Little Apples ... big seeds

Press, 13 January 1987, Page 28

Little Apples ... big seeds

Apple Computer Inc. ha? recently bought a Cray supercomputer for about SUSI4.SM and is using it to help design the next generation of the Apple. A Cray executive told a high-technology conference in Boston that when Mr Seymour-Cray, the founder of the company that makes the giant number crunchers, was told about the Apple purchase, he said: "That’s interesting. I’m designing the next Cray with an Apple.” 386 cards Accelerator cards for IBM PCs and compatibles have been available for some time now. These contain the more powerful 80286 microprocessor, giving the PC the processing power of an AT. They come in a range of cards. Orchid puts out one that combines with EGA graphics. Another, colourfully labelled Number Smasher, gives the PC 12MHz processing speed and up to 1 Meg of RAM. Now cards are appearing that will give a PC machine the processing power of the new 82386 machines. Orchid, • Quadram, Intel and Seattle Technology have put such cards on sale. Some are for ATs only. Others will slot into PCs. Microcomputers based on the 82386 chip are now coming on to the market in more brands. Both Zenith and Kaypro have machines out. Videotex closing Videotex may still be decades ahead of public acceptance. Few if any of the services are making money. _One of the latest blows is the decision by IBM and Merrill Lynch to close International Market-Net. When it shut on December 31, it had only 50 users within Merrill Lynch and 50 outside. It was set up to be used as a network primarily lor the 10,000 account executives of Merrill Lynch. The purpose was to supply raw market data. American commentators say the software for the service cost more than broking houses were prepared to pay. Unisys loss Unisys is expected to post a fourth-quarter loss because of merger-related after-tax charges of SUS2SOM to SUS27OM. However, the chairman, Mr Michael Blumenthal, says that in 1987 Unisys expects to benefit very substantially from cost savings from the merger. ’ 7 ■ Laser rivals Before laser printers have proliferated, two rival technologies have emerged. One is LED array printing, using patterns of light-emitting diodes to put the “type” on tlie platen. The other is ion deposition. NBS is putting out a printing-industry ion system that is half the price of competitive laser printers.' It is described as being suited to any form of information transfer from a computer database or disk. Operating at 125 A 4 pages a minute, it creates images electronically by firing ions through a 240 by 240 matrix on to a cylinder. Telecoms giant ITT, of the United States, and France’s State-owned Compagnie Generale d’Electricite are merging their telecommunications interests, forming a new company, Alcatel. The joint venture, which dropped its provisional name, Teleglobal Communications, for the Alcatel title, becomes the second largest telecommunications group in the business after A.T. and T. CGE will hold a 55.6 per cent controlling stake in Alcatel, which will have its head office in the Netherlands but its operating headquarters in Brussels. ITT has a 37 per cent stake, with Belgium’s Societe Generale de Belgique holding 5.7 per cent and the French State-owned bank Credit Lyonnais 1.7 per cent. Alcatel will have assets of about SUS 4.4 billion. Database mission

Representatives of eight British database firms will visit New Zealand from January 19 to January 23. The leader of the mission is Mr Peter Fryer, chairman of the Association of Database Producers. Members include representatives of firms that supply database information on agriculture, art sales, patents, and scientific information.

One firm scans about 4000 technical journals and 1000 conference proceeding reports a year to produce a comprehensive database on physics, electronics and computing. It seems unlikely the mission will visit Christchurch. Details are available from Mr Rex Frisken at the Trade Office of the British High Commission in Christchurch.