Briefs

Compaq was the top US PC vendor in 1995 after a 40 per cent increase in sales, overtaking Packard Bell whose sales rose just 4.9 per cent. Hewlett Packard leaped into third place following an increase on 1994 sales of 132 per cent. Apple sales fell by 21.6 per cent. Gateway brought up the rear in fifth place with a 26 per cent sales increase. The market as a whole was up 14 per cent.

3Com Sonix has named Data Connectivity as its distributor of the year, for work during 1995. Bob Jones, MD of the 3Com subsidiary, praised Data Connectivity for its close reseller relationships and level of expertise. The winning company specialises in networking equipment.

The future of Banyan's Vines as an operating system has been put into question, as more people are using NT as a server in the network environment. The company plans to continue to develop the product for use on top of NT and is hoping that Internet and corporate intranet products will move it into the black following the $29.9 million net loss in 1995.