Newsletter Archive (pre 1997)

Meeting your PC & Unix needs
Specialists in Connectivity, Unix & Uniplex,
Electronic Mail, Communications & the Internet

Centreline 2000  is an independent consultancy meeting the needs of
successful organisations like yours.

You can gain from our experience in providing multi-user office and
communications solutions. Our principal directors have each been
working with Unix for over 10 years.  If you use Uniplex then you will
be impressed that all our consultants have worked for Uniplex as
developers of the original Uniplex product.

You can benefit from our full PC and Unix service, including:

	Consulting
	Programming
	Training
	Hot-Line Support
	PC-Unix Connectivity

You will be joining our select client list of some of the largest
organisations in the UK, including commercial household names, local
and central government agencies and major IT companies.

If you need to know about:

	PC-Unix connectivity
	Electronic Mail and Communications
	Uniplex and Office Productivity
	Unix to PC Migration

then you need to know about Centreline 2000.


Office 2000 is a trademark of Centreline 2000 Corporation Limited.
All other trademarks acknowledged.

Centreline 2000, PO Box 2000, Pershore, Worcs WR10 3YZ
Tel: 01905 72 40 80
Fax: 01905 72 44 14

Return to index

- Press Release: £1 Million Deal with Locus Corp

CENTRELINE 2000 AND LOCUS CORP IN £1 MILLION DEAL


New opportunities for users seeking to moving to client- server
systems

 17th October 1995 -- Centreline 2000 today announced an OEM agreement
to include Locus PC-Interface as a part of the Office 2000
client-server office automation suite.  Centreline 2000 becomes the
only current European OEM for the product.  They will offer Locus
Computing's PC-Interface and the Windows '95 compliant PC-Enterprise.
Both are included in Office 2000, Centreline's client-server office
automation suite.

Under the terms of the agreement - worth in excess of £1 million -
Centreline enjoy full manufacturing and worldwide distribution rights
(excluding the US) for the inclusion of PC- Interface and
PC-Enterprise within Office 2000. The Office 2000 client-server
framework includes PC mail, fax, notice-board and document converter
clients for use with legacy office systems. With the agreement, this
product set is extended to include seamless file and printer sharing,
terminal emulation and WINSOCK compliant TCP/IP stack.

Stuart Hillston, Sales & Marketing Director, Centreline 2000
Corporation Limited said, 'the agreement builds on our commitment to
provide the very best client-server solutions for customers seeking to
integrate PCs with UNIX servers and legacy host-based office systems
such as Uniplex Business Software. With its seamless integration of
the UNIX file-system and host- connected printers into Microsoft
Windows 3.x and '95 file managers, PC-Interface answers the demands of
users for a single, cohesive workspace.'

 Simon Walden, Managing Director of Centreline 2000 Corporation
Limited, said, "Office 2000 is designed to help organisations manage
the move to client-server architectures.  With the inclusion of
PC-Interface and PC-Enterprise we can offer a complete solution. Our
customers can have a single view of their workspace irrespective of
whether their information resides on client or server. PC-Interface is
a proven market leading technology and we are delighted to be able to
offer it as a part of our product portfolio."

Tony Heywood, Managing Director of Locus Europe, said, "Office 2000
demonstrates the openness and flexibility that has made Centreline a
leading provider of products and services for co- existence between
PCs, UNIX and legacy office systems.  PC- Interface's ease-of-use and
support for all major UNIX platforms and network operating systems
means it is an ideal complement to Office 2000."

Office 2000

Office 2000 provides a complete set of PC client applications for
integration into existing UNIX office systems. Organisations can
manage a smooth transition to client-server architectures.  Users can
make use of their preferred personal desktop tools while still the
organisation retains the investment in UNIX systems. Significant
features include:
- Mail client for UNIX mail servers
- Mail client for Uniplex Business Software users
- Client/Server-based Fax
- Client/Server Notice Board
- Document, spreadsheet and data converters
- Terminal emulation and gateway tools


PC-Interface and PC-Enterprise

PC-Interface gives users of DOS, Windows and Windows 95 personal
computers a single view of their workspace, incorporating information
from their local workstation and UNIX host(s).   PC-Enterprise is the
32-bit Windows '95 version of PC-Interface.

Users can access any part of the UNIX file system including
server-mounted remote file systems and use any host-connected printer.
PC-Interface seamlessly integrates UNIX servers into existing PC LANS
and maintains a single server-based security scheme. Significant
features include:

- Novell TCP/IP protocols and Windows Sockets interface
- Co-existence with Novell Netware and Windows for Workgroups
- DOS and Windows support
- Choice of terminal emulation
- Complete integration into Windows file manager
- Low (54KB) memory requirements
- Transparent access to all UNIX files

About Centreline 2000 Corporation Limited

Worcester based Centreline 2000 Corporation Limited is a leading
supplier of products and expertise in the maintenance, co-existence
and migration of legacy or host-based office systems to client-server
architectures. Headquartered in the UK, Centreline was formed in 1989
and is privately held. With extensive experience in client-server
architectures, UNIX office systems such as Uniplex, electronic mail,
workflow and executive/management information systems, the company's
mission is to help its clients  to implement open, adaptable solutions
that capitalise on their existing IT investments.

About Locus Computing

Locus Computing is the world's largest independent supplier of open
distributed computing and interworking technologies and
services. The company' mission is to provide customers with the
highest level of consultancy, design and systems implementation in
open distributed computing. Founded in 1989, Locus Europe is
headquartered in the UK and markets its products in over 37 countries
across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Locus Computing is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Platinum Technology Inc.

-- ends --

All trademarks acknowledged.

For more information please contact:

Simon Walden
Centreline 2000 Corporation Limited
PO Box 2000
Pershore
Worcs WR10 3YZ
Tel: 07000 88 2000
Fax: 01905 724414
Compuserve 100420,726
Internet: sqw@c2000.com


Caroline Taylor
Locus Computing
The Stables
Ashlyn's Hall
Chesham Road
Berkhamsted
Herts HP4 2ST
Tel: 01442 871774
email: caroline@uk.locus.com

Return to index

- Press Release: Centreline Defies Euro-Metrification Law!

CENTRELINE 2000 DEFIES EURO-METRIFICATION LAW

 1st October 1995 -- The PC to Unix integration specialist Centreline
2000 has  announced it would be defying the new metrification
legislation which came into affect today.

The company said that it would continue to ship software on 3-1/2 inch
diskettes, not 892mm diskettes.  They will also continue with quarter
inch cartridge (QIC) tapes, despite the fact that they should now be
6mm cartridges.

Simon Walden, MD of Centreline 2000 said, "This is another erosion of
our Great British heritage.", (sounds of Land of Hope & Glory in
background), "the three and a half inch diskette is part of our proud
heritage, along with a pint of beer and a pound of sausages." (puts
fingers in Union Jack waistcoat), "And as for the QIC tape, that
apparently should now be the 6M Cartridge. Imagine buying them from
3M?"

Centreline 2000 believes that other companies such as Microsoft, IBM
and Novell will also continue to support the 3-1/2 inch diskette.
Although there are concerns that companies using 8mm DAT tapes will
not return to the imperial measurements.

- end  -

 For more information please contact:
Simon Walden
Centreline 2000 Corporation Limited
Tel: +44 (0) 1905 724080

Compuserve 100420,726
Internet:  sqw@c2000.com

Return to index

- Press Release: Notice Board PC Client

CENTRELINE 2000 ANNOUNCE PC NOTICEBOARD
A DIRECT RESPONSE TO EMAIL OVERLOAD

New product aims to simplify email & groupware systems


1st December 1995 -- Centreline 2000 today announced the availability
of PC Noticeboard. The product provides a complete solution for
sharing and communicating information on any workgroup or enterprise
network.

'PC Noticeboard was developed as a direct result of our experience in
helping organisations to implement email and groupware systems' said
Managing Director Simon Walden.

'Our research suggests that as much as 70% of the contents of a
typical mailbox are comprised of junk mail, internal circulars and old
memos. Most of this is never properly cleaned out.'

'We also see companies evaluating groupware products like Notes for
even the simplest communication task.  Our experience with a number of
major clients in government and utility companies convinced us there
was a better way.'

Adds Walden, 'With PC Noticeboard users have the ideal forum for
sharing  ad-hoc ideas, information, company procedures and memos. They
get instant access to shared information and an instant reduction in
unwanted mail.'

'The system is self-managing. You don't have to allocate resource to
clearing out obsolete notices and you don't need to bespoke and
maintain complex groupware applications.'


Office 2000 PC Noticeboard features support for multiple noticeboards.
Administrators can manage distribution, set expiry dates and control
who has permission to view, copy, create and print information. The
product notifies administrators when new notices are added, and
automatically deletes expired notices. Noticeboards can be
automatically distributed across multiple sites.

The product ships with a set of pre-built noticeboards. The launch
version includes several 'tips and tricks' boards covering leading
Windows and UNIX applications as well as Web information.

Office 2000 PC Noticeboard is available for Windows 3.x personal
computers. It will operate standalone or as a client- server system on
PC and mixed UNIX/PC networks. The product is also available
integrated into the Office 2000 mail, fax and messaging system.

About Centreline 2000

Centreline 2000 Corporation Limited is a leading supplier of products
and expertise for UNIX-based client-server systems. Headquartered in
the UK, Centreline 2000 was formed in 1989 and is privately held. The
company specialises in PC-to-UNIX integration, electronic mail,
workflow and groupware systems.
-- ends --

All trademarks acknowledged.

For more information please contact:
Simon Walden
Tel: +44 (0) 1905 724080
Compuserve 100420,726
Internet: post@c2000.com

Return to index

- Press Release: Windows Fax Client

 NEW MS-WINDOWS FAX CLIENT FOR UNIX SYSTEMS

 Centreline 2000 adds new PC client to Office 2000 Fax - the most
cost-effective way of  managing faxes on UNIX servers

 6th November 1995 -- Worcester based Centreline 2000 today announced
the availability of a PC fax client for their UNIX based Office 2000
fax server. The client, which is available for any Windows 3.x
personal computer, provides complete control over the creation,
receipt and management of faxes from the PC.

'With PC Client for Office 2000 Fax, users have a highly cost-
effective solution for all their fax needs' said Sales and Marketing
Director Stuart Hillston. 'All lines and modems connect to a central
UNIX server and this reduces the need for individual PC modems. The
entire fax system can be centrally administered from a single point.
Users can route incoming faxes to a server-connected laser printer, so
there is no need to waste money on plain paper fax machines.'

Adds Hillston, 'With the release of the product we now have a
comprehensive fax solution. Office 2000 Fax can now support character
terminals, X.windows and PC users. It also complements the other mail
and networking components of Office 2000. We can offer a complete
mail, fax and messaging system for any workgroup using a UNIX server.
The fax system can be integrated into legacy office systems such as
WordPerfect and Uniplex or configured into business critical
applications such as stock, ordering and customer service
applications.'

 The PC Client to Office 2000 Fax is fully OLE2 compliant so users can
integrate the fax system into their preferred PC applications. The
product supports automated fax mailshots and can read Delrina WinFax
distribution lists. Users can choose to store data locally on their PC
or centrally on the UNIX server, this means much of the storage
overhead can be off-loaded from the users workstation.

The PC Client to Office 2000 Fax is available for any Windows personal
computer. Minimum requirements are a TCP/IP network to the UNIX
server, Class 2 fax/modem and fax server software.

About Centreline 2000

Centreline 2000 Corporation Limited is a leading supplier of products
and expertise for UNIX-based client-server systems. Headquartered in
the UK, Centreline was formed in 1989 and is privately held. With
extensive experience in client-server architectures, UNIX host-based
office systems such as Uniplex Business Software, electronic mail,
workflow and executive/management information systems, the company's
mission is to help its clients  to implement open, adaptable solutions
that capitalise on their existing IT investments.

-- ends --

All trademarks acknowledged.

For more information please contact:

Simon Walden
Centreline 2000 Corporation Limited
PO Box 2000
Pershore
Worcs WR10 3YZ
Tel: 07000 88 2000
Fax: 01905 724414
Compuserve 100420,726
Internet: sqw@c2000.com

Return to index

- Product Info: Notice Board 2000

A Centreline 2000 Add-On for Uniplex

Finally there's a quick way to send notices to everyone, without
overloading electronic mail.  Simple to use and easy to manage, Notice
Board 2000 for Uniplex is an effortless answer to company
communications.

Notice Board 2000 lets you post company wide notices simply and
quickly.  So, company bulletins, regular information notices, or
social events can be posted and circulated instantly - across all your
computers.  And Notice Board 2000 does not overload your electronic
mail.

In this way your company communications are improved. Information is
passed quickly, so things happen sooner.

Here are just some examples of notice boards you may use:
   Company News & Announcements
   Personnel & Job Vacancies
   Trade & Technical News
   Sales & Product Announcements
   Targets & Objectives
   Software Hints & Tips

Your system administrator will like Notice Board 2000.  It needs
minimal maintenance, apart from the creation of notice boards. Access
permissions keep the notice boards under control. Automatic deletion
keeps disk space free and with no maintenance.

Benefits

Notice Board 2000 uses normal Uniplex menus and forms, so you already
know how to use it.  You can post any Uniplex document, including
print effects and line graphics.

Popup messages notify new additions to the bulletin board. You can see
new, unread notices listed separately from already seen items.
Interesting items can be viewed on screen, printed or copied.

Fully descriptive long names can be used for the boards and the
individual notices, so there are no cryptic filenames to worry about.

Unlike electronic mail, which accumulates old mail until each user
deletes it, Notice Board 2000 can automatically remove notices, for
example after 1 day, 1 week or 1 month.  Notice boards don't get full
of junk mail and no manual deletion is necessary.

Notice Board permissions can restrict viewing or adding notices to
individuals or workgroups.  Teams can share private notice boards.
Access permissions are controlled by the notice board administrator.

Notices can be posted automatically. For example, live information
taken by modem. Notice posting can also be integrated into other
applications.

Notice Board 2000 automatically manages multiple computers in your
organisation, utilising any modem or LAN connection. Using very little
system resources Notice Board complements Uniplex Mail.


Uniplex is a registered trademark of Uniplex Ltd

Features

Up to 100 Notice Boards
Unlimited Notices per Board
Unlimited Computers in network

Any Uniplex Document can be a
notice
Supports all print effects
Supports line drawing
Manually remove notices
Automatically removes old notices
Automatic Pop-Up Notification to users.

Long descriptive titles for notices
Uses Uniplex menu operations
Pick & Point selection
Separates Read and Un-Read notices
View/Print/Copy notices


Administrator Functions:

Fully automatic distribution of notices
Can be administered from single machine
Background expiry of old notices
Delete expired notices
Restore expired notices
Create a new Notice Board
Delete Notice Board


System Installation:

Minimal overhead per notice.
Operates on any Uniplex platform/port.
Recommended for 24-Users or more.

Return to index

- Product Info: Office 2000 Document Conversion

A Centreline 2000 Add-On for Uniplex

 Do you use Uniplex alongside PC word processors? Then you need
Document Conversion.  You can view, print or convert Documents,
Spreadsheets and Graphics over many leading PC formats.   For Uniplex
and MS-Windows.

 With Document Conversion You Can:

Convert Uniplex documents to/from many leading PC formats.

Directly view and print files, even if you don't have the program that
created them. Runs standalone or from File Manager.

Instantly view E-Mail attachments - the converter is fully integrated
with Office 2000 Mail, MS-Mail and CC:Mail.

Copy and paste data into other documents.

Browse multiple files, including documents, spreadsheets, graphics
files and compressed files directly or via File Manager.

Convert text, pictures, tables, styles etc., retaining the features of
the original document.

View and print Fax documents.

Using the reknowned KEYView Converter there are over 50 viewable
formats with   additions for latest formats released several times
each year.

Available for MS-Windows and Unix, standalone or integrated with
Uniplex.

 Supported Formats:

Uniplex Word Processing:
	V6, V7 and V8 Unix and DOS  formats.

Documents:

	MS-Word
	MS-Write
	MS-RTF
	Ami-Pro
	Notes
	WordPerfect
	Quadratron
	MACWrite
	and many  more...

  Spreadsheets:
	Excel
	1-2-3

  Graphics Formats:     Microsoft CGM,  WMF,  BMP,  PCX
	Lotus Ami Draw,
	WordPerfect Graphics
	GIF,  TIFF,  Postscript,  FAX
	and more

  Also IBM, DG, WANG, DEC formats   and other legacy formats.

Centreline 2000, FREEPOST, PO Box 2000, Pershore, Worcs, WR10 1BR,
Tel: 07000 88 2000, Fax: 01905 724414

Office 2000 is a trademark of Centreline 2000 Corp. Ltd.  All
trademarks acknowledged

Return to index

- Product Info: Office 2000 Fax

A Centreline 2000 Add-On for Uniplex

 Are you tired of queues at the fax machine?  Do you want to improve
your image with clients?  Do you need to send fax-shots?   Office 2000
Fax is a complete fax solution for Unix, fully integrated with Uniplex
and ready-to-run.

Office Fax 2000 provides menu driven fax direct from your Unix/Uniplex
system.

With simple menu options you can send faxes and confirm its safe
arrival.  You can send a fax in seconds.

You can pick and point fax numbers from global and personal address
books, so no more wrong or forgotten numbers.

You can receive faxes and print to them a plain paper printer, so no
more faded thermal paper.

You can send fax-shots to prepared lists, just create one letter and
send it many times.

Product Highlights

 Uniplex Integrated

Office 2000 Fax can take any Uniplex document and fax it.  You can use
print effects, fonts and graphics to control the fax layout.

Easy to Use

All fax options are standard Uniplex menus and screens, so you already
no how to send faxes.

Uniplex Address Book

Office 2000 Fax works directly from your existing Uniplex address
books, you do not need to duplicate fax information.

Fax Mailshots

You can simply send faxes to a mailing list.  You can even attach
personal comments to each separate fax.

Multiple Cover Sheets

You can select from many different styles of cover sheet, so you can
choose the right cover sheet to match the fax.

Use Your Signature

Signatures, logos and other graphics are simply embedded using print
commands.  There is no need for a graphics terminal to use graphics
and signatures.  We can provide cost-effective scanning services.

Status Reminders

You are kept fully informed of when faxes are successfully transmitted
or if there have been problems such as engaged or wrong number.  Faxes
can be re-sent or canceled.

 Technical Features

Printer Compatibility

Office 2000 Fax uses HP Laserjet emulation for creating faxes.  So you
can match your HP printing and faxing.

PostScript Capability

If you need more advanced print functions, including embedded
PostScript graphics and extended font choices then PostScript is an
optional extra.

Modem Support

Any Class 2 Fax/Modem is supported, as well as Hasler, Faxbox 30,
Worldport and many other specialised fax systems.

Reduced Phone Costs

Because faxes are automatically queued you may need only one fax line
where previously you had several.

Multi-line Options

Office Fax 2000 can cope with multiple fax lines for both incoming and
outgoing, although special modems may be required.

Fax Viewing

Incoming faxes may be viewed directly on some graphics terminals.
Faxes may be printed to a range of different laser and matrix
printers.

Mail and Unix Integration

Fax can be integrated into the mail system, to support colleagues at
remote sites.  Faxes can also be sent from Unix command line, allowing
administrators to build automated fax systems.

Centreline 2000, FREEPOST, PO Box 2000, Pershore, Worcs, WR10 1BR,
Tel: 07000 88 2000, Fax: 01905 724414

Office 2000 is a trademark of Centreline 2000 Corp. Ltd. All
trademarks acknowledged

Return to index

- Product Info: Office 2000 Fax - Windows Client

A Centreline 2000 Module for PC's and Unix

 Are you tired of queues at the fax machine?  Do you want to improve
your image with clients?  Do you need to send fax-shots?   Office 2000
Fax is a complete fax solution for Unix and PC's.  For Uniplex users
it is fully integrated and is ready-to-run.

Office Fax 2000 lets you send faxes from Unix terminals, MS-Windows
3.x, Windows '95 and X-Windows.

With simple menu options you can send faxes and confirm its safe
arrival.  You can send a fax in seconds.

You can select fax numbers from global and personal address books, so
no more wrong or forgotten numbers.

You can receive faxes and print to them a plain paper printer, so no
more faded thermal paper.

You can send fax-shots to mailing lists, just create one master fax
and Office Fax 2000 will manage the rest.

Product Highlights

Easy to Use

Choose from Unix menus , MS-Windows  or X-Windows  and  you can be
sending faxes in moments.  Any character terminal is supported as well
as Windows 3 and '95.

Standalone or Uniplex   Integrated

All fax options are also available as standard Uniplex menus and
screens, you can fax any Uniplex file.  You can use print effects,
fonts and graphics for the best fax layout.  Your standard Uniplex
address files are used directly, no need to re-enter information.

Fax Mailshots

You can simply send faxes to a mailing list.  You can even attach
personal comments to each separate fax.

Multiple Cover Sheets

You can select from many different styles of cover sheet, so you can
choose the right cover sheet to match the fax.

Receive faxes direct to laser   printer

No need to buy an expensive plain paper fax machine, inbound faxes can
be sent directly to your existing laser printers.

Add Your Own Signatures

Signatures, logos and other graphics are simply embedded using print
commands.  There is no need for a graphics terminal to use graphics
and signatures.

Status Reminders

You are kept fully informed of when faxes are successfully transmitted
or if there have been problems such as engaged or wrong number.  Faxes
can be re-sent or canceled.

 Technical Features

Printer Compatibility

Office 2000 Fax uses HP Laserjet emulation for creating faxes.  So you
can match your HP printing and faxing. Faxes may be printed directly
to your office printer.

PostScript Capability

If you need more advanced print functions, including embedded
PostScript graphics and extended font choices then PostScript is an
optional extra.

Mail and Unix Integration

Fax can be integrated into the mail system, to support colleagues at
remote sites.  Faxes can also be sent from Unix command line, allowing
administrators to build automated fax systems.

Reduced Fax Costs

Faxes are automatically queued so you may need only one fax line and
no fax machines where you previously had several.

Wide Modem & Telex Support

Any Class 2 Fax/Modem is supported, as well as other specialised fax
systems.  You can even send and receive telex messages.

Fax Viewing

Incoming faxes may be viewed directly on a graphics terminal or your
PC.

 Full Client/Server   Implementation

A Windows PC-Client sends faxes via the Unix server, providing a true
networked fax system with proper controlled management and
administration.  So there is no need to attach modems to every PC.

Centreline 2000, FREEPOST, PO Box 2000, Pershore, Worcs, WR10 1BR,
Tel: 07000 88 2000, Fax: 01905 724414

Office 2000 is a trademark of Centreline 2000 Corp. Ltd. All
trademarks acknowledged

 TITLE: - Product Info: Office 2000 Mail
Office 2000 Mail
A Uniplex Mail MS-Windows Client



Do you need to use Uniplex mail on your PC?  Office 2000 Mail is the
simplest and fastest way to connect your MS- Windows programs with
Uniplex.  Office 2000 Mail supports both Uniplex and PC format
documents for a complete mail system.

 Ten benefits of Office 2000 Mail:

1  No training required:  as a true MS-Windows application you already
know how to use it.  This is  not terminal emulation.

2  Protects investment: by extending your existing system, not
replacing it.

3  No Uniplex changes required: because both Uniplex V7 and V8 are
supported.

4  Uses your existing Uniplex set-up: including alias lists, no
special set-up is necessary.

5  Fast access to messages: viewed directly from your Uniplex system.

6  Simple installation: with a single disk you can be running in
minutes.

7  Internet ready: read your Internet mail on your Unix system.

8  View and Print Uniplex and PC formats: and with the optional
conversion module you can change formats.

9  Simple document transfer: between Uniplex and PC users, just mail
it.

10 Uses standard network connections: or use our optional PC-Interface
module.

Functionality

Reading mail:

   -  List letter details
   -  Specify listing order
   -  Search for letters
   -  List attachment details
   -  View content of attachment
   -  Invoke application (for attachment)
   -  Recover deleted letter
   -  Reply to letter
   -  Forward letter
   -  View incoming message while writing reply

Send mail:

   -  Easi-send
   -  Send letter or file
   -  To, CC & BCC lists
   -  Specify recipients mail box
   -  Attach Windows files
   -  Options: receipt, read, confirm,
	       acknowledge, save, copy, priority,
	       notify, future send date

Alias List:

   -  Full view
   -  Hierarchy expansion
   -  Transfer names to send form
   -  Create, delete or modify locally
      defined aliases

Mail boxes:

   -  List mail box status
   -  Select mail box to view
   -  Create/delete mail boxes

Check Sent Mail:

   -  List letters
   -  Check receipt/read acknowledge
   -  Retrieve
   -  Re-send

Notifications:

   -  New mail arrival
   -  Optional Uniplex Time Manager alarms

Automatic Options:

   -  Set-up/cancel auto-reply
   -  Set-up/cancel auto-forward
   -  Unread letter notifications

File Types & Conversion:

   -  Automatic recognition of file types
   -  View incoming mail regardless of
      application used to create it
   -  Optional file conversion to the
      application of your choice:
      (MS Word, WordPerfect, AmiPro etc.)

Optional Modules:

   -  Integrated Document Conversion
   -  Terminal Emulation
   -  PC-Interface - full PC to Unix connectivity:
	    PC/Unix File Share
	    PC/Unix Print Share
	    Novell TCP/IP & Windows sockets
	    Terminal Emulation



Requirements:

Client:

   PC running MS Windows 3.1 or later.
   Minimum 4Mb RAM.
   Installation requires approx. 1Mb disk space.
   TCP/IP Stack with winsock interface.

Server:

   Networked Unix system.
   Installation requires approx. 1Mb disk space.
   Uniplex Business Software Version 7 or 8.

Centreline 2000, FREEPOST, PO Box 2000, Pershore, Worcs, WR10 1BR,
Tel: 07000 88 2000, Fax: 01905 724414

Office 2000 is a trademark of Centreline 2000 Corp. Ltd.  All
trademarks acknowledged

Return to index

- Product Info: Office 2000 Spreadsheet Converter

A Centreline 2000 Add-On for Uniplex

 Do  you  need  to  read  Uniplex Spreadsheets  on your  PC? Do you
use programs such as Lotus 1-2-3 or MS-Excel?  With Office 2000
Spreadsheet Converter you can read Uniplex Save Files into any leading
PC Spreadsheet, Database, Word Processor or Charting package.  For
Unix or MS-Windows.

 Spreadsheet Converter is a PC based program which can read and
convert Uniplex Spreadsheets directly, without using list files.

Spreadsheets are output in Lotus 1-2-3 WK3 or WK4 format files which
can be read by virtually any PC package - all from your Windows
desktop.

Maximum Compatability:

Lotus 1-2-3          Lotus Ami Pro
Lotus Improv         Lotus Approach
Microsoft Excel      Microsoft Word
Microsoft Access     Microsoft FoxPro
WordPerfect          Quattro Pro
Corel Draw           Harvard Graphics

and most leading Windows programs.

Supported Conversions:

	Uniplex V7.00, V7.01, V7.02 & V8
	Numeric & Text Values
	Repeating Text
	Formulas
	Named Ranges
	Formatting Information
	Column Widths
	All Uniplex Characters

Special Features:

	Drag and Drop conversion
	Batch convert multiple files
	Full status logging
	Auto-launch PC spreadsheet

     Requirements:

	Windows 3.x , 700KB Disk
	Unix version also available

Centreline 2000, FREEPOST, PO Box 2000, Pershore, Worcs, WR10 1BR,
Tel: 07000 88 2000, Fax: 01905 724414

Office 2000 is a trademark of Centreline 2000 Corp. Ltd. All
trademarks acknowledged

Return to index

- Product Info: PC-Interface to Unix

A Centreline 2000 Add-On for Uniplex

 An advanced PC to Unix integration solution that makes connecting DOS
and Windows to Unix servers simple. Using Locus PC-Interface, access
to the Unix server is through the familiar interface of MS-Windows.
PC users do not need to see or learn Unix to gain the benefits of Unix
access.

 With Office 2000 PC-Unix Integration You Can:

 Connect your PC to a Unix server in minutes. PC-Interface is the
simplest TCP/IP solution you can find.  And once connected, it works.
No fiddling, fussing or worries.

Share files between PC and Unix users via a common file system.  To
the DOS or Windows user, the shared files look the same as a local
file directory.

Transfer and access files using normal file open, file copy, file save
commands.  No special commands or file transfer utilities are
required.

Access any printer, anywhere.  PC users can have access to all Unix
connected printers, via the Unix spooler system.  An optional module
allows Unix access to PC connected printers.  No special PC print
commands are required.

Choose from three terminal emulation modules, offering a wide range of
terminal support, including Uniplex specific functions.

Exchange E-Mail with Uniplex, Unix and Internet mail systems using the
optional module, Office 2000 Mail.  Fully integrated to your existing
mail system.

Administer systems and backup files centrally from the Unix server.
Full Unix security can be used.  Shared files can be virus checked
globally.

Product Highlights

 Client/Server Support:

Support client/server programs using either TCP/IP or WINSOCK
facilities.  Including Uniplex, onGO, Eudora mail, ODBC database
connections, Internet and World Wide Web clients.

 Standard User Interface:

Uses standard DOS or Windows commands and interfaces. Automatically
adds File and Print Manager menu choices.

 Range of DOS/Windows compatibility:

Supports all versions of DOS from MS-DOS 3.3 to 6.2 and supports
Windows 3.X and Windows for Workgroups.

 Supports DOS only PC's:

Even older, Intel 286 PC's with DOS only, can have full Unix
connection.

 Remote Job Execution:

Unix tasks can be executed automatically from DOS commands or PC
programs.

 Access to Multiple Hosts:

Any PC user can connect to several Unix hosts at the same time.  Even
allowing Unix to Unix file copying from Windows File Manager.

 Non-Dedicated File Server:

Unlike many PC solutions the Unix server can continue to operate Unix
applications and functions simultaneously.

 Technical Information

 Choice of Terminal Emulation:
- SCO/ANSI Console
- Wyse 50/60
- VT100/220/320
- Unicord: Uniplex tailored emulation

 Industry Support:

The Locus PC-I Unix server software is already shipped as standard
with IBM AIX, SCO Unix and Unix System V.4 and is available on a wide
range of Unix hosts.

Ethernet, Token Ring & RS-232 Support:

Novell TCP/IP transport is included for your guarantee of security and
reliability.  A wide range of ethernet adapters are supported
out-of-the-box using industry standard NDIS Drivers.

Other TCP/IP systems can also be used including 3COM, B&W, LAN
Workplace, LAN Manager, PC/NFS and many others.

Can also operate over standard RS- 232 modem or serial cable
connections.  Token Ring LANs are also supported.

 Novell Netware compatible:

Novell Netware users can also access Unix systems easily.  The Novell
network does not have to be changed to take advantage of the Unix
integration.

 Low PC Memory Requirements:

Uses as little as 60KB of RAM and all components can be placed in high
memory.  A minimum of 512KB is required for installation.

 Centreline 2000, FREEPOST, PO Box 2000, Pershore, Worcs, WR10 1BR,
Tel: 07000 88 2000, Fax: 01905 724414

Office 2000 is a trademark of Centreline 2000 Corp. Ltd.  All
trademarks acknowledged

Return to index

Newsline 95/06 - June 1995

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Launch of Office 2000 at Uniplex User Group
   New Customers
   In The Press
   PC-Interface - Low Prices
   PC-Interface - Benefits
   New Faces
   Company Re-Organisation



Launch of Office 2000 at Uniplex User Group
===========================================

Centreline 2000 launched Office 2000, the new suite of PC and Unix
programs which integrate PC's with existing Uniplex systems.

Announcing the new suite, Stuart Hillston, Sales & Marketing
Director said, "There has been a desperate need to connect Microsoft
Windows and Uniplex V7 and V8 for a long time. These new products do
just that."

The six new modules are:
	PC-Unix Network
	PC-Mail for Uniplex
	Terminal Emulation
	Fax for Uniplex
	Document Conversion
	Spreadsheet Conversion.

Andrew Hart, Technical Director, explained "Our view is that Windows
and Uniplex connectivity requires three things".

 PC-Unix Connection

"One: networking between the PC and Unix host that provides shared
files, access to common printers and client/server support".  Office
2000 PC-Interface provides this link.

PC-Mail Client

"Two: a PC mail client that talks directly to the Uniplex Mail
system", Office 2000 Mail uses any existing V7 or V8 mail system
without any need to change the Unix server.

"Three: file conversion utilities, so that Windows users can freely
interchange their MS-Word and Lotus 1-2-3 files between themselves and
Uniplex users". Document Conversion and Spreadsheet Conversion provide
these facilities.

"Finally, the components must be integrated to give the user a whole
system."

For example, a Uniplex user sends a piece of E/Mail to a Windows user.
The Windows user  sees a popup message to say "mail has arrived". The
Windows user opens the mail box with Office 2000 Mail and views their
personal Uniplex mailbox directly.

They select the mail item and can read it on screen, fully formatted.
Next, the user wants to edit the document and using Ami Pro for word
processing, so they click on the Launch button.  Ami Pro is started,
the Uniplex document is automatically converted and loaded into the
editor.

Simon Walden, Managing Director said, "There are other systems which
will talk Unix, but don't talk Uniplex.  Office 2000 works directly
with Uniplex.  Office 2000 is even available on platforms which
Uniplex no longer port to."

"With Office 2000, anyone can integrate PC's or migrate to PC's and
still make the most of their Uniplex investment and experience."

 Call Centreline 2000 on 07000 88 2000 for details.



New Customers

We are pleased to welcome this month's new support subscribers:
	The Library Association
	Scandinavian Design

and welcome back to

	London Borough of Harrow
	Trafalgar House
	Doherty Medical

who renew their subscriptions again this year.



In the Press

Centreline was featured in this months Unix News article on third
party support providers.  The article highlights the benefits of and
wide range of services available from independent support companies.

Meanwhile, In Computer Weekly, Simon Walden and CW reporter Glyn Moody
had a discussion concerning the risks of virus infection from
seemingly innocuous mail messages and how in- line mail browsing can
eliminate risks of infection.


PCI Low Prices

Centreline 2000 are able to offer Locus PC-Interface, the leading PC
to Unix networking package, at special pricing when bundled with any
other Office 2000 Component.

PC-Interface features:
	Novell TCP/IP
	Remote file share
	Unix printer share
	Terminal emulation
	Winsock support
	Secure Access

Call today for a low-price quote.


Office 2000 Modules

	PC-Interface Unix Connect
	PC-Mail for Uniplex
	Document Conversion
	Spreadsheet Conversion
	Terminal Emulation
	Notice Board for Uniplex
	Easy Admin for Uniplex
	Fax for Uniplex

A full consultancy service including installation, training,
programming and rapid-response support is also available.


New Faces

We would like to welcome two important new members of staff - both
used to work for Uniplex, which maintains our in-depth Uniplex
knowledge.

The first, Stuart Hillston, joins as Sales & Marketing Director.
I'm sure he will be speaking to many of you over the coming months.
Stuart was with Uniplex for over 12 years, first as senior developer,
later running US and Asian sales operations.

Paul Floyd has been busy developing the Office 2000 Mail product.
Paul was heavily involved in all Uniplex Mail projects, including V8
and onGO with its X.400 and X.500 software.  Our support subscribers
will be meeting Paul on the support line as well.



Company Re-organisation

As we continue to expand and develop our services changes are being
made internally at Centreline 2000, We have new reception services
based in Worcester and two new service centres in St.  Albans and
Aylesbury.  Our offices in  Dunstable are relocating to  Banbury. We
also have our existing offices in  Worcester and support branch at
Stroud.

These changes will help to provide you an expanding service from a
greater number of locations.  Changes in support staff now mean that
all support consultants have been directly involved in developing
Uniplex software - giving you direct access to the experts - a service
unique in the UK.


New Contact Information



HEAD OFFICE

PO Box 2000
Pershore
Worcs
WR10 3YZ

Tel: 07000 88 2000
Fax: 01905 724414


AYLESBURY OFFICE

1 Stockaway
Weedon
Aylesbury
Bucks
HP22 4NL
Tel: 01296 641 856
Fax: 01296 641 857


SUPPORT HOT-LINE

Tel: 01905 726010
Fax: 01905 724414

Return to index

Newsline 95/07 - August 1995

IN THIS ISSUE:
   FAX Solutions and Ideas
   Uniplex V8.10 Beta
   New Faces
   New Writing Service


Better Your Business with Office 2000 Fax
=========================================

Office 2000 Fax, the latest Uniplex add-on module from Centreline
2000.

Here are just some of the business benefits you could achieve with
Office 2000 Fax:

1   Increased sales from instant response faxed quotations.

2   Faster payments by faxed statements.

3   Reduce marketing costs with faxed literature.

4   Better informed staff at multiple locations wi th faxed reports.

5   Faxed mailshots, the cheapest way to generate new business.

6   End-of-season sales and special offers by faxshot.

7   Avoid telephone tag with attention getting faxes.

8   Save buying a plain paper fax, Office 2000 Fax will use your
existing printers for incoming faxes.

9   Top quality faxes when sent directly from your computer - always
straight, no smudges or smears.

10  Reduced phone costs with faxes sent at cheap-rate times. With BT's
new low-cost weekend calls - this could really save money.

11  Fax customer requested information - faxes are cheaper and quicker
than regular post.

12  Save time. It takes 20 minutes to send a regular fax, about 20
seconds to send an Office 2000 fax.


What will I need?

Office Fax 2000 runs on Unix. It can run stand-alone or is fully
integrated with Uniplex, Quadratron and WordPerfect.

You will need to connect a fax-modem. This can be a simple, single
line unit - or specialised units for handling multiple fax lines. And
a telephone line...


How much will it cost?

 The entry-level price for a 4-User fax system is £380. Additional
users cost only £95 per user. With more than 20-Users you can
achieve significant discounts.

Complete fax/modem and connection cables are available from £190.

Optional modules include multi-line capability and PostScript
compatible faxes.



What about signatures?

Signatures and other graphics, such as company logo's, product photos,
technical diagrams etc., can also be included.

Your software may already produce files in a suitable format, or we
have a scanning service if you require.



 Uniplex V8.1 Beta

 Centreline 2000 has been working over the forthcoming Uniplex
release, V8.10.

One of the principle features of this new release is a completely
revamped file management utility. This replaces all the previous file
management menu options and the folios system.

Looking a lot like windows you can scan round folders in a tree
format, viewing and converting files as you go. You can simply select
a file and the right application is launched for you.

Another big plus is that documents will now be marked with its print
style permanently.  This means when you receive a mail document from
another user, you know it will print out as they expected it to!

Product release is scheduled for September. We'll let you know exact
dates when we have them.

Customers already on the SitePak program will of course be receiving
this update automatically.



 New Faces

 The latest ex-Uniplexer to join Centreline 2000 is John Stevenson.

John was at Uniplex for many years, and lead both development and
documentation teams.  Since leaving Uniplex John has been seen often
in the computer press reporting as a freelance journalist on a number
of IT topics.



 New Writing Service

Our new authoring service may be of use to you.  If you need
short-term resource or a long- term authoring plan, please call.

We can author a range of differing materials:
	Marketing Literature
	Product Brochures
	Technical Docs
	User Guides

We can also produce work in specialised formats such as:

	World Wide Web pages
	Microsoft Help Format



New Contact Information


HEAD OFFICE

PO Box 2000
Pershore
Worcs
WR10 3YZ

Tel: 07000 88 2000
Fax: 01905 724414


SALES CENTRE

1 Stockaway
Weedon
Aylesbury
Bucks
HP22 4NL
Tel: 01296 641 856
Fax: 01296 641 857


SUPPORT HOT-LINE

Tel: 01905 726010
Fax: 01905 724414


INTERNET

post@c2000.com


COMPUSERVE

100126,2400


WORLD WIDE WEB

www.c2000.com (due shortly)

Return to index

Newsline 95/10 - October 1995

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Paramount Steel Case Study - Benefits of Fax
   MIME Interface for Uniplex
   Version 8.10 More News


Centreline in action: Paramount Steel Fence
At your service with Office 2000 Fax
====================================
The Price of Success

 Paramount are the UK's largest manufacturers of steel security
fencing, supplying to a range of construction companies, local
authorities and utility companies for projects as diverse as special
architectural fencing, park gardens and even crematoria. "The price of
success is that you are constantly having to find ways of coping with
ever higher levels of customer expectation," said Bob Dewberry,
Managing Director of Paramount Steel Fence.  "In our business, every
enquiry and quotation is a "one- off". Often our customers provide us
with a specification, we quote, then they may revise the specification
a number of times before the project is finalised."

  With this in mind, Paramount have increasingly used faxes as a
mechanism for sending out quotations, but it became apparent that
there could be improvements. "The fax still needed to be followed up
with a proper letter on our letterhead - and this often arrived after
the customer had already started revising their specification.
Basically, things would get out- of-step! Also, there were far too
many queues forming at the fax machines and incoming faxes couldn't
get through for people trying to send quotations out." Paramount
turned to Centreline 2000 for advice. The company uses a Dell computer
running SCO UNIX and Uniplex Business Software. "We have used Uniplex
for over 5 years, we know how configurable it is and we knew there had
to be a way of automating the business process."

 Rapid Service

 "What we really needed was a way of composing and sending the
quotation rapidly. We wanted to be able to handle follow-up queries
and modifications, preferably while the prospective customer was still
on the phone to us."

"Further the system had to log quotes and revisions as well as
producing professional output, including the company logo and
letterhead details."  Since April, Paramount have been using Office
2000 Fax in conjunction with Uniplex Business Software - with
remarkable results. Bob Dewberry explains how the systems works. "All
our quotation and pricing information is held in standard spreadsheet
templates. When we are asked to quote, we fill in the
customer-specific details and the system automatically generates an
accurate and attractive fax quotation and sends it directly from the
computer using Office 2000 Fax. The resultant quote contains the
correct logo and letterhead information. Also, the system logs and
produces a hardcopy for our records."

 Impressed Customers

 Dewberry is delighted with the results. "The new system is superb. In
terms of service, the customer is often still chatting to us on the
telephone as our revised quotation is arriving on their fax machine.
That impresses them."

"In terms of productivity, it has saved us exceptional amounts of
time. For example, we are now handling more quotations and enquiries
per week with 3 office staff than we previously did with 4."

"Everything we send out is indexed by a reference number. If someone
calls with a pricing query, we can search the system on the spot using
the reference number and bring up the correspondence on the screen
then and there."

"The whole process is automated - and it really works! We use Office
2000 Fax for all our outgoing messages and this leaves the old fax
machine free for incoming messages."

(For more information on Office 2000 Fax, call 07000 88 2000)



 MIME from Centreline

One of the current limitations with using e-mail over the Internet is
the difficulty of sending and receiving messages with attachments that
contain anything other than plain text. Graphics, datafiles and even
PC word processing attachments are not generally understood and tend
to be modified or 'stripped' in their passage across the Internet.

Help is at hand, however. Centreline can now provide you with a MIME
gateway (MIME being the emerging standard for sending e-mail
attachments across the Internet.) The gateway runs on your UNIX
computer, works with Uniplex Business Software and means you can now
send Internet mail with virtually any type of attachment across the
net. For more information, please call the Sales Centre.



Version 8.10 - More News

With the latest version of Uniplex Business Software (V8.10) now
available, here is a quick taster of what the product offers.

The biggest change comes in the form of a new file manager. This not
only replaces the folios system, but also offers a completely new
interface to moving around the file system, naming, sharing and
searching for files. The file manager follows the same  conventions as
its Microsoft Windows counterpart so its designed to be highly
intuitive. In particular you can now use long (and hopefully more
descriptive) filenames for your work, share file cabinets with
colleagues and automatically create documents using standard
formatting templates.

With V8.10, the product has been restructured and the Advanced
Graphics System module and X- Windows interface have been subsumed
into the main module. A new Document Access module has also been added
which contains a range of document and spreadsheet converters, though
this is a separately chargeable extra. The module covers conversion
between Uniplex and a range of the more common word processing and
spreadsheet formats and is capable of performing single or batch
conversions.

Uniplex have also included a range of minor enhancements and bug fixes
(including the much-requested enhancement to display 'previous record'
in database forms.) Also, you can now embed your desired print-style
in a document, which means that when you e- mail someone your work -
they will always know exactly how it was intended to print out.

So far the response from attendees at recent roadshows and the Uniplex
User Group has been extremely favourable. If you would like further
information, please do not hesitate to contact us. SitePak customers
will of course automatically receive the new release as a free update.



Contact Information

HEAD OFFICE

PO Box 2000
Pershore
Worcs
WR10 3YZ

Tel: 07000 88 2000
Fax: 01905 724414

SUPPORT HOT-LINE

Tel: 01905 726010
Fax: 01905 724414

INTERNET
post@c2000.com
www.c2000.com

COMPUSERVE
100126,2400

Return to index

Newsline 95/10 - September 1995

IN THIS ISSUE:
   MS-Word Virus - how to avoid it
   In The Press
   GKN Case Study - Integrating PC's and UNIX


When the postman brings only bad news...
========================================


Formatting all drives...

 Picture the scene: You are working at your PC. You receive a
Microsoft Word document via mail. You load MS-Word and open the
document. The next thing you see is a message saying 'Formatting all
drives...' and your PC's disk has been erased.

The ability of modern WP documents to contain built-in, auto-executing
commands allows anyone with a small amount of programming experience
to send you the worst kind of news.

 Electronic Vandalism

 If its easy for someone to inflict this kind of electronic vandalism
on your PC, it is just as easy for them to go one step further. If
your PC is connected to a UNIX computer, that 'Formatting all
drives...' message could extend to your entire corporate information
system, erasing large amounts of business- critical data and giving
someone the logistical nightmare of re-building the corporate systems
from scratch! If you think this type of wilful damage never happens,
read on...

 What the experts say

 Anti-virus experts SOS International are already encountering
examples of people sending simple but potentially destructive MS-Word
macros over electronic mail and there are fears that this type of
virus could be spreading across the Internet.

What can you do?

 Use a mail system that includes a built-in 'browser'. For example
Centreline Office 2000 mail uses a browser so you can read a message
without triggering any hidden - and potentially destructive - virus
macros. The browser understands all the most popular document and
spreadsheet formats and if you need to edit the message, Office 2000
can convert it to your desired word processing format.

The conversion will give you the text and formatting information but
discards any macro commands.

This type of approach gives you the freedom to communicate with
Uniplex and UNIX users anywhere in the organisation, and some
protection against the sort of mail you most definitely do not want to
receive.



 In The Press

 The industry press has also picked up on this problem and further
information on Centreline 2000's assessment of the dangers of macro-
viruses appeared in:

Computer Weekly Personal Computer World and PC Magazine.



 GKN Head Office

 GKN Head Office are currently evaluating Office 2000 from Centreline
and are poised to rollout the system to users in the finance and human
resources areas.

Martin Humphries, IT Manager for GKN Group Services Ltd said, "At GKN
electronic mail has become an important tool of the trade. We have
used Uniplex mail extensively since 1992 as a means of communicating
and collecting information.

"With the increasing use of PCs we needed to find a method of
integrating Uniplex with a Microsoft Windows desktop environment."

The international automotive and aerospace engineering group has over
150 Uniplex users at its UK headquarters and runs a number of Hewlett
Packard UNIX servers. With many users throughout the group running
WordPerfect on their PCs it has now become important to provide
integration between the two environments.

Martin Humphries explains, "we have an immediate requirement to
provide our users with seamless integration.  We are also keenly aware
that in the medium-term there is an underlying trend towards increased
use of PCs within a client-server architecture. We have to satisfy
both the short-term need and manage the medium-term transition."

GKN Head Office currently has 8 users evaluating the product and is
bringing a further 32 on-line in the near future.

 Intuitive Client

 So far the results have been impressive. "We are using the Office
2000 mail client, PC-Interface and word processing converters. People
like the fact that they can access Uniplex mail from a native and
intuitive graphical Microsoft windows client.

"With Office 2000 PC-I we can present both the local and host file
systems as a single workspace under the Microsoft Windows file
manager.

"Also people like the fact that they can print to any host-connected
printer directly from their PC. We are looking forward to rolling the
system out over the coming months."



Contact Information

HEAD OFFICE

PO Box 2000
Pershore
Worcs
WR10 3YZ

Tel: 07000 88 2000
Fax: 01905 724414

SUPPORT HOT-LINE

Tel: 01905 726010
Fax: 01905 724414

INTERNET
post@c2000.com
www.c2000.com

COMPUSERVE
100126,2400

Return to index

Newsline 95/11 - November 1995

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Minutes Management for Local Government
   MS-Windows Fax Client
   New UNIX Utilities
       Backups, undeletes, optimisers...

Minute Manager for Local Govt
=============================

Taming the Paper Chimera!

 At Hart District Council, as elsewhere in local government, the
process of good management is driven by timely decision making and
accurate record keeping.    In partnership with Centreline 2000, the
council has implemented Minute Manager an automated document
management system based on Uniplex Business Software, to manage the
documents generated by the council - and tame the paper chimera!

Helen Blackburn, IT Manager at Hart District Council, explains the
motivation behind the system. "Decisions that affect every aspect of
the environment, building, planning and finance in the region are made
on a daily basis. The Council needs to manage the paperwork that
underpins these decisions. After all, it is these documents that drive
the business process."

In common with every council in the country, Hart DC has to maintain
meticulous records and be able to demonstrate their complete
accountability. But the council wanted more than a system for storing
and retrieving committee minutes.     Blackburn again, "we wanted a
system that could also automate the process of creating meeting
minutes. It had to be easy-to- use. It had to fit into our existing IT
infrastructure. Most importantly, we wanted it to be accessible to all
authorised users - senior managers, councillors and the typing
services group."

Hart DC are an established user of Uniplex Business Software and,
knowing the inherent configurability of the product, they turned to
Centreline 2000 for help. In partnership with the council, Centreline
2000 implemented Minute Manager, an automated committee minuting
system based on Uniplex.

 Automatic creation and retrieval

The product automates the process of creating meeting agenda, reports
and minutes by leading the user through each stage. Templates step the
operator through the content and formatting of the document including
the date, venue, subject, attendees and absentees. Minute Manager
records the discussions and the conclusions that have been reached on
a particular topic. It also records who has voted and how.

An invaluable reference

Hart DC now create and record the details of every meeting using
Minute Manager. As Helen Blackburn explains, the system has proved
invaluable in a number of ways. "It has helped us to be more
productive. Users in the typing services department can record the
minutes - down to a very fine level of detail.

"It has also helped us to standardise our record keeping.  All meeting
minutes are created in standard templates. We can search the documents
based on a range of pre-set criteria including date, subject and
keyword.

"Best of all, with Minute Manager our councillors and senior
management now have an invaluable reference. They can search through
current and past meeting minutes, ensure they are thoroughly prepared
at every stage and appraise themselves of the latest developments in
related areas. We've cut down the amount of paper we produce and
increased the amount of information we provide."

For more information on Minute Manager call the Centreline 2000 sales
office.



  PC Fax Client from Centreline 2000

This month sees the launch of our Office 2000 PC Fax Client for
Microsoft Windows.

Like its UNIX counterpart, the PC Fax Client makes sending faxes a
painless, paper-free process. Simply install the UNIX fax server, an
appropriate modem and then use the PC client to send and receive
faxes.

You use the PC applications of your choice to create fax messages -
your UNIX server does the rest! Message logging, status information,
address books and in-box/out-box management are all handled and the
product can read other Windows fax address books such as Delrina
WinFax.

A true client-server product, Office 2000 PC Fax Client off-loads all
processing to your UNIX server and eliminates the necessity for
individual PC fax modems.  Cheaper than a plain paper fax  The
software can print incoming faxes direct to a laser printer for less
than the cost of a plain paper fax.

Just as important, Office 2000 PC Fax Client stores all your critical
data centrally on the UNIX server where it is easy to maintain,
administer, and integrate with other messaging systems such as email.
The product is available now. Contact the sales office for your
evaluation copy.



 New UNIX Utilities:

To protect and to serve

We all know the misery that corrupt or incomplete backups, crashed
hard disks and poor system performance or misuse can cause in terms of
time and money.  To help protect your system and meet the need for
complete system integrity, we've put together a portfolio of the
world's leading utilities designed to safeguard your valuable
computing resources. Each one has been specifically designed for UNIX
systems. Each one is simple to deploy and administer:

Almond Utilities for Unix

The Almond Utilities for Unix provide the utilities you need to manage
the data files on your hard disk. Enjoy increased data security,
productivity and peace of mind by owning the essential solution for
data recovery and protection. The Almond Utilities are derived from
the legendary Norton Utilities and are now available for SCO Unix.

Microlite Backup

An easy and dependable backup solution providing high performance for
faster backup, data compression to maximise tape use, complete &
partial backups for security, wildcard support for easier backup,
multi-volume & multi-device support and unattended operation.
Available for: SCO Unix, AIX, DG/UX.

Buttsaver  From Cactus Software

Buttsaver provides emergency file recovery. This utility will recover
files deleted by "rm" or "mv" commands. Available for: SCO Unix, SVR4.

Lone Optimizer

Another Cactus utility, Lone Optimizer provides a fully menu driven
disk optimizer that will increase the performance of your system up to
75%. Available for SCO Unix.

Shell-Lock

Shell-Lock enables you to turn your Bourne & Korn shell scripts
into binary executables to prevent tampering by your users. Available
for SCO Unix and many other Unix systems.

Snoopit

Snoopit allows you to display your terminal session on another user's
terminal - or vice versa! Great for demos and training (the whole
class can see what you type on their screen). Snoopit can also save
terminal activity so you can monitor users and keep track of "illegal"
activity. Available for SCO Unix and other Unix systems.

Microsoft Software direct from Centreline 2000

Centreline 2000 can also provide your Microsoft Windows needs. Please
call for current prices.



Contact Information


HEAD OFFICE

PO Box 2000
Pershore
Worcs
WR10 3YZ

Tel: 07000 88 2000
Fax: 01905 724414

SUPPORT HOT-LINE

Tel: 01905 726010
Fax: 01905 724414

INTERNET
post@c2000.com
www.c2000.com

COMPUSERVE
100126,2400

Return to index

Newsline 95/12 - December 1995

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Centreline Select - Reward Programme
   Christmas Offer
   Uniplex V8.10 Availability
   PC Fax client
   PC Client for Notice Board 2000


Introducing Centreline Select
=============================

A new reward programme for our clients

 This month sees the launch of our new reward programme, Centreline
Select.

 Centreline Select is an opportunity for us to show our appreciation
for your custom. And its your opportunity to save money on Centreline
products and services.

Every Centreline customer benefits from the Centreline Select
programme auto-matically, and every customer can use the Select awards
to take advantage of FREE or discounted products and services.

 What is Centreline Select?

Centreline Select is our way of saying thank you.

Each time you order a product or service, you automatically qualify
for Centreline Select award vouchers. You can use the vouchers to save
money off your next purchase - on a whole range of options from
training and products to support and consultancy services.

 How does Centreline Select work?

Your vouchers are sent to you automatically after your order and we
provide you with a regular statement. The statement shows the total
value of your awards and explains how they can be redeemed.  Your
voucher will show the value and product or service against which it
can be redeemed.

You simply attach the vouchers to your next purchase order. Each award
voucher has a fixed expiry date and you must use them when you order -
not when you pay. Great Savings with Centreline Select

You can use the vouchers any time you use Centreline 2000.  Save them
towards the cost of your next purchase - a system upgrade, a days
expert training or the very latest client-server products. You decide
when and how best to use your award vouchers. Its that simple.

For example: A typical Centreline 2000 support contract would entitle
you to a copy of an Office 2000 product module (fax, mail, document
converters...) absolutely FREE.

What happens now?

The good news is that as a valued Centreline 2000 customer, you
already qualify for awards so you can start straight away!

During the coming weeks you will automatically receive award vouchers
commensurate with the investment you have made with us over the years.
So look out for your Centreline Select vouchers and start saving
today!

CHRISTMAS OFFER! Double Award for December

To mark this festive season and help you to get the most from
Centreline Select, we are starting the programme with a very special
offer. For this month we will double the value of any voucher awards
you use ABSOLUTELY FREE.

All you have to do is use your voucher awards to your order before
24th December 1995. For more information on Centreline Select and to
find out how to take advantage of our special Christmas offer, call
the sales desk on 01905 724 080.



 Uniplex Business Software - Version 8.1

You may have already seen or read about Uniplex V8.1 and now the
product is (finally) available. This does at last represent a
significant upgrade to the Uniplex system and is well worth looking
at. If you want details on the product, how to upgrade and what's in
it for you, don't hesitate to call.

Also look out for a promotional CD of Uniplex Mail and Uniplex
Business Software (Version 8.0) on the cover of the January edition of
UNIX News.

The magazine will be carrying demonstration versions of the products
on a free CD for people who want to evaluate the product
functionality.

If you are looking to update your Uniplex system or considering
implementing electronic mail, why not take a look. For advice and
guidance - again - please call.



Office 2000 - New Products

Office 2000 has featured extensively in the computing press again over
recent weeks with the new PC Fax client in particular, being well
received.

Look out for further coverage in January with the launch of PC
Noticeboard. The product is intended to help customers with the
perennial man-agement overhead imposed by electronic junk mail, social
news, company-wide memoranda and other transitory or non-critical
information.

With PC Noticeboard you can post notices and share information without
imposi ng a significant management overhead because the system is
self-administering.

 You control the distribution of notices, set expiry dates and
determine who has permission to view, copy, create and print
information. The product can automatically notify you when new notices
are added, and automatically delete expired notices.

Office 2000 PC Noticeboard is available standalone or integrated with
Uniplex



Contact Information

HEAD OFFICE
PO Box 2000
Pershore
Worcs
WR10 3YZ

Tel: 07000 88 2000
Fax: 01905 724414

SUPPORT HOT-LINE

Tel: 01905 726010
Fax: 01905 724414


INTERNET
post@c2000.com
www.c2000.com

COMPUSERVE
100126,2400

Return to index

Newsline 92/10 - October 1992

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Uniplex Announces V7.02
   Tech Tip: Removing Shell Escape Options
   New Customers
   Nouveau



Uniplex Announces V7.02
=======================

Uniplex User Group was the venue for the announcement that there would
be a maintenance release of Uniplex V7.  Nick Braybrooke, Product
Marketing Manager at Uniplex said that Version7.02 will be available
during the fourth quarter of this year.

There are few details available yet, we will keep you in touch as more
information is released, however what we can tell you is that there
are over 200 bugs fixed in this maintenance release.  In addition, for
Uniplex Windows users, V7.02 will support the Version 3.0 of IXI's
X.Desktop.

The update is a binary only release, this means that all text files
remain unchanged.  This is welcome news, you will be able to install
the update without time consuming recovery of all your configuration
and text file changes.  And,if things don't work out, it will be
possible to reinstall the previous programs.

Uniplex assure us that all files and keystroke sare fully compatible.
Those of you who experienced difficulties in moving from 7.00 to 7.01
will appreciate that statement I'm sure.

We'll be reviewing V7.02 as soon as we are able and informing you of
the most important corrections.  Port availability has yet to be
announced, all new ports will be V7.02, no information on re-ports has
been given. Line Draw Problems in V7.01

We have had a number of cases of V7.00 documents failing to print
under V7.01.  The problem occurs when large line-draw boxes have been
used which run close to the end ofthe page.  New "optimisation" in
V7.01 means that the text is printed first and the boxes second,
however if the text runs to the end of the page then the page is
ejected before the box is drawn.  The quick fix is to reduce the
length of the page by 1 or 2 lines.  Along-term fix for HP Laserjets
is to modify the printers form length to avoid the page throw.

Removing Shell Options

There are four obvious routes into the shell from Uniplex and they can
be disabled as follows:

   Direct command from keyboard, modify uniplex.cmd and comment out
entry F241=&-&-'$'.

   Modify uniplex.menu and search for '!'options (but be careful not
to zap things like usql).

   For the spreadsheet edit UAP/uc/ucdefs and/or uc/issidefs and
removethe BANG entry.

   That fixes everything but the database. Modify UAP/dbs/dbs.rc and
remove the BANG entry for V7.00.  In V7.01 the database can't be
disabled in this way (a bug!) instead add into the usql option in
uniplex.menu this new command:

     4 * '...(varies)...; USHELL='/bin/true'; export USHELL; exec
usql',,,C

The bang still works but calls a no-operation command.  This technique
cannot be used elsewhere as Uniplex is reliant on the shell for some
commands.


New Customers

We are glad to be able to welcome many new customers to the Centreline
2000 fold.  In the public sector we now support Cotswold District
Council and Wiltshire Constabulary.  In the commercial sector we have
announced major new contracts with Kuwait Petroleum International,
Cussons International and Colt International as well as one of
Britain's best known companies Trafalgar House.



Nouveau

Uniplex are currently running monthly seminars on client/server
computing and the new Nouveau products from Uniplex.  Our own Simon
Walden has been guest speaker at the last two sessions. If you would
like to attend then please contact Kathy Trenouth at Uniplex.

We aim to keep you up to date with all Uniplex product news, and this
is especially important as the Nouveau products become available.

Return to index

Newsline 92/11 - November 1992

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Version 7.02 highlights
   Special Package for V7.02 Upgrades


Version 7.02 Highlights
=======================


Uniplex will start to roll out the latest maintenance version of it's
old faithful product in time for Christmas - so just what will this
stocking filler give you?

Firstly Version 7.02 is the first release that is "binary only" - to
simplify upgrade there will be no text files shipped with 7.02.  The
install script makes a small number of necessary changes to message
files and a couple of softkey files.  So the upgrade to 7.02 will be
trouble free whatever customisation has been done to your 7.01 text
files.  Maintenance of printer and terminal configuration is now
available via the Additional Peripherals Pack and a new APP will be
released in the near future.

So what's actually been fixed? - over three hundred bug fixes and
enhancements have been made, too many to cover here so we'll just
mention a few highlights.

Word Processor has 21 bug fixes to reduce data loss and corruption. WP
now handles running out of disk space without junking your files and
does not crash when you put too many effect changes or box characters
on one line.

Printing: has 8 fixes mostly relating to printer specific problems -
but is also enhanced to provide better control when printing specific
page numbers.

Spreadsheet: has over 50 bug fixes and enhancements.  The major
changes include undo last action, a new machine portable save format -
but it will also read and write V7.01 format - improved locking when
linking worksheets.  Lack of disk space is safely handled and formulae
can now be 256 characters long.  A complete rework in the parsing of
row and column addresses means no more of those R & C problems in
formulae, list files or link references.


Electronic Mail: has 20 fixes to it's message delivery mechanisms that
should make it significantly more robust on a wider range of platforms
and it no longer crashes on reading binary files. Umd_clean has extra
options that allow it to selectively clean out parts of the mail store
and even delete old messages from users incoming mailbox to get back
some of that valuable disk space!

Over 10 fixes to uclock and alarm delivery mean that notification of
incoming mail should now work much more consistently.

Other useful changes include: keygen option to list the number of
users in the license key, performance improve-ments in folios to at
least double the speed plus the ability to run it synchronously to
prevent multiple ufomanagers jamming the machine.

Modification to the clipboard naming mechanism to handle a wider range
of tty naming conventions and many fixes to improve the robustness of
Uniplex Windows as well as the inclusion of X.Desktop 3.

If you want to check out whether your own pet hate has been fixed then
give us a call and we'll let you know - unfortunately we know that not
all of them will be fixed.  Uniplex is committed to the long term
maintenance of Version 7 and so we can confidently expect to see a
version 7.03 appearing some where down the line.

Centreline 2000 believes there is significant scope for improvement in
deciding which bugs get fixed. Centreline 2000 is committed to
improving communications between end-users and Uniplex so that the
right bugs get fixed - watch this newsletter for more information on
how to log bugs, escalate problems and lobby successfully to get those
problems that effect you to the top of the priority list.

 SPECIAL  PACKAGE

Because 7.02 is binary only there is a fair amount of additional
configuration to be done if you want to get the benefit of all the new
features and fixes.  For example the new function UNDO in the
spreadsheet is not available from the ring menu since that requires a
text file change.

Centreline 2000 is offering a special 7.02 upgrade package.  One of
our consultants will visit you to install 7.02 and make the additional
text file changes for the standard price of one day's consultancy.
There is no charge for the 7.02 upgrade itself.

If you want to take advantage of this offer then please contact your
account manager.

Return to index

Newsline 92/12 - December 1992

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Uniplex People, Product & Pricing
   Practical Guide to the Report Writer
   Fixing Date problems in the Spreadsheet



UNIPLEX: PEOPLE, PRODUCT AND PRICING
====================================

There is so much news coming out of Uniplex at the moment that it's
almost getting difficult fitting anything else in here.  The
announcements cover products and pricing plus changes in their senior
management.

 Founder Leaves, Regester Takes Over

Peter Osborn, founder and chairman of Redwood has left  along with
David Jennings, financial director.  This change has been expected
since the take-over of Redwood by IMI last year.  Patrick Regester has
become the new managing director and we hope that his sales background
signifies further moves to being a customer-led operation.  Lindsay
Smith becomes financial director.

 Cheaper License Breaks for Graphics and Datalink

You will now be able to purchase Advanced Graphics and Datalinks at
user license breaks different to your main Uniplex system.  This opens
up new opportunities for many sites to bring in these modules at a
sensible price.  A 256 user Uniplex site may still only want 8
graphics users and this is now fully supported.  There have been some
price changes, single-user versions of both modules are now available
at £295.  Datalink prices are up slightly for all other
user-breaks.  Contact us for more information.

 Special Prices for Bundled Modules

There are now three bundled packages which offer new price breaks.
Uniplex Version 7 Groupware combines II Plus and Advanced Office for
about 30% discount on price.  The Single User Workstation: II Plus,
Advanced Graphics and Uniplex Windows for £595, normally retailing
at a massive £2,950!  Finally Uniplex DOS Plus combines V7 for DOS


PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE REPORT WRITER

    Coming very soon, The Centreline 2000 Practical Guide to Report
Writer, written by Andrew Hart this excellent short guide tells you
everything you want to know and is sent free to our subscribers,
available otherwise at a nominal charge.


FIXING DATE PROBLEMS IN THE SPREADSHEET

 The Uniplex spreadsheet has some problems with date formats that can
easily be rectified.  The default date format for display is DD/MM/YY.
However, when a date is involved in a calculation, the result is
displayed as a number represent the number of days since 1st January
1900.

For example, if cell A1 contains the date 11/12/93, the formula A1=7
would result in 34320.  If you try to format the number as a date, you
will find that DD/MM/YY is not among the 5 date formats available to
you.

To get around this you could enter a dummy date into the cell before
you enter the formula.  Entering the date will set the format for the
cell, and this format will remain when the formula is added.

Alternatively, you may wish to add the DD/MM/YY format to the list of
date formats available to you. The following procedure should be
followed:
1)   Edit the file UAP/uc/issi.fn

2)   Locate the section ##FDATE and change to the following:

##FDATE
1.DD-MMM-YY 2.DD-MMM 3.MMM-YY 4.Long-Int 5.Short-Int 6.DD/MM/YY
))
1='datefmt 8r'
2='datefmt 9r'
3='datefmt 10r'
4='datefmt 11r'
5='datefmt 12r'
6='datefmt 1r'                     (This sets the British Date)
))

3.   Having made the change, you must compile the file executing
skcomp issi.fn from the Shell Command on the Uniplex menu.


If you would like further information on any of these Uniplex products
or on other Centreline 2000 services such as training, consulting or
programming or you would like to become a help-line subscriber then
please contact your Centreline 2000 account manager or call head
office on 07000 88 2000

Return to index

Newsline 93/01 - January 1993

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Uniplex Nouveau Launch Dates
   Report Writer Guide
   Electronic Mail Unbundled
   Uniplex Feedback
   New Customers



UNIPLEX NOUVEAU LAUNCH DATES
============================

 After a very long wait Uniplex have invited dealers and resellers to
the launch of "JASON Release 1" on the 17th February.   JASON is the
codename for the new product set that has been under development for
over 18 months at Uniplex.  From this we assume that the product will
be available very shortly afterwards.  Information about platforms is
limited but in the middle of last year Uniplex announced deals with
IBM and Data General that put the RS/6000 and DG Aviion at the top of
the porting list.

Many of you may have already attended presentations at Uniplex about
the Nouveau product strategy and the JASON product line, most
demonstrations were of software first shown at Uniforum, California
back in January 1992.  Later versions of the product are reported as
much improved.  We are also seeing signs of activity in the press,
preparing the ground for the new products.  One particularly lengthy
article in PC Dealer gives a good overview.  Unix Business published a
detailed review of the strategy earlier in the year by our own Simon
Walden.

Greg Lockton (Product Marketing Manager) in the PC Dealer article says
"The system must be able to run on Motif, Open Look, Windows 3x, the
Macintosh etc, and we have invested heavily in interfaces, drivers and
applications programming interfaces to accommodate all these." Sadly
printers weren't mentioned!  There is much talk of "Active
Integration", a Visual Basic like environment providing a rich set of
functions to the system integrator. However,  it is not clear what, if
any, components will be in the first release.

In the same article Greg Lockton continues "Office Automation
applications have, traditionally, never been mission critical.  But
they are becoming more important as they can be integrated to more
mission critical applications.  In this context, they are becoming
mission critical as management and integration tools." We think many
Centreline subscribers already understand this, hence the need for
high quality support and consultancy.

Centreline 2000 will be announcing scheduled seminars to introduce the
JASON products at technical and management levels shortly after the
product release, look for more details from us shortly.  In the
meantime if you need advice now on dealing with JASON and its impact
upon your site please contact us.


If you would like further information on  Centreline 2000 services
such as training, consulting or programming or you would like to
become a help-line subscriber then please contact your Centreline 2000
account manager or call head office on 01905 72 40 80


Report Writer Guide

With this issue of Newsline our support subscribers will be receiving
a copy of the "Centreline 2000 Practical Guide to Report Writer".
This 52 page guide was written by Andrew Hart, who was the original
software developer for database and report writer.  The guide aims to
cover the ground from concepts to advance programming in a concise
form.  The guide comes from the many training courses that Andrew has
given and on real-life experience building Uniplex applications.
Topics start with simple topics such as data formats, simple reports
and grouping records.  The guides then works through to normally
difficult topics such as conditional calculations and multi-column
formats.

This is the first of a series of guides we are hoping to publish over
the coming months.  If there are particular areas of Uniplex that you
would like to see covered then please let us know how we can best help
you. If you are not a subscriber or would like further copies of the
guide they are available from  Centreline in packs of 5 for £30.00
(P&P included).



 Uniplex Mail

You may have seen adverts recently for Uniplex Mail, this is an
unbundled version of Electronic Mail and Time Manager available
separately from the main word processor.  Although this is of limited
value to sites already using Uniplex it could be cost- effective in
bringing non-Uniplex branches into your main Uniplex environment.
Uniplex can provide brochures and a demonstration disk.


 Uniplex Feedback

With the Quarterly Call Logs you will have received a Fax Form asking
for your views on what should be corrected and/or enhanced in future
versions of Uniplex Version 7.  We will use this information to lobby
Uniplex to solve the problems you will identify.  We know that most of
you will have little idea what has already been achieved with V7.02
but there is limited lead-time before Uniplex commits development
staff to the next maintenance release. Therefore, we would ask that
you make your suggestions as early as possible.


 Customer Announcements

We are pleased to welcome customers from many different sectors once
again.  Some names you may know include the Institute of Physics
Publishing on the very hi-tech side, Cresta Court Hotel in the leisure
sector.  Philips Son and Neale are one of the UK's leading auction
houses and Geocon provide geological services.  Birmingham City
Council join our other local government subscribers. Seiko (UK) Ltd,
well known for their watches have also just renewed.   Finally
congratulations to the John Thurley and Marcia Douglas of the
National Audit Office (with whom we've been involved with for some
time) for their excellent presentation to the Uniplex User Group.

Return to index

Newsline 93/02 - February 1993

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Uniplex Version 7.02
   Uniplex and Frontline Distribution part company
   Report Writer Guide
   Uniplex Mail Pricing



Uniplex Version 7.02
====================

By the time you read this we hope that the latest maintenance release
has become available for end-users, when we checked this week we were
told that the various media were being copied as we spoke.  This means
that it should be available for installation shortly.  Don't forget we
do have a special V7.02 upgrade package. With this package we handle
the installation for you at your site. Please call your account
manager for details.

 Also in the latest round of V7.01 ports Uniplex have announced V7.01d
for RS/6000 Unix V.3,  SCO Open Desktop 2.0 and Sequent PTX 1.4.
There are between 3 and 6 new ports announced monthly, so if you are
interested in finding the latest version for your platform please call
us.

 Version 7.02 Feedback & Requests

Thank you for your timely responses to our question about enhancements
for future versions of Uniplex.  We have collated your responses and
delivered them to Uniplex.  We will be meeting with them shortly to
discuss it and give Uniplex an indication of their significance.

 If you would like further information on  Centreline 2000 services
such as training, consulting or programming or you would like to
become a help-line subscriber then please contact your Centreline 2000
account manager or call head office on 07000 88 2000


Uniplex and Frontline agree to part

Uniplex announced to their resellers this week that the distribution
agreement with Frontline will terminate at the end of January.   The
separation has been described as amicable and a joint decision. This
means that distribution in the UK is now handled by Sphinx and TopLog
only.  Major OEM's are not part of the distribution channel.

Although unconnected, this follows the last meeting of the Uniplex
User Group, where representatives of all three distributors answered
questions from the audience.  These questions focused heavily on
support problems in the distribution channel.

It is when we look at support that we can appreciate the loss of
Frontline's channel support.  At the UUG meeting Sphinx and Top-Log
said that they had two Uniplex experts each.  All end-users who have
bought software from a reseller or some OEM's will have their support
calls channeled back through those few people.   Uniplex estimates
there are half a million users in the United Kingdom,  that's about 1
Uniplex expert per 125,000 users.

By comparison Centreline 2000 provides services directly to our
support subscribers.  All four of our support consultants have worked
inside Uniplex, as well as running successful independent
consultancies.  We do not play "pass-the-buck", the problem is ours
and we work to find your solution.  It is these attributes which make
we believe make Centreline 2000 special.



 Report Writer Guide

Thank you for the orders received so far on Andrew Hart's "Centreline
2000 Practical Guide to Report Writer".   Additional copies are
available in packs of 5 for £30,00 (P&P inclusive) and it
looks like we may have to go to yet another print run.



 Uniplex Mail

In the last issue of Newsline we informed you about Uniplex Mail, the
unbundled Mail and Time Manager.  We have had some subscribers ask
whether it would be cost-effective to add Mail, instead of adding
Advanced Office.  In fact the pricing schedule makes Uniplex Mail the
cheaper add-on for 1 through 8 users, for larger numbers Advanced
Office is the better choice.

Return to index

Newsline 93/03 - April 1993

IN THIS ISSUE:
   IMI Backs Uniplex onGO Launch
   Tech Tip: Updating Local Copies of system.comp



IMI Backs Uniplex Launch
========================

We are watching with interest Uniplex' huge spend on the onGO launch.
Numerous full page advertisements abound, roadshows up and down the
country, glossy marketing packs - all these cost serious money.
Readers of the Sunday Times will have noticed the advertisements for
new staff.  Lastly there is much private talk of major spends on
software development and further software acquisitions.

Although Uniplex no longer reveals annual figures it would be expected
that they show growth last year, despite economic circumstances.
However, growth does not equate to mountains of cash.  It is apparent
that IMI, who purchased Uniplex in 1991, are clearly putting large
sums of money behind Uniplex.  This has to be the best thing for
Uniplex users for some time.  Uniplex has been successful, but major
growth has always eluded them because of cash limitations.  A positive
backing from IMI means that we will see superior Uniplex products
being launched on schedule.  And we know from your comments how much
you would especially like to see the PC onGO modules.



 Updating local copies of system.comp

After so much trade and product news recently we are returning to our
technical roots.  Gerry Wheelan at Zomba records discovered recently
that at some point in their systems life the entries in uniplex.sys
for TEMP - the Uniplex working directory - had been changed.  However,
those changes were not reflected in users local copies of system.comp.
Why?  When a user saves local working options all the details from the
WP form plus ruler settings and uniplex.sys parameters are stored in a
new, local system.comp. Further changes to the central uniplex.sys are
not recorded.

The problem here was to be able to save everybodies modified rulers,
delete the local system.comp files, and then restore the rulers
afterwards.  In order to reset each user to the system wide
uniplex.sys.

This Unix Bourne shell script does just that by driving Uniplex
directly.  It builds strings which contain the exact keystrokes that
you would need to type at the keyboard.  Then it sends the strings
directly into Uniplex.  While this could be done with softkeys this
method is quicker.  However, errors in the "keystrokes" can and will
cause Uniplex to hang-up, so use care.  N.B. A lot of quotes here are
actually backquotes ` not forward quotes ' please use the correct
quote.

case "$Uredirect" in                    Check and set Uniplex
environment
"")  Uredirect=`uniplex -W`
     PATH=$Uredirect/UAP/cmds:$Uredirect/UAP/bin:$PATH
     TERMINFO=$Uredirect/UAP/TERMINFO
     export Uredirect PATH TERMINFO     Always set these values
     ;;
esac

ESC=`tput cmdch`                        get ESCAPE from terminfo
case "$ESC" in                          if not found set it anyway
"")  ESC=`echo "033c"`
     ;;
esac

UPARROW=`tput kcuu1`                    Set up/down arrow from
DOWNARROW=`tput kcud1`                  terminfo also

TMPFILE=/tmp/SR$$                       make a unique filename

echo ";${ESC}rr0${DOWNARROW}                  Send ESC Recall Ruler
${ESC}rr1${DOWNARROW}                  Then move down a line
     ....                               until all rulers are
${ESC}rr8${DOWNARROW}                  loaded.
${ESC}rr9${DOWNARROW}
${ESC}e" | uniplex -q -c $TMPFILE       send them to Uniplex.

# Now clear the local system.comp file.
syscomp -s                              For version 7.01 use this
line
rm -f $HOME/UAP/system.comp             For version 7.00 use this
line.

echo ";${ESC}rs0${DOWNARROW}                  Now repeat it but saving
     ....                               the rulers this time
${ESC}rs9${DOWNARROW};${ESC}op${UPARROW}<space>${ESC}e       Then use ESC O P to save
${ESC}e" | uniplex -q $TMPFILE          Send directly to Uniplex.


rm  -f $TMPFILE

If you would like further information on  Centreline 2000 services
such as training, consulting or programming or you would like to
become a help-line subscriber then please contact your Centreline 2000
account manager or call head office on 07000 88 2000

Return to index

Newsline 93/05 - June 1993

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Desktop Publishing with Uniplex
   Version 7.02 Update
   New Subscribers


Desktop Publishing With Uniplex
===============================

Subscribers will have received this month our new guide "DTP with
Uniplex" This is part of our on-going program to deliver complementary
or replacement guides to supplement the Uniplex documentation.  This
guide describes how to achieve high quality documents with a
"published" look and feel using standard Uniplex.  The guide runs
through the mechanics of Uniplex and how to make sure that document
printing becomes predictable and precise.  We explain how to make
documents nearly WYSIWYG.

The guide also covers ten example documents, ranging from newsletters,
through catalogs and listings, to promotional sheets and even
advertisements.  We hope that it shows the true colours of Uniplex and
its broader capabilities.

In our experience the full capabilities of Uniplex are rarely used,
with one of the principal reasons being the lack of focussed
documentation.  Clearly, Uniplex manuals are aimed at introducing
Uniplex to new users, however, they don't deal with advanced issues.
From our conversations with you we know your Uniplex skills are way
beyond introductory level.

If there are specific areas which you feel you would like additional
guidance, then call and let us know.  We will continue publishing new
guides over the coming months.

 Version 7.02 Update

As you are no doubt aware Uniplex announced Version 7.02 earlier this
year.  This version is maintenance release and solves over 400
reported bugs and problems.  Unfortunately, ports are still limited
due to the release of V7.02b.   This contains extra fixes for foreign
languages and has impacted on the release schedule of English language
versions.  SCO Unix is now not available until August 13th!  Don't
forget we have a special upgrade package, which covers one day of
installation and correction of many problems through manual changes to
text files.  Please call if you would like
further information on V7.02.


New Subscribers

We are pleased to welcome new subscribers from a number of different
business sectors. From local government we have Suffolk County
Council, Kent County Council Social Services and London Borough of
Harrow.  Managing BT's international phone network is British Telecom
Worldwide Network.  On the commercial side are Doherty Medical and St.
Helens Glass.

 Errata

We have a couple of corrections to make (oops!).  In last months
feature on updating uniplex.sys we incorrectly printed one of the
lines of the shell script, the offending line (last line but 2) was:

${ESC}op${UPARROW}y${ESC}e             Then use ESC O P to save

and should be replaced with:

${ESC}op${UPARROW}<space>${ESC}e       Then use ESC O P to save

In the Practical Guide to Report Writer on Page 39 we discuss calling
FormFill from a report.  When called from Database Menu or in any
circumstance on V7.01 onwards this can cause the terminal to hang.
The solution is to create an executable shell script in
/usr/UAP/cmds/repufill that contains the line:

exec ufill $* 2> /dev/tty < /dev/tty

In the DATA section call this script instead of ufill:

:DATA
flags= field 't', record 'n';
repufill branchdata



If you would like further information on Centreline 2000 services such
as training, consulting and programming or you would like to become a
help-line subscriber then please contact your Centreline 2000 account
manager on 01904 724080

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Newsline 93/06 - July 1993

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Tech Tip: Bright Ideas for FormFill


Bright Ideas for FormFill
=========================

Uniplex Formfill is a great utility for quickly creating and printing
forms.  However, what you can't do instantly is save the entered data,
print the form as soon as the information is entered, or edit the
completed form in WP. Newsline explains how this can be done.

The FormFill module is in fact the same program as Screen Builder. It
has the same functionality and you can freely add functions to the
COMMANDS section.  FormFill also makes use of the report writer to
merge the entered data with the template file for printing.  In this
example, we modify the form to call the report writer directly, rather
than running it separately from the menu.  As you can see from the
listing overleaf, we only change a few lines.

The template was created in the standard way, first a simple WP
document was created and the Build Template option selected.  Then,
from the Administration Menu,  we selected Edit Screen Form.  There we
moved to the COMMANDS section and made the following modifications.

The PASTE command was removed as we need to control the output of data
ourselves.  It was replaced with the shell command echo.  Each label
is separated by 't' which outputs a tab separator.  The whole line is
output to $(PASTE9),  cut & paste buffer number 9.

We then run ureport directly on $(PASTE9), using the template already
created for us.  In this case the merged output is saved in
$HOME/output.wp.  $HOME is the users home folder, but any filename and
folder could be used.

Note that you must enter the full path name of the report template.
Change 'idea.wp' to the name of your template.  The $Uniplex variable
always points to your UAP directory.

If you want to print the form, use the print line.  This starts the
standard print screen to send the form directly to the printer.  If
instead, you want to edit the file using Word Processing, then comment
the print lines and uncomment the second option. You can use any
standard Unix command to manipulate the output file.  It could be
mailed, copied or appended to another file. Alternatively, you may
want to use the entered data with other commands, in which case you do
not need to use the report writer to perform the merge.

 :TITLE
 -- BRIGHT IDEAS --
 :SCREEN
 L......T.......T.......T.......T.......T.......T.......T....R
     To:    [L0______________________________________]
     From:  [L1______________________________________]
     Idea:  [L2______________________________________]
            [L3______________________________________]
            [L4______________________________________]
 :LABELS
 L0 type char;
 L1 type char;
 L2 type char;
 L3 type char;
 L4 type char;
 :COMMANDS
 HOLD
 RESET
 # PASTE $(L0) $(L1) $(L2) $(L3) $(L4)
 # Paste command commented out, instead we'll control it all.

 # This line sends the information to the standard cut & paste
buffer
 echo  "$(L0)t$(L1)t$(L2)t$(L3)t$(L4)" > $(PASTE9)

 # This command runs ureport, which builds the final output file.
 ureport $Uniplex/ufill/rep/idea.wp < $(PASTE9) >
$HOME/output.wp

 # To print it directly use this command:
 pprint -f -w $HOME/output.wp

 # To edit it now in WP uncomment the following line:
 # uniplex -q $HOME/output.wp
 :END





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as training, consulting and programming or you would like to become a
help-line subscriber then please contact your Centreline 2000 account
manager on 07000 88 2000

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Newsline 93/10 - October 1993

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Uniplex Wins Queen's Award
   New Pricing for V7.0
   Additional Peripheral Support
   Tech Tip: Speadsheet Bug Fix


Uniplex Wins Queen's Award
==========================

UNIPLEX Announced it is to receive the QUEEN'S AWARD for EXPORTS '93
This is the second time that Uniplex has won the export award (the
first time was in 1990).  Patrick Regester, Managing Director,
commented, "The success of Uniplex, having trebled exports since
winning the award in 1990, shows a tremendous achievement on the part
of all our staff both in the UK and in our subsidiaries around the
world."

In the same month Uniplex announced that it continues its lead in
Office Automation sales.  The 1993 Dataquest Workgroup Computing
Report shows that Uniplex holds some 53.1% of Unix-based workgroup
software in the world market.  Even when all workgroup sectors are
combined, including PC's Uniplex still leads with 21.3% compared to
WordPerfect's 12% and Microsoft's 7.6%



New Pricing Announcement

Uniplex have also announced a new pricing promotion for Uniplex V7
Micro (386 based) for 32-Users.  Uniplex II Plus (base) is £3495,
Advanced Office, Advanced Graphics and Datalink are all priced at
£995 and Uniplex Windows at £1995.  This promotion runs until
the end of the year.



Additional Peripheral Pack 4 released

The latest release of the APP is also available, it comprises all the
previous APP releases and includes the following printers: Kyocera,
IBM 4029 and 4039, HP XL300 and probably most useful the HP 4.  The
APP is available on diskette or QIC Tape Cartridge.  The UUG will be
providing copies of the APP on the usual copy and return basis.



Spreadsheet Bug Fix

Taylor Woodrow discovered that the spreadsheet command "/Range Values"
which should copy a range of calculated values, ignoring the formulae,
does not work.  This is a known Uniplex bug, with the PSR number
12102.  Here is our solution to this problem.  In the example below,
only the bold lines need modification.   Make the following changes to
UAP/uc/issi.fn and rebuild using skcomp issi.fn

##RANGE
Format Line-up Erase Name Remove-name Protect Unprotect Input Value
Set the format for a range of cells
Align a range of cells
Assign a name to a cell or range of cells
Remove the name from a range
Protect a range of cells
Unprotect a range of cells
Enter data into unprotected cells in a range
Copy range of values.  Ignore formulae
))
1='f{PRM 371}{RNG.}':M(#FORMAT)
2='f{PRM 372}{RNG.}':M(#FALIGN)
3='{NC}kill {PRM 358}{RNG.}r'
4='lab {PRM 364}{RNG.}={PRM 365}{INP}r'
5='unlab {PRM 366}{SK}{INP F11}'
6='lo {PRM 367}{RNG.}r'
7='unlo {PRM 368}{RNG.}r'
8=inp {PRM 369}{RNG.}r'
9='cut {PRM 403}{RNG.}r':'label {COL}{ROW}=xcurrpossr':;     'cursor {PRM 404}{PNT}r':'paster':'cursor xcurrpossr':;     'unlab xcurrposr'
))



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as training, consulting and programming or you would like to become a
help-line subscriber then please contact your Centreline 2000 account
manager on 07000 88 2000

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Newsline 93/12 - December 1993

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Centreline 2000 and onGO Advantage Program
   Office 2000 Notice Board for Unix
   Tech Tip: Spreadsheet Auto-Exec Macro
   Tech Tip: Lotus Style Titles for Spreadsheet


Uniplex Selects Centreline 2000
===============================
UNIPLEX has selected Centreline 2000, IBM, Data General and Bull to
take part in Uniplex' onGO Advantage program.  This project aims to
deliver the new version of onGO to many users in a short space of
time.  Low priced systems are available for specific periods so that
users can trial the onGO system thoroughly before purchase. Centreline
2000's role in the Advantage program is to provide onGO support to
customers not supplied by the OEM's.

Simon Walden, chairman of Centreline 2000 said, "We are very pleased
to be selected by Uniplex.  The onGO Advantage program clearly fits
well with our own PC to Unix connection and migration services."  He
went on to say, "Many of our clients now have PC's within their
organisation and are wrestling with both physical and software
connections.  onGO can resolve many of the software problems and can
be very powerful part of an organisations IT strategy."

Over the next few weeks Centreline 2000 will be announcing several key
services and products designed to help organisations meet the
challenges of integrating PC's into a Unix environment.   The services
start with IT Strategy and Management courses and consulting to help
plan the way forward.  They move through installation of connection
products.  PC integration services will help you share information
between Unix and PC's.  Migration services will help you move
application front-ends to PC's to provide a complete client-server
solution.

 Notice Board 2000

Also launched this month is Notice Board 2000, our latest add-on for
Uniplex.  This easy to use package provides a central notice board
where company communications can be posted.  It is designed to
minimise systems resources, so, unlike electronic mail,  there is no
performance overload when a notice is posted to all users.  As only a
single copy of the notice is maintained there is no heavy disk usage,
even when posting large notices to all users.  Automatic
expiry of notices means that messages are automatically cleared up
too.



Spreadsheet AutoExec Macro

Until V7.02 the spreadsheet did not have an autoexec function that
automatically starts a macro when a particular spreadsheet file is
opened.  However, a similar effect can be achieved in V7.00 and V7.01
by preparing a Uniplex menu call to a spreadsheet which executes a
macro.  In the example below, we start ucalc with the spreadsheet
filename.ss.  The -F flag gives a command direct to ucalc, in this
case executing the embedded macro named :0.

     ucalc -F "'macro':F11:'0'" filename.ss


Lotus Style Titles for Spreadsheet

Continuing with spreadsheet macros, this example uses the Windows
feature of the Uniplex spreadsheet to give a similar "title" feature
to Lotus.  This allows users to position the cursor on the worksheet
and request that all columns to the left and rows above are to become
row and column headers

label @ = xtopleft
label {COL}=xleftcol
split {ROW}
cursor xleftcol
split {COL}
window 1
cursor xleftcol
split {COL}
window 3
window link r 2
window link c 4
window xtopleft
unlab xtopleft
unlab xleftcol





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as training, consulting and programming or you would like to become a
help-line subscriber then please contact your Centreline 2000 account
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Newsline 94/06 - July 1994

IN THIS ISSUE:
   Uniplex acquired by CP Software
   Centreline 2000 Comment


UNIPLEX has been acquired by CALIFORNIA based CP Software Group. As
you are a Uniplex user we at Centreline 2000 wanted to bring you our
view as soon as possible.  We believe this takeover is a positive step
that will ensure continued development of both the Uniplex Business
Software and onGO product lines. CPSG are very experienced in the Unix
and Windows 3 marketplace and fully understand the value of Uniplex'
products. CPSG already owns Island Graphics, Today and inText -
products which fit well with Uniplex.

As you may have read in the press, there have been significant
redundancies worldwide for Uniplex, but to balance this new
development facilities will be opened in the US.   CPSG says product
availability for the new releases of Uniplex Version 8 and onGO 2.0
will not be changed.  The first ports of these products will become
available from September onwards.

These redundancies have also hit the UK support team which has seen
it's head count halved. This must have an affect on less focussed
Uniplex resellers, as Centreline 2000 does not rely on Uniplex for
backup we can continue providing our high level of service via the
Rapid Response Help Line.  Indeed our overall commitment to Uniplex is
strengthened, especially as we have now gained practical experience in
onGO installations on IBM RS6000, DG Aviion, Sequent and SCO Unix
sites over the last few months.

 PRODUCTS

The CPSG products immediately complement Uniplex' product lines. We
understand that they will be fully integrated with onGO. Further,
there are already plans in place for Uniplex Version 9.0, which will
continue to be developed at Hemel Hempstead.

The Island Graphics suite will be a welcome boost to onGO.  Island
contains mature and highly functional WYSIWYG Word Processing, Paint
and Draw editors.  Island also has a spreadsheet and presentation
package - both important but, until now, missing elements of onGO. The
Today package is a graphical 4GL for databases.  Finally, inTEXT is a
natural language reader, which can automatically summarise and
categorise documents.

These integrated with Uniplex' Open Mail and Document Management
System will make a very rich and powerful package.  The onGO system
will then consist of some very mature and stable products.  The

"industrial strength" of the backbone systems should provide a very
reliable office system for small to very large sites.

EXISTING COMMITMENTS

Uniplex say that all product developments continue on schedule,
including onGO Office 2.0, onGO DMS 1.0 and, most importantly, Uniplex
V8.  Uniplex V8 will be shipping later this year.  All of Uniplex'
customer contracts with OEM's, resellers and end-users are to continue
unaffected.

 CENTRELINE 2000 OPINION

We believe all of the above is good news for Uniplex and Uniplex
users.  Even discounting CPSG's Unix experience, just for Uniplex to
be owned by a computing company should be positive.  CPSG will refocus
Uniplex back to its major lines of business.

The product mix is very complementary.  The various modules dovetail
well.  The areas of overlap allow the weaker modules to be replaced
with proven products.  Further development efforts can now be focussed
in the important areas, allowing Uniplex R&D to back off on less
effective work. We know that CPSG understand the full value of Uniplex
V7 and beyond, and that should be backed up by significant product
development.

Given Centreline 2000's role of Uniplex support and consulting
specialists we have mixed feelings about the significant reduction of
staff in these areas at Uniplex.  While we are certain these changes
will increase our own level of business, we are concerned that some
users will find themselves with inadequate access to high quality
expertise.

Centreline 2000 will be meeting with CPSG shortly to discuss CPSG's
aims and objectives for Uniplex.  We will report back to you then with
more details.

In the meantime, if you wish to discuss any Uniplex issues with us,
whether they relate to your continuing Uniplex investment, current
support facilities or PC integration plans, please call us.  One of
senior consultants will gladly spend the time to answer your
questions.

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Last Updated: 04-03-1996

Centreline 2000 - Uniplex, Unix, Windows and Internet
Arle Court, Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham, GL51 6PN
Tel: (UK) 01242 255 000

URL: www.c2000.com/papers/c2k_news.htm
© 1995-2001 Centreline 2000
Last Updated: 1st August 1996


	Centreline 2000 - Uniplex, Unix, Windows and Internet Arle Court, Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham, GL51 6PN Tel: (UK) 01242 255 000

	URL: www.c2000.com/papers/c2k_news.htm © 1995-2001 Centreline 2000 Last Updated: 1st August 1996