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 Thu, Jun 4 1992 Date: Thu, 4 Jun 92 05:20:44 EDT Message-ID: 06-04 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update June 4, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network PLAN WOULD FUND RESEARCH: House Democrats announced details Wednesday of a $1 billion program to cushion the effects of cuts in defense spending on individuals and the economy. It includes $200 million for technology assistance. It would fund joint ventures between business and government to develop technologies with military and commercial applications. Examples: Robotics and microelectronics. COMPUTER PLAN BLASTED: A Senate committee Wednesday attacked the U.S. Agriculture Department's plan to spend $2 billion for a new computer system. "The department has little idea how to effectively use the computer technology it has purchased, nor does it have any clue of how to plan an integrated computer system for the future," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. SUN TRYING TO CONVERT FOLLOWERS: Sun Microsystems has a legion of loyal customers who have bought the firm's workstations, including Sun's best-selling Sparcstation 2. Now, Sun is trying to convince its 540,000 customers to switch to its newest product, the SparcStation 10, which has 50% more power for 30% more money. Companies design entire operations around workstations, and don't like switching to new ones. (For more, see special Sun package below.) PAGING NETWORK FILES WITH FCC: Paging Network Inc. said Wednesday it has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission requesting a nationwide license to provide an innovative, affordable voice paging service. The firm's application was made under the FCC's pioneer's preference rules by which the commission may grant frequencies being held in reserve to firms proposing innovative services. VOICENOW TO COST $20 PER MONTH: Page Network Inc.'s proposed voice paging service, which is named VoiceNow, allows a subscriber to receive voice messages on a pager. When the pager receives the message, it briefly vibrates to alert the subscriber. The pager stores the voice message until the subscriber elects to hear it. The company estimates the cost for the service will be $15 to $20 per month. DATABASE MARKET TO RISE: The personal computer database market will experience substantial growth in the next three years according to a survey conducted for Borland International Inc. by The Research Alliance. More than 300 developers were surveyed. It found 91% expect the demand for PC database applications will increase in the next three years, with 65% believing the market will increase significantly. GEN. DYNAMICS DEVELOPS ET GUN: General Dynamics Land Systems Division said Wednesday it has received an $8.8 million contract from the U.S. Army for further development of electrothermal gun technology. ET gun technology replaces conventional gun powder with a high-energy electrical pulse provided to a chemically active but non-explosive propellant in the chamber of a gun. FDDI ANALYZER AVAILABLE: Network General Wednesday unveiled a Sniffer network analyzer designed for firms using 100 million bits per second Fiber Distributed Data Interface networks. It is priced at $18,500 for the single attachment board and software. It will be available later this month. NEW E-MAIL SERVICE OFFERED: America Online subscribers can now communicate with millions of people by using an electronic mail gateway that connects to a wide variety of E-mail systems. America Online subscribers are not charged extra for use of this gateway that allows them to send and receive E-mail from users of CompuServe, MCI Mail, AT&T Mail, AppleLink, Sprint Mail and other Internet-connected systems. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SUN: SPARCSTATION 10 OUT IN AUGUST: Sun Microsystems is trying to sell its customers on its new SparcStation 10 workstation. The SparcStation 10 won't be widely available until August or September. Alex. Brown analyst Mark Stahlman says 40% of Sun's third quarter revenue of $270 million came from sales of the SparcStation 2. "It's the heart of their product line," Stahlman says. SUN TOPS IN WORKSTATIONS: Sun still reigns supreme in workstations. Dataquest says that for the past two years, Sun has had 30% of the market, which produces $9 billion in annual revenue. After Hewlett-Packard introduced super-fast workstations last year, Sun had to cut prices. And IBM's RS:6000 worksation helped it capture almost 16% of the market last year, up from 9% in 1990. INVESTORS ARE CAUTIOUS: Investors aren't convinced the SparcStation 10 workstations will sell well. Sun's stock closed at $26 1:2 Wednesday, up 1:2 point, but some say it will take a tumble this summer. "I'm neutral for now," says UBS Securities' Marc Schulman. "Sometime between now and the end of he summer, the stock will get clipped down to the low 20s. Then I'll probably upgrade it to a buy." (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. 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