murphy@CARRARA.BOS.MARBLE.COM (Paul R. Murphy) (06/14/91)
New meeting space: The next GUN meeting will take place on June 19th, at 6:30 pm, at Dodge Room, Earl Hall, at Columbia University. We are trying this new meeting place because (a) we are hoping to find 2 or 3 reasonable spaces amongst which we can rotate and (b) lots of people expressed dissatisfaction with the new Electronic Directions space after the last meeting. I apologize for the lateness of this announcement. It took Columbia a while to confirm our being able to use the space. How to get there: By train: take the 1 or 9 to 116th and Broadway (don't fall asleep). Any other means of transportation: ask the driver to bring you to 116th and Broadway. Go straight through the main gates. Walk a bit. Turn left. Go up the stairs leading towards an impressive looking library. Earl Hall will be on your left. Dodge room is on the 3rd floor of that building. Whatever you do, don't let people direct you to Dodge Hall which is an unrelated building. Meeting agenda: Marc Elvy, president of Marble Associates, will be giving a lecture entitled "NeXT Workstations in Heterogeneous Computing Environments". A full description of the presentation and the presenter follows. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer period. Finally, we will be taking care of misc. GUN business. Marc can be an incredibly entertaining speaker. He knows more about networking than most people would ever care to. Because much of the presentation will cover theoretical/practical networking ground which is not necessarily NeXT specific, it is likely to interest anyone wrestling with problems related to the design and implementation of coherent non-homogeneous networks. Network security issues will also be discussed. You are welcome to invite non-GUN members who you think might be interested. The space can fit as many as 300 people so we don't have to worry about overcrowding. About the lecture: Mr. Marc Elvy, President of Marble Associates, Inc., will attend the June 19, 1991, meeting of the New York City NeXT User's Group, where he will present a lecture entitled, "NeXT Workstations in Heterogeneous Business Computing Environments." Mr. Elvy's presentation will focus on Marble's Workgroup Computing Paradigm, which bridges the gap between the classic central server computing model and the massive decentralization spawned by the personal computing revolution. Marble designs and constructs medium- and large-scale business computing solutions that redeploy major computational assets (such as IBM mainframes, large DEC minicomputers, and so forth) into new roles, typically as database servers surrounded by networks of division-level disk servers, and capped off with NeXT workstations on the desktops. The Marble approach seeks to maximize the reutilization of corporate investments in computing hardware (and, sometimes, software) while providing the greatest possible boost in desktop computing capabilities. The Marble Workgroup Computing Paradigm has been adopted or is being evaluated by major government branches, regional Bell operating companies, and technology-oriented corporations in the United States and abroad. About the lecturer: Mr. Elvy is a widely recognized expert on integrated systems software design, especially with regard to local- and wide-area network telecommunications among "incompatible" hosts. Some of Mr. Elvy's notable activities include publications on ARPA-Internet transport protocols, publications and lectures on fifth generation logic programming, design and development of embedded control systems, and the design of real-time control systems for industrial robots. Mr. Elvy has been an occasional lecturer for the Harvard University Division of Applied Sciences, the Aiken Computation Laboratory, the Boston Computer Society, the IEEE Symposia on Logic Programming, and the Air Force Studies Board Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems. Among his many achievements, Mr. Elvy was involved in the original UNIX implementation of serial transmission of Internet Protocols. Mr. Elvy is a US Air Force flight instructor at Hanscom Air Force Base and Chief Flight Instructor for the East Coast Aero Technical School in Bedford, Massachusetts, and he holds the A.B. degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Harvard University. Plus he wears very cool boots. About Marble Associates, Inc.: Marble Associates, Inc., has been providing custom systems software development and information technology advisory services to high-technology and emerging-technology clients since 1983, supporting industries, governments, and research facilities throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Marble solutions have been successful in client settings due to our beliefs that increasing levels of complexity require clear, unencumbered designs that map current and emerging technologies to business strategy; and a small, well-disciplined team of implementors - drawing upon advanced, scientifically-proven techniques - is the most efficient and cost-effective mechanism for complex systems development. Marble views its business as a process of clarifying functionality, providing a field of alternative strategies and evaluation criteria, and then designing and implementing the most appropriate solution. Marble aspires to the role of strategic technology partner through a style and approach that tempers information technology decisions by critical issues of organizational culture and business strategy. Our overriding goal is to assist clients in optimizing efficiency and maximizing profitability through appropriate application of information technologies. Marble has created (and supports) several NeXT-based software products, including: InSession 3270 a 3270 terminal emulator, file transfer facility, and application programming interface (API) for NeXT workstations communicating via Avatar hardware to IBM mainframes Marble Teleconnect a commercial implementation of SLIP, CSLIP, and dialup IP for the NeXTstep environment including Teleconfigure and Telemonitor (PPP will be supported in v2.0) Decision Builder a Decision Analysis and Support tool kit utilizing Bayesian Belief technology (including both the Lauritzen-Spiegelhalter exact algorithm and a Marble estimation algorithm that provides estimates in real time with linearly decreasing possibility of error), including an application programming interface (API) and a NeXTstep graphics layout editor for building, using, and modifying belief networks (and coming soon) Designer Labels a PostScript (+TIFF +EPS) label and envelope package that supports NeXTstep creation of custom labels and envelopes for the Seiko LabelWriter and for the CoStar LabelWriter, LabelWriter II, and EnvelopeWriter low-cost label and envelope printers Paul murphy@gun.com murphy@marble.com