The Teleputing Hotline The Worldwide Network Letter Volume 3 Number 95 -- December 3, 1990 215 Winter Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30317 FAX: 404-378-0794 Phone: 404-373-7634 MCI:409-8960 GEnie: nb.atl CompuServe: 76200,3025 Editor: Dana Blankenhorn European Editor: Steve Gold Associate Publisher: Lamont Wood Correspondent: Masayuki Miyazawa Sales Manager: Hiro Nakamura EC GREEN PAPER ON SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS The European Commission laid the political foundation for a satellite-based array of trans-European networks and services. Regulations on satellites across Europe remain unchanged from the 1970s, despite the rapid expansion of the small satellite dish market. The ultimate aim is to establish the commercial freedom for space segment providers, in particular the EUTELSAT consortium. Transponder capacity will double by 1993. FRENCH UNVEIL PROTOTYPE VIDEOPHONE France Telecom unveiled a prototype videophone which it claims is more advanced than its Japanese counterpart. Capable of transmitting voice, data, and color-TV images, it is set to enter the market next year at a unit price of 30,000 FF ($6,000). By the end of 1992, France Telecom is expected to order 100,000 for sale to consumers, starting in about 2 years. Matra of France has a license to produce the videophone which the French hope to use as a springboard to promote other French telephone products such as mobile telephones and pocket phones, wrote Eric Dauchy for Newsbytes. MICOM INTRODUCES VOICE/DATA SERVER Micom Communications announced Marathon 5K, a data/voice server which it says eliminates toll charges on phone calls and faxes sent from one networked office to another. The device moves normally sent over the public phone network onto the leased lines used by computers, and vice versa. The company claims that just one hour of daily phone and fax traffic between offices can allow the Marathon 5K to pay for itself in under a year, writes Janet Endrijonas for Newsbytes. U.S.S.R: VIRUS CRISIS APPROACHING The USSR is facing a computer virus crisis, 350 experts concluded in Kiev. "The crisis is that a number of new computer viruses appearing in the country is now equal to or even bigger than the ability of the country's experts, antivirus program developers, and distributors to incorporate changes in their products in time to reach customers. Most of the Soviet virus designers are young computer students who learned a lot but have no place to use their talents," a conference statement concluded to Kirill Tschaschin of Newsbytes. UK: ROYAL MAIL GOES ELECTRONIC Royal Mail, the UK postal authority, launched a trial service in conjunction with Sprint International's Sprintmail. Sprintmail users in London can now send letters online to the main Royal Mail sorting office at Mount Pleasant, London. Letters are printed out on `Electronic Post' heading to a high print quality, placed in a windowed envelope, and then fed into the first class letter mail network. Mount Pleasant is the main post office in the nation, with delivery routes radiating around the UK. Pricing has not yet been set. A maximum of 6 printed pages can be sent at once. NTT GAINS MORE TELEPHONE SUBSCRIBERS Japan's former telecom monopoly, NTT, expects record growth in new phone lines for 1990. The total of 2.11 million new lines is up 100,000 from last year. An NTT spokesman credits increased demand for fax and PC lines. The growth is worth 5 billion yen in charges to NTT. To meet demand, NTT will change telephone numbers in the Tokyo area on January 1. All numbers will get an extra "3" in them. Tokyo exchanges dialed at 81-3-3XXX-YYYY from overseas should now be dialed at 81-3-XXX-YYYY. NTT STARTS DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE CHARGE: But you can get around it NTT began charging 30 yen ($.20) for each directory service call December 1. This is 3 times the charge of a regular phone call. But you can get numbers for 10 yen each using NTT's proprietary "Angel Note" notebook PC. NTT has rented 100,000 to lucky customers chosen by lottery. NTT is also giving away personal computer software for searching telephone numbers, again at 10 yen each. AT&T TELEWORK TEST IN ROCHESTER AT&T and Rochester Telephone began a major test of teleworking, using digital services under ISDN standards. The 4 month test in 35 homes will focus on an AT&T network controller which links every phone, modem and fax in a home with ISDN services. Prodigy, the IBM-Sears joint venture, is a part of the test. A Rochester Tel spokesman told Newsbytes she wants to see if use increases when normal 1,200 bit/second modem links are replaced by a 9,600 bit/second digital link, speeding screen refresh rates. APPLE AND ACORN TO DEVELOP RISC-BASED NOTEBOOKS Apple and Acorn will set up a joint company, Arm Limited, whose aim will be to develop notebook computers based around Acorn's RISC chip, and marketed under the Apple brand name. The move is important in light of Apple's interest in a new generation of machines, previously thought to be based around the 88000 and 88110 series of microprocessors. ONLINE FACTOIDS ALCATEL of France won the Australia Telecomm contract for digital switches. Ericsson of Sweden had been the preferred supplier. The switches will be made in Australia. BELL CANADA applied to federal regulators to offer the country's first commercial Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) service. Bell hopes its ISDN service, called Megalink, will be available in 4 central Canadian cities next June. The 23 voice channels and 1 signaling channel will rent for C$1,427-C$1.679, depending on location and contract term. GERMANY began joint work with the U.S.S.R on a satellite communications network called the Romantis Project. The plan will be carried out next year, linking Soviet satellites to the West under international standards. HITACHI announced a lightweight cellular phone which will ship to the UK in December. It will compete with the Motorola TAC and be sold as the FLITE. A total of 10,000/month will be produced by next year. Exports to the U.S. must wait for a version following the U.S. AMPS standard. HONG KONG INFOLINE sponsored its first "900" number charity. To raise funds for the bline, callers paid HK$4 per minute to hear bloopers from local radio. JAPAN signed a deal with North Korea to open a satellite link. KDD hopes to have the link opened before the end of 1990. NISSHO IWAI of Japan and STS of the U.S. will build ground stations linking Romania to the EuTelSat satellite network. Inmarsat, Don Koulaouzos, +61-2-901 2033 RICOH will market an Hitachi digital PBX which can be connected with ISDN services. SUZY, the Canadian online network of Stratford Software in Vancouver, dropped president Alex Morton in a bid to cut expenses. CONTACT: Bell Canada, Douglas Peck, +416-979-8251 Hitachi, +03-258-2056 HK Telecom, + 852 808 6470 Micom Richard S. Borden, +805-583-8600 Newsbytes, Wendy Woods, +415-550-7334 Rochester Tel, Carol Schuhart, +716-777-7337 Stratford Software, Thompson McKie, +604-439-1311