Loadstar 131/131.d81/t.tech

Text File | 1995-01-01 | 10.9 KB | 378 lines

     Cornell's Nanotechnology
Breakthrough 03/22/95 ITHACA, NEW
YORK, U.S.A., 1995 MAR 22 (NB) -- A
thumbnail- sized device capable of
holding the information contained on
10,000 standard hard drives? Cornell
University researchers have shrunk a
device called the scanning tunneling
microscope (STM), which could advance
computer storage technology to such a
level within the decade.

    The miniature microscope comes
from eight years of research at
Cornell, headed by Noel C. MacDonald,
a professor of electrical
engineering, and furthered through
the dedication of many doctoral
students.

    A spokesperson for the team at
Cornell told Newsbytes, "This is
potentially a major breakthrough for
the computer industry. Right now we
are capable of moving the device,
scanning two dimensions, and getting
images. By lining up eight of them it
could read one byte at a time. We are
talking about a size-scale of an
individual atom at a time."

    The actual device is called a
microelectromechanical scanning
tunneling microscope (MEM STM) which
has a silicon tip with three
actuators that provide the force to
move the tip in three dimensions. A
conventional STM is about the size of
a thumbnail or 1.5 to 2 centimeters
square. The STM uses piezoelectric
motors to scan a tip across the
surface and generates an atom-sized
image of the surface of the
material.

    MacDonald says the devices can be
scaled down to make them scan even
faster and he suggest speeds in the
order of a thousand to a million
cycles per second. Placed by the
thousands on a chip in a massively
parallel fashion, you could move
things around in microseconds that
once took minutes to do, he
suggests.

    The researchers say it will be
possible to put an array of micro-
STMs with each tip storing millions
of bits of information, as
microrobots, in an area no larger
than the diameter of a human hair. A
micro-STM is 200 microns x 200
microns (about the diameter of a
human hair) and can scan on the order
of 1 micrometer x 1 micrometer.
Applications of this microrobotic
technology are almost without limit.

    Cornell University is applying
for technology patents and has
entered into a partnership with TMS
Technologies of Ithaca, New York, to
license technology in microelectronic
processing techniques emerging from
Cornell.

    (Patrick McKenna/1995/Press
Contact: Cornell University, tel 607-
255-2000)



     IBM Intros Wireless & ATM
Products 03/16/95 SOMERS, NEW YORK,
U.S.A., 1995 MAR 16 (NB) -- IBM
(NYSE:IBM) has turned its attention
to wireless networking and high-speed
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)
networks with the announcement of
several new products.

    On the wireless front, IBM
unveiled a local area network (LAN)
adapter and access device that will
let a portable computer communicate
with a nearby LAN without actually
plugging in physically, as well as a
selection of wireless modems to let
portable computers communicate over
the major wireless communication
networks in North America.

    In the high-speed department, the
company boosted its ATM offerings to
allow for 155 megabits-per-second
(Mbps) speeds and added new adapters
and switch modules. IBM's first Token
Ring network switch, which includes
ATM connectivity up to 155 Mbps, also
came on the scene.

    The Wireless LAN Entry Product
Family includes an adapter that lets
a laptop computer communicate with
IBM's new 8227 access terminal,
creating a wireless link to an
Ethernet LAN. The portable computer
has to be within about 500 feet of
the access terminal, company
spokesman Denis Arvay told Newsbytes.
IBM said the product is meant for
small networks of workers who move
about within a limited area, such as
warehouse and retail store employees
or nurses.

    For those who roam over a wider
area, IBM introduced wireless laptop
computer modems for the ARDIS and
Mobitex networks and for cellular
digital packet data (CDPD)
transmission over cellular
telephones. These modems are Personal
Computer Memory Card International
Association (PCMCIA) Type II cards.

    The Wireless LAN Entry PCMCIA
adapter is $445 and is due to be
available in April. The 8227 access
terminal is to be available in April
for $1,350 with an integrated antenna
or $1,425 with a hemispherical
directional antenna. The wireless
modems range from $795 to $1,095, and
the Mobitex and ARDIS models are to
ship in April while the CDPD units
are expected in June

    In addition to 25 Mbps and 100
Mbps ATM products, IBM said it is
preparing 155 Mbps ATM devices. These
include the ATM Concentration Module
for linking IBM 8260 intelligent hubs
to ATM high-performance servers and
other devices, a 155 Mbps ATM uplink
for the company's Ethernet and Token
Ring switches, and a 155 Mbps version
of the Turboways ATM adapter.
IBM also enhanced its 25 Mbps
Turboways ATM adapter, adding support
for the Peripheral Component
Interconnect (PCI) bus. Finally, the
company added a new 100 Mbps ATM
module for its 8260 Intelligent Hub.
This is to be available in June for
$8,000, the company said.

    The new 8272 LANStreamer Token
Ring switch is scheduled to ship in
September and will list at $5,600.

    (Grant Buckler/19950316/Press
Contact: Denis Arvay, IBM, 914-766-
1218)



     Germany - Rewritable Optical
Disks 03/23/95 FRECHEN, GERMANY, 1995
MAR 23 (NB) -- Internet Optical
Products (IOP) has announced a new
range of Tosoh Rewriteable Optical
Disks with 540 and 640 megabyte (MB)
capacities, but sized to fit in a
3.5-inch disk drive bay on a PC.

    According to Frank Strauss of
IOP's German operations, the new
disks represent a major advance in
storage technology. As capacities
increase, and the cost per megabyte
starts to decrease, the optical disks
represent a real alternative to the
capacity limitations normally found
on magnetic media in this format
sizing.

    What's significant about these
new drives, Newsbytes notes, is that
640MB drive is on a par storage-wise
with CD-ROM-R technology. IOP is
talking about the possibility of
downloading an entire CD-ROM disc to
a Tosoh optical disk, with the
advantage that the optical disks can
be written, erased and overwritten
more than 10 million times without a
loss of data integrity.

    The new rewriteable disks are
already available in 128 and 230MB
capacities, but the two new capacity
formats of 540 and 650MB attracted a
lot of interest from users and OEM
(original equipment manufacturers)
when the drives were shown earlier
this month at the Cebit Computer
Faire in Germany.

    According to IOP, the cost of a
drive to an OEM company is below the
$1,000 mark, despite the fact that
the removables have an access time
between 28 and 32 milliseconds with
average data transfer rates in excess
of 1.7MB per second.

    (Sylvia Dennis/19950323/Press &
Reader Contact: Internet Optical
Products [phone]; Fax +49-
2234-62448)



    Electronic In/Out Board Tracks
Employee Whereabouts 03/23/95
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1995 MAR 23
(NB) -- If "Anyone know where Smith
is?" is a common cry in your office,
maybe you need Whereabouts, a
software package for DOS- and
Windows-based local area networks to
track employee location and
availability.

    Whereabouts, from privately held
Atlanta-based Futurus Corporation,
will be rolled out March 29th at the
NetWorld + Interop trade show in the
North Hall Meeting Room on the second
floor of the Las Vegas Convention
Center.

    Whereabouts supports Novell,
LANtastic, Windows for Workgroups and
other network software. With a single
keystroke any user on the network can
check on the status of other staff
members. Pre-defined "In," "Out,"
"Lunch," and "Meeting" columns make
it quick and easy for the staffer to
show what he or she is doing, much
like the magnetic boards found in
many offices that let you move the
little round magnet to the
appropriate column.

    The program can handle as many as
16 status columns, which can include
or replace the basic four categories.
There is also a user comments section
associated with the status
information, so you can indicate that
you are "in the warehouse." User
groups can establish a set of
frequently used comments such as "Do
Not Disturb," "Vacation," "Staff
Meeting," and other commonly used
remarks. An "Until" column lets you
indicate the expected time of return.
Any pre-defined comment can be
configured to automatically enter an
associated return time. For example
if you indicated you are going to
lunch the program could automatically
indicate a return time of one hour
from now.

    While the current version of
Whereabouts is designed for the
office LAN Futurus spokesperson Alan
Weinkrantz told Newsbytes that with
the company may broaden the program's
scope in the future. "As companies
and people become more virtual,
Whereabouts could be expanded to
include wide area networks (WANs),
multi-site locations or even the
Internet. You could know where just
about anybody is," said Weinkrantz.
One drawback of the mechanical in/out
boards is its dependence on user
update. Not so with Whereabouts,
which has an Auto-Stat Sensor
feature. Auto-Stat automatically
marks the user in when they log onto
the computer system, senses when the
user is away from the computer
keyboard for a pre-defined period of
time, and automatically displays an
"Out" status if the user logs off the
network or turns off the workstation.
To avoid being logged as "Inactive,"
the system keys an audible prompt if
there has been no keyboard activity
for a user-selectable period of
time.

    A trace feature lets you
communicate with another employee to
inform them you need to speak with
them, and the On-Return Alert lets
you know when that worker has
returned to their office.

    Whereabouts also has a feature
some workers may not be like.
Managers have the option to monitor
their employees' comings and goings
by activating the Whereabouts
Monitoring feature. If a supervisor
OKs it, managers can receive
monitoring information via pop-up
notification on-screen, e-mail, or
through a report log printout.
Whereabouts supports VIM, MAPI, and
MHS e-mail.      Whereabouts also has
a directory feature. By completing a
template of information that includes
name, phone, pager number, home
phone, title, emergency contact, and
other data, an office directory can
be compiled and displayed at a
keystroke. The directory can
eliminate the printing of office
directories, which are often out of
date by the time they are
distributed, particularly in large
companies.

    The DOS version of Whereabouts
requires an IBM-PC XT or higher or a
Pentium-based system with 640
kilobytes (KB) of memory. Whereabouts
will use extended or expanded memory
when its available. The company said
a local hard disk is not required.

    A 10-user package of Whereabouts
has an introductory price of $199.
The 25-user pack is $299, and the
100-user license costs $799. Futurus
also offers special site licensing.

    (Jim Mallory/19950323/Press
contact: Alan Weinkrantz, Alan
Weinkrantz and Company for Futurus,
210-820-3070; Public contact:
Futurus, tel [phone] or fax 404-
242-7221/FUTURUS950323/PHOTO)