GOZARESH-E-COMPUTER Computer Report Vol. 16, No. 124 March - April 1994 Publisher : Informatics Society of Iran (ISI) President: Ebrahim N. Mashayekh Vice-President: Ali Parsa Secretary: Dr. Mehdi Beheshtian Treasurer: Mohammad M. Abdollahi Committees Publishing: Ebrahim N. Mashayekh Science and Technology: Mohammad M. Abdollahi Education: Ebrahim Abtahi Public Relations: Dr. Mohammad Sanati Membership: Mohammad-Hassan Mehvari (All activities done by the Board members are voluntarily) Circulation: CR is published bimonthly by ISI. Please address your subscription requests to: Anoosh Hosseini, P.O.Box 61622, Sunnyvale, CA 94088 USA, anoosh@sgi.com Annual subscription is included in membership fee. Non-member price: US$ 30 per year ( 6 copies). CR features original and translated articles, news and reviews on all aspects of computers in Iran and abroad. Submissions: Submit you article to: The Editor, Computer Report, P.O.Box 1196, Tehran 14155, IRAN, isi@irearn.bitnet. All submissions are subject to editing for style, clarity and space consideration. Editorial: Unless otherwise stated, articles and reports reflect the author's opinion. Inclusion does not neccessarily imply approval of ISI. Mailing List Rental: ISI lists are available for computer-related products and services. Postmaster: Send address changes to: ISI, P.O.Box 1196, Tehran 14155, IRAN. Copyright (c) 1994 by Informatics Society of Iran, all rights reserved. Copying without fee is permitted with credit to the source. CR's camera ready copies are produced using TeX-e-paarsi typesetting system. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%% CONTENTS OF FARSI SECTION%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Articles: Automatic Signature Verification 18 Mind-Storms (3) 34 Standard Generalized Markup Language 44 A Survey on Information Technology in Iran (3) 56 Graphical User Interface (4) 66 Software: Software Market - 1994 51 India's Multibillion dollars Industry 36 Interview: Interview with Dr. Behrooz Parhami 40 Dave Andrews: News Editor in Byte Magazine 40 Josef Weizenbaum: Professor of Computer Science in MIT 43 Reports: Iranian Computer Olympiad 29 7th International Book Exhibition 39 3rd International Computer Exhibition 52 ANSI C++ or X3J16 93 Departments: News 2 Letters 16 Primary School Computer Courseware 49 Book Review 63 Technical Language: The Game of Names 64 Calendar 68 Puzzle 70 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% News: by: Amin Mohadjer Team's 9600-bps Modem: Tehran-based Team International has added a new 9600-bps Hayes compatible model to its range of internal/external modems. The 2496-XP external modem complies with CCITT V.22bis, V.42, and V.42bis specifications and supports MNP level 2 to 5 data compression and error correction schemes. Data transfer rates of 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, and 7200-bps are also supported. Team's product line includes a series of external/internal modems and fax/modem cards operating at different speeds, a remote control switch which can be turned on and off remotely by a modem, and a telephone center simulator the company developed to test its modems. Team has also come up with a prototype of a wireless radio modem which uses UHF and VHF radio frequencies to establish communication. But according to Sasan Boorboor, Team's Managing Director it is very unlikely that this modem will ever go into production. The regulations do not allow the allocation of radio frequencies to anyone but police and security agencies, therefore, effectively limiting the market for this type of modems, he added. Team also offers TIU-800 telex machine which can be hooked up to PCs through serial ports. Tehran Stock Exchange Computerized: Officials of Tehran Stock Exchange have announced plans to computerize the trading operations which take place in this center. Necessary hardware and software have been bought from foreign suppliers and a pilot system is already operational. According to official sources, since the software are in English, it will take a while to introduce Persian support into these programs. The new computerized system is not to replace the old but working system overnight, officials said, but for some time to come these two systems will work in parallel until the new system proves its efficiency. The computers of stock brokers will get connected to the main computer of the center and the trade will be done electronically. Brokers operating in other cities are soon to be linked to the computers of Tehran Stock Exchange. Alpha Afzaar Wins CadPipe Distribution: Canadian developer of CadPipe plant design software, International Software Systems Inc. (ISS), has appointed Alpha Afzaar as its distributor in Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, and Pakistan. Turena Stang, Manager of International Sales and Distribution for ISS commented, "I have worked with Alpha Afzaar for the past six years, and been pleased with the progress the company has made in promoting CadPipe throughout the Middle East. We anticipate even greater success by naming Alpha Afzaar as our sole distributor in a larger territory." Amir Heshmati, Managing Director of Alpha Afzaar said, "CadPipe is the industry standard software for plant design in Iran. We are delighted to be named as ISS's sole distributor in the region, and we are now looking for dealers and sub-dealers within the territory in order to maintain CadPipe's position as the number one plant design solution throughout the Middle East." Computer Networking Report: "Computer Networking in Iran" is the title of a new 20-page report which focuses on the country's state of computer (inter)networking. The report gives an overview of how computer networks are evolving in Iran and is available in Persian. Some of the topics discussed include: Iran's connectivity to international networks (Internet and EARN/Bitnet), commercial providers, TCI's X.25 network, governmental networks, dealing with Persian encoded data on networks, country's telecomm lines, use of Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes), and networking in the Middle East. Included is also a directory of local and international companies offering networking products and services. For more information contact: Saeid Vahid, P.O. Box 15745-839, Tehran, Iran. Tel/Fax: +98 21 980-102. E-mail: vahid@irearn.bitnet Pamadore's Iran Logo: Shiraz-based Pamadore Computer has announced the availability of a new incarnation of Logo programming language. Pamadore's Iran Logo is aimed at computer education of children. The original version of Logo, now known as standard Logo was developed in MIT for the purpose of teaching computer programming and logic to children. Since Iran Logo can display messages in either English or Persian, the unfamiliarity with English will not be of a problem to Iranian children. Although the current version of Iran Logo is an interpreter, a compiler version which is considerably faster is already on beta test. The product comes with a 100 plus page illustrated Persian User's Guide. Standardization of Persian User Interface: Several Iranian software companies have joined forces to define a set of guidelines for design and implementation of Persian user interface. This, will help users of Persian software to expect a uniform behavior from those software programs which stick to these guidelines. Gostareh Negar (GN), the developer of GN word processor and Gostareh spreadsheet; Saberin Publishing, the developer of Naghsh desktop publisher; and BRAIN Computer Systems Group, the developer of BRAIN Install Maker and Chapar have announced partnerships to standardize the look and feel of Persian interface. Other companies are expected to join soon. The companies have agreed to use the same naming conventions for Persian equivalent of widely-used terms such as file, window, load, and icon therefore making it easier for users to gain familiarity with applications regardless of who's the vendor. The goal, according to Ali Cazi from GN is to terminate the current state of anarchy in the way Persian software look and operate and to establish a framework for domestic and foreign developers upon which the Persian interface can be build. The project focuses on text-based interfaces but in the near future a similar set of guidelines will address the graphical environments on Windows and Apple platforms. Similar guidelines to define the way Arabic support should be introduced in Persian software will be defined in another project. OFOGH Technical Journal: A group of Iranian engineers and scientists living abroad have started publishing a technical journals. OFOGH is based in Australia and is published quarterly in English. It carries technical articles on science and engineering. OFOGH's editorial board has invited all Iranians, particularly those who work and study in Iran to submit articles. The goal, as OFOGH's founders put it, is to promote the exchange of technical knowledge between all Iranians regardless of the place they live. For more information contact: OFOGH, Union Box 9A, The University of New South Wales, P.O. Box 173, Kingsford, NSW 2032, Australia. E-mail: morteza@vast.unsw.edu.au %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Report: Tehran hosts The 3rd International Computer Exhibition by Amin Mohadjer The Third International Computer Exhibition was held in Tehran April 24-29, 1994. Over 320 foreign and domestic companies attended the exhibition showing their wares. The most noteworthy product on display was the Persian version of Microsoft Windows operating system. Four different Persian incarnations of Windows were available from Computer Software (Microsoft distributor), Saberin Publishing, SinaSoft, and MehrSoft Group. When contacted for comment, Siamak Ghanimi Fard from Saberin Publishing said: "All these Persian Windows are actually based on the Arabized Microsoft Windows which allows the handling of right-to-left scripts". "To Persianize Windows, one only needs to add some Persian typefaces, translate the contents of menus and the names of icons, and include support for four Persian letters which do not exist in Arabic", he added. Mehr's Persian Windows which was in the market very early benefits from a rich font library (over 25 TrueType typefaces) originally developed by Gostareh Negar (GN) for its own GN word processor. Mehrsoft Group has signed GN to distribute its Persian Windows which retails for under $30 with four standard typefaces. Additional typefaces are sold separately. MehrSoft has also launched the Persian version of Microsoft Word for Windows (WinWord) which is sold for $50. Saberin's Persian Windows uses Naghsh typefaces and is offered free of charge, a move which further confuses the market. Saberin also launched the version 6.0 of Naghsh desktop publishing package in the fair. Naghsh 6.0 has several scalable typefaces, allows on-screen manipulation of text and graphics objects, and has a brand new object oriented user interface. Saberin also announced the first Persian OCR developed inside the country. Naghsh's OCR package which was not ready at the time of the show uses neural network techniques to recognize Persian texts produced with standard typewriters. Handwritten texts are not recognizable at this stage. SinaSoft's Persian Windows is retailed for $155 and uses a hardware protection scheme to prevent unauthorized duplication. Unlike Saberin and MehrSoft's Windows, Sian's comes with a Persian User's Guide. Microsoft's Persian Windows which is seen by many as the only true Persian incarnation of Windows is yet to become available to end-users. Microsoft's Persian Windows comes with a dongle and a Persian User's Guide. Critics say that the typefaces are too few and Arabic in design. The price is not fixed yet but experts believe that to win a market share, it has to be far lower than that of Sina. Due to repeated delays in launch of Persian Windows, Microsoft has lost considerably so far. Neda Rayaneh introduced Neda Information System, a large on-line bulletin board system (BBS) capable of serving thousands of users. As a bilingual BBS, Neda supports exchange of electronic messages in Persian (Persian e-mail) and access to on-line databases containing the city information of Tehran. Shahriar Mir Abbasi from Neda said: "Neda will go on-line early June and initially 400 users can access the system through our 200 telephone lines". Neda has linked up with TCI's X.25 network and is working on providing access to international networks and services such as Interent and CompuServe. The data transfer speed on Neda's BBS can be pushed up to 9600 bps. Iranian hardware manufacturing companies were well represented. Simava, a well-known PC manufacturer; Info Development of Iran with its Sahand line of PCs; and Jahesh Pardaz with its JP series of dot matrix printers and PCs were among participants. In addition to its range of 386 and 486-based machines, Rayaneh Saz introduced Raya, a bilingual intelligent color terminal capable of supporting all Persian and Arabic code pages in use. Delliran had on display the full range of Dell PCs manufactured in Iran under the license from Dell US. Sadegh Negar introduced country's first locally-manufactured monitors, Monir. This has a resolution of 1024x768 and complies with Super VGA and Ultra VGA standards. Negareh, Pegah Computer, Rayaneh Saz, and Tahlilgaran Systems were the four sisters representing Informix. Pegah had also a Persian solution available on X Windows platforms named ParsView. Hooshyar Informatics who offers Sun compatible DTK Sparc workstations showed a management information system it designed for IRI Shipping and Ports Organization. The system comprises six modules including ship tracking, water pollution, search and rescue, ship identification, hydrography, and navigation systems. In absence of DP Iran, Iran Argham was the biggest participant representing a dozen well-know foreign firms such as Epson, MDS, Telebit, Alpha Technology, Verifone, NBS, and NCR (now AT&T Global Information Solutions). Iran Argham had also a series of low-cost accounting, payroll, inventory, and sales software applications on sales. Baharak Computer represented Canadian company WATCOM. Baharak had also several products of his own including Hesabdar, an accounting program; Bara, a database management system; and Who Is Who, a personal information and contact manager. Baharak' Amoozeshyar is a Windows-based multimedia authoring tool to be used by teachers to design educational scenarios for students. But the most impressive was Mini LAN 64, a low-cost hardware/software solution for setting up a star network between widely-used Commodore 64 home computers and IBM PCs. According to Baharak's officials, Mini LAN 64 is an ideal solution for schools with tight budgets. Alpha Afzaar had the full family of Sammagraphics/Houston Instruments equipment and domestically-assembled CADStation PCs enhanced for running CAD applications on display. Alpha Afzaar also exhibited Archive document processing system, AlphaDuct and AlphaPipe AutoCAD-based plant and piping design solutions, and Comsoft's Persian kit for AutoCAD release 12.0. Tadaork Computer of Iran (TAKA) launched version 2.0 of Tamas contact manager which included a phone and address book. Iran Rayaneh took part with version 3.0 of Siagh accounting program. Siagh is the only standard accounting program available in Iran's market and is fully graphical-based. Maharan Engineering is originally a control engineering company but attended the exhibition with a noteworthy software product named Kariz. According to Philip Shirvani, Maharan's head of software department, Kariz teaches novice users how to use computers and software programs. Kariz is Windows-based and includes Tahrir multipurpose program. Tahrir includes a bilingual word processor with mail merge capabilities, table drawing tool, note book with Christian/Hedjri/Shamsi calendars, calculator, phone and address book, and a digital clock. During the exhibition, several seminars were held including the one sponsered by Paniran on Amayeshgar's Amayesh, a geographical information system (GIS) and Pajoohesh's Filer, a document processing system. Procom Technology also hold a seminar on optical storage devices. Procom's stand showed an Apple Macintosh based on new PowerPC chip as well as full range of Procom's storage devices such as CD-ROM drives. Info Development of Iran represented Autodesk's AutoCAD and 3D Studio and announced that as the result of an agreement with Autodesk's Training Center, it is soon to establish the country's first official Autodesk training center. Autodesk's products are quite popular in Iran. System Design and Development introduced SDD-BBS, a Persianized version of Galacticom's Major BBS which can serve 256 users simultaneously. SDD-BBS has been installed and tested in Mehrabad International Airport and Khajeh Nasir University. Such big names as Dadeh Pardazi Iran, Iran System, Pajoohesh, Siemens- Nixdorf, Gostareh Negar, and Amayeshgar did not participate. The Tehran International Computer Exhibition is held every two years. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Article: India's billion dollar business by Amin Mohadjer The information technology industry in India has almost quadrupled in size during the past six years, with sales exceeding $1 billion in 1991/92. Domestic hardware sales constituted 37.2 per cent, exports of hardware 6.6 per cent, domestic software sales 12.1 per cent, exports of software 15.8 per cent. The remaining 28.3 per cent came from peripherals, maintenance, training and others. The Indian IT industry is growing at a rapid pace-estimated at 55 per cent annually. The Indian government controls slightly over 60 per cent of the country's IT industry. The hardware and peripherals sectors represent approximately 55 per cent of the overall IT industry. A 1992 World Bank study of eight nations rated India ahead of competitors such as Ireland, Mexico, Singapore, China, Hungary and the Philippines for undertaking on-site and offshore software development for US, European, and Japanese companies. The Indian government has begun an aggressive program of tax relaxation and lifting import restrictions for export-oriented Indian software businesses while helping foreign companies to set up plants and operations in India. Computerisation in India began in the early 1960s with IBM taking the lion's share of the predominantly Governmental market. ICL was also well represented, and Univac and Burroughs both established presences. The most significant event in India's early computer history was a 1976 Government law restricting foreign ownership of India-based corporations to 40 per cent. IBM and others moved their operations out of the country. As a result, India's mainframe era never happened. But what did develop was an indigenous microcomputer industry. Much of the success of Indian computer companies is attributed to this: while for US and European companies that are right-sizing mainframe- and minicomputer-based information systems, the transition to PC client/server alternatives is painful, dumping the conceptual baggage of legacy systems isn't a problem for India. It is primarily a country of micros and minis. Thus, there is wealth of experience with DOS, Unix, and Digital's VMS operating systems, with Intel-based PCs, Motorola-based 680x0 workstations and VAX minicomputers; and with such relational database packages as Oracle, Unify, and Sybase. Much of the programming is done in C, some in Basic, and some (typically on larger machines) in Cobol. In addition, many software development organisations are using such fourth generation programming languages as Focus and Mapper. With the introduction of PCs, Indian computer companies began to import parts and to assemble and sell PC clones. Today, India has around 40 clone manufacturers such as Hindustan Computers, Wipro Information Technology, Pertech, and Zenith. Nevertheless, fewer than 500,000 PCs can be found in this nation of 850 million people. Domestic PCs are two or three times more expensive than world market prices. This is partly due to import duties of 72.5 per cent on components (125 per cent for sub-assemblies) charged by the Indian government. This makes home-made PCs unattractive options for consumers and companies that could benefit from computerisation. Joint-ventures with foreign companies are now commonplace among India's top IT firms. Hewlett-Packard has teamed up with Hindustan Computers to form HCL-HP - India's largest IT company with 1991/92 sales of nearly $95 million. And Texas Instruments has established a software development group in its wholly-owned subsidiary in Bangalore. TI's operation is 100 per cent export oriented. The plant is a design facility for VLSI circuits. The main product sent back to the parent operation is, in effect, software: designs for new VLSI circuits. An important feature of TI's Indian operation is the satellite link with a 64-Kbps bandwidth which TI maintains for communications with its home office. There are several highly competitive conglomerates such as Tata. With sales of over 60 million in 1991/92, Tata's highly praised software subsidiary, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is India's largest software house and by far its largest software exporter, with 31 per cent of the export market in 1991/92. TCS's Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) package named CasePac and TELCO's (another Tata company) Turbo-Analyst product are already on the shelves in the US and Europe. TCS made a splash in its domestic market with the launch of E-X, an accounting package. The accompanying marketing blitz helped boost awareness of off-the- shelf software in an area dominated by customised solutions. New Delhi-based National Indian Institution for Training (NIIT) has coded commercial word processors which are quite well-known in US. NIIT also works on an X-Windows interface builder, a multimedia authoring tool called Imaginet, and a word processor for people with special needs that exploits an NIIT-designed motion and sound sensing input device. The company also distributes Excelerator, Intersolv's CASE tool. Oberoi Software in New Delhi sells a high-end hotel management application using Sybase 4.2 that runs on Hewlett-Packard, Digital, and Sun workstations. New Delhi-based Softek offers 1-2-3, dBase, and WordStar work-alikes for DOS and Unix and it has also developed a Motif-based programmer's tool called Sextant. It's a source code analyser that converts C programs into labelled interactive graphs. Citicorp Overseas Software (COSL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citibank Corporation. COSL's focus is in providing information technology solutions to companies in the financial services industry. In addition to re-engineering work for Citicorp and others, the company markets banking products called Finware and MicroBanker. Ampersand Software provides products and services to US customers who require support for CICS emulation on midrange processors such as the AS/400. IBM also re-entered the Indian market in 1992, joining up with Tata to market PS/2s, AS/400s and RS/6000s. Rolta India builds Intel- and RISC-based Intergraph workstations for sale in India. Pertech Computers, a system maker in New Delhi, recently signed a $50 million deal to supply Dell with 240,000 motherboards. ITC supplements its Oracle, Ingres, and AS/400 consulting work by selling the full range of Lotus products. Bombay-based Onward Computer Technologies and Mastek market NetWare and Ingres, respectively. Recently, Novell and Microsoft also setup joint ventures with their Indian partners. But the real action in India is in software re-engineering. A typical project might involve re-creating an AS/400-type application for a LAN or Unix environment. InfoSys Consultants is a rapidly growing software company in Bangalore. The company focus is on offsourcing (where software is developed in India) rather than on providing on-site programming services to foreign clients. The latter practice is often labelled "body shopping" and constitutes the bulk of current software-related exports. InfoSys produced India's most successful exported software to date: the Distributor Management Application Package (DMAP), whose early major user was Reebok International and its distributors. Software piracy obviously poses a major problem to growth of the domestic market. Almsot 80 per cent of computer users in the country use some form of pirated software. In addition to international friction (India is one of eight countries on the US "priority watch list"), widespread piracy encourages the belief that software is free. As a result, Indian software companies face difficulty obtaining credit and more Indian software engineers emigrate to the West each year. India's inadequate telecommunications network makes it almost impossible to build a decent on-line or distributed system. Data transmission speeds are typically limited to 1200 baud. Two years ago, direct-dial long-distance calling was possible in only 20 cities - now it spans over 200 cities. And major satellite-based public sector networks such as Sailnet, Coalnet, Railnet, Banknet, and Oilcomnet are under development. The Department of Telecommunications gives software export businesses priority access to high-bandwidth services. A satellite link for software development work between India and Massachusetts is already established. High-tech companies increasingly rely on 64-Kbps leased lines, packet- switched data networks, and satellite links. The Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL), a government-owned agency, is responsible for providing high-speed (64-Kbps) data communications links to foreign markets. Software Technology Parks (STPs) and Electronics Export Promotion Zones provide data communications facilities to resident firms. However, software exporters complain of astronomical charges, unreliable lines, and low bandwidth domestic links that connect the cities to VSNL nodes. India is also the only developing country with a supercomputer industry. Banned by the US Government from importing a Cray supercomputer, the Indian Center for the Development of Advanced Computers build its own very different sort of supercomputer. Called PARAM, it employs Inmos T800 transputers in parallel and can also utilise i860 processors for vector work. More than a half dozen of these 1 Gflops PARAMs are in use in India and abroad. Related developments include a transputer-based neural network engine intended to run process-control applications. There are four key factors in the development of India's software industry. Most important is the availability of high quality personnel: with three million scientists and engineers, India ranks third behind the US and the former USSR, in scientific and technical manpower. India also has the world's second-largest English-speaking technical work force. Third is the relatively low cost of labour in India (entry-level software engineers are paid about $250 per month). And finally the presence of high quality satellite links helps maintain strong communications links between India and foreign clients. India is currently the leading force in the global software offsourcing industry and is expected to stay there for foreseeable future. Software exports to grow: India's National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) forcasts that the country's software exports will reach $1 billion by 1997 according to Devant Mehta, Nasscom's Executive Director. Indian software sales reached $350 million in 1993/94, a 57 per cent increase on the $225 million earned in 1992/93. Sales have been on a rising trend from a base of $67 million in 1988/89. India has identified software as potentially a major foreign exchange earner, and has provided various incentives for domestic software developers. India currently only has around a 0.1 per cent share of the world market of $360 billion. But it aims to become a significatn player as more expensive countries such as the US turn to India for contract development becasue of its low cost and quality advantages. First appeared in February 1994 edition of Computer News Middle East.