,'' he says, ``the executive director told me that other monitors of the system showed that the CPU was literally breathing easier.'' Using Mindover MVS has also increased Kuznia's understanding of the MVS system, he says. He just installed the product at Mony Financial Services in Syracuse, where he currently works. Crisis averted By using Boole & Babbage's DASD Advisor, Carl Robison, data center supervisor at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla., avoided a shutdown of the hospital's new IBM mainframe. As operators carried out conversion from a previous mainframe system, they noticed a channel-capacity bottleneck brewing, a problem they were not expecting with the new computer. DASD Advisor ``alerted us to the situation early enough that we will be able to add new channels in time. If we had brought everything over from the old system without knowing, it's likely the whole thing would have just gone in the bucket,'' Robison explains. Rather than creating stand-alone products, some vendors of conventional tools are beginning to embed expert systems as components of products. Morino Associates, Inc., for example, is looking at Arlington, Va.-based Software Architecture & Engineering, Inc.'s Knowledge Engineering System shell as a development tool for applying knowledge-based technology to the areas of resource accounting and capacity management. Bachman's DBA (IDMS) and Data Analyst personal computer-based tools, which incorporate both computer-aided software engineering and expert systems technology, also fit into this category. At New Orleans-based McDermott International, Inc., an engineering firm, Mike Barefield, manager of data administration, uses these products to help design and implement Cullinet Software, Inc. IDMS databases. DBA performs database revision, which involves moving from the data description language of the database structure to the physical level of schematic diagrams, perhaps to the conceptual level of iconographic representations, and back again. After creating four databases in this way, Barefield sees paybacks in a couple of areas. He is now able to produce several iterations of a database in the same amount of time it used to take to create just the initial version. As a result of this refinement, the databases require much less maintenance. Perhaps more importantly, the products help solve another problem. ``It is very difficult to find qualified IDMS database analysts,'' Barefield says. ``With these expert DBA systems, I figure I can get away with having one or two fewer human database analysts. That's a substantial payback.'' In fact, the incorporation of expert systems in software engineering products is a burgeoning area. Transform Logic Corp. in Scottsdale, Ariz., has hired a staff of AI programmers to work out several aspects of the reverse-engineering product it is developing, according to Ron Davis, the firm's president and chief executive officer. Cincom Systems, Inc. has embraced Aion Corp. as a member of its CASE Alliance Program and is offering ADS as a part of its full-life-cycle CASE and application development environment. As part of this agreement, Cincom will be customizing ADS to integrate it with its other products, according to Dennis Butler, senior product manager of application development technologies. Mainly on the mainframe Even as expert system-based applications companies target products at MIS/DP shops, many expert system shell vendors are shifting their marketing emphasis away from specialized LISP-optimized platforms and toward the mainframe. Less than two years ago, only two well-known expert system development tools were available for IBM mainframe computers. Today, at least 10 such products exist, including several widely used workstation- and PC-based programs that have been ported. With mainframe tools becoming readily available, more corporations are using development tools to generate expert system applications internally. In some cases, the expert systems being created are directly applicable to MIS/DP functions. Chevron Information Systems in San Francisco, for example, has used Aion's ADS to produce an expert system for an internal network support application that, it is rumored, Chevron may decide to market. Another ADS user, Provident Life & Accident Insurance Co., headquartered in Chattanooga, Tenn., has developed an application that gives its MIS programmers a way to create and change program specification block (PSB) and program control block (PCB) commands in a much more simple manner. Before the development of the expert system application, systems analyst Vicki Rozema says, the MIS systems people wrote all the definitions. Programmers filled out request forms describing what they needed done, and changes were entered once a week. The expert system application ``returns control to the IMS programmer and greatly increases the turnaround on PSB/PCB definitions,'' Rozema says. More often, however, MIS shops are using development tools to create systems that offer knowledge-based support to other departments such as customer service, underwriting and manufacturing. At MCI Communications Corp. in Arlington, Va., for example, Dan DeSalvo, senior staff member in expert systems, is using AIcorp, Inc.'s KBMS to develop a customer-service support device. Known as Help desks, such applications are among the most commonly and easily implemented type of expert system. IBM's Glendale Help desk shell _ widely distributed with ESE, the company's expert system development product _ was originally developed to address a growing number of technical support questions from IBM's customers. Pam Fales, knowledge engineer at Texas Instruments, Inc., is developing a Help desk-type system to support the Dallas-based company's Information Engineering Facilities division. ``It will provide the first level of support personnel with an expert system to help them answer more difficult questions. I think we will at least double, if not triple, the number of questions first-line operators can answer without having to seek out technicians or developers,'' Fales says. In Philadelphia, an example of another kind of expert system-based mainframe tool was formulated by Cigna Corp. Using Aion's ADS, Roger L. Schelm, vice-president of applied research and expert systems, oversaw the development of an application that provides group life and health insurance customers with detailed quarterly reports showing what their coverage is compared with the industry norm. Called MMI, or Medical Management Information, the expert system produces about 3,500 reports per year at a cost of less than $1 per report. Previously, Cigna had two employees who were solely devoted to this activity. Talking to data Free-standing expert system applications are only a small chapter in the emerging story, however. A major impetus behind the development of mainframe-based expert system development tools was the isolation of stand-alone expert systems from corporate data. The next logical step was to permit users to enhance existing applications with knowledge-based components. One of these products is Cullinet's newly announced Enterprise:Expert/MVS, a rules-based expert-system application development tool that is integrated with both the company's IDMS/R DBMS and its ADS/Online fourth-generation development environment. According to Joe Carter, who heads up AI services at Chicago-based Arthur Andersen & Co., the determinants of success in expert systems are similar to those in real estate or retail: ``With expert systems, however, instead of location, location, location, it's integration, integration, integration,'' he says. The trend toward integration also, to some extent, indicates a maturation both in artificial intelligence-based products and in the way corporate customers regard them. Companies interested in expert systems realize that this area is going to be as strategically significant a priority for them in the 1990s as the database was in the '60s, '70s and '80s, according to Tod Loofbourrow, a managing partner at Foundation Technologies, an expert systems development and consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. ``[These companies] may have wanted to get into artificial intelligence for some time, but the tools simply haven't been there,'' he says. ``Now, they are finally beginning to see tools on mainframes that are of commercial quality.'' What have vendors done to make their development products more attractive? Loofbourrow, who edits the James Martin Productivity Series report ``Expert Systems and AI Toolkits,'' breaks the improvements into four categories: better performance, availability on existing business platforms, the ability to tap into commercial software in which corporate data usually resides and the potential to create corporate knowledge bases that may soon rival the corporate database. Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich., is testing that potential. It has been involved in AI-based products for several years and has implemented Los Angeles-based Inference Corp.'s ART-IM/MVS, a new mainframe version of the company's expert system development tool. Ford is part of a consortium of companies working with Inference; it also holds a small interest in the company. ``Our involvement goes back a long way,'' points out Jim Cnossen, Ford's manager of manufacturing systems and operations research, ``but what really excites us is the mainframe product. Getting expert systems on the mainframe opens up a whole suite of new applications.'' One of those applications is the knowledge base, or repository, with which Ford is currently experimenting. By translating the logic behind a lengthy Cobol program into the rules of an ART-IM/MVS knowledge base on the mainframe, Ford is attempting to create an application that is part database, part language and part expert system. The Cobol program, which has been in use for several years, handles financial transactions generated from outside companies. Maintenance of the program is difficult, time-consuming and manpower-intensive, notes Paul Duemler, project manager of artificial intelligence and expert systems support. Duemler says he hopes to see many benefits in the company's repository application, including a reduction in the maintenance effort and the time required to implement changes. ``Putting new policies in place with English-type rules should be much faster than recoding the Cobol; it will also make the new process more self-documenting, more auditable than the existing Cobol program,'' he says. According to New Science's Popolizio, the concept of the expert system shell as a repository of data means that ``you are not only going to store information, but you are going to have a semantic understanding of that information.'' On the brink While few users seem to have discovered them yet, there are other benefits of having new, sophisticated expert system tools on standard hardware, where it can interact with corporate data. Several vendors point this out. At Digital Equipment Corp. in Maynard, Mass., R. J. Mathew, manager of information systems and AI information systems application marketing, is in charge of developing expert systems for MIS shops. Like most vendors targeting the MIS/DP expert systems area, DEC has few, if any, products on the market yet. Its sole offering in this area to date is a VAX performance tool called VAX Performance Advisor. However, Mathew says he has several prototypes under development. For one such application, called ICASE, or Intelligent Computer-Aided Software Engineering, DEC is using Nexpert Object, a development tool from Palo Alto, Calif.-based Neuron Data, Inc. According to Mathew, Nexpert Object becomes a layer between a bottom level of the VAX's VMS interface and a top level consisting of ``a highly interactive and graphical user interface _ creating a sort of three-layer knowledge sandwich.'' The structure of ICASE allows users to press a button and move from that program directly into Nexpert Object and back again, he says. ``There is nothing to say that we couldn't extend that knowledge base to some area of VMS; it could be an envelope for all of VMS.'' Such fluidity is not limited to the VAX. On an IBM mainframe, several products, including Nexpert Object _ which was recently announced for that environment _ and AIcorp's KBMS, are capable of automating the process of communicating with many software programs and languages, including Cobol, IBM's DB2 and SQL/DS. Larry Harris, founder and chairman of AIcorp, says such shells are able to create a mediating layer in Mathew's ``knowledge sandwich.'' While the layer has little to do with traditional concepts of expert system functions, it essentially gives MIS shops the potential to make SQL their standard data-manipulation language _ a level of integration that most have not expected to be able to reach for several years. Now and then It is still far from a sure bet that all the direct attention currently being paid to MIS interests will pay off in major gains for the beleaguered expert systems industry. Cigna's Schelm strikes an optimistic note. ``Expert systems are very definitely beginning to take hold in corporate America,'' he says. But skeptics still exist. At Ford, Cnossen and Duemler do not see expert systems taking hold across the country, although they remain intrigued with the future prospects. ``We may have had more bullish expectations a year or two ago about the number of applications to which we could apply expert systems,'' Cnossen says. ``But I think we have learned a lot and have recalibrated our expectations.'' Robert Rouse, assistant dean at the School of Technology and Information Management at Washington University in St. Louis, goes a step further. He is the director for the university's Center for the Study of Data Processing, a 45-member consortium of Midwestern corporations that includes Anheuser-Busch, Inc., General American Life Insurance Co., McDonnell Douglas Computer Systems Co., Monsanto Co., Ralston Purina Co. and Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. Although he is bullish about the future, Rouse says, ``Artificial intelligence and expert systems are not yet beginning to catch on in business environments. Most MIS managers are taking a relatively cautious view toward this technology. Part of that is due to the fact that they have seen a long list of `revolutionary technologies' over the years that have proved to be much less successful than advertised.'' One area that could use some bolstering, according to users, is the process of importing human expertise into the knowledge base. ``That is still too much an art form,'' says Michael Saindon, principal consultant on expert systems applications at St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas. ``There just isn't a good mechanism yet for mapping concepts espoused by an expert into a rule-based processor. And if you don't map well, the system will give bad advice.'' Painted rose For the long run, users and consultants paint a rosy picture of the integration of expert systems into the corporate data processing environment. Rouse says he believes that the number of expert systems will double every year or so for the next 10 years. ``By the year 2000, there will be hundreds of thousands of expert systems being used by companies,'' he says. One of the most commonly advanced scenarios is that in five to 10 years, expert systems may not be differentiated from other software because they will be built into all the classic applications. Moreover, Cnossen notes, ``Maybe it will reach a point where just about anyone will be able to use an expert system product, just as they do Lotus' 1-2-3 now.'' Users also liken the expansion of expert systems to the wave-like advances seen in relational databases and fourth-generation languages. Until now, many MIS shops may have had little reason to become interested or involved with AI-based products. They could be balanced on the brink of discovery, however. According to Foundation Technologies' Loofbourrow, ``This is the year that the indifference of MIS managers to expert systems will give way.'' If it doesn't, MIS is going to find other departments pushing ahead without them, he adds. The payback potentials are such that business people are going to take the initiative on their own. MIS managers who do take the initiative and examine the tools and applications that are available now may find some personal benefits attached to the search, such as AI-enhanced products that can lighten the housekeeping load around the data center. By J.Scot Finnie; Finnie is a free-lance writer based in Stamford, Conn. <<<>>> Title : Satellite net fine-tunes Author : Mitch Betts, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: astronet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation have teamed up to create what is, literally, an astronomical network. In a precedent-setting collaboration, NASA and the NSF recently established a satellite network link that will make it much easier for U.S. scientists to gain on-line access to the world's foremost database on astronomy, located in France. The database, known as SIMBAD and residing at a data center south of Paris, enables an astronomer to look up detailed information about stars, planets and supernovas. NASA officials said the database, dating back to 1950, lists nearly all known information and technical papers about celestial objects. International barriers The problem is that U.S. astronomers have been hampered in their access to the database in the past. For one thing, NASA said, the standards of interconnection for French computer systems are different from those for U.S. systems and not all universities or research labs were able to connect easily. Secondly, the dial-up connection to France was costing nearly $100 per connect, which is beyond the reach of all but a few astronomers, NASA said. To solve these difficulties, NASA and the NSF acquired a satellite link between Princeton University and the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) outside of Nice, France. INRIA has developed a gateway that translates between the Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol used by U.S. research institutions and the CCITT protocols used by the French Transpack data service, according to Steven N. Goldstein, lead engineer at NASA's contractor, Mitre Corp. in McLean, Va. INRIA is also providing a link between the satellite circuit and the Paris data center where the database resides, Goldstein explained. Under the cooperative effort, the NSF has paid about three-fourths of the costs of a permanent network hookup, and NASA is underwriting the charges for database access and the remainder of the circuit costs. Circuit cooperation The circuits are being installed by MCI Communications Corp. and the French national public telephone and telecommunications authority, Goldstein said. The network is expected to be operational later this month, once a few minor glitches are ironed out, he said. The Cambridge, Mass.-based Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory _ acting as NASA's agent for SIMBAD _ will register U.S. astronomers, provide them with user manuals and passwords and make consolidated payments. SIMBAD is an acronym for the Set of Identifications, Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data, a database maintained by the Centre de Donnes de Strasbourg, France. NASA's interest in the network is to assist its community of researchers, while the NSF is mostly interested in developing protocols to translate between U.S. and European versions of the ISO Open Systems Interconnect protocols. <<<>>> Title : Don't shy away Author : Marshall H. Aust Source : CW Comm FileName: austinle Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: I don't fault the basic message of your editorial, ``Playing with fire'' [CW, Aug. 15]. However, I do take exception to your reasoning regarding punishment of offenders. Ethics, values and a society that cares are needed. But realistically, we know that potential perpetrators of crimes are a part of the greater mix of society and always will be. A large corpora- tion may have numerous security guards and elaborate controls on physical access. If an illegal entry occurs in spite of these precautions, they aggressively and publicly strive to enforce punishment. But does this same corporation place equal security measures on the extremely valuable and sensitive data residing in its information systems? Often, it does not. So when illegal entry is gained, rather than risk the attendant publicity regarding their vulnerability, the corporation drops the matter, quietly changes internal systems-entry procedures and hopes the problem will not reoccur. Management must develop and maintain stringent security controls for information networks. When that is done, the corporation must vigorously and unapologetically pursue punishment for those evade the security precautions _ regardless of the publicity. Marshall H. Austin Senior Consultant Advanced Information Management, Inc. Woodbridge, Va. <<<>>> Title : BBN Software Products Cor Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bbn2 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: BBN Software Products Corp. has announced Version 8.3 of Dataprobe, a time-series analysis software for engineers and analysts using Digital Equipment Corp. VAX hardware under the VMS operating system. The latest release introduces the Flexible File Server, which was designed to give analysts direct access to data files not in the Dataprobe format, the company said. The software also eliminates the need to write custom code for time tag, record header ID and data reformatting. Primary applications include data analysis from flight testing, telemetry and recording systems and wind tunnel testing in aerospace, automotive and manufacturing applications. Dataprobe 8.3 costs $30,000 to $75,000, depending on CPU size. BBN Software Products, 10 Fawcett St., Cambridge, Mass. 02238. 508-873-5000. <<<>>> Title : Biin aims first products Author : Mitch Betts, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: biin Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ Biin, the international computer systems company formed by Intel Corp. and Siemens AG in July, has set its sights on the U.S. government market with a proprietary computer architecture that emphasizes fault tolerance, security and the Ada programming language. Last week, Biin (rhymes with fine) unveiled the first two systems in its product family as well as its federal marketing effort and an alliance with Relational Technology, Inc., whose Ingres database management system will be integrated with Biin's architecture. However, Biin did not announce any applications software for the new systems. The company said it is working on a number of alliances with OEM companies for vertical-market applications. Although Biin is aiming initially at the U.S. government and European factory automation markets, other potential markets include financial services, on-line transaction processing, manufacturing, telecommunications and health care, officials said. Biin had to announce commercially available products before it became eligible to bid on U.S. government contracts. Company officials indicated they expect to pursue business in defense-related work initially. Biin's competitors include such major players as IBM, Digital Equipment Corp., Tandem Computers, Inc. and Stratus Computer, Inc. But Joseph J. Kroger, former Unisys Corp. executive and now president of Biin, said Biin will have a competitive edge because its systems offer built-in security, adjustable levels of fault tolerance and lower prices due to manufacturing efficiencies. Because Biin is the product of a five-year research effort by Intel and Siemens, Kroger called the joint venture a mature start-up that has 300 employees, expenditures of $150 million and an international network of service technicians from its parent companies. Bucking the trend In an interview, Kroger acknowledged that coming out with a proprietary architecture runs counter to the trend toward open systems, but he stressed that Biin's architecture has interfaces to AT&T's Unix System V and the IEEE Posix standard for applications portability. Although the operating system is proprietary, Biin/OS has a Unix shell that will allow software vendors to port their Unix applications software to it, said Adam Cuhney, an analyst at Kidder, Peabody & Co. in San Francisco. ``The hardware is there, but you've got to convince the software writers they should port to you vs. someone else,'' he added. Biin announced two systems, the entry-level Biin 20 and the high-end Biin 60, and claimed that they have better price/ performance ratios than DEC's Microvax 3500 and VAX 8840, respectively. The Biin 60 can be configured with two to eight processors with performance of 11 million instructions per second to 44 MIPS and was designed to support about 1,000 terminals. The system, available immediately, is priced from $345,500 to $815,000. The Biin 20 is a deskside or desktop package with one or two processors that was designed to support 50 terminals and has a performance range of 4.5 to 9 MIPS, the vendor said. The price is $43,500 to $75,000, and volume shipments are expected in March 1989. The key to Biin's 32-bit multiprocessor architecture is that many functions typically found in systems software are embedded in the very large-scale integrated chips provided by Intel, officials said. Key features of the architecture include the following: All systems in the product line can run the same programs. Systems administrators can use software commands to select three levels of fault tolerance in order to achieve desired performance levels. Multilevel security is provided with access controls for users and hardware-enforced controls for programs. Biin said it expects to get a C-2 security rating from the government's National Computer Security Center early next year. The Biin/OS operating system and utilities are implemented in about two million lines of Ada code. <<<>>> Title : Borland joins growing CAS Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bit10 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Borland International, Inc. recently joined the chorus of vendors announcing support for the Communicating Applications Specification (CAS) interface developed by Intel Corp. and Digital Communications Associates, Inc. Borland said it is implementing support for both CAS and Intel's new Connection Coprocessor board across several of its applications. Sidekick Plus will reportedly provide CAS support in 1989. Along with the foliage, executive faces are changing at two communications companies this fall. Retix Corp., a supplier of Open Systems Interconnect software, recently appointed Stephen Frankel president. He replaces Andy De Mari, who is now chairman and chief executive officer. James Lakin, formerly president of Contel Business Networks, Inc., has jumped over to Globenet, an interexchange carrier, where he serves as president and CEO. The Telecommunications Industry Association named Patrick H. Williams director of government relations. He will coordinate efforts to lobby federal officials and agencies. Having trouble keeping up with the new product avalanche? Interconnect Data Systems, Inc. in Anaheim, Calif., has unveiled a database of installation guides, product compatibility information and error-message explanations, as well as information on hundreds of personal computer networking products from a wide array of vendors. Users get monthly updates of the floppy disk-based Technical Encyclopedia of Computer Hardware and Software, which can be downloaded to a hard disk. Advanced Computer Communications, Inc. has unveiled the ACS 9315, a high-speed hardware interface said to work with appropriate software on IBM MVS and VM hosts to link those mainframes with Ethernet local-area networks. It supports the IBM-defined Continuously Executing Transfer Interface protocol, which minimizes the number of mainframe Start I/O operations and I/O interrupts required to exchange data, resulting in greater IBM-to-Ethernet throughput. The ACS 9315 costs $19,000. Digital Communications Associates, Inc. recently enhanced its DCA HLLAPI3 to support the vendor's entire line of PC communications products. HLAPPI3 is a software specification used to develop custom communications programs. It supports Distributed Function Terminal and Control Unit Terminal modes. Tiara Computer Systems, Inc., a supplier of LAN cards and related software, said it is offering users a lifetime warranty for network cards _ reportedly the first such guarantee. The warranty includes parts and service for Tiara's Lancard products for both Arcnet and Ethernet technologies. Tiara also said it is the first company to incorporate Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc.'s advanced Etherstar LAN controller chip in network cards. The chip serves as the foundation for Tiara's new line of high-speed Ethernet cards. Maxcom USA announced that its global telecommunications service, Maxlink, is now accessible to users of IBM's Professional Office System, Digital Equipment Corp.'s All-In-1 and Wang Laboratories, Inc.'s Mailway via bridge software from Softswitch, Inc. The T1 interface for Wellfleet Communications, Inc.'s Link Node and Concentrator Node LAN-to-WAN Communications Servers has been certified as compatible with AT&T's Accunet T1.5 and Customer Controlled Reconfiguration services. Using custom chip development and surface-mount manufacturing, Ideassociates, Inc. said it will introduce a half-card version of its IBM 5251 card next month that has only four chips. When originally introduced in 1985, it took more than 90 components to offer the same PC-to-IBM mid-range communications capability. The custom chips will also increase circuit performance by several orders of magnitude, according to the Billerica, Mass.-based company. <<<>>> Title : DEC hooks up with CA line Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bmoran Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: NEW YORK _ Digital Equipment Corp. took additional steps last week toward its goal of penetrating IBM-ruled data centers by signing a deal with Computer Associates International, Inc. to jointly develop and market versions of several CA products for the DEC VAX/VMS environment. The formal agreement will offer DEC users the Garden City, N.Y.-based developer's systems management software and utilities and open a new and burgeoning market for CA. Among the products that CA said it will integrate more closely into the VAX environment are CA-Netman/VAX (network configuration management), CA-Archiver (resource management), CA-Disspla and CA-Tellagraf (graphics), CA-Tellaplan (project management), CA-Strategem (decision support), Ad Lib (query/report writer) and the Masterpiece financial application series. The company said the products have been moved under DEC's All-In-1 and that compatibility with DEC's RDB database management system will be added to Masterpiece. However, no pricing or availability date was given. In addition, a joint development team will join CA's Superimage, a graphics editing system, with DEC's Decwindows. Delivery of that product is scheduled for the first half of 1989. On the growth path DEC's mid-range market share has climbed steadily from approximately 13% in 1983 to 22% in 1987, according to Steven Widen, program director of Dectrack at TFS, Inc., a Westford, Mass.-based consultancy. Such growth has enticed several other software developers to sign recent marketing deals with the minicomputer makers. DEC and Relational Technology, Inc. are expected to announce such an agreement this week. The alliance will also help DEC penetrate large data centers, said Dale Kutnick, an independent consultant in Redding, Conn. Missing from DEC's offering has been the utilities that match the sophistication that IBM and third parties have brought to IBM environments. DEC also introduced an easier-to-use Version 2.3 of its All-In-1 office system along with the Mailbus distributed directory service, which automatically locates recipients of mail on any size All-In-1 system or other X.400 systems as well as IBM's Professional Office System and Systems Network Architecture Distribution Services. All-In-1 Version 2.3 will ship in the fourth quarter of 1988. Prices range from $7,088 to $112,219, depending on system configuration. Mailbus will also be available then, and the cost will depend on configurations. By Robert Moran, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Software firms unite, aim Author : Mitch Betts, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: bsa Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ Six major software companies formed the Business Software Association (BSA) last week with the goal of fighting international software piracy and reducing trade barriers. The organization provides formal structure for an ad hoc group of vendors that was instrumental in several raids against Hong Kong's Golden Shopping Arcade, one of the world's most notorious markets for illegally copied software. In the latest raid, in July, Hong Kong officials closed down several pirate software outlets. The founding companies are Aldus Corp., Ashton-Tate Corp., Autodesk, Inc., Lotus Development Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Wordperfect Corp. The group, based here, selected attorney Douglas E. Phillips as president. Phillips said formation of the BSA is a response to the enormous losses the software industry suffers from piracy and denial of market access. The U.S. International Trade Commission recently reported that 31 U.S. hardware and software firms lost $4.1 billion in 1986 due to foreign piracy. World effort In addition to fighting piracy in East Asian markets, BSA is expected to focus on ensuring that the software markets in Europe and Brazil are kept open to U.S. products. Phillips said the BSA will lobby the U.S. and foreign governments, work with law enforcement agencies, pursue private lawsuits, conduct educational programs and work with existing trade associations. For example, the BSA recently urged the European Commission, which is studying intellectual property rights in Europe, to provide full copyright protection for computer programs in a forthcoming directive. Offshore only Phillips said the BSA will not work on domestic piracy cases, leaving those to the Software Publishers Association (SPA) and ADAPSO, a computer software and services industry association. BSA organizers denied that the formation of the new group is an implicit criticism of similar activities by the SPA and ADAPSO. They said the BSA will work closely with the two older associations in international affairs. ``It's just a difference in focus,'' said R. Duff Thompson, general counsel at Wordperfect in Orem, Utah. ``Our goal is to keep the group small, with a focus that is narrow and intense.'' <<<>>> Title : Expert system cuts diagno Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: caper Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: When a child in elementary school is having difficulty learning to read, it may not be because he has a bad attitude or disability. It may be because he is hungry. But some teachers may not recognize the problem for what it is and instead refer the child to a special education program. ``The teachers are overwhelmed, and special education is one of the few places to get help for getting these kids out of the classroom,'' explained Jacqueline Haynes, a researcher at Intelligent Automation in Rockville, Md. Haynes is also the developer of an expert system called Computer-Assisted Planning for Educational Resources, or CAPER, designed to help elementary school teachers and administrators more accurately diagnose pupils and plan instructional programs for them. ``CAPER was developed to help children who are educationally at risk, including those who are having trouble adjusting to mainstream American schools; who are culturally different from many of their classmates; and who are not proficient English speakers,'' Haynes said. Schools are devoting considerable resources and personnel to administrative and referral meetings to determine whether a particular child should be placed in a special education setting. Administrators often discover that if the teacher is unable to work with children with limited English proficiency or socioeconomic problems, he is apt to recommend that the children be placed in special education just to get rid of them. Helping educators ``Too often, many of these kids are referred for special education and identified as handicapped because teachers and school administrators do not have the knowledge or time to analyze complex individual situations and determine the best instructional plan for each student,'' Haynes said. ``We saw the opportunity to build an expert system that would deliver reliable information and sound recommendations to elementary school personnel.'' The expert system, which was developed using the Knowledge Engineering System from Software Architecture and Engi- neering, reduced the number of administrative and referral meetings in one school by more than 50% and received rave reviews from school administrators and faculty members, Haynes said. CAPER is a family of 14 expert systems, each with two components. The first component, the problem analyzer, defines the pupil's problem in the classroom setting. ``The problem may be that the student does not speak English, is impoverished, does not read well, is not motivated, does not do homework or is withdrawn,'' Haynes explained. ``It can be hard to figure out what the problem is [without CAPER], particularly because standard tests are not valid for students that do not speak English. In fact, the tests are not valid for the student who is not a native speaker.'' The strategic selector The second component, called the strategic selector, offers suggestions for resolving the problem as well as guidelines for steps to take in the referral process. Sometimes the solution may be as simple as recommending a change in seating assignments so that students are seated with more compatible classmates or recommending a reading program that includes oral discussion. ``The system may make the teacher aware that if the child is very inattentive in class that hunger could be the problem,'' Haynes said, ``or alerts the teacher that the child may be acting this way because it is normal in this child's culture. A lot of emotional problems are due to cultural differences, and the system sensitizes the teacher to this fact.'' No cure-all The system does not handle every sort of problem; it is designed to resolve problems related to reading, classroom behavior and language and cultural differences. Problem-solving components for math, study skills or motor skills, for example, will be added later if additional funding can be found to develop the system further. Haynes and her colleagues began developing CAPER in October 1985 after receiving a grant for funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Work on the project began when Haynes was a research associate with the Institute for the Study of Exceptional Children and Youth at the University of Maryland's Department of Special Education. During the first year, the CAPER team validated and tested modules of the expert system with teachers, administrators and other education experts. The completed system was installed at test sites in elementary schools in the Washington, D.C., area in January. The system, which can be configured for the characteristics and educational objectives of different schools, is also currently undergoing testing at school systems in Pennsylvania. CAPER runs on an IBM Personal Computer XT or faster class of personal computer with 640K bytes of random-access memory and a hard disk drive. One advantage of using Knowledge Engineering System as the shell for developing this and other expert systems is that it can be ported to a wide variety of platforms ranging from PCs to mainframes. By Michael Alexander, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : DEC pros still hard to co Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: careers1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Today, a career in a Digital Equipment Corp. shop does not necessarily mean a job in a laboratory. Many major corporations now use DEC hardware and software for developing standard business applications, a dramatic change from the situation 10 years ago. Spurred by this growth, the demand for DEC professionals in the commercial arena is strong nationwide, according to Jack Schwartz, managing director for the recruiting firm Source EDP in San Mateo, Calif. ``The demand for VAX people is tremendous, and the supply hasn't caught up yet,'' he says. Unlike IBM mainframe shops, in which developers of business applications traditionally have worked in Cobol, DEC VAX shops make use of several languages. In addition to Cobol, Fortran and C, they are beginning to rely on fourth-generation languages such as Oracle Corp.'s Oracle and Relational Technology, Inc.'s Ingres. Employers generally require programmers to be proficient in one or two of these languages. According to Hershel Wald- ner, president of American Data Search and Management Consultants in New York, 45% of the searches his organization has been asked to conduct this year have been for professionals with DEC experience, up from 10% a decade ago. At that time, virtually none of the positions involved business applications; now almost all the prospective employers are banks and brokerage firms. ``Specifically, the clients want VAX experience with the VMS operating system and a combination of several languages, including Cobol, Basic, Fortran and C,'' Waldner says. Wanted: DEC developers But clients of the firm know that DEC developers are so hard to find that they overlook otherwise typical requirements. ``Managers tell us not to even worry about the applications background of the candidate because they know there may not be a competitor with a parallel DEC environment,'' Waldner says. But Schwartz says the rapidly growing ranks of banks and brokerage houses that have installed VAXs are getting more selective. ``A couple of years ago, they were dying for VAX people, so they took them from any environment, including very technical engineering groups,'' Schwartz says. ``Now they still hire engineering types, but more often the employers ask for people who have some financially related background,'' Schwartz adds. That qualification is particularly important for people working with users to design systems. Salary ranges for technicians with DEC experience can be large. For example, a DEC programmer/analyst with three to five years of experience may earn between $30,000 and $60,000 a year. ``If the person comes in with DEC hardware/ software background and also the knowledge of the business application, he can parlay that applications knowledge into additional dollars,'' Waldner says. Little of this, little of that DEC professionals might find themselves undertaking a relatively broad variety of tasks. ``Many of the DEC business environments I've seen have been similar in that the employees did a little of everything,'' says Jim Welborne, director of information resources at Crowe, Chizek and Co., a South Bend, Ind., accounting firm that has been developing Cobol business applications on DEC equipment for more than 12 years. In Welborne's shop, technicians do programming as well as analysis. ``You might even sit at the Help desk once a week just to remember what it's like to talk to people,'' he adds. This practice can be a boon for professionals who want to get involved with all aspects of a project, says Hank Livingston, a systems manager at Champion International in Courtland, Ala., where several business applications are running on VAXs. ``Those people know more about a project. They don't just have one piece of the puzzle to work on; they've got the whole puzzle,'' he says. In addition to this variety of tasks, DEC professionals are gaining mobility among employers with the growing number of VAX installations, Schwartz notes. ``More and more companies of different types are acquiring VAX equipment, and consequently the job options are much greater than in the past,'' Schwartz says. The corporate profile Professionals interested in identifying companies that use DEC equipment for business development, or that may eventually do so, might look for a specific corporate profile. ``DEC has taken the approach that rather than take IBM head-on, they are going to focus on areas in which they are strong, and this certainly includes providing business systems to companies with heavy networking requirements,'' says Prabhat Andleigh, vice-president of technology at Lobb Systems, Inc., a Wakefield, Mass.-based systems integration firm. DEC can provide a company with a very small system and then cluster it later for very heavy distributive processing, he says, so any company with regional offices and networking requirements may be a likely candidate for DEC equipment. ``Where there are decentralized operations and decentralized decision-making, the company needs a system that can remain common across the board and provide growth,'' Andleigh says. By Sheryl Kay, Special to CW; Kay is an MIS human resources consultant based in Tampa, Fla. <<<>>> Title : CASE users group aims to Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: caseuse1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: When Case Research's first annual survey of the computer-aided software engineering (CASE) market turned up a surprisingly low level of actual CASE implementation at large commercial and industrial sites, the Bellevue, Wash.-based consultancy and market research firm decided to not just report on the situation but alter it. The suggested remedy is a national association called CASE Users Group _ the first organized forum for education and exchange among CASE users that is neither directly nor indirectly sponsored by a specific tool vendor, according to Case Research President Greg Boone. ``The gap between the realities of implementation and the hype about the technology is bigger than it's ever been, and more input from vendors is a far cry from what's needed to change that,'' Boone said. Case Research _ which, Boone said, is serving only as a necessary catalyst and plans to have no controlling role in the group once it is up and running _ is starting small, with a Washington-based group that its organizers hope will become the Seattle-area chapter of a national organization. Such matters as dues, organizational structure and publications have yet to be decided. Even in its fledgling state, however, the idea is attracting users, many of whom see in CASE the same need for peer-to-peer communication _ in the true sense of the phrase _ that galvanized Case Research. Users applaud Users _ current and prospective _ who are helping to form the Seattle area chapter of the association saw the effort as a potentially viable way of addressing several of the fundamental problems that are proving to be roadblocks in the way of CASE. Looming large among such problems are product hype; confusion between tools, on one hand, and methods on the other; difficulties in identifying the ultimate CASE beneficiary; and lack of communication across technological and business boundaries. Mark Smith, an engineer involved in software engineering research and development at Boeing Corp., said, ``We run the risk of operating along an agenda of theirs, true _ but at least it isn't that of one particular vendor.'' Vendor-sponsored users groups, Smith was quick to add, can be extremely helpful. ``However,'' he said, ``they're not very likely to expose you to users' experiences with other vendors' tools. Case Research is at least nominally independent.'' The kind of user exchange that the new group hopes to foment, Smith said, could aid in abating another problem now rampant in the CASE area. ``There's a lot of confusion between CASE tools and CASE methods,'' he said. ``All too often, people want _ and in many cases expect _ to buy a tool, turn it on, and have it magically produce dramatic results. When it doesn't, they feel betrayed and say that CASE doesn't work.'' For example, Smith said, a front-end CASE design tool might present the user with three alternate ways to represent a step in the software design process. However, what it will not do _ cannot do _ is tell the user which of the three to produce first. For this, Smith said, you need a methodology _ a fact many users do not grasp until inconveniently late. What is more, Smith said, in some cases, potential users are being inadvertently misled about the complementary roles of tools and methods. ``I'm not sure,'' he said, ``that all the vendors appreciate the distinction.'' Users are also facing questions about who the customer is and who the software is really being designed to serve, said Larry Bergen, information systems manager at the Seattle-based Northwest Division of Wilbur-Ellis Co. As a sales distribution business serving the agricultural industry from 55 separate locations, Wilbur-Ellis' customers range from one-man farms to large conglomerate organizations, Bergen said. The information systems department is currently trying to design an order-entry system to be used in the company's sales department. ``Who do we aim it at?'' Bergen asked. Wrestling with this question, he said, leads to another issue. Both, Bergen hopes, will be beneficially addressed by the CASE Users Group. To create software that actually serves a company's needs, ``software designers have to know and understand what those needs are, how the business works, what kinds of goals it's trying to meet,'' Bergen said. More than just code Software, he said, ``isn't just program code _ it's the implementation of the way the business people are thinking.'' Conversely, a software system should be a tool for the way people do business. CASE ideally should serve both of these ends, he said. To reach that ideal, however, there has to be a level of communication and interaction between the business people and the systems people that is all too often lacking. Therefore, Bergen said, when it comes to CASE education and interchange of ideas, ``I need a forum where I could very freely invite business people, without putting them to a great deal of expense and inconvenience, and have them consistently return.'' Vendor-specific groups that meet once or twice a year on a national level, he said, whatever their benefits, do not provide such a forum; the Case Research-sponsored group might. By Nell Margolis, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : CC:Mail a big hit with LA Author : Julie Pitta, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: ccmail1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: PALO ALTO, Calif. _ Corporate computer users weary of playing phone tag with co-workers are getting a respite with electronic messaging packages such as CC:Mail, produced by CC:Mail, Inc. Bruce Fryer, a senior consultant for end-user computing at Baxter Healthcare Corp., is in the final stages of a project to install an electronic messaging system that will accommodate 5,000 users working on 180 local-area networks at the firm. After comparing CC:Mail to other electronic messaging packages, Fryer's group chose it as a standard. ``It requires minimal training,'' Fryer explained. ``It has a very good user interface compared with other E-mail systems, and it is designed to handle very large systems [with] thousands of users.'' Another deciding factor in the selection of CC:Mail was the product's ability to run on a number of different types of LANs. Because of its size, Baxter Healthcare uses a variety of LAN products and requires a software package with flexibility. The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., is in the business of compiling and disseminating information. The Academy _ which boasts a number of branches, including the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine _ has been commissioned by the federal government and private industry to compile reports on a variety of topics. Prior to purchasing an electronic messaging system, the Academy was hampered by its sole reliance on telephones, as well as a shuttle bus, to drop off information packets to remote sites. ``We deal in information, so there's a need to pass a lot of it around,'' said Kit Davis, technology manager of personal computer systems at the Academy. According to Davis, an estimated 950 users communicate across 10 LANs located in three buildings via CC:Mail. ``Everyone's addicted to it,'' Davis said, attributing this to the system's ease of use. On the day he was interviewed, there were 1,000 active messages in the system, Davis said. International Thomson Co., a $3.5 billion publishing company based in New York, uses CC:Mail to communicate with 26 offices around the world. Rich Spitz, manager of microsystems at International Thomson, said he was impressed by the ease with which graphics and files can be imported from other applications onto CC:Mail for transmission to other users. ``We used to use faxes, which are slow and sloppy, and an external mail service that was very expensive and slow,'' Spitz said. Although he is pleased with its performance, Spitz said the price for CC:Mail with a gateway module is expensive at $1,295 per file server. The product costs $695 without the gateway. <<<>>> Title : Early planning key to smo Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: cdcstudy Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: MINNEAPOLIS _ Early involvement by MIS executives in the planning process can be one of the keys to managing a smooth transition after a corporate merger or acquisition, particularly when MIS strategies are coordinated with those of the human resources group, according to a recent study by Control Data Corp. and the American Management Association (AMA). The survey of 109 companies that had endured mergers or acquisitions showed that a slight majority experienced no significant problems and that 63% felt they had adequate information for decision making during the merger process. However, less than half of the companies had a complete picture of their computer resources at the time of their mergers. This indicated that while they had adequate information about MIS, the companies wanted more data, according to Patrick M. Delaney, president of CDC's Business Management Services Division. Delaney said one area in which systems fell short of providing needed information during a transition was in helping to keep key employees from becoming victims of the turnover that naturally follows a merger. He said communications can overcome such a problem. Delaney urged senior managers to call on the MIS and human resources groups early in the merger process. He said that major mistakes reported by some of the participants included the failure to draw on the systems to acquire detailed information about employee qualifications or the impact of decisions on the work force; and arbitrary decisions made to eliminate redundant employees and business processes. ``MIS just wasn't called upon, and if it was called in, it often was too late,'' Delaney said. ``A merger or acquisition doesn't have to be traumatic and chaotic, with a loss of business or loss in worker productivity. You have to ask yourselves, `What information do we need, and how are we going to communicate with the employees of both the acquirer and the acquiree about what they need and have to offer?' '' Delaney, who heads CDC's service bureau operation, said supporting such a transition on a consulting basis is one potential new field for service departments seeking to recoup revenue that is lost as their traditional batch-oriented business continues to slip. Not just money Delaney maintained that too many companies base their decisions about keeping employees purely on financial considerations. He suggested that firms use their computers and one-on-one interviews to identify individual employees' talents. Similar close looks can help identify which business processes _ those of the acquiree or the acquired _ will be used in the merged company, he added. Delaney also noted that compatibility of hardware and software systems can provide a challenge during the transition. He said that in some cases, executives of the acquiring company did not even know what type of systems the target company was using at the time of the merger. The survey showed that 68.8% of the companies merged systems within a year, although Delaney noted that more than 30% could not complete such a technical merger. The greatest problems with incompatibility arose in the area of general ledger systems, according to 31.2% of the respondents. Problems with accounts payable and receivable were cited by 27.5%, and problems with production and distribution by 17.8%. The merging of financial systems was given the highest priority by 40.4% of the companies, followed by operational systems at 31.2%. CDC initiated the research, which was carried out by the AMA. Chief executive officers and acquisitions officers at 109 companies were surveyed by mailed questionnaires and personal interviews. The surveyed companies, which ranged in size from several hundred to several thousand employees, generally were one or two years into the merger transition. By James Connolly, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Compaq laptop lives three Author : Julie Pitta, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: complap1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: HOUSTON _ Compaq Computer Corp. today will introduce an Intel Corp. 80286-based laptop computer that is able to operate on batteries for an estimated three hours. The computer, scheduled to be introduced at a press conference in New York, is one of a number of new entries this month in the resurgent laptop market. Other models have recently been introduced by NEC Information Systems, Inc., Toshiba America Corp. and Grid Systems, Inc. A laptop announcement is also expected shortly from IBM. According to Computer Intelligence, a San Diego market research firm, Toshiba and Zenith Data Systems are the market share leaders in that arena. Industry analysts have said these systems are growing in popularity for corporations with field personnel because of their portability and relatively low price. ``You have to give Toshiba a lot of credit for demonstrating that the market is there,'' said William Zachmann, president of Canopus Research, a computer industry research firm in Duxbury, Mass. ``That's money that Compaq has been leaving on the table. It's safe to say they'll get their share of it now.'' The long-expected Compaq entry, called the SLT/286, weighs 14 pounds and measures 13 - by 8 - by 4-in. It runs at a 12-MHz clock speed and offers 640K bytes of random-access memory, expandable to 3.6M bytes. The laptop also features two expansion slots. The 10-in. flat-panel display is backlit and offers 640- by 480-pixel IBM Video Graphics Array resolution. The system is powered by a battery pack said to provide an estimated three hours of use. An AC adapter is also standard. The SLT/286 will be offered in two versions, one with a 40M-byte hard drive priced at $5,999 and a second with a 20M-byte hard drive priced at $5,399. <<<>>> Title : A fresh face in Prime spo Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: craig Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: NATICK, Mass. _ Hot off a five-year stint in which, according to industry analysts, he reversed the foundering fortunes of General Electric Co.'s GE Information Services division, Anthony L. Craig can be called a turnaround artist. Early this month, as the surprise news spread of Craig's imminent ascendency to the chief executive's office at Prime Computer, Inc., many called him just that. Craig, however, indicated that the better label would be ``ready for prime-time player.'' While he describes himself as change-management-oriented and ``suspicious of excessive static,'' Craig said that he arrived at Prime with great excitement but no specific game plan. ``My immediate role,'' he said, ``is to listen.'' The 43-year-old Craig _ who will begin his stint as CEO of Prime when current CEO Joe M. Henson steps down ``several months from now,'' according to a company spokesman _ spent his first week as Prime's new chief operating officer, executive vice-president and board member meeting with employees and carrying out his self-styled immediate role. ``The man is incredibly astute, both technologically and marketwise,'' said David Taylor, director of consulting at the Gartner Group, Inc., a market research firm based in Stamford, Conn. Talking to industry observers about Craig's stewardship of GE Information Services, Taylor said, ``you get two reactions: One is that he did a very good job of directing the division, of providing a vision of where GEIS should be and how to get there.'' The other, he said, is that Craig was never wholly successful in communicating his value-added network-based vision to GE top managers. ``If you can't sell your idea to management, no matter how technologically good it is, you're vulnerable,'' said Taylor, who said he sees Craig as an admirably equipped leader whose mission at GE Information Services was aborted. At Prime, Taylor noted, Craig himself will be top management, presumably empowered to stay whatever course he chooses. There is a question on many minds as Craig approaches his turn at the helm of one of the major companies attempting to navigate through the increasingly perilous minicomputer market: Will that course be one of attempting to conquer new markets, probably through acquisitions, or one of concentration on the computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) market? Guided, he said, by factors of law, business practice and simple prematurity, Craig declined to comment at this time. However, the CEO-elect conceded that it would not be out of line to assume that ``becoming very expert in vertical acquisitions'' is part of his curriculum as he educates himself in the ways, means and needs of his new company. Major step Prime took another major step in that direction last week with its agreement to buy GE's Calma CAD/CAM business. With the computer industry, and particularly the minicomputer sector, in a well-cataloged state of turmoil, ``a company needs a leader who is sensitive to market shifts _ who, hopefully, can see them coming before they happen but who can at least react decisively once they do,'' said Kathryn Korostoff, an analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based market research firm International Data Corp. ``I think Tony Craig is that kind of man.'' Craig, Korostoff said, ``is the take-action, hands-on kind of person who will reevaluate Prime's strategic direction if he thinks it's needed _ who will make decisions and follow them through.'' By Nell Margolis, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Tech stocks on ropes Author : Clinton WIlder Source : CW Comm FileName: crashsid Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Since knocking the computer industry to the ground last Oct. 19, the stock market has continued to kick sand in its face. With few exceptions, computer stocks have failed to significantly recover from their market crash beating. Some, including former stock market darlings Digital Equipment Corp. and Lotus Development Corp., are now trading well below their closing price on Black Monday. Computer stocks did not burn investors much worse than any other industry's stocks during the crash, but analysts trace the technology disfavor to broader changes in the investing climate. Small investors, many enamored with low-priced technology issues, were scared out of the market by the crash. ``Institutional investors are more powerful than ever before,'' said Richard Shaffer, president of consulting firm Technologic Partners in New York. ``That exaggerates the tendency to buy large blocks of big companies, where you can't make waves because the pool [of outstanding shares] is so big.'' Shaffer notes that most of the big market action has moved back to takeover speculation, which has not swept through the computer industry yet. ``Fundamentals have less to do with stock prices than ever before,'' he said. ``A dog of a widget company is a good target, so its stock soars. Apple and Microsoft are solid companies leading their industries, so there's no way they would be targets, and their stocks suffer.'' Uncertainty about macroeconomic conditions, which has abated little since the crash, has translated into investor doubts about corporate spending for computers. Add in other uncertainties about the future of Unix, OS/2 and IBM's Micro Channel Architecture, and investors get downright catatonic. ``It's pretty simple,'' said Mary McCaffrey, a computer industry analyst at Cyrus J. Lawrence, Inc. ``Everybody hates them, and no one wants to own them. Institutional fund managers are very near-term performance oriented because that's how they're evaluated. They just kick [technology stocks] out of their portfolios and wait for the volatility to settle down.'' CLINTON WILDER <<<>>> Title : Cypress profit defies the Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: cypress Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Newly public Cypress Semiconductor Corp. last week announced strong profits and revenue growth, illustrating the relative health of the memory chip niche in the computer industry. Fueled by the personal computer market's discovery of the benefits of cache memory, which uses the static random-access memory chips Cypress provides, the chip and microprocessor manufacturer last week reported $36.9 million in revenue for the third quarter ended Sept. 26 _ a 76.6% increase over third-quarter revenue for fiscal 1987. Net income for the company came in at $5.5 million, a 71.9% rise from earnings in last year's comparable period as well as a 17% increase over second-quarter profits of $4.7 million. What trends? Cypress' upbeat numbers, as well as the expectation that the climb will continue, are bucking several industry trends, according to analysts. The PC market, so recently a seemingly limitless boomtown, has slowed. And earlier this month, the traditionally optimistic Semiconductor Industry Association forecast a 3% industrywide decline by 1990. The market, however, is ripe for Cypress, said Millard Phelps, an analyst at Hambrecht & Quist, Inc. in San Francisco. ``High-performance static RAM chips are in great demand, because high-end personal computers are using them to feed cache memory,'' Phelps said. Waking up to cache Cache memory, he explained, was, until recently, largely ignored by the PC universe. The superspeed performance that high-end processors such as Intel Corp.'s 80386 make possible, however, has sensitized manufacturers to the need for quick-acting cache memory _ a need that worked to Cypress' benefit in its third quarter and is expected to continue propelling the company forward. ``They're at about 2 times [semiconductor] industry growth right now and growing,'' Phelps said. ``They really do execute well.'' During the last quarter, Cypress and its subsidiaries introduced 10 products. The venture-backed company, which has just recently gone public, also took home the Stanford Business School Alumni Association's Encore award as the entrepreneurial company of the year, following in the footsteps of Apple Computer, Inc. and Sun Microsystems, Inc., among others. By Nell Margolis, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Face the music Author : Ira W. David Source : CW Comm FileName: davidlet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A recent letter [CW, Aug. 22] asked IBM to halt their plans for object code-only in the best interest of the software and user communities. I find the position taken to be quite naive. IBM has been promising to withhold source code for several years now. They have delayed their implementation of this practice under pressure from software vendors and users but have not rescinded their position. They have increased the number of exits available, improved their documentation and provided improved tools for obtaining specific pieces of information. They have now promised that they will work with software vendors to provide the information which is required. All of this has clearly pointed to the fact that they are going ahead with their plans to secure their software via object code-only. As a responsible software company, we have been enhancing and improving our products, but always doing so with the recognition that all dependence on source code was at best tenuous. We have therefore taken the position that these dependencies will have to disappear. Ira W. David Senior Vice-President, New Technology On-Line Software International, Inc. Fort Lee, N.J. <<<>>> Title : DB2 2.2 shows IBM is seri Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: db2folo Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: IBM is serious about making real what some view as a computing nirvana _ a distributed relational database within the guidelines of Systems Application Architecture (SAA). Although the company has previously talked of plans to offer such a system, the recent announcement of DB2 Version 2 Release 2 puts the firm's official seal on that intent. The distributed capabilities that will be available with Release 2 will not be shipped until the third quarter of 1989, but that is additional indication that a long-range blueprint is being implemented, according to observers familiar with IBM's Santa Teresa, Calif., development effort. The announcement was made a year ahead of time because IBM is serious about distributed relational, and the company wants to give its customers time to plan, said a source with ties to the DB2 development group. The source said users interested in distributing data will have to begin now _ if they have not already _ to implement the hardware and networking requirements of such a system. The requirements include multiple computers in different locations and an extremely powerful and reliable network. Glover Ferguson, director of development for the Foundation DB2-based computer-aided software engineering tool at Arthur Andersen & Co. in Chicago, suggested that IBM's early announcement could have been because of a different reason. ``They may want to freeze the market,'' Ferguson said, pointing to competition IBM faces from software vendors offering similar distributed relational capabilities on both IBM and non-IBM hardware. He noted that Oracle Corp. and Relational Technology, Inc. both offer multisite read and single-site update _ two features announced in Release 2 Version 2 _ for users of Digital Equipment Corp. systems. Ferguson said that if distributed relational features are available now under DB2, it would be in IBM's interest to make them available as soon as possible in order to encourage IMS users who have implemented distributed functions under that system to convert to DB2. Dale Kutnick, an independent consultant in Redding, Conn., said the company has actually solved most of the key technical requirements of a distributed relational database and, in fact, implemented them in R-Star, an in-house IBM distributed relational prototype. R-Star is an MVS-to-MVS database, many features of which are likely being included in the new release of DB2. However, it is IBM's goal to create a distributed relational system that includes OS-based Personal System/2s and Application System/400s and its own unique relational database. A commitment to include these systems makes implementation more difficult and time-consuming, several analysts said. Kutnick said R-Star includes a two-phase commit, necessary for updating multiple sites. However, implementing a two-phase commit in a commercially available product across a large corporation's network using disparate systems is difficult, Ferguson pointed out. And there are other potential stumbling blocks. ``They have not even tackled the theoretical nightmares, such as a join between two different tables on two different nodes,'' Ferguson said. Nonetheless, IBM's customer letters, sent with the announcement, mentioned both OS/2 Extended and OS/400 as equal players in the distributed relational database of the future. ``IBM intends to implement distributed unit-of-work access from any SAA relational environment to any SAA relational environment,'' the customer letter said. A source familiar with DB2 development said the new version of QMF, announced with the new DB2 2.2, also indicates seriousness about implementing SAA. The QMF version, which is menu-driven and usable by non-data processing professionals, parallels the query product on IBM's OS/2 Extended Edition. By Stanley Gibson, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : DCA makes pitch for T3 fi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: dca5 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: ALPHARETTA, Ga. _ Digital Communications Associates, Inc. (DCA) recently signed a letter of intent to pay approximately $14 million in cash and DCA common stock for Digital Transmission Systems, Inc. (DTS), a developer of the T1/T3 link. The purchase will enable DCA to attack the public network market sector. If the buyout agreement is approved, DTS will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of DCA. The deal is expected to close within 90 days. DCA already has an entry in the T1 market, the System 9000, which was developed by Cohesive Networks Corp. DCA purchased Cohesive Networks in the fall of 1986. The System 9000, which consists of wide-area voice, data and video networking products, is sold to large corporations building private networks. DTS products target the telephone companies and long-distance carriers. The company has a cross-connect product under development that is aimed at public networks and will link T1 and T3 systems, according to a DCA spokesman. If the merger is successful, DTS will become part of DCA's Network Communications Group and the T1/T3 link will be sold by both DTS and the System 9000 sales forces, but to different audiences, he added. Initial joint development efforts will involve incorporation of the DTS network management system into DCA's Open Network Management System, providing central control of both product lines, said DCA Chairman Bertil Nordin. Separately, DCA cited seasonal sale slowdowns in several product lines as a reason for an earnings decline to $7.1 million for its first quarter ended Sept. 30 _ a 21% decline from the same period a year ago. First-quarter revenue totaled $51.7 million, up 3% from revenue of $50.2 million in last year's comparable quarter. A slowdown in sales of DCA's personal computer-related products typically occurs in the summer. But the firm said that in fiscal 1987 and 1988, the summer slump was negated because customers postponed purchases to evaluate new PC product entries from IBM. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Want a free warranty? Don Author : James Daly, CW S Source : CW Comm FileName: decrise Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: MAYNARD, Mass. _ Digital Equipment Corp. effectively raised its prices by an average of 6% to 9% last week when it announced a gutted and rebuilt warranty program that eliminates a free year of maintenance service. The warranty changes are effective immediately and will be expanded to DEC's international market next year. John Buckley, DEC's manager of U.S. sales administration, said the company had originally toyed with the idea of raising prices across the board but opted for the warranty action because ``it does give the customer some choices.'' A price increase may also have soured users, who absorbed a 3.5% price increase in June that DEC attributed to the rising cost of dynamic random-access memory chips. The Columbus dodge DEC downplayed its decision to abandon the formerly highly touted program, slipping the announcement under the door during the Columbus Day holiday and labeling the development a move to let customers choose ``their appropriate level of product support.'' Under the new plan, warranties are available in four forms: list-price, basic, standard and optimum. Services under the new options are broken down as follows: The List Price Warranty is included with all systems and was primarily designed for customers prepared to handle the lion's share of their maintenance. Free service is available to customers who bring their computers to DEC service locations. The Basic Warranty is a nine-hour-a-day, five-day-a-week plan that includes access to DEC's software information database, the right to use new versions of DEC's software, on-site software support, full hardware installation, 24-hour telephone support and a four-hour response time. The Standard Warranty, which DEC is pushing the hardest, essentially soups up the previous free one-year warranty. The Standard Warranty services are identical to the Basic Warranty with the exception of offering 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week on-site support and a two-hour response time. The Optimum Support Warranty includes all the features of the Standard Warranty and throws in a professional support engineer for six months and a performance optimization service to provide performance upgrades. Because of the changes, users can expect to dig deeper into their pockets to obtain the equivalent level of service protection that was offered earlier at no charge. A four-user Microvax 2000 that had sold for $18,800, for example, will now be available for $20,000 with the Standard Warranty. Buyers of the high-end Microvax 8840 systems, on the other hand, should start hunting around for an extra $100,000 to cover the cost of Standard Warranty protection for the $1.3 million system. DEC said it expects 60% to 70% of its customers to choose the Standard Warranty coverage and 10% to 15% to take advantage of the free List Price Warranty. Early bird gets the warranty Although the new arrangement goes into effect immediately, orders placed before the announcement will enjoy whatever warranty was provided at the time of sale. Analysts reacted favorably to the move, noting that the free warranty was begun 18 months ago to squeeze out third-party maintenance competition and was no longer financially feasible. ``Customers must face the fact that they are either going to pay maintenance costs up front or vendors will tack it on to the product price,'' said Barry Bosak, a securities analyst at New York-based Eberstadt Fleming investment firm. Others argued that the price increases are extreme because computers have become increasingly reliable in recent years and the need for service has been reduced. ``I think it's outrageous,'' commented Scott Magoon, director of academic and research computing at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. ``Their high maintenance costs have already forced other departments in this university to go with other vendors, like Hewlett-Packard.'' Ironically, as DEC scaled back on its included warranty offerings, fellow Massachusetts organization Data General Corp. added product support muscle to its recently announced high-end MV/40000 and MV/40000-High Availability processor line with the addition of a comprehensive one-year support package for the machines and their related family of products (see story page 19). DEC also said it will increase prices of add-on software and hardware by 2%. <<<>>> Title : Waiting and waiting... Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: dougcoll Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Not exactly wedded bliss. Some people become attached to programs that are used for hours on end, despite the annoyances of design errors, performance problems and bugs. Others become far too attached to programs that have been announced but not shipped. These folks start to get more than a bit frustrated as the wait stretches on. Lotus' 1-2-3 Release 3.0 is a case in point. After the latest six-month delay was announced, users seemed to feel a bit hurt and rejected. That's when it sunk in: It was as if these people were actually engaged to this program and were desperately waiting for the relationship to be consummated. With some cheapo Radio Shack equipment, it was easy to listen in on a conversation between a Lotus customer and a sales rep, especially since both were imaginary. ``Hey, LDC. You know how devoted I am, don't you? Well, when can I get some, you know, Release 3 action?'' ``Oh, now, User Joe. You know I can't let you have it until it ships this summer.'' ``But, LDC, you promised I'd have it by now.'' ``Well, Joe, it's worth the wait. And believe me _ no one else has got it either.'' ``They'd better not. Say, can I have just a peek at what I'm missing?'' ``Sure, Joe. You can look all you want. Just don't touch the keyboard.'' It's no wonder User Joe slips out at night to play with the ``easy'' packages, like Excel. This is getting painful. Small is beautiful. Ever wonder why all this great software Computerworld keeps writing about hasn't arrived? The answer is simple. The software vendors are putting too much effort into the products. It sounds stupid, but like so much in this industry, it's true. It used to take a couple of people in a garage, two tons of sausage pizza and a pond full of Pepsi to develop ground-breaking software. Now these same packages are being enhanced by teams of well over a hundred programmers, fueled with fancy E-mail, Brie cheese and Perrier. Add to that far too many marketing people gathering checklists of functions that users absolutely do not need, and schedules stretch out into eternity. And they wonder why it won't fit in 640K bytes. Will software ever catch up with hardware? With this approach, no way Jose. Can the pompous open letters. Anyone who subscribes to high-priced industry-insider newsletters must have noticed a disturbing trend. Once these folks start getting quoted as experts, they feel beholden to give computer bigwigs advice. That's OK. God knows, these people need the help. It's just that the form of advice is getting a bit irritating. Instead of just giving advice, these newsletter writers pen open letters to the likes of IBM's Bill Lowe and Apple's John Sculley. In these missives, the newsletter writers give their readers the same advice as the recipient. But Bill Lowe or John Sculley won't get this advice that ``may well save their companies'' unless they subscribe to the newsletter. If this advice is so great, why haven't the boards of directors of companies like IBM and Apple hired these guys to run their outfits? Recently, I met with an ``industry figure'' and mentioned that someone had written him an open letter. Because he had been traveling, most of the world read the letter before he even got to it. Talk about an invasion of privacy. You know why these open letters are growing out of control? It's just one more way to save on postage. EISA irritation. As if IBM wasn't bad enough, a famous board maker now has a few gripes with the way Extended Industry Standard Architecture members work with third parties. It seems that in order to develop boards for this new bus, vendors will have to pay $2,500 and sign a confidentiality agreement. Under this agreement, any inventions or ideas that board makers come up with automatically become property of EISA. So much for an open system, and so much for creativity. Compaq does it too. While Compaq beats up on IBM (someone's got to do it) for propagating an incompatible bus (Micro Channel Architecture), few realize that Compaq has been cranking out some different buses of its own. In fact, the new Compaq Deskpro 386/20E has a different memory bus from the firm's other 386 machines. As with the MCA, if you want to create a special memory board that takes advantage of this bus, it's going to take some effort. Ain't so smart. How many computer journalists (who work for other publications, of course) does it take to start up a PC? Two: one to watch the machine, another to get help. That's why they're journalists and not information center managers. By Douglas Barney; Barney is a Computerworld senior editor, microcomputing. <<<>>> Title : Tracking legislation Author : Jean S. Bozman Source : CW Comm FileName: dpmaside Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Believing in computer security is one thing. Trying to get government to do something about it is another. This is why the DPMA monitors legislative activities in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals nationwide. When a proposed law affects the data processing community, the DPMA uses its ``Legislative Network Briefs'' newsletter to alert DPMA members. If a law is needed, DPMA members are encouraged to make proposals to their legislators in person. This is what happened after the federal government passed a computer crime bill in 1986. Just after the federal act was passed, DPMA drafted a model law that could be used as the basis for similar state legislation. ``We had a state legislator from Minnesota call us, asking about computer crime bills,'' said Joseph E. Collins, who leads the DPMA governmental affairs office. ``I think he ended up introducing our model bill verbatim.'' The bill passed the Minnesota Senate, Collins recalled, but it did not pass in the legislature. The DPMA maintained an office in Washington in the 1970s, Collins said, but that was abandoned by the early 1980s. ``We go out there to meet some of our members, and we go along with them as they meet with their congressmen,'' he said. ``But our focus really has changed over the state level in recent years.'' Grass-roots approach By taking this grass-roots approach, the DPMA forgoes having a Washington lobbyist on retainer. At DPMA headquarters, Collins keeps up with legislative news across the U.S. by logging on to an electronic database. Primary topics of interest include laws affecting VDTs, computer crime and security and computer education. Abstracts of pending bills are published in the ``Legislative Network Briefs'' quarterly. ``We'll research any legislation related to computers,'' Collins offered, adding that DPMA volunteers are always ready to stuff envelopes for a computer-related cause. If a state's legislative committee needs an expert witness, Collins searches a list of DPMA members in that state. ``We feel testimony has more of an impact when it's coming from someone who's actually a constituent in that state.'' JEAN S. BOZMAN <<<>>> Title : Year of renewal for the D Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: dpma55 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: PARK RIDGE, Ill. _ After 36 years, the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA) took a long, hard look at itself in the mirror and did not like everything it saw. A 1987 survey of 36,000 members showed membership declining and a $2 million budget that supported the 20-person staff at DPMA headquarters but could not buy full-time Washington, D.C., lobbyists. Many DPMA members also faced their employers' ambivalence about out-of-town travel for DPMA functions. ``The perceived value of DPMA membership wasn't apparent to some employers,'' said Perry Baty, secretary of the DPMA's Southwestern states region. ``So DPMA has decided it has to clean up its house and to polish the perceptions about DPMA.'' ``We've called 1988 the `Year of Renewal,' '' said Christian G. Meyer, president of the DPMA, whose one-year term runs out in January. ``For the past two years, we've been suffering a revenue loss that was due, in part, to the end of the National Computer Conference (NCC). As one of the four co-owners of NCC, we used to get $400,000 to $500,000 a year.'' As the DPMA was analyzing its membership survey, it was thinking of ways to replace the revenue lost when the once-booming NCC deteriorated, Meyer said. ``The loss [of the NCC money] forced us to look at our situation a lot harder and quicker than we would have had that financial cushion been in place,'' Meyer said. The DPMA budget for 1989 is projected at $2.5 million, slightly higher than the 1988 budget, he said. Money-making ideas have surfaced, though not yet implemented, Meyer said. Among them are establishing a for-profit subsidiary, creation of new management training and technical seminars and an expanded membership drive. Creating a higher profile image for DPMA will be a key element in DPMA's outreach to hundreds of thousands of potential members nationwide. That is why the association is experimenting with videotaped messages and redesigned publications to reach a larger slice of the DP management pie. ``It's a continual battle we fight,'' Meyer said. ``But we're trying to broaden our marketplace by reaching out to the user community. We're seeing many end users, like architects and financial analysts, who are managing information resources for the first time. That kind of person needs the kind of support, expertise and networking that DPMA can provide.'' Saw it coming Even before the survey was taken, DPMA knew it had a problem because its ranks were steadily thinning. ``For the last 26 months, there has been a spiraling downward in membership in DPMA, a steady decline,'' said Donald G. Oberg , director of membership and publications. Yet the decline in membership was seen as part of a broader, national problem. ``All associations are experiencing a declining or stabilizing membership,'' Oberg said. ``If a corporation is feeling an economic pinch, it may put certain things on a hit list, like attending out-of-town association meetings. Instead of four people, they might send just one person.'' The DPMA survey, launched in 1986 as the first in a series of such evaluations, showed that the problem went deeper. It pointed to the modest self-image of DPMA, which sits behind a car dealership in a suburb just west of Chicago. DPMA could have been making more noise, its staunchest supporters agree. ``We haven't done a good job of letting the world know who we are,'' said Terry Felker, a former Army information systems officer who is DPMA's national secretary and treasurer. ``We're becoming very aggressive to make the association stronger,'' added Wall Street Chapter President Richard Lefkon, who has been a member since 1985 and is also a Citibank NA vice-president. ``I would have joined DPMA earlier if I had known about them.'' One place the DPMA is looking for new members is among the ranks of upper DP management. While an estimated 70% of DPMA members work in operations or DP management, many are based in small- to medium-sized shops. To reach top IS professionals in large organizations and to give outsiders a taste of DPMA, the association scrapped its Data Management magazine in favor of a flashy quarterly publication, Information Executive. To help turn things around, DPMA also consulted with its senior advisory council of top MIS executives last year. Among those on the board are the following: Max Hopper, senior vice-president of information systems at American Airlines; Irwin J. Sitkin, vice-president of corporate administration at Aetna Insurance Co; and Fred Meier, vice-president of corporate program management at Unisys Corp. ``They are our sounding board,'' said John A. Venator, DPMA's executive director and daily operations administrator, ``We ask them what they think about the issues and ask them to help us plan for the future.'' The 16 members of the council are available for advice, even though schedules may keep them from DPMA functions. The big payoff As the DPMA's 37th annual convention is set to unfold in Dallas from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, the association's corrective actions seem to be paying off. By August, membership's downward spiraling had stopped, Oberg said, and September membership figures were expected to show an increase. The convention will probably draw approximately 1,000 attendees. To spark user interest, DPMA management is pushing the concept of special interest groups (SIG). ``The networking aspects of DPMA meetings tends to break down a little bit when you don't have common interests,'' Oberg observed. SIGs also give rank-and-file members leadership roles, something that was not previously available without election as a regional or chapter official. There are six SIG groups, including ones in artificial intelligence, office systems and telecommunications. SIGs can be formed by any DPMA member, provided he can attract 50 participants nationwide. As a grass-roots expression of changing interests, SIGs are seen in DPMA as a way to stay relevant. ``As long as you have an association that's pliable, that's responsive, you're OK,'' Oberg said. Before SIGs, the path to DPMA recognition was to climb the ladder of DPMA chapters and regional posts. There are 13 DPMA chapters in the U.S. and one in Canada, and each has a full set of officers. Beyond that, each chapter appoints an association director to sit on the board of 280 directors at the DPMA's annual meeting. This group sits with the DPMA's management board at the annual DPMA convention, giving each chapter a direct view of the association's most important meeting. From Phoenix to Dallas to New York's Wall Street, 280 chapters meet monthly to discuss DP matters over dinner and coffee. ``You sit down to dinner with friends,'' said the Wall Street Chapter's Lefkon. ``You can speak your mind, express your concerns, and you get advice and support in return with no negative repercussions.'' The freedom from worry about mistakes makes the discussion flow more freely at chapter meetings, said Michael Rosario Isabella, association director at the Phoenix DPMA chapter. ``At DPMA, you can throw out any idea, no matter how off-the-wall it is,'' Isabella said. ``You can run it by 50 people before you ever mention it to your boss. That way, you can find an answer to a question before it even becomes a problem on the job.'' The recent changes in DPMA direction are already bearing fruit at chapter meetings around the country. ``At one time, the big guys said that DPMA is made up of people from a lot of small shops, and they backed off,'' Isabella said. ``But that was before my time,'' Isabella added, who joined the DPMA in 1982 as a college student. ``Now, a lot of the bigger shops including IBM are coming back into our chapter, joining other large shops like American Express which never went away.'' Meyer said his career blossomed after he joined DPMA in 1970. ``At that time, I was a senior programmer about to become a supervisor,'' he recalled. ``Initially, I was looking for the education about management that DPMA provided, but later on, the networking part of DPMA membership kicked in.'' Today, Meyer is vice-president of BST Consultants, Inc. in Tampa, Fla. But making contacts in DP, at home or at an annual meeting remains the most popular reason for joining DPMA. ``Being a part of the DPMA has been great for me,'' said Baty, who joined in 1981. ``I've learned a lot. I've met a lot of people.'' Baty, who was president of his chapter last year and elected regional secretary this year, has his eyes on a national DPMA office. ``I'm still climbing the ladder.'' By Jean S. Bozman, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Program - training=proble Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: enduser1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Put a bunch of personal computer users in a room and eventually they will duplicate every application ever written for themselves and their departments. At the same time, they will create every type of headache for the information center manager down the hall. Thanks to the proliferation of personal computers and a rise in computer literacy, more end users than ever are creating applications using programming languages, databases, spreadsheets and other programs. The applications backlog at many MIS departments, and the desire to get around it, is also speeding end-user applications development. But the problem is that end users are not computer systems people, pointed out Martha Duke, information center manager at Union Pacific Resources in Fort Worth, Texas. ``They are accountants, lawyers or whatever, and computers are not their primary job responsibility, so they don't apply the techniques that are ingrained in the professional programmer,'' Duke said. Needless work Most end users are not adequately trained for applications development work and fail to document, audit and test their applications. Often, the applications are more appropriate for use on mainframes than on personal computers. When there is little communication between departments, end users may be painstakingly duplicating applications that are readily available elsewhere, said Richard Daniels, a senior systems analyst at Ciba Geigy in Greensboro, N.C. Compounding these problems is the fact that end users are pressing demands for more support and guidance from information centers to help them implement the systems they develop. If they do not create documentation and other critical information, when employees leave the company they often leave problems behind, explained Rich Slade, group leader in user services at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Ill. ``When the new end user comes to us for help, we don't know anything about the application,'' he said. The result is money down the drain, Duke said. ``We had to abandon a small local-area network that an individual had helped set up because there was inadequate documentation. The person hired a consultant who did the initial programming, and the end user made changes later. It caused a lot of headaches when the individual left.'' Eventually, the local-area network was dismantled and the salvaged hardware was sent to other departments, she said. Even so, the loss amounted to several thousand dollars in lost time and effort. It is after this sort of cata- strophic event that information center managers appreciate the need for setting up and following guidelines for developing their own applications, Daniels noted. As more personal computers are linked in networks and connected to mainframes, the need for information center managers to establish guidelines for end-user applications development becomes particularly acute. Thomas Samson, a partner with Heidrick and Struggles, Inc., a consulting firm based in Dallas, noted that there are three phases in the evolution of end-user computing. In the first phase, PCs enter the company as stand-alone machines, he said. ``If end users are developing their own applications, they are for their personal use and not likely to have much of an impact on the rest of the company,'' he said. In the second phase, in which several end users are developing applications for themselves and their departments, operational controls begin to take on importance. In the third phase, in which end users are developing applications using LANs as platforms and sharing data and applications on the networks, controls must already be firmly in place, Samson said. Despite the potential for problems that can arise from allowing end users to develop their own applications, information center managers seem reluctant to curtail the work. Standards, but . . . Information center managers typically have standards for purchasing software and supporting applications. However, few of them are tackling such issues as the circumstances under which end users can develop their programs, how those programs are to be documented and who has responsibility for maintaining end user-developed applications, according to Dave Douglass, editor and publisher of ``IC Strategist,'' a newsletter covering information center management. ``You have to be conscious that it can be a problem and set parameters to control it,'' said Gregg Brown, systems manager at United Telephone of Ohio in Mansfield. ``But you can control it only so much.'' End users who have a high level of technical ability can develop applications that meet their specific needs and go beyond what the information center can provide, he said. The trend is to provide end users with as much computing power as possible, Brown added. ``We do not discourage them,'' Argonne Labs' Slade said. ``Our role is to educate end users about making adequate documentation, backups and maintaining system quality.'' ``Overall, I think that the benefit of end users developing their own applications outweighs the problems that it causes,'' Union Pacific's Duke added. ``It makes them more self-sufficient, and they get the answers they need faster, especially with the smaller applications.'' Guidelines from information center managers for managing end-user applications development, according to ``IC Strategist,'' include the following: End users who write applications are responsible for supporting them. If the information center supports end user-developed applications, end users must provide proper documentation for their applications according to documentation standards. Applications written for departmental use, or those that take more than two person-days, must be reviewed and tested. End users' adherence to development standards must be audited regularly. By Michael Alexander, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Mach getting up to speed Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: es Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The Mach operating system on Next, Inc.'s workstation may have made its debut playing a desktop role, but its capabilities will be exploited in a grand fashion when Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. raises the curtain on its next supercomputer. Evans & Sutherland will introduce a $5 million multiprocessing supercomputer based on the Mach operating system in mid-1989, said Vice-President of Marketing Bob Stevenson. He said Mach, which is based on the University of California at Berkeley's Unix 4.3, has extensions that allow high-end graphics applications to be processed on a specified processor in the supercomputer. Carnegie-Mellon University's computer science department has developed and is shepherding Mach, which consists of a rewritten kernel inside the Unix external interface. The system may open application doors previously barred to Unix, as it brings multiprocessing capabilities and memory management to Unix's sometimes loose processing structure. Mach is also reportedly 15% to 30% faster than standard versions of Unix because of its tighter degree of organization, said Rick Rashid, director of the Mach program at Carnegie-Mellon. He said that Mach easily outperformed Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s SunOS 3.5, Digital Equipment Corp.'s Ultrix-32 and IBM's ACIS in benchmark tests. Mach also brings additional virtual memory management that is useful in high-end graphics applications. By William Brandel, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Excelan enhances VMS line Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: excelan Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: SAN JOSE, Calif. _ As was expected, Excelan, Inc. recently unveiled a key expansion of its Digital Equipment Corp. VMS product line: support for Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Network File System (NFS). The NFS product reportedly features file/record locking to allow Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS, AT&T Unix and VMS users simultaneous access to a file. ``DOS and Unix users shouldn't be asked to run a translation program just to access a text file under VMS,'' said Bob Davis, an Excelan product line manager. The NFS protocols provide users with access to almost limitless file space, he said. In addition, Excelan extended its Local-Area Network Service for VMS to support DEC VMS 5.0 and said it had licensed start-up TGV, Inc.'s Multinet, a host-based Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol implementation for the DEC VAX/ VMS environment. Excelan's NFS support includes a distributed file system management utility said to simplify network management through interactive on-screen manipulation of NFS parameters. This utility allows network administrators to add new users just by filling in the proper information on the screen, Davis said. File format translation and file name mapping are done by the NFS server, which frees the user for higher level tasks. LAN Service NFS is available as an addition to LAN Service for VMS; prices start at less than $3,000. Release 3.5 of LAN Service for VMS supports VMS 5.0 and will be distributed free to all customers currently under warranty or service contract. Multinet reportedly supports all VAX/VMS platforms, with complete VMS conversion compatibility from 4.4 to 5.0. It provides the standard suite of applications (Telnet, FTP and SMTP) and supports third-party programming through either a Queue I/O interface or its Berkeley 4.3 BSD socket interface. Multinet prices range from $1,995 to $17,950, depending upon the VAX system. / By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Network Equipment Technol Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: execover Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. (NET) has appointed Frederick E. Glave, 48, to the new position of senior vice-president and general manager of the private networks division. Glave, who is a 25-year veteran of Northern Telecom, Inc. and Bell-Northern Research Ltd., will assume general management responsibility for the operations of all four of NET's product divisions. NET also announced the appointment of Roger T. Hobbs, 45, as senior vice-president and general manager of the national marketing division. Steven E. Schlumberger, who served as general manager of the division for the past four years and built the current sales organization, was named vice-president of marketing. Comdisco Disaster Recovery Services, Inc. has named John A. Jackson executive vice-president. He was previously senior vice-president for operations at Comdisco. The board of directors of Alpha Microsystems has elected John S. Cain president of the firm. Cain will continue as chief operating officer and chief financial officer. Former President Robert B. Hitchcock will continue as chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Storage Technology Corp. announced that A. Donald Stratton has joined Storage Tek as vice-president of corporate quality. Stratton will head the corporate quality group, which is part of the Storage Tek customer satisfaction function. Prior to joining Storage Tek, Stratton was a quality expert during a 30-year career with AT&T, where he managed various quality activities relating to engineering and installation. Decision Industries Corp. has announced the appointment of Donald E. Lemon, former president and CEO of Alcatel Information Systems, as president and CEO of Decision Data Computer Corp. System Industries, Inc. recently appointed Donald C. Dickson to assume the position of vice-president of field engineering. Dickson was most recently System Industries' vice-president of sales operations. He was founder and president of Focused Training Systems, Inc. Archive Corp. has appointed George R. Rea to the position of vice-president and general manager of the data storage division. Rea came to Archive in June to provide interim management services as acting general manager for the data storage division when M. Thomas Makmann resigned his position as vice-president. Bruce Elmblad has teamed up with Bachman Information Systems, Inc. to direct the company's international efforts to organize a distribution network in Western Europe and a subsidiary in the UK. Jon Bachman, director of international sales and support, will be directing the company's sales and support operations. Elmblad was a founder of Prime Computer, Inc.; a cofounder of Inforex, Inc., a manufacturer of computer peripheral equipment; and director and chairman of Telxon Corp., a manufacturer of portable data entry equipment. Modular Computer Systems, Inc. announced the appointment of Guy Rabbat as president and chief executive officer of the company. Rabbat was formerly vice-president of research and development at Modular Computer. MAD Intelligent Systems, Inc. has announced the appointment of William J. Griffin to the post of senior vice-president of finance and chief financial officer. Griffin joins MAD from IBM, where he served as corporate director of financing at IBM's Armonk, N.Y., headquarters. Institutional Communications Co. announced the appointment of Gordon ``Don'' Hutchins Jr. to the position of president and chief executive officer of the company. Prior to joining Institutional Communications, Hutchins was senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Williams Telecommunications Group, based in St. Louis. <<<>>> Title : A hand on the switch Author : J.Scot Finnie Source : CW Comm FileName: finsid1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A strong synergy exists between automated operations and expert systems. The paybacks from expert systems in this area are as great as anywhere. Most observers place the average payback of a well-implemented expert system project at between three and seven times the initial investment. Some pundits have claimed the possibility of cost avoidance as high as 300 times that investment. Even skeptics admit to a likelihood of at least a 50% payback, which is probably much higher than most companies expect from data processing automation. For most MIS shops looking to explore expert systems, the goal is twofold, according to experienced users and consultants. First, the companies want to address some specific applications. Then, they want to move up the learning curve on building their own expert systems so they have the in-house capability to spot practical applications and deliver finished solutions. The possibility of automating the data center environment so completely that humans are no longer required for most operations _ termed ``lights-out,'' or automated, operations _ is exciting and controversial for most companies. Although experts caution that the reality is at least three to five years away at progressive companies and a decade or more for the rest, such statistics have not stopped some companies from gearing up for lights-out capability. Good starting point MIS/DP-specific application products are a good way for MIS shops to test the waters, according to John Popolizio, director of artificial intelligence at New Science Associates, Inc., a market research firm in South Norwalk, Conn. Such products let MIS retain complete control of the expert system, he explains, and department members have an excellent understanding of the application. In Europe, where there is an extreme shortage of qualified technicians to run big systems, companies like Societe Europeen Populisom (SEP) in Rungis, France, creator of the Ariane rocket, find that they must ``use expert systems products rather than people wherever possible,'' notes Claude Genthon, head of systems staff. The problem is complicated by the firm's sociopolitical environment, which resists reducing manpower as a means of achieving return on investment. While it is not close to achieving lights out, SEP has begun using an expert system from Paris-based Systar, Inc. The product, known in the U.S. as Daisy, is a performance analysis tool that works in conjunction with SEP's Unisys Corp. mainframes. Texas Instruments, Inc. is considering several means of exploring automated operations. ``We figure that in five years, we'll be there,'' says Pam Fales, knowledge engineer at Texas Instruments, Inc. ``Data centers at many companies are trying to go lights out so they don't have 16 to 20 operators working during the week. But to get there, you need system monitors and expert systems working at several functions.'' Like Digital Equipment Corp., IBM has so far released little in the way of expert systems aimed at MIS/DP customers, but it is actively developing in this area. It is concentrating on a line of 10 specialized tools being developed under what it calls the Automated Operations Joint Development Project. IBM has enlisted about 12 as-yet unnamed corporate customers to share the costs and benefits of the joint development effort. According to Mark Steele, manager of knowledge-based applications at IBM, ``The eventual goal of most of the customers we are talking to is to achieve lights-out operations. We don't expect to see that in the next couple of years. It is a complex subject. But we think the things we are doing in this project now will play a key role in getting us there.'' The product line IBM is working on is designed to dovetail with its mainframe system monitor products. Specific functions include real-time performance management, performance analysis, problem reporting and documentation, problem analysis, batch job management, network management, storage management and a Help-desk diagnostic tool. Most available expert systems for internal MIS functions are PC-based, but IBM's suite of products will be running in real time on the MVS or VM system. The company is also working on a system- or subsystem-restart capability to guard against lockout if the system fails. Steele notes that performance was the main reason for putting these products directly on the mainframe. IBM expects to deliver many of the tools to its joint developers in 1989, with the balance to come in 1990. ``Once they've been delivered to the joint development companies,'' Steele says, ``then we will turn our efforts to making them available for general sale, hopefully not long afterward.'' J. SCOT FINNIE <<<>>> Title : Disaster recovery arena c Author : James Daly, CW S Source : CW Comm FileName: focus3 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: There's an old saying that there are two times when you prepare for a disaster: the first time you're taught how and the first time you lose something important. Apparently, many data centers are not about to make the latter mistake. A recent study by Focus Research Systems, Inc. found that the use of disaster recovery and backup systems has grown dramatically during the past two years and that the average data processing manager's preoccupation with protection is not liable to abate. More than 91% of the IBM and plug-compatible mainframe sites surveyed have prepared for the worst and made contingency plans for calamity with some sort of disaster backup and recovery system. Only two years ago, nearly 40% had no disaster backup and recovery plan at all. ``Many industries have suddenly awakened to the fact that their data is very valuable,'' said Scott Brown, a researcher at Focus. ``We've seen a lot of interest from companies in very information-oriented industries, like insurance, finance, banking and utilities.'' Well-publicized upheavals like a 1986 Boston fire that damaged the Putnam mutual fund companies, electrical mishaps in Manhattan last year that sidelined the computers of Chase Manhattan Corp. and Manufacturers Hanover Corp. and a fire in May at a telephone switching station in suburban Chicago that knocked out more than 150,000 computer-to-computer connections [CW, May 16] have tended to serve notice of the importance of disaster recovery. But the report did not name specific causes for the turnabout. Buy safety Under a commercially available disaster recovery plan, companies essentially buy an insurance policy in the event that a fire, flood or other disaster cripples an essential system. The customers buy a guaranteed space on a backup computer on which they can run their programs until the original machines are fixed or replaced. Disaster recovery firms have, in turn, greatly benefited from the new interest in contingency planning. Sungard Data Systems, Inc. nearly doubled its revenue during the past five years to $91.1 million in 1987, while Comdisco, Inc., which specializes in computer leasing, said its disaster recovery revenue was about $60 million in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 _ a 50% increase from a year earlier. <<<>>> Title : Anticipating IBM's next f Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: gart Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: IBM is going to move much of its software and, it hopes, its customer base under the Systems Application Architecture (SAA) umbrella in anticipation of freeing its clients from dependence on 370 family hardware and operating systems. By doing so, it will allow its customers to take advantage of parallel processing and other new hardware technologies that are likely to dominate the mid-1990s, according to Michael Braude, vice-president of the Gartner Group, Inc. in Stamford, Conn. These and other predictions were part of a recent airing of ``IBM _ The Next Five Years,'' a pay-per-view satellite broadcast by the Computer Channel, Inc. The Floral Park, N.Y., start-up firm is taping a series of programs on computer networking, database management and other issues to sell to corporations as a substitute for sending MIS staff members to technical conferences. Braude said SAA, while not yet a full-fledged software architecture, is more than a ``marketing'' architecture. ``It is a blueprint for IBM. It is what it would do if it only could,'' Braude noted. While IBM customers would be naive to believe IBM can accomplish all the goals of SAA quickly, he said, it is likely to push to completion the parts of SAA that rest on a firm business case. Those include implementing SQL and relational databases across its range of hardware platforms and providing common communication protocols and end-user interfaces for users at each level of corporate computing, he said. IBM has couched its description of SAA as a pursuit of software portability across its varied operating system environments. But what it is likely to deliver, Braude said, is a ``single-system image'' to end users working on intelligent workstations. White collars and SAA Most white-collar workers will be workstation users within six years, and under SAA, they will not need to know where data is located or how to access it. They will not need to be trained in the individual idiosyncracies and commands of the application they are using, because software written for SAA will make use of a common user interface and background communications. IBM prefers to talk about software portability rather than single-image systems because ``the marketing folks chose a simpler message rather than a more complex message,'' Braude said. But the Gartner Group believes IBM will succeed in migrating its customer base to SAA. By the late '90s, IBM will be free to add parallel processors or neural networks to a corporate computer environment, and end users will not be aware of any change in the underlying processors, he said. Such a move would also free IBM to move to an operating system that could not be duplicated by competitors, according to Braude. Other predictions included in the broadcast concerned IBM's mainframe relational database management system, DB2, and its still unannounced repository, or system dictionary. The Gartner Group believes IBM will have succeeded in placing DB2 in all its major accounts by the year 2000 and is likely to have it in nearly every customer site by 2005. It estimates the number of licenses sold to date at 3,100, compared with 4,800 licenses sold for IMS, IBM's older, hierarchical database system. By 1990, the Gartner Group expects that ratio to be reversed, with DB2 enjoying a larger installed base than IMS by a margin of 5,400 to 4,960. The gap will continue to grow after that as DB2 takes over more and more of IMS' work, Braude said. IBM views keeping a leading edge on DB2 as essential to success against other software vendors, including Computer Associates International, Inc. and Oracle Corp. IBM's rapid moves with DB2 are making it more and more difficult for independent software vendors to justify the research and development expense to compete in the DBMS arena, he said. While IBM's often referred to but unannounced repository may set a world record for conjecture, it is expected to materialize next year as a single point of system information. It will make available key information in a mixed operating system environment and serve as a foundation for software development, Braude predicted. With a repository and SQL-based DBMS systems dominating the scene, IBM will furnish a playing field on which customers and third-party vendors will find it easier to write applications. The level playing field will spur demand for computing resources, generating IBM revenue, and megaplayers will emerge as software suppliers. CA, which recently became a $1 billion company with the acquisition of Applied Data Research, Inc., is the prototype for what is likely to be about 11 companies supplying 80% of the software by the mid-1990s, Braude said. Oracle, Microsoft Corp., Digital Equipment Corp. and IBM itself are likely to be among the group, he noted. With the price of admission to this select group rapidly going higher and higher, the Europeans and Japanese are likely to try to form business combinations that allow them to stay in the race with the American software giants, Braude said. By Charles Babcock, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Creativity matters Author : Jon Gersh Source : CW Comm FileName: gersulet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: I must take exception to an article concerning ``business etiquette consultant'' Ada Barnett [CW, Aug. 15]. Barnett proposes many sensible solutions to problems encountered by high-level management and marketing personnel. But please keep her away from working engineers! The ``Hawaiian-shirted and sandal-footed'' engineers know that substance is more important than style in dealing with technical problems, and so do those listening to them. If a company is to produce an innovative product, it must have some players who are allowed to express their creativity freely. Casting a pall of uniformity over an organization may make Barnett feel at home but does little to encourage creativity. Jon Gersh Senior Software Engineer Envoy Corp. Nashville <<<>>> Title : Feds supply more studies Author : Mitch Betts, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: govt Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ The October 1987 stock market crash spawned a presidential commission, four major studies, several congressional hearings and a few frenzied calls for the suspension of program trading. But the list of actual government actions to prevent a recurrence of Black Monday is quite short. ``In terms of legislation, it's really been a bust,'' said Julie Sedky, a political analyst at Washington Analysis Corp., a securities research firm. ``Congress didn't know what to do with all of the conflicting advice that it got . . . so it didn't do anything.'' Indeed, the studies, agencies and exchanges rarely agreed on what caused the volatility on Black Monday or how to fix it. For example, the Presidential Task Force on Market Mechanisms _ chaired by Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady and known as the Brady Commission _ and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said program trading was the culprit, but the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) disagreed. The Brady hunch In the regulatory field, the Brady Commission urged the Federal Reserve Board to become a superregulatory agency, the SEC chairman sought to wrest control over stock-index trading from the CFTC and the CFTC opposed both proposals. Lacking any consensus in the executive branch, Congress put the issue off until next year, when a new administration is likely to have more enthusiasm for securities trading reform, Sedky explained. There has been virtually no change in the federal government's regulatory structure, as the Brady Commission recommended, to better coordinate the stock and futures markets, which effectively behave as one market because of high-speed computer links. Regulation is now split between the SEC and the CFTC. The commission said a single agency must have authority to monitor and resolve intermarket problems in order to ``reduce the possibility of destructive breaks and to deal effectively with such episodes should they occur.'' Edward I. O'Brien, president of the Securities Industry Association in New York, said that government inaction is contributing to the low level of investor confidence in the stock market _ leaving most trading in the hands of professional and institutional investors. ``There still isn't a process in place to slow or stop the markets if necessary, and there still isn't agreement on selecting one regulator'' to coordinate rules in the stock and futures markets, O'Brien said in a statement. Perhaps the most significant government action is forthcoming from the SEC. Sometime in the next few weeks, it is expected to approve a ``circuit breaker'' proposal submitted by the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in July. The circuit breaker plan would halt trading across markets for one hour if the Dow Jones industrial average fell 250 points or more in a single day or if the futures market dropped in a similar fashion. The plan would also require an additional two-hour trading halt if the Dow fell another 150 points. NASD skeptical The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) said it opposes marketwide circuit breakers but reluctantly agreed to go along with the plan at the request of the SEC. NASD, which runs the over-the-counter stock market, believes that circuit breakers will increase market volatility instead of curbing it. Supporters argued that marketwide trading halts are necessary because the stock and futures markets are interrelated. If one market breaks down, they said, that transmits intense selling pressure to the markets that remain open. SEC spokeswoman Mary M. McCue said several steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence of Black Monday. One is that a pilot program has been approved for cross-margining of stock options and futures positions by professional trading firms. This is intended to add liquidity to U.S. financial markets in times of crisis. Also, telephone hot lines between the stock, futures and options markets have been established to share information such as opening prices. <<<>>> Title : Flexible Grid laptop debu Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: grid Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: FREMONT, Calif. _ Grid Systems Corp. has introduced a new Intel Corp. 80386-based laptop aimed at end users who need both power and flexibility. The Gridcase 1535 EXP is a battery-powered laptop with a removable tray with two IBM Personal Computer XT and AT expansion slots for mass storage, communications and other plug-in boards. The expansion slot will enable professionals in the field to configure the laptop for hundreds of applications such as converting the unit into an oscilloscope or adding optical disk drives, the company said. The laptop, which weighs 16 pounds with the expansion tray, features a 40M-byte hard disk drive, 1M byte of random-access memory and backlit LCD. Options for the unit include a gas plasma display, 2,400 bit/sec. internal modem and Intel 80387 math coprocessor. The company said it will begin delivering the unit in December at $7,495. <<<>>> Title : AI adapts to use of the v Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: harvey Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: During the mid-1980s, artificial intelligence _ the sheltered child of research-based computer scientists for most of its existence _ snuck out of the house and into the real world. In its escape, however, AI brought with it more than its fair share of hang-ups imposed by its academic parents. The most notable aspect of this upbringing was a pervasive sense of snobbishness about which computer programming languages were considered apropos when creating an AI system or application. Early discussions of the merits of languages approached religious fanaticism in two camps: those who preferred LISP and those who advocated Prolog. Throughout the early and mid-1980s, these two AI language teams refused to believe that any other programming language could be effectively used for AI. To them, it was a given that either LISP or Prolog would ultimately dominate a world anxiously awaiting true intelligence in a machine. Twist in time Time has proven them wrong. Not only is Prolog all but invisible in the mass market today, but LISP itself is in deep danger of being sent back home to live with its academic parents. Why? One reason is that early vendors and developers failed to understand that the mass market was not going to convert billions of lines of Cobol, Fortran, Basic, C and other established languages into LISP or Prolog just because researchers said they should. What has caused LISP, Prolog, OPS and a number of other AI-oriented languages to go from exalted to exhausted in less than 10 years? Plenty. Neither LISP nor Prolog works very well on mainframes or most IBM-class computers. Early buyers of LISP found that, to run the software, they also had to buy a LISP machine with an average price tag of about $100,000. Even then, a LISP-based application wouldn't work with any installed base of computer systems normally found in data processing centers. After about four years of buying into stand-alone AI languages and the resultant systems, corporate users began to realize the fallacy of spending hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars for computer systems that couldn't be integrated into mainstream computer systems _ primarily because LISP was used as a starting point. In addition, the scarcity of LISP followers in mainstream computing made commitment to LISP technology increasingly difficult for both users and vendors. A conservative estimate put the number of qualified LISP programmers in the world at fewer than 10,000 only a year ago. That is obviously not very many in comparison with the number of people doing Cobol, C or even Basic programming. Since the end of 1985, when expert system developer Teknowledge, Inc.'s major shareholder, General Motors Corp., strongly suggested that Teknowledge start developing applications in C, many in corporate America have been saying no to specialized AI languages. As a result, many AI developers are recoding and rewriting their programs and packages to integrate into existing markets and software installations. Even vendors of strict AI languages such as LISP, Prolog and OPS are now willing to concede that the market for these languages is limited, composed mostly of scientists, engineers and researchers. The remainder want mainstream capabilities and are willing to sacrifice features for speed. Today's AI products written in more traditional languages may not be as fully featured as their LISP or Prolog counterparts, but they run faster on mainstream architectures. Not that LISP and Prolog are dead languages; quite the contrary. LISP is still one of the best symbolic representation languages ever created, and LISP machines are still exquisite computers. As for Prolog, it remains one of the most efficient tools for logic programming. Special-purpose machines such as parallel processors and beefed-up workstations still provide a good environment for using LISP and Prolog in application-specific situations. Furthermore, LISP is having something of a renaissance on micros. This is due almost exclusively to the introduction earlier this year of the Texas Instruments, Inc./Apple Computer, Inc. hybrid _ the Explorer _ and last month's announcement by former AI heavyweight Symbolics, Inc. of its LISP board for the Apple Macintosh, the Macivory. (Ivory is the name of Symbolics' LISP chip.) Why the Macintosh? Essentially because its interface closely resembles that found on most LISP machines or high-level workstations. In addition, the Mac II is constructed around the Nubus architecture, which was the foundation for TI's LISP machines in the early 1980s. Thus, it forms a natural evolution for companies that wish to have smaller but more general-purpose LISP machines for application delivery. It is especially important to note that C and Unix have been winning big AI support, especially from Inference Corp., Neuron Data, Inc., Teknowledge and Sun Microsystems, Inc. TI even has Unix capability on its Explorer II machines. And though micros now make expert system development and delivery possible at all levels, this doesn't mean that specialized LISP machines will go away. A new generation Overall, a new generation of AI vendors _ as well as a revamped generation of older vendors _ is taking over the AI landscape. Companies like Aion Corp., AIcorp, Inc., Neuron Data, 1st Class Systems, Inc. and even Apple, IBM and DEC are trying to put AI into the mainstream. Refocused companies like Inference and Teknowledge are taking the know-how that they've acquired in the AI business during the last six to 10 years _ as well as knowledge about the pitfalls _ and applying it to the concerns of MIS and DP departments throughout the U.S. As companies like Apple, IBM, Cullinet Software, Inc., McCormack & Dodge Corp. and a host of other mainstream vendors get involved with AI, the choices for users will multiply. The options will range from the choice of hardware platform to the choice of language. AI will become less of a specific technology and more of an application enhancement tool, allowing users to create intelligent databases, spreadsheets and even inventory and payroll systems. Perhaps the best option will be no option at all: an AI application so transparent and functional that the user does not know _ or care _ what language the program is written in. By Harvey Newquist; Newquist writes and consults on artificial intelligence and other advanced-technology topics from his office in Scottsdale, Ariz. <<<>>> Title : FCC rules carriers must j Author : Mitch Betts, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: hicap Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ The Federal Communications Commission gave business network managers a partial victory last week when it ruled that local carriers must provide better justification when they use above-cost pricing for high-capacity data services. During a three-year FCC investigation of the ``strategic pricing'' issue, business groups such as the International Communications Association (ICA) charged that special-access rates for high-capacity voice and data services are grossly inflated [CW, Aug. 15]. The FCC ruled that strategic pricing is not unlawful because the carriers must have the flexibility to consider factors other than cost when setting special-access rates. However, the FCC said carriers must provide detailed justification for strategic pricing and demonstrate that it meets a set of six guidelines. ``We would have liked to have seen an up-or-down vote on the basic issue, but this is a step in the right direction,'' said Brian R. Moir, a counsel for the ICA. ``We don't oppose flexibility, but we wanted some justification.'' Only the right reasons The FCC's guidelines stated that strategic pricing must advance a specific public policy goal _ such as preventing uneconomic bypass of the public network _ and must not hinder a customer's choice of access services, the implementation of new technologies or efficient use of the network. Local exchange carriers said they use strategic pricing to discourage businesses from bypassing their single voice-grade circuits and moving to bundled, high-capacity services, the FCC said. The commission postponed decisions on several issues until it gets more public comment. Those issues include whether past tariffs meet its new guidelines, whether users are due refunds and strategic pricing of Digital Data Service rates. <<<>>> Title : Adra Systems, Inc. has en Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwadrasy Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Adra Systems, Inc. has enhanced its Adra 3000 design drafting system. According to the vendor, the 3000 Plus system offers improvements for windowing and computer-graphics augmented design and manufacturing database translation functions in addition to a larger display format and increased hard-disk capacity. Pricing for the 3000 Plus begins at $16,995, and current Adra 3000 users can purchase a performance upgrade kit for $895. Adra, 59 Technology Drive, Lowell, Mass. 01851. 617-937-3700. <<<>>> Title : Dataproducts Corp. has in Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwdatapr Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Dataproducts Corp. has introduced enhanced versions of its LM 300/315 and LM 600/615 line matrix printers. The units now feature Printronix, Inc. P-Series emulation, improved print bar design and extended verifiability of ribbons, according to the vendor. The printers also support Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Printer Control Language. The LM series prints text and line characters as well as graphics and bar code and has a reported mean-time-between-failures rate of up to 8,600 hours. The tabletop LM 300 model prints up to 420 line/ min; the LM 600 prints up to 840 line/min and is configured in a full cabinet. Both the LM 315 and the LM 615 include quiet full cabinets with a reported rating of 55 dba, the vendor said. The LM series is priced starting at $5,795. Dataproducts, P.O. Box 746, Woodland Hills, Calif. 91365. 818-887-8000. <<<>>> Title : Electrohome Ltd. has adde Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwelectr Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Electrohome Ltd. has added two monochrome monitors to its line of professional video display products. The Vari-Scan EVM 900 9-in. model and EVM 1200 12-in. model are targeted at the medical and financial marketplaces, the company said. The units feature ultrasound capabilities and can reportedly display 16 discernable levels of black, white and grey. Chassis design includes antinoise circuitry to minimize cross-talk between monitors that are situated close to one another. Bandwidth is 40 MHz with a resolution of 1,056 pixels at 36 KHz, and standard interfaces include composite video or synchronous output. The EVM 900 costs $715, and the EVM 1200 is available for $797. Electrohome, 809 Wellington St. N., Kitchener, Ont., Canada N2G 4J6. 519-744-7111. <<<>>> Title : Exac Corp., a manufacture Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwexac Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Exac Corp., a manufacturer of mass flow-meters for the process instrumentation and control markets, has announced an accessory prouduct _ the Model PX-90 Ticket Printer. The product is a stand-alone printout device said to print single- and multipart forms in virtually any size. The unit interfaces via the Exac RS422 communications port for data transfer and is especially suited to custody transfer, point-of-sale and recordable batch control applications. Engineering units can be configured for pounds and gallons or kilograms and liters, the vendor said. The Model PX-90 Ticket Printer costs $1,400. Exac, 6410 Via Del Oro, San Jose, Calif. 95119. 408-365-3500. <<<>>> Title : A cartridge tape subsyste Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwfast Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A cartridge tape subsystem designed for IBM mainframes and plug compatibles is now available from First Alliance Software and Technologies, Inc. Dubbed the Fast A480, the subsystem is reported to be fully format- and media-compatible with the ANSI-standard IBM 3480 cartridge tape device. Data transfer rates vary from 1.5M to 3M byte/sec., depending on the channel selected, and the actual transfer rate from the tape drive to the buffer is 3M byte/sec. Fast A480 is available in three configurations priced from $54,870 to $136,610. First Alliance, First Alliance Plaza, 11770 Bernardo Plaza Court, San Diego, Calif. 92128. 619-487-8030. <<<>>> Title : A high-volume page printe Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwgbt Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A high-volume page printer has been introduced by General Business Technology, Inc. The GBT 6615XP reportedly attaches to all models of the IBM Application System/400 as well as IBM System/36 and 38 machines. The 15 page/min printer has 300 by 300 dot/in. resolution, according to the vendor. The GBT 6615 costs $7,995. GBT, 1891 McGaw Ave., Irvine, Calif. 92714. 714-261-1891. <<<>>> Title : Hewlett-Packard Co. has a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwhp3 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Hewlett-Packard Co. has added two features to the Ruggedwriter 480 printer. The 24-wire, 480 char./sec. dot matrix printer can now handle six-part forms and has a recommended maximum use of 5,000 pages per month, the vendor said. Ruggedwriter was introduced in September 1987 and formerly produced four-part forms and had a recommended use of 3,000 pages per month. The printer incorporates RS-232C serial, Centronics Data Computer Corp. parallel and HP-IB I/O interfaces. Ruggedwriter 480 costs $1,695. HP, Customer Information Center, Inquiry Fulfillment Department, 19310 Pruneridge Ave., Cupertino, Calif. 415-857-1501. <<<>>> Title : IBC/Integrated Business C Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwintegr Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: IBC/Integrated Business Computers has introduced a 32-bit supermicrocomputer based on the Intel Corp. 80386 processor. Designated the 386:120/ 40, the machine is available in floor-mount and desktop models and operates at speeds of 20 or 25 MHz, the vendor said. The unit supports from eight to 120 ports and up to 24M bytes of main memory. A fully configured 120-port version, including The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.'s SCO Xenix 386 operating system, is priced at about $85,000. IBC, 21621 Nordhoff St., Chatsworth, Calif. 91311. 818-882-9007. <<<>>> Title : Mitek Systems, Inc. has a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwmitek Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Mitek Systems, Inc. has announced its Tempest Postscript laser printer, the Model 130T. The product was reportedly designed to provide full Adobe Systems, Inc. Postscript printing capabilities to government users in sensitive information processing environments. Features include 35 resident fonts and a 200-sheet input tray with a manual feed slot for envelopes and odd paper sizes. Total memory is 2M bytes, and the printer supports RS-232, RS-422, Apple Computer, Inc. Appletalk and Centronics Data Computer Corp. parallel interfaces. The Model 130T costs $8,995. Mitek, 6225 Nancy Ridge Drive, San Diego, Calif. 92121. 800-367-5660. <<<>>> Title : T & B Computing, Inc. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwtanbco Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: T & B Computing, Inc. has revised Gigasav, its videocassette recorder-based subsystem. The product can now be used with Prime Computer, Inc. machines. The subsystem can back up 1.6G to 2.4G bytes on a single standard VHS videocassette in six hours or less, the vendor said. Gigasav consists of a VCR unit, cabling and software; it attaches to the standard Prime streaming-tape controller. The software is said to be command-identical to Prime's MAGSAV/RST, without modifications to Primos, the Prime operating system, or Prime utilities. Gigasav carries a price tag of approximately $10,000. T & B Computing, 1100 Eisenhower Blvd., Ann Arbor, Mich. 48108. 313-973-1900. <<<>>> Title : Bright spot in IBM earnin Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ibmearn Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: ARMONK, N.Y. _ IBM last week reported only meager growth in sales and earnings for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, but analysts were quick to see a silver lining _ much of it due to Silverlake, or the Application System/400. Considering that the three-month period was a major transition in the IBM product line at both the high end and in the mid-range, IBM's revenue growth of just 5% was considered adequate. But most encouraging was an estimated 20% growth in orders placed by IBM's U.S. customers during the quarter, according to mainframe analyst Michael Geran at Nikko Securities in New York. ``In terms of future results, we finally have evidence of a turn in orders in the U.S. and continued strength overseas,'' Geran said. ``It was an impressive order quarter.'' Late starter With shipments of its AS/400 and 3090 S models not beginning until late in the third quarter, the quarterly results reaped only a small benefit from those products. However, overall IBM shipments were ahead of year-earlier levels for the seventh consecutive quarter, IBM Chairman John Akers said in a prepared statement. Overall, IBM earned $1.25 billion in the quarter, a 3% increase over year-earlier profits of $1.21 billion. The organization's earnings per share came in at the high end of Wall Street analysts' prediction ranges at $2.10, compared with $2 per share a year earlier. According to IBM, during the first nine months of 1988, its profits were 9% ahead of 1987's, but that was mainly attributable to a lower effective tax rate. Pretax earnings, which grew 5% in the third quarter, were still 3% below 1987 levels for the nine-month period. Third-quarter revenue increased 5% to $13.4 billion, compared with $12.73 billion in the year-earlier period. Nine-month sales of $38.74 billion were 7% higher than in the first nine months of 1987. In a product line breakdown, third-quarter revenue from systems sales increased 7%, and software revenue grew 12%, compared with the third quarter of 1987. By Clinton Wilder, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Users get an SNA breather Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ibmfep Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Corporate information systems managers heaved a sigh of relief last month as IBM fulfilled its promise to ship communications software that promises to make Systems Network Architecture (SNA) networks easier to manage and a lot more flexible. ``We got a little impatient waiting,'' said David Siegel, manager of network support at Chemical Bank. A lot of IBM host-networking troubles will go away, users said, now that their companies can install Advanced Communications Facility/Network Control Program (ACF/NCP) Version 4, Release 3, announced by IBM in January, and ACF/VTAM Version 3, Release 2, announced in June 1987. For example, IBM expanded the SNA subarea addressing limit from 255 to 65,000 nodes in the nick of time for Sears Communications Co., which was running out of addresses, according to Vice-President Gary Weis. The long-term beneficiaries of IBM's extended addressing capability will be firms that implement IBM 9370s as departmental processors, said David Passmore, a principal at Network Strategies, Inc. in Fairfax, Va. Since the 9370 must be addressed as a subarea unto itself, users that have hundreds of remote sites will rapidly exceed the 255-node limit, he added. Dynamic demand One feature of the VTAM and NCP releases that IS managers have been demanding from IBM for years is dynamic reconfiguration of routing and path tables on communications controllers. With the older releases, ``if we want to fix a problem routing sessions from one host to another, we have to bring VTAM down on both hosts,'' Chemical Bank's Siegel said. ``Sometimes we've had to wait a week or two for a good time to fix the table because it would disrupt the entire network,'' Siegel added. With the new release, ``you just go dynamically in and make the update without disrupting any sessions at all, which makes support a whole lot easier.'' Siegel also praised a VTAM enhancement that allows him to shift ownership of the SNA network from one host to another with a single command to NCP. With the older version, users would have to log onto their applications all over again, he said. The Travelers Corp. has been waiting eagerly for this support, which finally will allow the company to move from a hierarchical personal computer-to-host structure to an ``equalized environment where any intelligent workstation can talk to any other'' without having to go through the host, said Vincent Dellolio, second vice-president of data processing at Travelers. While the enhanced NCP and VTAM releases make SNA peer-to-peer networking feasible, IBM still needs to write some application software for those protocols before they really catch on among corporate users, said Steven Randesi, co-founder of Saratoga, Calif.-based research firm Gen2 Ventures. The vendor just announced Distribution Manager, an LU6.2-based application that distributes microcode down to IBM 3174 controllers and should shortly distribute software updates to other IBM systems such as the Personal System/2, Randesi said. Travelers received an early copy of the VTAM and NCP releases in February, so it has had plenty of time to try the software out, Dellolio said. ``The new VTAM is incredibly stable and efficient _ we expect it to save us $250,000 a year just in CPU cycles, and we see about a 40% reduction in resources needed for logging on and off.'' By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : IBM hops aboard the Next Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ibmnextr Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: IBM grabbed a piece of Steve Jobs' limelight last week and at the same time raised questions about its own intentions for its workstation line. Just four days after announcing that its AIX operating system for the Personal System/2 line would be delayed five months, IBM said it would license Next, Inc.'s graphical interface and add it to AIX. Nextstep, application-development and end-user interface software, will be available on IBM's PS/2, RT, 370 and future reduced instruction set computing systems, according to Bill Filip, IBM's assistant general manager of personal systems. No date has been set for product availability, according to an IBM spokesman. Nextstep has four parts: Window Server, which manages on-screen image drawing; Application Kit, with predefined objects to replace subroutines in application development; Objective-C, an object-oriented version of C code that can be used to design additional objects for the application kit; Interface Builder, which uses the objects in the Application Kit to structure the application's interface; and Workspace Manager, which shields users from Unix commands with menus and icons. How to tell them? IBM will now face the quandary of explaining to users the difference between the Next interface and IBM and Microsoft Corp.'s OS/2 Presentation Manager interface set for shipment later this month. Presentation Manager will run on the PS/2 line, but IBM has never committed itself to implementing it on AIX. But while there may be some initial confusion, there is little overlap between the two systems, said Adrian King, director of product marketing for operating systems at Microsoft. King said AIX is aimed at government and education bids, while Presentation Manager is meant for more general productivity applications. He added that Presentation Manager will be the basis for IBM's Systems Application Architecture interface. Users, however, may turn blue holding their breath before a product is available. IBM appears to be having problems shipping its own Unix systems, even without the addition from Next. IBM said earlier this month that it will delay initial shipments of its AIX PS/2 operating system until March 1989. Senior Editor Douglas Barney contributed to this report. By J.A. Savage, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Disaster recovery in IBM Author : James Daly, CW S Source : CW Comm FileName: ibm11 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Reports that IBM may enter the rapidly emerging disaster recovery business continued to buzz through the industry last week, and although the firm would neither confirm nor deny the talk, it was uncharacteristically open to the speculation. ``We would not rule it out,'' said a spokesman for the Armonk, N.Y.-based giant when asked about the possibility of an impending general availability service. ``Although we do not have an across-the-board disaster recovery offering, we've always bent over backwards to help our customers on an individual basis with disaster recovery planning through our publications and classroom training.'' Rumors that IBM was hatching plans to enter the lucrative field began circulating a week earlier when Soundview Financial Corp. said IBM had sent out feelers to several large customers asking them if they would be interested in such a service. Under most disaster recovery arrangements, companies essentially buy an insurance policy that guarantees them space on a backup computer at a nearby hot site should their machines be immobilized by fire, flood or any other calamity. Regular monthly fees for the service can run as high as $50,000, depending on the level of service. What? Us, compete? A spokesman for Sungard Data Systems, Inc., a current market leader, said it plans to meet with IBM in the next few weeks to discuss joint disaster recovery-related ventures, but IBM assured that company that it has no immediate plans to become a Sungard competitor. However, when Sungard asked IBM to sign a statement to that effect, the industry giant refused. Some observers have said that IBM would take a different approach from firms like Comdisco, Inc. and Sungard if it entered the disaster recovery field. Ray Hipp, president of Comdisco's disaster recovery service, said he has heard reports that IBM is working on a fiber-based electronic vaulting technology, whereby a computer automatically sends copies of its data to a machine at another site. Although the technology would not directly compete with Comdisco or Sungard, it would leave the door open for possible entry at a future date. The disaster recovery field is certainly ripe for picking. Richard Tarbox, vice-president of corporate development at Wayne, Pa.-based Sungard, estimated that the disaster recovery arena is now a $500 million market that is only about 25% penetrated. Additionally, Sungard sales, about half of which come from disaster recovery, nearly doubled in five years to total $91.1 million in 1987. Rosemont, Ill.-based Comdisco, which receives most of its revenue from computer leasing, estimated that disaster recovery revenue will go from $60 million in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 to more than $100 million next year. Well-publicized calamities such as a fire at a telephone switching station in suburban Chicago in May that knocked out more than 150,000 computer-to-computer connections [CW, May 16] have also helped to fuel user interest in the disaster recovery field. <<<>>> Title : Tops seeks edge in E-mail Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: inboxsol Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: ALAMEDA, Calif. _ In an effort to get a jump on the emerging electronic mail market for local-area networks, Tops has purchased the Inbox personal computer-to-Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh mail package from Symantec Corp. for an undisclosed sum. By coupling Inbox technology with its LAN operating system, Tops is hoping to catapult into the driver's seat as the E-mail standard. Mail is the feature most requested by Tops users. Tops, a division of Sun Microsystems, Inc., makes Tops software, which supports and links together three distinct environments: AT&T's Unix, Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS and Apple's operating system. Plans have been announced to support SunOS and Digital Equipment Corp.'s VMS operating systems. LAN standard The strategy here is to create enough momentum in the user and developer communities to position Inbox as the messaging standard for LANs in general, as well as between Macintoshes and the rest of the world. Toward that end, Tops has unveiled a three-pronged strategy. First, it will create ``instant market share'' by seeding 400,000 Tops users with Inbox, which they will receive along with the next upgrade of Tops software sometime in the third quarter of 1989. With a shipping rate of 35,000 to 50,000 nodes a month, Tops should be able to guarantee developers a million users before the end of 1989, claimed Rick Shapero, vice-president and general manager of Tops. Second, the Inbox development team will come up with a new version featuring PC server support _ important since Tops is increasingly becoming a PC-only network. Also, Tops will provide a developer's kit to enable third parties to write gateways for, and integrate applications into, Inbox. Third, Tops and Inbox will become tightly integrated on a systems level. ``We want you to be able to install Tops and automatically get mail,'' Shapero said. ``The crucial difference is to give equal functionality on all platforms,'' Tops product manager Helen Berry said. Although Tops claims Inbox has twice the installed base of Microsoft Mail, that claim was disputed by some analysts, who suggested the reverse is true. In any case, Tops' entry into the Macintosh E-mail market is expected to heat up competition among a handful of competitors: Microsoft's Mail, CE Software Co.'s Quickmail and 3Com Corp.'s 3+Mail. Three market keys There are three keys to this market, according to analysts: PC support, application integration and gateways to other environments, most notably CCITT's X.400. Users need both gateways and the ability to send documents from within their applications, said Dave Kosiur, editor of ``Connections,'' a Fullerton, Calif.-based newsletter on Apple networking. ``Corporate users won't bother with any Mac-based E-mail packages that can't communicate with larger machines,'' he added, suggesting Tops may have a leg up here. Strong relations with the third-party community _ on which Tops, CE Software and Microsoft have said they will rely for a variety of gateways _ are crucial. Tops said it will provide a Unix mail gateway itself but is talking with Softswitch, Inc. about providing an X.400 gateway. Most of the vendors provide developer's kits, but Tops appears to be going a step further by tempting developer interest with hard numbers _ that is, Tops' sizable installed base. Shapero cited a recent Infonetics, Inc. study that positioned Tops a mere 1% in market share behind 3Com in total LAN shipments. ``A lot of people are expecting a Microsoft-Sun war, and that's possible. Microsoft has considered messaging something to be very aggressive with, and we'd expect them to be very competitive,'' Shapero said. However, he suggested Microsoft would have a hard time matching Tops' installed base. Noting that Microsoft is also an applications developer, he claimed it has tended to keep its Mail application programming interfaces under wraps. But Microsoft has a few cards yet up its sleeve. Tops has its hands full at the moment, and Microsoft has promised to build hooks for Mail into its word processing and spreadsheet applications. Given the installed base of those applications, such support just might give Microsoft Mail the turbocharge needed to overtake the rest of the LAN E-mail market. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : ISDN waiting on applicati Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: isdnews Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: TOKYO _ Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) hold plenty of promise as the next generation of communications, but fancy technology will go nowhere without strong applications, according to players in major ISDN markets speaking at the Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) International Symposium 88 held here Oct. 3-4. ``We have to develop uses [along with] the technologies,'' said Kazuhiko Gotoh, senior vice-president of NTT Telecommunication Networks Laboratories. In April, NTT launched a nationwide ISDN network in three metropolitan areas; the network has spread to 26 cities. Keith E. Ward, chief engineer at British Telecom PLC, agreed. He said that the European community's integration in 1992 could be a key date for proliferation of ISDN networks, because members want their networks to operate in harmony. Other key elements ``But compatibility of ISDN terminals and networks does not necessarily mean the service will take off and grow,'' Ward said. ``It's like having a personal computer on your desk without a spreadsheet or word processing program. It's the applications that will make it work.'' British Telecom's initial 80K bit/sec. ISDN was introduced in 1985, before international standards were set. In early 1989, the company plans to upgrade that offering to a 144K bit/sec. Basic Rate Interface and 2M bit/sec. Primary Rate Interface service conforming to CCITT recommendations. Another key to making the switch from today's analog networks to digital ISDN is the development of cost-effective adapters for terminals to use with the installed equipment base, according to Joseph Timko, an AT&T vice-president. The lack of those boards has created a major barrier. Although major nations and players now follow the CCITT standard guidelines for ISDN, a manager with a major U.S. semiconductor company said his firm has counted 100 versions of CCITT ISDN worldwide, 20 of which are in the U.S. They exist because of huge loopholes in the ISDN definition, he claimed. These 100 versions spell bad news for customers and chip makers. While customers fret over which version to buy, chip makers fear they will have to accommodate multiple ISDN versions in their interface circuits. According to the manager, part of the reason that Japan is two years ahead of other nations in getting ISDN to customers is that it has one standard fostered by NTT, a dominant market force here. By contrast, the seven regional Bell holding companies have been running incompatible ISDN trials. ``Most trials are not compatible systems, so they are not interconnectable,'' claimed Gary J. Handler, a vice-president at Bellcore, the research and development group owned equally by the seven regionals. ``Customers don't like this. We are publishing a series of technical manuals to support a compatible ISDN architecture by 1990.'' Handler added that the major customers are large U.S. businesses, for whom ISDN is still too expensive to deploy widely. ``There must be value added for a customer to take on that expense,'' he added. ``ISDN must make available everything the customer has now, and do so at a cheap price.'' He predicts ISDN will be popular in the U.S. by the mid-1990s. Handler said there must be a lot more cooperation between terminal makers and communications suppliers as well, because it is still unclear how standard customer-premise equipment will be. In the U.S., the ISDN interface resides in each terminal maker's equipment rather than in the network. These suppliers therefore must cooperate to assure compatibility of their equipment with a standard ISDN version and to trim the flavors of ISDN. ``Otherwise, we might have to put a glove compartment into each telephone to handle all the needed documentation,'' he warned. By Lori Valigra, IDG News Service <<<>>> Title : Really needed? Author : Ron Kelly Source : CW Comm FileName: kellylet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The focus on Naomi Karten's article [CW, Aug. 22] is unclear. She says the need of the function provided by information centers is rapidly diminishing, yet she exhorts them to communicate their successes to management as a way of prolonging their existence. When their need disappears, so does their raison d'etre, no matter how successful they have been. Instead of communicating their successes, they would be better advised to assume responsibility for more and more duties. In this way, they would defend themselves against both obsolescence and trends. Ron Kelly Marquette Heights, Ill. <<<>>> Title : Why Release 3.0 is still Author : Douglas Barney Source : CW Comm FileName: king Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 Release 3.0 is the most important product Lotus has created since the original 1-2-3. The user base has already been prepared for its release with briefings, a free upgrade policy and new full-page advertisements. The only problem is that Lotus' 1-2-3 Release 3.0 has yet to ship, and now Lotus has told the world that the schedule has slipped again. Instead of having Release 3.0 for Christmas, users will have to wait until the second quarter of next year. Hours after the announcement, Computerworld Senior Editor Douglas Barney was on the telephone with Lotus President and Chief Executive Officer Jim P. Manzi and W. Frank King, software products group senior vice-president, to find out what the delay means. This delay is a surprise, given the recent advertising efforts for Release 3.0 and the free upgrade program. How did you determine the new timetable? King: First of all, the upgrade program is almost standard in the industry. We think it's the right thing so the customers can go ahead and continue to buy Release 2.0 at the rate that they're doing. And we have to be doing other things along that line to maintain and increase the value of Release 2.0. It was apparent to me that we were not going to have the bugs closed down by the end of the quarter. We've made a lot of progress, and we do have a single version of both DOS and OS/2 running single-source (code). The worksheet size wasn't getting to where we wanted it to get to. We have the ideas and the techniques to get it there, but it isn't there. The last thing we want to do is ship something that doesn't have quality and performance and worksheet size. So it's just a matter of watching the vital signs and concluding that we weren't going to get there by the end of this quarter. To what extent are other projects contingent upon Release 3.0? For instance, does the graphical 1-2-3/G use the Release 3.0 spreadsheet engine? King: Release 3 core code is used in some of the products. It's a core set of functionality that ports. It is the basis for the IBM joint development that we're doing [1-2-3/M]. On the other hand, G [1-2-3/G] is a separate development. It doesn't share that same core engine. G is really engineered from the ground up for Presentation Manager. So this wouldn't affect the timing of 1-2-3/G? King: That's correct. They're independent developments. Could 1-2-3/G actually ship close on the heels of Release 3.0 so a user could choose either an MS-DOS or OS/2 version of Release 3.0, or go whole-hog and use 1-2-3/G for the Presentation Manager? King: We're really building a spreadsheet family. We have Release 2.0 for the 8088, 8086 XT-class machine. We've said we're going to keep that valuable asset and enhance it. Release 3.0 is really for the 286 class of machine, where there's 640K up to a couple of megabytes. There are a lot of machines being built today with that capability, and basically those machines can either go DOS or OS/2. And G is really aimed at the higher end of the marketplace, machines that are 286, 386 with the higher megahertz and Presentation Manager environment. There, we're finding _ and a lot of customers are finding _ that it requires 5M to 6M bytes of memory to start to do interesting stuff. So these three products are aimed at the three tiers of the PC marketplace, and therefore we intend them all to be in the marketplace simultaneously. We also intend to provide upgrades so if a customer goes from an XT-class machine to an AT-class machine, or goes from an entry 286 to a high-end 386, they can upgrade. What will Lotus do to convince customers who may be teetering a bit to stay in the Lotus family? Manzi: We don't find a lot of teetering going on. We find people looking at competitive products. But since January, worldwide, our sales organization has been in front of about 370,000 customers talking about Release 3.0. We're not seeing any wholesale shifting in that terrain at all. People are extraordinarily pleased with what we're doing and with what we're showing them and are hooked into the strategy across the PC base. That would include things such as Blueprint _ the data access specification _ Lotus Extended Application Facility and then a whole evolution up to multiple platforms, which adds the ability to do cooperative processing? Manzi: Yes. It's also important to remember that, you know, while we're doing this, everybody still thinks Release 2.0 is the best spreadsheet on the market. PC World just voted it that way with their user survey, and NSTL [National Software Testing Laboratory] just voted it that way. So what we're really doing is competing with ourselves. Some interesting things, such as graphical interfaces and spreadsheet-linking products, are now coming from the 1-2-3 add-in makers. Are you expecting that to continue? Manzi: We really are. We help and work with and encourage those companies. Have you seen the quality of output that you get with the new Funk Allways [a new spreadsheet publishing add-in]? That is useful to us and keeps the product really valuable. Are you going to be shipping the beta version soon, so people will have an idea of where you are and how this thing is moving? King: We had a workshop with about 25 customers a couple of weeks ago. They brought their files and worked with the product, so we're already doing that to some extent. What beta means to us is that the product is really ready to be productive in an environment where customers normally operate. We're not going to do that until we get the product to the level that we need it to be. But we are already working with customers here at Cambridge so that they can use the product, test its compatibility, see the function, and the reports are uniformly great. As you move some of the code back from C to assembler, does that make the job of porting it to other environments more difficult? King: No. The way we do that is that the base code is all written in C. And then when we move it to a DOS or OS/2 environment, certain code, 5% to 8%, gets written in assembler. When you move it to the IBM MVS environment or the IBM VM environment or to a Unix environment, it is a different set of code that gets rewritten to whatever the local assembler is. But the base is all kept in C. The common library is in C. We do all the development there and then just incrementally tune to the specific operating environment. That is a major breakthrough of this development. I don't know of any piece of code in the world today that you can possibly find that runs on VM, MVS, DOS, OS/2, Unix and also a couple of others. Will you either add or trim features? King: We are not going to add or trim. What we're really doing is focusing on the bugs and the product tuning. How does this affect specific products such as 1-2-3/M, 1-2-3/Mac, 1-2-3/Unix and the Lotus/DBMS strategy? King: The Lotus/DBMS strategy is built on the platform that is the set of code that runs on top of the OS/2 Presentation Manager. That platform is shared with a collection of tools that includes the spreadsheet, database tools and some other tools. But that's all an independent effort. So that whole strategy and that whole platform and the tools that run on it are parallel independent development efforts. And Blueprint is not dependent upon Release 3.0? King: That's correct. Blueprint is an architecture, and we're implementing it a variety of places, including the DBMS tools. Is there any sense for when people should begin gearing up for DBMS? King: We haven't announced any dates there. We have that product running very nicely, though. What about the other products? 1-2-3/M, 1-2-3/Mac and 1-2-3/Unix? King: A key point that we feel about Release 3.0 is it is such a large development activity. It is 339,000 lines of code. It is not something that is clonable by any of our competitors. It's going to set the base for a long time to come. It's a level of investment and development sophistication that is not going to be matched. It is worth the wait? King: Yes. And it's an investment that only a company with the resources of a Lotus could do. What has Lotus learned from this experience? Manzi: We've learned that when you start a process that is trying to define the world of software in the future, both from the technology standpoint and the usability standpoint, maybe it will take a little more time than we thought. We need to be a bit more smart about how we assess those things. And clearly it behooves us to keep some of the information about timing to ourselves. <<<>>> Title : Microsoft wins more LAN M Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: lanmanr Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: BURLINGAME, Calif. _ Microsoft Corp. chalked up more support for its OS/2 LAN Manager last week, clarifying its relationship with Digital Equipment Corp. and announcing the availability of the first OEM product based on LAN Manager. At its Network Systems Forum here, 3Com Corp. announced early shipment of its 3+Open LAN Manager, a network operating system built on LAN Manager. 3Com also unveiled two network management programs designed to provide network administrators on LAN Manager with advanced resource planning and security capabilities. 3+Open LAN View, which costs $495 per server, and 3+Open LAN Secure, which sells for $995 per network, will be available in the first quarter of 1989, a 3Com official said. Both products take advantage of LAN Manager's interprocess communication, called ``Named Pipes,'' that shuttle communications between applications. While IBM currently does not support such Named Pipes with its upcoming LAN Server, 3Com Chief Executive William Krause said he believes IBM might soon change its position on supporting the critical networking feature. ``IBM prefers to be right rather than consistent,'' Krause said. Beyond the 3Com rollouts, which were expected [CW, Oct. 10], LAN Manager also received a boost from DEC, which said it is finalizing its plans to license the OS/2 LAN Manager technology. DEC's plans call for LAN Manager protocols and interfaces to be implemented under its VAX/VMS Services _ greasing a migration path from the desk top to DEC minicomputers and applications. Microsoft also received an unexpected vote of confidence from X/Open Consortium Ltd., an organization of international computer vendors that publishes specifications for the implementation and portability of Unix systems. X/Open reported that it has licensed the specifications for the Unix version of LAN Manager _ or LAN Manager/X _ for possible publication of both the system's protocols and applications-programming interfaces. The LAN Manger/X product is being co-developed by Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard Co. The license agreement could mean that X/Open would support LAN Manager/X as a Unix industry standard, but one observer said the announcement was far from a ringing endorsement on the part of X/Open and that standardization talks are still under way between the organization and Microsoft. LAN Manager also received a boost from the retail side. Egghead Discount Software, Inc. announced that it will sell, market and support 3Com's 3+Open LAN Manager through retail and direct corporate sales. By Stephen Jones, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : SISP: Easier to say than Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: leder Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Strategic information systems planning (SISP) heads the long list of systems executives' concerns. Our recent study of 80 companies and their SISP experiences let us offer some insights and guidelines to avoiding obstacles. SISP denotes the creation of a long-range plan of business applications for a firm to computerize. It includes pinpointing new systems to help carry out the firm's current business strategy and conceiving clever ideas for systems to help it create a new strategy to outdo competitors. Increasingly, companies are carrying out SISP studies. They are following complex, proprietary methodologies (IBM's Business Systems Planning) or customizing their own approaches. They are building teams of in-house systems managers and business managers, often including outside consultants, to help perform the studies. These organizations spend lots of time and money on their SISP studies. However, the studies do not necessarily go smoothly. MIS executives often complete them with disillusionment and disappointment. In order to learn about SISP, we used a list of 49 potential problems to ask MIS planners within 80 companies that recently completed a SISP study. Following are the 10 most severe problems along with our interpretations and guidelines for prospective SISP planners: 1. It is difficult to secure top management commitment for implementing the plan. After completing the SISP study, MIS executives face an uphill battle convincing top management to authorize development of the applications that have been identified. The lack of top management commitment to implementation of the plan suggests that it fails to understand its objectives or that it lacks confidence in the MIS department's ability to carry the plan. Also, during the time between the study and implementation, management's interests can change. This suggests that prospective SISP planners should be sure they know top management's desires before expending effort on a plan that may be ignored. Likewise, it suggests that MIS planners and managers may want to increase their efforts to convince senior management that SISP plans are doable and consistent with management's goals. 2. Implementing the projects and the data architecture identified in the plan requires further substantial analysis. Many SISP studies do not provide the analysis necessary to start designing and programming the individual applications. Hence, planners should choose an SISP approach that carries them into the design and programming phases. Some vendors offer such methodologies. 3. The success of the methodology is greatly dependent on the team leader. The team leader must champion the SISP study by convincing top management to support it. SISP planners should choose a respected veteran in the organization's business. The leader should not be from the MIS department but should be one who is comfortable with modern technology. Furthermore, planners should decrease their dependency on this leader through visible top management support and through a methodology that is defined to simplify the team leader's job. 4. It is difficult to find a team leader who meets the criteria specified by the methodology. SISP planners may have to search hard to find a business-wise and technology-savvy leader. They should consider all possible candidates. 5. The methodology lacks sufficient computer support. SISP produces such a volume of reports, tables, charts and diagrams that the information can't be managed manually. Thus, prospective SISP planners who acquire a proprietary methodology should carefully check out the vendor's computer support. Those who expect to develop their own methodology must not underestimate the need for such support. In fact, the expense of developing the support in-house might be enough to sway them to buy a proprietary methodology. 6. The planning exercise takes a long time. Most studies take weeks, or even months. Because business managers often feel that they need results sooner and may lose interest if they don't get them, planners should minimize the duration of the study. 7. The methodology fails to take into account issues related to plan implementation. Although the SISP study may produce an excellent plan, it may offer little to promote implementation. Thus, SISP planners should face the issues that can impede implementation of their plans. 8. It is difficult to convince top management to approve the methodology. Because the SISP study requires considerable time and effort, and because many top business executives are uncomfortable with computing, it is difficult to convince them to fund the initial SISP study. Hence, SISP planners should provide cogent reasons for doing the study and should be ready to present them to top management in simple terms. 9. The strategic information systems plan fails to include an overall personnel and training plan for the MIS department. SISP studies often recommend hiring more MIS professionals and providing more database and data communications training for existing professionals. SISP planners must allocate the time and resources necessary for these critical personnel and training needs. 10. It is difficult to find team members who meet the criteria specified by the methodology. Team members from the user side need to be at ease with information technology, and team members from the MIS side need to understand the business. Such people with the time to participate may be scarce. Prospective SISP planners should consider the qualifications of their team members carefully. As information technology becomes increasingly important, more firms will carry out SISP studies. For those firms, doing the studies properly and successfully will be critical. Hopefully, the obstacles we found and actions we prescribe will make their tasks easier. By Albert L. Lederer and Vijay Sethi; Lederer and Sethi are business professors at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and the School of Management of the State University of New York at Buffalo, respectively. <<<>>> Title : Yocam bids farewell to Ap Author : Julie Pitta, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: macref Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: CUPERTINO, Calif. _ Longtime Apple Computer, Inc. executive Delbert Yocam will walk away from the company in November 1989 after a decade's tenure, company officials said last week. Yocam was unavailable for comment, but an Apple spokesman emphasized that his departure is ``a completely personal decision. ``Del is 45 years old; November will be his 10-year anniversary,'' the spokesman said. ``He wanted to have time to do other things.'' Most recently, Yocam was president of Apple Education and Apple Pacific, two operating divisions created during a recent reorganization. He began at Apple as vice-president of manufacturing in 1979 and ascended to chief operating officer, a post he held until the summer. Some industry observers saw Yocam's move from COO to president of the education and Pacific Rim marketing groups as a demotion. However, Yocam insisted that he was pleased with his new assignment because it allowed him to pursue his passion for education. In a prepared statement, Apple Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Sculley lauded Yocam's achievements, calling him ``one of the industry's finest executives, with his commitment to operations excellence, passion for personal computer technology and embodiment of Apple's business and cultural values.'' Apple Education _ created as a separate operating division nearly two months ago _ has been folded into Apple USA under President Allan Z. Loren as part of the latest restructuring of the company. In addition, Loren has created the Apple USA marketing group, which will include education and business. David Hancock, previously vice-president of Apple Pacific, will head that group under the title senior vice-president of marketing. <<<>>> Title : Climbing castles of data Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mallach6 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Much has been made of the need for those in charge of MIS to broaden their focus to include nontechnical issues, to consider business needs, to become full-fledged members of the executive team. But at the same time, there has been a less noticed revolution in what these managers should focus on within their departments. One way to understand this revolution is to see how managerial titles have evolved. In the prehistoric 1950s, these managers were called tab machine supervisors. By the '60s, they had become computer center managers, and in the '70s, they were directors of data processing. Now in the 1980s, we have vice-president of information systems or even, once in a while, the chief information officer. Upgrading titles can increase one's salary and status. But the new subject matter with which the manager deals is the more meaningful change, whether it is the equipment used, the data itself or the information that the data represents. Changing titles, and duties, imposes new requirements on the head of MIS. Technical skills were sufficient to manage tab equipment. If one knew how to wire a plugboard and clear a card jam _ skills now valued by museums _ one was qualified. Other issues concerned other people. The change to managing computers meant developing new technical skills. Physical skills, such as mounting tapes or (still) clearing card jams, became the domain of machine operators. Computer managers dealt with Cobol, product schedules and upgrade plans. The next stage, responsibility for data processing, carried with it oversight of the data being processed. Data had to be input accurately, processed carefully and printed on time. The one who bore this responsibility was a bona fide senior manager. Responsibility for information is fundamentally different from all that preceded it. Information is the organization's lifeblood. The value of equipment can be measured by its depreciated price tag. The value of data can be measured by the cost of capturing or creating it anew. In both cases, the measured value may be high. But the value of information can be immeasurably higher. Indeed, it cannot really be calculated, since it depends on how the information is used. Responsibility for the care of information is, therefore, far more significant than mere responsibility for the data that yields it or the machines that process it. And this responsibility is totally separate from the much-ballyhooed topics of ``business issues'' or becoming an executive ``team player.'' Responsibility for information means understanding what makes information ``good'' or ``bad.'' Making this distinction is as important as a tab machine supervisor knowing when a ribbon needs replacing, a computer center manager knowing when increased work load calls for a processor upgrade or a DP director recognizing a database integrity problem. It all adds up There are seven basic determinants of information quality: 1. Accuracy. Given valid input data, accuracy is primarily a function of processing. At the information level, it is important to ensure that the conceptual model of the world, embodied in the computer programs, reflects the real world properly. 2. Consistency. Two items may be accurate individually but should not be used together because they are inconsistent. For example, dividing annual sales by the size of the sales force on Dec. 31 may not yield meaningful sales productivity information if the sales force's size changed significantly during the year. 3. Conformity to user definitions and expectations. In figuring annual sales, how does one count returns that took place after the year ended? There are many possible ways. And the best choice for planning next year's styles may not be the right choice _ or even a legal choice _ for tax returns. The information systems leader who does not know what the users expect is taking a shot in the dark. 4. Precision. Precision is not accuracy. The statement, ``The current temperature is 16.87344 degrees Fahrenheit'' is quite precise, but _ on a tropical July day _ probably inaccurate. Too much precision can be as bad as too little: Who needs to read eight decimal places on a speedometer at 65 mph, even if all are accurate? 5. Timeliness. All other things equal, earlier is usually better. But all other things are seldom equal. How much earlier, how much better and with how much impact on other factors? 6. Cost. Many problems can be overcome by spending money, but check that what you are buying is what your users and department really need. 7. Usability. Three-dimensional graphs may clarify a relationship better than a book full of tables. The Official Airline Guide is an excellent example of the value of information usability. Its publishers take in enormous sums of money selling information that every airline is delighted to give away free. How? By making it more usable. Some of the seven factors are visible: precision, timeliness, usability and some cost elements. Some are not: accuracy, consistency, conformity to definitions and other cost elements. Users tend to be realistic about visible information quality factors but wildly optimistic about invisible ones. An information systems chief, however, cannot afford this overoptimism. There are trade-offs among the seven factors. For example, a 3-D graph will cost more than a report in terms of equipment needed to create it, software packages to be bought, programmer time and resource usage. It will also take more time to produce and will reduce potential precision. The correct choice in making trade-offs depends on the value of the information at different points in the quality spectrum, which in turn depends on how the information is to be used. The modern information systems manager must understand the nature of information, the factors that determine its quality and the trade-offs among these factors in order to manage effectively. Once these are mastered, once the information systems function is under control, he or she can go on to plan strategic uses of information and become a full-fledged member of the inner executive circle. But first things must come first. The executive who spends time thinking great thoughts without first getting his or her own house in order is building castles in the air. By Efrem Mallach; Mallach is a faculty member at the University of Lowell and a consultant to user and vendor executives. <<<>>> Title : Centralized net managemen Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mannet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Centralized network management is important; multivendor less important; and voice/data hardly important at all, according to Fortune 1,000 data communications and MIS managers interviewed earlier this year by International Data Corp. (IDC), a market research firm based in Framingham, Mass. More than 25% of the respondents said they intend to go with an internally developed network management system. Roll-your-own network management systems have been the norm for many years, the report said, because until 1987 most network management systems were for modem control. About 20% of the respondents said their strategic direction was toward a multivendor network management system. Approximately 8% of the respondents said their networks would be managed from a carrier's central office-based system. Only about 7% said their systems would be based on the OSI standard (see chart). About 50% of the respondents said they currently use between one and three network management systems, while a little more than 30% use between four and six systems. About 2% use more than six systems, and about 10% have no system at all. Network management was an ``important'' to ``critical'' criterion for choosing a networking vendor for more than 75% of the respondents. In comparison, only 50% of the respondents cited multivendor network management as a critical or important issue, and 71% said that integrated voice/data network management was not important. According to Kathryn Korostoff, an IDC analyst who wrote the report, one reason for the lack of voice/data integration is the fact that voice and data are still managed by separate organizations in many Fortune 1,000 companies. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Masstor pits tape against Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: masstor2 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ It may be blasphemous, but Masstor Systems Corp. says its new tape subsystems can compete with disk storage. Two IBM-compatible tape storage systems, both using helical scan recording technology to pack in a terabyte of data per system, are being announced today by Masstor. One has a footprint smaller than a refrigerator's; the other's is the size of a moving van. Both are intended to take advantage of IBM's MVS/ESA Systems Managed Storage capability. The M960 Mass Storage System, set to be available early next year, stores data on bullet-shaped cartridges about 3 in. long. The system consists of a controller and a storage module for up to 316 tapes at 350M bytes per tape. An optional hardware data compression facility is available, compressing 700M bytes on each cartridge, according to the company. The system can accommodate up to eight storage modules. Because of its 3M byte/sec. throughput, the M960, with support of 4.5M byte/sec. data-streaming channels, is considered on-line, according to Michael Beadsmoore, senior vice-president of Masstor's domestic operations. Masstor doubled the capacity and throughput on the M960, compared with its last product, the M860. The bullet-shaped tapes have been in use by Masstor for a decade. The second system, scheduled to be available late next year, should be able to store 31.25G bytes on a tape cartridge that is the size of a portable dictionary at an estimated cost of $1.25 per megabyte. Masstor said the M1000 will also have to option of data compression, allowing twice as much data per tape _ up to 2 terabytes per module _ to be stored. With a single accessor arm, the M1000 will have a maximum access, load and unload time of 9.5 sec. per tape, according to the company. Masstor officials said the company is announcing the M1000 a year ahead of shipping because of the current availability of IBM's MVS/ESA Systems Managed Storage and the resulting pressure to have storage that fits into a hierarchy of designated storage areas. The M960 is expected to cost $700,000 for a basic controller and module, with the optional data compression costing another $125,000. The M1000 will cost about $1,300,000, according to Beadsmoore. No price has been set for the compression option. By J.A. Savage, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Action Technologies, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micactio Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Action Technologies, Inc. has announced Version II of its Coordinator Workgroup application software, designed to provide tools for writing, delivering and monitoring business communications. Coordinator runs on IBM Personal Computer XTs and ATs and compatible workstations and supports Novell, Inc.'s Netware and Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS 3.1 and higher local-area networks, the vendor said. The product's user interface is based on IBM's Common User Access recommendations for Systems Application Architecture. Version II was developed to focus on the activities of a work group and provides multiple addresses, delegation, reminders and appointments. Electronic mail, scheduling and management features are included. Coordinator Version II costs $495 for stand-alone workstations and $995 for a LAN file server supporting up to 10 workstations. Other configurations are also available. Action Technologies, 11th Floor, 2200 Powell St., Emeryville, Calif. 415-654-4444. <<<>>> Title : A DOS enhancement utility Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micaldri Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A DOS enhancement utility with built-in IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter, Video Graphics Array and mouse support has been announced by The Aldridge Co. Tree86 Version 2.0 eliminates the need to wait for reading-tree and drive information on single or multiple drives, the vendor said. The product reportedly reads up to 26 drives in memory and includes a context-sensitive on-line help function. It runs on IBM Personal Computer, PC XT, AT, Personal System/2 and compatible systems and requires DOS 2.0 or higher. Tree86 2.0 costs $89.95. The Aldridge Co., Suite 575, 2500 City W. Blvd., Houston, Texas. 77042. 713-953-1940. <<<>>> Title : Ampex Computer Corp. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micampex Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Ampex Computer Corp. has announced upgrades for its Ampex 232 VDT. Enhancements include Digital Equipment Corp. VT100- and ANSI-emulation capabilities, a parallel printer port and a revised personal computer keyboard. The Ampex 232, designed for the PC multiuser marketplace, is still available in the original ASCII format. The unit is offered with the VT100 emulation, parallel port and IBM Personal Computer AT keyboard at no additional cost to the regular retail price of $554. An enhanced RT keyboard is available for an additional $5. Ampex, Computer Products Division, 401 Broadway, Redwood City, Calif., 94063. 415-367-2011. <<<>>> Title : A software-based tracking Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micaztec Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A software-based tracking system that allows software developers to protect programs without copy protection or altering existing source code is now available from Az-Tech Software, Inc. According to the vendor, Evertrak thwarts reverse-engineering by preventing programs from being disassembled or run under a debugging system. It also re- portedly allows the developer to place a secure alphanumeric serial string within the program and will build an expiration date into the software to limit the amount of time it can be used. The product runs on IBM Personal Computers and compatibles under DOS 2.0 or higher. Evertrak costs $295. Az-Tech Software, 305 E. Franklin, Richmond, Mo. 64085. 800-227-0644. <<<>>> Title : A tape subsystem for data Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micbrain Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A tape subsystem for data archiving in an 8mm format is now available from Brainwave Systems Corp. Dubbed Data Historian, the product reportedly offers 2G bytes of storage capacity and is offered on a variety of platforms, including the IBM Personal Computer, PC XT, AT, Personal System/2 and compatible systems. Security, fault tolerance, data verification and key menu functions are included. An optional programmer's library and the Universal File Format for data record and file management are also available. Data Historian carries a price of $5,995. Brainwave, Suite 3, 3400 Industrial Lane, Broomfield, Colo. 80020. 303-466-6190. <<<>>> Title : A microcomputer-based, co Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miccadas Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A microcomputer-based, computer-aided design software package modeled on Tektronix, Inc.'s Teknicad Plot 10 has been announced by Cad Associates, Inc. The product reportedly offers the same drawing capabilities as its mainframe counterpart and was designed to accommodate both the novice and expert user, the company said. Called Teknicad/PC, the program runs on IBM Personal Computer ATs or compatible computers under Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS 3.1 or higher. Floating Point Systems, Inc. Floating Point coprocessor support, an IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter-compatible display, a minimum of 2M bytes on an extended memory card and a 20M-byte hard disk are required for operation. Teknicad/PC costs $2,995. Cad Associates, Suite 250, 5840 W. Interstate 20, Arlington, Texas 76017. 800-338-7147. <<<>>> Title : Creative Solutions, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miccreat Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Creative Solutions, Inc. has announced four interface boards that were designed for users of Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh. The HDPR (Hurdler Dual Ported RAM Interface) is intended for VME, STD Multibus or other remote chassis with a dedicated CPU and allows simple high-speed communication between a Macintosh II and an external system. The HDPR is available for $299. The H2CS (Hurdler Two Channel Serial Board) reportedly uses the same interface chips found on the motherboard of the Macintosh II and includes a compatible driver in read-only memory (ROM). An on-board Motorola, Inc. 68008 microprocessor supports rates as fast as 1M bit/sec. The H2CS costs $249. The HPB8 is an interface-to-Opto-22 PB8 eight-channel I/O panel that provides digital control and sensing of eight AC/DC signals. It includes a Mac II interface board and all required cabling for connection to the Opto-22 board. The HPB8 costs $199. The HMbus is a Nubus-to-Metrabus interface board that includes digital and analog opto-isolated relay racks and multichannel analog I/O. The HMbus costs $299. The vendor will also provide existing Hurdler clients with the ROM Development System, a set of software tools that reportedly provide MPW source code and script examples of drivers written by Creative Solutions that may be used as templates for ROM creation. The software costs $149. Creative Solutions, Suite 12, 4701 Randolph Road, Rockville, Md. 20852. 301-984-0262. <<<>>> Title : Cypress Systems, Inc. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miccypre Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Cypress Systems, Inc. has released Turbo Apprentice 4.0, a productivity tool designed to complement Borland International's Turbo Pascal, Release 4.0. The product reportedly expands upon Borland's context-sensitive Help feature by offering support reference information for the user's units and procedures. The program automatically scans program and library files and indexes information. Users can then receive reference data on a designated item by pressing a Help key. Turbo Apprentice 4.0 costs $25. Cypress Systems, Suite 175, 11693 San Vincente Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90049. 213-207-3938. <<<>>> Title : Data Access Corp. is ship Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micdataa Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Data Access Corp. is shipping Office Works, its group productivity software program. The package consists of five independent modules designed to support various business activities including phone messages, document control, name and address database maintenance, electronic mail and time management. The software is available in both single and multiuser versions and runs on IBM Personal Computer, PC XT, AT or compatible systems with 640K bytes of random-access memory and 2.5M bytes of disk storage. The multiuser configuration can operate with Novell, Inc.'s Novell Advanced Netware 2.0 and higher and 3Com Corp.'s 3+ 11 and higher and other IBM Netbios-compatible networks. The single-user version of Officeworks costs $195. The local-area network version costs $1,395. Data Access, 14000 119th Ave. S.W., Miami, Fla. 305-238-0012. <<<>>> Title : Deerfield Systems, Inc. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micdeerf Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Deerfield Systems, Inc. has introduced Displayform II, a microcomputer software package for forms processing. The product reportedly can display a form on the screen in what-you-see-is-what-you-get format and can also set up forms for data entry. The package will accommodate both preprinted and electronically generated forms and merge information from Ashton-Tate Corp.'s Dbase III files. An IBM Personal Computer, PC XT, AT, Personal System/2 or compatible with Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS 2.0 or higher is required. A hard disk, a high-resolution graphic display card and a printer are also necessary for operation. Displayform II costs $495. Deerfield Systems, 221 Elizabeth St., Utica, N.Y. 13501. 315-797-1805. <<<>>> Title : Ehman Engineering, Inc. b Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micehman Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Ehman Engineering, Inc. began shipping its 105-key ADB Extended Keyboard. The product was designed for users of Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh II, Macintosh SE and Apple IIGS systems. According to the vendor, a keyboard macro software package _ Quickeys from CE Software Co. in West Des Moines, Iowa _ is bundled with the keyboard to allow users to customize the product. Features include 15 function keys, six page-control keys and an 18-key numeric keypad. The ADB Extended Keyboard costs $199 and carries a full one-year warranty. Ehman Engineering, 97 S. Red Willow Road, Evanston, Wyo. 82931. 307-789-3830. <<<>>> Title : EKD has announced a softw Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micekd Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: EKD has announced a software program that reportedly will automate all of a company's business needs on an IBM Personal Computer or compatible system. Business-in-a-Box can be configured to handle marketing, telemarketing, accounting, inventory control and production distribution functions, the distributor said. Features include a relational database, a menu system for accessing applications and a security system. The product requires 640K bytes of memory, 20M bytes of hard disk space, 300K bytes of free memory and a Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc.-compatible modem. It may be used on local-area networks with as many as 30 active workstations. Business-in-a-Box costs $999. EKD, P.O. Box Y, Selden, N.Y. 11784. 516-736-0500. <<<>>> Title : An educational game desig Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miceke Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: An educational game designed to acquaint individuals with artificial intelligence and expert system concepts is available from E-KE, Ltd. Called E-KE, the game consists of a deck of cards packed in a plastic case. The cards incorporate if, then, demon and decision categories and make use of forward and backward chaining concepts. Illustrations and a glossary of AI terms is included. The game is for ages 10 to adult and can have two or four players. E-KE will be available in the fall at a cost of approximately $10. E-KE, 301 Monteray Drive, Dublin, Ohio 43017. 614-792-9944. <<<>>> Title : Flexstar Corp. has announ Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micflex2 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Flexstar Corp. has announced the FS501 Winchester Simulator, a solid-state unit that characterizes controller performance and calibrates disk-drive test equipment for correlation of disk-drive performance. According to the vendor, the unit is self-calibrating and devoid of mechanical or temperature-induced aberrations. It electronically simulates disk-drive read/write functions as well as frequently encountered mechanical, electronic, environmental or media-related faults. The product ensures full parameter systems testing and analysis of all 3 - and 5 -in. Winchester disk drives with industry-standard enhanced small device interfaces. The FS501 costs $2,995. Flexstar, 606 Valley Way, Milpitas, Calif. 95035. 408-946-1445. <<<>>> Title : GCC Technologies, formerl Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micgcc Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: GCC Technologies, formerly known as General Computer Corp., has introduced the FI/150 internal drive for the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh II system. The 150M-byte hard disk incorporates Control Data Corp. Wren III drive technology and offers a 16.5-msec average access time. The product is shipped with all software, cabling and brackets and includes a full one-year warranty on parts and labor, the vendor said. The FI/150 costs $2,499. GCC Technologies, 580 Winter St., Waltham, Mass. 02154. 617-890-0880. <<<>>> Title : A 14-in. color monitor th Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: michyosu Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A 14-in. color monitor that reportedly offers compatibility with the IBM Personal Computer, PC XT, AT and Personal System/2, as well as the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh II, has been announced by Hyosung Computer. In addition to these systems, the Maxiscan Color Monitor reportedly will support AT&T's 6300 machines, Olivetti & Co. Olivetti M24 and 28 models and compatibles. According to the vendor, the monitor has an 820- by 620-pixel maximum resolution, and text processing is available in green, amber, cyan and white on blue. An infinite color palette is available in analog mode. The product costs $679. Hyosung Computer, Suite 285, 710 Lakeway, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94086. 408-733-0810. <<<>>> Title : A 10-MHz IBM Personal Com Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: michyun2 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A 10-MHz IBM Personal Computer XT-compatible machine has been announced by Hyundai Electronics America. The Super-16TE is an enhancement of the company's 8-MHz Super-16T and replaces that system as the product line's new low-end personal computer. The Super-16TE is based on an Intel Corp. 8088-1 processor and includes 640K bytes of random-access memory. The system also offers five expansion slots, one parallel port and one serial port, a real-time clock and support for both 3 - and 5 -in. floppy-drive formats. The product comes bundled with Alpha Software Corp.'s Electric Desk, an integrated software package said to include word processing, database and spreadsheet functions. The Super-16TE is priced from $1,045 to $1,645, depending on system and memory configuration. Hyundai Electronics America, 4401 Great American Pkwy., Santa Clara, Calif. 95054. 408-986-9800. <<<>>> Title : A rack-mount kit designed Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micindus Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A rack-mount kit designed for the NEC Corp. Multisync-II monitor is now available from Industrial Computer Source. The Multisynch-RM requires 1 -in. of rack space and is 16 in. deep with the monitor installed. The product was developed to provide users with an easy method of installing the NEC monitor in a 19-in. rack. No modifications are necessary for installation, and handles are included as a standard feature. The Multisynch-RM costs $350. Industrial Computer Source, Suite 208, 5466 Complex St., San Diego, Calif. 92123. 619-279-0084. <<<>>> Title : Several terminal emulatio Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mickea Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Several terminal emulation products for Digital Equipment Corp. and Data General Corp. operating environments are now available from KEA Systems Ltd. The ZstemPC-D400 reportedly emulates the DG D400, D200 and D100 terminals and runs on the IBM Personal Computer, PC XT, AT, Personal System/2 and compatibles. The product offers support for both normal and compressed character spacing, and three file-transfer options are available: ASCII, Kermit and Xmodem. A minimum configuration requires 256K bytes, a serial port or internal modem, an IBM Color Graphics Adapter, Video Graphics Array or Enhanced Graphics Adapter and one floppy drive with Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS 2.0 or higher. ZstemPC costs $160. The vendor has also reconfigured the Zstem 240 and Powerstation 240 product line to include Digital Equipment Corp. VT340 emulation capabilities. Version 2 will feature an 800- by 480-pixel display and Kermit server-mode support. According to the vendor, both units allow IBM PCs, XTs, ATs, PS/2s and compatibles to communicate with DEC PDP-11 and VAX systems. Zstem 240 emulation software costs $295; the Powerstation 240 package with a standard keyboard is $435. KEA Systems, Suite 412, 2150 W. Broadway, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. V6K 4L9. 800-663-8702. <<<>>> Title : A videotape training prog Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miclearn Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A videotape training program for users of Wordperfect Corp.'s Wordperfect 5.0 is now available from Learn-PC Video Systems. The program teaches beginning, intermediate and advanced skills and is available in all video formats, the vendor said. Three videotapes, three guidebooks and a practice disk are included. A VHS- or Betamax-formatted Learn-PC Wordperfect 5.0 tape costs $895. A -in. U-Matic tape version costs $1,045. Learn-PC Video Systems, 5101 Highway 55, Minneapolis, Minn. 55422. 800-532-7672. <<<>>> Title : Lord Publishing, Inc. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miclord Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Lord Publishing, Inc. has introduced a software package for business owners. Called Ronstadt's Financials, the product is a financial budgeting and projection program that will run on IBM Personal Computers and compatible systems. The package incorporates accounting and financial applications for several different industries including retail, real estate, manufacturing, professional services, wholesale distribution and contract services. The product can also be tailored to fit user specifications. Ronstadt's Financials costs $399. Lord Publishing, One Apple Hill, Natick, Mass. 01760. 508-651-9955. <<<>>> Title : A multiuser application s Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micmains Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A multiuser application software that allows work-group editing on the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh machine has been announced by Mainstay of Agoura Hills, Calif. Called Markup, the product reportedly allows reviewers to mark up, highlight, expand reports, drawings, art and scanned photos. The software supports a physical work group on a network such as Appleshare as well as a logical work group of dispersed members relying on disk or telecommunication transmission, the vendor said. The product is slated for retail channel distribution next month. Markup costs $495 for a database and a two-user pack and $995 for a database and a five-user pack. Supplemental Markup user packs cost $195 each. Mainstay, 5311-B Derry Ave., Agoura Hills, Calif. 91301. 818-991-6540. <<<>>> Title : A high-speed 5 -in. write Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micmaxim Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A high-speed 5 -in. write-once read-many optical disk subsystem is now available from Maximum Storage, Inc. Designated the APX-4000, the 500M-byte subsystem was designed for the IBM Personal Computer and compatible market. The unit has a reported average access time of 28 msec and a reported data transfer rate of 5M bit/sec. A version is also available for interface to Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Sun-3 workstations running under SunOS, the vendor said. The APX-4000 is available in either external- or internal-mount configurations and is priced from $4,250 to $4,450. Maximum Storage, 5025 Centennial Blvd., Colorado Springs, Colo. 80919. 719-531-6888. <<<>>> Title : A 150M-byte internal 3 -i Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micmayns Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A 150M-byte internal 3 -in. tape backup system designed for IBM's Personal System/2 series is now available from Maynard Electronics Co. Maynstream 150 reportedly enables users to transfer an entire cassette of data in 24 minutes and runs across all models of the PS/2 series, including the Model 50 and all three versions of the Model 70. Features include an electronic automatic tape tension control, direct drive tape motors and read-after-write capabilities. The product uses a standard D/CAS-85 format and works with most local-area networks, the vendor said. Maynstream 150 is priced from $1,600 to $2,000. Maynard, 460 E. Semoran Blvd., Casselberry, Fla. 32707. 407-331-6402. <<<>>> Title : Marketing Graphics, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micmgi Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Marketing Graphics, Inc. has begun to ship Publisher's Picturepak for Wordperfect 5.0, consisting of libraries of business clip-art in Wordperfect Corp.'s .WPG vector graphics file format. The collection reportedly consists of 565 pictures, titled the Eye Opener Series, and includes three editions, including: Executive and Management, Sales and Marketing and Finance and Administration. The series is sold collectively for $250, and individual editions are available for $99.95 each. Marketing Graphics, Suite 210, 4401 Dominion Blvd., Glen Allen, Va. 23060. 804-747-6991. <<<>>> Title : Mountain States Consultin Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micmsca Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Mountain States Consulting has announced a DOS menu environment for IBM Personal Computers, PC XTs, ATs and compatible systems. Called MSC-Menu, the product reportedly allows users to create their own operating environment by replacing the DOS prompt with intelligent custom menus. The program also provides unlimited menu nesting and linking and single- and multiple-command DOS. Requirements include DOS 2.0 or higher and 256K bytes of random-access memory. MSC-Menu costs $29.95. Mountain States Consulting, P.O. Box 20326, Jackson, Wyo. 83001. 307-733-1442. <<<>>> Title : Shopkeeper Software, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micshopk Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Shopkeeper Software, Inc. has released Shopkeeper M, a multiuser version of its software package designed for medium-size retail operations. The package runs on a network of Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh Plus, SE or II workstations. Functions reportedly include sales, point-of-sale, invoicing, inventory, billing, accounts receivable, customer files, floor planning, cash drawer controls and other applications. The package will accommodate as many as 32,000 customers and 32,000 inventory items. The basic package includes one master program and two additional programs for remote workstations. Hard-disk storage and printing capabilities are required for operation. Shopkeeper M costs $395. Shopkeeper Software, P.O. Box 38160, Tallahassee, Fla. 32315. 904-222-8808. <<<>>> Title : A 21-in. gray-scale flat Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsigma Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A 21-in. gray-scale flat monitor for the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh II has been introduced by Sigma Designs, Inc. According to the vendor, Silverview can display from two to 256 shades of gray when used with several different display adapters. The display screen features 1,152 by 860 pixels and offers a 72 dot/in. resolution. The product will be offered in three versions: Silverview M, a monochrome version that lists for $1,999.; Silverview S4, which provides 16 levels of gray and costs $2,499.; and the Silverview S8, which displays 256 shades of gray simultaneously and is priced at $2,999. The company has also announced the Colormax, a 19-in. color display system also designed for the Macintosh II. A maximum of 256 colors may be displayed simultaneously. The monitor screen offers a display of 1,152 by 870 pixels and provides an 82 dot/in. resolution. Reportedly, the product is especially suited to engineering drawings, full-height documents and two-page spreadsheets. The Colormax costs $5,299. Sigma Designs, 46501 Landing Pkwy., Fremont, Calif. 94538. 415-770-0100. <<<>>> Title : Software Connection, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsoftc Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Software Connection, Inc. has released Version 4.0 of DB Files, a library of files designed to manipulate data, memo and index files while maintaining compatibility with Ashton-Tate Corp.'s Dbase III+ file structures. Release 4.0 reportedly includes versions for Microsoft Corp.'s C and Turbo Pascal from Borland International. Source-code versions of the product are available for Microsoft's MS-DOS, Xenix, Unix and Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX/VMS. DB Files costs $99.95 for the single-user object version. Software Connection, P.O. Box 712, Ely, Minn. 55713. 218-365-5097. <<<>>> Title : STB Systems, Inc. has ann Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micstbsy Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: STB Systems, Inc. has announced two board-level products for the IBM Personal System/2 Models 50, 60, 80 and compatibles. The Serial 2 is a fully programmable asynchronous serial adapter with two RS-232C serial communications ports and is compatible with the IBM Dual Async Adapter/A, the vendor said. The board provides a programmable bit/sec. rate generator which allows operation from 50 to 19.2K bit/sec. and supports 5-, 6-, 7- or 8-bit characters and 1-, 1.5- or 2-stop bits. The Serial 2 is available for $239. The Serial/Parallel 2 was designed to function as a basic two-port I/O adapter and incorporates one RS-232CD asynchronous serial port and an industry-standard parallel port. It also includes a programmable bit/sec. rate to 19.2K bit/sec. The Serial/Parallel 2 costs $259. STB Systems, Suite 210, 1651 N. Glenville, Richardson, Texas 75081. 214-234-8750. <<<>>> Title : Watcom Products, Inc. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micwatco Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Watcom Products, Inc. has revised its integrated development system for IBM Personal Computer and Personal System/2 machines running under IBM PC-DOS or Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS. Watcom C6.5 offers increased speed across a wide area of functions, including compilation, I/O, string manipulation and memory allocation, the vendor said. Several additional library functions have been added to the package, including a graphics library that is compatible with Microsoft's C5.0. A minimum 512K bytes of memory is recommended. Watcom C6.5 is being offered at an introductory price of $295. Regular list price is $495. Watcom Products, 415 Phillip St., Waterloo, Ont., Canada. N2L 3X2. 800-265-4555. <<<>>> Title : Platinum Technology, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: neplatin Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Platinum Technology, Inc. has enhanced RC/Update, its software tool designed for IBM DB2 users. Version 1.3 is productivity-enhancing software that was specifically developed for the DB2 database administrator. The product assists DB2 specialists by significantly expediting the process of defining and changing any DB2 object of even the actual data items stored in a DB2 database, the company said. In addition, templates of existing objects can be used to expedite the definition of new objects. New features include a data editor for manipulating data stored in DB2 tables and an edit and browse option for the selection of an entire or partial DB2 table. RC/Update 1.3 costs from $375 to $900 monthly, depending on system configuration. Annual and perpetual pricing options are also available. Platinum Technology, 555 Waters Edge Drive, Lombard, Ill. 60148. 312-620-5000. <<<>>> Title : Advanced Computer Communi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netacc Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Advanced Computer Communications, Inc. has enhanced the ACS 4020, the company's CCITT X.25-to-Ethernet gateway. The company said that the product can now connect to Public Data Networks and has been certified for use on GTE Corp.'s Telenet and AT&T's Accunet. The ACS 4020 allows as many as 49 devices on a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Ethernet to share a physical port on an X.25 network. The product reportedly provides transparent connection between the two networks and can support data rates in excess of 512K bit/sec. Multiple ACS 4020s can be connected between the same Ethernet and X.25 network to support load-leveling and redundancy, according to the vendor. The ACS 4020 costs $10,950 and is available in either a rack-mountable or stand-alone enclosure. Advanced Computer Communications, 720 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara, Calif. 93101. 805-963-9431. <<<>>> Title : Advanced Computer Consult Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netacci Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Advanced Computer Consulting, Inc. has announced a software product designed to provide an alternative to dedicated serial analyzers. Called Serialtest, the program reportly allows a personal computer to be used for monitoring serial data communications between two devices. The software's features include pop-up menus and context-sensitive Help messages, and the product runs on IBM Personal Computers, PC XTs, ATs and compatible computers. The system is targeted at engineers, software developers, system managers and field-service professionals, the vendor said. Serialtest costs $495. Advanced Computer Consulting, Suite 101, 700 Harris St., Charlottesville, Va. 22901. 804-977-4272. <<<>>> Title : A fiber-optic data multip Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netburrb Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A fiber-optic data multiplexer/demultiplexer has been announced by Burr-Brown Corp. The FMX800 was designed to provide a high-speed data link between remote buildings and a cluster of terminal computers and ports, the company said. The FMX chassis reportedly permits up to 16 ports and may be expanded to 64 ports. All channels support full-duplex operations at the maximum RS-232/V.24 data rate of 19.2K bit/sec., and each trunk line may extend up to 3.5 km, the company said. The FMX800 price tag begins lower than $800 for the two-channel version. Burr-Brown, P.O. Box 11400, Tuscon, Ariz. 85734. 602-746-1111. <<<>>> Title : Chronos Software, Inc. ha Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netchron Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Chronos Software, Inc. has introduced a work group computing program for people, projects and time management within a local-area network environment. Called Who/What/When Office, the product coordinates employees on a network and gives them dynamic scheduling capabilities for both people and resources, the vendor said. The program will automatically check every entry for potential scheduling conflicts, and shared resources such as conference rooms and equipment can also be scheduled. The product reportedly runs as a server-based application on any DOS 3.1 compatible network operating system. Who/What/When Office costs $695 for a 30-user, single-server site license and $75 for each manual. Chronos Software, 1500 16th St., San Francisco, Calif. 94103. 800-777-7907. <<<>>> Title : Emucom, Inc. has announce Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netemuco Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Emucom, Inc. has announced the EM-1910 Mono Pad/Modem Enhancer. The product acts in conjunction with any standard V.32 modem to provide full, high-speed error correction out-dial X.32 capabilities, the company said. The device is reported to be operational at speeds of up to 9.6K bit/sec. while maintaining the CCITT X.25 standard. No operator intervention is required. Basic features include an asynchronous packet assembler/disassembler that is fully compatible with 1984 CCITT X.3, X.28 and X.29 standards. The EM-1910 costs $545. Emucom, 25 Industrial Ave., Chelmsford, Mass. 01824. 508-256-9871. <<<>>> Title : A 32-channel, statistical Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netmicom Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A 32-channel, statistical multiplexer has been unveiled by Micom Systems, Inc. Dubbed the Micom Box Type 6, the unit was designed to multiplex asynchronous and synchronous data simultaneously over a single leased line operating at speeds up to 19.2K bit/sec. or over a digital wide-band link operating at up to 72K bit/sec. The unit requires a single RS-232 or V.35 port and can be expanded with slide-in, 8-channel expansion cards. The Micom Box Type 6 is priced from $4,320 for an 8-channel unit, which includes fixed command port and 72K bit/ sec. composite interfaces. Micom Systems, Simi Valley, Calif. 805-583-8600. <<<>>> Title : Mitel Datacom, Inc. has a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netmitel Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Mitel Datacom, Inc. has added two statistical multiplexers to its existing line of communications products. The four-channel 5204X and the eight-channel 5208X both support asynchronous data rates up to 19.2K bit/sec. and provide a 19.2K bit/sec. synchronous composite link, the vendor said. The multiplexers also accept an aggregate channel input of up to 76.8K bit/sec. and can be used over single-hop satellite links for international transmissions. An enhanced High Level Data Link Control protocol is integrated into the units to provide error-free, end-to-end performance. The 5204X costs $1,195, and the 5208X is priced at $1,595. Mitel Datacom, Suite 553, Hallmark Building, 13873 Park Center Road, Herndon, Va. 22071. 703-471-1000. <<<>>> Title : Multiwindow terminal emul Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netpacer Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Multiwindow terminal emulation is featured in Pacer Software, Inc.'s latest release of its core Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh-to-Digital Equipment Corp. VAX product. Version 5.0 of Pacerlink includes a refined user interface that enables a Macintosh to concurrently interact with multiple VAX sessions, the vendor said. Pacerlink communication to a VAX is accomplished via an asynchronous connection, Kinetics Corp.'s Fastpath Localtalk/Ethernet bridge, or direct Macintosh-Ethernet connection using cards from Apple, Kinetics, or 3Com Corp. Pacerlink costs $2,000 per VAX system. Pacer Software, Suite 402, 7911 Herschel Ave., La Jolla, Calif. 92037. 619-454-0565. <<<>>> Title : A small computer systems Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netranch Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A small computer systems interface (SCSI) Hard Disk Installation Kit that was designed for users of Novell, Inc.'s Netware 2.1 has been introduced by Rancho Technology, Inc. The software reportedly provides users with concurrent I/O and is fully interrupt-driven. It is said to interface as many as seven SCSI disk drives and supports high-speed first-party direct-memory access data transfers. Netware fault tolerance and disk mirroring are supported. The kit is available in several configurations and is priced from $199 to $245. The SCSI Netware 2.1 driver may be purchased separately for $45. Rancho Technology, 8632 Archibald Ave., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. 91730. 714-987-3966. <<<>>> Title : Sun Microsystems, Inc. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netsunmi Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Sun Microsystems, Inc. has strengthened its offering of IBM connectivity products with the introduction of its color graphics IBM 3270 terminal emulator, the Sunlink CG3270. The product reportedly emulates an IBM 3179G display terminal and enables Sun workstation users to access IBM host mainframe applications, including those that use color and host graphics. The unit features a what-you-see-is-what-you-get keyboard-mapping utility and menu-driven file transfer capabilities. Sunlink CG3270 is priced at $950 per terminal session, with discounts offered for multiple terminal-session licenses. Sun Microsystems, 2550 Garcia Ave., Mountain View, Calif. 94043. 800-821-4643. <<<>>> Title : An Integrated Services Di Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: nettektr Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: An Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) software package that provides decoding facilities and emulation for the LAP-D protocol (to 64K bit/sec.) and the Signaling System 7 (SS7) has been announced by LP Com, a subsidiary of Tektronix, Inc. The software will be shipped with all new orders of the company's TC 2000 integrated telecommunications analyzer. Combined with the analyzer, the product will reportedly provide an ISDN Primary Interface Analyzer with channel-drop and insert capabilities for any time slot that carries SS7 or CCITT X.25 data. The drop and insert feature also provides simultaneous DS1/DS0 analysis and full dual-line support, according to the company. The ISDN software costs $22,490. Tektronix/LP Com, 205 Ravendale Drive, Mountain View, Calif. 94043. 415-967-5400. <<<>>> Title : N.Y. links up with Nynex Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: nynex2 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: ALBANY, N.Y. _ The New York State Office of General Services has chosen its regional Bell holding company to put together and manage a $180 million voice and data network that will connect some 100 state agencies. New York state recently awarded the contract for a statewide network to a consortium of bidders that includes Nynex Corp., IBM and Eastern Microwave, Inc. Empirenet will be a digital network that will support both voice and data transmissions among some 100 state agencies, as well as the New York State Lottery, according to state spokesman Tom Tubbs. Besides providing more efficient data interchange, the private network should save New York about $15 million annually in operating costs _ specifically ``in telephone bills [we] won't have to pay any longer,'' Tubbs said. While the cost savings are clearly a plus, the primary motivation behind the network was the fact that New York Telephone Co. is about to discontinue Group Channel Services, an analog equivalent of T1 networking that forms the basis for the state's current system, according to Bob Reinhold, senior project manager at Network Strategies, Inc. Network Strategies provided technical consulting during the contract request-for-proposals process. New York Telephone will supply New York's intraregional voice and data connections at rates of up to 56K bit/sec. User equipment will access the lines via on-premise voice and data multiplexers, which will interface with Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. (NET) T1 switches located at the Bell operating company's central offices. Nynex is supplying the multiplexers, while IBM is supplying the NET switches. Traffic speeds While most state traffic will be at rates of 9.6K bit/sec. or lower, 56K bit/sec. lines will be used to connect state lottery retail outlets with the lottery's computers, according to Jesse Rosen, executive director at Nynex Information Solutions Group. Eastern Microwave will handle inter-regional traffic. Nynex will act as systems integrator of the project. The company will also design, implement and operate the network control center that will provide network monitoring, diagnostics, trouble reporting and billing for Empirenet 24 hours a day, according to Gad J. Selig, a vice-president at Nynex Information Solutions Group. The carrier plans to use a combination of its own software and IBM's Netview to perform monitoring and collect network data from the networking equipment, Selig added. The Nynex group won the bid against AT&T, Rochester Telephone Corp. and a combined effort from MCI Communications Corp. and Racal-Milgo. New York chose the Nynex contingent because ``it can provide the training, maintenance, installation and technology which is required, at the lowest cost,'' Tubbs said. One attractive feature of the group's proposal, Tubbs noted, is that the state will not have to make any initial capital outlay. Equipment will be paid for over five years out of the operating costs of state agencies that use the network. Agencies will pay Empirenet ``out of the money they save in phone bills,'' and Empirenet will then pay vendors, Tubbs said. The one area Empirenet will not serve will be the capital district, which is already connected by Capnet. Implemented about two years ago, Capnet provides voice and data communications for all state offices in the capital district, Tubbs said. Users of the two networks will, of course, be able to communicate. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Hitachi adds optical unit Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: opdisk Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: SAN BRUNO, Calif. _ Hitachi America Ltd. has introduced a high-performance 5 -in. write-once optical-disk library unit featuring high-speed access and a small computer systems interface (SCSI). The OL101 has a maximum storage capacity of 28.8G bytes configured with 48 optical disk cartridges and was designed for connection to a host via an SCSI bus, the firm said. The unit also features a front-loading cartridge mechanism, equipment and error status reporting on a 2-char. LED panel and an internal maintenance panel for off-line diagnostics. The OL101 incorporates as many as four optical disk drives, an optical formatter/controller and an automatic cartridge-loading mechanism. It also features a 690K bit/sec. data transfer rate, an automatic detection/correction function and a battery-powered memory backup. The OL101 is expected to be available in the second quarter with pricing of a 48-cartridge configuration set at $26,000, the firm said. <<<>>> Title : The Next step Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: o17edit Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: THE QUESTION FOR Next, Inc. is this: Is the industry ready for yet another personal computer? If history is any indication, it is _ but with a catch. Next founder Steve Jobs will find that the market has changed a great deal since he played key roles in creating the Apple II and Macintosh standards. In the Apple II's case, all that was required for success was an idea, a brilliant technical mind in the form of Steve Wozniak and a retail industry waiting to happen. In the case of the Mac, success required an entire division of Apple, three years of arduous post-release product tuning and refining and a major shake-up of company leadership, including the removal of Jobs himself. For Next, the hurdles are even higher. There is no doubt that the machine the company unveiled last week is revolutionary in many respects. At a discounted price of $6,500, it comes with memory, storage, graphics and sound capabilities of machines more than double its cost. But the industry is strewn with revolutionary ideas that never made it in the market. The Macintosh itself was a good example. At the time of its introduction, it was a quantum leap ahead of the available technology in ease of use and flexibility. But it wasn't until Apple added 384K bytes of additional memory and a DOS coprocessor board that business users accepted it. The Mac was a machine that didn't know what its market was. The Apple II didn't care. Neither approach is good enough to win today, so Next has embarked on a strategy that seems to make a lot of sense. The company is carving out a niche _ universities and laboratories _ in which it believes price sensitivity and a low degree of vendor loyalty can give it an edge. Next has also added another important element to the equation _ money. Endowed with a virtual blank check from billionaire H. Ross Perot, $12 million of personal funding from Jobs and a legion of eager but unnamed investors, the company is approaching the market with resources to burn. Next should resist the stomping that less fortunate start-ups often suffer at the hands of the big boys. But what will make or break Next will be its ability to rise above technological arrogance and respond quickly to customer needs. The company has taken a number of gambles with the Next computer; the machine is priced well above the means of most university students, it won't accept a floppy disk and it has no PC compatibility. Let history be a warning: Apple's stubbornness in the face of demands for expandability and IBM compatibility on the Macintosh nearly killed that product three years ago. Ironically, once Apple gave in and offered a PC compatibility option, the issue died and the option never sold. It would be shortsighted to think that Next will limit its horizons to students and engineers. If the company is to become the billion-dollar giant it envisions itself to be, it must vie for the corporate market. The interest will be there, but only if Next is tough enough to compromise. <<<>>> Title : Get good and SCSI. DEC is Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: o17lines Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Get good and SCSI. DEC is expected to add two new models to its Microvax line Wednesday. According to a source close to the program, DEC will introduce the Microvax 3300 and 3400 to fill a gap between the Microvax II and Microvax 3500 and 3600. The newest members of the family will run on the 2.8-MIPS CVAX processor and will be packaged in a smaller pedestal than the Microvax II. In addition, DEC is expected to introduce a new mass-storage interface for the Microvaxes called DSSI. Our source called the interface DEC's proprietary implementation of the industry-standard small computer systems interface. For the techie on your Christmas list. For once, it seems, a microcomputer software program will be on time. Word last week was that the OS/2 Presentation Manager (that's Pman for short) was scheduled to ship the very last day it could and still remain on time. Look for Pman to start shipping Oct. 31, with a major unveiling by IBM that day _ or Nov. 1 at the latest. IBM says the software is on time, and coauthor Microsoft says, ``See you later this month.'' Users enrolled in IBM's early support program will begin getting a late beta-test version of OS/2 Extended Edition with Pman starting this week. What we probably won't see is support for output devices, and we'll get only scant support for monitors and other peripherals. We don't mind waiting, but we're getting hungry. To be sure, it's just a matter of time. Rumors were rife last week that IBM is gearing up to announce both that its 16M bit/sec. Token-Ring is shipping and that it will support the Named Pipes application programming interface (API) under Microsoft's OS/2 LAN Manager. But when? Some sources were sure IBM would make these pronouncements tomorrow, others predicted that Oct. 25 will be the day, and still others anointed IBM's anticipated mid-November shipment of the LAN Server as the perfect time and place. IBM passed up a golden opportunity to bless LAN Manager while attending a joint 3Com-Microsoft press conference on LAN Manager last week (see story page 4). So despite being a coup, timing that announcement tomorrow would probably annoy Microsoft. Just three weeks ago, IBM said the high-speed Token-Ring was still mired in internal testing, and since the LAN Manager API is embedded in LAN Server, November makes the most sense. Psst . . . Wanna buy a plug-compatible manufacturer? Two strikes and you're out. National Semiconductor may be fed up with the last couple of quarters' poor earnings for National Advanced Systems. It's just a rumor, but financial types are saying that National Semi may put NAS on the block. Maybe slides of Jim Manzi's vacation? It seems that the executives who arranged Lotus' recent, hastily called press conference to explain away the latest in what seems to be a terminal series of delays concerning the next release of Lotus 1-2-3 forgot to sound the alarm internally. Some users in the Boston area are no doubt chuckling over notices they received from Lotus last week offering them the chance to sign up for scheduled demos of Release 3.0. The question is, what is Lotus planning to show them? What if _ we use a modem? Unisys subisidary Timeplex claims that it plans to make its Link/Design network simulation service available as user software at an undisclosed future date. Users visiting a Timeplex sales office can play what-if games to determine which configuration of Timeplex switches and carrier tariffs meet their needs. Fear and loathing in New York: At last week's Info '88 show, you could wander down the aisles and view full-color demos of 1-2-3 Release 3.0 (announced April 1987); Dbase IV (announced last February); OS/2 Extended Edition (announced in April '87) and Presentation Manager (announced in April '87). You can't buy a single one of them yet. And they wonder why trade show attendance is down. If you want to swap tips and tip-offs with someone who is real, call the CW hot line at 800-343-6474 or 508-879-0700 and ask to speak to Editor Bill Laberis, sitting in for vacationing news monger Peter Bartolik this week. <<<>>> Title : Sun raises prices across Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: o17short Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Sun raises prices across the board Sun Microsystems, Inc. last week hiked prices on its workstations and servers by an average of 7%, blaming increases in the price of memory components. Prices for Sun's newer products have increased by an average of 6%, while prices for older systems have been boosted by between 10% and 15%. Additionally, Sun raised prices for add-on memory by $100 per megabyte. This is the second time Sun has increased prices because of the scarcity of dynamic random-access memory components. Last spring, Sun raised the prices of products based on Motorola, Inc. microprocessors. ADR acquisition a done deal Barely a month after the deal was announced, Computer Associates International, Inc. said last week it has completed its $170 million acquisition of Applied Data Research, Inc. (ADR) from Ameritech. ``In the next week or so, we'll have a lot more to say about what we are doing'' with the new unit, said David Tory, executive vice-president at CA. Tory suggested that research and development spending at ADR might be cut and that overspending on development was one cause of ADR's reported unprofitability. Cadnetix resists suitor The stage is set for the computer-aided design and manufacturing industry's second hostile takeover battle of the year. Cadnetix Corp. strongly urged its shareholders last week to reject Daisy Systems Corp.'s $8 per share tender offer [CW, Oct. 10]. Boulder, Colo.-based Cadnetix also went to court to seek validation of its defensive shareholder rights plan and an injunction against Daisy's attempt to consummate the tender offer. Daisy currently owns 7.6% of Cadnetix. If successful, the takeover could put Daisy among the top 10 CAD/CAM vendors. What's in a name? Maybe a lot, judging from Arthur Andersen & Co.'s decision last week to give its consulting practice a new name, Andersen Consulting. The move serves to differentiate the company's auditing and management consulting functions, spokesmen said. It also may set the stage for a move by Arthur Andersen to separate its consulting and auditing practices. The company would not comment on the speculation but said it has already launched ``a major study to consider all options available in restructuring the practice.'' Many of the nation's Big Eight accounting firms have been facing a strain between the auditing and consulting practices. Earlier this year, the consulting arm of Chicago-based Arthur Young was torn apart when senior partners broke away to form Technology Solutions Co. [CW, June 20]. Thanks for the memories Japan's leading semiconductor makers plan to raise their prices for 1M-bit dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips soon, according to Japanese press reports. Fujitsu Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Toshiba Corp. are among the companies planning to raise prices from the $14.62 to $17.69 level this month to the $15.38 to $17.69 per chip level for large-volume customers. Even though production of 1M-bit DRAMs was boosted in July, suppliers expect the tight supply-and-demand situation to continue for a while. GE sheds another unit General Electric Co. demonstrated last week that it is eager to sell off information systems subsidiaries. Shortly after announcing that Prime Computer, Inc. will buy its Calma subsidiary (see story page 4) GE sold its Digital Video Interactive Technology Venture (DVI) facility to Intel Corp. Intel gains the Princeton, N.J.-based facility's 35-person development team from the deal as well as DVI's proprietary digital compression and decompression technology, patents and hardware and software products. DVI's products are used for interactive, full-motion video and audio capability in personal computers and consumer electronics. <<<>>> Title : Too arrogant Author : Joanne Pandolfo Source : CW Comm FileName: panlet Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Regarding ``Form precedes function'' [CW, Sept. 5], the user often knows exactly what he wants. Assuming that he doesn't know what he wants or needs is a form of intellectual arrogance that has no place in the business world. It sounds to me like the chief architect should pick up the phone and ask some questions of those who do understand the business problem rather than spending his time trying to ``replace the complex structure of interacting subsystems with linear arrays of standard types of components embedded in a foundation software framework.'' Forman and Hess claim that their rationale will reduce the complexity of the problem. I fail to see how the up-front development of anything and everything but the solution to a recognized problem makes the task simpler. Template software has its place, but to attempt to generally apply such a development method seems unwise. Joanne Pandolfo Princeton, N. J. <<<>>> Title : Program trading still a m Author : James Daly, CW S Source : CW Comm FileName: program Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Program trading. Few phrases ever knifed deeper into the heart of the financial and investor community than those four syllables did last October. When analysts began to sift through the wreckage of the market's collapse, many Wall Street executives and members of Congress blamed program trading _ a complex computer-guided technique in which large blocks of stocks and stock index futures are automatically traded when specific market conditions occur _ for dumping large amounts of stock after the fall began and snowballing a bad situation into a disaster. In the past year, program trading has weathered the slings and arrows of its critics, and although recent reports by the New York Stock Exchange indicate that the practice has slowed over the past year, it remains a vital part of financial trading. But emotional scars remain; most investment-house representatives seem most comfortable discussing program trading in whispers. The smoke had barely cleared on Oct. 19's historic 508-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average when program trading became a focal point for criticism. Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.) immediately called for the suspension of program trading to ``at least temporarily unwind the death spiral into which mindless, computer-driven algorithms have driven the market,'' while a presidential commission faulted program trading for accelerating the crash. Whipping boy? Others felt the practice was wrongfully made a scapegoat, blaming jitters about the economy, high interest rates, changes in tax legislation and a worldwide overvaluation of stocks for the tumble. A report prepared by the NYSE last December even noted that ``merely trading simultaneously a number of stocks, which is the essence of program trading, can hardly be the cause of whatever problem may exist; nor should we be troubled by the fact that in the last two decades of the 20th century, particular trades are selected by the use of a computer.'' Many brokers _ including the top three program traders, Morgan Stanley & Co., Bear Stearns & Co. and Merrill Lynch Research _ refused to discuss their level of program trading. ``It's an extremely controversial issue,'' a spokesman for Morgan Stanley said. But a series of monthly reports on program trading issued by the NYSE indicate that enthusiasm for the practice may be cooling. Program trading in August dipped to 8.1% of the Big Board's average trading volume of 144.7 million shares a day, according to the report, down from a level observers placed at 15% to 20% a year ago. Still, the NYSE is not about to take chances. Earlier this year, the exchange listened to the cries of nervous investors who claimed that computers could increase volatility in a falling market; the Big Board has now installed a collar that prohibits certain forms of computer-assisted trading activity on days when the Dow falls by more than 50 points. But many more basic problems still exist. According to a recent report, ``Computers in Financial Trading,'' issued by Elsevier Advanced Technology Publications in New York, many commentators who attacked program trading for having contributed to the volatility of the U.S. stock markets were not even certain what they were attacking. Author James Essinger stated that financial traders usually interpret the term as involving a portfolio, or program, of shares, with computers only being used to keep a record of the progress of the sale. In contrast, the NYSE includes both computer-assisted index arbitrage and portfolio insurance-trading strategies under the program-trading umbrella. <<<>>> Title : Unmodified PS/2s overseas Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ps21 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: HONG KONG _ IBM is selling unmodified versions of its latest Personal System/2 machines here that do not comply with U.S. Federal Communications Commission Class B specifications. The firm was required to modify these machines in the U.S. to correct a poorly placed keyboard cable. The FCC regulations do not apply in Hong Kong. However, in order to meet the regulatory board's rules, IBM has taped over the FCC specification stickers on the backs of all PS/2 Model 30 286s exported for sale here, according to Ray Gorman, a spokesman for IBM Asia/ South Pacific. No contact yet Gorman also claimed that all IBM dealers and distributors have been told to inform customers that the machines do not comply with FCC regulations. However, none of the IBM dealers contacted said they had heard from IBM on this matter. All of the dealers declined to be named. One dealer said, ``I got the stock only a couple days ago, but there's been nothing about this [FCC] at all.'' At an unspecified date, IBM Asia/ South Pacific plans to affix all Model 30 286s sold in Hong Kong with a device to make them FCC-compliant, according to Hal Jennings, marketing program manager at IBM Asia/South Pacific. By Chris Brown, IDG News Service <<<>>> Title : Rbase aids in murder vict Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: rbase1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: SEATTLE _ When you think of database management programs, you think of corporate accounting and massive files of data. But when Microrim, Inc. thought of its Rbase database system, it thought of crime _ a rash of 40 serial killings in Seattle known as the Green River murders. Microrim Chairman Wayne Erickson developed a microcomputer database application that helps match dental records with the remains of unidentified murder victims. Erickson teamed up with forensic dentists to write the program after Redmond, Wash.-based Microrim was approached by Dr. Donald Reay, the medical examiner for King County in Washington, and the police task force working on the serial killer case. King County police believe the murder of 40 women and disappearance of eight others is linked to one perpetrator. Identification of many of the women, who were killed between July 1982 and early 1984, has been difficult because of their alleged ``street life-style'' and anonymity. The crime-solving program, which is based on Microrim's Rbase System V, sorts through the dental data of hundreds of missing persons to find information that could match that of a victim. If there is a match, a dental expert compares the missing person's dental chart against a victim's teeth to make a positive identification. The system is designed specifically for use in the Green River investigation but is flexible enough that it could be used to identify remains in the event of a natural disaster or similar emergency, Reay said. Microrim is no stranger to law enforcement officers. The Los Angeles City Police Department used an Rbase application to store and compare data related to the ``Night Stalker'' serial killings. The Dade County Police Department in Florida uses Rbase to maintain 25,000 active warrants. By Stephen Jones, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Look to corporate databas Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: schwartz Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Corporate databases represent rich and largely untapped sources of raw materials for decision making. Typically, these databases contain a wealth of varied information, including histories of loan applications, employment records, computer logs and a host of other data types from which a frame-word for decision making can be generated. Few organizations currently make full use of their corporate databases for this purpose. Instead, it is more common for a company to try to access decision-making capability by using statistical or traditional expert system techniques. Expert systems typically require extensive interviewing of a domain expert by an expert system analyst. The analyst takes the articulated rules for making the decision and places them in an expert system. In some cases, the amount of data is so overwhelming that statistical techniques are used. While the expert system method requires considerable effort on the part of the domain expert and the expert system analyst, the statistical method calls for a lot of work to be performed by a statistician. Today, however, there are a host of personal computer-based products incorporating techniques of induction, genetic learning and neural networking. These techniques can be used to reduce the amount of human labor that is required for the task by discerning solutions to problems as they are contained in historical databases. The savings that can be achieved with these methods are considerable. In instances in which measurements have been taken, a 90% reduction in human effort is common. Much of the expensive and time-consuming process of rule generation is automated. A quick prototype can be generated, tested and validated and then quickly turned into a working application. All that is needed is a statistically valid historical database of information relating to the decision area, a user conversant in one of the advanced approaches, and a subject expert to do a reality check of the generated rule set. In theory, applying these AI methods to the decision-making process is easy, but there is still some degree of difficulty involved in their use. Areas that must be carefully attended to include the following: Problem selection.The kinds of inquiries best suited to these approaches involve structured selection, in which the number of outcomes is limited; or mapping, a technique that involves finding correlations that exist between elements and outcomes. Data set validity. Since rules and decision-making criteria will be generated from the information the system receives, the number and types of cases used to reach a conclusion or test the quality of a conclusion must be statistically representative. Representation. With this class of tools, the key to a successful application is selecting the right attributes to represent the problem accurately. Additional data collection. Most of the data saved by companies is done so for legal compliance, so some relevant data may be missing. In one case, the accuracy of a mortgage underwriting application rose from 53% to 78% after developers added the gross national product and the inflation rate to the historical data set. Ability to audit. Since most inductive and genetic tools produce rules that are acted on by an inference engine, an audit trail and decision explanation are automatic. This is not true of neural networks, however. These products have not yet developed to the point at which they can explain how they got from the input to the output. Keeping those caveats in mind, here is an overview of some of the available tools and current research. Induction Induction is a machine-learning technique that derives its decision-making capabilities from case histories. The earliest commercially available AI method of data extraction _ an inductive algorithm known as ID3 _ has served in the role of a foundation for at least a half dozen tools. The easiest to use implementation of ID3 is found in 1st Class Expert Systems, Inc.'s 1st Class. The tool produces forward-chaining rules from the input cases. These rules take the form of a decision tree, which can be edited directly in the tool. Last year, the company extended this feature in Fusion. This tool combines the capabilities of 1st Class with a code generator, allowing users to combine expert system technology with existing C or Pascal applications. An enhanced version of this technique is found in Intelligenceware, Inc.'s IXL, which combines an inductive method with other statistical methods. This product allows users to specify the importance of relationships and to commit resources to discovering rules that use an attribute based on that attribute's influence on an outcome. The most popular induction-based decision-making tool on the market is VP-Expert from Paperback Software International. Available now for the IBM Personal Computer and soon to be available for the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh, VP-Expert uses the Kavanaugh Map, a method that reduces the logic represented in the cases to its simplest rule-based form. Genetic learning is another method for deriving rules from data. In this method, rules generated at random are compared and ranked in descending order of merit, eliminated, reranked and retested until there is no improvement from one generation to the next in the correctness of the rule set. There is currently only one commercial tool of this type available _ Beagle, a knowledge-base generator from VRS Consulting, Inc. On the surface, genetic learning in the product is similar to ID3, in that historical examples are entered and rules are generated. However, ID3 learns by comparing an attribute with a constant, whereas Beagle compares and combines the values of attributes with other attributes. By definition, Beagle is not an expert system, since it offers no inference engine. Instead, it can produce the rule set in Fortran, C or Pascal for embedded applications. Neural network tools One way of viewing neural network technology is as biologically inspired statistics. This capability is based on the ability of humans to associate incoming stimuli with similar, although not necessarily identical, stimuli identified through past experience. Stephen Gallant at Northeastern University has developed a two-part neural network expert system, Dumbo and Macie, to meet the challenge of the neural network's inability to explain how the value of the data offered influences a decision. Dumbo takes data and derives the knowledge base in matrix form, from which the decision-making capability is used. Macie, or matrix-controlled inference engine, is the runtime and explanation section of the expert system. It combines the matrix generated by Dumbo with its own inference engine to form an expert system. While not yet commercially available, Gallant's method has the potential to make the use of neural networks in knowledge acquisition more approachable and allow the network to explain its decision making. Other companies that are commercializing neural network technology are additionally attacking the explanation problem in hopes of expanding their market. These firms include Neuralware, Inc., Nestor, Inc. and Hecht-Nielsen Neurocomputer Corp. Commercial use While these forms of rule generators are not well known, some are widely used. For instance, Du Pont Co. uses 1st Class and VP-Expert in a variety of diagnostic applications. In one case, the subject expert for a Mylar manufacturing machine tried to build an expert system using conventional rule-based expert system techniques and failed. However, with the help of these products, an example-based prototype was running in one afternoon. ``Mining'' databases through the methods of rule generation described here may not solve all problems and cure all ills, but it does allow users to get a running start on building an expert system. While each of these processing paradigms requires substantial human-defined preprocessing to work, the effort inolved lessens with each improvement of technology. By Tom Schwartz; Schwartz is founder of The Schwartz Associates in Mountain View, Calif., a consulting firm specializing in technologies that utilize expert systems and neural computing. <<<>>> Title : IBM, DEC support question Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: service Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: NEW YORK _ In the past three months, users have been pleasantly surprised by the one-two punch of multivendor service offerings by IBM and Digital Equipment Corp. But the real surprise may lie in whether both vendors _ long resistant to supporting nonproprietary equipment _ can actually pull off this promised turnabout. Analysts said these proclamations of open-arms support for third-party equipment will depend heavily on whether the companies achieve two goals: execute agreements with capable third-party service providers and convince other systems vendors, including each other, to sit up and take notice when told, ``We've determined that it's your problem _ fix it.'' Today, when multivendor networks falter, users are often caught in a vicious cycle of finger-pointing among vendors. It is not clear how these service programs will avoid more of the same, although IBM and DEC insist they will. One key problem, at least among the large systems vendors, is that none will so easily hand over control of a customer network, said analyst Jeff Kaplan, market researcher at Lexington, Mass.-based The Ledgeway Group. Loss of control could mean loss of sales, Kaplan commented. ``What we're seeing is an escalation of the battle for control over the customer network,'' he said. ``Vendors are hoping to build a close, comprehensive relationship with customers beyond the single-product solution.'' Service support is seen as the glue that will bind customers to vendors, he said. Moreover, end-user focus groups moderated by Ledgeway have revealed very little faith in vendor support services. Most group participants reported that vendors do not understand user needs, do not understand enough about their own equipment and refuse to address third-party equipment, Kaplan said. The kicker is that large corporations are generally unwilling to relinquish control of any strategic system to an outside organization. The real target audience lies mid-pack, he said. It was against this backdrop that IBM last month unveiled IBM Telecommunications Services, Network Support (TSNS), and DEC introduced its Integrated Support Services (ISS) and Service Alliances programs. IBM's TSNS reportedly establishes IBM as a single point of service for voice and data networks involving IBM and non-IBM devices. It is also said to provide one-stop network problem determination assistance, from problem detection to fix verification, to the customer's Help desk from an IBM Network Support Center using Netview. Options An optional enhancement involves installation of monitoring and diagnostic probes on certain segments _ typically critical network circuits _ for problem detection and isolation and performance monitoring. Support of T1 systems is available. Kaplan suggested the diagnostic probes are a repackaging of Pacific Spectrum's product and basically monitor only the wide-area portion and end nodes of the network. ``The difficulty lies in getting to the LAN area; I think there's more fluff than substance here,'' he said. IBM said it will isolate any problem calls to the responsible vendor, notify it of failing network equipment or communications facilities and coordinate its resolution efforts. Affected third parties will cooperate with IBM because ``all vendors try to provide the best service to the customer,'' said IBM Vice-President James Boyce. Maintenance alliances Also, under an optional Service Management plan, IBM said it will form alliances with maintenance vendors to provide hardware maintenance for the customer's prescribed coverage on selected non-IBM products. IBM will negotiate the terms and handle administration and vendor-invoice payments under the contract. Within the defined network, data networks must have a designated IBM CPU, and voice networks must have an IBM/Rolm Business Communications System. The required equipment must be under IBM warranty or maintenance contract. DEC's ISS program is also targeted at multivendor networks and is reportedly focused on planning, design, implementation and ongoing network management. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : What price normalization? Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sftlin3 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Despite a running debate over the virtues of data normalization, no one has done a quantified analysis of how much performance the practice of normalization costs. The debate has been conducted on a basis of intellectual appeal and intuition. Normalization advocates point out the purity of data structure when data is decomposed into simple, more stable structures. Normalization has the effect of scattering numerous data sets across a given unit of physical storage. Denormalization proponents point out the inefficiencies of processing that result from creating many small, physically separate pools of data. They advocate concentrating data in a common area of storage for optimum access. In an attempt to resolve the dispute, George Coleman at Amdahl Corp. in Chicago conducted a large study that took a quantified look at normalization vs. denormalization. The study was run on an Amdahl 5890-300E mainframe using three groups of transactions, each accomplishing the same business purpose. The only difference was the normalization or denormalization of the data. The first set of transactions was normalized. Eight tables were accessed by the transactions with 30 to 90 rows accessed per transaction, 50,000 rows per table, with a row length of 65 bytes. The second group consisted of four tables with 20 to 60 rows accessed per transaction. There were 25,000 rows per table with a row length of 115 bytes. The third group had two tables and 15 to 30 rows accessed per transaction with a row length of 215 bytes. The progression is toward an increased degree of normalization. As data is normalized, there are fewer tables with less dynamic interrelationship between tables and larger row sizes. The job stream uniformly did 10% update and 5% insert/delete activity. The rest of the activity was simple access or retrieval of data. Each update changed the length of the row. Two benchmarks were run on DB2 under IMS/DC. Transaction Processing Network Simulator (TPNS), an IBM software product that generates transactions, was used for the network driver, running on an IBM 3090 Model 200. Both simulated the same level of user activity _ 100 terminals, each serving up a transaction every 10 seconds. The first benchmark used only transactions from Group 1, the normalized lot of transactions. The second used only transactions from Groups 2 and 3, the denormalized lot. The results The normalized run had an average response time of 1.48 sec., queue to queue. The second run, the denormalized one, had an average response time of 0.37 sec. The average CPU utilization for the first run was 16%, with a maximum usage of 21.4%. The average CPU utilization for the second run was 11.1%, with a maximum of 12.5%. These numbers indicate that normalization of data, if you care about performance or hardware utilization, is one of the most expensive things you can do. Depending on which set of numbers you look at, normalization costs from 100% to 400% as much as denormalization in terms of performance and hardware usage. Put another way, if it takes 10 million instructions per second (MIPS) to run a normalized application, it takes 5 MIPS or less to get the same throughput with denormalized data. Every time someone mentions denormalization, there is a hue and cry that anyone who denormalizes data is setting back the progression of the industry. But there is no reason denormalization must be done stupidly. When it is done intelligently, the benefit is much higher levels of performance. Coleman says normalization is fine for some applications: Very small data bases in which most data can be put in main memory or a few physical blocks of data on disk. Databases that do not require performance or in which there is no concern as to the amount of hardware needed to support the database. As a basis for the first cut at database design, before data must be physically defined to the DBMS. By William H. Inmon; Inmon is a senior principal at American Management Systems in Lakewood, Colo., and an author on the subject of database design. <<<>>> Title : Creative execs cop SIM pr Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sim Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: MINNEAPOLIS _ The creators of a customer information system that helped to increase one firm's revenue sixfold in seven years and a hand-held computer-based sales system credited with saving another company more than $20 million annually will be honored today as winners of the Society for Information Management's (SIM) Partners in Leadership Award. SIM identified the winners as President Jim H. McClung and Senior Vice-President Charles J. Darnell of Lithonia Lighting in Conyers, Ga., as well as Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay, Inc. Vice-President of Sales Operations Ronald A. Rittenmeyer and Vice-President of Management Services Charles S. Feld. The awards, which will be presented at the annual SIM meeting here, are intended to honor executives from the IS community and the user community who work in partnership to produce major results for their businesses. Outlining the results of his firm's Lithonia Light Link and ACE+ systems, Darnell said, ``The most important benefit is that it ties our information systems strategy in with our business strategy. The most important benefit from that, in turn, is that it ties us closer to our customer.'' Competitive edge Lithonia, a lighting equipment manufacturer and subsidiary of National Service Industries, reportedly has boosted its sales from $96 million to $559 million since it began using its first generation of Light Link systems on an IBM Series/1 minicomputer in 1980. Now based on personal computers, Light Link and ACE+ have helped the company maintain a competitive edge by making it easier for customers to do business and thus maintaining their loyalty, Darnell said. According to Lithonia, order processing has been reduced by one week to half of the industry average, with the company filling orders in a week regardless of customer location. Other effects of the system include: reduction of errors in order specification and product design through knowledge-based technology; identification of new product opportunities by automatically capturing customer inquiry information; extra revenue of $3 million annually by selling spin-off information technology; conversion of a weekly invoice preparation process into a daily process; and generation of profits for Lithonia's customers. The systems were designed to support the internal business needs of Lithonia's branch locations and agents, including accounting and personnel applications, as well as handling tasks such as on-line transmission of specifications, quotations, prices, orders, acknowledgments, order status and inventory status. McClung was nominated for his commitment to Light Link and his early work in soliciting company agents' viewpoints and needs. Darnell was nominated for his work as the catalyst for the systems and his recognition of the valuable role PCs could play in the corporation. Frito-Lay's Rittenmeyer and Feld were nominated for their work in developing the snack-food company's hand-held computer strategy, which placed these portable machines in the hands of 10,000 route sales representatives. Those computers are carried into retail food stores where Frito-Lay sales personnel enter information about the store's inventory and make their deliveries. The hand-held computer is attached to a printer in the delivery truck to produce an invoice, and it downloads its information via modem daily into minicomputers located in more than 200 distribution centers. According to Frito-Lay, the system reduces paperwork and errors and improves order tracking in the inventory and ordering process, allows Frito-Lay to instantly download new product information and prices into the system rather than relying on order forms printed monthly and gives each sales representative an extra three to five hours per week to seek out new accounts or foster relationships with existing customers. The company also said the system allows Frito-Lay headquarters to calculate daily sales by category, channel and geographic region within 24 to 36 hours rather than in one week; monitor sales successes and market trends within 48 hours rather than in two or three weeks, thus enabling manufacturing to immediately adjust production; evaluate promotions while they are ongoing; and save more than $20 million annually. By James Connolly, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : The Sniffer, a network ma Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sniff Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The Sniffer, a network management tool that pinpoints problems and analyzes performance, now supports Banyan Systems, Inc.'s Virtual Networking Software (Vines) server product. Developed by Network General Corp., the product is said to support more than 50 network protocols and systems. According to Network General, developing network management software for Banyan's server was a major project, since the system supports a large number of protocols. The Sniffer reportedly complements existing Vines network management software by evaluating, fine-tuning, debugging and troubleshooting Ethernet, IBM's Token-Ring, Arcnet and Starlan networks that use Vines protocols. It also provides real-time monitoring of network traffic, including the types and number of interchanges that take place between different nodes during typical network activities such as file transfer or electronic messaging. Called the PA-1309 Banyan Vines Protocol Suite, the software is available immediately for all models of the Sniffer and is priced at $1,995. Network General, 1296B Lawrence Station Road, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94089. 415-965-1800. <<<>>> Title : There's reason beyond rul Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: spang Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The thousands of commercial expert systems that now exist represent only a sliver of the potential applications. Current commercial technology alone is rich enough to accommodate many additional applications. However, developments in programming techniques to represent knowledge and reasoning will considerably expand the scope of expert systems. One major factor in the success of an expert system is how well the programming techniques used to encode knowledge and reasoning suit the application at hand. These techniques should match the way people really think and do a job or solve a problem. When the technical paradigm does not match the problem, a system will degrade quickly. So far, most commercial applications depend on a limited set of techniques. The most common are systems in which knowledge is phrased in terms of rules, formal logical relations, frame- or object-oriented paradigms or combinations of the above. There are, however, new paradigms of knowledge representation and reasoning on the horizon. These have just emerged or are about to emerge from the research world. Once commercially available, they will increase both the types of problems addressed by expert systems and the ease of programming. Open a new window Randy Davis, a professor at MIT's AI Laboratory, began looking for new modes of knowledge representation and reasoning in 1981. As Davis saw it, traditional expert systems usually expressed knowledge in the form of rules based on empirical associations coming from experience with a particular task or problem domain. This approach makes the most sense for problems in which expertise really does consist of such associations. However, it can be limited if a problem exists in the absence of experts who have built up a repertoire of experience. Furthermore, for many physical devices such as circuit boards, an entirely different type of knowledge is available. Since we know how these devices work and understand their structure and behavior, we can use this information to support a more powerful form of reasoning than one based on empirical association. Davis uses an approach called model-based reasoning to express the underlying causal relationships among components of a device. When a system is developed based on a model of the device, it can reason not just by relying on empirical connections but by knowing ``how things work.'' During the past several years, Davis' group _ and others at places like Xerox Corp.'s Palo Alto Research Center and Stanford University _ have been developing model-based systems, focusing on the design of circuit boards as an application area for this type of research. This work has been supported by Digital Equipment Corp., the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Wang Laboratories, Inc. A new company formed by several ex-Wang engineers, AI Squared, Inc. in Chelmsford, Mass., recently shipped its first commercial expert system application created with model-based reasoning. According to Kevin Flood, the company's vice-president of business operations, AI Squared was approached with the idea of using the model-based approach to develop diagnostic systems for instrumentation and equipment in hospitals by Lewisville, Texas-based Medical System Support, Inc., a company that provides failure diagnosis of computers and medical instrumentation in hospitals. AI Squared started with a diagnostic application for CAT scanners called Felix. In less than nine months, the company built such a system using Golden Common LISP to run on IBM's Personal Computer. It also ported the system to Lucid Common LISP to run on Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstations. Felix has just been delivered to the field sales force, and AI Squared is in the process of developing additional applications for Medical System Support. AI Squared is also looking for funds to start a marketing arm to develop its own products. Xerox PARC in Palo Alto, Calif., well known for its innovative multidisciplinary approach to AI, is also forging ahead with research in representation and reasoning. One major application area is the process of equipment design. Current efforts use techniques for reasoning by analogy along with model-based reasoning, which seems to more closely approximate the mental process of design than do the rule or frame-based models of traditional expert systems. When human experts face a difficult design problem, they often look to analogous problems to find their solutions. Xerox PARC researchers are looking at how a knowledge base of general design expertise could be used as a source of analogies when there are problems with a specific design. To do this, researchers are creating interfaces between the general and specific knowledge bases. Makes world go 'round In financial applications, Price Waterhouse is contributing to the search for new techniques for knowledge processing. At its Technology Centre in Menlo Park, Calif., the Big Eight accounting firm has launched a major effort to incorporate AI techniques into the software systems it uses for its auditing, tax planning and consulting services. The goal is to improve the quality and efficiency of these services. Although this charter may sound rather limited, the complexity and diversity of knowledge to be processed in these applications requires innovative research on knowledge representation and reasoning to make a significant impact. Richard Fikes, principal scientist at the center, emphasizes that difficult technical problems abound in representing such knowledge. He and his project team must discover ways to represent the relative timing of events, describe an object from multiple perspectives and find alternative simplifying abstractions of complex descriptions and problem-specific default descriptions. Fikes' group is currently working on a prototype of an international corporate tax planning system, from which new ideas for representation and reasoning are likely to emerge. Soon, the new techniques for handling knowledge that are developing in research settings will begin to crop up in the marketplace both as new tools for developing expert systems and as enhancements to existing tools. Alain Rappaport, president of Neuron Data, Inc. in Palo Alto, has already said that techniques such as reasoning by analogy, learning by discovery and choosing among multiple problem-solving paradigms will be incorporated into Nexpert Object, which is Neuron's application development shell. Neuron Data has also created Nextra, a tool capable of eliciting and designing knowledge. Nextra, with a high level of interactivity and graphical imagery, lets domain experts structure their thoughts about a specific task at a high level of abstraction. This type of tool is excellent for highly conceptual, hard-to-formalize tasks, such as market positioning or strategic planning. In the long term, Rappaport says he expects Nextra to serve as a personal laboratory in which one can discover common processes of reasoning in real-world applications. Understanding these common processes will yield new techniques of knowledge representation and reasoning that will emerge from real experience. The commercial success of AI and expert systems has made the discussion of human thought processes relevant to computer marketing. To meet the needs of their developers and users, expert systems will evolve to incorporate new forms of knowledge processing that closely approximate human thought. Such techniques will affect the ease of both interaction and programming, thereby making personal computing accessible to a broader population. By Sara Spang; Spang is editor-in-chief of ``The Spang Robinson Report on Artificial Intelligence'' in Menlo Park, Calif. <<<>>> Title : SQL Server bundled with N Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sqlserve Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: High-flying Sybase, Inc. has stuck another feather in its cap in the form of a bundling deal that gives Next, Inc. users a free copy of SQL Server with every machine they purchase. If Next attacks the commercial market, the bundling deal may cut some of the muscle out of Sybase's deal with Microsoft Corp. and Ashton-Tate Corp. to resell an OS/2 version of the same database engine. There will be some competition for the hardware and operating systems sales between the Next and OS/2 versions, Sybase President Mark Hoffman said. But most shops have already decided on a hardware platform and will not make the switch because of a bundling deal, Hoffman said. Not equal yet In addition, the version of SQL Server bundled with the Next machine supports fewer users and networks than the OS/2 version. Once the Next version is upgraded and given parity with the OS/2 version, the price will be increased and will be similar to the OS/2 version, Hoffman said. Microsoft downplayed the SQL Server competition from Next. According to Adrian King, director of product marketing for operating systems at Microsoft, the decision to buy a Next machine instead of an Intel Corp. 80386-based machine for OS/2 will come down to the overall selection of applications, not just SQL Server. No matter what way people chooseto go, there should be some measure of compatibility between the two products, according to King. ``There will be overlap in the sense that [Next] is licensing the same technology. But, at least applications-wise, there will be a lot of compatibility between the products,'' he said. By Douglas Barney, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Hitchhiking Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: stock101 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The market at large continued to reflect a wait-and-see attitude on investors' parts last week, but they apparently liked what they saw in the technology sector. Digital Equipment Corp.'s announcement of effective price hikes, for example, helped drive the company's stock up 2 points to close Thursday at 92. IBM _ whose underwhelming 3% profit gain and 5% rise in revenue for its recently ended fourth quarter were announced Friday _ enjoyed a similar gain, closing Thursday at 118 , up 2 points for the week. Microsoft Corp. picked up 1 points, rising to 51 after the company hinted that encouraging figures will be on display in its forthcoming earnings report for the quarter ended Sept. 30. Meanwhile, microcomputer rival Lotus Development Corp., still feeling the fallout from further delays of the vaunted latest release of its flagship 1-2-3 spreadsheet software, fell 1 points to a new low of 15 . Spurned suitor Daisy Systems Corp. dropped of a point to close Thursday at 7 after Cadnetix Corp. rejected its corporate advances; Cadnetix held steady at 8 . NELL MARGOLIS <<<>>> Title : The day MIS will never fo Author : Alan J. Ryan Source : CW Comm FileName: stock4 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: One year later, the stock market crash continues to haunt MIS departments, particularly in the New York area. ``I would think all retail brokerage firms have been affected by the reduction in volumes on the [New York Stock Exchange],'' said W. H. Anderson, chief information officer and executive vice-president at Prudential-Bache Securities, Inc. Some companies have had layoffs, and others have cut staff by attrition. In the greater New York metropolitan area alone, it was estimated that the number of computer professionals laid off by New York securities firms and banks in the weeks following Oct. 19 was in the range of 14,000 [CW, Jan. 25]. One MIS job recruiter said it may be as late as the third quarter of 1989 before the hiring slowdown in MIS picks up in New York. According to Lynda Laurencin at Robert Half of New York, Inc., the market break left many New York-area MIS professionals out of work: ``This is probably the worst depression I've ever seen in the 15 years I've been in this industry in the city.'' In the greater New York area, she estimated, there are probably more than 500 MIS managers seeking new positions. The result? New York is now a buyer's market, Laurencin said. ``We have tons of people at every level, especially management and senior people,'' she said. Within New York City alone, Laurencin added, her firm has seen approximately 300 high-level MIS managers looking for work. Expendable Faring even worse, she said, are the MIS consultants. ``After the crash, everyone got rid of their consultants first,'' and many companies are reluctant to hire former consultants to full-time posts, fearing they will go back to consulting if the market rebounds, she said. In Boston, the stock market crash hit hardest at Fidelity Investments, which laid off 800 employees in February. Recruiters in the Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia areas reported seeing a flurry of resumes from New York following Oct. 19, but they said the break in the stock market did not have a negative impact on firms in those areas. MIS hiring at San Francisco-area brokerage houses slowed briefly in the weeks after Oct. 19 but has been increasing over the last four or five months, according to Joe Laudari of The Search Firm, Inc. ALAN J. RYAN <<<>>> Title : AGS Management Systems, I Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swags Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: AGS Management Systems, Inc. has released Version 1.4 of Multi/Cam, the company's computer-aided software engineering management software. The product is reportedly used in a microcomputer-mainframe system environment to enable system analysis and design, program development and project management functions. According to the vendor, training can be accomplished from one fully automated workstation. The latest release includes updated documentation and full support for the IBM character set. The product's purchase package life cycle facility has been expanded to include a recommendation report checklist. The Multi/Cam system with five workstations, including the complete methodology library, costs $97,000. AGS, 880 First Ave., King of Prussia, Pa. 19406. 215-265-1550. <<<>>> Title : A new version of the Doma Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swapollo Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A new version of the Domain/ Ada Development System has been announced by Apollo Computer, Inc. Reported enhancements to the company's 2.0 release include an improved debugger that utilizes windows; a mouse and graphics; and integration capabilities with the Domain Performance Analysis Kit software. Ada is a machine-independent, high-level programming language that is mandated for much of the new U.S. Department of Defense software. The Domain/Ada system, which is based on the Verdix Corp. Ada Development System, is fully supported by Apollo. Domain/Ada 2.0 costs $6,000 per copy. Quantity discounts begin with two copies, with pricing for two at $3,900 per copy. Apollo, 330 Billerica Road, Chelmsford, Mass. 01824. 508-256-6600. <<<>>> Title : Chi/Cor Information Manag Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swchicor Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Chi/Cor Information Management, Inc. has released Data Set Analysis System 5.0 (DSAS) and Resource Analysis System (RAS) _ software designed for the IBM mainframe environment. Both products reportedly operate under the OS, VS, VM and MVS/XA operating systems. DSAS was developed to read and analyze SMF data in order to identify the data sets that must be off-site if an application is to be recovered at an alternate location. The RAS software identifies the minimum computing resources required to execute one or more applications at an alternate site. Both products are offered under a perpetual license agreement for a one-time fee of $10,000, which includes documentation, tape and a one-year warranty. Chi/Cor, 10 S. Riverside Plaza, Chicago, Ill. 60606. 312-454-9670. <<<>>> Title : A personal computer-based Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swdomans Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A personal computer-based expert system for tuning IBM MVS systems has been introduced by Domanski Sciences. Performance Advisor runs on IBM Personal Computers, PC XTs, ATs, Personal System/2s and compatible machines; it is reported to be an ideal training tool for novice system programmers. Help and Why screens are included. Performance Advisor is available for $495. Domanski, 16 Colonial Court, Howell, N.J. 07731. 201-367-0257. <<<>>> Title : Future Generations, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swfuture Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Future Generations, Inc. has introduced Image Connection, a software utility designed for use on Digital Equipment Corp. VAX systems running VMS. The product allows a software application to be shared by an arbitrary number of interactive users, the company said. Each user's screen will reportedly display an exact reproduction of every other user's interactions with the application. Terminal hardware must be application-compatible. Image Connection costs $995. Future Generations, 5 Prospect St., Rowley, Mass. 01969. 617-262-8660. <<<>>> Title : Generics Software Ltd., a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swgeneri Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Generics Software Ltd., a software company based in Ireland, is now marketing its Ada systems development tool set in the U.S. Called Animaid, the product was designed for engineers involved in Ada system production; it reportedly offers tool support during the coding, prototyping, testing and user interface generation stages of development. According to the vendor, Animaid is not restricted by method, compiler or environment. The product offers support for most workstation platforms, including Digital Equipment Corp., Apollo Computer, Inc. and Sun Microsystems, Inc. Amimaid is priced from $13,430 for use in a workstation environment. The documentation set costs $85. Generics, 7 Leopardstown Office Park, Foxrock, Dublin 18, Ireland. 353-1-954012. <<<>>> Title : Intelligent Software Prod Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swintell Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Intelligent Software Products, Inc. has announced a security software system for the Xenix and Unix operating system environments. Called Sentinel, the menu-driven package reportedly secures all communications lines allowed by the operating system. It also limits users to specified terminals and denies access to unauthorized users. Features include multiple passwords per user, callback telephone numbers for modem users, controlled access times and allowable terminals and various log files. Sentinel is priced from $250 to $350, depending on the operating system and the number of communications lines. Intelligent Software, 19 Virginia Ave., Rockville Center, N.Y. 11570. 516-766-2867. <<<>>> Title : Lachman Associates, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swlachma Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Lachman Associates, Inc. has released Version 2.0 of its LAI Security Audit software package. The software now offers a new terminal idle check and enhanced reporting and configuration mechanisms, the vendor said. Additional checks for common Unix operating system security bugs are also included, and a password file check verifies login and password integrity. Licensing fees for LAI Security Audit 2.0 start at $2,000. Lachman, 1901 N. Naper Blvd., Naperville, Ill. 60540. 312-505-9100. <<<>>> Title : Logicware, Inc. has annou Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swlogicw Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Logicware, Inc. has announced an expert system shell that allows users to create expert systems on IBM mainframes, Digital Equipment Corp. VAX machines and in a Motorola, Inc. 68000 environment. Called Twaice, the product reportedly features English-like rules, two inference engines, extensive explanation facilities and a knowledge analyzer. The package includes the full Mprolog system and is offered with a complete support, education and maintenance program, the vendor said. Pricing varies, depending on system and type of license required. Logicware, Suite 2100, 237 Park Ave. New York, N.Y. 10017. 212-551-3536. <<<>>> Title : Main Frame Software Produ Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swmainfr Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Main Frame Software Products Corp. has announced Help/Key 2.0, a program said to provide sophisticated on-line Help facilities to users of IBM's CICS running under the VSE and MVS operating systems. Recent enhancements to the program reportedly include a file display facility, user-defined variables, template screens and hard-copy documentation. The software will now support Models 2, 3, 4 and 5 of 3270-type terminals, the vendor said. License fees for Help/Key range from $9,900 to $12,900. Main Frame Software, 1 Hollis St., Wellesley, Mass. 02181. 508-239-0288. <<<>>> Title : The Metron Group, Inc., a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swmetron Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: The Metron Group, Inc., an authorized MCBA Corp. installer, has announced a Trucking Software Package that integrates with MCBA's accounting and distribution software for Unix-based computers. Several modules are incorporated to permit a trucking company to handle its entire range of business administration functions. These include dispatch, rating and owner/operator settlement packages. The software also has provisions for vehicle maintenance and repair as well as claims management. Metron is prepared to license its software directly to end users or to cross-license the system to other MCBA installers. In all cases, Metron will support its own modules within the system. License fees for the Metron Trucking Package range from $20,000 to $70,000. Metron, P.O. Box 864840, Plano, Texas 75086. 214-423-2955. <<<>>> Title : New Generation Software, Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swnewgen Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: New Generation Software, Inc. has announced Release 2.0 of Interactive Query (IQ), its report-writing and information retrieval tool for the IBM System/38 minicomputer series. Release 2.0 reportedly includes both the menu-driven and SQL models of IQ support tabling and allows users to create substrings of existing alphanumeric fields. Other features are said to include improved report formatting, command-key access to SQL from the menu-driven mode and a default maintenance facility. According to the vendor, the software supports easy file joins of as many as 32 files, with sorting, sequencing and selection of records using Boolean logic. A single-site license for Interactive Query 2.0 costs $8,000. New Generation Software, Suite 195, 1010 Hurley Way, Sacramento, Calif. 95825. 916-920-2200. <<<>>> Title : NMC Technologies, Inc. ha Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swnmc Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: NMC Technologies, Inc. has released Version 2.0 of its Accounts Receivable and Credit Collection (ARCC) software package for the IBM System/38 environment. The customer's bank account number, check number and check amount can be transmitted via on-line communications and written to the System/38. The ARCC program will split the transmission into cash batches and automatically apply checks against customer invoices. The product is written in RPG III. A version for the IBM Application System/400 is slated for release this fall. ARCC 2.0 costs $35,000. NMC, Suite 103, Bedford Sq., 1314 Bedford Ave., Baltimore, Md. 21208. 301-653-9400. <<<>>> Title : On-line Software Internat Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swonline Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: On-line Software International, Inc. has announced an IBM CICS resource management system. According to the vendor, Dads/Plus allows data center operators to carry out traditional CICS facility management tasks while providing applications users with continuous system availability. The software runs with CICS 1.6.1 or later versions under IBM's MVS and MVS/XA operating systems. Dads/Plus is currently being offered at an introductory price of $11,000. On-Line Software, Fort Lee Executive Park, 2 Executive Drive, Fort Lee, N.J. 07024. 201-592-0009. <<<>>> Title : A full-function applicati Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsageso Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A full-function application generator for supporting Cobol application development has been announced by Sage Software, Inc. Based on IBM Personal System/2 technology and the Micro Focus Cobol/2 Workbench, APS/PC reportedly generates applications for either the personal computer or MVS mainframe environment. According to the vendor, development is supported from physical design and prototyping through generation and unit testing. This can be done totally independent of the mainframe. The recommended environment for the product includes an IBM PS/2 Model 70 or 80, 3M bytes of extended memory, 640K bytes of random-access memory and a 5M-byte hard disk. APS/PC is priced from $5,000 to $7,500, depending on configuration. Sage Software, 3200 Monroe St., Rockville, Md. 20852. 800-638-8703. <<<>>> Title : Software Maintenance and Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsmds Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Software Maintenance and Development Systems, Inc. has announced that its Aide-De-Camp (ADC) software management system is now available in a version to run under the Santa Cruz Operation's SCO Xenix. The management system has been available on software development platforms at the minicomputer and workstation level, including Sun Microsystems, Inc. machines, Digital Equipment Corp. VAXs and other vendor offerings. The SCO Xenix-configured version of ADC is targeted to run in a 32-bit architecture environment. The ADC system can be used to develop software in any language on a variety of Unix and proprietary operating systems, the vendor said. The ADC system for SCO Xenix costs $2,500. Pricing for the software on workstation and minicomputer platforms ranges from $5,800 to $15,200, depending on the model and configurations. Software Maintenance and Development Systems, P.O. Box 555, Concord, Mass. 01742. 508-369-7398. <<<>>> Title : Softouch Systems, Inc. ha Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsoftou Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Softouch Systems, Inc. has announced two products for the IBM VTAM environment. VTAM-Windows is a VTAM sessions manager with interactive windowing. The program reportedly allows users to work with IBM's TSO, CICS and IMS all on one screen and eliminates the need to log on and off between applications. The software supports as many as nine sessions per terminal. Machine group pricing is from $7,000 to $25,000. The VTAM-Express package was designed to perform terminal data-stream compression at the VTAM level. According to the vendor, both inbound and outbound compression is provided for every application in the network, and a separate operating region is not required. The software supports CICS, TSO, IMS and any other VTAM application. Machine group pricing for VTAM-Express is from $7,000 to $25,000. Softouch Systems, 8269 S. Walker, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73139. 405-632-4745. <<<>>> Title : A record management syste Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swspecia Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: A record management system for machines running under the Xenix operating system has been announced by Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. Called Zebu, the product consists of a screen- and file-definition program that allows the user to configure and design the entry screen. The software allows two-level screen definition, function access and on-line data entry by the Unix or Xenix user, the vendor said. Editing and arithmetic functions are also included within the screen handler. The product can be used for order processing, patient scheduling, subscription systems and other data management functions. Zebu with the Xenix binary and documentation costs $100. Specialized Systems Consultants, P.O. Box 55549, Seattle, Wash. 98155. 206-367-8649. <<<>>> Title : Transform Logic Corp. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swtransf Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Transform Logic Corp. has announced three new versions of Transform, the company's computer-aided software engineering product designed to automate application generation and maintenance for IBM mainframes. The products are targeted toward business analysts, systems designers and applications programmers, and all three versions are said to be fully compatible with each other. Transform/Developer is for entry-level full-function transaction generation. Transform/Specialist was designed for advanced application generation, and Transform/Expert is aimed at advanced application integration and environmental management. Each product is built around a proprietary data dictionary, the vendor said. Developer costs from $40,000 to $100,000; Specialist is priced from $125,000 to $240,000; and Expert costs between $184,500 and $355,000. Transform, 8502 E. Via De Ventura, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85258. 602-948-2600. <<<>>> Title : Symbolics releases Mac bo Author : Julie Pitta, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: symbol1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ Symbolics, Inc. has introduced an add-in board for symbolic processing applications on Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh personal computer. Under a reseller agreement with Apple, Symbolics will market the Motorola, Inc. 68020-based Macintosh II with the add-in board and specialized software consisting of LISP code that runs on Symbolics' Ivory processor and C code that runs on the Mac. The Macivory system features a Mac II with 1M byte of random-access memory, a mouse, a 12-in. monochrome monitor and a 300M-byte hard disk drive with a small computer systems interface. The complete system, including add-in board and software, is priced at $21,900 and is scheduled to be available by year's end. Symbolics will also sell the board-set and software. The price of the board set is $10,900; it is scheduled for shipment in March 1989. Macivory can run existing Mac software packages and Symbolics applications including Joshua, a software product that builds and delivers expert system applications; Concordia, an artificial intelligence product for hypertext document development and delivery; and S-Geometry and S-Dynamics, which were designed to create and animate two- and three-dimensional images. Howard Cannon, vice-president of marketing for Symbolics, said Macivory is the company's first PC-related hardware product. Its only other PC-related product is Cloe, an applications development tool for Intel Corp. 80386-based microcomputers. The Mac was selected as a platform because of its appeal to Symbolics' customer base. ``If you look at the markets we play in, those customers are more interested in the Mac than the PC,'' Cannon explained. ``It provides us an easier penetration.'' <<<>>> Title : Industry weighs environme Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: tox Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Predicating long-term business success on comprehensive environmental controls, representatives from most of the largest computer companies and semiconductor manufacturers made an effort to understand the costs and benefits of being a good neighbor at the computer industry's first environmental conference, held early this month. Silicon Valley was chosen to host this meeting, since the semiconductor industry there has long been targeted by regulators and environmentalists as the focal point of the computer industry's environmental problems. ``Regulatory bodies target Silicon Valley. What happens here eventually trickles down to us,'' said Ray Rice, a Unisys Corp. chemical engineer in San Diego. ``Environmental issues are going to decide how competitive you are in the long run. It's a business detriment to have a narrow vision,'' said Stephen Greene, environmental affairs manager for Digital Equipment Corp. Greene said DEC made a decision in the early 1970s to use a water- and detergent-based cleaning system for its circuit boards, instead of the industry-standard _ and inherently toxic _ solvents. Passing the cost on to consumers was not a problem for DEC at the time, because the firm was growing rapidly and disposal costs for the dirty dishwater-type solution were low. Bit of a pickle Computer companies that face both federal and local laws requiring further treatment and reduction of toxic wastes are in more of a bind. In seeking to remain competitive, they cannot raise their prices to cover environmental costs. Computer companies are not only facing replacement of solvents used to clean circuitry but are large users of chloroflourocarbons, or CFCs, which are thought to deplete the Earth's ozone layer. The director of environmental and occupational health for the American Electronics Association, Cheryl Russell, warned against taking short-term solutions to environmental problems. She said the federal government will only get more restrictive in chemical use. Environmentally sound decisions are not just a reaction to regulation, but ``a sound business thing to do,'' Russell said. DEC has created a task force to find ways to replace CFCs. Greene said that so far, the company has reduced its use by 50% simply by limiting waste and being careful about covering the holding tanks to keep the chemical from vaporizing. While most industry representatives appeared to acquiesce to environmental regulation, the holdouts still wanted more business involvement and lobbying and, thus, looser regulations. California Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin (D-Southern Alameda County) warned that if computer companies pushed too hard for lax regulations, it would result in environmental backlash. ``Zero-tolerance laws can result from [public law] initiatives when the perception of the public is that materials are not being managed well,'' she said. She also signaled that industry, whether or not it passes the cost on to consumers, will bear the brunt of the cost of regulation. California, like most other states, has strict spending limits, and there is no money available from taxpayers for hazardous waste cleanup. By J.A. Savage, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Engineering Author : Amy Cortese Source : CW Comm FileName: trends10 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Computer-aided design (CAD) technology revolutionized manufacturing, but with it came a new set of problems: how to manage all those computer-generated drawings and models. A new class of software, dubbed computer-integrated product and program information management (CIP/PIM) by Cimdata, Inc. in Wellesley, Mass., manages the information on a product from engineering through manufacturing. It tracks various data related to a product, such as drawings and revisions, throughout the product cycle. Not surprisingly, the aerospace and automotive industries will make up the largest users of this CAD management software, according to Cimdata. Companies in these industries are the heaviest users of CAD and have the most complex systems. Packaged systems for tracking CAD documents are fast replacing homegrown engineering data management systems. Vendors of these products include such heavyweights as IBM, Digital Equipment Corp. and Prime Computer, Inc. as well as the emerging class of specialized vendors such as Sherpa Corp. While the product implementations can take many forms, most integrate database management systems as a core piece of the software. Relational technology lends itself well to the task of establishing and tracking relationships between the various elements of a drawing and relating them to other areas, such as bill of materials. AMY CORTESE <<<>>> Title : Star says CPUs notch 100 Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: vecpro Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: STERLING, Va. _ Star Technologies, Inc. recently rolled out its VP Series of 32-bit CMOS processors, which the firm claimed can operate at speeds of up to 100 million floating-point operations per second (MFLOPS). The VP-2's dual compute-head design provides up to 100 MFLOPS, while the VP-1's single head delivers 50 MFLOPS. The VP-1 is upgradable to the VP-2 with the addition of a second compute head. The VP series also supports a 100M byte/sec. aggregate main memory bandwidth and three I/O channels operating at a maximum of 50M byte/sec. on the direct-memory access channel. These features allow the series to move and process data simultaneously, the firm said. The VP-2 and VP-1 vector processor series are targeted toward real-time compute-intensive applications, including defense applications, radar and sonar processing, satellite imaging and seismic data processing. Star also claimed that the VP series can be connected to host machines that are offered by IBM, Digital Equipment Corp., Concurrent Computer Corp., Gould, Inc., Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Alliant Computer Systems, Inc. and can be simultaneously attached to three dissimilar hosts as shared computing resources. The VP series is available within 90 days of receipt of order. The VP-2 sells for $95,000, while the VP-1 will go for $85,000. <<<>>> Title : DG adds support for MV/40 Author : James Daly, CW S Source : CW Comm FileName: warranty Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: MILFORD, Mass. _ Data General Corp. added warranty muscle to its recently announced high-end Eclipse MV/40000 and MV/40000-High Availability processor line last week with the announcement of a comprehensive support package for the machines and related products. The Warranty Service Contract adds ammunition to DG's arsenal in its war against competitor Digital Equipment Corp. The Maynard, Mass., giant began charging customers for a previously free one-year warranty program last week, effectively raising the prices of its machines 6% to 9%. Under DG's plan, customers will be extended 24-hour, seven-day-a-week coverage. Coverage previously was limited to a nine-hour, five-day-a-week time frame. Eight days a week The coverage also includes round-the-clock remote assistance from DG's Customer Support Center (CSC) in Norcross, Ga. The CSC can then tap into an enhanced proprietary coresident diagnostic software package supplied to warranty customers that lets on-line remote diagnostics be run from the CSC without affecting processing, the firm said. Additionally, an account support team will be assigned to each machine and will be available on a 24-hour basis. DG also noted that the warranty is convertible to a Multiyear Plus agreement at any time during the warranty period. The Multiyear Plus program allows customer to obtain contract service in three-, four- and five-year terms. The one-year warranty also applies to the Eclipse Message-Based Reliable Channel Subsystem, a subsystem for use on Eclipse MV systems, and the Eclipse Channel Subsystem. <<<>>> Title : Look out behind Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: yuval1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: What are the real problems in producing and maintaining software? Does MIS sometimes confuse essential problems with symptomatic ones? Can you put aside these symptoms _ most probably the consequences of real problems _ identify the actual problems and simply and coherently enumerate them? If not, then in acquiring a computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tool, a methodology or any other software engineering technique, you may unknowingly be applying the right solution to the wrong need. A symptom is a ``problem'' about which you may ask, ``Yes, but why is it so? What causes it to occur?'' A real problem, on the other hand, is one about which there is no further why to ask. For example, software engineering problems have been described as goals not yet reached by Doug Bell, Ian Morrey and John Pugh in their book, Software Engineering: A Programming Approach. But those are probably symptoms rather than real problems, since you can simply ask, ``Why haven't these goals been achieved?'' MIS' initial efforts in software engineering, therefore, should be to differentiate clearly between these two brands of difficulties. Then, after being identified and isolated, the real problems should be further divided into two subgroups: Environmental problems, which are especially relevant to information systems. These are real problems, insofar as our ability to change the environment is limited and, hence, asking why is practically useless. Fundamental problems, which, like natural laws, stem from the very nature of the software medium. Ultimately, software engineering challenges can be properly broken down into symptoms, fundamental problems and environmental problems. All are identifiable. But whether or not identifying a problem is half a solution is left for you to decide. Symptoms Once the symptoms are identified, then MIS can get to the real problems. Consider, for example, the following, which are more likely symptoms of larger challenges: Software cost and schedule estimation. After careful examination, you may discover that this problem isn't different from the more general problem of project management. There are three classical approaches to project management in any engineering field: managing a project by its activities, by its intermediate products or by both. On the basis of the approach taken, schedule and budget estimates can be made. Project management is feasible only when either the activities or the intermediate products are fairly well known. If this is not the case, then even the most sophisticated project management system _ using the latest PERT/CPM and Gantt techniques, an eight-color plotter and a dedicated 386 personal computer _ simply won't help. Consider, too, whether the activities or the products in software engineering projects are clearly defined before making a cost estimate. What methodology is being used to derive the activities and products? When and how is feedback from previous projects accumulated? Cost and schedule estimates of software projects are never accurate unless the discipline that underlies the projects is clearly defined. The fact that project management isn't always a great success in other engineering fields should be a warning and not a comfort for software engineering. In short, software cost and schedule estimates are not real problems; they undoubtedly result from a more fundamental problem _ namely, the lack of a clearly defined software engineering discipline. Lack of experienced professionals. Asking, ``Why is there a lack of experienced professionals?'' is quite natural in this case, and if the answer is ``Because of a lack of experienced instructors,'' you may then ask, ``Yes, but why aren't there experienced instructors?'' The answer might be ``Instructors are underpaid,'' which is probably not true; or ``Top professionals don't like to teach,'' which is probably not true; or ``It's a young industry,'' which it isn't anymore. Perhaps part of this problem is that the profession is not defined well enough. Can MIS precisely describe its different occupations and specify their requirements? Are there clear and meaningful titles for these occupations? Can a DP project manager who wants to staff a team point to the various craftsmen required, their exact titles and when and for what tasks they are required? Is the title ``DP project manager'' itself clearly defined? While the situation differs from one MIS organization to another, on the whole, the issue remains serious. Since software engineering as a discipline is not defined, its different professions are not defined, either. And since the professions are not defined, how can they be properly taught and learned? Be aware, however, that the lack of professionals is not an essential reason for the poor state of software engineering. Other problems prevent it from becoming a well-defined engineering discipline, thus making it difficult to teach and study. Software maintenance. This symptomatic challenge can be divided into two categories: the disturbing distribution of the cost between development (30%) and maintenance (70%); and the overall cost of maintenance in terms of money, morale and other factors. Again, neither of these are real problems. First, as has been noted in Capers Jones' book, Programming Productivity, when maintenance is carefully analyzed and correctly split between defect repair and enhancement, the picture radically changes and the true figures become development (50%), defect repair (14%) and enhancement (36%). Second, the high cost of maintenance, as most engineers will probably agree, is actually the result of incorrect design. Thus the question in this case is, ``What is the cause of bad design?'' Is it due to the failure to allocate enough resources for analysis and design? Many MIS managers _ backed by heavy experience and plentiful literature _ deny this possibility, claiming that 50% of the development effort already goes into analysis and design with no major impact on maintenance. Or perhaps bad design is the consequence of the rigid life-cycle model, which is unsuitable for dynamic, changing environments. Whatever the reasons, software maintenance difficulties are the result of more basic problems in the software engineering discipline. In a similar way, many other classical problems in software engineering _ such as software reliability, software portability, performance, budget and schedule overruns and so on _ are all symptoms of more essential problems. So instead of dwelling on symptoms, MIS should address at least some of the real problems facing its software engineering professionals today. Environmental problems A handful of well-known problems are actually environmental problems, especially those related to information systems in which there exists a close interaction between the computerized system and the organization's strategic and intrinsic operations. These problems can be characterized in terms of the interaction with the enterprise's functions and the interaction with other disciplines. The DP field as a whole, and software engineering in particular, suffer from trying to fulfill expectations beyond their scope and capacity. In part, this is an artificial problem that stems from overselling DP as a solution to all of an organization's illnesses. At the same time, managing data in any organization is essential; it is almost like managing the organization itself. Thus, it is no wonder that building and implementing an information system requires talent, knowledge and power far beyond what software engineering alone has to offer. MIS must make a major decision in this regard: Should it extend the software engineering discipline to cover topics outside its ``natural'' domain, or should it seek the cooperation of other disciplines (and if so, which ones?) and be ready to pay for such collaboration? Another environmental problem deserves serious consideration, although it has received little attention. It can be called the transparency problem. ``Transparency'' in this case means the correspondence of the information system to the real world. A software system with a high degree of transparency is one that truly reflects reality, whereas a system with a low degree of transparency is one that runs parallel to the real world without corresponding to it. Modern banking systems are good examples of high-transparency systems; one may even say that the real world _ namely, the actual money _ is in the system itself. On the other hand, project management systems are examples of low-transparency systems _ which may explain much of their operational difficulties. MIS should try to categorize the following systems in terms of degrees of transparency: inventory, finance, reservation systems, command and control and electronic mail. But why is the transparency issue important, and where exactly does the problem lie? In software engineering, the type of system we deal with is crucially important _ as pointed out in Programming Productivity _ and that is a fact MIS often disregards in the rush to build. Systems with low transparency are easy to build and maintain but may, in fact, be useless. Systems with high transparency may be difficult to build, and they are certainly difficult to enhance and modify, but they have high prospects for success. How to identify and measure a system's transparency and how to raise the system from a low to a high degree of transparency are major environmental problems in software engineering. Fundamental problems The most fundamental problems in software engineering include the lack of physical properties, the flexibility-to-rigidity shift, the transformation issue and the informal-to-formal shift. The lack of physical properties, or more correctly the lack of natural objective properties, is well described in E. R. Fairely's Software Engineering Concepts. Although somewhat hard to grasp when first posed, it is so fundamental that it probably forms the basis of many other problems. Its main implication is that the gap between software engineering and other engineering disciplines is so wide that MIS should exercise caution before borrowing any idea from these disciplines. Engineering disciplines throughout history have progressed as a result of the close interaction between natural science and practical engineering. At the very center of this fruitful interaction lies a shared body of knowledge to which many people have contributed and that has seldom been seriously challenged. And when someone does . . . well, such a person could only be an Einstein or a Newton. Instead of physical properties, substituted soft(ware) properties emerge, such as structured programming rules, data normalization forms and so on. If this is the right trend, then software engineering is indeed a unique discipline, the first of its kind in history, in which human consensus _ not nature _ determines engineering properties. The flexibility-to-rigidity shift. Software is the most flexible engineering medium today. That's what makes it so easy to prototype. No wonder other engineering disciplines use software systems to simulate their systems. But somewhere along the development process the software medium becomes rigid and hard to modify. When exactly does this happen? What causes it to happen? Is it a matter of the system's order of magnitude? If so, in what terms is magnitude to be measured? Our inability to explain the flexibility-to-rigidity shift in software engineering, let alone measure it, is certainly a fundamental problem. The transformation issue. As a software system is being developed, it undergoes several transformations before finally becoming operational. It is first put into text format _ the initiation stage; then data flow diagrams and data store diagrams are drawn up _ the analysis stage; then structured charts and entity relationship diagrams are sketched _ the design stage; then code is produced. At the end of each stage the entire knowledge of the system must be transformed to a new medium. Quite often this mapping is done verbally, passing from one professional mind _ the analyst's _ to another _ the designer's. You can only pray that no information is spilt while being poured from one vessel to another. This problem has been intensified by all the structured methodologies that add more and more stages to the system's life cycle. Still, it is a fundamental problem, since even the shortest path entails at least three transformations: from the user's mind to the professional's mind, from the professional's mind to a computer's symbolic language and from the operational system back to the user's mind. One transformation, however, has been accomplished with remarkable precision ever since computers were invented: namely, good old compilers. There is probably much to gain by extending their power and introducing them earlier in the system's life cycle. The informal-to-formal shift. Another problem similar to both the transformation and the flexibility/rigidity problems is the informal-to-formal shift. Informal, natural language is still the best vehicle for communicating. Without it no project ever gets off the ground. Most users prefer natural prose to technically sophisticated data flow diagrams. But somewhere during a software engineering project, things must be formally defined or else they cannot be implemented in a machine. MIS must consider where the shift from the informal to the formal should be introduced and what impact this should have on the user's involvement in the project. An interesting subset of this problem applies to non-English-speaking countries. The informal native language used at the beginning of the project is later converted to formal software engineering tools in English-like formats. A data entity, for instance, is first defined in a local language using analysis-stage tools or simply a text processor. This is essential in order to communicate with the user. Later on, that same data entity must be redefined and put into a database data dictionary in order to communicate with the application generator. Unclassified problems In addition to the fundamental and environmental problems in software engineering, there are several others that are more difficult to classify: The ``small'' details problem. Anyone who has ever analyzed a software system knows about those ``small'' nasty details that, if not defined to the very last bit, endanger the entire grand design. This is a severe problem not merely for top-down approaches but also for any implementation of ordered procedures, such as life-cycle models. This problem is unclassified because it could be considered a symptom or a real, fundamental problem in terms of the informal-to-formal shift. The user involvement problem. User involvement is certainly crucial for a project's success. This may be regarded as a real environmental problem if only because it is difficult to identify the user throughout the entire life cycle. At the same time, it may be the result either of other environmental problems such as the interaction with the enterprise's functions or the fundamental transformation and informal-to-formal problems. The lack of a computer science. This problem is quite often cited as the problem in software engineering, and since it is an ``academic'' problem, it apparently is fundamental. But surely one may still ask: ``Why isn't a science being built around software?'' A possible answer may be that software lacks physical properties. Psychological problems. Various problems, such as professional egoism and reluctance to change, may be considered fundamental by some. But these problems may well be the result of the flexibility-to-rigidity shift or the lack of objective software properties. Philosophizing Classifying software engineering problems may sometimes seem somewhat philosophical, but why not philosophize from time to time in our attrition-conscious profession? Furthermore, the classification of problems gives a yardstick by which to evaluate the different software engineering tools and methodologies. The cost of implementing these solutions is very high and far exceeds their purchase cost. Also, as noted in 1986 by R. Goldberg in the IBM Systems Journal, technology transfer _ particularly in software engineering _ is very slow, and the implementation of new ideas can take years. Knowing in advance which problems a software engineering solution intends to solve is, therefore, extremely important. For instance, a proposed software engineering solution that promises to reduce maintenance through CASE tools should comprise the following: Clearly defined and easily measured software characteristics. Flexible database and module definitions enabling changes as late as possible in the life cycle. A minimum number of stages in the life cycle and a straightforward transformation from one stage to another. The differentiation between real problems and symptoms in software engineering does not necessarily mean that solutions should be applied only to real problems. As in medicine, remedies are often successfully applied directly to symptoms. Yet, also as in medicine, concentrating only on symptoms without trying to identify the real causes is certainly poor practice. The decision to treat symptoms or real problems is perhaps also a function of time considerations. Applying solutions to symptoms can sometimes work quite well in the short run _ for example, solving an immediate problem for a specific project. But for companies where the production of software is an indispensable part of the business, and certainly for the software industry as a whole, the only effective and long-range solutions lie in attacking the real problems, not the symptoms. By Asher Yuval; Yuval is president and founder of Methoda Computers Ltd., an independent consulting firm based in Jerusalem. <<<>>> Title : Searching for stars Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: zakk Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: This will be the last of my regular columns in Computerworld. I have devoted much of my attention over the past few years to the accelerating transition to a new era of information systems. I will now, as president of my own company, Canopus Research in Duxbury, Mass., aim to take a more direct and active role in helping users, vendors and the financial community to take advantage of that transition and to avoid its pitfalls. Personal computers and workstations based on microprocessors, local-area networks, network servers and multiuser, multiple microprocessor-based systems are more than just low-end system elements. They are destined not merely to supplement but to replace traditional mainframe and even minicomputer systems based on proprietary architectures over the coming decade. Innovative, leading-edge systems are already moving into territory that was once the exclusive domain of traditional systems. Early in the 1980s, the first multiuser microprocessor-based systems from vendors such as Altos Computer Systems began to replace low-end minis for small business applications. Over the past half-decade, products such as Stratus Computer's more powerful multiuser fault-tolerant systems based on Motorola, Inc.'s 68000 family of microprocessors have begun to challenge minicomputers and low-end mainframe systems. Stratus computers have even found their way into IBM's product line in the form of the IBM System/88. More recently, Sequent has distinguished itself as a successful innovator pushing the capabilities of microprocessor-based systems into mainframe territory, with systems based on multiple Intel 80386 microprocessors. Sequent is now able to offer systems with processing power of more than 100 million instructions per second. Looking ahead, Biin, a joint venture of Intel and Siemens, promises further advances in the use of a microprocessor foundation to build even more powerful systems. Biin will carry the attack of microprocessor-based systems into the supercomputer area of computationally intensive applications in addition to the area of large commercial systems. Powerful, larger systems based on microprocessors are clearly starting to challenge what only a few years ago was the exclusive territory of big mainframes and supercomputers. At the same time, however, advances in the base technology are making even more inexpensive and smaller systems capable of taking on larger and larger tasks. Full 32-bit processors like the Intel 386 and the Motorola 68030 are now commonly available in personal computers, making them capable of performance that was until recently available only in much more expensive dedicated workstations. New microprocessor architectures, many of them reduced instruction set computing-based (or RISC-influenced), as well as continued advances in the established Intel and Motorola architectures, promise to push even further into high-end systems territory in the years ahead. The result is that traditional mainframes are a species as surely doomed as were the dinosaurs when a meteorite hit the earth 65 million years ago, kicking up a cloud of dust that ultimately changed the climate. The turbulent waters of the computer industry over the next few years are likely to sink many older ships long believed to be as unsinkable as the Titanic. By William Zachmann; Zachmann is president of Canopus Research, a computer industry research firm in Duxbury, Mass. <<<>>> Title : Be cautious with used DEC Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1market1 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Buyers about to venture into the secondary market for computers and peripherals from Digital Equipment Corp. should be aware of two salient points: The first is that there are bargains to be had. The second is that one should be particularly cautious in the relatively freewheeling DEC secondary market. Buyers should be careful to ensure that maintenance is available and that provisions for it are spelled out in purchase agreements. ``Prices can run anywhere from 15% off list to 75% off list, depending on the piece of equipment,'' says Dennis Lynch, owner of Merida Trading Group, a dealer of used DEC equipment in Woburn, Mass. A used DEC Microvax II, introduced in 1985, is expected to carry a list price half that of a new system by January 1989 and 15% of it by 1990, Lynch says. Other systems are expected to be subject to the same sort of price decline. The relatively weak demand underlying these discounts stems partly from DEC's frantic pace of technological innovation. New technology quickly leaves the old obsolete, so the older equipment rapidly falls in price. The user not needing leading-edge products can save a bundle. Stay in tune But in taking advantage of bargains, cautious users would do well to inform themselves about the market and its operators. The expertise of dealers and their support capabilities vary from extensive to none. Maintenance is important in this market as in any other. One option is to contract with DEC itself. ``We provide service on any equipment we build, new or used, if it is in a serviceable environment,'' a DEC spokesman says. DEC, like IBM, requires the equipment to meet certain standards. The company will inspect equipment and bring it up to the specifications if necessary. Again like IBM, if DEC removes a piece of its equipment that it has maintained and reinstalls it within 90 days, the company will charge a one-month service fee for the removal, a two-month fee for the reinstallation and continue to maintain the equipment. However, dealers of used equipment say DEC maintenance is provided by autonomous district service centers that operate as profit centers, and that policies may not be consistently implemented. A district manager, for example, may not want to certify a piece of equipment for maintenance. ``The corporation may support its policies,'' says C.D. Smith, owner of Houston dealer C.D. Smith and Associates, Inc. and president of the Digital Dealers Association (DDA), ``but often there is a four- or five-day problem at the end-user level.'' Bob Fagley, DEC's group manager for corporate accounts field service, says such glitches occur only once or twice a month. ``It's in the 1% to 2% range, and when such a glitch happens, it's always resolved over the phone in a short time.'' Fagley advises buyers of used equipment to make sure that the dealer guarantees that the equipment is acceptable for maintenance. ``The buyer should insist that the dealer delivers the certificate of maintainability to him upon purchase,'' he says. The DDA seeks to establish an orderly market for used DEC equipment to boost volume and pump up resale values. That strategy meets with approval from DEC. ``We believe that ease of movement of our products increases their value in the aftermarket,'' Fagley says. One characteristic of an orderly market is reliability on the part of dealers. Smith says there are 200 to 300 dealers in the market, and their maintenance services range from bringing in DEC to providing maintenance themselves to selling with no guarantees or warranties. Secondary pitfalls The experience of Don Roach, operations manager at Breuer & Co., a Boston software developer, illustrates some of the pitfalls of the used DEC market and the value of a vendor that will deal with them. Roach's firm bought a used DEC VAX-11/730 and discovered that a disk drive would not boot. DEC sent over two maintenance workers, including a disk specialist, who spent several days working on the problem without success. Finally, the dealer arranged for one-day delivery of a new drive. Breuer & Co. also bought a used VAX-11/750 that DEC personnel could not get running. After a day, the DEC crew found a bad memory-controller board, which the dealer replaced in less than an hour, again without charge. Such rapid dealer response obviously pleased Roach. By David Gabel; Gabel is a free-lance writer and a former data center manager based in Northport, N.Y. <<<>>> Title : The harsh lessons of Blac Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1stock2 Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: One year ago this week, the world's attention was riveted on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average was suffering the most devastating beating in its history. As computer systems exceeded their capacities and trade orders backed up, information about what was happening on the trading floors virtually stopped. The market went into a free-fall. By noon, the New York Stock Exchange had traded more shares than on any other day in its history, with four hours still to go. As stock prices continued to slide, computerized program trades added to the burden by sending sell orders for baskets of stocks that had reached a minimum price threshold. When the market closed, the Dow Jones industrial average stood 508 points lower than it had the previous Friday, and fears of a modern-day Great Depression ran rampant. It has been a year of healing for Wall Street. Computer systems, which took much of the blame for the Crash of '87, have been built up, broken down, poked, prodded and pushed to the breaking point. With new computers and communications networks in place today, officials contend, what happened to the systems a year ago cannot happen again. One reason computers created a bottleneck last year was that the trading came in bursts, rather than in a steady flow. To fight back, the Tandem Computers, Inc. hardware used in the exchange's limit order system has been upgraded to run 50% faster; now it is able to handle 600 million shares in a day, vs. 450 million a year ago. To counteract the problem of communicating information to its member firms, the NYSE has made capacity improvements to its common message switch, which is the system that interfaces to the exchange's security brokerage member firms. ``We've increased the capacity from a peak 95 message rates per second to 120, and we're going up to 140 by the end of the year,'' said Geri DiCostanzo, Securities Industry Automation Corp.'s senior vice-president for the NYSE trading systems development and operations. In addition, the NYSE has committed another $200 million to technological improvements for the next five years, and an Operations Advisory Committee, to be overseen by NYSE President Richard Grasso, will coordinate an industrywide systems upgrade. The exchanges, however, were not the only culprits of the disruption on Wall Street during the week of Oct. 19. While there were problems communicating the trading information to member firms, those firms often had their own problems handling the massive amounts of information they received. ``One of the reasons the trading hours were curtailed briefly following the 19th was that the member firms simply had such a backlog of trading information paperwork,'' said Linda Coleman, executive vice-president of planning and development at the Boston Stock Exchange and a former NYSE vice-president. Boosting systems Many of those member firms have since upgraded their systems. Walter Raquet, senior vice-president of marketing and new products at over-the-counter trading firm Herzog, Heine, Geduld, Inc. in New York, said his company's volume jumped to about 18,000 trades Oct. 19 from 8,000 the previous Friday. ``Normally, we would handle 20,000 to 30,000 ticks [stock price changes] a day,'' Raquet said, ``but we had 30,000 ticks in the first 20 minutes'' of Oct. 19, and the systems got bogged down, he said. Now, the firm's software has been reprogrammed to handle greater throughput, so ``if we got 30,000 ticks in 15 minutes, we could handle it.'' Tandem, whose fault-tolerant systems are widely used by securities firms, has seen sales to those companies climb 30% this year, said Ray Villareal, securities industry marketing manager at Tandem. The exchanges have also put a number of procedural changes into effect to ensure that bottlenecks will not wreak havoc on the exchange floor again. Among them are the following: Completed upgrades to hardware and improvements in software at many of the domestic exchanges, as well as planned future upgrades. The NYSE's goal is to manage a volume of 600 million shares a day as smoothly and efficiently as it already processes its daily volume of 200 million shares. By the early 1990s, and perhaps as early as late next year, the NYSE hopes to have the ability to handle one billion shares a day. A series of initiatives approved by the NYSE and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) _ based in part on recommendations of the Brady Commission and the Presidential Working Group _ including coordinated ``circuit breakers'' that would, for instance, halt trading on the NYSE for one hour if the Dow Jones industrial average falls 250 points in one day. The initiatives are contingent on adoption by all of the domestic exchanges and Securities and Exchange Commission approval, which is expected to take place this week. A 20% expansion of the NYSE's trading floor. A reduction in paperwork on the NYSE floor by increasing the number of electronic display books. The books facilitate the recording, execution and reporting of orders. Now, 1,500 stocks are handled through 400 books, compared with the 215 books handling 476 stocks the day of the crash. The initiatives and regulations are also intended to bring better communications among the domestic markets. An inter-exchange hot line has been established for the NYSE, the American Stock Exchange, CME and the Chicago Board of Trade for communication and coordination during a crisis. Others will likely participate. ``Telephone lines have been set up between the exchanges both at the chairman level and on the trading-floor level to keep immediate communications there,'' the Boston Exchange's Coleman said. More controls ``There really weren't enough circuit breakers built into the system,'' said Jim Eckler, vice-president of information systems and strategic planning at Morgan, Keegan & Co., a Memphis-based brokerage firm. ``The regulatory agencies are only now moving more policy controls into place to prevent a stock panic.'' Coleman said the Boston Exchange is committed to the initiatives put forth by the NYSE and CME and would likely abide by them if the situation warranted it prior to the SEC approval. The Presidential Task Force on Market Mechanisms, also known as the Brady Commission, found that a primary cause By Alan J. Ryan and Jean S. Bozman, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Going public San Jose, Ca Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1017week Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Going public San Jose, Calif.-based Arix Corp. (formerly Arete Systems Corp.), purveyor of multiuser Unix-based multiprocessor systems, early this month announced its initial public offering of 2.4 million shares at $7.50 a share. A week earlier, Landmark Graphics Corp. announced an initial public offering of two million at $8.00 a share. The Houston-based company is a pioneer in the computer-aided exploration (CAEX) hardware and software niche that helps geoscientists analyze the data needed to target and produce oil reservoirs. Going overseas Newton, Mass.-based graphics supercomputer maker Stellar Computer, Inc. opened a wholly owned subsidiary in Tokyo early this month; Stellar Computer K.K. joins sister organizations in the UK and West Germany. Stellar also announced that Makota Yamada, veteran of a decade at Digital Equipment Corp. in Japan, has signed on as general manager of the new Stellar subsidiary. Meanwhile, Massachusetts neighbor Stratus Computer, Inc. last week announced the imminent opening of a manufacturing facility in Dublin. According to a Stratus spokesman, the company expects to ramp up production of its XA2000 line of fault-tolerant on-line transaction processing hardware systems on Irish soil by 1989. Going for the stars A multimillion-dollar order signed earlier this month makes IBM the on-line transaction processing systems supplier for Galileo, a consortium of 10 European airlines including Aer Lingus, Alitalia Airlines and British Airways. The contract _ one of the largest garnered by IBM's European operations to date _ covers workstations and will place 15 IBM processors in the Swindon, UK-based Galileo Data Centre. The Galileo contract is similar to a deal struck by IBM last year with a four-airline European consortium called Amadeus. Going for the gold Sacramento, Calif.-based application development software maker Unify Corp.'s coffers swelled by $6.5 million this month, courtesy of a consortium of new and already existing venture capitalist investors. Unify CEO David Saykally declared the new round of venture financing a salute to the company's Accell fourth-generation application development language, sales of which have set Unify revenue and profits on a steadily upward course in the past 12 months. <<<>>> Title : Electronic Data Systems C Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 103merg Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: Electronic Data Systems Corp. announced that it has acquired General Data Systems, Inc. (GDS), a privately held Philadelphia-based company specializing in systems and services for the property and casualty insurance industry. GDS' products provide an advanced technological platform for three insurance applications. Los Angeles-based Coast Savings and Loan announced it has completed the $35 million sale of Data Line Service Co., its wholly owned data processing business. The purchaser is Data Line Holdings, Inc., formerly Denver Group Holdings, Inc. Other terms of the sale were not disclosed. Data Line Service is a 22-year-old company with headquarters in Covina, Calif. It provides data processing services to approximately 115 financial institutions having combined assets of $50 billion throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. Sungard Data Systems, Inc. and Disaster Control, Inc. (DCI) announced an agreement in principle for Sungard to acquire DCI. The planned transaction is scheduled to be completed by Nov. 30. DCI is the largest disaster recovery company for users of Unisys Corp.'s Burroughs mainframe computers. Formed in 1979, DCI provides hot- and cold-site backup facilities and disaster recovery consulting to customers throughout the U.S. DCI is based in Warminster, Pa. Case Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of UK company Case Group, has merged with Datatel, Inc. Both companies had been acquired by the British company Dowty Group PLC _ Datatel in October 1987 and Case last month. The combined operations will be based in two locations, Cherry Hill, N.J., and Columbia, Md. Decision Industries Corp. announced that it has completed its refinancing and merger with Momentum Technologies, Inc. The businesses of Decision Industries and Momentum Technologies have been combined and will operate under the new name of Decision Data, Inc. (DDI). DDI remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Onset Corp., which is privately held primarily by the venture capital firms of J. H. Whitney & Co. and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. Computer Task Group, Inc. (CTG) has acquired Applied Management Systems, Inc. (AMS), a professional services company founded in 1970 and headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. CTG, a $200 million international consulting, systems integration and professional services firm with offices in each of those cities, expects to substantially increase sales in the Carolinas as a result of this expansion. The AMS offices will combine with CTG's North and South Carolina offices. The expanded Carolina district will employ 700 professional software engineers under James VanGelder, CTG's Southeast District director. Policy Management Systems Corp. (PMSC) and Hooper Holmes, Inc. announced that an agreement in principle has been reached whereby PMSC will purchase certain assets and operations of the Business Information Services Division of Hooper Holmes for a purchase price of approximately $5 million. The agreement pertains to information services primarily for the property and casualty insurance markets and does not include information services that Hooper Holmes provides to the life and health insurance market and to the direct-mail marketing industry. Greystone Technology Corp. has been acquired by National Computer Systems Co. (NCS) in Minneapolis. Greystone's primary product is GTM, a high-performance Digital Equipment Corp. VAX/VMS-compatible implementation of the ANSI-standard MUMPS programming language and data management system. Greystone will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of NCS. The Orange County, Calif., office of Touche Ross & Co. _ the Big Eight accounting and consulting firm _ and Irvine, Calif.-based Dykstra Consultants, an information systems management consulting firm, announced that their firms have merged. Dykstra Consultants has moved its offices to Touche Ross' headquarters. <<<>>> Title : Ignore what I said before Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 107kartn Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: This article is a retraction. I followed my own advice, and it backfired. So, this column is about ignoring advice sometimes _ or at least being as aware of where it won't work as where it will. In a Computerworld column last year, I described problems with the computer-generated visuals that some people have used with presentations. Wordiness in text slides was one example I mentioned. Some crowd the slides with more words than the average person can read while listening to a speaker. ``Too many visuals look like a test for 20/20 vision,'' I said. Another problem I described was the poor design of pie charts, with too many parts and colors to the charts, to the point that they make no sense at all. I suggested that speakers cut down on word and graphic slides and increase the use of pictorial or whimsical slides that make the point without needing to be read. I explained that I was sold on this approach ever since I gave a presentation two years ago using slides prepared by a creative graphic designer. As quickly as I explained the points I wanted to make, he came up with cartoons, drawings and clever ways to convey my message that were easier to comprehend and remember than tiny text, cryptic charts and multicolored glare. Buoyed by my success with this approach, I used it frequently _ until it backfired. On that day, which was about six months ago, I gave a presentation to a group of MIS directors using a set of specially prepared slides. Some were whimsical, cartoon-like slides. Others were word slides but with the fewest possible number of words on each. I wanted the audience to listen. I wanted the slides to support my talk _ not dominate it. The speech went fine, I thought, but the written comments included some negative reactions to my slides. The gist was that it did not appear that much time had been spent preparing them. This was not the case at all. I had carefully planned the message that each slide was to convey and had put quite a bit of effort into the design. But at least some people saw slides with pictures in areas they're used to seeing words; some saw very few words where they're used to seeing an overdose of words. They concluded I must be lazy. Clearly, laziness is in the mind of the beholder. Words come easily to me, and if I had prepared 20-word-per-line or 40-line-per-page text slides, then a charge of laziness might have been valid. But for me, conveying a message with pictures is hard work. Furthermore, some of these slides were really good. The graphics specialist I worked with deserves the credit. He could see possibilities in areas that I couldn't, and he devised clever ways of getting the point across without resorting to words. He told me that most of his clients want their slides to contain the greatest possible word density that the technology will allow, even though the result is impossible to read. At one time, I would have insisted that these people were wrong to want to pack their slides with words, but now I have to accept that maybe they're right at least some of the time. This audience of MIS directors equated words with effort. Regardless of the words coming out of the speaker's mouth, if the slide did not contain words, it meant the speaker was lazy. But there is another point. I think that these executives felt that at their level, pictures were beneath them. They were serious business professionals, and they wanted words! Swamped with info I also suspect that given the cost and duration of this forum, they wanted to feel they were being inundated with information, even if they couldn't absorb it. I found evidence to support these views in some of the other sessions at this forum. The speakers in these sessions did, indeed, use complex, multimatrixed, word-intensive, information-packed slides. I knew these speakers, and I had seen many of their slides. Even so, while listening to their words, I found it difficult to simultaneously absorb all the information in their slides. But the audience didn't criticize the presentation. The slides looked informative and, apparently, that was value enough. Courses in presentation skills frequently address the how-tos of computer-generated presentation visuals. These courses urge students to avoid wordiness. They caution against doing anything that makes the image complex to look at or difficult to comprehend. It's good, common sense. Unfortunately, simplicity and clarity can backfire. Sometimes you have to confound people in order to impress them. By Naomi Karten; Karten is president of Karten Associates in Randolph, Mass. <<<>>> Title : Jobs III: Next wins early Author : Julie Pitta, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: 11next Date : Oct 17, 1988 Text: SAN FRANCISCO _ A college dropout last week unveiled what may be the most innovative workstation yet for the university market. Steve Jobs, who was instrumental in developing the Apple Computer, Inc. Apple II and Macintosh computers, ended three years of anticipation when his company, Next, Inc., introduced the Next Computer System. The black-magnesium-housed unit is a Motorola, Inc. 68030-based workstation running the Unix operating system. On a stark stage in an auditorium here, Jobs spent nearly two hours last Wednesday demonstrating the computer to an audience of about 3,000 veterans jaded from many other ``revolutionary'' introductions. Afterward, many voiced high praise for the machine. Applause was stored in the system and replayed to showcase the system's sound capabilities. An animated black-hole icon served as the system's equivalent to the Macintosh's trash can icon. Using a mouse, a file was sent to the black hole, which then rotated, closed and disposed of the file. A jack in the back of the base accommodates miniature stereo earphones. ``It's a very impressive machine,'' said Richard Edwards, an analyst at Robertson, Colman & Stephens in San Francisco. However, Edwards said Next may have erred by not using the popular reduced instruction set computing architecture, which offers better price/performance for future systems; by failing to detail a networking strategy; and by creating its own windowing system rather than adopting a standard such as X Windows. ``Most Unix-based software developers will write for X Windows,'' Edwards said. The price is right Perhaps the loudest applause came at the announcement of the Next workstation's entry-level price of $6,500. But Jobs then quickly delivered what attendees said was the biggest letdown of the day. The only way to get a Next workstation _ as Jobs put it _ is to ``enroll'' in a university. The system, which is scheduled to begin shipping next month, will be sold directly to colleges. Universities may in turn resell it to students, although it is unlikely that many students will be able to afford the system. The machine will likely find a home in research branches of large or well-funded schools. Next was mysteriously secretive about the machine, cordoning it off behind rope barriers and permitting only one photographer in the auditorium. Reporters were later allowed to borrow photos of the computer, but no views of the screen were offered. In an interview after the press conference, Jobs insisted that universities can afford the system, although public institutions are especially hampered by tight budgets. ``I think you'll see a lot of these machines in state institutions,'' he said. ``We've done our homework.'' Few believe that Jobs will limit Next to the university market. The new Steve Jobs who emerged after nearly three years of being out of the limelight appeared to be a more savvy businessman than the brash Jobs of the Apple era. He discarded the boasts of the past and seemed unwilling to set grandiose goals. ``More companies tend to die of indigestion than of starvation,'' he said. ``We will remain tightly focused.'' If Next does indeed branch out into commercial markets, as industry watchers expect it will, the system represents stiff competition for Jobs' earlier brainchild, the Macintosh, and for Sun Microsystems, Inc. products. Officials at both companies downplayed the potential competition. ``We like innovative technology; we're all for it,'' an Apple spokeswoman said. ``And as a company, we wish Steve well. But we're confident in our technology. We're not standing still.'' Marlene McDaniels, director of marketing for Sun's education line, called the Next machine ``a very good machine. But we didn't think it's particularly revolutionary. These are technologies that Sun is using. We're not standing still either.'' <<<>>> Title : Olivetti preps MCA-based Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1comdex Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Ing. C. Olivetti & Co. last week announced that it will introduce a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)-based microcomputer close to the end of this year, becoming the first member of the MCA-rival Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) consortium to break ranks and introduce a Micro Channel PC. EISA members NEC Information Systems, Inc., Wyse Technology, Inc. and supporter Acer Technologies Corp. are also said to be planning MCA units that could be launched as soon as Comdex/Fall '88. NEC and Wyse both denied plans for a Comdex announcement but did not rule out possible MCA debuts by year's end. An NEC spokesman said that company officials are currently in corporate headquarters in Tokyo deciding whether they will drop their EISA support and embrace MCA. A decision is expected early next month. ``We are reviewing our options and addressing our product decision for the coming months,'' he said. Acer would say only that it is introducing an Intel Corp. 80386-based PC at Comdex. However, a company source said the machine will contain an MCA bus. American Mitac Corp. and DTK Computer, Inc. have also confirmed that they will introduce MCA machines at Comdex. The vendors that have acknowledged MCA plans explained that customer demand is now strong enough to justify introducing MCA products. Noting that 37% of microcomputer sales in Europe last quarter were based on MCA and that its personal computer sales profits dropped 32% during the first half of 1988, Olivetti acknowledged that it would make the move to the Micro Channel. Olivetti was one of the founding members of EISA, which announced support for an alternative to the Micro Channel bus last month. The introductions are a trial balloon and not an indication that the market is fertile for MCA, according to Bruce Stephen, a micro analyst at International Data Corp., a Framingham, Mass.-based market research firm. ``As of now, the MCA market is cold,'' Stephen said. ``At Comdex, there will be drums and trumpets for the Micro Channel to see if dealers and customers are ready to warm up to IBM or not.'' IBM may be throwing a few logs on the fire. Sources said the company has recently been issuing low or no licensing fees on MCA patents to encourage PC-compatible makers to support the MCA bus. By William Brandel, CW staff <<<>>> Title : In database effort, DEC w Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1decstor Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: In an apparent effort to shore up its database offerings, Digital Equipment Corp. has announced a series of agreements and alliances with other vendors, some of which are foes of each other. Last week, DEC and Relational Technology, Inc. (RTI) announced an exclusive agreement to sell and distribute Ingres tools for RDB, DEC's relational database management system for VMS. On the same day, Oracle Corp. announced its membership in DEC's new independent software vendor program. Oracle also reported an extended technology agreement between the two companies. DEC, Oracle and Relational compete ardently in the VAX database arena. Also in the works for DEC are agreements with Ashton-Tate Corp. and Cullinet Software, Inc. ``What we're seeing is the opening salvo in Digital's strategy to increase utilization of medium and high systems as database servers,'' said Marc Shulman, director of technology research at Salomon Brothers, Inc. Such a strategy is necessary to maintain the demand for large multiuser systems, he added. The deal with Relational will see sales forces from both that company and DEC selling a collection of tools called Ingres Tools for RDB. DEC already had a cooperative marketing agreement with Relational, in which DEC provided support but did not sell Relational products. Under terms of the new agreement, DEC will distribute current and future tools, such as report writers and other development tools. Gateway products are not covered by the pact. Oracle's agreement with DEC is not a joint marketing arrangement; however, DEC will support the Oracle products. The benefit for Oracle is in the form of an agreement to share technology on both hardware and software, including early releases of operating systems, Decwindows and upcoming hardware such as DEC workstation products. The initial focus of the DEC/ Oracle agreement is to allow both VMS- and Ultrix-based Oracle products to support DEC Windows, according to Oracle. According to Salomon Brothers' Shulman, DEC's objective appears to be to increase use of all DBMSs on the VAX, not just RDB. DEC resells many DBMSs, including products from Oracle and Relational in the Ultrix world, in which RDB does not compete. By Amy Cortese, CW staff <<<>>> Title : New Fujitsu group leaps i Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1fujitsu Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: SAN DIEGO _ A cutthroat and overcrowded T1 switch market gained yet another contender recently, when Fujitsu America, Inc. formed a division to sell private networking systems and consulting in the U.S. At the time of its formation, Fujitsu's Private Network Division announced a switch that reportedly is capable of supporting up to 16 T1 links: it also introduced a network management system and network consulting services. The Private Network Division may have a tough time breaking into the crowded market, according to Michel Guite, a vice-president at Salomon Brothers, Inc. ``It's a hard time to come in, even for the most distinguished high-end companies,'' he said. In order to have some chance of success, companies need to provide voice/ data links across an integrated network of both 1.5M bit/sec. T1 links and 45M bit/ sec. T3 trunks, Guite added. Another important criterion for success would be alliances with pivotal industry players such as the big computer companies, Guite said. ``There is not much room in the market for a stand-alone unit _ even a high-quality, high-end one.'' Vendors such as Network Equipment Technologies, Inc. and Digital Communications Associates, Inc. ``already have the high-end market staked out,'' Guite said. Technology is less an issue now than a broad, well-established customer base, he noted. Bases loaded Fujitsu's new division hopes to leverage parent company Fujitsu Ltd.'s technical expertise and customer base in its assault on the U.S. T1 market, the company said. During the past four years, Fujitsu Ltd. has installed more than 380 voice/ data/image/video backbone networks for major companies in Japan and elsewhere, the vendor said. At the time of its formation, the division announced Digital Multimedia Information Exchange (DMIX), a T1 network switch said to support voice, data, image and video transmissions. It reportedly provides automatic dynamic rerouting of traffic around faults, multidrop capabilities and integrated voice compression at rates of 32K, 16K and 8K bit/sec. A DMIX network can support up to 256 nodes, each node supporting up to 16 T1 trunks, Fujitsu said. It will be migrated to Integrated Services Digital Network at an undisclosed point in the future. Also introduced by the newly formed division was a network management system based on a Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstation. It is said to provide network monitoring, configuration and performance management down to the DMIX card level. Both the switch and network management system are scheduled to be available in the first quarter of next year. Fujitsu will immediately start offering network consulting services, including analysis, audit, design and implementation, the company said. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Another shoe drops IBM, w Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: j1024wee Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Another shoe drops IBM, which transferred its domestic copier service, sales and lease agreements to Eastman Kodak Co. effective this past July, last week announced that Kodak will buy 16 countries' worth of IBM foreign copier contracts as well. The agreement covers Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, as well as non-European entries Argentina, Australia and Canada. Conductus reaps HP investment Year-old Palo Alto, Calif.-based superconductivity company Conductus, Inc. nearly doubled its capital last week, courtesy of a multimillion dollar equity investment by neighbor Hewlett-Packard Co. The investment nets HP 15% of the venture-backed start-up and a seat on its board of directors, not to mention a leg up in superconductivity research. . . .. . . Wanna buy a Mountain? Campbell, Calif.-based Mountain Computer, Inc. announced earlier this month that it will be acquired by the Tokyo-based firm Nakamichi Corp. for $45 million in cash. Both companies are suppliers of tape drive equipment. The current Mountain management will remain in place when the deal closes. In addition, both the headquarters in Campbell and a facility in Scotts Valley, Calif., will be maintained, according to a Mountain spokesman. From Software AG to Cortex Former Software AG of North America, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Stuart J. Miller was named president and chief executive officer of Cortex Corp., a Waltham, Mass.-based developer of computer-aided software engineering products for the Digital Equipment Corp. VAX. Cortex founder, President and CEO Craig Hill retained the title of chairman. Home improvements Compaq Computer Corp. completed a $150 million financing deal to pay for a major expansion of its Houston headquarters and manufacturing facilities. Underwriting the move is Prudential Capital Corp., a merchant banking subsidiary of Prudential Insurance Company of America. Prudential Capital purchased $75 million in 10-year mortgage notes from Compaq and agreed to purchase an additional $75 million in notes within the next two years. <<<>>> Title : peared to be ``at least e Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: jjq3 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: peared to be ``at least enough to send sales soaring at both these companies, although Silicon Graphics' earnings fell.'' Sequent CEO Casey Powell credited the Beaverton, Ore.-based company's stellar earnings and profits surges to increasing market awareness, particularly in the commercial market. Silicon Graphics CEO Edward McCracken blamed heavy research and development investment in its Iris Power series of multiprocessor three-dimensional graphics workstations for the company's 67% earnings decline in the face of its 53% revenue rise. Slow but sure AST Research, Inc. Slow summer sales and significantly increased R&D and marketing investments in next quarter's scheduled product introduction kept results lower than originally predicted by the Irvine, Calif., micro systems and peripherals maker. Nevertheless, AST announced that revenue climbed 38% from the comparable quarter last year; profits jumped 325% but were still quite low at $306,000. VM Software, Inc. In a boast that few could make this quarter, CEO Robert Cook said that the Reston, Va.-based systems software purveyor to the IBM VM operating system market ``enjoyed continued domestic and international growth this quarter.'' VM Software's third-quarter revenues bounded up 61% to $9.7 million, while net earnings grew 422% to $942,176. <<<>>> Title : AT&T dedicates group to s Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: attcom Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: NEW YORK _ AT&T last week turned up the heat in the burgeoning systems integration market by formally announcing its Systems Integration Division, which will focus on networking solutions. AT&T should do well in this area, as long as it can get its organizational act together and ``does not try to be all things to all people,'' according to Claire Fleig, director of systems research at International Technology Group (ITG) in Palo Alto, Calif. The commercial systems integration market should grow from $397 million in 1987 to an estimated $4.49 billion in 1992, according to ITG. Chuck Yates, vice-president of the Systems Integration Division, emphasized that AT&T would focus on certain key application areas in which it already has expertise and products. Initially, the vendor will target telemarketing as well as data networking applications such as electronic data interchange (EDI). Existing services AT&T already has a full line of telemarketing products and recently announced an EDI service that is slated to go on-line early next year. AT&T has been performing systems integration for several years, Yates emphasized, both through its Federal Systems Group and through individual projects with large commercial customers. Approximately three years ago, for example, the company designed an outbound call management system for American Express Travel Related Service Co. Since AT&T had no such product at the time, it had to design software from scratch, and several of its product divisions cooperated for the first time on the project, according to Linda Schoneberger, a manager of systems development for the Amex subsidiary. ``We chose AT&T because they had a strong systems integration group, and they identified hardware components [that could do the job] if put together with the right software,'' she said. AT&T is now working with the subsidiary to extend the telemarketing system through the vendor's Integrated Services Digital Network product offering. The division, which AT&T announced last spring, has an initial staff of 200 to 300 employees with expertise in project management. They will draw on the products and personnel of other AT&T divisions, Yates said. The division will also cooperate with other vendors and integrators in order to provide products and expertise that go beyond AT&T's resources, he added. Value adder Providing systems integration has become a popular way for vendors to add value in the computer market, said Peter Bernstein, an analyst at Probe Research, Inc. ``But I think people will listen to AT&T when they say, `We have this incredible multivendor network, we have gone through the same problems you are going through, and we can apply the same expertise,' '' Bernstein added. Other recent entries in the systems integration market include AT&T archrival Northern Telecom, Inc., software vendor Oracle Corp., Data General Corp., IBM, Digital Equipment Corp., Wang Laboratories, Inc. and several Bell operating companies. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : ``For the past five to ei Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: jjmisbud Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: ``For the past five to eight years companies have shown losses for property and casualty, but 1988 was a comeback year, and 1989 looks like a continuation of that with some profits,'' says Michael Ridgway, director of data processing at Grange Insurance in Columbus, Ohio. Ridgway, noting that insurers still tended to show profits even during the slow years for property and casualty lines of business, recently began the budget process for the fiscal year that starts Jan. 1. He expects his 35-member group to be like most departments and show a general budget growth of 8% to 9%. Such growth may not mean significant staff additions, but it could mean a few more jobs and some promotions, with the most likely additions coming in the areas of communications hardware, systems software and mainframe storage. Looking at his industry overall, Ridgway notes that systems groups should survive the serious cutbacks even during bad years. ``Companies that see information technology as a competitive weapon, as insurance companies do, do not necessarily short MIS during the lean years,'' he adds. Ridgway says that when cuts do occur, they are most likely to come through curtailed training and equipment purchases. At another insurance firm, Prudential Insurance Co., the 1989 MIS budget is expected to grow, matching a growth in demand for processing power. But Kirke Bent, vice-president of equipment and software planning at Prudential in Roseland, N.J., notes that the projected 1989 growth is fairly typical. ``We work as a utility, providing services to the various business groups, so we don't get a directive that says we can only spend so much on data processing or that we can only allow people to spend so much on DP,'' Bent says. He notes that the independent business units work out their own business plans and estimate the computer support they will need. Bent says that Prudential expects some mainframe hardware upgrades but that the company can meet the growing computer power demands at minimal cost because of improved price/performance levels. Montana Power's Griffith says he is facing a relatively flat 1989 budget. That is in line with the typical slow-growing revenues of utilities and reflects an absence of major capital expenditures following the purchase of two CPUs in the past two years, he says. A priority in next year's budget is the implementation of Montana Power's Customer Information System, which Griffith calls ``absolutely strategic.'' Five years in the making, the on-line billing system lets meter readers input data at 11 divisional offices. It also allows customer service representatives in those offices to call up account files when answering questions and update them when bills are paid at the offices. About 70% of Montana Power's computer services budget reflects the DP organization's plans; the other 30% goes to users' requests for equipment and services. Top management dictates a limit on the total. The centralized budget allows more economical purchasing, while the limit on the total ``helps DP managers say no'' to users, Griffith says. The slow retail sales environment is containing budget growth at Murry's, Inc., an East Coast retailer based in Forestville, Md. ``We're not doing much in the way of expansion in terms of hardware or capacity,'' says Assistant Controller Martin Rosenhaft. The company will not expand the DP staff, but it will push ahead with major development of a POS system intended to speed up daily reporting by stores, improve inventory control and help stores order from the distribution center. ``Based on historical information and current information on promotions, it will know the optimum order for each store,'' Rosenhaft says. ``It knows what is in inventory and what it is going to sell over a short period of time.'' Ronald G. Sutton, vice-president of data services at Murry's, says he will get help putting the budget together with a general ledger package purchased from the investment banking firm Salomon Brothers, Inc. It can download data from a mainframe to a personal computer, allow it to be analyzed and generate graphics, he says. ``It will do a lot of analysis, what-if type things you could do on a spreadsheet if you wanted to write all the formulas and equations,'' Sutton says. At Southland, which is best known for its 7,500 7-Eleven food stores, the leveraged buyout has meant divestiture and repaying debt. The early cuts meant layoffs in MIS and other departments, but Karney emphasizes that no more layoffs are expected. Some of the savings Karney is looking at are in the area of applications development, in which discretionary projects may be put on hold for a year or sometimes longer. ``It's not a fun thing to do, but if you have to you can survive for a few years before it catches up to you,'' he says. ``The things we really need now, we have figured out a way to fund.'' <<<>>> Title : Words of mouth Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: kwotebox Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Following are some choice quotes from software and services executives at Alex Brown & Sons' annual computer industry investment conference: ``You can move the data, you can move the macros. But the most expensive thing of all to move is the user.'' Robert Schechter, chief financial officer, Lotus Development Corp., on migrating from one spreadsheet program to another. ``I think the rumors are a bunch of bull. People just like to write that stuff because it sells papers.'' Schechter on rumors of programmer defections from Lotus. ``[Lotus] will have a problem with expansion RAM if the chip prices don't come down next year.'' Jon Shirley, president and chief operating officer, Microsoft Corp., on the system demands of 1-2-3 Release 3.0. ``The toughest competitor at all times is the customer's belief that he can do it himself.'' David Campbell, chairman, CEO, Computer Task Group, Inc. ``The problems are in our direct selling, not in our products.'' Jack Berdy, chairman and CEO, On-Line Software International, Inc., on On-Line's financial downturn. ``I'm proud to say that none of us have any previous AI background.'' Dennis Yablonsky, president and CEO, Carnegie Group, Inc., on Carnegie's top management team. ``Our newer technology is like a chameleon; it changes color to fit the customer. That's more of a concept sell, and it's tough to do over the phone.'' Mario Morino, chairman and CEO, Morino Associates, Inc., on Morino's switch to more direct selling. ``I don't think we've adequately conveyed our strategy to the MIS community.'' Edward Esber, chairman, CEO, Ashton-Tate Corp. ``Our relationship with Microsoft and Novell is stronger than ever. It's like in any marriage _ you get through some tough issues, and you get stronger.'' Esber on Ashton-Tate's recent highly publicized cancellation of Novell's marketing agreement for SQL Server [CW, Oct. 3]. ``IBM still can't sell software.'' Richard Earnest, president, VM Software, Inc. <<<>>> Title : another 20% to 25% out of Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: jmisbudg Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: another 20% to 25% out of the budget,'' Karney says. Another of the many U.S. companies that were once the target of an unfriendly takeover is Burlington Industries, Inc. in Greensboro, N.C. MIS spending at the textile company is down, although the figures are not finalized, according to E.R. Fishburne, director of corporate information systems. Burlington, which opted for a friendly acquisition by Morgan Stanley & Co., faces another two or three years of tight budgets as it pays off more than $2 billion in debt incurred during the takeover battle. Burlington's recovery has involved work force reduction and the sale of several divisions, but the MIS spending slump is a broader issue, Fishburne notes. Paying the debts has meant looking for savings. ``We were fortunate. Some of our mainframes were coming off lease, so we took the opportunity to recast some leases and save some money. We've taken some steps to reposition ourselves in maintenance mode,'' Fishburne says. ``I think that in information systems there is an effort under way to tighten belts. I'm not just talking about our company or the textile industry but all industries,'' Fishburne says. The MIS budget at clothing maker Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco will show a small decline after allowing for inflation, says Chief Information Officer Bill Eaton. At the same time, however, the company is trying to make investments that it views as strategically important, he says. ``We're getting some of the things out of the budget that may have been important in the past and substituting things of strategic value,'' Eaton says. He did not specify what will be cut. One strategic thrust is improving services to customers, namely implementation of the Levi Link system to be used by retailers to order clothing. That is related to the other areas of emphasis: using point-of-sale (POS) information to tailor production to demand and computer-integrated manufacturing. ``As you bring a tremendous amount of point-of-sale information into the company, it drives manufacturing,'' Eaton says. Such strategic thrusts lead to demand for equipment, and ``we will absolutely make those investments,'' he adds. The company may upgrade a mainframe next year, depending on how fast it rolls out Levi Link. At Fleet/Norstar Financial Group in Providence, R.I., formed this year by the merger of New England and New York banking companies, managers are taking drastic action. In drawing up the new organization's first consolidated budget, they aim to cut DP spending 20% from last year's combined expenditures. The centerpiece of the effort is the consolidation of four data centers into one in Albany, N.Y. While the move is aimed at eliminating the redundant facilities and applications in the wake of the merger, ``it would still be a worthwhile project'' without a merger, says Michael Zucchini, the company's executive vice-president and CIO. He cited a general trend toward cost reduction in the banking industry. The data center consolidation is leading to a reduction of about 150 positions in the data center work force. About half the cutback is coming through attrition, the rest through layoffs. Systems and programming staffs will continue to work in various locations and be reduced only through attrition, Zucchini says. Another company that cut its MIS budget is Comfed Savings Bank in Lowell, Mass. Paul D. Keenliside, senior vice-president of information systems, says Comfed, as a mortgage bank, is in the same situation as much of the financial services industry hurt by the October 1987 stock market crash. ``Our budget has been reduced for the coming year, and we have had to make some tough decisions. We haven't lost any people, but we have had to cut back with steps such as foregoing enhancements on very stable software products,'' Keenliside says. One of Comfed's cost-saving steps was to perform a detailed analysis of maintenance costs. The company used basic analysis tools to take a close look at how much it has been spending on maintenance and what types of equipment have been reliable enough to be removed from the maintenance cycle. ``Obviously, we wouldn't take a CPU off maintenance, but when you have a [solid-state storage device] that hasn't failed in three years, and the only moving part is a fan, you look at whether you can get by without maintenance,'' Keenliside says. While Comfed focused on savings in the operations area _ such as a data compression technique that saved the cost of new disk drives _ the bank tried to avoid cutting back on user support, particularly in cases in which users are developing their own strategic applications. While some industries and firms are on downward spirals, 1989 is the recovery year other MIS executives have been awaiting. ``It looks better than the past five years for the insurance industry, particularly property and casualty. <<<>>> Title : A step ahead Author : J. Denis Lambert Source : CW Comm FileName: lamblet Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: I take exception to the article stating that Amdahl Corp. was the first plug-compatible manufacturer to announce ESA/370 support [CW, Sept. 19]. National Advanced Systems announced support for this evolutionary extension of 370/XA in June 1988, one full quarter ahead of Amdahl. NAS has always responded in a timely manner to evolving 370 architecture and to announcements in the compatible market. Support for ESA/370 and functional equivalence for PR/SM reaffirm our leadership in the compatibility arena. J. Denis Lambert Systems Engineering Manager National Accounts Region National Advanced Systems San Francisco <<<>>> Title : was held in a room too sm Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: jjobs1 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: was held in a room too small to accommodate the throng _ walked away impressed with the new machine. Many also walked to nearby restaurants, since the press-conference luncheon was a Jobs special: cream cheese and sprouts on a croissant and mineral water. While the Jobs of yesterday might have played David to IBM's Goliath, this time he is cautious. He has even enlisted his one-time nemesis IBM as a strategic partner: The Armonk, N.Y., giant has licensed much of the Next workstation's system software for use on its own workstations. The new Jobs insisted that the workstation will be sold exclusively to universities. ``More companies tend to die of indigestion than of starvation,'' he said. Few believe that Jobs will limit himself to the academic market, however. An executive at Sun Microsystems, Inc. last week said that Sun's sales force has already run into Next at industrial installations. It looks like Jobs is playing a game of setting modest expectations, which he will meet and likely surpass, as opposed to setting unrealistically high goals and falling short. The target will eventually be Apple. Jobs last week robbed Apple of its image as a technology leader and fresh alternative to IBM's perceived stodginess. ``Mac is going to peak next year,'' Jobs said. ``There are cracks in the hardware that let you see it won't become more than it can be.'' The Mac is stuck in the 1980s, while the Next workstation is a computer for the 1990s, he said. After a three-hour razzle-dazzle display of the machine's capabilities, many left in agreement. As could be expected, Apple sounded uncomfortable in its new role. ``We're not standing still,'' a spokeswoman said. Apple may have beat Jobs to the punch with its own introduction of a Motorola, Inc. 68030-based workstation, but few will remember the chronology. What will linger is the feeling that Jobs did what he set out to do: serve notice that he is back and upstage Apple in the process. <<<>>> Title : Ex-Gillette exec Moody hi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: moodshor Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Kavin Moody, former top information systems executive at Gillette Co., has resurfaced as a key executive at the Bank of Boston. Moody, who left his post as corporate director for MIS at Gillette in June, was recently hired by Bank of Boston's director of corporate information and technology, John H. Rogers. Moody's new title is director of systems management, although he said his duties have not been precisely defined. ``It will be on the application side, involving the management process. The broad charter is the systems development process,'' Moody said. Summer vacation Moody added that he spent the summer studying and researching opportunities for his own information systems business. After deciding not to move forward immediately with that venture _ generally described as an information processing service for the travel industry _ Moody said he discussed a consulting role with Rogers. Moody said Rogers then invited him to join the bank and share some of Rogers' responsibilities. ``There's enough change going on in this industry that there is plenty to do here,'' Moody added. Moody left Gillette after the company fought off repeated takeover attempts, restructuring and cutbacks in corporate spending, including MIS expenditures (see story page 100). <<<>>> Title : Just who wins? Author : Phil Nowak Source : CW Comm FileName: nowaklet Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: The article, ``Tax changes rejected; one-year setback seen'' [CW, Sept. 12], could have just as easily been headlined ``ADAPSO wins again; independent contractors now an endangered species nearing extinction.'' Where did Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation get the estimate of a $500 million revenue loss over five years? Here is my experience with 1706. Last year, I signed a W-4. Due to lower income, my tax return for 1987 showed an 80% reduction from the taxes I formerly paid using all those pre-1706 deductions. This year could show a 90% reduction from my former tax bill. Tell that to the Joint Committee on Taxation! Are there thousands like me who collectively are paying millions of dollars less in taxes because of 1706? If so, I would appreciate it if one of those elected representatives on the Tax Committee could explain how the repeal of 1706 is going to cost money. Phil Nowak Chicago <<<>>> Title : In person Author : Travis Piper Source : CW Comm FileName: piperlet Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Your article, ``The training that talks back'' [CW, Aug. 15], says ``interactive video is widely viewed as more effective than other media-based training.'' In fact, interactive video is often more liked by learners, but its effectiveness is really no better when measured in terms of acquired learning and retention. The article also states that interactive video instruction (IVI) is generally more costly. I'll say! Just compare custom-developed computer-based training, given at $6,000 to $20,000 per hour, with IVI, at a cost of $120,000 to $300,000 per hour. Rockley Miller's statement in the article, ``Live instruction can be superior if you have the best instructor and a tightly organized course,'' is like saying, ``Florida is great in the summer if it isn't too hot or too humid.'' Let's look at how it is most of the time. Classroom instruction is by far the easiest to revise of all the delivery media. Certainly, word processor-based computer-based training is the next easiest to revise. Travis Piper President Creative Approaches, Inc. E. Bloomfield, N.Y. <<<>>> Title : Palsied profitability Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: q3 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Beset with overcrowded market niches, intensifying competition and a conservative market mentality, the computer industry slogged its way through the long, hot (and not so hot) summer with generally disappointing results, as reflected in third-quarter earnings announced last week. ``I wish the market were stronger,'' said Timothy McCollum, an analyst at Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., who referred to last week's computer company numbers and prospects as ``a really mixed bag, with a weighting toward the negative.'' Falloff in domestic orders reported by Unisys Corp. and NCR Corp. were seen as further harbingers of the industrywide slowdown so often predicted during the past several months. The declining orders offset any optimism that might have been gleaned from the companies' respective revenue and profit gains. Unisys reported third-quarter revenue up a scant 2% to $2.27 billion and net income of $151 million, a 16% increase over last year's comparable period. Revenue at NCR crept up 6.9% to $870.2 million, while the company's net income rose 5.4% to $103.1 million. In a prepared statement, Unisys Chief Executive Officer W. Michael Blumenthal saluted the company's earnings and laid the overall underwhelming numbers partly at the door of customers whose wallets remain closed as they await Unisys' new 2200 line, scheduled to ship in volume next spring. However, citing a weak U.S. computer market, a tight U.S. defense budget and a strong U.S. dollar, he also trimmed Unisys' growth projections to single-digit revenue. If last week's earnings barrage failed to reveal a boom at the top, there also was no joy in Mid-ville. Wang Laboratories, Inc., besieged by competition not only from traditional rivals but also from the burgeoning forces of workstation suppliers, enjoyed a modest 4% revenue rise but saw earnings barrel downward 42%. Moreover, a company spokesman confirmed that the increase in revenue was attributable entirely to international sales, with revenue remaining flat on the domestic front. Slip and slide Wang's earnings slide came as no surprise to analysts, most of whom have long been forecasting third-quarter disaster in the minicomputer market. Marginally hopeful was the report from Apollo Computer, Inc. Apollo looks like a possibility for the comeback trail after a disastrous second quarter. But, cautioned Dean Witter's McCollum, ``they have a lot to do and a very long way to go before they turn around.'' Apollo reported third-quarter revenue up 16% and a net loss of $3.58 million _a recovery from the company's $7.9 million second-quarter loss, but nevertheless a 25% greater falloff than the $2.7 million deficit reported in third-quarter 1987. ``Apollo continues to face severe competition from Sun, and it will get a lot more intensive if DEC and IBM get their [workstation] acts together,'' McCollum said. Apollo, he noted, faces a need to strengthen its marketing forces _ a move that could retard the company's efforts to get back in the black. As was widely predicted, bright lights shone mainly in the microcomputer cosmos. Apple Computer, Inc. chalked up its 10th-consecutive quarter of increasing earnings and profits. Powered largely by the Macintosh's success in the commercial sector and aided by the Apple IIGS's inroads in the education market, Apple reported an impressive 49% revenue surge and an even larger leap in profitability, with net earnings up 51%, according to Apple CEO John Sculley. A ``long-standing commitment to development of products for the Apple Macintosh environment,'' said Microsoft Corp. President Jon Shirley, emerged as a major factor underlying his own company's continuing rosy health. The Redmond, Wash.-based software company's 12th-consecutive quarter of sales increases was partly because of third-quarter introductions of Mac-oriented software and Version 4.0 of Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system, Shirley said. Meanwhile, Mountain View, Calif.-based Software Publishing Corp. netted triple-digit percentage increases in both sales and profits, credited in large part to the continuous flow of new products, said Peter Rogers, an analyst at Montgomery Securities. Software Publishing ``is doing a very good job of serving niches neglected by the Big Three,'' that is, Microsoft, Lotus Development Corp. and Ashton-Tate Corp., Rogers noted. Even in the personal computer sector, however, warning notes sounded of hard times to come. San Jose, Calif.-based Altos Computer Systems, Inc. President Dave Jackson blamed ``a general slowdown in our domestic business'' for an 86% decline in earnings. ``There's a perception out there that unit demand for PCs is decelerating,'' Rogers said. Other items from the mixed bag of earnings include the following: Silicon Graphics, Inc. and Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. Last spring, when supercomputer workstations first hit the headlines and the concepts of reduced instruction set computing and parallel processing were pushed center stage, one frequently asked question was, ``how much of a market is there for these super-speed MIPSters?'' Last week, the answer ap-peared to be ``at least enough to send sales soaring at both these companies, although Silicon Graphics' earnings fell.'' Sequent CEO Casey Powell credited the Beaverton, Ore.-based company's stellar earnings and profits surges to increasing market awareness, particularly in the commercial market. Silicon Graphics CEO Edward McCracken blamed heavy research and development investment in its Iris Power series of multiprocessor three-dimensional graphics workstations for the company's 67% earnings decline in the face of its 53% revenue rise. Slow but sure AST Research, Inc. Slow summer sales and significantly increased R&D and marketing investments in next quarter's scheduled product introduction kept results lower than originally predicted by the Irvine, Calif., micro systems and peripherals maker. Nevertheless, AST announced that revenue climbed 38% from the comparable quarter last year; profits jumped 325% but were still quite low at $306,000. VM Software, Inc. In a boast that few could make this quarter, CEO Robert Cook said that the Reston, Va.-based systems software purveyor to the IBM VM operating system market ``enjoyed continued domestic and international growth this quarter.'' VM Software's third-quarter revenues bounded up 61% to $9.7 million, while net earnings grew 422% to $942,176. By Nell Margolis, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : High security Author : Steve Schafir Source : CW Comm FileName: schaflet Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: This letter is about job security, which I think was missed in your annual job survey [CW, Sept. 5 and 12]. Even though you talked about what salaries were good in which industries and job satisfaction, which is important, so is job security, which I think is sadly lacking in private industry today. I worked for a medical manufacturing firm for four years, and in that time, I did well with the company. But the company ran into legal and financial problems. Its solution was to sell part of the company and start cutting back on personnel and freezing pay raises. They cut whole shifts at a time and laid off hundreds of employees. I opted to seek other employment and found a job with a community college. I have found in the short six months of being here that, although the government may pay less than private industry, there is _ among other tangible and intangible benefits _ the fact that being employed here for a small amount of time means you are pretty much secure in your job. Unless you commit a major problem, you will not lose your job. And you do not have to worry about coming in and being told you no longer have a job, because the government will never go out of business. Until private industry as a whole cleans up its act, I will continue to seek employment only with the government. Steve Schafir Information Systems Specialist Miami-Dade Community College Miami <<<>>> Title : Vote-tallying reforms urg Author : Mitch Betts, CW Source : CW Comm FileName: voters Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: GAITHERSBURG, Md. _ Administrators of local elections need to make major improvements in computer security and procedures to restore public confidence in computerized vote-tallying, according to a federal study. ``Many technically trained people have real concerns about the way votes are tallied,'' said Roy G. Saltman, a computer scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), formerly the National Bureau of Standards. For example, Saltman's report urges administrators never to allow special vote-tallying software to run on systems with other software because of the risk of contamination by Trojan horses or viruses. Whoops The NIST study cited several elections in which computerized voting records were faulty. In one case, a Carroll County, Md., election in 1984 was off by 13,000 votes because the wrong utility program was used for reading punch-card ballots, the NIST said. In essence, the same internal controls that businesses _ especially banks _apply to counting money should be applied to the process of counting votes, Saltman commented. Approximately 55% of all U.S. voters use some form of computerized vote-tallying equipment. Fraud potential The biggest problems are that inadequate audit trails make it difficult to verify election results and poor internal controls invite the possibility of undetected frauds, the report indicated. The NIST study includes the following recommendations: Administrators should add personnel with expertise in internal controls, security and auditing, so they do not have to rely on outside technical assistance or vendors. States should adopt the vote-counting hardware and software performance standards that are forthcoming from the National Clearinghouse on Election Administration. Audit trails, access controls and thorough pre-election testing should be mandatory in vote-tallying systems. Also, the logical design of the software should be tested and certified. The use of prescored punch-card ballots should be eliminated. The punch-outs, which are called ``chads,'' may fall out or may not be fully removed, which would prevent the vote from being accurately recorded. Saltman also recommended that states consider adopting, at minimum, the Texas statute on electronic voting systems, which incorporates several of the study's recommendations. <<<>>> Title : DEC will sell Dbase on VA Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1decbase Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: BOSTON _ No one batted an eye earlier this month when Ashton-Tate Corp. quietly revealed plans to port Dbase to Digital Equipment Corp. VAX computers. But a few eyebrows may rise today when DEC and Ashton-Tate announce a deal that will give DEC the right to price, name, sell and support the Dbase software. The first deal DEC has struck with any of the Big Three personal computer software firms calls for Ashton-Tate to develop Dbase for the full line of VAX computers, according to industry sources. In a move unlike its agreements announced last week with Oracle Corp., Relational Technology, Inc. and Informix Software, Inc. (see story page 132), DEC will take the lead role in marketing and supporting Dbase for the VAX, with Ashton-Tate providing backup support and sales assistance. One boost for DEC could be Dbase's ability to serve as a front end for RDB, the strategic but much maligned DEC database management system bundled with most VAXs. No time frames for delivery are expected to be revealed at the press conference today in Boston. For Ashton-Tate, Dbase on VAXs would help fulfill a long- felt need to become a player in large-systems software. Two years ago, the company stated publicly that it was looking to acquire a large-systems DBMS supplier such as Relational, but no deal was ever made. DEC's strategy now is to port Dbase itself to several more capable environments, including OS/2, AT&T's Open Look, Unix and DEC's VMS. Same source code According to a white paper released by Ashton-Tate at its users' conference early this month, both the Unix and VMS versions of Dbase will be ``100% compatible across operating system platforms.'' That means, according to one source, that the source code of current Dbase applications will run unchanged on DEC machines. Like Lotus Development Corp.'s unshipped 1-2-3 Release 3.0, Dbase IV is written in C for easy portability. Dbase will operate in two fashions on VAXs. In one mode, the software will be truly multiuser, allowing terminal users to access Dbase. The interface will center around the Control Center, a set of menus pioneered by Dbase IV, which is set to ship later this month. Ashton-Tate also disclosed plans to release a single-user-oriented version of Dbase for 32-bit workstations that run under DEC Windows. This product will take full advantage of the DEC Windows graphical user interface. Despite Ashton-Tate's ambitions, VAX users contacted last week could muster little excitement about the announcement. Unlike at IBM minicomputer sites, which often have a flock of micros running Dbase, VAXs are often found in academic, engineering and scientific settings _ areas in which Dbase has less of a foothold. The University of Toronto has little need for DBMS software and currently uses no third-party DBMS products, according to Ruth Milner, the university's systems manager. In fact, Milner's need for VAXs themselves is vanishing. ``We are moving toward Unix and now have a number of Suns,'' she said. For others, the broad range of VAX DBMS offerings locks Dbase out. ``We are pretty heavily into a 4GL,'' explained Logan Ragan, manager of computer services at Bridge Brand Food Services Ltd. in Calgary, Alta. By Douglas Barney, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Budget time, and the livi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1misbudg Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Caution and, on occasion, gloom keep showing up in MIS executives' comments: ``Times are tough.'' ``My whole industry is down.'' ``It's so hard to come back from a takeover attempt.'' Even the optimists in businesses such as insurance sound conservative; they say 1989 will be a recovery year or, at best, business as usual _ not boom times. Recent interviews with randomly selected MIS executives reveal a pattern that shows few growth opportunities in 1989 budgets and many MIS shops fighting to keep budget cuts _ and long-term damage _ to a minimum. Across industries, firms are trying to hold the line on MIS spending. But they continue to invest in systems they consider strategically important. ``People are getting most everything they want, but we're cutting back the excess. Nobody's getting fat on computer equipment, but nobody's really hurting that much, either,'' says Gordon Griffith, director of corporate budget and financial planning systems at Montana Power Co. in Butte. David Karney, vice-president of MIS at Southland Corp. in Dallas, adds, ``This year and last year, our budget considerations have been driven by the need to cut costs.'' Southland, rebuilding after a leveraged buyout two years ago, has cut costs throughout. ``What you wind up doing in that situation is deferring new projects and figuring out ways to squeeze another 20% to 25% out of the budget,'' Karney says. Another of the many U.S. companies that were once the target of an unfriendly takeover is Burlington Industries, Inc. in Greensboro, N.C. MIS spending at the textile company is down, although the figures are not finalized, according to E.R. Fishburne, director of corporate information systems. Burlington, which opted for a friendly acquisition by Morgan Stanley & Co., faces another two or three years of tight budgets as it pays off more than $2 billion in debt incurred during the takeover battle. Burlington's recovery has involved work force reduction and the sale of several divisions, but the MIS spending slump is a broader issue, Fishburne notes. Paying the debts has meant looking for savings. ``We were fortunate. Some of our mainframes were coming off lease, so we took the opportunity to recast some leases and save some money. We've taken some steps to reposition ourselves in maintenance mode,'' Fishburne says. ``I think that in information systems there is an effort under way to tighten belts. I'm not just talking about our company or the textile industry but all industries,'' Fishburne says. The MIS budget at clothing maker Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco will show a small decline after allowing for inflation, says Chief Information Officer Bill Eaton. At the same time, however, the company is trying to make investments that it views as strategically important, he says. ``We're getting some of the things out of the budget that may have been important in the past and substituting things of strategic value,'' Eaton says. He did not specify what will be cut. One strategic thrust is improving services to customers, namely implementation of the Levi Link system to be used by retailers to order clothing. That is related to the other areas of emphasis: using point-of-sale (POS) information to tailor production to demand and computer-integrated manufacturing. ``As you bring a tremendous amount of point-of-sale information into the company, it drives manufacturing,'' Eaton says. Such strategic thrusts lead to demand for equipment, and ``we will absolutely make those investments,'' he adds. The company may upgrade a mainframe next year, depending on how fast it rolls out Levi Link. At Fleet/Norstar Financial Group in Providence, R.I., formed this year by the merger of New England and New York banking companies, managers are taking drastic action. In drawing up the new organization's first consolidated budget, they aim to cut DP spending 20% from last year's combined expenditures. The centerpiece of the effort is the consolidation of four data centers into one in Albany, N.Y. While the move is aimed at eliminating the redundant facilities and applications in the wake of the merger, ``it would still be a worthwhile project'' without a merger, says Michael Zucchini, the company's executive vice-president and CIO. He cited a general trend toward cost reduction in the banking industry. The data center consolidation is leading to a reduction of about 150 positions in the data center work force. About half the cutback is coming through attrition, the rest through layoffs. Systems and programming staffs will continue to work in various locations and be reduced only through attrition, Zucchini says. Another company that cut its MIS budget is Comfed Savings Bank in Lowell, Mass. Paul D. Keenliside, senior vice-president of information systems, says Comfed, as a mortgage bank, is in the same situation as much of the financial services industry hurt by the October 1987 stock market crash. ``Our budget has been reduced for the coming year, and we have had to make some tough decisions. We haven't lost any people, but we have had to cut back with steps such as foregoing enhancements on very stable software products,'' Keenliside says. One of Comfed's cost-saving steps was to perform a detailed analysis of maintenance costs. The company used basic analysis tools to take a close look at how much it has been spending on maintenance and what types of equipment have been reliable enough to be removed from the maintenance cycle. ``Obviously, we wouldn't take a CPU off maintenance, but when you have a [solid-state storage device] that hasn't failed in three years, and the only moving part is a fan, you look at whether you can get by without maintenance,'' Keenliside says. While Comfed focused on savings in the operations area _ such as a data compression technique that saved the cost of new disk drives _ the bank tried to avoid cutting back on user support, particularly in cases in which users are developing their own strategic applications. While some industries and firms are on downward spirals, 1989 is the recovery year other MIS executives have been awaiting. ``It looks better than the past five years for the insurance industry, particularly property and casualty. ``For the past five to eight years companies have shown losses for property and casualty, but 1988 was a comeback year, and 1989 looks like a continuation of that with some profits,'' says Michael Ridgway, director of data processing at Grange Insurance in Columbus, Ohio. Ridgway, noting that insurers still tended to show profits even during the slow years for property and casualty lines of business, recently began the budget process for the fiscal year that starts Jan. 1. He expects his 35-member group to be like most departments and show a general budget growth of 8% to 9%. Such growth may not mean significant staff additions, but it could mean a few more jobs and some promotions, with the most likely additions coming in the areas of communications hardware, systems software and mainframe storage. Looking at his industry overall, Ridgway notes that systems groups should survive the serious cutbacks even during bad years. ``Companies that see information technology as a competitive weapon, as insurance companies do, do not necessarily short MIS during the lean years,'' he adds. Ridgway says that when cuts do occur, they are most likely to come through curtailed training and equipment purchases. At another insurance firm, Prudential Insurance Co., the 1989 MIS budget is expected to grow, matching a growth in demand for processing power. But Kirke Bent, vice-president of equipment and software planning at Prudential in Roseland, N.J., notes that the projected 1989 growth is fairly typical. ``We work as a utility, providing services to the various business groups, so we don't get a directive that says we can only spend so much on data processing or that we can only allow people to spend so much on DP,'' Bent says. He notes that the independent business units work out their own business plans and estimate the computer support they will need. Bent says that Prudential expects some mainframe hardware upgrades but that the company can meet the growing computer power demands at minimal cost because of improved price/performance levels. Montana Power's Griffith says he is facing a relatively flat 1989 budget. That is in line with the typical slow-growing revenues of utilities and reflects an absence of major capital expenditures following the purchase of two CPUs in the past two years, he says. A priority in next year's budget is the implementation of Montana Power's Customer Information System, which Griffith calls ``absolutely strategic.'' Five years in the making, the on-line billing system lets meter readers input data at 11 divisional offices. It also allows customer service representatives in those offices to call up account files when answering questions and update them when bills are paid at the offices. About 70% of Montana Power's computer services budget reflects the DP organization's plans; the other 30% goes to users' requests for equipment and services. Top management dictates a limit on the total. The centralized budget allows more economical purchasing, while the limit on the total ``helps DP managers say no'' to users, Griffith says. The slow retail sales environment is containing budget growth at Murry's, Inc., an East Coast retailer based in Forestville, Md. ``We're not doing much in the way of expansion in terms of hardware or capacity,'' says Assistant Controller Martin Rosenhaft. The company will not expand the DP staff, but it will push ahead with major development of a POS system intended to speed up daily reporting by stores, improve inventory control and help stores order from the distribution center. ``Based on historical information and current information on promotions, it will know the optimum order for each store,'' Rosenhaft says. ``It knows what is in inventory and what it is going to sell over a short period of time.'' Ronald G. Sutton, vice-president of data services at Murry's, says he will get help putting the budget together with a general ledger package purchased from the investment banking firm Salomon Brothers, Inc. It can download data from a mainframe to a personal computer, allow it to be analyzed and generate graphics, he says. ``It will do a lot of analysis, what-if type things you could do on a spreadsheet if you wanted to write all the formulas and equations,'' Sutton says. At Southland, which is best known for its 7,500 7-Eleven food stores, the leveraged buyout has meant divestiture and repaying debt. The early cuts meant layoffs in MIS and other departments, but Karney emphasizes that no more layoffs are expected. Some of the savings Karney is looking at are in the area of applications development, in which discretionary projects may be put on hold for a year or sometimes longer. ``It's not a fun thing to do, but if you have to you can survive for a few years before it catches up to you,'' he says. ``The things we really need now, we have figured out a way to fund.'' By David A. Ludlum and James Connolly, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Do as I say, not as I do Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1021shor Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Do as I say, not as I do A survey of 300 data processing professionals found that 99% believe an education program about the societal and legal consequences of computer crime would help reduce abuses but that only 38% of the firms have such a program. The survey, sponsored by the Information Resources Management Association in Middletown, Pa., also reported a surprisingly high level of security lapses. Asked how frequently their computer systems are breached, 47% of the respondents said ``very often'' or ``always.'' Of the remainder, 6% said breaches occur ``often,'' 38% said ``seldom'' and 9% said ``never.'' Sony first with erasable disk The race to provide a commercially available rewritable optical disk drive looks like it posted a winner last week when Sony Corporation of America announced large-scale production of its SMO-D501, a 5 -in. rewritable optical disk drive, and the SMO-S501 associate subsystem. The disk drive offers both a data transfer rate of 7.4M bit/sec. and a 20-msec seek time and will sell for $4,650, the Park Ridge, N.J.-based firm said. Similar general availability offerings are planned from both Canon U.S.A., Inc. and Maxtor Corp., according to Disk/Trend, Inc., a Los Altos, Calif.-based research firm. LSI ups stake in Video Seven LSI Logic Corp. raised its 20% stake in Video Seven, Inc. last week by acquiring an additional 50% of the stock from Intelligent Systems Master Ltd. Partnership for $9.9 million in cash. Although LSI's purchase of an additional 3.2 million shares of Video Seven gives it controlling interest in the personal computer graphics adapter manufacturer, LSI said it will continue to operate the Fremont, Calif.-based firm as a freestanding company and that Paul Jain will remain as president and chief executive officer of Video Seven. Bell Atlantic joins E-mail fray Bell Atlantic Corp. announced last week that it will offer an electronic mail service jointly with Telenet Communications Corp. Bell Atlantic Mail will target residential and small business customers, who will access the service through the regional holding company's videotex gateway service, which has already been approved by the Federal Communications Commission. Telenet will provide the actual mailboxes as well as access to subscribers on its own Telemail service as well as to mail services that comply with the X.400 electronic messaging standard, Bell Atlantic said. Pending FCC approval, the service is expected to be introduced late this year in Philadelphia, with a Washington, D.C. introduction scheduled for early next year. Postscript for mainframe printers Users of Adobe Systems, Inc.'s Postscript may now print their documents on IBM mainframe printers, Adobe announced last week. A Postscript interpreter that runs under IBM's VM/CMS provides the capability. Postscript language documents created on personal computers or large IBM systems can be printed on IBM's Postscript or ASCII front panel printers, and documents will have identical appearances across IBM's 240, 300 and 600 dot/in. printers. A week earlier, Adobe, based in Mountain View, Calif., announced that IBM had licensed Display Postscript for incorporation into its AIX operating system. Northern Telecom profits nose-dive Northern Telecom, Inc. CEO Edmund Fitzgerald blamed shifts in shipment schedules and lower demand from Europe for the company's disappointing third-quarter earnings, reported late last week. Net earnings were down 16% to $56 million, compared with $66 million for the third quarter of 1987. Revenues rose to $1.23 billion, which is a 6% rise. Fitzgerald reiterated the company's expectations of a fourth quarter sufficiently strong to pull out ``revenue, earnings and margin improvements for all of 1988 when compared with the previous year.'' <<<>>> Title : Microvaxes target small b Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mv3300 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Digital Equipment Corp. took its latest shot at the small business market last week with two Microvaxes it claims can outperform certain models of what is currently considered one of the hottest mid-range systems, the IBM Application System/400. Analysts considered the new DEC computers, the Microvax 3300 and 3400, as solid additions to the Microvax product line. While they are not breakthrough products, they will give DEC more ammunition in its challenge against IBM and other small business system providers, analysts said. ``It will take DEC a step further, but everytime they get in the door of an IBM account they still have to answer the question, `Why should I buy this instead of an AS/400?' '' said Bob Randolph, director of program services at the research firm TFS, Inc. in Westford, Mass. The way they look now The new systems, available immediately, will replace three higher end configurations of the Microvax II system. The revamped Microvax product line now includes the Microvax II low-end BA23s, the new models filling in the middle and the Microvax 3500 and 3600 at the high end (see chart). The 3300 and 3400 reportedly offer 2 to three times the performance of a Microvax II. The high-end 3500 and 3600 models offer slightly more than three times the performance of the Microvax II. A typical price for a 3400 is $53,950, while a 3300 will have a price of $40,950. The products are distinguished primarily by expansion slots and the amount of storage each will accommodate. For example, the 3400 has 12 Q-bus slots, while the 3300 has half as many. The rollout also ushered in DEC's new low-end storage technology that is expected to become available for other Microvaxes in the future. The RF30 Integrated Storage Element (ISE) is a single unit containing both a controller and disk drive. That architecture allows a user to boost data access speeds as well as capacity because a single controller is no longer responsible for several disk drives, according to Jesse Lipcon, a corporate consulting engineer at DEC who is responsible for the Microvax product line. ``The ISE is the real sleeper here,'' said Chuck Casale, president of the Aberdeen Group in Boston. ``It will be tough for anyone other than IBM to rival that technology.'' DEC plans to offer the 3300 and 3400 and a general business system as a server and as a real-time computer for a manufacturing environment. The server models will have an average price of $25,630, while the real-time model will typically cost $12,430. By Rosemary Hamilton, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Sun's up, but DEC earning Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ern Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Sun Microsystems, Inc. rose higher, Digital Equipment Corp. fell further and Convex Computer Corp. continued to stand tall in an otherwise brutal minisupercomputer market as third-quarter earnings reports continued to pour in late last week. DEC's earnings plummeted more than 17% to $223 million for the first quarter, compared with the same quarter a year ago, partly because of heavy research and development investment incurred in mounting a workstation challenge to Sun. DEC reported first-quarter revenue of $2.94 billion, a 16% rise from last year's comparable period. Sales of low-end and mid-range systems were strong, particularly the recently announced VAX 6200 series, according to DEC. The quarter's shipment of 12,000 workstations, added to last year's tally of 30,000 ``puts Digital in the No. 2 position in the workstation market,'' said Domenic LaCava, vice-president of low-end systems. High-end sales, however _ including that of the VAX 8800 graphics workstation and the recently released on-line transaction processing system _ lagged below expectation, damaging the overall profit picture. In spite of chips Despite headaches and backlogs brought on by the ongoing memory chip shortage, Sun reported revenue of $388 million for its first quarter ended Sept. 30, up 103% from last year's comparable period. Profits at the Mountain View, Calif.-based workstation company were up 60% to $20.6 million. According to Sun Chief Executive Officer Scott McNealy, the continued shortage of dynamic random-access memory chips kept Sun from realizing even higher revenue and left it with ``the highest quarter-end backlog in [its] history.'' Sun refused to say exactly how big the backlog is, but McNealy said that expenses are being carefully tagged to expectations that the shortage could continue to curb Sun's revenue growth, at least through the end of this year. Recently announced across-the-board price increases ranging from 6% to 14% should aid Sun in its search for available and affordable DRAMs if the shortage continues, a company spokesman added. In other earnings news, the crowded and competitive minisupercomputer market became a battlefield during the past quarter, and last week the front line reflected on the bottom line. Alliant Computer Systems Corp. announced a third-quarter $1.1 million net loss, compared with $438,000 in profits for the third quarter of 1987. Revenue dropped as well, falling 13% to $16.4 million. Convex, referred to by several analysts as the sole strong survivor in the recent round of minisuper warfare, announced that sales were up 50% and profits rose 54%. By Nell Margolis, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Group writes prescription Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: virus1 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: NEW YORK _ Information management policies need a heavy dose of preventive medicine to deal with the current and future rash of computer viruses. That was the main conclusion reached at the National Computer Virus Symposium, which met here last week to formulate strategies for coping with computer viruses. These technological pests propagate in several ways and could reach epidemic proportions, observers fear, if unchecked. The two-day invitational event, sponsored by Deloitte, Haskins and Sells and the Information Systems and Security Association, brought together top security experts and attempted to define computer viruses, determine how to detect them and devise methods to prevent them. Symposium members concluded that present-day antiviral software combats the problem only partially. They looked to the continuation of research for finding comprehensive solutions to the viruses. Equally important, members recommended basing corporate policy decisions on conclusive security risk analyses, buttressed by periodic scheduled reviews of internal policies and procedures. They also suggested corporatewide restrictions on invalidated and unlicensed software and centralizing the purchase of both software and hardware at the corporate level. Further, the symposium called for educating users so that they can recognize and understand the effects of viruses. Members also stated that corporations must be prepared to take legal action. <<<>>> Title : Mainframe hardware Author : James Daly Source : CW Comm FileName: maintren Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: The manufacturing industry continues to sop up the lion's share of mainframes sold in the U.S., according to interviews recently conducted by Focus Research Systems, Inc., which tracked the destination of mainframes once they had gone out the factory door. IBM, Unisys Corp. and Honeywell, Inc. all report a healthy reliance on manufacturing industry sales _ more than 35% of Honeywell mainframes are eventually shoved into place at manufacturing sites _ with the services industry and the health and education fields also accounting for a significant amount of mainframe sales. Scott Brown, a researcher at the West Hartford, Conn.-based firm, qualified the conclusions, however, by noting that the manufacturing industry accounts for more mainframe sales than any other industry in the U.S. Only NCR Corp. appears to have carved out a significant sales niche in another area; nearly 36% of its mainframes wind up in the offices of banking and financial firms. ``They've traditionally been very strong in this area because they sell their machines with good applications for banking already built in,'' Brown said. The firm's research also indicates that non-IBM machines are making their greatest penetration in the wholesale sellers' market, with Honeywell sending out nearly 14% of its machines to firms in that area. IBM only sends 5.8% of its machines there. JAMES DALY <<<>>> Title : Does `incoming wounded' n Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: liner24 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Does `incoming wounded' now cover the M*A*S*H campaign? It seems that Hawkeye, Radar, Trapper John, Klinger and Colonel Potter may soon be marching back into mothballs. Now that IBM has switched advertising agencies, the likelihood of the continuation of its ad campaign based on the former M*A*S*H characters is in doubt. An IBM representative pointed out that when switching agencies, it is not unusual to drop campaigns and adopt new ones. The M*A*S*H campaign has apparently not achieved the wanted results in hyping IBM's PS/2 line. IBM switched ad agencies in September, leaving Lord, Geller to sign on with two New York agencies. Lintas: Worldwide will be handling the desktop portion of IBM's business, while Wells, Rich, Greene will take on the giant's corporate work. Sources report that even though stars like Alan Alda are under long-term agreements with IBM, that would hardly keep the M*AS*H campaign going if it were deemed unacceptable. All around, it was a tough week for DEC. IBM counterattacked DEC with a new benchmark of its 4381s and 9370s, while DEC had to explain why the report on its own on-line transaction processing benchmark won't be out this month as the company promised in July. Long after the stock market had closed Thursday, DEC reported that quarterly earnings were off 17%. Then, when the firm wanted to make a joint announcement with Relational Technology Tuesday, it invited scribes to the Helmsley Palace in New York _ but the press conference was actually booked at the nearby Helmsley Hotel. New York police reported sighting roving bands of reporters looking for the event. Is it worth debating? The hotly contested Air Force CAC 251 contract, worth up to $4.5 billion for 20,000 multiuser Unix systems, is set to be decided Friday after the stock market closes. However, reports now indicate that it might be postponed until after the elections because of Department of Defense concerns that the Dukakis camp might use it as ammunition against defense spending. All indications are pointing toward AT&T emerging as the winner. The Lloyd Bentsen of software? At last week's ADAPSO Management Conference in Dallas, luncheon keynoter Jim Manzi, chairman of Lotus, said he owed both the industry and his customers an explanation for the delay in shipping 1-2-3 Release 3.0. Then, deftly avoiding the issue for a few precious minutes, he proceeded to rattle off a series of one-liners, comparing himself to the Republican vice-presidential nominee. ``What am I planning to do about the delay? First, I'm going to say a prayer, and then we're going to have a meeting. . . . It didn't work for Dan Quayle either.'' He also reminded his audience that Yogi Berra once said, ``A guy ought to be very careful in making predictions . . . especially about the future.'' All aboard ISDN. The thin ranks of ISDN supporters among the network equipment vendors are due to fatten up a bit with announcements from Codex and Apollo. One Codex spokesman said the company will introduce an ISDN gateway that can support either asynchronous or high-level data link control, or HDLC, devices sometime late in 1989. Codex is already testing prototypes of such gateways at user sites. Apollo spokesmen said the firm will reveal its ISDN and OSI strategies in the next couple of weeks. They added that Apollo hopes eventually to incorporate an ISDN controller into its machines' backplanes. So what's wrong with AD0PTSOQ? The professional organization of software and service companies is disgruntled with the acronym that has become its official name, ADAPSO, derived from the weighty title Association of Data Processing and Services Organizations. ADAPSO would like to find a moniker that better conveys who it is and what it does. How about OCONLY, for its defunct dispute over IBM's intentions to supply ``object-code only'' to customers? The witching hour approaches, and if you know of any ghosts or goblins prowling about the industry, call Computerworld News Editor Pete Bartolik at 800-343-6474 or 508-879-0700. <<<>>> Title : Crash rehash bash Author : Nell Margolis Source : CW Comm FileName: 1024stoc Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: The market at large celebrated the first anniversary of the Crash of '87 by surging to a postcrash high, fueled by falling oil prices, bond-market bounce-back and a continuing fervor for takeovers. The high-tech sector turned out for the birthday bash, with companies such as Sun Microsystems, Inc., Ashton-Tate Corp., Apple Computer, Inc. and MCI Communications Corp. showing impressive gains. Buoyed by a stellar September-quarter earnings report, Sun closed Thursday at 32 , up 2 points. Similarly, MCI's strong third-quarter results shot its stock up 2 points to 23 , and Apple picked up 2 points to close Thursday at 41 . Rumors that Ashton-Tate and Digital Equipment Corp. are about to announce a deal that will put Dbase on the VAX propelled Ashton-Tate's stock to 26 Thursday, up 1 points. Meanwhile, DEC looked sufficiently debased even without Ashton-Tate: In the wake of an end-of-the-week earnings report that showed profits down 17.3% and revenue up 16%, the firm's stock plunged to 87 from last Thursday's close of 91 . NELL MARGOLIS <<<>>> Title : A bad report card Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: adapso Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: DALLAS _ The software and services industry asked several prominent MIS professionals last week to publicly answer Mayor Edward Koch's famous question, ``How am I doin' ?'' The overall response was, ``Not so great.'' In two panel sessions at the biannual ADAPSO Management Conference here, information systems executives from large firms such as Allied-Signal, Inc., Frito-Lay, Inc. and Mellon Bank NA gave the users' perspective on software and services issues such as customer support and product quality. ``By and large, you're lousy,'' said George DiNardo, the outspoken executive vice-president of Mellon Bank. ``I'm about 50% satisfied with the software products and 60% satisfied with the hot-line support.'' Panelists told ADAPSO members that they could better serve the MIS community in the following specific areas: Understanding customer needs. Sale of a software package to a shop that really does not need it will do more damage to the vendor-client relationship than the sale is worth, said Larry Beckner, MIS director of Allied-Signal's Garrett Division, an aerospace unit in Phoenix. ``Nobody wins when the vendor ignores our current hardware and software operating environment, policies and culture,'' Beckner said. Providing better documentation. Several panelists insisted that vendors provide on-line product documentation instead of, or in conjunction with, printed manuals. ``Have you ever tried to find all the copies of a manual at a client's site?'' asked Wayne J. Saydin, director of MIS at Dallas-based Murray Financial Corp. Keeping users better informed on future product plans and directions. One microcomputer support manager praised Lotus Development Corp. for keeping her informed on the progress of the much-delayed Release 3.0 of 1-2-3 and showing her initial versions of the product as early as February. ``Knowing the release date is not that important,'' said Linda Musthaler, a Computer Sciences Corp. consultant at the information center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Johnson Space Center. ``What impresses me this time is that [Lotus] shows it understands my needs.'' Focusing first and foremost on user integration issues. ``We're less and less interested in `better' products,'' said Stephen Gleave, director of systems development at Dallas-based Frito-Lay. ``We're interested in long-term partners and how we will integrate.'' Allied-Signal's Beckner echoed similar sentiments. ``Customer satisfaction is more important than quality,'' he said. ``I appreciate a vendor telling me what they don't do well, giving an honest representation of their capabilities.'' By Clinton Wilder, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Northern Telecom hops int Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ntel Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: NEW YORK _ Northern Telecom, Inc. will make its debut tomorrow in the private switching market by announcing its Meridian Data Networking System (MDNS). It reportedly will interconnect a wide range of local- and wide-area networking environments, along with IBM hosts. Northern Telecom described MDNS as an intelligent, open network architecture that will connect LANs and WANs, while supporting both voice and data communications. Eventually, the company said, MDNS will provide ``any-to-any'' connectivity through support of the Open Systems Interconnect model and Integrated Services Digital Network standards. The product will also include voice and data network management. ``They have combined a basic PBX [private branch exchange] approach with a front-end processor into a standardized hardware platform that allows you to swap out different component boards to handle different communications links,'' said Clare Fleig, research director at International Technology Group in Los Altos, Calif. The 18-module system ``looks real ambitious,'' she said. The product will incorporate Northern Telecom's existing DV1 platform, a company spokesman said. MDNS will also combine an internal bus architecture with multiple, Motorola, Inc. 68000-based communications processors to interconnect a wide range of LAN and WAN environments. TCP/IP connection On the LAN side, MDNS will connect 802.3 Ethernet and 802.5 Token-Ring as well as Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The connection will be made via the Lanlink unit, which reportedly supports up to 24 connections over twisted-pair wiring, each handling 2.56M bit/sec. rates. The box will also support PBXs, T1 multiplexers and front-end processors, the vendor said. On the wide-area side, it is said to support CCITT's X.25 and up to 16 T1 links per node. The MDNS Node will provide in-depth support of IBM's Systems Network Architecture (SNA), the backgrounder indicated. It can connect to an IBM front-end processor or act like a front-end processor with a direct link to the host channel, the vendor said. As an IBM System Services Control Point, the system reportedly can support up to 32 IBM cluster controllers, providing attached devices with access to SNA applications on multiple IBM hosts. It will also connect IBM hosts to TCP/IP, asynchronous and X.25 networking environments. The device will also support IBM's Netview, sources said. While the backgrounder makes no mention of Netview, the system is said to provide management of IBM cluster controllers and terminals, as well as Northern Telecom SL1 and Sl100 PBXs. Impressive as all this sounds, the initial release of the MDNS Node will be little more than an X.25 concentrator, according to Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, Inc. For example, while Northern Telecom promises ``multiple LAN interfaces,'' it only mentions Lanstar support, with futures to come later, Dzubeck said. Pricing was also unavailable at press time. A potential drawback of Northern Telecom's product is that a pricing strategy per module will mean that each niche player will be cheaper. ``It's not cost-effective unless you want multiple modules,'' Dzubeck said. The MDNS Node will compete directly with DEC's PC LAN Server and AT&T's Information Services Network switch, according to Dzubeck. By Elisabeth Horwitt and Patricia Keefe, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Laptops take off Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: laptop Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: If the market signals are correct, the business executive's office of the future will weigh approximately 11 pounds, resemble a briefcase, cost $4,000 and be portable to wherever business calls. The market is taking off for the laptop computer _ a highly functional machine that can now store most office programs and files in a box no larger than a Webster's Dictionary. This trend has been marked most notably by the recent barrage of portable laptop announcements. Currently, customers' demand is outstripping supply. Meanwhile, companies such as Compaq Computer Corp., Mitsubishi Corp. and Toshiba America, Inc. have announced products that they cannot yet ship because of shortages in vital laptop components such as screens and certain memory chips. IBM lags According to Infocorp, a market research firm based in Santa Clara, Calif., laptop computers represent about 8% to 10% of the personal computer market in the U.S. today. The group estimates that by 1992, 3.7 million of these machines will be purchased annually, or 22% of the PC market. IBM has thus far made only a token impression on the portable market with only a 4% market share. ``Laptops are already a threat to the desktop PCs today,'' said Abby Lawrence, an Infocorp microcomputer research analyst. ``Not everybody needs a PC to take up half of their desk top. Eventually, all the functionality of a desktop PC will be loaded into the portables.'' Huge growth seen By the end of 1988, the laptop market will be worth $2 billion, representing 640,000 units shipped, said Bruce Stephen, a senior PC analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based International Data Corp. (IDC). IDC estimates that laptop shipments will grow 55% per year through that period. Stephen attributed the laptop explosion to its enhanced dependability, functionality and value relative to desktop models. Toshiba and Zenith Data Systems Corp. are the leading laptop vendors in the U.S., holding 22% and 25.1% market shares, respectively (see chart). By William Brandel, CW staff <<<>>> Title : AT&T heads new Unix group Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: archer Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Seventeen vendors and AT&T, code-named the Archer group, let loose their first volley Tuesday with a double-edged announcement endorsing AT&T's Unix System V, Release 4 and forming a group that will guide AT&T on its development. Despite apparent gathering support for AT&T, the group left plenty of room for negotiations with the Open Software Foundation (OSF). Archer and the OSF met last week and agreed to continue talks, although no discernable progress has been made. The Archer group, which includes Sun Microsystems, Inc., Unisys Corp., NCR Corp., Control Data Corp., Prime Computer, Inc., Motorola, Inc., Fujitsu America, Inc., Toshiba America, Inc. and Amdahl Corp., backs System V, Release 4 because it merges the major Unix variants and protects the investments of the group's customers. ``We've been hopeful OSF would embrace System V, '' said Fred Meir, vice- president of corporate program management at Unisys. The firm also wants the OSF to give assurances that it can both continue development of Unix and provide upward compatibility in future releases for current Unix users. Unisys has concluded that the OSF cannot provide that, Meir said. A proposal is on the table for the OSF to subcontract development to AT&T. The OSF responded that IBM's AIX will remain its core operating system but added the ambiguous statement, ``We are working with AIX technology under a master license and hope to do the same with AT&T's System V, Release 4.'' IBM influence Some users questioned whether IBM was gaining too much influence over the OSF. Other OSF members ``must have taken a deep breath before they committed to AIX. IBM will have a lot of clout in determining the shape and outcome of the OSF product,'' said Gary Handler, vice-president of Market Decision Systems at Shearson-Lehman Hutton, Inc. Hugh Lynch, vice-president of general-purpose systems at NCR, said OSF members themselves do not know how much of AIX they want. He said that a number of OSF members need System V for continuity. Gary McCormack, a spokesman for the OSF, cast more doubt on the commitment to AIX by indicating it was possible that if one line of AIX code were used, the rest might come from Unix System V but that the licensing agreements have to be worked out. Other group members are Gould, Inc., Informix Software, Inc., Lachman Associates and Micro Focus, Inc. By Amy Cortese, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Sun blasts OSF Author : Julie Pitta Source : CW Comm FileName: scott2 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Sun will not join the OSF despite months of speculation that it would, Sun Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Scott McNealy said last week. After several months of uncharacteristic reticence, McNealy blasted the OSF, saying that the world does not need another Unix ``variant.'' ``Sun isn't interested in supporting a variant of Unix,'' he maintained. ``There is no reason not to stick with our strategy.'' Certain members of the OSF _ a group led by IBM, Digital Equipment Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. _ are attempting to create confusion among end users, McNealy contended. ``It's foolish that this kind of confusion exists,'' he said. ``There have always been Unix variants. Now they'll have to choose between two, System V or OSF's, whereas in the past they've had to choose between many.'' McNealy's statements effectively end a short courtship between the OSF and Sun. McNealy and Robert Kavner, president of AT&T's Data Systems Group, attended recent meetings held by the OSF, and Kavner was taking part in discussions with OSF leaders. Two weeks ago, a Sun spokesman said the company would wait for a decision from AT&T before deciding whether to join the OSF. Reportedly, AT&T had scheduled a press conference at that time to announce it was joining the OSF but canceled it at the last minute because of a dispute between AT&T and the OSF over the composition of the OSF's board, according to reports. The relationship between AT&T and Sun has weathered some rough periods. ``There's a sophomore slump you go through with every relationship,'' McNealy maintained. ``Relationships are all rocky at times, but especially one as complex as this one.'' JULIE PITTA <<<>>> Title : Peat Marwick sharpens its Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: peat77 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: CHICAGO _ Peat, Marwick, Main & Co. reorganized its consulting arm last week, changing the name of its Catalyst Group software subsidiary to Peat Marwick Advanced Technology (PMAT). The announcement of the change came at a two-day Catalyst users meeting here. Catalyst is now joined with a Canadian Peat Marwick subsidiary that produces the Silverrun and Goldrun computer-aided software engineering (CASE) products. These two personal computer-based application generators make up the Zerotime Toolset. Catalyst, based here, sells four CASE programming tools for the Cobol marketplace: the Pathvu software manager, the Retrofit automated restructuring tool for Cobol, the React conversion aid and the Datatec data definition aid. The new name is intended to identify Catalyst's CASE-oriented software with the Peat Marwick name and so strengthen global marketing of the products, said Howard E. Feinman, director of PMAT's software products division. Catalyst has 500 user sites for its six products _ many of them in Europe. PMAT will now go after new sales in the Far East and Australia, Feinman said. PMAT was officially chartered last Tuesday, following a meeting of several international partners of the Big Eight firm. PMAT plans to employ 40 of its worldwide staff as consultants and 80 more as programmers, said Kenneth M. Coppins, partner in charge of PMAT consulting. That represents a small fraction of Peat Marwick's 60,000 employees. Still next door But the new subsidiary is not trying to place its consulting division at arm's length from its traditional auditing services, PMAT executives said. ``Local Peat Marwick offices should know of our services and look to us as the technical specialists,'' Coppins said. That kind of referral would occur in cases of systems conversion or hardware reconfiguration, he said. Other Big Eight firms have also been restructuring their consulting organizations recently. But most have done so to reduce friction between the conflicting cultures of certified public accountant auditors and information-systems consultants. Arthur Andersen & Co. repositioned its consulting business by renaming it earlier this month [CW, Oct. 17]. The move failed to stop several Andersen consulting partners from bolting the firm last week. Also, Ernst & Whinney recently moved to bolster its consulting efforts with the purchase of Network Strategies, Inc., a telecommunications consulting firm in Fairfax, Va. As part of Ernst & Whinney, Network Strategies will focus on the strategic, financial and global management implications of the integration of telecommunications and data processing. Senior Editor Patricia Keefe contributed to this report. By Jean S. Bozman, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Making memories, 3090 sty Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ibmmem Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: For the first time, users of IBM's 3090 mainframes have sources other than IBM for memory upgrades as a result of announcements last week from EMC Corp. and Cambex Corp. But users contacted by Computerworld said they are reluctant to do business with companies other than IBM when it comes to critical components of their biggest systems, despite the price advantages of the announced upgrades. EMC and Cambex separately announced plans last week to ship both central storage and expanded storage upgrades early in 1989. The products will sell for an average of 20% to 30% less than what IBM charges. Both said the products are fully compatible with 3090s and will function in the IBM Enterprise Systems Architecture environment. Not impressed Despite these claims, users did not seem impressed. ``We have a resident IBM support person because we don't want our 3090 to go down and have to wait for service,'' said John Scanello, director of information technology at Consolidated Edison Co. of New York. ``We would require that from an EMC or Cambex. Otherwise, it's just not worth it.'' ``You always look at the cost, but you have to look at other things too,'' said Robert Bruno, planning director at Conoco, Inc. in Ponca City, Okla. ``What about local service? We're 100 miles away from the nearest big city.'' Louis Finnegan, vice-president of marketing at Cambex, said he was not surprised by an initial reluctance because service ``has been the No. 1 issue since the [IBM] 360.'' However, Finnegan said Cambex offers a variety of service options and will consider assigning a full-time engineer to an account, which is not a standard procedure. EMC said it, too, will provide a dedicated engineer in certain cases. Similarly, it provides a variety of services, including on-site spare parts. A 32M-byte upgrade to central storage from IBM costs $270,000. Cambex will sell it for $210,000; EMC will offer it for $189,000 (see chart page 1). EMC said it will begin shipping the central storage product, available in 32M- and 64M-byte increments, in January 1989, while the expanded storage product, offered in 64M-byte increments, will be released in March 1989. Cambex, which is also offering its products in 32M- and 64M-byte increments, said its products will ship in the first quarter of 1989. By Rosemary Hamilton, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Unisys ties controllers i Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: useinc5 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ Unisys Corp. came to the Use, Inc. meeting of 1100/2200 mainframe users last week bearing several gifts. During the week-long conference here, Unisys announced a mid-range Distributed Communications Processor (DCP) and a software product, SNAnet, that allows DCP controllers to play the part of IBM 3725 controllers in an SNA network. The DCP 30 processor is a replacement of the 9-year-old DCP 40, which is being discontinued, said Brian Pickersgill, a program manager at Unisys' central Corporate Program Management office in Blue Bell, Pa. ``It is an extension of DCP 50 technology in that it uses the same cabinets and modules, the same I/O peripherals and the same maintenance controllers as the DCP 50,'' Pickersgill said. New gate-array technology makes the DCP 30 three times faster than the low-end DCP 15 and one-third as fast as the high-end DCP 50, Unisys said. The DCP 30 was designed to support 160 lines at speeds of 45 transaction/sec. The 64-in.-high unit, which can be used in an office, is priced at $97,824 for a basic system. It is field-upgradable to a DCP 50 through replacement of the central processing boards and the addition of another cabinet, Unisys said. Parity case? The SNAnet software provides parity with IBM's PU5 specification and can run under a Unisys host supporting IBM's LU6.2 standard (see chart). The result is that Unisys customers can use DCP front ends for IBM's Systems Network Architecture (SNA) networks or for Unisys' own Distributed Communications Architecture (DCA). This two-way capability is strategically important, since many Unisys mainframes are sited in IBM shops. ``This enables us to send communications across an SNA network without going through the IBM mainframe's Host Command Facility,'' said Unisys program development manager J. Daniel Gansz. He added that SNAnet has four parts: a base product, a crossover product that allows connections to IBM or Unisys hosts, support for X.25 packet-switched networks and support for bisynchronous communications. ``We believe most users will buy the base and crossover products together,'' he said, ``and that the X.25 and bisynchronous support will be additional options.'' For the last three years, Unisys had supported IBM's PU2 communications only on its older SNA Gateway product. ``We're expanding that concept to fully participate in IBM's SNA network,'' Gansz said. SNAnet can be purchased or leased on a monthly basis. Deliveries are scheduled to begin early in 1989. SNAnet is priced at approximately $21,000 for the DCP 10 and DCP 15 front-end processors and at about $60,000 for the DCP 30 and DCP 50 processors. Users present in Louisville seemed pleased with the product introductions, commenting on the DCP 30's hot-board-removal features. The feature allows operations personnel to remove and replace a faulty board without interrupting the system. Such details were not lost on the 1,000-plus Use attendees, said former Use President Joanna Broder. ``People at Use have a technical orientation,'' she said. ``They are interested in how-to issues and in having Unisys machines coexist with hardware from other vendors.'' CA shows up Other vendors also chose to introduce products for the 1100/2200 mainframe market at Use. Among them was Computer Associates International., Inc., which announced that it had rewritten nine IBM-compatible financial packages for Unisys 1100/2200 computers. CA, which signed a cooperative marketing agreement with Unisys in August, said Unisys versions of its Advanced Business Software (ABS) packages will be available by year's end. ``ABS products provide real-time, on-line applications that will fit well with Unisys transaction-oriented customer sites,'' said Phillip C. Burckle, group sales manager in CA's Los Angeles office. The ABS applications include packages for general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, order-entry purchasing, inventory control and job-costing. Burckle said CA has a group of 20 developers in Salt Lake City dedicated to writing applications for the Unisys 1100/2200 market. CA acquired a number of Unisys-compatible products when it bought Issco in San Diego., Software International in Andover, Mass., and Uccel Corp. in Dallas. Next year, CA plans to announce a series of application packages for Unisys System 80 OS/3 systems, Burckle said. By Jean S. Bozman, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Unisys upgrade update Author : Jean S. Bozman Source : CW Comm FileName: useside5 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Hollis L. Caswell, Unisys' senior vice- president and president of the company's product and technology division, said last week that the company is already at work on a new processor for its just-announced 2200/600 top-of-the-line mainframe. However, Caswell also reported that the ship target for 2200/400 mainframes, announced in March, has slipped from the first quarter of 1989 to the second quarter due to ``testing requirements.'' The system has shown some unreliability in complex I/O configurations, he said. Code-named ``Mercury,'' the new very large-scale integration chip for the 2200/600 is under development at Unisys' Roseville, Minn., laboratory, Caswell told hundreds of attendees at the Use, Inc. conference of 1100/2200 mainframe users. ``This development reflects the commitment Unisys has made to enhance the 1100/2200 line,'' Caswell said. The 2200/600, which runs at 15 to 55 million instructions per second, was announced Sept. 19. Not the end of the line Unisys developers are using new computer-simulation technqiues to aid them in designing the Mercury chip, Caswell disclosed. But Mercury probably will not be the last boost for the 1100/2200 line. ``At any point in time, we're working on a product that's three releases out,'' Caswell commented to Computerworld after his keynote speech. During his address, Caswell also hinted at another product awaiting volume sales: Unisys 5090 and 8490 disk drives for mainframe systems. High-end units are in early release in Europe, but shipments are only beginning in this country, Caswell said. A cache version of the high-capacity drive is scheduled for shipment by year's end. Caswell also responded to user claims that Unisys' ordering system for parts and systems is inefficient and unreliable. ``The merger of two $5 billion corporations [Sperry Corp. and Burroughs Corp. in 1986] placed a strain on our distribution systems that we did not anticipate,'' Caswell explained. Now, he said, ``many of the merger-related problems are yielding to a management focus on them.'' To solve the problem, Unisys has instituted spot-checks that pull crates and boxes of systems off the loading docks at random. Workers then verify that all ordered parts are enclosed, Caswell said. In addition, shipments of software and documentation are checked at Unisys' Plymouth, Mich., publications facility. Personal computer products and parts are now shipped from a new central location in West Chicago, Ill. That move was made to prevent PCs from getting lost in complex orders of mainframes, peripherals and personal computers. JEAN S. BOZMAN <<<>>> Title : MAP standard still in flu Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: amrcol Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Events at the recent MAP/ TOP Users Group gathering showed that the MAP protocol _ as well as the vendor and user organizations that back it as a standard _ are still in a state of flux. During the meeting, the users group announced that, effective Jan. 1, 1989, its U.S. and Canadian branches expect to merge to form a single North American organization. This new group will operate as a division of the new Information Technology Requirements Council (ITRC). The ITRC's focus extends beyond communications. Its charter is to ``promote consensus, integration and coordination across the entire range of information technologies,'' including networking, application interfaces, languages, operating systems and database management systems. Advanced Manufacturing Research (AMR) is cautiously optimistic about the ITRC's goals. Initial reports have it focusing on critical user concerns _ making a business case for MAP/TOP and implementation issues. The broader information technologies outlook is extremely important because communications is only one component of multivendor and enterprise integration. The caveat is the speed at which the ITRC can be fully operational. Ideally, the ITRC will become the catalyst for user input into work under way at existing groups such as the Corporation for Open Systems, the Open Software Foundation and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. The most talked-about event of the MAP meeting was Ungermann-Bass' announcement that it will support the MAP 3.0 protocol stack, services and applications on top of IEEE 802.3 and 802.5 but will freeze its token-bus (802.4) products at Release 2.1. User reaction was mixed. Several were very positive. Many have a mix of baseband and fiber networks and welcome the availability of MAP services over these networks. Some of UB's Industrial Networking, Inc. (INI) customers, however, voiced concern about the absence of a ``second source to Concord Communications'' and the lack of an upgrade path from UB's token-bus-based MAP 2.1 products to Release 3.0. These users claimed they have been abandoned. INI was a joint venture between UB and General Electric Co. and has since been absorbed into UB. The announcement prompts several questions: Why is UB phasing itself out of the 802.4 product market? Is there an advantage to putting the Manufacturing Messaging Standard (MMS) and other upper layer MAP services on top of non-802.4 media? Can UB provide upper layer MAP services over 802.3 or 802.5 and use the MAP name? The reason behind UB's decision is pure economics. The 3.0 product set requires a total hardware and software redesign; it is not compatible with 2.1. UB's market forecast reveals that the current 802.4 demand does not justify the level of investment required. UB said this decision is ``not irreversible.'' In essence, it is building a protocol engine that is media- and access method-independent. Further, UB's decision to support 3.0 over 802.3, or Ethernet, is in sync with AMR research, which shows that more than 60% of industrial backbone networks are Ethernet-based. DEC's Decnet alone counts for almost 50% of the manufacturing networking market. AMR expects Ethernet to continue to set the pace in industrial network sales. Industrial-strength OSI Whether UB labels as MAP its products running MMS over an Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) network over 802.3 is not important. Interviews with users indicate a strong demand for OSI networks in industrial applications. OSI without the MAP upper layers (specifically MMS) is useful in manufacturing. Given user demand, UB will address this need, independent of the use of the MAP name. UB's strategy is not intended to hurt the MAP effort but rather to profitably address its customers' requirements. In the past two years, UB has shipped more Ethernet into the factory _ at more than a 5-to-1 ratio _ than token-bus. At the same time, the company invested more than $20 million in token-bus development, which has represented little more than a drain on its profits. By Tony Friscia; Friscia is president of Advanced Manufacturing Research, a Salem, Mass.-based research and consulting firm. <<<>>> Title : Retix, Touch target end u Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: osifirst Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Retix Corp. and Touch Communications, Inc. _ two leading suppliers of Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) software to OEMs _ unveiled plans to enter the end-user market next year, a sign that user interest may be catching up with OSI hype. Steady growth in electronic mail systems in general, with strong worldwide interest in the CCITT X.400 messaging standard in particular, have prompted Retix to introduce Retixmail and the Open Server 400 message server. Currently in Alpha testing, the X.400-compliant mail products are scheduled to ship in the first quarter next year. According to Retix President Andy De Mari, that is about when the OSI market will begin to really take off. He suggests users will begin implementing OSI technology as productive ``islands'' next year and continuing through 1991. Corporatewide deployment will begin in 1992. ``X.400 capabilities are most needed now,'' he said. The vendor claimed that Retixmail, which will be sold to end users, is the first native-mode X.400 E-mail system to feature a graphical interface. Another key feature is Retixmail's ability to interface with any E-mail front end or server via Open Server 400's application programming interface, De Mari said. Mail call Personal computer users reportedly can use the store-and-forward Retixmail system to transfer messages and files between PCs on the same local-area network and with additional LANs via private lines or X.25 public network connections. Remote links can be made with minicomputer or mainframe E-mail services that support the rapidly emerging X.400 standard, Retix said. Retixmail will appear to users as a Microsoft Corp. Windows application. Each user-agent PC communicates via an existing LAN with a PC outfitted with the Open Server 400 message server package. That package consists of Message Transfer Agent software and a wide-area network (WAN) coprocessor board that handles OSI WAN in the lower layers. A single-application version of Windows is included with the user-agent software. The Microsoft MS-DOS-based Open Server 400 is said to be the heart of Retixmail and will be marketed as a standard X.400 network access platform to third-party application developers and OEMs. An applications program interface will be made available to third parties without licensing fees, according to Retix. Unix- and OS/2-based versions of Open Server 400 are slated for the second and third quarter, respectively. A typical Retixmail system supporting 100 user agents and multiple WAN connections from one server is priced at approximately $7,000. That includes a coprocessor, Open Server and a front end on the user station. Retix competitor Touch Communications, Inc. introduced a family of Technical Office Protocol 3.0-based end-user networking software said to support three office computing platforms: Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh, IBM's Personal Computer and Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX/VMS family. These products are slated to ship in November. OSI network services include file, print, terminal and security. Users reportedly can run popular off-the-shelf applications on PCs and Macs while using the VAX as a file and print server. Touch claimed it is the first vendor to offer an end-user OSI product for the Macintosh. Apple has a 10% investment in Touch. Its Touch OSI product family also interoperates with implementations of the Government OSI Profile and the Manufacturing Automation Protocol. Pricing is as follows: Touch OSI Macintosh software is $395 or, bundled with a network controller hardware, $940; Touch OSI DOS software costs $395 or $1,340 bundled with network controller hardware; and Touch OSI VMS pricing starts at $3,000 for a five-user license. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Softswitch revs gateways Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: softswit Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: WAYNE, Pa. _ A very busy Softswitch, Inc. has spent the last month rolling out four products, three of them involving support for IBM Systems Network Architecture Distributed Services (SNADS). The gatemaker enhanced its SNADS gateways for IBM's MVS and Digital Equipment Corp.'s VM operating systems. The upgrades enable both links to interoperate with the SNADs capabilities of IBM's Application System/400 and Data General Corp.'s CEO system. Enhanced gateway pricing ranges from $21,600 to $96,000, depending on configuration. SNADS is IBM's protocol for store-and-forward communications and is supported by many office systems vendors for interconnection of electronic mail in an SNA environment. Other announcements Separately, the vendor released a SNADS link to Banyan Systems, Inc.'s Banyan Mail. When used in conjunction with other Softswitch products, SNADS Gateway/ Banyan Mail is said to allow the exchange of E-mail between Banyan Mail and most other major mail systems, such as IBM's Distributed Office Support System. The gateway appears to Banyan's Mail system as a Banyan Street Talk group/organization and to the IBM network as a SNADS Distribution Services Unit. The gateway license is priced between $995 and $2,660 per local-area network, depending on volume and the level of revisable document support required. The SNADS protocol is considered by some to complement CCITT's message handling standard, X.400. Softswitch said it will ship an X.400 gateway in the first quarter of 1989. Softswitch also unveiled new releases of its Mailbridge Server products for the DEC, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Wang Laboratories, Inc. environments. All releases now support binary file transfer: Mailbridge Server/DEC reportedly executes in a DEC VAX as a Digital Message Router user agent, communicating with DEC's All-In-1 and VMSmail and Softswitch products in other environments. It now supports DEC cluster naming. Mailbridge Server/HP Desk executes in an HP 3000 and uses HP's Foreign Service Connection. Major enhancements include SNA communications support and support for exchanging documents created with HPWord or AdvanceWrite. Mailbridge Server/Wang Office executes on a Wang VS, using Wang's Office applications program interface. It now provides increased administrative capability. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Tenneco gets timely DEC-I Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: tenneco Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: HOUSTON _ A company on the block rarely has a lot of time and money to spend on new networking applications. Lucky for Tenneco Oil Co., it had already selected and tested its DEC-to-IBM connectivity system before parent Tenneco Corp. had gotten very far in the process of selling it off. Based on gateways connecting Digital Equipment Corp. Decnet to IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) and communications software from Joiner Associates, Inc., the system provides electronic mail and file exchange among DEC and IBM users throughout the former Tenneco Corp. subsidiary. IBM MVS mainframes support business and financial applications at Tenneco Oil's Houston headquarters. Divisional offices use both DEC VAX/VMS and IBM VM computers: They use VAXs for oil exploration and production applications and the VM systems for divisional financial operations, some data storage and some exploration software, according to Tenneco Oil program analyst Leslie Keller. Divisional DEC users occasionally need to access IBM databases and vice versa; additionally, users throughout the company need to communicate via E-mail. When Keller joined Tenneco Oil about a year ago, the company had already installed Decnet-to-SNA gateways to physically link the two vendors' hosts. However, the systems group still needed to find software that made the connection easier and more transparent to users. After an initial evaluation period late last year, the group chose Joiner's Jnet, VAX software that provides file exchange between DEC and IBM systems, as well as message exchange between the two vendors' respective E-mail products. This latter capability has been a big boon for Tenneco Oil employees, who either use VAX/VMS Mail or IBM's Professional Office System (Profs), Keller said. Keller said he has personally found the link useful: While he does 99% of his work on a VAX, his boss is an IBM VM user. Prior to Jnet, Keller had to invoke an IBM 3270 emulation package and log onto Profs just to find out whether he had any messages from his boss or anyone else in the IBM systems group. Now, Jnet automatically forwards Keller's Profs mail to his VAX/VMS Mail queue. Better communications The link has increased communications significantly between the IBM and DEC sides of the company, Keller claimed. It is also used extensively for file transfer. For instance, users running exploration software on a VAX often need to access oil-well logs that are stored on an MVS mainframe. Instead of going through a complicated log-on procedure, users can invoke Jnet. The software will ask what type of information is needed and then request it from the MVS host using IBM JCL. One of the few difficulties the company has run into in the DEC-IBM connectivity area is providing a way for IBM users to log onto DEC systems, Keller said. DEC users can log onto IBM mainframes through a 3270 terminal emulation package sold by DEC. But it took awhile to find an ASCII board that allows IBM users to log onto a VAX via an IBM 3174 controller. However, this was an important capability, particularly for the company's San Antonio office. Having already bought approximately 100 terminals for its IBM VM host, the division did not want to buy another 100 DEC terminals, Keller said. Now that Tenneco Oil has been sold, it probably will not be able to buy any more of these useful little ASCII cards _ at least for a while, Keller said. Fortunately, the products already in place should support the company's DEC-to-IBM connectivity needs for some time to come. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : A lot of bite left Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: extradou Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Can the tater keep growing? While Ashton-Tate remains top dog in the personal computer database management system market, more critics are seeing little more than an arthritic old mutt. As this market finally moves into a new generation of technology, Ashton-Tate is all gums and no bite, competitors and critics say. But if you look at Ashton-Tate's past, you see that the company has grown sharp, healthy teeth that may give it a good bite of the future. In fact, those who say the past is Dbase and that the prologue to the future is something else may have it wrong. Here's the history. Earlier this decade, Ashton-Tate quickly became the PC DBMS kingpin after acquiring a database product that had its beginnings nearly 20 years ago, according to Dbase author C. Wayne Ratliff. Dbase took form at the Jet Propulsion Labs, where it ran on one of those large lumbering mainframes. Its heart and soul is not a bunch of menus or concrete forms. More than anything, Dbase remains a language that older hackers still call JPL. It made it to micros in the form of Dbase II (there never was a Dbase I) and, by virtue of its early entry and a bit of raw power, was almost uncontested in its rise to the top of the charts. And because so many people learned the Dbase language, its follow-on, Dbase III, owns the market today. It is this nearly same language upon which the future of Ashton-Tate depends. But finally, critics have questioned how long the Dbase language can last in a market finally headed for radical change. These bashers should remember the people who _ years ago _ asked the same questions about Cobol and are embarrassed to see how much is done with that language today. Fortunately for Ashton-Tate, today's micro DBMSs are still predominantly single-user and only occasionally get data from bigger machines. But technology is coming that will change all that. First, the hardware is getting better much faster than the software. Better chips make multiuser micros more accessible, and these same chips offer access to large amounts of random-access memory, which allows for more sophisticated applications. And hard disk drives keep getting faster and bigger, allowing for more users and more data. Second, networks have improved by leaps and bounds. It is now possible, and in some cases even easy, to tie all these PCs together and let users share a common base of information. Finally, there is the software, the most central element that is unfortunately taking the longest to arrive. And it is this very long wait that has allowed Dbase to solidify its position as a key database development language and slowed the move to other architectures. Ironically, this new software technology comes from large mainframes and minis, on which people have long been used to sharing data. At the center of these systems is usually a database, and on top of that are applications that some company or group of in-house programmers wrote. The most efficient way found so far to work with this data is the so-called ``relational database,'' which essentially allows users to easily discover relationships between multiple data elements. And, as with Dbase, there is a language with an incredibly boring name that gets data on request. With relational systems, that language is called SQL. Although SQL is vastly more efficient than Dbase, it is not as full. So if users want to generate fancy programs, SQL has to be embedded in another language. Ashton-Tate hopes that language will be Dbase. But competitors hope otherwise. Now all the big micro players are charging after the relational market. And Ashton-Tate, along with a couple million users, is being drawn into a future far different from its Dbase past. The trick for Ashton-Tate is to migrate its users to SQL without losing it all. So here comes Dbase IV, which adds SQL, and will eventually front-end more robust database back ends. This is Ashton-Tate's first big step toward the future, and although it is still fraught with problems, it may make the transition possible. To the extent that users wish to retain the past (as in millions of Dbase applications) as they move to the future, they will look to Ashton-Tate for direction. But when and how smoothly this migration occurs is a question only Dbase itself can answer. Mega Multimate. Early next year, Ashton-Tate plans to fight off Wordperfect and Microsoft Word with a hot new version of the tiring Multimate. Tate has apparently hired one of the designers of Microsoft's Excel to create a smaller, tighter word processor that is ``almost what-you-see-is-what-you-get,'' our source says. We also hear there is a special Australian version called Anotherbeer Mate. That sounds even better. Writing an Opus. Microsoft is finally putting the last touches on its Windows-based word processor, formerly code-named Cashmere after Bill Gates' beloved sweaters and now dubbed Opus. From all reports, this baby is going to be wild. Not only do the graphics make word processing worlds easier, but the data exchange abilities of Windows makes putting together compound documents a snap. We hear tell that the software is now into early beta testing and is ready for a Comdex show-off. But don't put Cashmere on your Las Vegas schedule. Because sales of the character-based Microsoft Word are currently so good, Microsoft does not want to confuse buyers with a graphical product just yet. Instead, look for an early winter debut. Ernst & Whinney goes Excel? Rumor has it that this Big Eight accounting firm is looking to make the switch from Supercalc to Microsoft's Excel. If true, five of the Big Eight bean-counting firms will be using Excel (Arthur Anderson & Co. uses it for some things, Lotus' 1-2-3 for others), putting Excel over the top. Key reasons accounting firms like graphical spreadsheets? They impress outside clients with hot-looking screens and keep training costs down in this high-turnover field. By Douglas Barney; Barney is a Computerworld senior editor, Microcomputing. <<<>>> Title : A look at the future, OS/ Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: os2analy Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: IBM's OS/2 Extended Edition operating system is indeed a mystery. And no wonder: Hardly anyone is using it yet. But despite the unknowns, the hoopla and the sometimes rampant criticism, in the back rooms of Austin, Texas, IBM continues to enhance the software. And IBM is equally hard at work explaining to the world how this software may lay the groundwork for the future of IBM-style computing. Computerworld recently got a bit of Extended Edition perspective from a full day's briefing at the Austin facility. Some three years ago, IBM planned to extend OS/2 with little more than communications facilities, said David Harrington, product manager at IBM's Entry Systems Division. About six months after that, IBM realized that, as with larger systems, a database management system should be the center of any robust systems software. Birth of a method And because the relational database architecture was born more than a decade ago at IBM's San Jose Research Library, it was decided that both SQL and the so-called Relational Model would provide the product's underpinnings. Thus was born the OS/2 Extended Edition Database Manager. Adding the database component was more than just a theoretical exercise. In fact, IBM research indicated that 75% of personal computers in key markets already ran communications and database software. And in the tying together of communications and the database, the beginning of IBM's low-end distributed database strategy can be found. That distributed database strategy will mature under a three-phase process. The first phase is available today: a single-user database that implements much of the relational model devised by former IBM scientist Ted Codd and uses SQL patterned after IBM's mainframe-based DB2. The second phase will arrive sometime next year and will implement the so-called client/ server model. Under this model, multiple client workstations can access data on a common server. After that comes more fully distributed data with which users can transparently make requests to a number of machines and data-base architectures. Think early next decade for this, our IBM sources indicate. While some have criticized IBM for the shortcomings of its jack-of-all-trades approach (OS/2 Extended Edition has a wide range of communications and database features), IBM officials are nonplussed. While competitors point to the 3M to 6M bytes of random-access memory and 20M bytes of hard-disk space needed to run the product, IBM points to the software's modular approach. Users can simply load the components they need and stick the rest on a shelf. Another criticism of the jack- of-all-trades approach is that each module is outshined by other vendors' software. IBM tends to disagree with this theory but argues that any off-the-shelf OS/2 application can be traded for any Extended Edition component. IBM has also been criticized for not working aggressively enough to merge OS/2 Extended Edition with the IBM and Microsoft Corp. Presentation Manager graphical user interface. Like most vendors, IBM says users should look to 1989 for key Presentation Manager applications such as Extended Edition. Adding full Presentation Manager support is only one way IBM plans to enhance Extended Edition. Version 1.1, due out next month, will also include the Union command for easily combining sets of data and added communications features. Version 1.1 will also provide the elimination of the 32M-byte restriction on hard disk drive volumes. Users can create volumes of up to 1G byte, according to IBM. That's the ticket But if users are waiting for DOS-based machines to act as clients talking to the Database Manager, third parties may be the ticket. IBM still has no announced plans to provide this capability. In some ways, the OS/2 Database Manager is ahead of its mainframe counterpart DB2. The Extended Edition Query Manager Facility, for example, has both prompted queries and customized menus and panels. Once IBM enhances the product and OS/2 Extended Edition begins to take hold, the need for these little primers should be eliminated. But until then, IBM will just keep on talking. By Douglas Barney, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Filling the holes in MS-D Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: softlogi Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: MANCHESTER, N.H. _ Softlogic Solutions, Inc. has done pretty well filling in the holes that often make Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS annoying. Want easy task switching? Call Softlogic. Need to retrieve an erased file or consolidate files on your hard disk drive? The boys from Manchester may be able to help. Now Softlogic has combined the best of its utility software under one shrink-wrap. Called Fat Cat, the $139 package combines an MS-DOS shell and file management system with security, data compression and performance optimization. The product sits on top of MS-DOS and replaces the MS-DOS file system. Files can be copied in groups, backed up, erased or sorted simply by highlighting and executing a menu choice. Since the product is separate from MS-DOS, users do not need to reload programs. Fat Cat can also reportedly boost hard-disk performance by 70% to 300% by reallocating files to contiguous disk sectors. In layman's terms, it means putting files that belong together, together. A file recovery system enables users to determine how long erased files should remain archived. Erased files can remain on disk for up to 255 days. Unlike other compression utilities that work only with specific file types, Fat Cat can compress an array of spreadsheet, word processing, database and program and binary file types. For those interested in file manipulation, Softlogic offers a subset of Fat Cat called Classifile, which sells for $89. Softlogic also produced a new version of its $295 spreadsheet compiler called At Liberty. With it, users can develop a spreadsheet model and distribute it to others without needing a spreadsheet program to run it. Macros and formulas can be completely hidden. For application developers, At Liberty can crank out models that do not even resemble a conventional spreadsheet. The system works with any spreadsheet that creates .WKS files. Users can distribute an unlimited number of runtime models. By Douglas Barney, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Okidata printers pose fir Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: oki Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Okidata Corp. has given thermal printing a new meaning. The company is in the midst of a major recall of two of its popular Microline dot matrix printers that Okidata said pose a potential fire hazard if left unattended for too long. The two models, the Microline 320 and 321, are plagued by a faulty chip that is used in both printers, according to Okidata spokesman Cliff Rockwell. If left on for six to eight hours, the chip may disintegrate, causing the printer to overheat and smoke, he said. ``It is not likely that the printer would burst into flames. The case is flame-resistant,'' Rock- well said. ``But it could go so far as to char the paper.'' The problem was discovered in the two printers last month at one of the firm's beta-test sites. The two models were introduced in April and shipped in May. Okidata is mounting an extensive recall campaign that includes notifying its distributors and retailers to stop selling the units and asking them to advise their customers to bring the printers to an authorized repair center. Retailers have been given notification kits to send to buyers of the printers that instruct end users how to get the units fixed within a 48-hour turnaround period, the company said. The repair is a 30-minute procedure that involves swapping a circuit board containing the faulty chip for a new board. The retrofit is free. In addition, buyers will get a free ribbon, a one-year warranty on the printer and reimbursement for shipping charges if applicable. Rockwell was unable to estimate how much the recall will cost Okidata. ``We really don't have an idea how much it will cost, because we do business through distributors,'' he said. ``But it will be a substantial amount.`` By Michael Alexander; CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Unisys' 4GL hopes Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: usoft Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: In February 1989, The Colonial Group, Inc. in Boston plans to go ``live'' with a $30 million software package that will have cost it only $1.5 million. The key: Unisys Corp.'s fourth-generation language (4GL), Linc. The package is nearing completion under the guidance of Philip Pyburn, a former business school professor turned software developer. Colonial was in search of a large transaction processing application, the kind that Pyburn said normally costs mutual fund investment firms tens of millions of dollars. After much study, Pyburn, under contract to Colonial as a consultant, proposed that he and three associates construct the application using Unisys' Linc. Pyburn said he has thus far generated more than one million lines of Cobol, several hundred applications and some 300 screens in the project, which is well on its way to completion. The software, which will run on two Unisys A12 model mainframes, is a perfect example of what Unisys seeks to achieve through Linc and its other fourth-generation language, Mapper: to quickly create more applications, thereby selling more hardware. In September, Unisys announced that Linc and Mapper would be offered on all Unisys hardware within 18 months [CW, Sept. 19]. According to Hugo Simpson, Unisys' vice-president of information and productivity systems, a user will be able to write a program for either family of hardware and the compiler or generator will handle the hardware and determine the kind of network, message control and database to be used. Simpson hesitated to call SGA analogous to IBM's Systems Application Architecture, but there are unquestionably parallels. Under SGA, Unisys aims to mask disparate architectures, develop a consistent end-user environment and facilitate application portability across its different architectures. All of these are goals of SAA. Unisys officials, however, said the major difference is that SGA is based on fourth-generation languages while SAA has no role for 4GLs yet. Another difference, Simpson said, taking a swipe at SAA, is that ``SGA is real, and we know how to do it.'' Although they were an afterthought to the computer industry's mega-merger of two years ago, the two fourth-generation languages now are being pushed to the forefront in Unisys' strategy. Serendipitous According to Unisys officials, the two languages form a serendipitous combination. Linc is good for writing large data center programs, while Mapper is good for constructing end-user applications. Although an entire system including end-user tools can be built with either, Unisys is recommending that customers use both. Currently, that entails paying two license fees, but there will probably be only a single charge in the future, according to Simpson. For Pyburn's purposes, Linc was sufficient, and he said he has no plans now to use Mapper. After searching for fourth-generation languages as productivity aids in creating the application, he gravitated to Linc. Pyburn's goal at first was to find a software productivity method that would work with IBM hardware, which is prevalent in the mutual funds industry. However, he did not find anything that could outdo Linc. Although he had no experience with Linc or Unisys hardware, he proposed creating Colonial's system using those products. Pyburn and his associates had to learn how to use Linc by taking a short course from Unisys. Selecting Linc would have been a far more natural decision for Pyburn had the language been more widely known. With that in mind, Unisys aims to extend the reach of Linc and Mapper by porting them to non-Unisys hardware. Linc and Mapper will be offered on Unix-based systems as well, Simpson said. Unisys' ultimate goal for Linc and Mapper is an ambitious one: that they become industry-standard fourth-generation languages. Deploying Linc and Mapper on other vendors' hardware will widen the market for third-party developers and encourage their acceptance as a de facto standard as well as creating selling opportunity in mixed-vendor sites, Simpson said. However, despite professions of openness, Simpson said there are no plans to port Linc and Mapper to IBM hardware. Porting Linc and Mapper to all lines of Unisys hardware is the first goal, however, and Unisys said that Mapper will be brought to the Unisys A series in the first quarter of 1989. Linc, in turn, will be brought to the 1100 series in the fourth quarter of 1988 on a runtime basis, with full development capability in May 1989. Although observers have speculated that Linc and Mapper will be merged, Unisys stopped short of saying officially that Linc and Mapper will eventually become one. But the company has given indications that the lines between the two languages will grow increasingly less distinct. Rather than merge the two languages, Simpson said, the language of both will probably be retained, but the databases and dictionaries will likely be combined. To create a common database, SQL will be used. Used together, the two languages will function symbiotically: Linc will be for large systems databases and transaction processing applications, and Mapper will be the end-user system on top of it. By Stanley Gibson, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : IBM seeking foothold in d Author : James Daly, CW S Source : CW Comm FileName: ibmer Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Once again, IBM seems ready to drive down a road once others have paved it. Before IBM introduced its Personal Computer in 1981, several companies spent years laying the foundation for the personal computer market. IBM's PC went on to become an industry standard; the rest became also-rans. Similarly, Oracle Corp. and Relational Technology, Inc. devoted years of pioneering groundwork to the relational database market on minicomputers before IBM liked what it saw and launched what became the dominant mainframe systems, DB2 and SQL/DS. IBM's latest target appears to be the disaster recovery business. Recent reports that IBM is floating the idea before its customers are no laughing matter for the vendors now earning their keep there. But it makes perfect sense for the Armonk, N.Y.-based giant. ``It would certainly fit in with IBM's stated game plan to increase their system integration and service business and would entail very little risk on their part,'' said William Milton, an analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York. ``They have nothing to lose.'' Nothing, that is, except a little red ink. In recent years, IBM has been forced to formulate a little disaster recovery strategy of its own: domestic business is poor, it notched only a 5% growth in earnings and sales in its last quarter and it is perennially faced with the Sisyphean task of pushing a $50 billion revenue boulder uphill. The disaster recovery business may be just what the doctor ordered. A spokesman for Sungard Data Systems, Inc., a current market leader, estimates that the $500 million disaster recovery arena is only about 25% penetrated. Well-publicized calamities such as a fire at a telephone switching station in suburban Chicago in May that knocked out more than 150,000 computer-to-computer connections [CW, May 16] have also helped fuel user interest in the disaster recovery field. Although IBM would neither confirm nor deny the talk, the normally reticent giant seemed uncharacteristically open to the idea. A spokesman's statement that the company ``would not rule out'' the move is akin to the ``yup'' Gary Cooper offers between the time he's asked if he's going to do anything about the local hellions and the time he straps on his six-shooter. More answers, please But there are still some dogging questions IBM must deal with. Under most disaster recovery arrangements, companies essentially buy an insurance policy that guarantees them space on a backup computer at a nearby hot site should their machines be immobilized by fire, flood or any other calamity. Some observers have said that IBM would take a different approach from firms such as Comdisco and Sungard. Raymond Hipp, president of Comdisco Disaster Recovery Services, said he has heard reports that IBM is working on a fiber-based electronic vaulting technology whereby a computer automatically sends copies of its data to a machine at another site. Although the technology would not directly compete with Comdisco or Sungard, it could leave the door open for possible entry at a future date. In any event, several disaster recovery firms have begun to prepare themselves for IBM's entrance into their turf by clenching their teeth and bleating out wooden statements like, ``We'd be happy to see another competitor'' or, ``It would legitimize the business.'' IBM isn't in the ice cream business, either, but you can find 50 million cone-licking Americans who would say the industry is here to stay. Sungard has even planned to head IBM off at the pass, saying that it has scheduled a meeting with IBM to discuss joint disaster recovery-related ventures. IBM has assured Sungard that it has no immediate plans to become a competitor, but when Sungard asked IBM to sign a statement to that effect, it refused. While it is doubtful that this millenium will ever see a $91 million company like Sungard twist IBM's arm, disaster recovery firms should remember that leasing companies were given similar assurances before IBM Credit Corp. soaked up much of the leasing market by undercutting prices. In other words, remember the immortal statement of baseball pitcher Satchel Paige as filtered through the computer age: Don't look back. A Big Blue giant may be gaining on you. <<<>>> Title : Atom-smash machine run wi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: cern Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Oracle Corp.'s Oracle database management system is helping 13 European nations build and control the world's most powerful atom-smasher. Scientists are also using the software to analyze data captured in nuclear experiments. The Organization for Nuclear Research, better known by its French acronym, CERN, is a consortium involved in nonmilitary nuclear research. CERN, located just south of Geneva, houses the world's most powerful atom-smasher, the Large Electron Positron Supercollider. The supercollider is still under construction but is already in partial use. To manage the data collected from the collider, the center uses many different hardware environments. One of the main reasons the center standardized on Oracle six years ago was because of its multivendor support. Today, Oracle is used for several applications running on an IBM mainframe, several Digital Equipment Corp. VAXs, a multitude of PCs and workstations, and will soon run on a Cray Research, Inc. system. With 13 member nations as well as visitors from the U.S. and Eastern bloc, the mix of nationalities and equipment poses an integration challenge for CERN's data processing planners. The seven-year project to build the 30-mile donut-shaped supercollider is expected to be completed next spring. A Vaxcluster running Oracle is dedicated to managing the logistics of the construction. A system developed using Oracle tracks the people and equipment involved and the logistics of getting the equipment into the tunnels. The software requirements dictated by the huge project included relational databases, support for multiple hardware platforms, a comprehensive tool set and ease of use, according to Sergio Santiago, CERN's manager of central database support. Oracle is also running on a 3090 under VM as the central, general-purpose database for business, engineering support and physicists' use. It is accessed by more than 3,000 users via 3270 terminals or emulation, but Vaxstations will soon be used to access the database, Santiago said. At least 100 workstations running Oracle scattered around the accelerator, including Apollo Computer, Inc. workstations, IBM RTs and Vaxstations, control the operation of the accelerator. This represents a move away from using specialized equipment to using general-purpose workstations, Santiago said. CERN also plans to use VAXs and IBM mainframes in place of specialized gear for data acquisition and reducing the volumes of data quickly. To work around the language barriers, CERN standardized on English, although many applications are written in native tongues. Oracle software supports 8-bit formats that allow for foreign characters, according to A. R. Weiler, manager of international industry market development at Oracle. By Amy Cortese, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Walk on the cautious side Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: jccol Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: It may seem like there's been no limit to the use of the phrase ``strategic use of information systems'' lately. It certainly has appeared frequently on these pages in connection with comments about what people in MIS are doing well. Phrases such as that _ ``Information Age'' is another _ remind us of the good that computers can do. They can save lives by supporting medical research, make life more comfortable and help businesses and individuals prosper. But occasionally, people committed to a better world through information can stop to think about the dark side of computers. Such a sanity check came last week during a routine scan of the morning mail and a quick look at literature sent out by the organizers of the Tri-Ada '88 conference scheduled for this week in Charleston, W. Va. The literature promoted a speaker ready to discuss the need for certification standards for programmers. While such a theme may be common, the literature highlighted the following examples of havoc a software bug can wreak: A cancer patient dies from an overdose of radiation. A military jet crashes. Robotic arms kill a factory worker. A woman kills her daughter and tries to kill herself and her son after a computer error led to a false report of their having an incurable disease. It may be that not all of the blame in those cases should fall on the computer or the programmer. This is not the space to debate the individual cases. Rather, they should be mentioned as examples of what everyone in the computer industry and on the user side of computers should keep in mind. Computers and overreliance on the data in computers can have pitfalls, and everyone from the data entry clerk to the chief information officer should keep in mind what the wrong data or a bad instruction can mean. Consider the cost True, IBM mainframes aren't likely to crush the operations manager. However, systems planners who want to automate a process must consider the cost in human suffering that displacing workers can have. Even if the cost does not warrant scrapping a system, it is a cost, just like the cost of hardware and development, that must be balanced with the system's benefits. Those who manage systems and those users and processes that rely on systems also must remember that data might be a corporation's crown jewels but that it isn't sacred. Consider the mess that even one data error can create. Most people have read about computers being blamed for an innocent person being jailed, and most people have had a personal experience with a bureaucrat in a customer service office or a credit office who insists that the washing machine was delivered or that the bill was never paid. Why does he insist? Because ``the computer says so.'' All of these incidents do not mean computers are evil. If that was the bottom line, this newspaper would have to change its name. Rather, they are listed here to serve as a reminder that now and then it's worth everyone stepping back just a bit to assure themselves that they are conscientious and careful in how they use the magic of computers. By James Connolly; Connolly is Computerworld's senior editor, management. <<<>>> Title : Rooney turns DP at baseba Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: rooney Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Among the hundreds of exhibits in The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Manager of Information Systems Patrick Rooney is particularly proud of two. One is a large aerial photograph of The Bronx, Yankee Stadium and the old Polo Grounds, in which Rooney can point out the apartment building he lived in as a boy. He sold peanuts at both those historic ballparks in the summers. The other special exhibit in the Cooperstown, N.Y., baseball shrine is a user-interactive CRT screen with which hall of fame visitors can spend hours comparing baseball statistics or watching videos of their diamond heroes, courtesy of compact-disk storage and an IBM Personal Computer AT. The marriage of computer technology and baseball is a happy one for Rooney, who brings 27 years of data processing experience to the mecca of the national pastime. ``The nice thing about working here is that the medium that we work with _ baseball, its history and everything associated with it _ is always changing,'' Rooney says. ``It's dynamic, not static. That makes my end more exciting because there are always new and different things to do.'' Origins Rooney cut his DP teeth on the IBM 1400 mainframe series at General Motors Corp.'s Tarrytown, N.Y-based assembly plant in the early 1960s, then joined the DP operation of Central Hudson Gas & Electric in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. That company's largest customer is IBM. Rooney rose to the top of the utility's DP operation during a 17-year stay but moved farther upstate several years ago in search of a new career. ``The stress was getting to me,'' he says. He created and taught the DP curriculum at a Cortland, N.Y., community college, worked summers as a hall of fame attendant and was inducted as the hall's first full-time computer professional in 1985. From his cluttered office in which Applied C competes for bookshelf space with The Baseball Encyclopedia, Rooney heads a one-man operation, shepherding the repository of baseball's colorful history into the computer age. He faces the same challenge as many large MIS shops: reluctant end users. ``When I first started in the business, no one knew the extent to which you could make a computer work for you,'' Rooney says. ``Here, my problem is that I know, but my people really haven't always had exposure to it. In any operation, that's probably the single biggest problem. People still don't have a real good understanding of what a computer can do.'' What do computers do at the hall of fame? Plenty now, including the traditional DP functions of payroll and accounting, and they will do much more in the future. Rooney has ambitious automation goals for the hall and the adjoining National Baseball Library, in which researchers and afficionados from around the U.S. comb files for everything from arcane statistical measures to obscure minor league histories. One of Rooney's ongoing projects is the creation of a database for the more than 24,000 baseball artifacts that have been donated. That information, currently stored in manual ledger books, requires constant updating as the hall receives thousands of new items each year. Last year's donations, for example, ranged from the cap doffed by Hank Aaron after he clouted his 715th home run to a Brooklyn Dodgers usher's jacket worn at Ebbets Field in the 1950s. Rooney takes special pride in the two IBM interactive screen exhibits and with good reason _ they helped him get hired. As a hall of fame attendant, Rooney had offered his advice on where the hall could computerize. When IBM later offered to set up the interactive exhibit but needed help from an in-house professional, Rooney was in the right place at the right time. ``The mission of a museum is part educational, and the interactive exhibit adds to that,'' he says. ``That's where the computers can really improve the means of accessing this part of American history, which is, in essence, folklore.'' Hall directors say the IBM exhibits are the most popular attractions for the hall of fame's more than 200,000 visitors every year. The interactive technology is also currently used in Ford Motor Co. dealerships, the Smithsonian Institution and several state parks. ``The computers have been a marvelous addition,'' says William Guilfoile, the hall's associate director. ``Pat was really instrumental in that whole effort with his contacts in IBM and his knowledge. I don't know what we would have done without him.'' Rooney was particularly busy this month as he showcased a traveling demonstration of the interactive exhibit at the playoffs and World Series. This year, he had to take extra precautions to hide his affinity for the New York Mets. ``We're supposed to be neutral around here,'' he says. The picturesque village of Cooperstown preserves itself as well as the sport that made it famous, and the country lifestyle suits Rooney. ``It's the first time I've lived and worked in the same town,'' he says. ``It's a great community.'' On weekends, the 54-year-old father of three spends most of his time caring for his 15-acre property and helping his wife run a recently started bed-and-breakfast in their home and, of course, watching a little baseball. By Clinton Wilder, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Share chief steps in, reo Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sharepre Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: ITHACA, N.Y. _ With an eye on changing times and issues, the new president of the IBM users group Share, Inc. recently launched a reorganization simultaneously with taking office. The goal of the reorganization, according to Share President Cecilia Cowles, is to maintain the quality of the group's technical program while making Share more responsive to the changing needs of members. The moves involved distributing planning and logistical responsibilities _ previously loaded on one director _ among several directors. ``The issues for Share are changing as the issues in information processing change. Share has a reputation for being really good at mainframe operating systems, and that is something we want to continue to do and always do. But we are finding that there is more focus on networks and the mid-range, and we have to address those,'' said Cowles, who was elected president in August. Share, which serves about 1,700 IBM customer sites, is one of two major U.S.-based users groups for large IBM systems along with Guide International Corp. Cowles, who attended her first Share meeting in 1973 and most recently was vice-president, is an assistant director in charge of special academic projects at Cornell University. In that role, she has managed the installation of $8 million worth of equipment donated to the university by IBM during the past three years. A Montana native who majored in history at the University of California at Los Angeles, Cowles has served in computer-related roles at Cornell for almost 20 years. Despite her early reorganization moves, Cowles said that Share does not require much change, because it was running well when she took over. She ran unopposed for president and thus began her planning in early summer. ``It wasn't like saying, `Boy, there's something wrong here and I'm going to fix it.' Share is a very successful organization, so it was just a matter of thinking about what things we wanted to focus on,'' she said. ``The days of the high priests of computers are getting to be over with,'' she continued. ``So we are trying to deal more with people who help others use computers. There is no way that you can reach all of the end users, but the people who are training end users and helping them do their work are of a lot of interest to us.'' Lighten the load Cowles took steps to relieve Share's overworked director of divisions _ a position she likens to that of chief operating officer _ of some logistical responsibilities. Tasks such as dealing with hotels at meeting sites and predicting attendance will now be spread out among more directors. Cowles noted that attendance at the semiannual meetings exceeds 5,000 people and that Share tries to be conservative in predicting attendance. This prevents the group from overestimating and thus losing money on meetings. She also has worked to improve the technical program's response to changing member concerns. ``We collect information from our members about their concerns in various ways, and we look at it when we are developing a strategic plan. But it's not easy to integrate the concerns into the program very quickly. So I wanted that to be an area where we had some focus,'' she said. That information comes into Share and is acted on at varied points. The board of directors looks at issues from a strategic point of view, while participants in the technical programs and the members at large may need immediate response. ``People who are coming to Share know full well what they need in their jobs, and we also need to be responsive to them when they say, `Hey, this is an area that seems to be getting a lot of attention around here. I need information on it.' So there is sort of a middle ground where you both listen to the people who are coming to your conference and you think about what's going on in the environment and try to come up with a relevant program,'' she added. Share is also now focusing on its own computers. ``It's interesting being the kind of group we are _ sort of shoemaker's children in terms of using automation ourselves,'' Cowles said. The organization is using an IBM 9370 to automate its agenda, manage electronic conferencing and organize the information gathered at technical sessions. Cowles said there has been no shortage of volunteers to pick up additional responsibilities. Subtle differences Differentiating Share from Guide, Cowles observed that Guide focuses more on management issues while Share takes a more technical bent, even if the attendees themselves are managers. Asked about the type of person who attends a Share meeting, she said, ``Maybe technologist is a good word, because a lot of our people are not systems analysts anymore. They are sort of the right hand of God in their organization, the guy who tells the chief information officer where technology is these days.'' She reported that she had no complaints about the relationship between IBM and Share and added that IBM has helped Share by sending large numbers of IBM technical experts to Share meetings. Those experts can then hear Share members raise their concerns directly. They are able to address those concerns sooner than if they waited months for Share to compile its list of requirements for IBM. By James Connelly; CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Lyons, latest IBM emigre, Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: tates Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: TORRANCE, Calif. _ Ashton-Tate Corp. became the latest major microcomputer software developer to hire a key IBM executive in an effort to beef up its senior software management. William Lyons, who had served as vice-president of software marketing for IBM's National Distribution Division, was named vice-president of Ashton-Tate's newly created personal computer applications division. Lyons will be in charge of Ashton-Tate's Multimate word processing line, Draw Applause presentation graphics software and Framework decision support products. Although his title implies responsibility for all Ashton-Tate applications, Lyons will not work with the company's cornerstone Dbase product line. Dbase and Ashton-Tate's Apple Computer, Inc. software development efforts are each carried out in separate operating divisions. Lyons will oversee applications development, documentation, testing and management. STEPHEN JONES <<<>>> Title : Early users express ISDN Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: isdncom Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: BOSTON _ Early ISDN systems provide some cost advantages and flexible networking options but are still plagued by limited product selection and intervendor incompatibility, several early users testified at a seminar held here last week. The seminar, jointly sponsored by Codex Corp. and its parent company, Motorola, Inc., saw some down-to-earth discussion about the hazards and potential benefits of replacing existing telecommunications networks with the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) standard. Common themes that corporate communications managers stressed included the following: ISDN equipment costs too much. ISDN terminal adapters currently cost between $300 and $1,500, a Codex spokesman said. Costs should come down when chip companies start shipping ISDN interfaces on chips in bulk, according to industry sources. ISDN links are not widely available yet. For example, Chevron Information Technology Co. would like to use ISDN to link point-of-sale terminals at service stations, ``but for that, ISDN needs to be ubiquitous,'' Chevron spokesman Stephen White said. Right now, only one Bell operating company, Illinois Bell, has filed an ISDN tariff. AT&T's ISDN service is scheduled to serve 18 cities by the end of this year and about 70 by the end of 1989, a company spokeswoman said. ``None of the different vendors' ISDN products that we have evaluated so far can talk to each other,'' said Jeff Fritz, a data communications manager at West Virginia University. According to Codex's Gail Smith, who chairs the American National Standards Institute standards committee that deals with ISDN connectivity, the basic specifications for ISDN are stable enough, but vendors have yet to implement them fully. The initial low cost of carriers' ISDN tariffs may not last once initial market demand has been generated. Rather than be at the mercy of possible price hikes in the future, Boeing Computer Services Co. decided to spend some $120 million on the equipment to implement its own private ISDN network, according to Boeing engineering manager Robert Furtaw. ISDN products do not provide full ISDN capabilities. For example, while ISDN links support 64K bit/sec. rates, some ISDN equipment only supports up to 19.2K bit/sec. _ too slow for IBM Personal System/2s, for example, which can transmit at 115.2K bit/sec. or faster, Fritz said. ISDN-compatible networks are unable to handle data applications in a cost-effective manner. For example, to guarantee fast response time for students who want to access library files, West Virginia University would have to set aside certain ISDN lines as permanently available connections. This would be a costly solution, given that ISDN-line costs are use-sensitive and the students would only be using the lines ``once every 30 or 40 minutes,'' Fritz said. Despite the numerous complaints and reservations, users said ISDN is definitely saving them money and spoke eagerly of future strategic uses for the standard. ISDN will initially justify itself at Boeing, Furtaw said, by eliminating the $500 it costs every time an employee moves or changes a voice or data terminal. Boeing's average is 1.2 moves or changes per year for each of 120,000 employees. Now that the network is in use, users are coming up with their own applications for ISDN, Furtaw added. West Virginia University is saving money through ISDN by giving some departments one digital line instead of three analog lines _ ``two for personal computers, one for a telephone,'' Fritz said. But what excites him most, he said, is what will happen when the basic network is in place in a year or two, ``when we can find things to do with ISDN that you can't do via a regular telephone network.'' By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : How much should you spend Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: train24 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Whatever a data processing organization spends on training, top managers may well complain that it is too much and use it as a slashing ground to relieve budget pressure. But this obscures the real question: How much should a company spend on its technical training? Historically, a company providing the technical and career training to maintain acceptable turnover and productive support has spent 3.5% to 4.5% of its total DP budget on training. Now, if you grabbed a calculator and figured out how much this percentage translates for your company, maybe you'd say, ``No way.'' But let's take a look at what is actually going on in the technical training world. You're kidding me Most companies do not have the faintest idea how much they are really spending. Certainly, the amount is far more than what is documented in the education budget. For example, what about all those ``free'' technical briefings run by hardware vendors? The professional society meetings and conferences buried in the DP manager's budget under ``industry meetings''? The courses taught by someone on the DP staff in the department conference room? The price of admission to a technical training session for a programmer making $30,000 per year ranges from $270 per day for an in-house course to $500 or more per day for a commercial course requiring travel to another city. Of course, that cost does not include the expense of lost productivity while the individual attends class. The cost is calculated by adding 25% for benefits _ and probably more for larger companies _ to the base salary and dividing the sum by the number of productive work days in a year, typically 220. To that $170 per day must be added to the cost of the course; a conservative figure is $100 per day in-house or $150 to $250 plus travel and lodging outside. The result is what a company actually spends for an individual to attend a course. How much career training and technical training should a company provide for its technical staff? A company with a large recruiting program and new and innovative development projects should provide application people with 10 days per year in formal training and systems programmers with 13 days. A smaller company with minimum turnover, no training of raw recruits and a small number of development projects should provide about seven days per year for application people and 10 days for systems programmers. Now grab those calculators again and see what your company is really spending on training. Remember, all your programmers do not earn $30,000 per year. Sending a senior analyst making $40,000 per year to class costs from $325 to $650 for each day in the classroom. Now those figures of 3.5% to 4.5% of the total DP budget sound more realistic and are probably closer to the truth. As frightening as those amounts may appear, they are nothing if your company expects growth in DP staff in the next few years or plans to use new productivity technologies such as computer-aided software engineering, application engineering, fourth-generation languages, workstations, computer-aided design and manufacturing or artificial intelligence. Zap!! If so, stand by for a jolt in the pocketbook. These new technologies will require you to spend more on training in order to get in the game. The problem is compounded by the inertia of older systems. Until you reengineer them with the new tools, you have to continue training to support them too. The base training budget does not even include business training for the DP professional _ a seriously neglected need _ or management training for technical managers, another requirement that is often missing. It also does not include the cost of retraining staff members to be programmers when one area is cut back in favor of another. There is also the question of accommodating the increasing demand by end users for technology training as they do more and more development on their own. Companies are going to have to face up to the real costs of training. More important, technical training departments and the developers of productivity tools must come up with better and more economical training delivery techniques to get those costs down. The bottom line is that everybody is going to have to contribute something. Sabrell is a vice-president at Data Base Management, Inc., a subsidiary of American Management Systems, Inc., in Manchester, Conn. By Bill Sebrell, Special to CW <<<>>> Title : Honeywell, Unisys at war Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: honeychi Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: What began as a defense-related purchase threatened to erupt into courtroom war during the past several weeks as Honeywell, Inc. and Unisys Corp. fired off lawsuits against each other over Unisys' 1986 sale of Sperry's defense avionics division to Honeywell for $1.03 billion. The charges basically boil down to this: Honeywell contends that Unisys sold it a billion dollar lemon. Unisys contends that it did not _ and that Honeywell had every chance to poke and prod the unit before buying. In late September, Unisys went to the New York Supreme Court for a declaratory judgment _ a judicial statement of the facts _ fixing who owed what to whom under the 2-year-old sales contract, a Unisys spokesman said. In addition, Unisys sued Honeywell for about $565,000 allegedly due under the agreement. Last week, Honeywell sent off its return shot: a separate action, brought in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, charging Unisys with failure to disclose material, financial and other information at the time of the sale and seeking damages which were estimated at about $351 million. Originally seen as a corporate coup, the purchase of what is now the Honeywell Defense Avionics Systems Division has proved more burden than benefit for Honeywell. The company recently issued its second consecutive warning of falling quarterly earnings and predicted declining earnings for the year, all based on what a Honeywell spokesman called ``inadequate contract cost-recognition practices and asset write-offs'' at the avionics division that ``were deeper and more widespread than originally thought.'' Unisys contends the problems are not because of any failure to disclose on its part. By Nell Margolis, CW staff <<<>>> Title : The AS/400 connectivity f Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: market24 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: On June 21, when the IBM Application System/400 was announced, IBM did not unveil any System/36- and 38-attachable printers. As a result, AS/400 customers have only two options for increasing printing capacity: buy a new IBM existing System/36 and 38 printer offering or purchase a used IBM System/36 and 38 printer on the secondary market. Of the two choices available to end users, the second is by far the most popular. One System/36 and 38 printer family that has suffered noted declines in value on the used market since the announcement of the AS/400 is the 3262. The AS/400 debut has caused used values of the 3262 Models BO1 and CO1 to drop significantly because they are not attachable to the new mid-range system. According to IDC Financial Services Corp., used values for this printer family dropped 37% on the retail market between June and September. As shipments of the AS/400 are ramped up, the supply of Models BO1 and CO1 will continue to increase on the secondary market. Demand up for 5262 For end users who are looking for a 650 line/min printer that is attachable to the AS/400, the only choice within the IBM printer line is the 5262. This model replaced the 3262 in late 1984. Recent IDC Financial Services research shows a tightening in the 5262's used market value caused by an increase in demand for its attachability to the AS/400. The used market for the IBM 4214-2 has been declining gradually during the last four months. Current research indicates that the fair market value of the 4214-2 has dropped 8% since June. Secondary market prices for the 4214-2 have fallen as a consequence of end-user migration to the newer IBM 4224-1XX model printers. Users have been displacing the 4214 for 4224 units because of intelligent printer data stream (IPDS) capabilities offered on the 4224 machines. IPDS is an advanced function host-to-printer data stream that allows for an unlimited mix of high-quality text, raster images, vector graphics and bar codes. Additionally, IPDS provides commands for management of fonts and overlays. Initially, the migration to the 4224 family was slow, although during the last several months, more end users have been migrating to the newer 4224-1 machines. Because of the high user acceptance for the 4224-1s, these models have not yet begun to trade actively on the used market. The 5224 line printer family's used values have held strong on the secondary market during the past 24 months. Currently, demand for Models 1 and 2 is good. However, the Model 2 is realizing a slightly stronger demand than is the other. This is because users prefer the faster speed of the Model 2 at 240 line/min compared with 140 line/min for the Model 1. One of the main reasons behind this year's strong demand for the 5224s is their attachability to the AS/400. Since January, fair market values have fluctuated _ at best 8% for both Models 1 and 2. 5225s hang tight As with the 5224s, the IBM 5225 line matrix printer's used values also continue to hold steady. According to secondary market contacts, activity for the 5225 has remained active even though these printers were first shipped in early 1980. Dealers report that both the 5224 and 5225 are inexpensive, reliable printers, and therefore, they have realized long, healthy life cycles. Within the 5225 line, the demand is greatest for the Model 4. Its fair market value on the retail used market is 61% of its list price of $14,200. In addition, the Model 4 was the only 5225 printer to be affected by the IBM July 28 price increase, since it is still actively marketed by the company, while Models 1, 2 and 3 have been withdrawn. For more information, contact IDC Financial Services Corp.'s Terri LeBlanc at 508-872-8200. By Benjamin T. Gale, IDC Financial Services Corp. <<<>>> Title : Telxon, MSI reach settlem Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: telxon2 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: AKRON, Ohio _ Telxon Corp. chose peace and profits over costly litigation and a potential bidding war last week and signed a settlement agreement that will resolve all outstanding issues between Telxon, takeover target MSI Data Corp. and Symbol Technologies, Inc. _ the company that will now acquire MSI. Under the agreement, Telxon and MSI _ the top two contenders in the handheld computer market _ ended the barrage of suits and countersuits that were piling up over patent disputes and sealed the accords with a five-year, $40 million supply and license deal among the companies. ``My bottom-line comment on this is: Be happy,'' said Henry Jicha Jr., an analyst at Wood Gundy Ltd. The Telxon/MSI/ Symbol agreement, Jicha said, spells out good news all around. Telxon will pay MSI $3 million to settle pending patent claims; MSI will pay Telxon $3 million to settle pending unfair competition claims; and Telxon, in conjunction with the agreement, is backing off its $17-per-share tender offer for MSI and allowing Bohemia, N.Y.-based white knight Symbol to carry off the prize at $20 a share. Telxon will also pay MSI $37 million up front as prepaid royalties for the license of the patent that stood at the heart of the recent bitter litigation. Telxon also agreed to buy a minimum of $40 million worth of laser scanning products from Symbol during the next five years. The deal makes Symbol the prime supplier of market leader Telxon, Jicha said. ``At the same time, it assures Telxon its supply over the next five years. Everybody's walking away from this happy as clams at high tide,'' he added. The stated price under the supply agreement is significant, Jicha said. ``Telxon will have to grow their business by approximately 25% annually in order to make that $40 million payment,'' he said. ``That should tell you something about what they think growth will be.'' By Nell Margolis, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Who needs it? Who needs o Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1024week Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Who needs it? Who needs one more supercomputer company? The state of Washington does. Governor Booth Gardner and University of Washington President William Gerberding joined in a news conference last week to formally welcome Tera Computer Co. to its Seattle home. The newly formed company's decision to build ``the next generation of supercomputers'' from a Seattle base, said company President Jim Rottsolk, was aided by proximity of a major research university with a strong computer science program and a willingness to work with the commercial sector. Who needs it? Part II Who needs one more Benchmark extravaganza? Apollo Computer, Inc. does. Having shipped its Series 10000 Personal Supercomputer last month, the Chelmsford, Mass.-based workstation manufacturer last week invited users of two rival workstations _ Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Sun 4/260 and Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX 8800 _ to run their applications on an Apollo 10000 and announce their comparisons. The ``Series 10000 Challenge'' will run the first two weeks of next month at Apollo's East and West Coast headquarters. Artful dodgers Who else needs one more supercomputer company? Too many potential acquisitors for comfort, according to Alliant Computer Systems, Inc. So the Littleton, Mass.-based minisupercomputer manufacturer is shoring up its defenses against what President Ronald Gruner called ``the current climate of hostile and potentially abusive takeovers.'' Last week, Alliant adopted a shareholder rights plan under which preferred stock purchase rights will be distributed as a dividend at the rate of one right per each share of common stock held at the close of the business day on Nov. 1. Fast friends West German computer company Nixdorf AG last week signed on to market workstations from Apollo Computer, Inc. worldwide. While both companies have agreed not to specify the contract price, an Apollo spokesman confirmed that the agreement is a multimillion-dollar deal. Apollo and Nixdorf touted the deal as reflecting their mutual dedication to international standards and open systems. In one way at least, it undisputably does: The companies became friendly, according to the Apollo spokesman, while helping to found the Open Software Foundation. Another shoe drops IBM, which transferred its domestic copier service, sales and lease agreements to Eastman Kodak Co. effective this past July, last week announced that Kodak will buy 16 countries' worth of IBM foreign copier contracts as well. The agreement covers Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, as well as non-European entries Argentina, Australia and Canada. Conductus reaps HP investment Year-old Palo Alto, Calif.-based superconductivity company Conductus, Inc. nearly doubled its capital last week, courtesy of a multimillion dollar equity investment by neighbor Hewlett-Packard Co. The investment nets HP 15% of the venture-backed start-up and a seat on its board of directors, not to mention a leg up in superconductivity research. Wanna buy a Mountain? Campbell, Calif.-based Mountain Computer, Inc. announced earlier this month that it will be acquired by the Tokyo-based firm Nakamichi Corp. for $45 million in cash. Both companies are suppliers of tape drive equipment. The current Mountain management will remain in place when the deal closes. In addition, both the headquarters in Campbell and a facility in Scotts Valley, Calif., will be maintained, according to a Mountain spokesman. From Software AG to Cortex Former Software AG of North America, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Stuart J. Miller was named president and chief executive officer of Cortex Corp., a Waltham, Mass.-based developer of computer-aided software engineering products for the Digital Equipment Corp. VAX. Cortex founder, President and CEO Craig Hill retained the title of chairman. Home improvements Compaq Computer Corp. completed a $150 million financing deal to pay for a major expansion of its Houston headquarters and manufacturing facilities. Underwriting the move is Prudential Capital Corp., a merchant banking subsidiary of Prudential Insurance Company of America. Prudential Capital purchased $75 million in 10-year mortgage notes from Compaq and agreed to purchase an additional $75 million in notes within the next two years. <<<>>> Title : EMC sports controller for Author : James Daly, CW S Source : CW Comm FileName: emcprod Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: HOPKINTON, Mass. _ If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, EMC Corp. will once again make Digital Equipment Corp. blush. The storage upgrade vendor and perennial supplier of DEC-compatible equipment has released a series of high-capacity magnetic disk subsystems that it claimed are completely compatible with all VAX computers but sport a far superior price/performance ratio to DEC's comparable products'. EMC claimed the key advantage of its Maxport series is its ability to store more information per DEC controller port than other magnetic storage products. ``A user has the option of storing up to 3.3G bytes while utilizing only one disk port,'' an EMC spokesman said. ``This translates into three times more storage per port than any other disk subsystem.'' Because users can store more on each disk port, they can save money on the purchase of future disk controllers, spokesmen for the firm said. The Maxport series includes individual drives said to be capable of handling anywhere from 622M to 3.3G bit/sec. in storage. A preconfigured subsystem clocks in at 11.5G bytes, the firm said. Maxport also claims an average seek time of 16 msec and a transfer rate of 2.8M bit/sec.; it is hardware-, software- and diagnostic-compatible with DEC's HSC50, HSC70, KDA50, KDB50 and UDA50 disk controllers, spokesmen from the firm said. One-year warranty Maxport also supports all DEC-level diagnostics and has thrown in a one-year warranty for the series. Additionally, EMC's Maxsupport warranty plan includes its Remote Access Maintenance Plan, an on-line panel for continuous self-diagnostics and automatic formatting, spokesmen said. The Maxport series is immediately available in two lines, according to spokesmen from EMC. The MRA, which is reportedly compatible with DEC's RA disk drive, comes in five models ranging from the 622M-byte Model 600, which sells for $13,400, to the 3.3G-byte Model 3200, which is priced at $64,000. The other EMC model, the MSA 11000, is reportedly compatible with DEC's SA disk drive and consists of three MRA 3200s and a 1.64M-byte 1600. According to EMC, it sells for $215,000. <<<>>> Title : ESA gives reason to go wi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: neodata Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: BOULDER, Colo. _ The product is data _ consumer lists and demographics for publishing houses _ and the factory floor is the computer room. Craig Lord, data center manager at Neodata Services, a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet Corp., is trying to figure out which mainframe to buy to manage the data that represents the most critical part of his company's business. Neodata handles subscription services for a growing number of magazines, and its current CPU, an IBM 3090 Model 200, is running at nearly 100% capacity 24 hours a day. While the price of a new mainframe is a consideration for Lord, residual value and the availability of System Managed Storage (SMS) under IBM's MVS/ESA operating system are the deciding factors. ESA. Unlike many systems managers contacted when the MVS/ESA operating system was announced, Lord said he needs MVS/ESA properties now, and even if an IBM model is more expensive, the current availability of ESA could push Lord once again into IBM's cash-register line. ``I believe that storage needs to be managed intelligently, heuristically and in real time, not by people poring over reports a week after the event,'' Lord said. ESA, Lord said, is the ``probable solution to some data access constraints I have today, like constrained access to the IBM IMS/DL1 databases. [SMS under] ESA gives me another place to put data, it's a little cheaper and you don't have to go out using channel protocol to get data,'' Lord said. Since Neodata provides billing, renewal, test promotions, merging and purging of mailing lists, as well as demographic data for 200 magazines, including U.S. News and World Report and McCall's, storage and access are crucial to its customers. ``The update procedure is different for every magazine, every week, at the request of the publisher,'' Lord said. That adds to capacity constraints at the same time as he continues automating manual customer service, such as developing a 100-agent, customer service department that has access to any subscriber's records. Agents may change data, add data and solve problems on-line. Lord has 100G bytes of direct-access storage devices and enough tapes to wrap around the world _ about 35,000 cartridges and 20,000 reels _ which take up nearly half of Neodata's 13,000-sq-ft data center. However, he would rather not spend valuable time mounting tapes. While considering IBM plug-compatible vendors, Lord said he was reluctant to go with them. He was concerned that the most current operating systems available on plug-compatible mainframes (PCM), MVS/XA, would not offer SMS until later next year, and he doubts that there will be any enhancements to an original release. Residual value. Next to the availability of SMS, the monthly cost of the mainframe is Lord's concern. ``That's simply the dictate of the market that says [a PCM] box isn't worth as much as an IBM box,'' Lord said. The initial cost has to be looked at in a couple ways. ``As cash flow, [a PCM] looks a little cheaper, but if you look at it as a budgetary monthly hit, and it has to be written down quickly [because of the lack of residual value], it's a bigger hit each month,'' he said. Although PCMs have closed the gap of residual value with IBM in the last few years, analysts said they are still unequal. Service-level agreements. While Lord presents these quantifiable trade-offs to Neodata's executive vice-president of finance, he said he could free up a lot more money for new compute power if he could quantify the service, or lack of service, his publishers are getting. ``Service is a matter of opinion. [Publishers] call on the phone and say the response time is terrible. I say it's good.'' Instead of being defensive, Lord would like to be able to have an objective service-level agreement with customers specifying response times. ``If I had a service-level agreement, I could go to the man and say, `I cannot meet these agreements. I need to spend this much money. Give me a new computer.' '' Early PC strategy. Big expenditures for big iron is the one thing that Lord still needs to worry about. What he does not need to fret over is distributed computing strategy. ``In 1983, there were three PCs in the company, and the handwriting was on the wall.'' He said that management was not resistant to the influx. Rather, it was a lack of understanding of their potential. ``The management of information, the definition of control and issue of integrity of data suddenly had changed.'' Basically, users must get an IBM Personal Computer, or they are on their own for support and service. Users are on their own for budgeting for the PCs and buying programs. This has resulted in nearly 200 IBM PCs and two or three Compaq Computer Corp. clones. By J.A. Savage, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : AT&T teams up with Intel Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: intel77 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: CHICAGO _ AT&T Data Systems Group is planning to build a new line of minicomputers around the Intel Corp. 80286 and 80386 line of microprocessors, President Robert M. Kavner said last week. To that end, AT&T is forming a new product team to oversee development of Intel-based products ranging from stand-alone personal computers to high-performance minicomputers, he said. Creation of the Intel group, which will combine product development from AT&T's PC and minicomputer operations, will not be formally announced until next month. But Kavner told Computerworld last week that AT&T will build a line of low-end and mid-range computers on Intel's family of 32-bit 386 microprocessors. ``Intel would like to go ahead and steal some of Motorola's thunder,'' said Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, Inc. in Washington, D.C. ``It's a good deal for both of them [Intel and AT&T], but they have to create a working relationship.'' AT&T is also committed to build a line of high-performance computers based on Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Scalable Processor Architecture (Sparc) reduced instruction set computing (RISC) chip, Kavner said. However, he said that plans for the Sparc-based line are still unfinished. Kavner said the Sparc line will start at the high end and gradually come down to meet the Intel line in price/performance. He added that the two product lines will cross without merging because they are each targeted at different application markets. Kavner noted the Sparc line will be targeted at high-end transaction processing applications, while the Intel products will be used primarily as servers. Dzubeck said Intel may have realized that IBM, which manufactures many Intel-based PCs, would probably never agree to build a mid-range product on the Intel microprocessor architecture. For AT&T, an Intel-based line would be, Dzubeck said, ``a product differentiator from all the Motorola, Inc.-based minicomputer machines in the industry.'' Until now, AT&T has been selling the 3B line of minicomputers, all of which are based on proprietary Western Electric chips. It also sells PCs on Intel's 286 and 386 chips.The Intel-based machines, manufactured by Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., run Microsoft Corp. MS-DOS and AT&T's Unix System V applications. AT&T holds a 25% stake in Olivetti. The next generation of Intel-based AT&T computers will be designed to operate as PCs, mid-range and high-performance machines, Kavner said. ``They will be in the high-performance world, offering as much as 100 MIPS [million instructions per second].'' The creation of an Intel product group will have the effect of providing Intel with a single point of contact within the AT&T organization. Kavner also expects to add units based on the Intel 80486 chip as soon as it becomes commercially available. No target dates were given for the development of the next generation of Intel-based machines. But Kavner said AT&T had already started to talk about them with its design partners. By Jean S. Bozman and William Brandel, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Publishing and perishing Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hargrove Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Perhaps you've seen the articles and advertisements on desktop publishing. It's that combination of software and laser printers that will save you a bundle of money on your printing needs as cost-effective manuals, newsletters and brochures flourish throughout your organization. Desktop publishing promises a new age of creativity. Piece of cake I recently tried my hand in this field, convinced by a friend that it was one that I could master in little time. After all, it's just another computer program, right? Something like a word processing package in a tuxedo. Imagine my surprise when one of my first decisions was whether to pick inches or picas as my standard of measurement. Picas? Isn't that some kind of fish? Then I faced using ``em'' and ``en'' spaces, points, kerning, leading, fonts and all the other typographical terms with which I was only familiar through seeing them in print. I also learned, much to my disappointment, that I am not a born graphics artist. In fact, my first publication could have been subtitled ``Fonts of the Universe,'' as it appeared, ah, a tad busy. This revelation brought home to me the thought that while the results of desktop publishing can be quite satisfying and cost-effective, there is quite a learning curve. And just because it's a computer application does not necessarily mean it belongs under MIS' domain. Graphic arts and a knowledge of typography are vital in taking full advantage of the application. And if you don't have this knowledge? Try to imagine desktop carpentry practiced by someone unfamiliar with hammers, nails or saws and who is not really sure what a table should look like. Even if he knows what a table is, he still would not be able to tell a Louis XIV table from a poker table. There is some hope, of course, and that is to have the creative work performed by experts. If you have some general ideas on what you wish to use desktop publishing for, hire a consultant _ preferably a graphics artist _ to help you design templates. Then, when you are ready to compose your newsletter or manual, call up a template and create your document without being held back by a lack of aesthetic talents. Make the process modular by letting the experts do what they do best and then using their design within your environment. At a publishing seminar I recently attended, the instructor stated that in 1987, nearly one half of all desktop publishing ventures within companies failed for the following reasons: Management's failure to understand the application (``We bought it, plugged it in and we still don't have any documents''). Management's failure to properly train those who will be using it. Management's failure to manage expectations _ that is, not preparing people for the fact that there is a steep learning curve and that professional looking documents won't appear overnight. Indeed, these reasons for failure may well apply to any new application. Failure to identify the real strengths and weaknesses of desktop publishing could put one in an untenable situation _ that is, of course, publishing and perishing. By Robert Hargrove; Hargrove is security and contingency planner at the University of Texas's Health Science Center at Houston. <<<>>> Title : IBM, Index link DB2, Exce Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: softover Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Computer-aided software engineering market leader Index Technology, Inc., based in Cambridge, Mass., announced an interface between its flagship Excelerator software and IBM's DB2. Working through a version of the Excelerator dictionary customized to describe and document DB2-related entities, the link lets database administrators automatically transform Excelerator-produced design data into SQL _ a cumbersome task formerly done by hand. The SQL statements can then be used to implement a DB2 database, an Index spokesman said. Available immediately for a site licensing fee of $7,500 on IBM Personal System/2, Personal Computer AT, PC XT and compatible platforms, the interface is compatible with relational database management systems such as Oracle Corp.'s Oracle, Relational Technology, Inc.'s Ingres and IBM's SQL/DS. The New England chapter of the Software Maintenance Association is going to be activated following a year-long hiatus. The group will meet at 4:30 p.m., Nov. 2 at Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.'s Data Center in Portsmouth, N.H. Judy Gollub, the new president of the international organization, will be at the meeting. Contact Stewart H. Stephens at 603-431-8400 for more information. Computer Power Group in Natick, Mass., has acquired the assets of BBJ Computers Ltd. in Australia for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition reportedly includes BBJ's Today fourth-generation language, which has more than 4,000 licenses worldwide. The Today product runs on more than 80 hardware platforms, including the Digital Equipment Corp. VAX/VMS, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s MPE, Prime Computer, Inc.'s Primos, IBM and compatible personal computers running Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS and systems operating most versions of AT&T's Unix. The Computer Power Group provides software services including consulting, systems integration and application development. Computer Power Group America Chief Executive Officer David L. Chapman, formerly at Cullinet Software, Inc., said the company is committed to making the Today product a major application development environment. Stratus Computer, Inc. in Marlboro, Mass., and Shared Financial Systems, Inc. in Dallas recently announced the availability of Storenet/2, a retail communications system. The product is a result of a joint development effort between the two companies and will be co-marketed. Storenet/2 collects and distributes point-of-sale data throughout a retailer's network. The software runs on Stratus XA2000 continuous-processing systems and is already being installed in three sites in two countries. J. D. Edwards & Co., the Denver-based supplier of IBM mid-range software applications, has opened a European Support Center in Brussels, Belgium. The office will provide sales and technical support to the company's current and future affiliates throughout Europe and the Middle East. <<<>>> Title : Lotus' earnings falling Author : Nell Margolis Source : CW Comm FileName: lotusx Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ Lotus Development Corp., dogged by a series of delays in the vaunted Release 3.0 of its flagship 1-2-3 spreadsheet product, announced a 25% earnings drop for its third quarter ended Oct. 1. Net income for the beleaguered firm, which during the past quarter could neither get its product out nor keep its employees in, fell to $14.3 million from $19.1 in last year's comparable period. But for the tax man, the picture would have been bleaker still: According to Lotus, quarterly earnings were favorably affected by a 3% reduction in its estimated annual effective income tax rate. Third-quarter revenue rose 15% to $116.8 million. ``Release 3.0 _ when it comes _ is going to be a very good product,'' Paine Webber, Inc. analyst Bob Therrien said. However, he added, a well-received 1-2-3 entry, even without the delays, will not solve Lotus' problems. ``The worst thing that ever happened to Lotus,'' he said, ``is that customers began to call the 1-2-3 spreadsheet Lotus; they became a one-product company by default. Almost every diversification effort Lotus has undertaken has been either disappointing or unprofitable.'' In a prepared statement, Lotus Chief Executive Officer Jim P. Manzi manifested optimism and hinted at new directions. Citing Lotus' continuing ascendency in spreadsheets, Manzi also alluded to ``leading market share positions in . . . integrated software, graphics and in the delivery of information on CD-ROM.'' In the quarter just ended, Manzi said, Lotus entered the personal information management market with its Lotus Agenda software. Additionally, he said, ``We have more than 10 new products under development for shipment in 1989 and 1990.'' NELL MARGOLIS <<<>>> Title : First solo-line link to m Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bitblast Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Bellsouth Corp. reportedly has become the first local carrier to officially introduce a gateway service that links users' workstations to multiple information services via one telephone number. The Transtext Universal Gateway routes user transmissions to local or national information services through their existing local telephone lines, according to Bellsouth. Currently, the firm uses a menu-driven system. The company is initially testing the market for the service in the Atlanta calling area. Communications Solutions, Inc. in San Jose, Calif., has published several reports on IBM communications and software products, such as LU6.2 and PU2.1, as well as on IBM's overall communications and software strategy. ``IBM's Integrated Office Strategy: Connectivity and Performance for the 1990s'' is a 131-page document with a price per copy of $345. ``Systems Application Architecture: The Future of IBM Connectivity'' is a 165-page document that is priced at $395. And the 141-page study, ``Introduction to Advanced Program-to-Program Communications,'' also costs $395. Intelco Corp., a supplier of test instruments for telecommunications, is offering ``Users Share Responsibility for Maintaining T1/Fiber Network.'' The free, five-page article reportedly provides a detailed technical discussion of available testing methods for identifying problems in a T1 transmission system. A glossary of T1 terms is included. More information is available by calling 508-264-4485. Shiva Corp. is shipping Netbridge, a local bridge for Apple Computer, Inc. Appletalk networks. Netbridge alleviates congestion by creating a larger internetwork with doubled node and wiring lengths. Omnitel, Inc., a supplier of communications products, has begun shipping its Asynchronous Gateway Starter kit at a 25% discount as part of a campaign to introduce end users to personal computer local-area network gateways. The product reportedly enables LAN users to access remote systems and databases. The kit comes in three versions, with pricing ranging from $1,346 to $2,396. Suggested list price will result in an average 25% discount. Guilbert Associates, Inc. and P. Lemme & Associates, Inc. in Washington, D.C., will jointly offer two-day training sessions on the development of electronic data interchange (EDI) applications. Geared to both technical and nontechnical managers, the sessions were designed to help organizations analyze how to use EDI in terms of cost/benefits, strategic implications and product selection. Registration will be $55 per person. For details, call Guilbert Associates, 202-785-4365. The Telecommunications Users Group has announced the publication of its ``Beginner's Guide to Computer Telecommunications.'' The 30-page guide discusses a variety of subjects such as how data is stored in a computer, cables between computer and modem, different types of modems and logging onto computer bulletin boards. It includes a telecommunications glossary. The guide is available by mail and costs $8, plus $2 for handling. Contact: Beginner's Guide, TUG, Box 45254, Seattle, Wash. 98145. Catherine's, Inc. has signed a five-year agreement with GE Information Services to move Catherine's data networking applications onto the General Electric Co. division's public data network. GE Information Services is working on a credit system for Catherine's and will also provide and manage links between the clothing retailer's headquarters and 214 stores across 35 states. <<<>>> Title : MAP card costs to come do Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mapcard Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: STAMFORD, Conn. _ The cost of networking cards based on the Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP) should drop to less than $1,000 per card by 1990, according to a recent study by the Gartner Group, Inc. Although the cost per card makes up just a small percentage of a total plant floor network, that high cost has represented a significant psychological barrier to the purchase and implementation of MAP networks, slowing sales of the technology, according to Gartner. A key factor slowing the adoption of MAP in factory communications has been the $2,000 to $7,000 price of network adapters, according to T. Lee Wylie, Gartner's vice-president of the Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Service. While card costs have seen steady drops _ and in previous years, dramatic reductions (see chart) _ many users compare the cost of a MAP card with an RS-232C or other low-cost communications card. ``This type of comparison invariably causes the user to reject MAP on the grounds of simple costs,'' Wylie said. He said a more reasonable cost goal for users was $1,000 per card for broadband and $500 for carrierband technology. The price drop should open the market for manufacturing-oriented Open Systems Interconnect-based products to take off in the early 1990s, he predicted. Three groups Gartner breaks the cost of a networking card into three components: controller, modem and software embedded in read-only memory, or firmware. The software portion of the card represents the most dramatic potential for cost reductions, since these costs represent an allocation of fixed development costs, according to Wylie. So far, few of these costs have been amortized. ``With stabilizing standards such as MAP 3.0, the price of firmware chip sets should approach the cost of clone PC BIOS chip sets in the next few years.'' Volume increases in controller card sales will let manufacturers absorb development and fixed factory costs more quickly. ``Most significant, anticipated volume will let MAP network vendors optimize the product design and take advantage of surface-mount technology and increasing levels of custom logic to reduce chip costs,'' Wylie said. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : AT&T releases Accunet opt Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: attshort Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: AT&T has released equipment interface specifications for a possible new networking option that would provide users with end-to-end control of their Accunet bandwidth, the vendor said. The option would allow users to reconfigure AT&T Accunet T1.5 Service connections between AT&T switching sites and their own premises, an AT&T spokeswoman said. This capability would be provided as part of the company's existing Bandwidth Management Services, which currently allow customers to reconfigure Accunet bandwidth between AT&T service points but not over the local loop. The release of interface specifications indicates that AT&T might make these enhancements commercial, but it does not guarantee it, the AT&T spokeswoman said. AT&T is required by law to release specifications ahead of time, so that equipment vendors can build interfaces between their networking products and a possible future service. <<<>>> Title : ISDN not big in Fortune 1 Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: idsninfo Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ Despite the proliferation of field trials and the formation of a users group to put application needs in priority order, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) faces limited penetration of the Fortune 1,000 in the next five years, according to Forrester Research, Inc. Though installations of Basic Rate Interface (BRI) lines should grow to more than 1.5 million by 1993, they will represent a mere 8% of total Fortune 1,000 end-user connections, Forrester projected in a recent research bulletin. Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines will account for just 5% of trunks in the same period. The influx of 5ESS switches into the central office is expected to fuel the BRI's access to the corporate market in the short term. As the regional holding companies move their equipment base from analog to digital services, they are likely to discount BRI lines to early implementors in order to build ISDN demand and garner market share, according to Mary Modahl, a Forrester analyst. The way carriers price ISDN services will be critical in what promises to be a competitive, price-sensitive market, analyst H. Paris Burstyn wrote in Boston-based Business Research Group's September newsletter. Product availability and applications make up the remainder of a three-pronged barrier facing ISDN purveyors, he added. ``In view of the wide range of vendors that can offer ISDN and similar services, we believe that regulators will allow carriers to implement increasingly flexible pricing strategies, just as they have with Centrex,'' Burstyn wrote. `Poor man's T1' Early users will consist of Fortune 50 technology leaders and those with intensive incoming telemarketing programs, Forrester said. There is potential for limited demand for PRI as a ``poor man's T1'' among some mid-size firms, or those with $500 million in revenue, Modahl predicted. ``In the next few years, we'll see a move to digital service among Centrex users,'' she added. Not only is digital cheaper, but it will allow users to upgrade to ISDN when the time is right, she said. In the meantime, she said, she expects private branch exchange users to sit tight. As a result, the market research firm is predicting that Centrex-based BRI will be the fastest growing segment through 1991. However, toward the mid-1990s, a fourth generation of PBXs with PRI ports will heat up PBX-based BRI sales, she added. PRI installations will grow more slowly, thanks to competition from private network implementations in the Fortune 1,000. Large companies are unwilling to relinquish the control that T1 and T3 systems give them over proprietary data flows and voice communications, Modahl said. Tariffed PRI is also 20% to 30% more expensive than the alternatives. By Patricia Keefe, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Uncle Sam wants you in MI Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: careers2 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Not that you should expect the glory portrayed in recruitment commercials for the armed services, but a growing awareness of some of the hardships faced by federal government employees could lead to better days for Uncle Sam's MIS work force. Working for the federal government has its drawbacks, among them a lack of competitive compensation, Byzantine hiring procedures, obstacles to career advancement and an image of bureaucratic rigidity and stodginess. The government pays a technical professional in the mid-career G-12 classification an annual salary of $38,866, about $7,000 less than the state of New York would pay and $18,000 less than would a local company, according to the magazine Government Executive. Metropolitan mismatch ``The pay is very competitive in Little Rock or Des Moines, but in Washington or Los Angeles or New York City, these salaries are really not competitive,'' says Robert Head, an independent consultant in Stafford, Va., and a former information resources management official at the Department of Agriculture. Adding to the woes, many senior managers are ``time servers'' awaiting retirement, who cannot be terminated unless they do something horrendous, Head says. ``The result is that you have people in the higher grades who basically have lifetime tenure, and they are blocking advancement for younger people coming up through the ranks,'' he says. Finally, ``fed-bashing'' has hurt the morale of government workers, particularly as the Carter and Reagan administrations have heavily criticized the bureaucracy, Head says. These factors inhibit the government's ability to recruit professionals in areas where talent is scarce, such as information systems, according to recent studies, including one by the American Society for Public Administration. They also lead to high turnover in the ranks of senior managers, say recent reports by the General Accounting Office. But experts say things may not be as bleak as they appear and that they may get better. First, although pay is modest at the entry level and lacks the high-end potential of the private sector, it is much more competitive with private industry in the mid-career range, observers agree. Furthermore, the government often contracts with systems integrators to carry out major development projects, and by taking on management of the contracts, workers often can gain responsibilities more quickly than they would in the corporate world, says Francis A. McDonough, deputy commissioner of the General Services Administration's Information Resources Management Service. Dollar days ``If young people would come into the government at the lowest salaries and stay five years, they probably would be making more and doing more interesting work than their counterparts who take jobs with the private sector here in Washington,'' McDonough says. The federal government also provides extensive training to younger workers, according to McDonough and others. To address the lack of competitive salaries, the government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is moving to allow agencies to negotiate starting pay for experienced workers with scarce skills, in some cases offering as much as 20% more than a candidate's current pay (see story page 84). The OPM is also enabling agencies to speed the hiring process by letting them circumvent bureaucratic procedures. While entrenched senior managers may block career advancement to top MIS jobs, workers can count on climbing steadily through the lower rungs, says Carol L. Covin, a former programmer for the U.S. Navy and author of The Computer Professional's Job Guide for the Washington, D.C., Area. ``It's not entirely tied to seniority, but it's heavily tied to seniority. You can be pretty well assured that up to a point you're going to be able to advance in your career.'' Looking ahead, not back Covin also argues that the perception of government work as mundane or archaic is misleading. The work can include forward-looking projects such as leading the effort to establish Unix as a standard operating system, she says. Furthermore, government employees often enjoy a sense of mission tied to their agency's responsibilities. ``The people I talk to in the government are doing exciting things,'' Covin says. ``They're trying to do something as citizens as well as professionals. The only thing that bothers them is the perception that they are not up to date. The perception is that they don't know anything. It's not true.'' The public perception of government workers can only improve with the change of presidential administrations in January, Head says. ``The new administration will have a more positive attitude toward public service than the past administration. I think the top management of the government, regardless of who wins the election, is going to be more supportive of the civil service than in the past.'' By David Ludlum, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Making systems more flexi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: manusurv Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Manufacturing is getting to be like everything else these days: Just when you think you've got it right, it's time to change it. According to a recent report by Frost & Sullivan, Inc., a New York market research firm, the market for flexible manufacturing systems, or FMS, is about to take off. While only about $870 million worth of such equipment was sold in the U.S. in 1987, Frost & Sullivan expects that figure to be $2.9 billion in 1992. The report is based on 600 questionnaires completed by users and potential users of FMS. Of those, 31% said they are using or plan to use the technology. They said that reputation, technology, price and customer service were the criteria they would use to choose an FMS vendor. Barriers to implementing FMS seem to be its high cost and technical complexity. Most of the responders who were not planning to use FMS had annual revenue of less than $50 million. Dinosaurs? Traditional mass-production manufacturing equipment, automated or not, is designed to produce large quantities of one item. When the design of a product changes, somebody has to physically alter the machine that makes it. An FMS is much more versatile: It changes what it does in response to changes in the computer program that controls it. For example, at the Ford Motor Co. plant in Dearborn, Mich., where car and truck body parts are stamped out, interpress transfer robots pull parts out of one press and feed them into another. The timing and motion of the robots' outstreched arms and hands _ called end effectors _ are completely under program control. To change from one part to another requires only a few keystrokes. FMSs include machine tools, assembly systems, material handling equipment and robots. Machining applications are the largest segment of the market: $480 million, or 55%, in 1987. The balance of the market is flexible assembly systems, which accounted for $390 million in 1987. Manufacturing firms in the transportation, electronics/electrical, machinery and aerospace/defense industries bought 84% of the FMS equipment sold in the U.S. in 1987. The report said the fabricated metal products industry will be a growth area in the years to come. The average U.S. user surveyed is processing five to 50 different part numbers using an FMS; 17% are processing more than 100 part numbers. The average Japanese FMS installation processes 90 different part numbers. Cutting lead times Flexible manufacturing systems not only save labor but also offer users faster product lead time, work-in-process inventory savings, better equipment and floor-space utilization and better product quality. Users are being pushed into technological change by cost pressures from foreign competition, consumer demand for product variety and complexity and the need to squeeze more production out of the nation's factories, which were already running at 82% of capacity in 1987. Several global trends are pulling the FMS market upward. Odd as it may sound, one is the increasing attention being paid to manufacturing problems by manufacturing company executives. Another is that some firms see access to world markets as an opportunity for significant economies of scale if they expand and modernize. One happy family Finally, some large firms are attempting to increase the quality and efficiency of their operations by developing closer relationships with a smaller group of suppliers. Investments in capital equipment like FMSs can help a supplier keep a good customer. The flexible manufacturing system industry seems to have reached the maturity point. Early systems were sometimes oversold and led to disappointment, but today, reliable technology is commercially available. ``Large companies in many cases are truly starting to see the benefits of flexible manufacturing,'' said Gabor Fulop, a high-technology market research consultant in Valley Forge, Pa., who supervised the writing of the Frost & Sullivan report. ``That, in turn, helps the market. Credibility is always the issue with new technology.'' By Josh Brackett, Special to CW; Brackett is a Rockport, Mass.-based free-lance writer. <<<>>> Title : `Pull' system saves time Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ntstory Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Northern Telecom, Inc.'s Meridian SL-1 private branch exchange (PBX) contains more than 50 printed-circuit boards and 15,000 integrated circuits. What's more, most buyers of the systems require at least some degree of customization. Nevertheless, Northern Telecom's Santa Clara, Calif., facility has cut time from receipt of order to shipment of the SL-1 PBX to five days through the use of some integrated manufacturing techniques. Integrated manufacturing is defined by Telecom director of new products Andrew Young as being different from the more commonly known computer-integrated manufacturing. ``It is as much or more a people and organizational issue as it is a technology issue,'' said Young, who co-developed the system at Northern Telecom. Integrated manufacturing hinges on reorganizing the shop floor by changing the flow of material and altering job descriptions. Technologies are then applied to those organizational changes. Pulling hard At the Meridian division of Northern Telecom, where the SL-1 system is built, the major organizational change has been the institution of a ``pull,'' or ``Kanban,'' system. Young said the idea for this change struck him about four years ago when he watched an expeditor move a rush order through production. ``The expeditor would go from station to station, getting whatever was necessary to pull the order through quickly. We asked ourselves, `Why can't we do this with all the orders?' '' he said. A traditional batch method fed all components into the system at once. As a result, Young said, ``Very little of that time was spent on machines; mostly, the parts were in the work-in-progress area.'' In the pull system, on the other hand, manufacturing cells are organized to perform all the operations on a single part. Although the same number of pieces goes through, there is no wait between stations, and the production rate of finished pieces is about the same. Among the advantages of the pull system is faster production and the ability to produce small runs efficiently. The system also helps workers discover defects or missed engineering changes after only one piece has come through the system _ rather than after an entire batch has come through. Another organizational change at Meridian was the institution of quality control at a local level. Under this approach, control is eliminated as a separate process; each station is responsible for its own quality control. ``Some managers used to think of production workers as expendable manufacturing resources,'' Young said. ``But those workers know more about the problems of the company than anyone else.'' In order for a pull system to work, setup time has to be reduced to next to nothing. Meridian uses an automated Circuit Board Design System (CBDS), which is built by another Northern Telecom division and sold commercially by IBM, to deliver information from design departments to the shop floor. CBDS first tests the designs for manufacturability. Control data is then transmitted to the automated insertion devices that place the circuits in the proper positions on the boards. A second computer addition was an expert system developed in-house to speed the engineering change process. Formerly, engineering changes had to go through so many departments that the changes took weeks to reach the shop floor. Now they take days, the company said. The process of building the engineering change manager required laying out all the steps that went into making a change. ``It took us almost a year to track it all down,'' Young said. The engineering change manager reviews changes and flags possible problems; it also routes the paperwork to the appropriate departments. By Lawrence Stevens, Special to CW; Stevens is a free-lance writer based in Springfield, Mass. <<<>>> Title : Steve Jobs, Version 2.0 Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: jobs1 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Last week's product introduction by Next, Inc. was as much the debut of the new Steve Jobs as it was the occasion to introduce a new workstation. The Jobs that emerged after nearly three years last week was a mellower model than that of his time at Apple. Jobs, who walked onto the stark auditorium stage amid cheers from his staff and third-party developers, has abandoned the bow ties and jeans of his Apple days in favor of a conservative business suit. His hair was neatly trimmed. In sum, he looks the part of the serious young businessman he hopes the world will perceive him to be. The transformation is more than cosmetic. Today's Jobs can poke fun at his own image. During a demonstration of the workstation's on-line dictionary, Jobs looked up ``mercurial,'' a word commonly defined as ``changeable'' and one often used to describe him. The definition of mercurial led him to ``saturnine: of a gloomy or surly disposition.'' ``I think I'll stick with mercurial,'' he quipped. More important than his new-found humility, Jobs has gained some savvy as a marketer during his absence. He hasn't lost the ability to capture a crowd. Even the cynical press corps _ which endured one delay before the event began and a second before the subsequent interview that was held in a room too small to accommodate the throng _ walked away impressed with the new machine. Many also walked to nearby restaurants, since the press-conference luncheon was a Jobs special: cream cheese and sprouts on a croissant and mineral water. While the Jobs of yesterday might have played David to IBM's Goliath, this time he is cautious. He has even enlisted his one-time nemesis IBM as a strategic partner: The Armonk, N.Y., giant has licensed much of the Next workstation's system software for use on its own workstations. The new Jobs insisted that the workstation will be sold exclusively to universities. ``More companies tend to die of indigestion than of starvation,'' he said. Few believe that Jobs will limit himself to the academic market, however. An executive at Sun Microsystems, Inc. last week said that Sun's sales force has already run into Next at industrial installations. It looks like Jobs is playing a game of setting modest expectations, which he will meet and likely surpass, as opposed to setting unrealistically high goals and falling short. The target will eventually be Apple. Jobs last week robbed Apple of its image as a technology leader and fresh alternative to IBM's perceived stodginess. ``Mac is going to peak next year,'' Jobs said. ``There are cracks in the hardware that let you see it won't become more than it can be.'' The Mac is stuck in the 1980s, while the Next workstation is a computer for the 1990s, he said. After a three-hour razzle-dazzle display of the machine's capabilities, many left in agreement. As could be expected, Apple sounded uncomfortable in its new role. ``We're not standing still,'' a spokeswoman said. Apple may have beat Jobs to the punch with its own introduction of a Motorola, Inc. 68030-based workstation, but few will remember the chronology. What will linger is the feeling that Jobs did what he set out to do: serve notice that he is back and upstage Apple in the process. By Julie Pitta; Pitta is Computerworld's West Coast senior correspondent. <<<>>> Title : Tandy buses bound for glo Author : Julie Pitta Source : CW Comm FileName: roach Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Encumbered by a reputation for being the supermarket brand of computing, Tandy Corp. has spent the last year trying to spruce up its shelf presence. It began laying the groundwork in the summer of 1987 by establishing a separate sales force for large corporations and sprucing up its Radio Shack retail outlets. More dramatic changes were to come. In April, Tandy and its Texas neighbor, Dell Computer Corp., became the first clone makers to duplicate IBM's proprietary Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) with the introduction of IBM Personal System/2 compatibles. Dell was to later drop its plans to ship a PS/2 clone. In August, Tandy became the only personal computer vendor to ship a PS/2 compatible. When a consortium of leading PC vendors, chip makers and software giant Microsoft Corp. challenged the Micro Channel, Tandy was there as a cautious gambler hedging its bets. The Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) consortium has stated as its mandate to extend the capabilities of the AT bus. Tandy's membership in EISA makes it the sole PC vendor, other than IBM, to support both architectures. Recently, Tandy Chief Executive Officer John Roach spoke to Computerworld West Coast correspondent Julie Pitta about the company's unique strategy. Why is Tandy supporting EISA? Tandy in general is very supportive of standards, and we think that it's important that the industry have a fairly limited number of standards. This action is an indication that, in the MS-DOS and OS/2 worlds, there will be only two standards. It's our job to provide to customers what they want. We would like to be on whichever bus leaves the station. It's very possible the buses will coexist. Why not a single standard? Why splinter the standard at all? I think there are limitations to the Micro Channel from the standpoint of its ability to utilize and work with the existing base of microcomputers as nicely as it might. There has not been any real indication from IBM that they would like a broad base of the industry to adopt a single standard. They've been invited to join EISA. I have no idea what IBM will do and what might be in their best strategic interest. For ex- ample, I was surprised to see them return to the AT standard with their recent product announcement. The consortium has said that EISA will be a superior architecture to the Micro Channel. How do the two compare? [EISA] certainly possesses architectural differences that, if they can be utilized, could make it a higher perfomance bus. Both are actually very high-performance buses. But there's still not an enormous need for that kind of performance by the majority of computer users. If you were an MIS director, which architecture would you choose? There are a lot of factors that would enter into that decision. I think that they should choose whatever makes the most sense in their particular case. What should be the factors? One of the most critical factors is the current systems and the investments you have in them. Many have made sizable investments in Micro Channel machines already. Many have made no investment in Micro Channel machines. Some have made a much stronger commitment to the AT bus and a logical extension is the EISA bus. At this time, individual MIS directors may have performance needs that may dictate a certain bus. Most of those implementations are limited because there hasn't been time to develop the software and operating system. Which architecture will offer the best platform for OS/2? It's not clear that there will be a significant difference. Microsoft has indicated that they will support both. Many [purchasing] decisions are not made on what's the absolute best performance. You've spoken of distinctly different markets for EISA and Micro Channel machines. Won't you try to sell EISA and MCA systems to the same types of customers? Where is the separation in the market? You certainly may offer them to the same types of customers. That, in turn, becomes an opportunity for us because we are letting the customer make the choice rather than dictating the choice. Some have said that EISA is a ploy to force IBM to reduce its licensing fees. What is your response to that statement? I do not view it as that kind of move, personally. How difficult has IBM made it to clone the Micro Channel? From a technical standpoint, it's not difficult. From a legal standpoint, there are real factors that anyone has to deal with that cannot be overlooked. <<<>>> Title : A cockpit design with the Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: cockpit Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: The U.S. Air Force has discovered that its Top Gun pilots sometimes suffer from optical overload, a condition caused by trying to view too many objects when flying at the speed of sound. In an effort to overcome this problem, officials are now testing a personal computer program to assess whether pilots can monitor jet speed by touch. Pilots and researchers for the Air Force are launching the ``cockpit of the future,'' a flight simulation project contracted to Northrop Corp.'s Aircraft Division in Hawthorne, Calif. The goal of the project is to enable jet pilots to monitor flight speed by means of electronic signals sent to their forearms, said Todd Cary, a programmer at Ariste Software, under subcontract to Tacticon Corp. in San Rafael, Calif. Cary was brought into the project by Tacticon President Frank Saunders, whose electronic stimuli display technique has enabled deaf children to communicate by touch. His electro-tactile device transmits signals via gold-plated electrodes taped to a deaf child's abdomen. The Air Force is interested in implementing this touch technique so the pilots can save their eyes for other critical matters. ``At the speed these aircraft will be traveling, the pilot's mind can only focus his eyes on one thing at a time,'' Cary said. ``If this project is proven effective, pilots [can] use their eyes to focus on whether they are overstretching the aircraft's limitations, to track missiles or to close in on an enemy target. Meanwhile, they won't have to be watching their takeoff speed or reading speed gauges during critical moments [of] a mission.'' Each pilot's forearm is wired with 12 electrodes to test stimulus response. With a keystroke, Cary's program prompts a PC to send a digital signal that is converted to analog by a converter loaded in the computer. (Cary uses a Compaq Computer Corp. Portable III with Lotus/Intel/Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification.) The analog signal creates a vibration on the pilot's arm to convey the electronic message. Cary's PC program functions as an interface to the electro-tactile device and also graphically displays the analog signal's intensity level in real time. Cary uses Borland International's Paradox database because it allows him to write applications in Turbo C. Northrop's software specifications require a minimum stimulus response time of 5 msec. By writing in Turbo C and storing the program's utilities in memory, Cary met that requirement. Although the true test of the future cockpit will take place miles above the Earth, researchers can view stimulus reactions at their own desk tops. The intensity level is assigned a score from zero to 15 and is presented in a bar chart on the PC screen. The future cockpit project may not be moving ahead at the speed of sound, but Cary said the software tools allowed him to complete the project within 50 hours of programming time. By William Brandel, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : PC stress kit spells user Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: stress Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: MONTREAL _ End users know that personal computers can often make their jobs considerably easier and, in the process, help alleviate a bit of stress. But what do you do if the PC is what is causing stress? The Montreal Center for Stress Management has come up with a solution. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is a stress management software package for PCs. The Stress Busters program offers a series of relaxation techniques that can be performed in a matter of minutes without having to leave your PC. ``It's as easy as taking a breath and as natural as tensing and relaxing isolated muscle groups,'' said R. deForrest Shelley, director of the center. ``Once people learn how it's done, it becomes second nature.'' At predetermined intervals, the stress management program pops up on the PC screen to guide the end user through a sequence of relaxation exercises and stress management techniques. Best of all, the exercises can be performed inconspicuously while the user is seated. Each time the program comes on the screen, it greets the user with a cheery ``Hello again! Time to take a breather!'' After each break, the end user feels relaxed and refreshed and is more alert and charged with renewed energy, according to the stress center. The program is compatible with virtually all software running under Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS 2.0 or above. It has a suggested selling price of $49.95. By Michael Alexander, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Query manager skirts road Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: quad Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: End users facing an applications backlog in information services are more likely these days to take on the task of writing their own applications. Quadbase Systems, Inc.'s updated SQL query-by-entry (QBE) reporter, writer and engine for Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 and Ashton-Tate Corp.'s Dbase III gives them the power they will need to accelerate past the applications roadblock. Dquery 2.1 is an SQL- and QBE-based ad hoc query management system that includes a relational microcomputer database engine, an SQL, an IBM DB2-compatible interface, a QBE interface and a report writer. With windows and function keys, it gives the user a multiple-window environment and an added sense of self-reliance. Without calling on MIS to make files accessible to them, users can build their own queries by checking off forms drawn on the screen in a template-assist mode. The product is easy enough to use that Big Eight accounting firm Arthur Young & Co. is bundling Dquery with its own business applications, said Michael Masterson, the company's micro systems specialist. ``The convenient thing for us is that it works against Dbase III data files and can query anything that SQL can do,'' Masterson said. He asserted that with personal computer databases becoming more powerful, SQL is becoming a standard base of knowledge for programmers, especially for downloading files through a PC or terminal from a host system. Thus, Dquery enables programmers to learn SQL in a stand-alone micro configuration, further enhancing efficiency. ``Once the SQL queries have been set to code, the product does the rest,'' said Ed Pick, a software developer at FDP, in Miami. ``We manage Quadbase, and it manages the SQL calls automatically,'' he said. Tim Doshier, a programmer at Texaco, Inc. in Midland, Texas, said that using the product has allowed Texaco to migrate many of its database applications from a minicomputer to a more cost-effective microcomputer environment. ``Some applications purchased off the shelf, like graphics processing, are better done on micros,'' Doshier said. ``This development tool allows us to regear our data processing to the micro line. It's sort of a bottoms-up approach to writing applications.'' Dquery 2.1 requires 512K bytes of random-access memory and has a list price of $150. It runs on the entire line of IBM Personal Computers and compatibles with Microsoft Corp.'s MS-DOS 3.1. Quadbase is also releasing Dquery/Lib 2.1, which consists of a set of Microsoft C-callable routines. The product allows the developer to build fast relational database applications by using any compiled Dbase programs. It has a suggested retail price of $295 and includes Dquery 2.1. By William Brandel, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : Keeping Big Brother out o Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: govtai Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: These days, it's hard to find a government agency that isn't at least dabbling in expert systems. The question is whether the developers or the public, in whose service this experimentation is being undertaken, are ready for the results that may ensue. Prototypes abound, with applications ranging from claims processing to crime fighting. A small sample includes the following: The National Ocean Service is developing a network of 110 expert systems to standardize the compilation of nautical charts. At the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the ``Big Floyd'' system _ named after the FBI's top criminal investigator, Floyd Clark _ is used to find relationships between thousands of suspects in labor racketeering cases and match the crimes to federal statutes. A sophisticated Artificial Intelligence Lab at the Internal Revenue Service is developing prototypes of 13 expert systems, including one to identify tax returns that are good targets for auditing. Developers talk about benefits such as higher labor productivity and more objective and consistent decision making. But several observers point out that government managers have not yet addressed the thorny legal, security and ethical issues related to the government's use of expert systems. ``Everyone rushes to embrace new technology . . . and gets excited about the perceived pluses, but they don't look at the dark side. It requires an awful lot of thinking and planning,'' says Susan H. Nycum, a partner and computer law expert at Baker & McKenzie, located in Palo Alto, Calif. For one thing, the legality of using expert systems in government is not clear; the primary concern is how to handle the legal liability for any ``bad'' decisions or harm resulting from use of the system. Judging from experience with medical expert systems, Nycum says, it is important to ensure that the expert rules are of tested quality and that the person who interprets the system's results is competent and accountable. Furthermore, the knowledge base must be kept up to date, including changes in laws and regulations, or the expert system will produce wrong answers, notes John Hoskins, a senior analyst at New Science Associates, Inc., a research and consulting firm in South Norwalk, Conn. Security is another issue that has not been addressed, although many expert systems are being developed for military and intelligence agencies, according to a 1987 paper by researchers Thomas Berson and Teresa Lunt. The Big Floyd method One agency that has tried to address the ``dark side'' of expert systems is the FBI. The bureau's Big Floyd system has stringent computer security and encrypted communications, and its decisions are reviewed by in-house lawyers, says William Bayse, head of the technical services division. Bayse recommends that managers overlay their expert systems with security, privacy and data-integrity controls; make sure they are sensitive to civil rights; and provide audit trails and an explanation facility, so the whole chain of reasoning can be examined. Still, a host of complex issues remains: When should the expert system's advice be followed and when should it be ignored? What happens when two expert systems come up with competing advice? Will politicians use expert systems as scapegoats for tough decisions, such as where to locate a hazardous waste dump? Should formal guidelines on the proper use of expert systems be developed? Will there be a public backlash against a perceived ``government by computer''? Conventional wisdom holds that the role of expert systems should be limited to advising human decision makers. There are others who say this approach may be too conservative. For example, Takashi Gomi, who has studied the government market as president of Applied AI Systems, Inc. in Ottawa, envisions a time when the general public will directly use intelligent systems to file claims or tax returns _ just as people now use automated teller machines. By Mitch Betts; Bettsi is Computerworld's Washington, D.C. bureau chief. <<<>>> Title : Clearing purchase hurdles Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: surdensi Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Unlike their counterparts in industry, federal data processing managers are faced with legislated justification processes and procurement regulations that require them to take extreme care when approaching any acquisition. The entire procurement process, from project conception to contract award, bristles with procedures to check abuse. The procurement rules are there for a good reason: to make sure there is healthy competition for government contracts. Still, the rules and procedures _ especially those allowing lengthy protests by vendors who are not chosen for a contract _ cause delays that can seem interminable to end users. Delays are especially frustrating when procurements take several years in areas where technology is advancing rapidly, so that systems or methods are obsolete almost as soon as they are installed. ``One reason that delays are considered so painful is technology acceleration,'' says Eben Townes, a former contracting officer who is now director of International Data Corp.'s Procurement Information Management Service. ``When product life is shorter than the procurement cycle, users don't get what they thought they were getting.'' So how do managers cope? Townes says he believes one solution is better up-front planning to avoid protests that cause delays. ``Everybody looks at protests as the major cause of delays. But protests are there for a reason,'' he says. ``Quite possibly, the agency or department violated a regulation or statute. If government users took more time to anticipate problems and design better proposals and contracts, they could close off those vendor-caused delays down the line.'' Technological obsolescence does not necessarily have to be the outcome of a lengthy procurement process, he adds. The U.S. Department of Defense, among others, has found ways to incorporate mechanisms in contracts that allow departments to obtain the latest technology as time goes on. Lynn Furman also stresses the importance of careful planning in procurement. Furman spearheaded the successful acquisition of thousands of office systems for the Farmers Home Administration (FHA) , an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Farmers Home's computer acquisition is one of Washington's clear-cut success stories. Today, Furman is executive director of DP operations at the Office of Personnel Management, a government department that is always involved in numerous acquisitions. ``One of the key ways to avoid delay is to have a procurement strategy,'' Furman notes. ``You have to develop contractual instruments that are flexible, have the potential for duration and allow you to incorporate options.'' Managers supervising acquisitions often run into a catch-22 situation, in which the project has been budgeted for a particular fiscal year but that year is closing, Furman says. If the contract is not awarded, the managers lose the wherewithal to pay for the acquisition. The only real solution is legislated multiyear budgeting, which is now being considered, he adds. Until that happens, MIS managers can try to protect themselves in other ways. One alternative is to make the terms of the contract variable, so that quantities can be ordered as funding permits, and a minimum purchase can hold a vendor to a contract until additional funding has been authorized. Although such arrangements create some problems for vendors, since they have difficulty determining quantity discounts under such an arrangement, they can have tremendous benefits for government agencies that are subject to the vagaries of legislative appropriations. For example . . . The Air Force Engineering and Services Center at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida would have been a good candidate for such a contract. After spending four years on a procurement project for systems to automate service functions such as cafeterias and hotels as well as engineering functions such as facility operations, maintenance and military family housing, the center's budget was cut long before the acquisition was completed. The contract, which was awarded to Wang in January 1986, runs until 1991, but the officers in charge of the operation are afraid that the contract will run out before more funds are released. One obvious way to deal with delays is to build more time into the anticipated schedule. If the manager knows it will take six months of planning, a year of procurement time and six months for protests, he can back up the cycle two years. Furman says many managers are now doing this to some extent; in many cases, they are allowing at least an extra six months for acquisitions to cover contract protests. Among the most pernicious effects of lengthy procurement cycles are the ill-advised end-run measures that agencies sometimes take to attempt to get around delays. An example of this might be to use multiple micros when a minicomputer is desired. The micros might not be the optimum equipment, but they can be put on-line faster. Micros can often be acquired under General Services Administration schedules, a streamlined acquisition process that can be completed in weeks. Furman suggests that flexible contracts offer a better alternative for managers with pressing deadlines. ``If you've already structured one of those flexible contracts, you can buy some more on it or buy a technological upgrade on an existing contract,'' he notes, cautioning that this is far from the best solution because the systems purchased will probably not be the perfect fit for the job. The FHA never planned a fallback strategy when it automated its 1,950 county offices, 275 district offices and 46 state centers. There were just too many locations to consider proceeding in any other manner than what the agency envisioned, says Robert E. Sherman, acting deputy director for management at the FHA. Luckily, the agency never faced any funding cuts or challenges to its contract, which went to Electronic Data Systems as primary contractor with AT&T providing the office systems, according to Sherman. Good planning and a multivendor approach may have helped ward off the complication of contract protests. While AT&T provided most of the computers, the plain-vanilla computer systems included several non-AT&T options. AT&T provided multivendor systems integration, which was a departure for that vendor. The procurement was completed in about two years. Sherman attributes at least part of this feat to a simple but seldom-used technique of consensus management. If all parties interested in an acquisition _ program planners, administrators, contracting officers and information resource management officials overseeing computers, telecommunications and records management _ can become involved in each step concurrently, there is a better chance of minimizing delays. By Esther Surden; Surden is a free-lance writer based in North Caldwell, N.J. <<<>>> Title : Relief for drought-plague Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: levinsid Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: There may be some relief for information systems departments in federal agencies. For years, these departments have been fighting an uphill battle to attract skilled personnel because of the institutional rigidity of government hiring practices and pay structures. Those inequities persist, but there are some grounds for hope in that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which sets these rules and regulations, seems to be leaning toward substantive reform. One indication of this is the recent release by the OPM of a report called ``Civil Service 2000,'' which concludes that the median age of federal workers is rising, that agencies will have to work harder at buying or making the skills they need and that for many computer specialties, the government competes with the private sector on very unequal terms. Another indication is a speech delivered by OPM Director Constance Horner at a recruitment conference in June. Horner described the current system as ``slow, legally trammeled and intellectually confused and impossible to explain to potential candidates.'' This description rings very true for many IS managers. Some say that the way things are now, they must either wait for a downturn in the economy to get qualified people to accept job offers or pay out of their own pockets to place ads in technical journals. Others report that their only option has been to scale down their projects. General Services Administration official Jack Landers, who headed a task force to look at personnel policies, says that senior managers told him, ``We wanted systems but couldn't attract the people who would make them succeed.'' Money is the main reason that the government competes on unequal terms with the private sector. For example, before January's 4.1% raise, an entry-level computer scientist will start at $15,118, while someone with slightly more training or experience will begin at $18,726. Compare this with the private sector. According to a survey by the College Placement Council of 187 placement offices at 154 colleges and universities, a computer science graduate with a bachelor's degree in science can start in the industry at $27,576. Graduates in the 50th percentile, a rank based on their college grade point average (GPA), start at $27,744, and those in the 90th percentile begin at $31,200. Figures for electrical engineers with telecommunications experience show the same disparities. The governmentwide and Justice Department starting salaries are the same as those in the computer scientist series. By comparison, the private-sector salaries for average offers, 50th percentiles and 90th percentiles are $29,688, $30,000 and $32,300, respectively. The OPM is doing what it can to make the system more flexible _ granting more direct-hire authority, waiving some requirements for entry-level positions and proposing to allow agencies to use fee-paid professional recruiters to find the people they need in selected instances. Because of the extension of direct-hiring authority, agencies can now hire applicants in certain categories such as electrical engineering without a lengthy preliminary screening by the OPM. Experience starts to pay Agencies are now also able to negotiate starting salaries with qualified candidates at the highly experienced GS-11 level and above. In some cases, they can offer as much as 20% above the candidate's present pay, based on his superior qualifications or the agency's special needs. Many agencies, such as the U.S. Air Force's Wright Aeronautical Laboratories, also use cooperative programs _ an approach that enables an agency to hire students from local universities and even high schools for one or two semesters in the hope that some will eventually be hired full-time. Even more radical innovations may be in the offing. The OPM's Horner has proposed that agencies be given the authority for direct hiring and recruiting on the basis of an employee's college GPA. Horner's proposal would do two things. First, candidates would be eligible for consideration if they have a minimum GPA, somewhere between 3.0 and 3.25. Second, candidates who failed to make the cut would be eligible if they passed occupationally based exams designed by the OPM. But until Horner's proposal becomes procedure, depending on who heads up the next administration and the OPM itself, agency managers will have to continue to use other tactics in competing with the private sector for computer professionals. Some of the more successful strategies include the following: Stressing the challenges and opportunities that can be found in working on government systems projects. Pointing out that perseverance is rewarded. For example, while salaries for entry-level government computer specialists are lower than in the private sector, they tend to catch up within three to five years. Using training as both an entry incentive and an inducement to stay. Renato di Pentima, deputy associate commissioner of systems integration at the Social Security Administration (SSA), says his agency uses separate approaches for entry-level and senior employees. For new hires, his office assigns mentors who are themselves senior managers, to work with the employee. At the same time, the SSA provides extensive training, including tuition-paid university courses, and a series of career advancements. For senior employees, SSA provides further training and exposure to the most advanced technology the agency buys. Retaining senior people is likely to become a greater priority in the next few years. Numerous studies show that the government work force in the year 2000 will consist largely of technology-intensive jobs that demand constant retraining. Several government units, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, formerly known as the National Bureau of Standards, and U.S. Navy laboratories in San Diego and China Lake, Calif., are taking advantage of congressional legislation that authorizes experiments in personnel simplification to build better reward systems and enrich the work experience. The main features of these programs include the substitution of a few broad pay ``bands'' for the 15 standard government pay ranges, the pegging of pay raises to performance and the assignment of responsibility for drafting job descriptions and recruiting to line managers. In the end, if these demonstration projects succeed, they may become the government norm, whether by due course of law or the quiet adoption of key features by other agencies. By Arnold S. Levine; Levine is a free-lance writer based in Gaithersburg, Md., and a frequent contributor to Federal Computer Week. <<<>>> Title : Gillette's close shave Author : David A. Ludlum Source : CW Comm FileName: gillette Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Two years ago, corporate MIS managers at Gillette Co. thought they were on top of their budget for the coming year. Then takeover artist Ronald Perelman struck, floating a $65-per-share offer for the company's stock. Management rejected the offer and in November 1986 paid Perelman a premium for his shares, prompting the price to drop to $45. Analysts cried ``greenmail,'' and shareholders filed lawsuits. To boost earnings and the stock price, top management moved to restructure in December. Gillette's corporate MIS group had to apply a guideline to its Systems Planning and Research department and its own administrative expenses to reduce corporate overhead by 10%. Early in the year, MIS executives had to revise their 1987 budget. In addition to running the planning and research organization, the corporate MIS group provides communications, support and standards for decentralized DP within the company's worldwide manufacturing empire, billing business units for equipment and services. ``We follow the businesses while at the same time try to lead them to new technologies,'' says Joseph Cloonen, controller for the corporate MIS group. Last year, the company spent about $80 million on MIS _ 2.5% of revenue _ and supported 6,500 personal computers and terminals. MIS scaled back operations and development according to the demand from the restructured lineup. The group typically advises the business units on budget priorities. In streamlining the activities it controls directly, the corporate MIS group made its top priority maintaining investment and support for strategic systems, ``which is to say those related to sales and manufacturing,'' Cloonen says. It continued work on systems for salespeople, which have since been deployed. The group cut back on consultants, conferences and testing and deferred ``things of secondary nature not cost-justified or considered crucial to business,'' Cloonen says. Managers cut the MIS group's staff by 9%, the same amount by which they lowered their overall spending and by which the company reduced its total work force. The MIS managers accomplished some of the reduction through attrition, but most of it required layoffs. Along with continued investment in the future, the managers were particularly concerned with maintaining the group's ``skill set,'' Cloonen says. ``Sometimes future turnover is a bigger concern than the people affected directly,'' he says. Managers tried to assure remaining workers that the restructuring was a temporary measure through honest communication, particularly by emphasizing the underlying need to focus on core business, Cloonen says. DAVID A. LUDLUM <<<>>> Title : Making users pay to play Author : Michael Alexande Source : CW Comm FileName: charge Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: There is one straightforward way to justify your MIS budget: Charge users for services. Justifying the budget is enough reason for many information center managers to institute a charge-back system instead of grappling with the often tricky task of justifying the benefits of automation to top management each year. An information center operated as a profit center is also more likely to provide better service to end users and to respond more quickly to demands of individual departments, says John Dubiel, a system assurance division leader at Boston Edison Co. in Boston. ``We're getting to be functionally more like consultants, and that is probably healthy,'' Dubiel says. ``It was a no-win situation when we administered the budget for the whole corporation,'' he adds. ``Now, each department sets its own budgets.'' In a Harvard Business Review article early last year, the University of Virginia's Brandt Allen pointed out that in a profit center, the budget-setting process is simplified because end users, and not information center management, set the budget. The process also provides a basis for measuring both efficiency and effectiveness, he says. Charging for information center services helps to clear away backlogs, says Dave Douglass, editor and publisher of the ``IC Strategist,'' a newsletter covering information center management trends and issues. ``When information centers become backlogged with project requests, you have to decide which projects to undertake and which to put on a back burner or to reject altogether,'' Douglass says. In a charge-back operation, some of that responsibility is passed to end users, he adds. If the project is important enough, they will pay to have it done. Not all information managers are convinced that charging for their services is an alternative to justifying their budgets, however. In many instances, individual departments in some corporations simply refuse to take the added burden of attempting to calculate what their costs for automation will be each year. Also, some information managers fear that the information center will simply become complacent because it has a captive audience. ``With small budgets it's hardly worth the effort. The cost per user is too small to be meaningful,'' says Dennis Davidson, manager of data processing at Continental & Conveyor Equipment in Winfield, Ala. MICHAEL ALEXANDER <<<>>> Title : CASE tops agenda at DAMA Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: damarev5 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: CHICAGO _ Data administrators must learn to use computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools to better serve their fast-changing businesses, said speakers at a recent Data Administration Management Association (DAMA) conference. Just as factory automation led to the development of just-in-time procedures, the process of restructuring databases should lend itself to reusable data and tools to efficiently reorganize that data. ``Data relationships can be changed by product changes,'' said Gary Salton, first vice-president of planning and control at Homart Development Co. ``A firm's competitive strategy signals where the greatest returns are to be had, and a data administrator's strategy should be in step with that.'' As examples, Salton cited databases Homart created to spot real estate for shopping malls and to provide data for financial analysis. The business of ``building shopping centers is a mature industry,'' Salton said. ``We are engaged in a long-term battle for market share. By using systems to identify new opportunities, we are putting more horsepower into our market research group.'' The technique Homart uses can be applied to other businesses, DAMA speakers said. ``Data administration is going through the same kind of transition any manufacturing business goes through,'' explained John Zachman, a consultant at IBM's Western region in Los Angeles. ``We should have off-the-shelf data instead of off-the-shelf systems,'' Zachman said. ``We must design reusability of data into the overall system.'' Flexible database structures will allow users to gain new insights, even if the same data is used again and again, Zachman said. ``You need to have a dynamic infrastructure [for data] if management doesn't want to define what the company's product will look like until the customer walks in the door,'' Zachman said. One way to quickly create and recreate data structures involves the use of CASE tools. Ian Palmer, president of James Martin Associates, Inc., told the 150 DAMA attendees that CASE could dramatically ease the revamping of a corporation's underlying data structures. ``The only reason to have an information architecture is to impact systems that will be up and running in a short period of time,'' Palmer said. ``People should be aiming at a 12-month time frame at the most.'' Without an automated approach, he said, development of databases often drags on for years. ``You'll often find that you have duplication of data in many places,'' Palmer said. Now, CASE tools are available to make sharp cuts in development time. But, Palmer conceded, it is difficult to measure the impact of CASE tools on shortening the design cycle, which consists of 60% to 70% of development time. By Jean S. Bozman, CW Staff <<<>>> Title : An eight-pen, 25-in./sec. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwwester Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: An eight-pen, 25-in./sec. plotting device has been introduced by Western Graphtec, Inc. The GP2100-JC is a pinch roller-type plotter that can accommodate media sizes A through D, the vendor said. The product features an RS-232 interface, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP/GL command protocol and 4K bytes of buffer memory standard, with a 1M-byte buffer memory optional. Several types of pens are available for use with the model. The GP2100-JC costs $3,995. Western Graphtec, 11 Vanderbilt, Irvine, Calif. 92718. 800-854-8385. <<<>>> Title : Falco Data Products, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwfalco Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Falco Data Products, Inc. has announced a high-resolution graphics terminal that features six windows with variable size and position control, the vendor said. The product is being positioned as an alternative to the Digital Equipment Corp. VT330. The Falco 5330 offers support for concurrent processing from up to four hosts and includes four bidirectional ports. When used with the company's Unix minicomputers, the product can reportedly run up to six applications concurrently on a single line. The terminal can display 25 to 50 lines of data on the screen and will support the Session Support Utility, which allows two sessions on a single wire from a DEC computer. The Falco 5330 costs $1,295, and is scheduled for delivery this month. Falco, 1294 Hammerwood Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif. 94089. 408-745-7123. <<<>>> Title : Data/Ware Development, In Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwdatawa Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Data/Ware Development, Inc. has enhanced the remote diagnostic capabilities of its portable DW345 channel monitor. The device is used to monitor I/O activity on IBM and plug-compatible mainframes. According to the company, a remotely installed DW345 can now be switched on-site between terminal diagnostic mode and RS-232 modem diagnostic mode. The DW345, including RS-232 communications capability, costs $14,495. Data/Ware, 9449 Carroll Park Drive, San Diego, Calif. 92121. 619-453-7660. <<<>>> Title : MSI Data Corp. has enhanc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwmsidat Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: MSI Data Corp. has enhanced its family of portable data terminals. The Model PDT was developed as a low-end offering for applications with low data volumes, the vendor said. The device is available with either 8K or 32K bytes of random-access memory. The 8K-byte version costs $350; the 32K-byte unit costs $450. The terminals use either alkaline or rechargeable Nicad 9V batteries. MSI Data, 340 Fischer Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. 714-549-6000. <<<>>> Title : A series of minislot scan Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwsymbol Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A series of minislot scanners designed to provide hands-free scanning in a point-of-sale environment has been announced by Symbol Technologies, Inc. The LS 5500 series is available in three versions: a plug-and-play configuration that operates via a scanner or optical character-recognition port; an integrated keyboard wedge interface designed for older systems; and a version designed to fit in the minislots of the company's interface controllers. The LS 5500 series is priced from $1,495 to $1,695. Symbol, 116 Wilbur Place, Bohemia, N.Y. 11716. 516-563-2400. <<<>>> Title : Advanced Technologies Int Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwati2 Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Advanced Technologies International, Inc. has unveiled two 12 page/min laser printers. Both the ATI 1270 and the ATI 1275 were desgined for multiuser, PC-networked environments and provide 300 dot/in. resolution, the vendor said. The ATI 1270 tabletop model was developed for office use and costs $3,995; the ATI 1275, targeted at both office and commercial environments, offers Adobe Systems, Inc. Postscript support and is priced at $8,595. Advanced Technologies, 355 Sinclair-Frontage Road, Milpitas, Calif. 95035. 408-942-1780. <<<>>> Title : An image processing works Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwvicom Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: An image processing workstation that is built on the Motorola, Inc. VMEbus and acts as a peripheral to a user-supplied Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun-3 workstation has been announced by Vicom Systems, Inc. The Vicom workstation reportedly comes equipped with four Vicom image processing boards, a point/ensemble processor, a spatial convolver, 2M bytes of image memory and a 512K-byte buffered display processor. A VME-to-VMEbus repeater for interfacing to the user's Sun-3 workstation is also included. The Vicom workstation is priced at $30,000 and is scheduled for delivery in December. Vicom, 2520 Junction Ave., San Jose, Calif. 95134. 408-432-8660. <<<>>> Title : A terminal capable of dis Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwimaged Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A terminal capable of displaying both text and video images that are stored on a computer database has been announced by Image Data Corp. Christened the Newimageterminal, the product is compatible with the ANSI/Digital Equipment Corp. VT100 protocol and can include pictures of individuals, catalog items, real estate, medical images or manufacturing parts. According to the vendor, the images can be stored on a minicomputer or mainframe database, and individual users may call up the images on demand. The unit comes with a standard RS-232 interface and includes a 9-in. gray-scale monitor. A 9.6K-byte modem is optional. Newimageterminal is priced from $2,495 to $3,995. Image Data, Suite 200, 11550 IH-10 W., San Antonio, Texas 78230. 512-641-8340. <<<>>> Title : Spectra-Physics Retail Sy Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwspectr Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Spectra-Physics Retail Systems has announced the Freedom Scanner, reportedly first in a series of flexible-mount, compact bar scanners to be offered by the company. Designed for the retail point-of-sale (POS) environment, the product is said to measure 9 in. high by 12 in. wide by 3 in. deep. When mounted horizontally, the scanner is flush with the counter top to allow items to slide easily across the smooth, nonslotted scanner surface. Two vertical-mounting options are also available, and the product is compatible with most popular POS devices, the company said. The Freedom Scanner costs $1,395. Spectra-Physics, 959 Terry St., Eugene, Ore. 97402. 503-683-5700. <<<>>> Title : RDK, Inc. has introduced Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwrdk Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: RDK, Inc. has introduced a plotter for users working in computer-aided design and manufacturing environments. Designated the Model RY-5214, the digital plotting unit is capable of plotting in either pen or pencil, the vendor said. Features include a 12K-byte buffer standard with a 256K-byte version optional; maximum paper size supported is 24 by 36 in. The unit is shipped with four disposable ``H''-style pens in four colors, four pencils and software for lead-out detection. The plotter stand is also included in the purchase price. The Model RY-5214 costs $4,595. RDK, P.O. Box 14743, Austin, Texas 78761. 512-832-5464. <<<>>> Title : Mad Intelligent Systems, Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwmad Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Mad Intelligent Systems, Inc. has introduced a series of workstations based on the 20-MHz Intel Corp. 80386 microprocessor. The Series 3000 Intelligent Workstations were designed to run under the MAD/IX operating system, the vendor's implementation of AT&T's Unix System V, Release 3. Features include up to 16M bytes of 32-bit random-access memory on a private memory bus, standard networking capabilities, high-resolution graphics and X Windows support with a 60M-byte streaming-tape cartridge system. The products are also available in a file server configuration. The Series 3000 Intelligent Workstations are priced from $14,000 to $29,000, depending on application configuration. Mad, 2950 Zanker Road, San Jose, Calif. 95134. 408-943-1711. <<<>>> Title : Two dot matrix line print Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwtaneum Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Two dot matrix line printers that offer Digital Equipment Corp. LG01 emulation are now available from Taneum Computer Products. The TCP660 and the TCP690 print at speeds of 800 and 1,200 line/min., respectively. Bar code and business graphics options are available at no additional charge. The TCP660 costs $8,990, and the TCP690 is priced at $11,990. List price includes installation, a 90-day on-site warranty and operator training. Taneum, 1123 Maple Ave. S.W., Renton, Wash. 98055. 206-228-5956. <<<>>> Title : BMC Software, Inc. has an Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swbmcsof Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: BMC Software, Inc. has announced DB2 DASD Manager, a capacity planning and performance tuning product that manages the life cycle of DB2 physical objects. The software reportedly provides a comprehensive set of statistics that can be run on-line without making the table space unavailable or off-line against image copy data stats. A perpetual license for DB2 DASD Manager costs from $15,000 to $51,250, depending on CPU type. BMC Software, P.O. Box 2002, Sugar Land, Texas 77497. 800-240-8800. <<<>>> Title : Execucom Systems Corp. an Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swexecuc Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Execucom Systems Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. have announced that Execucom's IFPS/Plus 3.5 modeling and financial planning software is now available to run on HP's HP-9000 minicomputer family under HP-VX, HP's version of the Unix operating system. IFPS/Plus reportedly allows financial and business professionals to develop complex financial models and includes a relational database management with SQL-like query language. An artificial intelligence-based Explain Facility is also included. IFPS/Plus for the HP-9000 is priced from $35,000 to $50,000, depending on the hardware configuration. Execucom Systems, 9442 Capital of Texas Highway, Arboretum Plaza One, Austin, Texas 78759. 512-346-4980. <<<>>> Title : Dynamics Research Corp. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swdynami Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Dynamics Research Corp. has released Version 2.0 of Adamat, its automated Ada quality analysis tool. The latest release is said to incorporate more than 150 Ada-specific metrics and offers enhanced configuration management capabilities. Weighting, soft-switching and thresholding are included to allow the developer to customize measurement to relate directly to the code. Adamat 2.0 is priced from $4,995 to $24,995, depending on system configuration. Dynamics Research, 60 Frontage Road, Andover, Mass. 01810. 508-475-9090. <<<>>> Title : A fourth-generation softw Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swconcur Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A fourth-generation software application generator that permits faster creation of on-line transaction processing applications has been announced by Concurrent Computer Corp. Called Reliance Builder, the product is said to feature an easy-to-use nonprocedural language, a menu-driven format and a simplified editing procedure. Programmers may also elect to embed text where needed within the application to be called up at runtime by the end user. Reliance Builder will cost from $7,900 to $27,900, depending on hardware architecture. Concurrent, 106 Apple St., Tinton Falls, N.J. 07724. 201-758-7000. <<<>>> Title : Austec, Inc. has released Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swaustec Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Austec, Inc. has released RM/Cobol-85, an ANSI-standard Cobol development environment for AT&T, Interactive and Microport versions of Unix System V, Release 3 on Intel Corp. 80386-based microcomputers. The dual-standard compiler is reportedly CSA-certified error-free and allows users to compile applications to either ANSI 85 or 74 standards. RM/Cobol-85 for Unix V on 386 machines costs $2,250. Austec, Suite 300, 1740 Technology Drive, San Jose, Calif. 95110. 408-279-5533. <<<>>> Title : A Prolog development envi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swapplie Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A Prolog development environment for users of Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstations has been released by Applied Logic Systems, Inc. The ALS Prolog Compiler _ Sun Workstation Version 1.0 compiles the native reverse benchmark into code that executes at 115K logical inferences per second (LIPS) on a Sun-3/50 and 215K LIPS on a Sun-3/260, the vendor said. Tail recursion optimization and debugging facilities are also provided. The compiler costs $4,200. Applied Logic Systems, P.O. Box 90, University Station, Syracuse, N.Y. 13210. 315-471-3900. <<<>>> Title : Encore Computer Corp. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swencore Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Encore Computer Corp. has announced a package of parallel Fortran programming tools specifically tailored for the Encore Multimax parallel processing system. The Encore Parallel Fortran package is a family of compatible parallel tools, including a parallelizing compiler, optimizer, analysis and function tools. Language extensions, a code generator and a parallel runtime are also provided. The system runs under both of the company's Unix-based operating systems: Umax 4.2 and Umax V. The Encore Parallel Fortran package costs $12,500. Encore Computer, 257 Cedar Hill St., Marlboro, Mass. 01752. 617-460-0500. <<<>>> Title : Ross Systems, Inc. has in Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swrosssy Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Ross Systems, Inc. has introduced an interactive administrative purchase order system developed exclusively for Digital Equipment Corp. VAX computers. Called Maps/PO, the system reportedly allows companies to manage purchases without requiring a bill of materials or inventory. Functions include purchase order processing, receipts processing and vendor and buyer analysis. The product allows for full receipt and invoice matching, and all functions are available through a menu-driven user interface. Maps/PO costs $25,000 and higher, depending on CPU. Ross Systems, 1860 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, Calif. 94303. 415-856-1100. <<<>>> Title : Leford Software has annou Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swleford Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Leford Software has announced that its Access Credit and Summary Credit software programs have been released in a format to run under the Xenix operating system. The software was designed to allow companies to integrate credit-reporting software with existing applications in a multiuser environment, the vendor said. The Access Credit and Summary Credit packages are said to be part of a complete library of microcomputer-based credit and reporting software offered by the company. Access Credit Xenix and Summary Credit Xenix cost $1,295 each. Leford Software, Suite C, 612 Hampton Drive, Venice, Calif. 90291. 213-399-5511. <<<>>> Title : A billing and order-entry Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swpackag Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A billing and order-entry system designed for the IBM System/38 has been announced by Packagedeal, Inc. Designated Billing/Order Entry, the package is said to include invoice entry, shipment entry and invoice printing capabilities. The system also includes facilities for handling contracts and standing orders. The product can be used in a stand-alone configuration or interfaced with the company's inventory, accounts receivable or general ledger packages. Billing/Order Entry costs $3,350. Packagedeal, 6366 Guilford Ave., Indianapolis, Ind. 46220. 317-259-4189. <<<>>> Title : Dickens Data Systems Inte Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sedicken Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Dickens Data Systems International is now shipping Building Blocks, its integrated multiuser, multitasking office automation software for IBM RTs. The product integrates word processing, spreadsheet, SQL database manager and natural language query capabilities in a windowing environment, the vendor said. The software license fee is $4,500. Dickens, Suite 230, 3850 Holcomb Bridge Road, Norcross, Ga. 30092. 404-448-6177. <<<>>> Title : Effective immediately, H. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swhjhans Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Effective immediately, H. J. Hansen Co. has reduced prices for its Dart (Data Accumulation and Retrieval of Time) software. Dart was written for industrial engineers and costs estimators. Version III.0, which was released late last year, will now sell for $10,000. The product was previously listed at $29,000. According to the vendor, a typical Dart system consisting of Dart III.0 with the Cue and Light Assembly databases will now be priced at $15,500 instead of the previous $40,000 charge. All training formerly included in the software sale is now offered only on an as-needed basis, the vendor said. H. J. Hansen, Suite 2A, 600 E. Higgins Road, Elk Grove Village, Ill. 60007. 312-439-7979. <<<>>> Title : Classic Systems, Inc. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swclassi Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Classic Systems, Inc. has enhanced its loan servicing software package to include Adjustable Rate Mortgages and Federal National Mortgage Association Laser Reporting functions. Max 3.0 was developed for small to medium-size mortgage servicing companies and can reportedly service up to 20,000 loans. According to the vendor, transactions are entered via CRT and then verified on-line. Additional batch edits and control reports are provided to ensure data integrity, and the system contains nine menus and a help text. The software runs on IBM Personal Computers and System/36 minicomputers. Max 3.0 costs from $1,500 to $10,000, depending on system size and individual configuration. Installation and training are available for an additional charge. Classic Systems, 230 S. Congress Ave., West Palm Beach, Fla. 33406. 407-967-4939. <<<>>> Title : Access Technology, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swaccess Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Access Technology, Inc. has upgraded its spreadsheet software package for mid-range computers. Release 2.3 of 20/20 is now available, and the software is now portable to Digital Equipment Corp. VAX computers, the company said. Other enhancements to the product reportedly include 21 additional string, data and special functions and a macro debugging capability. The software also offers support for DIF data and optional interfaces to popular database management and word processing packages as well as to DEC's All-In-1 office automation system. 20/20 Release 2.3 costs from $3,400 on the Microvax II to $35,000 on the VAX 8978. Access, 6 Pleasant St., South Natick, Mass. 01760. 617-655-9191. <<<>>> Title : Deneb Systems, Inc. has r Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swdeneb Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Deneb Systems, Inc. has released Version 4.1 of its Construction Accounting and Estimating System for Prime Computer, Inc.'s Unix-based supermicrocomputers, the EXL series. According to the vendor, this release makes Prime the first system to run Version 4.1 of the software, which was developed under the guidelines of the RM/Cobol 85 standard. The product consists of 12 applications, including Estimating, Job Cost, Payroll, Accounts Payable and Receivable and Equipment Control. Construction Accounting and Estimating System Version 4.1 ranges from $1,495 to $1,595 per application. Deneb, Suite 2C, 201 Riverside Drive, Dayton, Ohio 45405. 513-223-4849. <<<>>> Title : A file compression and ex Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swics Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A file compression and expansion utility for file-transfer operations in a Digital Equipment Corp. VMS operating environment has been announced by Innovative Computer Systems, Inc. FCX Version 1.0 reportedly permits files of any type or size to be compressed into a single file. The vendor claimed this offers users a space savings ranging from 30% to 70%. The software supports compression and expansion of directories and directory trees; file selection by type and date; preservation of file characteristics and protection information; and full use of wild cards. FCX Version 1.0 ranges from $900 to $3,000 in price, depending on VAX size. Innovative Computer, 72 Crooked Lane, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034. 609-779-1422. <<<>>> Title : An archiving and retrieva Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsoftco Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: An archiving and retrieval package that was developed for users of Wang Laboratories, Inc. VS systems has been announced by The Software Connection, Inc. Called Kwic-Archive, the product reportedly allows users to find, archive and retrieve documents within word processing applications. The software can archive as many as 1,000 documents per hour, the vendor claimed; an automatic batch operation function is available. Kwic-Archive costs $3,000. The Software Connection, P.O. Box 4014, Englewood, Colo. 80155. 303-798-8028. <<<>>> Title : A program said to recover Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsai Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A program said to recover used files under the Unix operating system has been announced by Systems Access, Inc. Called Recovery Solution, the menu-driven product does not alter the kernel when in operation, the vendor said. The program is complemented by another software package, Hide-Peek-Seek, which reportedly allows the directory owner to cloak files, list cloaked files and uncloak files. Both products will allow only the owner or root user privileges. Recovery Solution costs $199 for a minicomputer configuration. Hide-Peek-Seek is included free with the purchase. Systems Access, 239 Rte. 22 E., Green Brook, N.J. 08812. 201-968-1047. <<<>>> Title : BRS Information Technolog Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swbrs Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: BRS Information Technologies has announced that its BRS/Search Software is now available for use on Cray Research, Inc. supercomputers. The full text and retrieval software is written in C and generates and maintains an index of every word in the textual collection. According to the vendor, instant retrieval is possible using any word or combination of words. Average response time is reported at typically 2 to 3 sec., regardless of system configuration or volume of data. The software runs on a variety of micro, mini and mainframe computer platforms. BRS/Search Software is priced from $1,000 for a personal computer version to approximately $180,000 for the Cray configuration. BRS, 1200 Rte. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110. 518-783-1161. <<<>>> Title : A menu design tool develo Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swergodi Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A menu design tool developed specifically for the Digital Equipment Corp. VAX VMS enviroment is now available from Ergodic Systems, Inc. MDS32 is said to allow seamless integration of application programs, DEC's Document Control Language (DCL) and menus without repeated process spawns or image activations. Three DCL-style commands are included for defining menus, items on menus, actions and other text and screen attributes. Menu definitions are read from text files and can be changed at any time. MDS32 is available at $995 for a limited introductory period. Ergodic, 23666-A Birtcher, El Toro, Calif. 92630. 714-380-9719. <<<>>> Title : Two on-line, real-time pe Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsystar Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Two on-line, real-time performance measurement products for Honeywell Bull, Inc. computers running under the GCOS8 operating system are available from Systar, Inc. Called Olga and Boris, the products are reportedly capable of monitoring several thousand characteristics of the mainframe and peripheral subsystems. Results are displayed as multicolor curves and bar graphs to allow the user to solve performance problems, tune the computer system and display trend data for resource management in real-time or replay mode. The products are also available for the Unisys Corp. 1100 mainframe environment. Olga and Boris are priced from $8,000 for an annual license. Systar, Suite 212, 6404 Ivy Lane, Greenbelt, Md. 20770. 301-220-0104. <<<>>> Title : A product that will serve Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micssl Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A product that will serve as a proofreading aid for on-screen text applications has been announced by CSSL, Inc. Called Monologue, the text-to-speech software will interact with several packages, including Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3, Borland International's Quattro, Ashton-Tate Corp.'s Dbase III and others. The package contains a separate adapter plug for a parallel port and a set of miniheadphones similar to those found on a portable cassette player. The product is implemented as a terminate-and-stay resident program, and no expansion boards are required, the vendor said. Monologue costs $189. CSSL, Suite 202, 909 Electric Ave., Seal Beach, Calif. 90740. 213-493-2471. <<<>>> Title : A minimal-cost production Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micbestw Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: A minimal-cost production-scheduling package for IBM Personal Computers and compatibles has been introduced by Best Way Software Associates. Called Pmodel, the package was designed to help minimize production, inventory and employment costs for a typical manufacturing company. Program input consists of a company's operational costs, its current status and sales projections for as many as 156 time periods. It is supplied in source code on a 5 -in. disk and requires a C compiler and 2M bytes of main memory. A math coprocessor is strongly recommended. Pmodel costs $200. The company also has announced a transportation linear programming package called Trans. Originally, the transportation algorithm was used to determine the optimal cost of sending a supply of objects from a number of source locations to another group of destinations. The software can also be used for transshipment and assignment problems, the vendor said. The program can reportedly read files generated by other systems, and output can be displayed or printed, including solution variables and relative row and column costs. Trans costs $150. Best Way Software Associates, P.O. Box 9656, Warwick, R.I. 02889. 401-738-0881. <<<>>> Title : Battelle has announced a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micbatte Date : Oct 24, 1988 Text: Battelle has announced a program that assists producers of formulation products. Called Improveit, the package reportedly permits users to select the optimal combination of ingredients and process variables to obtain a balance of characteristics. According to the vendor, it can be used for products such as food, inks, paper, ceramics or any product or process that has controllable input variables and measurable product characteristics. The software runs on the IBM Personal Computer, PC XT, AT and compatible systems. Improveit costs $19,800 per company and includes a site license, software support, optimization of a product and related educational activities. Battelle, 505 King Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43201. 614-424-4160.