The Online REPORTER
WEEKLY DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERNET FRONT
October 14 -October 18 1996 Issue No 20
SEER AND INFOGY TO CHANGE NET PRICING MODEL - SOMEDAY
Seer Technologies Inc and Infogy Inc reckon they can change the pricing model for Internet access with the announcement of pre-paid access cards that the pair already have working in Japan. But users outside Japan will have to wait a while.
The cards were launched there in July and have been used by Tokyo Internet Corp. But the service won't be available in the US until the end of next year. It's meant for users of either regular PCs, Macs or Sega Saturns. Users will be able to purchase cards for $15, giving them 100 minutes of connection time, which includes both the telephone dial-up charges and Internet service charges. The user scratches a panel off the card, revealing a user ID and password. If the user has a Sega Saturn, they can buy a CD with the access software and browser software on it, and dial-up through the built-in modem. PC users set their machines to dial the number on the card and use the user ID and password in the same way. Seer did the access control and timing software, but it's not clear what Infogy was responsible for. Presumably it's the cards themselves. The company was unable to tell us. The pair have vowed to make the situation a little clearer prior to the US launch. www.seer.com
SUN PROVIDES A FIRST PEEK AT PICOJAVA PERFORMANCE
Sun Microelectronics Inc will be talking up its picoJava I core at next week's Microprocessor Forum, offering a peek inside what until now has been a black box and offering some DIY benchmarks in an attempt to attract more wins for the design.
The benchmarks use Javac, the compiler from Sun's JDK, and a 3,500 line raytracer Java program and pitch an emulated picoJava I core running native Java code against Windows 95 Pentium and 80486-based machines running a Symantec Cafe just-in-time compiler and a Sun JDK interpreter.
Scaling all system times to 100MHz, Sun claims picoJava is 15 to 20 times faster than a 486 running an interpreter, and five times quicker than a Pentium running a JIT compiler. But the thing is, it's unlikely that chips built around picoJava will be competing with conventional Pentium systems. Instead, they're going to appear in phones, network computers and other appliance devices.
Sun said it will benchmark against other architectures, such as a StrongARM-powered device running Java, when it can get hold of them. The picoJava core will be available for implementation in silicon from the first quarter of next year. Sun said it may develop other picoJava cores, such as a smaller one for control devices, or a beefed-up version supporting multimedia and graphics devices.
The company said it would have products ready using its microJava chip implementation of picoJava by Christmas 1997, though it says competitors could get to market sooner. It's still unclear where a complete ASIC program to support picoJava will come from. Companies that have endorsed Sun's Java-on-tin core so far include Nortel, LG Semicon Co Ltd, Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc, NEC Corp, Rockwell International Corp, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Xerox Corp.
...AS PATRIOT READIES SECOND GENERATION SHBOOM JAVA CHIP
Meanwhile, Patriot Scientific Corp, which claims its combined stack and register-oriented Shboom microprocessor is everything a Java chip should be, has revealed details of its next-generation processor, claiming that the faster speed, lower power consumption and lower cost-per-MIPS will make it viable for a wider range of applications.
The new PSC-1005 shrinks the current 0.8 micron Shboom PSC-1000 processor down to 0.5 micron, with a nominal clock-frequency of 90-100MHz, and anticipated processing power of 28 MIPS at 3.3 volts. It should be at the foundry from the beginning of next year, and generally available shortly afterwards. The company says it plans to reveal more technical details about the new chip this week.
Patriot, based in San Diego, California, began shipping the first silicon of its PSC-1000 chip back in July, and according to company spokesman Paul Berlin there are now "at least 15 companies testing it". Two of those are committed to use the chip, although the only one named is Birmingham, Michigan-based The WebBook company, which plans to launch a Java-based Internet terminal using the chip during the second quarter of next year. Others have made verbal commitments, said Berlin, to use the chip in everything from advanced digital cellular phones to automotive applications, printers, and industrial robotics applications. Patriot is also understood to be close to signing an agreement with an embedded operating systems company. And it's also in the process of embedding the Java Virtual Machine within the silicon.
Although still a development-stage company, seven-year-old Patriot now has its first revenue stream, in the form of its CyberShark ISDN Digital Modem product. Last month it won its first 1,000 unit order for the box, which works with Windows 95 and connects directly to ISDN telephone lines. CyberShark, which is being manufactured in Taiwan, currently uses a Motorola Inc chip, but the next generation will use the Shboom processor. Beyond the PSC-1005, Patriot says it already has in the planning stages a further shrink of the silicon down to 0.35 micron, scheduled to appear in late 1997. www.ptsc.com
Progressive Networks Inc, which has been fiercely defending its RealAudio streaming software from criticisms by its competitor Macromedia, now has some more ammunition to aim against ShockWave. Last week, it announced its RMA RealMedia Architecture, a platform for streaming audio, video, MIDI, data, animation, presentations and images over the Internet. A framework of client and server application programming interfaces, there are Player and Server elements along with a software developers kit, downloadable from www.realaudio.com. Thirteen firms lined up in support of the new architecture. ActiveX and Live Connect are said to be "complementary technologies".
MICROSOFT'S GATES, NETSCAPE'S BARKSDALE MIX IT AT GARTNER
Microsoft CEO Bill Gates came head to head with Netscape's chief Jim Barksdale on the subject of who will dominate the Internet and intranet markets, in an Internet panel discussion at the Gartner Group Symposium in Lake Buena Vista, Florida this week.
Barksdale said the Internet browser war between the two companies will look like child's play once the real battle begins for the multi-billion dollar corporate intranet market, forecast to grow to $12,000m by 2000, Reuter reports. He said Netscape was hoping to get a "significant" share of this market, in which it competes against Microsoft's BackOffice and IBM's Lotus Notes, but maintained it would not turn its back on its Navigator browser.
Microsoft is currently the underdog in the browser war, where Netscape claims 70% to 80% of the market, but is winning ground with deals to have Internet Explorer bundled as the primary browser with more on - line services and Internet access providers. Barksdale said he recognized the potential threat, but had a strategy for dealing with it.
He said any inroads Microsoft was making with its software was likely to be at the expense of other competing browsers on the market, but after IE and Navigator, there are no other browsers to speak of. He also noted that Navigator runs on 16 platforms while Explorer was limited to Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT - Unix follows by year-end. Barksdale was keen to point out that regardless of the browser battle, 80% of Netscape's revenues are from sales to the corporate intranet market.
Although both pledged their commitment to open standards, each accused the other of not playing by the rules. Questioned about government's role in regulating the Internet, Barksdale came down strongly against recent moves to control encryption technology, declaring "I don't think the US government knows how to ensure competition." However, he changed his tune with respect to the government's role in refereeing Netscape's competition with Microsoft. All Netscape wants, he said, is for Microsoft to comply with the existing consent decree, referring to the 1994 consent decree between Microsoft and the US Department of Justice, which set restrictions on Microsoft behavior deemed anti-competitive.
On the subject of security, Barksdale said the two companies and Visa USA Inc, also on the panel, were working together on Secure Electronic Transactions, and they discussed how to convince consumers that it would be safe to shop and transact business on the Internet. He urged the companies to work together to explain how safe SET could make electronic commerce. "It doesn't do the industry any good to point fingers," he said. "It's sort of like the airline industry. Nobody advertises that they're safer than any other airline." The Gates-Barksdale acrimony did sometimes reach childish proportions. Barksdale pretended to vomit when Gates discussed Microsoft's Java development kit, and Gates hit back by pointing out to the audience "every two years, the people who you say are our biggest competitors changes."
MARIMBA ALSO HAS BONGO INTERFACE DESIGNER FOR JAVA
In addition to its Castanet Transmitter and Tuner set for deploying and accessing Java applications over the net (OR 19), Marimba Inc is also offering a visual interface builder called Bongo.
Marimba says Bongo can be used to create reusable interface building blocks and is claimed to allow developers to integrate components from multiple vendors into a single application. Bongo can also be used to create application and content channels for the Castanet environment and includes a set of graphical widgets.
Marimba says Bongo could be used to build channels such as multimedia games that morph over time with new features; personalized stock management tools that continually monitor market trends; or a children's bedtime book that updates nightly. The Transmitter is server software which sends applications or content over the net at the request of a Castanet Tuner.
Bongo is written in Java and can be extended by adding in-house or third party Java applets but in future will accept components written to Java Beans APIs. Because Bongo supports HTML and other scripting, developers do not have to learn the whole Java language to be able to use Bongo, the company claims. The interface designer runs on Windows 95, NT and Solaris and uses Sun's Java Development Kit 1.0.2. Betas are up on Marimba's web site - production versions will ship at the same time as Castanet, by year-end, priced from $500.
EXCITE TAPS DIMENSION X TO PREVIEW WEB CHANNELS
Bringing together three of the more prominent Internet start-ups, Dimension X announced that its Liquid Motion 2D Java animation tool is being used by Excite to create the Excite Channel Guide, which is based on Marimba's Castanet channel technology (OR 19). The Channel Guide is a sort of Web version of TV Guide, showing users what channels are available. Users can browse through various highlighted channels at www.marimba.com, and the Liquid Motion tool has been used to develop animations that preview what's available on the channel. The channels are distributed using Marimba's transmitter server technology.
MERCURY'S ASTRA GETS TO GRIPS WITH SPRAWLING WEB SITES
Mercury Interactive Corp forthcoming Astra Web site management tool is designed to help Webmasters manage their ever expanding Web sites.
Astra displays a map of the current state of the site in an interconnected hubs and spokes format, rather than the hierarchical tree structure favored by similar tools. It can view sites by URL or by status, such as what CGI scripts are running where, or those sites that are currently being accessed, according to the Sunnyvale company. There is also text accompanying every map explaining the situation.
User movement through the site can be tracked by color-coded graphics. The Change Viewer gives the webmaster snapshots of the site from two periods of time, showing the changes that have occurred. The Link Analyzer identifies broken links and Dynamic Scan enables the user to see pages that are generated on the fly, such as those accessing databases or obtained in real-time. Mercury has also written an API for developers to write plug-ins to Astra in Java, C++ and Visual Basic. The beta of Astra is free at www.merc-int.com from this week and will cost $500 when it ships in December for Windows 95 and NT.
OURS WHITE PAPER DETAILS PROS AND CONS OF E-COMMERCE
OURS, the up-market Fortune 500 user group, has put together an Internet security white paper entitled "Recommendations for Providing Secure Business Services over External Networks."
It is said to reflect the thinking of Amex, Chase Manhattan Bank, Bellcore, DEC, Levi Strauss, Motorola, Novell, Pacific Gas & Electric, Phillips Petroleum, SunTrust Banks and Union Camp as well as experts in the industry-at-large. It is intended to be used by businesses contemplating security options for conducting business including advertising, sensitive information services and e-commerce on unsecured networks such as the Internet.
The white paper includes a pair of matrices, one listing alternative uses of external networks and recommended levels of protection, the other matching security options against identified threats and risks. They can be used to develop personalized matrices. OURS also hopes vendors will use its criteria to hone their products. It available for $50 by calling +1 312 527-6782. The executive summary is at www.ours.org.
INTERMIND DECLARES ITSELF "THE NEW NETSCAPE"
Billing itself tentatively as possibly "the new Netscape," Seattle-based Intermind Corp has launched its big idea for changing the way the Web works.
Its Intermind Communicator Software uses something called hypercommunications technology in the form of distributed objects called hyperconnectors. Objects are placed on a web server to which visitors to the site can subscribe.
These so-called "intelligent" objects are customizable by the subscriber to filter whatever specific information the user requires, and the user can also retain his or her anonymity. It's a peer-to-peer model so there's no need for a separate server. There is software on the desktop that both reads and writes hyperconnectors, which have the extension .con.
By clicking on a hyperconnector on a web site, the hyperconnector is downloaded to the client with the latest information about whatever the hyperconnector is related to; it could be a news item, a product, or a service. The hyperconnector is also customizable, so a user might only want one of the four or five products or services on offer, and in future would not get information about the rest.
The software displays a message inside the browser, either Navigator or Internet Explorer, so the user can view the contents of the hyperconnector. The identity of the subscriber can be kept secret, the IP address would not be available to the publisher, but demographic information can be obtained about the user for sales targeting purposes, according to the company.
It's available on Windows 95, 3.1 and NT. The Macintosh version went into beta last week. Intermind's got about 35 companies already using hyperconnectors, including AT&T Wireless, Federal Express and even the Dole/Kemp '96 campaign. The software is free for the internet, but intranet licenses have to be paid for, though there are no prices yet. www.intermind.com
SUN'S NC DUE AT MONTH-END, BUT IT'S NO TOASTER
Sun Microsystems Inc will introduce its first Java-based network computers on October 29 in New York, Computerworld reckons - but its story is a little light on technical details.
The rumored roll-out name is Java WorkStation, they are codenamed Mr Coffee right now (OR 11). But Sun's Computer Company president Ed Zander refused to comment on the date or name of the device at Unix Expo in New York last week. However, HDS Network Systems Inc said it had seen Sun's device at a customer site where Sun's machine was being evaluated alongside HDS' offering, the @workStation Supra-66 network computer (OR 19). HDS told us Sun's offering does not look like the toaster prototype it's been showing for some months, and Sun has been saying as much. It's thin and flat and was working with the monitor sitting on top, much like a workstation, but thinner. Naturally, HDS's went much faster than Sun's machine, according to HDS. Presumably, though, the machines are Java A1 models on its road map, which use the MicroSparc IIep as the processor - which Sun says sets you back $100 - plus copious ROM and RAM, which is expected to cost about $615. We have to wait for next year for the first models - Sun's JavaA2 - using its microJava chip. Computerworld does have some users: it hears FTD Inc, the international florist shop, plans to use Sun's Network Computers in each of its 20,000 shops worldwide.
MSN - THIRD TIME LUCKY?
The Microsoft Network has now completed the transition from proprietary network to a pure Internet play with its new pricing structure.
This is the third time Redmond has 'launched' the network. From November it's going to cost $20 for unlimited internet access, or $7 a month for five hours, with each additional hour costing $2.50. Users can alternatively pay $70 annually for the five hours a month plan, with the additional hours at the same price.
MSN has lost a lot of its exclusivity, and for those that already have access to a pipe they can get all MSN content for $7 per month, or just some of it for free. Microsoft will split the site into "programs" using an MSN program viewer that's based on Internet Explorer. It splits the page into OnStage, for news and entertainment, Communicate for e-mail and chat forums; Find, for search engines and Essentials, for online travel service, Microsoft Investor stock trading and other shopping options.
MICROSOFT CREATES INTERNET STUDIO FOR MSN CONTENT
Redmond has set up a unit chartered to produce multimedia Internet content for the Microsoft Network. It's offering the services of Microsoft Multimedia Productions (M3P) to independent producers with bright ideas for MSN content that will show up as MSN transitions into a pure Internet service.
Microsoft's rushing to make the move now to beat competitors such as CompuServe, which are in the midst of similar metamorphoses. M3P offices are being set up in Redmond, New York and Los Angeles. In its search for content to keep MSN alive as more than just an Internet Service Provider, Redmond has invited pretty much anyone with proposals to submit their concepts to M3P. Instructions on how to do that are supposed to be posted later this month on a new web site at www.m3p.msn.com. Content, don't forget, is Microsoft's way of replacing dying revenue streams.
LUCENT ENTERS THE HOME BANKING MARKET WITH VISA
Lucent Technologies Inc and Visa International have got together in Lucent's first foray into the world of online banking.
The pair have linked Lucent's Intuity Conversant voice-response system with Visa Interactive's electronic banking network using Visa's Access Device Messaging spec. The software is available now to any Visa-member financial institutions throughout the US and internationally some time next year.
The first to take up the offer is UMB Financial Corp in Kansas City, Missouri, which will make the bill payment service available to its 130 full-service banking centers throughout the mid-west. The features the system offers include anytime banking, advance payment scheduling, low-funds notification, and touch-tone access. The software starts at $6,700 for small- and mid-sized banks that already have Intuity Conversant 5.0 installed. For those that need both hardware and software the package starts at $18,000 and large bank applications start at $30,000.
HUGHES TAPS EARTHLINK, NETCOM FOR NET SOFTWARE
Earthlink Network Inc's TotalAccess software and Netcom's NetComplete software will be bundled with Hughes Network Systems' satellite-based Internet access service, DirecPC, which claims speeds up to 400kbps.
Meantime, Hughes announced that CompUSA will begin selling the package in its California stores immediately, and nationwide by the start of next month. The package comprises a 21" dish, 100 feet of coaxial cable, an ISA card and software for $700.
Isocor has enhanced its Internet-intranet N-PLEX server software, adding LDAP, a Web-to-directory gateway and Java classes. Integrated applications in version 1.2 now include an Internet mail system, Internet Directory Server, message store, Web server and centralised management center. The company claims that N-PLEX is optimized for a scalable, multi-threaded Windows NT and iAPX-86 architecture. N-Plex 1.2 costs between $4,500 and $125,000 for a single user, depending on machine classes and options. A Java application development kit is included.
WINDOWS 95-NT CONVERGENCE STILL FIVE YEARS AWAY - GATES
Until this week, 1997 was the official date, but 1999 was the best guess for when convergence of Windows NT and Windows 95 would actually happen. However, speaking to CIOs in Orlando, Florida, Bill Gates said the company will continue to upgrade Windows 95 with enhanced file systems. He said it will be another five years down the road, late 2001, before Microsoft moves to a single kernel based on Windows NT.
EXPLORER SWEEPS THE BOARD OF ONLINE SERVICES WITH PRODIGY
The browser battle is over, at least as far as the big online service providers are concerned. Prodigy, fearful of being left out of the online folder that's going to show up on every Windows desktop, has ditched Netscape Navigator in favor of Redmond's Internet Explorer. Prodigy was the last holdout, following Microsoft's deals with both CompuServe and America Online.
Prodigy's decision came less than a week after AT&T said that Explorer is now the "preferred" browser for its WorldNet Internet Access Service, and AT&T was merely following in MCI's footsteps. (Sprint is rumored to be next to adopt Explorer.) Prodigy's defection is a heavy blow to Netscape, coming barely a month before the online service is scheduled to debut Prodigy Internet, its answer to MSN's imminent conversion to an Internet-based service.
Prodigy last week said the decision to sign the Redmond deal was simply a matter of survival. It can't afford not to be where all its major competitors are - in the Windows online folder which will provide a single mouse-click sign-up and access to any service listed.
All new Prodigy subscribers - and old ones as well - will get Explorer 3.0 on a Prodigy CD that also includes the front-end software needed to access the surviving proprietary subscription-only piece of Prodigy.
Prodigy said technically, its year-old deal with Netscape isn't being cancelled. "A year ago they were the only game in town," a spokesman said. Navigator will still be available to Prodigy subscribers but only on request and via download, cumbersome at best compared to the CD and online folder.
Prodigy also said it's going to use ActiveX components in Prodigy Internet, yet another blow to Netscape since Navigator doesn't support ActiveX natively. There will be a version of Prodigy that Navigator can use, but without some of the jazzy features ActiveX makes possible. Asked whether Prodigy was worried about Netscape's reaction to its decision, a source at the online service simply shrugged and said, "They're probably used to it by now." Observers, meanwhile, were left to ponder the possible legal implications of Explorer's clean sweep of the online services. However, Redmond's allowing direct access from Windows to competing online services could mitigate Justice department concerns. It's barely a year since the inclusion of direct MSN access in Windows 95 evoked screams of rage from some quarters.
PSINET AND PARTNERS LAUNCH E-COMMERCE PACKAGE
PSINet Inc has got together with CyberCash Inc and Mercantec Inc to introduce the PSIWeb eCommerce electronic commerce application.
CyberCash provides the electronic payment system including its electronic wallet, an electronic cash register and a gateway to existing bank networks. Mercantec brings its SoftCart shopping environment to the party, which keeps track of payments, creates invoices, calculates shipping and sales tax and so on.
The service is available immediately through the PSIWeb service for $295 per month. With CyberCash payment service only it costs $195. www.psi.net
SUN READIES INTERNET-BASED MANUFACTURING CONTROL APIS
Sun Microsystems Inc's developing a bunch of Java APIs for use in Net-based real-time process control applications in conjunction with manufacturing system and software vendors, including ABB Systems Control, Baan, Echelon, Elsag Bailey, Fastech Integration, The Foxboro Co, HP, Honeywell, Intuitive Technology, SAP, Toshiba and Valmet Automation.
The APIs are due in the second quarter of next year. Sun's also offering a library of Java and other object building blocks for use by Wall Street application developers in what it calls the Java Financial Objects Exchange at www.jfox.com.
Milton Keynes, UK-based chip and chip-set designer MSU Corp says the final pre-production model of its Slipstream Internet Box is being shipped to corporate clients in the US, Taiwan, and mainland China. The box incorporates MSU's proprietary iSP chip. The company has orders for 105,000 units for calendar 1996 and for just less than 1m for 1997. It'll show the box next month at Comdex in Las Vegas. MSU's chips are used for CD-based video entertainment and education systems. In June, it licensed its technology to US television set-top box builder American Interactive Media Inc.
The Meta Group's bought a $250k piece of Market Perspectives Inc, a Framingham, Massachusetts house that supplies online market survey technology and services. It declined to discuss its equity position.
HP is using Sunnyvale, California start-up Saqqara System's Step Search Enterprise catalog authoring and publishing software to manage and deliver its own product information to its global customer base.
The World Bank is standardizing on Excalibur Technologies Corp's Excalibur RetrievalWare internally for its 10,000 users. It apparently likes the idea it can do both pattern-recognition and semantic network searching.
Network Engineering Technologies Inc has released Telexian Shield, a firewall system based on its own "envoy" technology. NET claims envoys offer firewall protection comparable to proxies, but can be used to run multiple firewalls. The San Jose, California-based company has been quietly shipping the stuff for the past three months to Pacific IBM Credit, Elexsys International and a few others. It's priced at $8k-$12k depending on configuration.
Nomad Development Corp, creator of WebDBC, a Web-to-database connection tool, has changed its name to StormCloud Development Corp, which it claims reflects the company's focus on Web-to-client/server environment solutions. It should introduce a new line of business applications built on WebDBC sometime this winter.
Bank 24 AG, direct banking unit of Deutsche Bank AG, says it will make its services available via the Internet starting October 15 as part of a bid to become German market leader in branchless banking. The bank, which operates through an around-the-clock communications center, said computer access would make its services more convenient and cheaper. Customers will be able to review their accounts, transfer funds, pay bills, and soon buy shares from home or from anywhere in the world. Bank 24 aims to break even by 1999; it has 350 employees and hopes to lure customers to its site at www.bank24.de by charging no account fees for those who use computers to access their accounts.
Sun has licensed Austin, Texas-based Haystack Labs' Webstalker "active security" technology for use in future servers to add another layer of network protection to traditional passive security mechanisms. It's supposed to provide perpetual monitoring, dynamic detection and tools for automated responses to security breaches.
Briefly
POINTCAST INTRANET SERVER SHIPS THIS WEEK
It's now time for PointCast Inc to make some money as its I-Server will start shipping this week. It's an intranet server so companies can broadcast company news, products, earnings and the like to their employees in the same way PointCast has been providing the news.
Users can also get up to ten public PointCast channels from the regular service. The I-Server sits behind the firewall and acts as a local cache. It's Intel-based Windows NT-only for now and costs $1,000 per processor with the client stuff coming free at www.pointcast.com
FOUR SEASONS SUPERNOVA 5 READY TO SHOOT ACROSS WEB
Four Seasons Software Inc has finally released version 5.0 of its SuperNova Enterprise 4GL and it's now Web-enabled, says the Edison, New Jersey company. The release had been touted for the end of last year.
The company is actually calling this release version 5.0//WEB as it enables its three-tier client-server model to be extended across the web without any code changes, the company claims. A set of objects and functions added to this release enables the developer to build HTML pages containing live data on the fly, and there is no need to run a SuperNova client to do so, just a Web browser. HTML forms can be used in an application in the same way message dialogues are handled now. These forms generate the pages on the fly, which are then sent to the client.
SuperNova is Four Season's 4GL which compiles down to p-code, executable across virtually any platform, including Unix, VMS, Windows NT, Windows 95 and soon, AS/400 running a SuperNova virtual engine. It includes ODBC and native database drivers to access most databases.
Also new this time is the ability to pack data or logic, or both into an electronic mail message and send that over the network, which could be the Web; the command can be executed by a server at the other end.
The company is promising component technology for the first quarter of next year that can be written in Java or an ActiveX-supporting language, or SuperNova. An application schema will decide the order of execution, I/O and whether inputs are satisfied and such.
Also promised in the same time frame is a SuperNova state server, so that the component applications can be run from different applications and stopped, and started and re-started from any client without data integrity problems, an obvious requirement for the Web. This has both security and workflow applications, said Jossi Gill, company founder and president. The company first introduce a SuperNova 4GL back in 1988. Once the SuperNova code is written, compiled down to p-code and encrypted; it can be copied to any other system and run, the company claims.
Up and running at five beta sites around the world, including 3M/Imation Corp and Wakefield & Associates Inc in the US, SuperNova 5.0//WEB is shipping now for Unix, VMS and 32-bit Windows for between $3,000 and $15,000. www.4seasons.com
AT&T'S POCKETNET PHONE ONE STEP AHEAD
InfoSpace Inc, one of these new fangled Internet start-ups, has integrated a patent- pending technology which fully integrates white pages, yellow pages, maps and e-mail directories with AT&T's anticipated new Internet-ready PocketNet Phone.
By pressing buttons located above the keypad, a user can access e-mail, locate addresses through both the Internet, or send messages. PocketNet will be available to businesses sometime in November or December with general release following in the first quarter of next year.
InfoSpace directories will be available on cellular phones and pagers from GTE Mobilnet, Bell Atlantic, Nynex Mobile and Mitsubishi Wireless although their release dates have yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, Uniden America Corp plans a November release of Axis, its own Internet-ready phone whose automatic e-mail system alerts the user when a message arrives. The user can also send e-mail. Although Axis will be available in both corded or cordless handset models, it does not have cellular capabilities.
The keyboard and flip-up screen are on the base of the phone, limiting its utility. Axis comes pre-configured to connect to the Internet through CompuServe, but it's compatible with other service providers as well. AT&T's PocketNet phone will cost about $500 plus a flat monthly service charge of $30-$40. Uniden's Axis phone will cost between $300-$400 plus a monthly service provider fee.
NETSCAPE ADOPTS CYBERCASH CYBERCOIN SYSTEM
Netscape Communications Corp has adopted CyberCash Inc's new CyberCoin technology low unit value on-line payment system, and will bundle CyberCoin into future versions of its LivePayment server software for on-line payment processing, and in other products. The two companies will also collaborate on including future CyberCash payment services, such as its electronic cheque services, into Netscape commerce offerings (OR 19).
SUN FRIENDS WANT COMMENTS ON JAVA TELEPHONY API
Not surprisingly, the five partners that helped Sun Microsystems Inc develop its Java Telephony API have come out in public support of the interface.
Sun and Lucent Technologies started the work, then IBM, Intel, Nortel and Novell got involved to refine it. What the six want now is public review comment until October 30, when the API will be submitted to the Enterprise Computer Telephony Forum standards group.
The API specifies a reusable set of telephone call control objects to enable cross-platform Java telephony applications to be written, including computer-telephony integration, Internet telephony, automated voice response, directory services and the like. It is part of the Java Media API set Sun is developing to broaden Java's use. Should you feel moved to comment, email javatel-comments@java.sun.com. http://java.sun.com/products
ACS chooses Navigator for digital Internet camera
ACS Innovations Inc is going to bundle Navigator Gold 3.0, Netscape's Web page authoring solution, with its new Compro Digital Color Internet Camera, trotting it out towards the end of this month.
The camera is designed to capture color motion and still images to create enticing Web pages and for Internet-based two-way communications and video teleconferencing by transferring images directly into a PC. ACS calls the Compro/Netscape bundle its Gold Package. It will sell for $228. ACS plans to release a videoconferencing plug-in no later than early November.
O2 binding can read and write Java applets to RDBMS
French object database company O2 Technology Inc, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, is now offering its promised Java Relational Binding allowing developers to read and write Java applications for reading from writing to relational databases.
It includes a development environment and runtime version. From the description of a set of Java classes, the development tool creates an equivalent relational schema and methods to read and write objects in the database. The methods perform the mapping between Java objects and their relational representations. The runtime runs atop a Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) layer, and manages an object cache which O2 says improves performance. Objects are automatically mapped into the database format. Prices start at $2,000 per seat (OR 1) .
DOT Gossip
Online Reporter has shaken things up and named Nick Patience, a Unigram.X veteran, its new editor-in-chief. He can be located at nick@computerwire.com or more conventionally at 212 677-0409 in New York City.
HDS Network Systems Inc is bringing out version 2.0 of its NetOS network computer operating system at the end of the month. Mike Kantrowitz, VP marketing, said the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania company had licensed NetOS to "some well-known companies" but can't say who just yet.
IBM Corp is evaluating Santa Cruz Operation's NC/OS network computer operating system for its NetStations, according to Jeff Ait, SCO'S VP Internet. At the moment they're being built by Networking Computing Devices, but SCO doesn't reckon it'll be long before they're IBM built. DEC is also apparently looking at NC/OS for its ARM chip work.
Htmlscript Corp says its Htmlscript for Solaris, due to be released November 1, will work with Netscape's FastTrack server NSAPI extensions.
Rogue Wave Software Inc, the Corvallis, Oregon C++-cum Java development tools house, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of 2.025m shares, all but 25,000 of them new. Hambrecht & Quist is lead manager.
The IBM x86-based Inter-Personal Computers have been lumbered with the name LAN Controlled Client, or LCC.
Netscape and JavaSoft have mended fences and are supposed to say officially now that JavaScript will be going to the European Computer Manufacturers Association for standardization, a move that will doubtless put it on the ISO fast track. The spec's being finalized.
Flat Connections Inc has been formed in Fremont, California to frolic in the Java world, and as a first step has acquired the operations and data communications product line of NovaLink Technologies Inc. NovaLink does enhanced modems and messaging devices.
HotMail, the free Web-based e-mail now claims more than 250,000 users, up from 100,000 a month ago. It only launched in July, but its current architecture is designed to scale to 10m users, so there's a way to go yet (OR 6). www.hotmail.com
Netcom added 83,000 new subscribers in the third quarter, a 17% rise on the previous quarter, making 562,000 in total.
Europe Online SA, which went bankrupt in August without really getting off the ground (OR 11) due to Euro-squabbling, has re-launched as a non-profit making organisation, which is probably just as well. The company, now called Europe Online Asbl, is sponsored by the Luxembourg PTT. It's not a service provider anymore, just a framework to design interfaces, promote the Internet and provide gateways in various European countries.
Netscape's in the process of reloading and re-aiming, this time at the server market, while beating a retreat from the browser wars. But it will have to do better than trot out Forrester Research figures published last April, as it did late last week. It did however quote Zona Research as saying its had 74% of Web server software under Windows NT and 84% running Unix. It chose not to mention client software percentages, just that it has 45m Navigator users.
Microsoft still hasn't officially joined the Open Group as an executive sponsor (cost $1.6 million), probably because all the loose strings haven't been tied up. IBM by the way has probably expended something like $100 million on the Open Software Foundation. Obviously some people are just born to pay retail.
Gartner Group analyst David Smith quipped that while Netscape is going around rescuing old standards like LDAP and IIOP from life support, "Microsoft has rescued an entire standards body."
Quarterdeck Corp, Marina Del Rey, California is slashing its workforce by a startling 40%, after warning that its fourth quarter and year-end results will fall "well below expectations" because it is undertaking a comprehensive restructuring intended to return the company to profitability; it is refocusing its management around two business units and a new direct marketing unit and plans to release a new version of its CleanSweep software and a new hard drive optimization utility, Partition-It, very shortly.
The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Dow Jones & Co's Web publication, claims that it has attracted more than 30,000 paid subscribers since it began charging for access less than three weeks ago; it costs $49 a year, or $29 if you already get the newspaper at home.
Microtec Research Inc has followed Wind River Systems Inc as the next real-time software vendor to license Sun Microsystems Inc's JavaOS operating system for the embedded market. Microtec will integrate JavaOS into its XRAY debugger, Spectra development system, and VRTX real-time operating system. XRAY for Java will be out in the first half of 1997, with VRTX and Spectra to follow.
Microware Systems Corp, which licensed Java last February, says that its OS-9 real-time operating system will be used in the forthcoming line of Internet products from Uniden America Corp, of Fort Worth, Texas. The first product will be an electronic mail phone, due out in January 1997.
HydraWEB Corp demonstrated its eponymous Web site load-balancing software, which manages all HTTP requests to a single IP address and routes them to the most available server. It supports multiple IP addresses and is available from $4,500 for a two-server license.
Connect! Corp, Scottsdale, Arizona has released for download its Quick Client, which it claims compresses Java applets for two to three times faster download. Adding a Quick Server to the configuration increases performance even more. The client runs under Navigator on Windows 95 and NT and is being implemented for Mac, Unix and other browsers like Explorer as Java support becomes firmer.
Talking to the recent Montgomery Securities conference in San Francisco Netcom's CEO, president and chairman David Garrison said he's comfortable with Wall Street expectations that its US operations will turn profitable during 1998's first quarter. He noted that the timeframe would be 13 quarters after the company went public. Launching operations in Canada, the UK and Brazil required significant start-up costs - "As you saw in our second quarter, global initiatives certainly do pressure margins," Garrison said, but as a large Internet service provider addressing business users, global expansion made good business sense because clients are multinational.
JavaSoft says Microsoft is still ticked that it wasn't forewarned about Java Beans coming down back in May and that their relationship is, well, er, "formal."
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WEEKLY DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERNET FRONT
October 14 -October 18 1996 Issue No 20
SEER AND INFOGY TO CHANGE NET PRICING MODEL - SOMEDAY
Seer Technologies Inc and Infogy Inc reckon they can change the pricing model for Internet access with the announcement of pre-paid access cards that the pair already have working in Japan. But users outside Japan will have to wait a while.
The cards were launched there in July and have been used by Tokyo Internet Corp. But the service won't be available in the US until the end of next year. It's meant for users of either regular PCs, Macs or Sega Saturns. Users will be able to purchase cards for $15, giving them 100 minutes of connection time, which includes both the telephone dial-up charges and Internet service charges. The user scratches a panel off the card, revealing a user ID and password. If the user has a Sega Saturn, they can buy a CD with the access software and browser software on it, and dial-up through the built-in modem. PC users set their machines to dial the number on the card and use the user ID and password in the same way. Seer did the access control and timing software, but it's not clear what Infogy was responsible for. Presumably it's the cards themselves. The company was unable to tell us. The pair have vowed to make the situation a little clearer prior to the US launch. www.seer.com
SUN PROVIDES A FIRST PEEK AT PICOJAVA PERFORMANCE
Sun Microelectronics Inc will be talking up its picoJava I core at next week's Microprocessor Forum, offering a peek inside what until now has been a black box and offering some DIY benchmarks in an attempt to attract more wins for the design.
The benchmarks use Javac, the compiler from Sun's JDK, and a 3,500 line raytracer Java program and pitch an emulated picoJava I core running native Java code against Windows 95 Pentium and 80486-based machines running a Symantec Cafe just-in-time compiler and a Sun JDK interpreter.
Scaling all system times to 100MHz, Sun claims picoJava is 15 to 20 times faster than a 486 running an interpreter, and five times quicker than a Pentium running a JIT compiler. But the thing is, it's unlikely that chips built around picoJava will be competing with conventional Pentium systems. Instead, they're going to appear in phones, network computers and other appliance devices.
Sun said it will benchmark against other architectures, such as a StrongARM-powered device running Java, when it can get hold of them. The picoJava core will be available for implementation in silicon from the first quarter of next year. Sun said it may develop other picoJava cores, such as a smaller one for control devices, or a beefed-up version supporting multimedia and graphics devices.
The company said it would have products ready using its microJava chip implementation of picoJava by Christmas 1997, though it says competitors could get to market sooner. It's still unclear where a complete ASIC program to support picoJava will come from. Companies that have endorsed Sun's Java-on-tin core so far include Nortel, LG Semicon Co Ltd, Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc, NEC Corp, Rockwell International Corp, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Xerox Corp.
...AS PATRIOT READIES SECOND GENERATION SHBOOM JAVA CHIP
Meanwhile, Patriot Scientific Corp, which claims its combined stack and register-oriented Shboom microprocessor is everything a Java chip should be, has revealed details of its next-generation processor, claiming that the faster speed, lower power consumption and lower cost-per-MIPS will make it viable for a wider range of applications.
The new PSC-1005 shrinks the current 0.8 micron Shboom PSC-1000 processor down to 0.5 micron, with a nominal clock-frequency of 90-100MHz, and anticipated processing power of 28 MIPS at 3.3 volts. It should be at the foundry from the beginning of next year, and generally available shortly afterwards. The company says it plans to reveal more technical details about the new chip this week.
Patriot, based in San Diego, California, began shipping the first silicon of its PSC-1000 chip back in July, and according to company spokesman Paul Berlin there are now "at least 15 companies testing it". Two of those are committed to use the chip, although the only one named is Birmingham, Michigan-based The WebBook company, which plans to launch a Java-based Internet terminal using the chip during the second quarter of next year. Others have made verbal commitments, said Berlin, to use the chip in everything from advanced digital cellular phones to automotive applications, printers, and industrial robotics applications. Patriot is also understood to be close to signing an agreement with an embedded operating systems company. And it's also in the process of embedding the Java Virtual Machine within the silicon.
Although still a development-stage company, seven-year-old Patriot now has its first revenue stream, in the form of its CyberShark ISDN Digital Modem product. Last month it won its first 1,000 unit order for the box, which works with Windows 95 and connects directly to ISDN telephone lines. CyberShark, which is being manufactured in Taiwan, currently uses a Motorola Inc chip, but the next generation will use the Shboom processor. Beyond the PSC-1005, Patriot says it already has in the planning stages a further shrink of the silicon down to 0.35 micron, scheduled to appear in late 1997. www.ptsc.com
Progressive Networks Inc, which has been fiercely defending its RealAudio streaming software from criticisms by its competitor Macromedia, now has some more ammunition to aim against ShockWave. Last week, it announced its RMA RealMedia Architecture, a platform for streaming audio, video, MIDI, data, animation, presentations and images over the Internet. A framework of client and server application programming interfaces, there are Player and Server elements along with a software developers kit, downloadable from www.realaudio.com. Thirteen firms lined up in support of the new architecture. ActiveX and Live Connect are said to be "complementary technologies".
MICROSOFT'S GATES, NETSCAPE'S BARKSDALE MIX IT AT GARTNER
Microsoft CEO Bill Gates came head to head with Netscape's chief Jim Barksdale on the subject of who will dominate the Internet and intranet markets, in an Internet panel discussion at the Gartner Group Symposium in Lake Buena Vista, Florida this week.
Barksdale said the Internet browser war between the two companies will look like child's play once the real battle begins for the multi-billion dollar corporate intranet market, forecast to grow to $12,000m by 2000, Reuter reports. He said Netscape was hoping to get a "significant" share of this market, in which it competes against Microsoft's BackOffice and IBM's Lotus Notes, but maintained it would not turn its back on its Navigator browser.
Microsoft is currently the underdog in the browser war, where Netscape claims 70% to 80% of the market, but is winning ground with deals to have Internet Explorer bundled as the primary browser with more on - line services and Internet access providers. Barksdale said he recognized the potential threat, but had a strategy for dealing with it.
He said any inroads Microsoft was making with its software was likely to be at the expense of other competing browsers on the market, but after IE and Navigator, there are no other browsers to speak of. He also noted that Navigator runs on 16 platforms while Explorer was limited to Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT - Unix follows by year-end. Barksdale was keen to point out that regardless of the browser battle, 80% of Netscape's revenues are from sales to the corporate intranet market.
Although both pledged their commitment to open standards, each accused the other of not playing by the rules. Questioned about government's role in regulating the Internet, Barksdale came down strongly against recent moves to control encryption technology, declaring "I don't think the US government knows how to ensure competition." However, he changed his tune with respect to the government's role in refereeing Netscape's competition with Microsoft. All Netscape wants, he said, is for Microsoft to comply with the existing consent decree, referring to the 1994 consent decree between Microsoft and the US Department of Justice, which set restrictions on Microsoft behavior deemed anti-competitive.
On the subject of security, Barksdale said the two companies and Visa USA Inc, also on the panel, were working together on Secure Electronic Transactions, and they discussed how to convince consumers that it would be safe to shop and transact business on the Internet. He urged the companies to work together to explain how safe SET could make electronic commerce. "It doesn't do the industry any good to point fingers," he said. "It's sort of like the airline industry. Nobody advertises that they're safer than any other airline." The Gates-Barksdale acrimony did sometimes reach childish proportions. Barksdale pretended to vomit when Gates discussed Microsoft's Java development kit, and Gates hit back by pointing out to the audience "every two years, the people who you say are our biggest competitors changes."
MARIMBA ALSO HAS BONGO INTERFACE DESIGNER FOR JAVA
In addition to its Castanet Transmitter and Tuner set for deploying and accessing Java applications over the net (OR 19), Marimba Inc is also offering a visual interface builder called Bongo.
Marimba says Bongo can be used to create reusable interface building blocks and is claimed to allow developers to integrate components from multiple vendors into a single application. Bongo can also be used to create application and content channels for the Castanet environment and includes a set of graphical widgets.
Marimba says Bongo could be used to build channels such as multimedia games that morph over time with new features; personalized stock management tools that continually monitor market trends; or a children's bedtime book that updates nightly. The Transmitter is server software which sends applications or content over the net at the request of a Castanet Tuner.
Bongo is written in Java and can be extended by adding in-house or third party Java applets but in future will accept components written to Java Beans APIs. Because Bongo supports HTML and other scripting, developers do not have to learn the whole Java language to be able to use Bongo, the company claims. The interface designer runs on Windows 95, NT and Solaris and uses Sun's Java Development Kit 1.0.2. Betas are up on Marimba's web site - production versions will ship at the same time as Castanet, by year-end, priced from $500.
EXCITE TAPS DIMENSION X TO PREVIEW WEB CHANNELS
Bringing together three of the more prominent Internet start-ups, Dimension X announced that its Liquid Motion 2D Java animation tool is being used by Excite to create the Excite Channel Guide, which is based on Marimba's Castanet channel technology (OR 19). The Channel Guide is a sort of Web version of TV Guide, showing users what channels are available. Users can browse through various highlighted channels at www.marimba.com, and the Liquid Motion tool has been used to develop animations that preview what's available on the channel. The channels are distributed using Marimba's transmitter server technology.
MERCURY'S ASTRA GETS TO GRIPS WITH SPRAWLING WEB SITES
Mercury Interactive Corp forthcoming Astra Web site management tool is designed to help Webmasters manage their ever expanding Web sites.
Astra displays a map of the current state of the site in an interconnected hubs and spokes format, rather than the hierarchical tree structure favored by similar tools. It can view sites by URL or by status, such as what CGI scripts are running where, or those sites that are currently being accessed, according to the Sunnyvale company. There is also text accompanying every map explaining the situation.
User movement through the site can be tracked by color-coded graphics. The Change Viewer gives the webmaster snapshots of the site from two periods of time, showing the changes that have occurred. The Link Analyzer identifies broken links and Dynamic Scan enables the user to see pages that are generated on the fly, such as those accessing databases or obtained in real-time. Mercury has also written an API for developers to write plug-ins to Astra in Java, C++ and Visual Basic. The beta of Astra is free at www.merc-int.com from this week and will cost $500 when it ships in December for Windows 95 and NT.
OURS WHITE PAPER DETAILS PROS AND CONS OF E-COMMERCE
OURS, the up-market Fortune 500 user group, has put together an Internet security white paper entitled "Recommendations for Providing Secure Business Services over External Networks."
It is said to reflect the thinking of Amex, Chase Manhattan Bank, Bellcore, DEC, Levi Strauss, Motorola, Novell, Pacific Gas & Electric, Phillips Petroleum, SunTrust Banks and Union Camp as well as experts in the industry-at-large. It is intended to be used by businesses contemplating security options for conducting business including advertising, sensitive information services and e-commerce on unsecured networks such as the Internet.
The white paper includes a pair of matrices, one listing alternative uses of external networks and recommended levels of protection, the other matching security options against identified threats and risks. They can be used to develop personalized matrices. OURS also hopes vendors will use its criteria to hone their products. It available for $50 by calling +1 312 527-6782. The executive summary is at www.ours.org.
INTERMIND DECLARES ITSELF "THE NEW NETSCAPE"
Billing itself tentatively as possibly "the new Netscape," Seattle-based Intermind Corp has launched its big idea for changing the way the Web works.
Its Intermind Communicator Software uses something called hypercommunications technology in the form of distributed objects called hyperconnectors. Objects are placed on a web server to which visitors to the site can subscribe.
These so-called "intelligent" objects are customizable by the subscriber to filter whatever specific information the user requires, and the user can also retain his or her anonymity. It's a peer-to-peer model so there's no need for a separate server. There is software on the desktop that both reads and writes hyperconnectors, which have the extension .con.
By clicking on a hyperconnector on a web site, the hyperconnector is downloaded to the client with the latest information about whatever the hyperconnector is related to; it could be a news item, a product, or a service. The hyperconnector is also customizable, so a user might only want one of the four or five products or services on offer, and in future would not get information about the rest.
The software displays a message inside the browser, either Navigator or Internet Explorer, so the user can view the contents of the hyperconnector. The identity of the subscriber can be kept secret, the IP address would not be available to the publisher, but demographic information can be obtained about the user for sales targeting purposes, according to the company.
It's available on Windows 95, 3.1 and NT. The Macintosh version went into beta last week. Intermind's got about 35 companies already using hyperconnectors, including AT&T Wireless, Federal Express and even the Dole/Kemp '96 campaign. The software is free for the internet, but intranet licenses have to be paid for, though there are no prices yet. www.intermind.com
SUN'S NC DUE AT MONTH-END, BUT IT'S NO TOASTER
Sun Microsystems Inc will introduce its first Java-based network computers on October 29 in New York, Computerworld reckons - but its story is a little light on technical details.
The rumored roll-out name is Java WorkStation, they are codenamed Mr Coffee right now (OR 11). But Sun's Computer Company president Ed Zander refused to comment on the date or name of the device at Unix Expo in New York last week. However, HDS Network Systems Inc said it had seen Sun's device at a customer site where Sun's machine was being evaluated alongside HDS' offering, the @workStation Supra-66 network computer (OR 19). HDS told us Sun's offering does not look like the toaster prototype it's been showing for some months, and Sun has been saying as much. It's thin and flat and was working with the monitor sitting on top, much like a workstation, but thinner. Naturally, HDS's went much faster than Sun's machine, according to HDS. Presumably, though, the machines are Java A1 models on its road map, which use the MicroSparc IIep as the processor - which Sun says sets you back $100 - plus copious ROM and RAM, which is expected to cost about $615. We have to wait for next year for the first models - Sun's JavaA2 - using its microJava chip. Computerworld does have some users: it hears FTD Inc, the international florist shop, plans to use Sun's Network Computers in each of its 20,000 shops worldwide.
MSN - THIRD TIME LUCKY?
The Microsoft Network has now completed the transition from proprietary network to a pure Internet play with its new pricing structure.
This is the third time Redmond has 'launched' the network. From November it's going to cost $20 for unlimited internet access, or $7 a month for five hours, with each additional hour costing $2.50. Users can alternatively pay $70 annually for the five hours a month plan, with the additional hours at the same price.
MSN has lost a lot of its exclusivity, and for those that already have access to a pipe they can get all MSN content for $7 per month, or just some of it for free. Microsoft will split the site into "programs" using an MSN program viewer that's based on Internet Explorer. It splits the page into OnStage, for news and entertainment, Communicate for e-mail and chat forums; Find, for search engines and Essentials, for online travel service, Microsoft Investor stock trading and other shopping options.
MICROSOFT CREATES INTERNET STUDIO FOR MSN CONTENT
Redmond has set up a unit chartered to produce multimedia Internet content for the Microsoft Network. It's offering the services of Microsoft Multimedia Productions (M3P) to independent producers with bright ideas for MSN content that will show up as MSN transitions into a pure Internet service.
Microsoft's rushing to make the move now to beat competitors such as CompuServe, which are in the midst of similar metamorphoses. M3P offices are being set up in Redmond, New York and Los Angeles. In its search for content to keep MSN alive as more than just an Internet Service Provider, Redmond has invited pretty much anyone with proposals to submit their concepts to M3P. Instructions on how to do that are supposed to be posted later this month on a new web site at www.m3p.msn.com. Content, don't forget, is Microsoft's way of replacing dying revenue streams.
LUCENT ENTERS THE HOME BANKING MARKET WITH VISA
Lucent Technologies Inc and Visa International have got together in Lucent's first foray into the world of online banking.
The pair have linked Lucent's Intuity Conversant voice-response system with Visa Interactive's electronic banking network using Visa's Access Device Messaging spec. The software is available now to any Visa-member financial institutions throughout the US and internationally some time next year.
The first to take up the offer is UMB Financial Corp in Kansas City, Missouri, which will make the bill payment service available to its 130 full-service banking centers throughout the mid-west. The features the system offers include anytime banking, advance payment scheduling, low-funds notification, and touch-tone access. The software starts at $6,700 for small- and mid-sized banks that already have Intuity Conversant 5.0 installed. For those that need both hardware and software the package starts at $18,000 and large bank applications start at $30,000.
HUGHES TAPS EARTHLINK, NETCOM FOR NET SOFTWARE
Earthlink Network Inc's TotalAccess software and Netcom's NetComplete software will be bundled with Hughes Network Systems' satellite-based Internet access service, DirecPC, which claims speeds up to 400kbps.
Meantime, Hughes announced that CompUSA will begin selling the package in its California stores immediately, and nationwide by the start of next month. The package comprises a 21" dish, 100 feet of coaxial cable, an ISA card and software for $700.
Isocor has enhanced its Internet-intranet N-PLEX server software, adding LDAP, a Web-to-directory gateway and Java classes. Integrated applications in version 1.2 now include an Internet mail system, Internet Directory Server, message store, Web server and centralised management center. The company claims that N-PLEX is optimized for a scalable, multi-threaded Windows NT and iAPX-86 architecture. N-Plex 1.2 costs between $4,500 and $125,000 for a single user, depending on machine classes and options. A Java application development kit is included.
WINDOWS 95-NT CONVERGENCE STILL FIVE YEARS AWAY - GATES
Until this week, 1997 was the official date, but 1999 was the best guess for when convergence of Windows NT and Windows 95 would actually happen. However, speaking to CIOs in Orlando, Florida, Bill Gates said the company will continue to upgrade Windows 95 with enhanced file systems. He said it will be another five years down the road, late 2001, before Microsoft moves to a single kernel based on Windows NT.
EXPLORER SWEEPS THE BOARD OF ONLINE SERVICES WITH PRODIGY
The browser battle is over, at least as far as the big online service providers are concerned. Prodigy, fearful of being left out of the online folder that's going to show up on every Windows desktop, has ditched Netscape Navigator in favor of Redmond's Internet Explorer. Prodigy was the last holdout, following Microsoft's deals with both CompuServe and America Online.
Prodigy's decision came less than a week after AT&T said that Explorer is now the "preferred" browser for its WorldNet Internet Access Service, and AT&T was merely following in MCI's footsteps. (Sprint is rumored to be next to adopt Explorer.) Prodigy's defection is a heavy blow to Netscape, coming barely a month before the online service is scheduled to debut Prodigy Internet, its answer to MSN's imminent conversion to an Internet-based service.
Prodigy last week said the decision to sign the Redmond deal was simply a matter of survival. It can't afford not to be where all its major competitors are - in the Windows online folder which will provide a single mouse-click sign-up and access to any service listed.
All new Prodigy subscribers - and old ones as well - will get Explorer 3.0 on a Prodigy CD that also includes the front-end software needed to access the surviving proprietary subscription-only piece of Prodigy.
Prodigy said technically, its year-old deal with Netscape isn't being cancelled. "A year ago they were the only game in town," a spokesman said. Navigator will still be available to Prodigy subscribers but only on request and via download, cumbersome at best compared to the CD and online folder.
Prodigy also said it's going to use ActiveX components in Prodigy Internet, yet another blow to Netscape since Navigator doesn't support ActiveX natively. There will be a version of Prodigy that Navigator can use, but without some of the jazzy features ActiveX makes possible. Asked whether Prodigy was worried about Netscape's reaction to its decision, a source at the online service simply shrugged and said, "They're probably used to it by now." Observers, meanwhile, were left to ponder the possible legal implications of Explorer's clean sweep of the online services. However, Redmond's allowing direct access from Windows to competing online services could mitigate Justice department concerns. It's barely a year since the inclusion of direct MSN access in Windows 95 evoked screams of rage from some quarters.
PSINET AND PARTNERS LAUNCH E-COMMERCE PACKAGE
PSINet Inc has got together with CyberCash Inc and Mercantec Inc to introduce the PSIWeb eCommerce electronic commerce application.
CyberCash provides the electronic payment system including its electronic wallet, an electronic cash register and a gateway to existing bank networks. Mercantec brings its SoftCart shopping environment to the party, which keeps track of payments, creates invoices, calculates shipping and sales tax and so on.
The service is available immediately through the PSIWeb service for $295 per month. With CyberCash payment service only it costs $195. www.psi.net
SUN READIES INTERNET-BASED MANUFACTURING CONTROL APIS
Sun Microsystems Inc's developing a bunch of Java APIs for use in Net-based real-time process control applications in conjunction with manufacturing system and software vendors, including ABB Systems Control, Baan, Echelon, Elsag Bailey, Fastech Integration, The Foxboro Co, HP, Honeywell, Intuitive Technology, SAP, Toshiba and Valmet Automation.
The APIs are due in the second quarter of next year. Sun's also offering a library of Java and other object building blocks for use by Wall Street application developers in what it calls the Java Financial Objects Exchange at www.jfox.com.
Milton Keynes, UK-based chip and chip-set designer MSU Corp says the final pre-production model of its Slipstream Internet Box is being shipped to corporate clients in the US, Taiwan, and mainland China. The box incorporates MSU's proprietary iSP chip. The company has orders for 105,000 units for calendar 1996 and for just less than 1m for 1997. It'll show the box next month at Comdex in Las Vegas. MSU's chips are used for CD-based video entertainment and education systems. In June, it licensed its technology to US television set-top box builder American Interactive Media Inc.
The Meta Group's bought a $250k piece of Market Perspectives Inc, a Framingham, Massachusetts house that supplies online market survey technology and services. It declined to discuss its equity position.
HP is using Sunnyvale, California start-up Saqqara System's Step Search Enterprise catalog authoring and publishing software to manage and deliver its own product information to its global customer base.
The World Bank is standardizing on Excalibur Technologies Corp's Excalibur RetrievalWare internally for its 10,000 users. It apparently likes the idea it can do both pattern-recognition and semantic network searching.
Network Engineering Technologies Inc has released Telexian Shield, a firewall system based on its own "envoy" technology. NET claims envoys offer firewall protection comparable to proxies, but can be used to run multiple firewalls. The San Jose, California-based company has been quietly shipping the stuff for the past three months to Pacific IBM Credit, Elexsys International and a few others. It's priced at $8k-$12k depending on configuration.
Nomad Development Corp, creator of WebDBC, a Web-to-database connection tool, has changed its name to StormCloud Development Corp, which it claims reflects the company's focus on Web-to-client/server environment solutions. It should introduce a new line of business applications built on WebDBC sometime this winter.
Bank 24 AG, direct banking unit of Deutsche Bank AG, says it will make its services available via the Internet starting October 15 as part of a bid to become German market leader in branchless banking. The bank, which operates through an around-the-clock communications center, said computer access would make its services more convenient and cheaper. Customers will be able to review their accounts, transfer funds, pay bills, and soon buy shares from home or from anywhere in the world. Bank 24 aims to break even by 1999; it has 350 employees and hopes to lure customers to its site at www.bank24.de by charging no account fees for those who use computers to access their accounts.
Sun has licensed Austin, Texas-based Haystack Labs' Webstalker "active security" technology for use in future servers to add another layer of network protection to traditional passive security mechanisms. It's supposed to provide perpetual monitoring, dynamic detection and tools for automated responses to security breaches.
Briefly
POINTCAST INTRANET SERVER SHIPS THIS WEEK
It's now time for PointCast Inc to make some money as its I-Server will start shipping this week. It's an intranet server so companies can broadcast company news, products, earnings and the like to their employees in the same way PointCast has been providing the news.
Users can also get up to ten public PointCast channels from the regular service. The I-Server sits behind the firewall and acts as a local cache. It's Intel-based Windows NT-only for now and costs $1,000 per processor with the client stuff coming free at www.pointcast.com
FOUR SEASONS SUPERNOVA 5 READY TO SHOOT ACROSS WEB
Four Seasons Software Inc has finally released version 5.0 of its SuperNova Enterprise 4GL and it's now Web-enabled, says the Edison, New Jersey company. The release had been touted for the end of last year.
The company is actually calling this release version 5.0//WEB as it enables its three-tier client-server model to be extended across the web without any code changes, the company claims. A set of objects and functions added to this release enables the developer to build HTML pages containing live data on the fly, and there is no need to run a SuperNova client to do so, just a Web browser. HTML forms can be used in an application in the same way message dialogues are handled now. These forms generate the pages on the fly, which are then sent to the client.
SuperNova is Four Season's 4GL which compiles down to p-code, executable across virtually any platform, including Unix, VMS, Windows NT, Windows 95 and soon, AS/400 running a SuperNova virtual engine. It includes ODBC and native database drivers to access most databases.
Also new this time is the ability to pack data or logic, or both into an electronic mail message and send that over the network, which could be the Web; the command can be executed by a server at the other end.
The company is promising component technology for the first quarter of next year that can be written in Java or an ActiveX-supporting language, or SuperNova. An application schema will decide the order of execution, I/O and whether inputs are satisfied and such.
Also promised in the same time frame is a SuperNova state server, so that the component applications can be run from different applications and stopped, and started and re-started from any client without data integrity problems, an obvious requirement for the Web. This has both security and workflow applications, said Jossi Gill, company founder and president. The company first introduce a SuperNova 4GL back in 1988. Once the SuperNova code is written, compiled down to p-code and encrypted; it can be copied to any other system and run, the company claims.
Up and running at five beta sites around the world, including 3M/Imation Corp and Wakefield & Associates Inc in the US, SuperNova 5.0//WEB is shipping now for Unix, VMS and 32-bit Windows for between $3,000 and $15,000. www.4seasons.com
AT&T'S POCKETNET PHONE ONE STEP AHEAD
InfoSpace Inc, one of these new fangled Internet start-ups, has integrated a patent- pending technology which fully integrates white pages, yellow pages, maps and e-mail directories with AT&T's anticipated new Internet-ready PocketNet Phone.
By pressing buttons located above the keypad, a user can access e-mail, locate addresses through both the Internet, or send messages. PocketNet will be available to businesses sometime in November or December with general release following in the first quarter of next year.
InfoSpace directories will be available on cellular phones and pagers from GTE Mobilnet, Bell Atlantic, Nynex Mobile and Mitsubishi Wireless although their release dates have yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, Uniden America Corp plans a November release of Axis, its own Internet-ready phone whose automatic e-mail system alerts the user when a message arrives. The user can also send e-mail. Although Axis will be available in both corded or cordless handset models, it does not have cellular capabilities.
The keyboard and flip-up screen are on the base of the phone, limiting its utility. Axis comes pre-configured to connect to the Internet through CompuServe, but it's compatible with other service providers as well. AT&T's PocketNet phone will cost about $500 plus a flat monthly service charge of $30-$40. Uniden's Axis phone will cost between $300-$400 plus a monthly service provider fee.
NETSCAPE ADOPTS CYBERCASH CYBERCOIN SYSTEM
Netscape Communications Corp has adopted CyberCash Inc's new CyberCoin technology low unit value on-line payment system, and will bundle CyberCoin into future versions of its LivePayment server software for on-line payment processing, and in other products. The two companies will also collaborate on including future CyberCash payment services, such as its electronic cheque services, into Netscape commerce offerings (OR 19).
SUN FRIENDS WANT COMMENTS ON JAVA TELEPHONY API
Not surprisingly, the five partners that helped Sun Microsystems Inc develop its Java Telephony API have come out in public support of the interface.
Sun and Lucent Technologies started the work, then IBM, Intel, Nortel and Novell got involved to refine it. What the six want now is public review comment until October 30, when the API will be submitted to the Enterprise Computer Telephony Forum standards group.
The API specifies a reusable set of telephone call control objects to enable cross-platform Java telephony applications to be written, including computer-telephony integration, Internet telephony, automated voice response, directory services and the like. It is part of the Java Media API set Sun is developing to broaden Java's use. Should you feel moved to comment, email javatel-comments@java.sun.com. http://java.sun.com/products
ACS chooses Navigator for digital Internet camera
ACS Innovations Inc is going to bundle Navigator Gold 3.0, Netscape's Web page authoring solution, with its new Compro Digital Color Internet Camera, trotting it out towards the end of this month.
The camera is designed to capture color motion and still images to create enticing Web pages and for Internet-based two-way communications and video teleconferencing by transferring images directly into a PC. ACS calls the Compro/Netscape bundle its Gold Package. It will sell for $228. ACS plans to release a videoconferencing plug-in no later than early November.
O2 binding can read and write Java applets to RDBMS
French object database company O2 Technology Inc, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, is now offering its promised Java Relational Binding allowing developers to read and write Java applications for reading from writing to relational databases.
It includes a development environment and runtime version. From the description of a set of Java classes, the development tool creates an equivalent relational schema and methods to read and write objects in the database. The methods perform the mapping between Java objects and their relational representations. The runtime runs atop a Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) layer, and manages an object cache which O2 says improves performance. Objects are automatically mapped into the database format. Prices start at $2,000 per seat (OR 1) .
DOT Gossip
Online Reporter has shaken things up and named Nick Patience, a Unigram.X veteran, its new editor-in-chief. He can be located at nick@computerwire.com or more conventionally at 212 677-0409 in New York City.
HDS Network Systems Inc is bringing out version 2.0 of its NetOS network computer operating system at the end of the month. Mike Kantrowitz, VP marketing, said the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania company had licensed NetOS to "some well-known companies" but can't say who just yet.
IBM Corp is evaluating Santa Cruz Operation's NC/OS network computer operating system for its NetStations, according to Jeff Ait, SCO'S VP Internet. At the moment they're being built by Networking Computing Devices, but SCO doesn't reckon it'll be long before they're IBM built. DEC is also apparently looking at NC/OS for its ARM chip work.
Htmlscript Corp says its Htmlscript for Solaris, due to be released November 1, will work with Netscape's FastTrack server NSAPI extensions.
Rogue Wave Software Inc, the Corvallis, Oregon C++-cum Java development tools house, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of 2.025m shares, all but 25,000 of them new. Hambrecht & Quist is lead manager.
The IBM x86-based Inter-Personal Computers have been lumbered with the name LAN Controlled Client, or LCC.
Netscape and JavaSoft have mended fences and are supposed to say officially now that JavaScript will be going to the European Computer Manufacturers Association for standardization, a move that will doubtless put it on the ISO fast track. The spec's being finalized.
Flat Connections Inc has been formed in Fremont, California to frolic in the Java world, and as a first step has acquired the operations and data communications product line of NovaLink Technologies Inc. NovaLink does enhanced modems and messaging devices.
HotMail, the free Web-based e-mail now claims more than 250,000 users, up from 100,000 a month ago. It only launched in July, but its current architecture is designed to scale to 10m users, so there's a way to go yet (OR 6). www.hotmail.com
Netcom added 83,000 new subscribers in the third quarter, a 17% rise on the previous quarter, making 562,000 in total.
Europe Online SA, which went bankrupt in August without really getting off the ground (OR 11) due to Euro-squabbling, has re-launched as a non-profit making organisation, which is probably just as well. The company, now called Europe Online Asbl, is sponsored by the Luxembourg PTT. It's not a service provider anymore, just a framework to design interfaces, promote the Internet and provide gateways in various European countries.
Netscape's in the process of reloading and re-aiming, this time at the server market, while beating a retreat from the browser wars. But it will have to do better than trot out Forrester Research figures published last April, as it did late last week. It did however quote Zona Research as saying its had 74% of Web server software under Windows NT and 84% running Unix. It chose not to mention client software percentages, just that it has 45m Navigator users.
Microsoft still hasn't officially joined the Open Group as an executive sponsor (cost $1.6 million), probably because all the loose strings haven't been tied up. IBM by the way has probably expended something like $100 million on the Open Software Foundation. Obviously some people are just born to pay retail.
Gartner Group analyst David Smith quipped that while Netscape is going around rescuing old standards like LDAP and IIOP from life support, "Microsoft has rescued an entire standards body."
Quarterdeck Corp, Marina Del Rey, California is slashing its workforce by a startling 40%, after warning that its fourth quarter and year-end results will fall "well below expectations" because it is undertaking a comprehensive restructuring intended to return the company to profitability; it is refocusing its management around two business units and a new direct marketing unit and plans to release a new version of its CleanSweep software and a new hard drive optimization utility, Partition-It, very shortly.
The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Dow Jones & Co's Web publication, claims that it has attracted more than 30,000 paid subscribers since it began charging for access less than three weeks ago; it costs $49 a year, or $29 if you already get the newspaper at home.
Microtec Research Inc has followed Wind River Systems Inc as the next real-time software vendor to license Sun Microsystems Inc's JavaOS operating system for the embedded market. Microtec will integrate JavaOS into its XRAY debugger, Spectra development system, and VRTX real-time operating system. XRAY for Java will be out in the first half of 1997, with VRTX and Spectra to follow.
Microware Systems Corp, which licensed Java last February, says that its OS-9 real-time operating system will be used in the forthcoming line of Internet products from Uniden America Corp, of Fort Worth, Texas. The first product will be an electronic mail phone, due out in January 1997.
HydraWEB Corp demonstrated its eponymous Web site load-balancing software, which manages all HTTP requests to a single IP address and routes them to the most available server. It supports multiple IP addresses and is available from $4,500 for a two-server license.
Connect! Corp, Scottsdale, Arizona has released for download its Quick Client, which it claims compresses Java applets for two to three times faster download. Adding a Quick Server to the configuration increases performance even more. The client runs under Navigator on Windows 95 and NT and is being implemented for Mac, Unix and other browsers like Explorer as Java support becomes firmer.
Talking to the recent Montgomery Securities conference in San Francisco Netcom's CEO, president and chairman David Garrison said he's comfortable with Wall Street expectations that its US operations will turn profitable during 1998's first quarter. He noted that the timeframe would be 13 quarters after the company went public. Launching operations in Canada, the UK and Brazil required significant start-up costs - "As you saw in our second quarter, global initiatives certainly do pressure margins," Garrison said, but as a large Internet service provider addressing business users, global expansion made good business sense because clients are multinational.
JavaSoft says Microsoft is still ticked that it wasn't forewarned about Java Beans coming down back in May and that their relationship is, well, er, "formal."
(c) 1996 May not be copied
online REPORTER, a sister publication of Unigram.X and ClieNT Server News, is published weekly in Europe by:
APT Data News Ltd, 12 Sutton Row, London W1V 5FH, UK, Tel:+44 171 208 4200
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London Editorial Tel:+44 171 208 4226, Fax +44 171 439 1105. New York: Tel +1 516 759 7025, Fax +1 516 759 7028
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(c) Copyright 1996, G-2 Computer Intelligence, Inc. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission.
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