Title : Object orientation: What Author : Michael D. Milli Source : CW Comm FileName: milliken Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Today's business environment is becoming increasingly fast-paced and hectic. That means businesses must be able to modify their applications in a timely fashion and users must be able to access data strewn across the larger and more distributed heterogeneous networks currently evolving. Software must be modular, robust, extensible, portable, reusable and, of course, easy to use. One of today's best approaches to meeting these needs is to apply object-oriented products and concepts to the problems at hand. Many technologies appear to be _ or claim to be _ object oriented. There are object-oriented languages, operating systems, user interfaces and databases. There are new environments that vendors insist offer true object orientation, and there are older environments adapted or enhanced to provide object-oriented functionality. How can today's information systems manager sort it all out? Can one label apply to all of these things in a meaningful way? Essentially, yes. There is no one central science of object orientation from which the various manifestations spring. Rather, developers and researchers have applied the sundry concepts of object orientation in their respective disciplines in an uncoordinated way. But the basic idea is fairly simple: Objects are, from a very high-level view, any entities that exist uniquely in time and space. In other words, they have ``state,'' and they are characterized by the actions they perform upon other objects and by actions performed on them. Objects can function as actors, as agents and as servers, depending on their relationships to other objects. Actors operate on other objects, servers are only operated on, and agents perform operations on the behalf of other objects. Object orientation also relies upon the notions of class and inheritance. A class is a general category of similar objects. Objects created within a class by definition inherit the basic attributes common to that class. In the application sense, objects are combinations of data and code. The object carries within it the capability of acting upon itself. For example, rather than having two separate entities _ a spreadsheet application and a data file, for example _ for working on a quarterly report, an object-oriented system would offer a ``Quarterly Report Object.'' Within the object would be the data and the appropriate object editor allowing for that data's manipulation. An object-oriented operating system, in turn, would perform actions _ filing and retrieval, for example _ on objects, rather than on different types of data files. This abstraction _ dealing with a general object rather than with specific discrete types of files _ gives a great deal of flexibility to the system. Object orientation is not a new concept. In the early '60s, Doug Engelbart, then at SRI International in Stanford, Calif., worked with the Augment system toward providing an interface that supported direct manipulation and spawned much of the interface work occurring now. Object-oriented programming was first discussed in Norway in the early 1970s in connection with the Simula language. Thus, in effect, object-oriented concepts are between 15 and 20 years old. However, several factors occurring today are driving the current commercial adoption of these techniques. One of these factors is hardware. Technology is now more affordable than in the past. Professionals can have high-performance workstations on their desktops at a reasonable price. These types of workstations are particularly necessary for delivering the graphics-based object-oriented environments to the end user. However, not all manifestations of object orientation require gee-whiz workstations with megapixel displays, mainframe-class processors and half a gigabyte of storage. Object-oriented techniques can improve even more traditional software design. IBM, for example, has already implemented an object-oriented operating system on its Application System/400 midrange processor. Increasing technological complexity may be cited as the primary driver behind the current move to object orientation. The concept provides a way of dealing with complexity in general and with complex systems in particular. This management of complexity spans many levels and implementations, from offering abstraction in software design to enabling direct manipulation of complex objects by the end user. Areas of interest In order to systematically examine object orientation, the current spate of object-oriented products should be divided into four areas: Operating systems. Programming languages. Databases. User environments and applications. Within each of these areas, there are several concerns common to today's IS professionals: Implementation and migration. Implementing an object-oriented database on the engineering side is not necessarily a troublesome task _ indeed, the scientific and engineering market has been relatively untapped by the relational database management system vendors. However, taking a major IDMS/R or DB2 application and trying to migrate the application and the data to an object model could become quite an Augean task. Hardwood vs. veneer (pure vs. hybrid). Although object orientation is broad in scope, religious wars are already erupting over the proper and most functionally pure implementation of object-oriented N, in which N represents just about anything: databases, applications, user interfaces and so on. Coexistence and compatibility. Because the world is not moving to object orientation overnight, IS management will long bear the burden of providing some sort of compatibility and coexistence between the new object-based solutions and the older technology. This could become particularly sticky in the end-user environments. An object-oriented operating system by definition operates on objects rather than on specific types of data files. Two current examples are Biin's Biin-OS and IBM's OS/400. Biin, a company formed by Siemens Information Systems, Inc. and Intel Corp. and located in Hillsboro, Ore., is offering object-oriented, tightly coupled multiprocessing built atop a reduced instruction set computing-like CPU. Biin is optimizing its systems for on-line transaction processing. Biin-OS incorporates many record I/O functions and transaction processing services, rather than relying upon the individual relational database management system packages for those functions. In addition, it delivers the Iicons desktop user interface, which allows users to view and manipulate files, tools and other objects as images on a desktop screen. In IBM's OS/400, everything that can be stored or retrieved is contained in an object. These objects free the users from the implementation techniques or addressing structures specific to a machine. When OS/400 stores a scanned image, for example, all it knows is that it is storing an object. It does not know what is in that object. In the same way, the object itself has to make no special accommodation for innovations in the machine or system. Consistent interface Thus, one of the key attributes of an object-oriented operating system is the availability of a consistent instruction interface that enables both the operation and use of machine resources through object names, while at the same time remaining hardware independent. Bringing in new technology at a machine level, therefore, becomes much easier to do. Future versions of mainstream Unix are expected to be object oriented as well. Currently, there are a variety of specialized approaches providing object orientation atop a Unix-like base, like Biin-OS, which implements Unix primitives, and Mach, the operating system used in Palo Alto, Calif.-based Next, Inc.'s workstation, which is currently in initial delivery phase. If any area is ripe for immediate payback from the implementation of object-oriented concepts and products, it is programming. James Martin, noted IS author and consultant, has pointed out the productivity enhancements possible through object-oriented information engineering _ less code needs to be written. Some early critics have accused object-oriented programming of extracting an unacceptable performance hit. Recent enhancements to the mainstream languages, such as C++, have invalidated this complaint. Object-oriented design produces modular, reusable code particularly suited for reducing the time required to produce complex software systems. In addition, IS can enjoy a lowered cost of software maintenance through the creation of this reusable code. Application of object-oriented design methodology to programming is producing some impressive savings. Recently, programmers at the U.S. Marine Corps, for example, applied these techniques to developing some Ada-based IS applications and were able to produce a prototype in two weeks, compared with the more typical time frame of six to eight weeks. An added blessing on the market has been conferred by Microsoft Corp. and IBM, which have promised object-oriented programming tools for OS/2. On the AIX side, IBM is expected to offer Next's Next Step interface-building software to its users as well. There are a number of programming languages that have contributed mightily to the evolution of the object-oriented concept, beginning with Simula 67. In addition to Smalltalk, there are a variety of languages implementing a range of object-oriented concepts. These languages include Flavors, Loops, Actors, Object Pascal and Ada. As Grady Booch _ director of software engineering programs at Rational, a software developer in Mountain View, Calif., and a proponent of object-oriented software design for a variety of languages _ has noted, ``Object-oriented programming [is] not a binary issue, but rather . . . a spectrum that encompasses a number of languages.'' In addition, vendors bringing new object-oriented software systems such as databases to market can add their own object-oriented programming language, as Servio Logic Corp. did with its Gem Stone. Currently, there is a debate over which language will be chosen as a de facto standard for widespread commercial-scale object-oriented programming. The choice today is between pure object-oriented languages such as Smalltalk and hybrid languages such as C++ or Objective C. Smalltalk has the distinction of being one of the oldest object-oriented programming languages around, as well as having some distinguished parents: Alan Kay, Adele Goldberg and Daniel H. H. Ingalls, who worked on Smalltalk at Xerox Corp.'s Palo Alto Research Center. Everything in Smalltalk is an object, including classes themselves. This lends both a conceptual and a practical consistency to the language. Smalltalk's emphasis is on dynamic binding at runtime. Smalltalk is more of a programming environment than a language. In addition to supporting object-oriented concepts, it offers a consistent, object-oriented user interface. Smalltalk popularized the now-prevalent user environments of multiple windows, icons, text/graphics integration, pull-down menus and mice, making it attractive to a large number of developers and researchers. Adding to C C++, defined by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Laboratories in 1983, combines object-oriented features on top of the traditional C language. C++ actually functions as a preprocessor for C; the C++ compiler is used to convert C++ code to standard C code, which a standard C compiler then converts to machine code. One major benefit of this approach is the ability of C++ to work with a variety of existing C compilers. This capability allows developers to port C++ applications to environments that as yet have no C++ compiler of their own. The developers need only compile C++ to C in the development environment and then take that C code over to the target environment to use the C compiler there. The other hybrid C language that attempts to exploit the benefits of object-oriented programming is Objective C, which was developed by Brad Cox, vice-president and chief technical director at Stepstone Corp., formerly Productivity Products International, Inc. Objective C made a lot of headlines when it was chosen by Next Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs as the foundation for the company's Next Step environment. Objective C also functions as a preprocessor for traditional C. In design, however, Objective C is closer to Smalltalk than C++ is and offers comparable dynamic binding. Programmers will no doubt be slugging it out for years over which product is the most appropriate object-oriented programming language. IS managers have some more real-world concerns, however. For many IS managers, the first pass at an object-oriented programming language will be based on the capabilities of their programmers. There are probably more corporate developers out there familiar with C than with Smalltalk. In addition, C is one of IBM's strategic Systems Application Architecture languages. (Of course, there are probably even more programmers familiar with Cobol than with C, but that is a different issue.) One real advantage of the hybrid object-oriented languages is the retention of familiarity. Programmers are not confronted with a totally unfamiliar programming methodology. One concern that may tilt IS managers' preference for C++ or Objective C is the availability of compilers. Basing strategic applications on a language for which there are few alternate sources of compilers is not a formula for job longevity. Both Objective C and C++ have major corporate support: IBM for Objective C and AT&T for C++. C++ has the advantage over Objective C in terms of multiple sources for compilers, and that edge will probably continue. Language battles aside, however, programmers can exploit object-oriented software design concepts even with traditional languages. Databases New vendors, such as Servio Logic and Ontologic, are beginning to roll out object-oriented databases, and the established database vendors are working on object-oriented enhancements to existing products. Like object-oriented programming languages, object-oriented databases are particularly adept in handling complexity through the exploitation of the concepts of class and inheritance. Some of the products, such as Ontologic's VBase, are targeting the engineering and scientific communities _ groups that typically have had little support from the traditional relational database vendors. Other vendors, such as AIcorp, Inc., are applying object-oriented techniques in front ends to existing databases. This method is one way to handle the migration and implementation question. AIcorp's Knowledge Base Management System (KBMS), for example, uses objects as the foundation for its knowledge and data representation scheme. In KBMS, objects contain rules, such as data validation rules. By incorporating such rules or functions into the object, KBMS frees users from re-creating the validation procedures for each new application. Established database vendors such as Oracle Corp. and Informix, Inc. are hard at work on incorporating object orientation in their offerings. Hewlett-Packard Co. is doing some interesting work with its Iris database, combining object-oriented technology with existing relational databases. The user environment The fog gets pretty thick in exploring the area of object-oriented user interfaces and applications. In essence, the goal of object orientation for the end user is to provide an environment that supports direct manipulation. To print a document, for example, a user would drop a document icon on top of a printer icon, rather than launching the word processing package, loading the appropriate document and then telling the application to print the document. Direct manipulation allows the user to concentrate on the business task at hand, rather than on the mechanics of the application. So instead of figuring out how to get to the command line, for example, and then trying to figure out where the data file is stored, users can simply open the appropriate object and go to work on it. We have a range of examples of such a capability today. The Apple Macintosh, for example, represents discrete files as icons but stops short of providing an interface that supports full direct manipulation. HP's New Wave software provides a greater degree of functionality by offering object management and handling on top of existing operating systems and applications _ DOS now, OS/2 and Unix to come. Metaphor Computer Systems, Inc.'s Metaphor software program, on the other hand, creates an environment within which users can access a full object-oriented environment, but that environment is closed to existing applications. Future visions Mitch Kapor, first the creator of Lotus Development Corp. and now head of On Technology in Cambridge, Mass., has said that he envisions the ideal scenario as delivering to the end user a modular environment in which object tools from a variety of vendors are integrated to create a seamless whole _ in other words, he predicts the openness of today's DOS world combined with the functionality of the Metaphor world. But because we are not yet in that end state in which monolithic applications are replaced by compatible object tools, we encounter a variety of troubling issues. The issue that requires the most attention is the notion of compatibility with existing applications. Take, for example, the Metaphor environment as an example of a pure object-oriented environment. When implemented on an IBM Personal System/2, Metaphor will be able to access data from existing DOS and OS/2 applications. It will not, however, be able to actually launch those applications. It is not the same as trying to run a non-Microsoft Windows application within a window. HP is offering encapsulation as a technique to support existing DOS applications within the New Wave environment with some degree of object-like functionality. However, that presupposes a willingness on the part of independent software vendors to spend an additional 10% or 20% of programming time on encapsulating an application that might be selling very well in its current state. At this level of the workstation market, much will depend on what IBM _ with both Metaphor and Next Step _ HP with New Wave and Microsoft with an as-yet-undisclosed offering decide to do in promulgating a standard approach for object management. Aside from user productivity through direct manipulation, the other significant payoff of object-oriented technology in this area is in user-developed applications. Wanted: Sophistication Like it or not, users will require more sophisticated tools to enable them to produce the ad hoc applications required by a specific business situation. Metaphor's great strength, for example, is its capability to serve as a front end for databases with an environment that allows users to graphically construct applications using that data. All the attributes of object orientation that make it attractive to professional programmers also make the basic technology, albeit packaged in an environment accessible to the nonprogrammer, attractive to the user community as well. Unlike some fads, object orienation is not just hype. But neither is it an all-or-nothing implementation. There are very real methods to make immediate gains from the application of object-oriented design techniques. To benefit from the technology, it is crucial for IS executives to indulge in some longer range planning in conjunction with the appropriate vendors. Most important, IS management needs to determine its implementation strategy for delivering the power of object-oriented applications and environments to the target audience that will benefit the most _ the end-user community. By Michael D. Millikin; Millikin is vice-president of Boston-based Patricia Seybold's Office Computing Group, which is sponsoring its third annual technology forum, ``Object Orientation: Defining the End-User Platform for the 1990s.'' The forum will be held in Cambridge, Mass., April 3 to 5, 1989. <<<>>> Title : DASD rumor crimps used su Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: market13 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Speculation about a February high-end disk drive announcement from IBM caused purchases and orders of new and used drives to slow considerably during the past few weeks. Several industry sources have reported imminent announcement of a ``3390,'' the unofficial name of the IBM 3380 replacement. As a result, many IBM customers considering acquisition of direct access storage devices (DASD) decided to defer their plans until after the rumored announcement. Specifically, customers planning to dispose of 5G-byte 3380 Es in favor of 7.5G-byte 3380 Ks did not follow through and held onto their installed 3380 Es. Also, some customers, fearful of being the last one on the block to buy 3380 Ks before they are replaced, decided to buy used 3380 Es instead. These two factors _ customers postponing plans to replace 3380 Es with 3380 Ks and substituting purchases of 3380 Es for acquisitions of 3380 Ks _ have caused the supply of used 3380 Es to become extremely tight. Consequently, their prices have risen. Although IBM did make an announcement on Feb. 7, it did not include the widely anticipated 3390. IDC Financial Services Corp. said IBM will announce the 3390 in June 1989. IBM did announce price cuts on its new 3990 Model 3 cache controller, a promotional offering for 3380 DASD and 3480 tape customers, a new low-end 3090 processor and an additional model for the aging 4381. Before the Feb. 7 announcement, the supply of 3380 Es was already tight because of uncertainty with the immediate future of the 3380. After the announcement, the supply of 3380 Es became even tighter because customers who delayed DASD acquisitions released an onslaught of pent-up demand. As a result, we are seeing tight supply and increasing demand. This combination has caused the price of used 3380 AEs to rise approximately 7% since the beginning of the year and prices of used 3380 BEs to rise about 13%. Even prices of the 2.5G-byte 3380 AD4 and BD4 have increased during the past few weeks as users look to acquire cheap gigabytes. These drives in particular experienced a dramatic loss in value over the past several months as customers replaced them en masse with 3380 Es, Js and Ks. If prices of 3380 Es continue to rise, customers will be more inclined to purchase used 3380 Ks when they become available. Also, it appears that IBM is willing to negotiate discounts on new 3380 Ks, which would have been difficult to obtain last quarter. This means that even the price of new 3380 Ks is becoming more attractive. This comparison does not even consider the better performance gained when using four-pathed 3380 Ks with 3990s compared with dual-pathed 3380 Es coupled with older 3880s. These developments suggest that prices of used 3380 Es cannot go much higher and still make economic sense. Yet, economic realities do not always drive the marketplace. If demand for 3380 Es continues to increase while supply remains tight, prices of 3380 Es will maintain their current upward trend. In the near term, we are likely to see two powerful forces working against each other. The first is generated by customers who are nervous about adding 3380 Ks to their DASD portfolios in light of replacement rumors. They will, instead, opt for used 3380 Es. This will keep 3380 E demand high, causing limited supply and rising prices. The second force is the simple dollars-and-cents aspect of getting one's money's worth when comparing the price of used 3380 Es with that of used or discounted new 3380 Ks. For the used 3380 E market to return to normal conditions, the supply must obviously increase. If a few large data centers replace Es with 3380 Ks, supply will increase and relieve some of the high demand. This scenario is unlikely, though, with rumors of an impending 3390 announcement. But stranger things have happened. For more information, contact IDC Financial Services' Terri LeBlanc at 508-872-8200. By Robert J. Callery, IDC Financial Services Corp. <<<>>> Title : Evaluating CBT software Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: train13 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: A sagacious traininq coordinator once said of computer-based training (CBT) software, ``When you have a good product, you will know it.'' She is right: Prolonged research to satisfy students' needs cultivates a unique intuition _ a sixth sense, if you will _ when it comes to evaluating training software. But acquiring that intuition, and using it comfortably and reliably, takes time. For the person who is new to the process, the following suggestions may help. Audience fit. Naturally, one CBT course will not perfectly match every student in an audience. But a course that is structured with multiple entry levels _ basic, intermediate and advanced _ will obviously be more successful. Along with providing entry points for differing skill levels, this type of course offers the opportunity for repeated sittings as a student progresses from one skill level to the next. Versatility. Most large data processing organizations are becoming multivendor environments. Because the student audience may well be spread across these multiple hardware and software platforms, it is important that the CBT software be versatile enough to accommodate them. A centralized training system eliminates this problem. However, one of the attractive features of CBT is that it is self-paced and can be conducted in an individual's office entirely at his convenience. Currency and topicality. One of the biggest dangers facing all training material, CBT or otherwise, is that it becomes outdated so quickly _ often within a year _ that it offers little or no practical value. For leased software, it is common for vendors to offer regular updates. Companies that purchase training software must make a judgment on the longevity it offers. In some cases, teaching out-of-date practices may be worse than teaching none at all. Product testimonials. In evaluating CBT, one is wise not to ignore the experience and opinion of others who have already used a particular vendor or course. The primary source of these testimonials is other user organizations. Trainers from these organizations are generally more than willing to share their opinions, good and bad, on particular products. Vendors will gladly provide a list of references on demand. But since they will obviously only list names of clients who favor their products, it makes sense to supplement this list with one's own business acquaintances. Other sources for product reviews are the trade journals and local trainers' and educators' groups. Curriculum fit. lt is important that training software ``fit'' any existing training curriculum. Most organizations offer an MIS career path. An employee progresses along this path by acquiring and demonstrating the skills for a particular position, usually for the one above his current position. To make career advancement manageable, organizations define not only the necessary skills but a matching curriculum as well. CBT software must fit this curriculum. One vendor may be able to satisfy your entire curriculum needs, but more commonly, training requires the services of more than one vendor. So the critical concern becomes not only how well a product will fit your curriculum but how well it will integrate with other training material within the curriculum. Customization. No single software training package will fit all environments, so it is necessary for the software to be customizable. Unique features can be the host hardware, software and even the terminals on individual students' desks. Customization is desirable in another context: the course content itself. Even within a department, two students may require the same course but different parts of it. Or they may prefer to select course modules in different sequences, requiring customization at the student level. Another customizing feature may enable a self-paced course to be modified for classroom or group presentation. Interactive characteristics. Not surprisingly _ and cliched as it may sound _ CBT must be ``friendly.'' It must instill in the student the feeling that he is in charge, that he is doing the driving, and that he apparently chooses the direction in which to proceed. Removing choice in an interaction between student and machine will in part remove some of the challenge, motivation and determination to continue. Continuity. The idea behind self-paced training is that the student can start, stop and resume training at his convenience. Therefore, the software should provide opportunities for review of previous topics or simple quizzes to quickly reorient the student within the course. Tolerance. Lastly, it is desirable that the software is tolerant and forgiving. Students will undoubtedly make mistakes, but they must be corrected in such a way that learning continues to be an enjoyable experience and not a punishing one. Obviously, the surest way of getting training software that exactly fits your need is to develop it yourself. Authoring systems abound for that very purpose. But it would be impractical not to consider the offerings of training vendors first, especially if they offer a mature product that has been refined over many years. The wise training coordinator who said, ``When you have a good product, you will know it,'' might have concluded that, ``If you don't know it, your students will certainly let you know otherwise!'' By Mark Duncan, Special to CW; Duncan is a quality assurance consultant at a large Dallas bank. <<<>>> Title : Lotus' hopes ride on data Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1lotis Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ With beta software in users' hands, Lotus Development Corp. officials last week outlined plans to counter critics by defining a multiplatform strategy for Release 3.0 of its 1-2-3 spreadsheet. Some users, already smarting from product delays and myriad unmet promises, will be tough to convince, while others plan to leap at the data-sharing scenarios Lotus will describe. Part of Lotus' pitch will be to give meaning to the nebulous term ``cooperative processing.'' For Lotus, it means shipping the same spreadsheet for a variety of architectures that can dynamically share data. The firm is counting heavily on what it calls ``cooperative spreadsheet processing,'' a technology that lets two spreadsheet users share data and execute macros interactively on each other's machines. For example, unlike other data-sharing techniques that involve cumbersome file importing, the Lotus system allows one user to exchange messages and data without storing files or exchanging disks. The project, which is still in development, was demonstrated to Computerworld last week. Lotus officials used Release 3.0 under MS-DOS and two personal computers hooked together via a local-area network. A user who sets the system up to listen can receive data or live-active spreadsheet models that can be modified, annotated and sent back. Control can be toggled back and forth between users. This system, demonstrated last week, is expected to be released as a Value Pak for Lotus Extended Application Facility customers later this year, officials said. This capability will eventually be extended to every key architecture that Lotus will support, said Christine M. O'Connor, general manager of the systems technology group at Lotus. According to Lotus Chairman Jim P. Manzi, it will be this type of integration, rather than the spiffy graphical user interface strategy pushed by Microsoft Corp., that will define his firm's spreadsheet product line. Like many other users, Fidelity Investments Vice-President of Technology Services Frank Diasparra argued that Lotus has yet to establish credibility. This may be less of a problem when the firm's product dry spell ends. Company officials promised that some 12 new applications will ship this year. Manzi himself pledged that by year's end, Lotus will be a ``software factory.'' The cooperative spreadsheet approach clearly carries risk. While some users are anxious to implement the technology, others believe the firm should be more sharply focused on PCs. Otto Eisele, who manages about 1,400 PCs largely equipped with 1-2-3 at Union Carbide Corp.'s office technology division, said he was impressed with the spreadsheet-sharing project. ``There is a lot of appeal. It would be neat to work with someone on their spreadsheet. I could help them debug their macros,'' he said. However, Fidelity's Diasparra, a former 1-2-3 user, said he was utterly unimpressed, claiming he already has that ability with the Dynamic Data Exchange Protocol in Microsoft's Windows. ``I already have spreadsheets that share data on a real-time basis,'' Diasparra said. In an interview last week, Lotus Senior Vice-President Frank King also touted the potential of 1-2-3/M, an often-criticized and still unshipped spreadsheet for IBM mainframes that will share the same spreadsheet engine that drives the upcoming Release 3.0 PC product. This version has extra code to attach to IBM mainframe services, such as communications, and will ultimately allow 1-2-3/M to access IBM's DB2. ``Our view of mainframes is that they are spreadsheet servers,'' Manzi explained. That interpretation was both embraced and scoffed at by users. Lotus is getting out of its league with a mainframe product, one user argued. ``Most things you do on spreadsheets should not be done anywhere near a mainframe,'' Eisele said. ``Lotus should stick to the girl they came to the dance with.'' This product could help Big Eight accounting firm Touche Ross & Co. ``In the large environment, you will see a marriage between PC and mainframe products,'' said G. Jeffrey Knepper, the firm's director of advanced technology-tax. Knepper has dealt with the awkward procedures required to move data from a host to a PC. Even worse, after extracting the information, translating or repackaging it and moving it to the PC, it is almost impossible to put back. The common file formats of Lotus 1-2-3/M could change all that, Knepper said. By Douglas Barney, CW staff <<<>>> Title : IBM lifting curtain on re Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1repozz1 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: IBM has built the ballpark, laid out the diamond and filled the stands. Now it is trying to get players on the field. In an unprecedented attempt to guide the destiny of computer-aided software engineering on IBM systems, IBM is setting the stage for an expected summer rollout of its much-anticipated repository. If it lives up to its billing, the repository should permanently change the way many MIS departments and applications developers produce software (see story page 140). The repository is a sophisticated data dictionary or encyclopedia offering software developers a consistent map of their data. It will also help provide IBM software with a common interface to IBM hardware, a key goal of the company's Systems Application Architecture strategy. The repository should give a powerful boost to SAA because it promises the rapid creation of applications that can run on all SAA platforms, which include most of the IBM product line. Because it is SAA-compliant, the repository will eventually run with any SAA operating system: MVS, VM, OS/400 or OS/2, said Robert Libutti, IBM programming systems director of market support, in an exclusive interview with Computerworld. However, the initial host to be supported will be a 370-architecture mainframe running MVS. OS/400 and OS/2 versions will not be announced this year, he said. The OS/2 version will run on an IBM Personal System/2 acting as a local-area network server, Libutti added. IBM plans to introduce the repository formally sometime this year, Libutti said. The initial repository announcement will not be a final version, he noted; enhancements will be added to subsequent versions. Although he would not specify a date for the announcement, he indicated it will likely be conducted in concert with a number of independent software vendors that will have their products ready to work with it. Glover Ferguson, director of development of Arthur Andersen & Co.'s Foundation CASE products, confirmed there is an inner circle and an outer circle of CASE tool vendors. ``The specifications will be published, and everyone can play, although some people will be playing already,'' he said. ``The goal would be to have everybody's favorite tool running in partnership with selected IBM tools for development and maintenance,'' said Ed Acly, a software analyst at International Data Corp., a market research firm in Framingham, Mass. To bring the software world up to date, IBM reportedly staged a briefing recently at its Cary, N.C., facility that was attended by some 100 software vendors. The CASE model that IBM describes, which some refer to as Application Development/ SAA, is a host-based system that requires an intelligent workstation for user access. Implicit in the SAA scheme is an OS/2-based system using the IBM and Microsoft Corp. Presentation Manager graphical user interface. Several CASE vendors, including Knowledgeware, Inc. and Index Technology Corp., said they plan to implement a Presentation Manager interface for their CASE tools. IBM intends to control the back end of the hardware, operating system, database and repository. Above that, IBM's Cross System Product (CSP) will play as one of several fourth-generation languages. Above that, a wide variety of CASE tools will work interchangeably. ``We will major in back-end tools and minor in front-end tools,'' Libutti said. He made clear that the repository will require an IBM SQL-based database running on the host. There is no guarantee that it will work with non-IBM SQL databases such as Oracle Corp.'s Oracle and Relational Technology, Inc.'s Ingres, Libutti said. ``When IBM says SQL, they don't mean Oracle,'' said one CASE vendor who is committed to working with IBM's repository strategy. IBM's SQL will be different, he said, adding, ``I don't know how, but they will make it different.'' Indeed, IBM appears to have been courting smaller tools vendors and avoiding those that sell tools in addition to major competing database products. Oracle and Cullinet Software, Inc., for example, both asserted they have not been working closely with IBM thus far. Although a number of CASE players have built their own repositories, encyclopedias or equivalents, many said they have done so with one eye on the IBM repository, adding that when it is announced, they will scrap their own and move to IBM's. ``As soon as we get it, we will move our data onto their repository,'' Arthur Andersen's Ferguson said. ``When we move our data over, we will provide tools and automation to allow an application to move to their repository.'' Similar statements were made by spokesmen from Sage Software, Inc., Texas Instruments, Inc. and Knowledgeware. The repository project has been under development at IBM for a number of years, but the push to make it SAA-compliant has kept it from the public for the past two years, Libutti acknowledged. He claimed that the recent departure to Apple Computer, Inc. of Morris Teradalsky, who had headed repository development, did not affect the rollout schedule of the software. Independent software vendors, he said, were consulted in the development process to ensure that a wide spectrum of CASE tools will be available with the system. Libutti added that versions of the repository running at customer sites have also been the source of recommendations for changes. IBM is a member of the ANSI Information Resource Dictionary System committee, which has laid out specifications for a standard repository. ``As the standard evolves, we expect our standard to comply,'' an IBM spokesman said. By Stanley Gibson, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Update Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: blurb313 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Why not a computer industry veteran for defense secretary? Consider Bobby Ray Inman: For four years, he was the Defense Department's top spy and was deputy director of the CIA. He was also the founding CEO of Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp., the nation's first high-tech consortium designed to fight Japan, Inc. Today, he's CEO of a defense-related electronics holding firm. He has an excellent reputation in Washington, D.C., enjoys bipartisan support and doesn't have a drinking or womanizing problem. Sounds good. <<<>>> Title : Executive briefing Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: m13brief Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: A revolution in software development. That's how IBM is positioning the repository product it intends to release this year as it tries to assemble an independent show of support, page 1. The technology intrigues users but isn't freezing their plans to develop their own repositories. CASE vendors stand to benefit most, while independent DBMS makers will be the big losers. Look on page 140 for a plain English explanation of what a repository is. PCs aren't the big issue anymore. They've been replaced by the broader notion of end-user computing. And today's savvy IS managers are building their long-range strategic plans with the widespread use of PCs as one of many factors in the end-user equation. Page 95. <<<>>> Title : Executive briefing Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: m13brief Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Diversification could help Eastern Airlines' MIS subsidiary weather the carrier's stormy bankruptcy. The System One operation has been adding smaller clients and still has Continental to fall back on, but restructuring is likely. Page 6. More of your employees may come from foreign countries in the future if trends in IS education continue. Up to 70% of the students in some graduate-level MIS programs hail from overseas, with the Pacific Rim by far the leading supplier. Page 1. A nationwide shortage of PS/2s has users waiting up to three months for Models 25, 70 and 80. IBM hopes to have the problems fixed by July, page 12. Users now have more options for PS/2 service under an IBM plan that bestows more responsibility on dealers, page 12. High-level MIS shuffling at three major firms: Patrick Manning, who headed Pennzoil's Stratis MIS spinoff, resigns at 52 and won't be replaced. Aetna hires John Loewenberg from competitor Capital Holding to head a reorganized IS operation and succeed the retiring Irwin Sitkin, page 8. Meanwhile, Bank of America hires a 30-year IBM veteran to take over its core data center, page 8. Dow Chemical's IS chief merges business and technology by hiring creative staffers, enlightening his management and harnessing the company's power users. Now, Hans Huppertz is tackling his biggest challenge yet: creating a global information network. Page 63. Using common sense saves money for these users: Arco cuts staff of tape librarians by two-thirds by simply reorganizing tape library floor layout, page 29. Some users are finding that the plunge in System/36 prices makes the machine an inexpensive way to get smaller projects done, page 27. The FBI is taking computer crime more seriously following the arrest of a gang of hackers in West Germany earlier this month. Critics say the magnitude of the crime has shocked the feds into action. Page 140. The desktop decision gets cloudier as OS/2 faces a double squeeze from more flexible versions of Unix on one end and an improved version of Microsoft Windows on the other, page 39. Meanwhile, software coprocessors that let DOS software run under Unix are making what was once an expensive hardware investment into a no-brainer. Page 54. There's an opportunity for buyers in DEC and DG's belated entrance into the workstation market. Eager to make a splash, the mini makers are driving price/performance levels to new records. Page 27. Sharks could spoil potential of a transatlantic digital communications cable. The fiber-optic link has advantages over satellites, but there's no backup if the line is severed, page 55. Demand for IS professionals strengthens on Wall Street, despite its unstable image. But firms today are looking more for practical experience and less for exotic technologies. Page 121. <<<>>> Title : Modcomp launches midrange Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: modcomp Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Modcomp kicked in its afterburners in the hotly disputed midrange market last week with the unveiling of high-end additions to its two lines of real-time superminicomputers. Analysts said powering up Modcomp's 32-bit Tri-Dimensional and 16-bit Classic lines was essential to keep the company from slipping beneath the waves in the turbulent midrange seas. ``We're dealing with a 20-year-old company that helped create a market and then essentially fell asleep at the wheel,'' said Don Bellomy, an analyst at research firm International Data Corp. ``They've got to get into a turnaround mode.'' In the interim, competitors such as Digital Equipment Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Gould, Inc. have wooed away portions of Modcomp's user base. Although Modcomp received a financial transfusion when it was bought by West German electronics firm Aktiengesellschaft in 1986, it still faces stiff challenges. One of the key weapons Modcomp hopes to employ in this struggle is its Realix operating system, which melds AT&T Unix System V with its own Max 32 Real-Time Operating System. ``If they can make a case for Unix in real time, this puts them in a good position because so much of real time is manufacturing-oriented,'' Bellomy added. Three critical areas The four-model Classic Tri-D 9300 series emphasizes what the firm considers to be the three critical areas of real-time computing: computational power, interrupt handling and I/O throughput. The machines provide processing speeds of up to 2.5 million instructions per second, can handle 80,000 interrupts per second and boast an I/O throughput of 1.5M byte/sec., the firm said. While the 9310, 9320, 9330 and 9340 use the same CPU and I/O subsystem, they differ in their number of VME standard bus slots, senior product manager Rick Vesny said. The 9310 offers no VME slots, the 9320 has six, the 9330 has nine, and the 9340 has 20, he added. Although the single-board computers are currently based on application-specific integrated circuit and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technologies, Modcomp is looking into future models based on Motorola, Inc.'s 88000 reduced instruction set computing chip, Vice-President of Business Development Dennis Gillespie said. The Classic III/95 is the latest addition to Modcomp's 16-bit superminicomputer line. It packs 4M bytes of static random-access memory, 8M byte/sec. of I/O throughput and has interrupt handling capabilities of 127,129 interrupts per second. The Classic III/95 runs on the firm's Max IV Real-Time operating system. Both machines are scheduled to be available in May with prices beginning at $20,000 for the Classic Tri-D 9300 and $91,300 for the Classic III/95. By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Tandon grabs clock-speed Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: cebit Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: HANNOVER, West Germany _ Tandon Computer Corp. proved here last week that it can pump more iron faster than any other kid on the block _ for the moment. The U.S. firm chose the opening day of CeBIT '89, the West German computer trade fair, to announce that it will begin shipping the Tandon 386/33 personal computer, which is built around the Intel Corp. 80386 microprocessor running at 33 MHz, in April. The clock-speed race has become the PC industry's equivalent of Muscle Beach, with vendors flexing their technology in an effort to impress prospective clients. By announcing the 386/33, Tandon stole promotional thunder from the likes of Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett- Packard Co. Whether there is end-user demand for desktops using such high clock speeds is another matter, analysts said. ``This will catch people's attention,'' commented Julia Tweed, PC analyst at market researcher IDC Europa Ltd. in London, ``but in terms of end users needing it, I would doubt it. Up to now, the number of 25-MHz shipments and even the number of 386 machines as a whole has been quite low.'' IDC estimates that only 200,000 systems using the 32-bit Intel processor were shipped in Europe in 1988. That number, however, is expected to more than double this year. The announcement could position Tandon to get a piece of that growing market. ``Tandon hasn't been a leader in the 386 market,'' Tweed said, ``so they no doubt hope that by announcing this machine they can get back in there.'' By Amiel Kornel, IDG News Service <<<>>> Title : IBM primary provider plan Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ps2serv Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: IBM tried to kill three birds with one stone last week with its announcement that Personal System/2 resellers will now act as primary providers of maintenance service. The move should appease dealers and resellers, many of whom said they are fed up with having to compete with IBM for microcomputer service business. Also, it should make customers happier by simplifying their service contract decisions now that IBM is directing them to its business partners as primary providers. Lastly, it should help push PS/2 sales along by giving customers a complete package of systems and services _ something competitors do not offer, IBM claimed. Customers, however, will still have the choice of contracting with either party as before. Large customer sites, particularly those already using an IBM maintenance contract, can stick with IBM. What is different is that dealers and resellers can now offer more service than before. IBM-designated business partners can now resell IBM service contracts to customers. The plan calls for dealers and resellers to buy service contracts from IBM at an average discount of 25% and then resell them to customers at a higher price. IBM said designated dealers can mix their own service offerings with the IBM service offerings. Business partners will serve as the primary contact for service, but an IBM field engineer will make any service calls required. Under the service plan, IBM will offer on-site assistance as needed to business partners. For the first time, IBM will provide parts on an emergency basis to dealers and resellers. Jack Cooper, president of CSX Technology, the MIS arm of CSX Corp., said he will consider dealers as service providers for the first time. Under the previous structure, dealers simply could not compete with the service offerings IBM could provide, according to Cooper. Now, with the additional assistance from IBM, the dealers could come out ahead of IBM if they offer a better price, he added. By Rosemary Hamilton, CW staff <<<>>> Title : PS/2 shortage seen throug Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: shortage Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: If you can get your hands on an IBM Personal System/2, grab it. This is the advice of computer dealers that are now contending with a severe shortage of PS/2 models. ``It is a serious situation,'' said John Hahn, product-line director at Businessland, Inc. in San Jose, Calif. ``It is forcing us to defer deliveries to other dealers. We have some accounts that want the PS/2 very quickly, and we do not have any indication from IBM when the supply will be freed.'' Businessland has been terminated as a distributor of systems from Compaq Computer Corp., the vendor of the other major personal computer most often made a standard at corporate information systems sites. Hahn said the shortage began almost eight weeks ago, but the pinch became critical in the last four to six weeks. PS/2 Models 25, 70 and 80 have been hardest hit by the shortage, Hahn said, adding that supplies of other versions of the PS/2 are restricted as well. An IBM spokesman denied that the shortage is affecting all PS/2 models but admitted that there were ``pockets of demand'' for the Model 80-111, Model 70-A21 and the Model 25. ``All other models are shipping in adequate supply. We hope to resolve the imbalance by the end of the second quarter,'' the spokesman said. But customers may be waiting as long as three months for the crisis to be resolved, said John Dunkle, vice-president of Work Group Technology, located in Hampton, N.H. Dunkle said that IBM is suffering from dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) manufacturing problems, estimating that IBM has a nationwide PS/2 order backlog of 50,000. The IBM spokesman said he was not aware of any current shortage of DRAM supplies and could not comment on how many orders were not being met. Joe Ann Stahl, president of Storeboard, Inc., said the shortage hit just when IBM was matching Compaq, the consistent market leader in sales of Intel Corp. 80386-based systems. In December, IBM gained 37.7% of the 386 retail market, according to Storeboard, while Compaq grabbed 39.6% of the market. In January, just as the shortage began to take its toll, IBM fell to a 26.2% share, while Compaq surged to 49.1%. By William Brandel, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Amdahl combines transmiss Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: amdcomm Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: SUNNYVALE, Calif. _ Amdahl Corp. last week became the latest vendor to support circuit- and packet-switching transmissions over the same line, providing integration and common network management for its existing T1 multiplexer and packet-switched offerings. Amdahl's Resource Processor, its T1 transmission product, can now accept packetized transmissions from its Access Processor, a CCITT X.25 packet assembler/disassembler. Because the Resource Processor supports subrate digital multiplexing, it can allocate some bandwidths to both circuit- and packet-switched transmissions within a single 64K bit/sec. channel, according to Amdahl spokesman Larry Fillmer. Amdahl plans to enhance the Resource Processor with additional capabilities such as support of 45M bit/sec. T3 links and future broadband offerings of Integrated Services Digital Network, Fillmer said. Users can also reconfigure one node without having to take the network down, and that node will update the others, he added. Two network management systems were also announced: an IBM Personal Computer AT-based product for comparatively small networks and a more sophisticated version based on a Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstation. Both systems can collect traffic and error statistics from either the Access Processor or Resource Processor. The products are slated for availability in the fall. The management systems range in price from $2,000 to $27,000. The Access Processor is priced at $8,000, and the Resource Processor costs $17,600. By J.A. Savage, CW staff <<<>>> Title : News shorts Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: short313 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: No IS impact so far in media merger The planned merger of Time, Inc. and Warner Communications, Inc. may change the media world, but it is not expected to affect computer operations immediately. Both companies have highly decentralized organizations, and systems are run and managed separately for their businesses. One Warner employee who asked to remain anonymous said because the possible merger is months away, systems workers have not yet been briefed. ``It would be premature to speculate,'' the employee said. Tandem hit with monopoly charges Neptune Computer Holding Ltd. has reportedly charged Tandem Computers, Inc. and its Australian, Canadian and British subsidiaries with five counts of monopoly and wrongful trade practices, including breach of an April 1988 antitrust settlement. A lawsuit filed without fanfare in New York last December claims Tandem is unfairly competing for business with its aftermarket dealers by warning potential customers that it cannot guarantee the same level of maintenance support for used Tandem computers as for new ones. Tandem, which has formally denied all charges in its legal reply, ``will vigorously defend itself in court,'' a company spokesman said. If Tandem prevails, the precedent ``would be devastating to resellers, and even more so to their customers,'' said Linda Hopp, a marketing representative for Fairfield, Conn.-based Computer Resale, Inc. Accunet hooks into Bell Atlantic AT&T has begun connecting its interstate packet network, Accunet, to Bell Atlantic Corp.'s local packet network, Bell Atlantic announced last week. As a result, Accunet customers will be able to transmit data within the mid-Atlantic region, while Bell Atlantic customers will be able to transmit data packets to other states and countries via Accunet. AT&T also is negotiating for connections to the local packet networks of other regional holding companies. Cuts at Northern Telecom unit Bell Northern Research (BNR), a subsidiary of Northern Telecom, Inc., has eliminated 50 positions among its 500-member work force. The downsizing is a continuation of an overall corporate restructuring announced by Northern Telecom in December, said BNR spokesman Brian Fraser. At that time, the private branch exchange vendor detailed a $200 million writedown that would result from the belt-tightening effort, which was expected to affect as many as 2,500 employees, according to spokesman Michael Gage. Fifty employees are on a paid leave of absence until March 19, while the company tries to find them other internal positions. After Friday, employees who have not been placed will receive severance packages and job counseling, Fraser said. NCR repackages OS/2 NCR Corp. claimed last week to be the first vendor other than IBM to ship its own version of Microsoft Corp.'s OS/2 1.1, the operating system with the Presentation Manager user environment. NCR priced its version at $340. Amex data group buys unit Data Based Service Group of American Express, the data processing arm of American Express Co., announced last week its intent to purchase the domestic mutual funds transfer agency business of The Boston Co. for $275 million. The Boston Co.'s mutual funds transfer agency business serves 4.8 million accounts, most of which are associated with Shearson Lehman Hutton (SLH) Holdings, Inc.; American Express owns 62% of the outstanding shares of SLH Holdings, and The Boston Co. is a wholly owned subsidiary of that firm. American Express spokesman Matthew Stover said the purchase will essentially take ``a data processing function that has been at an asset management company and put it over with the data processing folk, where it more logically belongs.'' <<<>>> Title : Plexus scraps supermicros Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: plexus Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The Queen of England got one of the last of Plexus Computers, Inc.'s image processing systems. As of last week, the private company is no longer manufacturing its Unix-based supermicro computers and integrating its applications development software and relational database to a complete image processing system. It also laid off 150 employees, leaving only 50, primarily in the software area. Although the firm just won several bids, including the pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co., Schering-Plough Corp. and Glaxo, Inc. as well as the U.S. Secret Service, ``at this time, we don't know how to fill those orders,'' a Plexus spokesman said. Buckingham Palace installed a Plexus system in February for correspondence. A slew of venture capitalists that have been supporting the company since it was founded in 1980, including Hambrecht & Quist, Inc. and Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., notified Plexus that they would not put any more money into it. ``It's now funded from accounts payable,'' the spokesman said. That money is intended to keep Plexus' core software developers working. By J.A. Savage, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Users laud Mac IICX but l Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mac2cx2 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: CUPERTINO, Calif. _ Users have greeted Apple Computer, Inc.'s latest attempt to plug holes in its line of Macintosh personal computers favorably. However, Mac technology still comes at a premium when compared with MS-DOS-based systems, users noted. Much of the appeal of the system announced last week is its smaller footprint, users said. The Motorola, Inc. 68030-based Macintosh IICX offers three expansion slots, compared with six in the original Macintosh II. As a result, it is more streamlined than the other models in the Mac II line. ``It's a nice, in-between kind of product,'' said Mary Howlett, manager of office automation systems at Hughes Aircraft Co.'s Ground Systems Group. ``But I'm disappointed in the price; I had hoped it would be a little lower.'' Apple Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Sculley said the new system is an attempt to provide Apple with a midrange offering, the area in which Intel Corp. 80286-based PCs _ IBM Personal Computer ATs and clones of that system _ have become popular. According to Dataquest, Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based market research firm, 6.5 million 286-based systems will be shipped this year, accounting for the bulk of sales in the personal computer market. ``While we've been doing very well on the high end, it's not the largest segment of the market,'' Sculley conceded. Price snag PC AT compatibles are currently selling in the $2,000 range; prices are expected to drop to between $1,000 and $1,500 during the next couple of months because of oversupply. However, a base configuration of the Mac IICX is priced at $4,669. For that money, users reported that they obtain features not available in the standard clone _ in particular, the benefits of the Mac's graphical user interface. With the Mac IICX, Apple will introduce its portrait screen, a full-screen high-resolution display. Users said that features such as the display and the promise of enhancements to the popular Mac operating system will motivate them to pay the higher price. Apple is expected to release a multitasking version of its operating system before the end of 1989. ``We'll probably buy it,'' Howlett said. ``You get quite a bit with a Mac _things like Appletalk.'' ``It's a winner,'' said Mike Bailey, a systems integrator at Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. and president of the Apple Professionals Exchange. ``I'm going to have one. It'll fit a lot of our needs here, especially the new screen and the footprint.'' Monitors also debut Apple also announced two monitors. One is a 21-in., two-page monochrome monitor capable of displaying two letter-size pages side by side. The price of that display, currently available, is $2,149. The Portrait Display is a 15-in.-diagonal flat screen able to replicate a full page. It is priced at $1,099 and will be available in May, according to an Apple spokesman. Video cards for both monitors are priced at $599. The Mac IICX can also be purchased with a standard Apple monitor. By Julie Pitta, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Users wary of repository Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: user5 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Having endured more than a year of speculation about IBM's forthcoming repository, large users are cautiously making plans for its release but are still going ahead with some of their own repository-like projects. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. in New York designed its own repository-style dictionary composed of relational tables that interface with IBM's DB2, said Charley Dietz, manager of data administration for pensions, savings and retail. ``The repository will be very important for Big Blue shops and especially for my department,'' Dietz said. ``Eventually, we would like to have a homogeneous shop, including all the tools being able to talk to each other. It is our dream.'' While Dietz said his department will probably make the conversion, it could take five years. ``We are not stopping and waiting for the repository,'' he said. The same approach was taken by Bill Werbin, vice-president of wholesale information systems development at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. in New York. Werbin said the department has built its own dictionary and looks to bridge the dictionary later into the IBM repository. In addition, he said, the department is working with computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools such as Index Technology Corp.'s Excelerator and using the proprietary dictionaries associated with them. ``We are assuming that IBM will define a mechanism with links to some of the CASE tools,'' he said. ``It has said the repository will be an open architecture.'' Some say yes Mike Gruia, vice-president of systems at Chase Manhattan Bank in Garden City, N.Y., said he is attempting to standardize his data architecture ``across the board'' so that he will be ready for the IBM repository. Gruia also uses Excelerator and its data dictionary. He plans to move data to IBM's repository when it is released. Lou Lane, database administrator at Hewitt Associates in Lincolnshire, Ill., and a user of Computer Associates International, Inc.'s CA-Datacom/DB, is betting on CA's new Application Construction Environment data dictionary. ``A lot of the information needed in a repository is already in the data dictionary from using CA-Datacom/DB and Ideal,'' she said. It looks like the early winners in the user community will be IBM's 3090 mainframe accounts, particularly those running MVS/ESA and DB2. They will receive the first versions of the repository, according to IBM. Robert Libutti, IBM programming systems director of market support, specified MVS as an operating system for the repository but would not say whether it would run under both MVS/XA and MVS/ESA. VM users will likely get the repository early on, he indicated, while DOS/VSE users will never get it. ``VSE users are not in a heavy life cycle development mode,'' he said, describing the principal target user group. Application System/400 users will get the repository later, but there is less need for them to have it because the AS/400 offers efficiency in its integrated relational database and operating system, Libutti pointed out. Most users who were contacted by Computerworld said they will have to evaluate the task of conversion before committing to IBM's repository. Deitz said that the major chore will be to understand how Metropolitan Life's data modeling fits into the repository. ``If IBM offers a comprehensive tool, the major chore will be to understand how to transform Metropolitan Life's understanding of the real world into another understanding of IBM's world, which would be the repository,'' he said. Computerworld senior editor Stanley Gibson contributed to this report. By Robert Moran, CW staff <<<>>> Title : What is it? Author : Robert Moran Source : CW Comm FileName: side4 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: IBM's forthcoming repository will spare corporations the burden of maintaining the numerous directories and dictionaries _ and redundant data _ that accumulate throughout the application's development life. The repository is a successor to IBM's data dictionary, which dates back to the late 1960s, as well as the DB2 catalog. At a finer level of detail, the repository, which will likely work with IBM's DB2 at first and other IBM SQL-based databases later, will itself be a database that contains all the specifications of dependencies and constraints as well as the enforcement of them. Among the components of the repository will be objects that describe a user company's business model. The repository should be used throughout the computer-aided software engineering process or throughout the life cycle of development. It will be used to establish the business model when the application is first conceived. Then it will be used to design the database, screens and logic and then to generate code. Finally, its entities and relationships will continue to be used in maintaining the program after it is put into production. Shaku Atre, president of Atre International Consultants, Inc. in Rye, N.Y., said the repository will be composed of two parts: a dictionary containing informational elements, or objects, and their descriptions, and a directory that contains the location of information and how to get at it. ``Through front-end tools, users will access and manipulate data from the dictionary. The system will use the directory,'' Atre said. In addition, IBM will permit dictionaries and directories from third-party vendors to be treated as objects within the repository and allow them to generate applications as they do today, said Colin White, an independent consultant and editor of InfoDB, a database journal. Application programming interfaces will allow the various front-end tools to gain access to information contained within the base tables, or the physical views, of the repository. However, each tool will have a peculiar, or logical, view of what is contained within the repository, and each tool will navigate through the model to find the optimum path, Atre said. ROBERT MORAN <<<>>> Title : Some win, some lose, when Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: winlose Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Among independent software vendors, those that have the most to gain from IBM's repository are the host of small firms that deal exclusively in computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools. ``We intend to have interfaces published and available for developers and independent software vendors,'' declared Robert Libutti, IBM programming systems director of market support. By complying with IBM's guidelines, these vendors stand to go for a ride on the back of the ``Blue whale.'' Their CASE tools will most likely be in demand because these products will generate applications that can run on any Systems Application Architecture (SAA) platform. Conversely, their participation will help IBM establish the repository as a standard by making available a wealth of tools for every type of CASE user. Although IBM will also sell its own CASE tools, few vendors expressed worry about the industry giant's presence in the market. ``We don't have all the tools and never will,'' Libutti saaid. Meanwhile, vendors of competing relational database management systems, such as Oracle Corp., Computer Associates International, Inc., Cincom Systems, Inc. and Cullinet Software, Inc., stand to lose more ground in the mainframe market as IBM establishes DB2 as a de facto standard. The position of fourth-generation language vendors is ambiguous. Although IBM's fourth-generation language (4GL) Cross System Product (CSP) is undergoing a major overhaul, it will not be required to use the repository, Libutti said. By complying with the repository's published specifications, third-party 4GL vendors will be able to compete on an essentially equal footing with CSP. However, the fact that IBM has told many that CSP is ``strategic'' leads some to guess that IBM might some day make CSP a requirement for the repository. IBM is working with Transform Logic, Inc. on a new version of CSP, currently referred to as IBM Application Generator, that will generate Cobol code. CSP does not now generate Cobol. The revamped CSP need not be announced at the same time as the repository, Libutti said. CASE tools vendors, including Arthur Andersen & Co. and Index Technology, Inc. plan to work with CSP. Although IBM has considered establishing a certification laboratory to verify compliance with SAA in general and the repository in particular, IBM has rejected that idea. Instead, IBM will publish repository-compliance specifications and leave it up to independent vendors to meet them. Although vendors may claim SAA compliance in labeling, IBM will not underwrite that claim, Libutti said. ``If we viewed ourselves as in the repository business, this would be bad,'' said Glover Ferguson, director of development of Arthur Andersen & Co.'s Foundation CASE products. He added, however, that his firm is content to sell tools. ``There is no alternative to signing up with IBM,'' Ferguson said. By Stanley Gibson, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Inside lines Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: liner313 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Don't call NTT. Cray Research is reportedly planning a major supercomputer announcement for early this week. Industry sources said the products might be related to the Cray Y-MP series. That's the computer line designed by Steve Chen, who left Cray to start Supercomputer Systems, Inc. in Eau Claire, Wis. We'll bet that the former NTT chairman (see story page 16) won't show up for this one. There's smoke, but is there a fire smoldering? Novell denies it, but sources close to the firm claim it is being shopped like mad. One source said four prospective candidates nixed an offer to buy it for a whopping $1 billion. The chain(saw) of command. Two weeks ago, we reported on Ken Olsen's message to DEC marketers that anyone hugging trees might find their shelter blown down. Now we hear that the company's latest system, the seemingly out-of-nowhere reduced instruction set computing-based Decsystem 3100, was riding those winds of change. According to sources at DEC, Olsen made the decision on the Thursday before Uniforum 1989, and after much scurrying around by DEC staffers, it was announced the following Monday. Meanwhile, the company is apparently cleaning out the warehouses and chopping prices on upgrades to the 8550 CPU by 50%. It is also slashing upgrades to the 8800 and 8350 by 20%. Language lessons for PBXs. Information Builders will officially sign up as a participant in DEC and Northern Telecom's Computer Integrated Telephony program, as part of the partners' big announcement Tuesday. As a result, Northern Telecom private branch exchanges _ and any other PBX that supports the program _ will be able to use Information Builder's fourth-generation language, Focus, to access a variety of VAX database management systems. Richard Milhous Nixon would be proud. Users are used to nondisclosure agreements that cover beta-tested PC software, but Gupta Technologies is pioneering ones that cover a finished product that people pay money to buy. If you want to buy the SQLbase server for OS/2, you must sign a legally binding agreement to use the product only for development and testing and not to disclose the results of such development or testing. Strictly speaking, a user could get sued for disclosing product glitches to publications like Computerworld; apparently, you can't even tell us what it is you are doing. Gupta claims it is trying to prevent Microsoft from using Gupta techniques in SQL Server. `Sliver,' a new benchmark definition. Installing IBM's OSI FTAM file-transfer and CCITT X.400 electronic mail software on the same system means also installing two sets of OSI networking software underneath. The reason: IBM developed its FTAM product to work with its officially blessed OSI Communications Systems software, but the X.400 offering is a revamped version of a European product that uses a different version of the networking standard. IBM assured us the disparity will only last for ``a sliver of time.'' Yes, no and . . . maybe. Last week, rumors of significant delays in a new HFC tape line for Vaxclusters and an imminent unramping in the sales organization dogged the Milpitas, Calif.-based Systems Industries. The company's chief financial officer confirmed that, ``we had hoped to make this product announcement earlier than we will be able to,'' but declared the company very close to a commercial rollout. Although he absolutely denied that any layoffs were planned, he added that Systems Industries is ``looking at ways we can come out of the loss situation as quickly as possible, and one of them is cutting costs, which sometimes involves decreasing head count.'' Now our hot line is not only hot, it's also on-line. You can interface with News Editor Pete Bartolik by tapping into our bulletin board at 508-626-0165. Just remember, the more information you provide, the easier it is for us to nail down the facts. Of course, if you prefer to make news the old-fashioned way, you can still call in to a human voice by dialing 800-343-6474 or 508-879-0700. <<<>>> Title : Expert systems Author : Stanley Gibson Source : CW Comm FileName: m13trend Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Despite a reaction against artificial intelligence as a ``hot'' technology and AI's failure to live up to unrealistically high expectations, 1988 was a year of steady, if unspectacular, progress for the AI industry. The march to greater use of expert systems continues as an inexorable underlying trend, according to a recent report issued by Cutter Information Corp., a publishing firm in Arlington, Mass. Cutter estimated 1988 sales for the total AI market, including languages, tools, applications, training and hardware, at $422 million. That figure is several hundred million dollars below figures arrived at by other consulting groups, Cutter noted. The market is expected to grow by 58% in 1989 to a total of about $667 million, according to the firm. The report also predicted the emergence of several market leaders to attain clear dominance, as smaller players fall away. Among the winners, the report said, will be companies such as Aion Corp., AI Corp., Information Builders, Inc. and Neuron Data, Inc., which should double their sales in 1989. The emergence of these firms parallels the increased acceptance of AI in commercial markets. ``The worst of the transition from R&D customers to MIS customers is over, and the shakeout is winding down,'' the study concluded. Acceptance of AI has been hampered by the battle over hardware and software standards, which is still in progress. Choosing among MS-DOS, OS/2 and Unix, as well as opting for Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh, Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX or staying within the IBM world have all been major sticking points on the road to wider use of expert systems, according to the report. The Cutter report makes several predictions for 1989, including the following: LISP machine vendors and LISP-based generic tools will all but disappear in 1989. LISP-based problem- or domain-specific tools will do better, but C, Macintosh and mainframe-specific tools will dominate the news in 1989. The hottest subject this year will be object-oriented techniques. All of the tool vendors are scrambling to introduce offerings or improve their current capabilities. Object-oriented techniques make developing expert systems faster and easier. Neuron Data's Nexpert Object will dominate the workstation tool market in 1989 but will probably start to face serious competition from offerings that have similar capabilities and interfaces but are less expensive. Consultants and vertical market value-added resellers will do very well because organizations will turn to them both for assistance in training and for developing costly tailored expert systems applications. The research community will continue to show strong interest in neural network technology, but commercial applications will lag. STANLEY GIBSON <<<>>> Title : Face the music Author : Nell Margolis Source : CW Comm FileName: 313stock Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: If anyone was whistling in the halls at Microsoft Corp. last week, the tune probably was ``The Harder They Come, The Harder They Fall.'' Only weeks after the high-flying software company wowed analysts and customers with its 1989 preview, it had to admit that product delays would lead to lower numbers than projected. Microsoft stock, notably on the rise of late, came crashing down 10 points to close Thursday at 51 . Aftershock from the Microsoft news shook the company's competitors. Ashton-Tate Corp., which also announced disappointing earnings, closed at 20, down 2 points. Lotus Development Corp. dropped of a point to close Thursday at 21. Novell, Inc.'s stock fell during the week as rumors of poor earnings turned into fact. Novell closed on Thursday at 31 , down 3 points. The week brought better tidings to Apple Computer, Inc.: in a week that saw a new Macintosh, Apple stock reversed its recent trend and picked up a point to close at 35 . IBM dropped 2 points to a Thursday close of 118 . Digital Equipment Corp. ended Thursday at 112 , up of a point. NELL MARGOLIS <<<>>> Title : MIS education assumes a f Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: misforei Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: In August, Pradeep Kumar will receive a master's of science degree in MIS from Boston University. Like a full third of the students in the BU program, Kumar came a long way to get his degree. In his case, it was the 11,000 miles from his native Malaysia to Boston. Kumar represents a growing trend in MIS education in the U.S. MIS programs, particularly at master's and doctoral levels, are increasingly being populated by foreign students. While the race from abroad to U.S. campuses is nothing new in academia, questions abound about the impact such a trend is having on MIS education. Are U.S. universities seeding the information systems ranks of foreign nations that will compete most ardently with U.S. business in the coming decades? Gordon Davis, Honeywell Professor of MIS at the University of Minnesota, said a majority of MIS students at the master's and doctoral levels return to their native lands after graduation (see story page 66). In a sampling of U.S. universities with established MIS programs, the percentage of foreign students generally ranged from 20% to 30% of total enrollment at the master's level. At the Ph.D. level, the numbers tended to be even higher (see chart page 66). At the extreme is BU, where foreign students make up 70% of the Ph.D. program. Kumar's presence at a U.S. school is hardly eyebrow-raising. Higher education in the U.S., particularly in quantitative disciplines such as science, business and mathematics, has taken on an increasingly international flavor. The class of 1990 at MIT's Sloan School of Management, for example, is populated by 37% foreign students. Eager, promising students from India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore and other Pacific Rim nations flock to the U.S. to fill university seats. According to the Institute of International Education in New York, there were a record-high 356,200 foreign students in the U.S. in 1987-88. Of that, 21% studied engineering, 19% business and management and 10% math and computer science. ``The percentage of foreign MBA students majoring in MIS is higher than other disciplines because there is such a strong need in other countries for MIS professionals,'' says Jeffrey Hoffer, coordinator of the MIS program at Indiana University's School of Business. ``I started seeing the trend over the last eight years, and it's continued to build,'' says Jay Nunamaker, head of the MIS department at the University of Arizona. But the growing number of foreign students in MIS programs raises a number of red flags for both academia and industry. ``Obviously, in some respects, we are helping the competition,'' Nunamaker says. ``Foreign competition is already strong,'' adds H. Russell Johnston, director of Boston University's MIS program. ``So if they get well-trained MIS people, there will be a dramatic catch-up in an area where they are currently weak. But we have to ask, do we want a promising student from Japan or a mediocre one from New Jersey?'' Though not unique to MIS education, the questions being raised are critical to administrators of MIS programs around the country: Are foreign students taking valuable seats in classrooms in a critical discipline from American students? Are Americans exporting knowledge in yet another crucial area _ IS _ back to potential competitors in the global economic wars? With an acknowledged shortage of qualified faculty for MIS programs getting worse, is the U.S. facing an unbalanced number of foreign faculty teaching MIS in U.S. universities? Are foreign graduates taking top jobs in multinational companies that might otherwise have gone to Americans? Have American students begun to forsake MIS as a career path, thus leaving ``a hell of an opportunity for foreign students,'' as one American educator put it? Though aware of these concerns, most educators conclude that there is little cause for alarm. Academic tradition dictates an open campus, they say, and foreign students should be viewed as an asset to a program. ``We believe that we should just take advantage of the rich international environment we have here and maximize it,'' says Stuart Madnick, head of the Information Technologies Program at MIT's Sloan School. ``It's clear that internationalization is critical in business today, and if you want to expose U.S. students to an international view, this is the best way to do it. We can't afford to fly them to other countries.'' Not everyone echoes Madnick's perspective, however. There is a nagging feeling that foreign students are reaping benefits that American students seem to be ignoring. ``U.S. students are not valuing the mix of technical and business training we are providing and how it can be parlayed into a solid career,'' Johnston says. ``They are looking for more glamorous professions such as investment banking. The foreign students, though, are seeing a terrific opportunity in this field.'' The students themselves echo the feeling that studying in the U.S. provides a major opportunity. ``To my knowledge, the U.S. is the best place to get an information systems education,'' states a Korean Ph.D. candidate at UCLA who declined to be identified. ``This is the place to be to stay in touch,'' says Sudha Ram, a native of India and an assistant professor of MIS at the University of Arizona. ``Even though MIS is developing in India, it is still far behind.'' ``You cannot get any advanced courses such as mainframe systems classes back home,'' Kumar adds, explaining why he came to the U.S. to study MIS. ``Also, there is much more interaction with computers and projects here. At home, you get a lot of theory, and you might touch a computer once every three or four months. Here, you have 24-hour access.'' Among the concerns for industry is what these graduates do once they have their degrees. ``The foreign students bring in lots of ideas from the international point of view, but the concern is that people come here and take the technology back and leave little behind,'' says Jim Senn, head of the MIS program at Georgia State University. ``If they stay in touch, send colleagues . . . that's a good relationship. If they don't, it does us little good.'' Senn, echoing reaction from most of those contacted, claims the U.S. is far enough ahead in IS that there is little reason to worry about letting loose a golden goose to foreign competitors. Not that far ahead Paul Gray, chairman of programs in information sciences at Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, Calif., disagrees. He discounts the notion that the U.S. is that far ahead in information systems. ``In the information systems business, we don't have a monopoly. Vendors markets are global, and they train MIS people up to American standards no matter where they are,'' Gray says. At Claremont, the MIS student population is almost exclusively American. ``Very few students from abroad can afford to come to us without financial backing, and we are not going to subsidize them,'' Gray says. ``We're a scarce resource, and foreign students are generally underfunded. I'm not going to find the funding for them.'' Few schools have actually imposed quotas on foreign students. Such quotas tread on extremely sensitive ground. According to Lewis Leeburg, director of the information systems research program at the Anderson Graduate School of Business at UCLA, the influx of international students _ particularly Asians from the Pacific Rim _ has caused controversy within the University of California system. ``I'm not so worried about exporting talent as I am about the question of whether we are allocating seats in our schools fairly,'' Leeburg says. For example, Japanese students flock to the UCLA campus. With an overall application-to-acceptance ratio of 11-to-1, the admissions issue ``is a tough problem at UCLA.'' At the doctoral level, the stakes are slightly different. Opportunities for teaching and research in MIS abound and are largely being ignored by American students. Lured by lucrative careers in industry, students are leaving the academic opportunities to foreign classmates. ``I'm more concerned about the trend at the Ph.D. level,'' says James Wetherbe, head of the MIS Research Center at the University of Minnesota. ``If we can't maintain a good supply of faculty in MIS, we could have a big problem.'' Eleanor Jordan, associate chairman of the department of management and information sciences at the University of Texas, adds, ``In this part of the country, there are so many good jobs in MIS that American students forsake careers in academia. The foreign students see a real opportunity there.'' Educators don't foresee dramatic changes in this academic importation. Jordan echoes most academics when she points out that the U.S. actually benefits far more than it suffers. ``The international students make the classroom more competitive, and that results in better information systems people,'' she says. ``The big losers are the countries that are donating some of their best people to us.'' By Glenn Rifkin, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Unix, Pick shake hands Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: spectrum Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: After a three-year battle to capture the multiuser systems market, the Pick and Unix operating systems are headed for an era of peaceful coexistence on the same computers. A tour of the International Spectrum '89 show in Washington, D.C., last month made it clear that Pick-oriented vendors _ recognizing that AT&T's Unix is winning the battle _ have decided that the best strategy for growth is to latch on to the Unix bandwagon. For users, the emergence of Unix/Pick combination products is an opportunity to combine the best of both operating systems _ Pick's bounty of business database applications and Unix's communications features. Furthermore, because of the rigid standardization of the Pick operating system, Pick-based applications are more portable than Unix applications, said Wayne W. Wahlenmeier, vice-president of Fujitsu Microsystems of America, Inc., based in San Jose, Calif. Wahlenmeier recently pre- dicted that ``in five years, Unix and Pick will be so intermixed, you won't be able to tell them apart.'' In fact, 87% of Pick suppliers said they will be involved in Unix within five years, according to a 1988 survey by the Pick industry's International Spectrum magazine. ``Why fight city hall? The big money is being poured into Unix architectures,'' said Michael J. O'Donnell, chief operating officer at Ultimate Corp., a Pick systems vendor in East Hanover, N.J. Pick prudence At the same time, Unix hardware vendors have decided it is prudent to add the Pick operating system to their offerings in order to pick up customers who are devoted to the 3,000 Pick applications on the market but need more horsepower. In the last three years, hardware vendors such as Pyramid Technology Corp., Sequoia Systems, Inc., Encore Computer Corp. and Stratus Computer, Inc. have announced support for the Pick marketplace. Vendors said there are two viable ways to operate Unix and Pick together. One is to run them concurrently, an approach taken by vendors such as Fujitsu, Stratus and Sequoia. They claimed this method provides better performance because each operating system is running side-by-side in its native mode. The second approach is to run Pick's user-applications kernel under Unix, a strategy called Universe that is employed in bridge software. It was developed by Vmark Software, Inc. in Natick, Mass. In essence, Universe enables users to run Pick-based applications software on Unix-based hardware. It combines the Unix operating system kernel with a Pick-compatible application layer, including Pick's popular database management system, command language and compiler. Universe has been ported to dozens of hardware systems, such as the Hewlett-Packard Co. HP 9000 and Encore Multimax systems. In addition, Ultimate recently obtained an exclusive license to run Universe on hardware from IBM, Bull H. N. Information Systems, Inc. and Tandem Computers, Inc. O'Donnell said the Universe architecture combines the strengths of Pick and Unix by putting Pick up front with the user and leaving Unix to control the hardware. The consensus among users, analysts and vendors is that Pick is strong as a relational database manager and has an easy-to-use query language but offers poor networking capabilities. As for Unix, they said it is strong in communications, graphics and efficiently controlling hardware operations but is difficult for nontechnical workers to use. ``Unix is user-hostile, while Pick is so friendly that it's user-obsequious,'' said Richard Canty, a senior programmer analyst who works with Pick at Cornnuts, Inc. in Oakland, Calif. The most likely targets for the Pick/Unix combination products are Pick users who have expanding needs for hardware power and communications, as well as Unix users who want access to the library of Pick applications. But small businesses, which make up the bulk of Pick's current market, are not clamoring for Unix capabilities. ``Here in the Northwest, most of us have homegrown [Pick] software. It's working well, and we don't see any need to change it,'' said Ann Huber, data processing manager at Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories in Spokane, Wash. ``You'll find the larger companies, which have a need to do networking, are going to have a higher interest in this,'' added Bob Friend, treasurer at Peerless Saw Co., a Pick user located in Groveport, Ohio. The Pick operating system, licensed by Pick Systems in Irvine, Calif., was first released in 1973, and its proponents are now striving for broader acceptance. ``1989 is the year that Pick demonstrates its friendliness with the rest of the computer industry,'' said one show coordinator Gus Giobbi, chairman of IDBMA, Inc. in San Diego. By Mitch Betts, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Still reason to believe i Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 36user Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: ATLANTA _ While the computing community is wowed by early sales figures for IBM's Application System/400, some users who are sticking with the System/36 are finding the pickings have never been better. Realtec, Inc., a developer of retirement communities based here, said it is happy with the System/36 and has not yet been swayed toward the AS/400. The firm uses a System/36 Model 5360 to run its affairs at its headquarters in the Buckhead section of Atlanta. In addition, it uses a 5362 to run a sales office in nearby Norcross. When the firm completes a retirement community, it administers the development with a System/36. Ernesto Espinel, information systems director at Realtec, said there are three main reasons for continuing with the System/36: Capacity requirements are currently being met; Realtec does not want to convert its software; and prices on used System/36s have never been better. ``You can't beat that price,'' Espinel said, referring to mod- estly configured used 5362s, which are currently on the market for $5,000. Realtec is now completing an average of one major project per year. If that schedule were increased to three or four, Espinel said more capacity would be required, and a move to an AS/400 might seem reasonable. Realtec moved to the System/36 from the System/34 three years ago. Espinel said the conversion was relatively simple and was accomplished over a weekend. But, he said, ``the AS/400 is a completely different animal. The investment will not only be in hardware but in software. You will be sitting there with a lot of capabilities that will go to waste without a lot of work.'' When Realtec sets up a community, it copies the software used at a previous development and runs it on a similar System/36 in the new location. Thus, with a low price for the processor and little or no cost for the software beyond the original development expense, Realtec can automate a community for a very modest price. In South Carolina, a development called Keowee Key is currently using a 5362 with a 120M-byte disk drive and 10 terminals. The software running that development was just moved to Virginia, where one near Williamsburg called Ford's Colony is operated by a 5362 with a 90M-byte disk and three terminals. Frequently, a development may sell a lot or a house to a customer. In turn, the customer may desire to rent the house and ask the company to serve as a rental agent, keeping track of leases and billings. The software the systems are running is used for reservations, billing and accounts payable. One drawback of the System/36 that Espinel cited is the PC Support feature. ``It works, but not that great. The interface is not that flexible,'' he said. He added that he originally intended to use the System/36 as a local-area network server but that the lack of function has deterred him. Realtec headquarters runs six PCs that _ along with 15 to 18 terminals _ are connected to the host. By Stanley Gibson, CW staff <<<>>> Title : NAS meets its prince Author : J.A. Savage Source : CW Comm FileName: xyz1 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Speculation about the future of National Advanced Systems is over, at least for the short term. Hitachi and Electronic Data Systems found the glass slipper dropped by Memorex Telex. It's the second or third time the shoe has been dropped, depending on how you count. The deal should be consummated. Unloading NAS hasn't been easy for National Semiconductor. After NAS had been on the block for months, the first and most logical buyer, Hitachi, didn't come up with enough money. The second deal, in which National Semi would co-own NAS with Memorex, was a stretch of the imagination. Those two companies would have had little in common in the major product _ mainframes _ but would share knowledge of storage devices. Just the same, any company willing to take on NAS at the time would have looked good. Memorex couldn't raise the cash for its part of the deal. One analyst said it was because one big-time investor dropped out. While Memorex scrambled for the funds, it missed two deadlines for finalizing the offer. So, with the shoe back on National Semi's foot, it was back to buttering up Hitachi. But since Hitachi was always waiting in the background, appealing to it wasn't all that difficult. Thus, it's likely that the real coup was convincing the straight-laced and extremely American EDS to participate in the deal. Analysts say that Hitachi, as a Japanese corporation, has been intimidated by the U.S. market and that with 20% of the ownership going to EDS, it gives Hitachi just enough Americanism to be able to compete. Hitachi immediately began waving the flag _ the one with the stars and stripes. The very day the deal was announced, it began an ad campaign shoring up its good corporate-citizen image. In the ads, the company claims it is multinational and has these major buzzwords: ``made in the U.S.,'' ``harmony in globalization'' and ``cultural assimilation.'' Hitachi also played up its ``Americanization Program'' in which it is aiming at ``being accepted as a good American corporation,'' with American manufacturing and management. It recently doubled the size of its Norman, Okla., DASD plant. Hitachi will undoubtedly try harder, although efforts at U.S. marketing have, so far, met with guffaws from those schooled in the American method of sales. Receiving little attention from analysts and users is the possibility of expanding U.S. R&D. While Hitachi builds the machines, NAS is the one responsible for IBM compatibility and also for trying to stay one step ahead of IBM in the added features game. An infusion of support in R&D could put NAS on a more equal footing with Amdahl, which has been announcing IBM-like features in the last year before IBM itself got around to it. Another important development feature for Hitachi to pick up on is that of fitting a Unix operating system to NAS mainframes. NAS sponsored such an effort up until late last year; it was disbanded when the company went up for sale. NAS top managers may be able to keep their jobs, but no one is quite sure about it. The company is sending in at least one manager, and EDS is supposedly sending one. But for now, that's just to look over the shoulders of Robert Howells and David Turner _ who have been making the big decisions at NAS since last fall. While all the specifics about management, strategy and support have yet to be worked out, I have yet to hear one report of dissatisfaction among users. Hitachi and EDS are the handsome prince to NAS' Cinderella _ they didn't need a big name, and qualifications were not the biggest priority as long as they were rich and handsome and had a reasonable lifespan. So, what's wrong with this fairy tale? EDS doesn't sound exactly thrilled to be wearing the crown, and if that company backs out before the deal is signed, Hitachi may be stuck on its own, a prospect that apparently Hitachi, the U.S. government and domestic business have a few qualms over. By J.A. Savage; Savage is a Computerworld West Coast correspondent. <<<>>> Title : The quest for distributio Author : Michael Molyn Source : CW Comm FileName: molyn1 Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: The corporate application of the future will likely access data that is stored neither centrally nor locally. Instead, the data will reside in a network-aware, dictionary-intelligent, heterogeneous processor environment referred to as ``truly distributed.'' I have been exploring distributed database issues for more than eight years; the industry is just beginning to see products that are minimally useful. However, I have yet to see a product that will provide true ``transparent'' access across multiple platforms _ workstation-to-host, host-to-local-area network, workstation-to-workstation _ in a realistic corporate setting. If you have ever been responsible for testing and recommending database products for a large service-oriented organization, you know that the phrase ``the vendor promised,'' is not likely to elicit a positive response from your customer. To avoid waiting on the promises of a single vendor, you may have to recommend products that are available now, although they are incomplete and will have to be set aside when a better offering is available. The concept of ``distributed'' data came into being as a result of customers' need to localize information processing both for quick development and fast access. Now, microcomputer database management system manufacturers are rushing to provide products compatible with mainframe databases, which still are the major data resource facilities in most large firms. Also, most distributed DBMS vendors have been marketing their products by promising transparent distributed data access to the user across multiple hardware platforms. These trends are a big step toward converting products that were merely microcomputer file managers to fully functional DBMS packages with the same features and functionality as products running in the mainframe environment. But what are the best distributed products still lacking? Among other things, I have not seen a product yet that contains a realistic data-naming scheme with a corresponding dictionary subsystem. Additionally, I have not seen a product that attempts to provide for referential integrity or dynamic update for replicated or fragmented files. In the coming year, data will be further distributed on network file servers, the host and individual workstations. Many applications projects are proceeding under the assumption that a distributed DBMS suitable to their task will be available and supported by the time their project is delivered. Currently, though, much of the data distribution taking place is through replication or partitioning. While vendors continue to hype the ``advantages'' of their latest distributed offerings, it might be useful here to address what it is that corporate data administrators are not looking for: A decrease in processing efficiency. The fact remains that most distributed implementations thus far have tended to be both CPU and network hogs. It is thought that this condition will improve substantially with the new breed of distributed DBMS but, as yet, we only have promises. Increased responsibility for data integrity and security. As more corporate data is stored locally on file servers and tape backup units, we in data administration need products that allow us to provide reliable, recoverable databases without having to depend on customized applications run independently by local users. Any areas planning distributed applications would do well to begin by examining the following recommendations: Identify a distributed strategy that makes sense for your corporation, taking into account your corporate mission and anticipated long-term operating environment and vendor commitments. Create and maintain corporate standards for data storage on intermediary devices. See to it that these standards are published and followed in the projects that are being planned now. Assemble a group of experts from the appropriate disciplines to make decisions about how the distributed climate will be supported once production applications are under way. Experiment with various product offerings from different vendors to become familiar with the operating constraints of different products. This approach has the added advantage of ensuring that your preferred vendor will be forthcoming with a product that meets your needs and your environment. By Michael Molyn; Molyn is an industry expert on distributed database currently working in Hartford, Conn., at Travelers Insurance Co. <<<>>> Title : Color codes tame unruly Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: arcotape Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: HOUSTON _ A year ago, it took the computer operations department of Arco Oil and Gas Co. 10 minutes to mount three reel-to-reel tapes. These days, the same job takes three minutes, according to Don Wells, computer operations manager. And all it took was some common sense, Wells said. Wells' staff recently completed a project that changed the way it managed tape operations. That project coincided with a conversion effort from Storage Technology Corp. 4670 reel-to-reel tapes to IBM 3480 tape cartridges. But the new tape management procedure was not set up to suit the new tapes. The goal of efficient tape management was really a no-choice situation, Wells said. In the previous year, his department was cut from 30 staff members to 10 as part of an overall reorganization at Arco. The cutback left Wells with three tape librarians instead of his former staff of six. ``We had to get lean and mean and learn another way to do this,'' Wells said of the tape operations. Instead of figuring out how fewer people could do the same job that six librarians once did, Wells decided to find a better way to do the job. First, he studied the old procedure. Tape librarians would pull tapes from racks when the computer alerted them as to which tapes were needed for the next job. A staging process would take place, with tapes being pulled from their storage racks and stacked near the drive area. This staging would often cause jobs to be put on hold while librarians hunted down the needed tapes. Delays were typical because jobs often required several different tapes that were located in different racks throughout the storage area, Wells said. It was not uncommon to be delayed further because tapes had been returned to the wrong racks, he added. Wells discovered that tape searches and staging were unnecessarily time-consuming. By changing these procedures, the tape-mounting process could be shortened by several minutes, Wells said. The tape drives had been located in one section of the operations room and the racks of tapes were located in another. So Wells' staff pulled the racks from one storage section and rearranged them in a horseshoe pattern. The staff then moved the tape drives to the center of the horseshoe. The horseshoe was divided into three areas, each with a designated color. Each had 12 tape drives to which the tapes in that area were assigned. The only departures from this pattern were the remaining reel-to-reel tapes and the tape drives for a Cray Research, Inc. XMP. The Cray operations are separate from the IBM 3090 operations. The remaining reel-to-reel tapes contain data sent to Arco from outside sources. This horseshoe pattern with tapes corresponding to nearby drives eliminated the need to search for a tape. When a job came up and called for tapes to be loaded in, say, a yellow drive, the corresponding yellow tapes were no more than 15 feet away, Wells said. This setup was achieved with the help of a software program called the Shared Tape Allocation Manager from Duquesne Systems, Inc. The software, which runs under the IBM MVS operating system, made the assignments of tapes to drives and keeps track of a drive's activity. By so doing, the software is also able to establish a backup system for tape loading. If all the drives in the first tape area are busy, the software program can assign tapes to the next available and closest drive, Wells said. With this setup, Wells was able to reduce his library staff further. There are now only two librarians, one of whom serves as a backup to the lead librarian. The librarian has a tape administrative role now. The computer operators have taken on the other librarian's responsibilities, including pulling and mounting the tapes, because these procedures require so little time now, Wells said. ``I definitely think it's more efficient,''' said Jim McCullor, manager of processing support and Wells' supervisor. ``The end users don't see their jobs going into hold now while tape librarians go get the tapes.'' By Rosemary Hamilton, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Users converge on Uniforu Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: unifor Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: SAN FRANCISCO _ It was all in a day's shopping. Users came from Canada, the East Coast, the Midwest and even from Europe to see what new Unix wares were being shown at Uniforum 1989, the International Conference of Unix Users held here at the end of last month. One woman from eastern Canada, seen lugging her tote bags through the 110,000 square-foot exhibit in the Moscone Convention Center, evaluated whether the long trip was worthwhile. ``It's a great convenience when you can see everything in the Unix market under one roof,'' she said. ``It looks like we'll be back next year.'' Shopping for technology along with her were many of the user group's 5,000 members. Their ranks have swelled since 1982, when Uniforum began with 1,000 attendees in San Diego. In all, Uniforum's organizers estimated that 25,000 people attended the show. Among the hottest news items scattered along Uniforum's runways were these: Sony Microsystems Co. in Palo Alto, Calif., said it had reached an agreement with Mips Computer Systems, Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., to use the MIPS R3000 reduced instruction set computing (RISC) chip when it becomes available later this year. The R3000 will power Sony Microsystems' News workstations, which are now based on the Motorola, Inc. 68030 chip. Japanese sales will start in 1989, followed by U.S. sales in 1990. Sony also announced that it planned to support both the Open Software Foundation and the Unix International, Inc. standards. Intergraph Corp. in Huntsville, Ala., announced the Interserve 3505, which is based on Intergraph's proprietary C300 Plus RISC chip. Intergraph said the server would be the first in a series of RISC-based machines designed for the high-performance Unix market. The company claimed performance of up to 20 million instructions per second (MIPS) for the server and bus speeds of up to 200M byte/sec. The Interserve 3505, scheduled for shipment in the third quarter, is priced at $76,000. Motorola announced a line of systems based on its RISC chip, the 88000. The Delta Series 8000 also includes two models based on Motorola's 20-MHz processor. The Model 8864, said to run at 17 to 60 MIPS, has 16M to 64M bytes of main memory and 20 expansion slots. Prices range from $52,940 for a single-processor system to $80,190 for a four-processor unit. An entry-level unit, the Model 8608, has 8M to 32M bytes of main memory and 12 expansion slots. Also rated at 17 MIPS, it is priced at $27,835. Tandy Corp. in Fort Worth, Texas, said it would be the first to license and offer the Open Desktop interface. Tandy plans to ship Open Desktop in the third quarter. It will come in single-user, multiuser and developer configurations, and prices will start at $995. Tandy has licensed the software from The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) for its 80386-based Tandy 4000 and 5000MC series of personal computers. Open Desktop will be licensed to other vendors and will also be available from SCO. Interactive Systems Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif., said it has been licensed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., to distribute and sublicense SunOS for the Scalable Processor Architecture RISC-based architecture. Under the agreement, Interactive will incorporate its own extensions into SunOS. Informix Software, Inc. in Menlo Park, Calif., announced support of Open Desktop with its Wingz graphics spreadsheet and its line of fourth-generation language application development tools. Informix also said that its database management system software has been selected as the core database for the new AT&T Accumaster Integrator. By Jean Bozman and Patrick Waurzyniak, CW staff <<<>>> Title : IBM, Polygen in developme Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: m13soft Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: IBM and Polygen Corp. in Waltham, Mass., signed an agreement under which Polygen will develop enhancements to its application software for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries for use on IBM mainframes and workstations. IBM also said it will assume a minority equity interest in Polygen. Among the products to be enhanced are Charmm and X-Plor software for computational chemistry; Quanta advanced three-dimensional visualization software for computer-aided design of molecular structures; and Centrum research automation software that allows text and pictures to be combined into compound documents. The software will be made to work together using the IBM 5080, IBM's RT running AIX, the Personal System/2 running AIX, the IBM 3090 with Vector Facility as well as the 9370. NCR Corp. said it signed a cooperative marketing agreement with Oriole Systems, Inc. in Towson, Md., to market Respond, a manufacturing and business management system application for NCR systems. Respond has been designed to meet U.S. Department of Defense requirements for materials handling and inventory control, according to Oriole. Relational Technology, Inc. said it joined the 88Open Consortium Ltd. software initiative program. The software initiative was formed in 1988 to promote the development of software for the Motorola, Inc. 88000 reduced instruction set computing architecture. Relational previously said that its Ingres relational database management system will support the 88000 microprocessor family. Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Fuji Xerox Co. launched a joint venture named Unisol Corp., based in Tokyo. Sun and Fuji Xerox, a Japanese affiliate of Xerox Corp., contributed a total of $4 million to found the firm, which will develop and sell software based on AT&T's Unix and the Open Software Foundation's Open Look for Japan's workstation market. Digital Equipment Corp. announced recently that The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) selected DEC's X/User Interface technology for its Open Desktop operating environment. SCO sells software based on AT&T's Unix for personal computers using the Intel Corp. 80386 microprocessor. VI Systems, Inc. in Dallas said it joined the Associate Program of Sequent Computer Systems, Inc., through which the two firms will market VIS/TPS, VI Systems' transaction processing package. The software will be sold for use on Sequent's Symmetry systems. <<<>>> Title : IS reckons with growing s Author : John Kirkley Source : CW Comm FileName: kirkside Date : Mar 20, 1989 Text: Those information systems managers who ignore end-user computing do so at their own peril. End-user computing is a major force to be reckoned with concludes a survey by the American Management Association (AMA) last year. In ``The AMA Report on End-User and Departmental Computing,'' Gerald M. Hoffman, an independent consultant based in Chicago, says, ``At some point, [end-user computing] will become so large in cost and/or so pervasive in application _ for example, a warehouse with its own inventory control system _ that it will require thoughtful managerial attention. It will also acquire its own name: departmental computing.'' The report, which surveyed IS managers at 295 organizations, was conducted with the cooperation of New York-based Microcomputer Managers Association. Hoffman was one of the primary researchers for the report. In addition to the survey, association members participated in four separate roundtables. Good to have connections The report confirms the claims that connectivity is king. Organizations said they added personal computers and mainframe/mini terminals at a far greater rate than stand-alone units. Another finding is that the ``Year of the LAN'' may have already occurred, with two-thirds of the large-company work sites having local-area networks in operation in at least one department outside IS; 41% of the midsize companies have followed suit. About 84% of the companies reported that they have PCs linked to mainframes or minis or networked with one another, and that percentage is expected to grow rapidly. The report focuses on the changes that end-user computing is creating within the department information structure and contends that the information center is a maturing and viable entity that will continue to expand. The report's final section, ``So Much to Do, So Little Time,'' covers the issue of training. Summarizing the findings, Hoffman notes that 43% of the organizations have at least one user department with sole responsibility for its internal budgeting and financial management applications. Users also have substantial control over departmental writing, word processing and, to a lesser extent, presentation graphics, list processing and computer-aided design. According to Hoffman, user departments must assume primary managerial responsibility for at least some of the key computing and information systems required to manage the department. ``The departmental management must deal with all the issues with which [IS] management deals, albeit on a smaller scale,'' he says. The problem is, Hoffman notes, that user departments are seldom equipped to handle this responsibility, leading to ``a situation fraught with peril.'' For IS, the end-user computing trend means ``redefining its role from provider of all information services to provider of a framework within which the applications can be built and operated, either by [IS] or others.'' More information about the report is available from the AMA at 212-903-8052. JOHN KIRKLEY <<<>>> Title : User wins in X/Open Motif Author : Stanley Gibson Source : CW Comm FileName: stanc2 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: ( 2 1 0If X/Open implements OSF/ Motif despite the protests of Unix godfather AT&T, it will surely be a victory for openness and for the user. Why? Questions of which interface is better aside, it shows that a single dominant vendor cannot control a group. At a recent 0 X/Open board meeting, a majority of members voted that OSF/Motif be adopted as a graphical user interface. The willingness of several X/Open board members _ who are also members of Unix International _ to cast aside AT&T's Open Look for Motif shows they are not dominated by AT&T. In addition, X/Open's embracing of Motif could push Motif that much closer to becoming an undisputed standard. With only 0 one user interface _ even if two fundamentally different versions of Unix exist _ users can still reap economies in training and development. Another X/Open vote will not be held until May, and the outcome could change. But adopting Motif would send a very 0 powerful message that the drive to openness is an irresistible force that is larger than any single industry participant. This argument is not tied to Motif per se. If Open Look were adopted over the protests of the Open Software Foundation (OSF), 0 then users would be equally served. It would simply mean that a single standard _ what the users want _ is emerging. 2-4-6-8, time to extrapolate! DEC's recent benchmark audit report contained details of its extrapolations of performance by Tandem systems. DEC did not test the Tandem systems but only explained the extrapolations that were made last year. Dave Zwicker, DEC on-line transaction processor consultant relations manager, said DEC might conduct actual tests on the IBM 0 Application System/400 as well. But, he noted, such tests were not a high priority. Last summer, DEC extrapolated AS/400 performance figures as well, basing its conclusions on Ramp C figures published by IBM 0 and assuming proportional performance in Debit/Credit tests. Experts put little stock in extrapolations; DEC should limit itself to publishing results of actual tests. DEC continues to perform tests on its own systems. But the company is limiting the tests to systems running VMS and not 0 extending the tests to Ultrix-based systems such as the recently announced Decsystem 3100, which uses reduced instruction set computing microprocessors from Mips Computer Systems. Bloodied but unbowed. Maybe it was Cincom's recent losses that put Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Nies in a particularly feisty mood during a recent conversation. ``In five years, less than 10% of all IBM database implementations will be DB2, and it will be 10 years old,'' Nies predicted. Neither will DEC succeed in its effort to push RDB to the forefront, he added. On Unix _ ``Both IBM and DEC want to make Unix proprietary,'' Nies said. Nonetheless, he said, Unix is destined 0 to play a major role in commercial markets, Cincom will support both OSF and Unix International versions, he said. Ever the indomitable entrepreneur, Nies said that in two years, Supra will have more customers than DB2 because it will run on both DEC's VMS and Unix. 4 * PAGE 2 [ 2 ] 1 On IBM's Systems Application Architecture _ ``I believe SAA will never deliver on its promise,'' Nies said. SAA will be 0 another series of disappointments: ``How can SAA be a standard when such things as Netview, DB2, IMS and ESA will probably never be implemented on the AS/400?'' By Stanley Gibson; Gibson is Computerworld's senior editor, software. <<<>>> Title : Ask the vendor Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 2ask Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Will the next release of Cadware's Foundry product offer support for IBM's new repository? Vince Petrell Systems Analyst Westinghouse Electric Corp. Columbia, Md. CADWARE, INC.: IBM's new repository is not completely defined, and detailed information for the support of the repository is not yet available. Therefore, we do not yet know if the March releases of Sylva Foundry and Sylva System Developer will support the repository. Cadware is, however, committed to support the repository and will implement support as soon as we know the requirement. <<<>>> Title : Ask the vendor Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ask1 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: How can Athena's Foresight product support the checking of consistency and completeness of requirements specifications? Mark Bennett Technical Adviser Northrop Corp. Defense Systems Division Rolling Meadows, Ill. ATHENA SYSTEMS: With Foresight, the engineer can create a graphical model of the system as it is intended to operate, using standard structured analysis constructs from Ward/Mellor, Hatley and ESML. These constructs include state transition diagrams, mini specifications and data flow diagrams. Foresight's Concept Prototyper allows the engineer to use the model to test different assumptions and examine both normal and abnormal operating conditions. You can also use the product to evaluate hardware/software architectural trade-offs. <<<>>> Title : Olsen blasts Feds, gradua Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: keno2 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: NEWTON, Mass. _ Digital Equipment Corp. President Kenneth Olsen may never have been a pugilist, but he laced up his laissez-faire economic beliefs tighter than a pair of boxing gloves recently and took broad swings at both government and business schools for their debilitating and constrictive ways of thinking. ``Government always does the wrong thing,'' Olsen said with a wry smile during his address to the New England Council of the American Electronics Association. ``But it is not worth being cynical and getting upset about, because we know enough to expect it.'' Olsen censured the federal government for saddling industries with high corporate taxes, installing lopsided export fees and not extending financial assistance to an industry unless it is accompanied by commensurate political gain. ``They only help areas like shoes, textiles and semiconductors _ areas in which we never had any reason to want to be,'' he said during the 45-minute speech. DEC's founder noted that such policies stem from a belief that profit-making is ``evil,'' but such views may send out damaging economic ripples. ``The importance of capital is everything,'' he said. ``There are thousands of great inventions out there, but it's less important to think of them than get them into production.'' Throw out the book Business school graduates were Olsen's next target, and he scolded them for their overreliance on textbook theories. ``The educational system is based on things you can measure, not innovation,'' he said. ``Pie charts and spreadsheets are the worst things to happen to business. No one can read a pie chart, and graphs either prove something that is not true or prove nothing at all.'' There was, however, some praise amid the barbs. High on Olsen's list are standards organizations. ``They're like the United Nations; they take forever, but they are terribly important,'' he said. Despite DEC's success thus far _ since its founding, DEC has grown from three employees and 8,500 square feet of leased space in an old woolen mill to a computer industry giant with 121,000 employees worldwide _ Olsen seemed to lend credence to recent industry rumors that DEC's upcoming financials may be flat. ``We grow when demand is there, but we never set growth as our goal,'' he said. By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Extended Edition upgrade Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: saa2 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: IBM will enhance OS/2 Extended Edition later this spring with Version 1.2, which will feature an enhanced database management system component with direct support for Presentation Manager and local-area networks, according to sources briefed by IBM. IBM sources confirmed last week that OS/2 Extended 1.2, which is expected to ship this summer, will provide direct support for Presentation Manager-based queries. Decision-support aspects such as porting query and report writer components will be processed by a server running OS/2 Extended with a DB2-like database manager, said John Dunkle, vice-president of Workgroup Technologies in Hampton, N.H. These decision-support mechanisms will allow the user to perform data analysis on the graphics portion of the Presentation Manager, he explained. Dunkle said that queries to the OS/2 Extended 1.2 database in its initial form will be made through a command line prompt. IBM intends to release a version of the product by mid-1990 that allows icon manipulation as well as query formulation through icon programming, Dunkle added. Key SAA role The enhancements to OS/2 Extended are expected to play a key role in IBM's forthcoming Systems Application Architecture (SAA) Office product. In February, Earl Wheeler, the IBM vice-president who is shepherding the SAA effort, described SAA Office as the first integrated SAA product. Wheeler added that the environment will include document preparation, electronic mail, decision-support features and an iconic interface. IBM said that it will first implement SAA Office on a personal computer-resident product that will support LANs, according to Ann Talermo, director of integrated systems at International Data Corp., a Framingham, Mass.-based market research firm. Talermo and other analysts said they are expecting IBM to unveil the SAA Office architecture in a formal announcement sometime this spring. Sources said they expect several compatible versions of SAA Office that will run on various software platforms such as IBM's MVS and OS/400 operating systems. Senior Editor Douglas Barney contributed to this report. By William Brandel, CW staff <<<>>> Title : DEC lowers its outlook, d Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: dec2 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: MAYNARD, Mass. _ Although the rumor has circled the industry for nearly a month, when Digital Equipment Corp. finally dropped its bomb last week and confirmed to financial analysts that its third-quarter revenue would be lower than many anticipated, the shell scored a direct hit on Wall Street. Prices on DEC issues plummeted $10.63 per share Wednesday afternoon as panicky investors looked to rid themselves quickly of their interests in the minicomputer maker. Weak domestic sales were blamed for the shortfall, with some analysts scaling back third-quarter revenue predictions by as much as $100 million to an estimated $3.1 billion. Net income growth-rate forecasts for the quarter ending April 1 slipped to 10%, or approximately $308 million, down from an average of 13%, or an estimated $316 million. DEC officials, however, downplayed the importance of the indications. ``This is not big news,'' said Mark Steinkrauss, director of investor relations at DEC. ``We've spoken to several analysts that had high numbers and told them we felt they were more optimistic than what the company feels is appropriate.'' While most observers agree there is nothing fundamentally wrong at DEC, a nagging problem remains _ the firm is shifting and grinding gears simultaneously. DEC has tried to rise like a phoenix out of the ashes of a sluggish minicomputer market with an aggressive and expansive product introduction schedule; dozens of hardware and software offerings have been announced since early January. But the move has backfired in some areas, with some potential buyers keeping their hands in their pockets and out of their wallets until the new products are released. ``High-end buyers are waiting for the introduction of [high-end uniprocessor] Aridus later this year, and new Microvaxes are coming out in a few weeks, so fewer people are buying the 3500 and 3600,'' said Terry Shannon, director of Framingham, Mass., market research firm International Data Corp.'s DEC Advisory Service. Many of the desktop offerings are also more of a strategic move than a bid for financial return. With the exception of the midrange VAX 6300, the new machines offer very low margins. ``They're not trying to make money as much as they're attempting to stem the outflow of their installed base to firms like Apollo and Hewlett-Packard,'' said Robert Cameron, a senior industry analyst at market research firm Dataquest, Inc. ``But those are strategic investments they'll need for the long-term payback.'' Although rumors continue to surface that DEC's recent financial troubles may force it to cut back its work force, Steinkrauss denied such talk. ``We'll look at all our alternatives, but [layoffs] are not anticipated,'' he said. In the past few weeks, investors have seen revised earnings projections from a pack of technology-related stocks, including IBM, Apple Computer, Inc., Unisys Corp., Intel Corp., Prime Computer, Inc. and Pyramid Technology Corp. By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Akers speaks to Wall Stre Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ibm Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: BOSTON _ IBM Chairman John Akers conceded last week that IBM is now facing a global market in which the old rules are thrown out and the new are as yet unknown. Specific economic forecasting, he said, would be futile. Akers highlighted a daylong IBM briefing for securities analysts here that occurred less than a week after the company stunned Wall Street by announcing that profit expectations for its current quarter were not likely to be met. Stressing past investments in a multitude of new products now in the commercial stream and last year's massive restructuring efforts, which decentralized IBM to a great extent, Akers appeared to discount any fears that the computer industry faces a severe problem. ``If we can be the best at satisfying the needs and wants of customers in those markets we choose to serve, everything else important will follow,'' Akers said. Carl Conti, senior vice-president and general manager of Enterprise Systems, said IBM expects ``continuing demand for large systems.'' IBM attributed its imminent disappointing results to a chip-yield problem that affected certain mainframe deliveries. The fundamental fear on Wall Street ``was that there was more to this than met the eye, that there was a deeper problem with demand that we were not hearing about,'' said Marc Schulman, an analyst at UBS Securities, Inc. ``I think they said as explicitly as a company can say that this isn't the case.'' Despite Akers' assurance that ``this is a growth industry; we're a growth business,'' speakers skirted the issue of how soon IBM would be able to beat or even meet the 10% estimated near-term industry growth rate. By Nell Margolis, CW staff <<<>>> Title : IBM's Ford suggests optim Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: inside2 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: How much should you invest in technologies that may or may not be applicable to your company's use of information systems? IBM's Larry Ford has the answer. As manager of its $3.8 billion internal IS organization, Ford recommends firms use half of 1% of their MIS budgets as seed money to explore new technologies. This investment should be backed by a process that encourages innovation throughout the MIS organization, Ford says. Both the central MIS function and individual sites should take a share of the seed money for their own use. Which new technologies deserve exploration? Nearly all of them, judging by a recent presentation by Ford to MIS executives at the CIO Institute, a seminar conducted by Frost and Sullivan, Inc. in New York. At the seminar, Ford revealed IBM's view of the 1990s, which contained something for every technological interest. If you're interested in imaging, IBM is piloting it. Do knowledge-based systems strike your fancy? Check out the company's expert systems activity. Are you worried about the viability of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) or the flexibility of electronic data interchange? IBM's MIS is working in those areas, too. Should all of these technologies play a role in your firm's future systems? MIS executives hearing Ford's presentation didn't think so. ``Your interest in different technologies is a function of the particular industry your firm is in,'' says Robert Rubin, IS director at Pennwalt Corp. ``But IBM . . . is working with all industries and wants to try everything.'' While nonvendor MIS executives must select technologies appropriate to their users, Ford faces the dual challenge of meeting internal needs and mirroring the firm's view of its customers. Attempting to do both things at the same time is no easy task even with IBM's large systems budget, which is $1 billion more than General Motors' estimated $2.8 billion MIS budget. IBM's interest in all technologies has resulted in many pilot programs. Internal MIS is trying to make sure the efforts are dropped if they are inappropriate or continued if they pay off. Funding decisions for new applications are delegated to each of IBM's business units. With the exception of cross-unit or corporatewide systems such as CIM and corporate office and financial applications, approval is left to the line managers within each of roughly 120 locations. Unifying these efforts is Ford's central organization, which is aiming toward the following goals: MIS professionals need to develop systems integration and consulting skills. MIS must develop tools that can extract data from different applications and make that data available in a central repository. MIS must be organized in a way that allows new technologies to be applied to business needs. MIS must develop a network or provide access to a network for interconnected systems. The most significant of these trends within IBM's MIS is the goal of transforming MIS professionals into systems integrators within the company. ``At IBM, our MIS organization has tended to be a builder of new applications. More and more responsiveness to meet internal needs is a higher priority,'' Ford says. IBM's MIS is also changing past practices and looking outside the company for software packages that meet internal needs. ``We used to write all the solutions ourselves. Today, we will manage projects that include many different players to obtain the best solution,'' Ford says. By Michael Sullivan-Trainor, CW staff; Sullivan-Trainor is a Computerworld senior editor, special projects. <<<>>> Title : Movin' out Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: edit327 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: TO IMPROVISE ON a line from a John Lennon song, ``Imagine there's no data center; it's easy if you try.'' Some companies are doing more than just imagining, and they are big ones. We focused on one such effort in Computerworld last week, the case of $11 billion consumer products giant Sara Lee Corp. There, the data center was closed a decade ago, and today the mass of computing power is scattered throughout some 50 business units. However, the information systems tune within those units is still called in great measure by a corporate IS staff. This 24-person staff sets standards that the units adopt and acts very much like a typical central IS department in arranging volume purchases for these units. Of course, what's good for Sara Lee is not necessarily good for Wells Fargo or Grumman. But there is an emerging trend toward shifting resources, human and otherwise, out of central IS and closer to the business operating divisions, and there are many good reasons why this trend will accelerate. The most compelling reason is the fulfillment of the primary role of IS in the 1990s: the proliferation of information technology throughout the corporation. In the case of Sara Lee, closing the data center was the manifold expression of that role. Recently, Forecasting Planning Associates, an IS consulting firm, studied IS staff distribution during the 20-year period from 1978 to 1998, selecting a large, ``mature'' insurance company as the subject. IS employment during that period rose from 160 to nearly 500. But by the end of the period, 70% of those employees were projected to be working outside of central IS in discrete departments, compared with only 3% in 1978. For some of today's IS managers, this trend is sure to be unnerving. Many of them may mistakenly associate this movement out of the data center and into the user departments with the chaos that reigned a few years ago when the user departments ``personal computerized'' themselves with wanton disregard for central planning and enterprisewide systems design. And, in fact, some IS managers may be displaced. But the real opportunity here is for IS managers and their adjutants to rise to a higher level of information management, just as information systems in general assume a more potent _ and in some cases, primary _ role in the corporation's competitive thrust. Thus, the IS organization, with its reach extending everywhere in the company, mirrors the organizational structure of the company as a whole, as envisioned by management guru Peter Drucker. His vision of the company of the 1990s is like a symphony orchestra where ``there is only one conductor, the CEO, and every one of the musicians plays directly to that person without an intermediary.'' <<<>>> Title : Pleasing leasing Author : Martin R. Phipps Source : CW Comm FileName: phiplet Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: For more than eight years, I have been successfully dealing with the CMI/CIS Computer Leasing Corporations [CW, Jan. 23]. Since then, because of CMI/ CIS' existence and a few other reputable lessors, we have seen an increase in more cost-effective computer leasing methods. Deferred-payment plans, rollover contracts, value-added purchase agreements and many other innovative financial opportunities are just some of the methods that have been advantageous to a competitive computer leasing industry. The industry needs competition _ CMI/CIS has successfully helped to achieve this. It is certainly rewarding to see that CMI/CIS has not given up, that it is still actively marketing its products. CMI's protection under Chapter 11 has not affected its current leases. Competition gives even the largest firms that require IBM's latest and greatest technology the opportunity of moving ahead because they know that this industry guarantees the release of their equipment through the third-party markets. Martin R. Phipps Assistant Vice-President Provident Bank of Maryland Baltimore <<<>>> Title : Levi's revise Author : Joyce Bustinduy Source : CW Comm FileName: bustlet Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Regarding your piece on Levi Strauss & Co. in your recent Special Report on Communications Innovators [CW, Jan. 30], there are a few inaccuracies in the piece that we would like to set straight. The statement about Levi being drawn to electronic data interchange (EDI) because we failed to speed deliveries is erroneous. Levi-Link, our EDI program, is the end product of months of marketing studies done with retailers to define ways to improve the entire retailer business process. Our EDI program is a response to their needs. As a customer service, EDI should result in quicker deliveries of the right product. The pull-out quote about senior management being a major obstacle to retailer acceptance is misleading. The statement should have conveyed the sense that a major obstacle is retail senior management's misunderstanding of the benefits of EDI, and not ``senior management'' in a generic sense. Levi Strauss has not done unique vendor marking for Mervyn's or Wal-Mart. In fact, Levi's branded goods are not sold to Wal-Mart. Finally, Levi-Link is based on AT&T EDI Retail hardware, not IBM Personal Computers. Thank you for your interest in Levi Strauss & Co., and we hope your publication will continue to provide coverage of news about our exciting EDI programs. Joyce Bustinduy Corporate Communications Levi Strauss & Co. San Francisco <<<>>> Title : No super surprise Author : Deborah K. McCas Source : CW Comm FileName: deblet Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Robert Hargrove's Viewpoint article [CW, March 6] about the ``superuser'' has prompted me to respond with some thoughts from the other end of the co-ax. I consider myself a superuser. MIS departments tend to look at the personal computer environment and its users as something less than mental giants. The superuser is not, however, a freak of nature. Hargrove seemed surprised that superusers ``produce some remarkable and useful results.'' This statement makes it seem as though we are little more than monkeys sitting in front of a keyboard and once in a while we actually hit the keys in the right sequence to send a command. The inherent limitations of personal computer software and hardware has made it necessary for us to seek other avenues to complete our tasks. With the introduction of emulation boards and supporting software, job/file transfers are now attempted and brought to successful completion. MIS' ``unwanted'' functions are now a part of routine processing. ``Mainframe people'' inspire and impress to a lesser degree today. The difference between RAM/ROM is just in spelling for some vendors and MIS staff. An attitude of one-way-street thinking seems to prevail through the concept of ``growing your own'' superuser. Why hustle your MIS staff (they are six months behind in application requests, right?) down the hall to accounting when, in the mind of your technical staff, they have drawn the short straw? Why not cultivate from the end-user environment? Deborah K. McCaskill Research Analyst Topeka, Kan. <<<>>> Title : Artificial intelligence: Author : Charles P. Lecht Source : CW Comm FileName: 228lecht Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Artificial intelligence, artificial expertise and artificial experience may now be purchased just about everywhere. These ``faculties,'' as they're called, come packaged in a variety of ways _ about as we would expect of commercial products like soap or cereal. It is almost ironic that the powers artificial faculties hold are drawn from the most common of substances _ sand _ albeit sand that is transformed into silicon wafers and made into large-scale integration (LSI) chips of very small size. We have every right to be astonished by this technology; it offers a kind of life-giving substance in a lifeless object that augments our natural faculties and extends them to perform unnatural feats of power. LSI chips are now used to endow inexact human beings with precision, their fuzzy thinking with logic and their poor memories with recall. The bandwidths of our senses are now so improved by chip technologies that, by using them, we may now see through opaque walls and into the cosmos and microcosmos. We may now smell the faintest of odors, touch with the delicacy of an ant and hear with the precision of a bat. With each improvement in LSI technologies, we push the frontiers of these faculties yet further into our real _ but heretofore imperceivable _ world. As our natural senses and intellectual faculties are being extended, the world of our perception is getting closer. Can there be any doubt that these changes are largely being brought about by our computer world, at whose heart is LSI? LSI's continual improvement is the result of the technology's weird capacity to feed on itself. With each incremental improvement in it, we extend our natural senses and intellectual faculties to deal with a larger, richer world of science. Each advance, in turn, increases our capabilities to create even more powerful LSI. In one sense, each of us lives in two worlds: one outside and one inside. LSI is rapidly changing both. It is surrounding us and invading our lives faster than any other man-made item of which I can think. In the outside world, LSI chips are now carried about in pockets and small cases. They are virtually everywhere _ in corporations, banks, schools, libraries, government offices, even theological institutions. They are found in such unlikely locations as beauty salons, sports centers and kitchens. They are found in wallets, on desks, in cars, in motorcycles, on trains and on airplanes. They are in all TV sets, compact disc players, radios and even in some toilet seats. Indeed, they are now in most electronic equipment save for the most trivial. We cannot dial a modern telephone, turn on electricity, ride anywhere, study, work or enjoy the arts without turning on an LSI circuit somewhere. Talk about ubiquity. By the year 2000, we may find that doing anything and everything will involve an LSI circuit, save for singing to the wind. In the inside world, the use of LSI is still in its infancy, but I reckon this stage will not last too much longer. The future holds much more for LSI than simply improving our five senses and intellectual capabilities. I believe that at the turn of the century, the use of LSI to improve our bodily organs will explode. The explosion will occur when we accept that the natural organism that is us leaves a lot to be desired in its strength and intelligence. LSI is currently being used to correct some biological deficiencies _ for example, the kind that kidney and heart machines address. But these examples are really only the most primitive beginning of what will ultimately be accomplished. For example, if cures for our most dreaded diseases are to be found, logic suggests to me that they will come from nonnatural, nonbiological sources. Cancer, the black hole of modern medicine, is a case in point. In the future, LSI will be used in the preventive arena, too. Put it this way: If we knew it would be better than the natural way, few of us would hesitate to replace any organ in our own body by the kind of artificiality we may well expect from LSI. Silicon is not biodegradable. By Charles P. Lecht; Lecht is an IDG News Service correspondent based in Tokyo. <<<>>> Title : Strategic architectures u Author : Dale Kutnick Source : CW Comm FileName: kutnick6 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: The data processing/communications industry is mov- ing rapidly toward embracing standards for a wide variety of interfaces and architectures. This trend will accelerate in the 1990s, and users will no longer view specific products as strategic because only the interfaces and architectures will be enduring. For example, IBM's DB2 may be strategic to the company's system software initiatives. But for users, it is the SQL interface and the upcoming IBM data repository that are most important as standards. The proliferation of personal computers, local-area networks and midrange systems has raised users' awareness of the requirement for such standards _ both industrywide and inside their own organizations. Concomitantly, most vendors cannot afford to develop all the required interfaces for their proprietary systems, and third-party vendors _ especially for software _ are concentrating their efforts on DEC, IBM and open systems platforms. Upholding standards Even though many of these standards will not be mature, fully functional (like Unix) or even implementable (like Open Systems Interconnect [OSI]) until about 1993 or 1994, users are becoming increasingly concerned about investing in proprietary products that will not easily support upcoming standards. As a result, the major computer vendors have begun marketing campaigns that detail how their systems will be integated with standards. Moreover, the vendors have developed architectures of their own to address the migration of their proprietary stystems to a more standard approach _ for example, IBM's Systems Application Architecture (SAA) and DEC's Application Integration Architecture (AIA). A key issue facing users is which open systems and interfaces must be considered in developing a future architecture and at what speed they will be implemented by vendors. Below are listed some of the principal architectures and interfaces for the commercial environment and when they will be implementable and functionally comparable to existing proprietary solutions: OSI _ 1993-'95. CCITT X.400, FTAM (parts of OSI Layer 7) _ now. X.500 (directory services) _ 1990-'91. Integrated Services Digital Network _ 1992-'94. Unix _ 1992-'93. OSI/Network Management _ 1994-'95. User interfaces: IBM and Microsoft's OS/2 Presentation Manager _ 1989-'90; OSF/Motif _ 1990; Unix International/ Open Look _ 1989-'90; Apple's Macintosh _ now. SAA _ 1991-'95. ANSI/SQL _ now. LU 6.2 _ 1989-'91. Interfaces are the user view into the corporate information systems architectures, and standardizing on these is one of the first steps that must be taken to develop an IS strategic plan. Indeed, users must develop their own critical path to their future architectures because the IS vendors tend to be limited in their scope. For example, SAA will work well with a specified set of IBM equipment; DEC's AIA will integrate Unix and its VMS. But what about users who have all three operating environments or those who have other proprietary operating systems that they wish to bring together? To combine the various operating environments they would like to support, users must pick elements and interfaces from the vendor offerings and integrate them into their own internal architectures. Just getting started While some leading-edge users are already designing their '90s corporate information architectures, most are still in the beginning stages. The first step is to assess the future business requirements _ expanded services, new distribution channels, rapid growth and so on _ and to determine, generically, the technological solutions that could address them. The latter requires development of a five-year technology scenario that includes vendor product and services strategies, available standards and various price/performance characteristics. From this information, the user can begin designing an ideal future architecture _ a set of systems and interfaces that can accommodate the business requirements. This step is the first in architecture management. A typical question to ask is, will the architecture be based on open systems such as OSI, on proprietary solutions such as IBM's Systems Network Architecture and/or DEC's Decnet, or some combination? Next, the user must develop a ``here-to-there'' migration plan _ such as which current systems should be frozen and which should be expanded or enhanced _ from the perspective of the currently installed systems. Evaluating the technical options and the direction is, in effect, technology management. As part of this exercise, users must develop a strategy for measuring the residual value of their major systems _ a process I call asset management. This effort is critical for managing the cost of technology against data processing budgets. While vendor architectures such as SAA can act as guidelines, they cannot fulfill all of users' integration requirements because their product-set focus is usually too narrow. Users must therefore develop their own strategic architectures and interfaces based on available solutions that best intersect with their future information systems directions. By Dale Kutnick; Kutnick is president of Meta Group, Inc., a market assessment/consulting company in Westport, Conn. <<<>>> Title : Optical disk systems tail Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: optical Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ The federal government's increasing appetite for optical disk systems is driving vendors to tailor their product lines to meet government requirements, according to some of those vendors. ``In 1988, we responded to two or three [federal] procurements. But in 1989, there have been 12 to 15 procurements announced for the first half of the year,'' said C. Allan Conover, president of Optimem, a Mountain View, Calif.-based maker of optical storage equipment. Conover said that government demand for optical disk systems is increasing for at least three reasons: Agencies' small pilot programs are starting to mature and grow into larger systems. Systems integrators are linking optical systems to conventional data processing systems. Agencies are faced with paperwork overload at a time when government investigators want rapid access to records. At the recent Federal Office Systems Expo '89 (FOSE), Optimem announced its 4000 series of write-once read-many optical disk drives. The high-end drives have an optics module that can read and write on optical disks made by any of the three major suppliers _ 3M Co., Art Tech Gigadisc and Philips-DuPont Optical Co. _ Conover said. This allows federal agencies to have multiple sources of media and allows the 4000s to read disks written by earlier generations of Optimem equipment, he said. Users of Optimem's earlier systems can upgrade them by installing the new optics module to take advantage of the 4000's improved capacity and performance levels, the company claimed. The 4000 series, available in the third quarter of 1989, is priced at $17,950. Conover said that Optimem's new strategy of providing forward and backward compatibility was driven by the government's fear of obsolete equipment and unreadable data. Users should not have to rewrite data from prior-generation equipment to keep up with improving optical disk drive technology, he said. ``It's a good attack at the marketplace, because they're calming people's fears that the technology is going to be outdated,'' said Jay Bretzmann, an analyst at International Data Corp., a market research firm in Framingham, Mass. More announcements Other vendors used FOSE to make announcements about optical disk systems and peripherals. Wang Laboratories, Inc. unveiled a version of its Wang Integrated Image Systems product line that adds Tempest security features. Tempest is a government standard to prevent electromagnetic emissions leaking sensitive data. The Tempest line combines Wang VS minicomputers, personal computers and workstations, optical storage devices and scanners that comply with the Tempest standard. The system price ranges from $150,000 to more than $1 million, depending on the size of the system. Deliveries will begin in August, Wang said. Laserdata, Inc. in Lowell, Mass., announced a 5 -in. optical disk jukebox aimed at departmental systems. The compact unit holds 26 platters. It costs $42,900, including jukebox management software, and is available immediately. Terminal Data Corp. in Moorpark, Calif., announced a desktop document scanner that captures both sides of the page. The Docuscan DS-2600 costs $22,000 and will be available in April, the vendor said. By Mitch Betts, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Cincom adds four firms to Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ex313sof Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Cincom Systems, Inc. said it added four companies to its Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Alliance Program: Transettlements, Inc., Birmingham Computer Group, Inc., BSA Systems and Cyborg Systems, Inc. Transettlements and Birmingham offer electronic data interchange packages, BSA offers sales forecasting software, and Cyborg offers payroll software. Cincom said its products will complement Control:Manufacturing, its manufacturing management information system. Prime Computer, Inc. established a software-licensing policy under which users may borrow Calma Co. software that resides on a local-area network managed by Calma's Library License Server software. Calma, a business unit of Prime, offers mechanical/architectural, engineering and construction design and manufacturing software that runs on Apollo Computer, Inc. and Digital Equipment Corp. workstations. The list price of the library software is $15,000. Access to the library may be purchased for a one-time $2,000 per-node fee. <<<>>> Title : Software Components of Co Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swswcomp Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Software Components of Colorado, Inc. has released Version 2.0 of the Window Management System (WMS). The software program runs on Digital Equipment Corp. VAX computers under the VMS operating system. WMS was designed to allow programmers to build sophisticated window-based applications in a VAX environment, the vendor said. The program reportedly includes over 50 runtime modules, and new features include C language source-code generation capabilities. A site license costs $2,000 for multiple VAXs of any size. Software Components of Colorado 6575 Denim Drive Colorado Springs, Colo. 80918 719-531-6940 <<<>>> Title : Two minicomputers designe Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwwangla Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Two minicomputers designed to provide Tempest security for processing sensitive information in government and commercial settings are now available from Wang Laboratories, Inc. Designated the VS 7150-T and the VS 7310-T, the systems support large-scale data processing, integrated image processing and office automation applications, the company said. The VS 7150-T supports as many as 128 users and is priced from $203,000. The VS 7310-T supports as many as 192 users and is priced from $267,000. The systems can be configured either as stand-alone processors or as nodes in distrubuted networks with up to 32M bytes of memory, according to the vendor. Wang Laboratories 1 Industrial Ave. Lowell, Mass. 01851 508-459-5000 <<<>>> Title : A line of power supplies Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwlambda Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: A line of power supplies designed for test systems and laboratory use has ben introduced by Lambda Electronics, a division of Veeco Instruments, Inc. The LLS Series incorporates a self-oscillating, magnetically regulated inverter and a digitally controlled front panel, according to the vendor. The proprietary circuitry reportedly permits 200 KHz operation and a wide output range that allows for a 50% size reduction. The series is priced from $550. Lambda Electronics 515 Broad Hollow Road Melville, N.Y. 11747 516-694-4200 <<<>>> Title : Digital Equipment Corp. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: hwdigita Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Digital Equipment Corp. has announced its HA3000 three-phase Uninterruptible Power System (UPS). According to the vendor, the system protects against power outages, voltage surges, spikes, high-energy transients and electrical noise. The standard configuration consists of a UPS cabinet and matching battery cabinet, and options include a remote status panel and an input isolation transformer. The HA3000 series is priced from $37,000 to $75,000 for units from 20 kVA to 80 kVA. DEC Continental Blvd. Merrimack, N.H. 03054 603-884-4251 <<<>>> Title : Keep 'em honest Author : Michael Alexande Source : CW Comm FileName: micolumn Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Not long ago, I reported on a Florida television newsman who allegedly accessed a computer system at a rival TV station to retrieve the station's plans to cover upcoming events, rundowns of evening newscasts and other important information (to a TV station, anyway). Two weeks ago, the newsman and his boss, who was not involved in the reputed crime, were fired. The case is interesting because it points out that most computer crime _ whether it is the unauthorized access to a company's files or the planting of a time bomb designed to destroy programs and data _ is likely to be carried out by current or former employees. So how do you make the most of end-user computing while at the same time making some reasonable attempt to protect your company's data? If the guidelines are overly stringent, end users cannot do their work effectively. On the other hand, if they are too loose, you run the risk of a disgruntled employee bollixing up your data. There are several ways for a company to protect its computer system against intrusion, ranging from setting up audit trails to physically isolating the computer system and limiting access to it. But there is no single solution; nearly all information managers know that it takes a combination of methods to create a fail-safe system. One measure that companies seldom think about when devising security procedures is the creation of a code of ethics that clearly spells out the company's attitudes about computer security and what the consequences are if an end user violates those procedures. If an end user duplicates a copyrighted software package, it may not be because he is dishonest; it may be because he is ignorant of the law. This code of conduct can be refined and extended to all end user computing activities, not just to regulation of software copying. End users need to understand that breaking and entering a computer system is as illegal as popping the lock on the door of a co-worker's office and rummaging through his file cabinets. ``They wouldn't think of going through someone's desk or notebook but think nothing of going through a disk directory,'' said Ardoth Hassler, assistant director of the computer center for academic computing at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Catholic University is among several of the nation's academic institutions that has devised a statement of computer ethics. That statement, which has been in effect for more than seven years, is published in a variety of university publications, including campus newsletters and handbooks for students _ the university's primary end users. ``We saw it as an opportunity to provide guidelines for student behavior on computer systems,'' Hassler said. ``We wanted to devise the statement and the mechanism to educate the user population about what is considered appropriate behavior,'' Hassler explained. ``If we find an abuse, we take action, but we see it as a preventive measure rather than a corrective one.'' Here is a sampling of the standards of behavior that are included in The Catholic University's code of ethics: Users must not search for, access or copy directories, programs, files, disks or data not belonging to them unless they have specific authorization to do so. Users must not attempt to modify the system facilities or attempt to crash the system, nor should they attempt to subvert the restrictions associated with their computer accounts, the networks of which the university is a member or microcomputer software protections. Users should make appropriate use of system-provided protection features and take precautions against others obtaining access to their computer resources. Users should change their passwords frequently and should avoid using their names, their spouses' or friends' names or a password that could easily be guessed. By itself, a code of ethics will not keep computer systems safe from internal hackers. Not everyone will follow a code of ethics, just as not everyone obeys the law. But at least you will have spelled out the ground rules and the penalties for end users. ``I would definitely recommend it because it educates rather than punishes users,'' Hassler pointed out. ``In the event that we do have a problem, it gives us something to stand on, a foundation on which to base your work or punishment.'' By Michael Alexander; Alexander is a Computerworld senior editor, PCs and workstations. <<<>>> Title : Is RISC horsepower desira Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: risky Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Workstations based on reduced instruction set computing (RISC) are being billed by their designers as the Ferraris of the desktop _ they're sleek and they're fast. However, the recent flurry of RISC workstation introductions has users asking, why buy a Ferrari when a Toyota will do? ``The power users will gravitate toward anything that will allow them to do their jobs more quickly. They'll pay the price,'' said Ed Sund, a personal computer support specialist at Weyerhaeuser Information Systems, the information management arm of the Tacoma, Wash., forest products company. ``We have some of those people here. But they're not the average user.'' Competitive prices Unlike those who crave Ferraris, which carry a price tag prohibitive to the average consumer, computer users interested in speed are not expected to suffer for long. David Burdick, a vice-president at Dataquest, Inc., a San Jose, Calif., market research firm, said he expects RISC-based workstations to drop to less than $10,000 by early 1990 and compete in price with Intel Corp. 80386-based PCs. In fact, Burdick predicted, 386-based PCs that are specially configured with enough memory and storage for computer-aided design (CAD) will probably be more expensive than comparable RISC machines. Even today, the price/performance ratio of workstations is impressive. Digital Equipment Corp.'s Decstation 3100 delivers 14 million instructions per second at a base price of $11,900. But managers contend that few users in their companies require the kind of speed that RISC technology provides. The vast majority are using their PCs for word processing, spreadsheets and some database management applications, none of which require peak processing speeds, they noted. ``I don't have any applications that need that kind of power,'' said Anthony Oresteen, a vice-president at Continental Bank in Chicago. ``We don't have a lot of people doing CAD _ that's what you would need a machine like this for.'' Cost incentive Oresteen said the bulk of the bank's work is being performed by 386-based systems running at 16 MHz. The average price of such a system is about $5,000. Prices for what is currently the best-selling class of PC _ sys- tems based on the Intel 80286 _ are expected to plummet to the $1,000 range by midyear, according to Dataquest. The price delta between the average PC and this new class of workstation is not the only reason users will stick with their 286s and 386s. The availability of applications software is another reason. Today's RISC workstations run Unix, which offers power in the form of true multitasking. However, the bulk of applications for the RISC-based systems are technical, not the general office applications needed by the typical corporate PC user. PC users will have access to RISC technology when IBM employs Intel's technology to create a coprocessor for its Personal System/2. So far, though, IBM has not divulged its plans for marketing this product, informally known as Wizard. ``People aren't going to chuck their MS-DOS applications to get RISC,'' said Phil Gordon, manager of office automation at Charles Schwab & Co. in San Francisco. ``The 386 is here; the 486 is coming. Who needs RISC?'' ``The big problem is there's nothing to run on it,'' Weyerhaeuser's Sund concurred. ``Once you get the software developers writing to it, it will sell itself. But how long will that be? Five years? Ten years?'' Sund said Weyerhaeuser may consider buying RISC workstations, incorporating a database engine and using it in place of a departmental minicomputer. Not so fast Even a RISC booster like David Newman, a vice-president at Citibank NA in New York, said the bank is not likely to purchase any RISC machines. At least, not yet. ``They perform better, so [RISC] will be on the forefront,'' Newman said. ``I just don't know when.'' Where RISC will make its mark is in performance-conscious technical markets. The relatively inexpensive price will allow engineering departments to purchase larger volumes of workstations. ``We're looking at a different kind of growth curve because of the price performance these machines offer,'' Burdick said. ``But I'm not sure that we're looking at RISC vs. PC yet.'' By Julie Pitta, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Mac blasts off for U.S. a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: aero1 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Imagine the Macintosh computer soaring to the stars. In a sense, it is. Sales from West Coast aerospace companies have helped launch Apple Computer, Inc. into the corporate universe. With its Mac in vogue at giants such as Hughes Aircraft Co., McDonnell Douglas Corp. and Lockheed Missiles & Space, Apple has raked in millions of dollars in corporate sales. How is the Mac being used in aerospace? Largely as a general-purpose computer, although it is making some inroads against workstation vendors in the computer-aided design (CAD) field. ``With aerospace, the Mac is being used in much the same way it is in other companies,'' said Jim McKenzie, a support specialist at Boeing Computer Services Co. in Seattle. ``Somebody somewhere here is doing anything that can be done with a Mac every day.'' Although Boeing declined to specify how many Macs have been purchased, researchers estimated that the number of Macs within the company has reached several thousand. In general, the Mac has been relegated to a support role within the aerospace industry. It lacks the true multitasking and speed that would propel it into the stratum occupied by workstation vendors such as Sun Microsystems, Inc., Digital Equipment Corp. and Apollo Computer, Inc. However, the Macintosh became so popular at Lockheed that a number of Mac user groups were spawned by enthusiasts at the company. One, Mike Bailey, a Lockheed systems integrator, is president of the Apple Professionals Exchange, an organization formed last fall for corporate Mac users. He said he hopes the group will attain the stature of Guide or Decus, the corporate user groups for IBM and DEC. There are about 2,000 Macs at Lockheed's Sunnyvale, Calif., campus, compared with 7,000 IBM Personal Computers and compatibles, Bailey said. In what has become a familiar story at many companies, the Macintosh was first brought into Lockheed on the sly by devoted home users. Later, the firm sanctioned its use for desktop publishing. Eventually, the Mac was recognized as a tool for a wide variety of applications. This realization came after Apple introduced a more powerful version of the machine and offered slots for upgrading. Despite Apple's efforts, the Mac has seen only limited use as a design tool, aerospace users said. During the last 18 months, Apple introduced its version of the Unix operating system, A/UX, for the Mac. Also, Apple has tried to lure third parties specializing in CAD to port their software to the Mac. Versacad Corp.'s Versacad, which has been a leading CAD package for the IBM PC, was Apple's most notable win. Apple subsidiary Claris Corp. recently introduced Clariscad, a design package for the Mac. ``The whole choice of what system to use is software dependent,'' said Al Holley, a support specialist for engineers at Hughes' Ground Systems Group. ``The CAD software for the Mac is not yet at the point where the Mac would be a choice for our engineers. We're not going to undertake porting software.'' Although there are 7,000 Macs within Hughes Aircraft, few are being used by the engineers at Ground Systems. Jack Baumann, manager of end-user computing charged with supporting all Hughes divisions, said Mac use at Ground Systems is typical of how they are being used within the entire company. ``As a general picture, the Macs are being used for engineering documentation and in a general support role,'' Baumann said. ``They're not being used much as a design tool. Speed is a problem, and the software is still evolving.'' At Lockheed, the Mac has made some inroads as a CAD tool mostly with engineers who do a limited amount of design work during an average day. For them, the Mac is versatile; they can use the graphics for creating reports, presentations and proposals. They can also perform CAD, although more slowly than they would on a more powerful engineering workstation. For the company, the Mac presents a cost savings when compared with a typical workstation from Sun, DEC or Apollo. ``For a lot of us, design work is not everything we do,'' Bailey explained. ``Some are only doing CAD about two hours a day. ``There are certain things a Mac won't do, like high-end mathematical problems that you need a VAX 8700 to run,'' he continued. ``It wouldn't be efficient to do it on a Mac because it would take too long to run.'' ``These engineers are working in batch mode, taking data changes from the labs,'' said Frank Smith, a Lockheed support specialist for technical users. ``Once the Mac gets multitasking, the Mac will have arrived in the workstation arena. Now it's on the threshold.'' By Julie Pitta, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Pig software threatens to Author : Douglas Barney Source : CW Comm FileName: dugcol Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Battling over pig software. Since the late 1970s, personal computer software vendors have had a huge market all to themselves. That is because mainframe and minicomputer software houses were completely inept at doing two important things: writing packages the common man would enjoy using and squeezing their large products into micro-size spaces. Fortunately for the big guys, the PC is growing up. At the same time, workstations are becoming increasingly awesome. These things are now powerful enough to run the really big applications, such as host-style database management systems and computer-aided design programs. The PC software vendors are also lending the large systems folks a hand by legitimizing a new breed of PC application heretofore known as pig software. This is software that is simply too big for reasonably priced computers and would include products such as Ashton-Tate's Dbase IV, OS/2, Lotus' 1-2-3 Release 3.0 and virtually any windows program. The high-end guys have their own selection of pig software such as Professional Oracle and Decwindows, which we hear gobbles something like 8M bytes of random-access memory. The question is, whose pig software is the best? Clearly the micro guys are adept at developing programs that humans can actually use. In some cases, people who aren't all that bright can boot a program and get some work done. But the micro folks have less understanding of critical issues such as multiuser access, data integrity, security and data sharing. In too many cases, the mainframers tout interfaces that are just plain awful. These old-timers do understand the architectures that support real multiuser applications. They also understand DP, MIS, SAA, SNA and lots of other important acronymns . Elegant interfaces and robust architectures based on host-style computing are equally important. Maybe the micro guys can handle large systems issues. Maybe the big iron guns will learn about interactive computing and user interfaces. Maybe through client/server architectures and cooperative processing, the strengths of both camps will be combined. Or maybe Computer Associates will simply buy the top three PC software vendors and once and for all cram the two worlds together. A time to whine. Ever notice how computer software creates more paper when it is supposed to reduce paper? Ever open more than one software package at a time? All the loose stuff flying around from one package always gets mixed up with the loose stuff from another. With the bigger programs that come on a dozen or so disks, it's impossible to keep those straight, too. And ever try to stuff the documentation back into the box? You can't. Then you run into a problem with the spreadsheet program. But flipping through the manual is no help, because the one you pick up talks about word processing. So you grab another and it starts talking about databases. This phenomenon is clearly holding back sales of laptops. Imagine being on a plane. On your lap is a computer. On your seat tray are manuals. And falling onto your fellow passenger's lap are more manuals. This leaves no room for the most important airline offering _ the dry martini. Graphical, smaphical. While Microsoft continues to pound away at Lotus with its graphical user interface, Lotus Chairman Jim P. Manzi upholds the traditional look of 1-2-3. In fact, he calls Microsoft's graphical zealotry ``Software Jihad.'' Let's let Manzi explain. ``A graphical spreadsheet calculates the same way that a character one does,'' he said, arguing that it is the underlying functionality that users and vendors should be concerned with. Lotus, however, still has graphical plans. They are just a mite different from Microsoft's. For instance, the direct keyboard control that characterizes 1-2-3 will carry through, even to Lotus' Presentation Manager-based spreadsheet. If a user hits /FR when using the Presentation Manager product, it will still retrieve a worksheet, Manzi said. By Douglas Barney; Barney is a Computerworld senior editor, PCs and workstations. <<<>>> Title : Users calm about the clon Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: loclone Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: The go-go years of the personal computer business are waning, and several manufacturers have fallen off the fast track. International Data Corp. (IDC), a market research firm based in Framingham, Mass., predicts that cutthroat competition in the ranks of compatibles makers will lead to a shakeout in the months ahead. However, few corporate buyers of clones appear concerned that the makers of the machines they own are struggling or unable to provide adequate service and support. It will make little difference which companies prosper and which companies perish, they said. Nearly all clones are the same under the skin, several buyers pointed out, and servicing them is relatively simple because parts are interchangeable and widely available. What is more important is making sure that the clone is fully compatible with IBM Personal Computers and that the machines deliver on performance and price, they said. Spalding Sports Worldwide in Springfield, Mass., uses several machines made by Dell Computer Corp., NEC Information Systems and Compaq Computer Corp., among others. ``When we bought them, we wanted to make sure that they were true clones _ not close look-alikes but real look-alikes,'' said Bard White, director of MIS. ``Once we got past that, then it was price, service and support.'' The fact that a shakeout may be imminent, White said, is of little importance. ``It has never concerned us in the past, and we don't see it as a future concern, either,'' he said. ``I have seen companies come and go. Any of the major computer manufacturers will try to make the point that they are always going to be here while leaving the impression that the upstarts may not be. I've heard those words for 25 years. Indeed, there has been a fallout, but it has never affected our ability to service our users.'' Not even the top-seeded players in the PC market can be counted on, according to Carlene Harvey, director of information systems at Bangor Hydro Electric Co. in Bangor, Maine: ``We started out buying IBM PCs, and they don't sell those any more; then they went to XTs, ATs and now PS/2s, and they're not compatible with anything.'' The firm started out as an all-IBM shop but stopped buying IBM PCs ``when IBM went the PS/2 route,'' Harvey said. ``That's when we started buying clones _when IBM disappointed us.'' The electric utility buys mostly Dell-brand clones and relies on a Honeywell, Inc. service contract to cover service and support. While David Keyes, second vice-president of marketing and technology at Protective Life Corp. in Birmingham, Ala., is not opposed to buying name-brand clones in principle, he said that they do not offer the degree of connectivity that the company requires. ``Buying clones is all right if you are buying onesies and twosies and connectivity is not an issue,'' he said. Also, it is easier for a small staff to support end users if all of the machines are the same, Keyes added: ``It's not support or the security blanket thing, although they are important considerations, too. But we have a small PC support staff, and the last thing they need is to support 200 different kinds of machines.'' Recent news reports about the struggles of some well-known clone makers have convinced him that buying clones can be bad for business, he said. IDC analyst Bruce Stephen said in a recent report that a ``minishakeout'' among the lower tier of PC vendors will occur this year. ``A quick health report would show Wyse Technology wounded; AST Research, Inc. in for observation of potentially dangerous market decline; Televideo Systems, Inc. and Kaypro Corp. on life support and near death; and Leading Edge Hardware Products, Inc. paralyzed, with the likely result it can recover only to be one-tenth of its former self,'' he wrote. By Michael Alexander, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Vendor-retailer dispute o Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: can Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Users planning to buy personal computers from retailers may find the deals more to their liking because heated competition is forcing vendors to be innovative in their selling tactics. The intensity of the situation has become evident in light of the recent dispute between Compaq Computer Corp. and Businessland, Inc. But while the broken relationship between the No. 1 retailer and a leading personal computer cloner grabs the limelight, IBM is quietly winning the hearts of customers by enhancing its dealer sales, service and support efforts, according to John Dunkle, vice-president of Workgroup Technology, Inc. in Hampton, N.H. The Businessland-Compaq ruckus has finally settled down, resulting in Compaq pulling its products off Businessland's shelves by April 21. Businessland will continue to support and service Compaq products for a year, but the dispute has given IBM a golden opportunity to play the good guy in the PC distribution channels, according to Dunkle and other analysts. IBM has implemented three new dealer relationship policies, which include enhanced dealer support, a planned IBM-only distribution plan and an accelerated joint customer-call program. While the jury is out on the two newest programs, the joint customer-call program is regarded as a success. ``There is a clear indication that the program has been profitable for us,'' said John Hahn, product-line manager at Businessland, which is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. Hahn said corporate buyers have reacted favorably to working out the relationship with the customer, the manufacturer and the retailer together in the same room. Hahn added that the program eliminates the redundancy of having an IBM and Businessland representative calling on the same account. ``What you're seeing is a little more sophistication on our part,'' said James Cannavino, president of IBM's Entry Systems Division. Smiling faces While IBM is now donning what appears to customers to be a friendlier face, the joint customer call program is effectively resolving a channel conflict that was affecting IBM product sales. ``There used to be a conflict between dealers and IBM salesmen calling on the same customers,'' Cannavino said. ``We very recently cleaned that up, so we can actually make joint calls [and have] joint planning sessions.'' Currently, 90% of IBM's Personal System/2s are sold through dealer channels. But IBM intends to give dealers an even higher profile in the sales effort. IBM is now implementing its Entry Systems Service Amendment, which will almost completely offload the PS/2 service and support efforts into dealers' hands. The company is also placing more money in its Flex Fund, to compete against comparable efforts being made by Apple Computer, Inc. and Compaq. These cooperative funding efforts are intended to train dealers' personnel to exclusively service a given vendor's product line. But the coup de grace may be found in a bold initiative that IBM now has in beta testing. While stores such as Businessland and Microage, Inc. are now placing greater emphasis on IBM products, IBM is setting up a program with its dealers to exclusively sell IBM products in department store outlets. The program is in beta testing in some southern U.S. department stores. IBM is expected to formally launch the program before the end of the second quarter of this year. By William Brandel, CW staff <<<>>> Title : PCs curtail auditing cost Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: cmcisite Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: PLEASANTON, Calif. _ An application development firm here has found that personal computers are the easiest way to trim the costs of auditing workmen's compensation claims filed in the state of California. Consolidated Medical Care, Inc. (CMCI), a 3-year-old firm with some 25 employees, uses a local-area network of personal computers along with Borland International's Paradox relational database management system to automate the process of auditing and adjusting workmen's compensation medical bills for insurance companies. CMCI uses Borland's Paradox Version 3.0 DBMS on the company's network of 14 PCs from Compaq Computer Corp. The company's internally developed application program adjusts compensation claims according to a fee schedule for the state of California. CMCI President David Abbott said his firm typically saves its clients between 20% and 25% on claims filed in Southern California, while the firm's auditing saves between 15% and 18% on workmen's compensation claims filed in the northern portion of the state. ``We're trying to change the industry,'' said Abbott, whose company uses Paradox to create the customized PC application program. ``With a simple software package and a personal computer, we can do this . . . the PC environment is so much more flexible.'' The main benefit of CMCI's application on the PC LAN is the ease of access to data, Abbott said. Using the PC relational database allows CMCI to change and manipulate data for clients easily while also enabling business forecasting with the Paradox 3.0 enhanced graphical capabilities. ``For many, many years, people have said, `I have all this [mainframe] data, and I can't get to it,' '' Abbott said. ``Can you imagine all the data over the years in the mainframe? They have no way of extracting that data. We can.'' A major incentive for his customers is the cost savings with PCs over the mainframe environment, Abbott noted. That cost factor and the portable nature of his PC equipment gives him an edge over competitors that predominantly use minicomputers or mainframes. ``I don't have to go out and spend a million dollars there, and especially when you go out to sell your software, that's a big barrier,'' Abbott said. ``[The portability] gives us the capability of picking up our entire system here and putting it in somebody's office in Los Angeles or Texas within 24 to 48 hours.'' Abbott said the firm's application allows an auditor of workmen's compensation claims to determine facts such as an average fee for a typical procedure and also to trace whether a particular physician is charging too much and overtreating patients. ``The neat thing about those pie charts is that you can really manipulate the data,'' Abbott said. ``If they wanted to find out all the fees for a particular ZIP code, they could do it.'' Bug repellent Another reason CMCI went with the PC environment was the ease of use and programming in Paradox's PAL language, which Abbott said allows his programmers to zoom directly to any bugs found in new applications. CMCI plans to expand the company's scope to other states, Abbott said, noting that the firm currently is beta-testing a system with a third-party workmen's compensation administrator for installation in 23 states. ``We're going to put our hardware and software on their premises throughout the U.S.,'' Abbott said, ``and we're going to use Paradox.'' By Patrick Waurzyniak, CW staff <<<>>> Title : A CAD tool for workstatio Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: cadam Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: You too can effectively run computer-aided design software applications from Cadam, Inc. on your 32-bit Unix workstation _ for $64,000, that is. That is according to one of the product's first users at the facilities design center at GTE Government Tactical Equipment Systems in Taunton, Mass. GTE is using the Professional Cadam autorouter, an electrical and mechanical design product on an IBM RT workstation. GTE architectural supervisor Donaldo DeChaney said the company will use Cadam to design, lay out and document its building and facilities plans. DeChaney said her company chose Cadam after looking at several other computer-aided design (CAD) systems because she was impressed with the results she received when using it on a minicomputer. But DeChaney noted that without a $15,000 add-in graphics booster that makes the workstation a virtual minicomputer, Cadam's performance is poor. ``Without the miniprocessor, I might just as well draw by hand,'' DeChaney said. ``At least that way you don't have to wait. But with the add-in board, it's definitely worth it.'' DeChaney is in the middle of an architectural project that calls for her to redesign 75,000 square feet of the tactical sector's office space. She is using Cadam to implement the designs and will then store the ``blueprints'' on her hard disk. DeChaney notes that she is not strongly computer-literate, but after a one-week course in CAD given by Cadam, she can confidently negotiate her way through the application. Comparable operations She said the operations between the Cadam minicomputer and the workstation application are the same. But on the workstation, minus the booster, there is a long wait for her designs to appear on the screen. DeChaney added that the application also requires at least 200M bytes of memory for acceptable performance. In all, DeChaney said, the total system, including the RT, costs $64,000 to run. The Professional Cadam application was recently ported to Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Apollo Computer Corp. 32-bit Unix workstations. The application was originally designed to run on minicomputers and mainframes and was ported to the IBM RT in 1987. A Cadam spokeswoman declined to say whether the product will be ported to Digital Equipment Corp. or Hewlett-Packard Co. workstations in the near future. By William Brandel, CW staff <<<>>> Title : A relational database man Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micffeso Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: A relational database management system for IBM Personal Computers and compatible systems has been announced by FFE Software. Called FirstSQL, the package reportedly supports ANSI-standard SQL and offers direct access to Ashton-Tate Corp. Dbase files from SQL. Security and password protection facilities are also included. It requires 512K bytes of memory and a hard disk and is priced at $399. FFE Software P.O. Box 6417 Albany, Calif. 94706 415-527-4018 <<<>>> Title : A series of disaster reco Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micstohl Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: A series of disaster recovery planning software systems for users of IBM Personal Computers and compatibles is now available from Strohl Systems. The Living Disaster Recovery Planning Systems (LDRPS) are available in three configurations and include the following: The DRP-EZ Planning System for small to medium-size facilities, including planning, project management and relational database management system capabilities. The Single Site Planning System, targeted at large facilities. The Multi-Level Planning System for supporting centralized or decentralized data collection activities. The LDRPS software package is priced from $6,500 and requires a hard disk for operation. Strohl Systems 5130 Eisenhower Blvd. Tampa, Fla. 33634 800-634-2016 <<<>>> Title : Scandanavian PC Systems, Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micscand Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Scandanavian PC Systems, Inc. has released a style checker program for MS-DOS users. Readability Plus reportedly checks word processing documents and reports for style consistency. The software program also incorporates nine different writing models, including general-purpose writing, novels, news articles, technical writing and advertising copy. The product can analyze any ASCII file and is currently available at an introductory price of $79.95, the vendor said. The software package normally retails for $94.95. Scandinavian PC Systems Suite 1101 51 Monroe St. Rockville, Md. 20850 301-294-7450 <<<>>> Title : STSC, Inc. has released V Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micstsci Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: STSC, Inc. has released Version 8.0 of the APL Plus System for the PC, an interactive software tool for solving complex numerical problems on a personal computer. The software program incorporates the APL language and is especially suited for insurance, financial, engineering and scientific applications, the vendor said. Version 8.0 reportedly offers support for both the DOS 4.0 and OS/2 operating environments. The APL Plus System for the PC is priced at $695. For a limited time, the cost of the 8.0 update to current registered users is $150, the company said. STSC 2115 E. Jefferson St. Rockville, Md. 20852 301-984-5000 <<<>>> Title : Welcom Software Technolog Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micwelco Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Welcom Software Technology has released Version 3.2 of the company's MS-DOS-based project management package, Open Plan. According to the vendor, the latest version includes resource scheduling, resource progressing, precedence for logic drawing and support for Ashton-Tate Corp.'s Dbase IV. All registered Open Plan users who purchased the software package during the past 12 months and users on a maintenance contract will receive copies of the updated product free of charge. The base price of Open Plan is $4,200. Welcom Software Technology No. 275 15595 N. Barkers Landing Houston, Texas 77079 713-558-0514 <<<>>> Title : A trackball device design Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micitacs Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: A trackball device designed for IBM Personal System/2 users has been introduced by Itac Systems, Inc. Mouse-Trak incorporates a trackball controller and a 2-in. polished phenolic ball that rides on stainless steel shafts, the vendor said. The product plugs directly into the PS/2's mouse port and is priced at $169 and $179 for two- and three-button versions respectively, according to the vendor. Itac Systems 3121 Benton St. Garland, Texas 75042 214-494-3073 <<<>>> Title : A product designed to for Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micherne Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: A product designed to format floppy disks with extra tracks and sectors to improve space allocation has been announced by Herne Data Systems Ltd. Maxi Disk 2.0 provides a menu interface for formatting standard DOS disks as well as proprietary extended capacity disks. The product requires PC-DOS or MS-DOS 3.20 or higher and supports both 5 - and 3 -in. disk drive types. Maxi Disk costs $19.95, according to the vendor. Herne Data Systems P.O. Box 714 Station C Toronto, Ont., Canada M6J 3S1 416-535-9335 <<<>>> Title : Dell Computer Corp. has l Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micdellc Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Dell Computer Corp. has lowered pricing on its Intel Corp. 80286- and 80386-based personal computers, the company said. Reported to be effective immediately, all Dell PCs with a 90M- or 150M-byte hard drive will be reduced by $300; 100M-byte hard drive configurations will be lowered by $200; and PCs ordered with a 322M-byte hard drive will be reduced by $1,500, according to the company. The 25-MHz Dell System 325 with an IBM Video Graphics Array Color Plus monitor, a 322M-byte hard drive and 1M byte of dynamic random-access memory, originally priced at $9,099, will now be offered at $7,599, according to the company. Dell Computer 9505 Arboretum Blvd. Austin, Texas 78759 512-338-4400 <<<>>> Title : Geocomp Corp. has announc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micgeoco Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Geocomp Corp. has announced that the Geograf Utilities, previously supplied with each package of the Geograf library of subroutines, can now be purchased separately. Designed for the engineering community, the utilities provide programmers with device drivers for graphics cards, printers or plotters, the vendor said. The package also includes 13 font libraries, including two Greek fonts for mathematics, and is priced at $75. Discounts are available for quantity purchases. Geocomp 66 Commonwealth Ave. Concord, Mass. 01742 508-369-8304 <<<>>> Title : A software program that c Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micpopco Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: A software program that creates and customizes mailing labels is now available from Pop Computer Products, Inc. Labels Version 2.1 can store as many as 4,000 names and addresses and includes Help facilities, the vendor said. The package runs on an IBM Personal Computer, XT, AT or compatible, supports most dot matrix, daisywheel, inkjet and laser printers and is priced at $29.95. Pop Computer Products 1250 Highway 74 Evergreen, Colo. 80439 303-674-0200 <<<>>> Title : Communication Intelligenc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: miccommu Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Communication Intelligence Corp. has introduced Proficient Autocad Enhancer Release 2.0, which reportedly offers three-dimensional support for Autodesk, Inc.'s Autocad Release 10. The product utilizes a proprietary recognition utility to enter Autocad commands, third-party software commands, text, graphics and symbols with a single-digitizer stylus, the company said. Multimacro command generation capabilities are also included. The package is priced $649, and the Release 2.0 upgrade is available for $65. Communication Intelligence 333 Ravenswood Ave. PN257 Menlo Park, Calif. 94025 415-328-1311 <<<>>> Title : Ideassociates, Inc. has i Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micideas Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Ideassociates, Inc. has introduced a local personal computer-to-midrange communications product that is reportedly compatible with OS/2. Ideacomm 5251/OS was designed to maximize OS/2's potential and let users fully utilize OS/2 Presentation Manager capabilities, the company said. The product operates as a Presentation Manager application and offers multiwindow graphics and text display and mouse support. The package sells for $495 and was designed to work with the Ideacomm 5251/ Plus board, which is priced from $645. Ideassociates 29 Dunham Road Billerica, Mass. 01821 508-663-6878 <<<>>> Title : Prospero Software, Inc. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micprosp Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Prospero Software, Inc. has released Prospero Pascal for OS/2, designed to provide developers with a multitasking protected-mode environment. The product incorporates a compiler and libraries, and features include a workbench/editor and source-level debugger, the vendor said. The software is priced at $390, the same as the DOS version, and registered users of the DOS version 3.1 reportedly can purchase Pascal for OS/2 at a discount through the end of May. Prospero Software Suite 306 100 Commercial St. Portland, Maine 40101 207-874-0382 <<<>>> Title : Oracle Corp. Canada, Inc. Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micoracl Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Oracle Corp. Canada, Inc. has announced Oracle for 4th Dimension, an Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh software product that reportedly integrates Acius, Inc.'s 4th Dimension with Oracle's database and networking technologies. The software reportedly allows Macintosh users to run corporate databases based on the SQL standard. Scheduled for release in the second quarter, the product carries a price tag of $299, including the SQL interface and both example and tutorial applications. It requires Oracle for Macintosh and 4th Dimension, which are available separately. Oracle Canada 70 University Ave. Toronto, Ont., Canada M5J 2M4 416-596-7750 <<<>>> Title : An eight-slot Nubus expan Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsecon Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: An eight-slot Nubus expansion chassis for the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh SE/30 has been announced by Second Wave, Inc. The Expanse II/SE30 includes a Macintosh SE/30 direct-slot interface and cable assembly and reportedly allows users to operate eight Macintosh II and IIX Nubus cards with the SE/30 machine. Scheduled for April shipment, the chassis is priced at $2,295 and offers a one-year warranty, the vendor said. Second Wave Suite 260, Echelon II 9430 Research Blvd. Austin, Texas 78759 512-343-9661 <<<>>> Title : An automatic-line art con Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micadobe Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: An automatic-line art conversion program for Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh computers has been announced by Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe Streamline was developed to complement the Adobe Illustrator 88 package and will automatically trace bit-mapped images and convert them to illustrator files, according to the vendor. The files are compatible with Macintosh Plus, SE, II and IIX systems. Adobe Streamline is priced at $395. Adobe Systems P.O. Box 7900 1585 Charleston Road Mountain View, Calif. 94039 415-961-4400 <<<>>> Title : Claris Corp. has introduc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micclari Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Claris Corp. has introduced Version 2 of its Macproject II project management software for the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh environment. Enhancements to the package reportedly include a multiple-charts feature that lets the user layer several Macproject windows for easier management, tracking and modification of products. The product is priced at $499. Current Version 1 users can upgrade to Version 2 for $65, and owners of the original Macproject can upgrade to the latest release for $199, according to the vendor. Claris 440 Clyde Ave. Mountain View, Calif. 94043 415-960-1500 <<<>>> Title : A graphics spreadsheet fo Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micinfor Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: A graphics spreadsheet for the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh computer is now available from Informix Software, Inc. The Wingz program reportedly offers three-dimensional capabilities, full-color support, text fields with basic word processing functions and the Hyperscript application development language. The package is priced at $399. Informix Software 16011 College Blvd. Lenexa, Kan. 66219 913-492-3800 <<<>>> Title : A Fortran editor specific Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mictecha Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: A Fortran editor specifically developed for engineers and scientists is now available from Techalliance. Running on the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh computer, Freditor includes standard Macintosh text-editing features as well as multiple windows, custom Autowrap and on-screen column markers, the vendor said. The software is also capable of generating tables for export to spreadsheets. It is priced at $79.95. Techalliance 290 S.W. 43rd St. Renton, Wash. 98055 800-245-8999 <<<>>> Title : NCR Comten challenges IBM Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: comten Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: NEW YORK _ Seeking once again to upstage IBM in the SNA communications processor arena, NCR Comten has announced a modular family of products whose high end is said to provide almost a third more communications power than IBM's top-of-the-line 3745 Model 410. The NCR Corp. subsidiary introduced a modular, upgradable family of front-end processors. All three can support connections of up to 64 IBM Token-Ring local-area networks and come with 80M bytes of fixed disk storage. The high-end Comten 5675 is said to support up to 16 mainframe channels and up to 1,024 full-duplex lines and 24 T1 lines. It has 16M bytes of main memory and is priced from $254,000. Also, it can handle about 28% more communications traffic than the IBM 3745 Model 410, according to a Comten internal benchmark test. IBM ``cannot respond at this time'' to Comten's claim, an IBM spokeswoman said. Various capabilities Announced last year, the 3745 Model 410 features two independent CPUs and can support up to 16 host channel connections, 512 full-duplex lines, 16 T1 lines and eight Token-Ring connections, IBM said. Its pricing starts at $188,000. The low-end Comten 5655 is said to support a maximum of eight host channels, 512 full-duplex lines, 16 T1 lines and 8M bytes of main memory. It is priced from $122,100 and can be field-upgraded to the 5675 in about four hours, said Comten product management director Kenneth Brantley. Upgrades require replacing the main processor but not regenerating the network software or replacing peripheral devices, he added. Comten's new line can store up to three alternate Systems Network Architecture (SNA) network configurations on a hard disk. That feature has proven useful to Donovan Data Systems, Inc., said Ronald Block, the firm's vice-president. A New York financial service bureau, Donovan is a beta user of the 5675. Its network, which serves 41,000 terminals worldwide, is ``constantly changing _ we can do three NCP regenerations a day,'' Block said. The communications processor's ability to store three alternative Network Control Program (NCP) configurations on hard disk allows information systems to assemble generations on disk while the network is running, then load them overnight or load generations onto unused processors ``so they are ready to go,'' Block said. Comten's 5675 can store one more generation than IBM's latest NCP release. On the other hand, the NCP gives IBM's communications processors one feature that Comten's products still lack: the ability to handle peer-to peer-communications among PU2.1 devices. While NCR Comten processors can provide host access for PU2.1 devices, they cannot support peer-to-peer communications at this time, a Comten spokesman said. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Token cuts may incite cop Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: prixcut Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Users are unlikely to reap much benefit from two recent price cuts on 4M bit/sec. Token-Ring cards, although it is possible that a handful of vendors will respond in kind to match one of the price cuts implemented by IBM last month. In a Customer Letter dated Feb. 21, IBM quietly sliced $100 off the price of its 4M bit/sec. Token-Ring adapter for the Personal Computer AT bus, now priced at $650. It has also discontinued production of an earlier model, the Token-Ring Adapter Card I, a spokeswoman said. A switchable 16- or 32-bit card remains available at $750. More recently, Racore Computer Products, Inc. in Los Gatos, Calif., created a stir with dramatic pricing on its 4M bit/sec. Token-Ring cards. Racore cut prices on three models: The eight-bit costs $399, down from $540; and the 16-bit and IBM Micro Channel Architecture cards cost $499 each, down from $740 and $640, respectively. A survey of Token-Ring vendors revealed that most contradict Racore's anticipation that many will follow its lead. However, a few said they may respond to IBM's price cut. The $650 sticker price is a significant lowering of the price umbrella, said William Swift, 3Com Corp.'s product line manager. 3Com sells a 16-bit 4M-bit card for $595, which is still cheaper than IBM's eight-bit card. Even so, Swift said he would be more comfortable with a greater price differential and is considering a price cut. Overall, vendors were quick to crush the thought of any widespread price-cutting on Token-Ring cards. They unanimously rejected Racore's contention that prices have held back Token-Ring sales. The average 4M bit/sec. Token-Ring card costs $700, compared with $450 for 10M bit/sec. Ethernet. Observers said Token-Ring sales are actually galloping along at a steady clip in their primary market, which is composed of large IBM Systems Network Architecture-oriented shops. Most market research firms contend that despite its higher per-connection cost, Token-Ring will continue to increase its share of the market _ a point that Racore conceded. In addition, price is seen as less of an issue in these shops when compared with interoperability with IBM equipment and service and support concerns. By Patricia Keefe, CW staff <<<>>> Title : No address required Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: apoltext Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: CHELMSFORD, Mass. _ Apollo Computer, Inc. has introduced Knowledge Broker, an object-oriented software system that is said to allow end users to retrieve voice, data, video or graphic information, regardless of where it resides on a network or what type of application generated the information. The program is said to run with or without Apollo's Network Computing System. Third-party applications written to Apollo's new Vendor Display Module interface will be able to access or provide information via the Knowledge Broker, Apollo said. Interleaf, Inc. has announced support of the module. Knowledge Broker Reader, which allows users to retrieve information, is priced at $550 per workstation. The Publisher's Toolkit option for publishing or engineering professionals, is list-priced at $1,500. Delivery is scheduled for May. <<<>>> Title : Financial network hits Ne Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: track7 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: NEW YORK _ A financial information services firm hopes to capitalize on the speed of fiber-optic technology by building a reconfigurable fiber-based network to serve 700 customers spread throughout metropolitan New York. Track Data Corp. will reportedly fortify its operations and set the foundation for the future this June with a private network called Tracknet. The network will use digital access and cross-connect switches provided by New York Telephone Co. to feed customers' data through diverse routes. The commitment to fiber optics will give Track Data dollar savings and the opportunity to grow into bandwidths of up to 45M bit/sec. All stocked up Track Data provides stock quotations, financial news and information to approximately 700 subscribers in the New York area. The information-intensive business requires the company to send 10M bytes of data to each customer daily. Currently, the data is transmitted from the company's midtown data center across its 9.6K bit/sec. analog-leased lines to retail and institutional traders that access the resulting charts, graphs, spreadsheets, arbitrages, news and stock quotations from Intel Corp. 80386-based microcomputers in an effort to keep abreast of the financial world. By changing from those individual analog lines to a fiber-optic network that supports multiple digital 56K bit/sec. lines, the firm plans to conquer two problems: congested communications lines and the vulnerability of its network. The new network will give Track Data the flexibility to automatically reroute communications in the event of network failures. The seven-year, $7.2 million contract will also save Track Data money, according to President Barry Hertz, who said the company would have paid more for the analog services during that seven-year period. Although Track Data's analog system meets most of the company's daily needs, there is one key time when customer demand overwhelms the 9.6K bit/ sec. capacity. ``The analog system becomes inefficient at the opening of Wall Street _ at 9:30 a.m., volumes tend to back up,'' Hertz said. More critical, Hertz said, is the need for immediate backup for Track Data's operations. ``The key is not just to have the data,'' he said. ``Ninety-five percent of our problems are related to communications. If the system goes down, traders have no use for you.'' With the new fiber system, Track Data will switch its computer operations from Manhattan to Brooklyn and maintain the Manhattan center as a backup site. In addition, the company will improve network reliability by having its customers access data through two diverse routes. Customers will receive multiplexers that will link them with the fiber network via an ordinary telephone line hookup to New York Telephone's switches. The Brooklyn data center will serve as Track Data's main site and will be connected to two New York Telephone fiber centers in that borough. Those centers will have redundant paths to Manhattan. Since the Manhattan data center will serve only as a backup site, it will be connected only to New York Telephone's downtown hub. ``But if a problem occurs in Brooklyn,'' Hertz said, ``operations can be immediately switched to Manhattan.'' The contract calls for the backbone to be built by June, and the company plans to bring customers onto the network throughout the year. Hertz said that three sites will test the system in June. In addition, what Hertz referred to as a larger ``digital pipeline'' will allow the company to offer customers more functionality. Although Hertz declined to offer specifics, he said, ``In the future, the company would look to bring customers image database technology, which requires the larger digital bandwidth.'' Once the system is tested, it will serve as a template for other Track Data offices in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to Hertz. By Robert Moran, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Sydney unveils tool for C Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sydney Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: VANCOUVER, B.C. _ Following hard on the heels of archrival Retix Corp., Sydney Development Corp. has released software that is said to comply with the CCITT electronic-mail directory standard X.500. Sydney's recently announced Directory 500 is said to implement all available X.500 recommendations for setting up an Open Systems Interconnect Directory, the company said. The directory is designed to keep track of user addresses for all E-mail systems that adhere to the CCITT X.400 E-mail standard. X.500 still lacks certain functions such as the ability to automatically keep track of address additions and changes across multiple E-mail services and systems, according to Steve Caswell, an independent consultant and vice-president of Incomnet, Inc., a Westlake Village, Calif., network integrator. But even given the lack of such sophisticated features, vendors such as Sydney can create functional systems based on the existing standard, he added. In any case, users may decide to deal with this problem as they now deal with facsimile transmissions _ by calling first to ask for the right log-on name and address and keeping a list of frequently used addresses, Caswell said. More to come Sydney plans to provide additional features as soon as standards exist for them, according to Sydney Chief Operating Officer Peter Westwood. One of the most useful functions X.500 will provide, according to Caswell, is coordination of electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions. Since EDI networks tend to be limited to a small number of frequent trading partners, companies can maintain an X.500 service that routes transmissions to the right destination once a simple destination code has been entered ``so you won't need public electronic-mail services when EDI becomes available,'' Caswell added. Directory 500 allows users to browse through directories for addresses, obtain E-mail addresses even with incomplete identifying information, verify an address and ascertain the data communications capabilities of the recipient, according to Sydney. The vendor plans initially to sell Directory 500 to software and systems vendors and value-added network services, with large corporate users a future target, Westwood said. Enhancements noticeable Sydney also announced an update of its existing X.400 product that reflects enhancements made recently to the X.400 standard, Westwood said. As a result, instead of requiring IBM Personal Computer users to receive all of their mail directly _ which is impractical for a single-tasking PC, Westwood pointed out _ PC users can pick up their mail any time from a host or network server that has been designated as their message transfer agent. Both the X.500 product and X.400 enhancement are available immediately. Directory 500 pricing starts at $150,000 for the source-code version, including the right to make user copies, according to Sydney. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW staff <<<>>> Title : AT&T slashes digital serv Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: attbit Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: BASKING RIDGE, N.J. _ Seeking to fend off inroads from price-cutting competitors, AT&T has announced price reductions of up to 74% for Accunet Switched Digital Service, which provides 56K or 64K bit/sec. digital lines over the public-switched network. ``Services announced by our competitors are priced significantly lower than AT&T's,'' company spokesman Daisy Ottman said. ``We need to lower prices to retain our customers and encourage users to try the services.'' Both MCI Communications Corp. and U.S. Sprint Communications Co. offer switched digital services at prices lower than AT&T's. The price-slashing became economically feasible for AT&T because of the increasing availability of digital switches on the carrier's network, which has eliminated the need to dedicate individual circuits to digital transmissions to guarantee users an end-to-end digital network, Ottman added. The changes to the Accunet Switched Digital Service are expected to take effect April 18. AT&T has also filed a tariff to extend the reach of its Accunet Packet Service through connections to Bellsouth Corp.'s Pulselink regional packet-switched service. AT&T already has similar arrangements with Bell Atlantic Corp., Cincinnati Bell and US West. <<<>>> Title : Executive track Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 327track Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: David P. Weber has been appointed director of the computing and telecommunications division at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Ill. Weber was previously manager of the computing services department. In his new position, he is reponsible for the operation of Argonne's central computing and telecommunications facilities, research and development in advanced scientific computing and telecommunications technologies and management information systems. Weber joined Argonne in 1974. He holds a master's degree and doctorate in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. William S. Albert has been promoted to vice-president of MIS at Poser Business Forms, Inc. in Fairhope, Ala. Albert was previously director of information systems. He joined Poser 15 years ago as data processing manager and holds a business degree from the University of South Alabama. L. Hoyt Griffith has been promoted to senior vice-president at Dominion Bankshares Corp. in Roanoke, Va. Griffith is manager of Dominion's retail electronics services and is responsible for setting the direction of Dominion's electronic banking functions. <<<>>> Title : Former N.Y. cop walks sys Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: natcar Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Streetwise, scrappy and prematurely white-haired, Jack Livingston looks more like a cop than a chief information officer. In fact, he's been both. Following a 15-year career at the New York City Police Department and a few years working at an independent systems consulting firm, Livingston landed at National Car Rental System, Inc. last fall as its chief information officer. He had previously worked with Minneapolis-based National for two years as a systems consultant. Livingston still speaks with a strong New York accent and retains at least some of his street-cop flair. ``He's like a butterfly, always moving around the building,'' says Tom Barton, director of telecommunication services. ``I look at Jack as being a business partner: an individual who is able to give me a very clear understanding of what is required'' in systems, says Chief Executive Officer Vince Wasik. He can even explain nanoseconds, Wasik adds, in a manner in which ``all of a sudden, people begin to say, `I think I really understand what the computer system can do for us.' '' The 50-year-old Livingston says his ability to explain things in simple terms stems from the fact that his intended career was the police force, not information systems. ``I never developed a real loyalty to the profession like a lot of DP people do,'' he says. ``My loyalty and my reason for being was to make this tool work for the benefit of the police department.'' Survival is the name of the game in the car rental industry, and Livingston says that systems are a competitive tool that must be used wisely. He can be hard-nosed if projects demand tight deadlines, he admits. However, he doesn't always play the cop. If deadlines are loose, he can be fairly relaxed as well. ``One of Jack's favorite lines is, `We have to manage on air currents because things change so rapidly that if we put little walls around us and pretend that everything is well-structured, we are not going to survive,' '' says Mike Accurso, vice-president of information systems. Like a beat cop, Livingston is constantly talking to people around him, checking the atmosphere. ``He catches you here and there and asks you how it's going and what you're working on,'' says Greg Nelson, director of planning services. Livingston's influence at National goes straight to the top. ``Over the last few years, Jack began teaching me that information systems should really be a phenomenal asset to the CEO rather than something that is so technically oriented that one can never get close to it and never totally understand it,'' Wasik says. It was the acknowledgment that the computer is a tool for business and not solely a means to achieve career success for himself, Livingston says, that put him in good favor with business people. Another factor in his success, he says, is his ability to use the computers of today and recognize their potential. ``There is really not anything new happening here,'' he says. ``It is just somewhat exotic the way we use it.'' National is primarily an IBM shop and is slated to upgrade to two IBM 3090 Model 300S machines this summer. One requirement agreed on by Wasik and Livingston is that the company never exceed 50% of its CPU capacity, a requirement that forces planning for the future. Initially, National was a company that ``kind of picked up other people's leftover business and was quite comfortable being No. 3 for a long time,'' one employee said. Now it is striving to be No. 1. Since Livingston has been with the rental firm, the following customer-oriented programs have been implemented under its Electronic Advantage system: Emerald Club: Members pay $50 per year to hold credit card-like Emerald cards that entitle them to all of the National services, including Emerald Aisle. With membership, they can earn points toward travel and merchandise awards. Paper-Less Express: National claims it has the industry's shortest, easiest-to-read rental agreement. Emerald Aisle: Available at most major airports, the service involves no paper. Renters go straight from their planes to the Emerald Aisle, select their cars from a selection of ready vehicles and drive to a booth where they slide their Emerald Club cards through a card reader, present their license and leave. Smartkey: Just installed this month, the system allows preferred customers to complete their own rental transactions at machines similar to bank automated teller machines. After sliding the Emerald Club or privilege-preferred card through a slot and following touch-screen commands, the machine automatically releases car keys into the driver's hands. By Alan J. Ryan, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Harmony in the workplace Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sima.$01 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: The successful implementation of information technology for strategic advantage demands a symbiotic relationship between information systems management and senior executives _ one side cannot succeed without the other. That is the premise behind the third annual Partners in Leadership Awards to be presented by the Society for Information Management (SIM). The seven-member SIM selection committee will choose from companies nominated during the next two months on the basis of how well their IS and business management have worked together to forge marketplace success. ``Nominees should be companies that have done something new or different with the application of IS that enhances their competitive advantage,'' SIM spokesman David Laurenzo said. ``But that application must also involve the senior-most executives in the firm.'' The four winners in the past two years were honored for implementing an on-line order entry system at Lithonia Lighting; a handheld computer system for the sales force at Frito-Lay, Inc.; a revamped sales system using handheld computers and personal computers in a unit of Sara Lee Corp.; and a multifaceted program involving executive PCs, expert systems and sales force laptop computers at Du Pont Co.'s Medical Products Department. The 1989 selection committee members include IS executives Peter W. C. Mather at Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., Thomas E. Morin at Medtronic, Inc., John Owens at Sara Lee and Alan Deering at Pepsico, Inc.; business professors Jim Cash at Harvard Business School and Brandt Allen at Colgate Darden Graduate School; and IS consultant Richard Dooley at the The Dooley Group. Nominators may nominate executives in their own firms or in another firm. Nominations must be sent no later than May 30 to SIM, Suite 100, 111 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Ill. 60601. Winners will be named Aug. 15 and awards presented Sept. 25. By Clinton Wilder, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Model project teams help Author : Anthony Reed Source : CW Comm FileName: reedcol Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: today are faced with the same decade-old problems: how to keep valued, promotable employees when the employees cannot move up the ladder, how to institute departmental changes without adversely affecting morale and how to improve productivity and quality with shrinking budgets. Unlike some industry-specific professions, such as petroleum and aeronautic engineers, information systems professionals are more mobile. We can switch from working for a depressed oil company to a profitable life insurance company in one job change. As one manager said, ``There aren't any nails holding a programmer's foot to the company's floor to keep him from moving.'' This mobility has earned us the title of The Technical Nomads of the '80s. Since IS owes its existence to other disciplines such as engineering, mathematics, business and philosophy, it seems logical that we borrow from them to solve some of our problems. Combining quality-circle and engineering-prototype-model concepts into IS model project teams provides an inexpensive, high-impact solution that reduces turnover, improves productivity and quality and decreases change-related anxiety. Briefly, a quality circle is a group of employees who identify problems that hamper their productivity, determine the problem's causes, develop a solution and make recommendations to management. The circle lets employees participate in the decision-making process in areas that directly affect them. It gives them a sense of responsibility and ownership as well as a feeling that management cares about their opinions. This technique is successfully employed by the Japanese. Engineering prototype models are used to test new production methods prior to spending millions of dollars to implement an unproven method. The workers' feedback is critical to the system's success. If management fails to respond to their recommendations, they may rebel against the changes and cause a decrease in productivity and quality. Many of us have experienced this when we have installed systems that fit our requirements _ but not the user's. The model project team consists of four to six temporary members, preferably one from each existing project team, and the technical support functions. The team stays together for three to six months before new members replace the members. The team's makeup should reflect a broad range of experiences _ from novice programmers and experienced new hires to veterans. The entire team benefits because it is actively involved in quality and productivity improvements and decision making. Management benefits because the team members will have better morale, higher self-esteem and a sense of ownership. The members become problem solvers instead of problem employees. The team can also be used as an independent testing, quality assurance or advanced technology group if a project is unavailable. During the tenure of the team, members are trained in system life cycles, testing tools and techniques and departmental standards. They are also exposed to the latest technology such as computer-aided software engineering methodologies, programmer workbenches, personal computer-based tools and fourth-generation languages. They also learn about presentation skills, time management, business writing and the user areas. The more they know about the company's business and the better they can communicate, the better they can design systems to satisfy the users. The model project team gives project leaders the opportunity to take management-related and technical seminars to sharpen their skills. Also, it gives management a chance to evaluate the project leader's replacement. The model-project-team concept keeps the staff from getting stale and lowers turnover. Teams' solutions improve quality and productivity _ and the department gets a group of workers who feel committed to solving problems. By Anthony Reed; Reed is director of business systems at the Dallas County Community College District. <<<>>> Title : Now he stakes out systems Author : Alan J. Ryan Source : CW Comm FileName: natbar1 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: New York accent is still strong, but not so Jack Livingston's ties to the early days of his career, which had him serving as a beat cop on the streets of Harlem, Brooklyn and midtown Manhattan. In his last stint on the streets, Livingston was operating on a plainclothes task force of the New York Police Department (NYPD) vice squad in midtown Manhattan. He recalls what prompted his changeover: ``I woke up one morning in a rather dingy place that was owned by the city, looked out the window and said, `What am I doing here?' '' The very next day, he began looking around within the NYPD for another job. He stumbled into systems because data entry operators were needed to help install New York's 911 emergency communications system. ``I'd never seen a computer before I got that data entry job,'' he says. New beat After only three days on the 911 project, Livingston applied for and was accepted in another assignment _ this time as a night-shift computer operator for the department. ``The police department has always got an idea that if they have to do something, there is somebody on the job that can do it. They throw a book at you, and you learn it,'' he says. Learn it he did. Livingston spent 10 years in DP and retired after 15 years on the force, holding the rank of sergeant. Before long, he found himself back in the NYPD designing new systems, but this time he was working for a private consulting firm. Later, he was hired by consulting firm DLA Associates as its director of criminal justice systems. It was there that he met Vince Wasik, a former Hertz Corp. official who was on the acquisition warpath. Wasik's investment group, Fidelco Capital Group, purchased National Car Rental from Household International with the help of Paine Webber, Inc. in December 1986. In the fall of 1988, Wasik organized a management-led buyout of the firm and extended ownership to 70 employees, including Livingston. In his personal life, Livingston spends a lot of his time in the air, commuting on a weekly basis between Minneapolis and his home on Long Island, New York. Livingston has a wife and two sons. ALAN J. RYAN <<<>>> Title : At 75% over budget, state Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: tass7 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ After exceeding its budget by 75% and delaying final implementation by two years, long-term cost savings from California's tax automation system are in question, according to a California Auditor General's report issued late last month. California is the second state to document major cost overruns in automating its tax system. In 1985, Michigan also incurred major overruns on the same type of automation system. Both were implemented by Arthur Andersen & Co. However, the Employment Development Department (EDD), the state department responsible for the project, has taken joint responsibility with Arthur Andersen for excess costs and late implementation. The EDD has defended its use of the consultancy rather than attempting to develop systems in-house. The total cost of the system for California taxpayers is $12.7 million, including a cost overrun of $5.4 million. Along with a 23-month delay in implementation, there was a delay in tax collection of up to $700 million. According to the report, because of that delay, the state did not earn at least $1 million in interest. The EDD is responsible for collecting revenues whose amount is apparently second only to the Internal Revenue Service. One single application is reponsible for collecting $13 billion through employee withholdings each year. Deadlines, deadlines One source close to the original implementation blamed the two-year delay on a rabid push for meeting deadlines. ``Arthur Andersen knew about bugs in advance, but they chose to meet deadline,'' said Paul Epps, currently chief of MIS at the state's Department of Social Services. Epps formerly worked at the employment department. Other department personnel, who wished to remain anonymous, concurred with many of Epps' charges. ``I never saw anyone push so hard for deadlines before,'' Epps said. ``If you had work on your desk and it was due Friday, they'd take it off the desk, even if it was only half finished.'' ``They didn't get paid until they delivered the product,'' said Steve Schutte, manager of the audit project. Arthur Andersen did get paid $5.2 million in August 1987, according to the state report. After payment, however, the contractor had to return to iron out bugs until mid-1988. ``While there was a fair amount of business pressure driving toward timely implementation, we wouldn't have put things into operation before they were ready,'' said Mike Hudson, a partner at Arthur Andersen. Nearly $2.7 million of the cost overruns are attributed to contract amendments with Arthur Andersen, Schutte said, doubling the amount of the contractor's original payments. However, the employment department contends it is money well spent. ``I don't view the contract amendments as cost overruns,'' said John Healy, deputy director of the department's administrative branch. He said that instead, the amendments were for extras that were requested and delivered. Despite the auditor's findings, Hudson maintains that the automation systems are successful. ``Benefits have exceeded costs,'' he said. Healy could not itemize those benefits but did say that some staff has become more productive, and accounts receivable from tax collections has grown somewhat above the population growth. Despite public scrutiny, Arthur Andersen plans to remain in the business of automating state systems. Last year, the company had more than 100 state and local contracts in 20 states, according to Andersen's Director of State and Local Government Industry, Dean Nichols. He estimated that the sector of the company's business accounts was approximately 10% of its revenue. By J.A. Savage, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Overruns abound Author : J.A. Savage Source : CW Comm FileName: side2.$0 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: The tax accounting system is not the only automation system developed for the California Employment Development Department. The other efforts were, on average, 66% over budget and 18 months behind schedule. Of six automated systems _ including disability benefits payments (two phases), job referrals and job referrals order sharing, tax accounting and unemployment insurance _ tax automation is the most lucrative for the state, as it brings in most of the state's income. But included in a total automation package that reached $82.4 million are the other services. Peat Marwick Main & Co. consulted on a job service automation project whose total cost increased 18% from the original estimate. Peat Marwick's contract cost increased from $1.4 million to $5.3 million. For the other projects, Arthur Andersen's bill was $4.9 million more than originally planned. J. A. SAVAGE <<<>>> Title : Sorting out the tangle of Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: case Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: With a hundred or so computer-aided software engineering products currently available and more coming onto the market every day, the first steps into CASE can be bewildering. There are tools for highly specific tasks, tools for generalized tasks, tools integrated with one another and tools for tools. There is even an IEEE group currently working on an exhaustive taxonomy of CASE tools. Definitions are changeable, however, and they are especially undependable during periods of rapid growth. This is particularly true of CASE, which is not just a technology or class of products but a problem-solving approach, a set of methods and disciplines, maybe even a philosophy that will someday guide software development toward a real engineering discipline. Besides, for users of CASE, whether they are data processing professionals or end users, the questions that really need to be answered are, ``What does the tool do?'' and ``Where does it fit in with other tools?'' Drawing the line Luckily, simply classifying the CASE tools that do exist is a much more realistic task than trying to define all the aspects of CASE. But even that is not easy to do. Right now, few CASE products fall neatly into well-bounded categories, and most of the packages available are expanding in scope and capability. Additionally, the systems development function is multifaceted, so the selection of CASE products cannot be adequately addressed by examining any one dimension, such as life cycle phase or product function. There are some lines of demarcation beginning to emerge, however. New CASE categories will begin to appear on the market as the subject is explored in greater depth. One way of thinking about CASE tools in order to answer questions about their purpose is a model developed and used at Case Research Corp. The model separates CASE into five major components: repository, reengineering, life cycle support, project support and continuous quality improvement (CQI). Repository. CASE pivots about the axis of a central repository. The repository is the heart of CASE, the vital, integrating element of the environment. It is much more than a data dictionary, because it touches on all life cycle phases, as well as project support and systems enhancement or reengineering activities. The repository contains all object definitions and relationships. These objects range from system specifications in the form of data flow and entity relationship diagrams, structure charts and database schemas to screen definitions, report definitions, dialogue/menu definitions and so forth. The repository also contains the keys needed to efficiently identify, locate and extract program code for reuse purposes. Currently, repository products are largely a subcomponent of broader integrated CASE environments, such as Andersen Consulting's Foundation, Texas Instruments, Inc.'s Information Engineering Facility and Knowledgeware Inc.'s Gamma and Information Engineering Workbench (IEW). That more repository products are not on the market is probably due, in large part, to the fact that some vendors have been waiting to see what IBM will do. Reengineering. Until recently, code has been the only tangible asset of software systems. Parts of the design may have been quite valuable, but without a machine-storable, higher level specification to make it accessible, the value of the design was diminished. CASE provides the higher level specification, which makes code more easily replaced. One of the chief problems in enhancing systems is the difficulty in understanding their logical and physical design. This is where most of the effort involved in maintenance is expended. Fiddling with even one seemingly isolated aspect of a system without examining all the potential effects of a change has caused trouble for more than one programmer. The increased complexity of application systems demands tools that can provide automated support for the forecasting of those effects as well as make changes at the specification level rather than the code level. This is done by mapping or reverse-engineering back from the implementation level of program code and databases to a higher level specification (physical design, for example), so that enhancements can be performed at the higher level of abstraction through forward engineering. The combination of reverse engineering and forward engineering is known as reengineering. Enhancement involves all parts of the system development life cycle and is not simply a separate, sequential phase. As CASE products are used to construct new systems, the asset value will lie less with the code and more with the design. Examples of products today that fall within the reengineering domain include data reengineering CASE tools such as Bachman Information Systems, Inc.'s Bachman/DA, code restructurers such as Peat Marwick Advanced Technology's Structured Retrofit and code analyzers such as Viasoft, Inc.'s Via/Insight. Life cycle support. Our model separates the CASE life cycle into five phases: strategic planning, analysis, logical design, physical design and construction. Instead of visualizing these phases in the usual linear format, we find it more appropriate and correct to think of them as parts of a circle in which each activity connects to the next. This set of activities is monitored, supported and controlled by the project support function. Within the life cycle, there are phases that are referred to as front end and back end. Front-end products tend to concentrate on the strategic planning, analysis and logical design phases, while back-end products emphasize physical design and construction. There are, in addition, single products, integrated product sets or frameworks that support the entire life cycle, which are called full life cycle products. Full life cycle products that also incorporate project support and reengineering functions are known as ``integrated'' CASE tools. Any evaluation of CASE tools must strike a balance between product scope and depth. Even though the advantages of an integrated CASE product may appear dramatic, they can sometimes be offset by deficiencies in the weakest link of the integrated product set. The question then becomes, How easy or difficult would it be to replace that function within the integrated CASE product with another product of one's own choosing? For example, if you have a large backlog of applications that have been analyzed and logically designed and are ready for development, a back-end CASE generator might be the appropriate choice. By contrast, if you are uncomfortable with the application mix in the backlog and their priorities, you might be more concerned about rethinking the new development portfolio. In that case, you will need to focus on strategic planning, analysis and logical design, so front-end CASE tools might be a better place to start. A closer look at each of the life cycle phases and their significance might help you determine the CASE product that is right for your situation. Strategic planning. The objectives of this phase include analyzing business information and systems requirements at a high level and prioritizing systems development activities. In order to address strategic planning, CASE tools need to support conceptual information and process modeling. Typically, this is done through the use of some form of entity-relationship and data flow diagraming techniques. Additionally, strategic planning tools may offer capabilities for matrix analyses, including cluster and affinity analyses. These are used to determine natural boundaries of data for subject area databases as well as groupings of functions or processes so that system boundaries can be ascertained. While stand-alone planning products do exist, much of the information gathered in a strategic planning survey will be used to drive later life cycle phases. For that reason, there can be advantages to CASE products that support strategic planning and also address later life cycle phases. Analysis. The analysis phase is used to identify specific application system objectives and collect information pertinent to the proposed system. While analysis may overlap strategic planning to some degree, analysis tends to have a narrower focus and is performed at a more detailed level. Structured analysis emphasizes the graphics techniques associated with process and data modeling, system partitioning and collection of data dictionary information. Analysis also frequently involves the collection and creation of text, including interview notes, problem lists, proposals and specifications. In addition, the analyst may also be involved in supporting activities, such as cost-benefit analysis and project planning. To properly address analysis, CASE tools must support detailed information and process modeling as well as decomposition. Analysis tools should also support or interface with tools that support text and document processing, presentation graphics, project planning and financial analysis. Although many CASE products are weak in this area, some, such as Softlab, Inc.'s Maestro, are specially designed to support this kind of ``analyst's workbench'' approach. Another dividing line in this category of CASE tools is found between process-oriented tools and data-driven products. This distinction refers to an emphasis on business functions, as opposed to the data-driven approach, which concentrates on information. Nastec's Designaid is an example of the process-driven approach, which tends to be favored by programmers and systems analysts. Chen & Associates' E-R Designer, on the other hand, is an example of a CASE product with the strong data orientation that is favored by data administrators. While many CASE tools do support both the data and process approaches, a CASE product that appeals to the data administrator, or database designer, might not satisfy the systems analyst, or programmer, and vice versa. So, it is important in formulating selection criteria to determine the primary audience for the CASE product and the methodology preferred by your development groups. Logical design. The logical design phase identifies the design of the proposed system at a high level. Logical design focuses on ``what'' the system must do rather than ``how'' it should be done. It therefore produces an implementation-independent description of the proposed system. The separation between analysis and logical design is not absolute, however, so CASE tools for logical design should support both information and process modeling as well as decomposition, although in greater detail than that typically required during analysis. Data modeling and data flow diagraming support is usually provided for these activities. Additionally, CASE tools for design must facilitate system and program structuring, as well as some way of specifying detailed program logic. Typically, program structure is stated by some form of structure chart diagraming, and program logic is supported by action diagrams such as Warnier-Orr diagrams, pseudocode or decision tables. As with analysis products, some design products, such as Cadre Technologies, Inc.'s Teamwork or Optima's Designvision, are strongly oriented to logical process design, while others, such as Appleton Co.'s Janus, are oriented toward logical data design. Physical design. The physical design phase is used to identify the design of the proposed system at a detailed level. Physical design begins with the ``what'' specified during logical design and then refines it to ``how'' it should be done. It is therefore an implementation-dependent description of the proposed system. In some CASE tools for physical design, the data models automatically generate database schema, and process models automatically generate some or all of the program code. Screen and report layouts are designed through screen/report ``painting,'' which may extend into a prototyping capability. Some CASE tools carry prototyping to the further level of simulation, whereby the models are actually executed to simulate the performance and characteristics of the designed system. Given the close link between logical and physical design, CASE tools for physical design should not only support highly detailed modeling but also decomposition and those elements previously discussed. But that is not the only important overlap to consider. Physical design is intimately related to construction. Because this is the case, the choice of construction tools may dictate the choice of physical design tools. The more physical design can automatically drive construction, the more productive both will be. Cortex Corp.'s Corvision is an example of a CASE tool that drives construction from physical design. Similarly, many of the ``interfaces'' available today between front-end CASE and back-end CASE tools work by passing physical design information from the front-end CASE tool to the back-end CASE tool. As such, the availability of such interfaces will often be a factor in the CASE tool selection process. Actually, however, availability is not the whole story. Many leading front-end CASE tools have available interfaces to the leading back-end CASE products, but not all of those interfaces are equally effective. This factor should be carefully evaluated before purchase. Construction. The construction phase produces a tested, functioning system from the physical design. The term ``construction'' is used deliberately in preference to words such as programming or coding, because some CASE tools automatically generate code and/or databases from design specifications. In this case, programming in the conventional manual sense would not adequately describe this activity. Other CASE tools simply offer an editing environment for programming and database specification. These could be described as mechanizing, rather than automating, construction. In several CASE products, screen layouts produced during physical design will generate screen maps with all required control information, and report layouts will generate complete report programs. While module and system testing and program debugging are important aspects of construction, the majority of CASE tools do not currently offer significant support for these activities. Today, most construction tools associated with the CASE field are based on a third-generation language. These products either generate third-generation language code (typically Cobol) in whole or in part, such as Sage Software, Inc.'s APS, or provide editing environments for third-generation language code. While fourth-generation languages such as Information Builders, Inc.'s Focus and Computer Associates International, Inc.'s Ideal typically predate the CASE movement, they are only now beginning to be incorporated into CASE environments. For example, Software AG of North America, Inc. has integrated the Deft Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh-based front-end CASE tool with its Natural 4GL, and Computer Associates has recently announced its Depictor front-end CASE tool to drive the Ideal 4GL. Perhaps significantly, Knowledgeware has recently announced support for IBM's Cross Systems Product (CSP) fourth-generation language, as well as offering code generation capability on the PC platform with a new product, IEW/Construction Workstation. Making a choice between third- and fourth-generation-based construction tools can be a complex process in its own right, and the choice usually comes down to psychological and political issues rather than technical merits. For years consultants have predicted the imminent death of Cobol, yet Cobol continues to be the dominant language of choice in mainframe-based data processing environments. CASE has so far had little impact on this status quo. Project Support. While most of the CASE technology features already discussed concern the activities of individual analysts and programmers, most systems development involves teams and work groups. As such, providing a shared project environment and associated support tools is a critical CASE function for all but the most trivial development applications. Also central to project support functions is the repository. The project database incorporates all of the objects associated with the development project and manages the relationships among those objects. Project support capabilities may include documentation facilities; facilities for team communication, such as messaging, calendaring and electronic mail; and personal tools, such as outliners, personal schedulers and spreadsheet capabilities. Additionally, a major factor in the success of systems development projects is the effectiveness with which the project is planned, managed and controlled. Some CASE tools are now offering features such as resource estimating and reporting, security control and audit trails to address this area. Continuous quality improvement. One of the real secrets of CASE lies in the discovery that CASE technology is much more about quality than about productivity, although by doing it right the first time, productivity will inevitably increase. Users who bring a rigorous, systematic, disciplined approach to software development can significantly reduce defects much earlier in the life cycle and result in a more reliable and correct application. Using CASE for quality assurance requires changing perspective _ from focusing exclusively on what software is being developed to also looking at how software is being developed. It represents a shift in focus from product to process. When this approach of continually examining the process by which software is developed to eliminate snags and error-causing limitations is combined with this way of thinking about defect removal, the result is another dimension of CASE, known as continuous quality improvement. The new approach to defect removal takes that process out of the separate maintenance life cycle phase and makes it an activity common to all life cycle phases, including the planning, analysis and design stages. It is the CQI component that guides the design of instrumentation and metrics as well as the collection, data capture and analysis of those metrics. To really be able to collect the data needed to evaluate the software development process, it should be collected at the source in an automated, organized format. Unfortunately, the inability to accomplish this task is currently one of the largest shortcomings of CASE products today, and it represents an opportunity that vendors have not quite begun to recognize. By Vaughan Merlyn and Greg Boone; Merlyn and Boone are principals of Case Research Corp., an industry analysis, education and consulting firm in Bellevue, Wash. <<<>>> Title : How real are the benefits Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bartonsd Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: The Barton Group, Inc., a CASE consulting company located in Andover, Mass., is conducting a research project to identify the factors that lead to the successful use of CASE. The Survey of CASE Users, sent to 3,000 active users of front-end CASE tools in the U.S., is being analyzed with P. J. Guinan, an assistant professor of MIS at Boston University's School of Management. Some preliminary findings regarding how CASE can benefit organizations folow. Factors that influence the success of a CASE implementation culled from survey responses as well as the Barton Group's consulting experience are presented in a box on pages 68 and 69. Quality of documentation. Users report that exceptionally strong and widespread gains are made in documentation because CASE tools provide an easy means for developing and revising such material. The tools support methods that incorporate a number of graphical models, allowing developers and users to ``see'' the design more quickly and accurately. Quality of systems design. The results here are mixed. A number of users indicate poor or little improvement. These are usually either new to CASE or have only used the tools to produce documentation, as opposed to building integrated data and process models. A very large group reports respectable but not extreme improvements, and a small group reports extreme improvements. These last two groups are composed of more experienced users who are beginning to develop and cross-validate interrelated models. They are using the data dictionary capabilities and actively designing systems on the tool rather than documenting designs created elsewhere. Ability to meet business requirements. Many users report strong improvements here. The tools seem to be forcing the use of methods that produce a better vision and understanding of the systems being designed. Additional iterations catch and correct more errors. The final result is a more complete analysis that closely matches user needs. Communication and team building. Responses indicate a widespread, midlevel improvement in communication, as the tools force standardized outputs and documentation sets. CASE tools provide a new medium for communicating but do not change the nature of communication. Dramatic results may come later when groupware permits the exchange and revision of specification components among co-workers. Project team's productivity. Most projects experience moderate improvements. High improvement is achieved when you have a lot of experience. Among those reporting improvement are those who are still on the ``CASE honeymoon.'' These people have used CASE for less than three months, and their companies are first-time CASE/ methods users. To them, the tool and method capabilities are incredible. When faced with complex production use, the honeymoon will be replaced by implementation issues. More substantive improvements are reported by firms that have used CASE for three-plus years, completed at least four projects and used structured methods before CASE. The lesson is that CASE does not provide a major gain very quickly. Time is needed to allow the organization to learn the technology and adapt to it. Project schedules. Most people experience minor improvement here. The learning curve is greater than expected, but this is usually offset by improved documentation and communication. <<<>>> Title : The name game Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: casename Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: With the evolution and availability of a wider variety of CASE tools, terms such as ``upper CASE'' (front-end analysis and design) and ``lower CASE'' (back-end code generators) came into vogue. Although the puns in these terms made them seem fanciful, the distinction they drew between programming-related technologies and tools for analysis and design was an important one. Now, however, new terms are coming into fashion. With the growing emphasis on the engineering aspect of CASE, the field of tools has broadened to include virtually anything that increases the rigor, discipline and integration of automation associated with software development. In this more down-to-business climate, the terms ``front end'' and ``back end'' are used more by CASE users _ partly to avoid the pun, partly to avoid any sense of superiority or inferiority of function. Products that cover all major life cycle phases are usually called ``integrated'' or ``full life cycle,'' although vendor marketing sometimes takes poetic license in the use of these terms. Within the life cycle, there are phases that constitute front-end CASE _ popularly the strategic planning analysis and logical design phases _ and back-end CASE _ physical design and construction. In addition, single products, integrated product sets or frameworks that support the entire life cycle are called full life cycle products. Full life cycle products that also incorporate project support and reengineering functions are known as ``integrated'' CASE tools. Other aspects of the development process are going through changes in nomenclature. For instance, maintenance is conventionally thought of as both the correction of defects and as the continual enhancement of existing software to fit new purposes. This term is bad for two reasons. First of all, it has developed a negative connotation, as in ``cleaning up a mess.'' Second, it is used to describe two very different functions. The term ``maintenance'' should be replaced with the term ``system enhancement'' or ``reengineering.'' Defect removal and correction should be called exactly what it is _ defect removal and correction _ and not used synonymously with system enhancement. VAUGHAN MERLYN and GREG BOONE By Vaughan Merlyn and Greg Boone <<<>>> Title : How to succeed with CASE Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bartonbo Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Success is not an automatic outcome of CASE. Through an extensive survey of CASE users being conducted by his consulting organization (see box page 66), as well as accumulated consulting experience, Richard Barton and others at Barton Group, Inc. have assembled a list of suggestions about what organizations should do to derive maximum benefit from CASE products: Establish a means of measuring results that addresses both short- and long-term costs and benefits. Quantitative measures answer cost and schedule questions but take a long time to develop a base for comparison. The short-term goals should focus on qualitative improvements and job satisfaction. Keep expectations realistic. Look for short-term improvements in communication and the quality of deliverables, but do not expect major productivity improvements until you have been using the products for at least three years. Move slowly and carefully. All organizations resist even simple changes. CASE involves complex changes in organizations and tools. Therefore, a slow, incremental process is required. Scout the territory. Chances of success are improved by prior use of structured methods. Companies that understand the methods first will find implementing CASE easier. Test extensively. Organizations that are successful generally conduct at least four pilot projects over more than a year. Pilots should be conducted using portions of the tools and methods on any given project. Forgive test errors. Expect to make mistakes on pilot projects. They are a learning experience. Allow for postpurchase expenses. CASE cannot be successfully implemented with a onetime expenditure of capital on hardware and software. These expenses generally account for one quarter to one third of the final cost. Splurge on training. The requirement for training is usually understated. Expect that 10 days of training will be required to gain proficiency in any given area. Anywhere from two to several months of experience are required to gain complete competence. Supply coaching. These new tools are so different that project teams require expert assistance. Coaches can identify and correct problems before they become too large. Focus on use and support. Allow only those projects that can be supported with training and coaching to use the tools. Inadequately supported use leads to confusion and frustration. Encourage full use. The analytical capabilities of CASE tools are severely underutilized. Develop a team to investigate these capabilities, learn how to apply them and demonstrate their use. Address organizational issues. Plan for and manage the changes that accompany the use of CASE products, including new skill requirements and the push for a consistent development approach that forces many people to change their work habits. This is perhaps the most important issue. Make improvement a strategic goal. Improving the development process must be a part of the corporation's strategic plan. Without directed support for the use of CASE, project management has an easy excuse not to follow through. Involve the project manager. Ensure that these people understand the impact on their role and how to manage CASE-based development. <<<>>> Title : CASE tools still not read Author : Derek Hatley Source : CW Comm FileName: hatley Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: The potential market for real-time CASE tools covers the whole range of high-technology systems development, from military systems to automobile electronics and beyond. These markets are huge, but the challenges to providing them with effective CASE tools are even greater, as the current minimal market penetration shows. What makes real-time CASE tools different is that every aspect of the development environment for real-time systems is different _ from the type of organization involved and the type of system being developed to the development process and the methods used to support it. Both the firms developing real-time systems and their customers, notably the U.S. government, are often very large. They also produce high-tech products that must conform with strict government and industry standards. This leads to a need for multiuser CASE tools working off large project databases and meeting demanding regulatory requirements. One special challenge is that real-time systems typically have critical, high-speed timing requirements that cannot be violated without serious consequences. They also tend to have complex control and processing requirements and to be embedded in larger systems, such as aircraft or manufacturing process control systems. These properties significantly affect the development process and development methods, both of which have a major impact on CASE tool requirements. The development process for real-time systems is strongly influenced by the size of the development organization, by the complexity, criticality and multidisciplinary nature of the development and by the strict design and documentation standards imposed by the customers. Real-time systems are often developed along with the systems with which they must interact, so several layers of systems, hardware and software all must be developed in unison. Another factor that must be taken into account is that the scope of real-time systems development is much broader than that of non-real-time development. Real-time systems are developed as complete custom systems with newly developed or adapted hardware, software and interfaces. This means that it is not sufficient to address software development alone _ a point that many users and CASE tool developers miss. It also means that CASE tools must be able to handle interactions and traceability between multiple systems and multiple layers of specification. Because of the complex and critical nature of real-time systems and their development process, new formal development methods have been devised both for requirements and design specification. The two most commonly used for requirements specification, both of which combine structured analysis with finite state machine theory, are the Hatley/Pirbhai and Ward/Mellor methods. For design specification, a number of methods have appeared, none of which has yet been widely accepted. These include Design Aid for Real-Time Systems (DARTS), a combination of structured analysis and structured design with some real-time constructs added; a number of variations on object-oriented design, favored by proponents of the Ada language; a number of Petri net approaches, representing systems with a control flow model; Statecharts, a variation of finite-state machine theory, with layered systems; and Architecture Modeling, a part of the Hatley/Pirbhai method. There are other methods involved in real-time system development that are candidates for automation with CASE, including methods for hardware development, configuration management, documentation, system and software testing and so on. With the scope and complexity of all these factors that make up the real-time system development environment, finding a CASE tool capable of supporting the environment can be a discouraging task. At Smiths Industries, we have been watching the evolution of CASE tools and evaluating them, especially those for real-time applications, since their inception around 1984. We have yet to find anything that answers all our requirements. What we have found is that CASE tools are still very much in their infancy. At last count there were a dozen or so tools that claimed to support the Hatley/Pirbhai real-time requirements specification method. Based on our evaluations, so far not a single tool actually provides this support completely and correctly. For design specification, the only widely supported method is conventional structured design, which is not adequate for real-time systems. Some tools support one or another of the design methods mentioned earlier, but there is no consensus on the best approach. Smiths Industries recently did a comparative evaluation of the three tools that seemed to come closest to our needs. The scoring system we used was based on support of these methods and general functionality, and all three tools scored between 40% and 50% of the possible total. With those scores, the product would be only marginally useful to us. As a result, we have again deferred making a firm commitment to any tool. Despite all the current deficiencies, a CASE tool that fits into your development process and that aids some specific part or parts of that process can be a useful asset. It could be just as worthwhile to acquire a CASE tool for the exposure you will get and its future potential as for its immediate benefits. Smiths Industries currently has small installations of two tools for this purpose and is considering installing a third. They are used for limited application on certain projects and have been beneficial at least for information recording, consistency checking and documentation purposes as well as for giving us a better idea of what we would like from a real-time CASE tool in the future. Given the demands of real-time systems development and the limited capabilities of current CASE tools, the most important features you should look for include an open architecture and flexibility. These capabilities will give you a chance to get at what you want and adapt it to what you need. Since real-time development tends to be unique from one environment to another, it is not even out of the question to consider developing your own in-house tool (based on a graphic front-end and a database system from the excellent selections that are now available) if your organization is large enough to justify it. CASE will eventually become a major part of our real-time systems development tool kit _ it just isn't ready yet. By Derek Hatley; Hatley, an engineering consultant, is principal staff engineer at Smiths Industries in Grand Rapids, Mich., and co-author of Strategies for Real-Time System Specification, published by Dorset House in New York. <<<>>> Title : The fine art of figuring Author : Cathleen Santosu Source : CW Comm FileName: costside Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: With average prices for CASE tools ranging between $6,000 and $50,000, companies are discovering that selecting such tools is as much a business decision as a technical one. ``As soon as you determine that the basic functionality you require exists in these products, then the technology essentially becomes irrelevant,'' says Sue Ann Hawley, a West Bloomfield, Mich.-based consultant who advises both CASE vendors and CASE users. After that point, Hawley says, the real focus for most organizations is figuring out what kind of payback is needed to justify the purchase of multiple copies of these pricey tools. The trouble is that in order to calculate payback on CASE, you have to bend some of the basic rules of business math and factor in additional soft costs such as learning time and cultural adjustment as well as less tangible benefits. Joseph Izzo, president of Information Technology Group, a division of A. T. Kearney, Inc. in Santa Monica, Calif., has a formula that he uses, but it includes some unknowns. Expressed succinctly, Izzo believes that a company breaks even on its CASE investment if it can achieve a 4-to-1 productivity gain in two to five years. Costly start-up The catch is that productivity must be evaluated against the entire development cycle, because the large start-up costs will not level off for the first two years. Furthermore, since 70% to 80% of applications efforts involve software maintenance, it will also be a few years before a concrete and conclusive picture of CASE productivity benefits can emerge. The key to making the formula work for you, Izzo says, is to fully understand your ultimate goal in acquiring CASE before you even begin evaluating tools. If you do not clearly understand how you are going to achieve a four-fold productivity gain using CASE, he notes, you will not get anywhere. Jerry Grochow, vice-president of American Management Systems' corporate technology group in Arlington, Va., dispenses similar advice. Before an organization can attempt to cost-justify CASE, Grochow says, it must understand the current level of productivity or quality of its software development systems. Once this baseline is established, an organization can set up an ongoing measurement program spanning the entire MIS department that will allow comparison of CASE pilot projects with ongoing conventional systems development projects. At first, the results will probably not seem very impressive, at least from a productivity improvement standpoint. Most experts agree that productivity will go down before it goes up with CASE, taking into account learning curves and the cultural change implied in automation of software development for information systems departments. There are, however, some counterbalancing benefits that are often left out of the equation. One factor is the improved quality of the software product, resulting in reduced maintenance costs. Unlike productivity, Hawley says, ``Quality is impacted the day you start using the product _ the first time it finds an error.'' Another benefit, Grochow says, is the leverage that CASE provides against the cost of training and compensating highly trained systems development personnel. The cost-justification process can also be a lot easier, Hawley suggests, if a company does not try to start out with the tool of its dreams. There are, she points out, a handful of CASE products on the market right now that are priced below $2,000, and these tools can serve as a starting point for an organization that is not sure of what it wants. Temporary measure Harold Kleven, manager of data administration at Super Value Stores in Minneapolis, decided to try that route after looking at CASE seriously and concluding that most products still had a long way to go. Afraid that choosing the wrong direction in CASE could be a very costly mistake, Kleven chose Computer Systems Advisers, Inc.'s Picture Oriented Software Engineering (POSE), a front-end tool, because he felt it offered the most capability for the least money _ he paid $295 per module for the product. ``It's very competitive in terms of its functions, and the cost is certainly attractive,'' he says. ``POSE does what we're looking for at the lowest price possible. If CSA turns out not to be competitive, we can go somewhere else and not feel we've lost a fortune.'' Although Kleven is secure in his choice, not everyone believes that price shopping for CASE tools is a good idea. Izzo, for example, says he doubts that the lower priced products are suitable for any large IS shop. ``I don't believe the $1,000 or $2,000 products are ever going to get you to 4-to-1 productivity [gains],'' he says. ``You're going to have to bite the bullet, and it's going to be expensive.'' When a company first evaluates a CASE tool, it needs to discover how it fits into the overall organization, how long it will take to learn and how much time it will save. When an organization actually decides to purchase the tool, Grochow says it must then consider the product's impact on the entire organization, taking into account such factors as the tool's total maximum productivity benefit. Whatever CASE tool a company buys today, it is likely to want to buy a completely different product within three years, Izzo says. ``But those first three years represent a step in the right direction,'' he says. During that period, organizations will develop and anticipate the fundamental changes that can result from successful CASE implementation. By Cathleen Santosus; Santosus is executive director of the Magnetic Press Editorial Network in New York. <<<>>> Title : Improving VM performance Author : Trevor Eddolls Source : CW Comm FileName: eddollsi Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Have you measured how well your VM system is doing lately? The performance of IBM's Virtual Machine (VM) mainframe operating system is often complicated by the very facilities that make it such a versatile system in the first place. Keep in mind, however, that VM is not in the true sense an operating system at all, but is a control program that manages real resources _ tape drives, disks and so on _ and allows other software to run under it and share these real resources. Even so, sometimes resource management gets bogged down by other considerations and consequently, performance lags. Today's VM users are uncovering various performance gaps in the system, and they are also developing original solutions to overcome them. Indeed, improving the overall performance of their VM systems is a task users always seem ready to tackle. One of the prime concerns of many users is producing a VM monitor that exactly fits the requirements for their sites at a particular time. VM has a monitor built into it as part of the control program. This allows data to be collected in two ways _ either by state sampling or event recording. Within this setup, there are a number of classes that can be used to produce information on certain performance areas. Examples of some of the ways that users have tried to improve VM performance are described herein, including technical details. When the CPU is working, it may be in either problem state or supervisor state. Problem state means that it is processing work for a virtual machine _ this could be work being done by a conversational monitor system (CMS) user or a guest operating system. When the processor is in supervisor state, it is processing control program work, and this is usually considered to be the overhead of running VM compared with running a guest system native _ that is, running a guest on the same hardware without VM being loaded first. Both the control program and any of its guests can go into a wait state, which might mean there is nothing to do. It is either waiting for work or waiting for an I/O to complete so that it can continue. Bernard McIlroy, a systems programmer at Progress Lighting, Inc., a light fittings manufacturer in Philadelphia, wrote an assembler program that shows what state any given virtual machine is in. Progress uses the program for information about both its guest VSE system and its disconnected virtual machines _ that is, those without terminals attached. The program also shows how much real storage is being used by a guest operating system. The amount of paging taking place can be controlled by using the various SET commands provided by the control program. In this way, the performance of Progress' VSE guest can be improved, as can the performance of its important IBM CICS system, which runs under VSE. Michael Kilroy, also a systems programmer at Progress Lighting, wrote an EXEC program that examines control program storage. The EXEC enhances the Diagnose 4 instruction, which is a special command that examines control program blocks in storage. Diagnose 4 is limited because it can return only full words, and the address of each word must be specified in the parameter list. Kilroy's EXEC is especially useful if poor performance is reported and it becomes necessary to scrutinize control blocks in control program storage. Users find problems first Most data processing departments prefer to identify problems before members of the user community do. However, many find themselves restricted by budget limitations and the number of operators available. To solve this problem, one manager of IBM system software at a large consumer electronics company supplied some useful rules and a short EXEC that allows a site to build its own monitor. He suggests that a VM user identification code be dedicated to running the EXEC, which loops continuously. The best method to adopt, he adds, is to identify key resources, then decide what constitutes a problem state with the resource. This may be, for example, a network line that was off-line or disabled. Finally, the software manager says, decide how frequently the resource needs to be checked. Note, however, that regular checking carries a much higher CPU overhead than occasional checking. When the monitor identifies a problem, corrective action can be taken and performance will not deteriorate. Alan Kauf-Stern, a systems programmer at Paz Oil Co. in Haifa, Israel, had a similar solution in mind when he wrote a number of EXECs that run continuously and alert staff if site-determined threshold values of system resources usage are exceeded. The EXECs automatically monitor all virtual machines and their usage of resources such as CPU utilization, I/O rate and paging rate. The EXECs run in a disconnected VM and loop continuously, taking data from IBM's VM/Real-Time Monitor. Threshold values are easily specified in parameter files. If they are exceeded, remedial action can be taken immediately to improve performance. The data collected can also be used for future capacity planning. This solution was taken a step further by Wesley R. Scott, a systems programmer at NBD Bancorp, Inc. in Detroit, who wrote a program that takes system resource snapshots and reports on elapsed consumption since the setting of a particular resource point _ usually the last report. He also developed an EXEC that uses the data from the first program to produce a detailed list of resources used and the cost accumulated. This is used for billing users. The amount charged for each resource can be modified easily. The point of using such a program is that users tend to be less excessive with their usage of system resources when they see both how much it costs them and that the reduction in overall use means an improvement in the performance of the fewer virtual machines that were using the system at any given time. Keeping CPU use in balance is a VM problem that was tackled by George Perkins, a senior technical services specialist at Oscar Mayer Foods Corp. in Madison, Wis. Perkins wrote an EXEC that dynamically changes the priority of a CMS user based on CPU usage. This EXEC is used to ease pressure caused by, for example, a CPU-intensive database query system. The EXEC does not include special-service machines and guest operating systems. If a virtual machine is deemed to be using too much CPU for the system's good, its priority level is reduced to 70, where 1 is the highest priority, 100 is the lowest and 64 is the default priority level. If a machine is not adversely affecting the CPU, its priority is set to 64. Duane Ternes, technical support supervisor at Cascade Corp., a forklift parts manufacturer in Portland, Ore., wrote an EXEC that creates a formatted and interpreted display of in-queue users from the ``control program indicate users'' command _ better known as CP IND USERS. The display can be refreshed automatically. It also displays whether users are FAVORed or have QDROP OFF status; FAVOR and QDROP OFF are keywords that indicate user status. A user who is FAVORed will always be added to the queue when ready to run. This situation ignores the size of the user's working set _ the number of real storage pages it requires. If the percentage option is used with the command, the control program will try to ensure that the user gets that percentage of system CPU resources. The QDROP OFF option has the effect of keeping some of a user's pages in real storage when the user comes to the end of an active period. When the user next wants to be active, some of his pages will already be in real storage, and so processing can start sooner. Both these methods can be used to improve VM performance, although they usually result in some decrease in the performance of all the other virtual machines. I/O problems Backed-up I/Os can also affect VM performance. For example, when IBM's VM/370 initiates an I/O, it will try to access a channel and then a control unit and then the device. If any part of this path is already busy performing an I/O operation, the new I/O will be put into a queue. With the older, less sophisticated Start I/O command, this information would have been sent back to the control program, which would have tried to access the device using an alternate channel, where available. With the more modern Start I/O Fast command, the attempted I/O is queued in the first channel, and the control program does not know that it is queued and so does not try to send it down the alternate channel. Therefore, even if there is an available path, the I/O will not use it and will wait until the first path is available. John Illingworth, chief systems programmer at Empire Stores Ltd. in Bradford, England, has implemented a modification to the control program that flip-flops the paths for a device for every I/O request. What this means is that, in effect, every other I/O request will start with the alternate channel. With IBM's VM/High-Performance Option (VM/HPO) Release 3.4 and above, the modification is made to the module known as DMKIOQ. The effect of this modification is to attempt to balance I/O and improve performance by reducing the likelihood of an I/O being queued in a channel when an alternate path is available. In addition to I/O difficulties, the spool file can often be a source of woe to VM sites. The spool file can contain print files, punch files and reader files for every user. Spooling also uses the paging subsystem for I/O, and what appears to be excessive paging rates can be caused by excessive spool usage. Each spool file has a naming device, or SFBLOK, associated with it. With IBM's VM/System Product, these can fill up the Free Storage Area in the CPU, causing free storage extends that not only take away page frames from the Dynamic Paging Area (DPA) in the CPU, but also halt user work during the process, thus reducing performance. Many CMS users treat the spool as a mini-disk-overflow area. With VM/HPO, problems can be increased because up to 9,900 spool files per user can be supported. However, also with HPO, SFBLOKS are stored in the DPA, so free storage extends are less frequent. With IBM's VM/Extended Architecture, the spool is also used for printer File Control Blocks and Universal Character Sets, control program monitoring data, dumps, Discontiguous Saved Segments (DCSS), saved systems and the user-class override file. If the spool file fills up, the system could crash. Messages about the spool area's capacity are sent only when the spool is 90% and 100% full _ which is probably too late. To counteract this problem, W. H. Sau, computer projects officer at Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. in Hong Kong, wrote an assembler program that interrogates the control block areas known as DMKPGTTM and DMKPGTTU and displays the current spool utilization. Because this information is available, VM should not crash just because the spool file is filled. Therefore, performance should be improved. Discontiguous Saved Segments can be used as a way of greatly improving performance for many users. Without a DCSS, each user who wants to use a particular program has to call the program, retrieve it from disk, load it into his virtual storage area and then page it into real storage for execution. With a DCSS, the code is loaded into an area of storage and the programs in it can be used by any authorized user. This saves time and increases productivity and overall performance. However, systems programmers must take care that DCSSs do not overlap in storage and that they can contain all the programs that are to be loaded into them. The names of all DCSSs are kept in the DMKSNT configuration file. VM directories Every virtual machine that can run on a particular system must have an entry in the system directory. This can be a very large file on a system with a large number of CMS users. Its maintenance can be difficult and time-consuming, and mistakes can easily be made when coding a new mini-disk statement. Werner Saumweber, a consultant with Sqare Computer Consulting in Aichach, West Germany, wrote a program that checks the disk-map file for mini-disk overlaps and sends a message to the initiating user if it finds any. It ignores any messages from either the MAINT user ID or the DASD Dump Restore backup program. A second program searches the disk map for gaps and writes a record showing the amount of free space on each pack. This information can then be used to allocate new mini-disks. The use of these programs can improve the performance of VM systems programmers. These examples represent some of the many ideas about VM performance that have been passed on by practicing VM experts. They illustrate the wealth of highly technical knowledge about VM and the variety of ways that different sites have found to enhance the performance of their systems. By Trevor Eddolls; Eddolls is the editor of VM Update, a monthly technical journal published by Xephon Technology Transfer Ltd. in Newbury, England. Xephon's U.S. representative is MJH Computing Services in Winter Park, Fla. <<<>>> Title : Stages in the quest Author : Trevor Eddolls Source : CW Comm FileName: vmside Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: There are five basic stages IS goes through in the process of improving VM performance: The first and most obvious step is understanding how the installed software and hardware work. The second stage is knowing how to measure exactly what is going on and then doing so. Stage three is deciding what the performance requirements actually are and what is the most important work on the system. This can be judged in terms of business costs and business image. For example, if members of the public are using a terminal for any reason, they will perceive the response time of that terminal as indicating the performance of the company as a whole. The fourth stage is evaluating the measured results and comparing them with the performance requirements. The last stage is the tuning stage. This is the time when changes are made to the system. It is also the time when more serious modifications to the system are planned. These could include introducing new hardware, upgrading the CPU, installing new software programs or installing new versions of the control program. After that, the VM performance improvement process will cycle around to stage two and then continue ad infinitum. TREVOR EDDOLLS <<<>>> Title : Executive briefing Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 327brief Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: More than a product, more than a concept, CASE is becoming easier for managers to understand with its new standard definitions. However, CASE paybacks still can't be measured by basic business accounting. Users cite ease of documentation as the biggest benefit. Page 65. TGIF took on new meaning for the kings of the computer industry, IBM and DEC. With stock markets closed for Good Friday, the day marked the welcome end of a tough week for the companies. IBM officials spent much of the week downplaying the chip-supply problem that led to some delays in its 3090 mainframe deliveries, page 1. That left IBM Chairman John Akers to explain the resulting projections of lower quarterly earnings and to discount fears that the computer industry faces severe problems, page 120. Meanwhile, DEC's continued shifting of its product lines may be to blame for slow domestic sales and, thus, a drop of more than $16, or about 15% in the value of a DEC share in eight days, page 120. <<<>>> Title : Stratus changes course, p Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: stratus Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: MARLBORO, Mass. _ Stratus Computer, Inc. did an abrupt technological about-face last week, announcing it would base a new series of high-performance reduced instruction set computing systems on the recently introduced Intel Corp. I860 RISC microprocessor. The early victory for the much-ballyhooed Intel chip _ which was unveiled less than four weeks ago [CW, March 6] _ came 11 months after Stratus announced plans to build its machines around Motorola, Inc.'s 88000 RISC chip. The planned I860-based systems are expected in the early 1990s. Intel and Motorola ``are both excellent technologies, but we see a large segment of the market [moving] toward the I860,'' said Pam Brown, a spokeswoman for the fault-tolerant systems maker. ``By having a compatible architecture with these other vendors, we see more opportunities . . . to take advantage of the software that is being developed for the I860.'' Two major Stratus OEMs _ IBM and Ing. C. Olivetti & Co. _ have already endorsed Intel's chip, Brown added, and Unisys Corp., AT&T and Prime Computer, Inc. have expressed interest. There has also been speculation that IBM may design RISC workstations based on the I860. The fan club forming around the 64-bit Intel chip stems from its power and expected price. The I860, which squeezes more than a million transistors on one chip, will reportedly provide processing and graphics power equivalent to that found in high-end workstations but at a much lower price _ about $750 in quantities of 1,000 by year's end. The chip will reportedly be available in production quantities in the third quarter. Stratus is not abandoning Motorola completely. ``Our RISC-based systems will also include large numbers of Motorola 68000 microprocessors in the I/O and controller subsystems,'' said Robert Freiburghouse, senior vice-president of engineering at Stratus. By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : News shorts Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 327short Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Boeing opts for DEC over MAPDigital Equipment Corp. is slated to put together Boeing Co.'s largest computer-integrated manufacturing installation, having won a two-year contract estimated at $50 million. The system will be based on Decnet, even though Boeing has been a proponent of the Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP). MAP requires expensive customization, and Boeing wanted to use proven products when possible, one subcontractor said.Solbourne hits desktopSolbourne Computer, Inc. introduced what it is billing as the first Sun Microsystems, Inc.-compatible desktop workstations last week. Solbourne, a maker of deskside Sun-compatible systems, unveiled the Series 4/500. The system reportedly is binary and network-compatible with the Sun-4, can attain 9.5 million instructions per second (MIPS) and can be upgraded to 17 MIPS with a second processor.Credit deal sealedTRW, Inc. completed its acquisition of Dallas-based Chilton Corp. last week in a $330 million deal that creates the largest consumer credit data service in the U.S. The merger, completed after the federal government approved an antitrust settlement [CW, March 20], cuts the industry down to three nationwide credit information networks: TRW's Credit Data Division in Orange, Calif., Equifax, Inc. in Atlanta and Trans Union Credit Information Co. in Chicago.Sun and Cray cooperateThe technical computing market got a shot in the arm last week when Sun and Cray Research, Inc. announced a development and marketing pact under which Sun workstations will be integrated with Cray supercomputers. The pair-off has already borne fruit in the form of the Cray FEI-3 channel interface, which provides high-speed data transfer capabilities between Sun and Cray machines. In a related announcement, Mountain View, Calif.-based Sun unveiled its 58TE terminal emulation software, which allows Sun workstations to emulate the IBM 5080 graphics terminal. The package is priced from $30,000 to $50,000.Congress weighs permanent breakBills making the 20% research and development tax credit a permanent part of the federal tax code were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate last week. The tax credit is scheduled to expire this year. The extension bills, co-sponsored by 20 senators and 23 members of the House, were praised by the Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association, the American Electronics Association and the Council on Research and Technology.Optical storage citedElectronics giant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., producer of Panasonic products, announced the commercialization of a breakthrough high-performance erasable optical disk that will debut this week in Japan. The 3 -in., 280M-byte removable disk makes use of phase change technology, which allows users to directly overwrite data. The ability to erase and write in one pass rather than two dramatically speeds throughput _ a bottleneck of optical technology _ and provides an average data access time of 42 msec, Matsushita claimed. OSF expandsTo keep up with its surging membership _ currently at 110 _ the Open Software Foundation (OSF) has established regional offices on the West Coast and in the Washington, D.C., area. According to an OSF spokeswoman, the offices were created to carry out membership services, which include communications and education as well as recruitment of new members. The offices _ located in Herndon, Va., and Mountain View, Calif. _ are staffed and in operation. <<<>>> Title : Par for the course Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: remaints Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Some Computer Associates users are not alarmed and others consider increases resulting from the move to tiered pricing of maintenance licenses par for the course. Russell Bentz, manager of database administration at the State of Pennsylvania Higher Education Agency in Harrisburg, said that he has not had maintenance increases and that service and support has gotten better since the acquisition of Applied Data Research. That sentiment was echoed by Ronald Johnson, operations and technical support manager at Newell Co. in Freeport, Ill., who said he had not yet been affected by increases and that support had been satisfactory. Brian Callahan, director of technical support at Central Maine Power Co. in Augusta, Maine, already had site licenses but said he viewed the maintenance increases negatively and as characteristic of CA. Callahan said that he tracks maintenance costs for companies that have been bought out. ``For a company that does not get bought out, yearly maintenance increases between 4% and 7%,'' he said. ``When a company is bought out _ generally by CA _ next year's maintenance jumps 20%. That's one hell of a load over the going inflation rate.'' Jim Schultz, computer operations manager at Unigard Security Insurance Co. in Bellevue, Wash., said he anticipates increases when his contracts come up for renewal. In contact with many of his colleagues in other organizations, he said, ``There has been a lot of leveraging _ call it extortion.'' According to Schultz, the practice is not common in the industry, but he has seen it before. Schultz said that other vendors do not necessarily send out written notification but that the industry relies heavily on traditional increases. ``We certainly have not experienced increases this large,'' he said. ``Is the tiered pricing an excuse?'' L. L. Bean & Co. in Freeport, Maine, reported satisfactory support since the ADR acquisition. Stafford Soule, data center manager, said he anticipates increases in the fall. ``Theoretically, tiered pricing increases would affect our budget negatively,'' he said. ``But as a consequence, you negotiate with the vendor.'' ROBERT MORAN <<<>>> Title : 3Com expands services, jo Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 3comnews Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ 3+Open users grappling with ``RAM cram'' because of the 640K barrier will gain savings of as much as 130K bytes of random-access memory using several new memory-expanding services announced by 3Com Corp. last week. This particularly affects users of MS-DOS-based applications _ such as Borland International's Paradox _ that require lots of memory, said Mark Freund, a network consultant at the Interconnect Group in Pasadena, Calif. A separate component of 3Com's newly minted Demand Protocol Architecture (DPA) provides users on internetworks with rapid access to multiple protocol stacks without having to forfeit valuable RAM, 3Com claimed. It will also ease access to various hosts and servers _ whether local or remote _ that are based on different protocols without forcing users to resort to cumbersome gateways or rebooting every time they switch protocols. ``When you get into larger sized networks, you want to get things done as simply as possible. Users don't want to go through a gateway to get to the host. It slows things down, and multiple gateways are hard to manage,'' said James Pratt, a network consultant at Entre Computer Center in Oklahoma City. DPA consists of two services: Netbios Protocol and the Resident Protocol Manager. A related announcement involves LAN Manager support for an exist ing service, Microsoft Corp.'s HIMEM.SYS driver, which provides users of Intel Corp. 80286 and 386 workstations with an extra 30K bytes of RAM. Slated to be available as a free upgrade in 60 days, Netbios Protocol takes up approximately 20K bytes of RAM, freeing about 100K bytes by replacing the user's primary transport protocol for communicating with the file server. Pratt has tested Netbios Protocol with large applications running under 3+Open on an IBM Personal System/2 Model 60 talking to a PS/2 Model 70 and has freed up to 520K bytes for applications processing. Previously, Pratt could only accommodate large applications by cutting 3+Open down. He removed features such as Named Pipes from the client side and took such convenience terminate-and-stay-resident programs as electronic mail or printer notification out of the auto.exec file. ``We'll still do this; users want all the memory they can get,'' he said. The Resident Protocol Manager allows users to automatically load and unload protocol stacks as needed, said Alan Kessler, 3Com's 3+Open product manager. Users choose the capability from a menu that loads the required protocol stack from the file server, later unloading it. ``To have to reboot and change protocols [manually] is really ugly,'' Kessler said. This capability will reportedly ship midsummer as part of the next release of 3+Open. By Patricia Keefe, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Next stepping out into bu Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: next Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: PALO ALTO, Calif. _ Next, Inc. may be ready to graduate. However, the question remains _ will it find a real job once it leaves school? At a press conference to be held Thursday, Next is expected to announce that it will sell its workstations _ previously sold exclusively to universities _ through retailer Businessland, Inc. Although both sides are keeping quiet about the deal, Next recently sent out invitations to the press conference. The firm said that ``key software developers'' will be in attendance and that the firm will make a ``major business announcement.'' A Businessland spokeswoman confirmed that company President Dave Norman and other executives will be attending the conference. ``We will make comments after the press conference. . . . It's the vendor's prerogative to make this announcement, not ours,'' she said. The addition of Next in Businessland's line-up will fill the gap created by Compaq Computer Corp., which recently terminated Businessland as its authorized dealer. Businessland's strength is considered to be its success in selling workstations to large corporate users. Despite the hoopla that the machine has engendered, corporate users promise to be a tough sell for the Next workstation. They appear unmoved by the machine's features, which include a graphical user interface that has been licensed by IBM and an erasable optical disk drive. ``I'm a very pragmatic person,'' said Ed Klein, director of the information center and data administration at Humana, Inc. in Louisville, Ky. ``The issue isn't Next; it's what software will make me want to buy Next.'' Bo Pitzker, systems analyst at Pacific Bell Directory's information services group in San Francisco, said Pac Bell would not buy the Next workstation because of a lack of applications software and the uncertainty regarding the Unix standard. ``It's a very evolutionary architecture, but today it has little or no utility,'' Pitzker explained. ``We won't buy it for the same reasons that people didn't buy the Mac in the beginning: There's very little software, and it's very much a closed system.'' ``We haven't brought one in yet,'' said Mary Howlett, manager of office automation systems at Hughes Aircraft Co.'s Ground Systems Group, a large customer of Apple Computer, Inc. ``We haven't felt it was significant enough to jump on it.'' Next founder Steve Jobs, the flamboyant co-founder of Apple, unveiled the Next workstation, a Unix-based Motorola, Inc. 68030-based system, last October. The big surprise during the flashy introduction was the price _ $6,500 _ and the only way to get the machine, as Jobs put it, was ``to enroll.'' By Julie Pitta, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Andor drops CPU plan, rea Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: andor1 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: CUPERTINO, Calif. _ Andor Systems, Inc., Gene Amdahl's third attempt to grab some of the mainframe market from IBM, will not introduce a low-end mainframe as the company originally planned. It will instead be using its CPU technology to make a plug-compatible direct-access storage device similar to IBM's 3990-3 but greatly reduced in size. ``We found the best market for a CPU was inside the controller,'' said Bob Nuckolls, vice-president of systems development at Andor. The product will reduce the amount of room needed for the controller and two strings of 8-in. disks by a factor of eight, he said. Nuckolls said he doubts the product will cost significantly less than IBM's. He said that the value added will be in the smaller size of the device. Andor expects to have a prototype ready by June. Floor space needed for the product, so far called a ``controller mainframe,'' should be between 12 and 16 square feet, according to Nuckolls. That includes room for 40G bytes and the controller, he said. Since the product is set to have the CPU inside the controller, it may be able to function as its own system storage manager. If the software becomes available, the product could replicate IBM's System Managed Storage concept without the host mainframe running the most advanced IBM operating system, MVS/ESA, said Sayed Hussain, Andor's project manager. Jim Porter, president of Mountain View, Calif., consultancy Disk/Trend, Inc., was skeptical, saying that there were few companies with the resources to sell and maintain such a product. Andor is funded by other industries, including international companies normally associated with storage devices, and not with venture capital, Nuckolls said. By J.A. Savage, CW staff <<<>>> Title : No wrongful recruitment f Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: suit Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: NEW YORK _ A state Supreme Court justice last week ruled in favor of systems integration consulting newcomer The Information Consulting Group, Inc. (ICG), which was accused by Big Eight accounting and consulting firm Peat Marwick Main & Co. of wrongful recruitment. According to Justice Bruce Wright, unless an employment contract is violated by the action, employees _ particularly those in a hotly competitive market niche _ can leave employers as they see fit. Even with Wright on its side, however, ICG is not out of court. Waiting in the wings is a similar action against the company filed by Big Eight giant Arthur Andersen & Co. In addition, ICG is expecting to see some court time from the plaintiff's side of the courtroom. Earlier this month, it filed a $300 million suit against Andersen, alleging unlawful interference with its business. <<<>>> Title : What 3090 S delays? Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1delay Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: While IBM blamed 3090 S model shipment delays as the primary reason for an expected drop in first-quarter earnings, a random survey of user sites last week uncovered few that had been affected by delays. Of 14 3090 sites contacted, two users had shipment dates postponed to late 1989. Two user sites had their delivery dates moved up from April to this month. Four others received 3090 S models in the first quarter, as planned. Another site said its system was scheduled to arrive in early April and that the plan has not been changed. Other users who had planned to install a 3090 S model later in the year said they did not expect any impact from the shipment delays. IBM said last week that the first-quarter delays would cause shipment disruptions for several months and that the company would be fully back on track by the third quarter. Seesaw effect Some observers speculated that S model demand is not as high as IBM had expected. Comdisco, Inc. reported a strong demand for E models and said interest in newer S models is ``steady, but nothing to put in the record book.'' ``I think the demand for E models is higher than expected, and that may be impacting the demand for S models,'' said George DiNardo, executive vice-president at Mellon Bank Corp. in Pittsburgh. An IBM spokesman stressed that the shipment delays [CW, March 20] involved only a small number of 3090 S models and that the unspecified chip problem, which caused the backup, is completely resolved. He noted that only a few missed sales of big-ticket items like the 3090 _ which can cost more than $10 million _ are capable of bringing down quarterly results. The spokesman said IBM is working with individual customers to resolve the problems brought on by S model delays, and the company is lending mainframes and offering programming assistance to those who need it. Also, he said, the delays will primarily hit customers requesting upgrades because if a customer already had a 3090, he may be asked to hold on for a few more months. However, one customer whose delivery was moved up by IBM had an upgrade on order. The IBM spokesman said it came down to an issue of matching the components available to the 3090 S model demand. While one customer needing a Model 300S upgrade may have to wait a few more months, another customer waiting for a 170S upgrade could be accommodated immediately. Based on interviews with users, it appears that IBM is handling customers on a case-by-case basis. One Midwest insurance company was expecting delivery of a 3090 Model 300S upgrade in January and was told at the end of 1988 that the machine would not be available until May. The company, however, could not wait that long to give its Model 200E a power boost, according to the director of computer services. It agreed to install a Model 300E in the meantime. Recently, the insurance company was informed that the Model 300S would not arrive until September. Another user said he requested that a 3090 S model be delivered by the second quarter but was told by IBM that he could not be accommodated. He declined to comment further. Get what you want At Engelhard Corp. in Iselin, N.J., the MIS department had planned to upgrade a 3090 Model 150 to a Model 170S in April. Recently, the department decided it wanted the new system immediately. ``We needed it earlier, and it was moved up,'' said Steven Pook, director of information services. A machinery manufacturer in California said he had been expecting delivery of a 3090 Model 120S in April. IBM moved that shipment date up to last week, which actually put the MIS department in a bind, according to the MIS director, because the department was just completing a redesign of the data center. A 3090 Model 600S upgrade is tentatively scheduled to arrive in June at the Airline Tariff Publishing Co. in Washington, D.C. According to Michael Ferrier, a senior vice-president at the company, the ship date remains firm, and he has not decided to take the machine at that time. ``They have not approached me at all with questions on a delay,'' he said. ``All their questions are, `Are you going to take it?' '' Staff writer James Daly contributed to this report. By Rosemary Hamilton, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Merrill Lynch may hand of Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1merrill Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: NEW YORK _ Merrill Lynch & Co. is considering whether to relinquish control and even ownership of its network facilities to either MCI Communications Corp. or AT&T. The investment giant has put out a request for proposals for a contract ``to turn over our voice and data network to a vendor and let someone else provide network services and management,'' said DuWayne Peterson, the company's executive vice-president of operations/systems and telecommunications. The contract's only real ceiling is the company's $400 million annual telecommunications budget, Peterson said, but ``it's unlikely to go anywhere near that figure.'' One major goal of the contract is to slash that bud- get by as much as $30 million. The RFP represents the firm's search for a way to stop being its own telephone company, Peterson said: ``AT&T and MCI can bring an economy of scale and a deeper skill base than we can ever hire. Good telecommunications people are harder and harder to find now, because the job is more complex.'' Both AT&T and MCI are bringing subcontractors to the bidding, Peterson said. AT&T is teaming up with Computer Sciences Corp., and MCI is calling on IBM and Electronic Data Systems, Inc., among others. But while Merrill Lynch ``likes the idea of a one-source integrator,'' Peterson explained that the company also has reservations about surrendering network control and management to an outside vendor: ``The question is how to protect yourself, how to make sure you get service of the quality, response time and cost-effectiveness you would get if you did it yourself.'' This dilemma has long faced Merrill Lynch, according to Jeffrey Held, a group manager of Ernst & Whinney network consulting subsidiary Network Strategies, Inc. ``Their business is dependent on networking, but they are also bottom-line oriented, and staffing and managing a [private] network is an expensive nightmare, especially in Manhattan,'' he said. The investment firm hopes that its RFP will bring in a solution that combines the cost-savings of a public switched network with the control, monitoring and billing features of a private network, Peterson noted. While the company hopes to turn over maintenance and service tasks to a carrier, its own telecommunications staff will continue to have ``intense involvement'' to ensure reliability, he said. The firm also wants the winning contractor to buy some of its telecommunications equipment such as T1 switches and two giant AT&T 5ESS switches, Peterson said. This would free some of the capital Merrill Lynch has tied up in telecommunications equipment and still let the company lease back the facilities it needs, Held explained. This is not the first time Merrill Lynch has considered turning its network over to a vendor, Held said. ``When we worked with them on the design of their first backbone network,'' he said, ``they invited AT&T, Contel ASC and Northern Telecom to take on the management.'' The company decided then that no vendor had the tools or services to do the job, he noted. Even now, according to Held, there is a strong possibility that Merrill Lynch will decide to go with an in-house solution. ``If they go with a vendor proposal, it seems to me there would be a significant bloodletting internally, so the internal people have put together a proposal as well.'' That proposal may well fly, Held added: ``You always worry whether the vendor will respond with the same intensity you would if something breaks.'' By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Loophole lets states copy Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1loophol Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ Having failed in the U.S. Supreme Court last week, the software industry is turning to Congress for help in closing a legal loophole that allows state agencies and universities to copy software with impunity. The Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling in BV Engineering v. University of California at Los Angeles that said the company could not sue UCLA because the U.S. Constitution makes state-run institutions immune from copyright-infringement lawsuits. With court appeals exhausted, ``we have to redouble our efforts and make sure we get legislation through Congress,'' said Kenneth A. Wasch, executive director of the Software Publishers Association, located here. The SPA and ADAPSO, the computer software and services industry association, have endorsed House and Senate bills specifying that states are subject to copyright-infringement suits. Without such legislation, copyright owners are worried that the BV Engineering decision will allow widespread, uncontrollable copying of their works without remuneration. ``The longer the problem goes uncorrected, the greater the problem will be,'' Wasch said. ``Already, we get scattered reports of state universities and agencies that are buying one copy of software for every two computers.'' BV Engineering is a small Riverside, Calif.-based organization that sold a set of seven electrical engineering programs to UCLA. The firm sued for damages in 1986 after discovering that UCLA had made three copies of each program and 10 copies of each user manual. The legal problem stems from the Constitution's 11th Amendment, which is generally interpreted to provide state governments with immunity from lawsuits. Ruling in the BV Engineering case last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit decided the Copyright Act of 1976 failed to use ``unequivocal and specific language'' that would exempt copyright suits from the 11th Amendment's state-immunity clause. No question The loophole-closing bills, which were designed to make it unmistakably clear that states will be held liable for copyright violations, were introduced by Rep. Robert W. Kastenmeier (D-Wis.) and Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.). Sources said a Senate hearing on the proposed legislation is scheduled to be held May 17. The legislation is also being supported by the U.S. Copyright Office, which declared that although Congress originally intended to make states liable in these cases, a clarifying amendment is needed to resolve the uncertainty and remedy the situation in question. As of press time, there was no opposition presented to the loophole-closing bills. ``The legislation should go through the Congress easily,'' said Esther Roditti Schachter, a computer law expert based in New York, ``because there is no countervailing public policy.'' By Mitch Betts, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Maintenance hikes, deals Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1remaint Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Some Computer Associates International, Inc. customers who have recently come up for maintenance contract renewal are reeling from unanticipated fee hikes. Customers of companies acquired by CA claimed that it gave them no written notification of maintenance price hikes of as much as 50%. Instead, they said that the sales force is using the threat of price increases to strong-arm them into acquiring CA software they do not want. While some customers calmly viewed the situation as a normal process in the software industry (see story page 8), others said they are incensed at the manner in which CA salesmen are offering to lock in current maintenance levels if customers purchase additional products. Sanjay Kumar, CA's vice-president of product planning, confirmed last week that CA account representatives have been informing customers of changes in maintenance pricing policies for systems and information products. Kumar maintained that the company is converting pricing schemes of acquired products, such as those from Applied Data Research, Inc. (ADR) and Uccel Corp., to comply with those established previously for existing CA systems and information products. CA, in effect, is eliminating site-license-based cost structures and replacing them with a tiered pricing structure based on IBM classifications of different-size processors. Kumar said, however, that the ``company is not doing across-the-board maintenance increases.'' CA has issued no formal advisory to customers, relying on its account managers to deliver the news to their individual customers. Several customers who have been informed of the changes told Computerworld that the policy was presented in a manner that caused them to feel they had been pressured to buy software if they wanted to lock in lower maintenance rates. Arm-twisting John Showers, manager of technical support at Diamond Shamrock Corp. in San Antonio, said that a CA salesman, after hinting that CA would raise maintenance prices 40% to 50%, said he could lock in maintenance at today's prices if Shower bought additional software for a specific price. ``They tried to twist our arm to buy something by raising the prices,'' Shower said. Kumar denied company salesmen are using the threat of the maintenance hikes to convince users to buy additional software but indicated they are able to negotiate terms based on software purchases. ``If a guy has a list price and he wants a better deal, depending on where the company is in a fiscal year, you can always cut him a deal,'' Kumar said. Drawing a comparison to car sales, he added, ``I'm sure our account managers are out there saying, `OK, I will help lock you into maintenance if you are willing to buy more software.' '' Under the former site-license structure, customers paid CA one maintenance fee based on a percentage of the software license, regardless of how large or small the processor was. That structure treated all sites as IBM Group 30-class processors, which include low-end 3090 models such as the 100S and 120S as well as high-end 4381 models. Under the tiered structure, separate, scaled prices are set for the different IBM classifications so that users with more powerful systems will pay more for the cost of maintenance. With the change, companies running CA software on large 3090 processors may end up paying twice as much for maintenance on some software when their contracts come up for renewal. ``We have to be able to do the same'' as IBM, Kumar said. He claimed that with tiered pricing, IBM is able to sell software to customers using smaller processors at prices lower than the site-license fees for some CA products. ``It's time for bigger customers to pay bigger prices and smaller customers to pay smaller prices,'' Kumar added. According to Kumar, in both security and tape management software, CA has lowered the price of acquired software to match the price of its own lower cost product. For example, the cost of CA-1, a tape library manager known as UCC-1 under Uccel, was lowered to match the cost of CA-Dynam/TLMS. Kumar added that the CA-7 scheduler, known as UCC-7 under Uccel, is offered at the same price regardless of whether it is used on a Group 30 or 50 processor. Insult to injury? At MCA Corp. in Universal City, Calif., Geraldine Caruso, director of production information services, has seen annual maintenance prices for CA-Librarian and CA-Roscoe increase by approximately $6,000 each. She termed those hikes ``outrageous'' but was further upset that ``CA wants to bundle new software that we are not ready for and that we are not sure we want into a deal that could bring down maintenance costs but would lock us in for five years.'' Another ``deeply irritated'' customer is Joseph Huber, deputy administrator at Madison Technical College in Madison, Wis. ``Not only are they going to stick it to us with a 40% unilateral increase, but these wheeler-dealers have tried to sell me more software,'' he said, referring to CA account reps. In rebuttal, Kumar said, ``CA does not hold maintenance as a hostage. We do not go out there and say `If you don't license new software, your maintenance bill will go up.' In reality, most customers will not see an impact.'' Kumar said that customers have not received written notification because most already have tiered pricing. ``It is difficult to send out a blanket statement saying that all your stuff is being converted to tiered pricing because some software was already based on tiered pricing and some wasn't,'' Kumar said. When customer assertions were described, Kumar said that he would have to examine each situation and would review any customer complaints. Noting that CA is closing out its last quarter of the fiscal year this month, he conceded, ``Salespeople are doing anything and everything to make it a successful quarter, and maybe there are some that are going overboard.'' Douglas Post, manager of technical services at Herman's World of Sporting Goods in Carteret, N.J., said he considers a 50% maintenance increase ``a real eye-opener.'' But he said some of it was attributable to the expiration this year of price protection on many former ADR products. Post said that in one way or another, he will have to pay the increase. ``I might as well take advantage of effectively getting products for free rather than pay the maintenance,'' he said. But Sam Dyke, supervisor of data processing and development at J. I. Case Co.'s manufacturing group in Burlington, Iowa, said that 5% increases appeared on his maintenance bill without warning or justification. Dyke said that if he bought CA-Unicenter or prepackaged products, his sales rep said he could maintain today's maintenance prices. If he could choose the software, he said, he might have been interested, but the products contained software that he did not need or want. By Robert Moran, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Update Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: blurb327 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: HERE'S a peek at the work force in the year 2000, culled from several sources: The demand for skilled labor far outstrips supply; MIS help-wanted shingles sprout like wildflowers; spoiled-rotten second-generation yuppies laugh at company loyalty, insist on flexible, more expensive compensation packages and concern themselves more with flextime than uptime; and the labor pool is aging _fast. If you're around and hiring then, take two aspirins and wash 'em down with Geritol. <<<>>> Title : Executive briefing Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 327brief Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: The threat of maintenance price hikes is being used by Computer Associates sales representatives to strong-arm customers into buying more CA software, according to charges aired by MIS managers. Page 1. Apple's Macintosh has grown from seeds planted by users who brought it in through back doors. The machine has reached for the sky as a general-purpose system and is making progress as a workstation in aerospace firms. Page 41. Using ATMs for information, Boston College students find that teller machines can do more than dispense pocket money. The school is using the machines to provide students with their personal records. Page 29. Economies, bandwidth growth potential and the security of redundancy were behind a financial information services firm's decision to move its communications onto a high-speed fiber-optic network spanning metropolitan New York. Page 56. Emphasizing togetherness, the Society for Information Management opened nominations for its annual Partners in Leadership Awards. The awards honor IS and business leaders who combine to give their firms an information edge. Page 59. Despite a $100 price hike for Lotus' undelivered 1-2-3 Release 3.0, the corporate world may have few alternatives to paying. Managers say they are locked into Lotus, although there are rumblings that Microsoft's Excel is beginning to look good. Page 4. How well is your VM system performing lately? If it's getting bogged down, ask your systems programmers or technical support specialists about it. Some savvy pros have already come up with ways to improve the IBM operating system's performance. Their tips start on page 87. Once an IBM bastion, the service market for IBM 3090 mainframes is showing cracks. A handful of 3090 shops are opting for third-party maintenance programs such as those offered by Control Data. Page 29. Yet another crack in IBM's walls opened wide enough for the Pick operating system to slip in from its home in the midrange world. McDonnell Douglas Information Systems announced plans to introduce Pick into IBM MVS mainframe environments. Page 25. The pace of change in IS organizations calls for professionals to take an active stance toward their continuing education. Five questions can help them determine what they need to learn and where to find appropriate resources. Page 117. <<<>>> Title : Lotus bumps up Release 3 Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 123hike Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: PALM SPRINGS, Calif. _ With its product still months away from shipping, Lotus Development Corp. last week added $100 to the price of 1-2-3 Release 3.0, a move sure to heighten the tensions of an already wary user base. Besides announcing the price hike of that unreleased product to $595, Lotus also used the PC Forum Conference here to formally unveil 1-2-3 Release 2.2 and detail previously undisclosed features of 1-2-3 Release 3.0, including its use of DOS Extender technology [CW, March 20]. Most of Lotus' customer base has stuck with 1-2-3 despite product delays and a rash of newcomer products that sometimes offer superior features. Observers also expect that base to bite the high-price bullet, regardless of the pain involved. Some users have been waiting for months, if not years, for Lotus to show its spreadsheet hand, and their frustration is starting to show. ``If Lotus raises the price or misses another ship date, we are going to look very closely at Microsoft Excel,'' said a computer manager at a Fortune 500 insurance firm. The personal computer staff at Aluminum Company of America said it feels locked into the Lotus way of spreadsheet life. ``It will bother us, but if the product continues to be as good or better than it is right now, we will probably stick with it,'' said Linda Baily, PC coordinator for the firm's Tennessee facilities. It is this type of entrenchment in corporate America that has kept Lotus safe from an astounding array of competitors. ``The big issue is the fact that it is the corporate standard. It might be worth another hundred bucks not to change the standard,'' said Katy Kuryla, group project manager at Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. The Lotus pricing maneuver is the exact opposite of Microsoft Corp.'s strategy, which offers an enormous array of special deals, including one that provides Microsoft Excel to 1-2-3 users for $134. Sources in the direct-sales trenches say that Microsoft is sometimes offering Excel free in exchange for a 1-2-3 program disk. Lotus Senior Vice-President Frank King defended the price increase, pointing to a bevy of new features such as three-dimensional worksheets not found in today's version. He also emphasized the fact that the increase does not kick in until early next year. ``We wanted to be up-front,'' King said. The $595 price is also balanced by the the firm's new server pricing scheme. Under this system, each user on the server pays half price, or $295, for the use of 1-2-3 along with a full set of documentation. Release 2.2, which is set for fall delivery, will sell for $495. It includes file linking, minimal recalculation, an Undo key, search and replace and improved graphics. The system will also reportedly include Allways, a spreadsheet publishing system that Lotus acquired from Funk Software, Inc. Release 3.0 uses DOS Extender technology from Rational Systems, Inc. This allows applications to address a full 16M bytes of random-access memory without OS/2. By Douglas Barney, CW staff <<<>>> Title : First Cray goes to Smiths Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: museum Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ The Cray-1 supercomputer, introduced in 1967 and slowly being phased out by Cray Research, Inc., has finally become a museum piece. Cray recently donated one of the nation's first supercomputers to the Smithsonian Institution. Beginning May 12, it will be on display at the ever-popular National Air and Space Museum as part of a new gallery illustrating the use of computers in the aerospace industry, Smithsonian officials said. The Cray-1A, Serial No. 14, was relinquished by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., according to Cray spokesman Ken Jopp in Minneapolis. He said the unit was transported by truck to Cray's plant in Chippewa Falls, Wis., and then on to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., which is sometimes referred to as the ``nation's attic.'' Actually, the attic may be creaking a bit. Jopp said the museum had a little trouble getting the supercomputer up to the second-floor exhibit space and had to shore up the floor to hold its weight. The new museum gallery, called ``Beyond the Limits: Flight Enters the Computer Age,'' will trace the convergence of the computer and aerospace industries from the 1940s. For example, one exhibit covers the role of the Apollo guidance computer in the effort to land a man on the moon. Super exhibit The Cray-1A will be part of an exhibit explaining how supercomputers were used to design Grumman Corp.'s X-29 aircraft, officials said, which is known for its radical, forward-sweeping wings. Each exhibit will include at least one hands-on interactive computer terminal so that visitors can see the kinds of tasks that computers perform, including flight simulation and computer-aided design and manufacturing. The aerospace exhibit is not related to the Smithsonian's forthcoming ``Information Revolution'' exhibit on computers, which is scheduled to open in 1990 at the National Museum of American History. By Mitch Betts, CW staff <<<>>> Title : U.S. Justice review of Sa Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: crsmerge Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: WASHINGTON, D.C. _ The proposal to merge the computer reservation systems (CRS) of Delta Air Lines and American Airlines has been delayed for at least two more weeks by what airline officials termed a routine ongoing investigation. A U.S. Department of Justice spokesman would only say last week that the investigation into the proposed system was proceeding. Although the Justice Department would not confirm reports that it has sought information from rival airlines, a spokeswoman for United Airlines in Chicago said that the airline had been served with a civil investigation demand from the Justice Department. She said United will cooperate fully but declined further comment on the proposed merger. Most competing airlines also declined to comment on the merger, but a spokesman at NWA, Inc.'s Northwest Airlines said the merger ``would remove another healthy competitor from the CRS marketplace and would also have competitive implications for all airlines.'' He said Northwest is against such mergers and that the airline would go so far as to be in favor of divesting its CRS if all others who owned them would do the same. The Northwest spokesman said CRS mergers could eventually lead to another wave of airline consolidation. ``In 1983, 12 airlines controlled 83% of the passenger market in the U.S.; only five of those 12 airlines owned a CRS,'' he said. ``In 1988, after the consolidation phase of airline deregulation, seven airlines controlled 87% of the market, and all of those seven were CRS owners.'' According to spokeswomen at Delta and American, the Justice Department has requested information on the system's setup, subscriber bases, data on contracts, market share and other general information. The original proposal was filed Feb. 7 with the Justice Department, and even with the request for information that arrived last week, the airlines expect a ruling by May 1, said American spokeswoman Karen Cook. ``I know in this case [the Justice Department has] asked other airlines for information to make sure they have adequate information from both sides,'' Cook said. The independent CRS company that would be formed from the merger would control about 43% of the domestic air travel reservation market. An American spokeswoman said that airline's Sabre CRS currently has a 37% market share. Delta controls another 6% of the CRS market with its Datas II system. ``It is not shocking that we'd be getting some opposition'' from other CRS vendors and airlines, said Glenda Hatchett Johnson, a Delta spokeswoman. American and Delta, which would each initially own 50% of the system, said they believe the Justice Department will approve the merger because the partnership is structured ``so that any domestic carrier that is not already a participant in another CRS can automatically be admitted.'' To gain entry, participants would buy into the system at $20 million per 1% share. ``American can't vote them out. Delta can't vote them out,'' Hatchett Johnson said. By Alan J. Ryan, CW staff <<<>>> Title : HP severs South Africa ti Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sahp Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: PALO ALTO, Calif. _ Hewlett-Packard Co. announced last week it was selling its South African sales subsidiary to Siltek Ltd., bowing to anti-apartheid selective procurement policies established by universities and local and state governments. The move leaves NCR Corp. as the last major U.S. computer manufacturer with direct ties to the country. ``The [selective procurement] problem was measured in millions [of dollars],'' an HP spokesman said. He said that HP field personnel encountered about 50 instances per day in which such policies impeded HP's chances of sales, adding that the company was seeing the same selective procurement momentum in Europe. Critics of apartheid have targeted computer company ties to South Africa's government because, they say, imported technology facilitates repression of blacks through weapons and pass laws. Withdrawal from South Africa had been an issue in six of the last eight HP shareholders meetings, although the proposals had been voted down. HP decided to go ahead anyway because of procurement policy pressure as well as pending U.S. legislation that would require the elimination of exports of U.S. goods and services to South Africa. ``These companies will come under pressure to end the last of their ties,'' said Richard Knight, a research associate at The Africa Fund, a New York-based anti-apartheid research and lobbyist group. By J.A. Savage, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Cincom to whittle costs, Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: cincom Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: CINCINNATI _ Cincom Systems, Inc. is set to swallow a bitter diet pill by instituting dramatic cost-cutting measures to stem losses. The moves, which take effect April 1, include mandatory unpaid leaves of four weeks for all staff within the next 90 days. As a result of the measures, Cincom may shed from 4% to 8% of its workers through attrition, according to Ron Hank, director of corporate relations. The privately held Cincom did not announce the policies to the public or customers but informed employees in a corporate meeting and by a memorandum from President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Nies. Down memo-ry lane In the memo, a copy of which was obtained by Computerworld, Nies cited ``inadequate performance of [Cincom's] direct sales organizations'' as a major factor behind the slide. The memo described Cincom's fiscal 1989 results as showing a 5% revenue increase over the same five-month period a year earlier. However, expenses climbed 11%, throwing the firm into the red. The memorandum further stated that the company will implement a plan of ``selective reduction of nonperforming regions and/or departments and/or personnel and/or product lines and/or activities,'' none of which were specified. When hearing of Cincom's setbacks, one user who requested anonymity said he decided to put a planned upgrade to Cincom's Supra Version 2 relational database management system on hold until the vendor's financial picture becomes more stable. Another user, who also requested anonymity, said, ``I've had concern for some time because of the discontinuity of people at Cincom.'' He complained that he has often had to explain his needs several times to new personnel assigned to his account. Hank said the sales force restructuring is a move away from industry-specific sales to product-specific sales. In the process, Cincom will aim to field a sales staff that is more knowledgeable about Cincom's products. The firm's international sales organization ``has remained product-specific, and their sales have increased,'' Hank said. One of the users said this strategy makes sense. ``Comprehensive database software does not require comprehensive knowledge of an industry,'' he said. At the meeting, employees were reportedly told that Cincom's revenue is $22.7 million below the year's sales forecast, and if the trend continues, sales for the year will be $158 million, far below the company's stated goal of $194 million. Hank said, however, that the current worst-case revenue figure for the year is from $175 million to $180 million. Analysts laid much of Cincom's troubles to IBM's DB2, which has blunted sales of Cincom's Supra in mainframe accounts, which are traditionally strong Cincom customers. Ed Acly, a software analyst at International Data Corp., a market research firm in Framingham, Mass., said Cincom's problem is clearly Supra sales in the U.S., rather than in international markets. Hank said employees may work without pay, or they may work through their unpaid period in the next 90 days and take the time off during the summer. The Cincom memorandum said that by adhering to a wide-ranging laundry list of cost-cutting measures _ 34 in all _ the company will be able to save from $10 million to $11 million in the fiscal 1989 budget. The austerity program includes stringent spending allowances for sales personnel. By Stanley Gibson, CW staff <<<>>> Title : DEC benchmark undercuts I Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: decbench Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: The long-awaited release of Digital Equipment Corp.'s audited Debit/Credit benchmarks for IBM systems left some observers scratching their heads because it confirmed earlier DEC results that recorded IBM systems performing at about one-third the speed IBM claimed. However, the report could also shed light on the Debit/Credit benchmark itself, because DEC revealed several aspects of its methodology that offer clues as to how DEC and IBM could achieve widely disparate results while testing similar systems under the same benchmark. Last July, DEC released unaudited Debit/Credit figures for IBM Enterprise System/9370, ES/4381 and ES/3090 systems, promising a detailed report last fall. IBM subsequently released an audited benchmark report on 9370 and 4381 systems that showed them performing about three times as fast as DEC had found. DEC's latest benchmarks were audited for the 9370 but not for the 4381 and 3090. Kind of loose ``This points out the relative looseness of the Debit/Credit standard,'' said Tom Sawyer, senior consultant at the Codd and Date Consulting Group in San Jose, Calif. Sawyer, the auditor of the tests run by IBM, said that despite the wide divergence in results, it appeared at first glance that DEC conducted its tests in a responsible manner. But such great differences, he said, ought to spur the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) to lessen the leeway that vendors can take when performing the test. The TPC is meeting regularly to establish a Debit/Credit standard. Omri Serlin, president of Itom International in Los Altos, Calif., and chairman of the TPC, said the council is working on a list of full disclosure items that is intended to expose any differences in testing procedure. Although the council recently met, Serlin would not offer details of the group's progress, saying that discussion will have to wait until a standard is ready to be announced. Serlin would not predict when that announcement could take place, except to say that it should be early enough so that a significant number of tests can be done with the new standard in 1989. In last week's report, audited by Peat Marwick Main & Co., DEC recorded a 9370 Model 90 under IBM's VSE, CICS and VSAM performing a maximum of 6 transaction/sec., while IBM tested the same system and software at 15.8 transaction/sec. DEC said the price per transac- tion/sec. for the 9370 was $116,000 while IBM had claimed $31,100 per transaction/sec. A major difference in pricing the systems was the cost of a 3720 communications controller, which DEC included but IBM excluded. The price difference, $150,825, markedly affects the price per transaction. Whether or not to include the cost of a controller in the tested configuration has been debated by the TPC. In configuring the 9370 Model 90, DEC also calculated higher software charges based on buying IBM software in a package rather than piecemeal. The cost of the controller, software and other hardware add up to a difference of more than $200,000 between the IBM and DEC configuration prices. A major performance difference could come from the way the two vendors handled journaling. While DEC used only disks for journaling, IBM performed journaling on a combination of disk and tape. ``The I/O offloaded from disk to tape would give much higher throughput,'' said Dave Zwicker, a DEC spokesman. Sawyer confirmed that such a difference could result in a wide divergence in performance. Sawyer said that journaling on disk might be desirable for some users, but IBM users seeking high performance will do journaling on tape rather than disk. ``People will journal wherever it's most effective,'' he said. ``There is an artificial bottleneck in the system the way they configured it, and where it is, I don't know,'' said Kenneth MacMorran, manager of IBM's midrange performance evaluation center in Dallas and an IBM delegate to TPC. A change from disk to tape ``would probably affect performance but not that much. I can't even come close to explaining a 300% difference.'' MacMorran also said an integrated controller should have been used with the 9370, a measure that would have significantly cut costs. ``I don't know why they included [the 3720],'' he said. Another difference that could affect performance is that indexed file access was used by DEC with the IBM systems it tested. Using indexed file access on the IBM system would make it perform slower, Sawyer said. DEC also implemented basic mapping services, another difference that would add overhead to the IBM system, Zwicker noted. By Stanley Gibson, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Picking and choosing Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: pickmvs Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: The ease of use that many Pick operating system customers swear by will soon be available to large IBM mainframe users. McDonnell Douglas Information Systems Co. recently announced it will team up with resellers to provide Pick Systems' Pick-based solutions for IBM MVS operating environments for the first time. This ease of use has made Pick Systems' combination database management system and operating system a favorite of value-added resellers, resulting in a wealth of applications. With the introduction of Reality/370, McDonnell Douglas' version of Pick for IBM MVS environments, resellers can make these applications available to the largest mainframe users. Reality/370 contains a compiler that translates Pick's code to IBM machine language. Value-added resellers will develop applications based on the DBMS and market turnkey applications to end users. For the little guy Norm Brygh, director of marketing at McDonnell Douglas, acknowledged that most of the 3,000 or so Pick applications were actually designed for small to medium-size organizations. However, some applications _ such as plant maintenance, retail and telemarketing _ are appropriate for large enterprises that tend to have IBM equipment, he said. While McDonnell Douglas said it plans to support all MVS versions, there are no plans for VM at present. The company says it has lined up resellers that want to license Reality/370 and that turnkey applications will be available within the next several months. By Amy Cortese, CW staff <<<>>> Title : All DECed out Author : James Daly Source : CW Comm FileName: decol Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Ever seen a glacier move? Not likely, unless you're several million years old, sport eight-foot tusks and are covered with a rug of thick, matted hair. But if you hop in your Chevy and take a trip to DEC in Maynard, Mass., you may see the next best thing. There, inside the restored and converted mills of DEC, the snailesque pace sometimes associated with large companies has been replaced with a schedule akin to Santa's workshop after the Thanksgiving dishes have been cleared: It's show time. In the past three months, DEC has made no bones about the fact that it is a company in transition, and users have front-row seats. DEC has released a gaggle of new products since January, including one burst of more than a dozen hardware and software offerings that constituted the largest single-day introduction in its 31-year history. Machines ranging from personal computers to a workstation capable of processing 14 million instructions per second have been rolled out. Faster microprocessors have been promised. New Microvaxes and a high-end mainframe are also in sight. Additionally, one DEC official claims the company expects to roll over its technological achievements as often as every nine months. From now on. Forever. This changeover is not only exciting for DEC but beneficial for its customers, who have been promised easy upgrades. But the move doesn't spring from any great altruism as much as it does from the most salient law of survival: eat or be eaten. In the past few years, DEC has seen its traditional habitat _ the midrange market _ crumble faster than a 25-cent balsa-wood glider. Sun Microsystems and Apollo have buffed up their high-end workstations, slashed their prices and left DEC and companies like it holding the bag. The insight may have been a few years in coming, but DEC now realizes there is no way to sit fat and happy in the midrange market and expect to stay there for very long. Only a few weeks ago at a product marketing confab, founder of the feast Ken Olsen warned employees to hold on for a ride. The major corporate goal, according to the Decvine, is annual financial growth of 20%, price-cutting of 30% and no employment growth during the next three years. Call of the wild Olsen has apparently decided that the most effective amplification for his trumpet call to ``innovation, leadership and aggressiveness'' is through example. The introduction of the seemingly out-of-nowhere reduced instruction set computing-based Decsystem 3100 is a prime case. Company insiders say Olsen decided the Thursday before Uniforum 1989 opened its doors that he wanted the Decsystem to come out with a flourish the following week. Several cases of caffeine pills later, weary DEC staffers pulled back the curtain on the new machine. The up-and-at-'em thrust is also felt within the company's structure. With the forecast of dismal quarterly financials looming, several observers claim there is a major reorganization under way at DEC, with more emphasis on pumping out products and less on vertical marketing. ``They're pushing as many products at customers as they possibly can to get their revenue back in shape,'' says Bob Randolph, director of program services at Technology Financial Services in Westford, Mass. ``They're getting nervous.'' Nervous or not, users should be happier than a kid in a candy store. There's nothing like some economic warfare among competitors to bring out the most product bang for the buck. While the organized chaos of stepped-up technological cycles and the blitzkrieg of introductions may bode poorly for the sleep patterns of DEC employees, it is the best news users have heard in years. Let's just hope the Ice Age doesn't return. By James Daly; Daly is a Computerworld staff writer. <<<>>> Title : Student info, to go Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bcapp Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. _ Although colleges and universities bring enlightenment, their administration and support systems often lag in the dark ages _ almost everyone who has been to college can recall a horror story of bureaucratic intransigence or incompetence. With this history in mind, Boston College, a Jesuit liberal arts institution located here, has begun Project Glasnost, which aims to bring administrative information to students through the use of automated teller machines (ATM). The name implies openness and freedom of access to information _ major goals of the system, says Bernie Gleason, BC's executive director of information technology. If the project is called Glasnost, then Gleason, who says he first thought of the idea six years ago, is the effort's Gorbachev. ``Quality of life is a factor. People don't want to wait in line,'' Gleason says, although he adds the system can be cost-justified in the amount of clerical time it saves. First to use ATMs Although giving students on-line access to information has been done by other educational institutions, Gleason says he believes BC is the first to involve an ATM in the process. Although just one ATM is currently installed, 10 are planned. ``The main thing is to use it to dispense information so someone doesn't have to go to five different places for different information,'' says programmer John Springfield. Another benefit of ATMs is that they are secure and can be left to operate unattended 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are also simple to use, with just a few option buttons. Gleason says he first experimented with computer terminals that students accessed by passing identity cards through a card swipe. But the computer keyboard could be confusing, and the physically vulnerable CRTs had to be kept in secure areas. The college still operates three terminals in addition to the ATM. Knowledge of how students interact with the terminals was applied to developing the ATM application, Gleason says. ``Once we saw the acceptance, we developed the application,'' he says. Cash not included The ATM currently in use is a 1061 model made by Diebold, Inc. that retails for $5,000. The 1061 does not include a cash drawer, an expensive feature that is not needed in BC's application. The ATM dispenses information about the courses for which a student is registered, instructors, class rank, grade point average, the previous semester's grades, status of financial aid and the status of a student's account. To keep student access at a moderate level during the early stages of implementation, the ATM was not put in a central location. Still, it is used for access about 200 times per day, Springfield says. Rod Feak, director of Boston College's computer center, says he spent about three weeks poring through Diebold manuals in an attempt to figure out how to connect the ATM to an IBM mainframe. Having figured out the basic programming requirements, Feak gave the assignment of writing the program to Springfield, who says he took about a month to write the PL1 program for the CICS application. The program runs on an IBM Enterprise System/3090 Model 120E running MVS/XA under VM. Gleason says he tried to interest bank ATM machine vendors in his idea six years ago but got nowhere. ``They were too focused on the bank market,'' he said. But to Gleason, the similarities between the bank market and a college campus are inescapable: ``If I could look at another industry that resembles a university, it would be banking. We don't have a tangible product, but we offer services and we have a lot of transactions.'' Gleason notes that the BC campus is also a residential one in which students are present around the clock _ just like any community in which ATMs are intended to serve the banking public. In anticipation of using ATMs or other remote computing devices, Gleason ordered student ID cards made with a magnetic stripe that conformed to American Bankers Association standards. Such a card is open to many uses, from gaining admission to sporting facilities to checking books out of a library. A current use is purchasing food at sporting events. The cost of a hot dog and soda can be debited from a student's account by swiping a card through a reader. Although Gleason had to convince Diebold that he had a need for a machine intended for banks, Diebold now says the university market is loaded with possibilities. Streb points out that BC is a natural for the ATMs because their information is designed to be shared among departments. ``BC's system is integrated. For example, the data in registration is shared with billing. A number of universities don't have integrated information,'' Streb says. Without that integration, a college could not supply the ATMs with the informations students would want. Gleason says the work done by banks in designing security is a great asset. ``As long as they follow banking guidelines, security will not be a problem,'' he says. For example, the machine ``eats'' invalid student cards. By Stanley Gibson, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Users meandering from IBM Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 3090ser Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: IBM may still be the preferred provider of service for its top-of-the-line 3090 mainframes, but a few users are looking elsewhere these days. Two 3090 users contacted last week said they recently committed to Control Data Corp. because the company offered them a 3090 service package that was similar to the one IBM provides but more than 30% cheaper. Observers said they expect the third-party 3090 service market to be only a moderate success, but the fact that it exists at all marks a turning point. Until recently, users had few alternatives to IBM when it came to 3090 service. Many IBM shops are still reluctant to hire anyone other than IBM when it comes to servicing a 3090, the most critical component of their data centers, said Donald Goodspeed, vice-president of service and maintenance strategies at Meta Group, Inc., a consulting firm in Westport, Conn. However, a few users have determined that some recently introduced third-party offerings can provide the level of service IBM provides at a much lower cost. Number-crunching The Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Ohio in Cleveland signed up with CDC late last year for 3090 service after comparing the CDC package with IBM's. Ron Balawender, director of information services, said he pays $2,850 per month for CDC's service; the similar IBM package would have cost $4,100. CDC proved itself to Kaiser during the past two years by initially taking on peripheral devices and later servicing the company's 3083, according to Balawender. Last year, the firm sent out requests for proposal to both CDC and IBM for service on a recently installed 3090 Model 150E. CDC has a service facility only two miles away from Kaiser's headquarters that provides remote diagnostics. In addition, it has a team of customer engineers assigned to the Kaiser account. Even though CDC seemed to have the necessary pieces in place, Balawender wanted to go a step further. He said several guarantees were written into the contract to ensure that CDC would come through for them. Last month, one of the thermal conduction modules in the 3090 was down. CDC fixed it within three hours, Balawender said. The contract stipulates that such problems be fixed within four hours, he said. No complaints ``They've adhered to every aspect of the contract,'' Balawender noted. ``All I can tell you is that our service has been excellent.'' Robin Kasemeyer, director of computer operations at Arbitron Co. said she also selected CDC for 3090 service because its offering was the same as IBM's but cost 30% less. ``I wasn't displeased with the IBM service,'' Kasemeyer said of the one-year IBM warranty period that came with the company's 3090 120E. ``I changed because of the cost factor. Some people may say cost isn't an issue, but it is when the two offer basically the same service.'' By Rosemary Hamilton, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Videocassettes pitched as Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: scan2 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: EAST HARTFORD, Conn. _ Videocassettes, when not feeding the home television, are typically used for converting microfilm to optical disk, but the conversion media may soon establish an economical niche of its own in the storage hierarchy. Scan-Optics, Inc. in East Hartford, Conn., is betting that its recently announced Image Easyfile, an image retrieval system that uses 8mm videocassettes, will be accepted as an economical alternative to microfilm in applications that require high-capacity storage but low retrieval rates. Typical applications pinpointed by the company include the processing of charge card slips and sales invoices, in which 3% of the stored information is retrieved. European manufacturer Thorn EMI PLC uses videocassettes in a similar approach, said Scott McCready, director of optical storage at CAP International, Inc., a market researcher in Norwell, Mass. Both companies, he said, are trying to capitalize on commonly available, inexpensive media. An Image Easyfile system with 28 cassette drives, a full-page image terminal, a facsimile modem, a printer that produces 1,500 page/hour and a magnetic tape drive costs about $250,000. The system stores documents that have been captured and compressed by the company's Easyreader or Reliareader scanners, which range from $94,000 to $280,000. Scan-Optics quoted system prices for Image Easyfile that are twice those of comparable microfilm-based systems. However, Scan-Optics claimed significant savings on related labor and media costs. In contrast, the company claimed that microfilm indexing permits an operator to locate only the general area of an image. ``Digital media offer very precise sequential access,'' said David Vellante, storage analyst at International Data Corp., a market research firm in Framingham, Mass. He said that digital technology is replacing the slow and imprecise sequential access of microfilm but that the technology has yet to offer the random access of optical technology. According to Scan-Optics, 8mm video cassettes store approximately 40,000 images of pages, or up to 100,000 images that are approximately the size of a credit card slip. By Robert Moran, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Urge to merge strikes Mul Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: multi2 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Branford, Conn. _ The mating game continued to be played in earnest last week as supercomputer maker Multiflow Computer, Inc. and workstation manufacturer Adage, Inc. announced plans for a merger, with final shareholder and Securities and Exchange Commission approval expected within four months. Under terms of the agreement, the stockholders of privately held Multiflow will receive shares of common stock in Billerica, Mass.-based Adage, which will go under the Multiflow name. Multiflow will ultimately own 60% of the voting securities of the combined corporation; Adage will control 40%. If all goes according to plan, Adage President and Chief Executive Officer James D. Norrod will serve as president and CEO of the combined company, while Multiflow President and CEO Donald E. Eckdahl will become chairman of the board. Company officials would not offer specifics on whether the merger will require transfers or cutbacks of Adage's 140 employees or Multiflow's 130 workers. Although both companies called the move a complementary business merger, they said there was no intention to design or offer combined products. ``The merger is strictly a business proposition; we'll think about product integration later,'' said Joseph A. Fisher, executive vice-president of Multiflow. Multiflow designs and manufactures the Trace family of high-performance departmental supercomputers; Adage supplies high-performance IBM-compatible graphics terminals. Fisher discounted speculation that the proposed merger would represent a move by Multiflow into the visualization area. ``Adage's graphics expertise will ultimately strengthen Multiflow's visualization capability but won't change the company's market focus in any fundamental way,'' he said. ``Multiflow will continue to adhere to all major standards, and our emphasis will be on open systems.'' By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Encore set to buy Gould f Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: encorebu Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: MARLBORO, Mass. _ Minisupercomputer manufacturer Encore Computer Corp. last week announced its intent to purchase the business of Gould/ Computer Systems, Inc. from Nippon Mining Co. Ltd. of Tokyo, a move that analysts said could increase Encore's sales by a factor of nine. Encore, which reported $34 million in sales and earnings of $1.8 million in fiscal 1988, said it will pay $140 million in cash and 10.6 million to 11.3 million shares of Encore stock worth roughly $35 million. For the purchase, Gould, based in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., will loan the $140 million in cash to Encore, which will repay the debt through a one-year bridge loan, Encore spokeswoman Mary Kae Marinak said. If the agreement is consummated, Encore will gain Gould's ``extensive sales and distribution in foreign countries, especially in Europe,'' Marinak said. She also said that there is a synergy between the product lines of both companies. Gould sells supercomputer and Unix-based real-time systems with a focus on defense and avionics applications. Encore manufactures the Multimax family of parallel-processing computer systems. Nippon Mining purchased Gould, an American diversified electronics company, last year because it wanted its copper foil business, said analyst Ramakrishna P. Kasargod of Morgan Keegan in Memphis, adding that Nippon had never intended to hold on to Gould's computer business. ``Some of the governmental agencies were a little skittish about purchasing sensitive equipment from the Japanese'' after Nippon purchased Gould, Marinak said. ``That was one of the factors that brought Nippon to the table.'' For the coming year, until Encore pays off its bridge financing, Nippon will maintain a stake in Encore, Kasargod said. However, he said he does not believe that Encore will be vulnerable as a takeover target because of the debt: ``It looks like [Encore Chairman] Ken Fisher is trying to build a big company here.'' Kasargod said the prospect of Encore taking market share from such competitors as Prime Computer, Inc., Data General Corp. and Digital Equipment Corp. will bear close watching. Marinak said the transaction will be completed this week if certain conditions are met, including approval of the respective boards of directors and commitments for added financing. By Alan J. Ryan, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Whither MIS' kingdom? Author : Charles Varga Source : CW Comm FileName: varga2 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Recently, the right side of my brain sparked a heated debate with the left side over the future of MIS folk and chief information officers. It is a future that could create opportunities for entrepreneurial systems integration vendors that are smart enough to gauge the debate and aim their wares and services at its resolution. Mine is not the first brain on the block struggling with the question of where MIS is headed. One current view, for instance, holds that MIS is no longer an arcane, disciplined tool in and of itself whose proponents enter as apprentices or novices and proceed to become chief information abbots. There is much less excitement these days behind the heavy-duty, centralized, glass-roomed MIS walls. Daniel Lavery, principal consultant at Palo Alto Management Group, puts it this way: ``The bottom line is that the MIS kingdom has hit its natural limit. The MIS guy is rapidly at- taining the same position as the guy who supplies building space or runs administrative services within a corporation.'' In a sense, Lavery says, MIS is becoming a commodity. Who needs a CIO, he asks, when most companies are ``happy with an MIS manager who can handle the IBM replacements? The MIS guy is basically a civil servant. It is just plain nonsense that MIS is going to become a kingdom whose CIO is the sovereign.'' Hold on, now, says the left side of my brain. There are some serious problems with this theory. The reason people are fighting the MIS groups is that those people view planning and pragmatism as diametric opponents. They see it as much easier for a small department to get its budget passed when it's looking for minor financing; it's much easier for the troops on the line to do their own negotiating and get something down, dirty and quick. A manager in a large, diversified financial services organization, who wishes to remain anonymous, summarizes the situation at his well-known shop: ``Right now, we have an absence of a strong and effective core MIS organization. . . . We have fragmentation down to the departmental level. Everybody wants to build their own little power base.'' If control has shifted to the departmental level, where is the planning? Where are the systems, procedures and standards? It appears that what little organization there is has evolved out of the operating departments. These departments, made up of the people responsible for profit and loss, are now computer-literate. The pendulum, according to Lavery, has swung away from MIS growth. ``Centralized core organizations,'' he observes, ``are not the light of the future.'' The trouble is, the shift toward decentralized control has not solved the problems it addresses but has only restated them. Whether in big corporations or small departments, the fact remains that we are still dealing with a maze of roadblocks. Unless there is really some control, an organization and business plan and a commitment to get the job done, people will implement their own ideas and set their own agendas for everything from training, support and installation to cabling and communications. ``Because people feel it's much easier to do it on their own, when they do finally start talking to one another, no one's talking the same language,'' the financial services company manager says. ``The end result is that we have departments looking to become technological gypsies. They can fold their tents, take their equipment and move at the drop of a reorganizational hat.'' Thus, without a core organization and facility, our New Age MIS vice-president and CIO may find he has nothing to manage. Our manager in the large financial organization says, ``Maybe what we need first is a Department of Redundancy. What's happening is that everybody is doing something with no organization. We have our own very good people, but the real reason that nobody knows what anybody else is doing is simply because nobody has dictated on top that everyone should know what they're doing.'' What, ask the warring sides of my brain, is the solution? Currently, there is none _ unless MIS managers adapt and adopt the approach of working with departments and divisions to provide support at the organizational level required. What might benefit all parties involved is a strategy that links emerging entrepreneurial systems integrators _ vendors in the under-$10 million range _ with department managers and with MIS managers willing and able to work with both. That's an idea that one brain can agree on. By Charles Varga; Varga, a 20-year computer industry veteran based in Frenchtown, N.J., is publisher of ``The Cerberus Report,'' a study of industry mergers and acquisitions. <<<>>> Title : Bytex vies for role in ne Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bytex1 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: SOUTHBORO, Mass. _ Like a play within a play, Bytex Corp. is wrestling for more control of the network-control market by broadening its product line and preparing to go public after nine years as a private company. Bytex makes electronic matrix switches, connectors that funnel digital and analog cables through two or more of a data center's front-end processors to end users. It helped pioneer that segment of the network-control market, which is valued at $87.7 million, according to 1987 figures from International Data Corp. (IDC), a research concern in Framingham, Mass. ``We're really sitting in the interface between datacom and DP,'' said Jeffrey S. Goodman, Bytex's president and chief executive officer, about the use of company products. But Bytex, which earned $3.8 million on revenue of $34.4 million in 1988, does not sit there alone _ even with the largest market share, an installed base of more than 1,000 of its basic switches and 300 customers. The growing corporate reliance on networks _ especially in the financial, transportation, telecommunications and manufacturing markets _ has pitted Bytex and six other OEMs in a fierce contest for a piece of the purse, said IDC analyst Kathryn Korostoff, who specializes in network-switching systems. ``The issue is how to reposition matrix switches beyond being just a front-end processor device,'' she said. ``It's an extremely price-competitive market. MIS managers clearly can get a good deal if they want to play that game.'' Bytex competitors include Infotron Systems Corp.; Telenex, a subsidiary of General Signal Corp.; Codex Corp.; Dynatech Corp.; and Datatran, a new company from Australia. Perhaps its most formidable competitor is Data Switch Corp., a publicly traded company headquartered in Shelton, Conn., that netted $3.3 million on revenue of $113.8 million in 1988. However, Goodman said, ``We have the technical advantage. In three to six months, they could close the gap, but their design approach is different. They're locked in to what they have.'' Goodman directs a company that has no long-term debt, $14.8 million in working capital at year-end 1988, 240 employees and a research and development budget of about $5 million. A spate of product announcements is expected in April. In May, Bytex will launch an initial public stock offering from which it hopes to raise $10 million to expand its presence in the data communications business. To expand its business beyond the matrix switch market, Bytex has done the following: Brought out the Autoswitch/4000, a matrix device capable of handling 4,096 communications ports, up from the 3,840 ports in the original Autoswitch 240. Added fault-tolerant functions, recently expanded to include a disaster recovery component. Written network management software, called Unity, that is aimed at users of the industry-leading IBM Netview and AT&T Unified Network Management Architecture. Planned expansion of Unity to include T1 connections. Bytex is also decreasing its OEM sales to IBM of its Autoswitch 240 while increasing direct sales to IBM customers of its AS 4000/1000 switches and Unity systems. In 1988, IBM OEM sales were $9 million, or 26.3% of Bytex's total revenue; in 1987, sales were $9.9 million, or 34.6% of $28.7 million revenue. In 1986, with company sales hovering around $25 million, Bytex Chairman Steven G. Finn saw the need to bring in a more seasoned business staff. Finn, a one-time Codex engineer who joined former colleague Bang-woel Lu to launch Bytex, began the firm with $1.1 million from the Charles River Partnership in Cambridge, Mass. _ a sum that resulted from a conversation on a plane ride between New York and Boston after an unsuccessful attempt to raise capital on Wall Street. In 1987 Bytex hired Goodman, who as president of Software International Corp. stayed on through the company's transition from a General Electric Co. subsidiary to a Computer Associates, Inc. subsidiary. Speaking of his new company's installed base and its growing voice and data networks, Goodman observed, ``Our clients have a lot of external data sources.'' Visa Corp. in San Mateo, Calif., uses a 4,000- by 4,000-port Bytex switch to transfer of funds and customer data. It is a system that cannot afford to go down. ``It has a lot of flexibility,'' said Janice Vander Brink, Visanet technical director, referring to its expandable size. ``It can adjust to customer and market demands. It's an evolutionary implementation.'' By Helen Pike, CW staff <<<>>> Title : In brief Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 327week Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Tate takes a biteLast April, they made it official; now they're making it major. Ashton-Tate Corp. has increased its equity investment in Interbase Software Corp. and is now the majority owner of the Bedford, Mass.-based minicomputer database management system maker. Call me LegentFile away all the ``Duquesno'' jokes _ systems integrators Duquesne Systems, Inc. and Morino, Inc. last week announced the official consummation of their $400 million-plus merger and the name of the combined company: Legent Corp. Two more chaptersBurdened with $43.8 million in fiscal 1988 losses and facing the end of its line of bank credit, IBM and Digital Equipment Corp. peripherals manufacturer Scientific Micro Systems, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection last week. Following an adverse arbitration decision that threatened to leave the company minus a key software offering, personal computer local-area network vendor Univation announced its Chapter 11 intentions. Making wayCiting incompatible management styles, Sematech Chief Operating Officer Paul Castrucci resigned last week to make room, he said, for Chief Executive Officer Robert Noyce to replace him with a COO of Noyce's choice. Texas Instruments, Inc. veteran Turner Hasty, who has held down several posts at Sematech, was named acting COO of the industry/government semiconductor manufacturing consortium. On a quest Minisupercomputer maker Elxsi Corp. last week retained an investment banker to seek strategic alternatives such as an equity or strategic partnership for the firm. Elxsi, which in recent years has focused its efforts on real-time applications for its System 6000 processors, is counting on its compact Model 6460 parallel processor to make it attractive to potential partners. Elxsi hired the investment banking firm of Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin Capital for its partnership hunt. Worth notingInc. magazine named Apple Computer, Inc. co-founder and Next, Inc. founder Steve Jobs ``Entrepreneur of the Decade.'' <<<>>> Title : Roaring out Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: stock327 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: It's not nice to fool Mother Nature or to disappoint Wall Street. But IBM and Digital Equipment Corp., which have both traveled this path previously, took a bath on the New York Stock Exchange after warning analysts that profit expectations were too high. IBM dropped its bombshell late on Friday, March 17, which _ combined with the inflation scare of that day _ shaved a cool 6 points off the previous day's closing of 117. The dip continued Monday, and despite a slight easing later in the week, IBM closed out Thursday afternoon at 109 , down 6% from the previous week. DEC quietly let it be known _ in other words, made no official announcement _ that revenue for the quarter would be off, primarily due to weak domestic sales. Wall Street chopped 10 points off the stock Wednesday as word went out, and DEC closed Thursday at 97 , down a stunning 15 points from a week earlier. Meanwhile, dueling press releases from Apple and Microsoft in the wake of a recent preliminary decision in their battle over Windows left investors biding their time. Microsoft closed out Thursday unchanged from the week before, while Apple was slightly up. <<<>>> Title : Novell gains Excelan LAN Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: novellbu Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: PROVO, Utah _ In an effort to accommodate the connectivity needs of MIS shops more easily, local-area network vendor Novell, Inc. last week agreed to acquire Excelan, Inc., a supplier of key protocol standards, in a stock swap valued at roughly $170 million. In order to play in the enterprise network market, LAN vendors are scrambling to provide support for multiple protocol stacks _ such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) _ under their network software. This has been a glaring weakness at Novell. San Jose, Calif.-based Excelan fills that void with its TCP/IP, OSI and Sun Microsystems, Inc. Network File System expertise. In particular, this would provide users and OEMs of Novell's Unix offering _ Portable Netware _ with richer capabilities more quickly. The purchase, which is expected to be finalized in June, also features two ironic twists: It makes Novell a licensee, however indirectly, of Microsoft Corp.'s OS/2 LAN Manager, a rival technology. Excelan is a LAN Manager licensee. It drops Novell squarely back into a business it has paid dearly to leave _ hardware. There is some speculation that Novell could spin off part or all of Excelan's board business. Novell could exploit Excelan's LAN Manager support with corporate accounts uncertain about whether to back Netware or competitive LAN Manager-based systems such as 3Com Corp.'s 3+Open. Also, the ability to support users' communications strategies, regardless of which way they lean, could seriously blunt 3Com's contention that Novell is nonstandard and closed out of the OS/2 server support. 3Com declined to comment at press time. Microsoft, however, is ``tickled pink that Novell is now a LAN Manager licensee,'' according to Rob Glaser, Microsoft's director of LAN business. Users will also gain a full suite of Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh network products, thanks to the combination of Novell's Netware for Macintosh with Mac connectivity offerings from Excelan's Kinetics subsidiary. By Patricia Keefe, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Laser recorder to aid CD- Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: microcd2 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Practical information systems applications of compact disk/ read-only memory (CD-ROM) moved a step closer to reality last week with the announcement of a recording system that will enable corporations to create media for distribution of large volumes of information. Meridian Data, Inc., a privately held firm based in Capitola, Calif., introduced a CD-ROM publishing system called CD Professional that incorporates a compact laser recorder developed by Yamaha in Japan in cooperation with Philips Telecommunications N.V. in the Netherlands. With the recording system, priced at $98,000 and scheduled to be available in May, users can create their own CD-ROM-based applications for internal use at large corporations without sending data on nine-track tape to an independent CD-ROM-mastering facility. Howie York, manager of systems development at Nynex Information Resources, Inc., a Wakefield, Mass.-based subsidiary of Nynex Corp., said his development facility is looking at CD Professional for creating customized applications. ``We're going to evaluate it,'' said York, who uses Meridian's earlier CD Publisher premastering system for CD-ROM data preparation. ``It looks like it has tremendous potential.'' The system consists of Meridian's software and several hardware components integrated into two cabinets. Meridian is aiming the system at Fortune 1,000 firms that compile large amounts of data typically distributed on nine-track tape. ``The CD-ROM business has really been focused only on the commercial information industry,'' Meridian Data President Fred Meyer said. ``We feel business needs to output and share media _ that's what CD offers.'' Claiming that CD will now be more cost-effective, Meyer said the technology is already being considered ``as a replacement for the standard system updates for their mainframe operating systems software, which normally are distributed on nine-track tape.'' York's development group at Nynex extracts information from its mainframe-based IBM DB2 database that is downloaded into the CD Publisher, Meridian's premastering system. That system produces a nine-track tape that is later pressed into CD-ROM disks at a remote CD-mastering facility. ``That's just cumbersome logistics with tape,'' York said. ``If I can do it with a CD, that's much easier. I don't have to send six 6250 [nine-track] tapes off-site to be pressed into disks.'' Meridian's introduction preceded Microsoft's fourth annual CD- ROM conference this week in Anaheim, Calif., at which several vendors, including Lotus Development Corp. and Apple Computer, Inc., are expected either to introduce or demonstrate CD applications. An Apple spokeswoman would only say that Apple plans to affirm its commitment to CD-ROM while introducing a combination of existing and new CD-ROM applications for Apple's line of personal computers along with several third-party vendors. At Lotus, a spokeswoman confirmed that the company plans to show a multimedia prototype to selected parties. By Patrick Waurzyniak, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Users still do Windows de Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: lawsuit Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: SAN FRANCISCO _ Lawsuit or no lawsuit, users of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows last week said they will not be dissuaded from continuing to purchase that product. This is despite a recent ruling interpreted by some as an early victory for Apple Computer, Inc. in its copyright infringement suit against Microsoft. ``The lawsuit is really of only passing interest to me,'' said Arthur Block, vice-president of end-user automation support at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. in New York. ``If Microsoft loses, they'll have to pay Apple some money or modify Windows in some way. A modification might impact the price of the product, but I don't expect it will be much.'' Manufacturers Hanover has 1,500 personal computers running Windows. ``It's not going to slow us down, because users want it,'' said Cheryl Currid, manager of applied information technology for Coca-Cola Foods in Houston. But, she added, ``I don't think anyone in corporate America thought this was a serious lawsuit until last week.'' Apple appears to have gained something of a Round 1 victory in what promises to be a lengthy courtroom drama. At the first hearing in the case, held March 17, Microsoft asked that the case be dismissed on the grounds that it had used Apple's technology legally. However, U.S. District Judge William Schwarzer issued a preliminary ruling that a 1985 agreement between Apple and Microsoft does not apply to Windows Version 2.03, the follow-up product to the original Windows. In 1985, Apple licensed elements of its graphical user interface to Microsoft for a Macintosh version of Windows 1.0. Following the preliminary ruling, Schwarzer issued a written statement declaring that the 1985 license is not ``a complete defense'' against Apple's char- ges of infringement. The addition of the word ``complete'' was made at the request of Microsoft attorneys. As could be expected, both sides are declaring a victory, although Microsoft's celebration seems to be somewhat muted compared with Apple's. ``The license is alive,'' said Bill Pope, senior corporate attorney for Microsoft. ``Apple was attempting to knock the license out completely.'' Apple officials are calling the ruling a first, resounding victory. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y At worst, a victory would mean that Apple could prevent Microsoft from selling Windows 2.03. Other products based on Windows 2.03 _ such as New Wave from Hewlett-Packard Co., which is a co-defendant in the case, and IBM's Presentation Manager, which has not been cited to date _ would be threatened as well. Users don't seem too bothered. ``When they make a final decision, then it's time to worry about how to react,'' said John Woomer, a systems specialist at Du Pont Co. in Newark, Del. ``I haven't been too worried about it,'' said Mary Howlett, manager of office automation systems at Hughes Aircraft Co.'s Ground Systems Group in Fullerton, Calif. ``These things tend to take a long time.'' In the meantime, software companies that have developed products based on Windows 2.03 said they will continue to ship products and create new Windows applications. ``It truly is unimportant,'' said George Grayson, president of Micrografx, Inc. in Richardson, Texas, developer of Windows applications Designer and Graph Plus. ``The worst case is that we have to make alterations to our applications. Apple is not going to stop the migration of the graphic user interfaces to the IBM world.'' Rod Zimmerman, manager of product marketing at Gupta Technologies, Inc. in Menlo Park, Calif., developer of SQL Windows, concurred. ``The only case in which we would be impacted is if Microsoft was prevented from selling Windows or Presentation Manager,'' he said. ``We don't expect that to happen.'' Another meeting is scheduled in court for April 14. By Julie Pitta, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Inside lines Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: liner327 Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Can't wait for Comdex. Some dealers are expecting IBM to make another addition to its line of Personal System/2s early next month. They expect an April 4 announcement of the PS/2 Model 55, based on Intel Corp.'s 386SX chip, running at 16 MHz and using Micro Channel. It will be packaged like the previously introduced Model 50. Tut, tut, tut. Apparently hoping to generate enthusiasm for its Meridian Data Network System (DNS), which has received some bad press lately, Northern Telecom issued a release last week that made it sound like American Airlines plans to implement the product. But all American has agreed to buy is Northern's DPN line of packet-switching nodes. Meridian DNS is only one of several competing products American is considering, a spokeswoman for American said. There's money somewhere. While DEC's domestic hardware sales slip, service revenue continues to be red-hot. And DEC is doing everything in its power to make sure that continues. Expect to see some major service-related moves in the next few months, including a desktop services program and an integrated services program that will bring AI-based predictive diagnosis and dedicated diagnostic processors to the DEC environment. What Next? IBM PC chief James Cannavino stunned an early morning audience at the PC Forum conference in Palm Springs, Calif., when he admitted that IBM might never use the Next graphical interface it licensed for some $10 million. However, last week IBM was demonstrating the interface running on AIX to MIS pros in Orlando, Fla. Back in the saddle again? Wilton Jones has led a fast life. He wrote a word processor, founded Multimate International, sold out to Ashton-Tate for $21 million and then sailed for 18 months. Lately, though, Jones has taken to writing code from his horse ranch and has made quite a bit of headway on an ``object-oriented word processor for the Mac and OS/2 Presentation Manager.'' Jones figures about $20 million to $30 million in start-up costs will be enough to handle the launch. The only question is, who pays? Under cover. Borland International has pretty much completed its Dbase clone but is not anxious to introduce it. The fear is twofold. Most dangerous is a copyright infringement lawsuit from litigation-happy Ashton-Tate. A lesser fear is that the clone would cut into sales of Borland's Paradox, which at $795 provides a nice margin. Mini micro sales. How are things over at Wang Laboratories' Microsystems Division? Well, one way to measure success is to take a look at the direct-sales attrition rate, says one Wang watcher. He notes the industry's average annual attrition rate is about 11%. Wang's division, he claims, has three times that attrition rate. According to this source, putting Microsystems Division chief Robert Ano and Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing Kenneth Olisa in the same room is a guarantee that sparks will fly. Olisa and Ian Diery, Wang's executive vice-president of worldwide field operations, apparently believe that the Microsystems Division drains resources away from more profitable efforts. Start me up. Users of 3Com's 3+Open reportedly can expect a performance boost when the vendor rolls out the next version of its OS/2 LAN Manager-based network operating system in late April or early May. Sources claim that OS/2 LAN Manager-based systems, of which 3+Open is one, are taking a beating on performance when compared with Novell's Netware Version 2.15. ``There's been as much as a 20% to 40% difference in throughput recorded under some situations,'' said George Colony, an analyst at Forrester Research, Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. Don't sit on those leads. If the phone lines (800-343-6474 and 508-879-0700) are tied up by tipsters, try interfacing with our bulletin board system at 508-626-0165. In addition to a range of reader services we're expanding, you can leave messages for news editor Pete Bartolik and his staff and get a reply. <<<>>> Title : Network management Author : Elisabeth Horwit Source : CW Comm FileName: mantrend Date : Apr 3, 1989 Text: Less than half of 280 large corporate sites recently surveyed have integrated network management, and some firms are actually backing away from bringing different types of networking equipment under the management system. According to TFS Comm/ Surv, the market information division of TFS, Inc. in Westford, Mass., IBM's Netview accounted for 57% of the sites with network management systems. Only 46% of those sampled had an ``integrated network management facility,'' as opposed to simple monitoring tools often offered with telecommunications equipment, TFS Comm/Surv spokesman Barry Gilbert said. More than half of such sites use more than one formal network management system. TFS Comm/Surv found that in the last 12 months, some firms had changed their minds about providing integrated management for different parts of their network _ particularly in voice and data. Gilbert said, ``Two years ago, they were saying, `The more integration the better; we'll manage everything under one umbrella.' Now they're saying, `Why upset the applecart if it works fine stand-alone?' '' There are two major reasons for this: information systems and telecommunications department budgetary crunches and the scarcity of useful voice and data applications. Only 29% of respondents said they had an integrated voice and data network. Study participants were multisite organizations that spend an average of $3.5 million annually on communications. ELISABETH HORWITT <<<>>> Title : Viasoft, Inc. has announc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swviasof Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Viasoft, Inc. has announced its second product and a platform reported to be the foundation for an integrated suite of intelligent Cobol re-engineering products, called Via/Center. According to the company, Via/Center products are based on a re-engineering platform that extracts information about how programs work. The platform stores the information on-line for programmer use during the re-engineering cycle. VIA/Smarttest, an interactive tester and debugger that includes program analysis capabilities, was also announced. VIA/Center products operate in an IBM ISPF environment and are priced from $39,500, depending on system configuration. Viasoft 3033 N. 44th St. Phoenix, Ariz. 85018 602-952-0050 <<<>>> Title : Compuserve, Inc. is offer Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netcompu Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Compuserve, Inc. is offering an enhanced on-line network management system to customers of its value-added packet data network service, the company said. The on-line system reportedly allows users simplified access to all network administrator functions, including access setup control for user passwords, phone number lookups, electronic-mail facilities and usage reports. According to the company, the network management system now provides troubleshooting and load monitoring functions as well as the tools necessary to shut down network links in the event of a data center outage. The service is provided free to current Compuserve packet data network customers. Compuserve P.O. Box 20212 Columbus, Ohio 43220 614-457-8600 <<<>>> Title : A hardware platform that Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netadvan Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: A hardware platform that reportedly connects two or more geographically remote local-area networks into a single, integrated network has been introduced by Advanced Computer Communications. The ACS 4100 is targeted at medium to large-scale users that require high-performance capabilities in network management, according to the vendor. The product reportedly features the Simple Network Management Protocol and open systems management protocol for heterogeneous systems in a networking environment. Several software modifications are available, and the unit can be configured to function as a router or a bridge, the company said. Data can be transmitted at speeds up to T1 rates over a single link, and two serial links reportedly can be split to connect LANs in different directions and transmit data at different rates. The ACS 4110, an Ethernet-bridge based on the ACS 4100 platform, costs $7,500. Pricing for the ACS 4100 will be released at a later date. Advanced Computer Communications 720 Santa Barbara St. Santa Barbara, Calif. 93101 805-963-9431 <<<>>> Title : A network interface card Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netcisco Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: A network interface card with four serial communication ports, each said to support T1 transmission rates of up to 4M bit/sec., has been announced by Cisco Systems, Inc. Developed as an option for the company's line of internetwork routers, the Serial Communications Interface (SCI) network attachment card connects to wide-area networks over asynchronous serial lines, the company said. The lines reportedly can serve either as dedicated circuits or as connections to public or private CCITT X.25 data networks. The product comes in three versions: the SCI with four high-speed ports supporting rates up to 4M bit/sec. is priced at $7,100; the SCI with four low-speed ports supporting up to 64K bit/sec. costs $3,800; and a configuration of two high-speed and two low-speed ports is priced at $6,200. Cisco Systems 1350 Willow Road Menlo Park, Calif. 94025 415-326-1941 <<<>>> Title : IBM redefines MIS allianc Author : Sam Harvey Source : CW Comm FileName: ibmharv Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: After three decades of seeing IBM as a staunch ally, some MIS managers are wondering whether the company is still 100% behind them. The reason: IBM's new effort to sell directly to end users. The rationale behind the new sales pitch was expressed by George Conrades, head of IBM's U.S. Marketing and Service group, in last November's Computerworld Extra. The buying decision, Conrades said, now sometimes includes end users, people ``. . . who are acquiring and implementing technology across the firm, be they department heads or individual users themselves.'' To an MIS director who has been struggling for years to build the discipline and capability required to implement large transaction systems successfully, this change can be hard to take. The new sales approach is led by a national account team assigned to offer products at different levels of the company. Some team members focus on selling large systems to MIS, while others present small systems to end users. While there is an effort to coordinate the approach with MIS, users often make their own buying decisions. Great expectations ``When users buy a PC, they have high expectations,'' says Joe Petty, vice-president of MIS at Conagra, a large IBM account. ``They want access to the company's databases. MIS is responsible for providing that, and there are problems, but IBM works closely with us to provide coordination across our network.'' Ever since the early 1950s, MIS has worked with an IBM that has acted as a partner in selling systems benefits to top management and then worked closely with MIS on implementation. Strong loyalties were established between IBM and MIS. The bond is still strong, but technological advances have changed the environment. Computation power that far exceeds the early large mainframes comes now in personal computers. High-level ``English language'' programs and packaged systems make it possible for users to install their own applications. New technologies enable new capabilities, such as graphics, computer-aided design and manufacturing, image processing and expert systems. In many cases, these systems reside outside the MIS area. Faced with competitors' marketing products to support these applications, IBM has no choice but to sell directly to users as well. In doing so, the company appears to be contributing to the ``Tower of Babel'' that is caused when separate user departments acquire technology without regard for corporate standards or connectivity. It will only be a matter of time before users recognize that systems integration is required. The ability to communicate between the related functions of an organization is the key to increased productivity. A complex computer and communications infrastructure is required to accomplish this goal. Such an infrastructure does not happen by chance. The question is, who will be in charge of constructing and maintaining it? In a few cases, business executives have already decided that a third party, such as a systems integrator, can handle the job. General Motors Corp.'s use of electronic data systems is the most prominent example. IBM and other companies are competing in the systems integration market to meet the needs of such firms. MIS managers must recognize that IBM's pitch to departmental end users can be turned into an opportunity. Action must be taken to do the following: Facilitate the development of plans with end users. Enterprise systems _ which cross traditional business lines, transcend different levels of systems and integrate functions that were previously separate _ cannot be successfully implemented without tracking against a well-developed plan. Provide leadership in focusing information systems technology to increase the productivity of the business. Provide leadership in evaluating new technology. The task requires expert knowledge of the technology and a clear understanding of the business. MIS should have management responsibility for the operation of the computer and communications network and the custody of all data on the network. Putting it all together is not easy. The challenge is in the systems integration of the parts. Partnerships are to be encouraged, individual initiative is great, cooperation is essential, but, in the final analysis, somebody has to be in charge. In IBM's view, that person is still the MIS executive. ``MIS has an important role to play because most business solutions, once identified, drive across functional applications,'' Conrades said. ``The MIS director is responsible for the network and more and more for the management of the data within the firm.'' By Sam Harvey; Harvey is president of Business Research, Inc., which provides technical and management services to Fortune 100 firms and is based in Stowe, Vt. <<<>>> Title : Say no to LBO Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: edit410 Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: HAVE YOU EVER wondered why corporations in other countries seem immune from the agony of today's hostile takeover mania? Recently, a West German executive answered this $64 billion question this way: ``We have laws against them. They aren't good.'' In the name of free enterprise in the U.S., however, the highly leveraged hostile buyout is business as usual. Until recently, the computer industry had largely escaped the LBO chaos. Then last fall MAI Basic Four, with the backing of junk-bond king Drexel Burnham, launched what first appeared to be an absurd effort to take over Prime Computer (MAI is a fraction of the size of billion-dollar Prime). From ethical, economic and ``what's just plain right'' points of view, there's plenty wrong with these kinds of buyouts. They are also inscrutably legal, and that's what must be changed, or at least closely examined. This is not to say there aren't compelling arguments in their favor. Typically, a company is bought out by offering shareholders some premium for their shares. The purchase price is funded with so-called junk bonds, which are financed a number of ways, such as selling off certain parts of the company. But in the end, the shareholders make a profit. And that's what free markets are all about, right? You take a risk on an equity investment and the reward is your return. It can also be argued that there are efficiency gains realized when the company is chopped up and sold off, that the sum of the parts is more viable and productive than the whole. But as is becoming so clear in the case of junk-bond traders from Drexel and elsewhere, the invitation to fraud and abuse in LBO schemes is enormous. The greatest economic benefits often end up in the hands of a very small group of speculators, not in the pockets of the average investors, whom our securities laws are really designed to protect. For the companies under hostile assault, millions of dollars that could be earmarked for product development, customer support and the like flow to high-powered lawyers. Thousands of jobs are lost _ not all in the name of efficiency _ to trim expenses for the buyout defense. And for those left behind, like the MIS survivors, fear, uncertainty and doubt reign supreme. Meanwhile, billions of investment dollars flow from equity markets to the junk-bond market, putting greater downward pressure on stock prices and creating more buyout candidates. If it were possible to weigh the total benefit of this kind of perfectly legal activity against the cost both to individuals and to institutions, the greater potential is clearly for a net loss to society, at least in today's unregulated environment. If nothing else, vendor groups such as Adapso and Cbema should begin an active dialogue on this issue with our lawmakers. They might see in these activities what the West German executive saw: ``They aren't good.'' <<<>>> Title : Not quite so high Author : Nino Posella Source : CW Comm FileName: poslet Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: I would like to clarify comments I made in ``Can MIS pros handle sales?'' [CW, March 6]. I'm quoted as saying ``. . . a good salesperson working for a midsize company can expect to make $100,000 to $175,000 per year.'' What I meant was a top-flight individual getting into systems integration at the very high end, controlling a business and bringing in a minimum of $1 million per month, could expect to earn $100,000 to $175,000 per year. A good salesperson working for such a company can anticipate earnings in the $60,000 to $100,000 range. Compensation at Amtec Systems is usually better than average, but not double the national average for such work. Nino Posella Executive Vice-President Amtec Systems Corp. Los Angeles <<<>>> Title : Apples and apples Author : Bart Zantzinger Source : CW Comm FileName: zanlet Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: When I read your article ``Users laud Mac IICX but lament price tag'' [CW, March 13], I had to protest the statement that ``Mac technology still comes at a premium when compared with MS-DOS-based systems'' and the comparison of the Mac's price with that of IBM Personal Computer AT compatibles. There is no way to compare a Motorola, Inc. 68030 system running at 15.7 MHz and 1M byte of memory (not to mention things like Appletalk, as a user notes in your article, an extra in clones) with what $2,000 will buy in the Intel Corp. 80286 market. Comparing an Apple with discounted clones instead of IBM Personal System/2s is like comparing apples to oranges. What John Sculley calls ``midrange'' and what you reflexively associate midrange with are not the same, I think. Also, making the user interface the big difference between Macs and clones ignores the power of the 68030 and the advantages it has over the 80286. If you're going to compare Motorola to Intel, it's 68030 vs. 80386. Also, there already is a mulititasking version of the Mac OS available, although without preemptive multitasking. I don't think that there's anything ``in-between'' about this box _ it appears as powerful as the Mac IIX, at a more reasonable price. I can be satisfied with three slots, since I don't have to tie up slots with LAN boards. One for the graphics card and one for SNA connectivity is plenty. Bart Zantzinger West Chester, Pa. <<<>>> Title : Both sides now Author : Paul Reiter Source : CW Comm FileName: reitlet Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Regarding ``Help Wanted: Heroes and visionaries preferred'' [CW, March 20], it must be realized that the aggressive systems programmer or technical support person is roundly criticized for assuming any of the roles ``Wizard,'' ``Magician'' or ``Witch Doctor.'' These titles do not connote positive qualities for the astute systems person, who daily faces a changing environment, a generally uninformed and perhaps hostile applications staff and the task of lowering the cost of processing information. In an era where ``teamwork,'' ``cooperation'' and ``employee motivation'' are the big buzzwords in corporate America, it behooves us very little to stand up and be counted as Wizards when the general view nearly companywide is that this is the guy who does it all with ``blue smoke and mirrors.'' However, what Champy and Hammer suggest, in terms of real progress being made while reducing staff, could not be more accurate. Clearing the decks for a good systems programmer by reducing the training he must do and the explanations he must make to the people who have been selected as project managers and team leaders by business-oriented managers will certainly expedite major projects. At the same time, it fosters creativity by providing ample time to apply that ``other'' side of the brain to the system's design. Paul Reiter Senior Systems Consultant Computer Task Group, Inc. Kirkland, Wash. <<<>>> Title : No more nerds Author : Richard Shook Source : CW Comm FileName: shooklet Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Regarding the editorial ``Fund education'' [CW, March 20], do not blame the schools or the government for lack of students: Blame the industry. Companies treat new, inexperienced people like dirt: no experience, no job. You can blame the schools and the government for students' lack of knowledge but until children perceive science and math as being ``non-nerdy,'' no amount of money will change these scores. Richard Shook S&R Associates, Inc. Winchester, Mass. <<<>>> Title : If you would rather be ri Author : John Barnes Source : CW Comm FileName: barnes8 Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Every MIS manager sooner or later hires someone who looks great on paper and interviews well _ a nice guy who seems to understand everything after just one explanation _ only to find that six months or a year later, the person has never actually done anything. He's a professional interviewee. You've paid all that salary for a big smile and a good attitude. When you get rid of him, he'll climb aboard someone else's organization and do the same thing. Sadly, the problem starts early. In some college classes I've taught, students have showed up looking sharp and neat, leaning forward bright-eyed to catch what I was saying and nodding at all the right points _ and then did virtually none of the assignments and no studying at all. A lot of them seemed to be really startled when they got the F. After all, they had such a positive attitude. People have always told them that attitude is what counts. Persuade people in power that you have the right attitude, and they'll give you what you want _ as if good things are dispensed like Happy Camper Awards. I once heard someone complaining that she'd had six jobs in five years, ``really felt good'' about all of them _ and had gotten canned every time. She couldn't understand it. Perceived threat If it were just a matter of wearing whatever the power color is supposed to be this week and smiling when they don't feel like it, then the good-attitude folks wouldn't do much harm. But there's at least one image-related thing these people do that is actively dangerous to their organizations, and it relates to decision making. In trying to impress people with your attitude, it is often useful to demonstrate that you keep up with things. For people working in our fast-changing industry, this can be very difficult. So you begin to acquire facts in isolation, using them almost like slogans. You may pick them up by skimming articles or reports, by scanning the bulleted lists for memorable one-liners or from conversations with employees in other departments. After all, if you know a lot of facts, most people will think you are pretty smart. The problem with this behavior is that most truly useful knowledge actually consists of ``structures'' of information _ theories, common sense, experience and viewpoints _ rather than the isolated facts that can be looked up as needed. There used to be a saying that mechanical engineers went to college for four years to learn how to understand what they look up in Mark's Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers. But as useful as they are, structures of information aren't much good for impressing people. They take a very long time to learn, and besides, how well you think is not nearly as obvious to other people as the facts you can spit out. Structures of information have more to do with doing your job; isolated facts have more to do with impressing people. Unfortunately, in today's climate of looking good, impressing people can be more important. Aside from creating the appearance that people know more than they actually do, an emphasis on isolated facts can actually lead to bad decisions. To the person swayed by image, isolated facts look like a good substitute for thoughtful decision making. Pick one fact and you can always justify a decision, even a wrong one. After all, people acquire staggering debts because the monthly payments are low. People vote for the incumbent because they got a raise this year. People bet on horses or stocks based on some single number that they consider overwhelmingly important. Defensive decisions In too many corporate cultures, if you declare an isolated fact to be the bottom line, a decision based on it is immune to criticism. The problem is that a decision based on an isolated fact has only a random chance of being right. On the other hand, structures of information develop and get better over time so that decisions based on them stand an increasingly better chance of being right. Unlike those image-protecting isolated facts, most theories and most bodies of experience support more than one possible choice, so decisions based on them can always be questioned. Structures of information may help you figure out what you should do, but they do little for your image. Thus, when people make choices based on isolated facts, they are valuing a defensible answer more than a correct one. Would you rather buy from, work for or contract with a company that cares about getting it right or one that cares about avoiding blame? The next time somebody comes up with the decisive fact that ``resolves'' an issue you know is complicated and difficult _ especially if that someone is you _ think about it. By John Barnes; Barnes is northwest area manager of ADG, a high-tech marketing company based in San Pedro, Calif. His second novel, Sin of Origin, is now out in paperback from Worldwide Library. He lives in Missoula, Mont. <<<>>> Title : New technology may not be Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: harvey7 Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: When it comes to new technology, most people in the computer business have a hard time looking past where their next spreadsheet is coming from. Many have heard of object-oriented databases, artificial intelligence, massively parallel processing and visual simulation _ but hearing is as close as they've gotten. In the years to come, however, all of these technologies should play an important role in almost every type of computerized application imaginable. Advanced technology generally originates from hard work and brain busting at universities and research labs across the country. Here, computer scientists toil day and night to perfect some algorithm or superconducting material that will someday see the light of day in a computer product. It is not these individuals' jobs to implement technology but to develop it. Implementation happens over years, driven by users who gradually get used to working with better technology after about five to 10 years of pulling teeth. Pushing forward Meanwhile, computer scientists are moving forward toward new developments as their older ones are finally getting accepted in the commercial world. Probably the best-known example of this phenomenon is the screen interface technology developed at Xerox in the mid-1970s as part of the ill-fated Star. This terminal didn't fly, so its screen interface was buried along with it. The technology remained dormant until Apple resurrected it for the Macintosh. Then Microsoft discovered it just in time for Apple to sue. So, it often takes a while for advanced research to pay off. It may seem esoteric and not immediately applicable to any class of problems, but someday new technology will solve new classes of computer problems, just as expert systems are doing today. There is, however, concern that the long-term pursuit of advanced technology is being sacrificed for shorter term gains and developments _ just as corporate America is doing. Instead of pushing the technological envelope at every juncture, many researchers are opting to further embellish existing technologies, which traditionally has been the job of the user over time. One of the most outspoken critics of this practice of looking to the short term instead of the long term is Gordon Bell, the scientist who was instrumental in getting DEC moving and Encore Computing Corp. off the ground. He currently is leading Silicon Valley start-up Ardent Computer Corp. In Bell's opinion, most of the work being done by computer researchers now is intellectual ``mop-up.'' The advanced systems work that's being performed has already been done, he claims, and it doesn't need to be overdone. For instance, doesn't the industry already have enough books and studies on C and database construction? Surely we don't need any more from the research community. Bell's concern is that the technologies that we will need in the next few years and decades are being ignored. We have already capitalized on much of the existing architectures and software systems; now we must move on to other technologies to keep pushing computer development ahead. For instance, two areas of great promise _ visual simulation and parallel processing _ are very viable technologies that aren't getting the kind of attention they need to speed their progress. Bell says that instead of looking into the promise of these newer technologies, many researchers are sticking to safer ground, reshuffling computer technologies we have already developed and deployed. They are becoming risk- and challenge-averse. Bell has a point. Continued fixation on networking problems, database solutions, benchmarks and a whole host of acronyms is not going to move the state of the art along any further. By the time those of us who deal with the everyday use of computers have gotten past our implementation problems, we are going to be ready for _ and in need of _ the new state of the art that researchers have, we hope, come up with. Nowhere is this technological need more obvious than in the looming specter of complete information overload. While computer users work on more ways to slice and dice data files, we are all ill-prepared for the increasing amounts of information that pile up day after day, week after week, year after year. For instance, The Wall Street Journal reported last year that less than 50% of all the information received from satellites in the last 10 years has been processed. That's right, less than half of the last decade's worth of satellite transmissions has even been looked at. The point of the article was that information on the hole in the ozone layer _ ``discovered'' a year ago _ has actually been buried in databases that are 10 years old. Day-old info A large part of the problem is that we have not developed computer systems _ primarily in the area of visual simulation _ that can adequately handle such an incredible amount of digital signal transmission. Because of technology's current inability to deal with all this information, it is already out of date by the time we can interpret it. So, imagine this scenario: Ten years from now, we have resolved many of the networking and interface problems that are currently front-page news every week in this industry. We're now prepared to move on to some really intelligent data handling and information filtering. As we look toward the research community from whence such offerings have flowed in the past, we see people shrugging their shoulders and sadly shaking their heads. The researchers have been grappling with the same issues that computer users deal with every day. The researchers haven't had much time for researching new technology. The computer industry is faced with a case of ``Sorry boys, no Christmas this year, unless you want to buy it from Japan or West Germany.'' Idea shortage With the primary wellspring of ideas drying up in favor of rehashing old technology, we'll be stuck with operating environments such as OS/2, created without regard for the necessary software applications. There has to be a division between what computer science wants to pursue and what it wants to play with. Pursuing new technology is a risky business, but that is what ultimately provides us with a continued path of computer evolution as well as a competitive edge. Playing with technologies that are already deployed is safe and sound. But safe and sound doesn't produce breakthroughs in machine learning, or new materials for microprocessors, or mainframes the size of a Cheerios box. By Harvey P. Newquist III; Newquist writes and consults on artificial intelligence and other advanced-technology topics from his office in Scottsdale, Ariz. <<<>>> Title : Books in brief Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bookcut Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: BOOKS IN BRIEF Data Architecture: The Information Paradigm By W. H. Inmon Toward an information architecture _ the evolution of a paradigm explained, along with advice for installing new systems. Hardcover, 284 pages, $49.50, ISBN 0-89435-268-7, by QED Information Sciences, Inc., Wellesley, Mass. Implementing Software Engineering Practices By Fletcher Buckley A software engineer at General Electric Co.'s Government Electronic Systems Division details the practical steps that can lead to successful software development in a commercial facility. Hardcover, 172 pages, $34.95, ISBN 0471-63386-0, by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. CASE is Software Automation By Carma McClure An introduction to computer-aided software engineering (CASE) that explores user implementations, productivity claims and CASE's relationship to other software technologies. Hardcover, 290 pages, $44, ISBN 0-13-119330-9, by Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Publishers wishing to have their books considered for review can submit them to Glenn Rifkin, Computerworld, P.O. Box 9171, 375 Cochituate Road, Framingham, Mass. 01701. <<<>>> Title : User requests prompt Covi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: covia Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Citing user requests for enhancements, Covia recently upgraded its Travelmaster product for managing corporate travel and entertainment budgets. According to product marketing manager Dave Near, the Travelmaster User Group was instrumental in developing Version 4.1. ``About 60% to 70% of our development effort stems from their suggestions,'' he said. He added that the product is unique for Covia because it is sold directly to corporate users of travel services rather than providers of these services such as travel agents. ``They hit all our top-priority items,'' confirmed Leona Campos, president of the 100-member user group and a group leader in the corporate financial systems department at American Cyanamid in Clifton, N.J. Covia began marketing Travelmaster last year after acquiring the assets of ICS Corp. in Salem, N.H., which developed the Cobol-based accounting subsystem. In addition to a seven-person dedicated sales staff, Travelmaster is sold by the sales staffs of two of Covia's partners, United Airlines and USAir. Travelmaster has been implemented on IBM OS/CICS, DOS/CICS and IMS platforms as well as minicomputer and personal computer systems. Depending on configuration, the product sells for $10,000 to $18,000 for the PC version and $30,000 to $80,000 for a mainframe implementation, Near said. Version 4.1 adds an improved report generator, additional security and control features and a new module for government users. By Ellis Booker, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Syncsort claims edge with Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: sync Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: The sorting race is on. Just last month IBM announced a faster version of its sort utility that takes advantage of some Enterprise System Architecture (ESA) features. Then, Syncsort, Inc. one-upped the industry giant with the introduction of a new version of its Syncsort utility that takes greater advantage of ESA. Syncsort claims that its sort utility is the first utility of any kind to take full advantage of IBM's ESA. The new ESA version of Syncsort _ due this month _ uses both the hiperspace and data space features of ESA to achieve faster performance. IBM's Data Facility Sort Release 11, on the other hand, uses ESA's hiperspace feature but not data space. Hiperspace makes use of expanded storage to speed up data access time drastically. Data space, which extends the memory capacity of IBM's MVS/XA, is more akin to real memory. Syncsort claims that with data space, 64 times more memory can be accessed, allowing the use of new sorting algorithms. IBM said its new release of DF Sort will perform a sort in three quarters of the time the current release requires. Syncsort claimed that with the boost from data spaces, performance will be 40% better for comparable tasks. However, for the more constant measure of CPU cycles and elapsed time, performance can be improved by up to 80%. A three-year license for Syncsort is $9,600. By Amy Cortese, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Chips ahoy! Author : Douglas Barney Source : CW Comm FileName: dcoll Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Fuel to the fire. With upgrades that take years to build and never seem to match the hype, the micro software business can be dull and frustrating. Despite endless squawking about the personal computer revolution, PC hardware is like American autos: Both improve only marginally from year to year and are generally too slow and ugly. Workstation makers are a whole different breed. These folks constantly try to out-Ferrari each other. The machines are never fast or good-looking enough. Yet unlike megadollar cars that most people can't even afford to fix, workstations are becoming cheaper. We should all take our hats (or toupees) off to the workstation engine developers that are pumping out amazing new chips. With RISC this and floating-point that, these guys could really teach the staid PCers a lesson. Give it a few more years, and maybe I'll even buy one. The workstation market was not always so hopping. Just thinking about the slow, expensive machines for engineers built a few years ago would put an insomniac to sleep. For too long, the workstation chip makers were ultraconservative. Early workstations were fueled by the competent but aging Motorola 68000, which drove machines from the sluggish Apple Macintosh to now outmoded Sun Microsystems workstations. Ain't so anymore. The workstation market has honest-to-goodness pizzazz, instead of the hollow kind that accompanies a faster PC or a new set of fonts for a word processor. The PC chipsters, such as Motorola and Intel, plan to compete with themselves by shipping aggressively priced and powered reduced instruction set computing (RISC) chips. These make more conventional chips like the 68000 and Intel 80286 and 80386s look like slugs. For its part, Motorola has the 88000 series, and Intel recently announced the supercomputer-like I860. These chips will do battle with an array of RISC and non-RISC architectures, including Sun's Scalable Processor Architecture, IBM's RISC chip that powers its RT and chips from flashy upstart Mips Computer. The well-publicized Intel I860 demonstrates what the future holds. It contains one million transistors, has a 64-bit data bus (most PCs are either 8 or 16 bit) and, at 50 MHz, it could reach a peak execution rate of 100 million floating-point operations per second. That's cooking! The one common element that anchors all these processors and keeps the market from imploding because of the violence of confusion is Unix. This portable operating system will run on just about any mainstream processor. The PCers, with their MS-DOS and OS/2, are really doing poorly when compared with the RISC-takers. Intel has fanned the PC price/performance flames with its 386, a chip that keeps getting faster. The firm will begin shipping quantities of its 33-MHz chip, which vendors are anxious to build around. Later this year, the even speedier 80486 is expected to make its debut and spawn a whole new cycle of hardware primarily running MS-DOS, OS/2 and even Unix. Motorola is up to the 68030, which offers high-speed operation and built-in multitasking, with the 68040 just around the corner. These chips aren't shabby, but the constraints of compatibility limit creativity. With Unix able to port to most anything that can be loaded with a few megabytes of random-access memory, workstation chipsters have great freedom. Maybe what the PC folks need are a few more firms like Phoenix Technologies and Chips & Technologies to work out compatibility kinks, so they too can take a walk on the wild side. By Douglas Barney; Barney is a Computerworld senior editor, PCs & workstations. <<<>>> Title : Processors to steal limel Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: precom Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: CHICAGO _ Comdex shows of the past have traditionally been dominated by such big-name vendors as IBM, Compaq Computer Corp. and Microsoft Corp., making arguments for glitzy new system lines, buses and operating systems. But this spring's Comdex is in Chicago this week, in the country's heartland, where hard work is a fact of life. So it is only fitting that the announcements at the show are dominated by the promise of personal computer machinery that performs most of the system's hard work: the processor. Ironically for users, though, they will have to wait months for the new processor and software that will allow them to reap the benefits the new and existing 80386 processors from Intel Corp. have to offer. Comdex/Spring '89 will be the launching pad for numerous systems based on Intel's 80386SX and the new 33-MHz 80386, which will be the stars here this week. Intel will also unveil the widely anticipated 80486, or ``the mainframe on a chip,'' which can reportedly attain 10 million instructions per second (MIPS) at peak performance. But little in the way of software applications is expected to follow in the new microprocessor's wake. The 33-MHz 386, the 386SX and the 486 are all built around the 386 architecture. A Microsoft source acknowledged that the processors are indeed faster than the 25-MHz 386 but cannot be fully exploited until OS/2 for 386 systems and applications that run on it are released. In fact, the aging 80286 is just hitting its stride. So the hardware systems may draw ``oohs'' and ``aahs'' from the spectators while simultaneously driving vendors to make grandiose performance claims about their new systems. But there remains very little a user can do with the 33-MHz processor, except maybe run a software application faster. Little software is available to exploit the chip's 32-bit capability. Contrary to speculation, 33-MHz 386 chips will not be ready to ship in volume when they are announced, said John Dunkle, vice-president of Work Group Technologies in Hampton, N.H. For this reason, the smaller clone vendors will be the first to announce their systems with a smaller clientele to please, while larger IBM and Compaq will not announce systems for weeks until Intel is shipping in volume. So, in addition to a vapor software lag, users have a two-month waiting period for volume processor shipments, he said. Until then, the following vendors are announcing products based on the 33-MHz 386 at Comdex: AST Research, Inc. will introduce a desktop machine based on the 33-MHz 386. Dubbed the 386/33, it reportedly has seven peripheral board expansion slots. The AST system also supports an Intel 80387 numeric coprocessor chip. The standard configuration includes a 5 -in. 1.2M-byte floppy disk drive and three external drive bays. The product is available in three configurations that range in price from $6,595 to $11,595. Mylex Corp. will announce its IBM Personal Computer AT-compatible 386 33-MHz system and 386SX add-in hardware products. The MX386 33-MHz system board reportedly provides zero-wait state performance of 7.5 MIPS, which the company claims will make a PC run 53 times faster than the original XT. The MX386 is also available in a 25-MHz version, which the company rated at 5.7 MIPS. The products carry a list price of $2,400 for the 25-MHz version and $2,900 for the 33-MHz board when sold in OEM quantities. Companies that are planning to announce systems but did not provide information prior to the show include the following: Acer Technologies Corp. located in San Jose, Calif.; Advanced Logic Research, Inc. in Irvine, Calif.; and DTK Computer Corp. in City of Industry, Calif. By William Brandel, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Metaphor brings info down Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: metaphor Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Executives in large corporations often require carloads of information at their fingertips but cannot easily retrieve the data from general-purpose databases without an assist from MIS. One solution, according to a growing number of large corporations and government agencies, is a system of workstations developed by Metaphor Computer Systems, Inc., located in Mountain View, Calif. The company's workstations were designed specifically to enable nontechnical managers and executives to extract information from databases and construct their own applications. The typical system consists of Metaphor workstations, database servers, file servers, host communication servers and laser printers connected by local-area networks. Metaphor's interactive software includes integrated information retrieval, spreadsheet, graphics and text-processing tools that are accessed using a mouse. Display screens graphically depict mail trays, folders, file drawers and other common business tools that contain the information users must access. The main tool is the Query tool, which delivers a visual depiction of the relational database to the user. This tool allows the user to construct queries against specified tables or predefined views of the database. Users issue queries by clicking on icons, selecting categories and specifying sequences of operations by connecting icons. Another tool creates capsules by opening a window and copying all of the icons needed for a procedure into it. Business and financial analysts at Bankamerica Corp. in San Francisco use Metaphor systems for financial analysis and reporting, credit risk and banking products reporting, said Stoddard Vandersteel, director of MIS at the world banking division. ``Metaphor was appealing to us because it combines all of the functions that the analysts need into a single, integrated product that could be bought off the shelf and turned on,'' he said. The capsule tool is at the top of the list of valuable tools because it allows analysts to develop their own programs for automating recurring work, Vandersteel added: ``One of their monthly reports is 60 pages long, and now, analysts have greater control over their work. ``Metaphor makes sense for any company, not from an individual's point of view but from a work group standpoint,'' he said. ``We didn't go into [the situation] with work group computing in mind, but that has been the result. Once we started using it, it turned out that we started seeing other ways to apply the technology.'' The software's tools work well together but are individually not competitive with their respective counterparts in the spreadsheet and word processing worlds, he said. IBM alliance In a move to boost its software's capabilities, Metaphor signed a pact with IBM to jointly develop software that can be used with IBM's Personal System/2 running OS/2 Extended Edition and relational databases on the IBM 9370 and MVS-based systems. The company claims to have 110 customers with 175 installations. Nearly half are packaged-goods companies such as Colgate-Palmolive Co., Helene Curtis, Inc. and American Home Products. Metaphor is particularly appealing to marketing executives because they typically work with large volumes of data, and Metaphor helps them gain access in a relatively easy way, said Joyce Young, manager of decision-support systems at Helene Curtis in Chicago. From the MIS point of view, systems that enable end users to write their own applications or retrieve data exactly the way they want it has benefits, Young said. ``It's the old backlog story,'' she said. ``Metaphor does help reduce the backlog because users are in control of their environment.'' However, the system is not without drawbacks for MIS. ``It requires a technical staff to implement and support the networks and to maintain them,'' Young said. ``We made the mistake of not understanding that early on.'' By Michael Alexander, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Xerox spiffs up desk pres Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 410revua Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Xerox Corp.'s Xerox Presents is the first true desktop presentation product for MS-DOS. It creates visuals, speaker's notes and handouts. The package's import features create impressive slides and transparencies, and its Video Presentation feature lets you use your computer as a presentation device for manual or automatic slide shows. Each presentation can have its own palette of 256 colors that can be applied to text, objects or backgrounds. Backgrounds can also be continuously shaded. Xerox Presents offers page styles _ files that contain objects such as predesigned borders or logos _ that can be added automatically to any range of slides. Almost any type of text or graphic can be imported. All standard output devices are supported. If you do not have the facilities to create your own color slides or overheads, a module lets you prepare and send files to Autographix Overnight Slide Service via modem or mail. On-screen presentations can run in automatic mode with preset delays. In combination with the manual mode, it can create special transition effects. Xerox Presents' interface shows a movable tool palette on the left, a drawing space in the center and a set of pull-down menus along the top. You can start a presentation from scratch or load one or more page styles. A ruler with justification and tab icons appears whenever you use the word processing tool to create or select a text block. Within any text block, you can vary the font, size, style and color of any group of characters. Margins, indents and leading can also be adjusted. The object-oriented drawing tools surpass those found in some drawing packages. In addition to basic drawing tools, there are arcs, diamonds, parallelograms, polygons and a freehand tool. Use of the Shift key allows you to draw squares, circles and horizontal and vertical lines. The drawing tools offer 16 fill patterns, five line widths, five line styles, nine arrow types and 12 styles of rectangles. The graphing tool creates a wide assortment of business graphs, including ones with a three-dimensional look. Graphs can be moved or resized and can also become part of a group of objects and saved as a page style so that you can incorporate it into other presentations. Xerox Presents supports Lotus Development Corp.'s Freelance .CGM or .GMF file formats, the .PCX format used by Z-Soft Corp.'s Publisher's Paintbrush, .MSP files from Microsoft Corp. Windows' Paint, encapsulated Adobe Systems, Inc. Postscript and .TIFF files. Xerox Presents comes with a complete reference guide. Error messages and troubleshooting are covered extensively. A training guide contains self-paced tutorial exercises, and on-line Help is provided. Xerox Presents is available on either nine 5 -in. high-density floppies or 16 3 -in. low-density floppies. Installation is the biggest headache, with the process lasting more than an hour. Learning Xerox Presents is a bit like learning an integrated package. It is easier if you are familiar with Windows or the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh environment. The Windows environment greatly adds to this product's ease of use. Xerox Presents' only serious drawbacks are the lack of a spelling checker and an integrated outliner. The difficulty in installation is worsened by the fact that you can correct errors only by repeating the entire installation process. Trying to import a large text file also hung up the system, although no data was lost. Registered users receive free but not toll-free technical support for 60 days, the Xerox Presents newsletter and advance notice of new products. Extended support plans are available, ranging from $50 to $1,000 per year. Four minutes was the average holding time before reaching a support representative. Xerox Presents enables you to produce presentations with a professional look. Although it compares favorably with Version 1.0 of Cricket Presents for the Macintosh as well as with other Macintosh products from Microsoft, it cannot yet match Aldus Persuasion 1.0. Still, it only costs $495, runs under Windows 2.1 and comes with a runtime version of Microsoft Windows as well as the Bitstream Fontware Installation Kit, which features 10 fonts in a variety of sizes and styles. <<<>>> Title : Autodesk explores new dim Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 410revud Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Autocad 10 is the first edition of Autodesk, Inc.'s computer-aided design (CAD) software to include full-function, three-dimensional wire-frame and surface modeling. Autocad's sibling, Autoshade, has also been updated to do shaded rendering. Autocad 10's most significant new features make this a complete and powerful 3-D surface-modeling program. Viewports, which are like windows in a word processor or spreadsheet, permit you to view your model or draw from up to four different perspectives at once. The User Coordinate System (UCS) allows you to work on different planes of the same wire-frame drawing or solid model. The Plan command allows you to view a UCS in plan view. Autocad 10's modeling capability allows you to make negative impressions in an existing shape and create true surfaces. You can view constructions in true perspective and see more than one side of a model at a time. You can lock one or more axes when placing vertex points. In addition to Bezier curves, you can draw cubic or quadratic B-splines. Placing dimension text and arrows is more flexible in this version. The tools menu now features XYZ axes filters that keep you from inadvertently misplacing a vertex along the Z axis. A new CHPROP command and the dialogue boxes in the pull-down menus make it easier to change an object's properties, such as color, layer and line type. Autocad 10 extends its placement tools to work consistently with 3-D and make it easier to properly place entities in space. Version 1.1 of Autoshade is compatible with files created by Autocad 10. Autoshade now comes with Autoflix, a program that animates renderings, wire-frame models and two-dimensional drawings. It uses flip-card animation to show a series of drawings at up to six frames per second. We tested Autocad 10 on a 10-MHz Everex Systems, Inc. IBM Personal Computer AT compatible with an STB Systems, Inc. Video Graphics Array Extra display card and a Nanao U.S.A. Corp. 16-in. 9070S Multiscan monitor. The drawing tools provided by Autocad are powerful and versatile enough to have served as a performance benchmark for other CAD programs. All drawing entities can now be used to construct a 3-D model, and all editing commands now work on 3-D models. The Autolisp macro programming language lets you customize everything _ including keyboard, menus and digitizing pads. With Autocad 10, users are able to directly transfer files between all Autocad platforms, files of older versions are upwardly compatible, and the product supports the industry's longest list of peripheral devices. The new tutorial is the best yet from Autodesk. It takes you from the basics of drafting through the basics of 3-D modeling. A lucid glossary of computer graphics terms is included. Autocad 10 is an intricate, complex program. It takes users months to become proficient in all of its subtleties. Although the complete modeling capabilities are difficult to learn, they do not interfere with the process of basic drawing. The vendor provides complete installation instructions, but it expects your dealer to install the program for you. Like most users, you may be accustomed to drawing on a flat plane. However, the seamless integration of full-function 3-D surface modeling, the addition of needed 3-D placement aids such as Viewports, the UCS feature and axis filters and the extension of object snaps to include all 3-D equivalents all add to Autocad 10's ease of use. Autocad 10 carries over all of the previous version's error-trapping capabilities. You can still undo and restore any number of actions, and there are even more self-explanatory screen messages when you make an error. 24-hour response time The dealer network remains the vendor's preferred source of end-user support; a response in 24 hours is guaranteed. Users with urgent concerns can call Autodesk's toll-free number for a referral to another nearby dealer. Vendor support is a last resort. Autodesk mails all registered users a monthly magazine. On each call we made to the nearest dealer, the CAD support technician was out, but he always called back with informative and helpful advice. Autocad 10 lets you move from design concept through engineering plans to the renderings needed for marketing and client communications. Autoshade ($500 or $400 when purchased with Autocad) now comes with Autoflix and extends your capability to show a design in motion. At $3,000, Autocad 10 costs only $5 more than Version 9, and it provides true 3-D capabilities. ARPicture, 3-D surface-modeling program <<<>>> Title : Softlogic's fast spreadsh Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 410revuc Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Softlogic Solutions, Inc.'s Liberty spreadsheet ``compiler'' turns Lotus Development Corp. 1-2-3-compatible spreadsheet template files into templates that do not need 1-2-3 to run. It also protects templates against overwriting or alteration and ensures that the user cannot view formulas or sensitive data. To convert spreadsheet template files with Liberty, you simply select the file you want compiled, and Liberty does the rest. You can customize the converted spreadsheet display and predefine spreadsheet defaults for users. The result is a semicompiled file that you distribute along with an included runtime module. Liberty supports math coprocessors, and the runtime module runs on computers with as little as 256K bytes of random-access memory and no hard disk. The product handles files from any program that generates .WKS, .WK1 and Symphony files. It supports the full range of Lotus Functions and macro commands. We tested performance in several cases with three files. As a real-world test, we used a sanitized version of a 135K-byte template that contained an ordinary mix of data and formulas. Macros were tested separately. As a stress test, we tried a 239K-byte single-column file consisting of one data cell (A2) and 8,191 formula cells, thus filling the spreadsheet with the maximum number of rows possible. We also tried loading files generated by spreadsheets that can produce 1-2-3-compatible files and a public-domain tax worksheet with a circular reference error. Spreadsheets convert very quickly with Liberty. Once one is compiled, the templates load with blinding speed, and saving times are very close to those of 1-2-3. One of Liberty's handy features is a macrocode generator that reads keystrokes and prompts users with a menu of braced macro commands. When you select a command, the macrocode generator prompts you for any necessary arguments and then writes the code for you, using the correct syntax. Compiled spreadsheets have the look and feel of the Lotus original, including any window and title setup. Liberty supports stacked bar, grouped bar and X-Y plot graphs. If you want to display graphs, you must define and name them before compiling your spreadsheet. Liberty's manual is well-written and has a generous supply of diagrams, flow charts and illustrations to support the text. Although the tutorial takes a bit of time to complete, it is well worth it. It includes a sample worksheet that walks you through the process of preparing some moderately sophisticated macros to work in a compiled spreadsheet. Run's subset of Lotus commands is straightforward and understandable. Its context-sensitive on-line Help should answer most user questions on use of the runtime module. You can provide your own Help macros in the template. Macros are one area in which Liberty could be simpler, as it takes some time to figure out how to rewrite elaborate code. No errors were encountered in compiling files that loaded and ran on Lotus. In a test of how it handled problem files, two faulty worksheets were compiled. One was truly faulty, a ``glitched'' file that even Lotus could not load. Prepare handled it competently, providing appropriate error messages. The other error was a worksheet created in a foreign file format and was not designed to be recognized by Liberty. Prepare had more trouble with this one. About 80% of the way through, it froze, locking up the computer and requiring a reboot. Softlogic warrants the product to work as described in the documentation. Both 5 - and 3 -in. disks are included. There is no limit to the number of copies you can make of the runtime program. Technical support is available by phone or via a bulletin board. Softlogic technicians answered calls for support immediately. The technicians were knowledgeable and eager to help. If you use Liberty to replace just one copy of Lotus, you have recovered more than the entire cost of the program. At $295, this package is well worth the investment. <<<>>> Title : Superior Software, Inc. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsuper Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Superior Software, Inc. has introduced CFM, an expanded-memory version of its CF: Cash Flow Analysis program. CFM removes the DOS 640K-byte memory restriction and provides users with more detail in constructing cash-flow projection from within the DOS environment. The menu-driven software also includes a three-part tutorial. It requires an IBM Personal Computer AT or compatible system with an Intel Corp. 80286 or 80386 chip and 1M byte of random-access memory. A single-user program is $795, and site-license pricing is available. Superior Software Suite 725 16055 Ventura Blvd. Encino, Calif. 91436 818-990-1135 <<<>>> Title : Beckman Associates Ltd. h Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micbeckm Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Beckman Associates Ltd. has announced a word processing application for users of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows/286 and 386, Versions 2.03 and later. Called Myriad, the product can import or export text and graphics through the clipboard function, the vendor said. Features reportedly include lines, ellipses, rectangles and shading capabilities, and the program also provides style sheets, document merge and table and index generation. The package is priced at $249.95, and 1M byte of free hard-disk space is recommended. Beckman Associates Suite A 928 Oakcrest St. Iowa City, Iowa 52246 319-354-5116 <<<>>> Title : Rural county reaps high-t Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: onsite Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: VERNAL, Utah _ Watch enough television and you will begin to believe that rural areas are backward in the arts, sciences and technology. But just try telling that to Dave Thomas. Thomas, an MIS manager, is 165 miles away from Salt Lake City in the thinly populated county of Uintah, Utah. However, to help manage the seat of county government here, Thomas has acquired a veritable who's who and what's what of hot micro-oriented technology. In the process, he has put to rest the tired and false image of the country bumpkin who is years behind big-city technical hotshots. The county now has four 25-MHz Proteus Technology Corp. multiuser microcomputers hooked to gigantic 360M- and 740M-byte Maxtor Corp. hard disk drives running Oracle Corp.'s Oracle database management system. These leading-edge systems are replacing the aging 3B minicomputers from AT&T. ``They were too slow,'' Thomas said of the 3Bs. Faster boards due To keep the Proteus systems immune from the same criticism, Thomas will upgrade them with snazzy 33-MHz Intel Corp. 80386 boards as soon as the boards are available. Beyond speed, the Proteus micros offer other benefits. ``We decided it was cheaper to go that way _ maintenancewise and everything else,'' Thomas said. Does this sound like enough leading-edge micro technology? How about tying in Sun River Corp. fiber-optic workstations for county draftsmen? That would be plenty for most technology freaks, but Thomas is not stopping there. He is also planning to widen the use of Borland International's Paradox, but he will not run this database manager under MS-DOS as most of his contemporaries have. Instead, he will use VP/IX, an operating system from Phoenix Technologies Ltd. that allows MS-DOS to run as a task under Unix. Thomas and his partner Anita Nokes do not buy technology because it looks good on paper. They buy it because it is cost-effective and works. So far, so good, Thomas reported. With some 22,000 residents, the county has made steady inroads toward downsizing, having moved from a former Burroughs Corp. host to AT&T 3B minicomputers and finally to the Proteus micro-based systems that act as hosts. Thomas did not learn all his stuff in Uintah County. He also spent a year at the Air Force Weapons Labs in Albuquerque, N.M., and benchmarked everything from Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstations to Harris Corp. minicomputers. That is where he discovered the beauty of the 80386. ``After we did all the benchmarks, I pretty much decided that the best way to go was a 386 because of the cost/performance,'' Thomas said. Now, there is no turning back. The 80386-based Proteus backbone supports the county courthouse, treasurer, assessor, auditor and health department. The sheriff's department and the prison complex are handled with the help of an AT&T 3B15 minicomputer and AT&T terminals. Most of the software has been developed using Oracle, a product chosen years ago for its portability. Whereas it originally ran on the AT&T 3B2, it is now focused on running under The Santa Cruz Operation's Xenix on the Proteus systems. The auditor, treasurer, land management office, MIS, sheriff, jail and health department all use custom Oracle applications. Later this year, when Paradox gains the SQL interface promised by Borland, it will also be tied directly to Oracle, Thomas said. By Douglas Barney, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Watch out for the incredi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: laps.$01 Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Riddle: What's smaller than a bread box _ much smaller _and can access electronic mail on the road? Answer: The new class of personal computers. PCs are getting smaller. No surprise; that has been the trend for the last couple of years. What is likely to astonish some computer users is just how small PCs will get in the not-so-distant future. Several vendors are promising MS-DOS-based laptops that fit in the pocket of a suit jacket before year's end. Robert Gerwer, marketing vice-president of Poqet (pronounced, you guessed it, ``pocket'') Computer Corp., said his company's laptop will measure 8 by 4 in. and will weigh approximately one pound. The screen area will be 25 lines long and 80 characters wide. However, questions remain about whether serious computer users will tolerate the inherent limitations of such tiny computers. The price for a Poqet computer will be about $2,000, a little more than the price of the average IBM Personal Computer AT compatible. Poqet is offering few details _ such as storage capacities _ about the product. But, before you put this laptop on your list of potential vaporware, note that Poqet's founders hail from Texas Instruments, Inc., the same company that brought you inexpensive pocket calculators. Briefcase-size NEC Home Electronics, Inc. began shipping a briefcase-size laptop last December. ``It's a little fatter than a magazine,'' NEC Vice-President Tom Martin said. The Ultralight, which also runs MS-DOS applications, measures 8 by 11 in. and weighs about four pounds. Its screen is a backlit LCD with a resolution of 640 by 200 pixels. It uses silicon hard-disk storage. The price of the Ultralight is $2,999 with a 2,400 bit/sec. modem. Meanwhile, Atari Corp. plans to announce its Portfolio pocket computer at Comdex/Spring '89 this week. The 7.8- by 4.1-in. product is based on an Intel Corp. 8088 microprocessor and MS-DOS. It offers an 8-line by 40-character LCD display and weighs 1 pound. It costs about $400. Both Poqet and NEC are aiming at business executives on the go. ``We're dealing with the unfulfilled promise of the laptop,'' Gerwer said. ``The typical executive didn't go for the [earlier] laptop because of its size, weight and battery life. We're attempting to resolve those issues.'' NEC's Martin said the company has been pleasantly surprised by the Ultralight's broad appeal. ``We saw the executive segment and saw its potential as an extension to the desktop,'' Martin said. ``There have been these little pockets of interest that we didn't anticipate. One that wasn't obvious when we were introducing the product is that it appeals to women. Women aren't happy with 15-pound boxes.'' Skeptical users Corporate computer users are still leery about these new laptops. ``There's a conflict between a decent screen and a laptop that could fit in a pocket,'' said Phil Gordon, manager of office automation at Charles Schwab & Co. in San Francisco. ``The kind of people we have here want to see a spreadsheet on the screen. Reducing the screen size is going to cause some problems.'' ``I doubt you would do anything long and protracted with it,'' said David Newman, a vice-president at Citibank NA in New York, noting that it would be useful for accessing electronic mail on the road or for pressing tasks. ``There would be limitations with the keyboard and the screen.'' By Julie Pitta, CW staff <<<>>> Title : User group stumps for 486 Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 486std Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: A corporate personal computer user group has one message for 3 -in. drive and high-density disk manufacturers: standardize. As systems based on the Intel Corp. 80486 microprocessor wait in the wings, the 486 Standardization Committee hopes to influence floppy disk manufacturers to standardize their high-density products before they reach dealers' shelves. The group, a subset of the powerful Microcomputer Managers Association, consists of corporate microcomputer managers from firms such as Bear Stearns & Co. and Dow Chemical Co. At present, manufacturers of 3 -in. storage disks are planning to launch very high-density disks in the 10M- to 21M-byte storage range, said Brian Livingston, the 486 group's chairman. However, the disks under development and the read/ write heads they will operate with are not compatible, the 486 group charged. This has raised the ire of the committee's corporate micro managers. Livingston said at least three major floppy disk manufacturers plan to release very high-density 3 -in. disks of varying media storage sizes. These manufacturers include Insite Peripherals in Santa Clara, Calif., Brier Technology in San Jose, Calif., and Panasonic Industrial Co. in Milpitas, Calif., he said. Livingston noted that 486 systems _ which will be used as minicomputers, high-resolution technical workstations and local-area network servers and will support memory- and processor-intensive operating systems such as OS/2 and Unix _ usually require more data storage than their PC counterparts. So before the incompatible 3 -in. floppies and drives force users into the hard disk drive corner, the 486 group is making its stand. ``Our committee members are frustrated already about the incompatibilities,'' Livingston said. ``We can do nothing about the present 720K-byte and 1.44M-byte 3 -in. diskettes. But when you can see something like this coming over the horizon, we can make it compatible for MIS ahead of time.'' The high-density disk products are expected to fill the needs of workstation users previously dependent on the comparatively expensive 20M-byte hard disks. ``Instead of having three or four manufacturers competing to beat out a standard and inhibiting the market, our micro managers would like to see them write to the same standard and compete on a price/ performance basis,'' Livingston said. Livingston and the committee's goal is to pressure the manufacturers to standardize before their products reach the market. But manufacturers are already aware of the potential nonstandard problem, according to Jerry Korth, president of Memcon Corp., an Omaha-based 3 -in. disk certification concern. Korth said that disk manufacturers have to borrow rigid disk technology to steal some of the latter's market. The hub, a mechanical device in the disk that spins the media within the cartridge, must be designed with the servo technique used to pack large amounts of data on a rigid disk, Korth said. This will give the disks the balance that is crucial for continued performance. ``There is little doubt in my mind that these 10M- to 20M-byte diskettes will impact the low end of the hard disk market,'' Korth said. But he said he believes standardization will result from IBM's inclusion of a high-density disk in its low-end systems: ``With floppy diskettes, the access speed is slower. But for users, it is a welcome trade-off to the power consumed, the price and space taken up by the rigid disks.'' By William Brandel, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Fox plans Netware SQL cli Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: foxserve Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: AUSTIN, Texas _ Get out your scorecard: Yet another firm has entered the client/server vaporware sweepstakes. Fox Software, Inc., known for its speedy Dbase compiler and its well-publicized copyright dispute with Ashton-Tate Corp., will develop a client front end for Novell, Inc.'s Netware SQL server. Fox will also market a custom version of Netware SQL dubbed Foxserver. The Dbase-compatible client, called Fox, and Foxserver will ship in the first quarter of 1990, well after an array of competitive products is expected to be available. Much of the design work for the client and Foxserver has been completed, but no coding has begun, officials from both firms conceded. However, in a dramatic departure from the strategies of larger firms that believe more programmers are better, Fox President David Fulton argues that his small, tightly focused development team will get the job done on time. Foxpro, an unshipped upgrade to Foxbase, will act as a menu-driven front-end product. Foxpro will ship this summer, with an update for Foxserver expected early next year. It will request data from Foxserver in several ways. For existing applications not reworked for SQL, Foxserver will store data in Dbase files. For those interested in optimizing for the server, Dbase commands can be replaced with their SQL counterparts. According to Fulton, the front-end product will not require Dbase commands to be translated in SQL, even when dealing with the server in SQL mode. Instead, a so-called intelligent compiler will determine whether the request is in Dbase or SQL. No price has been set for Foxserver or Foxpro. By Douglas Barney, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Time waits for no one Author : Patricia Keefe Source : CW Comm FileName: tkcol Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: Banyan Systems presents an interesting study of a company trying to survive its teens, never mind food for thought for those tempted to use the firm's Vines network software to glue together a menagerie of network equipment into an enterprisewide system. Along with a small but strongly loyal cadre of users, analysts tend to speak highly of Banyan's Unix-based network technology. Banyan, we're told, may not always be the first to offer a particular capability, but it is the most likely to fully integrate that capability into its system software. And that's something users can appreciate. Notes John Good, president of the Association of Banyan Users International (ABUI), ``Vaporware is all well and good, but tell me what you're going to do in the real world.'' As one gleeful user at a large insurance company points out, when something happens to his network, all he has to do is call Banyan. There is no finger-pointing because, unlike 3Com and Novell, Banyan tends not to solve its problems with a lot of third-party add-ons. In short, Banyan's mill grinds slowly but surely. Thus far, a focus on selling the ties that bind has created a solid niche market and provided a clear advantage over competitors. It's obviously working. The privately held Banyan claims 100% growth during the last two years and is anticipating close to the same growth rate this fiscal year. Moreover, cheeky Banyan has gone up against the big boys and managed to snag a handful of impressive contracts, says Lee Doyle, a market analyst at International Data Corp. Yet I can't help but wonder whether slow and steady will win in the long run. For example, as network traffic builds and demands to tie incompatible systems reach a crescendo, network managers _ who also have to manage this nightmare _ will undoubtedly find themselves less able to wait for the perfect product. Even if they grab something only as a stopgap, when push comes to shove, many will reach for that lifesaver. Pundits are fond of holding up IBM as an example of how superior marketing can sell sometimes-mediocre products. The reverse is also true. The most technically superior product will rot on the shelf if you don't have the resources or know-how to market, distribute or support it. If you look closely, Banyan appears to be in danger of falling victim to a squeeze play. On the high end, minicomputer and systems vendors are trying to connect into personal computer networks. On the low end, market leaders such as 3Com and Novell are pedaling furiously to extend their work group connectivity into the wide-area arena. These firms are buying other companies, striking technology and service alliances with industry heavyweights and issuing statements of directions. The competition is very busy and very visible. They appear to be gaining on Banyan, which continues to plod along. Most of the Fortune 1,000 is probably more inclined to entrust the technological lifeblood of their companies to a known entity. They're more likely to question Banyan's ability to stay the course for the long haul or to provide a full suite of services and products. If Banyan wants to ease these concerns, it's going to have be a little less tight-lipped and a little more aggressive. While it continues to perfect and expand its technology, it had better pay attention to the other pieces that make up a solid contender. By Patricia Keefe; Keefe is a Computerworld senior editor, networking. <<<>>> Title : Networks shine on Sun sys Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: baltosun Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: BALTIMORE _ At most newspapers, the news, advertising and production departments seem to have a Chinese wall keeping them and their computer systems apart. But The Baltimore Sun has launched an ambitious plan to connect those departmental systems with local- and wide-area networks. The Sun plans to install a broadband LAN, running at a speedy 100M bit/sec., to handle color graphics for both news and advertising. At the same time, the Sun's integrated publishing system will comply with industry standards to avoid dependence on any one vendor, a common situation resulting from specialized publishing systems. ``We're now at the point where we are ready to replace various stand-alone systems, so we're taking this opportunity to implement our philosophy of integrated systems,'' said James P. McCrystal, director of information systems. ``Many newspapers look upon color graphics, for example, as an adjunct function in a separate studio system. But it should be an integrated function so you can see color where it's needed at any workstation on the newsroom floor,'' McCrystal explained. To accomplish this, the newspaper recently signed a contract with Crosfield Electronics, Inc., a publishing systems vendor based in Glen Rock, N.J., for a $13.5 million integrated publishing system. The system includes Crosfield's editorial and advertising workstations for page design, which are Digital Equipment Corp. Vaxstations that use Crosfield software. The project, due for completion in 1992, will be split into separate phases to avoid disrupting newspaper operations, ease project management and build on each layer of technology. In the first phase, the Sun's news and advertising page-composition functions will be integrated via an Ethernet LAN, to be installed by midsummer. The equipment will include workstations for ad composition, terminals for editing news photos, input scanners and file servers. Next, McCrystal said, the Sun will focus on a network to transmit facsimiles of the composed pages for printing. Initially, full-page facsimiles will be sent to an on-premises printing plant. But when the Sun's remote printing plant near the Baltimore harbor is completed in 1991, a wide-area facsimile network will be installed, he said. This fiber-optic network, called Hydra, supports T1 and microwave links at speeds up to 2M bit/sec. Hydra was developed specifically for the controlled transmission of high volumes of text or image data to remote printing sites. Meanwhile, the Sun will be implementing Crosfield's Graphic Arts Local Area Network (GALAN), a fiber-optic net with a very wide bandwidth for handling high-resolution color graphics, McCrystal said. GALAN uses the Token-Ring topology based on Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI). The FDDI specification adds a measure of fault tolerance to the network, McCrystal said, noting that an FDDI net will reconfigure itself to recover from faults. ``We're constantly on deadlines and we just can't have failures,'' he said. ``We can't tell people, `Sorry, we're not going to produce the paper this afternoon.' '' The Sun, owned by the Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Co., publishes morning and evening papers. Not only does the graphics LAN run at 100M bit/sec., it runs at about 80% efficiency _ meaning that 80% of the bandwidth can be filled with real data transmissions. The GALAN system will be completed in the first half of 1990, McCrystal added. McCrystal said the fact that GALAN complies with the Open Systems Interconnect model was another point in its favor. ``One of the major factors in the [request for proposals] was that all of the products, hardware and software, had to conform to the standards of the future,'' he observed. In the past, newspapers have been very dependent on particular vendors because they bought only proprietary systems. ``For years, newspapers have argued that they have unique requirements, so they've always invented one-of-a-kind solutions,'' McCrystal said. ``But those [custom] systems are difficult for users to manage, and they aren't very profitable for vendors.'' The final phase of the systems overhaul will consist of editorial design and page-information control systems, which provide management with centralized control over the integrated systems. By Mitch Betts, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Users lean to TCP/IP for Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: tcpman Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ Corporate information systems and networking managers are turning to existing Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)-based products for their multivendor network management needs, rather than waiting for the Open Systems Interconnect protocols to mature, according to a recent study by Infonetics, Inc. The Santa Clara, research firm interviewed 150 IS and systems managers, 70% to 80% of whom played a major role in networking decisions at Fortune 500 companies. The survey deliberately avoided government and academic organizations that are traditional TCP/IP users, according to Infonetics. More than a quarter of respondents said that they see TCP/IP's Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) as important for their companies, despite the fact that only 23% of the respondents had TCP/IP networks installed, Infonetics said. In contrast, only 11% of the respondents attached any importance to OSI's Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) or CMIP Over TCP/IP (CMOT), which was designed to provide a way for users to migrate their existing TCP/IP net- works to OSI network management. Although respondents indicated that they would have less interest in SNMP two years from now, interest in the OSI-based protocols is expected to increase only slightly, Infonetics found. ``There is a well-defined migration path from SNMP to CMIP, so people may expect to migrate in a few years,'' Infonetics Vice-President Steve Spanier said. ``But even by 1991, there's not much interest _ the most startling result for us. These people seemed interested in having integrated network management now, and there isn't much on the market.'' SNMP products are currently available from five to 10 vendors, including Wellfleet Communications, Inc. and Wollongong Group, Inc.; also, ``I think IBM is developing one for [National Science Foundation network] NSFnet,'' Spanier said. In contrast, while most major host and networking vendors have announced CMIP-based products, few are now commercially available. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Relief for strained backb Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netbuild Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: 3Com Corp. recently introduced a series of products designed to provide users with intelligent routing bridge capabilities that can be used to offload traffic from overworked network backbones. Routing bridges combine the functions of media access control-level bridges with added features such as intelligent path selection, network access security using custom filters and Source Explicit Forwarding (SEF) and network management functions to construct and manage large complex networks. The latest rendition of the software, Version 2.0, designed for use with 3Com's internetwork bridge (IB) family of products, is compatible with three existing IB products, as well as two new bridges _ the IB/2000 and the IB/2001, which are based on 3Com's Netbuilder internetwork platform. Version 2.0 gives the IB line protocol independence and multiple path and security control benefits in one package, the vendor claimed. Among the product features are the following: The Spanning Tree Algorithm reportedly supports multiple physical paths, providing more efficient data routing and built-in redundancy. Custom filters can limit specific traffic to one network segment, establishing a secure network domain. They can also filter or forward packets based on protocols. SEF provides network administrator-defined workstations with exclusive privileges to access resources outside the local-area network segment. After six weeks of testing, one early user, Kurt Rader, a senior software analyst at Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), gave 3Com's approach to routing bridges a thumbs-up. If the IB/2000 continues to perform well during the test period, Rader said he plans to purchase five bridges: ``We just plugged it in, and it's been very trouble-free, which is generally my experience with Bridge and now 3Com products.'' He is anxious to relieve the traffic load rapidly building up on his backbone. Currently, the DEQ has an eight-floor 3Com network with 160 nodes supporting 300 users. Rader says the department is moving rapidly toward a 1-to-1 ratio of users to workstations and added that it will only get worse as the number of users climbs if something is not done. ``The traffic level has already reached the point where it is impacting the user, and come the end of the year [with more users on the network], it would be intolerable without these intelligent bridges,'' Rader said. Rader's plan is to use the bridges in conjunction with 3Com's Multiconnect product to isolate each of the floors from the backbone. By Patricia Keefe, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Paper net Author : Mitch Betts Source : CW Comm FileName: sunside Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: The contract for The Baltimore Sun's networking project, based on a demanding request for proposals (RFP) drawn up by a user committee, will be implemented in phases during the next several years, with completion targeted for 1992. The detailed specifications in the RFP were developed by a committee of 12, only two of them from the IS department, James P. McCrystal noted. ``It was very refreshing to see all of the disciplines _ news, advertising, production and information systems _ come together and produce a requirements document,'' he said. McCrystal called it a ``first-class document that describes the business of The Baltimore Sun the way we want it to be through the rest of the century.'' MITCH BETTS <<<>>> Title : Igniting ISDN vendors' fu Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: isdnnews Date : Apr 10, 1988 Text: With the gradual firming up of Integrated Services Digital Network standards and the growing availability of ISDN-based products and services, corporate users are no longer dismissing the industry standard with the label: ``Inane Services [We] Don't Need.'' More than 40 user companies are now implementing ISDN networks. While some of these installations are field trials, carriers have begun making commercial ISDN services available. AT&T already has brought out its Primary Rate ISDN service, while both MCI Communications Corp. and U.S. Sprint Communications Co. have indicated that they will introduce their own services by early next year. Regional carriers such as Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Co., the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Companies and Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. have introduced ISDN services either as commercial or special tariffs. The U.S. market for ISDN services should grow from $200 million this year to $17.8 billion in 1998, according to Eastern Management Group. If traditional carriers do not move quickly enough to fill the service gap, others will step in, said Warren Williams, a senior consultant at the Parsippany, N.J., research firm . Two likely groups of candidates are enhanced service providers such as McDonnell Douglas Communications Systems Co. subsidiary Tymnet and Fortune 500 service companies such as Sears, Roebuck and Co. The spread of ISDN services should in turn help launch the still-sluggish ISDN equipment industry, Warren said. Indeed, that market is already heating up, as shown by the following recent and pending announcements: Apple Computer, Inc. recently hired a product manager, so an ISDN board for the Macintosh is likely to be in the works. Northern Telecom, Inc. has demonstrated but not yet announced a Macintosh board of its own. Northern Telecom already offers ISDN boards as well as software for basic personal computer communications functions, such as screen-sharing and file-transfer capabilities. International Computers Ltd. in Stamford, Conn., last week announced an OS/2 Extended Edition version of its proprietary ISDN workstation, which reportedly can maintain up to five concurrent sessions over an ISDN link. Teleos Communications, Inc. and Lachmann Associates, Inc. are jointly developing an ISDN board for Unix systems running Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol. Vadis, Inc. in Richardson, Texas, a start-up that arose last May out of the now-defunct Compaq Computer Corp. Telecompaq group, hopes to announce an ISDN hardware and software product around June that will provide file sharing for personal computers as well as a call manager that will handle both voice and data transmissions, screen sharing and other capabilities. Raleigh Technology Group, Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., expects to announce its first ISDN software product soon, which will target vertical markets such as law, real estate and banking. The products will provide such industry-specific functions as automatically calling up a law firm's client database on-screen when the client calls. It will also use existing PC-based generic ISDN applications. By Elisaabeth Horwitt, CW staff <<<>>> Title : AT&T clears path for ISDN Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: isdn55 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: AT&T Network Systems has brought out a device that is said to allow local carriers to deliver CCITT X.25 packet switching to customers' hosts over an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) link. The Highgate module for AT&T's 5ESS digital switch is designed to be connected to a front-end processor for a variety of host machines, including those from IBM, Amdahl Corp., Unisys Corp., Digital Equipment Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. The module itself is a gateway to an X.25 packet-switched network managed by the customer's telephone company and running over ISDN Primary Rate Interface links that support speeds as high as 1.5M bit/sec. ISDN allows users to implement high-speed host links over a switched digital network that is potentially less costly than dedicated digital links. Telephone companies will be able to provide the X.25 connections over central office-based local-area network services, which support data communications among corporate sites within one local access and transport area, AT&T said. The cost per line is 60% to 80% less than it would be for dedicated channels connected to the mainframe's backplane, AT&T claimed. <<<>>> Title : Host access made simpler Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: aspens Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: End users and corporate programmers eager to sidestep complicated, time-consuming host-access procedures may want to look at two recent product debuts. As demonstrated at a recent trade show, Now PC/Host from Attachmate Corp. of Bellevue, Wash., streamlines the cumbersome process typically required to transfer data between a personal computer and an IBM host. It automates the command structure of IBM's High-Level Language Application Programming Interface by replacing multiple screens of awkward commands with a simple menu of choices. The product costs $195. On the programmer side, a $595 version called Author provides a series of macro commands said to enable users to customize Now programs. Also targeting programmers, Aspen Research of Burlingame, Calif., unwrapped Mozart, said to enable development of PC-based front-ends to support simplified user access to mainframe and midrange systems. Mozart combines the application-to-application communications of Aspen's former Enter 3270 product with such additional capabilities as 5250 support, a built-in screen painter, an extended window manager and an integrated database. Great-West Life Assurance Co. in Englewood, Colo., uses an Enter 3270 front end to enable unsophisticated PC users at a dozen field sites to furnish about 250 customers with access to IBM 3090 mainframes at its Manitoba headquarters. ``As far as the capability they [say Enter 3270 has], it does that quite well,'' said Karl Berry, Great-West's assistant manager of systems support. ``We took [Mozart] a step further and built scripts with IBM's TSO time sharing option.'' As with Now PC/Host, the key to Mozart is that the user is shielded from the underlying mechanisms. ``They just see the pretty screens,'' Berry said. Great-West is still evaluating Mozart, but Berry said that ``we've gotten some positive feedback from [novice] users in the field.'' Walter Tate, systems analyst for Atlanta-based Life Insurance Co. of Georgia, said Enter 3270 came in handy last year when the insurer needed to change some software packages. Previous efforts to adapt the programs were stymied by the manufacturer, who would not allow any changes to the underlying code. ``It's a real good development tool, and it enabled us to do things we couldn't do any other way,'' Tate said. Mozart costs $500 and reportedly runs in conjunction with most standard 3270 and 5250 emulation products. By Patricia Keefe and Patrick Waurzyniak, CW staff <<<>>> Title : New deals Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: contract Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) and Boeing Computer Services, divisions of Boeing Co., have awarded Digital Equipment Corp. with a multimillion contract as part of the largest computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) undertaking in Boeing's history. As the prime contractor, DEC is charged with providing a data management and control system for a $235 million BCA sheet metal manufacturing facility currently under construction. The system will provide program management, networked computer systems, integration management and ongoing service and support. Major CIM subcontractors will include ITP, Boston, Inc., Consilium, Inc., Deloitte Haskins and Sells, Oracle Corp., Epic Data Corp., Palette Systems, Inc. and Impell Corp. After six years of planning, California State University, Fresno and Fujitsu Business Communications Systems have announced a 10-year, $17 million contract for an integrated telecommunications system on the university campus. Fujitsu will construct both a broadband network and a fiber-optic cabling system to support the school's interactive data communication and instructional television distribution requirements. The core component will be the vendor's Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN)-compatible F9600 private branch exchange. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Communications Division has selected a micro-based X.25 packet-switching network to handle ground communications for a scientific satellite that will investigate black holes and other phenomena. Amnet, Inc. will supply the switches, which will support a backbone network transferring satellite data to project participants. NASA said it selected the X.25 standard because it links a variety of computer hosts. <<<>>> Title : Executive track Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 410track Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Theodore L. Boyer has been appointed executive vice-president at Beneficial Data Processing Corp. in Peapack, N.J., the information systems support subsidiary of Wilmington, Del.-based Beneficial Corp. Beneficial Data Processing links Beneficial headquarters to its financial services office network with on-line telecommunications and decision support systems. The unit also offers data processing services to other Beneficial subsidiaries. Boyer was formerly senior vice-president of data processing at Primerica Bank in Wilmington. Previously, he was vice-president of data processing at Beneficial National Bank USA, Beneficial's former credit card subsidiary. Boyer holds a master of business education degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University. Gary D. Dancy has been named vice-president of management information systems at The Earle Palmer Brown Companies in Bethesda, Md. In his new position, Dancy will be responsible for all aspects of the advertising agency's information systems. Prior to joining Earle Palmer Brown, Dancy served as vice-president and MIS director at The Bloom Companies, Inc. in Dallas. <<<>>> Title : The house that Bob built Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: bobc Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Like his father, Robert J. Curran is a builder. But even though he completely rebuilt his suburban Boston home 15 years ago, Curran's main aim is constructing information systems. The 51-year-old executive director of computer services and telecommunications at Tufts University started his IS career in the U.S. Army, where he created a supply order system. In his current task _ leading a major urban university to the front lines of computing _ Curran is a creator of both computer systems and cooperation among the diverse groups that deal with them. Like any good builder, Curran knows the value of a solid foundation. ``A lot of IS shops fail because they don't really know where they're going _ what's the policy, what's the philosophy,'' he says. Especially at a university, where the dollars are few and the demands are legion, he adds, ``We can't afford to make a mistake. We have to have a plan, because we have no choice but to get it right the first time.'' At Medford, Mass.-based Tufts, the IS foundation was pretty shaky when Curran was hired from a commercial IS career in 1982. The entire university was being served by a single Digital Equipment Corp. Decsystem-10, and calling the support staff a skeleton crew would be generous (see story page 66). But since 1983, Tufts' IS staff has more than doubled to 98 members, the computing budget has increased 300% and IS capital purchases, including 10 DEC VAXs and an IBM 3081, exceed $7 million in value. ``One of the greatest strengths that's enabled Bob to do what he's done at Tufts is his ability to see that one man couldn't do it,'' says William Durgin, the former Tufts vice-president who hired Curran. ``He quickly realigned functions within the university and then went to vendors for outside help.'' Curran ``was able to prioritize, to say, `Here's what we have to do; I'll take the heat,' '' adds Durgin, now vice-president of business affairs and treasurer of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Curran's ability to face up to difficult situations and construct a useful route through them extends beyond technology and even beyond enlarging the family home. Early on, for instance, he reacted to his fear of public speaking by attempting to learn the art. Since then, seminar leadership stints have taken him from South Continued on page 66 America to Europe to Australia. ``You can safely say he got over the fear,'' says David Brown, chief financial officer of a Boston-based firm and formerly controller at William Underwood Co., a food-processing firm where Curran served as MIS director before joining Tufts. Nothing in the industry or on the lecture circuit prepared Curran for what he found when he took his IS act to the fabled groves of academe in 1982. Curran had not planned such a move, but neither had he planned a move to St. Louis, where Underwood's operations went when the firm was acquired. Curran's family roots run deep in Massachusetts; rather than make the trek westward, Curran said yes to Tufts, which was then casting about for its third MIS director in two years. For a man who divides people into caretakers and change agents and proudly numbers himself among the latter, the Tufts job appealed as a challenging change of pace. ``One guy I knew said to me, `Academia _ a year of work and then you can sit back and relax,' '' Curran recalls. ``If I could find the guy, I'd kill him.'' Most of the software at Tufts is developed on campus but rarely from scratch. For efficiency's sake, Curran's department relies as heavily as possible on canned applications and co-development arrangements. The results of this approach have been impressive, Curran says. For example, a fund-raising application package that Tufts co-developed with Waltham, Mass.-based Business Systems Resources, Inc. is only half-installed at Tufts. Nevertheless, BSR has sold some 20 packages to third parties, including Princeton University. Tufts, Curran hastens to add, receives no royalties; the university's benefit, he says, lies in being treated like royalty by the vendor. Vendor cooperation has not been limited to software. Much of Tufts' hardware was received gratis after Curran's intercession. ``I've traded the patches on my elbows for patches on my knees,'' he says. Beyond the installation itself, Curran is pleased that the working relations between Tufts IS and faculty have made quantum leaps in the past several years. Much of the credit, says Tufts Vice-President of Finance Peter McKenzie, goes to the fact that Curran ``is attuned to the sensitivities of a large organization.'' Curran's talent for diplomacy has its limits, however, McKenzie adds. ``At budget time, for instance, [Curran] is never easy to work with,'' he reports. ``In fact, at that time, he's a real pain to work with because he's trying to get his group their share of the pie.'' Next, Curran says, is network expansion, including plans to rewire the four-campus, 90-building Tufts sprawl across a fiber-optic backbone. ``Our biggest goal for the next two years,'' he says, ``is planning for the next 15.'' By Nell Margolis, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Knocking down the organiz Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: nolan Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Fire up the sandblasters and the wrecking balls. To implement truly strategic information systems, the IS executive and his company must knock down some organizational walls so that information can be shared among appropriate functions both within and outside the company. ``If a system doesn't cross traditional boundaries, it's not strategic,'' Nolan Norton & Co. President David P. Norton said at the recent Nolan Norton Institute symposium in Tarpon Springs, Fla. ``You must rethink the relationship between the parts of your company as well as with customers and suppliers.'' Thus, IS executives must not only understand their company's business, they must additionally work with senior management to break through what Norton calls ``functional gridlock'' _ organizational structures that block the sharing of data across functions. Norton cited Federal Express Corp. as a prime implementer of cross-functional systems. Federal Express' well-publicized package-tracking system involves sharing information among operations, customer service and accounting functions. Other examples cited by Norton included the following: Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., which made tire-design information available to functions such as quality control, production and testing as well as to customers' engineers. Sundstrand Corp., which halved its warehousing staff and hastened customer-order processing by improving IS links among spare-parts ordering, warehousing and manufacturing control in the aerospace industry. Du Pont Co., which saved $13 million in textile-fiber plant maintenance by linking stores' control and accounting to the maintenance function. As with so many IS success stories, partnership between IS and business management is the key. ``If we're going to build systems for customers, we need to work with people who deal with customers,'' said William Synnott, a Nolan Norton consultant and the former chief information officer of Bank of Boston. By Clinton Wilder, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Survival of the informati Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: artyoung Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: NEW YORK _ Businesses that will do more than just stay afloat during the coming decade will have strong, information systems-minded executives at their helms. That is according to the recent Arthur Young report, ``The Landmark MIT Study: Management in the 1990s,'' which warned that significant technological investment without organizational change and thorough employee training is a prescription for failure. The report was drawn from a five-year, $5 million research program conducted by the MIT Sloan School of Management. The role of information technology will change more drastically in the next decade than it has in recent years, said Arthur Young Chairman William Gladstone in introducing the report. As information technology moves away from its role as a support mechanism for routine tasks, companies must watch for innovations that could revolutionize some part of the business _ no matter how small, the report said. Information systems will also be a viable tool to bolster the revenue stream of all kinds of companies, according to the report. It suggested that companies establish a comprehensive information base for internal use and develop that information as a product for outside sales. ``Some U.S. industries have lost their competitiveness in the global marketplace because of failures to put technology to work for them,'' Gladstone said. ``Winning companies will understand the potential of new technologies early and act to ensure their competitiveness,'' he said. The report, based on the findings of business and government agency researchers, Arthur Young workers and Sloan School professors and investigators, also found that systems will be used by small companies competing against larger firms. It said that information systems will promote the emergence of strategic alliances among smaller firms. Connectivity is a must, and those who plan to partake of such alliances should build an electronic bridge with strategic partners in the U.S. or abroad to assure the proper pace and level of information sharing. In manufacturing, complex technologies such as computer-aided design and manufacturing and computer-integrated manufacturing may require a multiyear implementation. However, that time commitment can be worthwhile if it brings about a reduction in the time it takes to bring the company's products to market. Technology ``will open markets where there were none before and create new ways of buying and selling'' during the next 10 years, according to Gladstone. The report said one of those areas will be electronic markets for manufactured goods, which are a logical follow-on to the success of electronic markets for airline reservations. Executive support systems, used by a small percentage of top managers today, will become commonplace and easy to use _ as well as critical _ in the 1990s, the report said. By Alan J. Ryan, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Relational executive thin Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: newgroup Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: NEW YORK _ Relational Strategies, a division of Computer Horizons Corp., has called for the formation of an Executive Users Group for Enterprise Architectures. The purpose of the group is to help senior information systems executives tackle strategic and tactical data planning in a relational environment. At a seminar held in New York late last month, Martin Pelcyger, president of Relational Strategies, said that the proposed group would convene three times a year to review successful projects, exchange information and listen to academic and industry leaders speak about future directions and techniques in relational environments. According to Pelcyger, five senior executives have signed on as charter members of the group, which will probably meet in June. Just in CASE The call for the group comes at a time when the IS profession has been awaiting IBM's repository and witnessing the increase of computer-aided software engineering tools. However, using the new technologies may pose problems for organizations that want to integrate their systems to maintain strategic advantage. ``The vast majority of companies that undertake the development of enterprise architectures and plans are not successful,'' said Steven Spewak, director of information architecture planning for Relational Strategies. Spewak said that companies frequently fail because they do not understand that enterprise architectures are an evolutionary and data-driven process. He added that many companies lack the support and commitment of the organization or have ineffective project leadership and methodologies. By Robert Moran, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Ch-ch-changes face the st Author : Clinton Wilder Source : CW Comm FileName: colum Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: If you had to choose one word to summarize the typical IS executive's mandate in today's business world, the word would be ``change.'' It's everywhere. Be a change master or a change agent. Transform your business using information technology. Change your organization, change your focus, change your philosophy of the information systems role in the corporation. All well and good _ in a perfect world. But how many IS professionals are finding that ``change'' often clashes with another word: survival? That conflict occurs when the organization's propensity for change is significantly greater or lesser than the top IS executive's. William Synnott, the former Bank of Boston chief information officer now doing consulting and research at Nolan Norton, put it well at his firm's recent symposium for senior business and IS executives in Tarpon Springs, Fla. ``Sometimes, the visionary CEO is matched with a punch-card-mentality CIO, who gets fired,'' Synnott said. ``And other times, a punch-card CEO has a visionary CIO, who gets fired.'' The latter example was, perhaps, a subtle allusion to Synnott's own experience. Change is not an easy task in many corporations; organizational inertia can be a powerful force. Consultants and so-called thinkers who evangelize that IS must throw out everything it has done for the past 20 years and start all over are, I hope, just employing the technique of hyperbole to get their point across, because that just isn't reality. How many times have you experienced the following scenario? You're attending a conference at which panelists are spewing forth all kinds of good ideas about change. You're jotting them down with interest when suddenly a voice in your head says with a smirk, ``Ha! I can just see trying that in my company. That's not the way they like to do things. I'd be out on my ear.'' Like falling off a log On the other side of the coin, there are companies that pull a sudden about-face and demand that their IS executives deliver competitive advantage to the business or else. ``Running IS used to have two goals _ keeping users happy and netting zero,'' said Chester Frankfeldt, senior associate of research services at the Diebold Group. ``Now it's like being the lumberjack in a log-rolling contest when the other guy suddenly changes the direction the log is rotating. Management is changing the rules.'' And it's no coincidence that the turnover rate of IS chiefs at Fortune 1,000 corporations seems to be at an all-time high. ``Now, we're demanding that IS professionals be businessmen and technologists,'' said one headhunter at a recent Society of Information Management chapter lunch. ``You want to talk about a career path _ it's off a cliff!'' Without the oft-publicized partnership between senior management and the IS function, this is the unfortunate truth. When the stars of IS tell their stories _ from Federal Express to Du Pont to USAA Insurance _ they almost always begin by praising the CEO and his vision of how technology could help the business. That's not just boss-stroking; it's a strong reminder that important changes in IS can be achieved only when IS and business management are willing to effect change at the same pace and in the same direction. When that occurs, change can go hand in hand not only with survival, but with success. By Clinton Wilder; Wilder is Computerworld's senior editor, management. <<<>>> Title : Picking up the pieces Author : Nell Margolis Source : CW Comm FileName: curside Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: The Tufts University computer setup, as Robert J. Curran found it seven years ago, was minimal. The college had a single Decsystem-10. According to the university's organizational chart, the computer services staff numbered 19; however, Curran says, only six of the positions were actually filled. Of three jobs authorized for academic computing support, he says, only one was filled _ that of the newsletter editor. Systems programming consisted of one student. Demand for computer services, however, was as fierce as supply was short. The department was caught between academic and administrative users, each feeling slighted in favor of the other. ``What was left of the computer services department had circled the wagons into a defensive position,'' Curran says. The self-avowed change agent and lover of challenges had more than met his match. ``Looking back,'' Curran says, ``we were pretty close to the edge. I thought I knew what I was getting into, but truthfully, I had significantly underestimated the technological and the political depth of the problem. If I had to do it again, I'm not at all sure that I would.'' But back in 1982, the builder simply forged ahead. First, to keep chaos at bay, he brought in a VAX-11/780 and increased the department's staff by 10. Then he began to lay the foundation for future computing at Tufts. Today, the Decsystem-10 has been replaced by 10 DEC VAXs. In addition, Tufts colors now include Blue, at least in the IS department, where an IBM 3081 holds sway. There is also an Encore Computer Corp. system, two Wang Laboratories, Inc. VS office support systems, a slew of technical workstations, and a full-fledged computer-aided design system. NELL MARGOLIS <<<>>> Title : Conference on software st Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mgtbrief Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Fedcase '89, a conference designed to explore software standards and data management solutions for software engineering environments, has issued a call for paper submissions. The conference, sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will be held in Gaithersburg, Md., Oct. 30 to Nov. 2. Proposals are requested for minitutorials, workshops and panel sessions. Suggested topic areas include computer-aided software engineering (CASE)-related standards and industry trends, data management research for software engineering and data-oriented CASE applications and methodologies. For more information and rules regarding submissions, contact Fedcase '89, Margaret Law or Wilma Osborne, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Room A266, Building 225, Gaithersburg, Md. The deadline for submissions is May 15. A Corning Glass Works executive and two IBM senior vice-presidents were honored recently at dedication ceremonies for Syracuse University's Center for Science and Technology in Syracuse, N.Y. Richard Dulude, group vice-president of telecommunications at Corning Glass Works; Carl J. Conti, senior vice-president and general manager of IBM Enterprise Systems; and Patrick Toole, senior vice-president and general manager of IBM technology products, were honored for their continuing interest and involvement in the university's research activities and were presented with Chancellor's Medals. All three were instrumental in starting Syracuse's Center for Advanced Technology in Computer Applications and Software Engineering Center, according to center director Bradley Strait. Applied Computer Research, Inc. (ACR) has issued a call for participation in the fourth annual conference on Improving Productivity in EDP System Development, which is scheduled to be held in Phoenix, Jan. 22-26, 1990. Speakers, panelists and chairpersons are being sought for the conference. No formal papers are required, although copies of handouts and visuals will be required later. ACR said that user experiences and case studies presented by information systems managers and their staffs are desirable. The conference is mainly oriented toward management issues. Possible topics include CASE technology and trends, maintenance productivity, software development tools, human factors and motivation, software metrics, quality assurance, project management, information centers and end-user computing. For more information on the conference, contact ACR at P.O. Box 9280, Phoenix, Ariz. 85068. The deadline for submissions is May 1. The IEEE Computer Society has issued a call for papers for its conference on systems integration to be held in Morristown, N.J., April 23-26, 1990. The conference will focus on the problems, issues and solutions of integrated systems design, implementation and performance. Integration technologies will be emphasized with a focus on CASE, collaborative and distributed systems and computer-integrated manufacturing systems. Authors should submit original technical papers to the program chairman no later than July 25. For more information, contact Professor Peter A. Ng, program co-chairman, Department of Computer and Information Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J. 07102. <<<>>> Title : Finding the best rotation Author : John J. Xenakis Source : CW Comm FileName: pcld Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: The ``PC Shuffle'' is a new dance that has been forced on corporate America during the past few years. As new computers come in through the door, something has to be done with the older machines, but figuring out exactly what can be a tricky maneuver. What frequently happens is that the older machines are handed off to secretaries and other clerical personnel. Some organizations worry, however, about creating what amounts to a class system, based on computer capabilities. That thought troubled Neal Hill, president of the Boston advertising agency Rossin, Greenberg, Seronick and Hill, when the firm purchased a number of IBM Personal System/2 micros to network with its IBM System/36. Hill and his partners wanted to find a use for their old XTs, but they did not, he says, ``want to create a subclass of users.'' A better alternative, Hill decided, was to create a subclass of machines, turning the old XTs into so-called ``utility'' machines. ``They're used for overflow computing,'' he explains. He put the old XTs in a back room and uses them as batch processors for monthly spreadsheet runs. ``Once the programs are set up, it's the kind of activity that can be performed by an entry-level person. Also, one of the machines has a software program on it that I use only once a month. When I want to use it, I walk back there and use it.'' Charles River Associates, a Boston consulting firm, came up with a similar idea when its XTs were replaced by new Intel Corp. 80386-based machines. One of the XTs was transferred to the night shift, running a complex econometric modeling application for one of the firm's clients in batch mode. ``We could run the application more quickly on a 386, but why bother?'' says company President Gerald Kraft. ``We just let it run all night and get the results in the morning. We don't need a 386 for that.'' Ivan Brass, vice-president and director of information systems in the audit department at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. in New York, found another use for slightly dated personal computers. When a number of XTs and Intel 80286 machines were made obsolete by the purchase of several 386 models, Brass converted some of them into printer servers and communications gateways for the department's local-area network. Recycling old PCs and XTs to act as batch processors, printer servers and communications gateways is not the norm. Most older computers don't fade away at all, but simply slide from desktop to desktop in an almost endless spiral. Kenneth Bosomworth, president of International Resource Development in Norwalk, Conn., points out that most firms have a large number of IBM PCs dating back to 1981 and Apple Computer, Inc. and Radio Shack machines dating back to 1977. IBM PCs of 1982-84 vintage are also in widespread use. ``What's happened,'' he explains, ``is that [PCs] have been passed down from user to user. The enthusiastic power users, the individuals who have extensive requirements for spreadsheet computations or other functions for which speed is important, pass their older and slower machines along to others who use it for applications in which the speed requirements match the application. So the newer and faster equipment is being procured by the same people who got the PCs a few years ago and is being passed down to the secretaries, who don't care about the speed.'' Bosomworth says he expects this pattern will quickly repeat itself when the Intel 80486 machines become available later this year. ``Intel intends to fit the 486s in at the high end and entice the power- and the space-hungry user,'' he predicts. You might think from Neal Hill's phrase, ``subclass of user,'' that there is a potential for trouble, that the person who inherits an older machine might be jealous of the one getting a new 386 machine, but Robert Holmes, computer technology research analyst at the Southern California Gas Co. in Los Angeles, says that is not so. ``There isn't any squabbling because older machines that are replaced are moved to new locations in the company, and they're used to fill outstanding requisitions,'' explains Holmes, whose firm has a current installed base of almost 2,000 PCs, two-thirds of which are PS/2s. Pacificorp Financial Services in Portland, Ore., tries to practice frugality at both ends of the system life span. On the acquisition side, according to Robert F. Thrasher, Pacificorp's director of telecommunications, the company has begun buying Compaq Computer Corp. 386s without a hard drive and connecting them to a file server through a LAN. When PCs reach the end of their useful life, Thrasher says, ``We make them available to our internal employees to purchase for home use.'' Selling used machines to employees is a nice idea, Kraft agrees, but ``most of our employees already have machines at home that are better than the ones we're getting rid of,'' he says. ``And, since we don't need any more doorstops,'' he adds, they will explore other options, such as donating the equipment to charity. There are those who believe that the time has come for companies to stop leading PCs from desk to desk until they are so worn from the shuffle that they are only good for doorstops. ``My advice to clients is that they should look at workstations as a investment with a two-year writedown,'' says Art Caston, director of emerging technologies consulting at the DMR Group, Inc. in Toronto. He contends that companies cannot maintain a competitive advantage unless all their computers are on the leading edge. ``If you leverage over a longer period, you're inhibiting the usability of the workstation to the end user.'' To support this conclusion, Caston provides a complicated analysis of the technological capacity of workstations, which is his name for personal computers. He emphasizes the fact that workstations today have different uses than they did just a few years ago. ``The whole concept of a workstation has changed over three years,'' Caston says. ``Now, I see its key area as achieving integration of different computer architectures and server platforms, structured databases, document management systems and messaging.'' Such sophisticated functional integration cannot be achieved with XTs or ATs, which are not powerful enough, Caston says. For that reason, he adds, ``We must convert our workstations to those that provide multiprocessing, sophisticated window management and common interfaces across platforms.'' What does this mean for the user who simply wants to do some spreadsheet or word processing? ``That's a reflection of the slowness of adopting true end-user computing,'' Caston explains. ``If a workstation is being used [solely] for the occasional spreadsheet analysis, [the user] company is still in the early phases of computer technology. The user achieves a much higher degree of functionality through the PC than just spreadsheets. Those kinds of considerations will be driving them toward the more powerful and sophisticated workstations.'' Caston maintains that users should look at the value of a computer to their organizations. If a more powerful computer saves several hours a day of a manager's time, then in today's competitive world, the cost of the more expensive computer will be small compared with its value. ``What it comes down to,'' he says, ``is whether you're approaching your technology planning from a cost orientation or a value orientation.'' Many companies, however, are not buying the argument that there should be a 386-based machine on every desktop and are downright skeptical about anything beyond that. ``We have only one 386 in the whole company,'' according to Ted Waltman, system vice-president at Resources Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Integrated Resources in Englewood, Colo., ``and it's in the data processing department for development and graphics applications, where the speed makes the difference.'' Waltman is well aware that many computer analysts are recommending that corporations purchase only 386 machines from now on. As far as he is concerned, the 286 machines are already far ahead, in terms of speed and capability, of most of the people using them. ``My attitude _ and the company policy _ is to use what will be effective,'' he says. If big power is needed, Waltman prefers to call in the really big guns.``If an application is so complex that it requires a 386, it ought to be run on the mini,'' he says. And that is just what he has done, putting the company's large database applications on an IBM Application System/400. ``From our perspective, this replaces the need for the 386s,'' Waltman says. ``We're not creating a distributed environment in which users are responsible for their own data.'' In fact, he adds, business managers do not want to be responsible for supporting applications and policing data integrity, which is why he gets no arguments about spending the money for a minicomputer. Brass is somewhat more liberal in his attitude toward 386 machines. His department has bought approximately 60 386-based micros for spreadsheets and office applications and financial analysis. But he did not put the 286-based computers that he could not use as servers and gateways out to pasture. Instead, he upgraded them with extended memory and, in some cases, Plus Development Corp.'s Hardcard add-in hard-disk card, before giving them to office personnel. ``We're going to continue to use our existing machines _ I'm not sure that we have to go beyond the 386,'' Brass says. ``I think there's going to be a point where you reach saturation. The human mind can only absorb so much. It's like going from 300 baud to 2,400 baud.'' Gold Kist, Inc. in Atlanta is another company that has generally standardized on 286 machines. According to T. Ray Lollar, vice-president of information services at the food manufacturer, 386s are used only for LANs and production-type applications. Companies often dispense PCs and write standards for acquisition based on the type of software the user plans to run. But sometimes the user can employ the software in an unexpected way, and if care is not taken, the need for 386 machines can sneak up without him realizing it. ``We had a lot of people using Lotus' 1-2-3 for database applications in the beginning,'' says Steve Stuart, manager of end-user computing at Stone Container Corp. in Chicago. ``When the database applications started taking too long, the users added Above Boards and memory, and by then, the cost ended up surpassing the price of a 386. So now we're moving people to R:Base or Dbase, and we're recommending a 386 machine.'' BYJohn J. Xenakis; Xenakis is software editor of BCS Update, the magazine of the Boston Computer Society. <<<>>> Title : Gift PCs should keep on g Author : John Xenakis Source : CW Comm FileName: charity Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: If you don't feel like trying to resell aging PCs, charitable donation is another option. Be forewarned, however, most of your reward will come in the form of gratitude, and even that may be missing if the machines in question are extremely shopworn. The tax savings are not very great in any case, says Susan Corrigan, senior vice-president of Gifts in Kind, Inc., an Alexandria, Va.-based organization that coordinates corporate donations of nonmonetary products to charity. The write-off is even less if the machines are obsolete, she adds. The tax deduction is based on the depreciated value of the computer, she says, and ``most companies keep their computers around so long that their value is practically nothing.'' In cases like that, or instances in which the machines are very specialized, Corrigan adds, the gift may not even be very useful to the charity. ``There's nothing worse than a nonprofit organization receiving a computer they can't get parts for, or that is so special-purpose they can't even use it,'' she says. For example, Corrigan says that she has declined offers of entire word processing systems because it was too costly to deinstall the systems and reinstall them elsewhere. Not so picky Not all charities are so stringent in their approach. The National Cristina Foundation, based in Pelham Manor, N.Y., will pay for shipping expenses if the donor insists, although it prefers that the corporation pay them as part of its donation. They will also prepare all the necessary tax donation paperwork. ``And if stuff is really wrecky,'' says Yvette Marin, the foundation's president, ``we'll accept it for salvage purposes, and use the value of the parts for peripherals, adaptive devices, software.'' To date, the foundation has distributed close to 3,000 computers, designated for all sorts of locations including schools, hospitals, rehabilitation centers and vocational training facilities. If you are willing to donate equipment that is actually still useful, there are several other avenues available. In many cases, the most convenient method is to donate through the local United Way chapter. Another way is to find a specific accredited charity that your organization would like to assist. The charity must be accredited for your company to receive any tax benefits. Information about and lists of accredited charities can be obtained from either the National Charities Information Bureau in New York or the Philanthropic Advisory Service, a department of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Arlington, Va. Many states also keep lists of accredited charities. Practices vary from state to state, but if a referral service is available, it is usually part of the state attorney general's office. JOHN XENAKIS <<<>>> Title : Timing is key to good tra Author : John Xenakis Source : CW Comm FileName: retire Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Kenny Rogers could have been singing directly to corporate PC purchasers when he cut his popular hit, ``The Gambler.'' Knowing when to hold them and when to fold them can make a big difference in terms of both PC residual value and maintenance outlays. Figuring out exactly when to sell is not necessarily easy. There is an optimal selling time for used computer equipment, and if you keep the equipment longer than that, it becomes technologically outdated and does not net as much money. A recent example of how this works is last year's precipitous decline in resale value for IBM Personal Computer ATs. ``The AT was the premier IBM machine for several years, but in six months it lost nearly $800 of its value,'' says Alex Randall, president of the Boston Computer Exchange Corp., an organization that specializes in the sale of used computer equipment. What happened, he explains, was the laptop revolution. ``After six months, the first AT-compatible laptop came out,'' Randall says. ``Then everybody and his brother introduced a laptop computer, and the desktop AT [market] began to fall apart.'' All too often, corporations tend to hang on to computer equipment beyond its useful lifetime _ and beyond its maximal dollar value. ``They treat computers as lifetime purchases like houses, when they should be treating them as cars,'' Randall maintains. Holding PCs for prolonged periods is not advisable, not only because of declining resale value but also because of escalating maintenance costs. Like cars, computers tend to develop costly problems as they age. Furthermore, new models are, by and large, more easily maintainable. It costs about half as much to maintain a Personal System/2 Model 30 as it does to maintain a comparably equipped XT, and over a long period of time those expenses add up. In most cases, explains John Ereckson, an analyst at market research firm Future Computing, Inc. in Dallas, organizations wind up paying third-party service providers to keep their old systems up and running. That is not to say that firms should jump to trade at the first signal of change. Randall's rule of thumb is that the best time to consider such a move is after it has become obsolete for the second time. The IBM PC came out in 1981, he points out. Managers should not have sold those machines when XTs came out. But when ATs arrived, he says, the writing was definitely on the wall: ``After a machine has become obsolete for the third time, it goes into hopeless decline.'' JOHN XENAKIS <<<>>> Title : Do corporate controls on Author : John Xenakis Source : CW Comm FileName: controls Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Figgie International, a diversified operating company headquartered in Willoughby, Ohio, is an example of an organization that tries to closely regulate the acquisition and configuration of personal computers. ``We set a procurement standard here starting in the early 1980s,'' says Walter J. Hayes, Figgie's director of MIS. He says that the corporate standard is IBM, but he provides a second choice for those divisions that are concerned about saving money. ``Our first choice is IBM, but our divisions have the latitude to choose Wyse, and they've been doing that because of the price difference,'' he explains. Hayes also has a specific architectural standard. ``On the business side, our standard is the 286 _ that is not an option. Our primary applications have been for spreadsheets and financial analysis, and we have not seen the need for the power of a 386 for these applications,'' he says. Occasional exceptions are made, but only for users with engineering and design applications. Not all corporations are as successful with central control of PC purchasing. Timothy A. Kenney, manager of information services at Systemetrics/McGraw-Hill, Inc., an operating company of New York-based McGraw-Hill, Inc. located in Santa Barbara, Calif., says that local standards supersede central ones. ``We're an operating company of McGraw-Hill, and they have a corporate policy that we're supposed to follow,'' Kenney says, ``but we do things a little differently because we're really autonomous.'' According to Kenney, both Systemetrics and McGraw-Hill have a policy of choosing IBM Personal Computers, but McGraw-Hill prefers Epson America, Inc. clones as a backup, a preference that Kenney does not share. Kenney says Systemetrics often buys Compaq Computer Corp. units and recently acquired two Dell Computer Corp. machines for their speed. But he also favors a clone from Bentley Computer Products for its low price. ``They [McGraw-Hill] actually try to influence our purchasing by offering good rates through the McGraw-Hill bookstore in New York,'' Kenney says. ``As a result, we can buy IBM and Epson machinery at a significant discount, but we still don't feel that gives us the best bang for the buck.'' No support problem Many corporate managers are concerned about support issues when a variety of different types of computers are involved, but Kenney has not found that to be a problem. ``We find that different clone makers now use fairly standard stock components,'' he says. ``So I think reluctance to buy clones because of support problems is a moot issue. It's becoming like [buying] stereo equipment _ at a certain level you almost can't buy something bad.'' Thomas Cimino, senior vice-president of information services at the Great American Life Insurance Co. in Los Angeles agrees that corporate standards do not work very well. The trouble, he says, is that most users have enough money to acquire what they want. The central organization can go ahead and create a standard, Cimino explains, ``but then one user wants a board that costs only $100 or a $60 software package, and that's the end of the standard.'' In terms of standards, Cimino adds, the only realistic and reasonable approach is to focus on protecting corporate data: ``That should be our focus, rather than whether users are buying different word processors.'' Loose rein Limiting support and training to products that adhere to standards can act as a rein on some users, he points out, but it is a limited control mechanism at best. ``Frankly,'' he says, ``if you don't need our support, you can do what you want to do. If you're content with that, good luck and adios.'' James B. Grinham, MIS manager at Tremco, Inc., a subsidiary of B. F. Goodrich Co. in Cleveland, is more positive in his assessment of training and support as a means of encouraging standardization. ``We have not intentionally tried to control acquisition, but because we've been successful in how we advise people, including providing them with thorough training, every time someone needs a computer, they come to us.'' JOHN XENAKIS <<<>>> Title : Gearing up for high-end n Author : Andrew Topper Source : CW Comm FileName: tappen Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Making the right match is critical when you want high-end personal computer products to support demanding applications such as computer-aided software engineering (CASE), computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) or local-area network file and SQL server use. Because the CPU determines the amount of addressable memory and the relative speed of the machine, high-end uses typically require a fast (16- or 20-MHz) Intel Corp. 80286- or 80386-based computer. The Intel 80386SX chip offers an inexpensive alternative to 386-based computers as well as the 32-bit addressing that is missing from 286-based units. The amount of random-access memory (RAM) needed for these applications often goes beyond the traditional 640K bytes available with DOS, and the hard disk requirements can far exceed the 40M-byte hard disk supplied with most 286-based machines. With memory prices declining, buying additional memory will soon become more feasible. CASE tools that run on PCs or LANs are very resource-intensive because they use high-resolution graphics and provide a wide range of sophisticated development services. Although CASE tools will usually run on standard IBM Personal Computers or PC XTs, those machines often cannot provide the level of response time needed to support an interactive development tool. In most instances, CASE tools are most effective when used on an 80386-based computer running at 20 MHz or higher. CASE tools also usually require memory above the DOS 640K-byte mark for disk caching buffers, Lotus/Intel/Microsoft Extended Memory Specification and, in some cases, protected-mode operation. Because most PC-based CASE tools use a central repository or data dictionary, the disk requirements are typically 20M bytes or more. The CASE repository contains all objects collected in the development effort, often resulting in dictionaries that are as large as 60M or 70M bytes. The majority of work involved in CASE products moves objects to and from the dictionary (and thus the hard disk). Therefore, a fast hard disk drive can make using the tool much more bearable. The monitor and display adapter requirements for CASE tools range from IBM's Enhanced Graphics Adapter to Multisync and up. Most CASE tools include some form of diagraming aid such as data flow diagrams or decomposition diagrams, and these products generally use the graphical capabilities of the display adapter and monitor to their fullest. CAD/CAM software often requires the same resources as CASE tools, including high-resolution display adapters and monitors, a fast CPU and hard disk drives. In some cases, CAD/CAM products can be used with large monitors _ 19-in. and up _ and display adapters that support very high resolutions _ 1,024 by 1,024 pixels. Most of these products require a math coprocessor as well as a large, fast hard disk drive. External equipment usually includes a digitizer and an electrostatic plotter. PCs used as LAN file servers and SQL servers provide multiuser access to databases and other shared resources via the network. This requires large, fast disk drives and vast amounts of memory for disk caching and network buffers. While it is possible for a PC equipped with 640K bytes of RAM under DOS to act as an SQL server, overall performance can be significantly improved with additional memory. PCs intended for use as file and SQL servers are typically optimized to make use of extended memory in PCs and sometimes to run operating systems such as Unix or OS/2 on 286 or 386-based computers. Faster chip speeds, however, do not always mean faster response times for the database application. Sometimes increasing the speed of the hard disk and the data transfer speed can more directly affect overall response times. The display adapter and monitor needed for file and SQL servers are usually only Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. or IBM's Color Graphics Adapter-based devices because these servers do not require graphics or high-resolution color displays. However, some network vendors do require that a special monitor and keyboard be attached to their file servers. Buyers should check with their network vendor before purchasing a monitor and display adapter. When it comes to high-end uses for PCs, the best rule is to take a hard look at likely resource requirements prior to purchase. It is much easier to construct the right resource combination from the outset than to make enhancements later. By Andrew Topper; Topper is president of Foresite Systems, a Lansing, Mich., consulting firm. <<<>>> Title : Leery users take support Author : Daniel Gross Source : CW Comm FileName: grosside Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: The uneducated enthusiasm that sold personal computers in the early 1980s is unacceptable to a new generation of users who know exactly what they want. More sophisticated than they were a decade ago, these users have grown wary and weary of the service and support promises made by PC manufacturers and value-added resellers (VAR). Richard Kuiper, MIS director at Portland, Ore.-based Sulzer Bingham Pumps, Inc., says he finds untrained sales representatives, who pitch products without being aware of the products' technical capabilities, to be a hindrance. ``You can wait forever for them to get the answers to your questions from the technical people behind the scenes,'' he explains. Sometimes, the answer never comes because the person has left the company. ``It seems like turnover is very high. You never talk to the same person twice,'' notes Robert Voltz, director of MIS at Rieke Corp., a South Bend, Ind.-based industrial manufacturing firm. As a result, neither PC vendors nor VARs have much of a reputation for real-world problem solving. ``We have circumvented most of the problems other companies have by finding a very good PC vendor,'' Kuiper says. ``We pretty much sole-source all our PC needs through one [VAR]. But we did go through a number of bad situations [with VARs] before we found this one company,'' including a three-week siege with a Diablo Systems, Inc. printer that the salesman said was IBM-compatible. ``It seems like the level of expertise is rather low in service and support,'' Voltz notes. ``Half the time, I'm telling [manufacturers] what to do or how to do it. Most of our PCs have come from a distributor'' _ a source that dispenses product without any service or support claims. Frustrated users are fighting back by taking matters into their own hands. Users large and small have become less dependent on their suppliers' expertise, and many firms now run their own repair and maintenance centers. ``We're not getting that much support [from our supplier], and we're not really looking for it,'' says Allen Head, director of data processing at Indianapolis-based Universal Flavors, Inc. ``Normally, we buy our PCs [IBM and clones] through Nynex Corp. We just order what we want; they deliver it. There's no sales strategy that goes on at all, which we appreciate because we don't like being sold [to].'' Kuiper's biggest problem before finding his current supplier _ a VAR that is willing to navigate the maze of vendors and products for him _ was the shortsighted focus of manufacturers' and other VARs' product announcements and sales pitches. The big picture ``Each announcement was looked at as a thing in itself and not how it related to the whole picture,'' he explains. ``If somebody was pitching a new networking module for a PC, they would usually not be sure how it would fit in with other networking standards, for instance. Will this PC or device fit into this network? Will it work with this printer? Will it support this modem? And the [VARs'] answer was always `We're not sure, but by itself, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread,' '' he says. ``I'd like to see faster delivery time on things such as memory boards. Last time I ordered an upgrade, it took months to get memory. That can be a serious problem when you're in a project environment,'' says Kenneth Platt, manager of information services at Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, Pa. ``We are developing a large project with [IBM's] Presentation Manager and OS/2,'' he explains. ``We get the memory, but [getting it] is a problem. We have our own technical people repairing [the cards].'' Educated caution seems to be the mood among PC users in dealing with their suppliers these days. As Voltz explains, ``I learned early on to take a hard look before I buy, so I haven't gotten severely burned.'' By Daniel Gross; Gross is chairman and co-founder of Magnetic Press, Inc. in New York. <<<>>> Title : Laptops for sales support Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: lapside Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Sales representatives need all their big guns close at hand. Laptop personal computers can provide them with easy access to the ammunition they need. Savvy sales reps can benefit from laptops by making on-the-spot use of the same software that is running on their desktop systems in the home office. This is especially true for those reps selling customized, price-sensitive products and services to corporate markets. A laptop PC for sales support use needs room for a hard disk drive to store data and programs, especially for graphics. This requirement eliminates virtually all of the low-end (under $2,000) systems, which have only one or two 720K-byte floppy drives. But it also needs to be light and compact enough for the salesman to carry inconspicuously into meetings, a feature found in most of the newer portables. The main difference within this group is the power supply. Most, such as the Zenith Data Systems Supersport, can run on batteries _ something no desktop computer was designed to do. But some, such as the Toshiba America, Inc. T-3100E, are solely AC-powered. The Supersport and the T-3100E have much in common. Both systems do a fine job of letting two or three people see what is on the screen. Both allow you to send data via the video port to a separate IBM Color Graphics Adapter monitor. Each offers a 20M-byte hard disk for room to run even the most demanding applications. Further, both manufacturers recognize the importance of reliability, providing 24-hour repair/service programs. The briefcase-size T-3100E is a complete IBM-compatible, Intel Corp. 80286-based system. Its 25-line, dot-based gas-plasma display does not distort or ``squash'' whatever is being displayed. Circles look like circles instead of eggs, and pie-charts look like, well, pies. Although the bright-orange-on-dark-orange display may sound like a less than ideal color combination, it has enough contrast to be easily readable from anywhere within a 120-degree angle in front. AC-powered laptops such as the T-3100E are able to provide the power necessary for sharp and clear images. AC-powered displays also have a much wider effective viewing angle than battery-run units; in other words, users can read what is on the screen without having to be directly in front of it. The $3,599 Zenith Supersport is roughly the same size and weight as the Toshiba T-3100E; it uses an 8-MHz Motorola, Inc. 80C88 processor. The Supersport provides AC power access as well as the aforementioned battery supply. For the Supersport and other battery-run systems, freedom from the power cord comes at a cost. To run efficiently on batteries, these laptop systems need to use as little power as possible. This means that their screens, whether gas-plasma or supertwist LCD, lack the sharpness or clarity of screens in desktop systems. Instead of a power-hungry two-color gas-plasma display, the Supersport uses a backlit LCD screen. The 24-line display has three levels of blue characters and graphics on an off-white background, which provides a good contrast range. The dots that make up the characters take fractions of a second to change state, although this is noticeable only when you scroll quickly through text. Because the screen is not readable from a sideways angle, however, no more than two other people can watch over your shoulder. As for batteries themselves, power technology is still at the point where users should think of their laptops' nickel cadmium batteries as insurance against data loss, instead of treating cordless computing as the system's main mode of operation. Even at full charge, the batteries in the most powerful laptop PCs only give you about two hours' worth of full-tilt cordless computing, despite manufacturers' claims. So carrying an extension cord and using AC power whenever possible is a wise safeguard. For sales reps who find themselves in places where finding a power outlet is a problem, battery-powered laptop computers have the advantage of cordless operation. But for users who find themselves in boardrooms more often than on factory floors, AC-only laptops may offer an edge worth considering. By Stephen Satchell and Heather Clifford; Satchell helped found Infoworld's Test Center and has been writing product evaluations for 15 years. Clifford is the author of several computer books. <<<>>> Title : Top brass wants control o Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 410man2 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: As the scope, cost and risk of manufacturing automation increases, top managers are discovering the need for more control. The result, a recently released report by Harbor Research Corp. predicts, is that operations control and decision support systems will be the high-growth sector of the computer-integrated manufacturing systems market in the next five years. The Boston-based market research firm expects sales of operations control and decision support systems to shoot up 178% from $800 million in 1988 to $2.3 billion in 1993. In the same period, the report foresees a 75% increase in the market for engineering systems _ computers and peripherals including workstations and software _from about $5.6 billion in 1988 to about $9.8 billion in 1993 and a 66% growth in the market for production planning and business systems from about $700 million to about $1.2 billion. According to Christian van Schayk, vice-president of Harbor Research, several qualitative trends underlie these predictions. Simply because the systems are more expensive, he says, production or engineering department heads can no longer buy them without involving top management and satisfying management's need for control. But on a deeper level, top management must be involved because of the far-reaching effects that a choice of automation system can have on a company's business strategy. Van Schayk says that once a company commits to a particular automation system, it is dependent on that system's particular characteristics. ``The kinds of flexibility [the system] has _ the strengths and weaknesses it has _ will lock you into a given envelope of what you can make in-house and what you can't. And that's got to have an effect on your business strategies.'' Van Schayk also sees a growing concern with measurement systems in manufacturing. Managers are aware that automation and control systems are already gathering data that could be valuable if it were processed usefully. Activity-based accounting systems are an example of the sophisticated ways that managers can track the performance of their investments. According to van Shayk, managers are asking, ``How can we take this data, which we're now gathering, and transform it into information that will help in decision support, not only on the operations side but also on the strategic side?'' Van Shayk suggests that management has a lot of learning to do before it can be counted on to do an effective job of controlling automation. He adds, however, that ``it's very popular to decry the lack of technological literacy of our top management. But at the same time, I think we haven't been serving them very well with the kind of cost management systems they need.'' Van Shayk predicts an increasing demand on the part of the market to incorporate not only design but also strategic process-planning considerations into computer-assisted engineering. In the future, he says, designers will have to design with ``knowledge of what you can do in-house and what you have to out-source.'' Another trend van Schayk watches indicates that sophisticated users are demanding flexibility to reconfigure plant floor equipment when necessary and diagnostics that they can use when things go wrong. According to the report, increasing user management sophistication and demand for control will lead to changes in the automation equipment industry. Users are looking for completely automated systems, not just components or subsystems. The report says the current market leaders are ``relatively narrow in scope of product offering, not adequate models for future market leadership.'' Tomorrow's leaders, the report says, ``will orchestrate a combination of components, systems, direct and indirect sales channels, services and alliances to gain competitive advantage.'' The report sees manufacturing automation systems participating in the industrywide trend toward standardized products and components and toward systems integration. It sees plants as no longer as capable of being neatly categorizable as ``discrete,'' ``batch'' or ``continuous'' _ if indeed they ever were _ but hybrid in nature. In general, the report says, ``traditional distinctions between products, applications, markets and process disciplines and suppliers are blurring.'' By Josh Brackett, Special to CW; Brackett is a free-lance writer who lives in Rockport, Mass., and specializes in computers and communications. <<<>>> Title : U.S. manufacturing compan Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 410man1 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: U.S. manufacturing companies cannot duplicate the tremendous productivity achievements of Japanese manufacturing facilities simply by cloning Eastern techniques. Or so says Syed Abbas, president of Cimconsult, a Toronto-based consulting firm. In fact, Abbas says, the wholesale adoption of Eastern manufacturing techniques by Western corporations may not be feasible at all. According to Abbas, cognitive differences between the two cultures prevent Western firms from understanding and using Japanese techniques. Because of these differences, he maintains, the technological outlooks of the two cultures are different. Abbas generally describes U.S. and other Western corporate engineering and manufacturing approaches as quantitative, deterministic and very computation intensive. In effect, Abbas says, Western firms apply new technology with a vengeance for manufacturing tasks and problems. Dependency Japanese firms, on the other hand, have traditionally been less dependent on computers. While U.S. firms rely increasingly on integrated networks of systems from the ``art'' to ``part'' stages, Japanese companies focus manufacturing applications on production and scheduling systems. Popular manufacturing philosophies and techniques in Eastern firms include ``just-in-time'' (JIT) delivery, flexible manufacturing and total quality control systems. In general, Abbas says, Eastern companies apply computers when needed but not in such data-intensive approaches as Western firms. In Western companies, Abbas says, analysis and design are heavily computerized. In addition to such applications as computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), U.S. firms make use of computer- and data-dependent techniques such as manufacturing resource planning and computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). Abbas claims that U.S. firms also tend to focus on logical analytical structures. For example, materials requirements planning systems assume that lead times are fixed. Many Japanese facilities are more apt to adopt flexible JIT techniques, which do not assume that lead times be known in advance. To Abbas, these differences in manufacturing techniques ultimately reflect differences in the mainstream thinking of Eastern and Western cultures. Western firms may have trouble adopting Eastern techniques, he says, because the Eastern approaches are often based on philosophies that Westerners are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with. Eastern techniques that encourage intuition are intrinsically different from Western styles that focus on rational, analytical processess. Trust your instincts Abbas asserts that U.S firms have been using rational tools to do strategic planning, which does not always make sense. He stresses the importance of intuition because of the crucial role it can play in the development of the long-term strategies that all firms need to survive. The prescription for corporate success, Abbas claims, is not a matter of adopting someone else's solution. Many Western corporations moved quickly to use Eastern techniques because of the productivity achievements Japanese firms had gained. Because these corporations did not always consider the fundamental differences in the cultures, not all implementations were effective or successful. If flexible manufacturing techniques do not work in your corporation, it may be because they were never designed to work within a Western management structure. Abbas suggests that CIM is better suited for U.S. firms than are techniques like JIT because CIM's roots are in design analysis. However, Abbas does recommend certain aspects of Eastern techniques. For Western corporations to succeed in manufacturing, he says, they must place less emphasis on computer power and artificial intelligence and more on common sense, intuition and real intelligence. By Janet Fiderio, Special to CW; Fiderio is a Gilsum, N.H.-based free-lance writer. <<<>>> Title : In the CICS world, it tak Author : Martin Goetz Source : CW Comm FileName: 1goetz Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: If CICS is going to be a part of information systems for another 20 years, as IBM has claimed, then isn't it time IS updated its thinking about on-line sorting for CICS applications? Having access to a generalized sorting utility for the development of on-line _ or real-time _ applications is really nothing new. At least, not if you've been developing programs for IBM's System/36 or Application System/400. For these and other computer systems, on-line sorting utilities have often been made available as an integral part of the real-time operating system. Or sometimes they have been made available as completely separate products. But if you've been developing CICS applications for IBM mainframes, even those going back as far as the IBM 360, then a concept like on-line or real-time sorting may seem revolutionary to you. And that's because it is. Indeed, because this capability has never been made available by the mainframe vendor, most CICS program designers and developers have assumed that there must be something particularly insidious or dangerous about real-time sorting within the environment. In keeping with that line of thought, application developers have spent decades searching for ways to circumvent the need for on-line sorting. Historical stumbling blocks The absence of a sort utility for CICS traces back to limitations of the IBM 360, which came out 25 years ago. When it was first released, the 360 provided several basic batch operating systems along with a Cobol compiler, a generalized batch sort and other systems software. This was followed in the late 1960s by the availability of the CICS teleprocessing monitor to support the building of on-line applications. But because the CICS monitor was, in a sense, a mini-real-time operating system that ran under the batch operating system, there were several restrictions that needed to be applied to the building of CICS applications using Cobol. The most severe of these was that the application developer could not use the Cobol language's ``SORT'' verb in the CICS application. If it was invoked, the resultant Cobol program would call and execute the batch sort utility in the CICS partition, and CICS would crash. There were other hardware and software characteristics of the 360 line that contributed to the general agreement in data processing departments that on-line sorting was to be avoided at all costs. For instance, because of valid concerns about resource utilization, the motivation was never there to build an on-line sorting capability. By today's standards, CPU speeds were lethargic, I/Os were slow, internal memory space was at a premium, and operating system speed and function was limited. Thus, even if CICS would not crash entirely, the system would certainly have been brought to its knees by on-line sorting. The upshot has been that, for 20 years, application designers have had to respond to user requests for sorted information displayed on-line in one of four ways: They could provide the sorted information as a part of an independent batch operation. They could program specialized internal sorts into their applications. They could design their VSAM files _ or database management system files _ so that alternate indices would maintain specific data in the desired sequence. They could reject the user's request. Like good sports, most CICS veterans have tacitly accepted the inability of the CICS environment to allow for on-line or real-time sorting. So, where possible, they have responded to users' needs by employing the circuitous routes outlined above. Of the possible alternatives, the most frequently used has been that of maintaining data in a specific sequence. This has meant that, to satisfy user requests to have information on screens or summary reports appear in a desired order, application designers have had to spend time preparing specially sequenced VSAM files or databases or designating alternate indices for retrieving the data in the desired sequence. But this approach has not only proved technically complicated and time-consuming, it has also added many layers of grief to the maintenance and enhancement of these systems once they are put into production. Many applications required the creation of alternate indices for VSAM files so that data could be displayed in the varying sequences that screen and report output dictated. But, because of the restrictions of VSAM, a separate alternate index for each sorted sequence usually needed to be established. For example, consider a VSAM file in which the records contain a customer identification number, an order number, the date of the order, the planned date of delivery, the status of the order, the salesperson and the amount of the order. Assume, in addition, that a user has requested an order-entry application that must produce the following on-line screens or reports for all orders for a specific customer ID: Sorted by date of order and amount of order. Sorted by amount of order. Sorted by planned date of delivery and amount of order. Sorted by salesperson, date of order and amount of order. To satisfy the requests for these four desired screens (see chart, left), four alternate indices would have to be established according to the above sorts, with each index beginning with the same customer ID. Each sorted sequence would then require a separate secondary index. This example is by no means extreme. It is not unusual to require 10 or 20 alternate indices to satisfy the different ways in which data must be displayed for a VSAM application. Other complications But the time it takes to create the alternate indices is not the only complication of this technique for application designers and database administrators. The process can extract a high cost in other areas, including disk space, I/O accesses, CPU time, operational and programming complexity and program maintenance time. Disk space. For each alternate index associated with a VSAM file, there are additional disk-space requirements for storing that index file. And, in most cases, the VSAM records must be enlarged to hold the redundant information that forms the alternate search keys to be sorted. On top of this, more buffer space is required as well. I/O and CPU time. Each time a record is updated, there are CPU and I/O costs associated with updating the alternate index and the related additional search keys in the VSAM record. These alternate indices must be updated continuously, even when the sort occurs only periodically _ once a month, once a week or once a day. In addition, if these files are designated as recoverable by CICS, there will be CPU and I/O costs associated with the maintenance of the CICS Journal File. Operational complexity. The addition of alternate index files creates several significant operational problems as well. For instance, each new alternate index file must be initialized through a special utility. Further operational complexities are involved in backing up and restoring a VSAM cluster because the base VSAM file and all index files must be backed up at the same time. Program maintenance. When the addition of an alternate index requires that the VSAM file be modified, it is not unusual to need to modify all of the programs that refer to that file. This is expensive in terms of programmer time, and it also requires considerable testing to confirm that the program changes did not corrupt the operational system. Programming complexity. In many sorting situations, the use of alternate indices is not an easy or convenient way for programmers and designers to get sequenced data. This is true, for instance, in cases in which there is a need to produce data by descending search keys or by numeric fields in which the data can be either positive or negative. The alternative of sorting on-line within the CICS environment offers a more efficient solution compared with the use of several alternate indices. Primary access For instance, in the above example, there is no need to establish any alternate index if the VSAM records that are given to the real-time sort are accessed by the primary Customer ID search key. All of the fields to be sorted are defined to the sort separately and can be located in any positions within the VSAM record. The actual sorting of any number of search keys _ such as Date of Order, Amount of Order, Salesperson and so on _ can be performed by the on-line sort. A single access against the primary index (see chart page 107) can generate all of the four desired reports. So, depending on the file design, the application and the types of information needed to be sorted, the data can be extracted by accessing only the primary index or a limited number of alternate indices. And if there is a request, for example, to sort by Salesperson as the major search key, one alternate index can be established to produce many combinations of sorted information. Furthermore, system performance is enhanced with on-line sorting. There is no need to update or maintain the indices. The amount of required disk space is reduced. And additional sorted screens or reports can easily be added or modified without changing any file designs. In network DBMSs _ such as IDMS _ sets are defined as named collections of records that have an ``owner'' record type and one or more ``member'' record types. Sets can be established as either sorted or unsorted. In many instances, sorted sets are established when a report or screen must be produced on-line with the output listed in a specific sequence. This technique has many similarities to the setting of secondary indices in VSAM files. When a new member is added to the set, it is inserted into the chain according to the value of a sort-control item within the record (see chart above). Eliminating methods Given the availability of a generalized real-time sort utility, these methods of producing on-line sorted output can also be eliminated. The net result is simplification of database maintenance, execution of the sort only when the report or screen is specifically requested, elimination of expensive updates to the databases and simplified systems maintenance. In hierarchical DMBSs _ such as IMS _ ordered records have often been used to accomplish sorting. But this solution, too, is slow and expensive. Using the IMS search field for sorting not only complicates the IMS design, it is also a very time-consuming method of accessing records. In this case as well, real-time sorting within the CICS environment saves time and money. Where there is a parent/child relationship established, the sort utility can be used to eliminate the need for ordered records. So, after 20 years, on-line or real-time sort utilities can provide program developers with a reasonable alternative for meeting the sorted screen and report requests of end users. From here, education and acceptance become the key issues. But old bugaboos die hard. And most system designers, especially those less than 35 years old, do not understand that the only thing that has been holding them back is adherence to a 20-year-old technology. Today's hardware and software products allow for possibilities that simply were not feasible back in the late 1960s. CPU speeds have increased by at least a factor of 50. I/Os are faster by a factor of 10. Our systems have a lot more internal memory. And today's operating systems _ such as IBM MVS, MVS/XA, MVS/ESA and VSE _ coupled with enhanced CICS services have matured. Indeed, the old reasons for avoiding on-line sorting have disappeared. As the fears of degraded response times and crashed systems abate _ which surely they will as the ``new'' technology of on-line sorting is proven to be successful and as its performance becomes statistically observed _ the days of complicating the design of databases and VSAM files through special indices and search keys will finally end. End-user requests for sorted data will be met with a smile from the IS department, thanks to the simplicity of real-time sorts. By Martin Goetz; Goetz is chief executive officer at Syllogy Corp., an IBM systems software vendor and consulting firm located in Hackensack, N.J. He holds the first patent for software, awarded in 1968. <<<>>> Title : Surviving a restructuring Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: career10 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: When James McCormick was the corporate vice-president of MIS at Transways International Corp., a diversified transportation organization that was involved in a takeover battle in 1985, he lacked a broad base of contacts in the MIS profession. ``In retrospect, I didn't have nearly as much outside contact as I should have. I was cocky. I felt good about Transway,'' he says. Today, he is a partner at Eastbourne Consulting Group, a management consulting firm specializing in cost containment and loss control, an opportunity that he says came about when he reestablished contacts with former associates from his pre-Transway days. From the Transway experience, McCormick learned some valuable lessons about how to survive a corporate restructuring. First, he says, always return telephone calls from headhunters, even when you are not considering any change. Always return calls from reporters, too, because they can provide visibility. Finally, return calls to consultants, because the more people you know, the more options you possess when problems arise. It is possible to successfully navigate a corporate restructuring, acquisition or downsizing. But the key is to establish the elements of your survival strategy in advance, long before you are faced with a major change. It is unwise to assume that the ax will never fall or to wait until it does to take action, managers and consultants say. Nothing lasts forever ``It may sound cynical, but you can't depend on the company to take care of you forever. These days, nobody feels they owe you anything,'' says Donald Sweet, a human resource management consultant based in New Bern, N.C. Even a golden parachute, which only the highest level executives can command, does not guarantee that you will come out unscathed. In some instances, an executive may need to go to court to get the golden parachute enforced. Surviving a corporate restructuring means positioning yourself so that you can continue to advance your career with minimal disruption, whether you remain at the restructured organization or move on. In addition to keeping your skills sharp, it helps to maintain a high profile within the profession and build an extensive network of MIS industry contacts. Also important are broadening skills and experience and maintaining good relations with people throughout your organization. ``People must develop their network before a merger or restructuring is announced,'' says Howard Pines, a principal at Beam Pines, Inc., a New York-based outplacement firm. While it is never too late to start, you cannot expect to boost your profile or build a network overnight. Pines emphasizes the importance of publishing papers, playing an active role in trade associations by volunteering to participate on committees and speaking at industry functions and conferences. Gary Biddle, vice-president of information systems at American Standard, Inc. in New York, is active in professional activities and, as a result, has a high profile. Still, if Biddle, a 32-year veteran at American Standard, suddenly found himself being bumped from his organization in the kind of restructuring that almost took place there, that network of contacts would be a tremendous asset. American Standard recently thwarted a hostile takeover bid through a leveraged buyout by top management. As the news spread concerning the hostile takeover, Biddle started receiving telephone calls from his outside contacts inquiring if he or any of his top people would be available. Diane Chilton, a human resources information systems supervisor at Dallas-based Southland Corp., also weathered a restructuring in which the company was taken private. ``A lot of people were laid off,'' Chilton notes. But by remaining flexible, she managed to advance in the organization. Within Southland, the majority of jobs fall in the central personnel department or in the 7-11 stores that the company operates. Chilton says her ability to move from the smaller MIS group into personnel possibly saved her career at the firm. A programmer, she started at Southland in MIS and found herself assisting the personnel division. She displayed the communication and personal skills that are important in human resources; with that combination of talents, she attracted attention and was asked to join the personnel department as the liaison to MIS. Survival training Chilton's experience illustrates other key elements to surviving a restructuring, consultants say. First, you must be good at your job, and you should broaden your experience. Second, nontechnical skills play a vital role, especially higher up in the company. Finally, you need to maintain good relations throughout the organization, not just with your immediate supervisors. Fortunately, IS people are better positioned to survive a corporate restructuring than most employees because of the strong demand for their skills, Biddle says. There is such a shortage of qualified people, he says, that the odds are good that other firms will be interested. Furthermore, IS people can do much more than survive. Looking back on the Transway experience, McCormick says, ``Frankly, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.'' By Alan Radding, Special to CW; Radding is a Newton, Mass.-based author specializing in business and technology. <<<>>> Title : Controller market softens Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: market10 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Secondary market prices for IBM's 3725 communication controller have declined severely during the last 12 months. This downward trend began on Jan. 26, 1988, when IBM announced its 3745 high-end communication controller. Because the 3745 can perform two to four times the work of a 3725, users, in many cases, can replace multiple 3725s with a single 3745. The announcement of the 3745 aroused concern from users of 3725s, causing values of used 3725s to drop. Once the 3745 Model 210 began shipping in March 1988, 3725 values began to drop even faster. This imbalance caused the current tremendous supply of 3725s on the secondary market. According to Framingham Mass.-based IDC Financial Services Corp., used retail values for the 3725 dropped 72% on the secondary market between March 1988 and March 1989. Currently, the supply of used 3725s is far outstripping the demand, which is the primary reason the 3725s have lost their value so rapidly. Additionally, rumors of IBM announcing a smaller version of the 3745 have also contributed to the decine in used 3725 values. The current 3745 models are more of a migration path for 3725 users, whereas the smaller version of the 3745 would be considered a direct replacement of the 3725. Baby steps This low-end version of the 3745 would likely offer the same processing power as the 3745 _ but with a smaller footprint. The number of lines supported would also be similar to the 256 lines that are handled by a 3725. In addition, the low-end 3745 would support T1 lines; the 3725 does so, but only one T1 line can be installed and only through a request-for-price quotation. Because the 3725s have lost their value so rapidly, some end users have elected to retain their machines rather than replace them on the secondary market. Instead, the users are upgrading their 3725s by installing additional memory and features. Thus, demand for memory has strengthened, and used values have increased. For instance, additional memory available in 256K-byte increments is trading for 85% to 95% of list price on the wholesale market. Dealers report that supplies of both memory and features are good, which illustrates that it is not the lack of supply that has forced up the used values of memory and features, but the strong demand. Also, a dealer can deliver memory and features to a customer faster than IBM _ another reason dealers can command these high values. IDC Financial Services forcasted that values of used 3725s will level off by year's end as they reach low price levels. Over the last four to five months the price decline of 3725s has slowed, although the market is still dropping approximately two points per month. The 3720, IBM's low-end communication controller, is beginning to trade on the secondary market. This machine, which began shipping in 1986, has been slow to trade on the used marketplace. IDC research shows that the 3720 is more popular in Europe, because there is a larger installed base, and machines are already trading on the used marketplace. Currently, the 3720 Model 1 is the most popular machine within the 3720 communication processor family. This model provides direct attachment to the host processor through a byte multiplexer, block multiplexer or selected channel of host processors. According to IDC, demand is so strong for this model, that if a used Model 1 does become available, the machine could be sold or leased in less than one day. Used values for the Model 1 and the 3720 Model 11 on the wholesale market fall in the range of 90% to 95% of list price, while retail values are close to IBM's list price. The high used market values exist because dealers can deliver machines to customers faster than IBM. Low demand for others Demand is weaker for Models 11 and 12, which can be upgraded from Models 1 and 2, respectively. The machines can attach to two Token-Ring interface couplers; however, demand for Token-Ring capability has been weak so far. The 3745 is currently not available on the secondary market because it has been shipping for more than a year. IDC Financial Services sources report that demand for the machine has been reasonably strong. For more information, contact IDC Financial Services' Terri LeBlanc at 508-872-8200. By Benjamin T. Gale, IDC Financial Services Corp. <<<>>> Title : A training management sys Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: train10 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: In most companies, data processing training operates directly out of the DP organization. Invariably the instructors have worked as programmers or analysts in the not-too-distant past, and it is not inconceivable that the administrative staff comes from those ranks as well. The training unit usually has access to hardware systems and most, if not all, of the corporate software and utilities. It should come as no surprise that the technical training department rarely gets any systems development support _ nor do DP development units ever construe the training department as a client or user. The assumption that the technical training unit includes a technical staff and can take care of itself is not accurate. The instructors are busy teaching and developing courses and frequently do not possess the technical skills to develop a training management system. They certainly do not have time to run and maintain a system. It is a considerable load on the training staff to simply input all the necessary data into a system. As skills inventories in personnel systems have been almost impossible to build and maintain, it is mandatory that companies keep an accurate record of employee participation in self-study courses, college classes, internally delivered training and public seminars. DP training managers, however, need considerably more than a history of student activity to do their job _ they need a system to analyze and report on the past, present and future. The ideal system If you were to build the ideal training management system, what kind of information should it maintain? For starters, student data is important. You would want names, titles, organizations and supervisors as well as training histories, including the time and place of courses; how they were delivered and how long they ran; test scores; student critiques; and instructors' evaluations. You would also want to track which courses an individual enrolls in and perhaps maintain a customized plan for the training needed at his job level. The plan should include courses the person needs but has not enrolled in. To measure the cost of training, a record of the student's salary at the time a course was taken would have to be maintained, as would any travel expenses. It would also be important to keep schedules in your system. You would want to track which courses are available and their frequency. For in-house courses, you would want to know what room will be used and whether there are alternatives. You would want to know the instructor and assure there are no conflicts with his schedule. You would want to know what equipment is required, and again, avoid conflicts with other classes. The concern with such conflicts implies that you must maintain a course inventory. This inventory could contain prerequisites for each course, the class length, who is capable of teaching it, any special equipment or software required and the preferred room layout. In an ideal system, you could also maintain an inventory of course materials, the last time any maintenance was performed on them and the last time the course underwent a technical review to see that it conforms to the current corporate standards. To handle registrations, you have to be concerned with in-house courses, public seminars and self study. If there are prerequisites, you want to know whether students are registered for courses in the proper sequence and the right time frame. What happens if students cannot attend courses as planned? The registration sequence should automatically change. What happens when there are backlogs of students in overbooked classes? Is their entire training plan and schedule modified appropriately, or can you adjust the order of student registrations in a given class based on criteria determined by business needs? How do you automatically adjust the whole sequence of schedules and the student registrations for canceled courses? Can you compensate for these cancellations by adjusting your schedule based on the student load in future classes? How do you automatically notify both the students and their supervisors of all of this activity? How do you automatically keep the system clean and accurate with promotions, internal movement, turnover and replacements in the student population? Your training management system requires some forecasting capability as well. Without a forecast of the courses you plan to deliver and an estimated student load spread over time, planning, budgeting and staffing becomes pure speculation at best. In addition, without a training forecast, the corporation has no control over training as it relates to its bottom line, business needs and technologies. Not only is it necessary for a corporation to understand how much it is spending on technical training and for what purposes, but it is important that the organization is confident that it is spending the right amount. It is interesting to note that as necessary and generic as training management systems are, there are not that many available on the market. In most corporations, the systems operating today are either poorly maintained manual ones or homegrown automated systems that may not be documented, readily maintainable or transferable. Well-designed training management systems will get the attention and the support they deserve as corporations move to strategic systems and begin to understand that their competitive advantage and productivity can stem directly from the quantity and quality of their technical training. By Bill Sebrell, Special to CW; Sebrell is a vice-president at Data Base Management, Inc., a subsidiary of American Management Systems, Inc. in Manchester, Conn. <<<>>> Title : PCs and hosts shake hands Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: overview Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Call it what you will: PC integration, micro-to-mainframe links, coprocessing. The point is that today's managers need to make ``just-in-time decisions'' _ in the words of Robert Trenchard, Sony Corp. of America's senior vice-president of MIS _ in the executive suite as much as on the factory floor. That need is fueling the drive to tie PCs to mainframes throughout the U.S. and worldwide. But there are as many manifestations of the trend as there are companies and governments pursuing it. At Sony, the IS organization must deliver data quickly and accurately to provide better customer service. The technological response is to have coprocessing systems linking desktop and host computers. But the immediate concern for IS is to practice what it preaches and put micro-to-mainframe links to work with CASE tools, which have boosted programmer productivity sixfold in one pilot project. At the New York State Department of Health, an innovative system was both driven and implemented by a user. It downloads graphics from a mainframe to PCs, responding to a directive from the department's commissioner that decisions be based on comprehensive information, not fragmentary data. A homegrown PC interface lets analysts at the International Monetary Fund access four different host systems, including the newly automated library card catalog. Library Director Michael Gehringer says this application eliminates the expense of maintaining half a million cards. It also frees librarians from mundane chores. Spalding Sports Worldwide is equipping salespeople in field offices with laptops, eliminating the need for the sales support staff to print out and mail massive reports and freeing the salespeople from their own paperwork. As Sales and Marketing Vice-President Charles Yash notes, however, the chief motivation is to improve customer service. Chevron Chemical Corp. has pushed to make it easier for analysts and executives to manipulate data from the mainframe. The Fertilizer Division boosted one year's sales by $500,000 with a single type of report. The Burlington Coat Factory's new warehouse LAN supports a fundamental shift in distribution. A new distribution center now centralizes inventory tasks with PCs, a workstation and a superminicomputer linked to a remote mainframe. Vice-President of Operations Mark Nesci says savings in store space and manpower flow straight to the bottom line. At Unocal Corp., a LAN has streamlined operation of miniature refineries used in developing new products. Using a mainframe to track tests on sample products was cumbersome and error-prone. Now, the network, with its PC database, is easier to use and issues bar codes to enhance accuracy and then uploads data to the mainframe. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, researchers have sought to free themselves from the expense and clutter of numerous desktop computers and terminals by tying systems to one machine. There's a catch, though: Their tastes run toward incompatible Digital Equipment Corp. hosts and Apple Computer, Inc. Macintoshes. None of these technologies are ideal solutions. But while managers cite shortcomings, they also point to payoffs, often in hard numbers. Sometimes, these benefits appear to transcend saving or even making money. At the New York Health Department, user Mike Zdeb says it's almost a social duty to make better use of masses of mainframe data on diseases and other issues. ``Otherwise, it all means nothing,'' he says. <<<>>> Title : User seizes the initiativ Author : Glenn Rifkin Source : CW Comm FileName: nyhealth Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Mike Zdeb loves his work _ which is lucky for the New York State Department of Health. Zdeb is the type of personal computer user that MIS often fears rather than embraces. Instead of railing against a difficult-to-access mainframe environment, Zdeb, a research scientist in the Information Systems and Health Statistics Bureau, took it upon himself to figure out how to work within that world. In the process, he has boosted the value of the Health Department's information base beyond all expectations. Through tireless research and endless tinkering, Zdeb has effectively hooked the department's vast IBM mainframe environment into the PC world to produce quality graphics and mapping for the bureau's myriad reports. As a result, a thick wall that had prevented researchers from gaining interactive access to vital data is tumbling down. The Health Department has clearly embraced Zdeb's work. According to Vito Logrillo, director of information science and policy, Zdeb is representative of a key group of users in the department who have taken the initiative in making mainframe data interactive. ``In government, the presentation of data is as important as the analysis of data,'' Logrillo says. ``What Mike has done has revolutionized the way we look at data in the department.'' Steve Kim, director of the Information Systems and Health Statistics Bureau, points out that Zdeb's work stems from a mandate set down by Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod seven years ago. Because of the vastness and complexity of the mainframe environment, users faced endless obstacles in getting important data. Axelrod wants to make data available so that decision making in the department is based on quantitative studies rather than anecdotal evidence. Work by users such as Zdeb has helped bring that vision to reality. Axelrod merged the Computer Systems and Data Processing group with the Office of Biostatistics just over a year ago to form the Information Systems and Health Statistics Bureau. Prior to that, the DP people were content to run the computers and process the data; researchers were left to their own devices in finding ways to use the data. By merging the groups, it was expected that the internal conflict would cease and stronger cooperation would be fostered. According to Kim, the move has worked extremely well. ``The users have taken over MIS,'' he says. ``We start with nothing, and what we make out of it is policy,'' says the lanky, bearded Zdeb, reaching into a file cabinet filled with reports such as ``Maternal Mortality in New York State'' and ``Cesarean Childbirth in New York State.'' The reports are clean, easy to read and filled with clear, understandable maps and graphics _ not as slick as many corporate productions but much more accessible than much of the fare from government agencies. ``Our job is to get people to make decisions based on the best information _ to make it easier for people to get at this massive data that comes in here daily,'' Zdeb continues, picking up the cesarean report. ``We produced this entire document on our own from data received from hospitals around the entire state. Now there is a task force in place to study cesarean births and find ways to lower their incidence.'' For Zdeb, the challenge was finding a workable path from the department's centralized IBM 3081 environment down to the desktop. The standard approach in the department was to use SAS Institute, Inc. products for data analysis in a batch mode over MVS. End users had been standardized on VM for access to the mainframe. There was no interactive environment on the mainframe. ``We realized that we had better output devices off PCs than off the mainframe,'' Zdeb says. So he searched for tools that would help get the SAS graphics down to the PC level. He realized that finding a common graphics language was difficult, with many vendors' promises failing to materialize. ``Graphics tend to work only in a proprietary environment for a particular software package,'' Zdeb explains. ``You need to find a true common graphics language.'' Through a process of trial and error, Zdeb found a route from SAS Graph to Lotus Development Corp.'s Freelance on the PC. Using a program called Metafile from Zenographics, Inc. in Irvine, Calif., Zdeb discovered he could filter protocols such as Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Graphics Language from the mainframe to the PC and then to a laser printer. Suddenly, reports that had taken weeks and months to generate could be done virtually overnight _ with far better results. ``We do the reports ourselves, and now the art unit just has to put a cover on it and staple it,'' Zdeb says. Logrillo observes that studies that the department has been turning out for the last 30 years are being done more quickly and efficiently and are generating tremendous interest. ``We probably would have done the cesarean study anyway, but now this gets the staff much more interested and excited about doing them,'' he notes. ``It's not run of the mill anymore; it's fun.'' More importantly, the new capabilities generate support from the entire department in terms of increased interest in new reports and studies, and this interest helps promote the information systems group when budget time comes around. Users like Zdeb and Pam Akison, who is doing similar work with text processing, are catalysts for the spread of computing power to the researchers. The department has set up a user lab complete with IBM PCs, Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstations and Apple Computer, Inc. Macintoshes, as well as printers and plotters. According to Logrillo, the department has spent more than $250,000 on hardware alone for microcomputers, printers and plotters, most of which reside in a common user lab. Software costs are minimal _ $4,000 for a site license for SAS Graph, for example _ and are more than offset by the benefits of better and more timely reports. Zdeb points out that the user lab in his group enables others in the Health Department to take advantage of the technology without having to duplicate the buying or building efforts. Even with the merger of the two groups, the users must remain knowledgeable, Zdeb points out. ``If I don't ask the question, it doesn't get asked,'' he says. ``You need to know enough about the environment to ask the right question.'' Zdeb had plenty of opportunity to work through the issues. Prior to obtaining the 3081, the department ran Digital Equipment Corp. VAXs. When IBM arrived, the two environments co-existed, and Zdeb found himself learning communications protocols to move data from one environment to the other. As his experience with computers grew and his office bookshelves became lined with documentation binders, Zdeb suddenly found himself in great demand. ``I've acted as an interpreter for the staff,'' he says. ``People now call me with their questions.'' Indeed, Zdeb has started offering courses in graphics and mapping for groups throughout the Health Department. However, his expertise with computers belies his role as a researcher. His commitment means that he virtually works two full-time jobs. Also, because he is a state employee, his rewards come in the form of a certificate from the commissioner rather than raises and promotions. ``I'm not a state employee; I'm a research scientist. This is my career,'' Zdeb insists. ``My mind doesn't shut down at 4:30. We have vital data pouring in here day after day, and it's almost a duty to find something to do with that data. Otherwise, it all means nothing.'' By Glenn Rifkin; Rifkin is a senior editor at Computerworld. <<<>>> Title : Sony Corp. of America is Author : David Gabel Source : CW Comm FileName: sony1 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Sony Corp. of America is hustling to provide managers with the information they need to improve customer service. That goal has dictated establishment of micro-to-mainframe integration on more than one level. The demand for faster delivery of information stems in part from new business strategies, according to Jeff Dorn, controller of Sony Component Products Co., which sells electronic gear to personal computer makers and other manufacturers. Sony's information systems were developed when Sony was less focused on supplying manufacturers, Dorn says: ``Existing systems are aimed at the consumer market and the aftermarket. Our needs are more critical. If we don't deliver, we shut down production lines.'' Selling goods to a manufacturer that uses just-in-time delivery requires specifying delivery times within a window as narrow as two hours, Dorn says. That need means people inside Sony must get detailed information on receipt of materials, turnaround time and value added as well as delivery schedules. ``The biggest problem is that we often don't get the information we need from our factories as we need it, so we can't provide good delivery information to our customers,'' Dorn says. ``If we aren't responsive to those needs, someone else will be.'' Dorn is working with Robert Trenchard, senior-vice president of MIS at Sony, to develop systems for interfacing with factories and salespeople, including micro-to-mainframe integration. ``We're in the early end of the design process, and we found that you can really define your business quickly,'' Dorn says. He expects salespeople to have access to information on the availability of products when they make pitches to customers. Data on accepted orders would then flow to factories and help generate information for procurement of materials needed to make the goods and, eventually, data on deliveries. To foster this faster delivery of data, Trenchard's MIS organization is itself adopting computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools that employ micro-to-mainframe links in an effort to speed system development. ``The central problem is a lack of productivity with the programmers,'' Trenchard says. ``Programming is a craft. It has a creative aspect, and it takes talent. Not everyone has it. Being a good manager in this area means getting the projects done without having to hire all the superstars.'' The MIS organization studied the available tools and settled on the Information Engineering Facility from Texas Instruments, Inc., which uses artificial intelligence-like constructs to develop code. Moreover, it aims to let systems designers use the flexibility of a local workstation along with the power of a mainframe. With this system, code is the last thing developed. The relationships come first. That means systems developers become business experts; if the systems designer is to develop a model of the business, he must understand the portions he is modeling _ personnel, sales or any other department. Addressing this need for business expertise can delay creation of code, which is one easy measure of productivity in development. ``This is not easy to sell,'' Trenchard says. ``CASE really reinforces the idea that you should think before you start writing code. So you don't really have anything to show for a long time. ``In terms of the user environment, our goal is to develop good cooperative processing,'' he says. ``We are not at that point yet worldwide. For our MIS staff, the goal is to make application programming more productive.'' The CASE system has boosted programmer productivity substantially, managers say. It converted 4,000 lines of its pseudocode into 55,000 lines of Cobol CICS code to run an interactive executive filing system and on-line scheduler that Sony was developing, says Phillip Kunz, manager of data administration. In this pilot project, Sony saw a sixfold rise in programmer productivity, but it is budgeting for a 2-to-1 increase, Kunz says. In using the system, the designer first enters statements that describe the data to be used. The designer also establishes the links between the data files to be employed. The system performs internal checks to make sure the data relationships are consistent; then it generates pseudocode to describe the relationships. Data administration analyst David Levine says the approach speeds up his work. ``Once you're used to the system, you can generate a query menu in just a few minutes,'' he says. ``If we didn't have the system, it would take two or three days.'' The system stores the data and the description of the data, including its relationships, in a global ``encyclopedia'' of corporate information. Using this kind of approach, Sony's systems analysts developed a model of how the company works, which is stored in the data encyclopedia. The encyclopedia can then serve as the tool for changing and updating the computing systems that deliver management information. In response to a change in the way the company does business, a designer alters the corporate model, then the CASE system modifies system code to conform to the changes. ``A change in the company ripples through the model and the information system all the way to the documentation, which is generated automatically,'' Trenchard says. By David Gabel; David Gabel is a free-lance writer based in Northport, N.Y. <<<>>> Title : Some managers believe tha Author : Phillip J. Gill Source : CW Comm FileName: chevron1 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Some managers believe that if they could just get to the data on the mainframe, their problems would be solved. But it's not always that simple. Setting up micro-to-mainframe links is the easy part. Often what users really need is more flexible tools to analyze and manipulate the data. Like most large corporations, Chevron Chemical Co. in San Ramon, Calif., holds vast quantities of information in its glass-boothed IBM mainframe. Much of that data is in Must Software International's Nomad database management system. While Nomad's fourth-generation languages (4GL) and other tools are designed for easy access to corporate data, they have proved too difficult for Chevron Chemical's average end user, typically an executive or business analyst. Instead of using the tools, the executives and analysts would tell the programmers what information they needed and the programmers would extract it, usually in the form of printouts. The users would then key the data into spreadsheets to do analysis and prepare their reports. This approach was cumbersome, unproductive, error-prone and costly, not to mention untimely. ``There was no guarantee that the information would be ready in the time frame needed,'' says Don Matto, Chevron Chemical's director of MIS. Still, Chevron Chemical continued operating this way for a number of years, right through the 1984 merger of its parent company, oil giant Chevron Corp., with Gulf Oil Corp. The merger added two divisions as well as many Gulf executives to Chevron Chemical. Chevron's MIS systems tended to prevail, and some of the Gulf managers grew frustrated with the Chevron procedures. They began asking for more flexible data access and manipulation. Requirements for viewing the data vary from one manager to the next, Matto says. Those needs, combined with a drive to improve quality and decentralize decision making, brought about an experiment in technology that has freed many Chevron Chemical users from the confines of mainframe information. One afternoon in early 1986, Matto was discussing a proposed rewriting of Chevron Chemical's financial forecasting modules when he stumbled across the Metaphor system from Metaphor Computer Systems, Inc. in Mountain View, Calif. ``I was talking to a financial analyst at Chevron [headquarters] about my problem, and he mentioned that they were evaluating Metaphor,'' Matto explains. Metaphor makes and markets systems designed for data interpretation, which are installed at more than 200 sites within 100 corporations and government agencies, a Metaphor spokesman said. IBM owns 8% of Metaphor, whose workstations combine a graphical interface, file servers, database machines and an Ethernet local-area network as well as application software. Taking a cue from object-oriented programming, Metaphor uses capsules that appear as on-screen icons and contain one or more programs or macro routines. These capsules are standard parts of either the system or third-party applications, and some have been developed by Chevron Chemical's own analysts from other tools. Users create new applications and reports by linking capsules with lines on the display screen. They can alter the work by drawing new lines or inserting new capsules. His appetite whetted, Matto arranged to participate in a demonstration. He also looked for similar products; the closest thing he found, he says, was Odesta Corp.'s Helix relational DBMS for the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh. Unfortunately, it was still in the development stages. ``The Metaphor didn't have as many bells and whistles as Odesta, but it was ready now,'' Matto says. He decided to conduct an experiment. Reluctantly, he says, Metaphor management agreed to ``lend'' him a few systems. Using real data from Chevron's mainframe, three programmers devised a mock business and created standard reports that Chevron analysts and executives produce. Matto says the results surprised him. ``They did in three weeks what everyone agreed would normally have taken a year,'' he explains. Matto won approval for purchase of $800,000 of the company's equipment, including 20 workstations. Despite the substantial cost, this installation was barely more than a pilot. The experiment has paid off for Chevron Chemical, which now has more than 100 of the workstations and more than 800M bytes of file server disk capacity _a total investment of more than $1.2 million. Chevron Chemical's Fertilizer division has the largest number of workstations. During one year, the division refined its system for allocating scarce products among customers, boosting sales by $500,000, Matto says. In addition, the division saved an estimated $75,000 by generating its own answers to management's questions rather than turning to MIS and another $25,000 by creating presentations in-house rather than through an outside studio. Doing that work in-house also means presentations can be changed at the last minute, assuring they are up-to-date when presented, says Holly Newman, a marketing analyst at the Fertilizer division. One of the most valuable applications has been creation of a long-term plan for the division. Spanning four to five years, the plan includes projections for revenue, customers, products and costs. The long-term plan also allows analysts to track performance from month to month and week to week. Another application tracks Chevron's railcars around the country three different ways _ by car number, fleet number and railroad carrier. In addition to enhancing productivity, Matto says the technology has fostered a cross-fertilization of applications and techniques among divisions. ``The analysts are talking to their counterparts in other divisions,'' he says. ``And they're trading capsules, which means they're beginning to standardize on the way they do things.'' By Phillip J. Gill; Gill is a San Mateo, Calif.-based free-lance writer. <<<>>> Title : Sales representatives at Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: spalding Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Sales representatives at Spalding Sports Worldwide spend most of their time alone covering their territory, but they are in almost constant communication with company headquarters in Chicopee, Mass. The task of managing that communication rests with the sales support staff, which must continuously provide representatives with reports and information. As a program unfolds to arm the reps with laptop computers, the task is falling to the information systems department as well. The objective of the program is to improve service to customers, according to Charles Yash, vice-president of sales and marketing at the Golf Products division. Ideally, Yash says, representatives taking orders will use a laptop to check whether goods are available and enter orders electronically. The products would be shipped by overnight mail Thursday to reach the customer before the weekend. Several times a week, the sales reps receive status reports updating their monthly sales by product line. Toward the end of the month, the reports are generated daily so that a representative can adjust his efforts to meet his quotas. The rep will also call headquarters frequently for the latest information on an account and product prices. ``Every weekend we'd be running these massive reports and then spend a lot of money to send them out by overnight delivery,'' says Bard White, Spalding's director of MIS. Sometimes reports were sent by facsimile, but the representatives were almost always on the road and hard to reach. Overnight mail and the phone were the main methods of communication, White continues. But they were not sufficient. Communication with the sales force required constant report-generating efforts from MIS and ongoing telephone support as sales representatives called in. Out in the field, the representatives were equally unhappy with the process. They were burdened with excessive paperwork, which was cutting into the time they had to spend with customers. The time they spent playing telephone tag with the home office or plowing through paper- work was time they couldn't spend selling. The notion of providing the sales reps with laptops had been kicking around Spalding for a few years and had been broached by several people. Their ideas were all aimed at letting the representatives call into the central computer at any hour and download reports, send and receive electronic mail, ask about customer records and pick up price changes. They also might file orders and reports electronically, eliminating the need for the data to be keyed into the computer at headquarters. An early effort at implementation did not work. ``We couldn't control it. We couldn't train the users fast enough, and we couldn't support all those users,'' White acknowledges. But the idea remained appealing because of the steady growth of business. ``The pace of the growth was just taxing MIS,'' says Lori Basilone, Spalding's manager of sales information at the Leisure Products division. Basilone's sales group and the larger Golf Products sales group were demanding more applications and data from MIS because, as she explains, ``The representatives were demanding more information, faster'' from the field. Try again Last October, Yash decided to try again, but on a much more controlled basis. This time, instead of a vague idea about computerizing the sales force, there was a more concrete plan. The approach was to introduce laptops slowly rather than trying to computerize the sales force of 170 at once. First, district managers and a few representatives were issued laptops. Currently, Spalding has placed about 40 laptops in the field. Within three years, all the representatives should have one. It will also take several years to get all the software and support for such service in place, Yash adds. ``We don't want to overtax the system and generate frustration by building expectations,'' he says. One thrust of the gradual approach is getting feedback from representatives in order to develop the applications they need. For now, the representatives are getting the same applications used by the sales support staff at headquarters, somewhat modified by the MIS department. The modifications are aimed at ensuring data security by preventing salespeople from accessing information unrelated to their territories and adjusting the mainframe screens for the laptops. Simply reproducing the applications used by the sales support staff, however, may not be the best approach, Basilone explains. ``We're going to have to learn. They may need something different from what we do in here,'' she says. One upcoming application is electronic forms, which will allow the field force to file their expense reports and other paperwork electronically. After reviewing all the major brands, Spalding selected the NEC Corp. Multispeed HD with a 20M-byte hard disk, 640K random-access memory and a 2,400/1,200 bit/sec. modem. The laptop weighs about 24 pounds with its case. Representatives also get a stand-alone 150 char./sec. ink-jet printer. Loaded into the system before delivery is Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3, a communications package, a word processor and a security module. The MIS department also installs a menu-driven user interface. The laptops cost about $5,500 each and are purchased through a national computer store chain. ``If one of them breaks, the guy can bring it into the local store and get it fixed,'' White says. Otherwise, the representative can send the machine back to Spalding, and MIS will send out a new machine while repairs are being done. Most such problems develop when the machines are dropped. `Idiotproof' laptops MIS trains the sales force, spending several days with the user in a small group of three to five people. ``We've made it as idiotproof as possible,'' White says, because the idea is to give the reps more time to make sales, not learn about computers. Users leave the initial training session with their machine, a manual and a quick-reference guide. They also are given the details for accessing the GTE Telenet Communications Corp. public data network manually in case they are in an area where the automatic dialing installed by MIS is not appropriate. Before the machine leaves the home office, it is fully tested by MIS. Some users are intimidated, White says, although many reps show genuine enthusiasm for the effort. If a user does have problems or seems anxious, MIS will work with that user individually. MIS monitors the activities of everyone on the system. ``We want to make sure that they are using it,'' White says. If MIS discovers that a sales representative is not using the system as regularly as he should _ a clear sign is when use suddenly drops _ it will contact the person and try to determine the problem. Once it has done so, MIS tries to solve it and encourage the user to get back on-line. More often than finding timid users, however, MIS must deal with the overly adventurous. ``One guy tried to hook up the phone in a 747 jet,'' White says, noting that phone jacks on those telephones are not removable. Other users get confident and try, unsuccessfully, to evade the security provisions to access other areas of the system, he says. Step by step Subsequent training sessions will concentrate on more advanced uses of the computer. Spalding is planning two-day sessions on 1-2-3. Once the users are acquainted with the spreadsheet, they will receive some specific spreadsheets already set up for them. ``We can't throw everything at them at once,'' Basilone says, ``and we can't take them away from sales for long periods to train them.'' Typically, the users begin by dialing up the Spalding mainframe every morning and downloading a status report on their orders and shipments. ``The thing they are most interested in are their own numbers,'' Basilone says. The representatives work on straight commission under a stringent system that establishes not only overall sales goals but quotas for individual products. Even at the preliminary stage, Spalding sees benefits from use of laptops. ``We're seeing a reduced workload on the internal administration,'' White says. He notes that the sales support department has not hired additional people as sales have grown. MIS is also printing and shipping fewer reports. Users are looking forward to the time when the system is fully operational. When the field force can take care of all its basic information and reporting needs electronically, it will free Basilone from providing the basic support that takes up the bulk of her group's time. ``Then we'll be able to do much more in-depth analysis,'' she says. By Alan Radding; Radding is a Boston-based author specializing in business and technology. <<<>>> Title : The timing was fortuitous Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: fund Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: The timing was fortuitous when managers of the library shared by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided to put their card catalog on-line. At the same time, the IMF was beginning to buy PCs, and its MIS organization was searching for an easy-to-use interface that would provide access to hosts from Digital Equipment Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Unisys Corp. and IBM. ``It became quite clear to us that we were going to go to a distributed processing approach,'' says Warren Minami, director of the IMF Bureau of Computing Services (BCS). ``We had to find a systematic way of getting the PCs to [access] the various applications on the mainframes.'' Today, that interface, PC Query, provides a window into the four hosts, including two newly automated library databases on the HP 3000. The new applications free librarians from routine chores and eliminate the expense of maintaining a card catalog of half a million records. The Joint Bank-Fund Library serves employees at the World Bank, which grants loans for national development, and the IMF, another international agency that issues short-term loans to countries troubled by a poor balance of payments. Minami and Ali Semsarzadeh, senior computer systems officer, along with Lakshmi Narasimhan, computer systems officer, could not find a product that would transparently transfer the user from one host to another and offer an easy-to-use interface. So they decided to develop one. ``It was not our desire to get into the software business,'' Minami stresses. ``The only thing we were thinking about was solving user problems.'' Meanwhile, the Joint Library, which had already automated several functions, wanted to give its users on-line access to its card catalog. The library was also undergoing a major relabeling of its books, changing from the Dewey decimal classification to the Library of Congress system, and did not want to update its card catalog as well. Susan Turner, automation systems librarian, began working with the BCS four years ago. A little more than a year later, PC Query was born, followed in several months by the library's new system, Jolis Online, or Joint Library Information Services. Jolis includes both card catalog and bibliography databases. PC Query, which works on an IBM Personal Computer XT or AT, sits beneath Microsoft Corp.'s Windows interface. When a user calls up Jolis' card catalog database, a form appears that resembles a card. At the top of that form is a search-word category; the system will seek any word typed in that box in a number of fields _ title, author, series, notes or subject. Users do not have to know the name of the book or author to find a particular item; one word will start his search. ``Users seem to be able to just sit down and use [Jolis] with very little background,'' Turner says. ``It's practically self-explanatory on the screen.'' ``This is a good first step toward developing a truly friendly interface that people can use without a lot of training and still get an honest and accurate response back from the system,'' says Michael Gehringer, head of the Joint Library. As a manager, Gehringer says he appreciates Jolis because it has enabled his reference staff to do more extensive research and customer interaction rather than just look up books for clients. On-line access also saves the library the expense of maintaining a card catalog. Implementing PC Query was not without problems. The biggest surprise, Semsarzadeh says, was that it took more than a year to do. The fact that the IMF was one of Microsoft Windows' first users also created a few headaches. ``It was not really worse than expected,'' Semsarzadeh says, ``but Windows had bugs in it. It was slow.'' Turner says Jolis itself still has some limitations that are being addressed. For example, when it downloads records, it does so in random-access memory, thereby limiting the number of records that can actually be brought in from a search. Jolis also met some resistance from users who liked the card catalog and were upset when the familiar tool was taken away. ``The process of thumbing through a card catalog gives users a serendipitous approach to research,'' Gehringer says. ``They learn things they wouldn't ordinarily learn if they just got a computer printout.'' The Joint Library currently has six PCs, and there are two in a satellite reference center at the IMF. Two more machines are planned for the Joint Library, and between 20 to 25 PCs should be placed throughout the World Bank and IMF libraries and information centers by the end of the year, Turner says. Gehringer and Turner's ultimate goal is to give users some kind of remote access to PC Query, possibly allowing economists to conduct research without leaving their department. Minami _ who was wary about his BCS going into the software development business _ is inclined to proceed cautiously and is still looking for a third-party vendor to take over. By Sharon Baker; Baker is a Computerworld assistant editor, features. <<<>>> Title : The Burlington Coat Facto Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: burling1 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: The Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse tracks its inventory down to the color and size of every garment, meaning each store carries some 650,000 stock-keeping units, known in the trade as SKUs. Until recently, the 135 stores bore the brunt of keeping abreast of their inventories, receiving most merchandise directly from manufacturers and initiating the record-keeping process. ``It's very difficult to track all those receipts,'' notes Mark Nesci, the company's vice-president of operations. More difficult still were the tasks of maintaining quality control and replenishing merchandise when a store's stock ran low. To tackle these problems, Burlington has built a new distribution center in Burlington, N.J., where it receives, inspects and tracks merchandise centrally. At the center's heart is a networked, Unix-based merchandise tracking system combining personal computers, a Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstation and a superminicomputer from Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. tied to a mainframe in New Hampshire. Nesci says it is hard to put numbers on the value of the system or even on the center itself. But he says there is no doubt it will cut costs and reduce inventory control problems. ``It goes right to the bottom line, but it's very difficult to put that in dollar figures,'' Nesci says. ``We have projected that in two to four years, we should recapture the initial costs of building the distribution center.'' The network, conceived by Nesci with MIS Director Michael Price, helps Burlington ensure that it receives the goods ordered by buyers in New York. It also helps track items in the distribution center and see that they go to the right stores. The MIS staff began installing the network last May. ``In July, we did a full-scale testing, worked out the bugs and were ready for our busy season by the end of August,'' says Chris Kraemer, assistant manager of the distribution center in charge of data processing. The system has boosted productivity about 70% from the level at a facility in Secaucus, N.J., with a less automated system that had centralized about 20% of the distribution and tracking, according to Kraemer. The network has cut processing time for merchandise from seven or more days to three or four. ``The ideal time is 48 hours,'' Kraemer says. ``We expect to achieve this soon with enhancements to the network.'' The tracking network's Sun 386I workstation provides a buffer between 30 PCs and the Sequent Symmetry S-81. It moves messages from PCs to the Sun, where they enter a queue. The Sequent reads the messages, processes the data and updates the Oracle Corp. database. The machines are linked via Ethernet and Sun's Network File System. The network is tied to the mainframe with a 56K bit/sec. X.25 link. The network is vital to the distribution center because if it goes down, no goods get processed, Kraemer says, so it is designed to run continuously. ``The Sequent rarely goes down,'' said Brad Friedman, DP mananger at Burlington's corporate headquarters. ``If it were to go down, the Sun would do the processing and the system wouldn't stop. If the Sun were to go down, we would have our spare running in 10 minutes.'' Burlington opted for the Sequent processor because of its power and cost-effectiveness and for Unix because of its portability among hardware and open architecture, according to Mike Prince, DP manager at the company's Lebanon, N.H.-based data center. When goods reach the receiving department, the data entry staff keys merchandise numbers into the network. The network then matches the figures against buyers' records from the corporate mainframe. Data from the mainframe conveys how the goods are to be allocated among stores. From the receiving department, merchandise moves to a sorting area, where it is broken out of cartons. Employees using handheld wireless terminals from Telxon Corp. record the movement of each piece of clothing. ``At any moment, we can track where a piece of merchandise is,'' Kraemer says. ``This is good for buyers, who may be in the building and want to see a piece of merchandise. It also allows us to track our production time.'' The system creates bar code labels for outgoing cartons that include weight data generated from conveyor belt sensors. When the cartons reach the shipping area, they are scanned as they go out the door to verify unit count and destination. This data is printed onto a bill of lading, which is delivered with the goods. The network sends electronic messages to the stores telling workers there what kind of merchandise to expect. Data on the network is uploaded to the mainframe, which tracks inventories for all stores by style, color and size. Buyers in New York use the mainframe data to reorder merchandise. Friedman says the system was installed with little trouble: ``At first we had a problem tracking goods with the system because it was new and we had some untested line applications. But primarily, the problems were small.'' Prince says he plans to install more Sequents in Burlington and eliminate mainframe use in three years. ``Eventually, we want to have everything that is now running on the mainframe running in a Unix-based Oracle database on Sequents,'' he says. By Janet Mason; Mason is a Philadelphia-based free-lance journalist. <<<>>> Title : While the petroleum busin Author : Michael Hurwicz Source : CW Comm FileName: unocal1 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: While the petroleum business has picked up in the last year, through much of the 1980s many oil companies were forced to cut back on employment. Even where the work load was growing, as at Unocal Corp.'s Science and Technology Division in Brea, Calif., organizations avoided increases in personnel. ``The general thrust is that we are expecting more of our operating people all the time,'' says Alex Barloewen, manager of processes and materials research at Unocal. ``Any time we get rid of routine work, it helps streamline the operation.'' One move made by the Science and Technology Division is the deployment of a local-area network-to-mainframe application to support 21 small oil processing units used to improve refining methods. The processing units operate around the clock seven days a week, producing samples of gasoline, jet and diesel fuel, solvents and petrochemicals. The work of the units is crucial to Unocal, says Don Fenton, Unocal's manager of new technology development. ``Things are rapidly changing in this industry. If you don't change, you fall behind. If processes are ineffective and costs go up, you eventually become noncompetitive,'' Fenton says. One project involving the processing units, for example, has allowed refining of gasoline or jet fuel from heavy crude oil that previously would have produced only less profitable fuel oil, according to Barloewen. The Science and Technology Division refines hundreds of sample products every day. But despite the introduction of mainframes in the 1960s, it was still identifying samples with handwritten tags in 1985. The process went like this: An engineer would order tests on a sample. Technicians then bottled a portion, filled out a tag to identify it and describe the tests to be performed, attached the tag to the bottle and walked the bottle to the analytical laboratory in a neighboring building. There, a data entry clerk keyed information from the tags into the IBM mainframe. The machine generated printouts telling laboratory workers what tests to run. It also produced management reports. Among other problems, however, management found that senior technicians were spending half an hour daily, and sometimes as much as two hours, filling out all the tags. Much of the information was redundant from tag to tag, yet it had to be repeatedly filled in and later rekeyed. Furthermore, data entry clerks sometimes misinterpreted handwritten identification numbers. To make the process a more accurate one, in 1986 a group led by Dave Dalesandro, a computer scientist specializing in LAN systems support, revamped the procedure for some tests at one of the 11 labs. Technicians could then print stickers bearing the identification numbers, making them easier to read. In addition, technicians began entering the information into the mainframe themselves instead of filling out the tags. This change was meant to reduce mismatches between numbers on bottles and what was in the computer and avoid the need for data entry clerks to rekey the information. The new method improved accuracy, but it did not sit well with the technicians. First, they found it more difficult to use the mainframe than to fill out a tag. This difficulty itself led to mistakes, including the failure of the system to reflect information that the technicians thought they had entered. ``It was kind of a pain,'' says Bill Torok, the senior technician who first used the system. Dalesandro agrees that it was more efficient but not good enough. ``It had to make each step of the process easier in order to be adopted,'' he says. Dalesandro developed an easier to use system using Borland International's Paradox database management system on a Novell, Inc. Netware LAN. The division abandoned the stickers. Instead, information that technicians entered into Paradox was printed on tags. Further, identification numbers on the tags were replicated as bar codes. Paradox uploads the information to the mainframe twice a day, using a Novell Systems Network Architecture gateway and a program developed in-house with the Novell Applications Programmer Interface. Senior technicians can now enter data with an easy-to-use PC program rather than a mainframe application. ``One key to the efficiency of the new system is that we can carry information over from one tag to another,'' notes Steve Henderson, another senior technician. ``Since each tag usually differs only marginally from the last, this is a big time-saver.'' Torok says he can make 50 tags, which used to take half an hour or more, in a few minutes. Life has also become easier for others. When the sample bottle comes to the lab, Gaile David, the data entry clerk, scans the bar code instead of rekeying the identification number. ``The bar codes are much faster and easier for me, and there's less chance for errors,'' David says. There were still drawbacks to the system, which was completed in the middle of last year. Because of its location, the printer could not easily be attached to a server to be shared. It was attached to a workstation and could be used only from that workstation. Lanspool, a printer-sharing program from Lan Systems, Inc. in New York, now lets Unocal attach the printer to a workstation rather than a server, yet share it over the LAN. The printer is attached to the same workstation that serves as a mainframe gateway for the purpose of uploading Paradox files. In February, the automated sample tag application was being used to produce only 50 to 60 tags on an average day, out of a total of 700 or more tags for all units. The application is now working smoothly enough to allow technicians on all units to begin using it, Dalesandro says. By Michael Hurwicz; Hurwicz is president of the MTI Group, a data communications consulting firm in Nashville. <<<>>> Title : In the barren Nevada dese Author : Barbara Sehr Source : CW Comm FileName: lawrence Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: In the barren Nevada desert, at the U.S. Department of Energy's Atlas Laboratory, a unique system separates ``noise'' from the signals in camera images of a light source. The camera images are transported by microwave to the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., several hundred miles away. At the laboratory, they are stored in a Digital Equipment Corp. VAX minicomputer connected to an Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh. The image is then driven through third-party software to the Macintosh, where raw data is extracted and analyzed by the architects of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. The link between the labs is the most unusual example of Macintosh-to-VAX connectivity at Lawrence Livermore, which is operated by the Department of Energy and staffed by the University of California. More than a year after Apple and DEC announced plans to link their platforms, there has been little action between the two vendors. Lawrence Livermore has not received a comprehensive response from the vendors to its efforts to forge the links, according to Marianne Marino Pierce, vendor liaison for DEC products at the laboratory. Like other major users, the lab has been left to improvise with third-party products. In addition to analyzing the camera images from Nevada, Lawrence Livermore has forged links betwen DEC and Macintosh systems to support applications ranging from sharing resources such as printers and plotters to archiving data from Macintosh hard disks on a VAX tape drive. One application uses a Macintosh to emulate a more expensive Tektronix, Inc. graphics terminal. Lawrence Livermore is a melting pot of computing power, drawing on resources that include four Cray Research, Inc. supercomputers, several IBM mainframes, 1,000 VAX systems, thousands of IBM and compatible personal computers and 3,400 Macintoshes. ``We are buying about 10 times as many Macintosh systems as PCs,'' notes Peggy Poggio, manager of small systems at the laboratory. The attraction to the Macintosh may seem incongruous in such a labyrinth of high-tech. But the computer promoted as easy to use has attracted the interest of the highly skilled employees there. ``Our engineers were fascinated early on,'' says George Pavel, manager of Labnet, Lawrence Livermore's proprietary network. That appreciation has become a dedication to joining the Apple and DEC platforms _ with or without the leadership of the hardware manufacturers. The drive for connectivity actually began long before the formal engagement of the two architectures, and it may outpace the actualization of any union between them. It started with a simple premise _ to have a microcomputer perform various tasks, Poggio says. The offices of many laboratory engineers and research personnel are cluttered with computers and terminals. There may be a VAX terminal for access to a large database, a Macintosh for simple PC applications and a Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstation for demanding calculations or graphics-intensive work such as computer-aided design. Using a Macintosh to get to the VAX not only reduces costs and clutter but makes everyone's job easier, Poggio says. While the notion is simple, using one machine for critical calculations, graphics design and database access has proven more complex in implementation. About 60 Apple Localtalk networks allow Macintoshes to use a VAX as a server. All but a few of these networks tie into Labnet, which connects all of the laboratory's computing power. There are two separate Labnets _ an open network that carries shared data and resources and a classified network that holds government secrets. Third-party emulation Lawrence Livermore is relying on two third-party emulation programs _ Alisatalk from Alisa Systems, Inc. in Pasadena, Calif., and Pacerlink from Pacer Software, Inc. in La Jolla, Calif. Under both packages, the VAX acts as a file server on the Localtalk network, and the Macintosh can access VAX files. Currently, these packages are the only resources available to employees who want DEC-Apple connectivity. ``It doesn't really matter if connectivity is achieved by having the VAX see the Mac as just another Decnet node or if the Macintosh sees the VAX as a huge disk drive,'' Pavel says. ``All we want is that they work together.'' However, neither package is complete, according to lab officials. ``We want to see improved performance from both Alisatalk and Pacerlink,'' Pierce says. Pavel notes that Alisa has sacrificed some performance to adhere to standards of the two platforms. Pacer, on the other hand, pays less attention to standards while providing stronger performance. Pierce says none of the divisions implementing the Mac-to-VAX link is completely satisfied with the performance of either third-party product. Ultimately, users in the divisions expect some joint effort from DEC and Apple. ``I just don't think they know yet how far the companies are going to go,'' she says. By Barbara Sehr; Sehr is a free-lance writer based in Hayward, Calif. <<<>>> Title : Frame painting pretty pic Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: frame3 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: SAN JOSE, Calif. _ When some of the heavyweights of the personal computer software industry recently announced that they would create applications for the Next, Inc. workstation, they were following in the footsteps of a tiny Silicon Valley start-up. Frame Technology Corp. bears the distinction of being the first independent software developer to port to the Next computer. While industry watchers wondered aloud about the Next machine, a Frame software engineer spent a year at Next headquarters working to port Framemaker, the firm's publishing package for Unix-based systems, to Next. After nearly three years of silence, Next founder Steve Jobs ended all the speculation at a gala event in San Francisco last fall. Notably absent were PC software giants such as Lotus Development Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Ashton-Tate Corp. In the packed auditorium sat a small band of excited Frame staffers waiting for their president to take the stage. It never happened. Jobs got so caught up in showing off his new machine that a testimonial from Frame co-founder and President Steve Kirsch had to be scrapped at the last minute. But Frame did not go entirely unnoticed. A demonstration of Framemaker running on the Next workstation was prominently positioned outside the auditorium doors. ``Right after the press conference our phones started ringing, and they haven't stopped,'' Kirsch said. At a recent press conference, Jobs made up for his omission. ``Frame was one of our first developers,'' Jobs said. ``And it's one of the most successful products on our platform. It's a dynamite document-processing package.'' Frame is also currently holding discussions with Businessland, Inc. No surprise The union of Frame and Next, both 3-year-old start-up companies, should not be surprising to anyone who knows Jobs. It is also typical of how Silicon Valley works: Casual acquaintances often intensify to become business relationships. ``Steve Jobs likes young, entrepreneurial companies,'' a source close to both Frame and Next said. ``The Frame people are a group of young, creative people. Steve Kirsch is very much an MIT computer jock.'' Also, Cambridge, Mass.-based Interleaf, Inc., the market leader in Unix-based publishing software and Frame's rival, was already committed to IBM and Apple Computer, Inc. Jobs became acquainted with Frame's Vice-President of Advanced Development David Murray when Jobs was at Apple and Murray was at Filevision, a now-defunct third-party developer for Apple's Macintosh microcomputer. Although Filevision was not expected to be successful, its product caught Jobs' attention. Frame's relationship with Next is its second with a hot Silicon Valley workstation company. The original platform for Framemaker was Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Unix-based workstations. Like Next, Sun is considered a computer-industry rebel, particularly in its quest to create a single version of Unix. What may have gained the attention of both Next and Sun is Framemaker's graphical user interface. Both companies seem to recognize the need for Unix to become an easy-to-use operating system. ``We've always tried to make software easy to use and approachable,'' Kirsch said. ``Unix is a desirable platform because of its power,'' said Ajit Kapoor, a vice-president at market research firm CAP International, Inc. ``But between these products, it's really six of one and half-dozen of the other. The name of the game is having good distribution alliances. With Sun and Next, I think Frame has a very good future.'' To augment its team of young software engineers, Kirsch hired a couple of sales and marketing veterans. Former Sun marketing director John Hime joined Frame to lead the marketing team, and former Interleaf sales executive Steve Klann is the sales vice-president. Hime resigned last week to become marketing vice-president at Mips Computer Systems, Inc. Privately held Frame had more than $8 million in sales last year. About 71% of its sales were to large corporations. As Next moves beyond the university market in the next few months, Frame's tiny team stands ready to share some of the spotlight. By Julie Pitta, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Mips casts line and sinks Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: execmips Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: SUNNYVALE, Calif. _ Following the example of a former Apple Computer, Inc. senior executive who defected to Mips Computer Systems, Inc. earlier this year, three more executives from rival companies have signed on with Mips' marketing group. Making the shift from Digital Equipment Corp.'s workstation sales were U.S. manager of workstation sales Joe DiNucci and head of workstation sales strategy James Billmaier. Neither executive professed any animosity toward DEC, which is both Mips' competitor and a partner in the reduced instruction set computing (RISC) workstation market. Rather, they said, they were impressed with Mips. ``When I saw [Senior Vice-President of U.S. Sales Charles] Boesenberg come over from Apple, I thought, `This is really getting interesting,' '' DiNucci said. As Mips' first vice-president of strategy development, DiNucci has responsibility for strategy development across all product lines. Billmaier, in the newly created job of vice-president of market development, will focus on the advancement of the company's Application Binary Interface. Cough drops Mips' major competitor, Sun Microsystems, Inc., coughed up another executive for Mips by way of software maker Frame Technology Corp. John Hime, formerly Sun's workstation marketing director and, until last week, vice-president of marketing at Frame, is now vice-president and general manager of Mips' systems products group. Hime claims that Mips' RISC technology has a larger market appeal than the product he was trying to sell at Sun. ``Sparc was designed for certain kinds of technical workstations,'' he said. ``Mips has broader design goals.'' By J.A. Savage, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Select group Author : Jean S. Bozman Source : CW Comm FileName: bozside Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: According to company President Allen H. Michels, users of Ardent Computer Corp.'s Titan graphics computers fall into three broad application categories: chemistry, fluid dynamics and mechanical computer-aided engineering (MCAE). The first two categories account for about 20% of all Ardent shipments. The remaining 60% is divided among MCAE applications and those in physics research, computer-science research and signal processing. Titan users can interactively change wind-tunnel simulations on-screen or carry out a simulated crash of an automobile in real time. These applications formerly were directed at traditional supercomputers. Number crunching on a conventional supercomputer that handles batch jobs for hundreds of users often takes minutes or hours _ and the results have to be shipped for later display on a user's workstation. The relatively small number of Titan users seem to be happy with the product. United Technologies Corp.'s Research Center in Hartford, Conn., has been using two Titans since May 1988. Bob Olsen, manager of aeromechanics and thermal sciences, said that the machines are used to animate preprocessed data to demonstrate airflow around helicopter blades. One Titan tends to be used by a single graphics-support person who animates the data displays. The others, Olsen said, serve more than a dozen end users over a local-area network. JEAN S. BOZMAN <<<>>> Title : In brief Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 410week Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Growing . . .Palo Alto, Calif.-based Ross Systems, purveyor of financial and accounting software to the Digital Equipment Corp. VAX platform, announced its intent to acquire Needham, Mass.-based distribution software and consulting company Cardinal Data Corp. Ross will hold Cardinal as an autonomous subsidiary.Going . . .Former IBM executive and Xerox Corp. Vice- Chairman William Glavin will retire early from Xerox, effective June 1, to become president of Babson College, a business school in Wellesley, Mass. The 57-year-old executive will also retire as a director of Xerox and a member of its four-person corporate office.GoneIn line with its goal to focus on systems integration rather than packaged systems, Computer Sciences Corp. announced a mid-March sale of its Compufact division to Santa Clara, Calif.-based Madic Corp., a spokesman said. Like its new owner, Compufact sells turnkey manufacturing systems that run on Prime Computer, Inc. platforms.Difficult decisionNCR Corp. last week announced plans to market its wares in South Africa through distributor Fintech, Ltd., a subsidiary of a South African-owned group of technology companies. The decision, an NCR executive said, was a difficult one. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Wyse decisionTroubled microcomputer products vendor Wyse Technology, which earlier this year warned that an imminent quarterly loss endangered the status of its principal loan agreement, last week announced that it has obtained waivers that will keep the $20 million outstanding credit line open through June 30. <<<>>> Title : Take a peek: VM runs on a Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: vmnew89 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: IBM is quietly showing off the smallest expression yet of its 370 architecture at user group meetings from Boston to Los Angeles. The as-yet-unannounced product is a five-card 16M-byte system that runs IBM's VM/SP Release 5 in its entirety. However, the box, priced at $18,000 per unit, is only being sold in quantities of 25 or more through special bids to customers with VM/SP licenses, according to IBM. It is also being marketed as a single-user-only workstation to distinguish it from the lower end of IBM's 9370 line. Although the 7437 will remain an unannounced IBM product, it will be present at the IBM booth at Comdex/Spring '89 this week, IBM said. At the same time, IBM is reportedly considering whether it will sell the 7437 machine in single units rather than in lots of 25. No price has yet been set for a single-unit sale, according to Gary L. Smith, manager of market development for the 7437 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Industry sources said IBM's quiet promotion of the system is designed to avoid conflict with the slow-selling 9370. In the three years since the 9370's introduction, ``the price/performance of hardware has improved by a factor of two,'' said one East Coast developer. ``That's a little too quickly for IBM's purposes, so IBM has artificially limited the marketing of the 7437.'' Nevertheless, IBM has made 7437 presentations at last month's Share, Inc. user group meeting in Los Angeles, the New England VM Users Group meeting in February and other user meetings early this year. The 7437 has also been used by IBM and by Cadam, Inc. at trade shows to demonstrate mainframe VM applications since late 1988. ``What we've determined from the marketplace is that there are some users who are excited about the product,'' Smith said. ``Unlike its predecessors, the IBM XT/370 and the AT/370, it runs the full VM/SP Release 5 unmodified. The others ran a subset of VM, and they were not multitasking.'' At its user group presentations, IBM said the 7437 was, in effect, a 0.7 million-instruction-per-second coprocessor for its Personal System/2. As such, it uses the PS/2's Micro Channel Architecture to reach into the host mainframe for the VM application and data on the host's disk drive and a onetime download of the VM operating system. It is installed side-by-side with a standard PS/2 Model 60 or 80 and requires more than 100M bytes of disk storage. They've been waiting VM software developers said they have been waiting for a practical desktop version of VM for some time. However, large numbers of VM developers might be better served by a single IBM 4381, which can serve 50 or more programmers for about $100,000, according to several software developers who had not yet seen the 7437. ``Individual workstations have only limited use in a software development environment,'' said Peter Kronenberg, VM systems programmer at Information Builders, Inc., a New York-based software firm. ``It's hard to be disconnected from other VM/CMS users on the same mainframe.'' Information Builders evaluated the earlier AT/370 and XT/370 desktop systems and returned them to IBM, Kronenberg said. His firm has not yet evaluated the 7437. As currently marketed, the 7437 is targeted at single users of such technical programs as Lockheed Corp.'s Cadam computer-aided design and manufacturing software. Technical users of 370 mainframe applications can boost performance of some graphics-intensive programs by running them on a dedicated 7437, IBM said. That would differentiate the 7437 from IBM's RT workstation, which is directed at the Unix market, the company added. One satisfied customer is Lockheed, which bought 25 IBM 7437s this year. ``For the first time, we have a compact and convenient tool to take with us to trade shows and to client sites,'' said David Brazier, vice-president of marketing at Cadam Corp. in Burbank, Calif. ``Until now, we had to set up 9370s at the shows, which required more space and more cooling. We were unable to demonstrate Cadam at many of our regional sales offices except in Denver and Detroit, where we had 9370s installed.'' By Jean S. Bozman, CW staff <<<>>> Title : IBM rallies with recovery Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: disaster Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: ARMONK, N.Y. _ IBM unveiled plans last week to tap into the rapidly emerging disaster recovery market with a backup contingency service it will begin offering immediately. IBM said its Business Recovery Services will be available on a limited basis and will provide midrange and large systems users with access to a recovery center for recovery-plan testing and disaster recovery operations. IBM has long been rumored to have its eye on a full-blown entry into the disaster recovery business but has previously only dabbled in the market. IBM Germany offers a mobile disaster recovery setup, while domestically the firm offers classroom training and consultancy, albeit on an individual basis. ``More and more of our customers are telling us that disaster recovery plans are a vital part of their business that they cannot function without,'' said Jim Boyle, an IBM division vice-president who will be in charge of the operation. IBM has little to lose on the venture except a bit of red ink. The firm has recently been forced to formulate some disaster recovery of its own. Domestic business has been off, third-quarter financials are not expected to meet early predictions, and IBM has increasingly turned to the services market to help push its $50 billion annual revenue boulder uphill. Well-publicized calamities such as a fire at a telephone-switching station near Chicago last May that knocked out more than 150,000 computer-to-computer connections have turned the disaster recovery market into a mother lode. The trend toward contingency planning _ which has been spurred by government regulations requiring firms with federal contracts to have such plans _ will cause the market to grow 20% annually until it pops the $1 billion mark in 1995, said a study by The Ledgeway Group. Untapped overseas potential is also great in markets such as the Far East, where interest in contingency planning is just beginning to secure a beachhead. Hot sites IBM will employ two large systems hot sites _ one in Tampa, Fla., and another in Franklin Lakes, N.J., that is scheduled to open by the third quarter _ as well as a dozen regional sites for smaller midrange system backup. Service will be provided for IBM machines ranging from the Application System/400 line through the 3090 Model 600, Boyle said. Customers will be charged a monthly fee, from $500 for backup on the low end of the AS/400 line to $45,000 for backup on a 3090 Model 600. Users may subscribe to the service for one, three or five years. Initially, service will only be provided to IBM or IBM-mixed sites, Boyle said. Other disaster recovery-service vendors said they did not feel threatened by the IBM move because the market still affords plenty of elbow room. ``We think it will be a boost for all of us,'' said John Butch, a division manager of Hotsite, which provides disaster recovery services for IBM midsize mainframes. By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : IBM's DOS/VSE Author : Laura O'Connell Source : CW Comm FileName: trends41 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: For IBM, DOS/VSE may be both a dream come true and a nightmare. Despite rumors that company management longs to sign the operating system's death certificate, DOS/VSE _ IBM's aging flagship system for small and midrange machines _ is thriving amid a young crowd of contenders, according to Jerry Berry, an analyst at Computer Intelligence in La Jolla, Calif. To say simply that DOS/VSE has been a success would be an understatement. Although its installed U.S. operating systems license base has slipped from 44% in 1984 to 35% this year, DOS/VSE remains the most widely used operating environment on IBM mainframes. Since 1984, the number of DOS/VSE licenses has climbed more than 10%. However, at a time when IBM is soliciting conversion to its brassier MVS and MVS/ESA, sustaining the life of DOS/VSE does not make great financial sense. MVS is the better revenue reaper for IBM, wielding higher one-time and monthly license fees. And in some cases, Berry pointed out, users must upgrade hardware and buy extra software to run MVS effectively. So far, IBM has had little success with this migration. In 1984, 73% of installed DOS/ VSE systems ran in native mode, while 24% ran as guests under VM and a paltry 3% ran together with MVS under VM. The latter is the configuration users would choose if they were to convert to MVS. In the ensuing years, the portion of DOS/VSE systems running native shrunk, but the switch favored running DOS/ VSE under VM alone. The percent of DOS/VSE systems running with MVS inched up to 5% and got stuck there. At 5% again in 1989, that comes to only about 570 systems configured in such a way. As Computer Intelligence figures it, even if 90% of those systems were to convert to MVS each year, it would take more than 22 years for the current DOS/VSE base to migrate. DOS/VSE users are not heading toward MVS quickly. In fact, in the last year, native DOS/VSE systems returned to an upswing. So if IBM wants to phase out DOS/VSE, it must either replace the operating system entirely or spruce up the option of MVS migration. LAURA O'CONNELL <<<>>> Title : Inside lines Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: liner410 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Merger maven turns inward? Computer Associates will announce something later today, but Sanjay Kumar, vice-president of product planning, wasn't providing any clues last week. Kumar would not confirm or deny internal and external reports that the company will merge its SPD and IPD divisions, which were formed after the company acquired Applied Data Research. ``We pushed back the announcement because we wanted to make sure that all of our employees knew all the details before we announced it to someone else,'' he said, declining to specify what announcement he was referring to. Several sources, who requested anonymity, said the reorganization will bring 10% to 12% layoffs in both service and support and sales. If mum's the word at CA, so is ISPD, the trim new name of the combined SPD and IPD divisions, sources said. Apple, of course, can do better. Apple engineers are said to be less than thrilled with 3Com's initial design of Apple's Ethertalk card; Apple thinks it can do better and has assembled a team to look into the matter. One idea is to build Ethertalk onto the Mac's motherboard, said a source close to the project team. This capability could work well with a Motorola 68030 but requires a higher clock speed than Apple now offers (16 MHz). On the Digital side of Ethernet, Apple and DEC have slated a May 8 briefing _ also the first day of Apple's developers conference. The agenda features an Apple/DEC Communications Toolkit seminar, so it's a good bet the product will be unveiled then. No copyright on ad copy? Executives at Access Technology, makers of the 20/20 spreadsheet package, are miffed at claims being made by Lotus in its promotional literature touting 1-2-3 Release 3.0. Lotus claims the yet-to-be-shipped Release 3.0 is the only spreadsheet that will be available across a range of environments with consistent commands, simplifying training and support for users. Access said 20/20 has had those features for several years and now seeks to have Lotus pull its literature out of distribution here and in Europe. ISDN _ In Search of Demand Now. Count MCI among the ISDN skeptics, at least in the short term. Dick Liebhaber, MCI's executive vice-president, said he hasn't seen much user demand for ISDN's Primary Rate Interface, although MCI is technically prepared to offer it if customers do want it. He said the only ISDN service in demand is Automatic Number Identification, which MCI is preparing to offer as a separate feature unrelated to ISDN. Success or sayonara. The supercomputing market should take an interesting twist this week when Japan's NEC announces a high-powered machine that will reportedly blow by any U.S.-made competition. Sources say NEC's machine, dubbed the SX-3, will attain a performance of 22 billion floating-point operations per second and utilize the Unix operating system. Pulling in the NET. Network Equipment Technologies is expected to announce this week everything but the kitchen sink in an effort to plug up its weak spots in a no-holds-barred T1 market. A spokeswoman confirmed NET will be announcing expert systems-based network management; the IDNX/10, which will fill in a yawning NET gap at the low end; and fractional T1 services, which will target even smaller sites that need less bandwidth than full T1. Several industry sources said they also expect to see NET expand on its plans for 45M bit/sec. T3 links as well as its relationship with local-area network bridge vendor Cisco Systems. It was the Great Kahn who pulled off the PC Forum coup. Borland's president slipped under attendees' doors (read on, obviously Philippe couldn't fit himself) a magazine featuring a story that cast aspersions on Lotus Chairman Jim P. Manzi. Kahn telegrammed Manzi and apologized twice for having ``crossed the line in what is considered to be acceptable competitive marketing tactics.'' You tricksters out there don't have to slink to such depths; just call the hot line at 800-343-6474 or 508-879-0700, or contact News Editor Pete Bartolik on the CW electronic bulletin board at 508-626-0165, 508-626-0214 or 508-626-0235. <<<>>> Title : On-line returns Author : Amy Cortese Source : CW Comm FileName: irsside Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: The IRS envisions a day when all tax returns are filed electronically from homes and businesses. But while its electronic filing program has made headway, poor quality software, procurement troubles and contractor delays have hampered its progress. This year, an estimated two million tax returns will be filed electronically _ nearly double the amount last year, thanks to an expansion of the service to include 36 states. Next year, the IRS hopes to expand the service nationally. The program, started in 1985, allows individuals receiving a refund to file electronically through the services of one of about 4,000 qualified tax preparers. The return is then transmitted to one of two IRS centers and processed on a system consisting of an IBM Series 1, a local-area network of IBM and compatible personal computers, graphics workstations and optical disk drives. Last year, however, a rushed schedule and insufficient software testing resulted in difficulties storing and retrieving electronic images of returns, and IRS tax examiners resorted to manual operations for some tasks. The defective software was to be replaced this year for an additional $2 million, but according to a GAO report, the software was not ready at the start of the 1989 filing season and will not be fully tested until the filing season is over. The electronic filing system, like many IRS systems, was designed for interim use. But the IRS is now considering abandoning its earlier plans to develop a new nationwide system and instead has proposed spending about $20 million to expand the current system's capabilities. The GAO questions whether the system will be able to meet long-term needs. Currently, only individuals receiving a refund can file electronically, and even then paperwork is needed to supplement the electronic system. IRS officials said that service to those who owe money to the IRS hinges on pending legislation that would allow taxpayers to pay by credit card. Also, the handling of business returns, which can get quite lengthy and complex, has yet to be resolved. AMY CORTESE <<<>>> Title : Bank taps expert tool for Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: tax5 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: NEW YORK _ Citibank NA has discovered that expert systems can trim time and increase productivity in the otherwise taxing process of issuing approximately 250,000 pension payroll checks per month. Citibank built its Pension Disbursement On-Line System using IBM's Knowledgetool, a mainframe-resident knowledge-based tool. The 103-rule expert system adjusts tax withholdings based on the tax codes in different jurisdictions across the country, said Abhik Dasgupta, vice-president of advanced technology at the bank. ``The application fit well with expert systems technology,'' Dasgupta said, ``because tax calculations are driven by rules, and tax rules are based on tables.'' The batch processing system, which was built in six months and resides on an IBM mainframe running IBM's MVS/XA operating system, can process 120,000 checks in one evening. ``We achieved a 14.3% reduction in processing,'' Dasgupta said. ``We are now also able to issue specially requested checks in one day.'' Dasgupta said the Cobol application runs under IBM's IDMS because the bank did not want a radical change in applications. He cautioned that each application should go through an in-depth analysis before being considered for expert systems technology. ``An expert system must be managed carefully,'' Dasgupta warned, ``or it will take your CPU.'' In addition to calculating taxes for the issuance of checks, the system also provides the bank's 520 clients with on-line access to management and tax reports via VSAM files. Dasgupta said the pension disbursement system will serve as a platform for future developments and will likely be used for foreign and multicurrency services. By Robert Moran, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Burger King MIS VP resign Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: burgerki Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: MIAMI _ The revolving door to the highest MIS office at Burger King Corp. is spinning again. Bob Forte, who held the position of vice-president of MIS for 1 years, setting into motion aggressive systems plans for the company-owned restaurants, resigned last month for personal reasons. Last week he said that he has not yet decided on any future job plans. Forte has been replaced by John Foley, a six-year Burger King veteran, who most recently held the position of vice-president of finance and administration at Distron, the distribution arm of Burger King. Foley was formerly Burger King's San Francisco region controller and was the director of planning and control systems here. Prior to working at Burger King, Foley was vice-president of finance and administration at A&W Restaurants, Inc. in Detroit. Forte's resignation was not related to last week's reorganization announcement, which eliminated 100 positions at the Burger King headquarters and cut out another 450 jobs throughout the 32 regional offices of the fast-food chain, a company spokesman said. ``I don't leave with any animosity or any negative feelings at all,'' Forte said from his home last week. In a Computerworld interview last fall [CW, Nov. 14], Forte discussed plans to computerize both front- and back-room operations at 300 of the 750 company-owned Burger King stores. Those plans were set to begin in January. There are approximately 5,000 Burger King stores systemwide. Last week, Forte said he did not expect his departure to have any negative impact on those plans. ``I see a very positive and bright future for the MIS opportunities that were before us. Those plans are going to move forward as quickly as I would have expected had I stayed on,'' Forte said. ``There definitely is a commitment to move technology into the restaurants and improve the operations through information technology by the new ownership'' of Burger King, he continued. Pillsbury Co. spun off Burger King early last November in its attempt to fight a $5.7 billion takeover by Grand Metropolitan PLC. Pillsbury succumbed to the takeover in December. Forte, who had been employed by Burger King for two years after moving from Pillsbury, admitted that the top MIS post at Burger King traditionally has had a high turnover rate but blamed it on the instability of the company's former management team. ``There has been a fairly long history of rapid turnover at the top at Burger King, and I think that has impacted the MIS organization,'' Forte said. ``I don't see that happening now. I think the Grand Met people are solid. They have made a long-term commitment to the business, and I believe you're going to see very strong leadership coming from Burger King.'' By Alan J. Ryan, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Software drought slows up Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1worksta Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: The hardware price/performance battle between personal computers and workstations will get hotter this week, but the continuing lack of business-oriented software may hold back the workstation charge. At Comdex/Spring '89 in Chicago, Intel Corp. is expected to show off its 80486 processor, whose performance begins where the 80386 leaves off. Also on tap for the show are systems built around the 33-MHz 80386 chip that challenge low-end workstations for millions of instructions per second ratings (see story page 37). Among workstation vendors, Sun Microsystems, Inc. is not sitting still. In San Francisco, the firm will launch machines built around its Scalable Processor Architecture chip that will operate at about 12 MIPS, as well as more conventional systems using the Motorola, Inc. 68030. These announcements show that the price/peformance of high-end PCs and workstations is beginning to merge. But while the staggering performance of workstations have made them hot, hot, hot in specialized markets, a dearth of mainstream software has so far kept them out of the PC mainstream, analysts and users said. Free will Software choices must increase in order to broaden workstation use, argued Ron Carran, an assistant manager at the technical computing group of Technicon Instruments Corp., which uses workstations from Digital Equipment Corp. Although PC applications can run on workstations using software coprocessors, hardware coprocessors or operating systems that run MS-DOS as a task, it is native-mode applications that will make all the difference, Carran said. Workstation prices also need to come down to entice big-league developers into the market, he said. Faced with lingering high prices and market fragmentation, the high-resolution workstation speed demons face tremendous difficulty catching up to PCs for general-purpose use. In 1988, only 7% of workstations were sold into the commercial environment; the other 93% went to technical users, said Vicki Brown, a workstation analyst at International Data Corp., a Framingham, Mass.-based market research firm. The strength of PCs has always been a huge common base of applications that make them ideal for spreadsheet, word processing and database use. The still faster, more powerful Unix-oriented workstations lack solid software for everyday use. Commercial application software will not appear overnight, said Donald Lambe, manager of technical sector marketing at Data General Corp. DG itself is developing mainstream workstation applications for use on workstations such as its 17-MIPS Aviion. Aviion, with 4M bytes of random-access memory, sells for $7,450, a price very similar to a high-end Intel 80386-based system. Apollo Computer, Inc. has made similar promises. Users can soon expect software products from major PC vendors that support Apollo workstations, promised Mike Dillon, program manager of commercial markets at Apollo. However, he declined to be more specific and conceded that the problems that vendors such as Lotus Development Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have had in shipping PC products have crimped workstation plans. There appear to be more forces working against workstation productivity software than for it. The recent Unix wars are likely to delay development of these packages further, as major PC software houses fret over which platforms to target, observers said. With OS/2 stalled in the market, key software vendors are evaluating alternatives but so far have made scant commitments to Unix workstation platforms. Lotus has offered vague support of DEC's line of machines and provided a similarly ambiguous commitment to Next, Inc.'s system. Ashton-Tate Corp. has pledged a Decwindows version of Dbase IV but has given no shipping date, and Microsoft is waiting for the skirmishes to settle before it chooses a possible workstation platform, officials said. New breed But Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has hinted strongly that OS/2 could be ported to some reduced instruction set computing architectures, which could bring a whole new breed of high-end productivity applications in the future. OSF/Motif, which implements the ``look and feel'' of the OS/2 Presentation Manager and the application programming interface of Decwindows, may attract PC applications written for OS/2 to the workstation environment. Again, though, the timetable is unclear. Like many others, PC software vendor Micrografx, Inc. will develop for the Presentation Manager first and then consider a move to OSF/Motif, President George Grayson said. Senior writer William Brandel contributed to this report. By Douglas Barney, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Banyan, Oracle team up on Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: banyansq Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Banyan Systems, Inc. and Oracle Corp. unveiled Oracle Server for the Vines network last week, much to the relief of Banyan users struggling to control mounting traffic volumes attributed to cumbersome personal computer databases. Available in May, Oracle's SQL port to the Virtual Networking Software, or Vines, network server is based on Oracle Version 6, which features optional transaction processing. The port is also said to be tightly coupled with Streettalk _ the global naming service unique to Vines _ and Vines' security. Oracle Server for Vines runs on Intel Corp. 80386-based PCs. The server software costs $4,999 and will support client applications running under MS-DOS, Unix and Apple Computer, Inc.'s Finder. The announcement raised some pricing issues. Many users are pressing for server licensing of network software and do not want to pay separately for each network client. Rack 'em up A large network with several users could quickly rack up costs, complained Richard Henry, a user on a 300-node Banyan network operated by a West Coast-based electronics organization. According to Henry, linking PCs to database servers could cost him as much as $1,200 per node. ``I could buy a mainframe at that price,'' he concluded. ``We'll certainly not pay mainframe prices for the technology,'' added Larry Stouder, manager of technical development at New York-based Continental Grain Co., which has a domestic Vines network with about 400 nodes and 18 servers. Oracle said it does offer volume discounts but did not say when those would kick in. Bruce Mitchell, Oracle's director of marketing, added, ``We are going to see some fundamental changes in regard to pricing due to client/server architecture.'' He did not elaborate further. Pricing issues aside, some Banyan users were particularly interested in the enterprisewide networking implications of Oracle's port to Vines. ``We have't been able to do a thing in terms of wide-area networking with PC database applications such as Paradox, Dbase and R:Base,'' said Jonathan Oski, a technical engineer at Bank of New England in Boston. Currently, Bank of New England's multistate Banyan network has 52 servers and more than 1,000 nodes. ``There's no way today that we can have users from two states share a database. A traditional PC database, even on a network, is really just a shared hard disk,'' Oski said. The advantage of an SQL-based database server, according to John Cornell, a network specialist at Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in Diablo Canyon, Calif., is that it cuts down on network traffic by confining most of the processing and searching activity to the server vs. downloading everything to the PC. This is key in an enterprisewide network, because many WAN connections tend to have a smaller bandwidth than the local networks. ``You can't use Rbase or Dbase over a WAN,'' Cornell said. He said that his network has several thousand users and 120 servers, 75 of which are attached to a WAN. While Oski has yet to evaluate the Oracle server, he noted that the fact that Oracle runs native on Vines, uses Streettalk and runs on a variety of platforms ``is a real big plus.'' In addition, Oski's IBM shop uses DB2, with which Oracle Server for Vines will be able to communicate, according to Banyan. By Patricia Keefe, CW staff <<<>>> Title : USAA's CEO cited for syst Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ceoaward Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: On his first day as chief executive officer at the United Services Automobile Association (USAA), Robert F. McDermott, a retired brigadier general, ordered the burning of some of the company's paper and microfiche files to prove a point. ``I wanted to get rid of paper,'' he said. ``All our files were lying in folders everywhere, and access to any particular piece of paper was only possible after a month of searching. So I started burning the files to demonstrate my commitment and to show there would be no turning back.'' That was 20 years ago, and USAA has never turned back. McDermott's determination to use technology _ particularly image processing _ to drive USAA's growth earned him Gartner Group, Inc.'s 1989 Excellence in Technology award. The purpose of the award is to recognize executive leadership in technology use for sustained strategic advantage. A panel of 10 chief information officers selected the winner. Previous winners were AMR Corp. CEO Robert L. Crandall, Federal Express Corp. CEO Frederick W. Smith, Aetna Life & Casualty Vice-Chairman William O. Bailey and American President Companies Ltd. CEO Bruce Seaton. McDermott received this year's award Tuesday in New York at a Conference Board, Inc. seminar on information management in the 1990s. The CEO's key role in advocating strategic use of information systems was a central theme of the seminar. ``With technology becoming the key factor in achieving strategic competitive advantage, the responsibility for meeting the pervasive demand for technological support cannot fall solely to the information services executive,'' said John H. Panabaker, chairman of the board of Mutual Life of Canada, one of the keynote speakers. Buddy-buddy Panabaker described the need for a partnership between MIS and senior executives. But the partnership will not happen without leadership from the top and an understanding of its necessity, he added. McDermott demonstrated such leadership by making USAA the first insurance company to pioneer IBM's image-processing technology, the Imageplus system [CW, May 30, 1988]. Part of a $100 million automation project that began in 1981, the image-processing system allowed the company to get rid of 99% of its original paper documents. An estimated 160 employees once involved in file handling are being retrained for other positions, according to Donald R. Lasher, president of USAA Information Services. McDermott credited the use of image processing, expert systems and networks with reducing the cost of policy processing. USAA's underwriting expense ratio (the cost of underwriting policies divided by the value of premiums written) is 9%. The nearest ratio for competitors in the same industry is 13%. While most of the large insurance companies are considering major image-processing projects, USAA is the first to fully implement imaging to process all the company's files. Other companies are stymied by an inability to cost-justify image systems because the short-term payback does not match the up-front investment costs. By Michael Sullivan-Trainor, CW staff <<<>>> Title : 9370 clearer target for 8 Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: dppx Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: IBM released Version 2 of DPPX/370 last week, touting the operating system for new users as well as those migrating from IBM 8100 systems. DPPX/370 was announced last year as a migration platform for 8100 users converting to the Enterprise System/9370. Version 1 bowed in December 1988. Although IBM is seeking to reach out to new customers with DPPX/370, its appeal is limited mainly to a distributed processing niche in which an MVS-based IBM host controls a number of remote IBM 9370 systems. The company encourages 8100 users to migrate to the IBM 370 architecture using DPPX/370, even though the operating system will only run on the ES/9370 and not other 370 architecture systems such as the ES/4381. DPPX/370 is also outside of IBM's Systems Application Architecture, the firm's grand plan to offer consistency across its disparate computers and operating systems. Among the enhancements in Version 2 are the following: Support for Personal Services/DPPX and Displaywrite/ DPPX, which offer interfaces similar to MVS versions of those products. Support for Systems Network Architecture Distribution Services, Document Content Architecture and Document Interchange Architecture. Support of both 16M bit/sec. and 4M bit/sec. versions of the IBM Token-Ring network. IBM promised more enhancements to DPPX/370 and reiterated its intent to provide larger and smaller 9370 systems. Bill Falconer, president of PS Technology, Inc. in Denver, a developer of DPPX-based railroad management applications, said he is selling his package to new 9370 customers as well as migrating 8100 users. DPPX offers remote maintenance features that other 9370 operating systems such as DOS/VSE do not, the developer claimed. ``DPPX can run at a site with no operator. It is more compact and easier to use than VM,'' Falconer said. Carl Wohlers, IBM product administrator for DPPX/370, also praised DPPX's distributed processing features, which he said were ahead of those offered by other operating systems. He added that DPPX still has deficiencies, such as the lack of a relational database management system. Therefore, many users may continue to prefer VM. By Stanley Gibson, CW staff <<<>>> Title : ES/9360 face-lift Author : Rosemary Hamilto Source : CW Comm FileName: model25 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Never say die. Apparently, that is IBM's thinking when it comes to its lackluster Enterprise System/9370. The low-end mainframe line got another face-lift last week with a new low-end model and an enhanced Model 50. Both the old low-end, the Model 20, and the old Model 50 will be discontinued in July. Though it will not be killed outright, the Model 60, which will overlap the performance of the new Model 50, will be offered on a limited basis only. The Model 25 will provide about 2 times the performance users got with the Model 20, according to IBM. The new Model 50 clocks in with about 26% more power than the old version. With such a boost to the low end, the Model 25 is now rubbing up against the performance of the Model 30. ``The raw processing power is roughly comparable, but that's only part of things,'' said Rae Albertini, director of midrange systems 370 marketing at IBM. ``The 30 continues to have better I/O throughput.'' ROSEMARY HAMILTON <<<>>> Title : ISDN unit taps OS/2 featu Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: iclisdn Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: STAMFORD, Conn. _ International Computers Ltd. North America introduced last week what it claims is the first Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) workstation to take advantage of the multitasking power of OS/2. ``A multitasking machine will be very useful with ISDN, particularly if you have a full-featured ISDN phone'' that allows a workstation to communicate simultaneously over 64K bit/sec. and 16K bit/sec. ISDN channels, said Jeffrey Fritz, a data communications analyst at West Virginia University. The university currently sends voice and data traffic over 660 ISDN connections, Fritz said. ICL's previously announced ISDN workstation provided some degree of multitasking through a proprietary extension to MS-DOS 4.0, which allows the operating system to assign up to 640K bit/sec. per task, said Ronald Aitchison, director of ISDN sales and marketing for ICL. One drawback of the older system is that while it could support up to 15 background tasks, it only supported one active foreground application at a time. Fritz was ``fairly impressed'' with ICL's proprietary workstation, he said. However, he added, ``we felt it took a fair amount of time to paint a screen'' as compared with a screen-sharing package called Carbon Copy from Meridian Technology, Inc., which the university runs on IBM Personal Computers connected over an ISDN B channel, he added. ICL's OS/2-based ISDN Information Integrator workstation potentially addresses Fritz's reservations, Aitchison said. The high-end Model 30 uses an Intel Corp. 80386 processor that incorporates an accelerator that boosts performance in moving data and graphics between screens and can cut response time by as much as two-thirds, Aitchison said. OS/2 multitasking allows the machine to support up to 16 active sessions, including active screen- and application-sharing with as many as eight users, he continued. The Information Integrator supports MS-OS/2 Standard Edition 1.1 with Presentation Manager, ICL said. The company chose not to support IBM's OS/2 Extended Edition because it did not want to be limited to protocols that are supported by the Communications Manager, Aitchison said. The high-end, 80386-based Model 30 is priced at $10,500; Models 10 and 20, which use 80286 processors, range from $6,000 to $7,000. The software alone is priced at $1,695. General release is scheduled for July 1. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW staff <<<>>> Title : DHL sold on cosmopolitan Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: dhl1 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: REDWOOD CITY, Calif. _ William Pigott sees the Unix operating system as a cornucopia just beginning to unfold. Yet after two years of applications development, DHL Airways, Inc. is still caught in the narrow end of that horn of plenty. DHL may not have a name as big as Federal Express Corp. within the U.S., but Pigott, DHL's vice-president of information services, claimed that the firm handles nearly 50% of all international courier traffic. Headquartered in Brussels, DHL has committed to Unix as an efficient way to maintain cross-border business. This commitment runs so deep that the company has acted as a reseller of Unix-based systems in the international market. ``Unix is the operating system of the future for someone who wants to work in a global sphere,'' Pigott said, noting that with Unix, DHL can run a common operating system on hundreds of systems of diverse scales that fit the varied sizes of DHL offices. Applications such as customer service, operations control systems and communications systems now run under Unix. DHL would like to cut all the applications over to its 15 Pyramid Technology Corp. Series 9000 on-line transaction processor superminicomputers. However, some in-house-developed applications, such as accounts receivable, have been running on DHL's Unix-based Pyramid system in parallel with an Amdahl Corp. mainframe for more than a year. ``We still can't cut over,'' Pigott said. ``It has to do with satisfying the user. They keep adding [requirements], and we keep modifying the system.'' Another on-line system, from Stratus Computer, Inc., runs DHL real-time applications in Vienna, Va. Incorporating Unix applications where there had been only the mainframe and IBM's SSP and RPG II on 150 IBM System/36s has been a headache. But Pigott's troubles flared last August when the relational database management system from Unify Corp. that runs DHL's shipment information database in Vienna was ``corrupted'' by a power fluctuation. ``The major problems we've had have been in the transition from code that runs well in small applications to code that runs well in big applications,'' Pigott said. ``We realized we didn't have the tools we needed and found out [Unify] couldn't fix it.'' Pigott said the subsequent transfer from Unify to the Informix, Inc. RDBMS was ``pretty quick. We just rewrote the hooks into the database. Now we're trying to get Unify out of the systems,'' he said. He added, ``I don't blame Unify. I blame the programmers who wrote it for the lack of standard development tools.'' Such tools would have smoothed conversion of DHL's IBM-based systems to Unix, Pigott said. For its part, Unify said through a spokeswoman that DHL was using an old version of its RDBMS that did not have automatic recovery or 100% uptime. The firm's Unify 2000, released in November, has these features, she said. Although Unix is an open operating system, Unix-based applications still must be crafted to the various types of machines such as the Pyramid 9000, according to Pigott. Because all versions of Unix are a bit different, Piggott noted, ``porting [to different versions of Unix] is not as simple as people would like it to be.'' The CCITT X.25 wide-area network interface posed such a problem. Pigott said he worked with Pyramid for 18 months on its implementation. ``X.25 is a beast,'' he said. ``The computers had difficulty talking to the board that talks to the network.'' While the X.25 interface was certified for all the company's applications last year, DHL had trouble getting it to run on NCR Corp.'s Tower 600 family of Unix-based computers in its foreign offices. Caught in the middle Caught between the old proprietary systems and the new and rather troublesome Unix, Pigott has to adapt DHL's initial grand scheme to fit reality. ``Originally, we had the idea that we'd put midrange Unix machines everywhere, but the cost drives you crazy,'' he said. ``That's why mainframes are around. You can get economies of scale.'' That is why DHL's Pyramids are likely to be located in a few data centers in London, Houston, Vienna and San Mateo, Calif. For Pigott, venturing into Unix gives a particularly sensitive role to support. He does not expect DHL's foreign offices to adopt Pyramid hardware, which requires more on-site support than Pyramid can offer worldwide. Outside of the U.S., NCR Towers, Groupe Bull and IBM are likely to be attractive to DHL groups that have been attracted to the individual companies in their local country, Pigott said. In California, at least, Mountain View-based Pyramid is ``just down the street'' from DHL's San Mateo offices. ``That's one of the things that caused me to build here. [DHL's system] is a heart-stopper system,'' Pigott said. He figures that the Pyramid and Informix ambulances will arrive before his heart stops. By J.A. Savage, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Storage Technology plans Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: a10soft Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Storage Technology Corp. and Oracle Corp. recently announced a cooperative software venture. Storage Technology, as a value-added relicenser, purchased the right to embed the Oracle relational database management system in its future software products. Oracle will be a fundamental component of Storage Technology software for management of storage hierarchies in both IBM and non-IBM environments. Marc Software International, Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif., recently signed a joint marketing agreement with Unisys Corp. covering Marc's Wordmarc word processing software on the Unisys 5000/85 and 5000/95 Unix-based minicomputers. Under the agreement, Marc and Unisys salespeople will make joint sales calls. In addition, Wordmarc will be demonstrated at Unisys Solution Centers. Blueline Software, Inc. in Minneapolis said it acquired Vlock software from its developer, Thomas Ericsson. Vlock is designed to provide virtual lock-file for IBM DOS/VSE users sharing direct access storage devices under IBM's VM operating system. Vlock has 200 users. Bull H. N. Information Systems, Inc. of Toronto and Zanthe Information, Inc. in Ottawa announced that ZIM, a fourth-generation development environment from Zanthe, will be marketed by the Bull sales force. ZIM is available on all Bull XPS Unix Series models at prices starting at $3,660. Piedmont Systems, Inc. in Middleton, Mass., said that it acquired all rights to White Hat Systems, Inc.'s White Hat MRP II software, which runs on Digital Equipment Corp. VAX systems. Piedmont renamed the product PSI-MRP II. Piedmont also acquired a suite of financial applications from White Hat, which it renamed P.S.I. Financials Applications Software. Piedmont announced a 35% price cut on service and support for the financial applications through May 10. D. Appleton Co. said Release 2.1 of its IDEF/Leverage process and data modeling software will support database design for Cincom Systems, Inc.'s recently released SQL-based Supra Version 2. IDEF/Leverage will automatically generate the SQL database definition statements directly from its data models, according to the vendor. Alliant Computer Systems Corp. in Littleton, Mass., said it awarded $10,000 to the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for the development of parallel algorithms for use in computer-aided cancer research. Researchers are developing an algorithm to search massive databases to identify and match up similar sequences of DNA or protein. Symbolics, Inc. and Intellicorp, Inc. entered a joint development agreement under which Intellicorp's knowledge-based system development environment will be provided on Symbolics workstations. The companies will offer a version of Knowledge Engineering Environment for Symbolics' Macivory and XL400 workstations. <<<>>> Title : IBM as hired help? Author : Rosemary Hamilto Source : CW Comm FileName: rcol Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Late last month, IBM made a slick marketing pitch on its customized service options that portrayed the company as a friend to customers who want to take care of troublesome data center projects. According to the pitch, a customer need only hire IBM, and big projects like data center redesigns and relocations will be taken care of. Gone are the headaches and extra hours that would have been the MIS manager's constant companions had he handled the job himself. Usually, there's a catch when something sounds so good. I couldn't help but wonder what else the MIS manager might be losing. Something about allowing IBM to do so much for a customer was unsettling. A situation could develop in which IBM designed the customer's data center, installed the IBM equipment, hooked up the cable to connect the equipment and managed the network. Couldn't this situation develop to the point where the customer was relying too much on IBM and, as a result, was giving up some control of decisions made in his shop? Of course, IBM dismissed that notion. But more importantly, so did the customers I spoke with. Sure, they said, if a user is willing to hand over responsibility to IBM and walk away, then they are putting themselves at risk. But these customized service customers said contracting with IBM for multiple data center projects does not give IBM more power in their shops. They look at IBM as simply hired help and nothing more. New ditty We in the industry once talked about IBM's clout with customers and how it could lock them into its 370 architecture and have them at its mercy. It seems some customers are now singing a different tune. Take Equibank in Pittsburgh. IBM is handling its data center design project, but Executive Vice-President Lesley Green said it is his stamp of approval that goes on the final plans. Green meets with the IBM project managers regularly and signs off on proposals. He said he never looked at contracting with IBM as a way of handing over his problems. They still belong to him. But IBM is working to see they are resolved. Checking in Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, MIS director at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, said she has weekly meetings with her IBM representative on the data center design project under way at her firm. She comes with a list of questions, and then IBM gets the answers and gets back to her. Reynolds-Lair said she never worried about giving IBM too much control in her shop. She had planned to have IBM involved in this project from the beginning _ even before she knew they offered the data center design service _ because she wanted their expertise. She views hiring them as project managers as no more than officially tapping into that expertise. Chances are, then, there may be more than a speck of truth to IBM's slick marketing pitch _ as long as other customers share the attitude that IBM can serve as hired help. By Rosemary Hamilton; Hamilton is Computerworld's senior editor, systems. <<<>>> Title : IBM custom service strike Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: datacen Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: While IBM recently made a public splash with its simplified maintenance contract Serviceplan, it has quietly been making a killing with customized service options for more than a year. Both Serviceplan and the customized options, which include data center design, relocation and cabling services, center on the service-made-easy concept. Though IBM has offered customized options on a per-request basis for years, customers have flocked to them since they became official offerings last year. For instance, IBM claimed to have performed only 5,210 relocations in 1987, but it handled 21,250 last year. Customers interviewed recently heaped praise on IBM's customized services and claimed that the most efficient way to handle these time-consuming tasks is to pass the responsibility to IBM. ``I'm going to get the people that are the best at the job and hire them to do it,'' said Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, MIS director at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, where IBM is completing a data center design and cabling project. ``As long as we're getting what we need from IBM, then it's worth what we're paying.'' Reynolds-Lair said that having IBM handle the data center project, which includes design, construction and cabling, will cost more than if the school had handled it alone. With the data center design service and other offerings, a customer contracts with IBM to handle a project and IBM assumes the role of project manager. IBM will hire the necessary contractors, including architects and electricians, and handle negotiations with them. It also will oversee the work as well as issue progress reports to the customer. Frees time for other tasks Reynolds-Lair and other customers interviewed said putting IBM in charge means they can devote their time to other ongoing data center concerns, such as application development projects. It also means far fewer headaches because they deal with only one person _ their IBM contact _ rather than the full cast of characters from architects to plumbers that get involved in such projects. ``We could have coordinated this, but you can end up with lots of finger pointing and wasting a lot of time,'' Reynolds-Lair said. ``By doing it this way, IBM made sure it was going to work.'' IBM is not the first to come up with the idea of customized service options. Instead, it is going after a chunk of business that third-party maintenance suppliers and other computer companies have long pursued. The business is non-fix-it service, or any type of service offering other than traditional repair business. As hardware reliability improves, the need for repair services lessens. The services providers, therefore, have been forced to come up with new money-making options. ``Any vendors that continue to focus on fixing broken machines will be out of business in a few years,'' said Donald Goodspeed, vice-president of service and maintenance strategies at Meta Group, Inc., a consulting firm in Westport, Conn. ``IBM is going after [customized service] with vigor. They want to sell, sell, sell.'' For Leslie Green, an executive vice-president at Equibank in Pittsburgh, the decision to put IBM in charge of a data center redesign was actually an easy one. According to Green, IBM simply had more of a grasp of data center issues than his own staff or vendors that competed with IBM for the job. ``We found that a number could build the data center, but they didn't understand our business,'' Green said. ``I'm not an IBM bigot, but I'm impressed with the number of resources and skill levels they can bring to a problem.'' By Rosemary Hamilton, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Northrop's mountain of pa Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: paperles Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: EL SEGUNDO, Calif. _ Although Northrop Corp. built its reputation in the aerospace industry crafting earsplitting fighter jets, it may soon be renowned among magicians for a spectacular vanishing act. Since last fall, Northrop has converted more than 16,000 pages of documentation relating to its assembly work on the F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet into a package of 36 four- by six-inch microfiche cards that is lighter and smaller than a loaf of bread. Northrop spent four years and more than $10 million on the slim-down project, dubbed the Integrated Management Planning and Control for Assembly system. In the past, clerks would deliver thick blue binders to assemblers detailing their shift's work. The files were updated daily, but it was laborious keeping up with unforeseen problems. ``The plans couldn't account for real-world situations, like people calling in sick or drill bits breaking,'' said Lauren Perreault, manager of manufacturing initiative programs and one of the architects on the project. ``So at the end of each day, we had to reconcile actual practice against what our plans were, then replan the next day's work. It was a struggle.'' Northrop workers spend their day building the F/A-18's center and rear fuselage, vertical stabilizers and the associated subsystems for the aircraft's prime contractor, McDonnell Douglas Corp. There are 104 assembly positions on the quarter-mile assembly line, with each section taking two days to go from one position to the next on its six-month journey down the line. A delay at one assembly station can easily ripple down the line, thus requiring another rewrite of the daily work forecasts, Perreault said. So many reports have been produced, Northrop officials added, that the Hornet assembly operations have already produced paperwork that could reach four times higher than the Empire State Building. Documentation is now computerized and available instantly, giving engineers, quality inspectors, supervisors and assembly workers the same information simultaneously. Northrop writes its own software, thereby ensuring a tight applications fit. Access to the system is simple. After workers arrive, they log on to the system at one of 137 Tandem Computers, Inc. terminals. The terminals are hooked up to six Tandem TXP processors and provide a screen display of the work the employee is expected to handle that day. Once the work is completed, it is duly noted, providing supervisors with real-time progress reports. Changing work orders once took about two hours but now can be done in 30 seconds. Workers used to spend more than 200 hours a week updating and distributing work plans; these are now performed automatically by the system. Ironically, workers were skeptical of the system. ``They were afraid they might not be good at it and lose their jobs,'' Perreault said. ``But we gave them our assurance that we intended to fully train and support them. Nobody was fired.'' In addition to the time savings, cost reductions have been equally dramatic. Although the project took more than four years and $10 million to complete, it is expected to save $21 million, or nearly $17,000 per aircraft, over the remaining life of the project. These savings will be passed on to Northrop's principal customer, the U.S. Navy. Northrop is more than halfway through its contract to deliver 1,442 Hornet jets to the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The jets are also used by the air forces of Australia, Canada and Spain. By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Covia tosses its hat into Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: reserve2 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: ROSEMONT, Ill. _ Airlines are jostling to extend their reservation systems beyond the tarmac and to the front door of the traveler's hotel room. Covia, the United Airlines affiliate that operates the Apollo network, launched its hotel reservations product last week, jumping into an arena already staked out by American Airlines. Covia Reserve will use the Apollo network but will be an independent product marketed directly to hotel chains, said Paul J. Mercurio, managing director at Covia Reserve. In March 1988, American affiliate AMR Information Services announced plans for AMR Confirm, a reservation system for hotel and car rental businesses. Mercurio said Covia Reserve will be targeted at the 20% of the market that consists of chains with between eight and 50 hotels. ``We can give them an interface to all the travel agents using the Apollo network or other reservation networks,'' Mercurio said. He noted that about 30% of all hotel bookings are made through airline computer reservation systems (CRS) such as Apollo but that many smaller chains lack centralized reservation systems or on-line connections to the approximately 30,000 travel agencies worldwide. Covia Reserve will be available immediately; that may give Covia a jump on AMR, which reported in January that it had completed the design phase of AMR Confirm. AMR, which is developing its hotel reservation network with Budget Rent-A-Car Corp., Hilton Hotels Corp. and Marriott Corp., has a 1991 target date to bring AMR Confirm on-line. If Covia can make its network operational immediately as planned, ``it would be a major competitive advantage,'' said International Data Corp. President Thomas E. Swithenbank. ``The real question is whether they can make it attractive for smaller chains and then put pressure on the larger chains to interface to it and pay a transit charge.'' John Heilner, vice-president of industry sales at New York's The Thomas Cook Group, the third-largest U.S. travel agency, said any service that promises to improve the efficiency of the hotel reservation industry would be welcome: ``From our standpoint, anything that can make us more efficient is a plus for our clients and a plus for hotels.'' Meanwhile, a group of 15 major chains is developing its own communications network. The Hotel Industry Switch Co., formed last October in a joint project with Murdock Electronic Publishing, Inc., is developing Ultraswitch for simplifying communications links between hotel and airline CRSs [CW, Nov. 28]. Each hotel will have a single interface to Ultraswitch, which would establish multiple links to the various airline CRSs. Final technical details of Ultraswitch are being set, and the 15- to 18-month development of the $8.5 million project is on track, said Jerry Petit, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Thisco member Quality Inns International, Inc. in Silver Spring, Md. By Ellis Booker, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Confirmed Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: reservsi Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Covia Reserve will be based on the reservation system used by Westin Hotels & Resorts, developed 10 years ago by United Airlines reservations group. At the hotels, Covia will network IBM Personal System/2 Model 50s using Token-Ring networks and provide a gateway into the Covia Reserve database. Existing hotel property management systems will be provided a gateway into the database. Covia Reserve now resides in a partition of the IBM 3090 200E Transaction Processing Facility hosts in Denver, but Paul J. Mercurio, managing director of Covia Reserve, promised a second-generation product in 1990 that will be implemented on an MVS host. <<<>>> Title : Xerox Star witness in dis Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1suit Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Xerox Corp. finally appears headed to court over the rights to its graphical user interface, which many view as the forerunner of the acclaimed Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh displays. However, the copier giant has not jumped into the middle of the contentious dispute Apple is waging against Microsoft Corp.'s Windows for alleged violation of Mac copyrights. Instead, it will tangle with a small database management and interpretation products firm, Metaphor Computer Systems, Inc. Technically, Xerox did not even pick this fight, as it was Metaphor that quietly filed suit late last month. But the smaller company claims it was merely taking preventive measures to ward off a copyright infringement suit that seemed imminent in the wake of two threatening letters from Xerox. The Star interface, developed by the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, has loomed over the battle between Apple and Microsoft. While Apple's suit claims Windows 2.03 infringes on copyrighted aspects of the Macintosh, industry analysts have questioned the validity of those copyrights because Star formed the basis of its Macintosh graphical user interface. It has been widely anticipated that Microsoft will challenge the copyrights on that basis. In late 1988, Xerox told Metaphor, which utilizes a proprietary operating system using icons (see story page 37), that it would need a license from Xerox. In February and March, that threat was backed up with two letters. As a result, Metaphor last month sought a judicial ruling that it has not infringed on any Xerox copyrights. Xerox declined last week even to confirm that the Star interface is the crux of its complaints with Metaphor. Nevertheless, ``this raises some questions about who owns that interface,'' said Peter Rogers, an industry analyst at Robertson, Colman and Stephens. ``The whole thing is starting to look like range warfare.'' Rogers said the conflict between Metaphor and Xerox could add further confusion to Apple's lawsuit against Microsoft. ``It plays into Microsoft's hands, since it may be that the technology belongs to someone other than Apple,'' he said. Founders' tale Two of Metaphor's founders, Don Massaro and Dave Liddle, were Xerox employees when they formed Metaphor in 1982. Liddle was responsible for Xerox's Star development team. According to court documents, the two men tried to interest Xerox in backing their start-up, informed Xerox of Metaphor's products and provided the company with a business plan. Xerox declined to invest in 1986. Then, late last year, it informed Metaphor of its interest. ``They didn't say, `Stop this or we'll kill you,' '' Liddle said. ``Their [communication] was not specific on what is being infringed upon.'' Xerox patent attorney Ronald Zibelli would not confirm that it is the Star interface that is in dispute, only that Star is an acronym for an early Xerox computer. ``It is that type of software,'' he said. Despite the legal filing, Liddle said that both sides are engaged in settlement negotiations. By Julie Pitta and J.A. Savage, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Motorola's 68030 clocked Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: motor2 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: AUSTIN, Texas _ Motorola, Inc. said last week that it has boosted the speed on its 68030 chip to 50 MHz, making it the fastest complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor currently on the market. According to Motorola, the chip offers 12 million instructions per second of performance. The introduction of a faster 68030 is the second microprocessor announcement from Motorola recently. Two weeks ago, Motorola unveiled its 68040, a microprocessor that combines floating-point and memory management functions on a single chip. The performance race is slated to intensify at Comdex/Spring '89, when Motorola rival Intel Corp. is expected to launch its 80486 microprocessor. Sources have said the 486 will run at 30 MHz; Intel has declined to offer any details on the long-awaited chip. System vendors are rushing to keep pace with the new chip introductions. So far, only Hewlett-Packard Co., Sony Corp. and Apollo Computer, Inc. have adopted the 33-MHz version of the 68030, which was introduced several months ago. Jeff Nutt, Motorola technical marketing manager, said he anticipates the 50-MHz 68030 will be adopted by systems manufacturers that are more performance-conscious. ``Some, like Apple, build in volume, and they're looking for the optimum price/performance point rather than raw performance,'' he explained. By Julie Pitta, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Erasable optical disks st Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: techie Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: The other shoe could soon fall in optical technology's bid to become an essential storage tool for corporate America. A few years back, the arrival of the write-once read-many (WORM) optical disk drive was hailed by MIS managers weary of crowding their shops with acres of large-scale direct-access storage devices (DASD). A single optical disk system could replace dozens of large-scale DASDs. But there was a flaw. While not being able to erase what is stored on an expensive optical platter was fine for applications such as legal and medical archiving, it was limiting for others. Enter the erasable disk. Erasable disks work by using a laser beam to erase the data bits that have been magnetically recorded on the disk. The new media ``can be erased and written on more than one million times,'' claimed Sony Corp. Chairman Masaaki Morita. Although erasable drives reached the commercial sector only last year, a latent demand promises to ensure that the market will flower quickly. Market research firm Freeman Associates, Inc. in Santa Barbara, Calif., estimated that more than 364,000 erasable optical drives will ship in 1992, up from 5,300 last year. Within three years, shipments of erasable drives will exceed those of WORM drives. The arrival of new technologies is also expected to fuel demand. Of the three technologies developed for erasable optical disk drives _ magneto-optic, phase-change and dye polymer _ only magneto-optic has been commercially available so far. Tough competition Consequently, vendor competition in the potentially lucrative area should become intense. Sony, Sharp Electronics Corp., Canon U.S.A., Inc. and Hitachi Ltd., among others, all have 5 -in. magneto-optic erasable drives, and a dozen suppliers could be clamoring for users' dollars by the end of this year, said Robert Abraham, vice-president at Freeman Associates. Meanwhile, Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. recently introduced the first 3 -in. erasable drive. The drive _ based on phase-change technology developed by Troy, Mich.-based Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. _ uses a thin film that coats the disk and serves as the recording medium. The film can be heated to alter its structure between a highly reflective crystalline state and a less reflective amorphous state. Varying the laser's power causes atoms in the film to switch between the two states; at low power, the beam can read out data on the disk. A direct overwrite system erases old data as new data is written. The good news for users is that prices should tumble 50% or more by 1993 as competition heats up, Abraham said. Like any virgin industry, a lack of standards has hampered the development of the disks. But that issue, too, is being addressed. Hewlett-Packard Co., Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Mitsubishi Electronics and several other companies recently announced support for a recording format for erasable 5 -in. optical disk cartridges. Although their support for the Continuous Composite Servo format for optical disk cartridges has not been approved by a standards body, it is an ambitious early attempt to forge a standard in a market where few official standards exist. Despite the many advantages of erasable disks _ fast random access and the ability to sponge away data that is no longer needed _ problems remain. Erasable optical disks are not exactly speed demons, because magneto-optic read-write heads are heavy. For example, an average DASD transfer rate to a mainframe is 3M byte/sec., but the transfer rate for the optical disk systems will be around 1M byte/sec., said Scott McCready, associate director of market research firm CAP International, Inc. Access time on erasable disks is also ``pitiful'' when compared with a Winchester drive, Abraham said. ``We're seeing several hundred gigabyte Winchester drives that run in the 13- to 16-msec range, but we may never see that performance from erasable media,'' he said. ``However, it ought to crash through the 30-msec barrier and hit 25 msec.'' Despite the rough spots, the promise of erasable optical disks has some users licking their chops. A Gartner Group, Inc. forecast that erasable optical disks were coming down the road in a year or two changed the purchasing plans of Walter Perkowski, vice-president of computer operations at Republic National Bank of New York, who said he is prepared to put off buying hard disks for ``another six months or so'' to see if the optical devices meet Gartner's predictions. By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Benchmark gains following Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: tp1 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: While the computing community has been clamoring for a single, clearly defined Debit/Credit benchmark standard, it appears probable that TP1, a subset of Debit/Credit, will gain widespread acceptance as well. According to Omri Serlin, chairman of the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC), database vendors favor the establishment of a second standard that tends to isolate the database function in processing transactions. The full Debit/Credit implementation, on the other hand, brings in variables such as terminal network configurations that blur the significance of the database software used, the database vendors believe. The TPC has been meeting regularly to define the Debit/ Credit standard but has not published specifications. Serlin said the TPC has not yet started dealing with TP1. Despite the ill-defined state of TP1, several vendors, including Software AG of North America, Inc. and Informix Software, Inc., recently released results of TP1 tests. Software AG also released Debit/Credit results, claiming a world record of 167 Debit/Credit transaction/sec. Its TP1 maximum was 388 transaction/sec. Unlike database management system vendors, Software AG favors Debit/Credit over TP1 because it sells a teleprocessing monitor that it claims can improve its results over those of competitors that do not offer teleprocessing monitors. Informix strove to achieve low cost per transaction in a Unix environment, claiming costs of $8,900 to $10,900 per transaction/sec. over a five-year period, depending on the system. Informix conducted its tests with Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. processors. Earlier, Informix announced 126 transaction/sec. on a 16-processor Sequent Symmetry system. Software AG calculated a transaction per second cost of approximately $38,600. Its tests were performed on a National Advanced Systems AS/EX 100, which offers power comparable to that of an IBM 3090 500S running IBM's MVS/XA. In Software AG's Debit/Credit run, no controller was actually used, although one was simulated. Whether to require a controller is one of the points the TPC is debating. The cost of configuring a mainframe with a communications controller deters many database vendors from undertaking full Debit/Credit implementations, said Peter Kastner, vice-president of the Boston-based Aberdeen Group, Inc., who observed the Software AG tests. The Software AG test was audited by Coopers & Lybrand, which noted that the sustained transaction throughput was 12 minutes for on-line Debit/Credit and five minutes for the 388-transaction TP1. Preliminary TPC guidelines require sustained performance for 15 minutes. By Stanley Gibson, CW staff <<<>>> Title : 3090 upgrade push on agai Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1moreesa Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: With few signs of a customer feeding frenzy for the MVS/ESA operating environment and the 3090 S models, IBM has shifted into high gear in an attempt to push its high-end package. Last week, the computer giant dangled another batch of incentives in front of customers, including a new 3090 Model 380S, a midrange model that features an asymmetrical processing capability that will also be made available on other S models. The asymmetrical capability lifts the constraint that required users to configure equal amounts of expanded storage and channels on both sides of a multiprocessing 3090 complex. With the asymmetrical feature, users can install only the amounts they require on either side, saving money on expanded storage. IBM also offered a promotional deal that gives users a 20% price break on central and expanded storage. The company said it will make available in June the system-managed storage function for MVS/DFP 3.1, another piece of the Enterprise Systems Architecture pie. One less incentive But along with the carrots, there was a stick. While enhancing the S model line, IBM also said it will do away with a growth incentive that in the past allowed new E model customers to receive a relatively inexpensive upgrade to a future S model. The option will be withdrawn in June because IBM is ``encouraging customers to go directly to S models,'' according to a company spokesman. Customers contacted last week said they like the new features and price breaks but not enough to rush to ESA or the high-end mainframes. Customer reaction mirrors the response IBM got with the last ESA lure it cast, which was less than two months ago. In February, IBM came out with a low-end S model, ESA software enhancements and price cuts on central and expanded storage. At that time, users reported that they would eventually move to ESA and the high-end mainframes, but the IBM announcement did not change their schedules. Not enticed ``My feelings remain static,'' said George DiNardo, an executive vice-president at Mellon Bank NA in Pittsburgh. ``I upgraded to E's because it was economical. I will buy a bigger machine when I need one.'' While IBM maintained that it is pleased with the number of ESA recruits and S model shipments, the company is certainly working hard to increase those figures. The newest S model, the 3090 Model 380S, features an asymmetrical capability, the latest treat offered for S users. The multiprocessing system is split with two processors on one side and one on the other. The 3090 Model 380S is scheduled to be available in November with a starting price of $7.9 million. IBM reported that other multiprocessing S models will be able to run the asymmetric capability later in the year. The feature will not be provided to E model users, according to Peter Tarrant, director of large-systems marketing and enterprise systems at IBM. A matter of balance The asymmetrical feature reportedly allows users to configure expanded storage and channels on both sides of the 3090 processing complex whichever way they want. Previously, users had to balance the same amount of both expanded storage and channels on each of the two sides. According to IBM's Tarrant, the asymmetrical capability can save users money, particularly in the case of expanded storage. In the past, customers had to buy the same amount of expanded storage for each processor side, no matter how much they really needed. ``We'll likely take them up on this,'' said John Wood, director of computer operations at the Royal Bank of Canada's headquarters in Toronto. ``We don't need a 380S, but we'll be putting in a couple of 500s, and I'd like to make them asymmetrical,'' he added. By Rosemary Hamilton, CW staff <<<>>> Title : System woes taxing IRS to Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 1irsnews Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: The Internal Revenue Service expects to process nearly 200 million tax returns and generate a record-breaking $1 trillion in tax revenue this year. But with each year, its outdated tax processing system is a step closer to complete overload, which a government watchdog agency predicts could occur as early as 1992. Although parts of the system have been upgraded over the years, its structure is still essentially the same design approved by Congress in 1959 and put into place in the 1960s. While the current tax season is proceeding smoothly, the IRS' track record of false starts, poor financial accounting and technological mishaps raises concern. The General Accounting Office _ the organization charged with evaluating the agency's information systems _ questions the IRS' ability to continue patching together the aging pieces of its computer operations and move forward with more aggressive plans. In an age when on-line access to information is commonplace, it can still take the IRS several weeks to answer a routine question on a return. The magnetic tape or paper document with taxpayer account data must be at the central storage facility and then shipped to the service center where the request was initiated. ``The IRS' telecommunications network is basically airplanes and trucks,'' said James Watts, associate director of the GAO's information management and technology division. IRS officials believe the present systems for processing tax returns _ Unisys Corp. computers run at the IRS' 10 service centers _ can carry them through 1994. However, Watts views that as optimistic. Still fresh in many minds is the memory of the disastrous 1985 filing season, when a switch to new computer systems at IRS service centers disrupted returns processing and hampered taxpayer services. Refund delays cost the IRS several million dollars in interest payments, and there were allegations that frustrated IRS employees were disposing of backlogged returns, said Dave Attianese, assistant director at the GAO's general government division. Abandoned attempts IRS history is littered with abandoned attempts to revamp its antiquated computer systems. As far back as the late 1960s, the IRS recognized the need to redesign its system and started planning for a modern system for the 1970s. But that costly attempt was killed by Congress, Watts recalled, and the IRS went back to trying to work with what it had. In 1982, with its system near capacity, the IRS established the current modernization program, the Tax System Redesign. Management turnover kept three different plans from getting past the conceptual stage, according to the GAO. With the appointment of a new assistant commissioner in 1982, the IRS embarked on its most recent plan, which calls for incremental change. However, after sinking nearly $70 million into the effort, there is still no tangible solution in sight, Watts contended. While the IRS has gained government support for its conceptual plan, the agency has yet to fill in the details of its future architecture. The massive overhaul required to take the agency into the 1990s will cost $3 billion to $5 billion over the life of the project, the GAO estimated. Goal is on-line tax data Tax System Redesign is basically designed to replace central tape-based master files with an on-line database system, employ optical technology to capture and store images of tax returns and put into place a communications network to allow on-line access and updating of taxpayer accounts. The objective is to put tax account data on-line, making it accessible to users from their workstations, according to Mark Cox, deputy assistant commissioner of the IRS' Information Systems Development group, which is responsible for the undertaking. Under the plan, modernization will happen incrementally, with an interim architecture envisioned for 1994; the target architecture should be in place by the end of the decade, according to Cox. The IRS is looking to certain leading-edge technologies for future applications. In an effort to tame the mountains of paper it handles, the IRS began exploring optical disk technology in 1981. Cox said the IRS plans to scan paper returns, which are currently stored at a cost of $34 million per year. Moreover, having an on-line image of the return will dramatically cut down response time. An artificial intelligence program was started in the mid-1980s, and more than a dozen projects are exploring ways to apply expert system techniques to areas such as examination and service as well as returns processing. By the early 1990s, expert systems may help identify potential taxpayer audits and capture valuable expertise otherwise lost by departing staff. Cox points to more down-to-earth progress as well, including a move from tape reels to cartridges and the development of an on-line central database of taxpayer records that will replace the current system, which requires sending weekly batch updates to service centers. The IRS is taking broader steps to improve its service. According to Carolyn Burstein, at the Office of Management and Budget, the IRS has embarked on a total quality management program designed to reduce errors and improve employee participation in decision making. ``They're not there yet, but they are doing all the right things,'' she said. The advent of a modern system of networked computers brings with it new concerns for the IRS _ chief among them security. The GAO's Watts observed that today the IRS is protected by the nature of its antiquated system: Having virtually no telecommunications network gives hackers little opportunity for accessing data. By Amy Cortese, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Tandem show of support Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: tandem5 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: CUPERTINO, Calif. _ Hoping to expand its role in large MIS shops, Tandem Computers, Inc. will announce this week that it is enhancing support for IBM mainframe and mixed-vendor local-area network environments. Tandem's three new products address three environments: IBM's Systems Network Architecture (SNA), the international Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) communications standard and the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) standard. Snax/CDF (Cross-Domain Facility), a new product for SNA communications, allows Tandem peer-to-peer communications with an IBM mainframe, said Jeff Tonkel, Tandem's manager of networking products. Tandem OSI/AS (Application Services) reaches into OSI environments and allows applications programmers to address Tandem machines through the fifth layer of the OSI seven-layer architecture. Tandem is also updating an older TCP/IP product with one that supports Ethernet LANs and the Unix 4.3 from University of California at Berkeley's sockets interface. Snax/CDF license fee prices start at $3,500; OSI/AS prices start at $2,500; TCP/IP product prices start at $4,000; and Expand/LAN software is available at no additional charge for those who have an Expand software license, Tandem said. By Jean S. Bozman, CW staff <<<>>> Title : News shorts Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 410short Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: FCC's Patrick steps down Dennis R. Patrick resigned last week as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission after five years with the FCC. Patrick, who will remain until a successor is sworn in, played a key role in FCC approval of price caps for AT&T long-distance rates and Open Network Architecture plans for regional holding companies. In other news, the FCC postponed until Wednesday a vote on AT&T's Tariff 12, which provides for custom voice and data networks within large organizations. Wang confirms cutbacks Word of departures from Wang Laboratories, Inc. approached flood level last week as the minicomputer vendor confirmed that close to 900 names have been deleted from the payroll over the past 90 days or so. Among the missing are 180 hardware field service employees laid off last month. However, most of the reduction has come from attrition, not layoffs, a company spokesman said. Meanwhile, Wang may have figured out the most alluring price of all for disaster protection: free. For the next six months, customers who sign up for the Wang Protection Package hardware services will also be covered for a year under Wang's Disaster Recovery Services. Wang said the deal amounts to a 15% discount on its hardware services plan. HP extends service plan Hewlett-Packard Co. last week expanded to worldwide availability a 24-hour, seven-day remote-diagnostics call-in service that it has been putting in place at selected response centers in the past several months. The goal is to give customers the same support in Singapore and Paris that they would get in downtown San Francisco, an HP official said. HP backs three T1 switches HP also announced support for three major T1 switch vendors, refuting speculation that it would acquire such a company. Citing the variety of T1 multiplexers at HP customer sites, an HP spokesman said, ``Rather than get into the fray ourselves, we decided to form relationships with the market leaders.'' HP said its X.25 packet switches can operate with Network Equipment Technologies, Inc., Digital Communications Associates, Inc. and Timeplex, Inc. T1 switches. HP also announced six X.25 products. DG sets network plans Seeking to position its minicomputers as network servers for personal computers, Data General Corp. plans to release several connectivity products today. The offerings include a micro-to-mainframe package featuring menus like those of Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 and a data dictionary. DG also plans a statement of direction promising Token-Ring products. 3Com targets Japanese market 3Com Corp. _ calling Japan one of the largest networking markets outside the U.S. _ and its Tokyo distributor, Soliton Systems K.K., have formed a jointly owned operation to address that market. The venture, called 3Com/Soliton, plans to supply products called 3+Open Kanji. The first product, 3+Open Kanji LAN Manager, will ship this summer. DEC adds net management options Digital Equipment Corp. has unwrapped two additions to its network services. The Local Area Interconnect Service is said to improve support for customers' local configurations of cable plant and interconnect hardware. An on-line database provides real-time access to that equipment inventory for 24-hour status of network elements and support for fault isolation. DEC's Wide Area Interconnect Service now sports an alarm feature designed to monitor various circuit characteristics and a hot-spare option for remote switching of a customer's spare modem. <<<>>> Title : EDS supplants Meritor Fin Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: edsgrab Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: PHILADELPHIA _ Financially battered by the savings and loan industry crisis and its own overexpansion, Meritor Financial Group is spelling relief E-D-S. Last week, Electronic Data Systems Corp. officially began work on a 10-year contract to handle all data processing and check processing for Meritor, which with about $10 billion in assets is one of the largest thrifts in the U.S. Meritor's 300 information systems employees were offered jobs at EDS, and ``all but a very small number accepted them,'' said Laurence Liss, formerly Meritor's senior vice-president of IS and planning control and now chief liaison to the EDS account management team. Meritor Chief Information Officer Larry Betsinger, however, will not be staying on. He will leave the firm early next month to pursue other opportunities. Betsinger was traveling last week and could not be reached for comment. Liss formerly reported to Betsinger. EDS' general policy in major processing contracts is to keep employees in their previous jobs, assess needs after an unspecified period and possibly offer the workers other jobs within EDS, spokesman Roger Still said. ``We want the initial transition to be as smooth as possible, but then there may be some positions that don't make sense,'' he said. ``We're not afraid to move people around, though we try to eliminate the need for them to relocate geographically.'' Meritor's decision to farm out its IS function was purely financial, said Liss, an 18-year veteran of the thrift. Top management made the decision last October, put the contract out for bid and chose processing services giant EDS last month. The thrift expects to save $40 million to $50 million over the course of the contract. Liss predicted that many other financially strapped savings and loan institutions with in-house IS may follow the same path. ``The phenomenon is purely one of economies of scale,'' he said. ``EDS can do it for less money than we can. In the financial services area, where there's a fair amount of homogeneity of applications, they're doing the same things for a lot of different people.'' Meritor's move follows the lead of two much larger companies in other industries to farm out their IS to processing services vendors: Enron Corp. also went with EDS, and Southland Corp. contracted with Affiliated Computer Systems, Inc. [CW, Nov. 14]. The possibility that EDS may consolidate Meritor's IS operation with other EDS accounts in a different location ``is up in the air at this point,'' Liss said. But the operations will remain in downtown Philadelphia at least through the end of this year. ``Our facility is larger than we need,'' Liss said. By Clinton Wilder, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Ardent rolls up its shirt Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: arboz Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: SUNNYVALE, Calif. _ Ardent Computer Corp. says it has only just begun to fight. The 3-year-old graphics supercomputer start-up has already shipped 200 of its Titan systems, 132 to paying customers. But, according to Ardent Chief Executive Officer Allen H. Michels, the units have yet to reach many commercial sites. Michels, who said recently that he anticipates shipping nearly the same number of systems this year, is not worried. The company is still growing on its original bankroll of $57 million in venture capital _ $44 million of it from Kubota Ltd., a Japanese manufacturer of industrial equipment. Even as industry analysts fault him for failing to ship more systems, Michels said he is negotiating sales to national research laboratories and to universities. Ardent is ramping up both production capacity and staffing in anticipation of multiple sales in the commercial sector in the early 1990s, according to Michels. Kubota is expanding the Japanese factory where all Ardent machines are made. Ardent's staff of 205 is expected to reach 275 by year's end; 60 of the new hires, Michels noted, will be in research and development. Michels said he believes Ardent will ride the crest of a hardware trend now under way: The dramatic drop in hardware costs is bringing interactive supercomputing to the laboratory or desktop at minicomputer prices. Whatever success Ardent has will come slowly and in stages, according to Michels. ``It's on the development side where you'll begin to see our Titan machines,'' he predicted (see story page 113). ``You may even see them lined up side by side. Price/ performance is everything in our business right now. Later on, it will be less so. Later, it'll be more dependent on applications.'' Titans cost between $80,000 and $150,000 each. Michels declined to say how much Ardent is making. Commercial applications should emerge, Michels said, within the development divisions of major pharmaceutical, chemical and aerospace companies. But some industry analysts are skeptical about Ardent's chances of breaking out as a large-scale manufacturer of minisupers. ``The problem they're running into is that they found a niche that closed up very quickly,'' said Chris Willard, senior industry analyst at Dataquest, Inc. in San Jose, Calif. ``It remains to be seen if there's a large segment of the market which has $100,000 to spend for just a few users.'' Willard explained that technical and scientific users now have the ability to choose ever more powerful reduced instruction set computing (RISC)-based workstations that perform visualization applications at a price of $20,000 and up. At the same time, supercomputer vendors such as Cray Research, Inc. and Control Data Corp. have lowered the entry price of true supercomputers to less than $2 million. Having a business partner like Kubota could help Ardent survive any coming industry shakeout in the minisuper segment (see story page 111), said analyst Jeffry Canin. ``Kubota is a business partner with deep pockets,'' Canin said. ``Like other Japanese firms, they're adopting a long-range perspective when they make investments. It's really too early to say whether Ardent will be a success or a bust. You really have to wait a couple of years, and Ardent can afford to do that.'' Before most commercial sites will even try Ardent hardware, they want to see working software applications. ``Many of the large companies don't even want to see a machine until they see those applications running,'' explained Gale Aguilar, Ardent's vice-president of industry marketing. For that reason, Ardent has also started a program under which Titan application software is being produced by scientific laboratories and universities. Among the participants are NASA/Ames Research Center in Northern California, Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif. Michels, a co-founder of Convergent Technologies, Inc., now part of Unisys Corp., hired a team of computer industry all-stars for his latest venture. Gordon Bell, designer of the Digital Equipment Corp. VAX machine, is Ardent's vice-president of engineering, research and development, and Gregory Hopwood, formerly director of technical support at Gould, Inc.'s Computer Systems Division, is vice- president of product marketing. In January, they were joined by Aguilar, a 27-year IBM veteran who was vice-president of marketing at Prime Computer, Inc. in Natick, Mass. By Jean S. Bozman, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Mapping the road to survi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: minisupe Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: While meteorologists will look back on the past year as the time of the great drought, the computer industry will remember it as the period when the minisupercomputer industry dried up. The market's dozen or so major players are now engaged in a frantic game of bumper cars, and the stakes may be nothing short of survival. Meanwhile, the specter of losses, layoffs and shakeouts hovers nearby. The damage began last year with a vengeance: Celerity Computing began handing out pink slips in February 1988. Faced with bankruptcy, the firm was then acquired by Floating Point Systems, Inc., which soon initiated layoffs of its own. In July, Prime Computer, Inc. wrote off $5.1 million in sundering its agreement with minisuper maker Cydrome, Inc., and Alliant Computer Systems Corp. recorded its first quarterly loss. Later that month, Saxpy Computer Corp. put up a for-sale sign. In January, Alliant axed one-fifth of its positions. Analysts said problems began when vendors focused on bettering their competitors' technical specifications and gave little thought to user concerns. ``Customers don't care about Linpacks; they care about how their own tapes, running their own applications, are going to do based on wall-clock time,'' said Gary Smaby, managing director of Needham & Co., a market research firm. Besides a disarming lack of software, a perpetual product transition created fundamental problems, Smaby said. ``Customers get confused,'' he said, ``and they delay purchases, which leads to reduced revenue.'' Only Convex Computer Corp. seems to have healthy financials. The Richardson, Texas-based company logged 1988 revenue of $105.6 million, a 52% increase over 1987. But the smoke has yet to clear, and several vendors are shoring up their defenses. Alliant, for example, added greater visualization capability to its minisuper line, while Multiflow announced plans to merge with workstation manufacturer Adage, Inc. [CW, March 27]. Not all such strategies have been successful. ``Scientific Computer Systems tried to be a Cray look-alike and found that people preferred the real thing,'' said Bob Trier, director of technical programs at Research Consortium, Inc. in Minneapolis. SCS has since switched its efforts over to high-performance networking. Minisuper vendors are also feeling the heat from above. Graphics supercomputer maker Stellar Computer, Inc. last week announced a machine that it claims offers the performance of a minisuper at less than one-third the price. Some say this shakeout is just the tonic the niche needs to survive. ``The maturation process is complete,'' Trier said. ``Sure, there'll be some more shifting, but I think we'll be seeing even more entrants into the market.'' Still, if the lean days in the minisuper field pass, the survivors in what is estimated to be a $1.5 billion market by 1991 may find they have endured only to see their harvest gathered by industry giants such as Digital Equipment Corp. and IBM. IBM seeks to promote vector facilities as attractive add-ons to its 3090 mainframes. Meanwhile, rumors continue to surface that DEC might enter the market with a VAX vector processing machine, possibly as early as September of this year. Computer Intelligence, a market research firm, estimates that more than 20,000 high-end 8800 series VAXs are installed; analysts estimate the number of minisupers at around 700. Smaby said DEC could capture 20% of the market within a year of a product introduction. By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Wild world Author : Nell Margolis Source : CW Comm FileName: 410stock Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: In the wake of recent stock shocks from IBM, Digital Equipment Corp. and Unisys Corp., high-tech investments last week seemed to be going by the book _ in this case, The World According to Garp. In John Irving's novel, both hero and reader get so conditioned to downers that the question becomes not whether there will be a next disappointment, but when it will occur. It looked last week as if Tandem Computers, Inc.'s second-quarter revenue growth, while significant, would underperform Wall Street expectations, largely because of a European sales shortfall. Tandem stock closed Thursday at 14 , down 2 points. IBM's midweek product debuts did not keep its falling stock from losing an additional 1 points by Thursday; it closed at 108. DEC, last seen inching upward, slid back 2 points to a Thursday close at 96. Sungard Data Systems, Inc.'s stock slipped on the strength of IBM's announcement of its imminent entry into the disaster recovery market. Investors, however, opted for Sungard's ``market validation'' spin on the IBM entry. Sungard closed at 14 , up of a point from the week's start. NELL MARGOLIS <<<>>> Title : EDI software package roun Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ibmedi Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. _ IBM last week achieved its goal of becoming a full-source provider in the burgeoning electronic data interchange (EDI) market with the announcement of software that translates a variety of business documents into standardized EDI formats. The IBM Expedite Data Interchange software series supports all of the vendor's Systems Application Architecture systems, IBM said. By translating proprietary formats to EDI standards such as ANSI X12 protocols, the software product permits business documents to be exchanged electronically, speeding communications between business partners such as manufacturers, suppliers and distributors. The software offerings complement EDI services currently offered by IBM Information Network, a value-added network service based in Tampa, Fla. IBM already offers the Expedite Communicator Series, which support a variety of communications interfaces _ including a direct link to Information Network via a Remote Job Entry link. ``You don't have to use Communicator to access Information Network, but obviously IBM would prefer you did,'' company spokesman Andrew Russell said. Ace Hardware Corp., an Oakbrook, Ill.-based hardware retail chain, currently uses Information Network to communicate with its dealer-owned stores and is thinking about using the service for EDI as well, according to Don Schuman, Ace's director of information services. Ace, along with a number of other hardware retailers, currently uses EDI software and services provided by Sterling Software, Inc.'s Ordernet Services division but is thinking about moving to a less expensive, X12-based service, Schuman said. The total EDI market will skyrocket to $1.9 billion by 1993, according to Mountain View, Calif., research firm Input (see chart at right). But while EDI services are signing up new customers in droves, network traffic is still light, according to Mark Winther, director of communications services at New York research firm Link Resources Corp. Link projected that the third-party EDI services market will grow from $90.7 million this year to $316.2 million in 1992. On the other hand, EDI software is already in great demand, as users implement EDI as part of their just-in-time and quick-response systems, Winther said. ``IBM's move is a good one,'' he concluded. Still, IBM will have to differentiate its products from an already-crowded market, Winther added. One important issue is how well IBM will be able to identify and address the EDI needs of specific business sectors, he said. IBM announced last week that its Systems Integration Division will be offering EDI consulting, education and systems integration as well as turnkey offerings. The vendor will also provide EDI integration through value-added resellers in its Business Partners program, IBM's Russell said. The Expedite Data Interchange series is said to provide translation into the U.S. EDI standard and X12, as well as Edifact standards that are backed by the United Nations as a way to converge U.S. and European EDI standards, IBM said. Software will be provided for the IBM Personal System/2, Application System/400, System/38 and IBM MVS/ESA and MVS/ XA mainframes, with a VM version to come. Availability dates range from immediately for the MVS/XA version, priced from $14,750 to $38,000, to the first quarter of 1990 for the PS/2 version, which is priced at $4,000. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW staff <<<>>> Title : IBM shave PS/2 prices Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: ps2 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. _ IBM reduced the prices of its popular Personal System/2 Model 50Z and Model 70 systems last week and also introduced a new version of the low-end Model 30. The 50Z was reduced in price by 20%, bringing a 30M-byte fixed-disk system down to $3,250; the price of a 60M-byte fixed disk system came down to $3,650. The Model 70 with a 60M-byte hard disk was shaved 8% to $5,494. IBM also introduced a PS/2 Model 30 for $1,695 with one diskette drive and storage options, including a second diskette drive, a 20M-byte hard drive or a $950 30M-byte hard drive. <<<>>> Title : Snipe the hype Author : Peter Bartolik Source : CW Comm FileName: microclm Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Dueling press releases aside, the clear-cut loser so far in the legal battle over Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2.03 is marketing hype. Due to the fact that the Seattle Slinger was undercut by its own marketing claims, the scorecard in this corner gives the first round to Apple Computer, Inc. Keep in mind that Microsoft and Apple are readying for a legal conference this Friday on the next stages in the copyright infringement battle. Nevertheless, industry pundits are rabidly debating the words issued March 21 by U.S. District Judge William W. Schwarzer and the competing claims of victory quickly issued by both companies. Never one to hesitate in donning the pundit's robe when he edited this section, your humble scribe decided to take keyboard in hand and see what spin he could put on the muddy catfight. So, with the press releases relegated to the round file and a deaf ear turned to the official spin controllers, your would-be paralegal went right to the written Memorandum of Decision and Order penned by the honorable Judge Schwarzer. It's a pretty simple document to read, given the technology issues involved and the fact that it was drafted within days of a hearing on motions from Apple and Microsoft. The pretty simple fact that comes out of that reading is that there is to date no clear winner or loser in the courtroom, although the user community may indirectly benefit from this precedent if the industry takes note that Microsoft was damaged by its own advertising campaign. To sum it up, the judge ruled that, yes, Microsoft had a valid license to use certain visual aspects of Apple's Macintosh technology in Windows 1.0 and future products. Great for Microsoft, you would think. But, in a stunning challenge to standard software industry practice, Judge Schwarzer held that Windows 2.03 is significantly different from Windows 1.0. That, he said, repudiates Microsoft's claim that a licensing agreement from Apple for the earlier Windows product can be extended to the later, enhanced product. Now, your humble hacker has used both versions of Microsoft's interface, and, other than the fact that the boss coughed up the bucks for an Enhanced Graphics Adapter screen that provides for colorized Windows, he would swear that 2.03 was merely an enhancement of 1.0. Being somewhat jaded about marketing campaigns, this casual personal computer enthusiast didn't listen when Microsoft said 2.03 was a new and wonderful product featuring overlapping, rather than tiled windows displays. Well, the judge apparently puts more significance on marketing claims than you'll ever find in these pages. He noted that a key claim to fame of 1.0 was the fact that Windows did not overlap and that users for it were advised they would ``never `lose' a window.'' When marketing 2.03 as a ``new visual interface with overlapping windows,'' Microsoft pointed out that a key difference in the later product was that it did not use tiled windows. Hence, in the judge's view, 1.0 and 2.03 have ``fundamentally different'' visual displays. Score Round 1 for Apple, but don't wire any congratulations to John Sculley just yet. All it means is that the licensing agreement for Microsoft to produce Windows 1.0 is not a complete defense for what it did with 2.03. Despite the churnings of Apple and Microsoft public relations staffers, he has yet to rule that what appears in the overlapping windows of 2.03 infringe upon Apple's copyrights, or even whether Apple's copyrights are valid. There is a clear message here for the software industry to cut back on the marketing hype. The ruling from this would-be pundit holds that Microsoft weakened its best legal hedge _ the licensing agreement _ by overselling 2.03 as more than a well-thought-out enhancement of 1.0. If the industry learns a lesson from that, we'll all be better off. By Peter Bartolik; Bartolik is Computerworld's news editor. <<<>>> Title : A deal on storage Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: esaside Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: IBM's price break on memory last week was the third time in two months that those price tags have been trimmed. The latest promotion offers customers discounts in the 20% range for both central and expanded storage if they buy before September. In February, IBM reduced the prices by 11% for the initial expanded storage purchase and 17% for additional increments. Central storage was cut by 9%. At the same time, it offered customers another $50,000 off total memory costs if they made their purchase by June. The latest promotional deal replaces this one. When asked if the 20% promotional deal was enough incentive to make a purchase, Louis Mickler, data center manager at Pacific Telecomm, Inc., said, ``It sure would be if we needed it. We just went from a 200E to a 400E and doubled our real memory. We don't have a need for expanded storage right now.'' <<<>>> Title : Executive briefing Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: a10brief Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: What to do with those old personal computers? Companies are taking different routes: passing them to clerical employees, offering them for home use or donating them to charity. The risk is separating employees into haves and have-nots as PCs are distributed and redistributed through organizations. Page 71. Faster chips will be the news at Comdex/Spring '89 this week, with the announcement of the Intel 80486 chip along with a half-dozen systems based on the 33-MHz 80386. But don't bother looking for software to exploit it, page 37. Planning pays off when buying PCs for high-end functions such as CASE, CAD and LAN server jobs. It's better to get what you need up front than add on later, page 71. Break down organizational walls to get the most from information systems, say Nolan Norton consultants. They cite such successful examples as Federal Express' package-tracking system, which shares information among operations, customer service and accounting. Other examples are on page 61. Information systems are the key to business success in the 1990s, an Arthur Young study says. But investments in technology have to be accompanied by organizational changes and training. Page 62. Hotel rooms are the next battleground for strategic IS. Covia, the United Airlines affiliate, has joined American Airlines in extending its airline system to encompass hotel reservations. A consortium of hotels is also working on its own network. Page 16. Users in the news: Fighter jet maker Northrop converts 16,000 pages of documentation into a six-ounce packet of microfiche, page 27. The Baltimore Sun shakes dependence on a single vendor and adopts industry-standard products for a high-speed page layout and graphics network, page 49. A rural Utah county government proves that leading-edge technology doesn't mean big city. The MIS manager uses 386s, fiber optics and multitasking PCs as part of a downsizing effort, page 44. IBM will now help handle troublesome projects like designing or moving a data center, and some IS managers say the arrangement works well as long as the firm is treated as a hired hand rather than a friend, page 27. Users can now buy directly from IBM, and that may be an opportunity for IS. By leading the charge toward corporate standards and new technology and running an effective network, IS departments can expand their influence, page 19. Oracle goes on LANs with the release of the database manager for Banyan's Vines, and an Oracle official hints at fundamental pricing changes on client-server networks. Page 14. The interface wars escalate as Xerox finally files suit. But it's taking on tiny Metaphor rather than getting embroiled in the Apple-Microsoft spat. Page 1. <<<>>> Title : Update Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: blurb410 Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Future shock. In Japan, a typical 10th- or 11th-grade student logs nearly 40 hours of homework per week, compared with 15 for an average U.S. student, with the accent in Japanese high school studies increasingly on technical subjects. While U.S. students spend weekday afternoons on the ballfield, their Japanese counterparts get additional college prep training at juku, or cram schools. Only one Japanese teen in 20 fails to graduate from high school. Oh, yeah _ the South Koreans view the Japanese, who are moving toward a standard five-day workweek, as lazy. Sushi, anyone? <<<>>> Title : Saber Software, Inc. has Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsabers Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Saber Software, Inc. has introduced an enhanced version of Saber-C, its C language development environment that reportedly allows software engineers to prototype, test and debug C programs twice as fast as the previous version. Release 2.1 is for use under X.11 Windows or Sun Microsystems, Inc. Windows and runs on both Sun workstations and Digital Equipment Corp. VAX computers. The software package is priced at $2,500. Saber Software 30 JFK St. Cambridge, Mass. 02138 617-876-7636 <<<>>> Title : Sterling Software's Dylak Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swsterli Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Sterling Software's Dylakor Division has announced an enhanced version of Dyl-Audit, its fourth-generation language auditing and financial system. The software runs on an IBM MVS, VSE or VM environment and can be equipped with a full-screen menu-driven editor to assist with the development of programs under TSO, CICS or CMS, the vendor said. Version 4.9 reportedly has been optimized for letter processing, a feature that checks for unspecified blanks and eliminates them, thus enabling the printer to generate the fewest possible lines. Dyl-Audit Version 4.9 is priced from $15,155 to $27,000. Sterling Software Dylakor Division 9340 Owensmouth Ave. Chatworth, Calif. 91313 818-718-8877 <<<>>> Title : GMD, Inc., an IBM Busines Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swgmdinc Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: GMD, Inc., an IBM Business Partner, has announced a software enhancement for the IBM Manufacturing Accounting and Production Information Control System environment. The Material Availability System reportedly provides a common source for all corporate planning functions and allows status questions on orders, purchase requisitions and manufacturing resource planning requirements via a single menu option, the vendor said. The software package runs on IBM midrange systems and is priced at $4,000. GMD 8601 Dunwoody Place Atlanta, Ga. 30350 404-587-0934 <<<>>> Title : Medicomp of Virginia, Inc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: swmedico Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Medicomp of Virginia, Inc. has introduced an electronic medical records and clinical information system for the health care industry. The Medicomp system reportedly creates a complete health-care information system with separate modules for record keeping, diagnostics, pharmacy and laboratory data. The package runs on a wide range of computers, including the IBM Series 1 and Intel Corp. 80286- and 80386-based computers under DOS or AT&T's Unix System V, the company said. Modules range from $600 to $150,000. Medicomp 9526-A Lee Highway Fairfax, Va. 22031 703-591-0914 <<<>>> Title : Generic Software, Inc. ha Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micgener Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Generic Software, Inc. has released an upgraded version of Generic CADD Level 1 for Apple Computer, Inc.'s Macintosh computer. Version 1.1 reportedly includes a Macintosh-to-MS-DOS transfer utility, multiline text placement and backwards-redraw capabilities. Two additional fonts have been incorporated for engineering and architectural applications, according to the vendor. The computer-aided design and drafting package costs $149.95. Generic Software 11911 N. Creek Parkway S. Bothell, Wash. 98011 206-487-2233 <<<>>> Title : MMC AD Systems has releas Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micmmcad Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: MMC AD Systems has released updated versions of the C Programmer's Toolbox Volumes I and II for IBM Personal Computers and compatibles. The Toolbox is a set of 21 tools reportedly designed to enhance programmer productivity. According to the vendor, Volume I Rev. 1.3 and Volume II Rev. 1.1 now include support for the new draft ANSI standard, simplified code generation capabilities and a number of bug fixes. A hard disk is highly recommended. Volumes I and II retail for $79.95 each, or $140 for both, according to the company. MMC AD Systems Box 360845 Milpitas, Calif. 95035 408-263-0781 <<<>>> Title : Polytron Corp. has announ Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micpolyt Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Polytron Corp. has announced a developer's toolkit version of the company's Polyawk programming language. Called Polyawk Toolkit, the product reportedly includes a translator that allows developers to create and distribute stand-alone, executable programs. The programs created with the translator do not require Polyawk to run, nor is a runtime license required, according to the vendor. The product requires OS/2 or MS-DOS 2.0 or greater for operation, the company said. Scheduled to ship this month, the package is priced at $295. Polytron 1700 N.W. 167th Place Beaverton, Ore. 97006 800-547-4000 <<<>>> Title : Tektronix, Inc. has annou Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: mictektr Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Tektronix, Inc. has announced X Window System Version 11, Release 3.0, for all Tektronix 4310 series graphics workstations. According to the company, the standard will reportedly be available with the release of Tektronix' Utek 4.0 operating system, due in the first quarter. It was designed to provide users with improved graphics and windowing capabilities. The X Window System is a communication standard and user interface that allows Tek Workstation users to access X Window System client applications running on a variety of host computer platforms, the vendor said. The Tektronix 4319 color graphics workstation is priced at $11,950. Tektronix P.O. Box 1000 Wilsonville, Ore. 97070 503-685-2838 <<<>>> Title : A single-user workstation Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micoptic Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: A single-user workstation for capturing compact disk/read-only memory (CD-ROM) or CD-Audio data onto a compact disk has been introduced by Optical Media International. The Topix Spectrum System is reported to be a multiformat CD workstation with an integrated CD recorder. Users can assemble, format and record CDs in-house at a cost of less than $100 per disk. The Intel Corp. 80286-based desktop system is priced at approximately $150,000, depending on the user's applications and option requirements. Optical Media International 485 Alberto Way Los Gatos, Calif. 95032 408-395-4332 <<<>>> Title : A product designed to ext Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micameri Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: A product designed to extend the life of half-height hard disks used in personal computers is now available from American Technology Labs. According to the vendor, PC Disksaver is a fan the size of a half-height disk unit that mounts below a half-height disk in an IBM Personal Computer, XT, AT or clone system. The device reportedly cools the disk temperature by as much as 30 degrees and is priced at $39.95. American Technology Labs 115 W. 3rd St. Stevensville, Mont. 59870 800-223-9758 <<<>>> Title : International Communicati Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netinter Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: International Communications Equipment Corp. (ICE) has introduced a product that incorporates a five-port active hub and an Arcnet interface onto a single board, according to the vendor. Called the Icecard-5, the device reportedly resides in a local-area network server and can support as many as 35 users without the use of extra hubs. The product is compatible with Novell, Inc.'s RX-NET and is priced at $349. ICE Suite E 17945 Skypark Circle Irvine, Calif. 92714 714-660-0191 <<<>>> Title : Executive briefing Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: a10brief Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: It was a busy week for IBM as it announced mainframes, electronic data interchange (EDI) and disaster recovery products and services. New incentives make moving to S models and the ESA operating system more attractive, page 1. Software translates a variety of business documents into standardized EDI formats, page 137. A disaster recovery service is now available on a limited basis with fees ranging up to $45,000 per month per machine, page 136. By the way, there are also new 9370s, page 136. Thrift shuts down IS operation and farms the work out to EDS. Most employees take new jobs with the service bureau. The reasons are purely financial, page 8; Burger King's MIS director resigns after 18 months on the job, continuing the company's high turnover rate in that position, page 8. <<<>>> Title : A two-dimensional graphic Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micdiehl Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: A two-dimensional graphics software package for computer-aided design applications is now available from Diehl Graphsoft, Inc. Called Blueprint, the product runs on Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh computers and reportedly offers multiple layers, object-by-object color and precise zoom capabilities. Additional features include a hierarchical symbol library and a built-in DXF translator, the company said. The package is priced at $449. Diehl Graphsoft Suite 202 8370 Court Ave. Ellicott City, Md. 21043 301-461-9488 <<<>>> Title : Jasmine Technologies, Inc Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micjasmi Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Jasmine Technologies, Inc. has introduced a line of external hard drives for Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh computers. The Directdrive series is available in 20M-, 40M-, 80M-, 100M-, 140M- and 300M-byte configurations, the vendor said. All units will be be shipped with a proprietary system management software that reportedly provides Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) partitioning and full support for the A/UX operating system. Pricing for the Directdrive series ranges from $549 for a 20M-byte configuration to $2,795 for the 300M-byte version. All units include a full two-year warranty, according to the company. Jasmine Technologies 1740 Army St. San Francisco, Calif. 94124 415-282-1111 <<<>>> Title : A laser printer for engin Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micbroth Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: A laser printer for engineers involved in computer-aided design and manufacturing applications has been introduced by Brother International Corp. Called the HL-8E, the 8 page/min printer reportedly features Hewlett-Packard Co. Graphics Language emulation. It can be used as a desktop companion to offload plotter usage and alleviate backlogs, the vendor said. HL-8E is priced at $2,895. Brother International 8 Corporate Place Piscataway, N.J. 08855 201-981-0300 <<<>>> Title : A handheld remote-control Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micforte Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: A handheld remote-control device designed for use with IBM Personal Computers and compatibles has been announced by Forte Communications, Inc. According to the company, the Remote Keyboard controls a PC's display much the same way a remote unit controls a television set. A user can reportedly manipulate a PC's program from distances of up to 50 feet. The unit is said to be ideal for classroom and presentation use and is priced at $395. Forte Communications 680 W. Maude Ave. Sunnyvale, Calif. 94086 408-733-5100 <<<>>> Title : GTCO Corp. has introduced Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micgtcoc Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: GTCO Corp. has introduced the Digi-Pad Super L Series large graphic digitizers. The devices were designed to supersede the company's L Series product line and have been reconfigured with several additional features, the vendor said. Enhancements reportedly include a built-in setup menu that allows users to select key operating parameters via a cursor or stylus. An active area outline is permanently marked on the tablet surface to aid in positioning drawings and application menus. The products are available in five different tablet sizes ranging from 17 in. by 24 in. to 42 in. by 60 in. and are priced from $2,000. GTCO 7125 Riverwood Drive Columbia, Md. 21046 301-381-6688 <<<>>> Title : Optima, Inc. has annouced Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micoptim Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Optima, Inc. has annouced Designvision ELS, an entry-level version of its Designvision computer-aided software engineering tool. According to the company, the product runs on any personal computer-based workstation with 640K bytes of memory and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2.0 or later. The package reportedly uses predefined models for 10 common diagraming methods such as Warnier/Orr, Yourdon and Chen Entity-Relationship. Each model can be customized for individual computing environments. Designvision ELS costs $995 per single copy. Optima Suite 400 1300 Woodfield Road Schaumburg, Ill. 60173 800-633-6303 <<<>>> Title : A portable data acquisiti Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micelexo Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: A portable data acquisition system that offers 16 channels of analog and 8 bits of digital I/O has been announced by Elexor Associates, Inc. The TD-4000 incorporates a Toshiba America, Inc. 1000 Plus portable computer, an internal data acquistion module and a set of software tools, according to the vendor. The system was reportedly designed to perform logging, measurement and analysis functions in a field environment. TD-4000 is priced at less than $2,000. Elexor Associates P.O. Box 246 Morris Plains, N.J. 07950 201-299-1615 <<<>>> Title : A rack-mount expansion ch Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: micsigma Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: A rack-mount expansion chassis that supports up to four 5 -in. removable Winchester drives has been announced by Sigma Information Systems. Designated the SA-H188, the chassis contains a front console with write-protect and ready switches for each drive. It also includes a controller I/O panel, the vendor said. The product costs $1,270, and quantity discounts are available. Sigma 3401 E. LaPalma Ave. Anaheim, Calif. 92806 714-630-5417 <<<>>> Title : A dot matrix printer desi Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netcitoh Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: A dot matrix printer designed to function as a shared networking device in local-area networking environments has been introduced by C. Itoh Electronics, Inc. The 18-wire Prowriter CI-5000 reportedly features four print speeds and is compatible with the IBM Proprinter XL, Epson America, Inc.'s FX-286E and Digital Equipment Corp.'s LA210, LA75 and LA50 dot matrix printers. The unit outputs 540 char./sec. in draft mode at 12 char./in. and 73 char./ sec. at 10 char./in. in letter-quality mode, according to the vendor. Standard features include bottom and rear paper loading and a 15-character display, multifunction control panel. Scheduled for availability in the second quarter, the printer will carry a price tag of $1,995, with quantity discounts available. C.Itoh Electronics 2505 McCabe Way Irvine, Calif. 92714 714-660-1421 <<<>>> Title : American Data Technology, Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: netameri Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: American Data Technology, Inc. is offering enhanced software with its Smartfax facsimile boards. Designed for IBM Personal Computers and compatibles, Massfax provides mail-merge and broadcast-distribution capabilities. The software is bundled with the Smartfax boards and costs $664. American Data Technology 44 W. Bellevue Drive Pasadena, Calif. 91105 818-578-1339 <<<>>> Title : HP pact may shield 3Com f Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: 3com8k Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ Speak softly and carry a big stick. It worked for Teddy Roosevelt, and it may work for 3Com Corp. There's more to the recently trumpeted alliance between 3Com and Hewlett-Packard Co. than meets the eye. Buried in fine print under the backslapping technology, marketing and service agreements is wording that could erect an imposing barrier to any attempt to take over 3Com. In late February, the two vendors strengthened their longtime relationship with a series of joint development and OEM pacts cemented by an agreement that allows HP to purchase up to 10% of 3Com's stock, based on certain sales factors [CW, Feb. 27]. In the aftermath of that announcement, analysts wondered whether the deal was a prelude to an HP buyout or merely insurance for 3Com. What the two vendors did not reveal is spelled out in 3Com's 8K Report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Feb. 27. The language appears to ensure that HP has right of first refusal should 3Com feel inclined to entertain any buyout or merger offers. 3Com Chairman William Krause confirmed that the measure is a poison pill of sorts. However, he insisted that 3Com has no plans to forfeit its independence, which he said adds to the company's value. ``It's obvious that 3Com is worried about someone taking them over. Every week, one of those [LAN] guys is up for sale,'' said one industry observer. According to the 8K Report, in the event that 3Com decides to accept a tender offer for more than 25% of its outstanding voting stock or a similar proposal for a merger or acquisition that would transfer control of 3Com, it must give HP a chance to counteroffer. Further, if HP offers a higher price per share, 3Com must accept or recommend to shareholders that they agree to HP's offer. Other terms of the agreement mandate that once HP's holdings reach 8% of 3Com voting stock, 3Com's board of directors will expand to make room for an HP representative. In return, 3Com gains the right of first refusal on sales by HP of 3Com stock. The agreement expires after seven years or can be terminated by either party after three years upon six months notice. ``This is going to sound egotistical, but computer network companies represent a balance of power. If 3Com were to become part of another computer company through an unplanned or undesirable mechanism, that balance would be upset,'' said Krause, a former HP executive. Krause claimed that HP and Digital Equipment Corp. have made it clear to 3Com, both in words and through their actions, that they would like the network supplier to remain an independent company. Although Krause was quick to quash any talk of merger, he said more minority investments in 3Com can be expected. By Patricia Keefe, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Following IBM, Amdahl rai Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: amdcost Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: Amdahl Corp. raised list prices last week on its mainframes and high-end storage processors by 5%. IBM started the price spiral late last month. But while list prices may be rising, they may have little to do with selling prices. In February, Ed Thompson, Amdahl chief financial officer, said that in the field, the company was having to discount its products due to competition from IBM. ``IBM Credit Corp. has been very aggressive. It's being used as a discounting device on a tactical basis,'' Thompson said. Last week, Thompson said ``it's too early to tell'' whether the price increases will make a difference in actual sales prices. He maintained that list prices could be raised concurrently with further discounts. The price rise affects all mainframes and the 6100 storage processor. Amdahl's high-end mainframe, the 5990 Model 1400, went from $11.3 million to $11.87 million. Amdahl maintained that the price hikes still keep the company's products about 15% lower than comparable products from IBM. By J.A. Savage, CW staff <<<>>> Title : Stellar launches low-cost Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: stellar Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: NEWTON, Mass. _ Graphics supercomputer maker Stellar Computer, Inc. began circling the struggling minisupercomputer market last week with introductions that included a machine reportedly capable of offering a minisuper's performance at less than one-third the price. It also announced 12% to 15% price cuts on its GS1000 Graphics Supercomputer as a result of memory component price reductions, among other factors. Although the graphics supercomputer market has not taken off as quickly as Stellar had hoped [CW, Feb. 6], the new products and price cuts could draw much-needed dollars into the coffers of the company, which is reportedly investigating another round of investor financing. The DS1000 Departmental Supercomputer uses a parallel multiprocessor architecture to sustain a processing speed of 25 million instructions per second and as many as 40 million vector and scalar floating-point operations per second, the firm said. Stellar said the machine has one goal: to replace minisupercomputers and networks of workstations. The company also unveiled the Stellar X Terminal, which supports the X Window System as well as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The machine is capable of providing simultaneous access to multiple applications from multiple hosts to providing windowed text and graphics, Stellar officials said. Stellar also announced support for a variety of Digital Equipment Corp. VAX/VMS compatibility features, including Decnet Phase IV and VMS DCL emulation, which allows users to enter DCL commands in place of Unix commands. Complementing the VMS DCL emulation is a version of EDT Editor. Pricing for the Departmental Supercomputer starts at $83,800, and the X Terminal costs $3,100. Both are currently available. Decnet support is priced at $3,900, and VMS DCL emulation and EDT Editor support are $1,300 each. All have second-quarter availability slated. By James Daly, CW staff <<<>>> Title : OSI chosen in Tymnet net Author : CW Staff Source : CW Comm FileName: tymnet Date : Apr 10, 1989 Text: SAN JOSE, Calif. _ McDonnell Douglas Network Systems Co. subsidiary Tymnet plans this summer to release the initial version of an integrated, multivendor network management system based on Open Systems Interconnect protocols, a company spokesman told Computerworld last week. The product, which still has no official name, will run on a Sun Microsystems, Inc. workstation and bring several network management applications _ including traffic monitoring, troubleshooting and diagnostics _ under the same graphics-based user interface and Sybase, Inc. database management system, said Tymnet marketing manager Curt Bauer. The initial release will manage Tymnet's public packet-switching network and private customer networks based on the vendor's CCITT X.25 packet-switching product line, Bauer said. A second release, scheduled to be out by the first quarter of next year, will support other vendors' equipment through the OSI Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP), he added. Sign up Tymnet recently applied for membership in the OSI Network Management Forum, whose members agreed last year to adopt CMIP as a common interoperability standard. It will work with some vendors to provide greater integration than is currently supplied by CMIP, Bauer said. Another goal for the system is to provide information exchange with IBM's Netview. Tymnet's Tymview sends network management data to Netview via IBM's Netview/PC. An upcoming release will support Netview/PC 1.2, the OS/2 Extended Edition version of the interface. However, Tymnet's new network management system may provide a direct link to Netview without going through Netview/PC at all, Bauer said. Another planned feature will allow users to find out the status of their ports and traffic on Tymnet's public data network, Bauer said. ``We want to give users real-time access to that information,'' he said. The initial release will poll network devices to collect statistics, events and configurations, filter alerts so that managers receive only critical events and keep track of the location and configurations of Tymnet and non-Tymnet equipment on the network, Bauer said. It will be priced at about 10% of the user's investment in Tymnet equipment, Bauer said. By Elisabeth Horwitt, CW staff