CHANNEL NEWS

P> COMSTOR ADDS MORE PRODUCTS
COMSTOR, a Chantilly, Va., microcomputer distributor, has added seven manufacturers to its product line: ATI, Cyrix, Daewoo, IBM, Kingston Technology, Paradise and Performance Technology. The company added more than 30 new product lines in 1995 and increased sales by 50 percent, from $60 million to $90 million.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN STAYS ON
The U.S. General Services Administration has extended Rocky Mountain Xpansion's schedule contract through 1997. The Chicago-based company distributes memory products for computers.

COMPAQ CUTS PRICES
Compaq Computer Corp. reduced prices by 10 percent to 51 percent for the Compaq Netelligent family of network products. Only products currently on the market and previously sold under the Thomas-Conrad and NetWorth brands are covered. Compaq bought both companies in 1995. The price cuts give Houston-based Compaq a 5 percent to 20 percent price advantage over comparable products.

NEW DIMENSION SOFTWARE WANTS BETTER RELATIONSHIPS WITH VENDORS
New Dimension Software, with headquarters in Irvine, Calif., has established a program to strengthen relations with existing partners as well as forge new relationships with vendors. The Alliance Partner Program will target systems and network management framework vendors including Hewlett-Packard, Tivoli, IBM and Cabletron, as well as applications providers such as SAP, Remedy and PeopleSoft. The Alliance program also will help expand New Dimension's North American distribution channel to include value-added resellers, original equipment manufacturers and systems integrators.

HIGHLAND ADDS FIVE RESELLERS
Highland Technologies Inc. certified five value-added resellers to sell HighView ST, its new imaging and work flow product. The resellers are Leahy Document &amp Information Management Inc., MSI, Multimax Inc., TechLaw Inc. and Vredenburg. Highland will train people to use imaging systems starting in May.

CRAY SELLS CIRCUIT BOARD UNIT
Cray Research Inc., Eagan, Minn., sold its in-house circuit board facility to Johnson Matthey, a European firm. The $40 million sale is part of Cray's efforts to streamline operations and cut costs. Cray will buy its circuit boards from Johnson Matthey.

GROUP 1 SOFTWARE HELPS COMPLIANCE WITH POSTAL RULES
Group 1 Software will release three software packages updated to include new U.S. Postal Service regulations. The changes will be effective July 1. Group 1, based in Lanham, Md., will hold training seminars for the new software, titled MailStream Plus, ProSort and ArcList.

PARRALAX GRAPHICS SHIPS VIDEO CAPTURE TOOL
Parralax Graphics Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., recently came out with new software that can capture up to 60-field-per-second video clips and still images on Sun workstations running Solaris 2.5. The Real-Time MovieTool provides the high-quality images needed in manufacturing and medical applications, such as video probes used by surgeons.

HOT TIPS ON FIREWALLS
The National Computer Security Association recently published a Firewall Policy Guide to promote a better understanding of firewalls among information managers. A firewall is a mechanism used to protect a trusted network from an untrusted network.
The NCSA Firewall Policy Guide culls from a wide range of sources and is supposed to serve not only as a starting place for learning about firewall technology, but also as a high-level implementation tool for its deployment. You can download it on CompuServe in the file FWPGV101.ZIP from the NCSA InfoSecurity Forum's Library8, "UNIX/InterNet." To access the NCSA InfoSecurity Forum, GO NCSAFORUM.