File Info : application/pdf, 112 Pages, 70.64MB
Document Document One Solutlon that'·
Powerful.
Now there's one soft-
ware solution for all your
Information Center
applications. One solution 1 for efficient data man-
agement, accurate
statistics, easy
report writing, and
customized
graphics. One solution-
\\\\\\ \\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\I\ I\ 11111111111111111
the SAS® System.
You can choose between the simple English-like
One Solution that's
command language or a front-end Friendly.
menuing system. On-line help
It's easy with the SAS System.
facilities make it easy to handle You can write front-ends for all
every application, quickly and ac- your applications. And with a few
curately. You can track sales
keystrokes, you can change them
leads, determine market share,
as your information needs change.
present results. File employee
A convenient screen manager
records, analyze benefit pro-
lets you edit, display, and control
grams, manage the payroll. Take your work without ever leaving
orders, keep inventory, produce your desk. And if you need to
mass mailings. Schedule projects, move between several operating
determine product mix, make
systems, you'll find the language,
forecasts, produce spreadsheets. syntax, and commands the same
All this and more with the
for the mainframe, minicomputer,
SAS System.
and PC SAS System.
The SAS System runs on IBM 370/30.xx/43.xx and compatible machines under OS, TSO, CMS, DOSNSE, SSX, and ICCF; on Digital Equipment Corp. VAX"' 8600 and 11/7.xx series under VMS"': on Prime Comjuler, Inc. Prime 50 series under PRIMOS ; on Data General Corp. ECLIPSE® MV series under AOSNS; on IBM XT/370 and AT/370 under VM/PC; and on the IBM PC XT and PC AT under PC DOS. Not all products are available on all operating systems.
Whatever your application, the SAS System is your Fourth Generation Software Solution. Call us today.
IA/
SAS Institute Inc. SAS Circle, Box 8000 Cary, NC 27511-8000, USA Telephone (919) 467-8000, x280 Telex 802505
SAS is the registered trademark of SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. Copyright 0 1985 by SAS Institute Inc. Printed in the USA.
We've Decided To
Call Off The
Com etition Between
I M"andI
"
It no longer matters which
your organization's investment evaluation program call us today
3270 emulation will become the will be protected from obso-
(714) 863-9991, or fill out the
reigning standard.
lescence caused by the introduc- coupon below and mail it to
Because now you can have
tion of new 3270 devices or
AST Research, Inc.,
compatibility with both IBM and protocols.
2121 Alton Ave., J'I~
IRMA using AST's two new micro- Because built into the AST-3270/ Irvine, CA
l~I ®
to-mainframe communications Coaxll family are custom proces- 92714-4992.
RESEARCH INC.
solutions: AST-3270/CoaxllA'" for IBM Personal System/2'" Models
sors enabling future modification of existing soft-loadable instruc-
,-------------! Yes, I want more information on
50, 60 and 80; and AST-3270/ · tion sets, or even the development I AST-3270/CoaxII solutions.
Coaxll'" for AST Premium'"
of totally new instruction sets.
D Have an AST Representative call me.
Computer products and PC-based systems.
So, whenever new terminal I D Send me more infonnation on
devices or new protocols
I AST's trial evaluation program.
Which means you can run all existing appli-
come on the
> market, AST will
> >
offer diskette-
I D AST-3270/CoaxII I D AST-3270/CoaxIIA I Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
cation software designed to run on either IBM
,;,. based microcode
t upgrades.
It's that simple.
I Title _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ I Company _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
or IRMA hardware today. Or take And a lot less trouble.
: Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
advantage of our new family of high-function, 3270 emulation software for CUT, DFT and graphics modes.
Whichever software you choose,
Next time you need to make a micro-to-mainframe communication choice, go for a knockout and choose to have it all from AST
For information on our trial
I City
State_ Zip _ __
I Phone( __ ) _ _ _ _ _ _ __
I AST Research, Inc., 2121 Alton Ave., Data ma tion
LIr_vine_, C_A 9_271_4-49_92_. At_tn: _M.C_. _ _12_/87 _
AST markets products worldwide- in Europe and the Middle East call 4415684350; in the Far East call 852 5 717223; in Canada call 416 826 7514. AST and AST logo registered and ASTPremium, AST-3270/Coaxll and AST-3270/Coax/lA trademarks ASTResearch, Inc. IBM registered and Personal System/2 trademark
lntemational Busi11ess Macltttte CO!p. IRMA registered trademark Digital Commu11icatw11 Assoc. Copynght © 1987 AST Research l11c. All rights reserved.
NEWS
9 Look Ahead
IBM to donate supercomputers in Europe.
l 7 Wall Street Crash Aftermath
Jeff Moad examines users' IS spending plans since Black Monday and finds that most are standing firm against cutbacks.
19 Supercomputers
Amid MIT's canceled Japanese supercomputer deal and talk of U.S. government pressure on BY U not to buy Japanese, Willie Schatz finds concern that users will ultimately be the losers.
2 4 Communications
Susan Kerr reports that while IBM keeps a slow pace for bringing X.400-based electronic mail products to market, some users and vendors are moving ahead to embrace the standard.
30 Software
Robert Poe writes that the traditional iciness of Japanese users to packaged software is melting, but limits on supply moderate the speed of the thaw.
3 4 Microcomputers
Would-be rs/2 clone makers push to develop Micro Channel-based products, but the finish line may sit at the courthouse door. Robert Francis reports.
4O Benchmarks
Honeywell Bull plans to cut 1,600 jobs in 1988.
43 Behind the Hews
The road to advance computer education in U.S. schools will probably be a local one. Theresa Barry looks at programs in four cities' schools and explores how they are proceeding.
2 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBE R 15 , 1987
5 2 Customer Clout!
DATAMATION's Directory
of User Groups
Orators have Speaker's
..
Corner, villagers have their
town meetings, but where
can the managers of IS
equipment go to give voice
to their thoughts and listen
to the experiences of oth-
ers concerning program pit-
falls, hardware headaches,
and service shenanigans?
One major forum is the
user group, a single meeting
of which may provide infor-
mation that otherwise could
take months to discern on
one's own. Herein, the vital
statistics for user groups of
DATAMATION 100 firms.
70 OS/ 2: The Big Change for Small
Systems Software
BY MARY JO FOLEY
Will microcomputer users
be exclaiming "It's a won-
derful life!" this season
now that os/2, the first major new operating sys-
tem to be introduced in the
past few years, has begun
to ship? If oos diehards and
those who have already
chosen Unix are the ones
doing the caroling, it won't
be on account of os/2's arrival, since they had al-
ready voted for operating
systems that were in exis-
tence. Early os/2 users' re-
views have been generally
positive, and os /2's promise
of opening up new applications realms is inspiring
·
experimentation.
-·
Editorial
REAL TIME
MIT's Regrettable Decision
4 Letters The chairperson of the Large Systems Special Interest Group of the Digital Equipment Computer User Society writes concerning a recent article on reported user service problems; United Airlines' MIS vp says the company is sticking with Unisys; and a request for a finetuning of our salary survey
DECEMBER 15, 1987 VOlUME 33 NUMBER 24 THIS ISSUE, 185,700 COPIES
It strikes us as more than passing strange that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology succumbed to political pressure from the U.S . government in canceling a proposed deal to lease a Japanese supercomputer. The Commerce Department's disingenuous rationale, as expressed by acting secretary Bruce Smart, that such " imported products may be subject to U.S. anti-dumping duty proceedings" seems to add up to a curious definition of the national interest.
Not only do we find it disturbing that an
statistics.
institution such as MIT could be bent to the
91 Hardware
Alliant Computer Systems
government's political will, but we find the notion of "dumping," as applied in this case, dubious at best and
Corp.'s FX/ 4 lowers the entry
self-defeating at worst. First, the MIT deal with
level price of an expandable
Honeywell NEC Supercomputers Inc. would have been
,...
64-bit minisuper.
96 Software
1987 JESSE H. NEAl AWARD
on the basis of a leasing arrangement, not a sale. Technically, that means the so-called dumping law
"
The new release of Banyan' s
doesn't apply. Second, the SX 2 supercomputer that MIT
VINES network operating system
would have received is considered by U.S. academicians
provides two TCP/ IP options.
and researchers to be first-rate technology (see "MIT
,.
98 People
Dennis Yablonsky of the Car-
negie Group may not fit the
Decision on Supercomputer Is Worrying U.S. Researchers," p. 19). How does its exclusion aid MITor any other U.S. institution of higher learning that may
...
prototype of the American
ceo, but he doesn't want to.
bow to political pressure- in producing leading edge R&D and remaining competitive internationally?
~
99 Cale nda r
The Department of Commerce is evidently well
Computer Graphics '88 sails
aware of these points, particularly the legal one, which
into San Diego in January.
strongly suggests its letter to MIT was motivated to
I-
108 Advertisers' Inde x
~
108 The Marketplace
influence trade negotiations. At a time of trade disputes with Japan, in which supercomputers have become an icon in the struggle for markets, it might be granted that
Cover Illustra tion by Jose Cruz
DOC's strategy was correct. But we feel it was the wrong way to go for several reasons.
Cutting off U.S. researchers from the best
technology is a negative over the long term. DOC's move
..
Coming in the next
issue: ASPECIAL REPORT
IBM at the Crossroads. How
Big Blue has responded
to new pressures from
was tactical and short term, but strategically could be a blow at home if R&D is affected. In addition, stopping Japanese technology from corning ashore at a time when U.S. technology is flowing offshore seems to us a hightech double whammy. Witness IBM's $40 million
customers, competitors,
supercomputer donation to European colleges and
and the bottom line. Including: An analysis of IBM 's
control of information. How IBM's internal organization affects its customers.
universities (see Look Ahead, p. 9). Instead, we'd like to see a trade policy based on
sound principles, i.e., open markets and long-term strategic advantage. At the same time, we hope that any organization that in the future may be faced with a decision such as the one MIT faced will respond with greater resolve. To us, it's in the national interest.
An in-depth analysis of
IBM's new vertical
marketing moves.
What IBM' s new prod-
ucts promise and
what they deliver.
DAVID R. BROUSELL MANAGING EDITOR / NEWS & FEATURES
DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987 3
CRTRMRTICN
Editor-in-Chief Tim Mead
Letters
.,
Senior Editor Linda llunyan
Managing Editor/ News & Features David R. Brou sell Senior Writer llalph E. Carlyle Deputy News Editor Theresa Barry New Products Editor Mary Kathleen Flynn Editorial Assistant Karen J. Scher
Managing Editor/ Production &
Hit the DEC
time in the future. The article also erro-
Special Projects Parker Hodges Copy Chief Steven Korn Production Editor Hernalee Walker Copy Editors Ilene Matthews, John Quain
"Users Report Service Problems with neously stated that Unimatic was an ofDigital's High-End System" (Oct. 1, fice automation system when in fact it is p. 17) contained much information on one of the most advanced aircraft flight
Production Assistant Suzanne P. Jones
customer perspectives on VAX 8700 ser- planning, monitoring, and crew sched-
International Editor Paul Tate
vice. The article indicated that I had been uling systems in the airline industry. We
Tokyo Bureau Manager Hobert Poe
responsible for "organizing" a meeting have converted two Unisys applications
Editorial Assistant (London) Lauren Murphy Foreign Correspondents James Etheridge, Paris; Janette Martin, Milan
Bureau Managers Boston Gary Mc Williams Dallas Hobert Francis
and that my attendance was primarily as a representative from Stevens Institute. The meeting that was held in New York was a regular, monthly meeting of the N.Y. Cluster LUG (Local User Group) of
at our San Francisco center to IBM for data access considerations, but not because of any plan to move all applications off Unisys equipment.
I might point out that United also
Los Angeles Tom McCusker
DECUS (Digital Equipment Computer Us- operates 20 large IBM mainframe sys-
New York Karen Gullo San Francisco Jelf Moad, Susan Kerr Washington Willie Schatz
Art Director Hoben L. Lascaro Assistant Art Director Doreen Austria
Contributing Editor· Joseph Kelly, Fred Lamond , Laton McCartney. Hesh Wiener Advisory Board Lowell Amdahl, Philip H. Dorn,Joseph
ers Society). I attended and spoke at the meeting but did not chair the LUG or the meeting. My participation included a suggestion that Bankers Trust share its experiences so that other 8700 sites could gain from its knowledge. The list of problems and solutions contained in your arti-
tems supporting general business applications and computerized reservation services for the airline and over 8,500 travel agencies. We intend to remain a multiple vendor environment.
DON KARMAZIN
Vice President
Ferreira, Bruce W. Hasenyager, David Hebditch,John
cle was based on the experiences that
Management Information Systems
Imlay, Irene Nesbit , Angeline Pantages, Robe rt L. Patrick, Malcolm Peltu, llussell Pipe, Carl lleynolds, F.G. Withington
were reported at the meeting and was later published in the Large Systems S IG
United Airlines Chicago
Publishing Director Donald Fagan Associate Publisher William Segallis
(Special Interest Group) section of the
DECUS US. Chapter SICS Newsletters.
More Data Please
Promotion Manager Stacy Aaron
Also, my conversation with Gary I write regarding the salary survey (Oct.
Production Manager EricJorgensen Research Manager Laraine Donisi Director of Production Hobe rt Elder Director of Art Department Barrie Stern
McWilliams, author of your article, was 1, p. 78), which took on new importance from the perspective of being the chair- for me when I recently began a job
·
person of the Large Systems S IG of search. I was interested in the statistics
Circulation Manager llube n Natal
DECUS, which is responsible for issues provided on salaries and turnover rates.
related to Digital's high-end systems. In Median income was presented against a
EDITORIAL OFFICES
Headquarters: 249 W. 17 St.. New York. NY 10011, (2 12) 6450067; telex 429073. New England: 199 Wells Ave., Newton. MA 02159. (6 17 ) 964-3730; Washington, D.C.: 44 5 1 Albemarle St. NW, Washingto n. DC 200 16. (202) 966-7100; Central: 9:no LBJ Freew<iy, Sui te 1060 . D;1ll<1s. TX 75243. (2 14) 644<~683:
Western: 12233 \V. Olympic. Los Angeles. CA 90064. (213 ) 82658 18: 2680 Bavshore Frontage Rd.. Suite 401. i\lounl<1in View. CA 94043. (4 fS) 965-8222. International: 27 P;iul St., London
EC2A 4J U. England, (44-1) 628-7030, telex 91 49 11; 3-46-lO Sekinrnchi-Kita. Nerima-ku, T okyo 177. Japan, (8 1-3) 929-3239.
this role, I represent the customer base on issues of concern to installations with large VAX systems as well as DEC system products. My comments were based on experiences described to me by members of DECUS, and were not primarily based on experiences at Stevens Insti-
number of other interesting and useful measures for rather finely defined jobs. However, by not supplying standard deviation or some other range-type information, you do your audience a disservice. Data processing professionals should know enough statistics to realize
DATAMATION ( ISSN 0011-6963) Magazine is issued twice tute . As a follow-up to the meeting and that "above the median" describes half of
mo n1hl y on the 1st and 1Sth of every month by Th e Cahners Pu blishing Company, A Division of Reed Publishing USA. 275 Wash-
McWilliams' article, l have been asked to a normally distributed population. In or-
ington St. . Newton. MA 02158-1630. Willi;im M. Platt. President: T errence M. McDermotl. Executive Vice Pres ident : FrankJ. Sib-
participate in discussions with Digital der to compare a number against a sam-
ley. Group Vice President: Je rry D. Neth, Vice Presiden t / Pub-
lishing Opcr3tions; J .j. Walsh. Fi1rnn ci:1l Vice President /
M;igaz ine Division: Thomas J. Oellmna riil. Vice Pres ident/ Pro-
Field Service management with the in- ple, one should know the median, mode, tent of improving communications with standard deviation, and range of th e
duciion ;:ind Manu facturing. Editorirtl and advertising o ffi ces. 249 W. 17 St., New York. NY 100 1l. Publi shed al Woodstock, IL.
the installed base.
sample.
Annu;i\ subscription rntes: U.S. and possessions: SSS: Canada:
LESLIE MALTZ
Despite the above omission, I found
$75; Japan. Australia. New Zealand: $ 14 5 air freiglu; Europe: $ 130 air freight. $235 air m;iil. All other countries: $130 surface,
Chairperson yo ur survey quite interesting. I look for-
$235 air mail. Reduced rate for qual ified U.S. stude nts. public and schoo l libraries: $40. Single copy: $3 in U.S. Sole ;1gcnt for al l
Large Systems SIG , DECUS ward to future editions, which I hope will
subsc riptions outside U.S. and Canada is J.B. Trat san Ltd .. 154 A
Marlboro, Mass. contain more information from which to
Green ford Rd., Harrow. Middlesex HA 13QT. England. (O l ) 4228295 or 422-2456. No subscription age ncy is authorized by us tO
draw meaningful conclusions.
solicit or take orders for subscriptions. Second-class postage paid <11 Denver. CO 80206 and at addi tional mailing office. DATAMATl ON copyrigh t 1987 by Recd Publishing USA: Saul Goldweitz, Chainn:rn: Ron;ild G. Segel. President <ind Chief Executive Officer: Robert L. l< rakoff, Executive Vice President. All rights
Unisys Loyalists
"Can Unisys Move Fast Enough to Retain 1100 User Loyalty?" (Oct. 15, p. 17)
CHHI STOPHER NELSON
Stamford, Conn.
.
reserved. DATAMATION is a registered trademark of Calrners Publishing Co. Repr int s of articles are ;wailablc; contact Frank Pruzina (312) 635-8800. Microfilm copies of DATAMATION mav be obtained from University Microfilms. A Xerox Compm1y, 30() N. Zeeb Rd.. Ann Arbor, Ml 48106. Print ed b~' Graftck Press
incorrectly stated United Airlines' intentions with respect to its use of Unisys systems.
Reprints ofall DATAMATION articles, including those printed in 1986, are available in quantities of500 or more.
ItK. All inquiries and reque sts for change of address should be accompanied by mailing labe l from latest issue of magaiine. Allow two months for change to be made. POSTMA ST EI~: send address ch;mges to DATAMATION. 44 Cook St.. DPnver. CO
80206.
United Airlines ha s two Unisys 1100/84 systems located at our Maintenance Operations Division Data Center
Details may be obtained by telephoning Frank Pruzina in the Reprints Department at (312) 635-8800, or by
at San Francisco and a Unisys 1100/93 in writing to Cahners Reprint Services,
Chicago at our Unimatic Data Center. Cahners Plaza, 1350 E. Touhy Ave.,
MP
WBPA United does not have plans to replace Des Plaines, IL 60013.
these systems with IBM equipment at any
4 DATAMATION D DECEMBER 15, 1987
Tandem technology sets the new standard for large applications in on-line transaction processing.
More transactions per second at a lower cost per transaction than any system in the world.
TI-IE CIRCUITRY'S FAST.
THE DIID. EXPRESSWAY
NO GROWING PAINS.
We designed the system in our own labornto11~ In a conYentional database. I 0 1-equests must Tb acid power,just add processors.You can grow
..
right clown to our own unique VLSI chips.The be handledsequentiallr This creates queues
from a base fow'processor S)Stem to 16.From
result is more circuitry in less space. With fewer that slow response time. In the \1.X S)Stem, there tl1ere, you can expand in whatever increments you
components than our next largest S)Stem, the VLX a1-e multiple paths to multiple disks.Oata enters choose, all the way to 255 S)Stems. You never buy
delivers twice the and leal'es the database simultaneoush: No time more than you need,and you'II never have to
performance and is \l'asted. and all disk space gets used.·
rewrite a line of applications code.
three times the
1 reliability
PROCESSORS WITH IARGE APPETITES.
The \'LX processors move u·ansactions in 32-bit
,-(
chunks. They reach into main memo1y in 6-i-bit
DIAGNOSTICS FROM ADIS'D\NCE.
chunks.Because this happens in parallel, more An integrated microprocessor allows us to monitor work gets done in less time at a lower cost per the system environment from anywhere in the
NO-FAULT INSURANCE.
transaction.
world. We can even run stress tests remotely. If a 'fanclemS)Stems achieve fault-tolerance with a
THE SERVICE IS EASY
All critical components are llelcl replaceable. When se1vice is required,its faster.You don'teven have to stop an operation to add or replace components.
failure does occur, the Vl.X has the capability to automaticallydial out to remote centers anywhe1-e in our worldwide network.
THE 5'\'STEM KNOWS THE SYMPTOMS.
E.xpert systems soliware, using fault anal)sis,cli1-ects the problemdiagnosis systematically. It also allows us to analrze it and shorten service time
unique, parallel processing architectrn-e. There are no idle back-up components. Instead, multiple components share the workload. If one goes clown, the otliers pick up tlie slack, and application processing is unintem1pted.
HERE TODAY HERE TOMORROW
Tlie VLX is compatible with any'fanclem S)Stem
mid with all majorcommunications standarcls-
·
SNA,X.25,MAP and O.S.l.And byacting as a gateway to other vendors' systems, the Vl.X can
link tliem and enhance their value as well.
\VE HAVE EXCELLENT REFERENCES.
Tandem S)Stems are at work for Fortune 500 companies in banking, telecommunications,
manufacturing, transportation , retailing and enerb')',as well as several brandies of the U.S. Government.
To find out what we can do for you, call 800-
,...
SECRETS ARE SAFE.
482-6336 or write to us. Coqiorate Headquarters: 'l~mdem Computers lncoqioratecl, 19191 Vallco
\Xeoffer softwm-e that will protect the security of !',u'k'Way, Dept. 762-M, Cupertino, CA 95014
your data wl~ther its in the VLX, in another 'fandem system or in u·ansmission.
~ TANDEMCOMPLJTERS
Circle 4 on Reader Card
youllm1s<
Hyou're looking for a good way to judge per-
sonal computers, a simple question will do: "What's in it for me?"
In the case of the IBM Personal System/2 family the simple answer is, "a great deal:'
For openers, each model offers higher performance levels thanks to a "balanced system" approach for making things work togethe1: Components were designed not just to coexist but to bring out the best in each other. So, for example, many of the programs you're using now and a wide range of other DOS
applications will run up to 150% faster on the IBM
Personal System/2 than on previous IBM PCs, depending on the model, of course.
Things that are optional on other PCs are standard on the Personal System/2-like advanced graphics, parallel and serial ports and more. And advanced IBM technology brings new levels of reliability and data protection.
80 of the Personal System/2 family. Technically it's
called parallel bus architecture. We call it Micro
Channel. But you can think of it simply as & super- .,.
highway with lots of fast lanes and bypasses. It
allows data to flow faster and more efficiently, re- ~
ducing the chance of information bottlenecks in
the system.
What's more, the Micro Channel architecture ~
not only makes it easier to speed information
throughout the system, it also makes it easier to
install peripherals and expansion cards in the
system. There are no more DIP switches to set It's
all done electronically and automatically and,
therefore, a great deal more reliably and easily.
Feature cards in your system can even trans- '
fer data directly to memory, via Micro Channel,
~
leaving the microprocessor free to do other things. ·
The design of the Micro Channel also pro-
vides a faste1; more efficient way to connect your
It'll do what you're doing now. Only better.
At the heart of many of these advances is a
unique design shared by the Models 50, 60 and
nlBMPS 2, he bus.
system to other IBM Personal Systems, local area frame. And with a future edition of OS/2, you'll be
" networks, minicomputers and mainframes.
able to share all this information with others on a
It'll do what you want to do tomorrow. Only better.
local network or over mega-distances. Vast memory and host processor resources will be more accessible. And software will do more things more easily.
Micro Channel architecture also gives the IBM
So catch the Micro Channel bus and you're on
· Personal System/2 something else that's surprisingly the fast track to higher performance, exceptional
+ rare in personal computing: the ability to improve expandability and greater reliability tomorrow, as
with age.
well as today.
One of the main reasons the architecture was
For more data about the IBM Personal
" created, after all, was to get the most out of IBM's
System/2, call your IBM Marketing Representative
new operating system, OS/2. And together they'll . ~ unleash the power of the 286 chip in the Personal
or visit an IBM Authorized Advanced Products Dealer.
System/2 Models 50 and 60 and the 386 chip in the ~ Model80.
For the dealer nearest you call 1-800-447-4700.
With IBM Operating System/2 you don't have
., to be a "power user" to run several programs at once. You can prepare a presentation while your system
· recalculates a spreadsheet and gets data from a main-
.
---------- -- - -- ==-::::. ::® -.. -~-·-
IBM 1s a registered trademark and Personal System/2, PS/2. Operating System/2. OS/2 and Micro Channel are trademarks of IBM Corporation. CJ IBM 1987.
ACCESS THE TECHNOLOGY ONLY CULLINET CAN PROVIDE.
ACCESS3X3.
Cullinet's 3x3 is much more than an architecture. It's a means of integrating all of your company's information resources. Our approach provides for the integration of three sets of software proaucts - databases, development tools and applications and their connectivity across three distinct computing environments corporate mainframes, departmental systems and personal computers. It's working and working hard for more and more corporations worldwide.
Throughout the past year, Cullinet has told the stories of companies LhaL have found total solutions to their business problems within this threetiered offering of information management software and productivity tools. Cullinet's broad product line includes IBM®compatible software as well as software for Digital VAXTM systems and other departmental platforms. And our database products, productivity tools and fourth-generation business applications feature embeddable artificial intelligence and have been designed to allow the utilization of voice-response technology.
Integration is the bottom line. And Cullinet has consistently improved the bottom line for companies that have purchased our applications for manufacturing, project management, distribution management, finance, banking and human resources. By reducing implementation costs, increasing productivity and ensuring that the right information gets to the right people at the right time, Cullinet has enabled its customers to run their businesses as single integrated enterprises.
Find out more about the one software company that can link solutions and deliver critical applications to every level of your organization. Call toll -free 1-800-551-4555. Or write to Cullinet Software, Inc., 400 Blue Hill Drive, Westwood, MA 02090-2198.
Cullinet®
An Information Technology Integrator For The 80s, 90s Andneyona.
Cullinet's 3x3 Architecture.
.,
· .-
..
t--
..
., -
IBM is a registered nademark of Internationa l Business MaLhmn VAX 1~ a trademark of D 1g 1tal Equiprm:nt Corporauon The Cu!lmet logo 0 LS a reg1stt:1ed trademark of Cullinet Sohwarc, Inc Copy rig ht Culhnet Softwitlt', Inc 1987
Look Ahead
THE IRONY OF IT ALL
,.
CONFIRMING THE KNOWN
SMUGGLER DUE
·
FOR TRIAL
,.
IN BRITAIN
..
PARIS -- While university officials in the U.S. are still smarting from MIT 's decision to eliminate NEC Supercomputers as a potential supplier--after being pressured by the U.S. Department of Commerce--European academic officials are celebrating IBM's plans to donate $4 0 million worth of supercomputers to European universities and institutes over the next two years. A minimum of five supercomputer centers will be established--in France, West Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy--comprising 3090 600E machines with vector processing facilities. In addition, there will be another 25 vector facilities donated to other European institutions. IBM says the move is to help stimulate European supercomputer research.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. -- IBM officials won't comment, but sources in attendance at a recent IBM telecommunications background session for consultants here say that IBM director and communications honcho Donald Heile, in a Q&A session, said IBM now considers the PU 4 and PU 5 host portions of its SNA model closed to outside vendors. That shouldn't come as a great shock since IBM recently restricted public distribution of PU 4 and PU 5 protocol information. But some consultants were surprised to hear Heile admit IBM's new position. Meanwhile, consultants at the same meeting were told by other IBM telecom big cheeses to expect a new front-end communications controller to replace the 37 25 sometime early next year. The new model was described as highly configurable with a better price/ performance point. Some observers expect the longawai ted new release of IBM's Network Control Program at the same time.
LONDON -- Amid an upsurge of high-tech smuggling cases on both sides of the Atlantic, one convicted embargobuster and fugitive from a U.S. arrest warrant is fighting back. Brian Butcher, a British dealer in used chip-making equipment, has persuaded a U. K. court that the government must explain why it doesn't stop U.S. officials from interfering in the business of British traders like himself. Earlier, Britain had stated its opposition to U.S. East-West trade embargo laws being imposed on U. K. companies. The government was expected to prov ide an affidavit of reply earlier this month, after which the judicial hearing will be listed for January 1988. If the judge finds in Butcher's favor, British cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce's denial order blacklist could be ruled illegal.
DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15 , 1987 9
Look Ahead
ALCATEL PONDERS ITS FUTURE
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM -- The latest megamerger in the
telecom business--Alcatel--is undergoing a strategic
rethinking of its operations in preparation for major
corporate announcements early next year. A fusion of
ITT and the old French GCE telecom firm, Al ca tel is
aiming for significant growth in its business cornrnu-
.,
nications systems. Its plan covers the development of
a digital PBX designed for the U.S. market and based on products developed by the French-based Telic subsid-
.
iary. Also under way is a restructuring of its IS-re-
lated product line.
ON THE LIST OF IBM'S GUESTS
TOKYO - - It looks like a U-turn, it sounds like a Uturn, but it's "no big deal, " according to IBM. In late October, the company began offering a software option that lets Fujitsu software run on IBM hardware. The product was announced in an internal letter sent t o salespeople, but no announcement was made because "we didn't think it was that big a deal," says an Asia/Pacific Group spokesman in Tokyo. The new software, called VM/ MP II, lets Fujitsu's OSIV/ F4 MSP E20 opera ting system be run as a guest OS on IBM 4 3 8 l s . It's priced at ¥495,000 ($3,600) a month, and shipment is expected to begin in early 1988. Distribution will be limited to Japan and Australia, which are the only large markets for Fujitsu software.
PLEXUS EYES PARTNERSHIPS
LOOPHOLES IN CALIFORNIA
SAN JOSE -- Multiuser Uni x systems company Plexus Com-
puters Inc. is looking hard for partners in the U. S .
and Europe to help it expand sales of its XDP hardware
and development environment. It is now in negotia-
tions with two "major international systems integra-
tor companies based in the U.S.," reveals a Plexus man-
ager / and it expects to announce the first partnersh ip deal around the end of the year.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The California computer crime law is
" -
scheduled to change on the first of the year, and some
users may not be so happy when they understand some of
the new law's provisions. Al though the law overall
would expand the scope of prohibited activity, it in-
cludes a couple of new loopholes. For one thing, em-
ployees engaged in designated labor union activity
would be exempt from criminal liability under the law.
For another thing, all employees would be exempt un-
less the employer could prove the alleged misuse of
computer equipment has cost it more than $100. Some
California legal officials already are lobbying to
hav e the new law changed.
(continued on p .12)
10 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
Speed and endurance you can bet on.
Introducing a true thoroughbred among
24-wire printers, the new Hewlett-Packard
RuggedWriter 480 . It's the fastest printer
'. in its class pounding out letter quality text at a furious 240 cps. And breaking the
record for draft copies at 480 cps. So you
get a full page of text in less than 10
seconds flat.
We take the lead in endurance, too.
Our new RuggedWriter printer outlasts
the competition by a longshot. Running a
strong 20,000 hours MTBF, RuggedWriter
reliability pays off big in keeping your
·
projects on track. Our pace doesn't slack off when
changing paper types either. Just one
push of a button takes you from tractor
feed to cut sheet- instantly. All while
producing crisp, clean letter quality
printing. For everything from spreadsheets to memos to multi-part forms.
The RuggedWriter 480 printer performs equally well for one person or five . On either a personal computer or small business system.
So take an inside tip and put your money on the industry frontrunner, the HP RuggedWriter 480 printer. Call your local HP sales office or dial 1-800-752~0900 , ext. 905A and ask for the RuggedWriter Fast Pack. It's a sure bet.
' .
HEWLETT
PACKARD
Circle ? on Reader Card
Look Ahead
WOULD BRANDEIS USE ONE?
WASHINGTON, D. c. -- A request for proposals is out on
the street to buy upwards of $120 million worth of per-
sonal computers to revamp the U.S. federal court sys-
tem. Participants anticipate that the reward will be
made before September 19 8 8 . On an ominous note, how-
ever, one federal court assistant warns that even af-
ter requests for proposals are accepted, the budget-
conscious government is not obligated to purchase the
systems.
...
A SURE BET FOR GEISCO
ZURICH -- Watch for the Association of International
Bond Dealers (AIBD) to set up its own network for pre-
settlement confirmation for the growing Eurobond market. Sources close to the AIBD say that the front-run-
··
ner in the deal is GE Information Services ( GEISCO).
At present, Eurobonds are cleared by two organiza-
tions--Euro-Clear Clearance Systems in Belgium,
which is owned by U. S. bank Morgan Guaranty, and Cedel
..
in Luxembourg, which is owned by a consortium of
French banks. Both of these organizations already use GEISCO.
.. ..
BT CALLS IN THE CALVARY
NEXT ON THE AGENDA
LONDON -- Going commercial has opened up a few weak
spots in the armory of telecom giant British Telecom,
and the U. K. company is looking across the Atlantic
for help. Faced with the prospect of delays, disrup-
tions, and an IS debacle, the new privately owned cor-
poration has called in New York's Nynex to help it in-
tegrate its internal IS operations. The consultancy deal is worth a reported $4 million.
. .
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. -- Lotus intends to listen to its users in the upcoming months while it decides what the next version of Agenda will look like. Lotus founder Mitch Kapor insists, "User feedback will provide the selection mechanism to choose from the myriad." After redesigning the personal information management program as a pop-up to run in conjunction with other software, the company will consider enhancing the product with a graphical user interface to make it appealing to Apple users.
RUMORS AND RAW RANDOM DATA
TSX-32, the 12-year-old operating system for DEC PDP-lls from S&H Computer Systems, Nashville, will be made available for the VAX environment next September .... Sometime next year, Microcom, Norwood, Mass., will bring out a 9. 6Kbps synchronous, full-duplex modem compliant with the CCITT V. 32 standard. Microcom's Dick Sterry, vp for product marketing, expects the new modem to cost about $2, 000.
12 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
t TRY ORACLE'S $1295 SQL DBMS
FORONLY $199 TODAY.
... .. OR ORDER VAPORWARE·
1 ..
If you're looking forward
ORACLE
write larger-than-640K,
to OS/2 and the next gen-
OS/ 2-size programs and
..
eration of PC database management systems to
run them under today's MS-DOS.
enable you to build larger,
ORACLE makes it easy
-.
higher-quality PC applications, you'll be interested
to write large, highquality applications using
to know that:
industry-standard SQL.
· Ashton-Tate has announc-
Applications that run
ed its intention to replace
faster. Applications that
its outdated database tech-
are easier to use and
nology with a SQL DBMS
have more capability.
under OS/ 2, and
Multi-user, networked
· IBM has announced its
applications. Applica-
intention to offer SQL for
tions that can be devel-
OS/ 2 in its Extended Edition.
ing DBMS on both minicomputers oped on MS-DOS today, and then
All you have to do is wait. Wait and mainframes. If you try PC
run unchanged on OS/2, mini-
,.
for OS/2 and SQL. Wait until mid- ORACLE, we think you'll make us computers and mainframes.
1988 .. .or later! Meantime you
number-one on PCs, too. That's why So stop writing dead-end dBASE
keep developing with soon-to-be we're making you this special offer. code today. And stop writing
obsolete dBASETM technology.
We've sold thousands of copies cramped, limited-to-less-than-640K
But you don't have to wait for of PC ORACLE for $1295. But now, applications. Call 1-800-0RACLE 1
SQL on the PC.
for a limited time, we will send
today. Or use the rightmost
Oracle has it now. And you
you the same, full-function version coupon. Or mail one of the other
don't have to wait for OS/2 to run of ORACLE for only $199.*
coupons. And wait.
programs larger than 640K. Thj
That's right. Only $199 for a PC
ORACLE® DBMS allows you to run SQL DBMS that is identical to the
.,. 4
OS/2-size programs under today's ORACLE that runs on minicom-
COMPATIBILITY · PORTABILITY · COl lECTABILITY
.
MS-DOS:"
puters and mainframes. $199 for Call 1·800·0RACLE1 today
..,.
ORACLE is the number-one sell- the only PC DBMS that lets you
o;;,Asido;i;i;;-'I .,;;;raM:- - , r.,;;;o.;d;;--~ r.,
I I I 20101 Hamilton Avenue
r., Old Orchard Road
_·
PC ORACLE · Oracle Corporation
.
·
Torrance, CA 90502
I I Since you've announced your intentions to go to SQL, I really don't feel I like developing obsolete applications in dBASE. I have every confidence your
I first attempt will be full-featured and I bug-free. Send me what you've got, II I when you get it.
Armonk, NY 10504
I I Attached is a blank check. I keep reading that you've already announced
I I that you're going to announce SQL for
OS/ 2 and the Personal System/2.
I I When you do, fill in the check amount. Hope to hear from you sometime in
I the next couple years.
I
20 Davis Drive · Belmont, CA 94002
I I ·want to run OS/2 ORACLE on MS.DOS today. I agree to use this license only for application
I I development.
Send me (check only one):
I o I 0 PC ORACLE ......................................... 5199 ORACLE+ !MB Extended memory ..... S599
I ::, I O ORACLE + 2MB Extended memory ..... $799
~~~ng ~SA by 0 Check 0
: .MC 0 AMFX
.
I I Name
I I Company
Tille
I
___ _ .._I Si.te
Zip
I Title Company
I Street City
I Street ~Clt-y~~~~~-,,-~--=-~
I Credit Card Number Card Expiration Date
' .
t
... I
"' I
.. -
NB/, Inc. Model908
--
QMS-PS 800 QMS-PS 800+ QMS-PS 800 II
·
Linorype Company Linorronic'" I00 Linotype Company Linotronic'" 300
Digital Equipment Cor/J. ScriprPrinrer'"
Qume Cor/Jorarion ScripTEN'"
Diconix Dijir®I /PS
Texas lnstrwnenrs OmniLaser'" 21Ot! Variry/Jer v ·1:600
AST T11rbo Laser /PS \Xiang LCS 15'"
IBM 4216-020 Personal Pageprinrer'"
..
....
Aiifa-Gevaert P400PS'"
The Laser Connecrion PS Jet/PS }er+'" NEC lnfonnation Systems Silen r\Xlrirer'" LC-890
QMS-PS®2400
A/Jolla Computer Inc. Domain/Laser 26'"
· f·
t
i ....
t ~
1~ ...
.
·w
~
t ..
t
..
,;.. " Digital Equipment Corp. PrintServer 40'"
POSTSCRIPT® from Adobe Systems started a revolution in business communications. That's why you'll find POSTSCRIPT in virtually every popular laser printer sold today.
POSTSCRIPT, the page description language, is the unanimous choice for some very good reasons. POSTSCRIPT gives you the option of printing from an IBM®PC, Macintosh~ or mini/mainframe.
With so many printers to choose from, you won't be tied to a single vendor. And that gives you the flexibility to buy what's best for your
Texas Instruments OmniLaser'" 211 5
' '
f ,.
'I' Dawproducrs Corp . LZR '" 2665
,. "
Apple Cump11tcr /nc. La.1crW!rner Apple Cu mpu1er /nc. LascrW!riter Plus
company's needs. Since POSTSCRIPT is device independent, you can design
a document, then professionally print it later at a higher resolution.
You can also choose from hundreds of software programs supporting
POSTSCRIPT. And POSTSCRIPT lets you combine text, line art, and even
digitized photographs on the same page.
POSTSCRIPT from Adobe Systems. The only two names you need to
know to join the communication revolution.
Ask for a demonstration on the POSTSCRIPT printer of your choice.
With so many w choose from, th~ hardest decision you A ~U3~
may face is which POSTSCRIPT pnnter to buy.
L Yrr.Ms iNco·rd~
POSTSCRIPT from Adobe. The Magic Behind Desktop Publishing.
All products are registered 1raaemarks and trademarks ot their manufacturers.
Circle 9 on Reader Card
TYMNET's
SNA/SDLC
PC-to-Mainframe Connedion At half the cost!
Tymnet introduces ExpressTym'." An exciting new concept in micro-to- mainframe connections. One that saves you nearly 50%over the sync board alternatives using WATS.
What's the big difference? ExpressTym is software-based. It's an easy-to-install total system solution for connecting remote IBM®PCs to IBM, DECTMand HP®mainframes.
Express'fym's first-class features include: · Easy end user installation ·Network security ·Network management · Customized network gateway ·Multiple host access · X. PC error correction
ExpressTym is the unique single vendor solution to 3270 terminal emulation. Call toll-free for more information: (800) 872-7654
TYMNET, 2710 Orchard Parkway San Jose, CA 95134
TYMNO
The Network Technology leader
\ "
News in Perspective
WALL STREET CRASH AFTERMATH
.. IS Budgets Holding Fast
over 1987 levels. That follows a two-year cost containment program, by which an-
After Stock Market Debacle
nual IS spend ing increases were kept below 6%.
"We're working to de-
Postcrash studies reveal only slight dips in commercial IS spending, with most large shops resisting cutbacks.
centralize functions to our field stores," says Wendy's Information Systems vice
The federal market may be a different matter though.
president Hari Notowidigdo. Despite the recent economic
uncertainty, Wendy's will still
go ahead with that plan, which
calls for a network of PS/2-
based systems tying together
Wendy's 1,200 convenience
food outlets.
Of course, that could all
change if economic condi-
tions continue to deteriorate.
"We'll be looking at the bud-
get every quarter in 1988 and
.
it could be adjusted," says Notowidigdo . "The IS budget
is, by its nature, a very visible
part of the overall budget, and
we tend to be affected by eco-
nomic changes."
For now, nongovern-
ment users-particularly
those planning new PC-based
and distributed systems-
don't expect to see spending
for those programs cut. A
mid-November follow-up to
the 1987-88 DATAMATION/
AT&T'S ROTHMAN: He doesn't see buying habits changing.
Cowen & Co. mini/micro
user survey shows that al-
BY JEFF MOAD
Conn.-have even lowered IS
Dan Cavanagh, senior vp though 17.5% of those sur-
spending somewhat. For the at Metropolitan Life Insur- veyed say they had seen
When gloom and doom hit the most part, however, large us- ance Co., New York, feels that some change in equipment
world's stock exchanges on ers have resisted panic and "all of us have taken another purchase plans as a result of
Oct. 19 and many financial ex- are sticking lo their precrash look at our [IS spending] plans "fears raised regarding the
perts began to predict that a spending plans. Only in the in light of what's been hap- economy," most users re-
recession was just around the federal government, where pening. But we haven't imple- porting changes had actually
corner, IS executives could the stock market crash has mented any changes yet."
seen increases in their pc and
have responded by hitting the been taken as a sign that it's
Met Life, which was fi- minicomputer purchase bud-
panic button and slashing finally time to get serious nalizing it 1988 budget when gets. Overall, 4.6% of respon-
spending plans. The 22.6% about cutting the budget defi- the stock market went south, dents say they have increased
.
one-day tumble in stock mar- cit, do significant IS spending still plans to increase its IS spending for minicomputers,
ket prices and the dire eco- cuts seem likely.
spending by between 5% and while 7% say they had in-
nomic predictions came just
That's good news for in- 7% next year, an amount that creased spending for pcs.
as many large companies formation systems vendors. is about equal to its 1987 IS Only 1.7% had cut minicom-
were putting the final touches Prior Lo the Wall Street spending increase.
puter spending plans, and
on their 1988 IS budgets.
slump, they had been encour-
Many quickly formulat- aged by a modest but steady Some Are Boosting Spending
1.1% cul pc spending. A less upbeat Gartner
c3 ed backup plans for 1988, call- improvement in IS spending in
So far, Met Life and oth- Group postcrash study shows
~ ing for cuts in IS operations 1987. There's a good chance ers are sticking with plans to that about 40% of Fortune
~ and capital spending. Some that trend will continue in accelerate IS spending. At 500 users are anticipating
i companies-about 10%, ac- 1988, if IS executives slick to Wendy's International Inc. in some cuts. The vast majority
~ cording to a survey by the their precrash spending Dublin, Ohio, 1988 IS spend- of those, however, predict
~ Gartner Group, Stamford, plans, as they appear to be.
ing is slated to rise 11.9% budget cuts of less than 5%,
~ '--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-'
DATAMATION L..; DECEMBER 15 , 1987 17
News in Perspective
WENDY'SINTERNATIONAL INC.'SNOTOWIDIGDO: Economic changes tend to affect us.
and most of that was expected in new projects such as implementation of CASE tools and other new applications development environments.
Like many users, Jeffrey A. Alperin, Aetna assistant vice president for corporate technology planning, says that "we're trying to get the most out of our dollars by focusing on distributed processing, getting processing power close to the end user where it does the most good."
Aetna hasn't changed its plans to increase 1988 IS spending by about 4%, even though, as one of the largest portfolio managers in the stock market, the company figures to have been a big loser in the crash. "Overall," says Alperin, "there could be corporatewide spending concern if losses deepen. But I can see nothing that will focus just on IS."
A spokesman for Ford Motor Co. says the automaker currently plans no IS spending cuts, even though car sales showed a steep decline in October.
While most large compa-
nies haven't seen cutbacks in IS spending and don't expect to, users within the federal government have already been put on notice by Congress that 1988 budgets will be cut, and IS spending won't be spared. In just one corner of the federal budget-the Navy-Congress already has targeted a total of $113 million to be cut from the 1988 fund for purchasing new computers, beginning new systems, and operations and maintenance. The 1987 budget was $2.16 billion.
IS Cutson Wall Street
Some stock brokerage firms that lost heavily in the market have already announced plans to cut back on IS spending. One major New York brokerage house has decided to hold 1988 spending for new systems flat, even though current internal forecasts predict capacity growth next year of around 30%, according to a high-level executive there who declined to be identified. IS planners at that brokerage house are responding by asking end users
which systems could be cut back. "Certainly," the executive says, "given the predicted downturn in the industry, people are taking a real hard look at cutting costs. We in the securities industry probably are about six months ahead of other industries [in holding down spending] ."
Such cuts are not universal on Wall Street. At Security Industries Automation Corp., which is responsible for automating trading on the New York and American Stock Exchanges, IS spending is being accelerated in 1988, according to advanced systems planning vp Jim Squires.
September Shipments Are Up
Vendors hope that such planning will be enough to sustain what had been a promising late 1987 computer industry upturn. For the month of September, computer shipments as measured by the U.S. Department of Commerce were up 4. 7% compared with last September, and new computer orders were up 6.4% for the same month. IBM chairman John F.
Akers recently told analysts
that he is counting on a strong
fourth quarter to produce a
1987 increase in IBM's mid-
range system shipments and
slight mainframe growth, as
well as improved gross profit
margins.
Many of the factors that
historically have produced
strong industrywide fourth-
quarter sales are still in place.
One factor is attractive late-
year lease rates. Leasing
companies tend to offer bet-
ter deals later in the year be-
cause new leases on their
books in December improve
their yearly tax status. Add to
that the lower postcrash in-
terest rates, and leasing exec-
utive Irving H. Rothman,
chief financial officer of AT&T
Credit Corp., is led to report,
"We don't see companies
changing their buying habits
because of the market."
The real test, however,
will come early next year
when users begin to put their
1988 IS spending plans into
practice. Moreover, vendors
are not assuming that current
IS budgets for 1988 won't
change. IBM's Akers recently
told analysts that the compa-
ny is expecting growth next
year "despite what happened
in October," although he add-
ed that it is prepared to cut
overhead further if that
growth does not materialize.
Similarly, NCR chairman
and president Charles E. Ex-
ley recently said, "Up to now
we've seen no sign of any
such downturn. The major
economic statistics from the
U.S. Department of Com-
merce are really quite encour-
aging. The natural concern is
that the stock market is a lead-
ing indi cator of future eco- 0. 0
nomic development, and the 0
message it seems to be put-
ting out is that we're heading
for a contraction of general
economic activity in both the e U.S. and other countries. If ~
that were to happen, it would
~
0.
0
have a severe impact on IS °0'
spending."
· ~
-. r
.. ...
...
..
...
..
., ....
18 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
SUPERCOMPUTERS
y ..
"
MIT Decision on Supercomputer tions with HNSX on the technical aspects only," Smoot says. "We wanted a research
Is Worrying U.S. Researchers
relationship with the vendor and HNSX wasn't going to produce what we hoped for so we
Brigham Young University also reports political pressure on a recent deal. Meanwhile, many wonder
went another way." Even though BYU appar-
ently found a supplier for its
whether the MIT affair will end up punishing users.
needs, one immediate effect of the MIT event has been the
. ..
BY WILLIE SCHATZ
ing criteria, there had been puter. But politics had noth- decision by HNSX to drop out
political pressure on BYU.
ing to do with our decision. It of the university market.
.
The decision by the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
"There was definitely political pressure on the high-
never had a chance to influence it. We made the decision
ALean Period Ahead
ogy (MIT) to cance l a pro- er levels of the university," at the engineering level."
"We're not dead in the
posed deal to lease a Japanese says Ed Redd, BYU's informa-
L. Douglas Smoot, dean water," HNSX president Jim
supercomputer after being tion systems officer and an as- of BYU's College of Engineer- Berrett tells DATAMATION.
pressured by the U.S. gov- sociate professor of mechani- ing and Technology, through "But I think we're going to
ernment is already causing cal engineering. "But it never a university spokesperson, have a lean period for a year to
fallout in the academic com- reached down to engineering. denies that political pressure 18 months. It's going to take
munity and among market We were fully aware of the had been exerted on the uni- at least that long before some
..
suppliers. At the same time, political ramifications of versity. "We made the deci- semblance of order comes out DATAMATION has learned that buying a Japanese supercom- sion to discontinue negotia- of the trade dispute. The
Brigham Young University,
Provo, Utah, apparently also
felt political pressure during
its recent supercomputer
procurement.
These and other devel-
opments, which are occurring
during a time of politically
charged trade disputes with
Japan, have generated much
discussion abo ut MIT's deci-
sion, the government's role in
that decision, and the possible
chilling effect on the super-
computer market and on re-
search at American universi-
··
ties. Some academicians, as well as researchers, contend
that the MIT decision may
have harmful reverberations
over time.
Brigham Young Univer-
sity (BYU) had been talking to
' ..
both Cray Research Inc. and Honeywell NEC Supercom-
puters Inc. (HNSX), the com-
pany that lost out with MIT,
about acquiring a supercom-
puter for its linguistics pro-
grams. In mid-October, BYU
,.. eliminated both contenders 0 because it was interested ~ only in Evans & Sutherland, a
] Salt Lake City-based finn best ~ known for its vector graphics
o~ .
~ o
processors. A BYU official says that although the decision was based on engineer-
U. OF CALIF.'SSUGAR: Foreign competition spurs U.S. supercomputer manufacturers.
DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987 19
News in Perspective
trade issue is a lightn ing rod for other iss ues, and supercomputers have gotten caught up in it. We can go two years without a sale if we have to.
"The MIT deal was a straight-up one. We have nothing to apologize for. It wasn't going to be lucrative for us, but it was a hell of a long way from dumping. Now we're going to concentrate on software applications for the commercial market. So, we won't pursue the university market."
That essentially shrinks the supply pool to Cray, IBM, and ETA, the Contro l Data subsidiary. Amdahl will continue to push Fujitsu's machine, but it hasn't yet gotten one over the U.S. border; the company was a bidder at MIT, but dropped out after the U.S. Commerce Department sent a letter expressing its reservations to MIT about HNSX . And National Advanced Systems has yet to advance Hitachi's supercomputer into the U.S. Two years ago, HNSX leased a Japanese-made sx 2 to the Houston Area Research Consortium, a group of four Texas universities. This touched off a storm of protest by U.S. s upercomputer s uppliers. Anti-dumping law, however, does not apply in leasing situations.
Berrett says H sx and MIT had been communicating openly since last May and had taken great pains to avoid any action that remotely smacked of impropriety. But even those stringent precautions went for naught.
H SX and MIT were very close to a deal that would have put 1-INSX's sx 2 into MIT for five years at a lease price of $9.5 million (see "Supercomputer Dumping Alleged at U.S. Universities," Sept. 15, p. 17). But just as the pair was about to consummate the marriage, then Acting Secretary of Commerce Bruce Smart told MIT president Paul
Gray he didn't think it was such a terrific idea.
"I am writing to inform you that we have no objection to the acquisition of a foreignproduced supercomputer," Smart said in his letter. "However, you should be aware that imported products may be subject to U.S. antidumping duty proceedings."
That was all that HNSX and Amdahl, which was bidding Fujitsu's VP-200, needed to hear. They dropped out of the competition faster than bodies hitting the bottom of the East River.
MIT's Alternate Plan
Now, says MIT provost John Deutch, MIT will pursue more supercomputer firms to seek support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a linked supercomputer center that Deutch says will ensure access to a "frontier-class machine" based on U.S. technology.
"The government was not a bully, and we weren't a wimp," Deutch contends. "There was no improper pressure or threats. The government officials expressed their views legitimately and correctly. We reached the conclu sion that we weren't going to buy a Japanese mach in e on our own. Bruce Smart's letter came subsequent to that. Then the two vendors withdrew.
"I think the clumping suggestion was disingenuous at best. So this shouldn't have a chilling effect on other universities."
But the emotions surrounding the trade issue show no signs of abating. In the same week that MIT decided it didn't want the deal to go clown, a 13-company Department of Commerce supercomputer and minisupercomputer trade mission was in Japan to assess the impact of la st August's supercomputer agreement. That's the one that provided for more
transparent procurement by Japanese government agencies and universities.
"We wanted to make sure the agreement's not a paper tiger," says Deputy Assistant for Trade Development]oan McEntee.
"As far as I can tell," McEntee continues, "the MIT event and our mission are unrelated."
What may not be unrelated are the opinions being voiced about the effects of the MIT decision. "If they can stop MIT, no one else is going to try," says Larry Smarr, director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois. As one of the five N F national supercomputer centers, NCSA would be one big feather in HNS's cap. The company has offered Smarr at least two deals similar to the one it offered MIT, but so far there's no wedding date.
'Tm surprised MIT was that gutless," Smarr says. "They caved.
"The chilling effect is going to be very bad for the country," Smarr contends. "The MIT action affects everybody's decision for several years. It could put the U.S. an entire generation behind the rest of the world.
"People are going to play it safe and not fairly consider Japanese machines," Smarr continu es. "That's really too bad, because the sx 2 is a very good machine. And that's not how you win. We live in a global economy, and to win you need the best technical tools in the hands of the best minds. The MIT activities will make it much harder for that to happen. And HNSX is dead in the water."
Bad Precedent Seen
Adds Bob Sugar, a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a remote user of the NSF's San Diego Supercomputer Center, "I think the
government has established a
very bad principle in the MIT
case. I don't think the govern-
ment's doing the U.S. super-
computer industry any good
by trying to shield it from for-
eign competition. Foreign
competition spurs U.S. super-
computer manufacturers to
do better.
"That makes it better for
scientists because we're get-
ting the maximum return on
our dollar. But anytime you
reduce people's options, they
do less well."
So now we've got super-
computer demand skyrocket-
ing and supply plummeting.
University users can kiss
HNSX goodbye, even though
the sx 2 is generally acknowl-
edged as the fastest single-
processor machine in the cos-
mos. And if Amdahl and NAS
couldn't cut it before, they
might as well fold their tents
and go home.
The effects on research
may not be felt for a while, but
when they come, chances are
they won't be pleasant.
"Any kind of govern-
ment restraints don't punish
the competition, they punish
the user," says Peter Patton,
executive director of the Con-
sortium for Supercomputing
Research in Minneapolis.
"HNSX isn't the victim of the
ooc's action. The students
and faculty at MIT ;ire.
"Why should it matter to
the government where MIT
gets a supercomputer?" asks
Patton. "The DOC isn't seeing
the whole picture. It's at-
tempting to reprovincialize
what's becoming an interna-
tional m;irket. The supercom-
puter race is going to be won
by the side that gets the scien-
tists and engineers the best
access at the least cost. It's
the technology that's impor-
tant, not the sale of one or two
more machines."
"This is just the J;itest
example of America shooting
itself in the foot," NCSA's
Smarr says. "We don't have
too many toes left."
·
20 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15 , 1987
+
,.
... '
. .
· ·
..
.,
rt '
·
prize
Bull printers are built to hand le everythingfrom tags, labels
and bar codes to custom forms.
Fewer moving parts mean fewer tune-ups and repairs. And our straight-through
paper path virtuall y eliminates jamming.
L
lmJ
MP6090
We know how precious your floor space is. At 64" x30" we occupy far less of 1t than most
high-speed pnnters.
/_
At 90ppm, Bull gives you the capacityto pnnt anywhere
from 500, 000 to 2, 000, 000 pages a month.
Y Finally, you don't have to
change paper in order
to change printers. Bull can
ft
hand le green bar and a
wide variety of other fanfold
paper stocks.
. f
Bull's low price makes it the perfect printer for anyone who
has outgrown a line printer but isn't ready to pay the
high price of a laser.
...
...
First prize in the printing arena ought to go to the company that solves the toughest customer problem.
It's a problem that anyone who needs to print more than fifty pages per minute knows firsthand. Because
until now, they had to buy a printer with twice the capacity they really needed. And a price that took years
to grow into. But now there's Bull. It offers blue-ribbon perfonnance for about half the price ofa
comparable laser printer.
Bull And it offers somethingelse. The blue-blooded heritage of Groupe Bull,
a$4 billion, worldwide systems supplier.
·
For more information, call 1-800-541-BULL.
Peri phera IS
Bull Peripherals Corporation, 303Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02154
Circle 11 on Reader Card
. ..
(Cj i:O
Raymond A. Palkovic Director Information ManaoemPnt
GTE Service Corporation
cc
vj
OE
i1
tl
r:.
i~
1·:
Until very recently, the above headlinewas
· the MIS equivalent of "Man Bites Dog'.'
Because specifying Macintosh'"personal
computers for corporate desks was an act of sheer
· daring. Like hang gilding, or wearing a Mohawk.
But now, if the behavior of data processing
.. executives is anyindication,we've engineered the
thrills out of handing us a purchase order.
Since the introduction of the Macintosh
Plus with its 1to 4megabytes, and most recently
,. .. the faster, expandable and MS-DOS compatible SE,
..- hundreds of the Fortune 500 have been putting
Macintosh to work.
..
At first we were hired for specific jobs that
no one else can do as well. Like lowcost CAD/CAM
and Desktop Publishing.
But then, our other merits revealed them-
selves. Such as the open architecture of the SE and
the new Macintosh II.
Which lets you connect seamlessly to DECs
VAX, IBM mainframes, and other popular systems.
And by putting Macintosh at the front
end, you give people a more civilized way to
deal with mainframes.
Another revelation is the wide array of
innovative Macintosh business applications-
financial analysis,word processing,data-
bases,and,of course, graphics. Which are
notonlyeasier to learn thanwhat'srunning
elsewhere,but more advanced.
The point-and-click simplicity of
the Macintosh graphic interface is a well
known boon for the user. But it also turns
out to be a major time and moneysaver
for you who have to train all those users.
Because Macintosh has alower training
cost per desktop than any MS-DOS computer. Macintoshs simple, straightforward opera-
ting style pays off impressively after training as well. In an in-depth analysis of 7 Macintosh
installations in business, users consistently reported productivity gains of15 to 25%and more.
And on top of all this, Macintosh has excellent connections.
While others are pushing the "network of the Near Future;' the Macintosh network is here and now It's called Appleralk~
Appleralk is anetworking protocol that is at the same time sophisticated, infinitely flexible, easy to set up. And meets ISO standards.
You can link the system together just about any way you want to-over phone lines, twisted pair, fiber optics or Ethernet.
Plug in acard and you can run AT&T UNIX'"as well as MS-DOS applications.
And in fact, there are a variety of other ways to integrate Macintosh into the MS-DOS world. Including the AppleShare" file server which lets Macintosh and PCs link and share data.
All of which makes it a simple matter to incorporate Macintosh into any existing network. Or, to build new ones.
We'd llke an opportunity to demonstrate these and a catalogue of other innovations.
Just call your Apple Sales Representative. Or call us directly at 800-446-3000, ext. 400 for the name of the nearest authori7£d Apple reseller.
You'll find out how so many DP professionals can buy Macintosh.
And still keep their names out of the papers. ~
®
The power to be your best:"
©1987Apple Computer, Inc.Apple, the Apple logo,Madntosb andAppli!li:llk are registered trademarks ojApple Computer, Inc.AppleSbare is a trr.idemark efApple
Compute1,· Inc. Fortune is a trademark q[Time Inc. Ethernet 1s a registered trademark qfXe1m Corp. AT&T Unix is a regz:stered trademark qfAT&Tlnfarmation Systems. MS-DOS L> a registered trademark ojMicrosoji. ~is a registered trademark ojDigitalEq111pmenl Corp.
News in Perspective
COMMUNICATIONS
1.400 E-Mail Standard Picks Up Steam in the U.S.
said, IBM has proprietary but
popular mail system delivery vehicles such as s ADS (SNA Distribution Services), now
..
part of the Systems Applica-
tion Architecture (SAA), sig-
While IBM takes its time bringing X.400 products to
naling its importance in the
market, other vendors and some users are forging ahead
IBM lineup. Is IBM protecting its product line at the expense
with products and implementations.
of international standards? Well, yes and no. And even if
no, probably not for very long.
IBM has announced X.400
programs for transmitting
messages from its two major
office systems, DISOSS and
Profs, to other X.400-based message handling systems.
.. .
Neither will be available until
the third quarter of 1988,
however, and then only in Eu-
rope, the Middle East, and Af-
rica. IBM eventually will
broaden its geographic sup-
· 1
port for X.400 to the U.S., but
it gives no clues as to when.
Protecting Customer Base
"Most large corpora-
tions such as Pacific Bell have
various e-mail or messaging
systems internally and most
also have Profs," says Jeanne
Bracken, that company's San
Francisco-based director for
message handling systems.
FOREST SERVICE'S WERNER: There'smore work to do on X.400.
"They would be interested in
interconnection." She would
BY SUSAN KE RR
ed in the Open Systems Inter- X.400, he'd prefer to wait for like to see an IBM X.400 prod-
connection (OSI) model.
better conformance tests be- uct, but suspects that "IBM is
It's no secret that "stan-
The promise of X.400 is fore unveiling products.
looking to protect its base,
dards" has become the com- a universal electronic mail · Thereareotherreasons. which it can do since it's
munications industry's favor- system that will encompass ''I've talked to quite a few cus- stronger here [in the U.S.)
ite battle cry, and even IBM services currently delivered tamers in the United States to than in Europe."
isn't immune to its allure. by public electronic mailbox understand when IBM should
Also not very receptive
Some users, however, are organizations as well as those introduce [X.400 products]," to Big Blue's X.400 posturing
discovering that while their offered by computer vendors, commented Ellen Hancock, is Ray Pardo, information ser-
choice vendors may acknowl- such as Profs and DISOSS from president of IBM's Communi- vices manager at Bechtel
edge the attractiveness of IBM, Comprehensive Elec- cations Products Div., at a re- Eastern Power Corp., Gaith-
emerging standards, it can be tronic Office (CEO) from Data cent public gathering. "We're ersburg, Md. "I was a little
a little tough to actually find, General, and All-in-1 from still determining when to roll mystified by IBM's [X.400)
not to mention implement, Digital Equipment Corp.
that out. It's clear that our Eu- comments," he says. "It did
products that are based on
Speaking out against ropean customers had a more not seem to be in the same
these standards.
X.400 would be almost as bad critical need." She went on to proactive vein I've seen [IBM
The latest case in point as slamming motherhood and say that the need is not seen take lately in communica-
is the X.400 series of recom- apple pie. Yet, some vendors clearly now in North America. tions]. We use Profs and we
mendations published by that support the idea of X.400
X.400 is in the early days use a couple of other [mail .o
CCITT to define the mecha- appear unsure as to when to of implementation, so prod- systems) and we'd like to ~
nisms for interworking commit to product delivery ucts boasting X.400 confor- bridge them."
.Q
among different electronic dates. For example, while a mance typically lack some of
Nevertheless, IBM is not ~
message handling systems. Wang Laboratories executive the rich features found in pro- without its defenders. Eric ~
The X.400 standard is includ- believes it's "crucial" to have prietary mail systems. That Arnum, an analyst at Inter- 5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
·
.. I
-·
"
24 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15. 1987
News in Perspective
Forest Service Is DG Beta Site national Resource Develop- net's Telemail 400 public
ment Inc., orwalk, Conn., messaging service as well as
has seen no backlash from developing X.400 hooks into
IBM's delay in bringing X.400 DEC's All-in-1. The U.S. For- The U.S. Forest Service, Washington, D.C., which boasts an
across the Atlantic. "I really est Service, in Was hington , internal e-mail network of 30,000 people and uses 850 DG
think 1988 is just the right D.C., is a beta site for the DG/ computers, is beta testing the Data General/Telenet mes-
time to come out with X.400," Telenet link (see "Forest Ser- saging link. Steve Werner, chief of telecommunications at
he remarks. "IBM sees an ab- vice Is DG Beta Site.")
the Forest Service, is happy with the test so far, but admits
solute need [for X.400 prod-
Like the Reston, Va.- there's more work to do.
ucts] in Europe because if it based Telenet, other public
Werner says that chief among the needed develop-
wants to win bids, it's going to service providers are revving ments for all X.400 suppliers is an agreement on standards
have to supply X.400. But it's up beta tests and agreements for interchanging binary files, such as spreadsheets, rather
no t at the point in the U.S. with foreign countries' public than leaving it to the discretion of individual e-mail provid-
where customers say, 'Don't providers, which are vital for ers. While standards exist for ASCII text, recommendations
call us without it.' "
many multinational users. should evolve next year for other character types. In addi-
In fact, one major U.S.- AT&T offers X.400 gateways tion, Werner says that improvements are needed with the
based multinational compa- for its AT&T Mail service in initial addressing scheme. Nonetheless, comments Werner,
ny's communications execu- the U.S. and Canada and "I'm very positive about X.400."
tive, in an interview with hopes soon to close deals in
Before becoming a beta site, the Forest Service al-
DATAMATION, had never even Europe. "One of the things ready used Telemail to talk to other government agencies.
...
heard of X.400. The company that'll stimulate more activi- Previously, though, a user needed a Telemail mailbox and
uses DISOSS. Judging by that, ty," says AT&T Mail group also a separate mailbox within the DG CEO system. Now,
IBM's proprietary electronic product manager Ross Staley, rather than requiring separate processes to access Telemail
mail so lution s s how good "is [the completion of] negoti- and CEO, e-mail is sent and received via CEO.
signs of continued life. Yet, ations with other countries."
with an estimated base of ap- One connectivity issue still to nounce an X.400-based inter- statement of U.S. direction in
proximately 1.2 million IBM be figured out is how all the face for Profs. AT&T won't; 1988. If it doesn't, he be-
electronic mail customers (of American public service pro- it'll continue to support Profs lieves, IBM could be faced
which three quarters are viders will interconnect with via a proprietary interface un- with a less than sympathetic
Profs users), at issue is what each other.
til an IBM product comes out. crowd.
effect IBM's X.400 marketing
That's not the only is-
DEC, however, isn't one to
Nevertheless, IBM can't
will have on this standards sue: how to incorporate IBM dawdle. In November, it an- be accused of being lazy. Ar-
movement and on its users. users into the fold in the inter- nounced the MAILbus set of num points to a number of en-
im is another.
software to link All-in-1 users, hancements to the company's
PacBell May Market Software
Non-X.400 solutions do SNADS and DISOSS users, and own suite of products. Big
' '"f
Some users, such as Pa- exist, of course. For example, X.400 users. DEC's first X.400 Blue has added a Communica-
cific Bell, are moving ahead DG offers CEO-to-DISOSS and gateway became available last tions Interface to its SAA Com-
with or without IBM. The tele- CEO-to-Profs interchanges. In year, and since then the com- mon Programming Interface,
phone company has 16,000 some point-to-point s itu a- pany has sold at least 50 li- which will, in IBM lingo, pro-
electronic mail users and just tions, those products may be censes in the U.S. and at least vide "a consistent application
about every major e-mail sys- more appealing than X.400. that many overseas, accord- programming interface for
tem. It has undertaken a joint But X.400 will be preferable ing to DEC product planning writing applications that re-
development project with "if customers have a mixed manager Dennis Cannon.
quire a program-to-program
DEC to link as much as possi- bag of supp li ers," says
Sure, this gives DEC an connection ." The Communi-
ble via X.400, and may even Shearer.
edge over IBM, according to cations Interface will define
market that software.
Pacific Bell's Bracken DEC officials. "Digital offers the communications services
Likewise, some IBM agrees. The company had de- OSI worldwide; IBM offers it of IBM's LU 6.2 protocol. "If
competitors are proceeding veloped its own software only in Europe," comments you have an SNA network, you
apace . Data General has sold interfaces to intercon nect David Korf, DEC's wide area need LU 6.2 before X.400,"
approximately 25 licenses so systems, but the effort in- networks and systems mar- saysArnum.
far, according to Jock Shear- volved to keep those patches keting manager. "[ButJ I
An IBM spokesman says
er, a DG product planning current with the latest of the don't think you can say we the goal of the new interface
manager. He believes these vendo r releases makes it picked OSI to back IBM into a is that applications written for
sales counter the argument of undesirable.
corner. It is an advantage to one SAA-supported host sys-
lack of North American concern. While early awareness AT&T To Stay Proprietary
allow the customer to connect tem such as VM /S P can be
any system."
more easily moved to anoth-
·~
.,-
of X.400 came from Europe,
Not everyone wants to
Telenet's Kozak says e- er, such as OS/2 Extended
he says "without exception, wait for IBM. Richard Kozak, mail will "take several years" Edition. As to what effect the all our early sales were in the vp and general manager of to explode, and adds, "This is new interface has on the life
' 'I"
U.S."
messaging at Telenet, says not an overnight process." of IBM's current crop of prod-
DG is now testing the pos- that in the first quarter of Overnight, no. But analyst Ar- ucts, which incbdes electron-
sibility of linking into Tele- 1988 the company will an- num expects IBM to make a ic mail, he can't say.
·
26 DATAMATION LJ DECEMBER 15 , 1987
II these benefits ma a lasting impression
stant paper switching
" The park function enables you to print cut-sheets while a continuous form
· f'.emains loaded.
~Makes friends with
I your computer
~pson FX/JX or IBM PC emulations plus parallel and serial interfaces
,.. ensure that the printers make Jriends with a range of computers and softwares.
olor graphics --+The color capability, which is
standard, highlights your text .,... and business graphics.
View your lines
1>The view function permits you to inspect the last printed line without ._losing top-of-form.
,._·Four paper paths
.. The different paper paths facilitate tear-off and bottom feed for special .(lpplications. A sheetfeeder is optional.
.,,High Capacity The C-line printers, with print speeds up "to 400 cps, are built to take heavy workloads - 500 to 700 pages per day.
t
~ ~Automatic paper loading The printer itself loads the paper for
1'".cut sheets and continuous forms.
~ "' Alternate betwee n t- different set-ups
You can switch application - or even .host - at the touch of a key.
'If Easy installation
,.Just answer the printed questions with the "yes" and "no" keys on the control
~ panel.
. .,.lBM a nd Epson are registered trademarks
Your initial impressions may lead you to think that the main benefits of the Facit C-line matrix printers are their userfriendliness and printout functions
You're right - but there's more to it Quality and reliability are the essential features that permit the C-line printers to perform perfectly day after day, year after year. These are the really decisive benefits. We think you'll agree. In the long run.
Contact your nearest Facit representative for a C-line demonstration.
FACIT
_, Head Office: Facit AB, S-172 91 Sundbyberg. Sweden. Phone: 46 8 764 3000. USA: Facit Inc. PO. Box 334,Merrimack. NH 03054. Phone: (603) 424-8000
AUSTRALIA.. EAi Electronics Associates Ply Ltd.. 427-3322. AUSTRIA.- Ericsson Information Systems GmbH. 0222-613 64 1. BELGIUM.- Ericsson S.A.. 02-243 82 U. CANADA.- Facit Canada Inc.· 416-825-8712. CYPRUS.- LBM (Lillytos) Ltd 516 46 34. DENMARK.. Facit AIS. 02-63 33 11. FINLAND.- OY Facit. 90-420 21. FRANCE Facit S.A.. 1-4780 7117. GREAT BRITAIN.Facit 0634-40 20 80. GREECE Computer Application Co. Ltd.. 01-67197 22. HONG KONG.- Gilman & Co. Ltd .. 5-893 00 22. ICELAND.- Gisli]. Johnsen HF, 354-64 12 22. INDIA .- Forbes Forbes Ca mpbell & Co. Ltd.· 22-2048081. IRELAND.- Ericsson Information Systems Ltd.· 753093. ITALY.- Facit Data Products S.p.A.. 039-636331. ]APAN.- Electrolux Uapan) Ltd.. 03-479-7570. KOREA.. True Trading Co. Ltd.. 2-783-3855-7. THE NETHERLANDS. Facit B.V.. 3480-21784. NEW ZEELAND.- No rthrop Ins trum ents and Sys tems. 501-801. 501-219. NORWAY.- Ericsson Information Systems A/S, 02-35 58 20. PORTUGAL.- Regisconta Sarl. I-56 00 91. SINGAPORE Far East Offi ce Eqpts Pte Ltd.· 745 82 88. SPAIN Perifericos S.A.. 4-57 90 81. SWEDEN Ericsson Information Systems Sverige AB. 08-28 28 60. S WITZERLAND .- Ericsson Information Systems AG,01-82159 21. USA.- Facit Inc.. (603) 424 -8000. WEST GERMANY.- Facit GmbH. 0211-61090.
Circle 14 on Reader Card
' 'I'm parties downtoinldDPth.ey d<m't throw many
So I asked Doug to come up to ours. Dougs the real brains behind our new 3B system. He's the reason our computers can now talk to the IBM in Accounting and the DEC in Manufacturing. Ifyou know anything about DP, tha't amounted to doing business across the Berlin Wall. Doug had a brainstorm and suggested AT&T. Their approach is standardizing communications between different systems. I don't have to tell you that's opened some doors around here. ite owe Doug a lot.
AT&Tcomes through. , ,
The AT&T 38 Computers
A'llif now offers a full line of departmental workgroup computers serving up to 300 users. Arich library ofsystem and applications software includes host connectivity, development tools, programming languages, database management, OA, and a world of other UNIX®System programs.
LAN sta11dards: Interfaces to Ethernet*, AThT !SN, STARLAN Network, DECnet** and more put different depart-
ments in touch. Industry standards including IBMt 3270, SNAt, BSC
and X.25 link mainframe, midrange and micro environ-
ments. Communications software moves data transparently
between applications via packages like LU 6.2, AW Document Exchange and others. For the full story on AW's surprising 3B Computers, call now: 1800 247-1212.
From equipment to networking, from computers to communications, A'llif is the right choice.
·Ei!u:rnt.'I h j tr:1dem.1rk ot Xerox Corp
··OECncl 1s ,1 r~gb1ereJ tr:l<km...irk u(DiAll,tl Equ1pmt:nt t.<1rp
tlOM 1-. :i rc~1Mcn.'. d tra<lem.1rk :rnd SNA 1:-. .1 1r.1dcmark 11f l mernaoon.tl U1h1nt·,..,
M.u.:hhw.., Corp
-©1987 AT&T
-
AT&T
The right choice.
News in Perspective
SOFTWARE
The Era of Packaged
only hardware for which a significant number of third-party
,.
packages is availab le, al-
Software Dawns in Japan
though minicomputers have recently become more popular target machines for inde-
Japanese users, once open only to customized software, pendent developers. Mean-
while, mainframe program-
are becoming less reluctant to use ready-made
mers have been duplicating
programs, but supply is still a problem.
one another's efforts in countless Japanese IS shops.
The usefulness of the all-
custom approach is reaching
its limits, however. "There
absolutely has been a change"
in users' attitudes toward
packaged software, declares
Stephanie Johnson, interna-
tional executive director of
the Yankee Group in Boston.
The change appears to be
substantial.
"I estimate the market size for third-party software
·
is increasing 35% per year,"
states Koichi Onodera, assis-
tant director of software sales
for CLC Corp., a Tokyo com-
puter and software sales and
leasing company.
..
Packaged Software Shortage
"In our industry, there is
a change to preferring pack-
aged software," says Kunio
f "f
Hiraike, general manager of
AOL'S SAKEMI: Pcs have improved the status of packages.
the computer systems division of Kyowa Bank. But,
..
BY RO BERT POE
the early days of the industry, geru Shiinoki, a Price Water- says Hiraike, there is a short-
according to Mathias, domes- house director in Tokyo. age of manpower and pack-
Using packaged software is tic computer makers, feeling Whatever the case, using cus- ages. Kyowa was looking for
like wearing someone else's at a technological disadvan- tom-made applications soft- an asset liability management
underwear, according to a tage vis-a-vis IBM, were "giv- ware has long been an almost program and couldn't find
popular Japanese IS saying. ing a lot of free and highly dis- inviolable mandate in the Jap- one, so "we gave up, and are
Traditionally, Japanese IS de- counted software help" to anese JS world. The large soft- developing one ourselves,"
partments would much rather customers in order to get ware houses, such as Tokyo's Hiraike says. Kyowa is also
develop tailor-made applica- them to buy their hardware. CSK Corp., have been almost selling some of its internally
tions with the help of vendors Emphasizing turnkey sys- exclusively body shops, for- developed packages to other
and third-party body shops terns sales, they would "send warding programmers to cli- banks near Tokyo.
than settle for packaged soft- in 50 software engineers to ents on a time or project ba-
To date, most of the ac-
ware. Due to the burdensome write the code," says Mathi- sis. Users have maintained tion has been in systems con-
..
cost of writing custom soft- as, and, as a result, "they got large in-house staffs to <level- trol and database/ data-han-
ware, however, such atti- the market but killed the soft- op and maintain their custom dling software, of which "the
tudes may soon become as ware industry."
applications, while vendors Japanese have always been ~
outdated as last year's design-
Whether it was more a have been generous when it enamored," says John Sinis- ~
i er shorts.
case of vendors' catering to comes to offei;ing program- cal, vice president of Asian/ :
The root of the problem their customers' natural incli- ming assistance.
Pacific sales for McCormack
is the way the big hardware nations or of users' prefer-
As a result, a healthy in- & Dodge Corp., Natick, Mass. ~
vendors began in Japan, says ences being shaped by the dependent industry providing The applications market, on ..u
Denis Mathias, Price Water- strategies of the manufactur- packaged software for large the other hand, is "almost en- £
house Consultants' represen- ers is "a chicken and egg machines never had a chance tirely unexploited," says ~
L__ta_t_iv_e_d_ir_e_c_to_r_in_T_o_k_y_o_._I_n__q_u_e_st_io_n_,_"_a_c_c_o_rd_i_n_g_t_o_S_h1_·-__to_d_e_v_el_o_p_._P_c_s_r_·e_n_1_ai_n_th_e__P_r_ic_e_W_a_t_er_h_o_u_s_e_'s_M_a_th_i_as_.__J j
30 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
XEROX
·~
Hello 4060 ComputerPrinting Syste111. Good-byPreprinted For111s.
When you install the Xerox 4060 Computer Printing
System, you '11 create and store forms electronically,
unlike line printers that require preprinted forms . You
can also store logos, signatures and a wide range of
fonts for use on all your reports and printed documents.
" '
So, not only will you improve your bottom line, but the quality and readability of your data center documents.
In less time than it takes for line printers to turn out a job, the 4060 completes a finished report, ready for distribution, on convenient, business-size paper. Every page is a high-quality original. No more messy carbons. No time-consuming decollating and bursting.
What's more, while you save time, you also save money. The 4060 is competitively priced with line printers, but the total operating costs can be much less. And although the 4060 is extremely reliable, there 's the added bonus of responsive service and support from Team Xerox.
For a limited time, the 4060 Computer Printing System
comes with special price incentives. To find how the
4060 can work best for you, call or clip the coupon below.
Team Xerox. We document the world.
Il i·m interested in~arning-::;re abo~he Xerox 4060 Comput~ I Printing System.
I D Please send more information. D Please have a sa les representative contact me.
I Send this coupon to: Xerox Corporation, P.O. Box 24, Rochester, NY 14692.
I I I
II NAME
I I
I ~~
~
I
ADDRESS
I CITY
STATE
I
I ZIP I Or if you can't wait, call :
PHONE
I I
L_!·800·TEAM·XRX, ext. 201A _ _ _ _ _ _J
XEROX* and 4060 are trademarks of XEROX CORPORATION .
·
·(·, a · so- 11 ~ ;Cl~ · lu :ll. l ...,.E
O·· TDWll . ,_ \ O 111 · ~
·
..-.. ··---........
·------ ---~---
~--
1,.,,. n .too.o .on
~·> . u n.ut.lO .o n
L Ut . tO U, ll· H
.,,,1
"'' ,,
9\1 6'
·-ll-·r-------------.-._,--_________.._..,._..,.l!!""'.......__""'i;--;;t-;;;;-;;:J-+---+.;;;;;--;;l
News in Perspective
...
One reason for the im- increased job hopping.
See Competition as Chief Price Waterhouse.
proving status of packages is
The developer shortage Benefit of Arbitration Rul-
One of the more recent
Japan's office µc revolution. is exacerbated by hardware ing," Nov. 1, p. 17).
tactics of mainframe vendors
1'
"Most users became familiar with packaged software
manufacturers' increased hiring of programmers, Johnson
Business Sense Needed
is spinning off dozens of small software subsidiaries, which,
through pcs," says Arthur D. says: "Japanese mainframers
Even a large increase in they hope, will emulate the
·
Little (Japan) analyst Hir- have started developing more mainframers' efforts to come creativity of venture capital
oyuki Sakemi. The strongest software themselves, for the up with new software prod- startups. This strategy
push towa r d packages may same reason IBM did more ucts isn't likely to satisfy de- doesn't get high marks either.
come from fin ancia l pre s- than 10 years ago-the way mand. That's because even Johnson of the Yankee Group
sures; in an era uf low growth to sell hardware is to have though they are trying to cre- fee ls it won't be s uccessful
and a highly valued yen, ex- good software."
ate packages, the res ults still because sma ll subsidiaries
travagances such as custom
The pcms began to wake look alm ost custom-made. are subject to the same pres-
software receive more than a up when they experienced in- According to McCormack & sures as large companies.
second glance.
creased uncertainty about the Dodge 's Siniscal, " Fujitsu,
Foreign, third-party soft-
Software developers are effective ne ss of their com- Hitachi, and NEC already have ware houses may be able to
getting more expensive, patibility strategy. In the past, packages, but they have very satisfy the demand for pack-
mainly due to the program- says Johnson , compan ies limited functionality."
aged software. A number of
mer shortage, which, the Min- such as Fujitsu and Hitachi
To create packages with such vendors have been fairly
istry of International Trade could run on the basis of being a wider appea l will require a successful in Japan, including
and Industry estimates, will IBM-compatible because they "common sense of business. Software AG. In applications,
reach 600,000 by the 1990s. could take advantage of the They will try but won't be suc- the overseas vendors are just
The shortage drives up sala- large base of IBM applications. cessful, because they don't getting started.
ries, although they are still "But the disputes with IBM have experience in develop-
Akira Urano, assistant
...
much lower than in the U.S., have clearly frightened ing cross-industr y app li ca- general manager of the infor-
and, says Sakemi, it leads to them," he says (see "Users tions," maintains Shiinoki of mation and telecommunica-
9 Track Tape Drives For IBM PC/XT/ AT and Compaq 386
-- ----
- --
~
......_
Qualstar 1052 · 1600/3200 bpi · 25/ 50 in./sec. · Manual load · Streaming Subsystem pri ce:
$3,595.
Cipher Data F-880 · l 600/3200 bpi · 251100 in ./sec. · Auto load · Start/Stop & Streaming
Subsystem price:
$4, 995 .
Ke nnedy 9600A · 80011600/ 3200 bpi · 501100 in ./sec. · Auto load · Start/Stop & Streaming Subsys tem pri ce:
$6,495 .
Anri tsu 2620 · 1600/3200/6250 bpi · Cache buffered · Auto load
Subsystem pri ce:
$9,49 5.
Let Overland Data match yo ur specific application needs to one of its wide range of 9 Track T a pe Subsystems for the IBM PC/XT/AT and Co mpaq 386. Subsystem prices include 9 track tape drive, interface board, ca bles, dat a interchange and backup software for MS-DOS or XENIX operating systems.
Interface board s are warranted for two yea rs , parts and labor. Ca ll for specific tape drive warranty information. and to find ou t abo ut our spec ia l Demonstration U nit Program.
Let Overland Data's professional tec hni ca l staff help yo u select the right tape dri ve for yo ur perso nal co mput er system . Ad di tional tape drive models available. Call today.
flflJ Overland Data, Inc. 5644 Kearny Mesa Road
UU1 San Diego, CA 921 I I Tel. (619) 571-5555 Telex 75 4923 OVE RLAND
IBM PC, XT. AT are Registered Trademarks of Interna ti onal Business Machines Corp. XEN IX and MS-DOS are Registered Trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Compaq 386 is a Registered Trademark of Compaq Computers, Inc.
32 DATAMATION DECEMBER 15. 1987
CIRCLE 15 ON READER CARD
"My doctor told me
to cutdownmystress.
' ;
So I switched lo~ distance companies~'
,.. .
·
Before ITT
MterITT
Are unreliable connections, noisy sound, and reps that disappear at the first sign of trouble sending your pu lse into the danger zone?
If so, do what thousands of prudent companies are doing. Switch to ITT
Our long distance service is so reliable, our prices so low, they'll calm the most nerve-racked communications manager. And we never get any static over
our sound quality But what will really low-
er your blood pressure is our customer service.
You'll deal with knowledgeable people who know your business, and make it their business to be around when you need them.
We customize our service to make sure it meets your company's individual needs. We also operate a
toll-free, 24-hour hotline for our WATS and Private Lines users. So any problems can be dealt with promptly
In fact, whether your phone bill is $50 a month or $50,000, we have something that's right for you.
Call us for more information at 1-800-526-3000, ext. 330.
And do it soon. After all, you have your health to consider.
c 1~187 lJ. S. Ttdll ,nu ....s1u11 Svstem~ lrn
coMMUNICATIONsJ T T
SERVICES VIA
Circle 17 on Reader Card
News in Perspective
., .
MICROCOMPUTERS
Clone Makers Treading Softly tions systems division oftrad-
ing company C. Itoh & Co.
.,.
Lld., believes that foreign
On PS/2 Micro Channel Turf packages won't do because of
differences in management structures and mind-sets.
·
Cullinet's Experience Cited PC-compatible makers are racing to develop Micro
Setting up a wholly Channel-based products, but in the push to market, the
owned subsidiary is considered by many to be a neces-
winner could end up being the biggest loser.
sary, if expensive, move. Ob-
servers point to Cullinet as an
example of what not to do.
Working through distribu-
tors, the Westwood, Mass.-
based company is estimated
to have sold fewer than 30
sels of its IDMS / R database
product in Japan since 1976.
A Cullinet spokesman in
Westwood notes, however,
that the company has recently
taken steps to bo lster its
presence in the Far East. Ear-
lier this year, Cullinet established a supporl center in Ja-
...
pan to aid its distributor, Century Research Corp. In
..
addition, Cullinet last Novem-
ber added a regional head-
quarters operation in Singa-
pore to handle the Pacific Ba-
sin, including Japan.
Mosl agree that condi-
tions are right for an explo-
sion of packaged software use FUTURE INTERNATIONAL'S JACKSON: Legal questions loom larger than technical ones.
in Japan. "In Japanese compa-
nies," says Mathias of Price Waterhouse, "there's a huge
BY RO BERT FR ANCIS
able until late 1988, vendors programs in some stage of say that current buying deci- development.
~
visible backlog-maybe two It's a race that no one wants to sions are not based on wheth-
Micro Channel has taken
to three years' worth-in ap- finish first. As microcomputer er or not a machine has Micro center stage in the technical
·
plications development. At companies begin to decipher Channel. That could change, controversy over PS/2, even the same time, software de- the intricacies of IBM's Micro though, and everybody who's though its full benefits appar-
....
velopment costs are going up, Channel Architecture, the anybody in the PC-compatible ently won't be realized until
hardware costs are coming $64,000 question has evolved business seems ready to jump os/2 is fully developed. Sim-
~
down."
from "Who will be the first?" on what could become a Mi- ply put, Micro Channel is a
McCormack & Dodge's to "Who will be the first in cro Channel development pathway that moves data
..
Siniscal feels that "all the court?"
bandwagon.
from the PS/2's central en-
same forces that were work-
Several companies have
At least two com pa- gine to other parts of the ma-
ing in the U.S. 10 to 15 years stated publicly, or at least nies-Western Digital Corp., chine-such as the screen
...
ago are coming into play in Ja- hinted broadly, that they are Irvine, Calif., and Chips & and disk drives-and allows
. pan now."
working on a version of Micro Technologies Inc., Milpitas, data to move along a network
Whether that explosion Channel, just in case the de- Calif.-confirm that they are of personal computers much
of packages occurs soon will
mand for PS/2s begins to cut
developing the technology
faster than the architecture of
v 0:
'""(
depend, to a certain extent, on into sales of their existing (see Look Ahead, Nov. 15, p. the original IBM PC did. Ac- :";'; ,-
the efforts of the software IBM-compatible systems. 10). Some of the crop of clone cording to Tim Mannix, IBM's ]
vendors who have the prod- However, because os/2 Ex- makers, such as Tandy Corp., director of plans and controls ucls Lo offer. In Lhe end, how- tended Edition-the operat- Fort Worth, and Compaq at the Entry Systems Div., ,-0,, ' f
ever, the role of packaged ing system that IBM says will Computer Corp., Houston, Boca Raton, Fla., Micro Chan- _>o-
software in Japan will be de-
take full advantage of Micro
acknowledge that they have
nel pushes personal comput-
"-
0
O>
termined by the users.
·
Channel-will not be avail- Micro Channel technology ers into a faster-paced arena.
0
0
if
34 DATAMATION D DECEMBER 15, 1987
... .. If you're having difficulty cost-justifying eating in amultiple-system environment. ..
minis for your distributed resource sharing,
If you'd like a simple solution that's
.. butyour company has outgrown the per- user-installable,self-configuring,self-diag-
,. sonal computer network route,then Prime nosing,and keeps up and running with a
Computer has the answer.
'<
If you're looking for industry-lead-
minimum of maintenance and downtime and a maximum of performance and
. ;. ing performance from Intel's 32-bit
productivity.. .
~ 80386 chip for unmatched speed and
...then you should know more about the
... power; a CPU board housing 64Kb of
new PRIME EXLTM 316 supermicro. Start-
cache memory (3.2 MIPS system perfor- ing at under $24,000, it defines the term
'" mance rating),plus up to 1Gbyte ofdisk "price/performance." And it's from Prime
'" ' storage; and up to 58 asynchronous lines Computer, the worldwide Fortune 500
r- to handle allyour communications needs... company that was voted one of the top
If you're demanding standards, so vendors in terms of customer support by
that you can run both a SVID-compliant DataPro magazine.
,.. UNIX®V3 and an MS-DOS TMoperating
Call or write for a free report. We've
' .. system- with a transparent interface that preparedacomplete information kit foryou,
t enables users to stay in one environment including this free report, ''The Mvantages
while quickly and easily accessing files, of the 80386 in an MS-DOS and UNIX
commands, and software in the other. .. Operating Environment. "For your free copy,
~, If you're interested in taking advan- ca/1 1-800-343-2540 (in MA, 1-800-322-
tage of MULTIBUS//,TM the most ad-
2450 in Canada, 1-800-268-4700).Or fill
·... vanced system bus for connectk1g to
in, detach and return this coupon.
most industry-standard peripherals and
The PRIME EXL 316 supermicro. Think
TCP!fP over ETHERNET®for communi- of it as your MIS wish list.
PRIME and the Prime logo are registered trademarks, and PRIME EXL is a trademark of Prime Computer, Inc.. Natick, MA. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T Information Systems. ETHERNET is a registered trademark of Xerox. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoff Corp. Multibus If is a trademark of Intel Corp.
Circle 18 on Reader Card
~es, ,:;;k;;o;,o;m:e:;,;;;;;;; I
PRIME EXL 316 supermicro. D Please rush my information kit and
free report, "The Advantages of the 80386 in an MS-DOS and UNIX Operating Environment. "
D Have a sales person call immediately.
Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
(Please Pflnt}
Title _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Company _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
City, State, Zip _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Telephone _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
A.000300074
Send to. Prime Computer, Inc. Pnme Park MS 15-60, Natick, MA 01760.
Call. 1-800-343-2540 (in MA, 1-800-322-2450,
L __:n~~a~s::::,2~~.:~o:_ _ _J
Prime Computer, Inc.
News in Perspective
that legal PS/2 clones eventu-
ally will come out, but added
that the effort on the part of
clone makers will take some
degree of expertise.
PS/2 with Micro Channel
hit just as Tandy Corp. was
making inroads with its strat-
egy to broaden its base in the
business market. Now, Tandy
officials admit, without Micro
A. -
Channel its new strategy
could be handicapped. Conse-
quently, Tandy has initiated a
development program for Mi-
cro Channel, but, like Future
International, it doesn't plan
to be the first on the block
with such a product.
Tandy officials see the
PS/2 and its accompanying ar-
chitecture as being far more
WYSE'S KRYZAN: We understand Micro Channel today.
important to corporate or
high-end users than to Tan-
·
dy's traditional customer in
the home and education mar-
" With Micro Channel, ify at what stage. "I can only cerning lawsuits and the PS/2 kets, who generally buy
the system will manage sev- say that we understand Micro looked particularly fierce. through retail channels.
era! functions at once," Man- Channel today," says Chris Two companies ran afoul of nix says. In comparing Micro Kryzan, Wyse marketing Big Blue earlier this year by Back to Conventional Markets
Channel with the original PC manager.
using variations of the PS/2
Some IBM observers see
bus architecture, he uses the analogy of a highway and a legal Question looms large
moniker. In an out-of-court the PS/2 in the same way-a settlement reached in No- move by IBM away from the
country road. On a highway,
Wyse officials, like oth- vember, AST Research Inc., mass market and back toward
he says, "If you've got a lot of ers investigating Micro Chan- Irvine, Calif., agreed to dis- its conventional markets in
traffic you need more lanes, nel, say the big question is a continue an advertisement business, government, and
and you need to manage the legal one, not a technical one. using the headline "PS/ 2 education. If that is the case, flow of that traffic into the At the moment, IBM seems Memory: Our Name Says It says Future International's
. ,..
main artery. That's what Mi- unwilling to discuss utility Ii- All." IBM agreed to drop the Jackson, a two-tier operating
cro Channel does." The old censing of Micro Channel, al- suit, while AST agreed to re- system (DOS and OS/2) will
architecture, he says, is "like though Kryzan says that IBM spect IBM's "Personal Sys- exist for some time, depend-
a country road. If there were is "more willing to talk to ven- tem/2" trademark. IBM also ing on the users.
more demands than the sys- dors" now than it was in the agreed to drop its objection to
Bill Gates, chairman of
tern could handle, it just shuts past. Still, IBM's reaction to a AST's product names Ram- Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.,
down."
true PS/2 clone will only be page/2 and Advantage/2.
whose company is writing
When OS/2 and related known when one is brought to
A similar suit between os/2, shares Jackson's opin-
products become available, market. "This is a case where IBM and Orchid Technology ion: "I originally thought we'd
the new software running via you don't want to be first, you Inc., Freemont, Calif., was see some slowdown in pc
Micro Channel will be more want to be second," says Bri- settled with Orchid agreeing sales when the PS/2 was an-
efficient, Mannix says.
an Jackson, managing direc- that advertisements for its nounced, but it has not hap-
Most PC-compatible tor of IBM-compatible manu- add-on products for the PS/2 pened to the degree I thought
manufacturers see little de- facturer Future International would not be used in any way it would. The pc market has
mand for Micro Channel tech- Ltd. in Surrey, England.
to suggest that IBM endorsed continued to grow or, if any-
nology for another year or
Jackson, whose back- them. Although the two suits thing, grow faster since April
two. That is when they antici- ground is in engineering, says have been settled, the cases 2 than before."
pate the advantages of PS/2 the technical hurdles could be sent legal shivers down the
os/2 will run on the cur-
and os/2 will begin to take fo- cleared with relative ease, but backs of many clone makers. rent crop of pcs, but its full :g
.. -
cus. Terminal and PC-compat- the legal questions loom
Despite the legal battles, power will only be unleashed -~
ible manufacturer Wyse much larger, and are infinitely IBM may have backed off a bit on the PS/2 machines, Gates ;;
Technologies, San Jose, has a more costly to any company of late, although it won't come says. "A key point," he con- £
Micro Channel program in the willing to joust with IBM.
out and say so. Recently, tinues, "is that os/2 runs on ~
~w_o_r_k_s_,a_l_th_o_L_1g_l_11_·t_w_o_n_'_t_sp_e_c_-_ _ _IB_M_'s_in_it_i_al_s_t_r_at_e_g_y_c_o_n_-__c_o_m_p_a_n_y_o_ff_ic_i_al_s_d_id_a_d_m_i_t__o_ld_e_r_p_c_s_a_n_d_i_t_r_u_n_s_o_n_t_h_e_, j
36 DATAMATION 0 DE C EMBER 15, 1987
. t
.. J,
· y
There's a remarkable world of micro-
If you'd like a copy of our free guide, connect
mainframe communications that lies beyond
with Attachmate today. Call toll free:
' .
basic 3270 emulation. Attachmate will give you the extra help you need to discover it.
1-800-426-6283
Our new software-Extra! Connectivity
(1-800-IBM-MATE)
·
SoftwareTM -is the most powerful connectivity software available for the IBM® environment,
including the new PS/ 2:"
/£ID>~ ;1 iIBTI~
Our popular Quick Reference Guide for Micro-
. '
Mainframe Communications compares IBM, IRMA~" and EXTRA! and answers important
Quality Micro-Mainframe Solutions Attachmate Corporation
questions about the new IBM standards, mul-
3241 llSth S.E., Bellevue, WA 98005
tiple sessions, windows, file transfer, API and
(206) 644-4010
graphics. Information you should know before
Copyright e> 1987, Anachmate Corporation. EXTRA! Connectivity Software is a trademark of Attachmate Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark and Personal System/2
you make long-term commitments.
is a trademark of lnternational Business Machines Corporation. IRMA is a trademark of Digital Communications Associates, Inc.
Circle 19 on Reader Card
The NewTeleVideo 965. even get your choice of ASCll, ANSI or IBM Enhanced PC
An Incredible Display Of keyboard styles to fit anyjob. There's a 14" flat display in
Power And Versatility.
green or page-white with crisp, clear characters in a high-resolu-
tion lOx 16 character matrix.
For just $599, the new 965
The 965's versatility is
A 2-position keyboard with a
gives you ASCll, ANSI and IBM® unparalleled. It supports 23 ter- true accounting keypad, 20 user-
.. -
. '
PC compatibility in a single
minal emulations, more than programmable editing keys, and
terminal.
any other model in its class. You 128 programmable function keys.
The 965 can display up to single board design uses a 16-bit us toll-free or write today for
49 data lines, enough to show CPU and sophisticated gate
more information.
large spreadsheets or two
array to give you a high-perfor-
TeleVideo Systems, Inc.,
normal display pages of text at mance, very reliable terminal 1170 Morse Avenue, Sunnyvale,
the same time . No other termi- that's very easy to service.
CA 94088-3568.
nal this affordable can do that. There's also a full one-year end-
There's also an interactive
user warranty.
. '
calculator mode and dedicated memory for even more custom
' All in a sleek terminal that
takes up very little space.
TeleVideo®
TH E VI SION YOU NE ED TO SUCCEED
features. The 965's state-of-the-an
The 965 terminal, a whole new look from TeleVideo. Call
Call 1-800-835-3228
News in Perspective
Staying on top of your network is a big challenge. How do you ransfer different file types between MYS and YSE? Or VM and C? How do you coordinate production activities among data enters? What if they're using different security systems? Or unning at different release levels?
Network DataMover ( NDM) meets all these challenges while rnking the technology transparent to users. There are standard ata transfer and production management tools at all NDM odes. And all nodes operate as peers.
So give us a call if you need to get your data transfer opera·ons off the ground. Network DataMover offers a single solution ·om top to bottom. No matter how your network stacks up.
-800-292-0104
1 'lexas 21+550·0518
~ ~ Thr Nrt11ork
he Syslcm~ Center. Inc.
Dat;L\101·rr Compani
.,....... Gatcw:l\ Dml'. Suitl' 101
IU\1 is a rrgi~tc n:d trademar~ of
·in){. TX -5(}(,5
lntl·rnational Bu!linc~'.-1 \lachincs Corp
CirclP. ?1 nn RP."rf"r C:"rrf
PS/2. The PS/2, however, is
designed knowing that os/2
is an open system capable of
running many things at one
time. The rs/2 does that bet-
ter because it was designed
with that in mind."
When the PS/2 was an-
nounced in April, many ana-
lysts expected to see clones
by the end of the year. Now,
most analysts don't expect to
see clones until mid-1988, if
then.
If mid-1988 is an accu-
rate estimate of the arrival of
the PS/2 clone, that would
mean IBM would have had
slightly more than a year to
establish its position in the
market, which has been one
of Big Blue's goals for the
new machines.
"When we developed
the PS/2 and Micro Channel
we knew there were some
smart people out there," com-
ments IBM's Mannix. "The
question was how long would
it take [them] to reengineer
the thing. We figured about
nine-to-15 months before
someone would come up with
something similar, so we're
probably right on target with
that. It's been a lot tougher
than most people [clone mak-
ers] thought it would be."
With the first generation
of PCs, the clone market was
wide open because IBM used
off-the-shelf hardware. For its
new generation of PCs, IBM
has been less open about its
hardware, saying it is willing
to license, under certain cir-
cumstances, Micro Channel
utility patents, but not basic
patents for PS/2. Neverthe-
less, IBM has acknowledged
that legal clones are inevita-
ble. Still, the computer giant
hopes to maintain its techno-
logical lead. "We plan to take
what we've got and make it
better over time," says Man-
nix. "Others will try to catch
us and even try to leapfrog
us. If we become nerds then
someday they may catch up,
but I don't think that's going
to happen."
·
I :J4: t3: f(,f·1i):f ·
Honeywell Bull Layoffs
Honeywell Bull Inc. plans to cut approximately 1,600 jobs in 1988. The company, which was formed earlier this year and is owned by Honeywell Inc., Groupe Bull of France, and Japan's NEC Corp., had employed more than 20,000 people worldwide prior to the announcement. Also, Honeywell Bull intends to transfer mainframe manufacturing operations to Lawrence, Mass., from Phoenix as part of the overhaul.
Apple in Italy
Apple's Rome unit has announced a joint leasing venture with the successful Florentine clothing manufacturer, Benetton. Apple and Benetton will have equal shares in the new company, called Servizi Finanziari SpA (Safa). Safa is the first leasing venture for Apple. It will provide services for buyers and distributors of Apple products, including leasing, financing,factoring, and venture capital. In addition, Apple has acquired 24.9% of List SpA, which is a software house based in Pisa. List specia li zes in Unix research and the integration of the Macintosh into multivenclor environments.
CCA on the Block
Computer Corp. of America
(CCA), developer of the Model
204 DBMS, is among several
businesses targeted for sale
by Crownx foe., a Canadian fi-
nancial services and health
care concern. Crownx, which
acquired CCA in 1984, also
plans to divest itself of lnclisy,
(formerly Prod-Net) a
networking software devel-
oper, and Data Crown, a com-
puter timesharing venture,
both based in Toronto.
Crownx promises to fund CCA
operations through calendar
'88, a spokeswoman says.
The Cambridge, Mass.-basecl
firm had revenues of $42 mil-
lion in 1986.
·
. '
...
.11. -
+
.
' '
·
. ,
'f
·
· 1
...
. '
MAKE MORE DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CONNECTIONS
AT DEXPO EAST 88
You get six events with one visit to DEXPO East 88. Each helps you get the most out of your Digital Equipment system .
Build Systems
Attend the World's First
Get Practical Strategies
Productivity Fast
APPLE-DEC
To DEC Computing
. .;
DEXPO EXHIBITS
Everyth ing for you r VAX..s,
COMPUTING CENTER
Find out how to harness
DEXPO EAST CONFERENCE
PDP- I I s & DEC Micros . The
VAX.. power to the easy-to-use
What sta t e-of-the-a rt is in DEC
lat est enhance ments. New
Macintosh*. Get Mac-to-VAX..
computing Sessions include
integ rati on so luti ons. Compare
integration and appl ica ti o ns
Third-Party Vendors & th e
ove r 250 leading suppli ers
t ools from Apple and se lect ed
VAX..B I - Iss ues and Options .
Get you r hands on the newest
vendors . Spec ial: Conference
Transparent Integration
4GLs , networks, app lica ti ons
sessions on Apple-DEC
Between PCs and VAX..s, TCP/ IP
More th an I 0,000 products
connect ivity
in the DEC Wo rld , Configurati o n
Management. and more.
DEC vs. IBM at the
Sharpen Computer Skills
Free to all Attendees
IDC EXECUTIVE
TECHNICAL
Keynote Address By
.
CONFERENCE
Internationa l Data Corporation
TRAINING SEMINARS
Intensive half-day " how-to"
APPLE CHAIRMAN /CEO JOHN
p resents a two-day conference,
seminars cove r VAX../V MS
SCULLEY
"Co rporate Comput ing: DEC vs . IBM. The Challenge Continues " IDC analysts and indu stry experts d iscuss superpower strateg ies Who has the competitive edge?
networking Security Management Planning Programm ing Communications. And more. In troductory and advanced sess io ns. Instruction prov ided by ER i Training
Apple's Top Executive Speaks out on Apple-DEC so luti ons. Get the in side st ory on Apple 's drive to bring Macintosh into the
DEC environment
800--433--0880
Ask for FREE VIP Tickets
Ca 11 now to receive a free Show Preview highlighting over I 00 of the latest DEC-compatible products . and FREE VIP Tickets.
DEXPOAEAST 88
The 14th DEC*-Compatib l e Exposition & Confere n ce
Passenger Ship Terminal
Piers 90 & 92 (48th-55th Sts . at 12th Ave.)
New York City February 16-18, 1988
O rga ni zed by Ex poco nsul In tern ati o nal. In c 3 lnde pen ence Way. Princeto n. NI 085 40
· DEC 1s a reg istered trademark of Di gital Equi pmen t Corp Macintos h is a reg istered tradema rk of Apple Computer Inc
Circle 22 on Reader Card
· 4
A.
The hlem · W+I-.t"hheJm!'rPoersot 481S l.S Ll U
'Ul!
tions th~t would take hundreds of pages with C.
That's because INFORMIX-
.
4GL was designed from the
start to be an application
U l_lgl~~SJ_ hUed
building1angu~ge.rt'sbuilt .
around the full unplementation
··
...
be are 1~\ore "J'\!,jQ;'lL1L
tuorfeAsCNuSsItSomtSacnrd~aer:d:1SGQeLn.eAr~ntdi~fena,-
· CustomMenuBuildmg,abuilt-m
Report Writer and Windows.
And where does that leave you?
What's more, INFORMIX-4GL works
With the final, tricky ten percent of with UNIX~VMS~MS~DOS and Networked
your application yet to write, and no 4GL DOS operating systems. And, of course,
left to write it with. Sound familiar?
it's compatible with I FORMIX-SQL-our
If so, try 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
For 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 Informix Software, 4100
So once you're programming in
Bohannon Drive, 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-
r~ INFORMIX
I NF'OR~ II X is a registered trademark of Inform ix Softwa re, Inc. Other names idPr1tificd by T M are tradenamcs and or 1rad<.·ma rks of their respective manu rartu rcrs. © 1987, lnformix Soft war<', Inc.
The RDBMS for people who know better.TM
Circle 23 on Reader Card
Behind the News
(
MICROCOMPUTERS
'
1~
,.. ,,.
...
.... .
Pcs in Education: Reading,
....
,.
Writing, and Algorithms
ministrators reveal that it's not the federal or even the state governments that will spearhead the movement toward computer literacy in America's schools. The Computer Education Assistance Act of 1987, which held much promise for com-
Despite socioeconomic differences and scarce funding, school programs are pressing ahead to
puting in all U.S. schools, may, in its final form, offer very little in the way of federal assistance. It's the local school officials
. .I ,,..
provide students with computer skills .
BY THERESA BARRY
garten and are likely to have access to a well-equipped computer lab at school. In
and farsighted political leaders-whom New York City schools' chief information officer, Irwin Kaufman, characterizes as "visionaries"-who are paving the way
Today, students being graduated from inner-city or rural school districts, there in high-tech education.
America's schools are entering a job mar- is a greater chance that by the time a stu-
Statistics provided by the U.S. De-
ket that increasingly requires computer dent is graduated from high school and partment of Education's Center for Edu-
skills. But are some students being left enters the job market, he or she will not cation Statistics (compiled in October
behind because their schools do not pro- have had the same exposure to comput- 1986) reveal that the percentage of U.S.
vide computer training, either for eco- ers. That's not to say that all rural areas public schools using microcomputers in
nomic or other reasons?
are in the dark ages of computer usage. the classroom rose to 92.2 % in the fall of
An examination of the kindergarten On the contrary, the paucity of financial 1985 from 18.2% in the fall of 1981. The
0 .D
through twelfth grade educational sys-
resources in some of these areas is forc-
statistics show that the size of the
N
~ terns in various municipalities through- ing school administrators to develop in- schools makes a difference: 81.5% of
£ out the country reveals that, in general, novative and cost-effective ways to bring schools with fewer than 200 students had
J9 schoolchildren in affluent areas are being computers to their students.
microcomputers, while 97.9 % of schools
exposed to computers as early as kinder-
Interviews with various school ad- with more than 1,000 students did.
DATAMATION D DECEMBER 15 , 1987 43
Behind the News
.. ..
JEFFERSON HIGH'S REUTER: She believes her school "now has a direction for using computers and software in education."
In addition, In structional Uses of School Computers, a report issued in August 1986 by the Center for Social Organization of Schools at]ohns Hopkins University, states that the schoo!s most likely to have at least one computer are those in relatively high socioeconomic metropolitan areas, and those offering classes up to grade six in smaller metropolitan areas. Least likely to have at least one computer were schools in which most students come from farm families, those offering kindergarten through grade eight in metropolitan areas that are primarily white and non-Hispanic, but in which children typically come from a low socioeconomic background, and elementary schools that have "racially mixed or predominantly minority" students. However, three quarters of the schools in the low socioeconomic grouping had microcomputers.
In school districts with poor and/ or minority populations, the struggle to acquire computers is part of a larger move-
ment to better educational quality. In Kansas City, Mo., for example, a lengthy court case ended in June 1985 with a ruling that, since 1969, the state had discriminated against schools with largely black and Hispanic enrollment when allotting assistance. As a result, says Theodore M. Shaw, codirector of the Western region of the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund, the state is now required to provide funds to improve the quality of education in Kansas City schools-75.1 % of the students in Kansas City are from minority groups. And, says Shaw, the provision of computer equipment for computer assisted instruction and improved computer literacy, as well as for operating the schools, is a large part of this funding. "Those students [in the inner-city schools] need computer training as much as anywhere else," he says.
Arthur Benson, a Kansas City attorney who worked with the NAACP on the case, says that up until the ruling, the
Kansas City schools "were as [computer] illiterate as any major school district could be in the U.S." Just at the time when surrounding suburban schools began to consider acquiring computers (around 1969), Kansas City schools were losing their art, music, and physical education teachers. They "bottomed out" by the late '70s, Benson says. They are now in the midst of a transformation, purchasing computer equipment and implementing programs at a rapid pace.
Magnet School for Computers To Open
Schools that provide a specialized curriculum, often concentrated on a specific subject area-known as magnet schools-are being developed. Central High School Computers Unlimited is one such magnet school. It's situated in the heart of the inner city, says Benson, and is scheduled to open next September with a curriculum devoted to computers. The equipment budget will be $500,000 in the first year, $250,000 in the second year, and will level off at $100,000 per year within five years. While he's enthusiastic about the current state of affairs in the school system, Benson says it's too early to predict the results. He adds that, up to this point, students who are graduated from Kansas City schools have received no computer training.
Kansas City's students, as well as students from educational districts across the country, are entering a national job market that increasingly demands people with knowledge of computers. The Robert Half employment agency, which places workers in computer and financial service firms, reports that one of the questions most often asked by clients is, "Can this person use a personal computer?" Kelly Services Inc., a national temporary help service organization based in Detroit, reports that five years ago, training applicants to perform word processing and other computer functions was a mainstay of its business. Now, says senior vice president Carolyn Fryar, more time is spent testing them because most people who apply at Kelly already have some experience with computers. This experience is gained either
. in school or from previous jobs. 0 In the New York City school sys- O>
tem, nearly every school has some com- u: puter equipment, says the Board of Edu- -:2 cation's Kaufman. "Before a st udent J; graduates from a [New York City] high school, he or she will have had access to the use of a computer in school," he says.
...
.. 1
.,
..... '
.... .
44 DATAMATION DECEMBER 15 , 1987
) ..
,. ...
.. p
...
... .
. .,,
...."
., ..
' .....
.. -
" ..
In addition, Kaufman claims that 25% to
30% of the students in certain city
schools have computers at home. For
tho e who can't afford them, he says,
New York recently implemented a pro-
gram under which individual schools will
loan computers to some students for use
at home for a period of two to three
months. Kaufman attributes the success-
ful implementation of New York City's
computer program to the city's Board of
Education, whose members, he says,
have been tremendously supportive.
Still, there are some schools in New York
City that do not have adequate computer
facilities because of overcrowded condi-
tions, Kaufman admits.
There are many types of computer
programs in place in kindergarten
through grade 12 in New York City's
school system. For example, Kaufman
says there are 60 sites in the Writing to
Read program, which uses computers
and teaches children how to type, and NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS' KAUFMAN: "You can't put computers into schools without bucks."
s uch staff development programs as
How To Use the Computer in Arts, Kaufman, that the administrators are says, 500 new computer labs have been
which is geared toward teacher training. turning people away. "The interest on built in 125 schools throughout the five
The teachers in New York City's the part of teachers is not an issue," boroughs of New York City. The labs
public schools are being offered courses Kaufman adds . "They are [interested], contain IBM, Tandy, Apple, and Commo-
on computers during the s ummer in an and we know it's making a difference" in dore hardware. Kaufman says that the
"open university" setting. There is so the classroom.
labs are state· of the art. Approximately
much interest in these courses, claims
Over the last three years, Kaufman 125 to 150 more labs are planned per
The Bill: Watered Down, But Still Afloat
year, until all of the 1, 100 schools in the system have three to four labs each. The expenditure on computer hardware and
The Computer Education Assistance Act of 1987, which was originally introduced by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Sen. Timothy Wirth CD-Colo.) in 1983, held a great deal of promise for computer education in elementary and secondary
software over the last two years in New York City is about $30 million, not including instruction costs.
schools in the U.S. In October, however, the funding proposed in the bill was
reduced and sent to the Senate as part of a larger bill.
Joy Silver. a legislative as istant to Sen. Lautenberg in Washington, D.C.,
says the reduced version of the act maintains the main features of the original, but
funding for hardware, software, and instruction has been reduced to $10 million
from $150 millior.. To make matters worse, the $10 million is to be shared with
three other educational programs. Silver expects the overall bill to pass this year.
One provision of the original bill that carried over, and which Silver thinks is
quite significant, is the Eligibility for Grants requirements. Under these rules, indi-
vidual states must follow stringent guidelines and document their planning activi-
ties for proposed computer installations. This, she says, will force states to have a
clear direction for such programs in place, at least on paper.
A second important feature of the bill that remained intact is the Teacher
Training Program. Called Title II of the original bill, this section stales that the
National Science Foundation shall arrange through grants and cuntracts with pro-
fessional, scientific, or engineering organizations to improve the qualifications of
~"-
individuals who train the teachers who in turn are responsible for using computers for educational programs in elementary and secondary schools.
"0 '
"'
0
All of the school administrators interviewed for this article felt that funding of teacher training was one of the most, if not the most, important aspects of comput-
>-
.0
er literacy among schoolchildren.Just how important Title II was is revealed in a
Q
°'0 study published by the U.S. Department of Education in June 1986, which showed
0
£
a direct relation between teacher training in computers and district wealth.
Computer Literacy is Not the Goal
New York's program, which began in the high schools, has been filtering down to the junior high and elementary schools. The main focus in the use of computer has not been on computer literacy. "Jn a system with 950,000 kids you don't focus on computer literacy per se," says Kaufman. "We're concerned with how computers will enhance learning in various subject areas."
An example of a school system that is using computers to attract students to magnet schools in the inner city is in Worcester, Mass. John Burke, the assi tant superintendent of schools, says magnet schools in Worcester are given special treatment compared with nonmagnet schools when it comes to allocating equipment and staff to help with "minority de-isolation" and attracting students from nonmagnet districts.
The 1,500 teachers working in the
DATAMATION DECEMBER 15, 1987 45
Behind the News
Worcester public school system are into enthusiasm for computers in the discipline was the first to get computers.
trained at individual school and district classroom.
With federal aid cutbacks, Monahan
...
levels. Says Burke, "We made a decision
Monahan sees school districts in says it doesn't seem likely that a cohe-
not to ask for volunteers" among teach- New Hampshire, as well as those across sive national effort will rectify these
ers to train on computers. "All class- the country, becoming more and more in- problems.
rooms are required to go into the computer room. We worked in reverse." Burke
terested in purchasing computers. In a tour of comp uter facilities in U.S.
An Apple Network to the Rescue
adds that most teachers have taken to schools, she found that some schools had
An example of an innovative ap-
computers "quite well."
computer labs, but very little software. proach to providing computers in
Each of the 41 elementary schools One school she visited had "a few com- schools can be found in Salem, Ore.
in the Worcester school system has a 32- puters in its library" and the librarian, There, the challenge for local high school
station computer network, comprised of who never used a computer, was put in administrators was to share scarce rehard-disk-based Tandy microcomputers. charge of them. Monahan found that, sources, a characteristic of many rural
....,.
Software curriculum packages are imple- generally, there was a question of which communities that are geographically iso-
mented on the systems. The school sys-
tem also has a telecommunications pro- Vendor Offerings in Education
gram so that schools can communicate
and exchange ideas with other schools inside and outside of the district. Burke has seen the most direct effect of the chil-
Here is what the four top vendors in the kindergarten through grade 12 education markets offer in grants and discounts to educational institutions and teachers:
dren's use of computers in their writing Apple Computer Inc.
skills. He believes this is because the stu-
Apple's Corporate Grants department has a program called Equal Time,
dents are taught to use the computers as which targets disadvantaged students who traditionally have had limited access to
word processors, which allow them to correct their writing mistakes easily.
computers in classrooms. Grants consist of up to 20 pcs, peripherals, software, and support. Apple's approach to the education market is known as the Apple
" It's harder to pinpoint the effects in other curricula," adds Burke. "Did the com-
Unified School System. On the sales side, Apple offers the Education Purchase Program (EPP), which offers special pricing to qualified schools. Another program
puter teach a student to add better, or was it the math teacher?" he asks
under EPP allows full-time teaching professionals affiliated with schools to purchase a single Apple computer directly from Apple from a special price list. The
rhetorically.
Apple Repair Coupon Service Program offers service and repairs to elementary
Until this past year, funding for Worcester's computer faci lities came from state and federal sources. Massachusetts's property taxes were capped in 1983 at 2.5 %, spelling disaster for Worcester's schools, which cut 400 teachers. The city's budget picture has improved dramatically since, and Burke says city officials have been backing,
and secondary schools at a discount. The Apple Education Upgrades program offers schools with Apple computers discounts on selected upgrade equipment.
Commodore Commodore's education division ceased operation two years ago when the
company was experiencing financial woes. Recently, the group was reformed and is revving up. The company does not now have a grants program in place. Discounts are available to both schools and teachers through local Commodore dealers.
··
.. r
... (
among other things, computer education
fundin g.
IBM
··
The Situation at the Rural level
IBM offers no educational grants. Three special marketing programs for kin-
While the outlook for computing at New York City and Worcester schools looks pretty bright, some rural school districts are struggling. Marilyn Monahan of the New Hampshire branch of the National Education Association says, "The ratio of students to computers is still high. There is a great disparity in access to computers between kids of rich and poor communities."
dergarten through grade 12 are offered. A special price offering is available for tl1e PS/2 Model 25 when ordered by institutions that are offering classes in kindergarten through grade 12, that qualify for the education allowance, and that have a Volume Procurement Amendment or special bid contract in effect with IBM. IBM's Certified Education Specialist program for elementary and secondary schools allows a school, at the same time as it orders products, to select an IBM Certified Education Specialist from the IBM dealer network to supply assistance services at no extra charge. The IBM Faculty and Staff Purchase offering provides faculty and staff members with prices that are below list on selected IBM products for pe rsonal use.
Monahan says that because the level of interest in computers varies among districts, the benefits of computer education will also vary. She says the state is addressing this problem by providing computers to teachers to do their paperwork. By doing o, says Monahan, they will be spurring the interest among the teachers, which, it is hoped, will translate
Radio Shack's Education Div. The Tandy Educational Grants Program awards grants to qualified education-
al institutions. Two marketing programs are also offered. The Educational Purchase Discount program, in general, provides a 20% discount on Tandy/ Radio Shack computer hardware and software to public schools and eligible accredited, nonprofit, private educational institutions. The Teacher Opportunity Program provides discounts to qualified educators who purchase Tandy MS/DOS computers for their own use at home.
46 DATA M AT ION DEC EMB ER 15, 1987
Behind the News
lated. A consortium of four rural high schools and a community college in the Salem area implemented a low-cost network of Apple computers, which is allowing one "master teacher" to instruct students in four schools-separated by as much as 25 miles-simultaneously. Says Patrick Schwab, who provided the technical support for the project from Chemeketa Community College in Salem, the program has been "a delightful exercise in cooperation ... among schools with a natural rivalry between them."
The four schools-Jefferson, Cascade, Regis, and Staten-while rivals on the football field, are electronic classmates in the advanced writing and English composition class. The ma s ter teacher is putting assignments into the network using the Let's Talk software program (provided by Rust Systems, Santa Clara). Students are getting their assignments using one of the four or five Apple Il e micros at each school, loading their completed work back into the computers, which are networked via mo-
dems, and sending them to the teacher's mailbox. The teacher corrects the papers on-line and returns them electronically to the students, who then correct them and return them once more to the teacher. Communication between teacher and student through the network is supplemented by field trips, which physically bring the students and teacher together. The master teacher did not know how to use a computer before she began the course. She was trained at a local college, which helped her develop the curricula for use on the computer network. The teacher then spent about a day training the students on how to move around with the program on the computers.
Bulletin Board Used by Four Schools
The hardware was acquired through a grant program from Apple. ChemekeLa College initially provided the technical support and network management requirements of the program, as well as a joint bulletin board for all four schools. Schwab, the program director,
has since turned over the monitoring of the bulletin board to Karen Reuter of]efferson High School. Reuter, a media specialist in the school's library, had only basic computer skills when the program was implemented, she says.
Now, she boasts that taking over the operation of the bulletin boards has "caused me to be more skilled in the repair and maintenance of computers," as well as more knowledgeable about their general operation. Reuter also believes the program changed the whole tone of the school's curricula. "We now have a direction [for the use of] computers and software in education."
While disparities exist among affluent schools and schools in the inner-city and rural areas, in regard to computers and their uses in education, there are some encouraging signs that the socioeconomic barriers are not insurmountable. At least in the short run, the burden of interest in, and implementation of, computers in the classroom may rest with those at the grass roots level. ·
Introducing a 4.5 MB/sec PACE for IBM cl1annel emulation.
48 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
For years designers have been using our Peripheral Automatic Channel Emulator (PACE) to develop and test IBM 370-compatible peripherals quickly and inexpensively without tying up the mainframe.
Introducing the new turbo PACE. An advanced version with a blazing 4.5 MB/sec data streaming transfer rate.
So you can be ready faster with faster peripherals as soon as new market opportunities open up.
And that helps you make more money faster. The new Model DWJ45 PACE holds down costs by using an IBM-compatible PC as an inexpensive host processor to control and monitor test operations and to generate IBM Channe l Command Words (CCW's) . With PACE you avoid costly mainframe crashes, too. It not only recovers from protocol violations, it reports them as well. And versatile, flexible PACE is user programmable and completely portable for field use and for trade shows and product demonstrations. New, faster PACE. So you can set a faster pace for the competition . Call for details today. And ask about our Model OW300 Channel Monitor that takes the work and the guesswork out of IBM channel analysis.
--aata/Y!Jll!,-NC 4204 Sor rento Valley Blv d ., San D iego, CA 92 12 1 (6 19) 45 3-7 660 ·TWX: (9 10) 33 5-2066 · FA X: (619) 453 -2 794
IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.
CIRCLE 25 ON READER CARD
-
r-
.. ..
"
,. r
.
.. '
., There's a new player in town.
.. ..
.- ..
..
··
So cut the DEC:M
Sorbus~M the nations leading independent computer service company, has
, ..
spent the past 12 months putting together the manpower, the parts, and the systems to maintain your DEC equipment.
We've never been more ready. And neither have you.
We can take care of everything-from your PDP-llXX, to your VAX
11/7.XX, to your MicroVAX I or II. And most any peripheral you can name,
whether it's attached to a DEC host or not.
You'll get guaranteed 4-hour response time. Diagnostics. Assured
parts availability through the companies of Bell Atlantic Customer Services,
Inc. An 11-hour service day. And Field Engineers trained on your entire
system, not just on bits and pieces.
In other words, you'll get what you'd pay DEC a premium for-and
more-at our standard service rate.
Because, frankly, we don't even have a premium service rate.
Just premium service.
Just Sorbus service. The kind thats earned us the Number One slot
in Datamation and Computer Decisions reader surveys for eight and eleven
,..
years runrung. We're ready. So cut the DEC. call 1-800-FOR-INFO.
SorbusSM
A Bell Atla nticMCompany
Sorbus is a service mark of Sorbus lnc. DEC is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.
Circle 5 on Reader Card
50 E. Swedesford Road Frazer, PA 19355
Telephones and Key Systems
PABX Systems
+ ·
-· ·
,.
r-
Computer Maintenance
··
Microcomputer Business Systems
..
Mailing and
IBM-Compatible
., ,
Shipping Systems
Displays
+- r
··
Computer Peripherals
.·· .
. .
·
.....
CORTELCO* Second Largest U.S. Manufacturer of Telephones
and Key Systems
COURIER INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Leading Supplier of IBMCompatible Display Systems
FRIDEN ALCATEL Innovative Supplier of Postage Meters, Mailing and
Shipping Systems
PABX SYSTEMS CORP.** Supplier of Advanced Small and Medium Size PABX and
Key Systems
ATELM BUSINESS
.,..
.....
That's why we're called Alcatel Business Systems. Because our name
and key systems for small-to-mediumsize businesses, postal and shipping
reflects our focused commitment to
systems, and computer service and
improve the efficiency and productivity maintenance.
ofAmerican business.
As a group, these Alcatel companies
Which, in turn, will make American
work together to create a symmetry of
businesses more profitable.
systems and services, offering a com-
Alcatel Business Systems is a group
prehensive range of communications
of seven distinct companies joined by
and information processing solution~
a common vision-to provide you with for your business.
the best integrated communications,
And because each of these com-
business information systems and
panies is an integral part of Alcatel n.v. ,
services.
a multinational corporation with over
··
By themselves, these Alcatel companies are respected industry
$13 billion in sales, you can be sure that the Alcatel companies you work with
leaders in their fields, including single
today will be there when you need
··
and multiuser business computers, computer terminals, local area
them tomorrow. It's what we call our keystone
network products, letter-quality
commitment-and it's a fundamental
printers, office publishing systems,
part of the way we do business.
single and multiline telephones, PABXs
And we do mean business.
....
.. .
For more information on Alcatel and the Alcatel Business Systems companies,
call l -800-556-1234 (ext. 247) or in California 1-800-441-2345 (ext. 247);
or write Alcatel Business Systems, 1623 Buckeye Drive, Milpitas, CA 95035.
...
T
QUME CORPORATION
Leading Manufacturer of Computer Peripherals
T
SERVCOM
Computer Maintenance and Support Services
XTRA BUSINESS SYSTEMS
Complete Line of High Performance Microprocessor-
Based Computers
Circle 26 on Reader Card
·formerly Apparatus Division of ITT Telecommuni cat ions.
**Formerly ITT Bu siness Communico · lions Corporation and Thomson CSF Operations.
....
.., r
...
.....
CUSTOMER CLOUT!
DATAMATION'S
Directory of User Groups
...
A DATAMATION REPORT
· advance notice (or at least good hints) of forthcoming enhancements to soft-
While user groups may not
Users of the world do, in fact, unite. They ware, hardware, and support;
be the answer to every IS problem, they do offer
have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain. · lists of vendors that can provide add-on Whether they're customers of the big hardware, special software, and training;
·
information pros an easy
boys-IBM and Digital Equipment Corp. , · gripe sessions that give users a chance
route to increased influence
for instance-or at the fringes of the to educate a vendor;
with vendors. Other bonus-
multiM!PSworkstation market-like Sun · stature with the vendor, which will
es of membership include
folk or lntergraphites-users need more typically view an involved user as a more
access to fellow users
than vendors can provide. While vendors important customer;
willing to talk about what
are happy to give users the ostensible · access to special services such as on-
they've learned from run-
specifications of their products and lots line help bulletin boards;
ning their own systems and
of support material based on their inten- · contact with other users involved in
advance information on
tions, the day-to-day operation of com- similar vertical applications;
new hardware and soft-
puter shops can demand a lot more. · publications that the user can refer to
ware releases. We polled
Users need advice about the pitfalls of when confronted with an unexpected
the world's largest IS ven-
programs, the headaches that hardware challenge others have already met; and
dors, the companies on the
is prone to create, and the hot skinny · the increased stature both within the
DATAMATION 100, for in-
on service. That is where camaraderie computing community and the user's
formation on their user
comes m.
company that comes with membership in
groups. Herewith, every-
User groups provide IS profession- a professional organization.
thing you need to know to
als with a forum. By sharing their experi-
The cost of membership is usually
increase your clout with your vendor.
ences, expectations, and complaints, peanuts compared with the price of the group members can gain information hardware involved, so the only real tax
...
during the course of a meeting or two on the user and his or her company is the
that they otherwise might not glean from time involved in participation.
1
months of personal experience. More
User groups are either nursed along
important, because user groups help us- with the help of vendors or sponsored by
ers-participants exchange not only tips them. Vendors feel that these organiza-
but actual programs and other valuable tions improve relations between seller
material-those active in a vendor-relat- and buyer. No two vendors are alike in
ed organization can get practical value this regard, and it behooves the user in-
from the pool of know-how that the orga- terested in joining a group to give the ap-
nizations create.
propriate organization the benefit of the
Specific benefits generally provided doubt; at worst, the user can always drop
by user groups include the following:
out. Critics of the user groups, who were
· face-to-face contact with vendor per- willing to spout off on condition that they
J 2
sonnel who might otherwise be phone remain anonymous, say that the organi-
L__________________s_h_y_;_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _z_a_t_io_n_s_t_h_a_t_w_e_r_e_s_u_p_p_o_s_e_d_t_o_h_e_lp_th_e__m _ _ _~
52 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
·.;
/
/ '
.I.
.. ...
..i."
"'
-.
"I
""""
.,.
-·
...
·
"·
·.·.,
, .
"'
., " ,.
~
..
User Grou ps
save time actually wasted it, and that the meetings were just a way for members to get some time out of the office. By contrast, many user group members interviewed in the course of assembling DATAMATION'S directory say that their organizations have consistently provided valuable help to them as they have tried to get the most out of their machines, programs, personnel, and budgets. Between the extremes lies just about every kind of reaction-and every grade of quality-one might expect.
This directory itself shows the differences among groups, not onl:,· in terms of membership size, dues, and so forth, but also in terms of responsiveness. DATAMATION sent letters to every company in its roster of the world's 100 top vendors, and expected an overwhelming response from the firms that should have such groups. The response was indeed heartening, but, to our regret, incomplete. Some of the DATAMATION 100 vendors simply don't have groups, and, in the cases of companies such as C. Itoh and Bell Atlantic, there's probably no reason for them to. But others that seem like they ought to have such organizations (and that may indeed have them) simply ignored the requests for information. This may say something about the vendors, or at least their attitude toward customer relations.
Vendor: Amdahl Corp. Group: Amdahl Users Group Acronym : AUG Address: 1250 East Arques Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94088 Phone: (408) 746-8510 Annual fee: $0 Individual members: 400 Corporate members: 300 Systems/products: All Amdahl products Next meeting: June 12-15, Vancouver Top officer: George Frickle, Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Co. Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized Purpose: To provide a forum for members' education on management and technical issues in a conference setting. To research, gather, exchange, and
spread facts and ideas relating to Amdahl products and services. To collectively provide statements of concern and direction to Amdahl. To furnish an opportunity for Amdahl to communicate statements of direction and plans to AUG members. Services provided: Two national meetings per year.
Vendor: AT&T Unix Europe Ltd. Group: European Unix System User Group Acronym: EUUG Address: Owles Hall
Buntingford SG99PL, England Phone: 44-763-73039 Annual fee: NIA Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 2,680 Systems/ products: Unix Next meeting: April 11-14, London Top officer: Teus Hagen Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To promote the use of Unix and related services through the exchange of information and the cooperative efforts of its members. Servicesprovided: Two national meetings per year. Periodic workshops and tutorials. Quarterly newsletters.
Vendor: Bull SA Group: European Federation of Bull & Honeywell Users Associations Acronym: EFOBHUA Address: 43 Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin
75009 Paris, France Phone: 48-74-94-17 Annual fee: Expenses shared equally by members; this year, £10. Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 500 Systems/ products: DPS7 and associated products Next meeting: April 1988, London Top officer: Roland de Conihout, Methodes et Informatique Relation tovendor: Independent Purpose: To establish a privileged contact with the developers and manufacturers of DPS 7 products. To coordinate the activity of technical groups set up to handle a specific problem. To work in close cooperation at the international level toward a joint definition of systems application and new hardware specifications. To establish an opening toward the external market, taking advantage of the status of the European Association. Servicesprovided: One international meeting per year. Special interest group sem-
inars. Channels by which a user can request information of the vendor.
G c~~
Comdisco Disaster Recovery Services, Inc.
Vendor: Comdisco Inc. Group: Comdisco Disaster Recovery Services User Group Acronym: CDRSUG Address: 6400 Shafer Court
Rosemont, IL60018 Phone: (312) 698-3000 Annual fee: $0 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 800 Systems/products: All Next meeting: Feb. 3-5, Naples, Fla. Top officer: Raymond Hipp, CDRS Relation to vendor: Wholly subsidized Purpose: The CDRS User Group is fully sponsored by CDRS for the purpose of providing a forum for disaster recovery information exchange and education. Services provided: One national meeting per year. Customer advisory board. Quarterly newsletters. Periodic special reports.
Vendor: Computer Associates International Inc. Group name: TOPIC Executive Committee Address: 711 Stewart Ave.
Garden City, NY 11530 Phone: (516) 227-3300 Annual fee: $500 Individual members: 500 Corporate members: 0 Systems / products: CA-Top Secret Next meeting:June 6-10, New Orleans Top officer: Glenda Cummings, First Republic Bank Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To further the education of CATop Secret users. To further the awareness of security issues in general. To develop communication among users and between users and vendors. Servicesprovided: One national meeting per year. Periodic newsletters. Local user groups. User database. Enhancement tape.
54 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15 , 1987
t
...
,. .,.
..,
·
·
··
··
.. r
.··'
''
Vendor: Concurrent Computer Corp. Group name: Interchange Inc.
ference proceedings. Additional periodic NORTH AMERICAN
publications.
DATA GENERAL
Addre$s: 197 Hance Ave. Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
Phone: (201) 758-7575
Vendor: Control Data Corp. Group name: European Control Data
USERS GROUP
Annual fee: $125
Users
Individual members: 1,500
Acronym: ECODU
Acronym: NADGUG
Corporate members: 0
Address: 8100 34th Ave. S.
Address: 4400 Computer Dr.
Systems/products: Concurrent, Interdata ,
Minneapolis, MN 55440
Westboro, MA 01580
Perkin-Elmer products
Phone: (612) 853-6311
Phone: (617) 366-8911
Next meeting: October 1988, Parsippany, Annual fee: SFr300
Annual fee: $30
· 'I'
N.J.
.....
Top officer: Bill Atkins Relation to vendor: Independent
Individual members: N/A Corporate members: N/A Systems/products: Cyber 180, ETA Sys-
Individual members: 3,032 Corporate members: 0 Systems/products: All Data General
Purpose: To establish and maintain ave- tems supercomputers
products
hicle to effectively facilitate exchange of Next meeting: April 18-22, Nice, France
Next meeting: NI A
information among the membership. To Top officer: Johan Rivertz, Norwegian
Top officer: Calvin Durden, Tractor &
provide guidance and support for special Contractors
Equipment Co.
interest groups and local Interchange
Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized
Relation to vendor: Partially s ubsidized
...
chapters. To provide the membership Purpose: To communicate with CDC by with the means to collectively communi- presenting the opinions, recommenda-
Purpose: To advance the effective use of products or services marketed by Data
cate to Concurrent Computer Corp. on tions, and requests of ECODU members General or its affiliates by promoting the
present and future product development regarding CDC hardware, software, and free interchange of information.
and support.
related CDC services. To serve as a medi- Services provided: One national confer-
Services provided: One national meeting um to exchange information between
ence per year. Regional and special in-
per year. Special interest group meet- ECODU members.
terest group network. Monthly
ings. Local chapter meetings and local Services provided: Two national meetings magazine. Membership directory. Ac-
interest groups. Quarterly meetings be- per year. Quarterly newsletters. Pub-
cess to Data General publications. On-
tween the Interchange executive com- lished conference proceedings. Addi-
line bulletin boards. User contacts.
mittee and representatives of Con-
tional periodic publications.
Participation in surveys and other op-
current Computer Corp. Periodic news-
portunities to provide feedback to Data
letters. User program libraries. Elec-
General.
...,
,
tronic bulletin board. Vendor: Control Data Corp.
Vendor: Cray Research Inc. Group name: Cray User Group Inc. Acronym: CUG Address: 608 Second Ave. S.
Group name: VIM Inc.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Address: 8100 34th Ave. S.
Phone: (612) 333-5889
Minneapolis, MN 55440
Annual fee: $1,200
Phone: (612) 853-6311
Individual members: 0
Annual fee: $100
,..
Individual members: 0 Corporate members: NI A
Corporate members: 102 Systems/products: All Cray products Next meeting: September 1988, Bologna,
Data General users at their 1986 meeting.
Systems/products: Cyber 180, ETA Sys-
Italy
tems supercomputers
Top officer: Helene E. Kulsrud, IDA/CRD Vendor: Digital Equipment Corp.
Next meeting: May 2-5, Irvine, Calif.
Relation to vendor: Independent
Group name: Digital Equipment Comput-
Top officer: Ray Argo, University of
Purpose: To provide an open forum to
er User Society
Georgia
promote the free interchange of infor-
Acronym: DECUS
Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized
mation and ideas that are of mutual inter- Address: 219 Boston Post Rd.
Purpose: To advance the art of computer est and value to users of Cray comput-
Marlboro, MA 01752
usage through mutual education and to ers, and to provide a formal communica- Phone: (617) 480-3290
share ideas and information. To provide tions channel between members of the Annual fee: $0
channels to facilitate the exchange of
corporation and Cray Research Inc.
Individual members: 100,000
ideas and applications on a user-to-user Services provided: Periodic meetings and Corporate members: 0
basis. To provide CDC with the opportu- discussion groups. Publication of the re- Systems/products: All DEC products
nity to present its plans and ideas to VIM sults of research. Work to establish and Next meeting: May 16-20, Cincinnati
members. To provide a unified approach improve standards for communicating
Top officer: Charles Ham, E.I. Du Pont de
to CDC on modifications and enhance-
computer science research results.
Nemours
ments on hardware and associated CDC-
Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized
supplied software.
Purpose: To promote the exchange of in-
Services provided: Two national meetings Vendor: Data General Corp.
formation processing-related informa-
and two interim meetings per year.
Group name: North American Data Gen- tion among users of Digital Equipment
Quarterly newsletters. Published con- eral Users Group
Corp. products.
DATAMATION 0 DE CEMBER 15, 1987 55
User Groups
+
Services provided: Two national meetings topics. Quarterly newsletters. Status re- Top officer: Ron Kirkpatrick, RCA Service
per year. Local users groups. Special in- port on information processing systems Co.
terest groups. Periodic newsletters.
of all group members. List of software
Relation to vendor: Wholly subsidized
Publish session notes. Program library. packages for distribution.
Purpose: To promote free exchange of in-
formation and ideas pertaining to the use
of Gould computers and software. In-
Vendor: Diebold Inc.
Vendor: Fujitsu Ltd.
form Gould cso users of new products
Group name: The Advisory Group
Group name: FACOM Family Kai
and current developments in existing
Acronym: TAG
Address: 6-1 Marunouchi 1-chome
products.
Address: 5995 Mayfair Rd.
Tokyo 100,Japan
Services provided: Two national meetings
N. Canton, OH 01752
Phone: 03-216-23211
per year. Periodic newsletters. Access
Phone: (216) 497-5018
Annual fee: ¥24,000
to user-oriented surveys. Software
Annual fee: $230
Individual members: 0
donations.
Individual members: 275
Corporate members: 3,750
Corporate members: 0
Systems/products:All Fujitsu computers
Systems/ products: Diebold electronic
Next meeting: May 1988, Tokyo
Vendor: Harris Corp.
transaction products (ATMs)
Top officer: Mizuho Satou, Taisei Fire & Group name: Dialogue
Next meeting: Sept. 18-21, Chicago Top officer: Robert Cullinan, Shawmut
Marine Insurance Co. Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized
Address: 1700 Chantilly Dr. NE Atlanta, GA 30324
·-
BankNA
Purpose: To research and discuss the ef- Phone: (404) 329-8000
Relation to vendor: Independent
fective use and improvement of FACOM Annual fee: $40
Purpose: To provide members with a pro- computers.
Individual members: NIA
··
fe ssionally organized means of commu- Services provided: One national meeting
Corporate members: NIA
nicating issues related to electronic
per year. Periodic newsletters and other Systems/products: All Lanier Business
transaction products and services to
publications.
products
Diebold and sharing that information
Next meeting: NIA
with other members. The group also provides input to the vendor on product Vendor: Fujitsu Ltd .
Top officer: Marsha Camp, Camp Executive Secretarial Services
·"
enhancements and developments.
Group name: Fujitsu Scientific System
Relation to vendor: Independent
Services provided: One national meeting
Users Association
Purpose: Establish communications
per year. Regional meetings. Quarterly Acronym: SS-ken
among Lanier users on a local, regional,
newsletters. Member reference digest. Address: 6-1Marunouchi1-chome
and national basis. Increase effective use
Education class and accessory product
Tokyo 100,Japan
of Lanier systems. Provide a formal
discounts. Telephone hotline.
Phone: 03-216-23211 Annual fee: ¥20,000
communications channel between Dialogue members and Lanier. Reduce re-
,,
Vendor: Fujitsu Ltd .
Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 55
dundant developmental effort for applications.
·
Group name: Fujitsu Large Systems Us- Systems/ products: Large-scale FACOM
Services provided: One national meeting
"r
ers Group
computers
per year. Local user groups. Periodic
Acronym: LS-ken Address: 17-25 Shin-Kamata 1-chome
Next meeting: April 1988, Tokyo Top officer: Teruo Fukumura, Nagoya
newsletters.
·
Oto-ku
University
Tokyo 144,Japan
Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized
Vendor: Hewlett-Packard Co.
Phone: 03-735-1111
Purpose: To exchange technical informa- Group name: Intertex Inc.
Annual fee: ¥30,000
tion needed by FACOM mainframe users Address: 680 Almanor Ave.
Individual members: 0
in scientific and technical fields. To con-
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Corporate members: 231
duct discussions to respond to users
Phone: (408) 738-4848
Systems/ products: Fujitsu systems larger needs and to solve problems. To work Annual fee: $300 Corp ., $70 lndiv.
than M-360 or M-760/ 8
for the mutual benefit of users.
Individual members: 7,320
Next meeting:June 17, Tokyo
Services provided: Hold meetings on spe- Corporate members: 8, 700
Top officer: Takahiro Miura, Nippon Oil
cific subjects. Periodic newsletters.
Systems/products: All HP products
Information Syste ms Co. Ltd.
Next meeting: February 1988, Anaheim,
Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized
Calif.
Purpose: To provide the opportunity for Vendor: Gould Inc.
Top officer: Robert Grenoble, Intertex
group members to mutually exchange
Group name: Gould cs o User Group
Inc.
information and solve system-related
Address: 6901 W. Sunrise Blvd.
Relation to vendor: Independent
problems. To research uses of advanced
Plantation, FL 33310
technology and future system trends. To Phone: (305) 797-5717
Purpose: To promote common business
interests, encourage professional coop-
......
propose to Fujitsu as a group recommendations concerning Fujitsu hard-
Annual fee: $0 Individual members: 2,500
eration, foster the education and professional growth, stimulate the interchange
...,
ware and software.
Corporate members: 0
and exchange of information, and advo-
Services provided: One national meeting
Systems/products: All Gould products
cate the needs of the users of Hewlett-
per year. System exhibition seminar.
Next meeting: Oct. 19-21, Fort Lauder-
Packard computer products and related
Twenty-one research groups on various dale, Fla.
software, hardware, peripheral devices,
56 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
Aelectronic stock market. An international network of computers through which shares are electronically traded with incredible speed.
The market is NASDAQ, and the network was built with Unisys
··
equipment. The National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation
was founded in 1971. By 1978, daily volume was 11 million shares.
Now; in 1987, an average of 155 million shares a day are traded on a network of 3,000 terminals over a 6 million square mile trading floor. Uptime for the central Unisys computer is 99.92%.
"You can't leave network growth like that to chance. Build too fast and you waste money. Too slowly and
you compromise service," says Sam Vail. His Unisys team is responsible for helping NASDAQ plan and manage the network growth. "We've been through three generations of equipment without once stopping for software conversions," Sam proudly points out. "Unisys systems grow right alongside the customer. I guess that's what the power of 2 means." Unisys and NASDAQ. The power of 2·
"We kept
NASDAQ running
..
nonstop through
·
three major
upgrades:'
Sam Vail, AccountExecutive, Unisys.
UNI·SYS The powerof 2 Circle 28 on Reader Card
User Groups
and other related products within the Hewlett-Packard community, and to provide direct services to the membership. Services provided: Periodic conferences and seminars. Magazine and periodic newsletters. Software library. Interface between users and HP.
Vendor: Hitachi Ltd. Group name: HITAC Users Association Address: 6-27-18 Minami-Oi Shinagawa- ku Toyko 140,Japan Phone: 03-763-2411 Annual fee: ¥24,000 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 1,500 Systems/ products: Hitachi -S, -M, -L, -E, -G, and -T 2050 / 2020 Next meeting:June 1988, Tokyo Top officer: NI A Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized Purpose: To conduct studies and exchange ideas regarding the effective use of Hitachi computer systems to increase business efficiency. To provide a venue for promoting friendship among its members. Services provided: One national meeting per year. Chapter-level meetings, training sessions, and field trips. User group magazine and periodic publication of research papers.
Vendor: Honeywell Bull Inc. Group name: HLSUA (U.S.) Acronym: HLSUA Address: 4000 Town Center
Southfield, Ml 48075 Phone: (313) 353-4760 Annual fee: $325 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 450 Systems/ products: All Honeywell Bull products (predominantly large systems) Next meeting: April 1988, Dallas Top officer: Stanley G. Louck, Current Inc. Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To provide a forum for users to exchange and disseminate information. To promote the use of products and related vendor systems. Services provided: Two national meetings per year. Member-donated software library. Work with standards organizations.
Vendor: Honeywell Bull Inc. Group name: North American Honeywell Users Association
Acronym: NAHU Address: P.O. Box 2037
Willingboro, NJ 08046 Phone: (609) 871-1531 Annual fee: $75 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 536 Systems/ products: DPS 4, 6, 7/7000, Level 6,Level62/64 Next meeting: March 6-10, Norfolk, Va. Top officer: Shirley Eick, Metropolitan Life Inc. Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To promote the free exchange of information between member units and vendors, and to facilitate and stimulate the timely interchange of information among member units. Services provided: Two national meetings per year. Quarterly regional group meetings. Educational seminars at reduced cost.
HLSUA
r.
u
R
0
p
E
Vendor: Honeywell Bull Inc. Group name: HLSUA (Europe) Address: 121 Avenue de Malakoff
F-75116 Paris, France Phone: 45-02-90-90 Annual fee: FF3,900 Individual members: 30 Corporate members: 330 Systems/products: DPS/66, 8, 88, and 90;
GCOS3,8
Next meeting: May 18-20, West Berlin Top officer: Franco Fiorina, Interbanca Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: Establish a privileged contact with the developers and manufacturers of Honeywell Bull products. Coordinate the activity of technical groups set up to handle a specific problem. Be present at the meetings organized by each organization. Work in close cooperation at an international level toward a joint definition of systems application and new hardware specifications. Establish an opening toward the external market, taking advantage of the status of the European Association. Services provided: Periodic meetings by region. Specific task groups. Productspecific seminars and systems engineers meetings. Facilitate requests to vendor for system changes. Advanced information to the Associations.
UNITED STATES
IGUG
Vendor: Intergraph Corp. Group name: United States Intergra ph Graphics Users Group Acronym: USIGUG Address: One Madison Industrial Park
Huntsville, AL 35801 Phone: (205) 772-2292 Annual fee: $0 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 3,000 Systems/products: All Intergraph products Next meeting: May 15-19, Huntsville, Ala. Top officer: Avrind K. Shah, Samborn, Stekette, Otis & Evans Inc. Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To provide a forum for the exchange of information that will lead to the more efficient utilization of graphic computer systems by its members and other interested users. To promote the free exchange of user-related information by maintaining up-to-date membership information and periodically communicating details of user activities. To provide a means by which suggestions and/ or requirements for changes and improvements to graphic computer systems can be submitted to Intergraph Corp., as representing overall user opinion. To invest in real.estate, mortgages, stocks, bonds, promissory notes, or any other type of investment. To own or lease real or personal property necessary or appropriate in the conduct of its business. Services provided: One national meeting per year. Special interest groups, local user groups. Periodic newsletters.
Ameeting of the IGUG Board of Diredors.
60 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
. _
... >
'... Codexotters11 users something 1ota11v new
..,... and unexpected.
Peace of mind.
We understand that the 25 years' experience solving
It's unexpected, because
lifeblood of your network
complex networking problems?
even with the tremendous performance and econo,
flows through your Tl links. So the Codex 6290 employs
Voice Compression = More Cost Savings -
The Codex 6290 provides 4 to 1voice compression,
mies ofTl transmission, it's only natural to worry
a revolutionary high speed packet technology, spe,
so you get twice as much channel capaci ty without sacrificing voice quality.
about the worst that can happen. Downtime, plain and simple.
cifically designed to keep even the most
complex network up
That translates into savings often exceed ing 30%inTl
Now Codex helps
and running under
line cos ts.
alleviate this fear by
critical conditions.
offering the most
·· resilient and reli,
able Tl product on the market
So now you can get the bene,
fits of both trad,
itional packet
For more information, call 1-800,426-1212, Ext. 7202. In Europe, call 32,2,6608980.
't today. So the worst that
switching and circuit
Or write Codex Corporation, Dept. 707,202, Maresfi.eld
can happen, can't.
switching Farm, 7 Blue Hill River Road, techniques. Canton, MA 02021,1097.
'f
Introduc,
Including
And let us prove just how
ing the Codex
high through, great your expectations can be.
6290 Integrated
put and
... ,.
Digital Exchange. By utilizing
superior toll quality
a tota11y new
Network Resiliency -Withaneconomical comprehensive redundancy scheme,
voice
Tl technology, self-diagnostic and self-healingcapabilities, trans,
the Codex 6290 allows your sys tem to imme-
Codex can now diatelyandautommicallybouncebackifit
mission.
offer you both gets hie.
And of
Networking
Expertise No matter how complex your Tl network, the Codex 6290 can help it run more cost efficiently and reliably. And Codex will help
incredible reliability and incred, course the Codex
ible savings (often exceeding 6290 is backed by our
' 30% in Tl line costs).
worldwide customer
you with complete design, installation , applications and training support.
Fast Packet Technology - With this revolutionary new technology,
support and service organization.
infor-
The Codex 6290 is just one of many steps we're taking to
codex
encounters a failed Tl circuit a "packet" will \ automatically
, improve digital network per, \ formance. But what else
would you expect from
®MOTOROLA
The Networking Experts
reroute to its final destination.
__\ .. -
the company with over
© 1987 Codex Corporation. Motorola and ® are registered tradema rks of Motorola, In c. Codex is a registered trademark of Codex Corporation.
Sales offices in more t han 40cou ntriesworldwide. In Europecall 32-2-6608980, inCanada416-793-5700, in the Far East 852-5-666706 (in)apan8!-3-5848101), in theA mericas617-364-2000.
User Groups
Vendor: IBM Corp. Group name: Guidance for Users of Integrated Data Equipment Inc. Acronym: GUIDE Inc. Address: 111 East Wacker Dr.
Chicago, IL60601 Phone: (312) 644-6610 Annual fee: $400 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 2,950 Systems/ products: 4300 or 308X minimum Next meeting: Nov. 1-6, Atlanta Top officer:John Nack, Caterpillar Inc. Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To identify areas of productivity improvements in IS functions and provide the tools to make them a reality. Develop techniques for effective management of resources and to help meet quality, cost, and schedule objectives. Enable members to reach their goals by maximizing efficiency and effectiveness of their data processing systems. Provide user information on the proliferation of hardware and software in today's market and develop projections for future developments and trends. Work closely with IBM to make data processing systems as reliable and dependable as users require. Services provided: One national meeting per year. Special interest groups. Periodic symposia. Newsletters and other publications.
--
- -::SHAREE:
Vendor: IBM Corp. Group name: SHARE Inc. Address: 111 East Wacker Dr.
Chicago, IL60601 Phone: (312) 822-0932 Annual fee: $250 initial fee Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 2,546 Systems/products: High-end 370 architecture, MYS, VM and associated products Next meeting: Feb. 28, Anaheim, Calif. Top officer: Mike Armstrong, Ryder System Inc. Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To foster research and development of information processing technologies and to improve the effectiveness of SHARE members' information
services by promoting mutual support and influencing the development of information processing products and services. Services provided: One national meeting per year. Periodic discussion groups, forums, panels, lectures, and other similar programs. Publication of the results of research. Establishing and improving standards for communicating computer science results and programming information to interested members of the public.
SHARE officers Susan O'Connor, Michael Armstrong, John Chapman, and Cecilia Cowles.
Vendor: !CL Group name: !CL Computer Users Association Acronym: ICLCUA Address: P.O. Box 42
Bracknell RG 122LQ, England Phone: 03-44-482933 Annual fee: NIA Individual members: 4,000 Corporate members: 2,500 Systems/products:All ICL products from Series 39 to DRS Distributed Systems Next meeting: May 4-6, Birmingham, U.K. Top officer: Bryan Carlett, British Broadcasting Co. Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To coordinate action to achieve the most effective use of ICL products and to assist !CL to meet the present and future needs of users. Services provided: Periodic management and technical seminars, conferences, and exhibitions. Collective representation to ICL and government standards organizations. User magazine. Discounts on supplies. Viewdata service.
Vendor: Lockheed/CADAM Inc. Group name: CADAM Users Exchange Acronym: CUE Address: P.O. Box 3684
Torrence, CA 90510 Phone: (213) 212-5297 Annual fee: $400 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 427
NORTH AMERICA
Systems/products: All CADAM software Next meeting: March 14-17, New Orleans Top officer: Rosemary Russo, Grumman Aerospace Corp. Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To further the communication between users and the vendor. To promote the use of products and related vendor systems. Services provided: Two national meetings per year.
Vendor: Lockheed/Metier Management Systems Group name: Artemis Users Association Acronym: AUA Address: 2900 N. Loop West
Houston, TX 77092 Phone: (713) 956-7511 Annual fee: $0 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 300 Systems/products: All Artemis products Next meeting: Nov. 8-10, Houston. Top officer: Dale Winge, McDonnell Douglas Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To provide a forum for users to share the benefits of their combined experience with Artemis, and to collectively interface with Metier Management Systems Inc. Services provided: One national meeting per year. Periodic chapter meetings. User exchanges and roundtables. Quarterly newsletters. Education on new products. Enhancement request prioritization.
Vendor: MAI Basic Four Inc. Group name: Key Accounts Program Acronym: KAP Address: 14101 Myford Rd.
Tustin, CA 92680 Phone: (714) 730-2698 Annual fee: $0 Individual members: 700 Corporate members: 380 Systems/products: All MAI Basic Four products Next meeting: March 3, Palm Springs, Calif. Top officer: Bernard Jubb, MAI Basic Four Relation to vendor: Wholly subsidized
62 DATAMATION 0 DECEMB ER 15, 1987
·> -
·
-
._
.....
..-.
...,
Purpose: To serve the special needs of MAI Basic Four's largest customers through a single point of contact, repre-
Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To provide an independent forum for information interchange for
(li~ll!ft)
··
senting those customers at MAI Basic
members of the Microdata community
Four corporate offices.
and the McDonnell Douglas Computer
FEDERATION OF NCR USER GROUPS
Services provided: One national meeting Systems Company.
per year. Quarterly newsletters. Key ac- Services provided: One national meeting
Top officer: Rodney McComas , Walls In-
counts representative who has access to per year. Special interest groups. Peri- dustries Inc.
other large customers.
odic newsletters. Recommendation pro- Relation to vendor: Independent
gram. Opinion surveys and other
Purpose: To promote and further the in-
methods of feedback. Software dis-
terests of NCR user groups. To consoli-
Vendor: Martin Marietta Corp.
counts. Staff help desk.
date the voices of member groups to
_..
Group name: MAS User Group Address: 6801 Rockledge Rd.
more effectively communicate with NCR. To promote and further the educational
Bethesda, MD 20817
Vendor: McDonnell Douglas Corp.
interests of all NCR users.
Phone: (301) 897-6000
Group name:!HS Users Group
Services provided: One national meeting
Annual fee: $50
Acronym: IHSUG
per year. Various advisory committees.
Individual members: 0
Address: 600 McDonnell Blvd.
Quarterly newsletters.
Corporate members: 22
Hazelwood, MO 63042
Systems/products: All MAS Software
Phone: (314) 233-4743
....
Next meeting: November, Orlando, Fla. Top officer: Larry Cram, Star Technol-
Annual fee: $100 Individual members: 0
ogies Inc.
Corporate members: 26
Relation to vendor: Heavily subsidized
Systems/products: Integrated Hospital
Purpose: To provide a channel for com- System
munications between users and the com- Next meeting: Feb. 8-10, Clearwater, Fla.
pany. To give direction to the company Top officer: Carl Weber, Swedish Medical
for software development.
Center
Services provided: Two national meetings Relation to vendor: Independent
per year. Periodic newsletters.
Purpose: To serve as a forum for the ex-
Vendor: McDonnell Douglas Computer
change of information about the McDonnell Douglas !HS; to provide continuing education relating to hospital informa-
Ronnie Anderson and Bob Richter, conference directors of NUCON:88 and NUCON:87.
Systems
tion systems for members of the user
Group name: MICRUInternational
group through organized programs pre-
Address: 4000 MacArthur Blvd.
sented by users, McDonnell Douglas, or Vendor: NEC Corp.
Newport Beach, CA 92660
other allied personnel; to recommend to Group name: All NEAC Users Association
Phone: (714) 250-1000
McDonnell Douglas priorities for ongo- Acronym: NUA
Annual fee: $175
ing modifications or additions to McDon- Address: Mita 1-4-28 Minato-ku
Individual members: 650 Corporate members: 0
nell Douglas !HS and its interfaces; to recommend to McDonnell Douglas im-
Tokyo 108,Japan Phone: 03-456-5111
......
Systems/products: Microdata 6000, 9000, provements in software, hardware, and Annual fee: ¥24,000
18; Series 7000
client services support; and to establish lndi'lidual members: 0
Next meeting: May 1988, Clearwater, Fla. and maintain a mechanism to coordinate Corporate members: 2,000
Top officer: Larry Johansen, Signature
the activities of the user group with the Systems/products: All NEC products
Verification Systems
St. Louis office of McDonnell Douglas. Next meeting: March 11, Nagoya,Japan
Services provided: Two national meetings Top officer: Akira Kadoi, Odakyu Electric
per year. Published conference proceed- Railway Co. Ltd.
ings. Channels for users to request infor- Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized
mation of the vendor.
Purpose: To give users of NEC computers
the chance to meet each other and
exchange their knowledge and experi-
Vendor: NCR Corp.
ences. To foster cooperation between
Group name: Federation of NCRUser
NUA and the vendor.
Groups
Services provided: One national meeting
Acronym: FNUG
per year. Special interest groups. Peri-
Address: Mail Station USG2
odic symposia. Internal newsletter.
Dayton, OH 45479
Overseas training.
Phone: (513) 445-3131
......
Annual fee:$250 Corp., $25 Indiv.
Individual members: 3,000
Vendor: Norsk Data SA
Corporate members: 0
Group name: Norsk Computer Users
Microdata users eavesdropping.
Systems/ products: All NCR products Next meeting: April 24-27, Nashville
Society Acronym: NOCUS
DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987 63
User Groups
Address: P.O. Box 25 Bogerid Oslo, Norway N-0621
Phone: 47-2-62-60-00 Annual fee:SKr1000 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 650 Systems/products: All Norsk Data products Next meeting: November 1988, Montreux, Switzerland Top officer: Chris Leslie, University of Reading Relation tovendor: Partially subsidized Purpose: To assist users in making the best possible use of their equipment. To establish contact between users. To attend to the common interests of its users. Services provided: Periodic conferences. Special interest group meetings. Newsletters. Software catalogue.
NPUG
Vendor: Prime Computer Inc. Group name: National Prime User Group Acronym: NPUG Address: P.O. Box 697
Laurel, MD 20707 Phone: (301) 490-2056 Annual fee: $25 Individual members: 1,600 Corporate members: 0 Systems/ products: All Prime products Next meeting: May 28, New Orleans Top officer:John Steffen, John Steffen & Associates Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To provide an organized means of communication among Prime computer users and between the users and Prime Computer Inc. To provide an established forum for sharing ideas with Prime. Servicesprovided: One national meeting per year. Local and regional groups. Special interest groups. Quarterly newsletters. Software library.
Aproduct booth at a recent NPUG gathering.
COOPERATIVE USERS OF RECOGNITION EQUIPMENT
Vendor: Recognition Equipment Inc. Group: Cooperative Users of Recognition Equipment Acronym: CURE Address: 2701 E. Grauwyler
Irving, TX 75061 Phone: (214) 579-6137 Annual fee: $275 for conf. Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 5,620 Systems/products: All REI equipment Next meeting: May 2-4, Dallas Top officer: Suzanne Martin, Houston Lighting and Power Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized Purpose: To collectively learn about new technologies, productivity improvements, innovative applications, and coming enhancements. To exchange information and ideas with other users of REI systems. To meet with REI top management to discuss issues and concerns, resulting in solutions to meet the user's needs. Services provided: One national meeting per year. Quarterly newsletters. Electronic bulletin board network.
Looking at REI gear at a CURE meeting.
Vendor: SAS Institute Inc. Group:SAS User Group Acronym: SUGI Address: 1 SAS Circle
Cary, NC 27572 Phone: (919) 467-8000 Annual fee: $0 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 0 Systems/ products:SAS System, System 2000, Data Management System, C products
The SAS product demo area at SUGI 12.
Next meeting: March 27-30, Orlando, Fla. Top officer: Gerry Hobbs, West Virginia University Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To give SAS software users the opportunity to discuss their software applications, learn techniques from other users, and hear about research and development at SAS Institute. Services provided: One national meeting per year. Published proceedings. Consultants directory.
Vendor: Shared Medical Systems Corp. Group: SMS National User Group Acronym: SNUG Address: 51 Valley Stream Pkwy.
Malvern, PA 19355 Phone: (215) 296-6300 Annual fee: $0 Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 120 Systems/ products: Independence software Next meeting: April 13-15, Nashville Top officer: Dennis Dasanko, University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To promote the professional development and recognition of the membership of SNUG. To provide mutual assistance and liaison between SNUG and SMS. To provide a medium for the exchange of ideas, information, innovations, and solutions among members. To promote resource sharing. To facilitate the establishment of priorities for enhancements and new developments. Servicesprovided: Two national meetings per year. Periodic newsletters.
64 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
. _
t1 I
., '
, .
1
+r
DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR,
ORACLE®WORKS MORE EFFICIENTLY ON HARRIS COMPUTERS.
It's a wonder. The wizardry of Harris
Di;Wrn BENCHMARK
computers makes ORACLE DBMS software work harder for less money. Less money than
6---=- IBM and DEC. In fact, the Harris HCX-9 con-
= currently supports greater than 100 users at
--== significantly less cost per user. -- And Harris is the only name offering a --== - complete range of hardware, from super-micros
== - to super-minis, that supports ORACLE in a
-== - UNIX®environment. We also offer other lead-
- ing software products for office automation,
I---== -- - CAD/ CAM/ CAE and project management.
- And our extensive networking capability
PRI CF. I P ERFORMANCE
7 - 6.67
5-
4-
3.70
3-
21.38
H ARR IS
IBM
DEC
.... - such as NFS, Ethernet, DDN and SNA provide
HCX-9 4381-2 8600
for flexibility and a complete growth path. Harris has a strong commitment to
ORACLE. We were the first ORACLE OEM and the first to deliver distributed database capabilities.
When you decide it's time for ORACLE to go to work for you, make sure you team it with the harder-working system.
To see how fast ORACLE works on Harris computers, write Ron Baker, Harris Computer Systems Division, 2101 W Cypress Creek Road, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309.
Or call 1-800-4-HARRlS, ext. 4052. At Harris, wonders never cease.
HIGH P ERFO RMANCE C OMPUTER SYSTEMS F OR Tu E WOR LffS M OST D EMA NDING USERS.
;!) HARRIS
Circle 32 on Reader Card
User Groups
tangent
Vendor: Toshiba Corp. Group: TOSBAC Research Association
Address: 1-1-1 Shibaura Minato-ku
Tokyo 105, Japan
Vendor: Tandy Corp.
Phone: 03-457-2758
Group: Tangent Address: P.O. Box 17580
Annual fee: ¥20,000 Individual members: 0
.. ..
Fort Worth, TX 76102
Corporate members: 1,000
Phone: (817) 390-3700
Systems/ products: All Toshiba computers
Annual fee: $100
Next meeting: October 1988, Hiroshima,
Vendor: Sun Microsystems Inc.
Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 250
Japan Top officer: NIA
Group name: Sun Microsystems User Group Inc.
Systems/products:All Tandy computers Next meeting: April 18-20, Fort Worth
Relation to vendor: Independent Purpose: To provide members with infor-
.,. _
Acronym : SUG
Top officer: James Foy, Foy Inc.
mation on developments on Toshiba
Address: 2550 Garcia Ave.
Relation to vendor: Independent
computers and associated products.
Mountain View, CA 94043
Purpose: To provide members with a fo- Services provided: One national meeting
Phone: (415) 691-4343
rum for the exchange of ideas and to act per year. Symposia and subcommittee
Annual fee: $30 Individual members: 3,300
as a liaison with Tandy Corp. Services provided: One national meeting
meetings. Monthly newsletters.
Corporate members: 924
per year. Periodic newsletters. Elec-
Systems/products: All Sun products
tronic bulletin board.
Next meeting: NIA
Top officer: Sanford Meltzer, SUG
Relation to vendor: Partially subsidized
Purpose: To encourage the collection and Vendor: Texas Instruments Inc. dissemination of techniques, software, Group: Texas Instruments Mini/Micro-
··
procedures, documentation, and related computer Information Exchange
information of interest to Sun users . To Acronym: TIM IX
encourage the exchange of information between Sun users and Sun Microsys-
Address: P.O. Box 201897 Austin, TX 78720
Vendor: Unisys Corp. Group: CUBE Inc., A Unisys Users
·
tems Inc. as well as between Sun users Phone: (512) 250-7151
Association
and vendors of products of interest to
Annual fee: $40
Address: P.O. Box 33053
Sun users. Services provided: One national meeting
Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 6,000
Detroit, MI 48232 Phone: (313) 972-8698
··
per year. International and domestic
Systems/products: All Texas Instruments Annual fee: $0
chapters. Member committees. Special products
Individual members: 2,900
event meetings. Quarterly newsletters. Next meeting: June 19-22, San Jose
Corporate members: 1,500
Donated software distribution library.
Top officer: Allan Butler, AccuLase Inc.
Systems/products: All Unisys products
Relation to vendor: Independent
Next meeting: November 1988, New
Purpose: To promote the exchange of in- Orleans
Vendor: Tandem Computers Inc.
formation among users of Texas Instru- Top officer: Terry Moser, Public School
Group name: International Tandem Users ments computer equipment.
Employees Retirement System
Group
Services provided: One national meeting
Relation to vendor: Independent
Acronym: !TUG
per year. Local chapters. Monthly news- Purpose: To engage in the interchange of
Address: 111 E. Wacker Drive
letters. Software and supplier directo-
ideas, techniques, and information. To
Chicago, IL60610
ries. Insurance of $5,000 for accidental hold meetings, seminars, and work-
Phone: (312) 644-6610
death and dismemberment.
shops. To study, formulate, and propose
Annual fee: $300
modifications, changes, and additions to
Individual members: 2,000 Corporate members: 0
Unisys equipment and systems.
1
Services provided: Two national meetings
Systems/products: All Tandem products
per year. Special interest groups. Pub-
Next meeting: May 9-11, Amsterdam, the
lished conference proceedings.
Netherlands
Top officer:Jim Holman, Domtar Inc.
Relation to vendor: Independent
Purpose: To advance the effective utiliza-
Vendor: Unisys Corp. International
tion of Tandem computers by promoting
Group: Unisys Users Association/SUAE
the free exchange of information con-
Acronym: UUA /SUAE
cerning the use of such machines.
Address: Bakers Court Bakers Rd.
Services provided: Periodic national meetings. Various publications. Discounts on user group activities. Software library.
In June 1987, Texos Instrumentsshowed off new hardware at ameeting in Orlando, Fla.
Uxbridge UB81RJ, England Phone: 0895-37137 Annual fee: £250
66 DATAMATION C DECEMBER 15, 1987
''A computer-------
link to the
·
factory floor? It would cut
days off the
inventory cycle."
-....
''Higher
~
production,
lower costs ...
OK, do it!"
..
·
-·
"There's just one small problem..."
Find solutions. Discover new ideas. Get the infor-
I -
I
YES, I want to find strategic solutions
Join them and find your solutions.
_,
,.
mation, products and strategies you need to succeed at The World
at The WCCI D Send me information on attending D Send me information on exhibiting
I
March 28- 31, 1988
McCormick Place
. ..
Congress on Computing.
Name
Chicago, Dlinois
Title
The first and only world-
class exposition and
Company
.....
conference for MIS/DP
Address
w~ ee SM
··
--
professionals, The WOO will attract thousands of your colleagues from
City
State _ _ Zip
Return to: Mr. Irwin Stern The World Congress on Computing
I
WORLD CONGRESS on COMPUTING
computer-reliant organi-
300 First Avenue · Needham, MA 02194
zations around the world.
Produced by
I
Strategic Solutions
L IEI THE INTERFACE GROUP, Inc.· World's Lea.ding Independent. Producer of Conreren=d Exposltlons
_J
t o Real-World Challenges
Circle 30 on Reader Card
User Grou ps
_,.. -
Individual members: 0
other things as in the opinion of the asso- Phone: (213) 373-3633
Corporate members: 750
ciation shall be conducive to the attain-
Annual fee: $200
Systems/ products: Mapper OS/3 Series
ment of the above goals.
Individual members: 0
1100 Unix
Servicesprovided:Two national meetings Corporate members: 700
Next meeting: November 1988, Nice,
per year. Eight newsletters per year.
Systems/ products: Xerox printing
France
Formal dialogue with Unisys on behalf of systems
Top officer: D.B. Bachmann, Union Bank members.
Next meeting: November 1988, Los
of Switzerland
Angeles
Relation to vendor: Independent
Top officer:James Shand, RHM Computing
Purpose: To provide a forum whereby us-
Ltd.
ers may freely exchange ideas and infor-
Relation to vendor: Independent
mation concerning all aspects of Unisys
Purpose: To provide forums for the de-
products and services; review and com-
velopment and exchange of information
ment on all aspects of Unisys products,
and support among users of advanced
services, and policies; present require-
electronic printing systems. To act as a
ments for policy change and product de-
liaison among the users and suppliers of
velopment to Unisys; influence Unisys'
such systems and other suppliers of per-
future products and services; generally
tinent products and services.
influence computer industry standards
Services provided: One national meeting
and practices. To provide a platform
Vendor: Wang Laboratories Inc.
per year. Joint technology councils. Re-
from which Unisys may respond to re-
Group: International Society of Wang
gional and special interest groups. Bi-
quests from UUA /SUAE; present new
Users
products and services; inform UUA /SUAE Acronym: rswu
monthly newsletter, published conference proceedings. Font catalo-
of Unisys policies that affect members of Address: 1 Industrial Ave.
gues and discounts. Hotline information
UUA / SUAE.
Lowell, MA 01851
service. Product enhancement surveys.
Services provided: Two conferences per
Phone: (617) 459-5000
year. Annual meetings of executives
Annual fee: $80
with Unisys top management. Periodic Individual members: 7,000
Vendor: Xerox Corp.
newsletters. Published conference
Corporate members: 0
Group name: Ethernet Decision Makers
notes and proceedings. Periodic special Systems/ products: All Wang products
Group Exchange
reports. Submission of product recommendations to Unisys.
Next meeting: November 1988, Boston Top officer: Bill Sturgen, Solar Turbine
Acronym: EDGE Address: 6632 South 191 Pl.
·
Inc.
Kent, WA 98032
Relation to vendor: Independent
Phone: (206) 251-6010
Vendor: Unisys Corp.
Purpose: To advance for the benefit of
Annual fee: $300
Group: Unisys Users Association/ ABCU Wang users the effective utilization of Individual members: 226
Acronym: UUA / ABCU
computers, systems, and software mar- Corporate members: 200
Address: Woodside, Over Lane Baslow DE41RT, England
keted and/ or approved by Wang Labora- Systems/products: All Xerox systems
tories Inc. by promoting the interchange Next meeting: October 1988, Dallas
t-
Phone: 24688-3241
of information and education concerning Top officer: Gordon Sollars, Merrill Lynch
Annual fee: £20 to £100
their use. To provide channels to faci li- Relation to vendor: Independent
Individual members: 0 Corporate members: 1,250
tate the exchange of computer programs Purpose: To increase the use'fulness of
among rswu members. To reduce the
the Ethernet and its devices.
Systems/ products: A, V, BlOOO, B20 se-
duplication of development efforts.
Services provided: Two national meetings
ries, CMS, Linc/Mapper
Services provided: One international meet- per year. Periodic publications. Provide
Next meeting: April 1988, Gothenburg,
ing per year. Regular technical publica- liaison between Xerox Corp. and users.
Sweden
tions. Software library service. Wang
Top officer: Frank Oschwald, UUA/ABCU product update information.
Relation tovendor: Independent
Purpose: To provide an organization for
collecting and representing the views of
installation users and to act as a liaison between such users and Unisys on mat-
..
ters of common interest. To stimulate cooperation between Unisys and users for the general good of users. To act as a medium for the exchange of information and opinions between members, and to render assistance to members by providing advice and information, and by such other means as the association shall deem appropriate, with a view to promoting the most effective use of
International
Vendor: Xerox Corp. Group name: XPLOR International Address: P.O. Box 1501
Reprints ofall DA TAMA T!ON articles, including those printed in 1986, are available in quantities of500 or more. Details may be obtained by telephoning Frank Pruzina in the Reprints Department at (312) 635-8800, or by wn.ting to Cahners Reprint Services, Cahners Plaza, 1350 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60013.
members' installations. To do all such
Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274
68 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
··
_.,. The Hall-Mark solution:
The UDS FaSialk 2400
,. .
With Universal Data Systems · Fasralk 2400 modem . getting your message from
one place to the next has never been easier
- and faster.
The Fasralk 2400 is an ultra slim
modem. no bigger th an the base of a
standard telephone, yet it's ultra fast and
ultra powerful. The Fasralk 2400 transfers
information at a fast 2400 bps. and with its
unique Talk/Data switch. you can switch
from voice to data and back to voice again
in the same phone call .
Fully Hayes®compatible. the UDS
FaSTalk 2400 utilizes the AT command set
-·
allowing it to function with a variety of th e most popular software. With the Fasralk 2400 and Mirror II software. UDS offers one
of the most sophisticated. powerful and
,....
,.
easy-to-use communica tion packages on the market.
Call Hall -Mark today for more informa-
tion or a demonstration of the UDS Fasralk
2400 modem . Hall-Mark ca n help you with
data transfer problems and all your
computer systems and peripherals needs.
.. ,.
.....
. ·-
© 1987 Hall·Mark Electronics Corp.1400-4028 Hall-Mark Electronics 1s a subs1d1ary of lhe Tyler Corp
Hayes is a trademark of Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc
Alabama Huntsville (205) 837-8700
Arizona
Phoenix (602) 437-1200 Calltornla
Bay Area (408) 946·0900
~~~~~~n~(~~~~1,~2~~00
San Diego (619) 268-1201 San Fernando Valley (818) 716-3300 West LDsAngeles(213) 217-8400
Colorado Denver (303) 790-1662
Connecticut (203) 269-0100
Florida Ft U!uderdale(305) 971 -9280
Onando (305) 855·4020 Tampa Bay (813) 655·5773
Georgia Atlanta (404) 447-8000
llllnol1 Chicago(312) 860-3800
Indiana Indianapolis (317) 872-8875
Kllnus Kansas Coty (9 13) 668-4747
Maryland
Baltimore (301) 988-9800
M1nachu1etts Boston(617) 935.9777
MlnneM>te Minneapolls(612) 941 -2600
A COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE
Mlasourl St Louis (314) 291 -5350
New Jersey Fa1n1eld (201) 575·4415
NewVork
~i~~~~1i~~~1~1;~
North Carolina Raleigh (919) 672-0712
Ohio Cleveland (216) 349-4632 Southern Oh10(614} 688-3313 Oklahoma
Tulsa (800) 231 ·0253 Penneylvanl·
Philadelphia (215) 355-7300
TexH Austin (512) 258-8848 Dallas (214) 553·4300 Houston (713) 781 -6100
Utlh Sall U!ke City (801) 972-1008
Wlacon1ln M11waukee{414) 797-7844
Circle 31 on Reader Card
OS/2, the operating system designed by IBM and Microsoft, could launch a revolution in 32bit microcomputing. The software has already sent sparks flying in the DOS camp. Some bold users who've taken the 32-bit plunge have already chosen Unix or one of the new micro operating systems for the Intel 80386 chip. Many of the 32-bit breed have begun to experiment with OS/2, which promises to open up new opplication realms.
·-
t ,
The Big Change for ...
Small Systems Software
BY MARY JO FOLEY
moving on the micros as users are. It is, after all, an integral part of the company's
ig changes are in Systems Application Architecture, which
store for micro users won't be firmly fixed for another three
who want to take ad- years (see "The Printer Promise of
vantage of 32-bit pow- SAA," Nov. 1, p. 58).
er. The engine of this
Early copies of OS/2 have been
change is the os/2 op- doled out to certain users who have been
erating system, which trying it out for between three months could revolutionize and a year or more. Microsoft, which is the way pc customers based in Redmond, Wash., reports that it
·-
use and configure their systems. Talk of has sold more than 2,200 of its Software
the new system and its claimed advan- Development Kits to independent soft-
tages is already sending sparks flying be- ware vendors and Fortune 1000 compa-
tween users and vendors in the DOS nies. These Software Development Kits
camp.
include the os/2 kernel, language com-
The two vendors that designed pilers, and specifications for Microsoft's
OS/2-IBM and Microsoft-insist that LAN Manager and Presentation Manager
the operating system will be 100% up- graphical interface, which is scheduled to
wardly compatible with DOS. Neverthe- be released to oems by the end of 1988.
less, DOS diehards maintain that the In general, the perceptions of the soft-
legions of micro users who for years ware held by these early users are quite
have needed the power of machines positive.
based on the Intel 80386 chip shouldn't
Not everyone, however, is waiting
have had to wait so long for os/2. (It was for os/2 to arrive. Some pc users have
in fact written for the 80286).
already taken the 32-bit plunge and have
os/2 is the first major new operating settled on Unix or one of its derivatives.
system to be introduced for any type of Other micro mavericks have decided to
computer in the past few years. It began experiment with one of the new micro-
N
shipping earlier this month. os/2 Ex- computer operating systems and envi-
~
tended Edition release 1.0 will become ronments designed specifically for the
·
available in July 1988. Release 1.1, which 80386 chip. These include PC-MOS/386
~
will include Presentation Manager, will from The Software Link Inc. (Atlanta),
!
be available in November of next year. VM/386 from Softguard Systems (Santa
~
Big Blue may be just as impatient lo Clara), Merge 386 from Locus Comput-
j L.._~~~~~~~~-g-et~th_e~c_o_n_tr_o_v_e_r_s1_·a_l_o_p_e_r_at_in_g~s-y_s_te_m~~in_g~C_o_r_p_.~(S_a_n_t_a~M_o_n_i_ca_,~C-a_li_f._)_,_an~d~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
70 DATAMATI ON 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
- ...
·
,·.·
DATAMATION DECEMBER 15, 1987 71
OS/ 2: Th e Big Change
as machines that can forms for United's airline reservation
serve as part of small systems package. Only one of the sys-
network systems.
tems, however, is running os/2, mostly
IBM has stated for experimentation purposes.
publicly that it has al-
At Bow Hunter Supply Inc. (BS!), an
ready shipped 1 mil- archery equipment wholesaler in Vienna,
··
lion units of the W.Va., os/2 is not a burning question or 10-model PS/ 2 line, desire. BS! is more than satisfied with its
.. -
and that there have 80386-, 80286-, and 8086-based Compaq
been an equal number hardware, which replaced a mainframe-
of low-end and high- host timesharing setup.
end systems going
One of BSl's two 80386 machines
out the door (see that run under DOS acts as a file server for
Look Ahead, Dec. 1, BSI's inventory control and receivables
p. 9). However, vari- system. The other DOS micro acts as a re-
ous research houses port driver for the same system. Break-
have reported that ing out of the timesharing mainframe
the bulk of these ship- mode "was like going from a window fan
ments have been of to an air conditioner," says BS! president
the Model 30 and Jerry Moore. "It immediately reduced
Model 80.
costs and improved our efficiency."
Fleig says that
Pharmaceutical giant Rorer Group
IBM, unlike Compaq, Inc. in Fort Washington, Pa., is another
"doesn't want its content Compaq customer. Rorer has in-
PEAT MARWICK'S CORNELL: We have nothing running on OS/ 2 yet.
Model 80s to stand stalled more than 20 Deskpro 386s in the alone . It wants them past eight months as part of its effort to
..,
Desqview 2.0 from Quarterdeck Office to be networked or hooked into its minis redesign its personnel management sys-
Systems (also in Santa Monica).
and mainframes."
tem. All the micros are running DOS ver-
Other 32-bit micro users have cho-
That may not be the systems sce- sion 3.3. The company is gradually
..4 A
sen DOS combined with Microsoft's re- nario some companies have in mind, par- adding Windows 386 to each system.
cently released Windows 386 program. ticularly those that have yet to declare
The DOS-Windows 386 combination
~ ,.
Several members of this combo club, un- any definite plans for os/ 2. "We don't "allows us lots of os/2 advantages al-
der the tutelage of Compaq Computer know when, or even if, os/ 2 will be add- ready," says Marc Kustoff, manager of Corp., Houston, have spearheaded the ed to our systems for in-house use," de- personnel information systems at Rorer.
'
opposition to OS/2. However, critics ar- clares Maureen Germano, marketing "Personally, I'd still be hesitant about go-
t~
gue that without os/ 2, 32-bit machines manager at Covia Corp., which is the ing with PS/2 and os/ 2 unless I needed are little more than high-powered, high- Rosemont, Ill.-based IS subsidiary of os/'2 Extended, primarily due to the
.,
priced ATs.
United Airlines.
[threat] of vaporware."
Despite these moves, William Lem-
Almost all of Covia's PS/2 Model
The wizards of os/2, IBM and part-
t -
pesis, an analyst with market research 50s are being used as development plat- ner Microsoft, claim they won't be leadfirm Dataquest Inc. in San Jose, believes
~
that many users will migrate to OS/2 as soon as it becomes available.
"The 80386-based computers are
"-
...
really power-user machines," he ex-
plains. "Their users are generally more
'·
knowledgeable and technical than other pc users." It follows, he says, that those
....
same knowledgeable users will demand a
.,.......
more robust operating system such as OS/2.
.
Marketing Strategies Are Polarizing
But there's more than just performance dividing the OS/2 and DOS camps. The marketing strategies of competitors IBM and Compaq are also playing a substantial part in polarizing the factions.
According to Claire Fleig, an analyst with International Technology Group (ITG), a consulting firm based in Los Al-
0
j
. ..
0
~
E 9
·~
1
gi
~~
-· i
~ ~
0:
R
~
.0
tos, Calif., Compaq has taken advantage
0. 0
of the head start it had on IBM by touting
O> 0
its 386 computers as standalone units or KUSTOFF OF RORER: He fears the threat of vaporware with OS/ 2.
~
72 DATAMATION DECEMBE R 15. 1987
··
ing customers down the yellow brick ous designs fo r airport terminals , ground Manager before it fully commits to os/ 2.
road, and they're adamant about fulfilling transportation, and airspace traffic pat- The firm' s business development office
their pledges.
terns. Current micro software designed continues to receive shipments of vari-
\~,.
Although the operating system was to handle these tasks "quickly runs into ous 32-bit micros. All but one of these written for both the 16-bit and 32-bit Intel the 640K [memory] barrier" imposed by systems run DOS. The one exception is
I >
80286 and not for the 32-bit 80386, it is DOS, Cornell explains.
the machine used by Lockheed's senior
still supposed to allow users to tap into
Peat Marwick has been renting time defense requirements analyst William
many of the improved features of the on mainframes to run these simulations. Cathaway, who is dabbling with OS/ 2.
new micro systems from various ven- Now, using its two PS/2s along with the
Cathaway feels that the operating
dors. Included in that bag of goodies are 30 or so Compaq machines it acquired system's multitasking capabilities could
substantially expanded memory, in- over the past fe w months, the company come in handy in marketing applications
creased processing speeds, advanced will rewrite its mainframe software for such as customer demonstrations. He
networking capabilities, and better the micros and may even develop new also feels, as other early experimenters
_...
graphics.
applications, says Cornell. He believes do, that "a few years from now, OS/ 2 will
Also, os/ 2 is supposed to let users that the interactive graphics capabilities be one of the main, if not the main,
run multiple tasks and software packages should ease both the writing and running [microcomputer] operating systems." ·
concurrently (multitasking), restrict ac- of Peat Marwick's new software.
cess to certain parts of programs via file
Lockheed Aeronautics Systems Co. Mary]o Foleyisa Washington, D.C.-
locking, and perform other functions that in Burbank, Calif. , like Peat Marwick, is based business and technologyfreelance
once were considered to be the sole do- waiting for tools such as the Presentation writer.
main of minis and mainframes.
IBM's OS/2 Extended version is slat- OS/ 2Takes Microcomputing Beyond the Mundane
ed to include support for various commu-
nications schemes and for micro, mini, and mainframe networks. Another advertised feature is built-in relational database capabilities based upon SQL.
Somewhere over the operating system rainbow lies the Emerald City of microcomputer applications- the promise held out by OS/2, the operating system that seems destined to change the pc user's universe.
The changes would be most welcome by many micro users who are anxious
Pacific Bell an Early 05/ 2 User
to see new applications avenues open up. A recent survey done by Compaq Com-
··
puter Corp. showed just how dull life at the low end is these days. Purchasers of The jump from DOS to OS/ 2, on the new micros based on the Intel 80386 chip told Compaq that they were using their
other hand, seems to be more manageable-at least in the eyes of some users.
more powerful systems for rather mundane computing chores. About 60% are using their souped-up systems to run their current productivi-
One early OS/ 2 experimenter is Pacific ty-type applications more quickly and efficiently. In that application category are
. '
Bell in San Ramone, Calif., which is using spreadsheets and project management software. The other 40% are using their the software as a base for its electronic 32-bit machines as technical workstations in areas such as computer aided design,
mail system.
networking, and software development.
Pacific Bell's PS/ 2s fun ction as file
Claire Fleig, an analyst with International Technology Group, a market re-
servers, linking various desktop sys- search firm in Los Altos, Calif., predicts that once OS/2 becomes widely avail-
tems. Electronic mail users eventually able- in the next three-to-five years- more powerful micros will be used as true
will be able to run the software across distributed data processing systems. Some of these supermicros will serve in
multiple systems, according to Bradley standalone clusters. Others, running IBM's OS/2 Extended Edition, will be tied to
Kubitz, who was an engineering analyst midrange and large-scale computers.
at Pac Bell. For Pacific Bell, multitasking and
Look for new OS/ 2 applications software that will hit the shelves next year. Some of this software will be revved-up versions of existing DOS packages. Micro-
-,. ,
advanced networking were the major soft Corp., for example, has announced an OS/2 version of its Excel spreadsheet,
,.
selling points for OS/ 2, says Kubitz, who explains that the company has decided to
which is slated to start shipping in the first quarter of next year. The new combo program will thus be able to take advantage of multitasking.
wait until OS/ 2 actually begins shipping
Aspokesperson for Ashton-Tate, Torrance, Calif., says that the company will
before setting a release date for the com- enhance DOS versions of its dBase database management product. At the same
,.
mercial version of its electronic mail pac kage .
time, it will add new features to its os/2-based dBase, which will include more fourth generation extensions, improved graphics interfaces, transparent data
,.
Progress on the os/2 front is much sharing, cross-application language facilities, and better work group solutions, the slower at the Airport Consulting Ser- spokesperson says.
vices division of Peat, Marwick, Main &
Industry watchers forecast a rash of other miraculous micro advances in the
Co. in San Mateo, Calif. "So far, we have years to come. Some of the possibilities include desktop publishing packages that
yet to get anything up and running on allow users to integrate photos into documents, word processing software with
.. .
os/2," acknowledges management con- on-line dictionaries, thesauruses, and spelling checkers, and all types of applicasultant Thomas Cornell. " We're waiting tions with interactive, computer-based instruction built in .
to see Presentation Manager."
By the turn of the decade, an operating system that can take full advantage of
The Peat Marwick division has fo ur 32-bit power should be ready to roll. But, by then, an even more powerful genera-
or fi ve OS/ 2 projects waiting in the tion of microprocessors in the Intel 80486 class will certainly be on the market.
wings. Several of these are micro-based Also by 1990, industry gurus predict, IBM's VM operating system will have migrat-
simulation models that will allow Peat ed way on down to the micro.
Marwick users to experiment with vari-
DATAMATI O N 0 DEC EM BER 15, 1987 73
The comrany with the right connections for
and
and
r----------------,
I
I
I
andi
IBM 3720 COMM UNICATION CO NTROL LER
PUBLIC SWITCHED NETWORK
IBM 9370 INFOR MATION SYSTEM
....
·-
~
-+ -
·
.._-
. ~
...
,,,_
,.
"' -
,..
and ,,_
· <
. '
. (
t-
"It s great to be 1rellco1111ected."
The striking thing about this picture isn't that IBM can make each of these
..
connections. It's that IBM can make all of them. (In fact, this picture represents just "·
a few of the connections we've helped some of our large customers make.)
..
No other company has connected so much with so much else, to serve so wide a ~ ..
spectrum of need. Nor is anyone doing as much to help you manage it all.
·~
IBM offers a broad range of powerful, and complementary, connectivity options,
including our industry-leading IBM Token-Ring Network, flexible voice/data
.. ~
networks through the new IBM 9751 CBX, plus direct connections for our family of ......
mid-range computers.
But the real news isn't just where we are, it's where we're going. Our goal is to make " any-to-any,
end-to-end" networks truly possible, and as soon as possible.
Cf\ IBM 1987. MicroVAX and VAX are trademarks of 01g1tal Equrpment CorportHton Hewlett- Pa1·kard is a trademark of Hewlett- Packard Company IDNX is a trademark of Network Equipment Technology. Inc Sun-3 15 a trademark of Sun M icrosystems. Inc
and
IBM9370 INFORMATION SYSTEM
· ~ and
_,.
IBM8232 LAN CHANNEL STATION (TCP/IP GATEWAY)
IBM PERSONAL COM PUT ER WITH 3270 EMULATION
ROLM PHONE' 240D
PERSONAL COMPUTER FAMILY
and
and
and
and
.
,..
.; and
r.-
·
"f
..
-· t
and
A. ,..
fr
and
. and
N.E.T. IDNX' T-1 RESOURCE MANAGER
IBM 9751 CBX. DEVELOPED BY
ROLM
also gives you the most help in managing them.
t'
,. We're expanding our Systems Network Arch itecture (SNA) to make it more flexible, and more
~ r useful, in more ways: for mid-range computing, for distributed processing, for both host-based and
~
,.
peer-to-peer connections. We're committed to open systems, so we're making it easier for you to include other manufac-
turers' products in IBM networks.
And we're arming you with new tools to bring your ever-growing networks under tighter
,..., control: software like our highly acclaimed IBM NetViewTM and IBM NetView/PCTMthat not only help
.., you manage your systems more completely, but with fewer people in fewer places.
··-
What matters, after all, isn't just how many devices you can hook together, but how well they
work togethe1: Nobody's installed more systems that solve more problems than IBM. And
rest assured, nobody's working harder to make future connections even better. -;- __- ®
--- --- ------·--- Some of theconnections shown above require add1t1onal equipment such as commun1cal1on controllers. modems or protocol converters
AmA.esn.can
as ...
It's true, our Consumer Information
Catalog is filled with booklets that can answer the questions American
..
consumers ask most.
To satisfy every appetite, the
Consumer Information Center puts
together this helpful Catalog
quarterly containing more than 200
federal publications you can order. It's ·
free, and so are almost half of the
booklets it lists. Subjects like
nutrition, money management,
health and federal benefits help you
"I-
make the right choices and decisions.
So get a slice of American opportunity Write today for your free Catalog:
----~- Consumer Information Center Department AP Pueblo, Colorado 81009
A publi c service o f th is pub l1 ca t1 o n a nd the
Consum er Info rm ati o n Cent er o f the
Us Genera l Se rvi ces Adm i ni strati o n
....
NEW FOR SOL/OS USERS
TOOISTO EXPLOIT THE POWER
OF IBM"'S SQL/DS
r~, NEW PRODUCT
r~. NEW RELEASE
r SPECIAL
t . t .
PRICING
VMSQL/REPORT A sophisticated SQL/DS re port writer for complex re ports such as invoices, form letters, mailing labels and more.
VMSQL/EDIT The full -fun ction table editor that provides full -screen editing for multiple rows of data from multiple tables now comes with full data va lida tion, c ursor-based screen painting, improved full -screen query and more.
Call 800-562-7100 to save on these SQL/DS power tools. Now for a limi ted time we're offering special pricing on all VMSQL products.
APPLIED RELATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
A Division of VM Software, Inc., 1800 Alexander Bell Dr.,
Reston, VA 22091 (703) 264-8000
I BM ~ is a regis lf'rt'd tnu lema rk of International Bu s iness Mac hinl·s.
l-DTM-87 12 15
CIRCLE 33 ON READER CARD
76 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
Small colleges
can help YQUmake
it big.
Just ask: Ronald Reagan, Presi-
' 1'
dent of the United States, Eureka
College, IL; Pierson Mapes,
President, NBC Television Net-
work, Norwich University, VT;
Robert Noyce, Vice Chairman of
the Board, Intel Corporation
and Microchip Inventor, Grinnell College, IA; Red Johnson,
.
President, Borg-Warner Corpo-
ration, Millikin University, IL.
A small college can help you
make it big, too. To learn more
about our small independent col-
leges, write for our free booklet.
Send your name and address to
Council of Independent Colleges,
Box 11513, Washington, D.C. 20008.
C}C: $pon90fed by
The Council of Independent Colleges
·
DRTRMRTION
Reader Vote Advertising Contest
Winners!
Congratulations to the following advertisers, the five winners of DATAMATION's Reader Vote Contest. Their ads in the August 15 issue were judged to be most informative and most helpful by DATAMATION readers:
· AST Research
In-house Agency
··
· Compaq Computer Corp.
Ogilvy & Mather, Houston
· Emulex
-·
In-house Agency
· Control Data Corp.
Campbell-Mithun, Inc., Minneapolis
· Hewlett-Packard
Leo Burnett, Chicago
,.
Over two thousand readers participated in the Reader Vote
Contest, and here on the following pages, are the ads these
Information Systems professionals chose as the winners.
Watch For the Next Reader Vote Contest, Coming Up in the January 1, 1988 Issue!
ALot OfPromises. t.,_
11111111111111111111IllII IIl lllIIIIIIIIllllllIl llllIIII II Iu111111111
··
Take a close look at these two AST Premium/286. Built into
software. As long as it's AT®-
machines. At 10 MHz, operating every system is AST's Enhanced compatible, it will run on the
at one wait state, you might
Expanded Memory (EEMS),
AST Premium/286.
·-
believe IBM's®Personal System/2TM allowing EEMS software such as
What can the competition
Model 50 is one of the fastest WindowsTM2.0 and DESQviewTMto offer you today? Promises for the
80286 computers available. Fact multitask existing applications ... future. We can't wait that long.
is, an InfoWorld benchmark test today.
And neither should you.
ranks the AST Premium/286'sTM
So, hold on to any of your
If you want more than
... _
CPU performance number one. existing off-the-shelf application promises, make a commitment
You might also think IBM's
system is the first to take advantage of powerful multi-
Benchmark Test Results For Selected Performance Computers
tasking operating system soft-
CPU measures main processor performance relative to the 6-M Hz (Model 099) IBM PC AT.
ware. And you'd be wrong again . Hard disk performance is tested for sequential and random data access.
... ..
When we introduced the AST
SYSTEM (80286-BASED PCS)
CPU
Hard Disk
Hard Disk
Premium/286 a year ago with
(Clock speed in MHz/No. of wait states)
(sequential)
(random)
advanced FASTslotTMarchitec-
AST Premium/286 (1010)
2.25
1.41
2.12
ture, we designed a home for
IBM PC AT (6/1)
1.00
1.00
1.00
Microsoft's®MS OS/2:M In fact, it
IBM PC XT-TM286 (6/0)
1.32
1.33
1.03
delivers all zero wait-state mem-
IBM PC AT (8/1)
1.37
1.1 7
140
ory for MS OS/2.
IBM PS/2 Model 50 (IO/I)
1.71
1.70'
1.1 9'
Of course, MS OS/2 may
IBM PS/2 Model 60 (IO/ I)
1.72
2.02
1.67
not be available for a while. Which is okay, if you have an
'With RAM cache: seq. 1.92, ran. 1.03 Source: lnfoWorld Hardware Benchmark System, as published in lnfoWorld May 11, 1987
A Lot Of Performance.
l ~ ,..
· ,,.
w ·
.I· 'I
I I .·......I ;--;;;;;;,,.
I· 1I L...J r - l I· .II
h'I n!ffiM ~I~
to the company that has already delivered proven performance. As PC Magazine
enhancement boards, peripherals and connectivity solutions. Now, in addition to making PCs more powerful, we're making more powerful PCs. And
,--- - -- - ,
I Yes, I want to learn more about the AST I
I Premium/286.
I
0 Please send me more information,
I including copies of what the critics had I
to say about the AST Premium /286.
I I 0 Please have an AST Representative
said when we
EDITOR'S received the
CHOICE
Editor's Choice award,"The
Premium/286 is
without a doubt the best-looking
and best-performing system
before any AST product is shipped, it must first meet our own strict guidelines for industry compatibility
We could make promises about the future too. But, as you can see, and will continue to
call me.
I ~-
I
I Title
I
Co mpany_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
I Address
l
I City/State/Zip
I
Ph on e ~<-~--------
1To help us better serve you, please list ~ I
I : 1 with a 10 MHz rating. Its quality see in the coming months, we'd
makes its price a bargain'.'
rather deliver. Call us today
the magazine and issue date in which ~ this ad appeared.
How did we come up with such a great
(714) 863-0181 to investigate the Premium/286's
ii I AST Research, Inc. 2121 Alton Avenue, ""
_!J ~rvine, ~27 14-4992 ~TT~M~
machine? You might
finer details. Or fill
say we've been work·~· ing on the inside for
the past six years, enhancing more than
out the coupon to receive copies of AST Premium/286 editorial reviews.
ASTm;irkers products worldwide-in Eumpe ilnd the Middle E.ast c,al/: 44-1-568-4350; in the hr E.ast call: 851-0-499-9113; in Canada call: 416-R26-?514.
ASTm11/ AST logo f'l',l!,l~it'n:d w 1d AST fln: m11111ii286, MSl!lot tr,uk11111rk' AST RnnlYch inc /HM. mu/ H·rsmwf Comp1da 11Trt.'/!,Hfcrrd 1111d f\·~mwl Sy~tcm2 1111d f'C XT tmdem11rkl IBM Corp M1rmw(l n;lf.1Stard wul M.\ OS 2 11nd \\'111dm1'{ tnulcm1irk~ M1011{ojl Corp Vf.SQnrn- trademark Q/ffirit"rdak O//lff sr~tmH Cov1·n,1!,l1t t 1987 AST llc.tl'fm Ir hie All 17,lf.hl\ n \1 m ·d
2 million PCs with our complete line of
AST Premium/286. The closer you look,
AS[
reliable, high-quality
the better we perform.
RESEARCH INC.
Introducing the two: on earth:
The new COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20'M
The world now has two new benchmarks from the leader in high-performance personal computing. The new 20-MHz COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20 and the 20-lb., 20-MHz COMPAQ PORTABLE 386 deliver system performance that can rival minicomputers'. Plus they introduce advanced capabilities without sacrificing compatibility with the software and hardware you already own.
Both employ an industrystandard 80386 microprocessor and sophisticated 32-bit architecture. Our newest portable is up to 25% faster and our desktop is actually up to 50% faster than 16-MHz 386 PC's. But we did much more than simply increase the clock speed.
For instance, the COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20 uses a cache memory controller. It complements the speed of the micropro-
cessor, providing an increase in
system performance up to 25%
over other 20-MHz 386 PC's. It's
also the first PC to offer an op-
tional WeitekT"' Coprocessor Board,
which can give it the performance
of a dedicated engineering work-
station at a fraction of the cost.
They both provide the most
storage and memory within their
classes. Up to 300 MB of storage
11 ,
in our latest desktop and up to
., t
100 MB in our new portable.
It simply works better.
;most powerful PC's and off.
. .....
.
·
··
and the new 20-MHz COMPAQ PORTABLE 386,.M
--
Both use disk caching to inject more speed into disk-intensive applications.
As for memory, get up to 16 MB of high-speed 32-bit RAM with the COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20 and up to 10 MB with the COMPAQ PORTABLE 386. Both computers feature the COMPAQ"' Expanded Memory Manager, which supports the Lotus"'/Intel"'/MicrosoW Expanded Memory Specification to break the 640-Kbyte barrier.
With these new computers plus the original COMPAQ DESKPRO 3861' ; we now offer the broadest line of highperformance 386 solutions. They all let you run software being written to take advantage of 386 technology. And to prove it, from now until December 31,
1987, we're including Microsoft"' Windows/386 Presentation Manager free with your purchase of any COMPAQ 386-based PC.
It provides multitasking capabilities with today's DOS applications to make you considerably more productive. But that's just the beginning. For more information , call 1-800-231-0900, Operator 43 . In Canada , call 416 -733-7876 , Operator 43.
Intel, Lotu s , Microsoft , and Weitek a re tradem arks of their respective companies. © 1987 Compaq Computer Corporation . All rights reserved .
romPAa®
...
.
.......
.
the. . . .
Notenough ~.a ..... day? Emulex's Per'b!\l'm!l11'lt
100014.4Kbps teased line modem can give you more.
Replacing your 9600bps modem with a V.33-compatible model that runs 14,400bps is like installing a bigger pipe to carry 50% more data in the same number of hours ... or like having 50% more hours in the day.
Adding that much more throughput to your existing lines means you can cancel your telco order for more. It also means faster response for your users.
So why hasn't everyone already upgraded to 14.4? Because until now, 14.4Kbps modems have been very expensive- typically over $3,000 each and sometimes much more, depending on features.
··
-~---.;c______
- - . - -- ----
More Performance for the money.
An advanced design constructed around a few
key proprietary VLSI chips, the Performance 1000 is
changing the rules of the game for modems, as new technologies always do. Priced at $1795, it delivers Automatic speed adjustment both ways.
14.4 performance at a price we paid for 9600 not long The smaller package packs more benefits too,
ago. In a package about half the size of its competitors. including automatic speed adjustment. The CCITT
Given that low cost, 14.4 now will begin to replace V.33 spec calls out trellis coding for 14.4Kbps trans-
9600 as the industry standard just as 9600 dis-
mission and for its primary fallback rate of 12Kbps.
placed 4800 four or five years ago. At $1795, the
The Performance 1000 extends that to 9600bps
Performance 1000 can pay for itself in leased line -for lines that are acting like barbed wire-
savings in relatively few months, and that's what
to deliver an error rate 100X better than a V.29
it's all about. Technology may make it possible,
modem would at the same speed.
but economics is what really forces change.
The fallback can happen automatically if the
Regional offices: Chicago, II (312) 490-0050, Teaneck, NJ (201) 836-3717, Toronto, Ontario (416) 673-1211
4 -- -- ··- - - ·- ---.-·~·~~-"'-'--
~-----·-,,--F
~
·
I
· -.,.,
user chooses, and when the barbed wire starts acting like a telephone line again, the Performance 1000 can automatically speed up.
Don't leave home with it! Modems with straps to connect and internal
switches to set now will begin to look like antiques. Operating speeds and fallbacks and other parameters are set in the Performance 1000 by selecting from among English-language options displayed on its front panel.
nuSualt the remote unit also can be
hd tested through the local modem's
, without operator intervention at the far
end. This can be especially useful, considering that
no matter how many hours there are in a day, some
of them will wind up being in the middle of the night.
Want to reconfigure the remote's fallback
speed? Simply bring up the speed in the
display and
press ENTER. F-8:
12. 0K l.133
Then bring up the download command and press
ENTER a REMOTE: [:11Jl1.INLOHD
second time. Want to see it again?
9.6 ls enough? There may be applications which can't take
advantage of more speed, but could use more functions. For these, there's the Performance 1000/9.6, with almost all of the features of the Performance 1000/14.4-but for $500 less.
More to follow. Emulex is one of the U.S.' leading manufactur-
ers of high performance computer products, including disk and tape controllers, disk and tape subsystems, communications multiplexers, and others. The Performance 1000 is only one of a new series of end-user data communications products we're introducing. Watch for more. Soon.
For information, call our toll-free number.
EMULEX
Emulex Corporation 3545 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, California 92626 (800) EMULEX-3 or (714) 662-5600 in California
~irrlo '.1.§ nn RAAliAr Card
..
-
T f -
'( I
~1
.
.. I
HP Networking. We connect offices, cities or countries. Like clockwork.
An integrated business system is only as good as its connections. Tu other departments or offices. Or branch offices. Or even international offices.
At Hewlett-Packard, we've spent ten years designing and supporting a wide variety of local-area, wide-area and office networking solutions. All connectible to SNA-based systems. All high-performance and cost-effective. All based on OSI industry standardsso they're all compatible with other vendors. And they'll grow as you grow
When you consider also that these solutions come from the company that never stops asking "What if. . , you may wish to make a connection with us . At 1 800 367-4772 , Dept. 275R
Fh9'1 HEWLETT
~ ~ PACKARD
Circle 37 on Reader Card
DATAMATION ANNOUNCES
·
··
ITS 1988
READER VOTE CONTEST.
_.,
,. ...
Enter the Datamation Reader Vote Contest and you may win a valuable
'
VHS video cassette recorder or Sony WatchmanTM TV.
It's easy to enter. Just follow these three simple steps :
1. Select the 5 ads in the JANUARY 1ST ISSUE of Datamation that you think your fellow readers will choose as being the most helpful and most informative.
2. List your selections on the entry card provided in the JANUARY 1ST
·
ISSUE.
3. Mail your entry card by February 4, 1988.
..
CONTEST RULES
processing or lelecommunicat1ons hardware, software or services
1. List your lop 5ads mrank order on the entry card provided mthe JANUARY
4. Conies! void where proh1b1ted or taxed by law Liability for any laxes on
/ST ISSUE of Oatamal10n. Indicate the name of the advertiser (company or
prizes 1s the sole respons1bil1ly of the winners.
organization) and the page number. (Ads placed by Cahners Publishing Com-
5. Entries thal most closely match the rank selected by Datamal10n readers will
pany, Dalama/10n or other Cahners publications cannot be considered 1n this
be declared winners
contest.
6. Entry cards must be postmarked before February 4. 1988.
2. No more than one entry may be submitted by any one individual Entry blank
7. In case of a tie. the earlier postmark will determine the winner Decisions of
MUST be filled mcompletely 01 ii will not be considered
the contest 1udges will be final
3. To qualify. you MUST be engaged 1n inlormat1on processing, supervising or
8. In the evenl Iha! ap11ze 1s not available. the publisher may subsli lulean
,,,
managing MIS/OP personnel. or selling standards for selection of information
allerna11ve prize of equal value without p11or notice.
CRTRMRTICN
Cahners Publishing Company A D1v1s1on of Reed Pubf1sh1ng USA
FAST THINGS
·
The ACER 900 personal speed or hard disk, and
Acer. A name synonymous
computer. Now at 12MHz, reset button are located
it's designed to race you ahead in business - faster
within easy reach on the front panel. And for total security, we designed a
with quality, reliability, price performance and advanced technology. In short, value.
So what are you
Inundated with a flood of choices, the ACER 900 is your best bet in choosing a personal computer to cope with power-hungry demands.
Dubbed "the AT standard to beat" by Computer Currents,
keylock which simultaneously locks keyboard and reset button.
One more thing no matter where you
waiting for? Check out
the ACER 900 today.
Because the faster the
900 moves, the sooner
..
,you'll succeed.
.
the ACER 900 is designed for
those who expect more of a personal computer. At less
.
of a price.
Geared to go at 12MHz
At 12MHz, the ACER 900 are, we guarantee after- sales charges through all the soft- service through our world ware written for Big Blue. At wide distribution network.
FIRST
50% faster than the industry standard PC/AT. Naturally, this
Success breeds success
speed can also be switched
At Acer International
down to 8MHz by way of
our commitment to re-
keyboard or software, for
search and development
programs that need to operate has enabled us to build
under 12MHz.
better, more affordable
With its true blue software/hardware compatibility, blazing speed and superior functional design, the ACER 900 can give your business the power edge you've been looking for.
Form follows function
LED indicators for high
machines. From home computers like our ACER 500 to the fastest 8088based machine in the world, the ACER 710, and the revolutionary 80386-based ACER
-~r ll1ll1llllliiiiii'!!!!!!!!~~:--i 1100-the world's
computer, to date. fastest personal
.. ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Technical Specifications
ACER 9008 CPU 60286, 8/ 12MHz switchable. Socket fo r 60287 math coprocessor. 8 expansion slots. RAM 512KB, expandable to !MB !FOO, 1.2MB. Microsoft* MS-DOS* 3.2 ACER 900E As 900B plus 1 WOO, 40MB, 40ms. Microsoft MS.DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. PC-AT is a registered trademark of International Business N\achines Corporation.
Acer Technologies Corporation 401 Charcot Avenue, San Jose, CA 9513 1. Tel: (408) 9 22-0333. Fa x: (408) 922-01 76. Toll-free nos: (800) 782-11 55 (CA onl y), (800) 538-1542.
..
AceR (·
A New Word For Value
Circle 38 on Reader Card
Real Time
· ··
OFF-LINE
HARDWARE
A MULTIPLE OPERATING SYSTEM family of
departmental computers has been unveiled
by Icon International Inc., Orem, Utah, and
Sanyo Business Systems Corp., Osaka, Ja-
pan, which owns 65% of Icon. The systems,
called the MultiMicro/Mainframe family are
capable of running AT&T's Unix, Pick Sys-
tems' Pick, and Microsoft's MS/DOS operat-
ing systems simultaneously. Icon targets the
systems either toward the multiuser envi-
ronment or as connectivity systems to link
existing pcs, workstations, and peripherals.
The company's first product, the
MPS020-2, was introduced in fall '86. That
product is being reintroduced as the Icon
2000, which supports up to 16 users. The
..
original product supported Pick and MS/ DOS, but not Unix. The 2000 is priced
at $15,000. The Icon 3000 supports up to
-"
64 users and is priced at $30,000, and the
top-of-the-line Icon 4000, which supports as
many as 128 users, is priced at $55,000.
The Icon 2000, 3000, and 4000 employ a
new architecure called MultiMicro/ Main-
frame, which uses multiple 32-bit micro-
processors in parallel. Aproprietary operat-
ing system kernel, called Icon/ OS, is the
.. -
foundation for the three operating systems. The systems ' central processor, disk cache Alliant's new FX/ 4 has a peak performance of 47.2MFLOPS.
processor, and peripheral communications
processor subsystems contribute to the computers ' ability to handle operating systems concurrently, Icon says. Additional performance is provided by SMILE (Shared Memory Interconnect Local Environment), which is
Alliant Debuts Entry-level Minisupercomputer
-'
Icon's interprocessor communications system
and is comprised of proprietary boards and FX/ 4 offers lower-cost , expandable 64-bit
cables that link the disk cache in an Icon
computer to a pc connected to it. Each card in system with faster process ors.
an Icon system can support up to six SMILE
ports. SMILE, says Icon, provides four functions: virtual disk, virtual terminal, file
BY THERE SA BA RR Y
terminal, and a dot matrix printer. New packaging includes a VME bus, 32MB of
transfer, and print spooling. According to
Alliant Computer Systems Corp.'s intro- memory, and l GB of disk storage in a 43-
Icon, SMILE is not intended to replace local duction of the FX/ 4 lowers the entr y-lev- inch-high cabinet.
·
area networks, but to enhance them. Novell's NetWare, fo r example, is said to run
el price of an expandable 64-bit minisu-
The FX/ 4 supports Ethernet,
percomputer. The system incorporates TCP/ IP, DECnet, DCL, X.25, Hyperchan-
up to 30% faster on a system using SMILE. new packaging technology, software im- nel, Hasp, NFS, NeWS, NCS, and X-Win-
For Sanyo, which began investing in Icon provements, and faster interact ive dows. Languages for the system are Al-
in '84, the MultiMicro/Mainframe family
processors.
liant's FX/FORTRAN and FX / Ada compil-
marks its entry into the international com-
The FX/ 4 provides one to four ers, the standard Unix C compiler and a
puter market. Sanyo will manufacture some processors and is compatible with the new Alliant C compiler, and Pascal.
components for the Icon systems and it holds vendor's existing FX/Series systems,
Software enhancements include
the exclusive rights to market the systems in the FX/8 and FX/l. Alliant says the four- an FX / C compiler optimized for parallel
Japan. Icon will market the systems in the
processor FX/ 4 has a peak 64-bit perfor- execution and linear algebraic equation
U.S. through var and direct sales channels. mance of 47.2MFLOPS.
(which costs $15,500), and FX/Linpack
The starting price tag of the new and FX/Eispack libraries of scientific rou-
I f you 'd like additional information system, $99,900, includes one 64-bit vec- tines and subroutines ($2,000 each). The
on products covered in this issue's
tor processor and an MC 68020 inter- new packaging and faster interactive pro-
Off-line, please circle 221 on the readers' service card.
active processor expandable to four and cessors are included in upcoming versix processors, respectively. The sys- sions of Alliant's existing FX/ 1 and FX/ 8 Lem also comes with a 1/i-inch cartridge computers . ALLIANT COMPUTER SYSTEMS
tape, a V~IE 1/ 0 chassis, a console video CORP., Littleton, Mass.
CIRCLE 211
DATAMATION C DECEMBER 15, 1987 91
RealTtme
Mac Graphics Board
RasterOps' board fits into a single slot of the Mac II.
mands for particular disk interfaces, which offloads the host of protocol conversion tasks, says the vendor. The disk controller is comprised of a motherboard
system to be based on Motorola's MC 68030 microprocessor.
The 68030 features high-speed static RAM and memory cache, says the ven-
The ColorBoard 1/104 is the first prod- and a daughterboard, which combined dor. The new system uses up to four
uct in a planned series of high-resolution occupy one VME slot.
68010-based Terminal 1/ 0 Control Sub-
color graphics boards for the Apple Mac-
The 68020-based serial communica- systems, each supporting up to 64 users
intosh II from startup RasterOps Corp. tions module is also a two-board set that and available with up to 16MB of high-
occupies a single slot. Interfaces sup- speed ECC memory. Included is one or
ported are RS232C, Centronics parallel more intelligent 80186-based disk con-
1/0, and IEEE 488.
trollers with look-ahead cache memory
Standard configurations of the Uni- and support of overlapped disk seeks; a
corn B/200 include 4MB to 16MB of main high-performance disk subsystem; and a
memory, an SCSI interface, multiple hard high-performance, half-inch dual-density
disk drives with 85MB to 760MB of stor- 1600/6250 magnetic tape drive.
age, and embedded SCSI or SA-450 floppy
The 8830 system will be available
drives, two to 66 RS232C ports, a nine- next month. Prices will range from
track tape or streaming cartridge tape $215,000 to $350,000. GENERAL AUTOMA-
.
with 23MB or 60MB capacities, and TCP/ IP TION INC., Anaheim, Calif. CIRCLE 214
Ethernet. Either 5-, 12-, or 21-slot back-
The new board provides a resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels on a 24-bit color plane capable of displaying 16. 7 million
planes are available. The system will be available in the second quarter of '88 and, depending on the configuration, will be priced between $20,000 and $45,000.
High-End Scanner
Recognition Equipment offers a multifont, high-speed OCR.
colors simultaneously. The pixel fre- MICROPROJECT INTERNATIONAL !NC., Ma- The Tartan XP 80 System from Recogni-
quency is 60MHz. RasterOps says the rina de! Rey, Calif.
Cl RCLE 213 tion Equipment has been unveiled. It is
ColorBoard 1/104 and all other Color-
designed to process large volumes of
...
Boards are compatible with the Mac II 1SOMB Disk/Tape System
forms, says the company.
and other NuBus-based products. The ColorBoard 1/104 is available
Emerald Systems provides both
The new system, which is driven by a 32-bit processor, can read forms with
now and is priced at $2, 795. RAST EROPS media in one chassis.
single or multiple typefaces and pre-
CORP., Cupertino, Calif.
CIRCLE 212 The DOS 150-4000 is a combination of the pared on a variety of typewriters and
company's 150MB ESDI hard disk and printers, and with controlled alpha-
Multiuser Unix System
150MB quarter-inch cartridge tape. It op- numeric handprint (i.e., the little boxes
Microproject unveils system with
erates under the DOS operating system on printed computer forms filled in by and most DOS-based LANs, says Emerald. hand). The system can be tailored to read
f'
AT&T's 32-bit chip set.
It can also be used in conjunction with machine-printed and hand-printed char-
The Unicorn B/200 from Microproject pre-installed hard drive systems, utiliz- acters intermixed on the same line. Mi-
International, a 30MHz multiuser Unix ing Emerald's optional DiskMeld fea- crofilming and image capture features
System based on AT&T's 32-bit WE 3220X ture, which enables it to meld the two provide for audit trails.
chip set, has been introduced. Micropro- hard drives into one unit. The DOS 150-
Additional features include contex-
ject International says the system sup- 4000 provides users with a disk access tual, strip video data capture, which al-
ports 50 users and is object code and me- time of 16.5msec, with a backup speed of lows the selective capture of illegible
dia compatible with AT&T's 3B comput- 5MB per minute on the tape drive. The
ers. The Unicorn B/200 offers Unix 150-4000 is priced at $5,995.
System v/ VME, release 3.1, with new fea-
Emerald has also increased the ca-
tures such as shared executable librar- pacity of all of its quarter-inch cartridge
ies, remote file sharing, media-indepen- tape backup subsystems to 150MB from
dent networking, and Unix's streams 120MB and has increased the capacity of
communications interface.
its LifeTape tape media products to
The WE 3220X chip set on the VME 150Ml:I from 120MB. EMERALD SYSTEMS
cpu board includes a 30MHz WE 3220 CORP., San Diego, Calif.
CIRCLE 215
microprocessor, a 3.5megaWhetstones
WE 32206 math coprocessor, and a WE Multiuser Business System
32201 memory management unit/cache. The board also includes 4MB to 16MB of local memory. A 68020-based disk con-
General Automation computer supports 256 users.
characters and field video for data correction and completion. The system's software includes a Unix-based, param-
' "
troller includes a 32-bit OMA controller, General Automation has announced a eter-driven capture program and a menu-
which moves data across the system bus 256-user Zebra 8830 multiuser business driven forms generator package.
at 26. 7MBps, and 128KB of buffering. system. The company says it was de-
The Tartan XP80 is priced from
Firmware on board the 68020 translates signed for use with the Pick operating $285,000. RECOGNITION EQUIPMENT INC.,
generic disk access commands into com- system. The Zebra 8830 is the first GA Irving, Texas.
CIRCLE 220
92 DATAMATION DECEMBER 15, 1987
Other Environments
FOCUS runs in IBM's 370, PC and PS environments, on the DEC VAX, under Wang VS, and under UNIX. Learn FOCUS in any one of these environments and you can write an application in any other, and it will run in all of them.
Mos t Widely Used
Around the globe, more
than 4000 sites have FOCUS
installed, making it the
most widely used fourth-
generation language in the
world. And we've been in-
volved in training at every site.
FOCUS has a large and
independent user group. And
Information Builders backs
With some 4GLs,
FOCUS with the support you'd expect from an industry leader: local help lines in
training users can 12 regional offices, a central hotline, and a national network of technical support
be a real challenge. and training centers.
·
FOCUS Education
W ith FOCUS, users can have eal success. Fast.
Lots of Help for Users Your programmers can
Over 200 certified staff trainers Scheduled classroom education at
40 North American centers Customer-site training Courses and training materials
FOCUS is the ultimate in create extremely easy-to-
fourth-generation technol- use, window-driven applica-
ogy. It is designed to let users tions using FOCUS. Or
do useful work immediately. casual users can help them-
......
For example, there is a selves to information
window-driven point-and- through the English Query
customized to environment and application Computer-based training materials for the PC or mainframe at c urrent release levels
Self-study primers A Train -The -Trainer program
pick interface that lets
Language (EQL)-the self-
Ifyou want your users to
beginners generate a report explaining natural-language be pussycats, get more in-
or graph, make inquiries- interface to PC/FOCUS~
formation on FOCUS. Call
even create an entire appli-
For anyone who wants to 1-212-736-4433, Ext. 3700.
cation-without learning learn the FOCUS fourth-gen- Or write Information Build-
any syntax. In fact, the sys- eration language, complete, ers, Inc., Dept. B4, 1250
tem displays the syntax so professionally developed
Broadway, New York, NY
the user can learn the lan- learning resources are avail- 10001. We'll send you some-
guage while creating the
able. Just take a look at the thing meaty.
application.
box to the right.
PC/FOCUS ls a rcgislered trademark of lnfom1aUon Builders. Inc.
[lal] E!l! J:l§. Circle 39 on Reader Card
· ·
·
........
·
. ~
~
. ...
.,
~
f"
r <
i ·
,.. .
·
· >+
Toys " R" Us, the world's largest, fastest growing toy specialty retailer, wanted
to install a scanning-based sales capture and credit authorization system at 313
locations in only six months. "We do 50% of our volume in October through
December;' states Charles Lazarus, Toys "R" Us CEO, "so we wanted the system
working in our major markets well before Christmas to get our people comfortable
with it. Digital got it on-line by late August, and tailored their service solution to
meet our needs ."
"In just 6 months,
Digital gave all 313
Toys 'R' Us stores a
sales and credit
system for Christmas:'
·
Mr. Lazarus sees Digital's involvement as an integral part of the phenomenal
Toys "R" Us success story. "Even though we're four times the size of our nearest
competitor, and we stock over 18,000 different items, we move and make decisions
faster. That's why we've grown more than 30% annually for the past nine years.
DDt mI Digital, their networking, and the infonnation edge they give us, have played a vital
role in that growth. They're our kind of company. .. a winner."
To get your competitive advantage now, write:
~ ~
TM
Digital Equipment Corporation, 200 Baker Ave., West 1
1
Concord, MA 01742. Or call your local Digital sales office.
·
© D1µHJI Fqllipmc nt Corpora11 on 19H""' The Di~11al IORO I" J tradl.'m;1rl.. of D1g1ul Lqu1pnlL'n1 CorpoLHi on
RealTime
UPDATES
SOFTWARE
THE THIRD-PARTY MAINTENANCE market is
changing. Weaker organizations are either
disappearing or are being absorbed by the
stronger ones and equipment manufacturers
find themselves in a defensive position, as
the world of third-party maintenance be-
comes a more formidable contender in
what's become a buyer's market. These are
the findings of computer and communications
market research firm Input, Mountain View,
Calif. Input's recently published report is
·
based on interviews with 200 third-party
maintenance users, who revealed their
views about, and requirements of, mainte-
nance supplied by independent vendors and
support from manufacturer-supplied organi-
zations. It applies to the service of large and
small systems, micros, and peripherals.
Not surprisingly, pricing is a big issue. For
a while, data showed that pricing was not
as important as quality and performance
concerns, but the report reveals that now it's
the top concern. It's the third-party mainte-
nance suppliers that are currently in users'
Banyan's VINES Now favor, says Input. According to the report,
"Manufacturers will have to drastically improve user perceptions of either the perfor-
Supports TCP/IP mance of their service or the relative price of
support in order to effectively compete with
up-and-coming third-party operations."
Input says that the users surveyed also New release allows one network to carry traffic
expect top performance from both third-par-
ty and systems vendors. Third-party mainte- between dissimilar systems.
nance organizations are "effectively target-
ing user (and potential user) demands and tailoring performance to meet them."
Third-party maintenance vendors are reported by users to have a two-hour edge over manufacturer-supplied support in their response and repair time. The improvements
BY THERESA BARRY
Release 3.0 of Banyan's VINES network operating system was recently announced. The new version provides two TCP/ IP options, one providing server-to-
neous LU sessions are also possible. Asynchronous terminal emu lation scripting has been added. VINES' new scripting language is compatible with Microstufs Crosstalk XVI scripts. New system administration and management tools in-
in turnaround were most notable in the
server communications, the other allow- clude a group move facility, which allows
areas of small and micro systems. Vendor proximity to users' sites and the
ability to service multivendor shops are not big concerns now among users, says Input.
Because of the falling profitability of
ing a Banyan network server to act as an IP router. These options allow a single network to carry traffic between heterogeneous systems, says Banyan. The vendor will integrate the PC/ TCP program
administrators to move groups of user profiles together with their e-mail files across the network. Full MS / DOS 3.3 support is included. Banyan says there are additional enhancements lo the reliabili-
hardware support, which is caused by decreasing prices and the increasing reliability of hardware products, Input reports that
from ftp Software, of Boston, but says ty and security features.
release 3.0 will also work with other ven-
VINES release 3.0 is free to Ban-
dor's TCP/IP products. The company yan's support program customers and
third-party maintenance vendors are venturing out of their traditional hardware realm and offering a variety of extended services, such as software support and network management. However, users are not willing to entrust such services to their third-party maintenance vendors, reports Input.
//'you 'd like additional information about products covered in this issue's Updates, please circle 222 on the readers' service card.
says the round-trip time to access file records has been reduced by 66% from that of release 2.1.
Two new local area networks are supported: Western Digital's StarCard Plus and Micom Interlan's N15210. Banyan Mail, an e-mail package integrated into VINES, has been enhanced in functionality and speed, says the vendor. For connections to mainframes and minicomputers, users have the option of hot key switching between 3270 sessions and MS/ DOS applications. Up to four simulta-
also to those customers who have bought a VINES system since mid-September of this year. Further pricing is available from the company. BANYAN SYSTEMS INC., Westboro, Mass. CIRCLE 269
Micro to Mainframe Simware's package provides diverse communication.
A micro-to-mainframe communications package that works over a variety of media and protocols has been released by
96 DATAMATION Li DECEMBER 15, 1987
Real lime
-~
.
-
' '
' ....
. "'
Simware Inc. The SimPC Master con-
nects standalone and networked person-
al computers to IBM mainframes via syn-
chronous or asynchronous communica-
tions. The package employs a common
interface and full-screen transfer wheth-
er running over a 3270 communications
card, an LAN, or an X.25 network. It also
supports error-free file transfer between
WKS and DIF files and TSO, CICS, and CMS
mainframe applications. For the pc, the
software is priced at $325 or $420 (Cana-
dian) for a single copy. Site licenses are
available, beginning at $10,000 for up to
50 copies. Mainframe file transfer mod-
ules are priced between $5,000 and
$10,000, depending on the system. SIM-
WARE INC., Ottawa.
CIRCLE 200
Fourth Generation language
Data Language makes Progress available on the DEC VAX.
Data Language Corp. has introduced a
new version of its Progress fourth gener-
ation language and database manage-
ment system for Digital Equipment
Corp.'s VAX / VMS computers. The VAX /
VMS version joins Unix and PC/ DOS ver-
sions currently available. The software
enables developers to build applications
on a pc that can be recompiled and run on
any of the three operating environments.
Progress's relational database manage-
ment system supports roll-forward and
roll-back recovery and variable length re-
cords. Progress for the VAX is priced
from $3,000, for the single-user VAXsta-
tion 2000, to $60,000, for the multiuser
VAX 8800. DATA LANGUAGE CORP., Billeri-
ca, Mass.
CIRCLE 20 1
Business Applications
Paperback Software upgrades VP-Planner program.
VP-Planner Plus, recently introduced by Paperback Software International (PS I), is a spreadsheet, database, and reportgenerating program that is compatible with Lotus 1-2-3 release 2 worksheets. PSI also announced that it has removed copy protection from its entire product line.
Enhancements over the original VPPlanner include pull-down menus; a document processor for writing, editing, and formatting text within the worksheet; report generation capabilities, including worksheet ranges and scaled graphs within text printouts; and streamlined access to multidimensional database struc-
tures via a worksheet template. A new
"autosave" feature allows users to select
the time intervals for automatically sav-
ing worksheets on disk; a tools applica-
tion command allows users to run exter-
nal programs while executing macro
sequences.
VP-Planner Plus requires an IBM PC,
XT, AT, PS/2, or compatible with at least
384K of RAM, one diskette drive, and MS/
-.DOS or PC/DOS 2.0 or higher. The price is CllTE'411V !WIES - li.eHlo· Z
Short · 111 Lo"'
IPllCEPU lu·tete4 Price Pu C·llH
ICSOU fl t ..49ete4 '·lion Soll
ISlllts 11 1¥·tete4S·ln$
KCOS'T I ldtetdC·lloeCo.t
IPIOFITll "'41etdCrou Profit
'·II··· PllCl~ · PrluPerC·llu
r;sot1 11
sou
SllLES II S.tn $
"OST · '·ILo·Coat PIOFIT 11 Cron Profit
SllUSlll I S·IH $Fk:tul v1 ldret
PJOrfill I Prorltlk:tulv1 h·1et
$179.95. PAPERBACK SOFTWARE INTERNATIO AL. Berkeley, Calif. CIRCLE 202
Lotus 1-2-3 Add-Ins
Lotus provides faster recalcula-
tion, and help in writing macros.
Lotus Speedup and Lotus Learn are two
add-ins for Lotus 1-2-3 release 2.01 that
have recently been made available.
Speedup allows users to select a
faster recalculation mode. With it, 1-2-3
will recalculate only those cells whose
values have changed since the last re-
calculation. Learn provides an automatic
keystroke recorder that makes it easier
to write 1-2-3 macros, according to Lo-
tus. Learn also works with 1-2-3 release
2.0.
Both add-ins, which are not copy
protected, are available for $20 each to
current 1-2-3 release 2.01 users. They
both require an IBM PC, XT, AT, P. /2, or
compatible. LOTU DEVELOPMENT CORP.,
Cambridge, Mass.
CIRCLE 203
Mainframe Productivity
Trax Softworks brings pc-like productivity tools to IBM mainframes.
TopNotch is what the vendor is calling a desktop productivity tool for IBM mainframes. The package contains five accessories. The spreadsheet has over 50 functions and is similar to the calculator found on pc-based desktop programs. The appointment calendar is a personal timekeeper that beeps and displays a reminder al a specified time without dis-
turbing the current display on the screen,
says the vendor. The index file cards can
be used for address fi les, project lists,
and small databases and can be created
and sorted by any key on the top lines of
the cards. The notepad allows users to
write, print, and send notes; data from
other applications can be pasted into a
note. The tool box provides for printing
and transferring of data displayed on the
screen.
TopNotch operates on IBM main-
frames running VM/CMS. The product's
price ranges between $8,000 and
$15,000. TRAX SOFTWORKS INC., Los An-
geles.
CIRCLE 204
Data Communications
MessageNet provides pc-to-VAX message transfer.
S&H Computer Systems Inc. has made available MessageNet PC, which allows microcomputer users to transfer messages and files directly to DEC VAX minicomputers and to pcs running MessageNet and also automates the use of Western Union Easylink and MCI Mail electronic mail services. S&H says the software automates and consolidates the process of transmitting messages and files .
MessageNet PC sends and receives files using one menu-driven interface for all datacom tasks. Sending a message or file entails specifying the recipient's name, the type of transmission route, and the time the message is to be sent. The vendor says the software handles everything else. All transmission routes included in the offerings of e-mail services can be used, including Telex, mailgram, telegram, regular mail, overnight letter, and cablegram.
Receipt of messages is automatic, says the vendor. Message et logs on to e-mail services to check for messages at times specified by the user and alerts users when files or messages are received.
Other features of MessageNet PC are a word processor, split-screen editing with cut-and-paste, a file folder system, an address book, mailing lists, and a
calendarI reminder function.
Message et PC is available now. Including user interface, direct computerto-computer file transfer, and gateways to MCI Mail and Western Union Easylink, the price is $185. Required are a pc with 5121<B of memory, a hard disk, and a Hayes-compatible modem. S&H COMPUTER SYSTEMS I C., Nashville. CIRCLE 209
DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987 97
Real Time
·
PEOPLE
He's Not Bound
mer. Later, he became head of market planning and directed Cincom's education division and new channels marketing
By Conventional Images
program. He was then named vp of marketing and sales, with responsibility for domestic and international sales and
Dennis Yablonsky may not fit the traditional mold service. Yablonsky feels that he is work-
of the corporate ceo , but one of his chief goals for ing with a different type of customer at
the Carnegie Group does: make a profit.
Carnegie than he did at Cincom. There, he dealt with MIS executives or small
BY KAREN GULLO
groups of software experts within MIS. "Here," he says,
T he typical chief executive of-
"there's a little less MIS inter-
ficer, as described in a recent
action. There's more interac-
B usiness Wee!< article, is in his
tion with groups of technical
mid-50s, probably has an MBA
people in the manufacturing
from an Ivy League school,
and engineering depart-
and plays golf.
ments. MIS still plays a role in
Dennis Yablonsky,
some cases to give a technical
the new ceo and president of
perspective.
artificial intelligence software
"The peop le who
maker Carnegie Group Inc.,
have bought expert systems
just doesn't fit the mold. "I
in the last three years were in
never have, so it doesn't both-
highly technical research and
er me," quips the 35-year-old
development groups within
Yablonsky, who prefers rac-
companies. Now we're see-
quetball to golf.
ing a much higher level of
If Yablonsky fits any mold, it's that of the consum-
~~~~~ business applications being
~·
addressed, and that's right.
mate Silicon Valley high-tech
The technology is moving
executive-young, aggres-
down to the business level. "
sive, and moving up fast. The
As Yablonsky settles
only difference is that instead
into his new surroundings at
of the Valley's infamous
Carnegie Group, he's having
Route 128, Yablonsky, the
no trouble feeling right at
son of Ukranian and Italian
home in Pittsburgh. His ex-
parents, first made his name
tended family lives in the
in working-class Cincinnati as
area, and he says he's happy
president and chief operating
that he, his wife, and their two
officer of mainframe software
small daughters, ages five and
maker Cincom Systems. He
seven, are close to them
now resides in Pittsburgh,
again. "I had always hoped to
which is not only headquar-
get our children back into the
ters of the Carnegie Group,
city near the family," he says.
but is his hometown as well.
The Yablonskys had
The chance to be back
been involved in a parent ad-
on his home turf was one of
vocacy progam in Cincinnati,
the attractions his new posi- YABLONSKY: Not your typical chief executive officer.
devoting some of their free
tion offered. "There's a high-
time to a child abuse preven-
tech renaissance going on here [in Pitts- says the company is breaking even now, tion project. He hopes to find a similar ac-
burgh]," says Yablonsky, "with lots of and he expects it will turn its first profit tivity in Pittsburgh.
new companies starting up. I was in- next year. "When I joined Cincom, it was
Meanwhile, in addition to rac-
trigued to come back and be a part of about the same size as Carnegie Group is quetball and softball in the summers,
that."
now," says Yablonsky. (Carnegie has Yablonsky says he likes to work out
Yablonsky's first orders of busi- 140 employees; Cincom has over 1,500.) three days a week, as he views exercise
ness at Carnegie are to determine the
Yablonsky resembles the tradi- and sports as forms of stress manage-
firm's focus and to make a profit. Cincom tional ceo profile in at least one re- ment. And what about golf? Isn't that ex-
has sales of about $100 million; the three- spect-his career path was marketing. ercise fit for a ceo? Yablonsky laughs . Ap-
year-old Carnegie Group has a fraction of After graduating with a BS in Industrial parently he's in no hurry for that country
that-$10 million to be exact-and it lost Management from the University of Cin- club membership. "Maybe one of these
money in its first few years. Yablonsky cinnati, he joined Cincom as a program- days I'll take it up, but not yet."
·
98 DATAMATION DECEMBER 15, 1987
., . ·
·
·..
....
..
.. .
- .....
. -
-- ~
.>
··
- ....
CALENDAR
JANUARY
Computer Graphics '88. Jan. 13-15, San Diego. Contact Carol Every, Frost & Sullivan Inc., 106 Fulton St., New York, NY 10038, (212) 2331080.
Image Processing and Optical Disk Storage Conference. Jan. 20-22, Phoenix. Contact]ean O'Toole, CAP International, 1 Snow Rd., Marshfield, MA 02050, (617) 837-1341.
CN '88 (Communications Networks Conference and Exposition). Jan. 25-28, Washington, D.C. Contact Nancy Thayer, IDG Conference Management Group, P.O. Box 9171 , 375 Cochituate Rd., Framingham, MA 01701-9171, (6 17) 879-0700.
FEB RUARY
IFIP Conference on Computers and law. Feb. 8-10, Santa Monica, Calif. Contact Michael Krieger, P.O. Box 24619, Los Angeles, CA 90024, (213) 208-2461.
Mexico ComExpo '88. Feb. 9-12, Mexico City. Contact Bill Warnes, Marketing International Corp., P.O. Box 4749, Arlington, VA 22204, (703) 685-0600.
Usenix Winter 1988 Unix Technical Conference. Feb. 9-12, Dallas. Contact Usenix Conference Office, P.O. Box 385, Sunset Beach, CA 90742, (213) 592-1381.
PTC '88 (10th Annual Pacific Telecommunications Conference). Feb. 15-18, Honolulu. Contact PCT '88, 1110 University Ave., Suite 308, Honolulu, HI 96826, (808) 941-3789.
MA RCH
FOSE '88 (Federal Office Systems Expo). March 7-10, Washington, D.C. Contact National Trade Productions Inc., 2111 Eisenhower Ave., Suite 400, Alexandria, VA 22314, (800) 638-8510 or (703) 6838500.
Connect '88 (Conference and Exposition for MIS/ Dp Professionals). March 8-10, New York. Contact Frank Palumbo, Cahners Exposition Group, 99 Summer St., Stamford, CT 06905, (203) 964-0000.
ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES
Publisher Don Fagan
Associate Publisher William Segal/is
Production Manager Eric Jorgensen
EASTERN REGION
Eastern Regional Sales Manager Frances E. Bolger
w. 249 17TH St.
New York, NY 10011 (2 12) 463-6552
Tom Carey 487 Devon Park Dr. Suite 206 Wayne, PA 19087 (2 15) 293- 1212
Northeast Edward Rappaport 199 Wells Avenue Newton, MA 02159 (6 17) 964-3730
Southeast Larry Pullman 6520 Powers Ferry Road Suite 395 Atlanta, GA 30339 (404) 955-6500
Middle Atlantic Kathleen A. Murray 8 Stamford Forum PO Box 10277 Stamford, CT 06904 (203) 328-2547
Midwest John Stellwagen 1350 E. Touhy Avenue Des Plaines, IL 60018 (312) 390-2967
WESTERN REGION
Western Regional Sales Manager James E. Filiatrault 3031 Tisch Way Suite 100 San Jose. CA 951 28 (408) 243-8838
West Janet Engelbrecht 582 Market St. Room 1007 San Francisco, CA 94104 (415) 981-2594
William M. Wilshire 1881 8 Teller Avenue Suite 170 Irvine, CA 92715 (714) 851-9422
Texas Richard W. Sheehan 9330 LBJ Freeway Suite 1060 Dallas, TX 75243 (2 14) 644-3683
INTERNATIONAL
Cahners Publishing Company 27 Paul !Street London, EC2A 4JU, England Tel : 44 1 628-7030 Telex: 914911 TECPUB G Fax: 44 1 839-6626
Managing Director-Europe Edward Reuteler Jr.
U.K., Benelux Jan Dawson Tracey Lehane
Scandinavia Martin Sutcliffe
France, Italy, Spain Alasdair Melville
W. Germany, Austria, Switzerland , E. Europe Uwe Kretzschmar
Israel Roseline Lewin-Wainberg Cahners Publishing Company 68 Sokolov St. Ramat Hasharon 47 235 Israel Tel. : 03-49 12 69
Japan KaoruHara Dynaco lnt'I Inc. Suite 1003, Sun-Palace
Shinjuku 8-12-1 Nishishinjuku ,
Shi njuku-ka Tokyo, 160, Japan Tel (03) 366-8301 Telex: J2322609 Fax: 03-366-8302
Taiwan Parson Lee Acteam International
Marketing Corp. 6F, No. 43, Lane 13 Kwang-Fu South Road Mailbox 18-91 Taipei , 10594, Taiwan R.O.C. Tel (02) 760-6209 Telex: 29809 ACTEAM
DATAMATION CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Roberta Renard National Sales Manager (201) 228-8602 JanetOPenn Eastern Sales Manager (201) 228-8610 Maria Cubas Production Assistant (201) 228-8608 103 Eisenhower Parkway Roseland , NJ 07068 Don Brink Western Sales Manager 18818 Teller Ave. Suite 170 Irvine, CA 92715 (7 14) 85 1-9422
INFORMATION CARD DECKS
Liz Mullen Department Supervisor 1305 E. Touhy Ave . Des Plaines, IL 60018 (3 12) 390-2762
CAHNERS MAGAZINE DIVISION
William M. Platt Chief Executive Officer
Terrence M. McDermott President
Frank Sibley Group Vice President
Jerry D. Neth Vice President Publishing Operations
Tom Dellamaria VP/Production & Manufacturing
Cahners Publishing Company A Division of Reed Publishing USA
Specialized Business and Consumer Magazines for Building &Construction, Interior Design, Electronics &Computers, Foodservice & Lodging, Manufacturing, Book Publishing &Libraries, Medical/Health Care, Child Care &Development.
DATAMATION 0 DEC EMBE R 15, 1987 99
ANNOUNCING THE BIRTH ..... ~
OF A NEW CONNECTION.
The singular eventfor computer and communications professionals.
Finally, an event that fits the times. Focused on the single topic that is impacting the present and helping to shape the future. Connectivity.
Only Connect '88 is dedicated to give you a first hand look at the latest connectivity options and integration solutions. Our unparalleled three day schedule includes comprehensive conference sessions and invaluable technical seminars.
In addition, a landmark strategic symposium, presented by THE GARTNER GROUP, will cover such important issues as the futures oflocal area communications, software management strategy, office information systems, enterprise networks, mid-range systems and personal computers.
You can't afford to miss the singular event everyone is already talking about. Connect '88. Plan now to be a part ofthe excitement and learn what the emerging technologies can mean for your business today and tomorrow. For more information about Connect '88, call (203) 964-0000.
March 8-10, 1988
Jacob K. Javits Convention
Center
. New York, N. Y. -----------,
I Mail to:
I
I Ca hncrs Exposition Group D Yes, I'm interested in attending the
999 Summer Street
"Connect '88" conference and
I P.O. Box3833 Stamford, CT 06905-0833
technical showcase . Please send me full details.
I N:imc I Comp:my I Address
I Cuy
Pos1 11o n
Z op
Tdcphonc
Circle 40 on Reader Card
Career Opportunities
Cl=ITl=IMRTICN
·
1988 Editorial Calendar and Planning Guide
Issue Date
Recruitment Deadline
Editorial Emphasis
Jan. 15
Dec. 28
Technology Forecast
Feb.
Jan . 14
DEC
.
Feb. 15
Jan . 27
Parallel and Multi Processing
Mar.
Feb. 11
Managing IS at Multinationals
Mar. 15
Feb. 26
On-Line Transaction Processing
' "11
Apr. I
Mar. 11
Cutting Over New Systems
Apr. 15
Mar. 25
1st Quarter Update
May I
Apr. 13
Supercomputers and Minisupercomputers
Call today for information :
East Coast Janet 0 . Penn (201) 228-8610
West Coast Dan Brink (714) 851-9422
National Roberta Renard (201) 228-8602
MINDPOWER... OUR GREATEST RESOURCE
Nowhl'r{' in the \vorld wilt you find greater collertive mindpower than at Computer Sciences Corporation. The power to discover . Tlw power to innovate Th e power l o apply our resources in communications and infor·
· Systems Administration · Project Management
mation syst 1.~ms technologies to a broad range of specia li zed servires for business. government and industry.
We"re seek ing Compu ter Professionals with a degree in rnmpu tt>r science or related disciplines or eq ui vale nt experience. h1 addition.
Ifs easy to understand why W(' maintain the leading technical staff in our
thesr posit ions require proficiency in:
ind ustry. Our achievements rultiva te a stimulating personal and profession<tl
t' ll\'ironmrnt of sun:css. And our technical assignments require the highest
· UNIX & C
....
standard of excPlil'ncP.
· UNlX OS Internals
If your career goals include makinK the most of your technical talents If you're prepared to join some of the best minds in the software services industry .. .We"d like to consider you for the CSC l earn and invite you lo con tribut l' to leading ec1ge projects. including:
· 4GLs & UNIX Re lational DBMS ·ISO / OSI Networking Protoco ls · Local Area Networks
· Advanced Commun ic ations and Distribut e d Database Systems Deve lopme nt
· Inte grated Voice and Data Network De sign
· Operating Syste m , Utility, and Compiler Development.
· BAL, PL/I , COBOL · OS/ MVS, VM · IBM IMS or DB2
Our technical staffing requirements offer you positions in :
For immediate consideration. call fol l Free (800) 345-9419. In New
· Operating System Software and Communications Soft·
Jersey. (201) 981-9119. Use your Personal Comput er to reac h us
ware Development · Systems and Network Engineering
anyt ime day or night, on our OPPORTUN ITY Nl·TWORK. Dial (201) 981-9325 and log-in as '"guest"". Or. mail you r resum e to: Paul
·~
·Systems Analysis/ Data Analysis
Orvos, COMPUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION ,
· Applications Software Development
Communications Industry Services, 371 Hoes Lane,
· Systems Test Engineering
Piscataway, NJ 08854 . Equal Opportunity Employer.
csc
CO M PUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION
10 2 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
When we wanted to create anew standardfor
.
totalsystems integration,Wangpeople
we~~~~WANG PEOPLE
H o \\ d o ~ o u h uild a fram e\\ o rk
·
fo r procc.,sin g a nd co mmun i-
ca tin g info rma ti o n . t~ in g
pro du ct., toge th er in a hro a d
EIT Technical Services Senior Systems Programmers
ran gr of multi -' l' ndor enviro n-
We are looking for VMor MVS/ CICS Senior
-..
m r nt '>? T ha t " a' the cha ll enge hl'l'o rr LI '> a l Wa ng. Large srn lr s~ slr m., in trgra ti o n. Within de1rn rtm ents . lkhH·rn dh i.,i om. Ac ro ss o rga ni ta li om. l'IHou gho ul lh r \\ o rlcl. At Wa ng. 1>r oplc
WORK ·
Systems Programme rs to join our Data Center in Burlington. You will provide IBM mainframe installation and support fo r a nationwide network of corporate marketing demonstration centers. The successful can-
a rr " o rk in g 10 l'fl'al l' inncnaii vr so iu -
didate will interface with Corporate
tio n'>. A nd right ncm . \\ l'' d lik e mon·
Marketing, R&Dand IBM Systems Program-
Jll'Op lr to '' or k a t \\'a ng.
Customer Service
mers. Candidates should have 3-5 years of programming background. Familiarity with
CORPORATE
We are looking for ProgrammerI Analysts and Senior Information System Analysts to sup-
Wang VS, remote telecommunications, DISOSS, or PROFS is desired.
INFORMATION SERVICES
port our Worldwide Customer Services Organization from various Merrimack Valley locations. You will develop applications for field service operations and support, service
Systems Programmers
We are lookin g for experienced professionals to support Wang VS Data Centers in the
Applications Programmer Analysts
Sales and Marketing
F&A and decision support. To qualify as a Programmer/ Analyst, you should have at least 2 years of experience. Senior Informa-
tion System Analysts must have 4-10 years of MIS/ business ex pertise. A working knowledge
Merrimack Valley. From analysis to test, you will solve complex OS and Networking software problems. Your skills will also aid with improvements to functionality and efficiency of OS and etworking software support for
.,,
We are looking for experienced professionals to assist Marketing MIS in the development of a worldwide Marketing Information System, as well as a Corporate Information Center.
of Wang VS product line and/ or IBM MYS with IDMS/ CICS experience would be a plus.
Distribution
WANGNET and Wang Systems Networking. Fam iliarity with Wang operating systems, Wang Systems Networking and the 7000 series architectu re would be a plus.
Your technical expertise is needed in the creation of applications on Wang VS and PC
We are looking for qualified individuals to develop applications for Wang distribution
Technical Support
hardware. You will use state-of-the-art hardware like the Wang relational database ap-
business worldwide. You should have experience establishing systems that control
Documentation Specialist
plication builder. PACE. and the Wang In-
multi-site environments from logistics to
We are looking for a specialist to analyze,
tegrated Imaging System. Extensive
customer order management. A minimum of
design and develop techn ical end-user
knowledge of MS/ DOS and industry standard
2 years of COBOL experience is required .
documentation for internal Wang applications.
decision support tools is required. A background in COBOL. SAS, FOCUS. IBM and
Manufacturing
The successful candidate wi ll also be involved with end-user training. 1-2 years of technical
MYS is helpful.
We are seeking individuals to maintain the
documentation experience preferred .
't
_.,.
Finance and Administration
manufacturing applications portfolio for Wang facilities worldwide. Usi ng the entire Wang VS
Wang offers one of the best benefit programs in the industry, includ ing pension ,
Working with Wang VS. IBM MYS and the
product line. you will perform system
profit sharing, stock bonus, stock pur·
't
most advanced software systems. you will develop financial. human resource. order pro·
analysis, design, and programming. Your technical leadership and fam iliarity wit h SDM
chase and incentive savings plans, company- paid dental, medical and life in·
~
cessing. and admi nistration app lications. To
methodology will help us maintai n good
surance, tuition reimbursement and
qualify. you must have at least 2 years of ex· business relatio nships throughout the
adoption assistance.
...
~
...
perience. as well as a proficiency in COBOL. :\ wor kin g knowledge of financial reporti ng. the Wang \'S product line and/ or IBM \'MS wou ld be a plus.
worldwide network . The ideal candidate hould have 3-6 years of design and development experience including a background in COBOL. PACE. or AMAPS.
Please send yo ur resume, or a letter detailing your experience, to Robert Awkward, M/ S 019 -93A, Wang Laboratories, Inc., One Industrial Ave., Lowell, MA 01 85 1.
..
\\'e are an affirmative action employer.
~·
t- P -
....
WANG
;.
People make it work .
DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987 103
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
OPPORTUNITIES
The future of the Network Support Systems Division of Northern Telecom Inc. can be found in helping telecommunications providers adapt to changing operations environments. NTI's Digital Facility Management Systems (DFMS) offers cost effective, forward-looking solutions for endto-end control of today's complex digital transport networks. All current opportunities listed below require a BS in a technical area and 2-5 years' experience.
SYSTEMS ENGINEER
· Develop commercial specifications into technical requirements working with marketing, customers and development groups
SYSTEMS ENGINEER/MODELING
· Systems software modeling using SLAM
SOFTWARE ENGINEERS
· Requires experience designing and programming in "C" for\VMS or UNIX environment · RDBMS lexperience\desired
SOFTWARE QUALITY ENGINEER
· Involvement in entire software development cycle from design through beta tests · Commercial experience required
FIRMWARE ENGINEERS
· Requires design experience using structured methodologies with "C" in a real-time environment · VRTX, Intel and X.25 packet switching experience desired The world's largest supplier of fully digital telecommunications systems has more to offer than a competitive salary and excellent benefits. Experience how much more. Send your resume to: Manager, Human Resources Administration, Northern Telecom Inc., Dept. BT 196, P.O. Box 649, Concord, NH 03301. An equal opportunity employer, m/f/h/v. Permanent resident or U.S. citizen required.
Build Your Career in Communications.
11utthat11 talacu111
104 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
Computer Network Design & Protocol Professionals
The Devon Engineering facility of the
·
Unisys Corporation , located near historic
Valley Forge , is responsible for the
design and development of sophisticated
communication network products for
local and wide area networks. We have
immediate career opportunities for
Software Professionals with minimum
5 years' experience in one or more of
the following areas:
· Software Product Assurance
· Software Test
· Pascal Systems Programming
· UNIX/" C"
· Internetwork Connectivity
· Protocol Definition/Conversion
.,
X.21 , X.25 , S.N.A.
· Network Management
· Network Measurement Tools
· Network Requirements Analysis
· BTOS
If you need challenge and thrive on accomplishment , forward your resume to: Phil DiPietro, Unisys Corporation, Devon Engineering Labs, 445 Devon Park Drive, Wayne PA 19087. An affirmative action employer.
UNI·SYS
T
DID YOU KNOW? .
· 77% of over 160,000 of the most qualified Computer Systems/Operations/Data Processing/and Software Engineering Professionals read DATAMATION regularly; at least 3 out of 4 issues.
· The DATAMATION reader spends 1 hour 14 minutes reading each issue, and has been doing so for 8 years.
·More than 64% of these readers go through each issue page-by-page, and pass the magazine along to an additional 5 people.
NOW, the DATAMATION CAREER OPPORTUNITIES section will bring you the latest in current job opportunities!
For more information, and to reserve your ad in our
·~
next issue cal I:
Roberta Renard
201/228-8602
National Recruitment Sales Manager
Janet 0. Penn
201/228-8610
East Coast Recruitment Manager
Dan Brink
714/851-9422
West Coast Recruitment Manager
·
"YOU
· CAN'T
· DO
THAT"
Build a large scale mainframe computer that will outperform the competition 's leading model?
"IMPOSSIBLE!" they said.
But Amdahl did it back in the early 1970 's. And today we are a leader
in the development, manufacturing, marketing and support of general pu rpose
and scientific computer systems, storage products, communications systems
uou CAN and software.
put your mind to new challenges in the computer systems
I 1
industry and join the creative team environment that
developed the most powerful commercial processors in the world and is
now developing software tools for the largest mainframes of the 1990's.
MANAGE!, SYSTEMS SOFTWARE
uDoEuVECLAONPmENT use your 7+ years ' experience in systems software
I I
development to manage a group of 6-1 0 systems pro-
grammers developing software which has aspects of firmware and the
kernel of an operating system Your background should include expertise
with 370 architecture, Assembler and success in 'managing systems software
development projects
SENIOR SYSTEMS PROGRAMMERS
MACROCODE DEVELOPMENT
uou CAN use your 3+ years' systems development experience
11
using Assembler language and VM or MVS internals
to develop Macrocode (firmware support) for our current and future processors
VALIDATION AND CERTIFICATION
uou CAN use your 3+ years' MVS and / or VM experience with
I 1
370 or 370 / XA architecture and Assembler language
to participate in the validation and certification of operating systems of
current and future processors. Hands -on experience testing in an engineering
environment highly desirable.
uou CAN enj oy th e benefit s and co mpetiti ve salary
11
you would expect from an industry leader. To apply ,
send your res ume to G. Albrigh t, Amdah l Corpo ration , Employment
Department, Dept.12- 10, P.O. Box 3470, M/ S 300, Sun nyvale, CA 94088-
3470. Princ ipal s on ly, please.
_,__ _ _ _amYOUdCANaAThl
Amdahl Corporation is proud to be an equal opportunity employer through affirmative action.
DAT AM AT IO N 0 DECL.vl BER 15, 1987 10 5
0 Datamation Databank 0
0
Professional Profile
0
0 Announcing a new placement service for data processing professionals! 0
Datamation feels an obligation to help its
readers advance their ca reers. So. Datamation has affiliated itself with Placement
0 Services. Ltd. to form the Datamation Databank . What are the advantages of this new service?
0
· Your qualifications and career goals are entered into PSL 's computer system. And the
computer never forgets. When your type of
job comes up, it remembers you 're qualified.
0 · It's absolutely free . There are no cha rges.
fees or obligations to you as a Datamation reader .
· Service is nationwide. You 'll be considered for openings across the U.S. by PSL and their affiliated offices.
· Your identity is protected. Your resume is carefully screened to be sure it will not be sent to your company or parent organ ization.
· Your background ar.d ca reer objectives will period ically be reviewed with you by a
PSL professional placement person to ensure current information.
We hope you 're happy in your current position. At the same time. chances are there
a
is an ideal job you 'd prefer if you knew about
it.
0 That's why it makes sense for you to register
with the Datamation Databank. To
do so. just mail the completed form below
(with a copy of your resume) to
Placement Services, Ltd., Inc.
0
-f
I 0 !IDENTITY
IPR ES ENT O R MOST R EC ENT EMPLOYERj 0
Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Parent Compa n y - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
. ~
0
Home Address: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Your division or subsidiary: - - - - - - - - - - - - -
City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ State: _ _ _ _ Zip: _ __
Location(City, State) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
0
......
Home Phone (include area code): - - - - - - - - - - Business Phone if 0.K. to use: - - - - - - - - - - - -
...
0
!EDUCATION I Major Field
GPA
Year Degree
Earned
College or University
0
...
Degrees (List)
0
0
0 !POSITION DESIR ED I - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- - - 0
0
IEXPER I ENC E I PresentorM'.'.lst
~-----------~ _ R_e_c_en_t_Po_s_iti_on_ _ _F_ro_m:__ _ _To_:_ _ _n_tle_:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
0
Duties and Accomplishments:
Industry of Current Employer:
r
---'
0
0
~
-r--
0
0
Reason for Change:
l"
O !PREVIOUS POS ITION :
0
~
JobTitle: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ __ _ _ __
0
Employer: _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ From : _ _ _ To: _ _ _ City: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ State: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
0
Division :
Type of Industry: - - - - - - - - -- Salary: - - - - - - - - - -- -
"?" -
.
Duties and Accomplishments: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
,..
0 !COMPENSATIO N / PE RS O NA L IN FORMAT ION
0 ..
Years Experience
Base Salary
Commission
Bonus Total Compensation
Asking Compensation Min. Compensation
0
0
._,,..
Date Available
I Will Travel
D I own my home. How long? _ _ __ I rent my home/apt. D
D Light D Moderate D Heavy
....
0
D Employed D Self-Employed D Unemployed
D Married D Single
Height___Weight_ __
0
...
Level of Security Clearance
D U.S. Citizen D Non-U.S. Citizen
My identity may be ra leased to: D Any employer D All but present employer
0
0 W ILL RELOCATE
0 W ILL NOT RELOCATE
D OTHER
0
·~
....
0 Datamation Databank
o
A DIVISION OF PLACEMENT SERVICES LTD., INC.
0
....__,.
0
265 S. Main Street , Akron, OH 44308 216/ 762-0279
106 DATAMATION 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987
.
Quality Assurance
Software and Hardware
Unisys Corporation , a major vendor of computer mainframes and associated products, is looking for a FEW GOOD PEOPLE with SOFTWARE and HARDWAR E QUALITY ASSURANCE BACKGROU NDS and disciplines. The Pasadena Development Center is responsible for the design , development and qualification of future generation hardware and software for Unisys V series computer mainframe
systems.
·
Product Assurance Depa rtment
Proven professionals with 2 or more years ex-
perience in SOFTWARE or HARDWARE QU ALITY
ASSURANCE (or related activity) with a solid
awareness of industry accepted standards for
operating systems, compilers and communication
protocols. Participate in the evaluation and qual -
ification of hardware and software products
developed in Pasadena , including product design
,..
reviews , product assessments, design and execu tion of product acceptance tests , and statistical
analysis. Bachelor 's degree in Electrical Engineer-
ing, Computer Science, Quality Assurance or related
discipline. Unisys V series experience helpful.
We offer a positive , supportive work environment,
highly competitive compensation and an outstand-
ing comprehensive benefits package. For con-
sideration send your resume to: Unisys Corpora-
t ion , Attn: A. Tipton, Pasadena Development
>
Center, 460 Sierr a Madre Villa, Pasadena, CA
91109. An Affirmative Action Employer.
UNI·SYS
KING FAHD UNIVERSITY
OF PETROLEUM
& MINERALS
DHAHRAN-
,
SAU DI ARABIA
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Information & Computer Science Department
...
Computer Engineering Department
Applications for facu lty positions are invited. A Ph.D., or an M.S. for the lecturer positions is req uired. Evidence of research accomplishment or potential is essential.
Faculty will interact with undergraduate and graduate programs, and will have free access to extensive lab, computer and library facilities.
The University offers attractive salary and benefits which are tax-free.
.·'
Send resume with supporting documents to:
KING FAHD UN IVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & MINERALS
HOUSTON OFFICE, DEPARTM ENT 605
5718 WESTHEIMER , SUITE 1550
HOUSTON, TEXAS 77057
True Vision
Generates Success.
On-li(le rransacr ion processing. Applicarions de,·elopmenr. Computing and comm unication s se n ·ices . Fidelit\· Srsrems Com pany \rnrks \\'ilh ,·ision ro pro,·ide qualir\· compurer and telephone net\\' ork sen ·ices ro Fidelitr lm·esrmenrs America 's mosr innorarire im·estmeni firm .
True ,·ision generares success . Share rhe rision ar Fidelil\·
s,·srems Com panr .
·
Technical Services
MVS/XA Systems Programmer
\X'e are see king a key person for rhe Operaring Sysrems Supporr Group in our Technical Services Deparrmenr. Responsibiliries will include support for MVS/XA and JES2 .
running in a shared multi -C PL' IBM 3090 mainframe environmenr. The successful ca ndidare will have 5 + rears '
experience mainraining MVS/XA and relared program· producrs . Strong problem determinarion skills . VSAM. ALC and configurarion management knowledge are essenrial. Familiariry wirh UCCE L Products and experience with remote data ce nter support is a plus .
Communication Services
Senior Data Communications Analyst
This is a ke y position responsible for planning, designing and implementing data communication nerwork components on a projecr basis . As a Data Cu mmunicarions Analysr , you will confer with users ro derermine requiremenrs , coordinare vendor acriviries, develop project schedules , pe rform acceptance resrs and provide technical supporr. Qualificarions :
related degree or equivalent experience, 6 years ' dara
communicarions experience and a working knowledge of TI tec hnology . SNA. SDLC. asynch and bisynch prorocols .
Senior Voice Communications Analyst
An opporrunirv exists for an individual who possesses a srrong understanding of rraffic engineering principles . The successful candidare should have experience wirh the prepararion and naluarion of RFP 's for voice telecommunicarions s1·stems . Projecr management experitnce and ACD experience preferred .
Fidelity offers excellent salaries and a comp rehensive benefi t s pack age including pe r fo rmance b o nu s, pro fi t
sh aring, t h rift savings p l an and I 00 % t uiti o n
reimburse m ent. We al so en co urage p arti ci p ati o n i n o ur generous Employee Referr al Program.
For prompt consideratio n , please se nd you r r es um e to Caroline McG r ail at Fi d eli t y Sy~ t e m s Com p any . D ept. DM 12 1S, 82 Devonshire St ree t , Mail Zone E l I B , Boston ,
MA 02109. An equal opport unit y empl oyer , M/F/H /V.
A Fidelity
Investments
Share the Vision
DATAMATIO N 0 DECEMBER 15, 1987 107
Marketplace
Advertisers' Index
....
IT'S NOT 29¢ PLUS
Circle
Page
9 ...... Adobe ................................ 14-15
26 Alcatel Business Systems ..... 50-51
Apple Computer Corp.......... 22-23
AST Research, Inc........................1
Circle
Pa ge
Oracle Corp............................... 13
15 .... Overland Data ..........................32
THIS AND THAT, IT'S
19 Attachmate Corp.......................37
AT&T 3B Computers ............ 28-29
18 .... Prime Computer, Inc. .................35
--
¢
11 .... Bull Peripherals Corp. ................21
SAS Institute, Inc.......................C2
,.
2 ...... Software Link ...........................C3 5 ...... Sorbus, Inc................................49
·
21 .... Systems Center .........................40
40 Cahners Expo Group ......... 100-l 01
24 Catalyst, A Peat Marwick
With sleeves, tabs, labels
51/4" 5'14' DS1DD Min.100
EACH
39e Min. 50 .. .. .. .
.. . 29e
Coklr 5'/4 DS/DDMin. 50 .... 49e
5V.." IBM-AT HDMin. 50 ..... 79e
Boxof 10 Min.10boxes
5V4 DSIDD ............... $4.29 Boxof 1O Min.5Boxes
Color 51/4 DSIDD
Free Plastic Case ........... $5.99
Company ..................................47 Codex Corp...............................61
..
13 Computer Associates .................25 4 ...... Tandem Computer Corp...............5
Cullinet .......................................8 20 .... TeleVideo ........................... 38-39
3112" 3'12' SSIDD
Min. 25 Sub1ect to availability . . 99e
3W DSIDD
Min. 25 Sub1ect to availability . $1.09
25 Data/Ware Development ...........48 28 .... Unisys ......................................57 Digital Equipment Corp. ....... 94-95
Data 205' 40MB Mini Cartndge
3m/DEI Compatible Min. 5 ... $15.90
600' 120MB DataCartridge
Min. 5 .
.. ........ $19.20
Immediateshipping-Guaranteed satisfaction Call for greater discounts on larger orders
33 .... VM Software, Inc......................76
Equinox Systems, Inc................. C4 22 Expoconsul International, Inc. .....41
,...
100% Lifetime Warranty
Shipping: $3.50 per min. order/$1.50 each addtl. lot MCNISA accepted
1·800·537·1600
16 .... Xerox .......................................31 r
Operator No. 39
14 .... Facit .........................................27
Dept. No.1523 P.O. Bo· 61000 San Francisco,Ca.94161
32 Harris Computer Corp................65 27 Hayes Microcomputer .......... 58-59 35 31 Hall-Mark/UDS .........................69 36 7 ...... Hewlett Packard .......................11 37
READER VOTE CONTEST WINNERS AST Research ...................... 78-79 Compaq Ct>mputer Corp. ...... 80-81 Emulex ............................... 82-83 Control Data Corp. .............. 84-85 Hewlett-Packard ................. 86-87
CIRCLE 200 ON READER CARD
As American as
39 23 30 17
Th e Consum er In fo rm at io n Ca talog is fi ll ed with ove r 200 red eral cons um er-ori ented publ ica ti o ns. Many are free and all are helprul. Ge t yo ur free copy by wri t in g-
IBM ....................................... 6-7 IBM ................................... 74-75 Information Builders, Inc............93 lnformix Software, Inc...............42 The Interface Group, Inc. ...........67 ITT/CSG .................................... 33
Recruitment Advertising
Amdahl .............. .................... 105
Computer Sciences Corp. .......... l 02
Fidelity Investments ................ 107
King Fahad University .............107
Northern Telecom ........ ............ 104
Unisys Corp............................ 107
Unisys Devon Engineering ........ 104
.. "
Con sumer Inform ation Cent er Department AP. Pueblo, Co lorado 8 1009
Us Ge n eral Serv1u:~ Atlm1111~t rat1on
10 .... McDonald Douglas/ Tymnet ........ 16 200 .. Micro Electronic Products * ....... 108 38 .... Multitech/Acer ..........................90 *Marketplace
108 DATAM ATION 0 DEC EM BER 15, 1987
.,
M aking the right connections. The decision is yours. Now that most companies have multiple levels of computing
DOS Program Compatibility... Complete Connectivity. dBASE III , WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and
power, you need more than just a short-term answer to your net- Symphony, are among the thousands of DOS-programs that are
working demands.
LANLinkTMcompatible. The network enables security-cleared
You know what you need ... DOS program compatibility,
users to access and share everything from programs and data-
multi-tasking, expandability, file/record locking with password-
bases to high-speed laser printers and large-capacity hard disks.
protected security, remote access, and ease of use. In short, you
R-LAN;" or Remote-LA , gives you the ability to access the
need LANLinkTM... the complete networking solution.
LANLink"' system, via modem, whether you're across the street
Network Board Free .. .Network Operating System or across the country.
Complete. In 1985, LANLinkTMwas the first network to be free
A Platform for YOUR Future. The choice is clear. You
of network boards. All of the network logic was on Server and
can pay more than you want, for a stack of network boards. You
Satellite diskettes. To this day, all it takes to set up a LANLink"'
can get less than you need with a CheapLAN-that's file
network is inexpensive cable, network software, and the very
transfer software which masquerades as a network. Or, you can
same communications ports most PCs & PS/2s already have.
get LANLink"'." And install a SOLUTIO that will take you far
And now, LANLinkTMcomes with its own network operat-
into the future. Its price of $495 includes a server and a satellite
ing system ... PC-MOS/386"'." So you're no longer dependent on a
module plus the network operating system. For complete details
system designed for single users and stand-alone computers.
and the authorized dealer nearest you, call The Software Link
The First Network You Buy...The Last Network
1DDAY at the toll-free number listed below.
You'll Need. Designed to take full advantage of the newest
..-
80386 machines, LANLinkTMprovides a true multi-user system which supports the complete line of PCs, PS/2s, and PCcompatibles.
In Georgia : 404/441-2580
CA LL: 800/4 51-LIN K
International/OEM Sales: 404/263- 1006
ResellersNA Rs: 404/4 48·5465
Canada: 800/387-0453
It lets you expand as your office networking needs grow.
Each user gets multi-tasking capabilities, and you can network
different types of computers. If desired, you can have multiple
servers. And with the terminal support upgrade, you're able to
use terminals, or PCs, as satellites in multi-user "work groups'.'
LA~Lmk'." PC - ~10Sl38fi'." and R·LAN'." are trademarks of The Software Lmk . Inc PSI::!. dBASE Ill. \\'ordPerft'\'I. Lvtu!\ 1·2·3 and S> mphony are trademark!> of IB~ ! Corp. Ashton-Thte WordPerfect Corp.. :rnd Lotus Development Corp.. rt'!<peruve!}: Pncei; and tcchmc11l ~pet·ifications !lubien to chan)(e Copyrii;ht ©l!-187. All Right s Re..erved.
Circle 2 on Reader Card
Introducing Eql)inox's New Data PBXs.
More for Less.
Since 1984 our first generation Data
Less$
PBXs have provided reliable data
Reduced manufacturing costs, due
switching and connectivity solutions . to VLSI technology allowed us to
After shipping over 1000 systems
lower prices on our second genera-
we learned what was good and
tion Data PBXs. More fea-
what could
tures for less money means
be made even
maximum value for your data
better. Then
switching dollar.
we set about
designing our
More of the Same
second gener-
We kept the Equinox hall-
ation . Here's
marks of reliability, easy instal-
what we came up with :
lation , comprehensive wiring solutions and user friendly operation.
-
More Throughput
Our new Data PBXs each provide 25 Mbps throughput for 660 simultaneous full duplex connections at 19.2 kbps. With double the throughput of our first generation , and more than any other comparable Data PBX; that's enough for all the terminals, PCs, computer ports and peripherals you can throw at them .
We based our second generation on the same architec-
ture as our first generation DS-5 and DS-15 Data PBXs. They look the same, configure the same, even the names have stayed the same.
T 1 N e t war k i ng
More Connectivity
T1 links join individual Data PBXs to form large multi-node Local or Wide
So if you already own an Equinox
-.
Area Networks supporting many
Data PBX, all the
thousands of lines. You can use
features of our
twisted-pair, telco, microwave or
new generation
fiber optic links to solve virtually any
can easily be added to your network.
connectivity problem .
If you need the most advanced
Data PBX available, don't wait a
minute more.
More Network Security
Dialback Security available as an option shields your network from unauthorized access by dial-in users . This feature lets you restrict dial-up access to designated users at pre-defined locations during specified time periods.
Call 1-800-DATA-PBX In Florida: (305) 255-3500 Equinox Systems Inc. 14260 S.W. 119th Avenue Miami, FL 33186
EQUINOX
111111111111111111111111111111IIIIIIII IIIIIIII111111111111111111111111111111
Smart Connections For Dumb Terminals
11111111111111111111111111111IIIIIIIII 11111111111111111111111111111IIIllllII
'- .,
I
Adobe Acrobat 11.0.23 Acrobat 11.0.23 Paper Capture Plug-in