Last week's MacWorld Expo saw a flurry of activity from Salt Lake-based Dayna Communications.
In total, the developer of net-work-ing and communications products made no fewer than six different product announcements at the San Francisco trade show.These included announcements about new products, future product shipping dates and the availability of previously announced products.
Look for more product information from Dayna over the next three to six months.
Mac WordPerfect kudos
WordPerfect also made waves at the Mac conference by the bay.
Novell's WordPerfect 3.5 for the Macintosh was selected as the winner of the 1995 MacUser Editors' Choice Award for "Best New Word Processing Application" for both the Mac and Power Mac-in-tosh.
January's MacWorld Expo marked the second straight year that WordPerfect for the Macintosh had won a prestigious "Eddy" award.
Since the latest version of the word processor began shipping in August 1995, it has been selected by several leading computer trade publications as the best in its class. Among these are awards from MacHome Journal, NewMedia, and Mac Today.
Cirque enters keyboard market
Earlier this week, touchpad technology leader, Cirque Corp., broke new ground as it announced the availability of a retail keyboard.
Titled the Cirque GlidePoint Wave Keyboard, the new keyboard incorporates Cirque's GlidePoint trackpad technology into an ergonomically designed split-key keyboard.
Historically, Cirque's patented GlidePoint technology has been incorporated into stand-alone trackpads manufactured by the Salt Lake-based firm, licensed to other firms for use as peripherals or built into replacement keyboards and notebook computers.
The new keyboard is available immediately and expected to retail for under $100.
Novell funds reseller scholarships
In response to what it calls "brisk market demand," Novell has announced a $17 million scholarship program designed to increase the amount of certified Novell support professionals in North America.
The PartnerNet scholarship program is available to Novell's Gold and Platinum level resellers.
According to Novell, shipments of NetWare in 1995 outshipped all other networking operating systems combined by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.
Novell estimates that it has more than 150,000 Certified NetWare Engineers, Certified Novell Administrators and Certified Novell Instructors. In addition, the networking giant trains more than 62,500 student customers every month.
Leading sellers announced
Finally, a recent edition of a computer trade publication has released its list of the top 100 computer retailers in the United States, based upon total revenues for the year. And several of the chains with a Utah presence made the list.
According to Computer Retail Week's Jan. 8 edition, the top national chain with a Utah presence was Computer City, ranking third nationally with average sales per store in 1995 of $19.2 million.
Circuit City was ranked fifth nationally with per-store sales estimated at $4.5 million. Egghead came in seventh nationally, with per-store sales of $3 million.
OfficeMax and Sears were ninth and tenth, with per-store average sales in 1995 of $1.6 million and $900,000, respectively.
Sam's Club and Wal-Mart came in next at 12th and 13th, with per-store average sales of $1.3 million and $300,000.
PriceCostco placed 17th nationally with per-store sales of $2.0 million, while RadioShack placed 19th and averaged $50,000 per store in computer sales.
RadioShack's sister company, Incredible Universe, placed 27th on the list nationally, with per-store sales in 1995 of $16.8 million.
Also making the list were Kmart at 39th ($30,000 per store); Media Play at 43rd ($500,000 per store); Fred Meyer, 60th ($400,000 per store); R.C. Willey Home Furnishings, 75th ($3.8 million per store); and Toys R Us, 80th ($30,000 per store).
Putting this list into perspective, the top seven "local" computer retailers on a per-store basis (ranked 1-7) are 1. Computer City, 2. Incredible Universe, 3. Circuit City, 4. R.C. Willey, 5. Egghead, 6. PriceCostco, and 7. Wal-Mart.
Each store moved a minimum average of at least $1.3 million in hardware and/or software in 1995.
David Politis is a Salt Lake-based marketing communications consultant who specializes in high-tech and health-care clients. He welcomes column ideas at 801-569-2592 or via the Internet at dpolitis@altatech.com.