Computer-export curbs reviewed

Article Abstract:

The Commerce Dept's Bureau of Export Administration reports that workstations capable of performing up to 67 million theoretical operations per second (MTOPS), five times faster than the current export limit of 12.5 MTOPS, are readily available on the international market. The government will now relay its finding to the 16 other nations that participate in the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls, and must remove US national-security export controls on computers whose performance is under 67 MTOPS after Dec 1993. Workstations with microprocessors that exceed the performance of Intel Corp's new Pentium chip could then be freely exported. A representative of the American Electronics Assn vendor group applauds the finding but wishes it went further, claiming that multiprocessor machines capable of up to 210 MTOPS are also available internationally. A Commerce Dept official responds that the Bureau is not allowed to consider merely prospective availability.

Electronic computers, Admin. of general economic programs, Reports, Export controls, Workstations (Computers), Workstations, Export, Government Regulation, International Organizations, United States. Bureau of Export Administration, United States. Bureau of Industry and Security

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Computer makers worried by curb on software export

Article Abstract:

United States military and intelligence officers were surprised by the difficulty that the US military encountered in trying to destroy Iraq's command and control computerized networks in the Persian Gulf war. Consequently, the US has tightened restrictions on exports of the sophisticated software packages that make data networks so reliable and resistant to attack by rerouting messages around network links that have been destroyed. Computer companies are alarmed because the government's policy is expected to be formalized at a meeting of Cocom (Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls) to be held in Paris, on Thursday, May 23, 1991. Computer companies, which have pressured for liberalized rules to make it easier to trade with Eastern bloc nations and with China, are anxious about such a move. The argument will probably intensify because computer technologies that are sold for commercial uses are increasingly seen as critical in modern warfare.

Prepackaged software, United States, Computer software industry, Software industry, Economic aspects, Economic policy, Security, Computer Industry, Network Management Software, Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988

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