ADVANCED MICRO RESEARCH INTROS VGA-8 HOST ADAPTER
MAIDENHEAD, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 JUL 12 (NB) -- Advanced Micro
Research (AMR) has announced the VGA-8 Host adapter card, a unit
that allows up to 32 simultaneous VGA stations to be linked to a
single Unix host. According to Brian Haynes, the company's European
sales and marketing director, the card is being targeted towards PC
unix integrators.

"User demand is forcing integrators to offer more than alpha-
numeric applications on dumb terminals. There is a shift in the PC
Unix market towards applications that use color and graphics. If
integrators are to stay competitive, they need to offer users I/O
boards and terminals that can run all the latest color and graphics-
based software in the Unix, DOS and Windows worlds," he said.

Backing up his claims, Haynes referred to Dataquest's 1991/92
figures that show that world-wide sales of Multiconsole seats was
24,000, a figure that rose to 79,000 in 1992/93. Dataquest, a market
research company, projects that, by the time 1997 rolls around,
sales will have reached almost 500,000 seats world-wide.

"My view is that PC Unix integrators need a low cost alternative to
the dumb terminal, one which offers the same display and I/O
capabilities as a PC. The world is going graphical but many PC unix
vertical integrators still offer only mono text solutions. Within
the next 12 months, they will find mono ASCII text solutions
increasingly harder to sell," Haynes said.

Standard features on the VGA-8 card include mono/color VGA and SVG
graphics, along with super fast data speeds (to 77 million bits per
second), plus local serial and parallel ports at each user station.
The card itself incorporates support for ASCII, X Windows, MS-
Windows, Alpha Windows, ANSI mono and color and DOS text plus
graphics applications.

Multi-user operating system drivers are available for SCO Xenix,
Unix, ODT, Interactive Unix and, just launched, Unixware from
Univel.

The VGA-8 card is available immediately with a list price of UKP
2,920 for an eight user version. Trade discounts are 30 per cent and
are volume related. A VGA monitor and keyboard are extra.

(Steve Gold/19930712/Press & Public Contact: AMR - Tel: 0628-778682)


OMRON DOES X-WINDOWS
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 JUL 13 (NB) -- Omron software, called
Multi Thread X-Server, which allows a Unix workstation to
act as a parallel processor, will be included with the
next version of X-Windows. This represents the first time a
Japanese firm's software is to be used with X-Windows.

The official announcement has yet to be made. However, Omron
reports that the members of the X Consortium have agreed on the
usage of Omron software for the latest version of X-Windows, called
X11R6.

Multi Thread X-Server was jointly developed by Data General and
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This software allocates
a multiple number of "jobs" to each central processing unit in
order to create a parallel processing feature on Unix
workstations. With this software, the workstation will be able to
process faster and users can do scientific calculations
and other spreadsheet work on the same workstation simultaneously.

X-Windows, standard Unix windowing software, is widely used on
Unix workstations and is open to computer makers, which
means that Omron will not be getting royalties for this software.
However, the big advantage is that Omron will be able to
release workstations with the latest version of X-Windows much
earlier than other computer firms. X-Windows "X11R6" is
expected to be publicly available early next year.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930712/Press Contact: Omron,
+81-3- 3436-7006, Fax, +81-3-5488-3269)


SYBASE MULTIMEDIA DATABASE
EMERYVILLE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 13 (NB) -- Sybase has
introduced a new version of its object-oriented, multimedia
database application software, Gainmomentum 2.0. The company
says the product offers the ability to build point-and-click
interfaces that combine text, graphics, audio, and video with
transaction data from structured query language (SQL) databases
in a client/server environment.

The company says Gainmomentum 2.0 can be applied to uses such
as decision support systems, electronic information kiosks,
command and control systems, interactive product catalogs,
computer based training, online help, and reference
applications. For example, in the area of geoscience, Sybase
says Gainmomentum is being used to integrate SQL
databases containing massive amounts of data with multimedia
information such as contour maps and well analysis charts to
help geologists find oil reserves.

Bob Epstein, executive vice president of Sybase, commented:
"Our vision for Gainmomentum is to enable a transition from the
piecemeal approach to communications - paper-based,
videocassette-based, and electronic forms-based - to
integrated, interactive, computer-based information delivery
systems. Gainmomentum 2.0 combines the content-rich information
delivery with RDBMS (relational database management system) for
efficient transaction processing. By bringing together these
formerly incompatible elements, Sybase is giving customers a
unique opportunity to deliver mission-critical client/server
systems with much greater visual appeal and ease of use."

Stewart Schuster, vice president of marketing at Sybase said:
"End users can now not only have access to information where
and when they need it, but also in the format that best suits
the situation, whether an interactive electronic catalog, a
graphical command and control console, or a video interview
with an investment advisor."

While Gainmomentum has been available since May of 1992, Sybase
says version 2.0 offers the following new features: tools to
access, display and manipulate relational data from Sybase, DB2
and Oracle RDBMS servers, and from legacy data sources through
the company's Open Server and Open Gateway products; extensions
to the Gainmomentum Fourth Generation Language (4GL)-based
scripting language for dynamically linking external C and C++
language libraries to Gainmomentum applications at runtime; and
computer-based training and context-sensitive online help for
Gainmomentum and object-oriented 4GL.

The product will be offered on the Sun Sparc, IBM AIX, and
Hewlett-Packard HP-UX workstation platforms. Availability is
expected in the third quarter of this year and pricing starts
at $10,000 for single developer licenses. Sybase says it will
offer volume licensing for both the developer and runtime
versions of the product and current Gainmomentum customers will
be upgraded to the 2.0 version automatically under their
maintenance agreements with the company.

Emeryville, California-headquartered Sybase describes itself as
developer of client/server-based software products and services
for on-line, enterprise-wide applications. Sybase has software
licensed to over 2,000 client sites, including Swedish Telecom.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930713/Press Contact: Cynthia Fetty, Sybase,
tel 510-596-3500, fax 510-658-9441)


COMDEX/CANADA - SUN/BELL DEVELOP MULTI-SCREEN SYSTEM
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 JUL 14 (NB) -- Bell Canada needed
multi-screen display technology to help it manage its telephone
network, so the company worked with Sun Microsystems of Canada
Inc.'s Canadian Development Centre to create software that lets X
Window applications run on a mosaic of screens driven by Sun
SPARCstations. Now Bell Sygma, a unit of Bell, plans to sell the
software, called Mosaic Array Technology, or MOSART.

Shown at Comdex/Canada, the software works with mosaics of as
many as 28 screens across by 28 screens high. It allows X
applications on networked workstations to display on the full
mosaic or any part of it, taking advantage of all the resolution
available to display in more detail.

A user at any workstation on the network can work with any
application displayed on the bank of screens, explained Mary
McQueen of Sun's Canadian Development Centre. The MOSART
software supports all X Window applications.

As a display subsystem, it requires a SPARCstation IPX or
SPARCstation 10 with at least 32 megabytes (MB) of memory and
20MB of disk storage, plus the Solaris 1.0.1 operating system,
OpenWindows 3.0 windowing software, and Informix 5.0 database
management system. Any color SPARCstation with at least 16MB
of memory can be used as an operator console. Configurations with
two displays per workstation require an extra GX frame buffer.

Bell Sygma will be selling the MOSART system worldwide,
McQueen said.

(Grant Buckler/19930714/Press Contact: Bell Sygma,
800-26-SYGMA - 800-267-9462)


DIALOG COMMITS TO SUN EQUIPMENT
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 14 (NB) -- Dialog
Information Services, the largest database service in the world,
said it will work with Sun to change its system from a
proprietary, mainframe-based host into a distributed, standards-
based network.

As a start, the company, which is owned by Knight-Ridder, said it
has purchased Sun SPARCstation and SPARCserver computers running
Sun's Solaris system, a version of Unix, as its new development
platform. Dialog said it now stores over two terabytes of data on
its mainframe systems -- that is two trillion bytes.

In addition, Dialog said it entered into a strategic relationship
with Sun and its SunSoft unit for managing information on the
SPARC/Solaris platform, so SPARC/Solaris users will be able to
gain access to information based on Dialog's information services
in the future.

Most important is the fact that Dialog, one of the largest on-line
service companies and one of the larger users of mainframe
computers for database services, has indicated it is moving to a
client-server architecture. It is a strong indication of the trend
away from mainframe-based computing.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930713/Press Contact: Sun Microsystems,
Leiann Lee, 415/336-0597; Dialog, Judy Hunter, 415/858-7025)


LOTUS INTROS CC:MAIL LINK TO UUCP 2.0
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 14 (NB) -- For
electronic mail (e-mail) systems, interconnectivity between
multiple platforms is vital if the product is to be accepted
enterprise-wide. Now, Lotus Development has announced that it
is shipping Lotus cc:Mail Link to UUCP 2.0, a gateway connecting
cc:Mail e-mail users to Unix systems via the Unix-to-Unix
Communications Protocol (UUCP).

According to the company, Lotus cc:Mail Link to UUCP translates
outbound cc:Mail messages to UUCP-format messages, where they
can then be sent to, and read by, users on a Unix host computer.
Incoming UUCP mail messages are translated to the cc:Mail format.

Lotus claims that key features in the new release are: enhanced
reliability through the provision of additional error checking and
more robust asynchronous communications protocols; support for
the transfer of multiple file types, including fax files and the
transmission of Macintosh file attachments in Apple's bin/hex and
AppleSingle formats; and simpler, more flexible procedures for
installation and configuration.

A Smart Addressing feature enables Lotus cc:Mail Link to UUCP to
automatically match names in an existing cc:Mail Post Office with
incoming UUCP messages, claims the company. This saves LAN
(local area network) administrators from having to manually
create and maintain address-translation files.

UUCP is one of two widely used communications protocols for
messaging to and within Unix-based wide-area networks. Simple
Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), is the other. According to Lotus,
SMTP is a high-performance protocol for networks with greater
levels of e-mail traffic.

In announcing the product, Rex Cardinale, vice president and general
manager of Lotus' cc:Mail division, said: "cc:Mail Link to UUCP
complements our SMTP product by providing a cost-effective
solution for smaller sites looking to send e-mail to and from Unix
networks, including the rapidly growing Internet."

Lotus cc:Mail Link to UUCP offers a number of tools for network
administrators, including a menu-driven installation and
configuration utility that allows network administrators to
customize the UUCP gateway.

A multiple-level logging feature provides a detailed report of
events during installation and troubleshooting, then allows
administrators to reduce the amount of detail so routine
monitoring of message traffic levels can be performed faster.

Lotus cc:Mail Link to UUCP 2.0 is available immediately at a
suggested retail price of $495, and free upgrades are available to
registered users of any previous version of cc:Mail LINK to UUCP.

Lotus says that cc:Mail Link to UUCP conforms to Internet mail
protocols RFC-822,-821, and -1154. The product requires an IBM PC,
XT, AT, PS/2 or compatible computer, 640 kilobytes (KB) RAM, a
network adapter card and network connection hardware appropriate
to each cc:Mail Post Office LAN. Software requirements are MS-DOS
3.1 or later and a cc:Mail Post Office at Level 6 or greater.

(Ian Stokell/19930713/Press Contact: Mark McHarry,
415-335-6786, Lotus Development Corp.)