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Subject: tech Mon, Jul 27 1992
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 04:22:00 EDT
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07-27 0000
DECISIONLINE: Technology
USA TODAY Update
July 27, 1992
Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network
    
PRIME TO CLOSE DIVISION:
   Prime Computer, which previously said it would sell its 
computer-hardware division to executives, says it will close the 
division instead. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, 
Prime says it plans to focus on its services and software business 
and discontinue its computer-making division. The move will mean 
laying off the division's 400 employees.
    
IBM REPORT CALLED INCORRECT:
   An obscure newsletter, Acknowledge the Window Letter, issued a 
news release Friday claiming IBM will spin off its 
personal-systems business into a separate corporation within three 
weeks. Besides PCs, the division makes advanced desktop computers 
called workstations. "This story is non-accurate and is absolutely 
incorrect," says IBM spokesman Keith Lindenberg.
    
DIVISION MAY BECOME SUBSIDIARY:
   Most anlaysts say a report that IBM will make its personal 
systems business into a separate corporation is off the mark. 
"It's 100% wrong," says Chicago Corp.'s Rick Martin. Martin says 
what IBM could do is make the division a wholly owned subsidiary. 
The subsidiary would have a separate profit-and-loss statement and 
board and be responsible for its own spending and cost control.
    
ROTRAN TRANSPLANTS PLANTS:
   A West Lafayette, Ind., company has perfected a robot with a 
green thumb. Stephen Beam, president of Robotic Solutions Inc., 
has high hopes for the Rotran 2000, a machine so sensitive it can 
pick petunia seedlings and transplant them into trays that 
consumers buy. The invention could revolutionize a billion-dollar 
industry that still relies primarily on hand labor.
(For more, see special Rotran package below.)
    
USE OF VOICEPRINTS PREDICTED:
   By the year 2002, signature analyzers and voiceprint readers 
will replace computer passwords. The goal: Keep computer hackers 
from accessing confidential medical records. That is among the 
predictions made in the most recent edition of Modern Healthcare, 
which goes on sale Monday. It also predicts hospital visitors will 
be screened by metal detectors to prevent violence.
    
BANKS NOT ON CUTTING EDGE:
   A survey by the American Banker and Ernst & Young found that 
despite spending $14.1 billion on technology in 1991 - equal to 
roughly 77% of bank profits - the banking industry is not close to 
today's technological cutting edge. The study found that 77% of 
bank programming is done in the old COBOL language and 84% of 
software applications are still on mainframes.
    
PROGRAMMING COMPETITION PLANNED:
   While Barcelona is hosting the Olympics, London will be the 
site of the fourth annual International Computer Olympiad, to be 
held Aug. 5 to Aug. 11 at the Park Lane Hotel. It will feature 
more than 100 world-renowned artificial intelligence programmers, 
pitted against each other in a competitive series of computer 
games to determine whose software technology reigns supreme.
    
CE SOFTWARE BUYS INBOX RIGHTS:
   CE Software Holdings Inc. says it has purchased the rights to 
Sitka Corp.'s InBox electronic mail product. Sitka will continue 
to provide technical support for InBox customers until Sept. 30. 
CE Software plans to eventually integrate InBox into its own 
E-mail product, QuickMail.
    
SYNOPTICS SIGNS RESELLING DEALS:
   SynOptics Communications Inc. says it has signed agreements 
with Ascom Timeplex and Wang Laboratories. The firms will resell 
SynOptics products. SynOptics makes wiring hubs and net management 
software. Ascom will resell the equipment in the USA and Canada, 
while Wang will resell it worldwide.
    
SPECIAL PACKAGE ON ROTRAN:
    
MACHINE PLANTS 2,100 PER HOUR:
   The Rotran 2000, a robotic transporter made by Robotic 
Solutions Inc., measures 5 1:2 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 5 feet 
long. An onboard computer controls the movement of thin metal 
fingers that pluck and plant 2,100 seedlings an hour. The 
seedlings are transplanted from starter flats, called plug sheets, 
into flats of four to eight plants apiece.
    
SYSTEM USES VIDEO CAMERA:
   The most unique feature of Rotran 2000 is a small video camera 
that inspects each flat before and after transplanting. The images 
are analyzed by the onboard computer. Any missed places are 
replanted. The transplanter technology was pioneered by Larry 
Kutz, a former doctoral candidate at Purdue University and now a 
professor at Auburn University.
    
ACCEPTANCE WILL BE KEY:
   Tony Wade, a 1991 Purdue graduate and Robotic Solutions 
employee, designed the finished product. The success of the 
company depends on acceptance of the Rotran 2000 by some 13,000 
wholesale growers producing $1 billion worth of bedding plants a 
year, says Stephen Beam, president of Robotic Solutions.
    
DIFFERENT SIZES CAN BE HANDLED:
   One thing that has slowed automation of the industry is lack of 
standardization, Beam said. Wholesalers buy seedlings in a variety 
of plug sheets. The Rotran 2000 can be programmed to accept 
different sizes of commonly available plug sheets and flats of 
various sizes, Beam said.
(End of package.)
    
Technology Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of 
USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution 
violates federal law.
    

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