Key Exchange Systems Ltd of London SE1, which is marketing Soft Switch Inc’s electronic mail products (CI No 1,217) has also taken a range of products on board from Wabash, Chicago-based Systems Compatibility Corp to provide for document translation at several levels. Key Exchange has added Software Bridge version 4.0 to its products, a package that converts files between 21 word processing packages. Using Software Bridge the format of the original document is retained in the translated version, so that users can edit or print documents created on different word processing software from their own. Basic single user licences cost UKP125. Key Exchange is also offering a local area network server version which operates with Novell, 3Com, IBM Token Ring networks and other MS-DOS 3.3 compatible networks. This enables network users to edit and print documents created by other users with a different word processing package. This version is available for a licence charge of UKP249 for a three user-node system, with additional user-node licences at UKP59 each. For both these Software Bridge products Key Exchange is taking over the European distribution rights from Systems Compatibility. Key Exchange will also distribute Systems Compatibility’s DES Document Exchange System which runs on DEC VAXs to convert files to and from DEC, Wang and Apple word processing systems. Initial licence charges for DES range from UKP1,250 for a MicroVAX system with tow conversion modules to around UKP20,000 for a DEC VAX 8978, including the full conversion library and the All-In-1 interface option. In a bid to offer the low end of office system integration as well as the more glamourous electronic mail products, Key Exchange has completed a marketing deal with Information Conversion Services Inc of Park Ridge, Illinois to sell three software products for document conversion to and from Xerox electronic typewriters and IBM compatible personal computers. The first of these, called ViceVersa, licensed at UKP249, converts typewriter documents to such word processing packages as WordPerfect 5.0, WordStar 5.0, Multimate Advantage II, Displaywrite, and Microsoft Word 4.0, and vice versa. The second product, KeyCap, (licensed at UKP149) enables text created on a Xerox typewriter to be input to the Xerox Ventura desktop publisher, while the third product XMigrate, licensed at UKP149 each exchange direction, facilitates the exchange of documents between 600 Series Xerox typewriters with 5.25 disk drives to the newer 60 Series and Piano models with 3.5 drives.
