Raritan Computer, Inc. has announced its MasterConsole MX4 switch, an extension of its MasterConsole product line. The MX4 is a matrix KVM switch that enables up to four users simultaneously to control up to 256 computers (PC, Macintosh, Sun, DEC Alpha, RS/6000, HP9000 and Silicon Graphics) each from a single keyboard, monitor and mouse. It eliminates the cost and clutter of unnecessary peripherals, reduces equipment space and improves operational productivity for applications such as multi-user management of multiple servers. MX4 models are available for 8 or 16 computers, with suggested retail prices of $2,695 US and $5,195 US, respectively. Both models support high-resolution video up to 1600x1280.

Contact: Raritan Computer, Inc., 400 Cottontail Lane, Somerset, NJ 08873, Phone: 732-764-8886, Fax: 732-764-8887, E-mail: sales@raritan.com, URL: http://www.raritan.com/.

Bittco Solutions has announced the release of VRtuoso. VRtuoso is for anyone, particularly the business professional, who needs to harness information available on the World Wide Web. VRtuoso reads and organizes information, presenting web sites, searches and bookmarks in a searchable and meaningful VR landscape. VRtuoso clusters web documents in the VR landscape according to content and meaning. This form of presentation enables users to quickly locate, correlate and apply information on the Web to tasks at hand. Pre-release versions of VRtuoso are available for download from Bittco's web site.

Contact: Bittco Solutions, 220, 80 Chippewa Road, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada T8A 4W6, Phone: 403-417-8850, Fax: 403-417-5199, E-mail: dean@bittco.com, URL: http://www.bittco.com/.

The Debian GNU/Linux ARM distribution is a port of Debian to the ARM architecture and will run on Corel's NetWinder. Development will eventually target other ARM processors as well. The ARM port will most likely be included in the next distribution of Debian. Information on the current status of the distribution can be found at http://www.debian.org/ports/arm/.

Contact: Debian GNU/Linux, E-mail: press@debian.org, URL: http://www.debian.org/.

Software Forge, Inc. has announced the release of the computer-aided drafting program LinuxCAD. LinuxCAD supports 2-D drafting, 3-D modeling, print and plot, customization and CAD application development. User interface for the program is very similar to the interface for AutoCAD, so former AutoCAD users will have no problem migrating to LinuxCAD. The price for LinuxCAD starts at $99 US.

Contact: Software Forge, Inc., Phone: 847-891-5971, E-mail: sales@softwareforge.com, URL: http://www.linuxcad.com/.

Three D Graphics has announced Perspective for Java, a 100% pure Java Class Library, JavaBean and a fully pre-configured Java 1.1 applet that permits real-time creation and manipulation of professional charts live on the Web. The program has a full set of properties, methods and user interface tools (widgets) for Java developers who wish to create data-driven graphics. Perspective for Java works in any Java-compatible development environment, browser or operating system. This product is also designed to support the latest in browser technology, including Netscape 4.0. Site license fees start at $4900 US with a minimum of 100 seats. It is available for developer evaluation through a download on the company's web site.

Contact: Three D Graphics, 1801 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 600, Los Angeles, CA 90067-5908, Phone: 310-553-3313, Fax: 310-788-8975, URL: http://www.threedgraphics.com/.

MetaCard Corporation has announced the release of MetaCard 2.2. MetaCard has a fully functional development environment on all platforms and doesn't rely on limited-function “players”. The product includes built-in support for popular audio, video and image formats; no shared libraries, virtual machines, browsers, installers or other add-ons are required. This results in no DLL or JVM version conflicts, and high reliability and lower support costs for distributed applications. MetaCard's entire development environment including graphical editor, script editor and debugger was built in MetaCard. The free MetaCard Starter Kit is available now from the MetaCard web site and the FTP site at ftp://ftp.metacard.com/MetaCard/. Pricing is $995 US for a single user.

Contact: MetaCard Corporation, 4710 Shoup Pl., Boulder, CO 80303, Phone: 303-447-3936, Fax: 303-499-9855, E-mail: info@metacard.com, URL: http://www.metacard.com/.

Personal Productivity Tools, Inc. has announced the release of EtherPage Version 3.0 of its EtherPage client/server-to-pager messaging system for Linux. EtherPage delivers messages from computer networks to wireless devices, including alphanumeric and two-way pagers and digital cellular phones. One feature of the product is web-based administration, which allows users to configure their own system through a web browser. It also includes user-configurable HTML templates that allow customized interfaces, an enhanced web interface including user list searching, message status display and support for thousands of users. Pricing starts at $595.

Contact: Personal Productivity Tools, Inc., 14141 Miranda Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022, Phone: 650-917-7000, Fax: 650-917-7010, E-mail: sales@ppt.com, URL: http://www.ppt.com/.

Pick Systems, Inc. announces the release of D3 Linux v.7.1 with Red Hat Linux 5.1. Pick's D3 DBMS offers rapid applications design, development and deployment with scalability from a single client to thousands. D3 also provides seamless integration with Windows environments. Additional features include built-in B-trees, FlashBASIC language, Access Query Language with unlimited views of information, business rule support, trigger, ODBC and SQL connectivity. The product offers direct APIs to Visual Basic and an HTML language tool called FlashCONNECT. D3 is available for $300 US per user.

Contact: Pick Systems, 1691 Browning, Irvine, CA 92606, Phone: 714-261-7425, Fax: 714-250-8187, E-mail: sales@picksys.com, URL: http://www.picksys.com/.