SUN EMBRACES INFORMIX UNIVERSAL SERVER 

  Mountain View, Calif. -- Sun Microsystems Inc announced its intent to 
support Informix Corp's just-released Universal Server, for use with the
SunMediaCenter UltraSPARCserver. Sun plans to integrate the Video DataBlade
module of the Informix Universal Server with its MediaCenter system software,
allowing users to manage video data, extend, and adapt legacy databases to
support video data types and allow integration of video into Web pages. With
their newly released Universal Server, Informix claims it will be the first 
with a new class of information management system for companies seeking a
scalable and fully integrated database system that can manage all types of
information. 

  The new server is designed to manage numbers, images, maps, sound, video,
Web pages and text. It will allow customers to combine the World Wide Web,
financial strategies, digital warehousing and other complex data markets
into one database system. 

  Sun expects the Video DataBlade-enabled MediaCenter video server to 
improve productivity for film studios, broadcasters, advertising agencies,
publishers, and other companies where digital media management is critical. 

Sun expects the product to be available in the first quarter 1997. 

SECANT PRODUCT SHOWCASED AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE 

  Research Triangle Park N.C. -- SECANT Network Technologies' CellCase 155
system was showcased at the Radiological Society of North America's annual
conference in Chicago, December 1-5, 1996. The CellCase 155 system runs at 
the OC-3c data rate (155 Mbps), supports over 65,000 simultaneous virtual
circuits and mixes encrypted and unencrypted traffic capabilities. CellCase
creates a virtual trusted network by providing data privacy and access 
control for connections between trusted ATM local-area networks and across a
public ATM wide-area network. It operates with complete transparency to all
network end-users and ATM equipment.

  The demonstration showed how CellCase creates a secure environment for
medical records transmitted over the high-speed Advanced Communications
Technology Satellite (ACTS) satellite and connections between the M.D.
Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, 
the National Library of Medicine in Maryland and the RSNA conference in 
Chicago. 

  Protection of medical records against unauthorized access and alteration is
of prime importance as this data increasingly moves from paper and film to
electronic storage. For more information, see http://www.secantnet.com

STRATEGY TO LINK DFM WORKBENCH WITH TIMEMILL SIMULATOR 

  Sunnyvale, Calif. -- In a move aimed at tighter integration between the
activities of designing and manufacturing integrated circuits (ICs), 
Technology Modeling Associates and EPIC Design Technology, Inc, have agreed 
to develop new Design for Manufacturability (DFM) capabilities. The two
companies plan to introduce a solution that will enable IC designers to 
directly model the impact of process variations on circuit timing. The 
system, based on TMA's DFM WorkBench, EPIC's TimeMill simulator and EPIC's
Direct Silicon Access service, will be designed to improve the likelihood 
of first-pass silicon success by letting designers anticipate manufacturing
process fluctuations and thereby modify designs early on to maximize yield.

  "Through these cooperative efforts with TMA, EPIC is the first EDA company 
to make the Technology-CAD/ECAD link," said EPIC Chairman Sang Wang. "By
combining actual silicon process variations with accurate simulation and
analysis, deep submicron and nanometer IC designers will be able to more 
quickly and easily predict how those variations affect circuit performance."

  With DFM WorkBench, circuits can be designed to account for statistical
variations in the manufacturing process, resulting in faster turnaround in
the designs and shorter time to volume production, with higher ramp rate to
maximum potential yield. Direct Silicon Access (DSA) provides accurately
characterized models for silicon interconnect and devices. DSA will be used 
in parallel with the DFM WorkBench to provide technology files which cover 
the range of process conditions. Then TimeMill, a transistor-level simulator
noted for its high accuracy, speed, and capacity, will use those technology
files when simulating the IC.  

  TimeMill and Direct Silicon Access are available now from EPIC Design
Technology. DFM WorkBench version 1.0 is expected to be available from TMA
in January 1997. For more information, see http://www.tmai.com

NEW PROGRAMS FROM COSMIC

  Stars is a multidisciplinary, finite element-based, graphics-oriented, 
linear and non-linear analysis tool. Its range of application includes
structural analysis, heat transfer, linear aerodynamics, CFD and controls
engineering. It provides graphics capabilities for convenient model 
development as well as post-processing of analysis results. Now available 
for IBM PC compatible systems running Windows 95/NT. License agreement 
required, for $2000.

  The general maneuver program was developed to provide a method for 
computing both orbit adjustment and spin-axis reorientation maneuver 
parameters for various spacecraft. GMAN computes the detailed maneuver 
scenario necessary to achieve desired orbit and attitude maneuvers, and is
designed to support multiple spacecraft missions. Written in FORTRAN 77 
and C-language for IBM PC series and compatible computers running MS-DOS.
Documentation is $118, program is $1500.

  The OFFCDC is an off-design axial-flow compressor program which uses the
output from the compressor design code, Aerodynamic and Blading Design of
Multistage Axial Flow Compressors to predict the aerodynamic performance 
maps of fans and compressors. OFFCDC keeps costly and time consuming testing 
to a minimum by predicting the performance maps of compressor designs. 
OFFCDC has a reliable flow property prediction at off-design speeds that 
can then be used as a starting point for three-dimensional flow analyses, 
thereby reducing long computing times. Written in FORTRAN 77 for use on
UNIX-based systems. Documentation is $25, program is $900. For more 
information, see http://www.cosmic.uga.edu

COMPANY LAUNCES NEW OBJECT MANAGER DEVELOPER PROGRAM 

  Burlington, Mass. -- Object Design, Inc, a provider of object database
software for the Web, announced a new partner initiative to provide the 
broadest possible array of off-the-shelf multimedia data management 
solutions.

  The Object Manager Developer Program makes it easy for industry-leading
Internet and multimedia vendors to integrate their solutions with Object 
Design products by building Object Managers for the ObjectStore database
management system. Object Managers are software modules integrated with
ObjectStore that let developers store, manage and perform functions on any 
type of data.

  The new program will benefit application developers by making available
off-the-shelf, reusable components for quickly and easily building
sophisticated Web applications. They enable users to store, query,
manipulate and reuse extended data types, and eliminate the need for
developers to build their own libraries of objects. For more information, 
see http://www.odi.com

MOTOROLA INTRODUCES 4-MEGABIT BURSTRAM FAST STATIC MEMORY PERFORMANCE 

  Austin, Texas -- Motorola's Fast Static RAM Division, a supplier of fast
static RAM memory devices, has announced its new 4 Megabit BurstRAM product
family designed to meet the high speed and reliability requirements of cost
competitive workstations, and to serve the growing demand for fast static 
RAM's in the networking market.

  A BurstRAM is a fast static RAM with an on-chip burst counter that can
increment the address supplied three additional times, for a total of four
reads or writes from one address. System designers can achieve system bus 
speeds of 117MHz using the MCM69F737 and MCM69F819 flow-through devices, 
and  up to 166MHz using the MCM69P737 and MCM69P819 pipelined devices for 
high speed, no-wait-state L2 cache memory. The 4 Megabit BurstRAM family 
operates from a 3.3V core power supply, and all I/O's operate on a 2.5V or 
3.3V supply. 

  The 4 Meg BurstRAM will be available in early February. Prices start at 
less than $120 for samples. For more information, see 
http:www.mot.com/FastSRAMS

LSI LOGIC TEAMS WITH SAND MICROELECTRONICS TO ADD UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS 

  Milpitas, Calif. and Santa Clara, Calif. -- LSI Logic Corp and Sand
Microelectronics, Inc, announced an alliance that will speed delivery of
Universal Serial Bus (USB) cores to enable integrated ASIC solutions. To 
help customers get products to market faster, LSI Logic and Sand
Microelectronics are developing several USB cores that LSI Logic will add 
to its CoreWare library as design elements. This three member USB core 
family consists of the compliant Function, OHCI Host and Hub cores. LSI 
Logic announced the availability of the first member in this family, the USB
function core.

  Cost effective designs combining the Function core and LSI Logic's 
integrated USB Transceiver I/O's with other LSI Logic cores or customer 
specific logic can be created for USB peripherals such as digital cameras, 
ISDN and ADSL modems, basic desktop video conferencing systems and Multi
Function Peripherals. For more information, see http://www.sandmicro.com

OPEN GROUP NOTES AVAILABILITY OF DCE 1.2.2 WITH FILE SYSTEM ENHANCEMENTS 

  Cambridge, Mass. -- The Open Group, an organization for the advancement 
of open systems, announced general availability of Release 1.2.2 of its
Distributed Computing Environment (DCE). The latest release of DCE includes
significant enhancements to the DCE security services, as well as 
improvements in manageability, fault-tolerance and scalability for the DCE
Distributed File System (DFS), and a message-queuing service that takes
advantage of DCE services.

  The DCE 1.2.2  release focuses on enhancements to Security and DFS, and
builds on the Release 1.2.1 improvements in ease of programming and
administration. The new security and DFS features public key technology 
and login using Kerberos/public-key support. The security server no longer 
needs to store long-term keys, which allows the keys to remain undisclosed
should the security server be compromised, using a crypto-card or other 
personal security module. 

  DCE is currently shipped on all major computer platforms, including UNIX,
MVS, Windows, Windows NT, Macintosh, VMS and OS/2. It helps developers in
building DCE applications, and users in administering and working with
applications, resulting in accelerated deployment of DCE-based information
technology environments. For additional information, see
http://www.opengroup.org/dce 

ACCRUE EMBEDS RED BRICK RDBMS IN ONLINE USER RESPONSE ANALYSIS SYSTEM 

  New York, N.Y. -- Accrue Software Inc, a provider of online user response 
and analysis software, said that it has bundled data warehousing technology 
from Red Brick Systems, Inc in its flagship product. Using Accrue Insight, 
Web site managers can leverage online analytical processing (OLAP) technology
to better understand user behavior and facilitate intelligent online 
marketing.

  Many corporations lack the ability to gather meaningful data on current
and potential customers through their Web site. Organizations for whom the 
Web is now a strategic marketing platform need this information to leverage 
the medium's true promise as a sales and marketing channel. Accrue Insight
provides companies with a tool to leverage collected information to improve 
site performance, modify offerings and improve their site's return on
investment.

  Red Brick's technology brings specific benefits to users of Accrue 
Insight. Accrue Insight can collect and store more than 1 million hits per 
hour. Red Brick provides the ability to load huge amounts of data, which is
critical for data mining. Accrue Insight also enables maintenance of detailed
records: data collected on the network is stored in its most granular form,
without pre-aggregation. 

  Red Brick Warehouse is a RDBMS specialized for data warehouse, data mart, 
data mining, OLAP and database marketing applications. It features 
advancements in performance, scalability and functionality that extend Red
Brick's technical lead over general purpose online transaction processing 
(OLTP) and multi-dimensional databases. Red Brick Warehouse is designed for
handling massive amounts of data, supporting hundreds of simultaneous users,
facilitating ease of administration & management, and providing fast query
response for analysts and business managers.

  The Accrue Insight system pricing starts at $15,000. The product is now
available on the Sun Solaris/SPARC platform. Additional platforms are 
planned for release in the near future. For more information, see
http://www.accrue.com

ORACLE AND DIGITAL EXPAND ALLIANCE TO CAPTURE NT MARKET 

  Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Oracle Corp and Digital Equipment Corp 
announced that Oracle on Digital's Alpha platforms running Windows NT will 
be featured as part of a Windows NT marketing, channel development and 
developer program. All of Oracle's core products will be delivered on 
Digital's Alpha platforms and Intel Prioris platforms running Windows NT, 
thus offering customers and developers a wider Windows NT offering.  

  Oracle7 release 7.3 and Oracle Enterprise Manager for Digital's Alpha
platforms running Windows NT are expected to be available next month.

  Oracle and Digital have established two joint technology centers focused
on Windows NT product development and additional service expertise centers
worldwide. Development of all Oracle's core products, including Oracle
Universal Server, WebServer and Oracle Applications, will be accelerated
through 1997 until the simultaneous release of Digital Alpha platform and
Intel platform versions are achieved.

NOVELL RELEASES TECHNOLOGIES; ENHANCES INTRANETWARE INTERNET PERFORMANCE 

  Orem, Utah -- Novell, Inc announced the availability of an early access
release of key network services for business intranets and the Internet,
including proxy caching, security services and virtual private network 
(VPN) technologies. These technologies accelerate information access on 
the Internet and intranets; provide secure computing over the Internet; 
and reduce the cost of intranet and Internet connections. 

  Novell plans to incorporate the technologies in its platform and network
services product line in 1997, delivering to customers the comprehensive and
powerful set of network services they need to exchange and access information
quickly and confidentially. The new technologies are intended to allow 
customers to more securely and efficiently implement intranet and Internet
capabilities by delivering cached HTML pages to end users four to 10 times
faster, reduce the cost of Internet connections by reducing WAN traffic up 
to 60 percent, reduce the cost of corporate WAN connections by allowing all 
or part of customers' intranets to run securely over the Internet with a 
virtual private network, reducing hardware costs by balancing the workload 
on Internet and intranet Web servers, and by providing comprehensive control 
by a single point of security administration for intranets and the Internet
through Novell Directory Services. For more information, see
http://www.novell.com/ear

PACKETEER TAKES AIM AT INTERNET 'CROWD CONTROL' TO PRIORITIZE NET 

  Campbell, Calif. -- A new class of network devices that addresses the 
problem of "crowd control" on the Internet by enabling companies to allocate
network capacity, or bandwidth, to users on a priority basis has been 
introduced by Packeteer, Inc, Packeteer's PacketShaper.

  Shipping to customers next month is a hardware/software solution that lets
network managers or webmasters set and enforce policies by which access
priorities can be assigned to individuals or groups of users. The effect is 
to eliminate the burst-and-delay effect that plagues users trying to work on 
the Net, resulting in smoother, more predictable information delivery. 

  PacketShaper permits the setting of bandwidth-allocation policies based on
connection speed, application type or IP address, and provides detailed
information on the quality of service experienced by users. It is a
bidirectional solution that manages both inbound traffic (outside users
accessing corporate web sites) and outbound traffic (web browsing by 
corporate intranet-connected users), requiring no changes to the client, the
server or the existing network infrastructure. PacketShaper, due out in 
January 1997, is priced at $7,250. For more information, see
http://www.packeteer.com  

UNIKIX TECHNOLOGIES OFFERS LOWER COST YEAR 2000 SOLUTION 

  Phoenix, AZ. -- UniKix Technologies announced the availability of Open
2000, software designed to lower the cost of Year 2000 solutions for legacy
mainframe applications by providing a low-cost testing and validation
environment for Year 2000 code changes. 

  Year 2000 solutions are costing large enterprises millions of dollars
because of the complexity and time required to make code changes and then
test and validate the solutions, which has been creating a 20 percent
increase in workload on the mainframe. This usually translates into upgrade
or outsourcing costs of millions of dollars. Open 2000 reduces the cost made
to these legacy applications by providing a mainframe-compatible test
environment on open systems UNIX servers.

  When the Year 2000 project is complete, the fully compatible application
can be reloaded back to the mainframe or it can operate under Open 2000 as a
production application on UNIX, fully integrated with all other mainframe
applications. Open 2000 provides an MVS and DOS/VSE compatible test
environment for Cobol applications running in batch or under CICS and using
either VSAM files or DB2 databases. 

  The Open 2000 starts at $40,000. UniKix Technologies is a supplier of
open-systems middleware for high-performance transaction systems for large
enterprises, and provides solutions for both client-server and
Internet/Intranet environments. For more information, see
http://www.unikix.com

ROSS ANNOUNCES 180 MHZ 512K HYPERSPARC UPGRADES 

  Austin, Texas -- Users of Sun Microsystems' and SPARC-compliant
workstations and servers can now upgrade their machines to 180 MHz
performance, utilizing single or twin hyperSPARC processors. ROSS Technology,
Inc announced the availability to end users of 180 MHz hyperSPARC
microprocessors with a tightly-coupled 512 Kbyte secondary cache. The
microprocessor upgrades, the first based on the company's next-generation
(Colorado 4) hyperSPARC implementation, fulfill the need for improved
performance and multiprocessing by end-users of SPARCstation 10, SPARCstation
20 and SPARCserver 630/670/690 machines.

  The 180 MHz hyperSPARC CPUs are based on Fujitsu's 0.35-micron TLM (triple
layer metal) pure CMOS process technology and advanced multi-die packaging
(MDP), and are available as single processor modules on standard MBus
daughtercards (3.3" X 5.78" form factor). Upgrade customers may order single
or twin-processor configurations. With 512K cache, the 180 MHz hyperSPARC
delivers 200 SPECint92 and 219 SPECfp92 on a production compiler. In a
twin-CPU configuration, the 180 MHz hyperSPARC delivers SPECrate--int92 of
8893 and SPECrate--fp92 of 9470. By contrast, the UltraSPARC 1 167 MHz CPU,
developed by Sun Microsystems, provides SPECrate--int92 and SPECrate--fp92
performance of 5982 and 8323, respectively.

  The 180 Mhz hyperSPARC product uses a high density cache subsystem, based
on 1Mbit custom ROSS SRAMs. The cache memory operates at 3.3V for improved
thermal characteristics, as does the rest of the microprocessor chip set.
Because of the larger second level cache, the latest hyperSPARC is
particularly well-suited for multiprocessing applications. For more
information, see http://www.ross.com 

INFORMATION DIMENTIONS 'BASIS V8' TURBO CHARGES DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT ENGINE 

  Paris, London, New York and Frankfurt -- Information Dimensions, Inc rolled
out "BASIS V8," bringing nearly limitless capacity, a "sixth-sense" search
engine and double-speed retrieval to document management. With BASIS Version
8.0 (V8), Information Dimensions becomes the first company to introduce Very
Large Database (VLDB) support to document management.

  This feature lets companies manage high-performing collections containing
terabytes of documents. BASIS V8's new searching power finds information in
places where the user didn't think to look, and its new searching and
indexing speed makes the industry's document-management system faster. With
VLDB support, companies can split indexes over multiple files to connect
thousands of users to collections containing millions of documents. Also with
BASIS V8, users can interact with up to 100 databases simultaneously, whether
centrally located or distributed across an organization via the World Wide
Web.  

  BASIS V8 sizes up documents or sections of documents with algorithms and
retrieves those with similar overall content, even if they lack the key words
a user would naturally expect. BASIS V8's enhanced thesaurus considers word
order in a multi-word search term instead of just the words themselves,
zeroing in on the exact information a user is seeking. It also allows
customers to more easily manage and search different document databases which
store documents in different character sets -- for instance, Chinese and
English -- using the same BASIS software. BASIS V8 supports 26 languages in
all.

  The BASIS Document Management System is a multi-tiered, client-server
environment for managing and distributing business-critical document
collections. BASIS V8 is shipping immediately and is available on UNIX
platforms, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun and Windows NT Servers.
Pricing for BASIS V8, one year of maintenance and a support program starts at
$22,000. For more information, see http://www.idi.oclc.org

DATA GENERAL UNVEILS THREE NEW SERVER PRODUCTS 

  Westboro, Mass. -- Data General Corp (DGN) added three new products to its
Aviion server line. In a Dow Jones press release, Data General said its AV
1600 tower is an entry-level server for workgroup, file and print
applications. The company said its AV 2600 is more powerful with platform for
departmental applications while the rackmounted AV 3600R is designed for
diverse integration for VARs and systems integrators. 

  The new servers are now available and are priced under $3,900 for the AV
1600, $8,100 for the AV 2600 and $13,300 for the AV 3600R. Data General
provides servers, storage systems and related software services.

ACCTON UNVEILS NEW PENTIUM PLATFORM FOR INTEGRATORS AND SOLUTION PROVIDERS 

  Nashua, N.H. -- Accton Technology Corp introduced a new Pentium-based
workgroup workstation that is ready to plug into almost any network
environment. Offered in two configurations, the LanStation 586 delivers high
performance connectivity, and can add new users to expanding corporate
Intranets and departmental workgroups.

  The LanStation-586 is available either as a diskless workstation for secure
workgroup environments (NC2501-1), or with a CD-ROM drive and sound card
for more versatile computing applications (NC2501-2). A 3.5-inch disk drive
and 1 Gigabyte hard drive are other options. The LanStation-586 features
Accton's high-performance EN166x Ethernet adapter technology built into the
motherboard. The EN166x uses Accton's MPX2 technology to run 30 percent
faster than conventional NE2000 network adapters. Accton's custom-designed
computer controller delivers data throughout, and operates in full duplex to
double the available bandwidth. 

  The LanStation-586 also comes with other user-friendly features, including
an LED indicator for network status and a "suspend" power-save switch. The
LanStation includes ODI drivers for NetWare 2.x, 3.x, 4.x, NetWare LAN
WorkPlace, and Novell LAN Analyzer. It also comes with NDIS drivers for
Microsoft Lan Manager, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, Windows 95, IBM
LAN Pathway Access, PC-NFS, and Banyan VINES and packet drivers for TCP/IP
and UNIX drivers for SCO Unix, Unixware, and SunSoft's Solaris. Pricing
starts at $550. 

  Accton Technology Corp manufactures workgroup connectivity hardware and
software, including a complete product line for Ethernet applications.