Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Wed, Jul 29 1992 Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 04:32:50 EDT Message-ID: 07-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update July 29, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network IBM TO CUT 32,000 JOBS IN 1992: IBM Tuesday said its voluntary work force reduction programs are expected to reduce its worldwide work force by at least 32,000 employees this year rather than the 20,000 previously expected. The costs of these additional departures will be approximately $1.2 billion. IBM LOSES SOME TOP PEOPLE: Some analysts say too many of IBM's brightest people might leave during the firm's work force reduction programs. "Some of the people leaving are necessary to run the railroad," says IBM expert Sam Albert of Scarsdale, N.Y., who thinks IBM could lose 40,000 employees this year. "Skills and experience are things you can't buy." SHUTTLE READY FOR RISKY MISSION: A dangerous experiment with the potential to revolutionize space travel will take off aboard the shuttle Atlantis Friday. The goal: Release a satellite from the cargo bay, fly it 12 miles above the orbiter, keep it attached to Atlantis by a thin cable and then reel it back in. The Tethered Satellite System (TSS) is a $376 million joint experiment between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, (For more, see special Shuttle package below.) COMPUTER CRASHES COST $4B: Computer crashes cost U.S. businesses $4 billion a year, says Stratus Computer, a supplier of systems that guard against unplanned down time. The firm conducted a survey that found companies average nine four-hour crashes a year costing $330,000 each. SENATE CUTS COMPUTER FUNDING: The Senate approved spending $46.4 million to help farmers in nine states return 50,000 acres of cropland to wetlands. They found the financing by cutting $54.9 million from the Agriculture Department's computer purchasing fund. Farmers who restore their wetlands agree to a permanent restriction on the land in exchange for a payment that is equal to the fair market value of the land. SOUTH KOREA GETTING APACHES: The Bush administration plans to sell South Korea nearly $1 billion worth of Apache attack helicopters and related equipment, the Pentagon said. The package includes 37 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters made by McDonnell Douglas, 775 Hellfire missiles made by Rockwell International and Martin Marietta and eight spare T-700 helicopter engines produced by General Electric Co. SIERRA, WEITEK SIGN DEAL: Sierra Semiconductor Tuesday said it has signed a cross-licensing agreement with Weitek Corp. to jointly develop single-chip personal computer graphics products. The companies will cooperate on integrating Sierra's Phase Lock Loop and HiCOLOR-24 technology for displaying 16.8 million colors on screen with Weitek's user interface controller technology. THORAY TO BUILD MINE DETECTOR: Thoray Electronics has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract to build three mine-hunting sonar detection systems for Egypt's navy. Details of the contract weren't disclosed. The three hull-mounted sonar systems will be used in mine-hunting coastal ships that Paramax Systems Corp. of Reston, Va., is building for Egypt. LORAL EXPECTS SMOOTH ACQUISITION: The chairman of Loral Corp. said Tuesday he expects the company to complete its acquisition of LTV Corp.'s missiles division without the controversy that surrounded an earlier bid, Bloomberg Business News reports. Loral Chairman Bernard Schwartz said he has been assured by LTV that it will support Loral's offers. Thomson-CSF Inc., a French firm, officially withdrew its bid Tuesday. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SHUTTLE: MISSION IS RISKY: The Tethered Satellite System (TSS), an experiment aboard the shuttle Atlantis, is filled with risks. At worst, Atlantis could get entwined in the tether or smashed by a half-ton satellite. Loss of the seven-member crew and a $2 billion orbiter is possible, NASA officials admit, but not probable. TETHER CAN BE CUT: If trouble develops during the 30-hour-long experiment, the one-tenth-of-an-inch thick tether can be cut, sending TSS safely away from the astronauts. "We're not so naive to think everything's going to go perfectly," said Chuck Shaw, NASA's lead flight director for this mission. "But if they're running odds on us in Vegas, I would not bet against us." PLANNERS ARE BEING VERY CAREFUL: Mission planners have had to work extra hard to earn NASA's safety stamp of approval in time for Atlantis' lift-off. In addition to the safety reviews conducted for every shuttle mission, managers faced an unprecedented last-minute review ordered by NASA Administrator Dan Goldin because of the trouble shuttle Endeavour's crew had in rescuing the Intelsat spacecraft. SYSTEM WILL WORK AS BATTERY: Scientists think that as the long thin cable sweeps through Earth's magnetic field, an electric current will flow from the satellite to the orbiter through the tether. Two sets of electron guns in Atlantis' cargo bay then will send those electrons flying back into the ionosphere. In effect, the orbiter-tether-satellite combination will act as a battery. (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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