434 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
434 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
The Teleputing Hotline
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And Field Computing Source Letter
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Volume 5 Number 18
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Monday, May 4, 1992
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215 Winter Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30317
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FAX: 404-378-0794 Phone: 404-373-7634
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MCI:409-8960 GEnie: nb.atl CompuServe: 76200,3025
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Editor: Dana Blankenhorn
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European Editor: Steve Gold
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Asian Editor: Masayuki Miyazawa
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Sales Manager: Hiro Nakamura
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An Affiliate of the Newsbytes News Network
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EDITORIAL ANALYSIS
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Why the FBI doesn't like ISDN
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The world of audio, in case you hadn't noticed, is rapidly
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becoming digital. For the average telephone user this means the
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snap, crackle and pop of yesterday's phone calls, not to mention
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the delay between finishing dialing and hearing a ringing tone,
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have all but disappeared.
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Digital telephone exchanges in the US first began appearing in
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the 1960s. Since then, most exchanges have gone over to the new
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technology. Now it's the turn of the lines between the exchange
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and the phone in the office or the home. The technology to do
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this is known as integrated services digital network, or ISDN.
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ISDN may be good news for the phone user, but it's bad news for
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secret services and government agencies around the world.
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In the US, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is so
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worried it has begun lobbying the Government and the various
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telephone companies to slow down or even put a hold on the
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introduction of the technology, in the marketplace. The reason
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is simple -- ISDN lines are almost impossible to tap.
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ISDN lines transfer data at such high speeds and in such small
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packets that anyone tapping in to a single channel will find it
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difficult to decode the data into coherent speech in real time,
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unless all control information is tapped as well. Tapping the
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control channels, however, is a major step, requiring the
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complicity of the telephone company, not to mention a warrant.
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But the nature of the FBI's secret activities prevents the phone
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company of even being notified of all wire taps. The paperwork
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mountain associated with millions of taps carried out each year
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would be immense, say experts. In short, the legal implications
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of having to tap entire ISDN circuits are horrendous.
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The problem of tapping ISDN calls is made worse by the fact that,
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once the digital data streams reach the telephone exchange, they
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are mixed together (multiplexed) with other calls and sent around
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the world at high speed. Imagine the same problem in the postal
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system -- the FBI can easily keep track of parcels in a local
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office, but when they're shot at high speed around the country...
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Thus, the FBI wants the US telephone companies to modify ISDN
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technology to make it easier to tap. As if this weren't bad
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enough, government officials have ruled out any form of an R&D
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subsidy for the telecoms industry to modify the ISDN technology -
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the telecomms industry is expected to pay for the changes itself.
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The telecomms industry will simply pass on the extra costs to the
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telephone user in the form of increased costs.
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Needless to say, US civil libertarians are outraged by the whole
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affair. Tapping phones is one thing, they say, but asking the
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consumer to pick up the tab is out of order.
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One of the first telephone companies asked to implement the
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changes to ISDN - changes, incidentally, that the FBI has made a
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state secret - is the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company,
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which covers the Washington area. Officials have said publicly
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that the cost of implementing the FBI's required changes will
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be hundreds of millions of dollars, and it cannot link with other
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telephone companies with driving a bulldozer through the FBI's
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secrecy rules.
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AT&T officials, which control the US telephone network, are said
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to be horrified. They claim that only the largest telephone
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companies will be able to implement the FBI's changes, leaving
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the smaller companies bankrupt. Some companies are so petrified
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they have frozen their existing ISDN conversion programs, causing
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an uproar in the business community.
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The FBI, meanwhile, is putting pressure on President Bush to
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force the phone companies to comply through civilian rather than
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covert legislation. William Sessions, the director of the FBI,
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held a closed session with the Congress in which he has asked
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that legislation be passed without delay. Unless the legislation
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is passed, the FBI will find it progressively more difficult to
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track terrorists, kidnappers and other dangerous criminals. And
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with crime statistics such a political problem, Bush may bow to
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Sessions' requests, regardless of cost.
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Regardless of the politics of the situation, the real loser will
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be the consumer. And there's the shame - the technology is there,
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but companies are scared to offer it for fear of offending the
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FBI.
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---Steve Gold
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U.S. FEATURES
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AT&T: Personal 700 Phone Numbers
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AT&T became the first long distance carrier to offer "personal
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phone numbers," which follow their owners around wherever they
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are in the US, with a service called EasyReach 700. The firm's
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long-distance switches now have software which can recognize the
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700 area code and send such numbers to a database, which tells
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the switch where to send the call. EasyReach 700 offers a special
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type of call-forwarding, using a 4-digit PIN, so you can send
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some calls to an answering machine and take others. You may also
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decide whether to pay for incoming calls, or have callers pay.
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And new users can pick their own numbers.
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LA: Residents Asked To Stay Off Phones
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Two days of rioting and fires in Los Angeles, following the
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acquittal of 4 officers for beating motorist Rodney King, caused
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Pacific Bell to ask residents to restrict their calling to
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emergency use only, writes Linda Rohrbaugh of Newsbytes from LA.
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The problems were blamed on basic network congestion, and full
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service returned after the riots ended. At its peak, there were
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delays of minutes in getting basic dial tones. PacBell also
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restricted its repair work in the affected area to emergency
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repairs only.
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MICROAGE: Enters Field Computing Market
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MicroAge Computer Centers became the first retailer to announce a
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wireless strategy in support of Field Computing. The chain
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created a network of relationships with AT&T EasyLink's e-mail
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service, SkyTel's paging service, Hewlett-Packard for its HP 95LX
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palmtop computer, Motorola and its wireless networking schemes,
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NCR for its notebook and pen-top computers, and Xircom, a
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software vendor. MicroAge will now sell "bundles" of computers
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and services, combining the Safari notebook computer with SkyTel
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paging, for instance.
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CORPORATE NEWS: Giant Joint Ventures for New Markets
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IBM and Time Warner want to combine the former's multimedia and
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compression technologies with the latter's library of film and
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published software, and its cable TV business. BellSouth said it
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will invest real dollars in a joint-venture with Dow Jones,
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seeking new markets for its videotex and audiotex services. The
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two firms are testing an audiotex service for Los Angeles
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cellular phone subscribers. Dow Jones also has agreements with
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NYNEX and Pacific Telesis, and its newspapers have editorialized
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frequently in favor of the Bells' entry into the information
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industry, an entry which made possible these agreements.
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CREDIT CARDS: Fraud Victim Rips Industry Security
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William Murphy of Creative Computers, allegedly victimized by
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teenagers arrested on April 22nd in New York City, told Barbara &
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John McMullen of Newsbytes the lack of security in the credit
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card industry is abysmal and "the merchant who bears the brunt."
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Murphy, a mail-order computer vendor, said his own people look
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for fraud, but the hackers had a fake account with a proper
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address used for shipments, making it undetectable by him.
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A "hacker," speaking anonymously, agreed with Murphy's assessment
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of security at the credit bureaus, saying, "Anyone that knows
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what they are doing can get any information they want out of
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them. Trans Union is somewhat less abused that the others because
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of the terseness of the query commands but they all have
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problems. TRW, for instance, is wide open."
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On-line Service For Internet Access Without Unix Commands
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Information Access Technologies (IAT) started a new on-line
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service, Holonet, which it says can meet demand for "Public Unix
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Access" through a menu-based on-line system, writes Linda
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Rohrbough for Newsbytes. Holonet members are assigned Internet e-
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mail addresses, and local access members are available via
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Holopacket (San Francisco), PSINet (Worldwide), Internet
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(Worldwide), and BT Tymnet services (US and Canada). While the
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service is now text-based, plans are in the works to provide FIDO
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echoes, as well as programs and graphics for IBM PCs, Amigas, and
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Macintoshes. Graphics will be in GIF and JPEG formats.
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INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
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Japan: Nifty-Serve Cellular Service, NTT Break-Up
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Nifty-Serve started a 9,600 bps data service via mobile phones
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May 1. Service will be provided through Fujitsu's FENICS net, and
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can be accessed via various VAN nodes. It runs under V.32 and MNP
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Class 10 standards. Nifty has had ISDN connections since last
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July, and will lower their cost. Nifty and PC-VAN also agreed to
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exchange e-mail with each other, forming the Japan Electronics
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Mail Association to support the MHS standard. Other firms which
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will join include NTT, KDD, Fujitsu, Intec, and the Network
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Information Center.
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NTT will spin-out its mobile phone division in July. NTT Mobile
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Telecommunication Network itself will be divided into eight firms
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in July 1993. Each will be assigned a geographic territory in
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Japan, and offer car phones, mobile phones, ship phones, aircraft
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phones, and pagers. Capitalization is estimated to be 15 billion
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yen ($100 million), paid by NTT. A total of 1,800 employees will
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be transferred.
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IBM Japan developed a a motion picture TV telephone for its
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PS/55. The TV phone, developed with GC Technology, is designed
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for linking to NTT's ISDN and can transmit 12 screens per second.
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IBM Japan wants to release it by the end of this year at around 1
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million yen. IBM Japan also hopes to make its TV phone PC an
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industry standard, and creating The Research Association For
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Personal Communication Graphics Communication under Haruhisa
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Ishida of Tokyo University to share the technolgy, backed by NTT
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and the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication.
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UK: BT Expands Packet Net, Modems Slow Down ISDN, Husky and RAM
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British Telecom announced plans to expand its packet data
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networks. Plans call for the net to be rolled out to 39 new
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countries by 1995, many in Eastern Europe. The idea is that
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multinational companies will be better served, and subscribers to
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line systems linked to the BT PDNs will be able to access
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services on a near-global basis. The network expansion will
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coincide with a push to upgrade access points to support 9,600
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bps.
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US Robotics' Miracom unit announced a UKP 100,000 campaign to
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promote the V.32Bis 14,400 bps modem standard, saying the price
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and performance of V.32bis will make companies think twice before
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moving to ISDN. The lower price, with competition from Hayes,
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could make the argument valid.
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Husky Computers, which claims to be the leading supplier of
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rugged handheld computers, has become one of the first UK
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firm to demonstrate links to the new RAM Mobile Data network.
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Major customers include British Airways, which is testing it at
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Heathrow International Airport. Unlike in the US, where Mobitem
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radio modems are being sold alongside the Mobitex network, RAM is
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acting as a network supplier, leaving it to third-party suppliers
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to equip users with hardware.
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Finally, Mercury signed Hong Kong Telecom to its new toll-free
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telephone service in the UK. Phone users dialing 0500 890 852
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will be linked free to a HK Telecom operator who speaks English,
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Cantonese, or Putonghua. Callers can then request a collect call
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or charge their conversation to a HK Telecom calling card.
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While other deals are in the offing, Mercury faces the problem of
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using the 0500 area code rather than the internationally
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recognized 0800 code, since 0800 has been reserved by BT for its
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network. Many subscribers are unaware that 0500 is toll-free.
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MOSCOW: More Banks Join SWIFT, IBM Net
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Kirill Tchashchin writes from Russia that the Society Worldwide
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for Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) is starting a
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massive effort to bring Russia's banks to its network. Eleven
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Russian banks are already SWIFT members, although just four are
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connected to the network. The rest await regional access points,
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hopefully by December. Although many Ukrainian, Baltic, and
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Caucasian bankers want to join SWIFT, no details have been made
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available on the procedure for these foreign countries to join
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SWIFT. Moscow access will be via SovAm Teleport, with secure
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links to the West and 32 leased lines to local banks. SWIFT is
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also working to implement connections with Romanian and Albanian
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banks, which are not yet SWIFT members.
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IBM announced plans to expand its IBM Information Network into
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Estonia and other Baltic countries from Finland. A center will be
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put into Tallinn, Estonia by mid-summer, linked via a leased line
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to Helsinki and offering X.400 e-mail, EDIFACT document exchange
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services and access to 100+ information providers. The service
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will cost 4500 Finnish markka (US$1000) in advance yearly with
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added usage-related fees.
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Finally, the annual Telecommunication Systems and Services
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Exhibition was scheduled for Moscow June 21-26. Unlike other
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shows, there will be no attendance by the general public, a
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measure which guarantees a qualified audience, and Western
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telecom companies are likely to have booths on the exhibit floor.
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MIDEAST: Improvements Continue
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In Saudi Arabia, demand for phone lines is rising smartly
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throughout the kingdom, due to the elimination of tolls on local
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calls and a 53 percent cut in installation and subscription fees.
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The number of phone lines in the nation's Eastern Province, along
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the Persian Gulf, will rise from 160,000 to over 220,000 over the
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next two years, the government said. The United Arab Emirates is
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now offering its citizens video telephones, and Iran upgraded its
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microwave relay network with equipment from Alca-Tel of Italy.
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Microwave relays are often used in rural parts of the Third World
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in place of wires.
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COLUMBIA: Strike Ends
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It is one again possible to call Columbia, and for Columbians to
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call the world. The 14,000 workers at Telecom, the state-owned
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phone company, who went on strike over privitization, signed a
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deal with the government. Under the deal the strike ends, and the
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union gets to review a planned privatization of the company. A
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tribunal will also be established to look into government
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accusations of sabotage against union members.
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CAMBODIA: Cellular Service Coming
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TelecomAsia of Thailand has approached the Cambodian government
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about a cellular phone concession. A unit of the Charoen Pokphand
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Group is currently setting up a trunk radio system for United
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Nations workers in the country, under contract from Motorola, and
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TelecomAsia would hire it to engineer a cellular system on the US
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AMPS standard. TelecomAsia has a contract to install millions of
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phones in Thailand, but has said it wants international
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expansion.
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FACTOIDS:
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AMERITECH put in a bid for part of Centel. But the phone and
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cellular company, which put itself up for sale in January, is
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likely to stay independent.
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DATAMATICS of Bombay will re-engineer the STOBI funds transfer
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system of Banque Worms in Paris, France, so it can accept input
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directly from electronic channels like SWIFT, Sagittaire and
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Teletransmission, instead of paper documents.
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MURATA released a low-cost fax machine equipped with an auto-
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sheet cutting feature. The Muratech M11 will be released in mid-
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May at 130,000 yen ($960). The picture is also said to be quite
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sharp.
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SPECTRUM CELLULAR announced an intelligent interface for hand-
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held cellular phones which gives such phones a standard RJ-11
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plug, like those found on wired phones.
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SPRINT added Israel to the countries on the Sprint World discount
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calling plan. You can link with that country, and 39 others, at
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discount rates for $3 per month.
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CONTACT:
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Ameritech, Steve Ford, +312-750-5205
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AT&T, Mark Siegel, +908-221-8413
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BellSouth, Tim Klein, +404-249-4135
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Dow Jones, Roger May, +212-416-2601
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Holonet, Arthur Britto, +510-704-0160; FAX +510-704-8019; BBS,
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+510-704-1058
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IBM Info Systems, Jorma Piispa, +358 90 459-4724
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IBM Japan, +81-3-3586-1111
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MicroAge, David Lucas, +602-968-3168x2243
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Miracom, +0753-811180
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Murata Machinery, +81-75-672-8137
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NEC PC-VAN, +81-3-3454-6909
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Nifty-Serve, +81-3-5471-4857
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NTT, +81-3-3509-5035
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Pacific Bell, Linda Bonnikson, +714-284-2140
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RAM Mobile Data, +081-990-9090
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Spectrum Cellular, John Rule, +214/630-9825
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Sprint, Robin Pence, +202-828-7454
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SWIFT, Bruno Coessens, +32 2 655-3111; FAX +32 2 655-3226
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Telecom Show, Yuri Andrianov,+7 095 198-1341
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AN INVITATION TO SUBSCRIBE
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The Teleputing Hotline has become, in the last 4 years, a leading
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voice in covering telephone-connections worldwide. Using the
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resources of the Newsbytes News Network, our reporters in 16
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technology centers gather trends, and our editors digest it for
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you in a manageable, 4-page weekly update.
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While retaining its leadership, we also plan to expand our
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coverage of a worldwide revolution called Field Computing.
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Field Computing links workers outside the office -- in sales,
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repair, delivery functions and jobs -- to central computer
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systems with handheld terminals and wireless data networks. The
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Teleputing Hotline has covered this trend since its inception,
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and will expand its coverage.
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We're also increasing our depth in 1992, with more commentary,
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and more long stories where industry leaders can give their views
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in their own words.
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If you need to understand the trends re-shaping business
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worldwide, then you need The Teleputing Hotline. And the Hotline
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can be delivered directly to your MCI mailbox or fax machine, 50
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times each year, for the surprisingly low price of $198. Simply
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fill out and fax the form below to start your subscription. We'll
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CANCEL on the bill and owe nothing.
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---Dana Blankenhorn
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editor
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