Conference Report: Pen Computing 1991

Technologic Partners’ conference generates high attendance, lots of demos

If the Pen Computing 1991 conference held in mid-July is a harbinger of pen-based things to come, the approaching months should be very interesting indeed. The conference, sponsored by Technologic Partners (New York, NY) and held in San Francisco, brought together leading pen-based hardware/software vendors and about 700 analysts, investors, developers, and corporate adopters.

The one-day affair was tightly structured, kicking off with market trend overviews and panel discussions led by representatives from operating systems vendors GO and Microsoft and market-researchers like Portia Isaacson. This was followed by hardware-related panels: one that studied system-level issues (with representatives from Grid, IBM, NCR, and Momenta) and another that studied component-level issues (CPUs, disks, and displays).

Large Turnout

We talked to some of the attendees after the conference, and what seemed most noteworthy was the large turnout. Everybody seemed amazed at the level of interest. The demonstration booths were packed. Said one person we talked to, “this is obviously more than a fad. The level of interest is unbelievable.” The other comment we heard frequently was that the best part of the conference was the demonstrations. Some said that more time should have been allotted to demonstrations and less to the conference sessions.

Nevertheless, the topics selected by Technologic Partners were right on — they dealt with key issues central to development and adoption decisions. While we would like to have heard more technical details — perhaps a technical track in addition to the marketing tracks — the subject matter was probably at the appropriate level of discussion for most of the audience, which consisted mainly of analysts, investors, and marketing experts (with only a scant handful of engineers).

In any case, the conference was considered so successful that Technologic Partners is already planning a follow-up conference for January or February, 1992, to be held in the San Francisco Bay Area. Call Technologic Partners, 212-696-9330, for specific details.

Demos Galore

The highpoint of the show was unquestionably the two-hour afternoon demonstration session where 39 vendors presented their hardware and software wares. Two hours weren’t enough time to hit all of the booths; we would suggest at least an extra hour or two for demos in the next conference.

While space constraints prevent us from providing a detailed rundown of all presentations, we present the following synopsis, which is based both on booths that we visited and the proceedings distributed at the conference. While we believe we’ve covered every company that demonstrated on the conference floor, we sincerely apologize if anyone has been overlooked. Many of these companies and products have previously been discussed in this publication and others will be covered in future issues.

ADP Automotive Claim Services (San Ramon, CA) demonstrated a beta version of a graphics/text exploded parts auto body damage system running off a database CD ROM.

ARDIS (Lincolnshire, IL) was accessing a remote database via the ARDIS nationwide radio network using pen-based systems and RF modems.

CalComp (Scottsdale, AZ), a digitizer supplier, was showing its Advanced Function Technology (AFT) cordless pen system for pen-based computers. AFT implements pressure sensitivity, tilt angle sensing, tip height sensing, and graphics control.

Communications Intelligence Corp. (Menlo Park, CA) introduced PenDOS, a pen-aware operating environment that runs on top of MS-DOS (see related article in this issue) and MacHandwriter for pen input system for Kanji.

Data Entry Systems (Huntsville, AL) was demonstrating its ScriptWriter Plus, a tablet computer that uses paper forms laid on top of a pressure-sensitive surface. Ballpoint pen or pencil can be used as an input device.

Delrina Technology (Toronto, Ontario) showed PerForm Pro Filler, a forms application, running under Microsoft PenWindows. The electronic forms were built using PerForm Pro Designer and Filler.

Distributed Micro Systems, Inc. (Burlingame, CA), a pen-based application developer, was exhibiting vertical programs — building inspection, utility companies, etc.— running on the GridPad. (See related article in this issue.) Eden Group (Rainow, England), a hardware design company for OEM customers, presented a 386-based clipboard computer that uses Flash Memory.

Fastech (Bromal, PA), a software company specializing in sales information systems, demonstrated pen-based versions of its software.

Future Soft Engineering (Houston, TX) exhibited a connectivity and communication package called DynaComm running under PenWindows.

GO Corp. (Foster City, CA) was demonstrating its PenPoint operating system and various third-party applications.

Graphics Technology (Austin, TX), a manufacturer of pen-input tablets and electronics, showed its pen input tablets/digitizer running under PenWindows.

Grid Systems (Fremont, CA) showed off its recently released backlit, pen-based computers and Grid Pen-Pal pen-based application development tool. (Also see Pen-Pal below.)

Hansen Software (Sacramento, CA) demoed pen-based geographic mapping software targeted for municipalities and utility companies.

IBM, Watson Research Center (Yorktown, NY) presented Trainer, an X-Window-based handwriting recognition tool and the IBM paper-like interface (see Vol. 1, No. 2 of this publication for more details).

Inforite (San Mateo, CA), a manufacturer of graphics capturing devices utilizing pressure-sensitive pad technology, showed the Inforite 1000/50 electronic clipboard. (Inforite designed the UPS DIAD unit described in Vol. 1, No. 2 of this publication.)

Integral Peripherals (Boulder, CO), maker of subminiature disk drives, showed prototypes of 1.8-inch hard disk drives.

MicroSlate (Brossard, Quebec), known for its Datellite series of pen-based PCs and its DataSlate applications generator, brought out its 386SX-based notebook computer.

Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, WA) exhibited a variety of applications running under PenWindows.

NCR Corp. (Dayton, OH) showed its recently announced NCR 3125 pen-based computer running under PenPoint and PenWindows. (See Volume 1, Number 3.)

Nestor (Providence, RI) demonstrated NestorWriter, its symbol recognition system based on multiple neural network technology.

OCR Systems (Huntington Valley, PA) showed an image-based recognition system for handprint and a real-time recognizer for PenPoint and PenWindows.

ParaGraph (Boulder, CO) exhibited Calligrapher, a real-time cursive writing recognition engine. (ParaGraph is the Soviet-American joint venture discussed in Volume 1, Number 2.)

Pen-Pal Associates (Los Altos, CA) displayed its Grid Pen-Pal Development Toolkit for designing GridPad applications. This integrated environment takes developers from form design through data files and testing. Features database access and communications tools.

Peripheral Vision (Frome, Somerset, England) discussed its PenOp pen-based software, a “pen-to-peer” security system based on the client/server model.

Photonics (Campbell, CA) demonstrated its infrared transceiver for sending data over infrared light at speeds of up to 1 mbit/second.

Polaris (Escondido, CA) presented its PackRat, a personal information manager (PIM) running under PenWindows.

Proxim (Mountain View, CA) designs and builds communication devices ranging from LAN interface cards to RF modems. The company was showing a GridPad that used the ProxNet wireless LAN interface to access a NetWare file server equipped with a ProxNet ISA bus card.

Scantron (Tustin, CA) showed the Scanscribe, a handheld electronic tablet that can capture and transmit data printed onto paper forms overlaying a pressure-sensitive pad.

Scriptel (Columbus, OH) exhibited its transparent digitizers.

Sitka (Alameda, CA) showed off its PenTOPS software that provides file sharing and printer sharing among PenPoint, DOS, Sun, and Macintosh computers.

Slate (Scottsdale, AZ) was running its PenApps development system under PenPoint and PenWindows.

Software Publishing (Mountain View, CA) demonstrated its Professional Write Plus word processor running under PenWindows.

Spectrix (Evanston, IL), a company that develops wireless networking systems for portable PCs, was exhibiting a wireless network.

SuperScript (Cambridge, MA), a pen-based pioneer, was showing its SuperScript II, a pen-based tablet that connects to a desktop PC (ideal for developing pen-based software) and PenSieve, a software interface between a recognition engine and query-driven applications.

Symbol Technologies (Bohemia, NY), primarily a bar code company, was showing the Laser Radio Terminal — an integrated, handheld bar code laser scanner, DOS-based 16-bit computer, and high-speed spread spectrum radio.

TelePad (Reston, VA) provided a mini-museum of pen-based systems, including the TelePad SL, a current generation pen-based clipboard computer.

Wacom (Paramus, NJ), developers of the digitizing technology that’s been recommended and adopted by many pen-based hardware and software vendors, was discussing and demoing its electromagnetic resonance technology. (See Vol. 1, No. 2.)

Wang Laboratories (Lowell, MA) exhibited three prototype units: one notebook pen-based computer running a proprietary operating environment, another that was communicating over the ARDIS network via RF modems, and a third that incorporated voice recognition via digital signal processing technology.

News Item: Inforite, the supplier of the AS1050 clipboard device used by UPS (see Vol 1, No. 2 of this publication), says that UPS has increased its order to 60,000 units. UPS has been testing the AS1050 in the field for signature capture, route scheduling, downloading to office computer systems, and so forth. The AS1050 includes a 16-bit, 8MHz microprocessor with 256K bytes of RAM and 256K bytes of ROM. Data storage capacity is 1 megabyte. The development platform is the IBM PC AT. Contact Inforite Corp., 415-571-8766