Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.telcom From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: telcom Mon, Feb 24 1992 Date: Mon, 24 Feb 92 06:25:44 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: Telecommunications USA TODAY Update Feb. 24, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network BEEPERS FINDING NEW MARKETS: Beepers are starting to turn up in some new places. Restaurants are using them to tell customers when their table is ready. High school students are using them to keep track of their friends. In fact, beepers have become such a status symbol that some companies are selling fake ones, just so people can wear them on their belt and feel and look important. (For more, see special Beeper package below.) OXLEY SPEAKS AGAINST BILLS: Rep. Michael G. Oxley, R-Ohio, a member of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee, says he is opposed to legislation designed to prevent the regional Bell companies from providing many information services to their customers. "Despite claims to the contrary, the information services industry is not solidly behind the legislation," Oxley said. SYSTEM INDUSTRIES MAKES DEAL: System Industries Inc. has reached an agreement with Petroleum Exploration Computer Consultants Ltd. (PECC) of Sussex, England. It provides for the worldwide marketing and sales rights to PECC's PMP-NET network backup and archival system. PECC developed PMP-NET for supporting petroleum exploring efforts worldwide and has had the product in use for several years. RULING WON'T HURT CUSTOMERS: Analog Devices, Inc. said Friday its customers will not be affected by a International Trade Commission Exclusion Order against Analog Devices and four other companies. The order bars the importation and sale of any plastic encapsulated integrated circuit or board-level product that infringes Texas Instruments Inc.'s patent for a plastic encapsulation process. U S WEST TO UPGRADE SERVICE: U S West says it plans to spend $1 million to upgrade its telephone service in Cache Valley, Utah. The move comes after residents threatened they were going to complain about the service in front of the Utah Public Service Commission. TERADATA DEAL TO GO UP TO VOTE: NCR Corporation and Teradata Corporation jointly announced Friday that .802 share of AT&T stock will be exchanged for each Teradata share in a stock-for-stock merger valued at approximately $500 million. The next step in the merger process is for Teradata shareholders to vote on the merger agreement at a meeting scheduled for Friday. FINANCIAL LINK MADE: LCI International has announced the availability of two products for financial firms that need voice links between Chicago and New York. Both of the services, Basic 32 and Premium 32 provide a 32 kilobytes per second link between the cities. With the premium service voice traffic can be rerouted around downed facilities. ASCEND MAKES DEAL: AT&T Paradyne and Ascend Communications Inc. say they will jointly develop products for the bandwidth-on-demand market. The products will be based on AT&T Paradyne's Acculink multiplexers and Ascend's inverse mixes. They will develop products for such markets as videoconferencing and LAN internetworking. VISIONPLUS IS ON MARKET: VideoTelecom Corp. says it has introduced a low-end videoconferencing system. Prices for VisionPlus start at $33,500. It features a color monitor and a video coder:decoder. It supports both switched and dedicated links at speeds from 56 to 386 kilobytes per second. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON BEEPERS: RESTAURANTS USE BEEPERS: At some restaurants, beepers are being given out so customers can take a stroll and get beeped when their table is ready. "People love it. ... it makes them feel important," says Tony Ford, manager of the Carlyle Grand restaurant in Shirlington Village in Alexandria, Va. The restaurant has been handing out beepers to patrons on weekend nights for the last three weeks. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS LIKE LOOK: Beepers are the newest status symbol for the young and restless in some metropolitan high schools. "It's just like back in the days when you wore a guy's letterman jacket, now you wear their beeper," says Cyrkle Milbourne, 16, junior at Suitland (Md.) High School, near Washington, D.C. She says beepers are "booming," even though they're prohibited at school. FAKE BEEPERS ARE ON MARKET: Even fake beepers are available for those who want the look but don't have the cash. The Beeper Club, from Rally Accessories of Miami, sells for about $10 at toy and novelty stores. Alvin Brown, a sophomore at Howard University in Washington, D.C., says more students are wearing beepers these days. "They like the way they look," says Brown. "They're not always real ones either." (End of package.) Telecommunications Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 08:0002240000D0224 TREN- R J Beepers-become-status-symbol.......... A D0224 This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM