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US telecomms leasing market
dinner, drinks, television programmes and video games to play. This would of course also be based on known information about dietary needs, and the present state of the ego. Says Steven Weissman, author of the article, ‘the idea is to provide the computer with a complete ethnic, social, physical and psychological picture of yourself. This way the computer can think like you do even before you do.’ Although all this smacks of junior science fiction, VideoPtint protests that it is a possibility. The newsletter quotes videotex experiments such as the CBS/AT&T venture in New Jersey, USA, where users were allowed to establish permanent files to gather automatically their most desired pages of information. Although this would not be very efficient on a public central computer, it could work on personal computers, says VideoPrint, where each user has access to his own private memory banks. (VideoPrint, IRC, 30 High Street, Norwalk, CT 06851, USA.)
US telecomms leasing market Major changes for telecomms equipment leasing services are expected following the restructuring of the US telecommunications industry, says a report on Telecommunications Equipment Leasing.
Videotex on micros If videotex computing well be an article in
is to take off in the personal market, the catalyst could electronic ‘id’, suggests an the videotex trade paper VideoPrint. The ‘idware’ would collect information about a user’s likes and
dislikes, physical characteristics, birthdate and so on. By computing the user’s astrological chart and biorhythms, the computer would be able to tell what sort of a day the user had had, and so offer suggestions for
Most customer-premise equipment (CPE), such as PABX, key systems and telephones is usually leased to customers by telephone companies, with outright sales being discouraged because of the telephone companies’ accounting systems which favour rental. However, when CPE is distributed by the new deregulated subsidiaries of telephone companies, as is due to happen, there will be greater incentive to sell outright as accounting systems change. Although it looks like most companies will continue to wish to lease’or rent CPE for some time, the
data processing
reports
salesmen of local phone companies and American Bell (the subsidiary of AT&T) will be pushing for greater sales over the next 10 years. Other leasing companies are also trying to edge into the market to displace some of the telephone companies’ traditional leasing activities. General Electric Credit Corporation is increasing its PABX leasing, and Pitney Bowes Credit and US Leasing International are also showing much interest in telecomms leasing. An increase is expected in the leasing of satellite equipment and terminals, and mobile radio equipment and facsimile. Most leasing companies will
vol25 no 2
march 1983
avoid modems and similar equipment because of the rapidly changing technology and tendency to lower prices. American Bell and local telephone companies are also expected to encourage customers to buy modems rather than lease or rent them. Leasing for new telecomms equipment is expected to increase by 50% over the next 10 years, to about $6B in 1992. This will be despite the move from renting/leasing by American Bell and local telephone companies, and despite the less liberal tax allowances on leasing which were recently decided. (IRD Inc, 30 High Street, Norwalk CT 06851, USA.)
Picture language Developments in database management systems software are leading to the integration of graphics and picture-language ‘iconics’ as well as text and numerics. DBMS software has become much less structured, especially with the advent of relational databases. The next step, says Database Management SystemsandBackend Processors, will be the ability to deal with ‘stream of consciousness’ information, including audio and graphics. According to the report, IBM already uses a compound document, comprising text, audio, pictorial or numerical information. It is suggested that IBM and others are working on ‘intelligent’ DBMS software which can transform data from one form to another by signalprocessing. Users may be able to request answers in spoken or graphic form. Communication with computers may return to the picture-language of the cavemen. Certain changes would have to be implemented in computer design to allow picture-language. Input and output would have to be able to recognize iconics. Increased processing power is needed for transmitting whole pictures instead of line-by-line text. New forms of database storage would also be needed. Further implications might include reeducating people to think in terms of pictures rather than words. This could be beneficial where there are literacy problems, particularly with children. According to the report, IBM is the leading supplier of mainframe DBMS software, followed by Cincom Systems, Cullinane and Software AG. Particularly rapid growth is predicted in the DBMS software for micros market, where major contenders include Ashton-Tate, Micro Data Base Systems Inc, MicroPro International and Software Publishing Corp. (ZRD Znc, 30 High Street, Norwalk, CT 068.51, USA.)
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US telecomms leasing market Major changes for telecomms equipment leasing services are expected following the restructuring of the US telecommunications industry, says a report on Telecommunications Equipment Leasing.
Videotex on micros If videotex computing well be an article in
is to take off in the personal market, the catalyst could electronic ‘id’, suggests an the videotex trade paper VideoPrint. The ‘idware’ would collect information about a user’s likes and
dislikes, physical characteristics, birthdate and so on. By computing the user’s astrological chart and biorhythms, the computer would be able to tell what sort of a day the user had had, and so offer suggestions for
Most customer-premise equipment (CPE), such as PABX, key systems and telephones is usually leased to customers by telephone companies, with outright sales being discouraged because of the telephone companies’ accounting systems which favour rental. However, when CPE is distributed by the new deregulated subsidiaries of telephone companies, as is due to happen, there will be greater incentive to sell outright as accounting systems change. Although it looks like most companies will continue to wish to lease’or rent CPE for some time, the
data processing
reports
salesmen of local phone companies and American Bell (the subsidiary of AT&T) will be pushing for greater sales over the next 10 years. Other leasing companies are also trying to edge into the market to displace some of the telephone companies’ traditional leasing activities. General Electric Credit Corporation is increasing its PABX leasing, and Pitney Bowes Credit and US Leasing International are also showing much interest in telecomms leasing. An increase is expected in the leasing of satellite equipment and terminals, and mobile radio equipment and facsimile. Most leasing companies will
vol25 no 2
march 1983
avoid modems and similar equipment because of the rapidly changing technology and tendency to lower prices. American Bell and local telephone companies are also expected to encourage customers to buy modems rather than lease or rent them. Leasing for new telecomms equipment is expected to increase by 50% over the next 10 years, to about $6B in 1992. This will be despite the move from renting/leasing by American Bell and local telephone companies, and despite the less liberal tax allowances on leasing which were recently decided. (IRD Inc, 30 High Street, Norwalk CT 06851, USA.)
Picture language Developments in database management systems software are leading to the integration of graphics and picture-language ‘iconics’ as well as text and numerics. DBMS software has become much less structured, especially with the advent of relational databases. The next step, says Database Management SystemsandBackend Processors, will be the ability to deal with ‘stream of consciousness’ information, including audio and graphics. According to the report, IBM already uses a compound document, comprising text, audio, pictorial or numerical information. It is suggested that IBM and others are working on ‘intelligent’ DBMS software which can transform data from one form to another by signalprocessing. Users may be able to request answers in spoken or graphic form. Communication with computers may return to the picture-language of the cavemen. Certain changes would have to be implemented in computer design to allow picture-language. Input and output would have to be able to recognize iconics. Increased processing power is needed for transmitting whole pictures instead of line-by-line text. New forms of database storage would also be needed. Further implications might include reeducating people to think in terms of pictures rather than words. This could be beneficial where there are literacy problems, particularly with children. According to the report, IBM is the leading supplier of mainframe DBMS software, followed by Cincom Systems, Cullinane and Software AG. Particularly rapid growth is predicted in the DBMS software for micros market, where major contenders include Ashton-Tate, Micro Data Base Systems Inc, MicroPro International and Software Publishing Corp. (ZRD Znc, 30 High Street, Norwalk, CT 068.51, USA.)
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