The Teleputing Hotline The Worldwide Network Letter Volume 3 Number 97 -- December 11, 1990 215 Winter Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30317 FAX: 404-378-0794 Phone: 404-373-7634 MCI:409-8960 GEnie: nb.atl CompuServe: 76200,3025 FAX STANDARD DISPUTE THREATENS GROWTH The fax business has grown exponentially in part because nearly every fax machine follows the same standard, called the Group III standard of the CCITT. But those days may be ending with a dispute before the CCITT over a new standard called Group IIIbis. Group IIIbis would let standard fax machines use compression techniques and digital lines to run at up to 64,000 bits/second. They would, in effect, gain the speed and resolution offered under Group IV, a new fax standard tested for such things as the transmission of medical pictures, but incompatible with Group III. France and Japan, both fax machine exporters, are fighting the Group IIIbis proposal. But if U.S. chip makers like Rockwell International design chips for Group IIIbis, the Japanese could be threatened with loss of the market unless they move toward it. The tale will be told next spring, when the acceptance of compression for Group III, along the lines of Group IV, is scheduled. If that goes through, fax could become far more capable, far more quickly, than previously imagined. MOSCOW: SPRINTNET PRICING, KGB SERVICES SprintNet USSR said its prices will be 20% lower than those of its competitors. Connections from Moscow to SprintNet computers in Europe will cost $24 per hour, $40 to the U.S. and Canada, $45 elsewhere. Connections with non-Sprint computers will add time and traffic charges -- $10 per hour plus $10 per 64 kilobytes to Europe, $20/hour plus $20/kilosegment to the U.S., $24/hour and $24/kilosegment elsewhere. Installation of the local node is due by year-end, writes Kirill Tchashchin for Newsbytes. Alos, the Soviet KGB has secrets for sale to Soviet agencies working in the Western market. A Moscow KGB Division Press Officer said on Soviet TV state enterprises and Soviet-foreign ventures are already using the KGB to learn about their partners' credibility and keep other secrets. The KGB is now ready to offer the same service to others. If you're interested, call phone +7 095 921-0762 in Moscow. NTT's SMALLEST PORTABLE PHONE: 230 grams NTT has developed the smallest portable telephone in the world, weighing only 230 grams. With a rechargeable battery, it can run for about 16 hours, or for 45 minutes of calling. The phone was developed with Matsushita, Mitsubishi and Fujitsu, all of which will market the phone with their own features under license from NTT. Usage fees for portable phones are still expensive in Japan. There's a basic charge of 19,000 yen ($150) per month. Despite this, the number of users has almost doubled in just six months. Competition among common carriers is expected to become intense next April when the NTT phone is sold. FIRST JAPAN-USSR JOINT VENTURE ON TELECOM EQUIPMENT Japan's Eiwa Trading (Tokyo) signed an agreement with Central Telegraph, a unit of Telecom Ministry in the USSR. The new company, Infatel will sell Japanese telecom equipment such as fax machines and telex machines in the USSR. Capital of the new firm will be 110,000,000 yen ($85,000), 60% owned by Central Telegraph, 40% by Eiwa Trading. Headquarters will be in Moscow, with a president chosen from Central Telegraph. MCI MAIL NOW DOES INVOICES MCI Mail announced MCI EDI 400, an electronic invoicing service under the X.400 message-handling standard. MCI EDI 400 lets firms exchange invoices with just about anyone. Supply Tech, an EDI software supplier, will also enhance its STX12 PC-based software product for integration with MCI Mail. The deal is just another advance in global electronic invoicing. Infonet, 25% owned by MCI, is creating a global EDI network to compete with GE and other large players in the field. Business users of online services like EDI represent 80% of the total online market. IBM MOVES COMMUNICATIONS BASE TO LONDON IBM has decided to move the headquarters of its communications business to Europe. It's the first IBM product group to be based outside the U.S. The decision comes days after Big Blue was admitted to the prestigious JESSI program of the European Community, the first U.S. computer company allowed in. Another reason IBM chose Europe is to demonstrate its commitment to the OSI interoperability standard. VIP-FAXX SERVICE TURNS YOUR VOICE MESSAGE INTO A FAX A California start-up is offering faxes directly from telephones. Leave a voice message with a VIP-FAXX operator, and they'll type it and fax it to any number you request. The service is aimed at businessmen who need to break through voice mail systems. Broadcast services to multiple destinations are also available, as are confirmations and a database of phone numbers from U.S. legislatures, special interest groups and large businesses. The company will also store lists of fax numbers which can be called up with a list name. Each fax sent with the service costs $5.95, $9.95 for international faxes. PACIFIC BELL PROVIDING FULL ISDN SERVICE Pacific Bell became the first regional Bell company to offer full ISDN service, rolling it out in San Francisco and Los Angeles. It's called the Integrated Services Digital Network Primary Rate Interface, or ISDN-PRI, and divides a 1.544 million bit/second line into 23 channels of 64,000 bit/second service and a separate signaling channel at the same speed. Businesses can use the capacity as they want, sharing it among phones, faxes, and data lines. The service will cost $1,500 for installation and $545 monthly. ONLINE FACTOIDS AT&T delivered a new chip which will replace five chips and a set of relays in business PBX systems, making them smaller, less expensive and more reliable. BOSCH of Germany cancelled plans to buy half of Novatel, the Canadian cellular phone maker, from the government. Bosch was to pay C$100 million ($80 million). C.ITOH is importing a telemarketing system from Digital Systems of the U.S. Digital Systems modified its Voicelink system to handle local switches and the Japanese language. ERICSSON of Sweden consolidated its mobile and cordless phone operations in the Netherlands. MTC ELECTRONICS of Canada formed a joint venture to build a cellular phone system in China. MTC already has an exclusive license to export fax machines there. NASA claimed $12 million in phone service was stolen from it by computer hackers over two years, using a credit card and the Federal Telephone System. The same thing happened earlier at the Houston DEA office. CONTACT: AT&T, Richard Larris, +201-771-2826 Digital Systems, Laura McCluer, +206-881-7544 MCI Mail, Jane Levene, +914-934-6480 MTC, Miko Leung, +604-278-8788 Newsbytes, Wendy Woods, +415-550-7334 Pacific Bell, Scott E. Smith, +415-542-0597 SprintNet U.S.S.R., Vladimir Blokh, +7 095 292-4119 Telus, Betty MacLennan, +403-530-3992 VIP-FAXX, Joe Gagliano, +408-985-6631