The Race Heats Up

Vertical applications coming up on the outside

In this third edition of our race card guide to the pen-based computing field, you’ll notice that many companies are targeting specific industries — health, utilities, sales, financial, and so on — particularly with software. This trend toward vertical markets will continue to develop over the coming months as companies begin seeing unique opportunities in individual fields. To a lesser extent, this trend will develop on the hardware side too.

Interestingly enough, you’ll also notice that some of the companies have existing, proprietary hardware and software in their vertical fields. With the introduction of general-purpose hardware (like the NCR 3125) along with flexible, yet powerful, software tools, many of these companies will begin turning away from proprietary systems in favor of the cost, performance, and compatibility benefits provided by the emerging generation of hardware and software.

Borland International

ObjectVision, a visual programming tool for creating interactive Windows applications, is migrating to pen-based systems. The Windows 3 program, originally developed by Borland as a tool for building Windows front ends for Paradox, dBase, and Btrieve databases, lends itself to easily creating forms like those used in pen-based data collection applications. ObjectVision also supports dynamic data exchange (DDE) to other Windows 3 apps. While ObjectVision runs out-of-the-box with PenWindows today, Borland has stated that the company will in the future make the tool more pencentric by including handwriting edit controls, annotation support, and other stylus-resident features. Borland also recently announced that its Quattro-Pro spreadsheet application now supports Pen Windows and CIC’s PenDOS.

Borland International
1800 Green Hills Road
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
408-483-8400

Cad Forms Technology

CFT Pen Station is designed to automate data collection for utility companies, municipalities, and service and sales organizations. Users of this system, which includes Docking Bay receptacles or racks, can “insert” up to 32 NCR 3125s into racks for storage, maintenance, and communications. While inserted into the slide mounts, battery maintenance is performed, data automatically uploaded, and dispatch information is downloaded (using the Pen Station software).

Cad Forms Technology
234 Main Street
Huntington, NY 11743
516-673-7522

Contact Software Intl.

Contact Software, developers of Act!, software designed to automate contact and calendar information for business, is creating a Pen Windows version of the software. Act! integrates a database, scheduler, report generator, and word processor.

Contact Software International
1625 W. Crosby Road, #12
Carrollton, TX 75006
214-418-1866

EMIS Software Inc.

EMIS, a developer of integrated sales, marketing, and telemarketing software of the same name, has announced intentions of making its software pencentric. The software provides databases, custom form generation, communications, word processing, and other features important to sales and marketing professionals.

EMIS Software Inc.
901 N.E. Loop 410, Suite 526
San Antonio, TX 78209
512-822-8499

Envoy Systems Corp.

SalesMate, Envoy’s sales information software, will be available for pen-based systems within the coming months. The software is designed to help sales forces manage account information and communicate with head offices via communication tools and to deliver up-to-the-minute information on market conditions, orders, inventory, and so on.

Envoy Systems Corp.
1432 Main Street
Waltham, MA 02154
617-890-1444

Epsilon Data Management, Inc.

The health care marketing division of Epsilon is in the process of developing pen-based versions of its Territory Management System for pharmaceutical sales reps.

Epsilon Data Management, Inc.
50 Cambridge Street

Burlington, MA 01803
617-273-0250

First Data Systems

First Data is moving its StatPad information management software for the health care industry to pen-based systems. Currently, this company develops its StatPad software for client/server distributed processing architectures.

First Data Systems
33 Boston Post Road West
Suite 270
Marlboro, MA 01752
508-481-0945

FormWorx Corp.

As its name suggests, FormWorx is developing forms design tools for stylus systems. The application, called Fill & File, allows automatic entry of the date, time, serial number, or other typical values. Lookup tables are totalled and validation and calculations enabled. Data is stored in standard dBase format. Initially, Fill & Form will run on Pen Windows, although the company has said it will also develop a version for CIC’s PenDOS operating system.

FormWorx Corp.
Reservoir Place
1601 Trapelo Road
Waltham, MA 02154
627-890-4499

FutureSoft

Pen-centric mainframe connectivity is FutureSoft’s goal with its DynaComm Asynchronous and DynaComm/Elite comm software for Asynchronous and 3270 SNA communications. With this software, users can direct mainframe sessions by simply writing on the screen. The company currently provides comm. software for Windows, NewWave, OS/2, and Macintosh.

Future Soft Engineering
1001 South Dairy Ashford
Suite 101
Houston, TX 713-496-9400

Information Retrieval Methods

IRM, a software developer in the consumer product manufacturer industry, has announced its plans for producing data capture software for retail store management. Initially, the software will be developed for PenPoint.

Information Retrieval Methods, Inc.
1525 N. Stemmons
Carrollton, TX 75006
214-242-2312

International Software Designs

ISD’s Loan & Document Automation System, software targeted for financial institutions that need to collect and analyze information for loan applications, is being developed for pen-based computers. Among other features, the Document Automation System gives lenders the capability to accept loan applications and generate loan agreements and documents on the spot.

International Software Designs
200 Corporate Pointe, Suite 460
Culver City, CA 90230
213-670-7288

Jay-Martin Consulting

The company is developing QuickMortgage, an intelligent form-based mortgage processing system for completing and processing mortgage applications. QuickMortgage supports PenPoint features such as dynamic forms and deferred I/O. The program has a built-in, customizable rules system to prevent inaccurate or incomplete applications from being transferred to the host.

Jay-Martin Consulting
1000 Woodbridge Center Drive
Woodbridge, NJ 07095
908-636-7000

Mastersoft Inc.

As editors, we perpetually deal with electronic manuscripts generated on any number of word processors. Consequently, Mastersoft’s Word-for-Word word processing format conversion program is one we use throughout the day for bi-directional conversion of, say, a Wordperfect document to Xywrite format without losing formatting attributes and layout information. The company has announced it will develop applications for pen-based systems.

Mastersoft Inc.
6991 East Camelback Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
602-277-0900

Noteworthy Systems Inc.

Automated retail software for pen-based systems, like that recently announced by Noteworthy, allows buyers and sellers to eliminate the unnecessary paperwork associated with inventory purchasing. This software will provide custom forms, open-to-buy, and customer databases and will utilize wireless communication.

Noteworthy Systems Inc.
Atlanta Gift Mart
P.O. Box 56545
Atlanta, GA 30343
404-880-0700

Lotus Development Corp.

Lotus Notes, a group communications software package for networked systems that allows users to create information sharing applications, will be enhanced to support pen-based computers. Notes users working with mobile computers can work from remote locations connected via modem, LANs, or WANs — and eventually RF modems, we’d expect — to exchange updates or route e-mail.

Lotus Development Corp.
55 Cambridge Parkway
Cambridge, MA 02142
617-577-8500

Pi Systems

See the feature article on this company in this issue.

Radio Frequency Data Network Systems, Inc.

RF Data has announced a proprietary compression routine called RF/COMPRESS that is based on a bit-oriented algorithm that takes the most frequently used character and assigns the fewest bits (3 bits) to that character. The current average compression ratio is running about 40 percent. This software toolkit is designed specifically for use with radio frequency (RF) modems in public and private networks. On public radio data networks like Ardis and RAM Mobile Data, RF Data is claiming airtime usage savings in monthly billings in excess of $80 per user.

Radio Frequency Data Network Systems, Inc.
7545 South Madison Street
Hinsdale, IL 60521
708-325-9300

Stylos Development Corp.

espMarkup is the only announced product from Stylos, a company specifically established to develop pen-centric applications, and company spokesmen are reticent about the exact nature of the software. However, they do say that espMarkup is a graphical tool to enable designers in a variety of vertical markets — from engineering to textiles — to better express themselves. Considering the type of applications (engineering) and the geographical location of the company (Marin County in California) it comes as no surprise that espMarkup will support AutoCAD file formats (Autodesk is also located in Marin).

Stylos Development Corp.
134 Granada Drive
Corte Madera, CA 94925
415-927-7623

Software Publishing Corp.

Software Publishing is showcasing the Professional Write Plus Windows document processor as the first application of its genre for pen-based systems. Most interesting from our point of view is that the same version of the word processor runs under Windows 3 or PenWindows without modification. ProWrite Plus, which automatically “knows” whether or not its running under PenWindows, makes full use of pencentric features, including using gestures to edit and correct documents and handwriting recognition. Additionally, standard ProWrite Plus features (speed icon bars, for instance) can be accessed via the pen.

Software Publishing Corp.
1901 Landings Drive
P.O. Box 7210
Mountain View, CA 94043
415-962-8910

Tusk, Inc.

The first product from this small Florida company — a 386-based portable system that provides both pen and keyboard input — is due out in September 1991. Dubbed the “All-Terrain SuperTablet,” the computer is modular in that the 6.2 pound pen-based notebook unit can stand alone as a pen-based computer or it can plug into a “laptop” dock that has a keyboard. A plug-and-play desktop stand is also planned. The system sports a crisp, paper-white SuperVGA display (1024×768) display. The ruggedized system, which has a bullet-proof Spectra case, will sell for from $5500 to $6500.

Tusk, Inc.
1310 Gateway Road
Lake Park, FL 33403
407-881-9050

News Item: Intel Corporation has announced the availability of the 386SL Microprocessor SuperSet Evaluation Kit. The kit consists of a 12 x 13.75 inch board with the 386 SL CPU, I/O and floppy controllers, 4 megabytes of RAM, the 387SX math coprocessor, VGA and serial/parallel support, and 5 16-bit AT slots and one 8-bit AT slot. The SystemSoft BIOS comes installed on the board and the recently announced Phoenix BIOS is available on floppy disks as an option. The 386 SL evaluation kit is intended for engineers and system architects testing notebook PC designs and applications. Priced at $4,386, the kit is available through Intel sales offices. Call 800-548-4725 in the U.S. or Canada, or write to Intel Literature Package #JP42, P.O. Box 7641, Mt. Prospect, IL 60056-7641