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The lem :ILhJJ.! WI.th m' Porsfotin4iGLsdI.S h
th8' le 81 Le T ~ be "'\liQU are 1~(Qfe J ~

tions th~t would take hundreds of pages with C.

That's because INFORMIX4GL was designed from the
start to be an application

building language. It's built

around the full implementation

.

tuorfeAscNuSsItSomtasncdr~aerd~GSeQnLer. Aatnidorfe:a,-
Custom Menu Building and a built-

in Report Writer.

And where does that leave you?

What's more, INFORMIX-4GL works

With the final, tricky ten percent of with UNIX~MS~DOS and Networked DOS

your application yet to write, and no 4GL operating systems. And, of course, it's

left to write it with.

compatible with INFORMIX-SQL-our

Introducing INFORMIX!4GL.

popular, proven DBMS. So files you build

Never again will you have to switch with one, you can access with the other.

to C or COBOL to truly customize your

Fbr more information and our free

application. Instead, INFORMIX-4GL

booklet,"A 20-Minute Guide to INFORMIX-

provides an all encompassing syntax for 4GL;'call 415/322-4100.

every aspect of your application building. Or write RDS, 4100 Bohannon Drive,

So once you're programming in

Menlo Park, CA 94025.

INFORMIX-4GL, you never have to leave

And start taking your applications to

it. And considering all it can do, you may even greater heights.

never want to.

Now, for instance, you can write in just

ten to twenty pages of 4GL code, applica-

!NFORMIX is a registe red trad emark of RDS. Othe r na mes identified by TM are
tradenames and/or trademarks of their respective manufactu rers. IC 1986, Rela tional Da tabase Systems, Inc.

RELATIONAL DATABASE SYSTEMS, INC.

CIRCLE NO. 1 ON INQUI RY CARD

HOW IAR DOES YOUR
TDORIGVIEVESUrPoPuLAIElRl EGDOGE?

-.

NEC keeps going for more.
NEC offers you one other important thing you need in a disk drive supplier. A solid future. Our experience in disk drive technology goes all the way back to 1959. And during the past 27 years we've added a stream of innovations in both design and manufacturing. So, we have the resources, the talent and the commitment to keep giving you an edge.
If your disk drive supplier doesn't go this far, isn't it time you called NEC. Call 1-800-343-4418 (in MA 617-264-8635). Or send us the coupon.

9" Drives: 800 MB , or 520 MB sized for today's smaller superminis.

NEC goes all the way to 800 MB.
NEC continues to expand the edges of disk drive technology farther and farther. So your computer systems can be more competitive.
Again we've edged out every other Winchester drive maker. One of our 9" Winchesters now has a capacity of 800 MB. Our other 9" Winchester has 520 MB. Our newest 8" has a capacity of 337 MB.
We make you faster on your feet.
Capacity is not the only edge our large drives offer. They're also fast. Our 800 MB drive has a 2 .4 MB/sec data transfer rate and a 15 ms. seek time.
And our 9" Winchesters use a special design that supports the spindle at both ends resulting in greater read/write accuracy.
NEC drives are still going , after others fail.
Take our 8" Winchester. It has the longest MTBF in the industry. 24,000 POH. Which makes it two to three times as reliable as anybody else's.
Our 9" drives are also outstanding. With 20,000 POH. And the MTTR of our large drives is less than one hour.

� 1986 NEC Corp.

CIRCLE NO. 2 ON INQUIRY CARD

NEC8" Winchesters have twice the industry standard
MTBF.

0 Please send me more information on NEC disk drives.

0 Please have a salesperson call.

Name

Title

Company

Address

Cit

State

Zip

Tel(

NEC Information Systems, Inc . 1414 Massachusetts Avenue Department 1610 Boxborough, MA 01719
CaC Computers 9'KICommuniclltlons

NEC
NEC Information Systems. Inc.
mms 7 86

For the VAR with
multi-user environment problems,
Texas Instruments
has industry-standard answers.

Whether your multi-user system

the use of common peripherals, its

needs are low-end or high-end, TI

connectivity and configuration flex-

provides commercially tuned operat� ibility meet the changing needs of

ing systems derived from UNIX"

most business applications.

System V, and a common program� The XENIX V-based TI

ming language for both.

Business-Pro: Minicomputer power

Multi-user systems can present

in a micro package.

sizable problems to system designers: '--. The Business-Pro was designed

Configuration. Performance. Cost.

with multi-user capabilities in mind.

Texas Instruments has solved these

The standard architecture features

problems with the XENIX"V -based eight full-size and six half-size expan-

Business-Pro '' and Tl System V

sion slots and memory capacity up to

derived from UNIX Von the Busi-

15 MB. The Business-Pro with

ness System 1500.

XENIX V supports up to nine users.

A common environment across the And now, many of the software

family.

features available on the Business

We preserved your end-user's soft- System 1500 are offered for the

ware investment. An enhanced

Business-Pro, too.

UNIX interface - TI Business

The Business-Pro can also func-

Shell, a commercialized file system, tion as a high-performance, single-

and COBOL System V are sup-

user workstation and network server.

ported on both the Business-Pro and Under MS"-DOS, it offers soft-

the Business System 1500.

ware compatibility with both the

The TI Business System 1500:

TIPC" and the IBM" Personal

High performance delivered to a

Computer AT".

larger number of users.

The VAR's computer company:

The Business System 1000 Series Ready today for tomorrow.

Model 1500 provides exceptional

Texas Instruments offers VARs the

expandability and processing power opportunity to step into the next

in a multiprocessor environment.

generation of computing and artifi-

With the multi processor design,

cial intelligence. We even offer VARs

increasing performance may be as

the ability to marry the advances of

simple as adding processor boards.

knowledge-based systems

The Business System 1500 can sup- into traditional data pro-

port up to 128 users. And through

cessing applications.

Our portfolio of tools includes a broad range of software, hardware, training and support.
For today's needs, TI system peripherals include a wide array of VDTs, printers and customizable portable data terminals. We'll even help you convert your proprietary software to the new standards at the TI Migration Center in Austin, Texas. And in service and support, TI offers VAR-tailored maintenance agreements and a nationwide network of support offices.
The multi-user story here is simple. If you are a VAR with the desire to move to industry-standard multiuser operating systems, then we have the answers. Texas Instruments is the VAR's computer company.
For more information on Tl's multi-user systems, call 1-800-52 7-3500.
TEXAS ..fl
INSTRUMENTS

From lef[ to right, Tl Business Sys[em 1500 and Tl Business-Pro.
TIPC and Business- Pro are trademarks of Texas inst ruments Incorporated. IBM 1s a registered trademark and Personal Computer AT 1s a trademark ci lmernat K>nal Business Machines Corporation. MS and XENIX are registered trademarks of MicroSoft Corporation . UN IX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories. J 1625 � 1986 Tl

A CAHNERS PUBLICATION

Mini�Miara
THE MAGAZINE FOR COMPUTER SYSTEMS

NEWS/INTERPRETER
AST card gives OEMs choice of PC graphics possibilities .... .27 A new upgrade chip offers greater flexibility in configuring systems

Coming next from Japan: the bionic computer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...28 The Human Frontiers program could spell a new industrial revolution

High-speed modems trudge to market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..30 Where are you, V.32?

Heard on the Hill: NSA's waffling on DES worries encryption industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..36 Secrets aren 't what they used to be-or so the National Security Agency would have us believe

p. 27 . . . . . AST card offers a choice.
Art direction and design by Vicki Blake and AST. Courtesy of AST Research Inc.

London link heralds global sales of U.S. computer stocks .. . . . .. .39 Satellites bring new meaning to the phrase, " going public"
From Down Under: Software to end program incompatibility . . . .. .43 An Australian company offers full network-software portability for COBOL applications

*DEC DIRECTIONS
(section begins opposite Page 118)
Mini vendors squeeze into IBM's 'sandwich' .................. .03 Minicomputer vendors claim middle ground with what they tout as a better machine for departmental computing than IBM's System/36
*Appearing in issues of subsc ribers who have indicated having DEC computers

p. 28 . . . ... .. ... A new revolution?

Cahners Publishing Company � A Division of Reed Publishing USA � Specialized Business Magazines for Building and Con� struction � Electronics and Computers � Foodservice � Manufactu ring � Book Publis hing & Libraries � Medical/Health Care.
MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS (ISSN 0364-9342) is published monthly wit h additional issues in February. April . June and November by Cahners Publishing Company, A Division of Reed Publishing USA . 275 Was hington St., Newton, MA 02158. William M. Platt, President ; Terrence M . McDermott, Executive Vice President; Jerry D. Neth, Vice President of Publishing Operations; J .J . Walsh, Financial Vice PresidenUMagazine Division ; Thomas J . Dellamaria, Vice President Production and Manufacturing ; Terrence M . McDermott, Group Vice President. Copyright 1986 by Reed Publishing U SA, a division of Reed Holdings Inc. , Saul Gold-
weitz , Chairman; Ronald G. Segel . President and Chief Execu tive Officer. Ci rculation records are maintained at Cahners Pub�

4

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

INTEGRATION

VOL. XIX NO. 9 JULY 1986

FEATURES
Feature Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Upper level OSI protocols near completion . . . ...... ... . ...... .53 As lower level OSI protocols gain acceptance, the protocols of the upper levels-where they are visable to users-are approaching standardization

PC board vendors rush to fill EGA demands ...................69 Eager to share in the personal computer-based enhanced graphics adapter market, vendors are packaging boards with greater display functions while maintaining IBM compatibility

p. 85 .

. . . . . . . . . Software tools

Graphics tools broaden PC horizons............. . ..... . . . ....85 Taking advantage of improved PC display capabilities, graphics softwaredevelopment tools enable developers to concentrate on more complex applications

Software development fires up workstations .... .... ....... . .. 101 System integrators turn workstations into their platforms of choice for computer aided software engineering

DEPARTMENTS

Editorial Staff

..6

Editorial ....

.. 9

Letters ...... .

. .13

Breakpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

New Products . . . . .

.119

Software Review . . .

.135

Index to Advertisers .

.139

Mini-Micro Marketplace.

.140

Career Opportunities . .

.142

p. 69.

. Filling EGA demand

lishing Co., 270 St. Paul St., Denver, CO 80206. Second class postage paid at Denver, CO 80202 and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS, 270 St. Paul St.. Denver, CO 80206. MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS is circulated without charge by name and title to U.S.- and Western European-based corporate and technical management, systems engineers and other personnel who meet qualification procedures. Available to others at the rate of $65 per year in the United States; $70 in Canada and Mexico; $95 surface mail in all other cou ntries; air mail surcharge, $35 (16 issues). Special HANDBOOK issues, $15. Single issues, $5 in the United States; $6 in Canada and Mexico; $7 in all other countries.
<S 1986 by Cahners Publishing Company, Division of Reed Publishing USA. All rights reserved .

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

5

SONEX acoustic foam is deadly to annoying computer room noise. And it'll look great in your hi-tech environment. Simply hang sheets of this patented, professional foam to quiet the combined clatter of fans, motors and printers. Call or write for complete facts and a free brochure: 3800 Washington Ave. North, Minneapolis, MN
55412. (612) 521-3555.
~�illbruck
CIRCLE NO. 3 ON INQUIRY CARD

Think of a Viking workstation as another way to add value.

If you're not integrating ergonomic support furniture in your system, you may be missing an

easy way to increase margins and add even more value. Users don't like shopping around to

complete the system any more than you do. Try buying a good workstation in your area

sometime. It's tough, and it sometimes opens the door to competition and criticism.

We think a lot of users care about the system environment, and well-designed support

furniture can make your system more comfortable. And therefore more useful and productive.

Call us on our toll-free line. Everyone wins: users get good furniture at no more cost; you

increase margins; and we win through economy of scale, even if the scale is just a few units

a month.
Call today, or write our OEM Department: Viking Acoustical, Airlake Industrial Park,

Vlt9!G

Lakeville, MN 55044. 612/469-3405 , or Telex 290693.

1-800-328-8385

CIRCLE NO. 4 ON INQUIRY CARD

6

STAFF
Vice PresidenUPublisher S. Henry Sacks
Editor-in-Chief George V. Kotelly
Managing Editor James F. Donohue
Assistant Managing Editor Bruce J. MacDonald
Senior Editor: David Simpson Western Editor: Carl Warren
Irvine, (714) 851-9422 European Editor: Keith Jones
London : (011-441-661 -3040) Associate Editor: Frances T. Granville
Associate Editor: Lynn Haber Associate Editor/Research : Frances C. Michalski
Associate Western Editor: Mike Seither San Jose, (408) 296-0868
Associate Editor: Gregory Solman Associate Editor: Michael Tucker
Associate Editor: Jesse Victor Assistant Editor/New Products: Megan Nields
Assistant Editor/Research : Pamela Gorski
Contributing Editors Andrew Allison
Mini/Micro Computer Product and Market Consultant
Raymond C. Freeman Jr. Freeman Associates
Special Features Editor: Wendy Rauch-Hindin Dix Hills, N.Y. (516) 667-7278
Washington , D.C.: Stephen J. Shaw (202) 387-8666 Gene R. Talsky
Professional Marketing Management Inc. Edward Teja Freehold Corp.
Editorial Production Senior Copy Editor: Arsene C. Davignon
Production Editor: Mary Anne Weeks
Editorial Services Lisa Kramer, Terri Gellegos
Assistant to the Publisher: Linda L. Lovett
Art Staff Art Director: Vicki Blake Assistant Art Director: Cynthia McManus
Director of Art Dept. : Norm Graf
Production Staff VP Production : John Sanders Supervisor: William Tomaselli Production Manager: Betsy Cooper Composition : Diane Malone
Editorial Offices
Boston : 275 Washington St., Newton , MA 02158, (617)964-3030. Irvine: 2041 Business Center Dr., Suite 109, Irvine, CA 92715. Los Angeles : 12233 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064. San Jose: 3031 Tisch Way, San Jose, CA 95128. London: P.O. Box 37E ,Worcester Park , Surrey, KT4 BRO, England .
Reprints of Mini-Micro Systems articles are available on a custom printing basis at reasonable pri ces in quantities of 500 or more. For an exact quote, contact Art Lehmann , Cahners Reprint Service, Cahners Plaza, 1350 E. Touhy Ave., Box 5080, Des Plaines, IL 60018. Phone (312)635-8800.
MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

EMULEX'S GROWlllG 0-BUS LlllE. EllGlllEERED TO FIT THE TIGHTEST BUDGET.

Emulex has the 0-Bus controller and communications products you need for MicroVAX I and II, PDP-11, MicroPDP, and LSl-11. We also offer both tape and disk packaged subsystems. All are packed with performance features, very attractively priced and software transparent to DEC operating systems.
WINCHESTER DISK CONTROLLERS
ST506 Our OD01/D dual-wide MSCP
BALANCE SHEET

controller interfaces two ST506 5J4" Winchesters.
SMD The OD32 controller, functionally
equivalent to DEC's KDA50, is a dual wide board which supports disk with transfer rates up to 2.5 MByte/sec.
ESDI The OD21 dual wide controller will
interface two 10MHZ ESDI high capacity Winchester disks and emulate DEC's MSCP protocol.

COMBINATION CONTROLLERS
Like the OD01/D, the DM01 supports two ST506 5J4" Winchesters but (in addition) also supports two SA450 floppy drives, software compatible with DEC's RX50. For higher performance the DM02 will support two ESDI drives and two floppy disk drives. Both the DM01 and DM02 emulate MSCP for controlling the hard disks.
SCSI HOSTADAPTER
The UC04 implements MSCP and supports the opticals via the SCSI connection.
TAPE PRODUCTS
For J4" tape backup our dual wide OT12 controller is compatible with OIC02 drives.
For W' tape drives use the TC03.
The TC03 supports NRZl/PE and GCR drives with speeds to 125 ips.
COMMUNICATIONS PRODUCTS
Our CS02 single quad board supports 16 lines on PDP-11, MicroVAX and LSl-11, and is compatible with DEC's DHV11.
For larger line counts the CS01/H single -quad multiplexer is expandable from 16 lines to 64 lines for 50% or more savings per line.
To see how well Emulex fits your needs, call toll free 1-800-EMULEX3. In California, (714) 662-5600. Or write: Emulex Corporation, 3545 Harbor Boulevard, P.O. Box 6725, Costa Mesa, California 92626.

,a� - ~ I

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EMULEX
The genuine alternative.
U.S. Regional Offices: Anaheim, CA (714) 385-1685; Schaumburg IL (312) 490-0050; Roswell, GA (404) 587-3610; Nashua, NH (603) 882-6269. International Offices:Australia, Eastwood, N.S.W. (02) 858-4833; Canada, Mississauga, Ontario (416) 673-1211; France Montrouge (1) 735-7070; United Kingdom. Bracknell, Berkshire (334) 484234; West Germany, Munich (089) 304051.
Most products shown are stocked nationally by Hamilton/Avnet, Kierulff Electronics and MTI Systems Corp. Q-Bus, LSl-11, PDP-11, MicroPDF;> MicroVAX I, MicroVAX II, and DEC are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.
CIRCLE NO. 5 ON INQUIRY CARD

Reliance STAR!"' With the power
to support 1000 terminals. Reliance STAR brings the power
of parallel processing technology to your transaction processing environment. You can design and buy for today. And grow into tomorrow. Up to 1000 terminals, without sacrificing any of your hardware/software investments.
Application development is fast and economical. You start with a dedicated database server and add the power of up to 8 modular frontend processors as your requirements grow. And because you can use any of our compatible systems, growth is even more flexible and costefficient.

You can rely on Reliance PLUSTM It runs in the family.

relational database.

Concurrent Computer

Our fourth generation relational

Corporation offers a full range of

DBMS provides the transaction-per- 32 bit superminis, maximizing the

second performance you demand.

price/performance potential of your

At surprisingly low cost.

transaction processing system with

It includes a suite of powerful

low entry level cost and increased

menu-driven application develop-

flexibility. Our high performance

ment tools such as a full feature

transaction processing solutions

query language, database update

are proven in over 500 installations

and report generation facilities and around the world. And we back them

an active data dictionary. And 99 +% with worldwide service and support.

up time can be guaranteed when

Find out how we can make you

continuous system availability and

a star. Call 1-800-631-2154 for

maximum data integrity are needed. complete information. Or write to

For transparent connection to IBM Concurrent Computer Corporation,

and other environments, we support 2 Crescent Pl., Oceanport, NJ 07757.

a full range of industry-standard data

communication software. Including

SNA and Bisync protocols. Plus

Ethernet, X.25 and X.29.

Concurrent . . . . . . . .

Computer Corporation

CIRCLE NO. 6 ON INQUIRY CARD

EDITORIAL

MULTIUSER VENDORS FACE DIM PROSPECTS

Squeezed between departmental minicomputers on one side and PC-based local area networks on the other, small multiuser microcomputer suppliers confront a bleak future. Ironically, just a few years ago, this market was booming. But as usual, when a market segment gains notoriety, competitors jump in and erode individual market share.
At the start, there was room for everyone. But the recent sales slowdown rocked the computer industry in general and its multiuser segment in particular. With overall business fading, leading minicomputer vendors incorporated more powerful processor technologies and lowered prices drastically. These tactics quickly invaded the high end of the multiuser microcomputer market. What's more, departmental minicomputers established order and control in managing the pervasiveness of personal microcomputers and the flood of applications software.
Likewise, at the low end, LANs solved the application control problems in joining different microcomputers and in sharing expensive peripherals.
Meanwhile, between these two pincer forces, small multiuser microcomputer vendors were preoccupied with upgrading their 8-bit systems to 16- and 32-bit systems. In addition, these vendors were spread thin in varied distribution schemes. More important, though, hardware and software standards did not exist. Nearly all multiuser microcomputer companies supplied proprietary equipment.
Not surprisingly, then, the drop in industry business exposed those companies selling nearly identical products. The result? Most small multiuser microcomputer suppliers reported financial losses over the past year.
Yet, market research firms still claim an expanding multiuser market. For example, Input Inc. estimates that the multiuser microcomputer market for two- to 16-user systems will spurt ahead 29 percent annually until 1990, reaching a $10 billion sales level. Similarly, International Data Corp. predicts that
MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

shipments will jump from about 231,000 systems in 1985 to more than 974,000 in 1990. This market should grow steadily because many businesses have not yet bought computers for the first time.
Although considered less flexible by industry experts, small multiuser microcomputer systems possess price/performance advantages. These systems generally use inexpensive dumb terminals connected to a central processor. A proprietary, multitasking operating system effectively manages the system's resources and efficiently allocates users their share of CPU, memory and 1/0 peripherals. Moreover, these small systems increase user productivity and furnish high data integrity.
Unfortunately, though, system throughput drops markedly during heavy duty cycles, and when the central processor fails, the entire system usually goes down. Additionally, system upgrades, enhancements or expansions prove cumbersome, complex and costly.
What's needed, therefore, to move this market forward? One solution to these problems centers on compatibility with de facto hardware and software standards. Another solution calls for concentrated distribution schemes instead of blanket coverage, as exemplified by Altos Computer Systems. Yet another solution involves the porting of popular applications packages that run on widely accepted computers, as typified by North Star Computers Inc. and TeleVideo Systems Inc. Still another solution points to connectivity to common LANs and departmental computers.
In sum, then, small multiuser microcomputer vendors must provide reliable and standardized products that expand easily to meet new, or unplanned, applications and that accommodate evolving technologiesand at competitive prices. Sounds Uke basic business practice to me.

George V. Kotelly Editor-in-Chief
9

!Ill
ei :rE~HJ'1qL~G~

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Computer Magnetic Tape Marketplace

The shift from removable disk drives in the seventies to fixed disk drives in the eighties has created a growing demand for tape drives to be used for back-up in addition to their established roles as data interchange and archival storage devices. "Tape Storage Technology" analyzes these and other forces which are shaping the OEM market for tape drives and forecasts both technology and market demand on a quarterly basis.
"Tape Storage Technology" has been prepared with the needs of both suppliers and integrators carefully considered . It is a comprehensive yet focused planning tool for product planning, engineering, marketing, and general management personnel.
"Tape Storage Technology" covers all computer digital magnetic tape products, including the following tape drives and media:

� IBM Tape Cartridge � Quarter Inch Cartridge � Standard Half Inch Open Reel Tape � Quarter Inch Mini-Cartridge

� Unique Open Reel Tape � Data Cassette � Mini-Cartridge � Unique Cartridges and Cassettes

The dynamics of the peripheral storage marketplace often rener annual reports on magnetic tape drives out-of-date well before their next publication date. By updating and publishing quarterly, clients who subscribe to 'Tape Storage Technology" will always have access to the latest data on technology, forecasts, specifications, standards, and other important subjects. Single copies of "Tape Storage Technology" are priced at $995. Clients who subscribe on an annual basis will receive one current copy for each quarter of their annual subscription period at an annual price of $2495.

Disk Storage Technology Seminars Tape Storage Technology Seminars
Three-hour seminars are given periodically by industry experts on both magnetic disk and tape. These seminars are held on the same day to facilitate attendance at both. Some of the subjects covered are Technology, Standards, Forecasts, Market Trends and New Products.

I would like to receive the 'Tape Storage Technology" Report. Please send me: D One quarterly copy at $995.00 per copy.
D Annual subscription at $2495.00 for 4 quarterly copies. D Check here if you would like more information on the 'Tape Storage Technology" Report. D Check here if you would like more information on the Seminars above.

TITLE

MAIL TO: Technology Forums � 3425 Pomona Boulevard, Suite F, Pomona, CA 91768 � (714) 861-7300 CIRCLE NO. 7 ON INQUIRY CARD

XENIX RISING
"It was back in 1986 that we first grasped the full significance of SCO XENIX�.
"We had been thinking of it as just an 'operating system' -as we used to call them-when it was really much more. It was the foundation of a whole new approach to shared information and resource computing for PCs: networked DOS and XENIX workstations.
"The 'SCO XENIX solution' integrated XENIX and DOS, multiuser and IAN, and PCs and mainframes, into a unified environment unprecedented in its power, productivity, and price performance per user for personal computers.
"SCO's solution included not only 16-user licensed SCO XENIX itself, but also SCO XENIX-NET XENIX/DOS networking; SCO Professional"' and SCO FoxBASET", SCO's XENIX-based workalikes of 1-2-3�and dBASE II"'; SCO LyrixT" Word Processing System, and other productivity tools; and SCO uniPATir SNA-3270 Mainframe Communications, plus languages and graphics packages.
"Together with unparalleled SCO hot-line support, documentation, and training, plus the explosive growth of the XENIX applications base, it changed the way we would look at personal computers forever.
"In short, it was the 'SCO XENIX solution' that turned personal computers into real computers."

SCO SALES AND INFORMATION
(800) 626-UNIX
(800) 626-8649 (408) 425-7222 1WX: 910-598-4510 SCO SACZ uucp: .. .decvax!microsoft!sco!info

sea

from "XENIX RISING:
The Ascent of Shared Injormation
Computingjrom 1979to1999"
SCO XENIX System V is available for
IBM� PC !Je, PC xre, ITT XTRA� XL and other
compatibles, and AT&T PC 6300 Plus-now!

XENIX is a registered tndemark of Micm<Oft Corpo111tion. � SCO Prof.,,.ional and Lyrix are tr:idemarks of The SantaCruzOpellllion, Inc � Foxll\SE is atndemark of Fox Software, Inc. � 1-2-3isaregistered112demark of Lotus V...loprnent Corpollltioo. � dBISE 11 is a tndemark ol !.shton-Ta"- � uniP.(J'H is a tndemark of Pathway Design. � UNIX Is a 112demark of Kr&T Bell Labo111tories � IBM, Kr and XT are registered tn1demarks of International Business Machines Corpo111tion.� ITT X11!A Is a 112demark of ITT Corporation.

The Santa Cruz Ope111tion, Inc., P.O. Box 1900, Santa Cruz, ('.A 95061

0 1986 The Santa Cruz Opellltion, Inc. 6/ rll

CIRCLE NO. 8 ON INQUIRY CARD

How many more reasoll5 do you need to Unplug your computer?

Until now, connecting 128 termi-

The Unplug can take those 128 con- We know it sounds simple. And the

nals to your computer meant one

nections off the back of the computer truth is, it is. In fact, you might wonder

thing. A myriad of cards taking up

and tum them into just one. And

why no one thought of it before. Then

precious space on the backplane. And presto, you've got all the expansion slots again, no one else has our commitment

accomplishing nothing but commu- you need for more important things. to make your job easier. And alot

nications. All of which could frustrate Like disks. Streaming tapes. More CPU more gratifying.

almost any self-respecting system

power. A synchronous communications Just give us a call at Systech to hook

designer into hanging up his calculator. processor. And your imagination.

up with The Unplug. Then you can

- Well, at Systech, we understand the You see, what we did was move part start figuring out what you want to add

serial communications problems of a of the computer's operating system- on next.

multi-user system. So we developed

the part devoted to managing traffic to Instead of trying to figure out how to

The UnplugTM asynchronous distributed and from the terminals-out of the

untangle all those wires.

multiplexer that can be used with

computer and intoThe Unplug. Giving Systech Corporation, 6465 Nancy

any Multibus,�VMEbus or

the host computer the freedom to

Ridge Drive, San Diego, CA 92121,

Multibus�II system.

concentrate on more important tasks. (619) 453-8970.

CIRCLE NO. 9 ON INQUIRY CARD

When you're ready to expand, you simply run one cable from the last Unplug to the next. And you've hooked up 8 new users, without ever opening the

The Unplug.

computer cabinet.

The Unplug is a trademark of Syscech Corporation. Multibus is a registered trademark of Imel Corporation.

An outlet for your frustrations.

UllU1111UU,Ulll11UUlll

SYSTECH
� 1986 Systech Corporation.

ulllUW!mtuu111u

LETTERS

SONY DISK STABILITY
To the editor: I read your article, "Optical storage
shines on the horizon" (MMS, December 1985, Page 68), with interest. I am writing to correct some inaccurate information reported on the Sony write-once optical disk media.
The article indicates that the Sony media uses a " phase-change technique whereby the physical state of the material is changed from a crystalline to an amorphous state to denote a written bit. " The Sony media actually uses a more stable phase-transition technique that changes the media from an amorphous state to an alloy.
In tests carried out so far by Sony engineers, this media has proved to be reliable for over 30 years when stored at 70 degrees Celsius at 90 percent relative humidity.
Bernie Farkas Manager, Systems Engineering Systems Products Group Sony Corp. of America Sony Drive Park Ridge, N.J. 07656
MULTIPLE-USER WORM
To the editor: Regarding your " Optical storage
shines on the horizon" (MMS, December 1985, Page 68), let me correct a few incorrect references pertaining to Laserdrive Ltd. and our initial WORM [write once, read many] product.
Laserdrive's optical memory product , denominated the LD33, is not particularly well suited for low-level computer applications. The LD33 currently sports the highest single-sided capacity (442M bytes, unformatted) of any announced 51/.i-inch optical product , with system performance and universal host adaptor capabilities that make the LD33 much more appropriate in multiple-user environments , such as [Digital Equipment Corp.] VAX [computers] and [IBM Corp.] PC/AT [computers], and similar minicomputer file server and local area network configurations.
One of the fundamental principles un-

derlying the LD33 concept is the combination of the lowest cost per megabyte (our anticipated OEM cost for media is 7 cents per megabyte) together with high system performance and compatibility features that easily will interface the LD33 with all existing minlcomputerbased workstations and LANs.
(In addition ,] your article listed our fax number as our telephone number, which has caused our fax number to receive untold spurious callups. (Laserdrive 's telephone number is (408) 970-3600.]
Paul W. Helgesen President Laserdrive Ltd. Santa Clara, Calif. 95054
WHICH DOS VERSION?
To the editor: A few errors of commission and
omission must be pointed out [in the Systems Integrators' Notebook, April, 1986, Page 154, "How to solve serial interconnect problems"].
First, although turning off the default state of the echo in DOS for the execution of batch files is useful, you neglect to mention which version of DOS this works with. This is important as the COMMAND.COM files in the different versions are of different sizes and, therefore, the particular section of code you are replacing appears in different places.
Second, the environment space in DOS stores only strings, not programs. The example you gave of: SET PAY =\ACCOUNTING simply adds the string "\ACCOUNTING" to DOS' environment. If you then say, PAY, nothing happens, as this does not automatically invoke the environment string. The environment can be read by programs that run under DOS and by the DOS BATCH PROCESSOR. In order to invoke the program, ACCOUNTING, which resides in the main directory of the current default drive, the following line must be present in the batch file: %PAY%
The %'s tell the BATCH PROCES-

SOR to look for a string in DOS' environment. This does not work interactively, however. A simple example of how this could be used would be to set a variable called "CURRENT" equal to the current path (i.e., SET CURRENT=C:\BATCH). Then, if batch file needed to return to this directory, all it would need at that point would be the following line: CD %CURRENT% which would be interpreted as: CD C:\BATCH
Note that this works only with DOS versions 2.0, 2.1 and 3.1.
Finally, the "COMSPEC" variable is understood by the resident portion of DOS to contain the path to its COMMAND.COM file. When a large program is run under DOS, it allows the application to overwrite the nonresident part of itself. When an application program terminates, it normally returns control to the resident portion of DOS (which is simply a loader), which in tum does a checksum on the memory space where the nonresident portion of DOS resides. If the checksum is not correct, the resident portion of DOS simply reloads the rest of the operating system from the path denoted in the COMSPEC variable in DOS' environment and passes control to it. Ifthe checksum is correct, it passes control to the nonresident portion of DOS (i.e., normally COMMAND.COM). Also, the name of the file containing the nonresident portion of the operating system is normally included in the COMSPEC variable; that is COMSPEC=\COMMAND.COM as the nonresident portion of the operating system, can have any name.
William L. Meyer Computer Coordinator School of Aerospace Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta. Ga. 30332-0150
Editor's response: The DOS is version 2.0 and the exam-
ple is MS-DOS.
-Carl Warren

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

13

With the new MT 910sl
laser printer, you can do more without paying more. And
you can do it laser fast.
The MT 910sl zips out crisp, clean copies at 10 pages per minute.
That's fast.
But the real story is
performance.
You'll have dual paper bins with a 500 page total capacity.
A short, simple paper path with fewer obstructions to virtually eliminate jamming.
A special paper path to
allow single feeds of envelopes,
labels and transparencies without changing bins.
Five emulation
modes - Diablo 630,
Epson FX, IBM ProPrinter,
LaserJet Plus, Qume 11'-to
meet existing software needs. Front panel program-
ming to prompt an operator
through easy operation with-
out dip switches, without nu-
meric codes. Two resident fonts that
allow bold, italic, enlarged or
condensed type in both portrait and landscape mode.
And a laser engine designed to print 300,000 pages before servicing. Which is 5,000 pages a month for five full years.
Your options? Two font cartridges, a one megabyte memory expansion (allowing, with the

resident 512K, a total of 14 megabytes user-accessible RAM), a 5-bin output sorter and a shared interface that allows access from up to four separate stations. .
And the price lists at just $3,695.
No other printer in the price range gives you as much for your money. Not in performance. Not in productivity.
Combine that with the Mannesmann Tally reputation for quality and reliability, and your next step becomes clear.
Pick up a phone and dial (206) 251-5524.
And at the speed of sound, you can order an MT910sl
for your own competitive evaluations.
When the results are on the table, we think you'll be suitably impressed.
And why not? Our goal isn't just to produce copies at the speed of light. But to do the same for your sales.
'Diablo~ Epson~ IBM~ Hewlett-Packard~ & Ou me~
I I
THE NEW MT 910sl LASER PRINTER

~�"),-'" ... 'l'::~-""i't

. .

.

MANNESMANN i.i.llU.�1

CIRCLE NO. 10 ON INQUIRY CARD

Sometimes. "crunching the numbers'� simply means making them look good and getting them to the right people on time. And when people are under the gun, they need a printer that can translate their computer's impressive spreadsheet and graphics software to paper. Fast.
That's why a new MICROLINE� 290 series printer is the best weapon in the battle of the numbers.
OKIDATA MICROLINE 290's are faster than other leading printers in their class. And we can prove it. We recently compared the MICROLINE 292 to the IBM� Proprinter and the Epson�FX286.
The other printers require two passes of the printhead to produce crisp, clear Near Letter Quality text. But the MICROLINE 292 and wide�
CIRCLE NO. 11 ON INQUIRY CARD

carriage 293 feature our unique "Dual Nine" printhead, that needs only one pass. The result? After four hours of continuous Near Letter Quality printing. the Epson printed only 181 pages, the IBM, 215. But the MICROLINE 292 was the clear winner with 545 pages!
Ol(l~AI~ We put business on paper.

The 292 and 293 are winners in other ways, too. with speeds of 200 cps in the Utility mode. Color capability for impressive reports and presentations. Versatile paper handling. And a feature selection menu that's as easy to order from as pointing ~ finger.
OKIDATA printers are made especially for most PC's. Whether it's an IBM, AT&T�, or Compaq�. OKIDATA is fully compatible. And
every printer is designed and manufactured by OKIDATA. one of the most reliable and respected printer companies.
A slingshot was a terrific weapon once. But it's no match for today's big guns. When the battle lines are drawn, draw on an OKIDATA. For the dealer nearest you. call 1-800-0KIDATA today.
OKIDATA Is a registered trademark of Oki America . Inc. Marque de'pose'.e de OkJ Ame'.rica. Inc. MICROLJNE Is a reg~ered U.S. trademark of Oki America , Inc. IBM Is a recJstered trademark. of lnternaUonal Business Machines Corp. AT&T Is a registered trademark of Amerkan Telephone & Telegraph . Inc. Epson Is a realstered trademark of Epson Corporation . Compaq Is a registered trademark of Compaq Computer Co.

BREAKPOINTS

lfISO, ECK.A VIE TO PllESElfT CDROM FORK.AT AS STAlfDABD The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and the Europe-
an Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) are going head-to-head over who should present the High Sierra compact disk ROM logical fileformat standard to the International Standards Organization (ISO) . ECMA says it can get the standard approved more quickly. Digital Equipment Corp.'s Howard Kaikow, a member of the ECMA subcommittee working on the standard, says ECMA will have a standard to present to ISO a year from now-much earlier than any standard from ANSI prepared by NISO, he contends. He also believes that ISO will accept ECMA's standard as a Draft International Standard immediately, and that it will be adopted as a full International Standard by the end of 1987 or early 1988. NISO executive director Patricia Harris warns that ANSI can vote against the ECMA standard and predicts that ANSI will have its own standard ready for ISO "18 months from now or even sooner."-Keith Jones
rec BROADCASTS MOTOROLA'S mEA l'OR RADIO LAlfS
The Federal Communications Commission has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR-PR Docket 86-174) to solicit comments on a proposal by Motorola Inc. to allocate radio frequencies for the wireless interconnection of computers and associated peripheral equipment. The radio local area network service will employ small transceivers to relay data within an office environment. The FCC has proposed to allocate the l,700MHz-to-1,710-MHz frequency band for the radio LAN service. -Stephen Sha. w

MOLECULAR PILES l'OR CHAPTER 11, PLAlfS llEPOSI'l'IONilfG Saddled with debt and an inability to turn a profit since it was founded
five years ago, Molecular Computer Corp. is seeking protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws. The San Jose, Calif., company, which builds 8- and 16-bit multiuser computers, recently laid off all but a handful of workers. The remaining employees will continue development work on a lOOM-bit-per-second local area network, according to Molecular president Frank Zurcher. Although the company plans to market its computers in Europe, Zurcher says Molecular's domestic operations will revolve mainly around selling its planned LAN to OEMs.-Mike Seither

CIPHER BUYS K.AJORITY SHARE OF OPTICAL-DRIVE MAKER Cipher Data Products Inc. built its reputat ion manufacturing tape
drives. Now the San Diego, Calif., company wants a piece of the optical disk-drive business. It acquired a stake in June by paying more than $6 million for 90 percent of Optimem Inc., a Xerox Corp. subsidiary based in Sunnyvale, Calif. Optimem, which manufactures a lG-byte, 12-inch, writeonce, read-many optical drive, will remain an independent Cipher business

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

17

BREAKPOINTS

unit, and is working with 3M on a 5%-inch, 250M-byte erasable optical drive. Evaluation units are expected later this year.-Mike Seither
BOCA PACKS GB.APHICS, BllS llll!lllOB.Y OB llVLrll'UllCTIOB BOAB.D Boca Research Inc., Boca Raton, Fla., has begun shipping its MEMEK
multifunction board, which offers up to 2M bytes of expanded memory and conforms to EMS 3 .1, (or, the Lotus-Intel-Micrsosoft Expanded Memory Specification). It offers graphics support for a variety of modes, including IBM Corp. monochrome, IBM Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), Hercules Computer Technology monochrome graphics and PlantronicsjPC+ Products ' Inc. ColorPlus. The company claims that it is the only memory/display board that allows full control over the allocation of memory between video, system and expanded memory.-Dave Simpson
ArASI Bllll!IB.GBS l!'B.011 CHAPrBB. 11 WirH llBW PB.ODUCrs Financially troubled Atasi Corp., San Jose, Calif., a victim of the down-
turn in U.S. disk-drive manufacturing, may have put its troubles behind it. The company, recently emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization, has continued to ship its 46M-byte and 53M-byte, 5%-inch, series 3000 Winchester drives and is introducing this month the series 2000. The new models include 85M-byte, 128M-byte and l 70M-byte units, which incorporate the small computer systems interface (SCSI) and have a 25-msec average access time. Deliveries are scheduled for the third quarter.
-Carl Warren
1'0Ll!lB.ABr SUPPOB.rs 80G-BYrB DArABASB Tolerant Systems Inc., the San Jose, Calif., manufacturer of fault-toler-
ant machines, has rolled out a new high-end, on-line transaction-processing machine. The P200, based on National Semiconductor Corp.'s NS32032, processes 45 percent more transactions per second than its 32016-based predecessor, the PlOO, for a 13 percent increase in price. Tolerant has also reached a sales agreement with Online Computer Library Center Inc., Dublin, Ohio, under which OCLC will use Tolerant's Eternity computers (which include the PlOO and P200) to manage its BOG-byte library-information database. That is believed to be the largest database ever supported by a UNIX operating system.-Dave Simpson
rll.BASUB.Y PB.OGB.AllS PB.OllISB BIG BUSDll!ISS The U.S. Treasury Department is expected to award more than $1 billion
in contracts during the next three years for automated data-processing and telecommunications equipment and services, according to International Data Corp. (!DC), a market-research organization based in Framingham, Mass. The monies will be spent through a dozen multiyear programs ranging in value from $10 million to $700 million. The largest programs, according to IDC, are the Treasury's automated-examination, integratedcollection and automated criminal-investigation programs.-Stephen Shaw

18

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

Tired of running cables to add terminals?

Don't Go Through The Ceiling! Equinox Local Multiplexers let you connect clusters of async terminals to host computers located thousands of feet away over a single new or existing 4-wire cable. Use them instead of running miles of cable and buying dozens of line drivers. For small terminal dusters use two Equinox LM-8s to connect eight terminals. For up to 48 terminals use two LM-48s.
A Transparently Better Way. Equinox Local Multiplexers pass data up to 9600 bps with control signals. And because they're fully transparent to all data, they work with virtually any async terminal, printer or computer. Easy to install, Equinox Local Multiplexers send data up to one mile.
Save Now, Switch Later. Use Equinox Local Multiplexers to distribute data to terminal rooms, between floors in high-rise buildings,
MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

or across a campus. The greater the distance, the more you save by eliminating multiple cables and line drivers for each terminal.
Equinox LM-8 and LM-48 Local Multiplexers connect directly to our popular Data PBXs. So the Local Multiplexers you install today can be used tomorrow as terminal servers in a fully featured async Local Area Network. This upgrade from costsaving data distribution to low-cost data switching lets you solve today's problems with a plan for the future.
Let's Communicate. Whether you're tired of running new cable just to add another terminal, need to add terminals but your conduits are dogged or just want to save money by eliminating cable and line drivers, we've got a down-toearth solution.
CIRCLE NO. 12 ON INQUIRY CARD

Call 1-800-DATA-PBX In Florida Call (305) 255-3500 Equinox Systems 12041 S.W.144th Street Miami, FL 33186-6108
LM-8; 8 Channels
$700
EQUINOX Systems We Make The Right Connections.
19

� 1 mi lion pixels/second l1Dlit1 � 30 accelerator SPACE MAC � MicroVMS and RSX drivers

two new intelligent color graphics boards for the
-1280 and QG-640 provide the speed and resolution DEC's MicroVAX and PDP computers into
ics workstations.
has a resolution of 1280 x 1024. The board 's drawing
vectors/second means complex pictures are under a second. For solid modelling applications , an
30accelerator module complete with Zbuffer provides fast
turface elimination and shading .

The QG-640 is the perfect solution for OEM's requiring performance but with less resolution; 640 x 480, at 50%
Unlike conventional graphics terminals the QG-1280 and QG directly accessible from the a-Bus. There are no slow serial communication links. You "see" results immediately.
Let our new generation graphics boards "speed up" your workstation design - today . Call Toll Free: 1-800-361-4903

<�T �>mal1oa

1055 St-Regis Blvd Dorval, Quebec, Canada H9P 2T4 Tel. : (514) 685-2630 Tix: 05-822798

DEC Mic:roVMS, RSX. MicroVAX. POP are registered trademarks of Digital Equ ipment Corporation.
ill 1110iSt81wd trademark of Matrox Ltd.

CIRCLE NO. 13 ON INQUIRY CARD

BREAKPOINTS

WYSB BB.OADBNS LINB WITH AT-COMPATIBLE AND DISPLAY PRODUCTS Wyse Technology, San Jose, Calif., has unveiled a blitz of monitors and a
new microcomputer compatible with the IBM Corp. PC/AT. The three new monitors, all with 14-inch screens, are PC-compatible. The WY-530 ($235) is monochrome with non-glare etched glass; the WY-630 ($599) has a 16-color palette but can also work in amber or green; and the WY-640 ($749) offers high resolution for compatibility with IBM's Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA). The AT clone, called the WYSEpc 286, is priced from $2,999, with a single l.2M-byte flexible disk drive, to $4,199, with a 40M-byte rigid disk drive.-Mike Seither
APOLLO TO SUPPORT LATEST UNIX ON ITS WORKSTATIONS Apollo Computer Inc., Chelmsford, Mass., has announced intentions to
incorporate AT&T Co.'s UNIX System V Release 3 on its technical workstations. The two companies began working together on the UNIX implementation several months ago. By incorporating the latest version of the operating system into its proprietary DOMAIN/IX system, Apollo hopes to reinforce its commitment to a multivendor computing environment.
- Lynn Haber
COBOL GBTS A BOOST ON A'l'TIS' UNIX MACHINES An agreement between Micro Focus Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., and AT&T
Information Systems, Morristown, N.J., will see Micro Focus developing COBOL programming products for all ATTIS computers running under UNIX System V. The two companies are working together to increase the impact of COBOL in the UNIX environment, says Joanne Masingill, a software division manager at ATTIS.-Keith Jones
INTBL SUPPOB.TS MAP WITH INI AGREEMENT Intel Corp., Folsom, Calif., and Industrial Networking Inc. (INI), Santa
Clara, Calif., have signed an agreement to market network products based on the IEEE 802.4 Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP). The companies will also jointly develop future products for the token-bus environment. Under the agreement, Intel has exclusive distribution rights for the INI token-bus controller, broadband modem and Multibus I boards.
-Lynn Haber
TBCH FILBS: A QUICK LOOK AT NEW PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGY The latest in dot-matrix printers from Epson America lnc., Torrance,
Calif., is the $749 model EX-800, which incorporates a nine-pin printhead providing near-letter-quality printing at 54 characters per second (cps) and draft quality at 250 cps. Available with parallel or serial interfaces, the EX-800 features printing in seven colors: black, red, blue, violet, yellow, orange and green. Deliveries begin this month.-Carl Warren

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

21

BREAKPOINTS

The Modem Combo Cards from the Persyst Division of Emulex Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif., are reportedly the first IBM Corp. PC-compatible enhancement boards to combine communications and display capabilities on a single card. Two versions are offered: the Modem Mono Combo provides a fully compatible IBM monochrome display adapter, while the Modem Color Combo offers a fully compatible IBM color display adapter. Both boards also provide a 2,400-baud modem, parallel port and calendar/clock, and are priced at $899. Persyst has also introduced the EG-8 graphic expansion board to provide four types of graphics support: IBM's monochrome, Enhanced Graphics Adapter and Color Graphics Adapter; and Hercules Computer Technology's Graphics Adapter. The $599, PC-compatible card also offers serial and parallel ports, a calendar/clock, print spooling and RAM disk software.-Bruce MacDonald

Claiming to have the first color graphics board able to create images 24 planes deep with independent alphanumeric overlay, Peritek Corp., Oakland, Calif., will debut the VCX-Q/U at the SIGGRAPH graphics show, Dallas, August 19 to 22. The VCX-Q/U works with Q-bus and UNibus computers from Digital Equipment Corp.-Dave Simpson
Consider add-in boards from Clearpoint Inc., Hopkinton, Mass., if you want to take full advantage of the IBM Corp. RT PC's 16M-byte address space. Organized as two 40-bit arrays, the $1,895 RTRAM/4 stores 4M bytes using 256K dynamic RAMs, while the $4,395 RTRAM/8 provides BM-byte capacity via lM-bit DRAMs. The boards, which have a 150-nsec access time, support the RT PC's error-detection and correction logic. --Jesse Victor

LabVIEW software from National Instruments, Austin, Texas, takes a novel, interactive graphical approach to developing and running ,software for laboratory and scientific instrumentation. Based on the Apple Computer Inc. Macintosh, the $1,995 package allows system integrators to use block diagrams functioning as executable subroutines, graphical frontpanel representations and icons to program, configure, debug and control IEEE-488-based instrumentation systems. Statistical-analysis, matrix-manipulation, signal-processing, mathematical and file I/O routines are built in.--Jesse Victor

lfOTBS PB.OM OVBB.SlllAS: Paris software house GIB Bmeraude is porting its integrated project-support environment, also called Emeraude, to a wide variety of computer systems, and U.S. companies are among the potential customers. Emeraude is an implementation of the Portable Common Tool Environment (PCTE), now being defined by six leading European computer makers. PCTE runs on top of UNIX System V and adds substantially to the project and programming support facilities that UNIX provides. Additional tools written to run with PCTE can call PCTE functions using a set of C-language instructions being established as a standard in Europe so that a tool can run with PCTE on any machine.-Keith Jones

22

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

If Keyboard Data Entry Is
Slowing You Down, Have A Talk With Your Computer

For fast, accurate data entry, Verbex voice input is the answer. Our voice data entry products are helping companies in material handling, inventory control, inspection, test and other applications save thousands of dollars in labor, time and equipment costs, often with productivity gains of 100% and more. Now you can take advantage of this proven technology in a new, low-cost voice data entry peripheral-the Verbex Series 4000 Voice Recognizer.
Integrating seamlessly with your existing data entry operation, the Voice Recognizer works with virtually any mainframe, mini-, micro- or personal computer. Unique, reusable, CMOS cartridges hold each user's voice patterns

and vocabulary words. He or she simply drops the pocket-sized cartridge into the Voice Recognizer console and it instantly

True continuous speech recognition:

the key to your success.

--- -

---

responds to verbal commands despite

With Verbex, the user inputs data in a

accent, dialect, or interference from

natural voice, so there's no risk of fatigue

loud background noise.
---
Simple software tools let you create
your own vocabularies.

or irritation caused by the staccato diction that other products require. And while others may claim it, only Verbex's patented continuous speech recogni-

With our IBM�PC-compatible Voice tion algorithm achieves this natural

Developer software, programming cus- man/machine interface without sacri-

tom vocabularies is no sooner said than ficing accuracy or vocabulary size.

done. Simple software tools let you

For details on the Series 4000 or our

select words of any length using termi- OEMNAR programs, call (201)267-7507.

nology specific to your application,

Or write on company letterhead and

your industry, and your firm . Training ask for a free video tape of voice appli-

your users is fast, retraining is typically cations: Verbex, VOICE INDUSTRIES

unnecessary, and you may change your CORPORATION, Ten Madison Avenue,

vocabulary at any time.

Morristown, NJ 07960.

Verb ex
VOICE INDUSTRIES CORPORATION
CIRCLE NO. 14 ON INQUIRY CARD IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp.

-

Now you can get the Convergent products you need. Featuring the highest price-performance available.
DDS is prepared to offer you Convergent's complete lineup of UNIX*-based multi-user computer systems. Convergent already builds products for leadmg OEMs like AT&T (the inventor of UNIX), Motorola and others. So you know they do it right.
DDS can deliver Convergent MightyFrames~ Or if you need fast performance for over 64 users, the new MegaFrame II* will soon be available.
More importantly, DDS can offer you special configurations you can't get anywhere else. For mstance, only we can deliver you MiniFrames* and Mighty Frames with a variety of disk drives ranging from 50 MB to 675 MB each.

"Convergent MightyJirames, huh? I'll have to pull some strings to get 'em. But I'll get 'em!'

I

DDS are half-inch, 9-track tape drives supporting 1600 and 6250

byte? per inch for_your MightyFrame

and MegaFrame II.

DDS is also a great source for service and support. Even nationwide Honeywell service for hardware is available. DDS people work hard. DDS people know your business.
And DDS has other ways to support VARS. Like continuing to provide them with an impressive array of multi-user products from leading manufacturers- every-

thing from minis and micros to

peripherals and software.

Configurations in the MightyFrame alone that total over 5.0 gigabytes of disk storage.
Other features available from

So, if you need help integrating high-performance systems you can sell with confidence, call DDS and we'll re_�Q_ond. DUCOMMUN DATA SYSTEMS, 10824 Hope Street, Cypress, California 90630,
1-800-FOR VARS.

*Mighty Frame, MegaFrame U and MiniFrame are trademarks of Convergent.
UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories .

DUCOMMUN

DATA

SYSTEMS

:t A DIVISION OF DUCOMMUN INCORPORATED

AT&T� AT&T Teletype� Ashton-Tate� Alloy� CDC� Convergent �Data Technology Corporation� Dataproducts DEC� FIS� HANDLE� Lear Siegler� 3-M � NEC� Novation � Quadratron � Qume �Sola� Tandon� Televideo Thesys �Tl �Touchstone � Unify � Western Digital �WYSE
CIRCLE NO. 15 ON INQUIRY CARD

The VME BUS and OS-9:
Ultimate Software for the Ultimate Bus.

Modularity. Flexibility. High Performance. Future growth. These are probably the prime reasons you chose the VME bus. Why not use the same criteria when selecting your system software? That's why you should take a look at Microware's OS-9/68000 Operating System-it's the perfect match for the VME bus.
When you're working with VME you must have access to every part of the system. Unlike other operating systems that literally scream KEEP OUT!, OS-9's open architecture invites you to create, adapt, customize and expand. Thanks to its unique modular design, OS-9 naturally fits virtually any system, from simple ROM-based controllers up to large multiuser systems.
And that's just the beginning of the story. OS-9 gives you a complete UNIX-application compatible environment. It is multitasking, real time, and extremely fast. And if you're still not impressed, consider that a complete OS-9 executive and 110 driver package typically fits in less than 24K of RAM or ROM.
Software tools abound for OS-9, including outstanding Microware C, Basic, Fortran, and Pascal compilers. In addition, cross C compilers and cross assemblers are available for VAX systems under Unix or VMS. You can also plug in other advanced options, such as the GSS-DAIVERSTM Virtual Device Interface for industrystandard graphics support, or the OS-9 Network File Manager for high level, hardware-independent networking.
Designed for the most demanding OEM requirements, OS-9's performance and reliability has been proven in an increchble variety of applications. There's nothing like a track record as proof: to date, over 200 OEMs have shipped more than 100,000 OS-9-based systems.
Ask your VME system supplier about OS-9. Or you can install and evaluate OS-9 on your own custom system with a reasonably priced Microware PortPakTM. Contact Microware today. We'll send you complete information about OS-9 and a list of quality manufacturers who offer off-the-shelf VME/OS-9 packages.

MICROWARE.
Mlcroware Systems Corporation 1866 N.W. 114th Street � Des Moines, Iowa 50322 Phone 515-224-1929 � Telex 910-520-2535
Mlcroware Japan, Ltd. 41-19 Honcho 4-Chome, Funabashi City � Chiba 273, Japan � Phone 0474-22-1747 � Telex 298-3472

Modular Hardware Deserves Modular Software

Mlcromaster Scandinavian AB
St. Persgatan 7 Box 1309 S-751 43 Uppsala
Sweden Telex : 76129 m1croma s Phone: 018-138595

Dr. Rudolf Kell , GmbH Porphyrstrasse 15 0-6905 Schriesheim West Germany Telex : 465025 keil d Phone: .06203-6741

Elsof1 AG Bankstrasse 9 CH-5432 Neuenhof Switzerland Telex: 57136 elso ch Phone: 056-862724

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CIRCLE NO. 16 ON INQUIRY CARD

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CIRCLE NO. 17 ON INQUIRY CARD

NE\NS/INTERPRETER

AST card gives OEMs choice of PC graphics possibilities

Mike Seither
Associate Western Editor
A_ST Research Inc. has broadened its foray into the highly charged market for personal computer graphics by introducing an upgrade chip that gives OEMs more flexibility in configuring systems.
The Irvine, Calif., chip manufacturer has added compatability with the IBM Corp. color graphics adapter (CGA) and the Hercules Graphics Card to the AST-3G board. When the company began shipping the AST-3G in late April, the board provided compatibility only with the IBM enhanced graphics adapter (EGA).
Now, system integrators can add CGA and Hercules capability by plugging the $75 upgrade chip into a socket on their AST-3G boards. AST will market � a high-end board-the AST-3G Plus-that includes a factory-installed CGA/Hercules chip. The company says shipments of the AST-3G Plus have begun.
The firmware for CGA and Hercules compatibility adds another level of "modularity" to the AST-3G board, says Marty Stein, the company's director of graphics products. The board now supports three popular graphics standards-CGA, EGA and Hercules-and provides either 64K bytes or 256K bytes of onboard RAM to serve various graphics software packages. A parallel port for IBMcompatible printers and plotters is optional. In all, AST Research offers a choice of eight 3G adapter board configurations ranging in price from $425 to $600 (see table).
"System integrators or large corporate end users can standardize on a single hoard but [need] not buy more

.than they need for any one PC," says Stein. The choices in AST-3G adapters give system integrators with an installed base easy flexibility in upgrading personal computers as their customers' graphics needs change, he adds. For example, some users who ultimately require graphics may already have personal computers equipped with a parallel printer port, so they wouldn't need to include one as part of the AST board.
AST also says that the flexibility of the 3G line allows buyers to purchase personal computers in volume and configure them with one board for several graphics applications. Later changes in graphics capabilities would only involve adding a chip or changing monitors, . according to Stein. No new adapter would be necessary.
For AST, which has manufactured enhancement products for the IBM PC and compatibles since 1980, the 3G cards follow a number ofearlier graphics boards. The company also sells Preview!, a $399 card that is compatible with IBM's monochrome display adapter (MDA), and Color-

The AST-3G Plus offers system integrators three graphics standards from which to choose: the IBM EGA and CGA and the Hercules. Options for 256K bytes of memory
and a parallel
port are also available.
GraphPlus, a $295 adapter that supports only the CGA standard. The company is perhaps best known for its SixPackPlus, which combines on a single board such functions as serial and parallel ports, extra RAM and a clock. Along with Lotus Development Corp., Intel Corp. and others, AST was instrumental last year in creating the Above Board standard, which allows memory extensions beyond the 640K-byte barrier imposed by the IBM PC.
Half a million boards
Despite its considerable experience in the IBM PC market, AST faces plenty of competition, not the least of which comes from IBM itself. According to industry analysts, graphics adapter cards are becoming one ofthe hottest after-market enhancements for the PC. It's estimated that last year, when it had the market mostly to itself, IBM sold 125,000 of its $930 EGA cards. So says Lewis Brentano, vice president and director of graphics and terminal services at Dataquest Inc., the San Jose, Calif., market-research outfit.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

27

NEWS/INTERPRETER

AST plans to bring its substantial

PAYING ONLY FOR WHAT'S NllDID

marketing and distribution muscle to bear on getting the new boards to

AST-3G

AST-3G Plus

market. The company, which totalled $90 million in sales during the first

Configuration

Price($)

Configuration

Price($) half of its fiscal year, will move the

EGA/64K

425

EGA/256K

450

EGA/64K/ parallel port

450

EGA/CGf-1 Hercules/64K

500

EGA/CGA/ Hercules/256K

575

EGA/CGA/ Hercules/64K/parallel port 525

boards through several channels, including dealers, value-added resellers, distributors and large retailers such as

EGA/256K/ parallel port 500

EGA/CGA/ Hercules/256K/parallel port 600 Computerland Corp. and Entre Com-

puter Centers Inc.

Stein also foresees significant OEM

"I'm not afraid to say that 400,000, sure compatibility in all modes: EGA, business. The biggest customer in that

even 500,000 [EGA units], will be CGA, Hercules and MDA. " We claim category will be manufacturers of

shipped in 1986," says Brentano. to run with all mainstream software IBM PC lookalikes, he says. He fur-

"EGA has come of age." �

and most compatible PCs," he says. ther anticipates that 40 percent of

But Robert Lefkowits, an analyst "It's been quite a massive testing ef- AST-3G Plus early sales will be to

with InfoCorp of Cupertino, Calif., fort ."

foreign manufacturers.

D

says those figures are out of line. "I'd

be surprised if 1986 shipments passed

I00,000. There isn't a demand for
Coming next from Japan: EGA yet because there isn't that
much software that takes advantage

The bionic computer? of it." However, AST's Stein agrees with

the higher figures, saying that he has

seen information that shipments of Michael Tucker, Associate Editor

nese. On the other hand, officials at

EGA monitors exceed 30,000 a

the U.S. State Department and the

month.

In an uncharacteristic move, Japan U.S. National Science Foundation say

Whatever their number, many of is proposing a massive, long-term, in- the Japanese wish to begin a genuine-

those 1986 EGA sales will come from ternational R&D project into the field ly open and international project.

non-IBM sources. Brentano says that, of bionics and related sciences. The besides AST, two companies, Quad- program, titled "Human Frontiers," Mother Nature knows best

ram Corp. of Norcross, Ga., and Vid- qould have a significant impact on Bionics is the application of biolog-

eo-7 Inc. of Milpitas, Calif., "are ship- world computing technology. The ical principles to the design of ma-

pii\g in good volumes." Add to that Japanese hope to produce improved chines and electronic systems. Al

several other companies that are in- artifical-intelligence

software, software, certain kinds of robots,

troducing a variety of EGA-compati- "biochips," intelligent robots and prosthetic limbs, dialysis machines

ble cards (see "PC board vendors rush more, in concert with other industrial and artificial hearts could all be

to fill EGA demand," Page 69). nations.

called bionic applications. One re-

Brentano believes that AST may be Backed by Japan's powerful Minis- lated field is biotechnology, which

well positioned to take advantage of try of International Trade and Indus- essentially attempts to do the reverse

current user needs now that its try (MITI), Human Frontiers would of bionics and create machines based

AST-3G Plus provides compatibility be funded initially with roughly $5 on the principles of biology (see "Re-

with CGA and Hercules. That's be- billion at the current rate of exchange. search holds promise of biochips," .

cause Brentano, like Lefkowits, be- 1The United States, Canada, Common right). lieves that much of the software writ- 1Market countries and other industrial The Japanese say that applied bion-

ten for those standards has not been nations have been invited to partici- ics could lead to a new industrial

rewritten for EGA.

1pate-at first drawing on Japanese revolution. Explains Taizo

"Fifty percent of the applications , funds but later paying their own way. Yokoyama, minister of commercial

that people buy are ready for EGA," The program is expected to last 20 affairs at the Japanese embassy in

Brentano says. "The rest run on CGA years, to 2007.

Washington, "The basic idea is that

or Hercules. Until it's l 00 percent, Observers in the United States the next technological breakthroughs

they'll want emulation features."

seem generally positive about the pro- may come from the study of living

Meanwhile, Stein says that AST has gram, but cautious. Some industry things. The functions of living beings

hired an independent testing firm to insiders question whether any project might be translated into mechanical

run the AST-3G boards against about backed by the typically insular MITI or electronic functions. For instance,

80 specific graphics programs to en- would actually be open to non-Japa- very advanced computers might

28

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

NEWS/INTERPRETER

come from the study of the human brain."
The Frontiers program has been conceived as a way to effectuate the basic research necessary for this " bionics revolution." "We know," says Yokoyama, " that this is far too ambitious a project for any one nation to carry out."
In the short run, Japan hopes the program will provide improved AI software, better computer-user interfaces, superior industrial robots and so forth . Research programs to make these possible would include work in machine vision, natural languages, artificial associative memory and symbolic processing.
In the long run, the Japanese are quite seriously discussing revolutionary technologies. These include biochips-electronic circuits based on protein molecules, which would, in the9ry, be far smaller and more powerful than any silicon chip. (Some visionaries have even talked about embedding them in the brain as the ultimate personal computer.)
Frontier or fraud?
The American response to the proposal has been mixed. Government officials who have studied the proposal have been optmistic overall, although they caution that the project is still very much in the planning stages. "At the moment," says Charles Wallace, senior program manager at the National Science Foundation in Washington, "it's just a twinkle in the eye of MITI."
However, Wallace approves of the project's long-term goals. "I'm not cynical about this," he says. "I'm tempered, perhaps, by looking at some of their other research programs, particularly their Fifth Generation project." The Fifth Generation .project is the well-known Japanese attempt to leapfrog world computer technology. So far, it has not been a ripping success, partly because of intense competition among the sponsoring Japanese companies.
The U.S. State Department also seems to approve of the Frontier project. An offical there says, "From our point of view, we think it' s a nice

Research holds promise of biochips

The biochip or, more properly, "molecular computing," is a tantalizing technology even though implementation in computer systems is still many years in the future .
Partisans of molecular computing propose that advances in synthetic chemistry and biotechnology make it possible to manufacture electronic components from individually tailored molecules. For example, some researchers have designed (but not built) diode-like switches that consist of long chains of carbon atoms.
"The idea is to do what semiconductor science does, but with molecular physics," explains G. Allan Schick, a research scientist with the Center for Molecular Electronics at Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh. But because individual components would be molecule-sized, they could be packed to densities beyond the wildest dreams of silicon designers.
The most effective means of manipulating structures on the atomic level is to use the same techniques employed by biotechnology companies, or even by living things-hence the term "biochip." Schick notes that molecular electronics researchers want molecular components to assist in their own assembly, rather like the DNA molecule. "In biofabrication circles, there's a lot of interest in self-assembly."
Full-scale molecular computers are decades away, even by the most optimistic estimates. But biofabrication is already easing

its way into the commercial world. For example, Gentronix Laboratories Corp., Rockville, Md., is seriously considering biofabricated components.
''The product we envision is an optically addressed memory medium manufactured with biofabrication techniques," says Gentronix president John Wehrung. Existing optical memory systems-laser disks-are limited in the amount of stored information by the size of the area that can be marked by a laser, the so-called "laser spot." But, with biofabrication techniques, says Wehrung, designers might give different optical characteristics to individual molecules. "In the space of a single laser spot, you could store 10,000 bits of intormation," he explains.

idea." But Dr. Robert Rabin, the assistant director for life sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology, has mixed feelings. "We're taking a conservative position at the moment, because we're not sure

what their intentions are. One wonders, for instance, how such a project would separate basic from applied research." In other words, the question is how to prevent any one participant from exploiting the others by

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

29

NEWS/INTERPRETER

using the research to jump the gun on producing commercial products.
Serious objections to the program have been raised by members of the business community. One individual involved in a joint venture with a Japanese software concern �. who asked not to be named, bluntly calls the project a "fraud," saying that the Japanese mean to use Frontiers simply as an inexpensive way to get other countries to do their basic researchthe results of which they'd later use to develop still more products for export.
"The [Fifth Generation] project was supposed to be an open, international effort too," he says. "In point of fact, it was open the way a tube of toothpaste is open when you leave the cap off-easy to make things flow in one direction, impossible in the other. The Japanese were more than happy to send their people to study at Cal Tech or MIT, but try and get them to let your people work with them!"
However, the government officals who've actually seen the proposal seem to feel less concern about Japan's current motives. Notes the NSF's Wallace, "I think you have to realize this [Frontiers] is a very sincere effort. There is a very big push in their government for the internationalization of basic research."
State Department officals have similar opinions. One of them comments, "This is a program of basic, as opposed to applied, research. In such a situation, you have to have free exchange of information, or it just doesn't work."
Want Americans in
Whatever the purpose of the Frontiers project, the Japanese are eager for American participation. They are openly inviting American business to become involved. "We have told the U.S. government that the involvement of the private sector is quite essential," said Yokoyama. -However, the exact mechanism for that involvement remains undefined-along with much of the rest of the program's proposed operation.
This vagueness could seriously discourage American researchers from

participating, particularly given the can researchers and the Frontiers ad-

business community's suspicions m101stration in Japan-making

about Japan's real motivations. One Americans aware of the program,

possible solution to the problem, conveying information, .and, gener-

which has been aired in certain gov- ally, protecting American interests.

ernment and business circles, would But American participation in the

be the creation of an R&D consorti- program in any form will have to

um, like the Microelectronics and await clarification of Frontier's basic

Computer Corp. of Austin, Texas, es- aims and organization. Says the

tablished as a response to the Fifth White House's Rabin, "We're enthu-

Generation project.

siastic about this thing. It looks inter-

But, instead of competing with the esting. But we're not ready to say that

Japanese, this new consortium would we know enough about it to get in-

act as a middleman between Ameri- volved."

D

High-speed modems trudge to market

Lynn Haber, Associate Editor
Implementation of the international CCITT V.32 recommendation for synchronous, high-speed data transmission in full-duplex mode over dial-up or leased lines has sent modem vendors down an unexpectedly bumpy road.
After a series of postponed product introductions by a number of manufacturers, only Concord Data Systems Inc. (CDS) and Infinet Inc. are shipping fully compatible V.32 products. British Telecomunications Pie, Codex Corp. and NEC America Inc. have scheduled shipments this summer.
The V.32 modems allow, for the first time, full-duplex, dial-up capability at 9,600 bits per second (bps). Such high-speed performance is the result of a built-in error-correction scheme, known as trellis coded modulation, and an echo-cancellation technique that makes speedy data transmission possible over unshielded telephone lines.
For users, these modems provide four times the data throughput of the slower V.22 modems, which operate at 2,400 bps in full-duplex mode. The ability of the V.32 modems to operate over both private and dial-up lines gives them greater flexibility than the V.22s.
CDS, of Marlborough, Mass., the

first company to ship V.32 modems, has approximately 1,500 units in the field, according to CDS products marketing manager Philip Sliney. Priced at $3,495, the CDS V.32 Trellis modem features 9,600 bps and 4,800 bps; full-duplex over two-wire dial, or four-wire and two-wire unconditioned leased lines; and full CCITT V.32 compatibility with trellis coding. It also provides auto-answer and auto-rate determination of the incoming call; full automatic adaptive equalization with echo cancelling; and test and diagnostic capabilities .
According to Sliney, CDS, like some of its competitors, ran into development difficulties. "We expected to have our product out a year ago, but found problems with the far-end echo cancellation in the beta tests, and had to postpone delivery until corrections and new tests were complete," he says.
NEC America, San Jose, Calif;, also encountered delays in shipping its V.32 trellis modem after it was announced last fall. According to product line manager Rick Pitz, echo-cancellation problems caused the delay, but they have been corrected.
Pitz, like CDS' Sliney, agrees thai the delivery delays of the V.32 modems can be attributed to manufacturers underestimating the prob-

30

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

NEWS/INTERPRETER

Codex's 2260 V.32 high-speed modem, priced at $3,495, is scheduled for shipment this summer.
lems involved in dealing with the units' advanced technology. "Implementing the far-end echo cancellation was difficult and costly," he maintains, adding, "getting products out the door then became largely a development problem."
The price of an echo
Echo cancellation is necessary to maintain data integrity during transmission. Moreover, it must be employed for trellis modems to comply with the CCITT V.32 standard. Unfortunately, says Sliney, the CCITT recommendations do not specify how echo cancellation should be done.
As explained by modem maker Codex, of Mansfield, Mass., there are two possible sources of echo in a dial connection: the local and remote terminations. An echo during data transmission is the same as that experienced during a telephone conversation when, for example, the voice is delayed for a few seconds after speaking. This is merely annoying in a telepone conversation; in data transmission it is unacceptable. Because both the transmitter and receiver share the same bandwidth in a two-wire scheme, the received signal will be masked by the transmitted signal unless the transmitted signal can be eliminated-thus, the need for echo cancellation. This problem is most commonly encountered when satellite phone links are used.
According io Codex director of dial products, Michael Moritz, the company's models 2250 and 2260 high-speed modems are due out this summer and will be priced at $2,995 and $3,495, respectively. The 2250

operates at 4,800 bps. The 2260 is compatible with other V.32 trellis and non-trellis coded modems at 9,600 bps and 4,800 bps.
Also shipping fully V.32-compatible modems is Infinet of Andover, Mass., with its V.32 Trellis that it buys under an OEM agreement from CDS. Lynn Faust-Berger, product marketing manager, expects to see sales of the V.32 units to dial customers who are looking for speed enhancements. She also believes the modems will be attractive to privateline users who want improved leasedline capabilities with an easy-to-use, single-call dial backup, all in one box.

Concord Data Systems' V.32 Trellis modem satisfies the full international CC/TT V.32 recommendation for synchronous two-wire, full-duplex data transmission at 9,600 and 4,800 bits per second for dial-up and leased lines.

Awaiting mass VLSI production

One reason for V.32 modem delays marketing at Microcom Inc., Nor-

has been a lack of needed VLSI chips. wood, Mass. A number of proposals

Product-development time has been to modify or extend the current V.32

long, and costs have been high, be- recommendation were suggested at

cause manufacturers have had to cus- the meeting, he says.

tom-design their own chip sets. Al- Sliney reports that while buyers of

though Sliney says that CDS' modem CDS' V.32 Trellis have been positive

uses off-the-shelf components and about the units, it will take another

adds value by software, he contends three to six months of using them in a

that most semiconductor manufac- network before it becomes clear in

turers are now developing V.32 chip which applications the modems func-

sets. Indeed, a spokeswoman from tion best.

Rockwell International Inc.'s Semi- Sliney believes that perhaps the

conductor Division in Newport greatest stamp of authority for the

Beach, Calif., says that the company new trellis technology has been AT&T

is working on a board-level product Information Systems' entrance in the

expected to be available in mid-1987. V.32 arena. ATTIS recently intro-

Meanwhile, Codex's V.32 trellis duced the $2,995 model 2248

modem uses a .VLSI chip set designed modem, which complies with the

by parent company Motorola Corp. V.32 standards for operation at 4,800

Lynne Davis, a senior research ana- bps (but not at 9,600 bps).

lyst with International Data Corp. (IDC) of Framingham, Mass., con- � Drawbacks remain

tends that, because of the high cost of According to IDC's Davis, one dis-

the technology for the V.32 modems, advantage of the V.32 modems is that

many vendors have refrained from they are not compatible with the large

manufacturing them. She believes installed base of CCITT-compliant

that will change when the chip sets and Bell Laboratories modems oper-

are produced in volume.

ating at 1,200 bps and 2,400 bps. But

While companies such as CDS, she expects that vendors will solve

Codex, Infinet and NEC are busily this problem and add backward com-

going ahead with products, other patibility to their products when

modem makers believe that too many CCITT defines the fall-back proce-

aspects of the CCITT V.32 recom- dure. Additionally, while adhering to

mendation remain unclear to risk international standards implies that

pursuing the technology. That was the different vendor's equipment will be

consensus at a recent CCITT V.32 compatible, no testing between differ-

meeting in Europe, says attendee ent manufacturers' products has yet

Gregor Ferguson, vice president of taken place.

D

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

31

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CIRCLE NO. 19 ON INQUIRY CARD

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The Shape of Performance.

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business M achines Corp. Macintosh is a trademark licensed to Apple Computer, Inc. VAX is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corp. UNIX is a registered trademark of A T&T Bell Laboratories, ISOPROCESSOR and dualPort are trademarks ofPyramid Technology Corp. �1986 Pyramid Technology Corporation.

CIRCLE NO. 20 ON INQUIRY CARD

NEWS/INTERPRETER

HEA RD ON THE HILL

NSA's waffling on DIS worries encryption industry

Stephen J. Shaw
Washington Editor
Shooting oneself in the foot is a grand old Washington tradition. Jim Watt did it when he banned the Beach Boys from playing a concert on the Washington Mall. George Bush did it when he said that the price of gasoline was too low. Now, the National Security Agency (NSA) has joined the august list of those with itchy trigger fingers.
NSA, the not-so-secret government organization charged with maintaining the integrity of U.S. codes 'and ciphers, while ensuring that everybody else's can be read like an open book, may be wailing in its support of the data encryption standard (DES), an encoding method that the agency helped design in the midl 970s.
DES is used to encrypt transmissions of government data deemed sensitive, but unclassified. It is composed of two components. One is a publicly available algorithm-a mathematical process on which the data encryption is based. The other is a key: a formula for unlocking the data, known by only the sender and the recipient in any particular DES application.
DES is also widely used to protect commercial data transmissions, including banking and other financial information, and information deemed proprietary by the sender. For classified government information, NSA maintains its own proprietary set of encryption algorithms, or processes.
In the decade since DES was adopted by both governmental and commercial organizations as the standard encryption system, a small industry has grown up around it. DES-based encryption chips are .now available from the majority of leading integrated-circuit manufacturers; software vendors tout packages that implement DES; and users have

jumped on the DES bandwagon believing that, as one observer puts it, if it's good enough for NSA, it's good enough for American business.
Or, at least, DES used to be good for business-maybe.
DES loses luster
Earlier this year, NSA began to send quiet signals at industry conferences and meetings that DES was no longer good enough to protect U.S. data communications. NSA's feelings surfaced publicly in March when Harold Daniels, the agency's deputy director of information security, responded to questions raised by analysts at Datapro Research Corp. of Delran, N.J., about NSA's current view of DES.
In a letter to Datapro, Daniels said: "The National Security Agency has supported, based on efforts that were initiated in the mid-1970s, the use of DES-based encryption equipment for unclassified U.S. application through a formal equipment-endorsement program and direct government user support. This unique initiative to engage U.S. industry in the business of cryptographic equipment has been very successful...The use of the DES algorithm, however, has made it an increasingly attractive target for our adversaries."
"We will continue to endorse DES products under the existing program until I January 1988," he continued, "but do not intend to certify the DES algorithm when it is reviewed in 1988."
In short, DES has become a victim of its own success. Since it has become widely accepted in both government and commercial circles, it has become more of a target for code breakers. Thus, NSA's thinking seems to run, it's time to change.
The reaction from industry sources to Daniel's statement was quick in coming. Most answer NSA's implicit criticism of DES with a challenge to point to any instance where the en-

cryption system has been successfully descrambled without the key, despite some well-publicized commercial attempts to do just that. Others predict that the encryption industry will be seriously injured by the confusion.
"The vendors of DES-based technology are going to lose big with this," comments Michael Schwartz, vice president of Prime Factors Inc., a manufacturer of computer-encrypt-
ion equipment in Oakland, Calif. "The biggest losers, though, are going to be the end users who now face a two-year or longer period when DES is going to be available, but who now have questions about using it because of what Daniels has said."
"Lots of non-NSA types say that DES is still a secure approach and won't stop being secure despite what NSA says," says Fred Diamond, Datapro's editor of its "Information Security" reports. "But companies will have to start new product and
marketing approaches." Even other government agencies
are in a dither over NSA's comments. One official at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), the official standards-setting arm of the U.S. government, said that NSA's authority in setting encryption standards by decree is not clear-cut. "NSA is not the one that issues government standards," the NBS representative sniffed. "We do." The official asked not to be identified.
There's also evidence that the flap over Daniels' letter is having some effect on NSA itself. Telephone calls to Daniels were referred to NSA public relations officials. There, an NSA official said that Daniels' letter contained some "inaccuracies" and that an official statement explaining NSA's "real" position on DES would be forthcoming.
Until NSA further reveals its plans for DES, the agency may do well to remember that the Beach Boys still play Washington, and the price of a gallon of gas is still around a buck.

38

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

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CIRCLE NO. 21 ON INQUIRY CARD

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CIRCLE NO. 22 ON INQUIRY CARD

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NEWS/INTERPRETER

London link heralds global sales of U.S. computer stocks

Keith Jones, European Editor
U .S. computer stocks are finding new investors on foreign exchanges through satellite links.
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASO), Washington, whose trading system handles scores of computer industry shares, has taken a step toward a worldwide stock-trading network by connecting its Automated Quotation system (NASDAQ) by satellite to the Stock Exchange in London. That link, completed in April, enables NASO stockprice information to be continuously displayed and updated on the Stock Exchange's computer network.
Among the benefits that public U.S. computer companies anticipate from such trans-Atlantic trading are higher visibility in European financial markets and financial press; a better balance of investors; and, most important, more investors and more capital. Observers believe that the link will help healthy U.S. start-up companies secure European venture capital and that European stockholders will find it easier to track a U.S. company's progress, once it goes public on NASDAQ.
Key to the new trading network is the integration of the Stock Exchange's TOPIC system-Teletext Output of Price Information by Computer-with a new system called SEAQ, Stock Exchange Automated Quotations. TOPIC provides share information to securities dealers and stock brokers throughout Britain on a network of approximately 3,000 terminals controlled by 14 Classic minicomputers from Modcomp Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The SEAQ, which comes into full operation in October, is modelled on NASDAQ. It shows the prices and bids of competing securities dealers who are geographically dispersed.
"Within the next five years, most major exchanges around the world will be linked like NASDAQ and the

Stock Exchange in London," predicts NASDAQ president Gordon Macklin. "London is the first to be connected to NASDAQ because it's a prime location and because SEAQ is similar to NASDAQ. But we believe that other exchanges will follow SEAQ and NASDAQ." NASDAQ chairman David Hunter adds, "This is the beginning of the global network for 24-hour equity trading. This is the start of a true world-equity market."
Start with 300 stocks
Macklin estimates that computer companies account for only about a fifth of the total yalue of NASDAQquoted stocks. Still, the NASDAQStock Exchange link will initially transmit information on approximately 300 NASDAQ stocks to London and about 300 London-traded stocks to NASDAQ. The NASDAQ stocks will include the leading 100 industrials, among them Apple Computer Inc., Cipher Data Products Inc. ,

Prices of U.S. computer company stocks are among the NASDAQ quotations displayed in real time on the London Stock Exchange's TOPIC system. About 3,000 terminals, controlled by Modcomp minicomputers, are installed at brokerages throughout Britain, including this London office of Edinburgh broker Wood Mackenzie and Co. Ltd.
Convergent Technologies Inc. and Lotus Development Corp.
"The link with the London Stock Exchange will be very beneficial for companies quoted on NASDAQ," contends Robert Saltmarsh, Apple's treasurer. "One of the benefits for Apple will be the public-relations support it will provide for our subsidiaries in Europe. For example, the European financial press is more likely to write about Apple than previously."
That view is shared by Mick Prokopis, Lotus senior vice president of financial operations, who believes that the publicity value of increased European visibility will assist Lotus' rapidly expanding European operations.
Don Muller, chairman of Cipher Data Products, adds that the link should help increase his company's already large number of European investors. "Our big OEM customers in Europe are reassured by Cipher having European investors," he explains.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

39

NEWS/INTERPRETER

A Convergent Technologies spokesman says the increased visibility of its stock will make it easier for the company to establish a listing on London's Stock Exchange.
Apple's Saltmarsh believes, however, that the trans-Atlantic link will mean companies won't have to list separately in London. Nonetheless, he believes a better balance of investors will result from NASDAQ listings being displayed on the Stock Exchange. "Having European, as well as American, investors provides a healthier mixture of stockholders," he asserts. "American investors tend to be focused on quarterly earnings. In Europe there is less speculation in stocks. They hold their stocks longer and trade less often."
A boon for start-ups
Saltmarsh is among those who believe the trans-Atlantic link could be beneficial not only for established �

companies but also for start-ups and young companies, not yet listed on NASDAQ, who are seeking European venture capital. These would be companies that plan to go public on NASDAQ at some point. Observers say that European capitalists would be more willing to underwrite such ventures if they knew that, once a company was launched on NASDAQ, they could easily trace its fortunes.
"The existence of NASDAQ is of key importance for venture capitalists," stresses Peter Dicks, a director of Abingworth Plc, a London venture-capital company with 75 percent of its portfolio invested in U.S. concerns.
"The link is good news because it will provide a better service for British investors when a company goes public on NASDAQ," says Kevin Landry, managing partner in venture capitalists TA Associates, Boston. TA hopes to raise $30 million in Britain

for investment in U.S. companies, including in fledgling computerequipment manufacturers.
A flotation on NASDAQ is not the only way a young U.S. company can go public in Britain. Ronald Cohen, chairman of the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA), London, which represents many British venture-capital funds, notes that six U.S. companies have been first floated on the London Stock Exchange rather than on a U.S. exchange. These include Infrared Associates Inc., New Brunswick, N.J., and a chemicals industry concern, CVD Inc., Boston. No computer company has yet launched in London.
These American companies chose an approach used by many young British companies: they went public on the Unlisted Securities Market (USM). The USM is operated by the Stock Exchange, but differs from it by permitting a company to be floated

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earlier in its life and to sell a smaller proportion of its stock. It thus enables a new company's founders to retain a high degree of control.
A USM flotation can be easier than going public on NASDAQ, too, says Alistair Alcock, director of finance at London stockbrokers, Phillips and Drew, which has helped two U.S. companies go public on the USM. Alcock explains that the London investment community is more interested in floating small companies than are U.S. investors because British companies in general tend to be smaller. Additionally, the fees charged in London for a USM flotation are much lower than those charged for going public in the United States.
Nonetheless, Alcock expects NASDAQ to remain a much more important market than USM for trading U.S. stocks in London, owing to NASDAQ's reputation and the great-

er number of shares traded on its market. The growth of USM will be steady, he says, but it will not become a major avenue for capital for U.S. computer companies.
NASDAQ president Macklin says plans are now under way to extend NASDAQ's satellite link with the Stock Exchange to all 2,200 companies traded on NASDAQ. NASDAQ stocks can already be purchased in London from the London offices of the major New York securities dealers such as Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Inc. and Morgan Stanley

and Co. Inc., which trade on the NASDAQ system. He adds that the automatic deal execution and settlement facilities provided by NASDAQ in the United States will be extended to London as further developments.

Reluctance remains

In spite of the benefits to U.S. com-

puter companies that the satellite link

will provide, it does not necessarily

presage a road to riches. Such compa-

nies are not always viewed by the

British financial community as good

investments.

D

LOOKING AHEAD IN MMS Be sure to watch for these editorial highlights in coming issues of Mini-Micro Systems. � The August issue will cover single-board computers and microprocessors.
� Add-in/add-on subsystems will be studied in the October issue.

CIRCLE NO. 23 ON INQUIRY CARD MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

----- ---- ------41-

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All this HP quality regularly costs $2,095 for the monochrome terminal or $3,095 for the color terminal. But with the $500 trade-in offer and the $400 HP Touchscreen accessory, you're getting a real bargain. And it lets you find out why HP Touch is an easy way to communicate with your computer.
For more details, call your local HP sales office listed in the telephone directory white pages. But don't delay. Remember this special offer ends August 31, 1986.

CIRCLE NO. 24 ON INQUIRY CARD

F//jj'W HEWLETT
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NEWS/INTERPRETER

From Down Under: Software to end program incompatibility

Mike Seither Associate Western Editor
An Australian systems software company has taken networking to new limits by making it possible to run a single version of a program, and to exchange data files, on dissimilar networked machines without having to rewrite the code to match individual computers.
Claiming that it has achieved network-software portability for applications written in COBOL, Austec Inc., San Jose, Calif., has mounted the second half of a "push-pull" marketing campaign to lure system integrators, value-added resellers and end users into its fold of believers.
The company, a subsidiary of

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Distributed Data Access from Austec allows an application program to be loaded downline on a network and executed on dissimilar computer systems where Austec's ACEBRIDGE software resides.

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MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

Heurikon's LINKJXTM Real-Time Development System makes your real-time headaches a thing of the past. LINK/X provides bi-directional communication between UNIXTM and multiple processors running under the Hunter and Ready VRTX� real-time executive. LINK/X lets you develop code under UNIX, download to VRTX, test and debug-all over the system bus or serial link!
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CIRCLE NO. 25 ON INQUIRY CARD

HElRIK9N
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CIRCLE NO. 26 ON INQUIRY CARD

� TRW Inc.. 1986 TRW is the name and mark of TRW Inc.

NEWS/INTERPRETER
Austec International Ltd. , Melbourne, Australia, began its "push" campaign by first convincing more than a dozen computer giants to support its ACE (Austec Conformable Environment) software products. Present licensees include AT&T Information Systems, Digital Equipment Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Honeywell Information Systems Inc., IBM Corp. and NCR Corp. Austec expects to sign up a dozen more vendors before long. The manufacturers sign agreements to resell the ACE networking software, which Austec tailors for vendors' specific machines. Most of the computers involved run on versions of either the DOS or UNIX operating systems.
Austec's method is to re-engineer parts of each computer's operating system, file structure and 1/0 control through a program called ACEBRIDGE. Using about 200K bytes of memory, ACEBRIDGE resides on the networked computers and allows the CPU to read and exe- � cute a common machine code generated by Austec's ACECOBOL compiler.
Austec claims that any computer running ACEBRIDGE software, regardless of the operating system, can operate in unison with similarly equipped computers from other vendors. The upshot is what Austec describes as a "virtual computer"-a network of disparate machines that can share processing power, data and, most important, application software.
The conformable pitch
Austec anticipates that its system will help users get more mileage out of their personal computers. " The industry has been selling people hardware that they use only 10 or 20 percent of the time," says Leslie McNeill, Austec's chief executive officer. "There is really a need to make these machines begin to earn their way."
With the backing of manufacturers assured, Austec is now trying to "pull" other customers to its door through a $2.5 million publicity campaign that includes full-;>age adver-
MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

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CIRCLE NO. 27 ON INQUIRY CARD 45

NEWS/INTERPRETER

tisements in the Wall Street Journal. Part of the strategy is to get end users, in-house system integrators and resellers clamoring for Austec's conformable software from their computer suppliers.
For system integrators, the message is that there is an opportunity to sell a wider selection of products. If a com-

puter uses ACE software, a system integrator presumably can concentrate on price and performance characteristics of various manufacturers' computers without having to worry about the availability of application programs. For governments and businesses whose several agencies and departments buy equipment indepen-

dently, "conformable" systems will allow the separate units to exchange data and programs.
Austec's system allows COBOL software developers to write one version of an application source code and have it work on all ACE-compatible computers. Finally, Austec is telling manufacturers themselves that their diverse product lines need not remain incompatible. lncompatability is a key concern for vendors whose customers insist on protecting their investment in software when moving to larger systems.

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CIRCLE NO. 29 ON INQUIRY CARD 46

The test for portability
To prove its claims, Austec con.tracted with International Data Corp.'s (IDC) Technology Laboratories, Palo Alto, Calif., to evaluate Austec's Distributed Data Access (ODA). ODA is Austec's latest enhancement to the ACE line, the portion that provides the actual networking capability. It is an add-on module to ACEBRIDGE and implements the top six layers of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. Austec does not deal with the OSI's first layer, which handles physical connection. The company says that any physical connection, from RS232 to Ethernet and X.25, will provide a link among computers.
Austec has offered COBOL program compatibility through ACEBRIDGE since 1984. But, without DOA, users have had to physically load a program compiled under ACECOBOL onto the target computer disk or tape drive. DOA, on the other hand, makes it possible for a user to load object code on another computer downline, access remote data and lock out others when using a file.
In recent demonstrations in New York and California, IDC used Austec software to demonstrate the company's claims of interconnectivity of a single COBOL application. In the JDC lab, the program resided on an ATTIS 3B2/400 running UNIX, and was loaded downline on an NCR Tower XP. The program also was able to access files on an ATTIS PC 6300 Plus running MS-DOS. Several users were put on the job simultaneously to
MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

show that only one person at a time could access the file in use.
The ACE software is available only from those manufacturers who license it from Austec. The manufacturers are responsible for sales, support and marketing, and prices may vary according to the type of system. For example, an ACEBRIDGE license for the IBM PC costs about $500, while a version for ATTIS' 3B2 costs $1,000. The ACECOBOL compiler is priced at $1,000 for the PC and $2,200 for the 3B2, according to Austec.
Austec estimates that there are more than 20,000 COBOL applications available worldwide and that most of them can work with its software. The chief reason is that Austec's ACECOBOL works with most of the popular COBOL dialects written for compilers from companies such as Data General Corp., Ryan MacFarland Corp., Olivetti S.p.A. and Micro Focus Inc.
Although Austec will market only a compiler for COBOL, McNeill says that ACEBRIDGE can be used to share applications and distribute data from programs written in other languages, such as C, FORTRAN and Pascal. The only proviso, according to Austec, is that the computers where ACEBRIDGE resides must support a modem C compiler.
Although COBOL is one of today's most popular programming languages, some analysts wonder how long that situation will last, especially as personal computers continue to proliferate. Those personal computers aren't running that many COBOL programs, says Robert Lefkowits, an analyst with InfoCorp, a market-research concern in Cupertino, Calif. "There are about a thousand times as many [Ashton-Tate] dBASE programs running on PCs as on COBOL," says Lefkowits. " COBOL is disappearing as an application language for micros."
But Austec's McNeill says it is not Austec's intention to drive COBOL into the personal computer. "All we're saying is that you can now attach all that computing power, of which PCs are only a part, and make it work within your business." D
MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

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CIRCLE NO. 28 ON INQUIRY CARD 47

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CIRCLE NO. 30 ON INQUIRY CARD

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS

UPPER LEVEL OSI PROTOCOLS NEAR COMPLETION ��� �53
The second article of a three-part series on the International Standards Organization's Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) networking model takes a close look at the technical issues surrounding the upper-level protocols that implement layers 5 through 7 of the seven-layer model. Those are the layers that are visible to the user. They deal with application-oriented tasks such as how to establish a connection, transfer a file, access a database management system, send a message and get a printout.

p. 69

� � � Improving graphics PC BOARD VENDORS RUSH TO FILL EGA DEMAND ��� �69

�-- � �� "4 ��� c� Cl COi -� � ���Cl ca Cl
��
p. 85 ...... Software-development tools

One of the key ways to improve the graphics of IBM Corp. PCs and lookalikes is via enhanced graphics adapter (EGA) cards, most of which are compatible with IBM's own EGA standard. However, most of the color graphics boards go beyond IBM's, offering a greater variety of resolutions, more memory, added functions and lower prices. Our survey takes a look at over 20 companies with products that enhance PC-based graphics.
GRAPHICS TOOLS BROADEN PC HORIZONS �������� �as
High-resolution displays and graphics cards are useless without the proper software to take advantage of them. Although there are many off-the-shelf packages available, system integrators and software developers are increasingly turning to graphics software-development tools to customize packages that stand apart from the crowd. Software tools range from programming languages to subroutine libraries and operating environments.

p. 101 . . .

. ... A new application area

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FIRES UP WORKSTATIONS. I 0 I
Most people associate workstations with applications such as computeraided design and engineering. Recently, however, software-development joined those oldtimers as applications suitable for the powerful 32-bit machines. In fact, a leading market-research company reports that 17 percent of all workstations sold last year were destined for software engineering; that percentage is expected to increase this year. The new application area is called computer-aided software engineering (CASE) and encompasses a range of tasks relating to the development, management and maintenance of code.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

49

The Convergent Principle Applied:
Our software illtegrates

Most integrated software packages force users to give package to create OEM and VAR solutions that meet your

up their existing software, convert old files and learn new customers' precise needs.

ways to operate-creating more problems than they solve. SUPERIOR APPLICATIONS

We eliminated those problems with Document Designer,M Of course, the programs you integrate are as important

the integrated software package for NGEN�workstations. as how well you integrate them. For Document Designer,

Document Designer is built on a sophisticated but simple we made sure that each application in the package was

to use word processor: With Document Designer, you can exceptional in its own right.

merge spreadsheets, business graphics, data bases, draw-

Our word processor, for example, delivers such advanced

ings and voice annotations into the documents you create. features as table of contents generation, serpentine and syn-

Document Designer uses an open architecture; that

chronized columns and spelling checkers in multiple languages.

means you can integrate your own great ideas into the

We use our Extended Multiplan*because it's faste r and

Document Designer and An: Designer are trademarks and NG EN Is a re1inered tnidemark of Convergent Technologies. Mult iplan is a trademark of Microsoft.
CIRCLE NO. 31 ON INQUIRY CARD

your great ideas with ours.

offers larger spreadsheets. Our data base, graphics and Art DesignerTMpackages are equally outstanding. You can choose any or all of these applications for your version of the Document Designer. EXCEPTIONAL INTEGRATION
As good as the individual programs are, the way they
work together is simply remarkable. You can move instantly from text to spreadsheets to graphics without having to stop and start separate operations. Voice comments can be added where appropriate. You can also make changes inside your integrated document, adding or deleting information at anytime.

Software this advanced is made possible by Convergent's innovation in design and commitment to protecting our customers' investments.
We'd like to show you how this convergence of thinking can work for you. Call us for more information at 800-538-8157, ext. 951 (in California call 800-672-3470, ext. 951; in Europe call 44-2404-4433). Or write us: Convergent Technologies, 2700 North First Street, P.O. Box 6685, Sanjose, CA 95150-6685, Attention: Mail Stop 10-015.
That is, if true software integration and an open architecture sound like good ideas to you.

Convergent
When great ideas converge, great products emerge.

COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS

UPPER LEVEL OSI PROTOCOLS
NEAR COMPLETION

As lower level OSI protocols gain acceptance, the protocols of the upper levels-where they are visible
to users-are approaching standardization

Wendy Rauch-Hindin Special Features Editor
When commercial networks first came on the scene, the emphasis was largely on such design considerations as the type of transmission medium, the network topology and the accessing method. But end users are concerned with application-oriented tasks: how to establish a connection, transfer a file , access a database management system, send a message and get a printout.
Such application undertakings are within the province of the upper level protocols that implement layers 5 through 7 of the International Standards Organization's Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) seven-layer network model. With the lower level protocols becoming established, vendors now are betting heavily on these higher layers-the protocols directly visible to the user. As shown in Part I of this series (MMS, June, Page 67), many of the lower layer OSI protocols have already reached International Standard status, and within the last year major computer manufacturers have intro-
This is the second of a three-part series scheduled to appear in Mini-Micro Systems on OSI standards. The first part ran in the June issue. The third article, which will appear in the S eptember issue, will cover vendors' OSI implementations and strategic directions. It will also discuss user applications and th e m ajor int eroperability issues and solutions.

duced a wealth of products embodying these protocols.
The final standardization stages are now close for several upper level protocols, such as the Presentation Layer protocol ; File Transfer, Access and Management (FTAM); Common Application Service Elements (CASE) ; Basic Class Virtual Terminal; and the X.400 electronic-mail facility. Also nearing standardization are two database languages, a remote-job-entry protocol, several office-automation protocols, a computer graphics communications protocol and two formal description languages for protocols. Many vendors plan to launch upper level OSI protocol products soon.
Lest it be thought that the standards efforts are finite and soon over, one need only look to users' continuously evolving requirements. With the Department of Defense-the last major holdout-adopting OSI , security becomes paramount. Accordingly, a recentl y defined security addendum, which addresses what security services need to be resolved at different layers, went out from ISO to its members for approval as a draft proposal. At the same time, the ubiquitous use of spreadsheets led to new OSI work to develop a standard spreadsheet format for communications.
The Session Layer, level 5, is the lowest layer 'that recognizes the existence of users on a network. The Session Layer protocol has been an approved international standard since 1984.
The Session Layer's functions include the establishment and termination of a communi-

Illustration by Jon Mcintosh

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

53

COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS

Which subset to implement turns out to be the major Session consideration because different subsets are required for different applications.

eating session, data synchronization and the mapping of addresses to names. It also structures the communicating session that occurs on a Transport Layer (level 4) connection by allowing full-duplex, half-duplex or simplex communications and by determining who speaks when and for how long. In addition, Session manages the breakup of dialogues into different activities that are handled on one connection.
The Session protocol has four subsets: Session Kernel, Basic Combined Subset (BCS), Basic Synchronized Subset (BSS) and Basic Activity Subset (BAS). Which subset to implement turns out to be the major Session consideration because different subsets are required for different applications that users may want to run in one network.
The Session Kernel provides the fundamental Session capability, which is to connect, transfer data and disconnect. BCS adds to the kernel full- or half-duplex operation, optionally expedited data, exception reporting and negotiated release. It does not provide synchronization facilities.
The BSS provides the same services as the BCS in addition to major and minor synchronization, resynchronization, negotiated release and typed data (data sent out of turn). It supports both major and minor synchronization points with different rules about what happens when the communicating partners roll back to one or another of these points.
The most highly structured Session protocol subset is the BAS. BAS provides the BCS capabilities, supports exception reporting and minor synchronization and manages multiple activity subsets. Activity subsets are independent "activities," each of which can be alternately operated, suspended and resumed over the same Session connection.
Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP) connectivity requires, at a minimum, the Session Kernel and the " Duplex Functional Unit." The latter, however, is part of the BCS version of Session, which supports other services for factory applications as well. Therefore, a number of MAP products support the BCS.
The BSS subset is intended for applications such as synchronized file transfer and bulk data transfer. But the CCITT X.400 electronic messaging protocol requires the BAS version of the Session protocol.
"I think you will see a merging of these subsets," predicts Ann Jenkins, product marketing manager for communication systems at Prime Computer Inc., Natick, Mass. "That [merge] will be particularly important in environments where users are implementing proto-

cols like Session, FTAM and X.400 on their host because they will want to run Session with multiple [application] protocols. The Session is a large layer, and users will not want to support multiple sessions running concurrently. Therefore, it will be necessary that the Session support FTAM as well as X.400."
FTAM and X.400 are important functions in business and engineering offices. It follows then that a merge of the Session subsets will be a factor in the specification of the Technical and Office Protocols (TOP). But the MAP arena is different. "If industrial users are running MAP only, they are likely to streamline it to the more minimal BCS version, because they will want as little overhead as possible on the CPU," Jenkins says.
How an application works
Residing above the Session level are the Presentation and Application layers, in that order. The Presentation and Application protocols work together to represent and transfer structured information between application processes. They then pass the information to the Session layer for actual transmission. For example, a point-of-sale application process in a store computer might request a credit-card verification from a credit-authorization process in a bank computer. The Presentation and Application protocols encode the store computer's request as an application-protocol data unit containing the credit-card identification number, the sales price and an action code requesting authorization to accept the charge. They then pass this structured data in an agreed-upon bit encoding to the Session service. The Session service transfers the data to the peer protocol in the bank computer (example from R. desJardins and J.S. Foley, "Open Systems Interconnection: A Review and Status Report," Journal of Telecommunications Networks, Fall 1984).
For this transaction, the Application Layer structures the information to be transferred into an abstract syntax notation language (not a bit encoding). The Presentation Layer encodes this abstract syntax in a concrete syntax (bit encoding), mutually agreed upon by the communicating Presentation processes.
Because these Presentation and Application protocols work together so closely, the ISO decided to ballot on the Presentation, FTAM and CASE protocols as a package. They were voted upon in April as Draft International Standards.
Different computers, and even different applications, have dissimilar data representations

54

MINI-M ICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

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A 24 Mb/s disk drive front-end ensures complete compatibility with future higher speed drives.
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CIRCLE NO. 34 ON INQUIRY CARD

COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS

for information such as character codes, alphanumerics, data types and file formats . The Presentation protocol negotiates a syntax to represent the information that two communicating applications will exchange.
The Presentation Layer needs two types of syntax to represent and transfer the structured data. One is the abstract syntax , known as ASN . I, that the ISO is developing for use by the Application Layer. Abstract syntax describes data in a way that people can understand , but it does not describe how the data will be encoded for transfer or storage. The "integer I7" and the data structure representing the information in the credit-card verification request example illustrate the concept of an abstract syntax.
ASN.1 is based on the CCITT X.409 standard encoding syntax, developed for the CCITT Message Handling Facility and is upwardly compatible with it. Currently a Draft International Standard, ASN. I differs from X.409 in its general structure, which allows the addition of more data types.
One important data type, the "object identifier," is not supported by X.409 but is proposed for ASN. I and is needed for Presentation Layer functions. The object identifier is simply a hierarchical notation that is used to identify and select a concrete syntax for transmission. It might be used , for example, in a videotex application to first identify a videotex syntax and then select the syntaxes for a graphic and for text from the document, and so on. The object identifier is an important data type because there are so many concrete syntaxes to identify. Many are complex because they involve compression, encryption, alternative coding or subsets, and, therefore, a sophisticated mechanism is needed to describe them.
The second Presentation Layer syntax, the concrete-transfer syntax, is the bit-level encoding of ASN . I data. An ASCII or EBCDIC character string or an IEEE floating-point standard 64-bit string are examples of concrete syntax. The standard, "ISO Basic Encoding Rules for ASN.1" (Draft International Standard 8825), is compatible with the standard X.409 representation. Draft International Standard 8825 specifies the rules for encoding ASN.1/X.409 data in an ISO-standard concrete syntax.
The Presentation Layer can use either the ISO encoding rules or any other negotiated bit encoding to encode information. The only requirement is that the Presentation layers in both communicating applications agree on the encoding so they can both interpret the data transferred.

PRESENTATION PROTOCOL NEGOnAftS SYNTAX

k--rr�, APPLICATION

ASSOCIATION CONTROL ASN.10 APPLICATION

PRESENTATION

C NCRETE ...._ SYNTAX

CONCREtE SYNTAX _.,

PRESENTATION

SESSION TRANSPORT

NEGOTIATION OF CONCRETE SYNTAX TO REPRESENT
INFORMATION TO BE EXCHANGED

SESSION TRANSPORT

NETWORK

NETWORK

DATA LINK

DATA LINK

PHYSICAL
l

ACTUAL TRANSFER OF INFORMATION

PHYSICAL
~

SOURCE: MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS

To negotiate the syntax to be used in the data transfer, Presentation protocol software selects a presentation context-a category of syntax or data to be transferred, such as ASCII or NAPLPS. Applications using the selected contexts pass information to the Presentation protocol in ASN.1 form. The software then uses Presentation protocol negotiation procedures for proposing, sending, accepting and rejecting concrete transfer syntaxes. When negotiations are completed, the protocol software translates the abstract syntax into the agreed-on concrete syntax and passes it to the Session Layer for transfer (Fig. I).
The CASE of the Application Layer
Users are most aware of the Application Layer protocols during a communication. There are two basic types of Application protocols. One is CASE, which contains a kit of service elements for common use by specific application protocols. A number of more specific protocols deal with application-oriented tasks such as file transfer, electronic mail , graphics, database and virtual-terminal functions .
The most common elements in CASE perform " association control. " Intended principally for use in distributed enterprises, where computers and applications can communicate autonomousl y, association-control protocols specify the procedures that ensure that applications communicate with appropriate applications in a relevant context. Using these procedures, one application sets up an association with a named peer application and negotiates the semantics, or meaning-without concern for syntax-of the information to be exchanged .

Fig. 1. Peer Application Layers agree on the semantics, or meaning, of the information to be exchanged, which they represent in an abstract transfer syntax (ASN.1). This information is encoded in concrete syntax for actual transfer.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

57

COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS

A group of elements in CASE, constituting a Commitment, Concurrency and Recovery protocol, has quietly plodded ahead to the standards finish line.
58

For example, a point-of-sale credit-checking heterogeneous transfer using the presentation

application and its communicating partner services. The current FTAM products can't

must agree that they are talking about informa- provide heterogeneous transfer because the

tion relevant to credit checking, rather than to Presentation protocol was only recently de-

mortgages or inventory, and must interpret fined.

information in that context. In addition, asso- FTAM's file-access capabilities support the

ciation-control protocols must be able to switch selective access and arbitrary picking apart of a

between different contexts-for example, from file. Remote users can retrieve one or more

credit checking to loans-and transfer infor- records from the middle of a file, add or insert

mation in either context.

a record into the file and delete files.

CCR moves ahead

The file-management part of FTAM contains service elements that allow users to create new

While protocols for handling tasks such as files and file attributes, to inspect and change

file transfer and internetworking' have been the properties of a file and to handle the

receiving much OSI publicity, a group of ele- naming of files. In addition, the protocol man-

ments in CASE, constituting a Commitment, ages file-ownership functions such as who has

Concurrency and Recovery (CCR) protocol , access rights to read, write or modify a file.

has quietly plodded ahead to the International The heterogeneous transfer capabilities that

Standards finish line. The CCR protocol pro- FTAM supports use the Presentation Layer

vides for the reliable completion of distributed � services. With the Presentation services, users

activity in the event of system failure. Toward can change codings during a transfer. They can,

this end, CCR specifies distributed synchroni- for �example, transfer an EBCDIC file so that

zation ; coordination of logging and backup; ASCII pops up at the other end.

and recovery and restart of work when a crash is detected. It is intended for use with distrib-

Messaging protocols gain popularity

uted databases; Job Transfer and Manipulation Besides FTAM, the most widely imple-

(JTM), a generalized remote-job-entry Applica- mented application protocol this year is the

tion level protocol; and transaction-processing CCITT's X.400 recommendation for store-

protocols.

and-forward electronic messaging. Once ap-

JTM specifies job distribution

proved, it achieved instant popularity and is being implemented by common carriers, value-

The JTM protocol is used primarily in job added networks, computer manufacturers and

shops and universities, where jobs are likely to local network vendors. Among others, AT&T

be distributed on different systems. Currently a Co., Burroughs Corp., Data General Corp.,

Draft International Standard, it defines how Digital Equipment Corp., Excelan Inc.,

users should specify the way a job should be Hewlett-Packard Co., GTE Corp., ITT Inc.,

distributed as well as how the distributed- MCI Communications Corp., NCR Corp.,

processing pieces and results should be pro- Northern Telecom Inc., Sperry Corp. , 3Com

cessed and controlled in execution processors Corp., Wang Laboratories Inc., Western Union

and reassembled in a single destination pro- Corp. and Xerox Corp. have or will shortly

cessor. The JTM service and protocol are have X.400 implementations.

geared to unattended operation and remote A series of protocols, the X.400 specifies

management by exception.

message-transfer syntax, fields and format and

A number of MAP products introduced this the services and protocols for handling, trans-

year are touted as implementing OSI FTAM, ferring and forwarding messages. In addition,

but they don't. In fact, they can't because until the approved electronic-mail protocols span

recently only the File Transfer subset of the OSI the functionality of the Xerox Network System

FTAM protocol was defined. Because MAP Courier protocol. Like Courier, X.409 defines

developers needed to provide file-transfer ca- standard data types, such as integers and

pabilities, they adopted the "FT" part of strings. Only the details of the data-type encod-

FTAM for MAP 2.1 . But the MAP Task Force ing scheme have been changed.

formed by General Motors Corp. to develop X.410 is derived from the Courier protocol's

protocols admits that MAP 2. 1 is only an remote-procedure-call capability. The remote-

interim standard because it provides only bulk procedure-call mechanism allows an applica-

file transfer.

tion to make a procedure call on one machine

The full FTAM, now up for Draft Interna- and have it transparently answered or executed

tional Standard balloting, also provides file- by another. This capability is particularly im-

access and -management capabilities as well as portant for directory services and network-

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

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CIRCLE NO. 35 ON INQUIRY CARD

Control 6ol5 Copyright Q 1986

Dau~c;;o;r;p;o;r;a;t;io;n;----------------

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(5 2) CONT~OL DATA
CIRCLE NO. 36 ON INQUIRY CARD

Tuu callt build tomorrowsI systems withyesterdays drives.
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CIRCLE NO. 37 ON INQUIRY CARD
0 Maxtor Corporation 1984

COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS

management protocols. Unfortunately, X.41 O still lacks several features that prevent its general-purpose use in distributed processing.
Although the CCITT X.400 series is not an OSI standard, the messaging facility is being widely implemented with OSI networks. Furthermore, the X.409 encoding scheme forms the basis for a good deal of OSI and related protocols. For example, X.409 underlies the Presentation Layer's abstract and concrete syntax, the office-document protocols and the newly emerging MAP/RS-511 real-time messaging protocol.
Protocol defines generic terminals

PROTOCOL RESOLVES TERMINALS'
rnno DIFFERENCES TLOCAE L ~~

MAPS TO

NETWORK

MAPS TO

LOCAL

ti GENERIC

MAPPING

VIRTUAL

FUNCTION

TERMINAL

7 GENERIC VIRTUAL TERMINAL

LOCAL MAPPING FUNCTION

Anyone who has tried to transfer files and documents between dissimilar terminals knows the frustration that can occur when what is sent from one end bears little resemblance to what is produced at the other. Different terminals can have not only dissimilar character sets, but also different screen characteristics, such as number of characters per line; different control functions, such as end-of-line, tab, underline, form feeds and up arrows; and different control characters to handle these functions.
The Basic Class Virtual Terminal protocol resolves differences between terminals by defining a generic, or virtual, type of terminal that the communicating end terminals implement (Fig. 2). The standard specifies the characteristics of a character-oriented display terminal and the operations it can perform. It specifies these in a way that allows end terminals to understand the same displays and allows each terminal's control functions to cause the same operations to occur in the remote terminal. Characteristics and operations include characters per line, lines per screen, colors and possible methods of emphasis such as underlining and boldface. Not restricted to specific ASCII-encoded terminal operations, the standard also specifies manipulations such as lineand page-oriented operations, protect fields, blinking capabilities and accommodation of input devices such as light pens and mice.
The characteristics that communicating terminals will use are negotiated at the start of a Virtual Terminal session. To ensure the same interpretation of control functions, the Virtual Terminal protocol uses "object-oriented techniques." This means that the terminal's characteristics and data structures are defined as abstract objects and the actions a terminal can perform are defined as operations to manipulate the abstract objects. This setup simplifies the mapping of operations to different terminals because protocol implementers need know

SOURCE: MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS
Fig. 2. Communicating terminals map operations and control functions to a generic terminal (defined by the Basic Class Virtual Terminal protocol), to ensure that they both interpret the operations and functions in the same way.
only what the objects and operations are. No code is associated with either of these.
To perform a control operation remotely, the originating terminal sends the name of a control operation, such as blinking, to its own control object. The control object is the data structure that contains the list of operations that define the current screen. The control object sends the operation name, "blinking," to the corresponding control object in the remote terminal. The remote terminal's control object then uses its own methods to execute blinking. Its method may be different from that used by the originating terminal, but it produces the same results.
The Basic Class Virtual Terminal was scheduled for approval as a Draft International Standard in July. As approval dates neared, the MAP Task Force was working on incorporating the Virtual Terminal protocol into MAP, and similar support was expected for TOP. OSI members are now looking toward the development of more sophisticated versions of the protocol. These include a forms-oriented Virtual Terminal protocol, which supports fields, displays forms and transmits only filled-in information; graphics Virtual Terminal protocols; and mixed-mode Virtual Terminal protocols, including speech.
The increasing decentralization of control in the industrial, financial and a variety of other business communities requires the ability to

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

63

COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS

Unfortunately, X.410 still lacks several features that prevent its generalpurpose use in distributed processing.
64

communicate with remote databases. Responding to this need, database-access protocols are emerging as a dramatic element on the OSI standards scene.
Four database protocols are being standardized: a relational data language, a network data language (NOL), the information resource dictionary systems (IRDS) and a remote dataaccess (RDA) protocol. Structured query language (SQL) is the OSI candidate for query specification in relational databases, and it's already a Draft International Standard . NOL is a significant modification of the CODASYL. Like SQL, NOL is also a Draft International Standard. These standards include both the data-definition language and the data-manipulation language. They do not include a specific binding to programming languages. Specific programming or user-interface languages will likely be the subject of additional standardization.
The third protocol, IRDS, is still a working document. It is intended to provide a datadictionary standard.
The fourth database protocol, RDA , is a relatively new work item, still in the working document stage. Its aim is to allow remote access and updating, via OSI, of relational databases or of database systems that support relational interfaces. RDA uses the standardized SQL as the relational data-manipulation language for remote database interactions. The SQL statements are transferred across the network in an encoded form , using the ASN. l encoding rules. The query is then analyzed at the remote site and translated into an appropriate query understood by the remote database, and the data is then shipped to the user.
The National Bureau of Standards does not believe that a similar remote-access standard will be defined for network or hierarchical databases using NOL. "The advantage of SQL is that it allows you to express a large volume of data very concisely," says David Jefferson, manager of the database architecture group, Information Systems Engineering, at NBS. You can't easily do that for a network or hierarchical database, Jefferson explains. Both network and hierarchical databases tend to require a lengthier procedural and navigational query, as
for example, where you get a record, process it,
get the next record or series of records and so on.
Jefferson recommends using SQL wherever possible to specify a query for a relational, network or hierarchical database and then using a translation facility to map the SQL to a form understood by the queried database. This

technique, however, is subject to a few limitations. One limitation is SQL's inability to specify records in a certain order unless the data sets are tagged.
Database access takes time, so performance can be a problem. Relational databases have sometimes been accused of being slower than network or hierarchical databases. Network and hierarchical databases allow programmers to increase performance by setting up an efficient path to the data.
The situation is different for remote databases. There, communications is often the more important issue. "A concise way of specifying a remote database query leads to more efficient communications and cuts down on the communications cost ," says Jefferson . "In terms of trade-offs, for remote database interaction, this may weigh more than efficiently getting to the data at the remote site."
OA protocols handle documents
Office computer users need to be able to create a.nd transmit formatted documents across a network so that they can be exactly reproduced, worked on and revised at their destination. Today's communications techniques don't allow this. The integrity of the control functions, which control the formatting of a document, is lost during transmission. Consequently, if a document is transmitted in final form, then centered headings, tabbed characters, margin settings, font selections, partial lines up and down, superscripts and subscripts either do not show up at the receiving end or cannot be worked with and still maintain the same format. For example, if a few characters are added to a centered heading, the heading will no longer be centered.
The OSI Text and Office Systems protocols support the transmission of revisable-form documents by standardizing control codes so that their meaning can be reproduced at the communicating end system . Wherever possible, these standards draw upon existing protocols such as FTAM and X.400 messaging, rather than requiring the design of new data-exchange methods for office-document protocols.
The Text and Office Systems standards have six parts, all of which went out in April for approval as Draft International Standards. Based on perceived voters' attitudes, Shirley Watkins, manager of the office systems engineering group at the NBS, expects the standard to meet final approval as a Draft International Standard by the end of this year, even should changes be required.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS

The first part of the Text and Office Systems protocols, "User Requirements," addresses management-support functions. For Part 2, a task group is developing the protocols for Office Document Architecture/Office Document Interchange Format (ODA/ODIF). The Text Interchange Group is working on Part 3, message handling. Part 4 specifies content architectures so that complicated documents containing mixtures of text, graphics and spreadsheet information, for example, can be transmitted. Part 5 is concerned with text description and processing languages and is aimed at the publishing industry. And Part 6, "User System Interfaces/Symbols," deals with user-interface matters such as those concerning keyboards and displays.
Of all the office-document protocols, ODA/ ODIF and the content-architecture protocols are garnering the greatest attention from the largest number of users, vendors and other standards organizations such as the TOP user group. The ODA protocol specifies an architecture, which describes a document in terms of a logical description and a physical-layout description. These descriptions, which determine, for example, how text, figures and tables fit together, are abstract; they cannot be implemented directly.
The document architectures are closely tied to the content architectures, which more specifically provide the means of merging different information types. The ODIF, which specifies the format of the data stream used for transfer, is the most specific.
Content architectures currently under development include character, color, graphics, image, voice and spreadsheet. The entire set of content architectures will use ASN. l for encoding.
The character-content architecture is the first content architecture going to Draft International Standard. The image-content architecture, which refers to facsimile, has already reached the advanced stages, because facsimile is a relatively mature technology. The specification of a graphics-content architecture is also fairly far along. Watkins predicts that spreadsheet will be the next content architecture to be completed.
Spreadsheet-content standardization has drawn a good deal of support, not the least of which comes from federal agencies. The spreadsheet-content architecture standardizes the format for the exchange of spreadsheet data; it is not concerned with the application.
The office-automation protocols are now speeding along after a slow start. The ODA/

ODIF and document-content architecture protocols are functionally similar to, but not compatible with, IBM Corp.'s Document Interchange Architecture/Document Content Architecture (DIA/DCA). IBM's DCA was originally intended only for character content, although the company is also adding other information types, thus increasing the similarities.
Graphics standards mature
Another area in which standards have recently matured is graphics. It's a good thing, too, because the office-document protocols, advanced Virtual Terminal protocols, MAP and TOP standards want to include the graphics specifications developed.
The Graphical Kernel System (GKS) reached International Standard status in 1985. GKS is a 2-D graphics standard for simple images in document drawings and simple graphics on terminals.
Once they create an image, users often want to transmit it to a device and display it on a screen or send it to a remote terminal. Two standards are concerned with these tasks: Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) and Computer Graphics Interface (CGI). CGM is a Draft International Standard. CGI is still a working document.
Metafile is a standard needed when sending a drawing, or graphical image. It specifies the format for storing a graphics file in terms of the information content of the image rather than in bits and bytes. With the image in file form, the FTAM protocol is used to actually transfer it to a remote location.
When the image arrives at its destination, the receiving user may want to display it on a terminal or other device. The CGI protocol specifies how to present graphics information to a device at the logical level (not the coding level). This is equivalent to presenting the information at a virtual-device level; hence, the protocol is also called Virtual Device Interface and Virtual Graphics Interface.
Unless the drive toward communications compatibility takes an unpredictable turn, ISO's OSI efforts seem secure. And, considering the large number of OSI products introduced in the past year by major vendors and the even larger number of OSI products announced for shipping over the next two years, OSI networks no longer seem futuristic. D
Interest Quotient (Circle One) High 478 Medium 479 Low 480

Databaseaccess protocols are emerging as a dramatic element on the OSI standards scene.

88

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

Secrets In performance and price.
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Regardless of the model you pick, 'II find hundreds of compatible fr.',;<;.Wtware packages. And, by using

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Available in a compact desktop unit or as a board which fits inside the chassis of your plotter, printer,
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GRAPHICS HARDWARE

PC BOARD VENDORS RUSH TO FILL EGA. DEMANDS

Eager to share in the personal computer-based enhanced graphics adapter market, vendors are packing boards with greater display functions while maintaining IBM compatibility

Edward Teja Contributing Editor
Personal computer manufacturers are rushing to handle increasingly demanding system applications, such as computer aided design/ computer aided engineering and scientific analysis. In particular, this demand has generated a need to improve the typical desktop computer's graphics performance. That is, microcomputerbased systems graphics capabilities must be upgraded in order to compete with dedicated workstations.
The most direct means of working toward that end is through the use of enhanced graphics adapter (EGA) boards-plug-in cards that offer a range of graphics improvements. Most are based on, and are compatible with, IBM

Corp.'s own Enhanced Graphics Adapter. Better at displaying both text and graphics
than is IBM's Color-Graphic Adapter (CGA) board-the original color graphics standardthe new EGA boards suit system integrators and end users who need higher performance and an IBM-compatible format that is inexpensive to implement. The EGA de facto standard offers that combination.
Among other enhancements, EGA boards provide a choice of display resolutions. Typical EGA-board pixel resolutions are 320 by 200, 640 by 200 or 640 by 350, in color, and 720 by 348 in monochrome. Users can choose not only color or monochrome but also display orientation and aspect ratio.
Of course, monochrome mode provides high resolution and produces sharp, clear images

Shaded spheres and complex shapes like (EGA) board and sophisticated graphics softthese are only two examples of what can be ware, such as the Enhanced Graphics Toolkit generated with an enhanced graphics adapter from Connell Scientific Graphics.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

69

GRAPHICS HARDWARE

An IBM EGAcompatible monitor-the Quadchrome Enhanced Display -and the QUADEGA+ card, both from Quadram and running on an IBM PC, combine to create this Microsoft Windows screen.

using varying degrees of gray scale. But, more importantly for desktop systems, EGA boards are relatively inexpensive vehicles for rediscovering how color adds value to sales.
However, adding color can be viewed either as an enhancement or a limitation, depending on the application. For example, in 640-by200-dot resolution mode, up to 16 colors can be displayed simultaneously from a palette of 64. Although this is lower resolution than that offered by monochrome, the additional perceived information can be enhanced. For example, an edge delineated by a color change can be much sharper than the equivalent in monochrome.
EGA boards eliminate severe user-acceptance problems introduced by IBM's CGA board, which drove users and system integrators toward monochrome display. "CGA was worse than useless for text," says Gary Gonnella, president of Wayne Technology, a systems house in Crestline, Calif. "If you were scrolling through text, the monitor would actually blink off, and then on again, as it scrolled past each line."
More memory enhances display
To enhance display quality, without trading off system performance and throughput, EGAs need on-board memory. This memory, ranging from 64K bytes to 256K bytes, allows the graphics adapter to offioad graphics-processing tasks from the CPU.
IBM's EGA board has 64K bytes, yet much of the graphics software being written for IBM PCs, and especially for PC/ATs, requires 256K bytes. Most other EGA boards are available with 256K bytes, whereas adding memory to IBM's EGA requires a piggyback card. And

some boards can take advantage of as much as 4M bytes of directly accessible memory.
According to Nandu Marketkar, president of NSI Logic Inc., the question isn't strictly how much memory you have. Although he agrees that 256K bytes of display RAM are necessary to effectively handle most graphics software, he points out that it needn't be expensive video RAM. NSI Logic uses true dual-ported memory on its $595 (retail) Epic board. "Other boards only give the host processor access to the display RAM about 20 percent of the time," which isn't enough update time for applications such as solids modeling and CAD, where images must be frequently modified. In contrast, using dual-ported memory gives the host access to display RAM 100 percent of the time.
Thus, it isn't simply having a lot of memory but, rather, how the memory is used. Generally, on-board graphics memory is effective because it is private to the controller chip and is dedicated to graphics tasks. The other solution to the need for graphics memory is the addition of so-called enhanced memory.
Enhanced memory is system memory that goes beyond the PC's 640K-byte boundary and theoretically allows the addition of up to l 6M bytes into a PC/AT-type computer. But, according to Jim Anderson, president of Digitalk Inc., a Los Angeles vendor of software-development packages, "About all you gain is faster memory-access times by using the extended memory as a RAM disk," which doesn't speed graphics processing.
EGA boards not only provide compatibility with IBM's EGA, and backward compatibility to IBM's CGA, but most also work with software written for non-IBM boards, such as the popular Hercules Computer Technology' s Graphics Card. It isn't the hardware, but the firmware in the graphics system's basic input/ output system, that determines compatibility. The boards can thus take advantage of the capabilities of controller chips that exceed the boundaries of standard EGA performance.
What's available?
Video-7 Inc.'s Vega uses proprietary logic to incorporate CGA, EGA and Hercules Graphic Card compatibility on a short-slot board. Priced at $599 (retail), the board comes with 256K bytes of display memory. Quadram Corp. 's QUADEGA+ is another multicompatible offering, priced at $595. In addition to the standard range of display resolutions, QUADEGA+ features flicker-free scrolling and panning, can display up to 512

70

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

s

When you specify Princeton Graphic Systems Monitors, you can be confident you 've made the right choice. The industry recognizes Princeton as a name that stands for outstanding product performance, value, and support.
Product Performance-Princeton high resolution monitors earn their reputation for dependability. Strict quality manufacturing standards and superb engineering combine to produce a superior performance monitor. A Princeton monitor adds a quality image to your system.
Value- Proven market acceptance has made Princeton a leader in the monitor industry. You can expect Princeton Graphic Systems to deliver value in both price and per-

formance. For the second year in a row, our HX-12 high resolution RGB color monitor has been voted the best in the world. *
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For more details and information, please call Princeton's Industrial Sales Department- 800-221-1490 ext. 721 (609-683-1660 in NJ only) . Telex: 821402PGSPRIN.
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CIRCLE NO. 41 ON INQUIRY CARD

Our comprehensive line of data storage
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Every Fujitsu disk and tape drive is built to the highest standard in the data storage industry. Ours.
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GRAPHICS HARDWARE

character codes and supports as many as eight

pages of graphics memory.

Genoa Systems Corp. offers the Super-EGA,

a half-size board, as well as the full-size Super-

EGA +. Both boards are based on a proprietary

two-chip gate array and are compatible with

IBM's EGA and CGA and the Hercules Graph-

ics Card. Genoa's boards boast 640-by-400-

pixel and 720-by-348-pixel resolutions. The Su-

per-EGA+ adds a clock/calendar and serial and

parallel ports to the basic functions of the

Super-EGA .

. American Mitac Corp. takes the extra-fea-

tures game a step further by incorporating a

light-pen interface and a printer interface into

its M.E.G.A. board. This packaging approach

eliminates the need for extra circuitry on a

separate board, thus saving valuable expansion

slots. The M.E.G.A. board costs $245 in OEM

volumes.

Price-conscious buyers will appreciate AST

Research Inc.'s AST-3G, a basic EGA board A variety of approaches exist to minimize the

offering a range of price/performance levels. awkwardness involved in allowing a customer

Offering only EGA compatibility, it comes with to upgrade while maintaining compatibility

64K bytes of RAM and costs $425, retail; $450 with older products. Consider, for example,

with a parallel port. It costs $450 with 256K Everex's Enhanced Evergraphics board. This is

bytes but without the parallel port and $500 a high-resolution, monochrome-only graphics

with 256K bytes and the port. Of course, most board, priced at $249. Everex subsequently

users will want the full 256K bytes of display introduced a piggyback board that provides

RAM in order to take advantage of EGA fea- EGA monitor output and 256K bytes of display

tures such as hardware pan and scroll. Selling RAM for $350. The Enhanced Evergraphics

underpopulated boards allows dealers to up- board with the piggyback board-a package

grade the RAM themselves.

called the EV-650-costs $599.

Attempt to educate users

Most manufacturers are adding features while maintaining competitive prices. For ex-

Another vendor that offers only IBM EGA ample, American Micronics Inc.'s AMI-EGA

compatibility is Tecmar Inc. The company re- retails for $495-a price that is competitive

cently introduced the EGA Master, which sup- with most standard boards-but comes with a

ports those CGA functions that IBM's EGA light-pen interface, parallel port and 256K

board supports but is still intended only as an bytes of RAM, features that often cost more on

EGA-emulator board. The full-slot card costs other manufacturers' boards.

$395, retail. An optional serial port is $50.

PC's Limited established a new low-price

For those who need compatibility with IBM level with its $269 EGAds, which includes a

CGA and Hercules cards, AST offers a choice. light-pen interface and 256K bytes of memory.

Its AST-3G Plus is basically the same board as The company also introduced a $479, 64-color

its AST-3G, but with firmware that provides monitor with 720-by-350-pixel resolution.

additional compatibility. Users can upgrade a For configuration flexibility , consider STB

3G to a 3G Plus for $75; buying the Plus Systems Inc.'s EGA Plus, which comes with a

outright costs $75 to $125 more, retail, than an light-pen interface, parallel printer port, disk

equivalently equipped 3G.

emulator, a print spooler utility program and

The important aspect of AST's strategy is accelerator software for PCs and compatibles.

that users don't have to buy anything that they Plugging in the optional, battery-operated

don't need. For some applications, especially clock/calendar provides a system clock. Pack-

those dedicated to a specific task, such as CAD, aging all these functions on one board saves two

there is often no reason for the customer to buy PC slots.

the extra compatibility. "It's a matter of edu- Not all vendors are comfortable with provid-

cating users about what they really need," says ing a light-pen interface-at least not to end

Brent Berg, AST's graphics specialist.

users. "The light pen is not a standalone de-

Coupled with an enhanced graphics adapter (EGA) board, Media Cybernetics' Dr. Halo graphics enhancement kit allows users to produce this kind of creative business graphics.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

75

IBM ASCII terminals:
The case in black and white.

Introducing a somewhat more colorful
member of the family.
Meet the IBM 3164 ASCII Color Display Station.
It gives you eight foreground and eight background colors. On a 14" screen.
And because of its 8 x 16 character matrix, the 3164 gives you clear, crisp characters in cofor.
But is color any reason to buy IBM's 3164? It is, according to studies that indicate the use of color increases productivity, decreases errors and promotes user satisfaction.
Color, of course, is far from the sole reason for choosing the 3164. To appreciate the others, you should get to know the rest of our ASCII family.
Emulation. Another side of the family.
Our ASCII terminals are designed to fit into existing systems. Even if the systems aren't ours.

Emulation Capability

3161 3163 3164

IBM 3101 Model 881 ADDS Viewpoint* Hazeltine 1500* Lear Siegler ADM-3A* Lear Siegler ADM-5* TeleVideo 910*
IBM 3101 Model 881 DEC VT 52* DECVTlOO* TeleVideo 950*
IBM 3101 Model 881

For example, our basic ASCII Display Station, the IBM 3161, emulates up to six

Features
Screen size Lines x characters Character matrix

3161 3163
12" 12" 25x80 25x80 8xl6 8xl6

3164
14" 25x80 8xl6

programmable function and editing keys so they can be custom-tailored to fit

Double-sized characters Line drawing characters Vertical scroll
Definable functi~n keys Windowing Partitioning
Characters in buffer

No 24 Jump
24 No Horiz.
1920

Yes 24 Jump/ Smooth 24 Yes Vert./ Horiz. 7680

Yes 24 Jump/ Smooth 24 Yes Vert./ Horiz. 7680

your application needs. The 3163 and 3164 models also have redefinable and recappable keys.
Superior ergonomic design isn't

confined to the key-

terminals. And the advanced- board, however. All three

function 3163 emulates a

displays tilt and swivel for max-

number of higher level ASCII imum user satisfaction. And, of

data streams.

course, by making the display

What's more, every one of easy to read , we made it easier

our ASCII terminals can

on the eyes. In addition to the

operate in its own function-

8 x 16 character matrix, we gave

rich native mode.

it an advanced non-glare

Our family is flexible.

etched screen, cursors, and character and field attributes

Our unique plug-in car-

like blink, reverse video, under -

tridges allow for consider.able scoring and dual intensity.

flexibility in your operation. For example, simply by switching cartridges you can

High standards. Competitive prices.

shift a terminal from one data

Quantity discounts are

stream to another.

offered, too. And financing

And , in many countries

is available through the IBM

cartridges are also available

Credit Corporation. Best of

that go beyond emulation to

all, each terminal comes with

let you operate your ASCII

the quality, service and sup-

terminals in several foreign

port you'd expect from IBM.

languages. Appropriate for-

Contact your IBM market-

eign language keyboards are

ing representative, or call

also offered.

1800 IBM-2468, Ext. KC/96,

Enhanced ergonomics. Another family trait.

for the IBM Authorized Distributor nearest you. And we'll present more evidence in the case

All our ASCII terminal

for IBM's ASCII terminals.

keyboards have 102 keys. But

It may be all you need to

that's not all they have in com- ' color your view.

mon. Every keyboard also has a low profile, gentle contour and typewriter touch.
And our keyboards have

� ADil:i Viewpoint is a trademark of Applied Digital Data Systems, Inc.; Hazeltine l500 is a trademark of Hazdtme Corp.; Lear Siegler ADM-3A/ADM-5 are trademarks of Lear Siegler, Inc.; TdeVideo 9KJ/9:1J are trademarks of leleVideo Systems, Inc.; DEC VT 52/VT lOO are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.

GRAPHICS HARDWARE

The difficulty in increasing display performance via a plug-in CRT controller card is that the maximum performance is limited by the display itself.

vice," points out Mike Zachan, director of marketing at Persyst. "The pen has to work with a specific monitor. Without knowing what monitor the end user will select, you can't guarantee that the light-pen interface will work."
Persyst's solution is to provide a light-pen interface as an OEM function and not mention it to end users at all. Thus the new EGA board from Persyst claims only a serial port (not a light-pen port), a parallel port and a clock at a list price of $595.
Overcomes display limitations
The difficulty in increasing display performance via a plug-in CRT controller card is that the maximum performance is limited by the display itself. For example, users can't get 4 million pixels on a l million-pixel display. The solution arrived at by Monoterm Corp. is to package a controller along with one of its 19-inch, high-resolution monochrome monitors. Termed Viking, this controller/display package gives a PC a l ,280-by-960-pixel resolution and compatibility with software written for EGA boards.
A 66-kHz refresh rate on the Viking monitor

cuts down on flicker and, therefore, on eye fatigue. A 2K-byte-by-2K-byte display memory on the controller ensures that the system can take advantage of the full display quality. The complete Viking package costs $2, 195 in OEM quantities.
Similarly, Wyse Technology offe rs the SY-700, a 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution mon itor and graphics board subsystem that runs all PC-compatible software. Priced at $1 ,595, the SY-700's bit-mapped graphics board plugs into a PC or PC-compatible slot� and runs CGA applications by mapping colors into fou r shades of gray.
The model 460 video interface from Video Inc. provides a link between an EGA and a specialized data projector or large-screen monitor. It takes TTL (transistor to transistor logic) signals from the computer and converts them into analog RS 170-like video signals capable of driving several hundred feet of standard RG59 cable into a 75-ohm load without picture degradation. The interface costs $450 and adds a new level of versatility to PCs.
Possibly even more important than high resolution is faster imaging. Orchid Technology combines its Turbo286 board, which provides

Companies mentioned In this artlcle

American Mltec Corp.
3385 Viso Court Santa Clara, Calif. 95054 (408) 988-0258 Clrcle399
Amerk:lln Mlcronlca Inc. 17811 Skypark Circle, Suite H Irvine, Calif. 92714 (714) 261 -2428 Circle 400
AST Research Inc. 2121 Alton Ave. Irvine, Calif. 92714 (714) 863-1333 Circle 412
Everex 48431 Milmont Drive Fremont, Calif. 94538 (415) 498-1111 Circle 413
Oenoll Systems Corp. 73 E. Trimble Road San Jose, Calif. 95131 (406) 945-9720 Circle 414

Hercules Computer Technology Suite 210 2550 Ninth St. Berkeley, Calif. 94710 (415) 540-6000 Circle 415
Monoterm Corp. 5740 Green Circle Drive Minnetonka, Minn. 55343-9074 (612) 935-4151 Circle 418
North Ster Computere Inc. 14440 Catalina St. San Leandro, Calif. 94577 (415) 357-8500 Circle 417
NSI Logic Inc. 257 B Cedar Hill Road Marlboro, Mass. 01752 (617) 460-0717 Circle 411
Orchid Technology 47790 Westinghouse Drive Fremont, Calif. 94539 (415) 490-8586 Circle 4111

PC's Umlted 1611 Headway Circle Austin, Texas 787545 (512) 339-6800 Circle 420
Per9yat 3545 Harbor Blvd. P.O. Box 6725 Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626 (714) 662-5600 Circle 421
Princeton Graphic Systems Building A 601 Ewing St. Princeton, N.J. 08540 (609) 683-1660 Circle 422
Quedrem Corp. 1 Quad Way Norcross, Ga. 30093 (404) 923-6666 Circle 423
STB Systems Inc. 601 N. Glenville Richardson, Texas 75081 (214) 234-8750 Circle 424

Teemer Inc. 6225 Cochran Road Solon, Ohio 44139 (216) 349-0600 Circle 425
Vermont Microsystems Inc. 11 Tigan St. P.O. Box 236 Winooski, Vt. 05404 Circle 426
Video Inc. 2400 W. 10th Place Tempe, Ariz. 85281 (602) 966-2221 Circle 427
Vldeo-7 Inc. 550 Sycamore Drive Milpitas, Calif. 95035 (408) 943-0101 Clrcle 428
Wyae Technology 3571 North First St. San Jose, Calif. 95134 (408) 433-1026 Circle 429

78

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/ July 1986

Colotfrend�4100 Breaks the Tektronix� 4105
Performance Battier

Better Screen Performance
Coloflrend 4100, Model 100 delivers hlgh powered screen perfonnance the 4105 sinply can't match. You get an
lddltk>oa1 graphics screen, crisper pixel
presentation and double the color capability ofthe4105. Plus, ColorTrend
oomes with ldvmc:ed grapblcs ~ lllre PAINT~CliCLE, ZOOM,
to4l0Atl mDlllre al your work easier.

Better Ergonomics
Colotrrend comes in a sleek, ergonomic design built for maximum user comfort. Features include a marketdemanded mouse, detachable keyboard, programmable function keys, tilt screen and keyboard, English-language set-up menus, and a nonglare screen for easyon-the-eyes viewing.

Better Valoe Guaranteed
Experience this powerful new graphics tenninal yourself. Call Intecolor Telemarketing now at 404-449-S961 to reserve a trial unit for a spedal 30-clay money-back guarantee, or write us for more infonnation at 225 Technology Park/Atlanta, No~,
Georgia 30092. Once you try Colotrrend you won't be satisfied with anything else.

ColorTrend 4100 Series.
Grapbla at tbe speed oftbougbt.!'A

Intecolor
AN INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS COMPANY
CIRCLE NO. 45 ON INQUIRY CARD

Victory is the bottom line.

All year long you've been striving for it. Victory. By outstriding the competition. Cultivating business relationships. Striking the moneymaking deals. Stretching toward the big reward. COMDEX/Fall puts you in the midst of thousands of the computer industry's leadersdrawn to the main computer event of the year to see the latest and the best, to buy the
fastest and most reliable, to learn from an array of conference sessions nm by experts only
COMDEX can provide. COMDEX helps you seal your most profitable deals and lay the groundwork for new
ones. And gives you a head start on the '87 race. Because the finish line is the bottom line. Call (617) 449-6600 now to resel"\;'e preferred exhibit space. Or write to:
The Interface Group, Inc., 300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02194.

c1986 The Interlace Group, Inc.
80

(0MD~}~~7Fall '86

Join The Winner's Circle.
November 10-14, 1986, Las Vegas, Nevada

CIRCLE NO. 48 ON INQUIRY CARD

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

GRAPHICS HARDWARE

an Intel Corp. 80286 processor-that runs in parallel with the PC's Intel 8088-with an EGA card to produce the Turbo EGA. The company claims that the Turbo EGA is the fastest EGA card on the market. The main advantage of faster imaging is to minimize the system's response time.

PGA outstrokes EGA
EGA isn't the only road to better graphics. Most of the newer graphics-controller chips also support the professional graphics adapter (PGA) standard. IBM's PGA board can display 256 colors from a palette of 4,096 and has a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels. And board vendors are reacting by providing products with the performance of PGA graphics at reasonable prices.
For example, Vermont Microsystems Inc. has introduced its 8820 board that supports CGA, EGA and PGA compatibility. It offers CGA compatibility with 640-by-480-pixel resolution and a fast draw speed of 1,500 vectors per inch. In PGA mode, it displays 256 colors from a palette of 262,000. Additional colors support shading that is unobtainable from EGA boards. Several vendors of mechanical CAD packages ar.e introducing new products that require PGA boards so that the software can use shading. Shading makes a significant difference in image quality, but it costs. For example, the OEM price of Vermont Microsystems' 8820 board is $2 ,400.
Whether with EGA or PGA boards, high quality carries a high price. However, Rene Vishney, president of Award Software, Los Gatos, Calif., points out that EGA monitors are competitively priced. "You can get virtually any manufacturer's EGA board and a good quality monitor, and the whole display system will cost under $1,000," he says. PGA displays won't compete directly with EGA displays until the price of PGA controller cards and monitors come down. Currently, PGA controllers cost more than twice the price of an entire EGA display system. However, prices of some PGAcompatible monitors, such as those from Princeton Graphic Systems, are now available under $1,000.
But with the availability of new, more powerful graphics chips, prices of chips, boards and monitors are decreasing. For example, Orchid Technology introduced at the Spring Comdex
show a PGA board priced "well below the price [about $3,000] that IBM gets for theirs," according to a company spokesman. Final pricing for the board, however, hadn't been established.

There is no doubt that the onslaught of

cost-effective EGA and PGA boards has just

begun. In fact, some microcomputer manufac-

turers are incorporating EGA functionality into

their systems. For example, North Star Com-

puters has begun building EGA compatibility

into its multiuser Dimension computers.

Mounted on the individual workstation's

boards, the controller gives each user EGA

output. And this integration reaped an impor-

tant benefit. According to North Star's chair-

man, Chuck Grant, "We were able to improve

performance by reducing the wait states re-

quired for the CPU to access display memory.

It [the EGA] has about twice the performance

of an EGA plugged into an IBM PC/AT." To

gain that performance level, North Star devel-

oped its own BIOS, which it now sells to the

OEM market.

The best news in the escalating evolution of

graphics boards, at least from the system inte-

grator's point of view, is that the boards are

much better than IBM's CGA, that prices will

continue to fall , that new products will offer

more and better features, and that the next

generation of hardware will work with software

written for the current generation.

0

Edward Teja, a contributing editor at Mini-Micro Systems, is a vice president of Freehold Corp., Studio City, Calif., which specializes in marketing and writing services for high-technology companies.

Interest Quotient (Circle One) High 481 Medium 482 Low 483

The Professional Graphics Adapter (PGA) standard provides the shading and color selection needed to support sophisticated graphics software packages. (courtesy: Vermont Microsystems Inc.)

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

81

EQN(1)

UNIX Proaram

�Cl"� neqn. f!beck�Cl - typeset. mathetn

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t.ern� pbolot.ype1ett.er, n.eqn on t.erml
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lf no ftle� ue 1pecifted. beainnlnl with ' ,EQ' marked by a line b�I Dl�Y be denned in mac pot1\blc t.o 1et. two cb uen is al.O treated .. wilb t.be command-line bet.ween .EQ and .EN. The
are turned oft by 'delirn between .EQ and .EN ii p

Token� wU.hln �9"" are �� quot.es. t.Ud�� or circumne�� ln&� antwher� a 1in11� char Uon enclosed ln brace� m�Y t.be output, circurnnex ... balf

Fractions are made with cn't'r. Cl
Tb� keywords from and to tnlrodu
um'E%-i ls made w\lh Lim from \n- > "L.e...ft0 and ri&bl brackets, brace�. etc.� ri&bt; le/I [ :. sup 2 + y sUP 2 ovn Th� ri&bl clause \1 optional. Le'!"l c bracket.�. bars. c and r for cellin& and ri&ht.-side-only bracket.) .
Vertical pUes of t.bin&S are made wit.b p
" _.,_..,. d produces ~�-

Plot data courtesy of UNIRAS.

CIRCLE NO. 47 ON INQUIRY CARD

Howlb STAYON lbPOFil-IEC

One thing is certain. You have to present

a quality image. And you have to maintain

it with absolute consistency.

That's why you should look into the new

Seiko Hardcopier. You can get a variety

of output sizes.With strong vibrant colors

and clear, sharp lines on both paper and

transparency.

Plus you can get those copies in as little

as 45 seconds each. For a lot less money
r . - - - - - than you thought possible.

The Seiko Hardcopier can

make a hundred copies for

you off-line. Because

its frame buffer

holds the

, ,./"'

image / -~�"

data

�:.:.:>-.-..."\-'V\

and frees your terminal. You just set the quantity you want and go on working.
You even get independent image control at the hardcopier. You can change colors without changing the image on the screen. And get hardcopy or overheads that look great even if the colors on the display aren't quite right for presentation purposes.
So make one phone call.We'll present you with the whole quality story. And make sure you have the hardcopier that will keep you on top of the charts.

SEIKO - Call Martin Nelson
at(4oa)943-9100

today.

IN STA UMENTS -

C> 1986 Seiko Instruments U.S.A., Inc.

CIRCLE NO. 48 ON INQUIRY CARD

�I I
II
BG GB 88
GB
BB
1
H ' - hu
I I JI

($)
Sl LKo INSINLft:Nrs u.s.n., INC.

----- ,,-�1
JJ1 I (}

GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

GRAPHICS TOOLS BROADEN PC HORIZONS

Taking advantage of improved PC display capabilities, graphics software-development tools enable
developers to concentrate on more complex applications

Carl Warren, Western Editor

The IBM Corp. PC and compatibles have evolved from desktop units for entering databases and doing word processing to powerful graphics workstations fit for a variety of complex applications. Combined with specialized hardware, such as enhanced graphics adapter (EGA) boards that boost display resolution and add color capability, PCs are now tackling such demands as scientific and engineering tasks and desktop publishing.
Monochrome displays, which come in many varieties of black and white, green or amber, well serve the needs of word processing and database entry. However, computer aided engineering (CAE), process control and desktop publishing call for high-resolution color displays. And managing color displays requires taking full advantage of a system's hardware and software capabilities. Therefore, software developers demand versatility in software tools. Specifically, they want tools that help them exploit enhanced hardware functions, particularly functions made possible by the newest graphics hardware available for PCs, such as EGA boards and high-resolution monitors.
One of the most versatile software-development tools is the C language, which offers programmers several useful development functions. But its most important features are portability across a wide range of systems, and a rich set of subroutine libraries that often eliminate the need for writing code from scratch.
A pervasive version of C is that developed by Lattice Inc. Lattice C doesn't support graphics

Using Halo graphics tools from Media Cy-
bernetics Inc. allows software developers to combine a variety of graphics images-including those captured via digital scanners or digitized video images-and enhance them with color, or depths of gray scale.
or IBM's EGA standard directly. "We are the application glue," explains Steve Hersee, cofounder and vice president of marketing, "What we sell is the mortar and bricks, and other tool makers sell the tilt-up walls."
Hersee cites the Dr. HALO II package from Media Cybernetics Inc. as being a good graphics link between C and the hardware. The $139

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

85

GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

The Methods program-development package, from Digitalk, permits software developers to define and control the presentation of windows on a display.

have to know anything about the specific system hardware.
One company developing a desktop publishing product under the GEM environment is Ventura Software Inc., Morgan Hill, Calif. The company is b_etting on the stability of the interface layer to permit long-term enhancements to their product as hardware capability increases. "We don't want to rewrite the underpinning software every time new hardware arrives on the scene," says president John Meyer.
Virtually all system-development tool vendors and application developers agree that by using the undocumented instructions of the Intel Corp. 8086 and MS-DOS you can create a tool kit or application program that will run as much as five times faster than those not using these instructions.

package provides a library of 125 device drivers and 15 language bindings. Multiple language bindings enable developers to generate machine-independent code and, thus, to create programs for a broad range of hardware. For applications that require combining digital scanners and extended memory boards, the company recently introduced HALOScan ($495). Based on icons, the package supports scanners, color printers and plotters.
Interface stability seen key
Media Cybernetics' president Bill Strum insists that excessive richness in a tool set can be a trap. Having too many options can lure programmers into creating software that is incompatible with the rest of the hardware and software. Strum believes that system integrators and software developers are essentially interested in three things: compatibility, performance and product stability.
Digital Research Inc.'s director of product marketing for GEM software, William Higgs, agrees with Strum. He says that one of the keys to creating a strong graphics-development tool is the stability of the interface layer-the module that defines the interaction of hardware and software. "We can keep adding functionality and enhancements, but we have to maintain a standard interface."
Digital Research's GEM Programmer's Toolkit, priced at $500, supplies a device-independent environment with a common graphics interface that is compatible with most operating systems. GEM intercepts graphics requests coming from the system and, using the appropriate device driver, takes advantage of the unique characteristics of the device. The application program working with GEM doesn't

Standards ease software development
Software tool vendors use agreed-upon standards-or, at least, generally accepted methodologies. A strong contender for a standard among language bindings and device drivers is what is termed the Graphics Development Toolkit (GDT) by IBM and called the Computer Graphics Interface (CGI) by Graphic Software Systems Inc. (GSS). GDT and CGI don't force software developers to use a predetermined user interface. Rather, they allow them to define how the application should interact with the user. "The desktop metaphor doesn't always make sense," says GSS chairman Tom Clarkson. "If the developer feels that the desktop metaphor is appropriate, then Microsoft Corp.'s Windows is something to consider. If the application demands something other than a desktop metaphor, then CGI is the best bet."
Another software development tool developed by GSS is the direct graphics interface specification (DGIS), which defines firmware commands that provide an extended command set for an EGA board. Although DGIS is a tool that hardware vendors use to create display boards, software developers benefit by the synergy ofCGI and DGIS. "An application written for one doesn't have to be rewritten for the other," says Clarkson.
Visible support tools create metaphors
Besides the array of tools that users never see are those that they consciously interact with every time they use the software. For example, the Desktop GEM module provides a recognizable user metaphor. It paints a desktop on the screen and then allows the user to move around it via a mouse pointer. For software developers, this eliminates the task of creating a user inter-

86

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

HOWTOBEIN6PLACESATONCE.

OnlyaFalco500
Multi-Host 1erminal
can open windows

dows like the Falco 500. Nobody. It lets you create six windows on one screen-each one configured as a separate terminal. That means
J.eaTiDMOTi operathlg

onto all these

TELECOM

worlds--to~~- WORLD.

THE SPECTACULAR PRODUCTIVITY MACHINE.
CIRCLE NO. 49 ON INQUIRY CARD

Without the right connections, you coulcrpay a lot to
deriver a little raster data.
There's no question that a raster processor is a wise investment. Without it, your computer is loaded down processing raster data for your hard copy devices. But unless you're careful, you could pay a fortune for a processor with more capacity than your plots demand.
That's why we designed our VP-10. For all but the densest plots, it's got all the processing power your hard copy devices need - at less than half the price of most highvolume processors.
The VP-10 will dramatically speed your plotting. Its pipelined architecture allows it to simultaneously receive input from your computer while it outputs data to the plotter. So communications between computer, terminal and plotter are lightning fast.
It's also versatile. Most popular hard copy devices are supported, including Benson, Calcomp and Versatec plotters, as well as the Seiko D-Scan thermal plotter, Matrix QCR camera and Minolta SP 50-B laser page printer. A variety of input options (such as HPGL, Calcomp 9061907 and KMW.PLT) provide for easy connection to the host.
Best of all, the VP-10 has KMW's unmatched reputation behind it. We built the
very first graphic element processor 10 years-
ago. And we've been innovating graphic processing solutions ever since. So why pay for more raster processor than you need? Call KMW today at 1-800/531-5167 (in Texas, 512/836-8080) or write KMW Systems Corporation, 8307 Highway 71 West, Austin, Texas 78735.

CIRCLE NO. 50 ON INQUIRY CARD

KMW SYSTEMS CORPORATION
-For the right connections
Auscom is now a division of KMW Systems Corporation.
Registered trademarks: Benson - Benson, Inc.: Calcomp -California Computer Products, Inc.; Versatec - Versatec, hie. ; Matrix QCR - Matrix Corp.; Minolta SP 50-B - Minolta Corp.; Seiko D-Scan -Seiko Instruments U.S.A.

GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

face and provides a familiar environment to work in.
Microsoft's Windows and IBM's TopView both take a similar tack, establishing windowmanagement environments with a familiar metaphor. Like GEM, Windows and TopView also furnish a common software interface between the application and the hardware.
Programming languages also can be considered visible software-development tools. Virtually all vendors include graphics primitivessuch as circle, line, draw and fill-with their versions of BASIC. Microsoft has added graphics and color verbs not only to all versions of BASIC, but also to other languages-such as C, FORTRAN and Pascal-that they supply for the PC. These verbs reduce the complex code previously required to issue graphics commands. For example, the simple statement: SET POINT (20,20); BOX
(20,40,40,40); FILL (14) defines a point on the screen, draws a box and fills it with a color. But this approach has its drawbacks: these verbs aren't particularly wellsuited for object-oriented graphics. To eliminate this drawback, vendors are moving beyond simply customizing languages to handle the graphics tasks.
One of the steps beyond involves enhancing the operating system. Wendin Inc., for example, has developed an approach for creating powerful customized operating systems and environments for high-performance applications that use graphics. The Operating System ToolBox which, when used in conjunction with the programmer's editor, lets software developers create their own version of any operating system and make decisions such as whether to maintain compatibility with MS-DOS. In addition to the basic ToolBox, the company provides other software development tools, including PCUNIX and PCVMS. PCUNIX, an

operating system/environment, uses the Bourne shell and provides all the multitasking and user functionality of UNIX; PCVMS is a look-alike of Digital Equipment Corp.'s VMS operating system but is tailored for the PC. PCUNIX and PCVMS were built using Wendin's ToolBox. Each package costs $99.
The ToolBox, unlike most other tools, lets software developers decide what physical or logical devices in a system they want to exploit and the best way to do so. Moreover, Stephen Jones, director of Wendin's computer service division, points out that you can decide to embed the operating system inside of an application. "We handle all the service routines, and let you do the rest," says Jones.
Al makes graphics smarter
Artificial intelligence is starting to enter the software-development-tool world. Supporting the CGA, EGA and AT&T Co.'s 640-by-400pixel display is Digitalk Inc.'s Methods program. Priced at $695 for the graphics version and $250 for the text version, Methods is a development tool based on Al concepts and the Palo Alto (Calif.) Research Laboratory Smalltalk language.
"We bring the power of an AI workstation to the developer using a PC," claims Jim Anderson, president of Digitalk. The rule-based inference engine takes its cue from expert-system designs to create an environment in which users can run simulations graphically. This provides the power, via software, to do the kind of things normally restricted to an expensive LISP machine.
Using Methods' window technology, users and software developers can define and control the presentation of windows on the display. The service routines operating behind the visible windows are called classes. The application class synchronizes the pane classes, which ap-

Enhancing a brain scan, or
creating a tex-
tured display of molecular structures, the Enhanced Graphics Toolkit, developed by Connell Scientific Graph-
ics, serves as a
powerful tool for software developers who need to add depth to graphics gener-
ated on a PC
using an enhanced graphics adapter board.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

89

iITperlormance at an XTprice. Introducing thel.eleCAT-286.
$2995. Cnmplete.

With TeleVideo,

give you three extra expan-

you always settle for more. sion slots.

Up till now, with a mid-range

More Productivity.

budget, you had to settle for mid-range performance. And a mid-range set offeatures.
But not anymore. Because now, there's the new TeleCAT286~ from TeleVideo. An IBM AT-compatible machine that lets you settle for an entirely ne~ concept in medium-priced PCs: more.
More Performance.
TheTeleCAT-286 retails for $2995, roughly the same as a comparably-equipped IBM XT. But the similarity ends there. Instead ofstarting you offwith a stripped-down box, we've loaded up the TeleCAT-286 with 512K RAM.A 20MB hard disk.

Using our experience in building terminals and systems for 750,000 users worldwide, we've designed a machine that's the last word in ergonomics. With
LEDs On Locking Keys: Formaximum visibility. we
put our LEDs right on top ofthe three critical locking keys, so they won't get
covered up by overlays.
sculptured keycaps on a highquality keyboard. LEDs on the three critical locking keys. And a footprint that's 28% smaller than the IBM AT's. So you get more ofyour desk back, too.
Find Out Even More: I (800) TELECA't

A l.2MB floppy. And everything There's a whole lot more we can

else you need. Like an Intel

show you about the TeleCAT-

80286 CPU that runs at either 286. So get in touch with your

28%Smaller Footprint:
What you do with the extra desk space is up to you, but as you can see here, the TeleCAT-286
gives you a Jot more of
it than the IBM AT.

-llllllllllllllllllllllllllllHllllW

TeleVideo distributor. Or call us at 1(800) TELECAT, Dept. 195, and we11 give you the name of the one nearest you.

6 or 8 MHz clock speed. There's

The TeleCAT-286. Our

even a high-resolution monitor 20MB version is $2995; 30MB,

for text and graphics.

$3495. For high performance

To make even better use of at a low price, don't settle

internal space, we socketed the for less.

0 TeleVideo� TeleCAT-286 for one MB ofRAM,
and also included serial and parallel ports on the mother-

board. As a result, we can still

Settle for more.

TeleVideo Systems, Inc. l l 70 Morse Avenue Sunnyvale, California 94088-3568 � (408) 745-7760
�1986 TeleVideo Systems, Inc. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines, Inc. Screen graphics by Chartrnaster �Decision Resources, Inc.

CIRCLE NO. 51 ON INQUIRY CARD

GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

A paint package and picture editor, Media Cybernetics' Dr. HALO II lets users create high-resolution graphics on PCs equipped with enhanced graphics adapter boards.

pear on the screen. Dispatcher classes process keyboard and mouse input.
Another company that uses AI techniques in its graphics tool kit-called Object-Oriented Graphical Modeling System (OOGMS)-is Sherrill-Lubinski. This package, which runs on a host of systems ranging from DEC's VAX to IBM's PC/AT, specifically gives users the ability to handle graphics objects. Company partner, Tom Lubinski, explains that, in this context, graphics primitives are objects in themselves, or are sub-objects when they are part of complex composites. "Although an object can be made up of many sub-objects, it's a

single entity and can be manipulated, rotated, sized, or have its color changed." Unlike pixeloriented paint programs, which manipulate each dot on the screen individually, objectoriented programs have an underlying structure that defines the displayed objects. The $3,400 package for the IBM PC/AT includes a drawing module, graphics language and C function library.
The drawing module, says Lubinski, lets you define the objects displayed on the screen by drawing them. "Process control lends itself to graphic representation of the actual process taking place," he says. Lubinski explains that you can use the drawing module to create a mimic diagram, such as liquid flowing through a pipe and a valve, or a symbolic diagram, such as a representation of a button or meter. Once the drawing module is defined, the graphics language describes the objects to the system for testing and simulation. Finally, the C library provides precreated routines that you link to the final application program.
For low-cost, object-oriented graphics, consider Connell Scientific Graphics' Enhanced Graphics Toolkit. This $195 package includes the source code for Microsoft C, FORTRAN and Pascal. Essentially, the Connell tool kit is a collection of software tools that access the features of an EGA, says Ed Connell, company president. The package is relatively small, taking up only lOK bytes of memory, and is therefore relatively limited. " We don't do windows," quips Connell.
However, the Enhanced Graphics Toolkit does enable object manipulation. For example,

Companies mentioned in this article

Connell Scientific Graphics Suite 204A, 51 W. Dayton Ave. Edmonds, Wash. 98020 (206) 778-9847 Circle 401
Digital Research Inc.
Box ORI, 60 Garden Court �
Monterey, Calif. 93942 (408) 649-3896 Circle 402
Digitalk Inc. Suite 25, 5200 W. Century Blvd. Los Angeles, Calif. 90045 (213) 645-1082 Circle 403

Graphic Software Systems Inc. 9590 S.W. Gemini Drive P.O. Box 4900 Beaverton, Ore. 97005 (503) 641-2200 Circle 404
Lattice Inc. 22 W. 600 Butterfield Road P.O. Box 3072 Glen Ellyn, 111. 60137 (312) 858-7950 Circle 405
Media Cybernetics Inc. Suite 200, 8484 Georgia Ave. Silver Springs, Md. 20910 (301) 495-3305
Circle 406

Metagraphlcs Software Corp. Suite 104 4575 Scotts Valley Drive P.O. Box 66779 Scotts Valley, Calif. 95066 (408) 438-5352 Circle 407
Microsoft Corp. 16011 N.E. 36th Way P.O. Box 97017 Redmond, Wash. 98052-6399 (206) 882-8080 Circle 408

Sherrill-Lubinski Suite 110 240 Tamai Vista Blvd. Corte Madera, Calif. 94925 (415) 927-1724 Circle 409
Teknowledge Inc. 1850 Embarcadero Road P.O. Box 10119
Palo Alto, Calif. 94303
(415) 327-6600 Circle 410
Wendln Inc. 624 W. Fifth P.O. Box 266 Cheney, Wash. 99004 (509) 235-8088 Circle 411

92

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

UNIXTM

FoR PEOP~E WITH

BIGG RTHINGS IN MIND.

You know what UNIXTMSystem V

All, with the convenience of built-in

can do.

text editors, debuggers and graphics

But now you don't need a mini to do tools, including the GSS Virtual

it. The AT&T UNIX PC puts room-size Device Interface.

computing power righton adesktop.

Up- and downloading your work

Its Motorola 68010 chip, 10 MHz from minis or mainframes is easy.

clock speed and up to 4MB RAM-

Thanks to the standard internal 300/

with virtual memory support and inter- 1200 bps modem, RS-232 port, VT

nal hard disk options from 10 to

100* terminal emulation software and

67MB-give you 75% of the power of optional 3270 terminal emulation. You

a VAX* 11/780.

also g t two jacks for phone lines and

For only 7% of the cost.

built-in communications software.

Development tools? The AT&T

All of which make the AT&T UNIX

UNIX PC puts you in a UNIX System V PC ideal for ongoing voice/data com-

environment complete with system util- munications and remote access to

ities, the shell, Ccompiler and 68010 shared corporate databases.

assembler. As for languages, you get the full range: C, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, BASIC and the LPI* *high-performance

ONE OF THE COMPUTERS WITH THE FUTURE BUILT IN.

suite. Not to mention C-ISAMt,

Even with all its available power

INFORMIXt and sort/merge for

and storage options, the AT&T UNIX

database development.

PC still has room to grow. With three

�v.AX and VTlOOare trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporat ion. ��LPI is a trademark of Language Processors, Inc.

rC-ISAM and INFORM IX are trademarks of Relational Database Systems, lnc. � 1986 AT&T Informat ion Systems.

CIRCLE NO. 52 ON INQUIRY CARD

expansion slots and the ability to connect up to seven serial devices.
Because when you have big ideas, accommodating them shouldn't be a big deal.
To find out about the AT&T UNIX PC and our SPECIAL LIMITED TIME OFFER
call your AT&T Account Executive, authorized AT&T supplier or 1 800 247-1212.
-
AT&T
The right choice.

The people who make Seagate

the first name in disc drives:
"My teenage sons think we moved to California
from Germany so they could go surfing. But I came here to Seagate to build the best disc drive motors in the world," said Gunter Heine, General Manager of Seagate's Motor Division.
Gunter and his motor engineering team designed our stepper motor assembly line and most of our tools and automation equipment.
"We design the motors and develop the manufacturing process," Gunter said. "'This allows us to work closely with the drive designers day by day so the drive and the motor are perfectly matched."
Because we control the entire process, the drives are built with the consistent quality that, to Gunter, is a matter of professional pride.
OEMs have come to expect this kind of relentless emphasis on quality from Seagate. That's one reason they've bought more than 3 million of
our 51/i' hard disc drives. Seagate's reputation is built by its people. H
you think your drives should be made by dedi-
cated experts like Gunter, call us.
800-468-DISC. In California, 800-468-DISK.
~ Seagate
The first name in disc drives.
CIRCLE NO. 53 ON INQUIRY CARD

The largest selling
1200bps lllodelll justgot smaller.
- - - - - - - - 5" - - - - - - - -
-------.------.,I
I I
_____________...III
.....------------------1311 --------------------l�
0 1986 Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc.

'Ihe new Haves
Smartmodem1200B
Now you can get a lot more out of your PC, by putting a little more in. Our new Hayes Smartmodem 1200B includes the same quality and advanced features that have made it the leading 1200 bps modem. Now, advances in Hayes technology allow us to make it available in a size that fits either full slots or a "single" half slot.
That's important news if you have an IBM,� AT&T,� Compaq,� Tandy�
or other compatible computer with half slots. It means with a Smartmodem 1200B, you can free up one of your full slots for an additional function, such as color graphics,

more memory or networking. Or, if you prefer, you can continue to use the new Smartmodem 1200B in one of the full slots. Hayes makes it easy and versatile to fit your needs.
There are many good reasons for choosing Hayes. Our new spacesaving Smartmodem 1200B is one of them. Hayes Smartcom II,� the industry's best selling communications software, is another.
Smartcom II for the IBM and compatibles makes short work of
Say yes to the future
CIRCLE NO. 54 ON INQUIRY CARD

communicating, while allowing you to take full advantage of the sophisticated capabilities of your Smartmodem 1200B. Together, they create a powerful, yet easy-to-use, communications system for your PC. They're made for each other, and customized for IBM PC s.
The best reasons of all for choosing Hayes are the "built-in" benefits. Advanced technology. Unsurpassed reliability. And a customer service organization that's second to none.
So, when you see your authorized Hayes dealer ask for the largest selling 1200 bps modem. Smartmodem 1200B. And remember. Now it's smaller, too. Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. P.O. Box 105203,Atlanta, GA30348. (404) 441-1617.

GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

Built around Teknowledge's M. 1 tool kit and inference engine, the Ventilation Manager expert system uses graphics and artificial intelligence to assist doctors in monitoring post-operation patients.

users can tell the application where objects should be, whether or not they are animated, and how they should be shaded or textured. Additionally, users can use the tool kit to enhance complex images such as brain-scan data sets. The package also lets users set clipping regions and add labels, using prestored fonts in ROM or their own fonts from RAM.
Uses the right medicine
The purpose of combining powerful graphics software and hardware, of course, is to provide a solution. An example is Stanford University medical researcher Dr. Larry Fagan's Ventilation Manager program, an expert system created with Teknowledge Inc.'s M. l tool kit. The M. l tool kit isn't cheap, priced at $5,000, plus $2,500 for a week-long course. But it serves as a base to create expert systems. Company spokeswoman Judy Harris says Teknowledge provides the inference engine: "It's up to the system integrator to provide the user interface."
Ventilation Manager uses the metaphor of a medical oscilloscope to give doctors, who might not be computer literate, access to an expert system that monitors a post-operation patient. The system monitors the patient's breathing, heart rate and blood pressure, and develops a diagnosis based on inferences from this data.
Getting the most from EGAs
Some software-development packages are designed specifically to take advantage of EGAs. For example, Metagraphics Software Corp. 's MetaWindows features bit-mapped graphics and window environments that exploit EGA

capabilities. Using MetaWindows, software developers can write procedures that define the user's environment, the metaphor, the viewport and other characteristics, such as icons and pop-down windows.
For example, to define the viewport, the C-language code for the procedure would be: VIEWPORT(XMIN, YMIN ,XMAX, YMAX);
int XMIN,YMIN,XMAX,YMAX; This procedure establishes the X and Y coordinates of the viewing area. MetaWindows-Plus, the OEM version of the product, adds user-invisible tools-language bindings, system calls and graphics-primitive libraries-needed to develop a finished product. And, for software developers who plan to enter the desktop publishing market, the company offers MetaFonts-Plus ($185), which provides a full font editor and icon editor for bit-mapped and filled characters. The package also lets programmers edit the Postscript document-control language from Adobe Systems Inc. of Palo Alto (MMS, Spring Peripherals Handbook, April 15, Page 9). Jack Davis, president of Metagraphics, explains: "We translate the logical functions into hardware-specific commands so that the developer doesn't have to." The proper role of this kind of development tool, after all, is to maximize the flexibility available to software developers, without complicating their lives. D
Interest Quotient (Circle One) High 484 Medium 485 Low 486

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

97

OUR 310 AP HAS RATHER ORDINARY PERFORMANCE
COMPARED TO MOST MINICOMPUTERS.
111111111111111111111 111111111111111111111
111111111111111111111 111111111111111111111

Its CPU performance is number is considered. open system, and a com-

only marginally faster than Cost.

plete open product line -

theVAX*-11/ 780 shown Our new 310 AP gives from operating systems on the right, for example. you over 1 MIP of CPU to applications software

And even with a couple performance for under to networking- all based

additional high-per-

$20,000. (A fifth the price on standards.

formance application of a mini.) And you can

And because the 310 is

boards slugged in, it can't add up to three additional a truly open system, you

quite keep up with a

CPU boards to provide can have more than 50

WangVS300.

up to 5 MIPS of perfor- independent software

But this parity changes mance, for under $50,000. packages. More memory

to a powerful competitive Which makes this

ifyou want it. Or addi-

edge when another

either one of the most tional Winchester drives.

ordinary minis around, or And all our systems are

the most extraordinary supported fully by our

SUpermicrO.

Compasite MIPS Rating

i But what's in a '""'
name? Performance 5

is performance, ] 4

whatever name it ~ 3
1111111111111111 111111111111111111 goes by. And with �t 2

1111111111111111

111111111111111111

this expandable system you can

cost-effectively

~ 1

~

~

J JOAP

286 APEx.2

286 APEX J

286� APEX4

VAX 780

WAMJ vs300

deliver the performance worldwide customer

your customers need. service organization.

An expandable open

When new technology

system like this allows you comes along our sys-

to avoid obsolescence tems don't get obsolete

by making future up-

and replaced, they get

grades ofperformance upgraded.

and/ or functionalitywith- Just ask the people

out having to buy a new who bought our first ones

system.

four years ago.

11111111111111111

11111111111111111

But there are open systems and there are

For further information call toll-free (800)

11111111111111111

11111111111111111

open systems. The starting point for
any open system that really is an open system

548-4725. Or write Intel Corporation, Lit. Dept. W286, 3065 Bowers Ave., Santa Clara, CA 95051.

is, of course, standards. We support more
standards than anybody. So we can offer a complete

�vAX is a registered trademark of Digital
Equipme nt Corp. �1986 Intel Corporation

CIRCLE NO. SS ON INQUIRY CARD

Take a good long look at your performance and system integration needs. Now take a look at two Microbar MultibusTM -based boards for the 68020-Multibus I and Multibus II.
Needless to say, we look very, very good. Witness, for example, 32-bit performance on a single board. And you can have it now. Not next year or down the road, but right now (after all, we do understand the window of opportunity you're up against). Nice enough, but there'smore.
68020 Multibus
Boards. Re..... at1d waiting for ~sign teams
talilng
quat1tum reaps.

Like the 68020 with MMU, DMA and Floating Point capabilities. RAM, from IMB to more than 4MB-all high-speed with dualported access. 1\vo serial ports and a parallel port. We also provide UNIX TM System Vand real-time operating systems ported to the CPU.
However, while the above is all great and wonderful, it is by no means the whole story.
Our boards deliver ideal performance of the microprocessor as well as thorough integration with the standard system bus architecture.
You'll also grow quite fond of the software portability, allowing existing 68000 software to be executed by the 68020-while more than doubling performance.
And lest we forget, the on-board architecture of our GPC68020 for Multibus I is compatible with your next-generation system's evolutionary path using our Multibus II MT68020 board.
So, when your team wants to go to town, call us in California at (800) 421-1752 or (800) 821-1011 within the Continental U.S.
We'll give you the Microbar muscle to move in quantum leaps.

CIRCLE NO. 58 ON INQUIRY CARD

~UNIX is a trademark or AT&T. niMultibus is a trademark of Intel Corp.

r

- --

---

I

WORKSTATIONS

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FIRES UP WORKSTATIONS
System integrators turn workstations into their platforms of choice
for computer aided software engineering

Michael Tucker, Associate Editor

Workstations traditionally have been used for computer aided design, manufacturing and engineering. In fact, the powerful 32-bit systems have been so successful in becoming the engineer's personal computer that some observers saw CAD/CAM/CAE as the machines' only important mission. However, almost unnoticed, an increasingly large segment of workstation sales is destined for software development applications.
According to market research company Dataquest Inc., San Jose, Calif., 12 percent of all workstations sold in 1984 went for gene_ral software engineering, and 5 percent were used in developing artificial-intelligence software. During 1985, Dataquest reports, fully 17 percent of all workstations sold were meant for software engineering, accounting for 23 percent of total workstation revenues.
In effect, workstations are becoming the platform of choice for computer aided software engineering (CASE)-a whole series of applications having to do with the development, management and maintenance of code. For example. they are being used increasingly for remote software development, where code is developed for larger or highly specialized target systems by smaller, less expensive machines.
As a result of this new and, in some ways, unexpected CASE market, workstation vendors are reconsidering their concepts of what workstations are and do. Several vendors are modifying their sales strategy, while some are actually modifying their machines. Some companies

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have begun marketing workstation hardware configured not only for software development, but also for development in specific applications and even in specific languages.
Workstations claim a new market
Workstations as a technology and as a commodity are so new that even the definition of "workstation" is subject to some debate. In general, though, the term is used to describe any single-user microcomputer based on one of the new 32-bit microprocessors-such as the Intel Corp. 80386, any of the National Semiconductor Corp. NS32000 series and the Zilog Inc. Z8000-and dedicated to technical applications.
The workstation business is one of the most hotly contested in the computer industry. Indeed, the really important thing to find out

The Domain Software Engineering Environment (DSEE) supports software ment on Apollo workstations. It isolates code problems, suggests modifications and permits "what-if" modelling of enhancements.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

101

WORKSTATIONS

A diskless workstation, the Sun Microsystems 3/50M is we/I-suited for software engineering. At $7,900, it provides extremely low cost-per-programmer.

-like missiles and toasters. That second market will be just immense."
Sun's CASE Marketing Manager, John DeVries, sees a third major market as well: "The newest thing is remote' development. That is, suppose you have a Cray [Research Inc.) supercomputer. It just isn't cost-effective to have a bunch of programmers tying up that machine while they develop its software. So, instead, you do your development on a relatively inexpensive, user-friendly workstation."

about the workstation market is not who's in it, but who'll survive in it (MMS, April, Page 21 ). The battle lines seem to be drawn between vendors who got into the field early-such as Apollo Computer Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.-and large companies, such as Digital Equipment Corp. and IBM Corp., that came into the field late but with very heavy muscle. As potential spoilers, a host of start-ups is also in the game, and one or more of those could end up with major chunks of the workstation niche.
What could determine the victor in the workstation contest is new applications beyond CAD/CAM where workstations are finding new and lucrative roles. Among these is software engineering, which includes both the management of code and its actual production. Software management-the business of coordinating the work of programmers and keeping track of changes in code-is already an established workstation market. For many developers, software production has become so complex-involving teams of programmers and thousands of modules of code-that powerful 32-bit systems provide the only method of making sense of it all.
Meanwhile, software production is becoming a workstation market. "There are two kinds of development done on workstations," says Ken Pomper, market segment manager for CASE at Apollo. "The first is the development of software for workstations themselves. The second is the development of software for embedded systems. That is, software for computers that are incorporated into non-computer products

Attracted to engineering
As one of the premier names in the workstation business, Apollo was successfully marketing its first-generation workstations-DN300, DN330, DN460, DN560 and DN660A-in 1981, while much of the rest of the industry didn't know there was a workstation market to get into. According to market research company International Data Corp., Framingham, Mass., Apollo currently claims 40 percent of the installed base of such machines.
Apollo is also the company most responsible for giving workstations their CAD/CAM/CAE image. The company happily admits that over half of its sales are for engineering applications. Some observers have characterized the early Apollo workstations as virtually dedicated engineering machines, wholly inappropriate for software development. Yet, as early as 1983, one Apollo value-added reseller, Cadre Technologies Inc., was selling Apollo workstations for software management.
Software management is itself an emerging technology-at least for microcomputers. Essentially, it is the art of keeping an exact record of the exact purpose of every part of code, and keeping track of every change made to that code, often over periods of years.
Most large-scale software projects require at least three levels of management. In the first, or "design-specification," phase, system analysts decide exactly what tasks are to be performed by the software and then design a general outline of how the program code will be written. In the second phase, the project manager keeps a detailed record of how the coding is being written, and what sections of code do what, to facilitate later debugging. In the third, "maintenance," phase, which can take place over the entire life of the software, code management consists of keeping track of enhancements, debuggings and any other modifications.
One method of doing this sort of mammoth bookkeeping is based on the "Yourdon Rules,"

102

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

WITH THE RIGHT TOOLS YOU CAN

NAIL THE COMPETITION.

If you guessed that those tools are the capabilities of a QMS Lasergrafix

printer, then you hit the nail on the head. And if you're an OEM, you can

feel sorry for the competition. A QMS Lasergrafix

printer system fulfills every require-

ment you can imagine.

Flexibility-the software

intelligence to handle page

composition, plus many

other applications with our

powerful QUJCTM language.

Performance-at speeds up

to 8, 12 and 24 pages a

minute. Reliability-with

support for the widest

range of applications in

the industry. And serviceability-print engines from the world's best manufacturers and optional third party service. What's more, a QMS Lasergrafix printer will replicate and download standard quality fonts, interfacing with

_____ _ --� -- .��...�.--�---
�-�- - ,�-._....... ...

������-. . .. ._..._
~�-

just about any system. All of which

makes it the perfect replacement for

multiple printers and plotters-and at OEM dis-

counts, too. Imagine where that leaves the competition.

,No-w,-ho-w c-an-yo-u re-sis-t a-dem-on-str-ati-on?- - - - - - -

~Ms� D I'd like to see what 1can do with the right

~

tools. Call me immediately to arrange a

auA� M� ,F svsTEMB demonstration of a QMS LasergrafixTM printer.

WHERE IMAGINATION LEADS~ 0 Please send me the QMS LasergrafixTM Family ol Non-Impact Printers information
packet today. Be sure to include samples of graphics applications.

Name ___________ T i t l e - - - - - - - - - - Company _____________________

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City

State/Zip

Phone (

Are you a VAR, VAD, OEM or systems integrator? _ _ _ _ __

If VAR or VAD, what manufacturer's equipment?-------

Prime application for your p r o d u c t . - - - - - - - - - - - -

Number of printers/plotters you are considering. - - - - - - -
P.O. Box 81250 Mobile, AL 36689 Telephone (205) 633-4300 Telex RCA 26 60 13
MM78

I
I I I I I I I I I I ICIRCLE NO. 13
t~ l985 QMS-, Inc.

Ifyou want to raise your sales,raise yourhand. Create new markets withTl-Speech:

TI-Speech offers you speech capabilities designed to give you a hand in opening the doors to untapped markets. With it, your system designs will be more innovative. You'll provide customers with better solutions, and have an opportunity to make more money.
Simply put, Tl-Speech provides
voice 1/0 for computer applications in
a wide variety of fields. Applications include voice mail and telephone access to computers for busir\esses of any kind, robot-calling for telemarketing, hands-free data entry for

manufacturing, medicine and research and development. It can even act as a learning aid in computerbased training.
Tl-Speech was designed with you in mind, too. Its handy, modular design means that you use only the hardware and software you need for your applications. And it's affordable.
For under $1,000, a plug-in option board delivers voice 1/0 capabilities
on most IBM�-compatible PCs. Chances are, you've been looking
for new ways to expand your customer base. Tl-Speech is an effective, cost-

efficient answer. Put it to work, and watch your business opportunities increase.
For an example of Tl-Speech at work, call 1-512-250-4114. For more information on Tl-Speech, call us toll-free at 1-800-527-3500.
�TEXAS
INSTRUMENTS

Tl -Speech is a crademark ofTexas lrutruments lncorporaced. IBM is a registered trademark of lncemacional Business Machines O:iJJX>ration. Tl reserves the right co change its prices and pnx:lucc offerings at any time without notice.
31596 � 1986 TI

WORKSTATIONS

named after software development expert Edward Yourdon. In the early 1970s, Yourdon's consulting company, Yourdon Inc., New Haven, Conn., pioneered a management technique in which individual coding tasks are represented on hand-drawn charts by special symbols-rather like the symbols electrical engineers use to represent hardware components in schematic diagrams. The Yourdon rules proved popular, if complex, and were widely
adopted for large projects. Cadre took the next logical step and auto-
mated the Yourdon rules. With Cadre's Teamwork/SA, running on Apollo workstations linked via Apollo's Domain network, developers can coordinate groups of programmers at all three stages of software management. Teamwork/SA allows project managers to do the initial blueprinting of their projects, keep account of the activity of large groups of programmers during development and record changes or enhancements of the software during its life.
However, programmers soon decided that if software management could be done on a workstation, then so could software production. Apollo discovered it had a new market. "There are several reasons why workstations are good for software engineers," explains Apollo's Pomper, "and most of those coincide with the reasons they're good for CAD/CAE: having a dedicated CPU, networking and graphics." The dedicated CPU means that programmers don't have to compete for time on a shared system; the networking allows users to share resources; and the graphics can give the developer an intuitive feel for what's happening in the code.

Consequently, Apollo introduced this year the Domain Software Engineering Environment, software to support large development projects. DSEE provides a number of functions to make large-group programming easier. Like Cadre's Teamwork/SA, it keeps extensive records on the development and modifications of each piece of code. Moreover, once a module is modified, DSEE will automatically notify other programming team members of the change, and point out where that change will affect their own code. It can also help isolate problems in the code, suggest modifications, permit "what-if" modeling of proposed enhancements and so forth.
At about the same time it announced DSEE, Apollo introduced Dialog-software to produce software for user interfaces. "In the last few years, developers have discovered a host of increasingly sophisticated user interfaces they attach to their products-everything from touch screens to mouse-driven interfaces," says Pomper. "The trouble is, the software for those interfaces can be very difficult to write. With Dialog, however, developers simply specify what kind of interface they'd like, and Dialog writes the necessary code."
New generation comes on
But the real sign of Apollo's commitment to CASE-and a hint of workstations' long-term future-is in hardware rather than in software. Apollo's initial workstations have begun to show their age. However, this year Apollo introduced a new generation of workstationsamong them the Series 3000. It boasts a 19-

'What you're looking at is cost-per-seat. That's the issue.'

IBM puts workstations at RISC

There is one vendor that could completely remake the workstation business.
This year, IBM Corp. suddenly entered the technical market with the RT PC. An extremely innovative machine, the RT is based on a proprietary microprocessor that mixes conventional architecture with reduced instruction set computer (RISC) features. It also offers a paged UNIX-variant, AIX, as its operating system. Representing a first foray into the technical field-not a traditional IBM arena-it was a very impressive machine, and some analysts wondered if it wouldn't dominate the workstation marketplace.
Gradually, however, those fears have been calmed. Industry observers decided that the RT, at least in its present form, isn't aimed at the existing workstation market. " At the moment, it's not a workstation. It's a

superpersonal computer," says Brad Smith, director of research in Technical Computer System Services at the market research company, Dataquest, San Jose, Calif. "It's missing floating point, communications and so forth. Right now, IBM knows, if it went head to head with the workstation vendors, if would get its head kicked in."
But, notes Smith, that situation may not last forever. With quite minor changes-such as improved networking-Big Blue could loom large over the workstation market. John DeVries, CASE Marketing Manager for Sun Microsystems Inc., says simply, "IBM-watching is dangerous...you never want to discount them, because they'll turn around and bite you. On the other hand, you don't want to get paranoid about them either."

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

105

HOW CAN YOU TELL FROM THE

Building world-class drives takes worldclass design and manufacturing capabi Iities .
Take our floppy disk drive manufacturing plant, for example. It's totally automated with the latest robotics (by Toshiba, of course) . So that you can count on consistent. repeatable quality in
every one of our 31/2" and 51/4' floppy drives. Our 51/4'' Winchester line is also designed
and built with an emphasis on QA few vendors can match. Starting with designed-in quality. progressing to zero defect manufacturing and finishing with rigorous testing that exceeds typical
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The result is that all our drives provide lower cost of ownership . Extremely low reject rates . Lower support costs . And high MTBFs.
But building world-class quality into our drives is only half the story. Which is why every drive we build comes with world-class support.
Starting with support during your evaluation of our drives.We've probably already qualified your controller to make sure that our drives are compatible with your system .
Our systems engineers will help you keep systems integration time to a minimum . So you can get your product to market on time .

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WORLD-CLASS DRIVES ALSO-RANS?

We can supply al Iyour storage needs: 51/4'' and 8" Winchesters: 3W' and 51/4'' floppies: . and a range of optical products.And we're investing right now in the technology of the future . So we can continue to work with you for years to come.
All of which goes to prove the wisdom of selecting Toshiba as your source for disk drives.
For complete information, call 408727-3939.Or write Toshiba America, Inc .. Disk
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CIRCLE NO. 57 ON INQUIRY CARD

Up to173MB. 25ms average access time. ESDl/SCSI interface. 30,000-hou r MTBF.

WORKSTATIONS

Remote development shows real signs of being the wave of the future.

inch, monochromatic display with superb resolution and 2M bytes of memory. Both AT&T Information Systems' UNIX System V and Berkeley UNIX Version 4.2 support the Domain networking. It is, in short, a workstation meant expressly for applications outside of CAD/CAM, such as software development.
Meanwhile, workstation vendor Sun Microsystems has become almost as closely linked to software development as Apollo has to software management. Sun was founded in the early 1980s by a group of entrepreneurs that included William Joy, the computer scientist whose work at the University of California at Berkeley gave him the nickname "the father of UNIX 4.2." The company has maintained a reputation for technical innovation, engineering excellence and a certain daring-qualities well suited to win a large share of the workstation market.
Sun's success came as a surprise to some industry observers. While they sometimes are used for CAD/CAM, the Sun machines are not designed to fit neatly into that traditional workstation market-many don't offer color graphics, for instance. The idea that workstations might be sold for anything else seemed to violate both marketing wisdom and common sense. (As late as 1984, the president of one multiuser computer company was heard to say, "I thought Sun would go belly up as soon as it got finished selling boxes to Bill Joy's classmates at Berkeley. Clearly, I was wrong.")
They were sold for things other than CAD/ CAM, and quite briskly. Early this summer,

W orkbenches take on workstations
One alternative to the programmer's workstation is a dedi� cated programmer's workbench, a multiuser system dedicated to remote software development.
One such workbench is available from Dialogic Systems Corp., San Jose, Calif. Their Dialogic Development Center is a hardware and software product for the production of code for IBM Corp. mainframes. It consists of the Workbench Machine, a 32-bit microcomputer based on the Motorola Corp. MC68000 processor, and a package of programming aids known collectively as the Workbench Toolkit.
Like a workstation, the Dialogic Development Center allows programmers to develop code remotely, and then to drop it to an IBM mainframe. Unlike a workstation, however, it can support up to 32 users at a cost of about $3,000 apiece. It can be expanded to up to 96 users.

Sun estimated that over a third of its machines were going to the CASE market. The company's newest generation of workstations, the Sun-3 line, seems tailor-made for CASEwork. Says CASE marketing manager, John DeVries, " For CASE, color graphics isn't an issue, at least not yet, and ultra-high performance isn't an issue.
What you're looking at is cost-per-seat. That's the issue." And consequently, the Sun-3/50M, a diskless workstation with a price tag of $7,900, meets the requirement as a very inexpensive programmer's seat.
Sun is particularly interested in remote development. "The general model we have is the host-target situation," says DeVries, where software is written on one machine and then exported to another. In Sun's view of the world, its customers are developing software for large and expensive systems-so large and so expensive that the customer cannot afford to waste the machines' CPU time on software development. With remote development, the programmers may leisurely produce and perfect source code on their individual workstations, and then drop that code via Sun's networking to the target machine for compilation-and ultimately execution. "You avoid the bugaboo of crosscompilers," says DeVries.
Veterans and start-ups move in
Remote development shows real signs of being the wave of the future. Workstations are so much more supportive of programmers than are terminals on a multiuser system that software developers are finding it increasingly hard to get along without them. Notes DeVries, "We're very near the point where it will just not be cost effective to do development on native systems."
Sun offers a set of software developer's tools that reflect this model of coding. Last September, Sun announced SunPro-short for Sun Programming Environment-a collection of utilities meant for the control, debugging, editing and testing of source code. With SunPro, the programmer can rapidly prototype an application on the workstation before taking it to the larger machine.
At the same time, Sun also introduced SunView, a library of interface software similar to Apollo's Dialog. With it, developers can rapidly produce user interfaces based on windows, scrolling bars, pull-down windows, mice and so forth.
Meanwhile, the workstation market continues to resemble a war zone. Leaders like Sun and Apollo are virtually under siege from a

108

MINI- MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

NewburyS solution to The Great American Printer Hang-up.

We've taken all the wrinkles out ofpaper handling. Now you can have reliable paper handling for more high-speed, dot matrix printing time. Newbury Office Systems Printers (OSP) are designed to more than match the capabilities of your Personal Computer-whether your application is word processing or financial modeling,using shared resources or local area networks.
Set-ups and change-overs have never been easier with our 3-way paper handling. In addition to speedy printing,Newbury gives you anew standard in 3-mode convenience and flexibility We've integrated aunique, automatic paper-feed mechanism that is fast and reliable. It features selfregistration auto-load for single sheets.Simply snap in an interlocking paper cassette for faster automatic sheet-feeder applications. Or, snap in the interlocking tractor option with single belt and gear for true alignment ofcontinuous forms.
Newbury offers more things for more offices. Even at speeds of 200 cps, noise levels are quieted to less than 50 dBA.For print quality that is truly outstanding Newbury offers 9,12 or 18-wire OSP models.All feature high-speed printing thru-put with Newbury'sexclusive 3-line look-ahead logic, low-mass, high-efficiency printheads, and fast-line advance.And when you're ready for color, you have it by just inserting aclip-in color ribbon cartridge.
CIRCLE NO. 58 ON INQUIRY CARD

Document after document, Newbury delivers faster thru-put rates and atotal-feature-package that just makes more sense for more offices. Get more details immediately.
Europe's Leading Peripherals Manufacturer
Newbury Data, Inc. U.S. Headquarters 2200 Pacific Coast Hwy. , Suite 208 Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 Phone: So. West 2131372-3775, No. West 4151254-8350,
- - - - - - - No. East 6171273-2161,So. East 5121477-1221 7 86
IFor OEMs and Distributors Only. \ O Rush details on Newbury'sOSP Printers.
I o Send info on Newbury's 8850 300 /pm serial dot matrixprinter. O Send info on Newbury's mo 18933 240 cps Text Processing Printer.
I O Send data on Newbur ' 3.5" OMB and 5.25"165 to 380MB highperformance Disk Driv .�
Name
I Company I Address
I City

I

Introducing the Freedonf ONE from Liberty Electronics

The Freedom ONE is the one terminal
for all of your ASCII needs. With the
Freedom ONE you don't pay more for advanced features. With the Freedom ONE you don't sacrifice features just because you pay less. At $449 the Freedom
ONE gives you the best of all worlds-in
one terminal.
The Freedom ONE is designed to be there w ith all the features you need whatever your application. A 14-inch flat screen gives you the ultimate in crisp, clear characters in either 80 or 132 column display formats. Popular emulations like Freedom 200, WY-50, Viewpoint A2, TeleVideo
950, and ADM 31 let you fully utilize all

your existing applications programs. An adjustable height keyboard with 44 easy to program keys (88 with shift) lets you tailor the key layout and functions to your liking. Compact and attractive styling gives your workspace a state-of-the-art look with room to spare. These are just a few of the no-compromise, unbeatable features you get standard with the Freedom ONE.
fur more information call Liberty Electronics today (415) 543-4353, and
ask for it all. Ask for the ONE.
Liberty
We Make Terminals

CIRCLE NO. 59 ON INQUIRY CARD

Freedom is a registered trademark of Liberty Electronics WY-50 is a trademark of Wyse Technology ADM is a trademark of Lear Siegler. Inc . Viewpoint is a trademark of Applied Digital Data Systems, Inc. TcleVideo 950 is a trademark ofTeleVideo Systems, Inc.

WORKSTATIONS

host of aggressive competitors-ranging from long established powerhouses, such as Harris Corp., to innovative start-ups, such as Celerity Computing. It is, in fact, among these new players that the most dramatic response to software engineering seems to be happening.
For example, last October, Masscomp introduced five very powerful workstations known collectively as the "5000 series." Based on a triple bus that allows extremely fast data transfer, the machines can actually approach mainframe performance in some 110 intensive applications. Priced relatively inexpensively at $15,000 to $250,000, the 5000 workstations might be particularly useful in very demanding, scientific and engineering CASE efforts.
Meanwhile, DEC recently entered the workstation business with the VAXstation, a technical workstation based on the company's proprietary MicroVAX II 32-bit microprocessor. Since its introduction, the machine has been further specialized and upgraded to fit assorted vertical markets.
Less well known, however, is that the VAXstations are also finding a place in CASE. Last year, DEC announced a very unusual machine -the Ada Programmer's VAXstation.
Physically, the machine differs from the standard VAXstation only marginally. But there is a tremendous difference in its marketing and intended purpose. As the name would suggest, the Ada VAXstation is meant for development of applications within a single language, Ada.
The Ada programming language, developed to the specifications of the Department of

Defense in the late 1970s and early 1980s, is an extremely powerful, but extremely complex, language. It was meant for extremely demanding applications. It is so large and so difficult that, until recently, Ada compilers were simply unavailable on microcomputers.
So, Ada has traditionally been a language for minicomputers or mainframes and Ada programmers have usually worked on terminals attached to time-sharing systems. DEC, however, was one of the first companies to realize that workstations, with their greater horsepower, could provide individual programmers with desktop Ada. The result was the Ada VAXstation, with up to 9M bytes of memory, strong networking, high-resolution graphics, multiprocessing and windowing. It also has an extremely strong, DEC-proprietary ADA compiler.
DEC does not regard its Ada workstation as a dedicated, turnkey machine. "The Ada workstation could be used for any other application, of course. In fact, I could build an Ada station out of off-the-shelf DEC products," says Kendall. "But I might also make a mistake. I might not include enough memory. Or I might not know about some DEC component that would be particularly useful. This way, we basically take care of the configuration for you."
Strong defense applications
But the Ada VAXstations are pioneers all the same. Not only are they among the first workstations to be specialized in hardware for software engineering in a single language, but also

The Ada VAXstation is meant for a single language.

Companies mentioned In this artlcle

Apollo Computer Inc. 330 Billerica Road Chelmsford, Mass. 01824 (617) 256-6600 Circle 430
Cadre Technologles Inc. 222 Richmond St. Providence, A.I. 02903 (401) 351 -5950 Circle 431
Celerity Computing 9692 Via Excelencia San Diego, Calif. 92126 (619) 271-9940 Circle 432

Digital Equipment Corp. Continental Blvd. Merrimack, N.H. 03054 (603) 884-5111 Circle 433
Harris Corp. Computer Systems Division 2101 W. Cypress Road Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33309 (305) 973-5000 Circle 400
Hewlett-Packard Co. 10520 Ridgeview Court Cupertino, Calif. 95014 (408) 973-1919 Circle 434

IBM Corp. P.O.Box 1328 Boca Raton, Fla. 33432 (305) 982-336 Circle 435
Masscomp 1 Technology Park Westford, Mass. 01886 (617) 692-6200 Circle 436
Sun Microsystems Inc. 2550 Garcia Ave. Mountain View. Calif. 94043 (415) 960-1300 Circle 437

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

111

WORKSTATIONS

The VAXstation, from DEC, is already widely used in CAD/ CAM applications. The VAXstation is also
finding a role in
computer aided software engineering.
they are among the first workstations meant to address the emerging embedded-systems market.
Embedded systems are computers or programmable controllers contained within noncomputing equipment. At the moment, embedded systems are mostly used by the military in missiles, fighter aircraft, weapons systems and so on. This means that most Ada development projects tend to be for embedded systems.
The RPC50 does what your IBM PC AT�can, where your
IBM PC AT can't!
The Allen-Bradley RPCSO is a transportable, Ruggedized Personal Computer System. It does the same things your IBM personal computer AT can do, but it can do them in harsh environments (0-so� ambient, 2.SG operating shock, 30G non-operating.)
� 80286 Processor � 1 MB Internal
RAM Memory � 10 MB Hardened
Hard Disk � 3-1 / 2", 720 KB
Microfloppy � 9" High-Resolution
1640 x 200 pixel! amber CRT �Integral 5-1/ 4" external floppy connection � Integral Serial and Parallel Ports � $6600 OEM Net Price
TO ORDER, CALL OUR .24-HOUR RESPONSE CENTER, 1-800-346-6600, Ext. 8540. For further details contact Allen-Bradley, Industrial Computer Group, Commercial Services, 747 Alpha Drive, Cleveland, Ohio 44143.
IBM PC AT is a registered trade mark oflnte mationa l Bu sine ss Mac hines Corvo rali o n.

Which means, in tum, that the Ada VAXstation

has a strong orientation toward such systems.

Developers can use the machine to drop code to

embedded computers produced by Norden Sys-

tems, Norwalk, Conn., which are ruggedized

VAXes produced under license from DEC for

the military.

This makes the Ada VAXstation a sign of

things to come because more and more manu-

facturers are discovering the advantages of in-

telligent products. Already, computers are

showing up as part of industrial robots, in

avionics applications, pacemakers, intelligent

appliances and, even, credit cards. For in-

stance, SmartCard International Inc., New

York, has recently announced Ultracard. This

is a credit card with a 64K combined micro-

processor and memory chip, a tiny keyboard

and a liquid-crystal display.

As the embedded-systems market grows in

importance, workstations used to program

those systems will become increasingly impor-

tant. Developing software for machines that are

not themselves computers could easily become

the single largest CASE-application of work-

stations.

The future of workstations in CASE seems

assured. They've proved so useful for program-

ming that now the question isn't whether

they'll be used for software engineering, but,

rather, what percentage of their sales will go to

CASE instead of to CAD/CAM. Brad Smith, a

researcher at Dataquest, believes that, by 1999,

fully 40 percent of all workstations will be

employed for the production of code.

However, Sun's DeVries argues, "I expect

both CAD/CAM and CASE will lose percent-

age points as people start finding other applica-

tions for workstations-desktop publishing, for

instance."

Smith goes further, saying that workstations

are appearing for CASE-applications not be-

cause of any unique natural affinity between

the machines and the task but because of a kind

of 32-bit imperialism. "Just as one would ex-

pect, the workstation is moving out of its

traditional niche and into the rest of comput-

ing," he says.

Explains DEC's Kendall, "The workstations

are showing up in software engineering at least

partly because the software people looked

across the hall, noticed the CAD/CAM ma-

chines, and said, 'Hey, those guys got good

stuff, and we don't."'

0

ALLEN-BRADLEY
A Roc kwe ll Inte rnational Compa ny
CIRCLE NO. 60 ON INQUIRY CARO

Interest Quotient (Circle One) High 487 Medium 488 Low 489

112

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

A-to-Z Integrated System: The Single Computing Solution for Your Business and Office Needs
We Can Help You With the Computing Needs of Your Entire Business. Until now, it's been tough to choose a computer solution when you needed a variety of applications. Either you bought individual application solutions on different computers from various manufacturers, or you settled for a limited system that handled only a few tasks . Neither choice was satisfactory because it didn ' t really serve your needs. But no more. We can help you solve your business problems with a single computing solution that integrates business applications tailored by industry experts with a growing list of business tools - word processing, business graphics, database management, communications and much more. The A-to-Z Integrated System is available in a compact yet powerful system that's designed to be the easiest system you've ever used . And it's available at a surprisingly low price.

Highlights
� Benefit from additional applications tailored by industry experts and integrated with A-to-Z.
� Sophisticated computer system, manageable by anyone in your company.
� Streamline your operations. Integration of your business and office applications simplifies use and saves time for everybody.
� Provide for easy growth. Buy only the applications you need now and expand your system when you need to.
� Increase productivity. Simple menus and consistent function keys across all applications make A-to-Z easy to learn and easy to use.
� Protect your investment. Because A-to-Z is part of the Digital family of proven products, you are assured of Digital's commitment to excellence.
� Save time and money by installing, learning and maintaining A-to-Z yourself.
� Develop your own applications and add them to the A-to-Z system.
� Runs on proven operating systems, for which thousands ofsoftware applications are available today.

Integration - The Added Benefit of the A-to-Z System. Because it's integrated, the A-to-Z system lets you use the same information many different ways. For example, you can produce a sales flyer using word processing, and then interrupt to use the database management function to send the flyer to only select customers. Or take information from data files and use it in graphs or list processing documents. The possibilities are endless. And the effort is minimal. That's because A-to-Z lets you move easily from one application to another using the same data. There's no retyping required.

A simple keystroke interrupts your business application and allows you to enter any other A-to-Z application. For example, you can create a graph of your existing data and insert the graph into a word processing document, anywhere you want. With A-to-Z, it's easy to add clear, professional-looking graphics to any document. Or you can pass the data to the report writing functions for use in a report, then return to your previous application. A-to-Z makes it all happen with a few simple keystrokes.

A-to-Z Business Graphics: Dress Up Your Data. With A-to-Z Business Graphics, you can easily create a variety of graphs that allow you to analyze your business data and simplify the presentation of information.
Because it's an interactive system, A-to-Z Business Graphics lets you make as many changes as you like while creating your graph. And you can take data directly from your database and build a graph with it.
Using pictorial menus, enter the data you want to graph, select the type of graph you want, and combine the data and description into a graph file to display on your terminal or to print out.
Because you store the data, the design, and the finished graph files independently, you can easily use a previously designed graph with new data. You don't have to redesign the graph each time. Best of all, it's drawn quickly and accurately by your A-to-Z system.

And There Are More Applications. These are only a few of the A-to-Z applications available from Digital. Investment in application development is on-going, as Digital continues to provide you with the kinds of productivity tools that every office needs.

A-to-Z Word Processing: As Simple As A-B-C. Every business generates correspondence, bills, memos, reports, and other written material. The A-to-Z Word Processing module makes the job easier with complete editing, document preparation and list processing functions.
You can create new letters, memos, or other documents on your A-to-Z system. Or you can edit and modify existing documents. It's easy to learn and use, and allows you to prepare professional-looking documents in no time at all.
A-to-Z Word Processing uses Digital standard "GOLD KEY" word processing, which is available on all of Digital's PDP, VAX and personal computer families . That means true professional word processing at your fingertips. And, there's no need for retraining users already familiar with Digital computers.

List Processing features are also available with the A-to-Z Word Processing module. It allows you to create customized form letters and reports from lists of information, such as personnel or customer files.
A-to-Z Database Management: Report Writing Made Easy. The A-to-Z database management function lets you use your data any way you want to create reports quickly and easily.
Instant reports from data files. This function automatically searches files for specified information and then produces a report using the requested information. Reports can be printed out, displayed on-screen, presented in graphic form, or used with A-to-Z's list processing capabilities.

The A-to-Z database management function provides a simplified data dictionary build and data entry facility for creating new databases, and adding, modifying, or deleting records within existing databases.
Sophisticated list processing. A-to-Z database management offers list processing capabilities that enable you to create and update customer rosters, reports and mailing lists from information in existing files . You can then switch over to A-to-Z Word Processing to create personalized direct mail letters to your customers. That's a real plus for businesses looking for inexpensive ways of generating additional revenue from a known customer base.

A-to-Z Works For You. We make A-to-Z modular to give it the versatility you need for the jobs you do. A-to-Z can process several applications at once.
For example, an order entry clerk can enter purchase orders into the system, while a secretary is typing letters at another terminal, and a sales manager is preparing a monthly sales report at a third terminal. While all this is going on, A-to-Z can accept and respond to a request for inventory status from a shipping clerk in the warehouse.
While A-to-Z is modular, it also makes it easy to bring together information from various sources. Let's say you are preparing a report to a bank manager for a new loan. The A-to-Z system lets you pull together a spreadsheet on projected expenses, a graphic illustration of income growth, a report on your sales history for the two previous years with a few simple keystrokes. And the result is a professional-looking report that lets your organization shine.

A-to-Z Runs the Show.. . The system performs the basic, but critical, tasks that make A-to-Z work so well: providing clear, straightforward menus, controlling system security, displaying appropriate error messages for each user, and executing the tasks of the special function keys.
. . .But A-to-Z Doesn't Run You. A-to-Z is designed so you can manage it easily. This system contains lots of features built in to help everyone in your organization work well together. Here are just a few:
� User accounts for everyone in your company. With A-to-Z, you don't have account limitations. If you have an eight-user system, but employ 20 people who perform various tasks (i.e. , word processing, finance, order entry, and other tasks required in your business), each person can have an account with only eight using the system at one time. Not everyone may need terminals at their desks, but A-to-Z allows them to have an account when they need to use the system.

� Function keys that do what they say. No matter what A-to-Z application you're using, function keys make the job easier. Keys marked INTERRUPT, EXIT, CANCEL, RESUME, DO, and HELP do just what they say. These handy keys allow you to quickly and simply interrupt one task, select another application, exit from the second one and resume the first .
� Individual security feature. You can lock or unlock your A-to-Z files just as you can lock or unlock your desk or file cabinet - so that other users can copy information. You can change the security status of your area at will to prevent others from unauthorized access to confidential data. In addition, the system manager can lock unauthorized users out of certain applications, such as restricting access to payroll records to the employees in your payroll department. With authorization, however, you can easily make a copy of another user's file to save retyping time and effort.
� Special system management account. A-to-Z makes system management easy. You don't need to be a technical expert; if you can type (even two-finger typing!), you can run A-to-Z. The system manager can call up a special menu of functions to keep the system running smoothly in three critical areas : data storage, system control, and routine functions like backup or making copies of data files .

mnmnoma
Digital Equipment Corporation is a worldwide manufacturer of computer systems, peripherals, networks and communications products, software and supplies. The company is the leader in single architecture, integrated computing solutions for business, industry, government, science and education. We operate more than 660 manufacturing, sales and service facilities worldwide, and employ over 85,000 people. Digital Equipment Corporation believes the information in this publication is accurate as � of this publication date. Such informat ion is subject to change without notice. Digital Equipment Corporation is not responsible for any inadvertent errors. The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation: A-to-Z, the Digital logo, GOLD KEY, PDP, VAX.

NE\N PRODUCTS
SYSTEMS

Megan Nields, Assistant Editor

System supplies IBM compatibility
Running 33 percent faster than the IBM PC/AT, the MAI 1500 computer system utilizes an 80286 microprocessor. The IBM-compatible unit includes 640K bytes of internal memory, a 20Mbyte rigid disk drive and an RS232C port. A 14-inch monitor displays 720 by 350 pixels. $4,750. MAI Basic Four Inc., 14101 Myford Road, Tustin, Calif. 92680, (714) 731-5100.
Circle 301
Computer supports up to 32 users
A 16-bit microcomputer, Ultraframe handles up to 32 users. The system supports rigid drives and tape backup systems of up to I, l 60M bytes and 67M bytes, respectively. It incorporates standard S- 100 bus architecture. The datatransfer rate is 2M bytes per second. $34,020. Independent Business Systems Inc., 5915 Graham Court, Livermore, Calif. 94550, (415) 443-3131.
Circle 302
Microcomputer uses
68020 processor
A 32-bit, 68020-based microcomputer, the HK68/V20 is geared toward realtime and UNIX applications. The unit provides up to 1M byte of on-board, dual-access DRAM with parity, and up to l 28K bytes of EPROM and nonvolatile static RAM . An RS232C port is standard. $3,595. Heurikon Corp., 3201 Latham Drive, Madison, Wis. 53713, (608) 271-8700.
Circle 303
Computer aims at system integrators
The OSI 71 2 supermicrocomputer is

aimed at system integrators and VARs. Real-time processing is provided through RTIX, a UNIX- and XENIXcompatible operating system. The unit uses a 680 I0 processor to accommodate three to 12 users. Standard RAM is 2M bytes, expandable to 4M bytes. A 51/4inch rigid disk drive with 20M to 200M bytes of internal storage is supplied. $9,990. Isotron Inc., 140 Sherman St., Fairfield, Conn. 06430, (203) 255-7443.
Circle 304
Hand-held computer suits IBM PC
A hand-held, IBM PC-compatible microcomputer, the Datacomputer offers an alphanumeric keyboard, a battery power supply and plug-in RAM boards for up to 256K bytes of memory. Data is transmitted via a Hayes-compatible modem or an RS232C port. The unit weighs 39 ounces. $2,995. National Datacomputer, 34 Linnell Circle, Billerica, Mass. 01821, (617) 663-7677.
Circle 305
Workstation offers IBM compatibility
Providing IBM 5080 compatibility, the 2033 Model 2 is a 3-D color rastergraphics workstation. The unit executes CAD/CAM applications such as mechanical design and numerical control. Pixel write time is 45 nsec. Features include a programmable function keyboard and a 1,024-by- I,024 pixel display resolution. $21 ,700. CGX Corp., 42 Nagog Park, Acton, Mass. 01720, (617) 263-3222.
Circle 306
System handles
128 terminals
The Business System 1500 is a UNIX-based computer system that sup-

ports up to 128 terminals and four billion bytes of memory address space. It utilizes multiple 32-bit 68020 microprocessors running at 16.67 MHz. Cache memory is I6K bytes. The unit stores up to 2.5G bytes of data. $70,000 and higher. Texas Instruments Inc., Data Systems Group, P.O. Box 809063, H-850, Dallas, Texas, 75380-9063, (800) 527-3500.
Circle 307
Laptop computer features enhancements
An enhanced laptop computer, the Portable Plus has 256K-byte and 5 I2Kbyte RAM versions. Memory is expandable to I.28M bytes. Available plug-in software includes MultiMate and a proprietary information management package. The LCD display has an improved contrast of 200 percent over the previous model. The unit exchanges information with HP and DEC computers. $2,695, 256K RAM; $3,395, 5 l 2K RAM. Hewlett Packard Co., 3000 Hanover St., Palo Alto, Calif. 94303-0890. Phone locally.
Circle 308
PC supplies
IBM compatibility
An IBM PC-compatible personal computer, ANSWER provides an 8088 microprocessor, 640K bytes of RAM and two 51/4-inch flexible disk drives. The unit operates under MS-DOS, PC-DOS and CP/M-86. A parallel printer port , a monochrome graphics card and eight expansion slots come standard . The computer includes a monitor and a keyboard with 10 programmable function keys. $999. Comark Inc., 135 N. Brandon Drive , P.O . Box 2608, Glendale Heights , Ill. 60138-2608 , (312) 351-9700.
Circle 309

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

119

NEW PRODUCTS
DISK/TAPE

Disk card supports ANSI
The SCSI Hard Disk Card supports the ANSI X3T9.2 SCSI specification. Geared toward the IBM PC family, the unit supplies 21M bytes of rigid disk storage. It plugs into one-and-a-half add-on slots in the PC and connects as many as six SCSI peripherals to the PC. $675. Micro Design International, 6566 University Blvd., Winter Park, Fla. 32792, (305) 677-8333.
Circle 310
Tape backs up IBM PC, /XT, /AT
A free-standing, 60M-byte, quarterinch streaming tape system, ExcelStream 60-8 backs up the IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT and compatibles. The device incorporates configurable DMA channels, port addresses and interrupt
UNSOLDERING QUAD� PACKS
with the quadruple hot-air jet of the Leister-Labor
Infinitely adjustable electronic temperature control from 20 to
600 �c. Inti nitely adjustable elec-
tronic control of air supply from 1 to 150 litres per minute. Quad-packs can be unsoldered without damage in seconds with this tool.
Ask for Free brochure
Brian R. White Co. Inc., 313 Henry Station Road, Ukiah, CA 95482 Tel. (707) 462-9795 I Telex 510 743 2052 Brian R. White Co. Inc., 1 Industrial Way West, Bldg. E, Eatontown, NJ 07724 Tel. (201) 544-1212 I Telex 888 307
CIRCLE NO. 253 ON INQUIRY CARD

lines. Features include automatic tape formatting and automatic read-afterwrite error checking. The unit backs up lOM bytes in 2 minutes. $995. Everex Systems Inc., 47777 Warm Springs Blvd., Fremont, Calif. 94539, (415) 498-1111.
Circle 311
Tape system services IBM PCs
A 40M-byte, portable tape system, the MT40P is geared toward the IBM PC, PC/XT and PC/AT. The unit weighs less than 5 pounds and supports Image or File-by-File-Backup and Restore commands. It plugs into the PC's external flexible port. $695. Micro Design International Inc., 6566 University Blvq., Winter Park, Fla. 32792, (305) 677-8333.
Circle 312
Disk system offers IBM PC compatibility
Easi-Disk is a portable, IBM PC-compatible, flexible disk system. Data transfers between the PC and incompatibly formatted devices using RS232C, RS422 or parallel interfaces. Features include a l 9.2K baud rate, a 4K-byte addressable RAM buffer and dual 1/0 ports. The unit is controlled by a Z80 microprocessor. $1,095. Analog and Digital Peripherals Inc., 81 5 Diana Drive, Troy, Ohio 45373, (513) 3392241.
Circle 313
Tape system runs with IBM
A half-inch magnetic tape system for IBM Systems 34, 36, 5362 and 5364, the TDX-45/5360 transfers data at 28.8K to 56K bps. The system includes a 45-ips start-stop drive with dual density and automatic loading of magnetic tape reels. Features include a bisynchronous interface and a tape-utility software package. $8,950. Telebyte Technology Inc., 270 E. Pulaski Road, Greenlawn, N.Y. 11740, (516) 4233232.
Circle 314

Tape drive offers IBM compatibility
Suiting OEMs, the 1480 cartridge tape drive is the first plug-compatible alten;iative to the IBM 3480. The data transfer rate is 3M bytes per second. Cartridge capacity is 2 l 8M bytes, formatted, and 246M bytes, unformatted. The half-inch unit supplies an 18-track parallel format with 18 read/write channels. It contains 15 percent fewer parts than the 3480. $26,000, OEM discount. Aspen Peripherals Corp., 1860 Lefthand Circle, Aspen, Colo. 80501, (303) 6780808.
Circle 315

Disk subsystem packs 60M .bytes

A 60M-byte, 51/4-inch disk subsystem,

the Perfect 60 is configured for either

the IBM PC/AT or the Compaq 286,

with disk controller. The 51/4-inch unit

provides a 30-msec average access time

and a SM-byte-per-second transfer rate.

Proprietary software is included.

$3,695, IBM version; $3,995, Compaq

version. CMS, 401-B West Dyer Road,

Santa Ana, Calif. 92707, (714) 549-

9111.

Circle 316

Quarter-inch drive stores 125M bytes
� 72-ips tape speed � 90K-bps transfer rate �QIC-120 data format
A quarter-inch streaming cartridge tape drive, the Super Scorpion 5 l 25L-l stores 125M bytes of formatted data. Information is transferred at 90K bps with a tape speed of 72 ips. A QIC-120 data format allows for a 15-track serpentine pattern. The device conforms to ANSI standards and reads any tape cartridge that conforms to the QIC-24 data format standard. $733, OEM quantities. Archive Corp., 1650 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626, (714) 641-0279.
Circle 317

120

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

Last year, people like you got away with nearly $200 million &om us.

Hewlett-Packard's VAR discounts added up to some pretty good

getaway money. Enough for a lot of trips to exotic, faraway places.

Take a look at Hewlett-Packard's commercial VAR Program and

think how far you could go.

It offers discounts up to 35% on HP 3000 computers and

peripherals. 40% discounts on demo/development systems. 10% credits on

system upgrades if your customer decides to upgrade through us.

Of course, Hewlett-Packard's commercial VAR Program offers

more than discounts. For instance, service and support that have given HP

a worldwide reputation.

And now the program is even more profitable.

We've raised

-----------

the entry discount on the HP3000 Series 37 minicomputer to 25%.We've also increased the memory
to 1 MB and added HP instal-

The HP Program
for Value-Added Resellers
--~5 Send me information on your commercial VAR
I program a nd the HP 3000 Series 37. D Have a n HP representative call me right away.

lation, all for a lower system price of Nameffitle_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ $21,860 (before quantity discounts). I Company_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

H 1 p Sko fdirsTt hget it all from ew ett- ac ar . en get away
from it all.

I Address

I

City/State/ Zip_ _ _ _ __ _ _ __

Phone

- Market - - - -

I Mail to: Bob Ha ll, Hewlett-Packard, Dept. 694C, 10520 Ridgeview Court. Cupertino, C A 9 5014 1so2603

� 1986 Hewlett-Packard Company

Ff/~ ~ ea

HEWLETT PACKARD

CIRCLE NO. 72 ON INQUIRY CARD

�

Introducing the WYSEpc 286 everything you need for the most

and a brilliant new range of display options.

demanding single-user applications, or to anchor the most effective, economical multi-user systems.

Now you can get higher

speed and higher reso-

lution, together, in ex-

tremely high style.

The WYSEpc 286

goes from "normal"

speed to full 10 MHz

throttle - up to 25%Jaster

thananIBA1PersonalCompuwr And behind

AT-with the touch of a switch. this incredible

A new lineup of graphics monitors display of power and versatility

lets you choose exactly the display is a company that ships more ter-

capability you need.

minals than anybody but IBM~

Combine the WYSEpc 286

Call toll-free or write, today,

with the WY-530 monochrome or for more information.

WY-630 color monitor and get

outstanding performance. For

enhanced color graphics, move up to the WY-640 EGA monitor. Or, bring CAD and desktop publishing

WYSE

applications into better focus, price-

I I I I

Wyse and pixel-Wyse, with the

YOU NEVER REGRET AWYSE DECISION.

WY-700high

resolution gra-

phics display

(as shown with

theWYSEpc

286 at left) .

With the new

WYSEpc 286, you can also choose
the keyboard that's the best fit: either the standard AT-style, or the
IBM Enhanced PC keyboard. And you get the complete compatibility

I Please send me detailed information on the I WYSEpc 286 and the entire Wyse product line.

I

I Name

Tit le

I ~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Company

Phone

you should expect in every other way, including more than 350 tested off-the-shelf software packages.
Up to 80 Mb of disk storage and 8 expansion slots give you

I Address I I -Cit-y~~~~-Sta-te~~~~-Zip~-

1 Mail to : Wyse Technology, Attention: Marcom Dept. 286

I

3571 N . F irst Street. San Jose, CA 95134 MMS 7 86

I Call 1-800-GET-WYSE

- - - - .=:::.:_----

Wyst is a registered trademark of ~�se Technology. WrSE,t>c 286, IY) ~640, W>~530, ~t'} '.6J(J and WF 700 art trademarks of ~~)�sl' Technology. IBM u11d Personal Computer AT are tradmwrks of lntn11atw11a/ Busmess Machom Corporation . Cl 1986 Wyse llchnology. �Dalaq1usl 1985 ltrmi1wl sh1pme11 I updalt .
CIRCLE NO. 73 ON INQUIRY CARD

NEW PRODUCTS
PRINTERS

Printers work at 30, 45 ppm
�Ion deposition � 300 by 300 dpi � 100 ,000 pages per month
The 3000 series ion deposition printers come in 30- and 45-ppm models with either 240 by 240 or 300 by 300 dpi , respectively. The units produce more than 100,000 pages monthly , and have a standard 500-sheet feeder with an optional 2,000-sheet elevator. The series is compatible with all industry-standard line-printer controllers and software. Features include automatic self-test and an optional job separator and sorter. $11 ,995 . C. Itoh Electronics Inc., 5301 Beethoven St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90066 , (213) 306-6700.
Circle 318
Laser printer produces 8 ppm
Producing 8 ppm, the LaserPrinter is compatible with most personal computers. The desktop unit off~rs 300-by-300dpi resolution. Noise level is less than 55 dB(a). Seven fonts and a font cartridge are included. $3,995. Philips Information Systems, Suite 300, 15 30 I Dallas Parkway, LB 35, Dallas, Texas. 75248, (214) 980-2000.
Circle 319
Dot-matrix printer suits IBM PC
Generating 120 cps, draft quality, and 30 cps, letter quality, the NL-I 0 is a dot-matrix, desktop printer. The unit is geared toward the IBM PC and compatibles, the Commodore 64 and 128 and Apple computers. Features include plug-in interface cartridges, an adjustable rear tractor feed and an automatic paper feed . Under $400. Star Micronics Inc., Suite 3510, 200 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10166, (212) 986-6770.
Circle 320
Multi-mode printer furnishes color
A multi-mode, dot-matrix printer, the Tempest 220 provides IBM and IDS color printer compatibility. Resolution is 144 by 144 dpi. Speeds range from

215 cps, draft quality, to 45 cps, letter quality. A l 2.7K-byte RAM buffer downloads fonts from the host computer. Centronics and RS232C interfaces are standard . $3 ,890. North Atlantic Qantex, 60 Plant Ave ., Hauppauge , N.Y. 11788, (516) 582-6060.
Circle 321
Daisywheel printer runs at 60 cps
The 6500 daisywheel printer produces 60 cps. It offers I0-, 12-, and 15-pitch and proportional spacing. The noise level is 58 dB(a). A 3K-byte buffer memory frees the computer for other tasks while the printer is printing. Centronics and RS232C interfaces are standard. $1,395. Joki Office Machine Corp., Printer Division, 299 Market St., Saddle Brook, N.J. 07662, (800) 9320590.
Circle 322
Dot-matrix printer achieves 1,200 lpm
The HP 2567B dot-matrix printer runs at 1,200 lpm. The unit supplies a resolution of 140 by 144 dpi . Up to 66 double-size and 132 normal-size characters can be generated per line. Supports IEEE-488, RS232C and Centronics interfaces. $28 ,050. HewlettPackard Co., P .O. Box 10301 , Palo Alto, Calif. 94303-0890, (415)857-1501 .
Circle 323
Daisywheel printer features two colors
The HR-35 daisywheel printer provides two-color output. Generating 35 cps, the unit is supplied with a Centronics or an RS232C interface. A 7K-byte buffer allows device printing while entering information into the computer. A proprietary copy function holds up to five pages of text. $1,04_9. Brother International Corp., 8 Corporate Place, Piscataway, N.J. 08854, (201) 981-0300.
Circle 324
Thermal printer contains 42 columns
A panel-mount thermal printer, the

SP-400G provides dot-addressable graphics. The unit has switch selectable baud rates ranging from 50 to 9,600. Features include an internal 42-character buffer, and RS232C and current loop interfaces. Double-width print is standard. Printing speed is 0.6 lines per second. $365. Syntest, 40 Locke Drive, Marlboro, Mass. 01752 , (617 ) 481 7827 .
Circle 325
Printer/plotter has high resolution
The Visigraph is a monochrome printer/plotter. Resolution is up to 1,280 by 1,024 pixels, non-interlaced. The device can be programed for I00-, 150-, 200- or 300-dpi input. Maximum print width is 11 .7 inches. The unit operates in either print or plot mode. $7,950; OEM discounts available. Honeywell Inc., Test Instruments Division, P.O. Box 16688, Denver, Colo. 80216, (303) 773-4581.
Circle 326
Thermal printer targets OEMs
A 240-dpi thermal-transfer printer, the G-500 suits OEM applications. The unit uses a 2-by-2 or I-by- I display format. It prints a full-page color screen bit map in I minute on fanfolded paper or transparencies. A Centronics interface is included . $4,000 and lower. Mitsubishi Electronics America, 991 Knox St., Torrance, Calif. 90502, (213) 515-3993 .
Circle 327
Dot-matrix printer achieves 120 cps
�Desktop unit �Plug-in interfaces �30 cps NLQ
A dot-matrix desktop printer, the NL- I00 runs at 120 cps, draft, and 30 cps, near letter quality. The unit furnishes plug-in interface cartridges for the IBM PC and compatibles. Features include three pitch selections and a bidirectional tractor feed. $319. Star Micronics, Suite 3510, 200 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10166, (212) 986-6770.
Circle 357

124

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

I f your company has written an outstanding multi-user application for UNIX-based systems, you could qualify to become an IBM Value Added Dealer.
Our recent introduction of the IBM RT Personal Computers has created a wealth of opportunities for potential VADs. The RT PC's innovative 32-bit RISC microprocessor has the power and speed to take full advantage of a rapidly expanding market-especially those customers with technical or professional needs.
Th~ RT PC runs on AIX:M an IBMenhanced UNIX that's easier to use, and lets you offer companies a powerful and compact system that can grow with their needs. By adding low-cost ASCII terminals such as the IBM 3161, you can tailor competitively priced systems for up to eight concurrent users. And, with the optional Intel 80286 coprocessor board, users can run many of their existing IBM PC programs.
In addition, you will gain all the advantages of being an IBM VAD. Our comprehensive dealer support

program, ProPlan, helps IBM dealers

with marketing, training and promo-

tions. IBM also has a wide range of

professional management classes for

VADs.

And, thanks to an online referenc-

ing system used by IBM's own sales

force, we can refer prospects with spe-

cial needs to VAbs that have unique

solutions.

The VAD program for the IBM RT

PC is a great opportunity for compa-

nies with proven business records in

innovative programming.

To find out how your company can

share this opportunity, simply send in

the coupon or call 1800 :::=-:-:.==...::=~
IBM-8277, Ext. 96/R. ..!.~..:~:..
lmMCo~orati~------- --~-- -~� ;-- -i

I National Distribution Division

I

1 ~ces~:~~~c

1

1 Atlanta, GA 30358

I

1 Please send me information about qualifying as an IBM

1

1 RTPCVAD.
1~

1

~

I

I Company

I

I Addre I City

I

tate

Zip

I

~~---------------~

UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories.

AIX is a trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation.

C 1986 IBM Corpo;ation

CIRCLE NO. 82 ON INQUIRY CARD

NEW PRODUCTS
TERMINALS

Monitor displays 960 by 1,280 pixels
The Viking 1 CRT and controller suits the IBM PC/XT, /AT and compatibles. It displays 960 by 1,280 pixels at a 66-Hz refresh rate on a 19-inch screen. Graphics-control functions include circle, ellipse and zoom and pan. The controller uses one slot in the personal computer and incorporates a 2 megabit memory for bit-mapped graphics. $2,195. Moniterm Corp., 5740 Green Circle Drive, Minnetonka, Minn. 55343, (612) 935-4151.
Circle 328
Video monitor employs color
A 100-MHz, color display monitor, the 7400 achieves a 1,280-by-1,024 noninterlaced format . The 19-inch unit includes a high-contrast panel and 0.31-mm pitch. Three BNC connectors are included for RGB inputs. Internal or external synchronization is provided. $3,665.

Conrac Division, 600 N. Rimsdale Ave., Covina, Calif. 91722, (818) 966-3511.
Circle 329
Graphics terminal supports CAD/CAM
A color graphics terminal, the PGT 4111 supports CAD/CAM applications. The unit consists of a 19-inch screen with a 1,024-by-768 pixel resolution. Up to 16 colors can be displayed simultaneously. Refresh rate is 60 Hz, noninterlaced. $12,950. Prime Computer Inc., Prime Park, Natick, Mass. 01760, (617) 655-8000.
Circle 330
Terminal sports 44 programmable keys
An ASCII terminal, the Freedom One displays 24 lines by 80 or 132 columns on a 14-inch CRT. The unit offers 44 programmable keys, a programmable bidirectional printer port and a split

screen. It emulates the WY-50, TeleVideo 950, Viewpoint A2 and ADM 31. Features include nonvolatile setup modes, jump or smooth scrolling, eight foreign-character sets and a screen-saver function. $499. Liberty Electronics, 332 Harbor Way, South San Francisco, Calif. 94080, (415) 742-9960.
Circle 331
Graphics terminal targets IBM 3270
The CX4 l l l color graphics terminal is geared toward IBM 3270 environments. It offers a 19-inch, 1,024-by-768 pixel display. Sixteen colors are displayed simultaneously from a palette of 4,096 colors. The unit provides coaxial attachment to IBM 3274 controllers. It supports local segments for zoom and pan capabilities. Up to 256K bytes of memory. Features include DEC VTIOO compatibility. $13,950. Tektronix Inc., P.O. Box 500, Beaverton, Ore. 97077 , (503) 644-0161.
Circle 332

9-TRACK MAG. TAPE SUBSYSTEM FOR THE IBM PC/XT/AT

You've seen it,you've thought

about it, and now any OEM

or VAR can try it on this limited time offer-for just $199.*

It's the Caere EASY-SCANNER~ Bar Code Reader. This

keyboard wedge with the sleekly molded plastic light pen

fits easily between your keyboard and terminal and inputs

data 20 times faster than the quickest human hands.

Call Diane today at 408-395-7000,and order your $199

Caere EASY-SCANNER. Once you've tried it,you11 agree that

the only thing cheap about our keyboard wedge is the price.

*Availablefor most IBMplug compatible andASCII terminals.

Limit one per customer through August 15, 1986.

�

Caere" Corporation

~~

100 Cooper Court Los Gatos, CA 95030

~~~

4 0 8 - 3 9 5 -7 0 0 0 lWX# 910-597-5391

c~�-

CIRCLE NO. 75 ON INQUIRY CARD 128

For information interchange, backup and archival storage, IBEX offers a 9-track, IBM format-compatible 'h" magnetic tape subsystem for the IBM PC, featuring :

� 42 M-Bytes on a single reel.
� IBM format 1600 cpi.
� Software for PC-DOS, MS-DOS.
Write, phone or TWX for information

I B E X
IBEX COMPUTER CORP.
20741 Marilla St. Chatsworth, CA 91311 (818) 709-8100 TWX: 910-493-2071

CIRCLE NO. 76 ON INQUIRY CARD MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

NEW PRODUCTS
DATACOM

Multiplexer runs

Gateway performs

shared by all other network users. $395.

at 32K bps

in IBM environment

Kimtron Corp., Bldg. 160, 1705 Junction Court, San Jose, Calif. 95112,

A time-division multiplexer with built- The ACT SNA Gateway performs (408) 436-6550. in DSU/CSU, the ATOM multiplexes under the CICS/VS operating system in

Circle 340

data from up to six synchronous devices an IBM MVS environment. It allows
onto a 56K-bps transmission link . Data IBM 3270 and higher SNA terminals to Modem suits

rates, which range from 2.4K to 32K bps, access applications and databases run- IBM PC, compatibles

are selected from eight settings. Features ning on remote host computers and

include full diagnostics, self-test, LED indicators and EIA signal propagation. $1,890. Astrocom, 120 W. Plato Blvd., St. Paul , Minn. 55107-2092, (612) 2278651.
Circle! 333

networks. The device supports multiple communications links and logical unit sessions. $35,000. Advanced Computer Techniques Corp., 16 E. 32nd St., New York, N.Y. 10016, (212) 696-3600.
Circle 337

For use with the IBM PC and compatibles, the Signalman LIGHTNINGi is a half-card, add-in-board modem. The auto-dial/auto-answer unit operates asynchronously at 2,400 bps. Fallback speeds of 300 and 1,200 bps are sup-

plied. The modem conforms to all in-

Package contains hardware options

Package integrates software, hardware

dustry standards and uses the Hayescompatible command structure. The software requires 64K bytes of memory.

$499. Anchor Automation Inc., 6913

An X.25 protocol hardware/software A hardware/software package, the Valjean Ave., Van Nuys, Calif. 91406,

package , the SBE/X.25 contains multiple NetWare/SNA Gateway facilitates com- (818) 997-7758.

hardware options for Multibus systems. munication between LAN systems and

Circle 341

The package supports CCITT proce- mainframe computers. The device al-

dures for duplex point-to-point links. It is offered on three 68000-based boards,

lows one modem to serve up to 32 users. Features include multiple-host sessions,

System links

each with X.25 in EPROM to implement multiple gateways and emulation capa- telephones, PCs

layers 1, 2 and 3 of the ISO model. bilities. $5,530 to $7,495. Novell Inc.,

$1,200. SBE Inc., 2400 Bisso Lane, Con- 748 N. 1340 W. , Orem, Utah 84057, The Information Exchange is an of-

cord, Calif. 94520, (800) 221-7722.

(80 I) 226-8202.

fice-communications system that links

Circle 334

Circle 338 telephones and personal computers via

existing telephone wiring to provide in-

Multiplexers integrate voice, data, video

Communications device combines functions

tegrated voice/data networking. The unit includes the Central Server for file and message storage, a voice/data terminal for file display and shared print-

The ITM family of T-1 networking multiplexers integrates voice, data, facsimile and video conferencing channels. The series-ITM 150 I, ITM 1502 and ITM 1508-supports 12 to 500 channels of voice and data. $7,100 and higher. Infinet Inc., 40 High St., North Andover, Mass. 01845, (617) 681-0600.
Circle 335

A multifunction communications device, the Accelerator combines data compression with an integral V.22 bis modem to provide up to 9,600 bps of full-duplex error-free throughput. The device, compatible with most asynchronous protocols, includes callback security and a I00-number telephone directory. $795 and higher. Telebyte Corp., 215 Oak St., Natick, Mass. 01760, (617) 653-3995 .

er, modem and personal computer ports. It accommodates up to 120 users. $40,000 to $70,000. Zymacom Inc., 2 Lyberty Way, Westford, Mass. 01886, (617) 692-4500.
Circle 342
Board connects six IBM PCs

Circle 339

Modem accommodates

�Up to 56K baud

speed variations

LAN connects

255 personal computers
The Quattro International V.22 bis

� RS232C ports �Half-card unit
A communications board, the Com

modem is compatible with Bell and CCITT standards. The full-duplex device runs at 75, 110, 300, 600, 1,200 and 2,400 bps. A speed-detection fea-

� NETBIOS compatible �PC-DOS 3.1 � IM-bps transfer rate

Board-6 connects up to six IBM PCs, PC/XTs and PC/ATs using the EasyLAN network. The unit comes as a half-card with an attached daughter

ture recognizes the rate of incoming AN IBM NETBIOS-compatible board. It utilizes the PC's RS232C ports

data and accommodates it. Non-volatile LAN, K-Net implements VLSI technol- to transmit data at speeds up to 56K

memory stores eight telephone num- ogy to transfer data at IM bps. Up to baud. The device supplies switch-selec-

bers. Features include a 2,000-character 255 personal computers can be con- table addresses and interrupts. $490.

data buffer. $495. Dowty RFL Indus- nected within the network running Server Technology Inc., Suite 107, 1095

tries Inc., Powerville Road, Boonton, under PC-DOS 3.1 . Peripherals such as E. Duane, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94086,

N.J. 07005, (201) 334-3100.

rigid disks, printers and modems at- (408) 738-8377.

Circle 336 tached to one personal computer can be

Circle 343

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

127

Giltronix for multi-port expansion ...

15 Port-RS232 Port Expander

The Giltronix RS232 Port Expander enables cost-effective automated local and remote testing, data acquisition, remote diagnostic execution and remote peripheral control.
� Local or Remote Port Expansion � Optional Audible Warning Device for Remote Applications � Comprehensive Password Security Options � 8 Data Lines Controlled: 2(TD1 3(RD), 4(RTS1 5(CTS), 6(0CR~
8(0CD), 20(DTR) and 24(TC) � RS232, RS422, or RS423 Interface Capabilities

AS232 Port Expander

Diagnostic Port

Giltronix for multi-port contention �..

Peripheral Sharing Device (PSD)

The Giltronix (PSD) is the low-cost solution for numerous portcontention/device sharing applications such as printer sharing, industrial plant monitoring and data logging for multiple systems under test.
� 3, 5, 7 and 14 port models available � 8 Data Lines Controlled: 2(TD1 3(RD), 4(RTS1 5(CTS1 6(0CR1
8(0CD), 20(DTR) and 24(TC) � Asynchronous communications � No special cables or software required

I
Peripheral Sharing Device (PSD)

Hard Copy Device, CPU, or Data Logger

Giltronix for rost-e.ffecdve switching solutions��.

~ fJ

Direct Sales/Distributors world wide, call or write today tor complete information.

c:S5q!!~!!!

CIRCLE NO. 77 ON INQUIRY CARD

Headquarters 3780 Fabian Way Palo Alto, CA 94303
(415) 493-1300
Telex 345542

Information Hot-Line: 1-800-531-1300 (Outside CalHomla)

NEW PRODUCTS
SOFTWARE

Integrated program alms at IBM PC
� 16 fonts �Page composition �Word processing
Spellbinder Desktop Publisher incorporates word processing, typesetting and page composition into one 16-font package . For use with the IBM PC and compatibles, the software displays layouts on-screen as they will appear on the printed page. The program executes proportional spacing on a right-justified line and supplies varying degrees of vertical and horizontal spacing. Features include hanging indents, runarounds , multiple columns and graphics. $650. Lexisoft Inc., P.O. Box 1950, Davis , Calif. 95617, (916) 758-3630.
Circle 344
Graphics software runs under MS-DOS
�Multitasking �Screen-oriented editor � Demonstrater .
Operating under MS-DOS 2.0 or higher, pF8086/MSD software provides multiuser, multitasking capabilities. The package consists of an integrated graphics package that runs with IBM color monitors, a screen-oriented editor and a proprietary FORTH compiler and assembler. Applications are created as bootable COM files while programs issue standard DOS calls. Users can interactively execute DOS commands, exit from the software, run other DOS programs and return . The product supports the 8087 math coprocessor. $3 ,200. FORTH Inc., 111 N. Sepulveda Blvd ., Manhattan Beach , Calif. 90266, (213) 372-8493 .
Circle 345

82nd St., Overland Park, Kan. 66214, (913) 492-6002.
Circle 346
Package accesses ten 640K-byte programs
A virtual memory manager, Software Carousel enables ten 640K-byte appli-
The lean, clean protection machines.
At last-Total protection from all power problems at the best price.

cation programs such as Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony and dBASE III to be loaded concurrently. The package uses 32K bytes of RAM and runs on the IBM PC and compatibles. Resident program compatibility is offered. $49.95. SoftLogic Solutions Inc., 530 Chestnut St., Manchester, N.H. 03101, (603) 6279900.
Circle 347
The Line Tamer"' Power Conditioner's advanced ferroresonant design protects your sensitive equipment against brownouts. overvoltages. spikes. transients. and noise. And only the Z-Phase Line Tamer offers the same design to protect both line-to-line and line-to-neutral loads In three-phase applications.
You get the best of both worlds: The most reliable line isolation. voltage regulation and surge suppression In the business . . . and a surprisingly low cost. And with sizes up to 250 kVA single-phase and up to 75 kVA three-phase. there's a Line Tamer right for your computers. PBX systems. instruments and other power-sensitive equipment .
Line Tamers use little space and need no complicated wiring. Nor do you need expensive step up/step down transformers. Plus you save the high cost of a dedicated electrical line.
Contact us today for complete specifications and the Line Tomer dist ributor nearest you .
THE CLEAN POWER SOURCE
901 DuPage Avenue. Lombard. IL 60148 Phone 1 312 620-8394 � TWX 910-991-2352

Software backs up rigid disk drive
Backtrack software automatically backs up files from a rigid disk drive to a tape drive, to another rigid disk drive or to a flexible disk drive. The menudriven program works with most software packages. It is compatible with the IBM PC, /XT and /AT. The software requires 256K bytes of RAM. $179. Tallgrass Technologies Corp., 111 00 W.

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

CIRCLE NO. 78 ON INQUIRY CARD

129

Half-Full.

When you've been in the right places as long as we have, you learn that the best solutions don't always take up a lot ofroom. And that when it's done right, there's some space left over.
Take our family of"half-full half-empty"floppy disk drives. Three industry-standard formats that keep the solutions short and simple.
There's our 8-inch model for the mature supermicro and mainframe market. And a mini-series of 5.25-inch drives. One that performs as a full-height double-sided doubledensity 8-inch drive, and a dual-speed model that combines the standard 5.25- and 8-inch formats into one small package.
And while we're talking about small packages, there'sour 3.5-inch microfloppy drives that provide more than lMB of storage on a single 3.5-inch diskette. Ideal for the growing market for small and portable systems.

Robert K. Singer National Sales Manager 275 Washington St. Newton, MA 02158 (617) 964-3030
NEW ENGLAND
John J. Fahey Regional Manager Susan Rapaport Regional Manager 275 Washington St. Newton, MA 02158 (617) 964-3030
NEW YORK/MID-ATLANTIC
Stephen B. Donohue Regional Manager 1873 Route 70 , Suite 302 Cherry Hill , NJ 08003 (609) 751-0170 in N.Y.: (212) 972-0058
SOUTHEAST
Larry Pullman Regional Manager 6540 Powers Ferry Rd ., Suite 170 Atlanta , GA 30339 (404) 955-6500
MIDWEST
Robert D. Wentz Regional Manager Marianne Majerus Sales Coordinator Cahners Plaza 1350 E. Touhy Ave . P.O. Box 5080 Des Plaines, IL 60018 (312) 635-8800

CIRCLE NO. 80 ON INQUIRY CARD

REGIONAL SALES OFFICES

SOUTHWEST
Don Ward , Regional Manager 13740 Midway, Suite 515 Dallas, TX 75234 (214) 980-0318
MOUNTAIN STATES
John Huff Regional Manager 270 St. Paul St. Denver, CO 80206 (303) 388-4511
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA/ NEVADA
Len Ganz Regional Manager 18818 Teller Ave. Irvine, CA 92715 (714) 851-9422
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA/ NORTHWEST
Frank Barbagallo Northwestern Regional Sales Manager Rick Jamison Regional Manager Kathleen Maxwell Sales Coordinator Sherman Building, Suite 100 3031 Tisch Way San Jose, CA 95128 (408) 243-8838
AUSTRIA/WEST GERMANY
Elan Marketing Group Neuter g. 2 P.O. Box 84 1013 Vienna Tel : 43-222-663012

BENELUX
Elan Marketing Group BOSCHDIJK 199B 5612 HB Eindhoven The Netherlands Tel : 31 -40-455724
IS RAEL
Elan Marketing Group 13 Haifa St., P.O. Box 33439 Tel Aviv Tel: 972-3-252967 Telex: 341667
JAPAN
Kaoru Hara General Manager Dynaco International Inc. 7-2-8 Minamiaoyama Minato-ku, Tokyo 107 Tel: 011 -81 -3-409-4569 Fax: 011-81-3-499-4554
TAIWAN
Donald H. Shapiro Trade Winds , 2nd Floor 132 Hsin Yi Road, Sec. 2 Taipei Tel : 3932718 Telex: 24177 FC Trade
UNITED KINGDOM
Elan Marketing Group 5th Floor, Suite 10 Chesham House 136 Regent St. London W1R 5FA Tel: 437-6900 Telex: 267653

130

SWEDEN
Elan Marketing Group Humlegardsgatan Nr. 5 11446 Stockholm Tel: 46-8-677243
Mini-Micro Marketplace Carol Flanagan 275 Washington St. Newton , MA 02158 (617) 964-3030
Direct-Response Postcards Carol Flanagan 275 Washington St. Newton, MA 02158 (617) 964-3030
Career Opportunities Carol Flanagan Recruitment Advertising Manager 275 Washington St. Newton, MA 02158 (617) 964-3030
Cahners Magazine Division William Platt , President T.M. McDermott, Vice President Electronics/Computer Group Tom Dellamaria, VP/Production Ira Siegel, VP/Research
Promotion Staff Susan Rapaport Marketing Communications Director Mary Gregory Promotion Manager Elizabeth Phillips Marketing Assistant
Circulation Denver, CO: (303) 388-4511 Sherri Gronli Group Manager
MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

NEW PRODUCTS
SUBASSEMBLIES

Image processor accommodates IBM PC/AT
Geared towards OEMs, system integrators and VARs, the Series 151 Image Processor is a VME-based subsystem that connects to the IBM PC/AT via a proprietary interface. Three or four processing modules are available. A proprietary software package is included . $11 ,495. Imaging Technology Inc., 600 W. Cummings Park, Woburn , Mass. 01801 , (617) 938-8444.
Circle 348
Graphics board suits IBM PC
A graphics board for the IBM PC, IXT and /AT, SigmaEGA! supplies 256K bytes of on-board memory. The short-slot card allows all EGA graphics modes to be run without supplementary memory expansion modules. It interfaces with IBM Monochrome and Color Display Monitors. The device is soft-

ware-compatible with IBM, Microsoft, Lotus and Ashton-Tate packages. $595. Sigma Designs, 2023 O'Toole Ave., San Jose, Calif. 95131, (408) 943-9480.
Circle 349
Accelerator card drives IBM PC
� 80286 microprocessor �SK-byte cache �PC-DOS compatible
Powered by an S02S6 7.2-MHz microprocessor, the 286 Express is an accelerator card for the IBM PC or PC/XT. An SK-byte cache memory provides zerowait access to the most recently used data while allowing a stock personal computer to accelerate as much as 600 percent. The half-slot device is PC-DOS compatible. It operates with LAN and mainframe communications products and conforms to the Lotus-Intel-Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification (EMS). An 80287 S-MHz math floating-point coprocessor is optional. $795 . PC Technologies Inc.,

704 Airport Blvd. , P.O. Box 2090, Ann Arbor , Mich. 4Sl06, (313) 996-9690.
Circle 350
Dual-height board uses 68000 processor
�512K~byte RAM �Supplies OMA �64K-byte EPROM
The VUSC is a dual-height VMEbus module based on the 6SOOO microprocessor. It controls rigid and flexible disks , optical memories , backup devices and printers employing SCSI , ST506 or SA450 interface protocols. The board supplies OMA and employs 512K bytes of dual-ported RAM and 64K bytes of EPROM to achieve zero-wait states. The unit can simultaneously control two ST506 drives, two SA450 flexible drives and up to eight SCSI devices. $2,190. Dual Systems Corp., 2530 San Pablo Ave ., Berkeley, Calif. 94702, (415) 5493S54.
Circle 351

Half-Emp

Add to this a full measure of quality built in by one ofJapan'smost respected high-tech manufacturers, YE Data,and you've reached a new level in floppy disk drive technology and unparalleled reliability.
The "half-full half-empty" floppy disk drives from C. Itoh Electronics. Meeting all your needs. With plenty ofroom to spare.

C.ltoh Electronics, Inc.
Headquarters:
5301 Beethoven Street
Los eles, California 90066

Eastern Region:
One University Place
Hackensack, New jersey 07601 201/488-2520

C. Itoh Electronics Family of Floppy Disk Drives

Model

Format

Capacity

YD�IS0- 1601 YD-5808-1354 6 YD-480B- 1450ll YD-3808-17!08 YD-3808- 17116 (Dtwl-Tnu>S/"N"te) YD-3808- 17148 (Dual-Spetu/J YD-6458 YD-6658

8.0" 5.l5" 5.2 5" 5.2 5" 5.2 5" 5.25" 3.5" j.5"'

t.6MB 0.5M B t.OMB t. 6MB 1.0/ 1.6MB 1.0/ t.6MB l.OM8 1.0/ t.6MB

Small Drives
From a

TheTuleVideo 905 terminal. \Nhat a difference $10 makes.

Let's face it; there are a lot of 5399 terminals being sold these days.You get a basic box, a few tacked-on bells and whistles, and.not a whole lot more.
But now there's the TeleVideo� 905. At 5409,

F12

F13

P14

TELEVJDEO 905 VS. WYSE WY-30

FEATIJRES

TELEVIDEO 905

WYSE WY-30

Individual

r.rogrammable

16

4

unction keys

Ttltand swivel standard

Yes

No

High contrast

su!>Elrdark Mat�

Yes

No

sushita screen

WordStar4 mode

Yes

No

Full-size keyboard

Yes

No

it has a feature set so powerful, your customers will think they're sitting at an expensive workstation.
For example, there's a

sleekly designed monitor case with full tilt and swivel.
A full-size keyboard with sculptured keycaps for smooth, comfortable

typing. Sixteen nonvolatile, programmable function keys. Keyswitches that have been tested to 100,000,000 strokes. Even an enhanced numeric keypad.
There's also a
buffered printer port. And, of course, compatibility with the TeleVideo 925 command set, the most popular and widely �emulated ASCII command set in the world.
The TeleVideo 905. What a difference SIO makes.
0 TeleVideo� Settle for more.

TeleVideo Systems, Inc., 1170 Morse Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3568, (408) 745-7760 AMSTERDAM: 31 .2503.35444, PARIS: 33.1 .4687.34.40, LONOON: 44 .9905.6464
0 1986 TeleVideo Systems, Inc. WYSE isa trademark ofWyse Technology. WordStar is a registered trademark ofMicroPro International Corporation.

See your TeleVideo distributor.

CALIFORNIA TELEVIDEO REGIONAL SALES OFFICES Sunnyvale [408) 745-7760 Newport Beach (714) 476-0244 D.H. MINICOM Los Angeles (213) 483-2400 DAVID JAMISON CARLYLE CORP Cu lver City [213) 410-9250 DIGITAL SOURCE, INC. San Diego (619) 569-9333
DUCOMMUN DATA SYSTEMS Cypress(714) 220-6588
EMERITUS Fresno (800) 325 -9892
KIERULFF ELECTRONICS, INC. San Jose (408) 220-6300
LEASAMETRIC Foster City (415) 574-4441 �
PREMIER SOURCE DISTRIBUTING Irvine (714) 261 -2011
RC DATA San Jose (408) 946-3800 U.S. INSTRUMENT RENTAL San Mateo (415) 572-6600 VIVITAR COMPUTER PRODUCTS Santa Monica (213) 829-3672 WESTERN MICRO SYSTEMS Mountain View (415) 964-2050 FLORIDA GENTRY ASSOCIATES Orlando(305) 859-7450 GEORGIA TELEVIDEO REGIONAL SALES OFFICE Norcross(404) 447 -1231 INFOTEC, INC. Atlanta (404) 458-1400 ILLINOIS
TELEVIDEO REGIONAL SALES OFFICE Schaumburg [312) 397 -5 400
DATA ONE Prospect Hts. (312) 520-1300 PRO COM SALES Elk Grove Village (312) 860-1123
TEK-AIDS INDUSTRIES Arlington Hts. [312) 870-7400
UNITED STATIONERS Forest Park [312) 699-5000 INDIANA NASH & ASSOCIATES Indianapolis (317) 92 5-1050 MARYLAND FEDERAL DATA CORPORATION Rockville (301) 294-9682 .MASSACHUSETTS TELEVIDEO REGIONAL SALES OFFICE Woburn [617) 890-3282
ARROW ELECTRONICS Woburn (617) 938-8700 BUTLER ASSOCIATES, INC. Newton [617) 964 -5270 STRATUS COMPUTER Marlboro (617) 460-2000 MICHIGAN MIDCOM COMMUNICATIONS Southfield [313) 353-5696 STAR-TRON IC Farmington Hills [313) 477-7586 MINNESOTA AVNET COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES Eden Prairie (612) 944-1114

BENCHMARK COMPUTER SYSTEMS Minneapolis (612) 83I�2300 PC EXPRESS Burnsville(612) 894-9153 NEW JERSEY DATA STORE Cheny Hill [609) 779-0200 NEW YORK TELEVIDEO REGIONAL SALES OFFICE Syosset (516) 496-4777 ARROW ELECTRONICS Melville (800) 323-4373 MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT COMPANY Hauppauge(516) 435-1199 TRANSACTION CONCEPTS. INC. Forest Hills (7 I8) 544-8898 TRICOM GROUP W Hempstead [516) 483-9700 NORTH CAROLINA PEN-TECH SALES Greensboro (919) 852-6000 OHIO COMPUTER PLACE Brooklyn Heights (216) 351-7444 E.Q .S. SYSTEMS Chesterland (216) 729-2222 REYNOLDS & REYNOLDS Dayton (5 I3) 443-2264 WC. KOEPF & ASSOCIATES Chargin Falls (216) 247-5I29 OREGON OMEGA DATA. INC. Hillsboro (503) 640-3995 PENNSYLVANIA ARCH ASSOCIATES Fernwood (215) 284-0327 TEXAS TELEVIDEO REGIONAL SALES OFFICE Irving [214) 550-1060 CARTERFONE COMMUNICATIONS Dallas(2I4) 630-9700 INTERPRINT. INC. Austin [800) 637-0600 INTERPRINT, INC. Houston (7 I3) 465-0580 INTERPRINT, INC. Piano(800) 527-51 I3 MICRO SOURCE OF TEXAS Richardson (214) 690-5 I I I US DATA CORPORATION Richardson (214) 680-9700 WASHINGTON DATEC,INC. Seattle (206) 575� I 470 DYNAMIC SYSTEMS NORTHWEST Mukilteo(206) 745-531 I VIRGINIA MARVA DATA SERVICES Falls Church [703) 893-1544 CANADA ARROW ELECTRONICS CANADA LIMITED Montreal. Quebec (5I4)735-5511 COMPUTER DISTRIBUTION, INC. N. Vancouver. BC (604) 984-0641 DATAMEX. LIMITED Montreal. Quebec (5 I4) 355-4923
0 TeleVideo� Settle for more.

CIRCLE NO. 81 ON INQUIRY CARD
MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

NEW PRODUCTS
SUBASSEMBLIES
Video processor generates 64 colors
The VP 210 processes graphics in 64 colors from a computer screen. It transfers the display to almost any color printer or plotter. The video processor accepts RGB input directly from the terminal or personal computer. Data is stored in a IM- or 2M-byte buffer. Resolution is 1,280 by 1,024 pixels. The unit acquires the graphics page from a screen in two to eight seconds. $2,995, IM byte; 3,495, 2M bytes. Graftel Inc., 400 Executive Blvd., Executive Park, Elmsford, N.Y. 10523, (914) 592-3700.
Circle 352
Multifunction board stores 4M bytes of RAM
A multifunction board for the IBM PC/AT, Supermax/EMS has 4M bytes of memory, supporting expanded and extended memory. A parallel port and two serial ports are standard. The unit is compatible with Intel, Lotus and Microsoft software. $2,595. IDEAssociates, 35 Dunham Road, Billerica, Mass. 01821, (617) 663-6878.
Circle 353
Board achieves 16-bit resolution
A data-acquisition board for the IBM PC/AT, the DT2827 achieves 16-bit resolution and 100-kHz throughput. The unit provides four channels of differential analog output, two 12-bit DIAs and 16 lines of digital 1/0. It supports interrupts and DMA transfers. Features include a channel RAM list and a programmable clock. $2,495. Data Translation Inc., 100 Locke Drive, Marlboro, Mass. 01752, (617) 4813700.
Circle 354
Board supplies 2M &ytes of RAM
The LBX 5 l 2K-2M dual-port memory board supplies up to 2M bytes of dynamic RAM. It runs zero-wait-states in asynchronous mode. Parity checking is standard. The device has a read-data access time of 145 nsec. $890. Central Data Corp., 1602 Newton Drive, Champaign, Ill. 61821-1098, (217) 359-8010
Circle 355
133

Storage Technology's
New2925
� Tape Accelerator. It goes with unsurpassed speed. It comes with unsurpassed features.

StorageTek's Model 2925 gives you

the speed you need, and the fea-

tures your customers demand. The

2925's Accelerator
TAKE THE (Cache) feature

PERFORMANii�E E

tJ

dynamically adapts to system

DRIVE requirements and � the host's capability

... at transfer rates ranging from

100 kilobytes per second up to 1. 25

megabytes per

second. The 2925

goes with speed

indeed; but what

it comes with

is even more

remarkable.

Error correction codes are built into the

cache's 256k of multi-record memory; so

your data is checked both as it enters

cache and as it is written onto tape. Data

can be retrieved directly from cache-

should defective media be encountered.

-��� 'fl flbp111111
..............,..

The 2925 allows OEM systems integrators to attach ANSI-compatible 1600 / 6250 bpi capability to systems ranging from micros to minis ... without software modification. For ease of inte-

gration, the 2925 is available with either

StorageTek- or Pertee-compatible interfaces.

That's still only the beginning-be sure to read the accompanying

list of features. You'll understand at a glance that 2925 performance

is not only speed... but reliability, flexibility and ease of operation.

StorageTek's experience with GCR 6250 bpi technology includes

a full 11 years of pioneering, proving and perfecting. Our 2920

Series includes the 2921 (50 ips start/stop), the 2922 (50 ips

start/stop with 100 ips streaming)in addition to the 2925 subsystem.

Take a drive in our 2920 Series... and experience performance you'll be proud to call your own.

Storage Technology. It's More Than Our Name ... It's Our Commitment.

OEM MARKETING /3 N. Lou1sv1lle, Colorado 80028-0001 USA (303) 673-4066

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

CIRCLE NO. 74 ON INQUIRY CARD

134

SOFT\NARE REVIE\N

SQL*CALC: CUSTOMER PLEASER FOR SYSTEM INTEGRATORS

Edward Teja Contributing Editor
System integrators usually run into problems when they specify powerful software tools for end users. The more powerful and flexible the tools , the more hand holding is required before the user is satisfied . Regardless of who makes the software tools , it 's the systein integrator who must make the complete package work the way the end user wants it to .
SOL*CALC, a software package from Oracle Corp. , simplifies procedures for application packages that perform analysis , forecasting or data manipulation . And , if that sounds nice , consider that most users already know how to use the bulk of the package's features.
This user-interface sleight of hand is slower than the eye. There are no tricks. Relying on there being a large number of users who have invested time in learning spreadsheets, Oracle has teamed Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 compatible spreadsheet with its own relational database management system , ORACLE . The communication language , as yQu 've probably guessed, is the structured query language (SOL) used by IBM Corp. in its mainframe products .
The strategy , therefore , provides a familiar base for users who come from microcomputers (and know Lotus 1-2-3) as well as for users who migrate from the mainframe world where SOL is a standard. These are two large groups of fairly typical users. Certainly, the overlapping group-users who know both-is growing. And , just in case this isn't enough , SOL*CALC comes with a disk-based four-lesson tutorial so basic as to bore most sophisticated users .
Maintains database power
Of course Oracle is not the first company to attempt the integration of database and spreadsheet. But few have achieved it. SOL*CALC provides automatic data sharing between the two. It is not the forced sharing that comes from being able to access the database through the spreadsheet . The shortcoming in this access method , besides the fact that it requires extra steps, is that the user must understand both spreadsheets and database managers.
In SOL*CALC , the database data is the spreadsheet data .IAnd the user won't have to think in database terms .
Despite this spreadsheet interface , Oracle's ORACLE is

by itself a powerful relational database. It has stood as a

commercial product in its own right and any application that

relies on ORACLE alone can continue to do so.

SOL*CALC doesn't interfere . This is important if the

product is going to measure up to real-world needs. The

easiest way to simplify the use of a database , after all , is to

simplify the database manager-and therefore the useful-

ness of the product . The database that SQL*CALC uses is

exactly the same product that Oracle sells separately. If you

already own the database product , you don't have to buy

that portion of the package. That produces warm feelings in

this reviewer.

The importance of this lies in the fact that you might want

to create an accounting system , or a materials requirements

planning (MRP) system , or a diagnostic system-or some-

thing that hasn 't been done before-and still give your

customer a way to selectively review , modify and project

the data that the application program collects. By using

ORACLE as the database , you install SQL*CALC as the

user's window into the data with no modification to the

application program.

And if you are concerned with multiple-user systems, or

multiple systems sharing data, have no fear. With a net-

working package to be available from the manufacturer

later this year , a single cell on a spreadsheet can effectively

operate as a database query on a system located anywhere

in the world . But , given the simple operation of

SOL*CALC, you don't even have to depend on Oracle to

provide the network.

This package demonstrates that it pays (the vendor) to

know when to be different and when to be bland. SOL*CALC currently runs on the IBM PC/XT or IAT

and requires 512K bytes of RAM and 2M bytes of rigid disk

memory . Development continues aimed at producing a

package for UNIX systems. A package providing both

SOL*CALC and the ORACLE database costs $995. If you

already have ORACLE , the package costs $395 .

Oracle Corp. , 10 Davis Drive, Belmont, Calif. , 94025 ,

(415) 598-8000 or (800) 345-DBMS .

Circle 358

Interest Quotient (Ci rcle One) High 493 Medium 494 Low 495

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

135

As an OEM you're looking for a product that is really attractive. Not only in appearance, but more so in terms of technology, price and performance. In brief, a peripheral that guarantees integration and function, while also adding to the value of your own system.
Finding the right peripheral is difficult enough. Finding the right supplier is even more difficult Though equally important When evaluating a Facit Peripheral you should also look closely at the company behind the product. At our organization, production capacity and quality control. Plus, the support and service we can offer you. And, not least, evaluate whether our technical expertise and vision matches your business concept Then, our joint business-to-business operations can really take shape. We impose the most stringent demands on ourselves to earn and keep your confidence. In the long run, too. Our frank approach is aimed at establishing lasting relationships. And as part of this approach our open-door R&D policy offers you the possibility of influencing the development of tomorrow's products. Nice words! But they are not shallow promises. Our printers, plotters and video terminals already carry many Datamation 100 trademarks.
We would be proud to carry your colors, too.
l=~CIT
Your original peripheral equipment supplier
Head Office: Facit AB, S-172 91 Sundbyberg. Sweden. Phone: (8)7643000. USA: Facit Inc. P.O. Box 334, Merrimack. NH 03054. Phone:(603)424-BOOO.
CIRCLE NO. 252 ON INQUIRY CARD

For 16 years, the "OEM Only" ICCs have brought OEM manufacturers to where the volume buyers live and work. And only the ICCs cover 17 major OEM territories throughout the U.S. and Europe- time and cost efficiently.
In one day, regional design engineers/system integrators can attend a full day of high-tech seminars and meet with major OEM suppliers of mini/micro computers, disk/ tape drives, printers, terminals, controllers, etc. And the ICCs unique business hospitality format , unlike big national shows , make it easy for manufacturers to meet their invited guests one-on-one. So don't miss out! If you are a computer and peripheral OEM manufacturer, call us today to reserve space. If you are a volume buyer, call your local OEM supplier, or our offices, for an ICC invitation.
In the U.S. , contact B.J. Johnson & Associates, Inc. , 3151 Airway Avenue #C-2, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, Phone (714) 957-0171, Telex 5101002189 BJ JOHN.
In Europe , contact C. J. Nicholl & Associates, Ltd., 37 Brompton Road, London SW3 IDE, England, Phone 01-581 2326/ 9, Telex 888068 CJNAD G.

1986/87 U.S. SERIES: Newton, MA-9/4/86 Dallas, TX-9/16/86 Minneapolis, MN-9/30/86 Gaithersburg, MD-10/16/86 Westlake Village, CA-10/28/86

Irvine, CA-1/8/87 Ft. Lauderdale, FL-1/29/87 Raleigh, NC-2/19/87 Austin, TX-3/3/87 San Jose, CA- 3/17/87 Nashua, NH-4/2/87

1986/87 EUROPE SERIES: Munich,W. Germany-9/10/86 Stockholm, Sweden-9/16/86 London, England-9/22/86

CIRCLE NO. 84 ON INQUIRY CARD

Frankfurt, W. Germany-1/22/87 Paris, France-1/27/87 Milano, ltaly-2/3/87

ADVERTISERS' INDEX

INQUIRY

COMPANY

PAGE NO.

NO.

Allen Bradley ...................... 112

60

AMF Logic Sciences . ..... . .......... 68

40

Analog & Digital Peripherals ... . ...... 142

213

AT&T Information Systems ............. 93

52

Bluebird Systems .......... . . . .... 40-41

23

Boston Business Computing Ltd.... .. . 014

67

Caere Corp........................ 126

75

Charles River Data Systems ........... 37

21

C. ltoh Electronics ........ ... .. . 130, 131

80

Colorgraphic Communications ... ..... 142

207

Communications Research Group .. . .. 141

206

Concurrent Computer ... .. . .. ...... ... 8

6

Control Data Corp./OEM ...... . ..... 60-61

36

Convergent Technologies .... . ...... 50-51

31

Decisionware .... ... ............ .. . 142

210

Digital Equipment Corp. .... .. .. 55, 113-118

Ducommun ........................ 24

15

Emulex Corp.. ... ... ................. 7

5

Equinox Systems ................. ... 19

12

Exide Electronics .. .... .... .......... 48

30

ExpoConsul International ............ 016

71

Facit ... . ... . .... ... .. . ........ 136-137

252

Falco Data Products .. ............... 87

49

Fortune Systems .. . ........ . ........ 33

19

Fox Research .. ... . .. .... ........ 45, 47 27, 28

Fujitsu America Inc. Storage Division .. 72-73

42

Galaxy Graphics .. .. . ........ ....... 74

251

Genstar REI Sales ..... ......... . .. . 142

211

Giltronix .... .... .............. .... 128

77

Grafpoint . ... .............. ... . ... . 32

18

Hayes Microcomputer Products ........ 96

54

Heurikon Corp. . .. ... ...... . ........ 43

25

Hewlett-Packard Co./ISG . . ... ..... 42, 121 24, 72

Houston Instrument

Div. of Bausch & Lomb .. . .. ...... 65, 67 38, 39

Ibex Computers Corp. ............... 126

76

IBM/Information Systems ...... .. . .. 76-77

44

IBM/NOD ......................... 125

82

ICC .. . . .......................... 138

84

ID Systems . . ... .............. . ... 013

66

lllbruck/USA ............. ........ . ... 6

3

lntecolor Corp.,

an Intelligent Systems Co.. .......... 79

45

Intel Corp.......... .............. 98-99

55

Interface Group ... .................. 80

46

lnterphase Corp. . . . . ................ 56

34

Irwin Magnetics ........ .. . . .. . .... .. 52

32

ITT Information Systems .. .. ... . . . . ... 59

35

Karl Leister ...... .................. 120

253

KMW Systems Corp. . ... .. ........... 88

50

INQUIRY

COMPANY

PAGE NO.

NO.

Liberty Electronics USA .... .. . . . ... . . 110

59

Logicraft . .. . ......... . .... . .. ..... 06

64

Mannesmann Tally ... ..... ... ... .. 14-15

10

Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd . ...... ... 20

13

Maxtor Corp. . ...... ..... ... ........ 62

37

Mercury Computer Systems ... . . .... . . 05

63

Microbar Systems ..... ...... . ...... 100

56

Microware, Inc.. . ......... .......... 142

214

Microware Systems Corp....... ... . ... 25

16

Multi-Tech .. ........ . .... ..... ..... . 38

22

NEC Peripherals .......... ...... 26, 100 17, 56

Newbury Data . . ............ . . .. ... 109

58

Northwest Digital Systems ...... . . .... 01

61

Okidata Corp....... . . ... . . .. ..... .. . 16

11

Omega ...... ......... ..... .. . .... 141 202-205

Peripheral Technologies . ............ 142

208

Princeton Graphic Systems ............ 71

41

Pyramid Technology ... ..... ..... .. 34-35

20

Quality Micro Systems .... . . ..... .. .. 103

83

RDS-Relational Database Systems ... Cov. 2

1

Ryan McFarland ...... . ..... ... .... . 46

29

Santa Cruz Operations . ........ . ..... 11

8

Seagate Technology .. .. ... . . . . .... 94-95

53

Sequent Computer Systems ... .... . . 08-9

65

Shape Magnetronics Inc.............. 129

78

Softronics .. .... ....... .. ... . .. .... 142

212

Software Link ............ . ....... Cov. 3

85

Source EDP ........... . ... .. ...... 140

Storage Technology .. .. ... ..... .. . .. 134

74

Strategic Information ....... .. ..... ... 02

62

Systech .... ............... .. . . .... 12

9

Technology Forums .................. 10

7

Televideo/Computer Div............. 90-91

51

TeleVideo/Terminals ..... ... .... .. 132-133

81

Texas Instruments .... ... ... . .... .... 2-3

Texas Instruments lnc./Speech Div.... .. 104

Toshiba ..... .. ..... ........... 106-107

57

TRW lnc./Customer Service Div......... 44

26

Universal Data Systems Inc. .... . ... Cov. 4

86

Verbex ... . .......... .. . .' ... .. .. . . . 23

14

Versatec Inc. (a Xerox Co.) ..... .. ... 82-83

47

Viking Acoustical . .................... 6

4

Wave Mate .. .. ... . ......... .. . .... 142

209

White Pine Software .... . ........... 015

70

Wyse Technology ............... 122-123

73

See P. 140 for Career Opportunity Advertisers See P. 141-142 for Mini-Micro Marketplace

This index is provided as an additional service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions .

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

139

New, free Survey shows how salaries dramatically change according to your geographic location
1986 Local Metropolitan computer Salary Survey

s xty-thrle position egories ranging from
Programmer to Computing Systems Director in fifty-six different metropolitan areas across the U.S. and Canada.
So whether you are interested in learning what your peers are making all across North America-or you want to get an idea of what you can expect to earn as you move up through the ranks of the profession -our new Survey will give you the most timely, accurate and thorough information available to computer professionals. Simply call the Source Edp office nearest you, and we will mail acopy to you in complete confidence.

__source '/-".e..c/1p�

Call the office

District of Columbia

Springfield . . .. . 4131739-4083 Syosset, LI. ........ 516/364-0900 El Paso �.......�.... 9151532-6316

Washington D.C. . 202/293-9255 Wellesley ... . . . 617/237-3120 Syracuse .. .. . .. . . . 315/422-2411 Fort Worth .......... 817/338-9300

Florida

Michigan

White Plains . . .... . . 914/694-4400 Houston

nearest you. To receive your free copy call
the Source Edp office nearest you listed below.
lllllt8d Statn:

....... :~ Birmingham .

. 205/322-8745

Arlau

Phoenix

. 602/279-1010

Tucson ..

. 602/792-0375

Clllfonlla

Northern

Mountain View . . 415/969-4910

Sacramento .

. 916/446-3470

...._ San Francisco

415/434-2410

Walnut Creek ....... 415/945-1910

Southern

Fullerton

. 714/738-1313

Irvine ....

. 714/833-1730

Los Angeles

Downtown

213/688-0041

South Bay

.. 213/540-7500

West .... .

. . 213/203-8111

San Diego .... . . .. 619/573-0100

San Fernando Vly ... 818/781-4800

Celerlllll

Colorado Springs . . 303/632-1717

Denver . . . . . .

. 303/298-8268

Englewood . . .

. 303/773-3700

.___. c-tlCllt

Fort Lauderdale . . . .. 305/491-0145

Jacksonville .

. 904/356-1820

Melbourne

. 3051725-3095

N. Miami Beach

305/940-1014

Orlando

...... 305/282-9455

Tampa . . ....... 813/251-3215

Getlllla

Atlanta/Downtown . . . 404/588-9350

Atlanta/North . . . 404/953-0200

Atlanta/Perimtr.-400 .. 404/255-2045

HllHls

Chicago/E. Loop . . . . 3121861-0770

Chicago/W. Loop . . . 3121346-1280

Oak Brook . . .... 3121986-0422

Peoria . . . . . . . . .... 309/673-0274

Rolling Meadows .. . .. 3121392-0244

Fort Wayne ......... 219/432-7333

Indianapolis

. 317/631-2900

Iowa

Des Moines

... 515/243-0191

Ka111s

Overland Park ..... . 913/888-8885

Topeka . . . ..... 913/232-6722

Wichita �. .

. 316/688-1621

llelltucky

Louisville . .

... 5021581-9900

Louisiana

Baton Rouge

. 504/924-7183

New Orleans . . ..... 504/561-6000

Shreveport . . . . . . 318/222-6188

MarylHd

Detroit

.. 313/259-7607

Grand Rapids . . . 616/459-6539

Lansing . .

. . 517/484-4561

Southfield .......... 313/352-6520

Troy .. .. . .. .. .. . .. 313/362-0070

MIHISGta

Bloomington . . . . . .. 6121835-5100

Minneapolis . . . . . . 6121332-6460

St. Paul

... . 6121227-6100

Mlsslssl ..... Jackson ...

. . 601/354-7900

Missouri

Kansas City .

. . 816/474-3393

Clayton . . . . . . ..... 314/862-3800

St. Louis

.. 314/576-4444

Nebraska Omaha ..

. . 402/346-0709

llew llMpshlre Nashua .....

. 603/888-7650

New Jersey

Atlantic City . . ...... 609/345-2444

Cherry Hill . . . ...... 609/488-5400

Clifton

...... 2011473-5400

Edison ............. 201/494-2800

Morristown ...�..... 201/267-3222

Paramus .....� .. ... 201/845-3900

Princeton . . . . . . . . 609/452-7277

Somerset . . . . . . . . 201/469-9444

llew M11lcD Albuquerque ........ 505/247-4270

11111111 Carellna

Charlotte ........... 704/552-6577

Greensboro ..... . .. . 919/379-1155

Raleigh .... .. ...... 919/847-7605

Winston-Salem . . .... 919/724-0630

Olllo Akron ............. 216/535-1150

Cincinnati .....�.... . 513/769-5080

Cleveland .....�..... 216/771-2070

Columbus . .. . . ..... 614/224-0660 Dayton ............. 513/461-4660

Toledo . . . . . ... . . 419/242-2601

OldalHlnla

Oklahoma City ....... 405/722-7410

Tulsa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918/599-7700 Oregon

Portland

..... 503/223-6160

Penuyl�lllla Allentown . . . . .... . . 215/776-0524 Harrisburg . . . ...... 717/761-8790

King of Prussia

215/265-7250

Philadelphia

. 215/665-1717

Pittsburgh . .

4121261-6540

Reading .

. 215/374-4230

Scranton

717/655-6464

RllDde lslllld Providence . . . . . ... 401/751-0065

SHtll CarDUna Columbia Greenville ....

803/256-7 446 803/271-7044

Downtown . . . . . . .. 7131751-0100 Galleria/Post Oak .... 713/439-0550 San Antonio . . . . . ... 512/342-9898
Utall Salt Lake City . . . . . 8011966-3900

...

... 703/790-5610

Wlslllllgten Seattle .... Spokane ..

206/454-6400 509/838-7877

Wlsconill Green Bay . . . . . 414/432-1 184 Madison . . . . .... 608/251-0104 Milwaukee . . ..... 414/277-0345

Canada:

Albefla Calgary ....... . . . . 403/279-1940 Edmonton ..... . . .. 403/459-1153

British Columbia Vancouver ..... .. 604/222-1155

Malltoba Winnipeg ... ..

. 204/942-1151

Ontario Mississauga Toronto Willowdale ..

.. 416/848-3344 .. 416/591-1110
416/495-1551

Danbury . . ......... 2031797-0590 Baltimore

.... . 3011727-4050 llew YDrk

Chattanooga

.. 615/265-8890

Hartford .

203/522-6590 Beltsville

.. 301/595-4884 Albany . . . . . . . . .... 518/482-2035 Memphis

.. 9011525-0743

New Haven

... 203/787-4595 Columbia

.. 3011730-6833 Buffalo . . . . . . ... 716/855-0400 Nashville

.. 615/256-0625

Stamford . Stratford

. ... 203/967-4888 .... 203/375-7240

Rockville ........... 301/258-8800 Towson .......... 3011321-7044

New York City Grand Central ....... 2121557-8611

Texas Austin

.......... . . 5121479-0720

!~=~'t~r.�~=:~~f~~:,ote<I

Waterbury . Delaware

203/574-5633 Massachusetts

Penn Station . .. . 2121736-7445 Dallas

Boston

.. 617/482-7613 Wall Street . . .. . . 2121962-8000 Central .

P.O.BoK7100, Client companies assume our charges.
.. 214/954-1100 ::;~~d~:.~f=43,

Wilmington

.. 302/652-0933 Burlington . . . .... . 617/273-5160 Rochester . . . ...... 716/263-2670 North

.. 214/387-1600 (When wri~ng , please lnciude your tit~ .)

MINI-MICRO MARKETPLACE
A special section for advertisers of hardware, software and services.
READERS: Please circle reader service numbers on Reader Inquiry Card for additonal information .

YOUR AD
W1 MINI-MICRO
MARKETPLACE
MEANS
MORE
SALES
tor more lntormatlon call your regional sales manager
OR CAROL FLANAGAN
AT (617) 964-3030
CIRCLE NO. 201 ON INQUIRY CARD

NEW! OMEGA 1986 PRESSURE MEASUREMENT HANDBOOK & ENCYCLOPEDIA
featurii:ig complete pressure measurement systems. Everything needed to measure, display, and control pressure is available under a single cover featuring transducers, strain gauges, accessories, recorders, digital readout meters, computer interfaces and more! All products are displayed in full-color complete with prices and specifications . This 264-page compendium is FREE! Write OMEGA ENGINEERING, INC. , Box 4047, Stamford, CT 06907 or call 203/359-7874.
CIRCLE NO. 202 ON INQUIRY CARD

1986 TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT HANDBOOK AND ENCYCLOPEDIA
OMEGA presents the industry with a new product and reference source! Over 750 full-color pages of top quality products for sensing and control. This complete source , the standard for temperature measurement and control lists all prices and specifications for every product. New this year is a full section devoted completely to relative humidity measurement. Send for your FREE! copy now. Write OMEGA ENGINEERING, INC., Box 4047, Stamford, CT 06907 or call 203/359-7874.

_ _WANG

IBM

_Da��<.enml~---~~l~ID~D

_.)AT&T~jJ +r---l"J ~:.�.�:;~

_ l'Hl.\IE
~:/' -

. _ _ _ _ _MS� DOS
- ~-CP/M_

- tl<1PPI<!

UNIX_

PC-MINI-MAINFRAME

COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE

ANY COMPUTER WITH BLAST CAN TALK TO ANY OTHER COMPUTER WITH BLAST, the unrversal hie transler ul111!y linking many d1Heren1 computers . operating sys!ems and networks, via AS 232 serial pons
NO ADO-ON BOARDS TO BUY ! BLAST soltwa 1e uses any asynchronous modems or direct connect !or fast error-tree da la trans1er through noisy hnes and PBXs. across LANs
and over satell1les or packet sw11ched networks
THE PERFECT LOW-COST LINK FOR PC' s, MINIS, MAINFRAMES Transler binary or te�t hies, or executable commands Use BLA ST slandalone. or build 11 1nlo your appl1ca11on

$250 / Mtcros $495-89S I M1rns $2495 up Ma1n!fames COMMUN/CATIONS RESEARCH GROUP
(B00)-24-BLAST

CIRCLE NO. 206 ON INQUIRY CARD

NEW! 1986 pH & CONDUCTIVITY MEASUREMENT HANDBOOK & ENCYCLOPEDIA containing over 100 full-color pages features a complete selection of products for the laboratory, field use and process control. Included is a technical reference section , field service products, laboratory instrumentation, electrodes and accessories, industrial control systems, auxilliary equipment , data acquisition and humidity measurement equipment. For a FREE! copy of your handbook , write OMEGA ENGINEERING, INC., One Omega Drive, Box 4047, Stamford , CT 06907 or call 203/359-7874.
CIRCLE NO. 204 ON INQUIRY CARD

NEW! OMEGA 1986 FLOW MEASUREMENT HANDBOOK & ENCYCLOPEDIA
features a complete line of STATE-OF-THE-ART flow transducers, meters, controllers, recorders, and other accessories. For the first time, COMPLETE FLOW SYSTEMS will be emphasized and not just components . Also, computer interfacing will be made easy through diagrams and discussions. Over 226 full-color pages! Send for your FREE! copy today. Write OMEGA ENGINEERING, INC., Box 4047, Stamford, CT 06907 or call 203/359-7874.
CIRCLE NO. 205 ON INQUIRY CARD

MINI-MICRO SYSTEMS/July 1986

To advertise in the Marketplace, call Carol Flanagan 617-964-3030.

141

COLORGRAPHIC
640 x 480 Bit Map 13" Terminals
Standard Features include: � 4 Pages of 1024 x 512 x 4 � Extensive built-in Graphic Primitives � 48 Lines of Text � BK of Macro Memory User Primitives � ISC 8001G�and 8810�emulators
available � 32 KHZ non-interlace monitor

COLORGRAPHIC 5388 New Peachtree Road

COMMUNICATIONS

Atlanta, GA 30341

CORPORATION

4041455-3921

CIRCLE NO. 207 ON INQUIRY CARD

6809 SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER
The PT-69, a powerful computer system on a single board, performs equal to larger and more expensive systems. It features : � OS/9 Operating System (Optional) � 2 8-Bit Parallel Ports � 2 RS-232 Ports � Time-of-day Clock � 56K RAM ; 4K EPROM �Controls up to 4 DS/DD 51/� " Drives
OEM PRICE: $185

FLOPPY/HARD DISK SYSTEMS AVAILABLE
PERIPHERAL TECHNOLOGY 1480 Terrell Mill Rd ., Suite 870 Marietta, GA 30067 404/984-0742
� OEM Oly is 100 0Sf9 1s a trademark ot M1croware and Moto101a
CIRCLE NO. 208 ON INQUIRY CARD

10 Mhz 80286 IBM PC/XT MOTHERBOARD

� 11.5 Times Faster Than PC ; Twice as fast as

theAT

� 1MB Ram On-Board Zero Wait States

� Optional 80287 Math Co-Processor

� PC/XT Hardware & Software Compatible

� Supports PC-DOS , Unix, Pick, CP/M-86 , SMC

OS

= WAVE MATE, Inc.

14009 S. Crenshaw Blvd ., Hawthorne, CA 90250

(213) 978-8600 TLX 194369

In Europe : Brussels 649-1070 TLX 61828

CIRCLE NO. 209 ON INQUIRY CARD

RIGHlWRITER�VERSION 2.0
THE Intelligent Grammar & Style Checker

� Automatically finds errors in grammar, style, usage and punctuation.
� Works with WordStar�. MultiMate�, and twenty other leading word processors.
� A knowledge base of over 2200 rules.

� Calculates the o v e r a l l . reading grade level.

� Comprehensive user manual included.

' �

�

I I_

DecisionWare, Inc.
2033 Wood Street � Suite 218 Sarasota. Florida 33577 � Phone (813) 952�921 I

LIKE-NEW
INSTRUMENTS
FOR SALE!
Thousands of bargain-priced electronic instruments - with warranties available now. Analyzers, PROM programmers, oscilloscopes, printers, recorders, terminals ... much more. Call for free catalog: Eastern Time Zone (including Miss, Tenn, Ala) (800) 225-1008, in Mass (800) 643-1011 . All other locations (800) 227-8409 , in Cal (800) 331 -3440.
Genstar REI Sales Company

So~erm PC emulates over 30 popular terminals including the: �DEC VT102, VT220 �Data General D200, D410 �IBM 3101 -20 (block mode) �Hewlett-Packard 2622A �Honeywell VIP7801 , VIP7803 Guaranteed Compatibility Call for free product brief $195 MC-VISA-COD For the IBM PC/XT/AT, DG1 , NEC. Wang PC , Tl Pro, Gridcase, Tandy
SBFTIONICS
7899 Lexington Dr., Ste 210 Colorado Springs , CO 80918
(303) 593-9540

CIRCLE NO. 210 ON INQUIRY CARD
1----
IBM PC COMPATIBLE RS232 EASl-DISK
5'1�" FLOPPY DATA STORAGE 8.
TRANSFER SYSTEM

CIRCLE NO. 211 ON INQUIRY CARD
ENCLOSURE PRODUCTS

CIRCLE NO. 212 ON INQUIRY CARD
Promote New Literature

� Reads & Writes IBM PC DOS 5y," Disk s � RS-232C 1/ 0 � Rugged Porta ble Package � Host and/ or Manual Controls � ASCII or Full Binary Operation � Baud Rates 110 to 19.2 K Baud � Aut omatic Data Verification � Price $1 ,095 i n Singles - OEM Qtys . Less

28 other syslems with storage from 100K to 35 megabytes
ANALOG & DIGITAL PERIPHERALS INC

n< h~Il)

4~

;

'

815 Diana Drive
Troy. Ohi o 45373 513/ 339 -2241 TWX 810/ 450-2685

Branct' 011 Oklat10 ma Cit y OK � Fac tory Yucca Val ley CA

CIRCLE NO. 213 ON INQUIRY CARD

� Tape and Hard Disk Drives . Enclosures for all Major Micros.
� Single Board Computer Packages � Custom Design Available � Class 'B' Certification Support
Can Be Provided � Call For Pricing and Catalog
(Mcroware Inc. )
41711 Joy Road � Canton, Ml 48187 313) 459-3557
CIRCLE NO. 214 ON INQUIRY CARD

ata LOW
COST
if you've got catalogs or literature,
distribute them at a low cost in the MINI-MICRO MARKETPLACE.
Call Carol Flanagan
(617) 964-3030
CIRCLE NO. 215 ON INQUIRY CARD

----

Single-board . simplicity for remote micro-to-mainframe communications

A Sync-Up modem card - that's all you need to link your remote PC, XT, AT or compatible to your synchronous mainframe. And you can make the connection at 4800 bps, dial-up or dedicated line, or 2400 bps dial-up. Insert the modem into any expansion slot, plug in the Telco connector, install the communications software and your link is ready.
Sync-Up is simple. If your mainframe is supporting 201C or 208A/B modems, implementation is a matter of minutes, with no changes required at the mainframe end.
Sync-Up is versatile. It's avai Iable with the following UDS software options: DIAL for use with your existing emulator package; BSC for 2780/3780 or 3270 emulation; or SNA for 3270 or 3770 emulators.

It supports most other synchronous communications packages.
Sync-Up is economical. Prices start at $625, quantity one, for a 201C without software.
Sync-Up is NOW. 201s and 208A/Bs are available for immediate shipment.
For technical details and complete pricing information, contact Universal Data Systems, 5000 Bradford Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805. Telephone 205/721-8000; Telex 752602 UDS HTV.
0 Universal Data Systems
� MOTOROLA INC.
lnfonnalion SyshlmS Groc..,

LIDS modems are offered nationally by leading distributors. Call the nearest LIDS office for distributor listings in your area.
DISTRICT OFFICES: Apple Valley, MN , 612/432�2344 � Atlanta, GA, 404/998-2715 �Aurora, CO, 303/368-9000 � Blue Bell, PA, 215/643-2336 � Boston, MA, 617/875-8868 � Columbus, OH , 614/895-3025 � East Brunswick, NJ, 201/238-1515 � Glenview, IL, 312/998-8180 � Houston, TX, 713/988-5506 � Huntsville, AL, 205/721-llOOO � Issaquah, WA, 206/392�9600 � Livonia, Ml, 313/522�4750 � Mesa, AZ, 602/82(}6611 � Milwaukee, WI, 414/273-8743 �Mission Viejo, CA, 714/770-4555 �Mountain View, CA, 415/969-3323 �Richardson, TX, 214/68().()()()2 �St. Louis, MO, 314/434-4919 � Silver Spring, MD, 301/942-8558 �Tampa, FL, 813/684-0615 � Uniondale, NY, 516/222-0918 � Van Nuys, CA, 818/890-3282 �Willowdale, Ont, Can, 416/495-0008

CIRCLE NO. 86 ON INQUIRY CARD

Created by Dayner/Hall, Inc., Winter Park, Florida