UTAH TECH WATCH - - by David Politis - - 4/20-22/96 Edition

Most athletes that try to change sports once they've achieved a level of
greatness in one arena generally fail.

The most recent notable example of this fact is Michael Jordan of the
Chicago Bulls.

Without question, Jordan is a basketball star extrordinaire, if not the
best player to have ever picked up a basketball.

But when it came to playing AA minor league baseball, Jordan was at best an
average player. And at times, he truly struggled at the plate.

Hence, Jordan is now back with in the NBA, and the Bulls are poised to make
a run at another national championship.

E&S changing sports

After more than two decades of leadership in real-time simulation and image
generation, Evans & Sutherland found itself face-to-face with the end of
the Cold War.

Historically, Salt Lake City-based E&S has been one of the world leaders in
creating software and systems to produce military simulators and war game
images.

One of the peacetime "benefits" of an Arms Race in reverse, however, has
been a dramatic decrease in the demand for such E&S products by the
Department of Defense and its suppliers.

To its credit, E&S management had previously expanded its military aircraft
simulation business into commercial aviation applications, something the
firm is successfully continuing today.

Transforming its business from a DoD model to one attuned to a competitive
environment has not been an easy task. In fact, it's much like trying to
change sports once you've achieved athletic greatness.

E&S forms e.s.p.

Evans & Sutherland took another step towards transforming its business this
week when it announced the formation of a new division: Evans & Sutherland
Productions (e.s.p.).

Initially, e.s.p. will provide both products and services to film, video
and news organizations.

Its first product, MindSet, is a hardware and software system that allows
the creation of "virtual" sets for film, video or news crews. As a result,
users will be able to integrate live actors, newscasters or other talent
with computer-generated synthetic environments.

Additionally, e.s.p. announced that it will offer its creative services for
hire.

One of its first projects occurred earlier this month when its personnel
created an electronic re-enactment of the crash of the military transport
carrying U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in Bosnia.

The re-enactment was produced in less than four hours and then uplinked to
a major news network.

Products and services such as those introduced this week from E&S, suggest
that the firm may yet prove successful as it seeks to change its chosen
field.

Pen to make acquisition

Salt Lake City-based Pen Interconnect announced this week it had signed a
letter of intent to acquire the InCirT Technology division of The Cerplex
Group.

Publicly-traded Pen (NASDAQ:PENC) produces custom cable interconnections
for other high-tech manufacturers.

By acquiring InCirT, Pen will add the ability to offer its customers a wide
variety of PC board and subsystem assembly and testing services.

The combination of InCirT's $14 million in 1995 revenues, will nearly
double 10-year-old Pen's sales for the same period to $29 million.

Both parties hope to have the transaction completed by April 30, 1996.

Board and executive changes

Earlier in the month, Ion Laser Technology announced that it has appointed
four new members to its board of directors.

Chief among the appointments is the addition of Richard S. Braddock, former
president and board member of Citicorp, to the Ion Laser board.

Joining Braddock on the board is Milton G. Adair, president and director of
Salt Lake City-based Bioimmune Systems; Andrew J. Hofmeister, vice
president of Excimer Vision Leasing in Atlanta; and David E. Neff,
executive vice president, General Counsel and director of Q-Lube.

Additionally, Viewpoint Datalabs announced recently that it has selected
"computer graphics industry pioneer" Martin Plaehn as its new president
and chief executive officer.

Plaehn replaces founder, John Wright, who has assumed the role of chairman
for the Orem-based firm.

In the same news release, Viewpoint also announced that it had acheived
record first quarter sales.

Viewpoint's software products and services are used to create 3D
animations, designs and graphics for the film, video, games, interactive
media and desktop graphics markets.

A marketing communications consultant that specializes in high-tech and
life sciences clients, David Politis welcomes column ideas at 801-569-2592
or via the Internet at dpolitis@altatech.com.
 
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